BillySee58

These awesome 2019, 2020, and 2021 classes are still almost fully intact. Excited to see what we look like as these guys start to make up the meat of the roster, not just the backend depth and redshirts.

I could absolutely see us getting some JUCO guys. Imagine a JUCO freshman, currently under the radar, having a solid freshman season and being a full qualifier. We could bring him in and get 4 more years of him. Even JUCO sophomores we get them for 3 more years. There’s definitely benefit to looking their way when a lot of schools might be full from HS and D1 transfers.

Guh. I really thought he could play. Good luck to him.

Wish we had utilized him more, thought he had some moves with the ball in his hands. He was behind RS SO Rod Burns (a former walkon) and with our two most high profile recruits coming in to play his position (Bryson Jackson and Caleb Johnson) it looked like we had recruited over Kealon Jackson. Best of luck to him. Seemed like a team player, and was even listed as our emergency deep snapper.

Yes. He had 343 yards and averaged 7 yards a carry in his last 4 games he played. Looked like he just needed time to get back. Also looked like our coaches were sort of semi-redshirting him at times, saving him for next year and ensuring he wouldn’t go into the offseason injured again. He looked great towards the end. Sucks to lose that.

This hurts. I thought he, being back at full strength, and Adaway would make for a dynamic 1-2 punch in the backfield that could give us a leg up on most CUSA opponents. Still confident in our running back group but he was a CUSA stud and we aren’t sure how many of those are on his roster. Good on him for getting his degree.

I like that idea a lot

His father also had cancer, which he applied for a hardship waiver which allowed an extra year for him. Think that’s part of why he technically had two years of eligibility left heading into this year. Crazy.

Correct

These were the right decisions. Especially Jennings.

By my count we, between signees and players who have not indicated they are transferring or leaving the team, we have about 87 scholarship players. That number could be a little higher if there are some former walkons currently on scholarship that I’m not aware of. We should have about 7 spots left in the class, likely for transfers as we have not offered anymore 2021 high school recruits since winter signing day. We normally carry about 80 scholarship players a season with 85 being the old limit, waived for 2021 as only freshmen through juniors count towards that 85 limit in 2021. Not sure what our athletic department wants our scholarship numbers to look like for next year, but I’d imagine it won’t be much more than the traditional 85 cap. Once we finish adding guys, we could lose 9 more guys currently on our roster and still be at 85, approximately. Here’s the current positional breakdown on scholarship for 2021, by my estimation: QBs: 6 RBs: 8 (would expect some defections here, especially with 3 seniors) WR: 10 TE: 6 (includes Pirtle) OL: 16 DL: 15 (includes a couple seniors) LB: 12 (includes a couple seniors) DB: 13 K: 1 (Mooney, but not sure if he’s actually in scholarship) Another thing to note, there aren’t many seniors left, so we will be heavy on guys who will be eligible in 2022 and beyond. This means we are going to likely see more defections to come this year and next, in order to make room for a 2022 class. TL;DR: Between COVID giving players an extra season and players not needing to sit out a season if they transfer, it has created the perfect storm of roster turnover.

Both good points. Something else to consider, how many scholarships is our athletic department okay with having for football next year? We are allowed to have 85 scholarship players NOT including seniors, so the total amount of scholarship players could be closer to 100 with seniors if we wanted it to be. But how many are we comfortable with budgeting for? If we plan on bringing in a host of D1 transfers plus the recruiting class we just signed, how do we make room for those guys if everyone came back? I would guess that’s part of it and why the timing was so synchronized.

Right, my thoughts as well. Even Novil I would hate to see go but I wouldn’t take that as the world ending given the circumstances that he is a grad transfer and he gave us four years already. KD Davis, Murphy twins, Stout, Gaddie, if guys like that were to go in the portal that would be a sign that something is wrong. Based on the statements these players are making and where they were on the depth chart and in their career, that doesn’t seem like the case.

Same. These guys are all guys I would’ve expected to leave even if the rules hadn’t changed, or guys who would’ve had their eligibility expire this season anyways. Sanders and Johnson, best of luck to them, but we needed to move on from them at least from being in the starting lineup. Doubt they want to spend their extra season sitting or teaching a guy taking their spot. Here is who else we know is leaving: - Greg White, redshirt junior receiver who would probably be our 5th receiver behind guys who have more remaining eligibility than him. - Brian Parish, redshirt junior offensive lineman who would be at best out 4th tackle with the guys ahead of him having as much or more eligibility remaining. - Chris Thornton, redshirt junior linebacker who was never in the two deep except when we were thin at LB because of COVID.

It’s generally kind of hard to transfer out of G5s because if you’re a starter you’re usually staying, unless you’re a grad transfer looking to move up. For backups to transfer P5s didn’t want you out of high school and there’s no reason for them to want you if you haven’t proven to be able to start at the G5 level, and even G5s aren’t likely to spend a spot on a G5 backup, especially if they have to sit out a year. So the best options were going FCS or JUCO. Traditionally I feel like we would see more players quit, then pop up somewhere else instead of going through a more formal transfer portal process.

I would argue it was the old normal too. People just like to make a bigger deal out of it than they used to. When guys like Cade Pearson and Anthony Wyche transferred out two years ago it wasn’t all about the transfer portal, it was just normal because they were backups chasing playing time. I would say what is different is more players leaving who are starters or guys

Langston was the OL coach for Wilson‘s senior year in 2017. Davis was one and done here.

Can’t imagine Baker would be let go for football before having ever actually had a chance to make a hire of his own.

He had opted out of this past season

Wow. Good point. I think not because I believe if a guy is on scholarship to start the season he counts for that whole season regardless of if he finishes it with that team. Also I think this guy is supposed to be walking on so maybe.

Okay

I had no idea it would be so hard for you to say “my bad” on either falsely accusing me of making stuff up or calling a guy by an incorrect name. Was just pointing it out at the beginning. Had no clue you’d dig in this deep rather than just own up to an error.

I’m not making it up. I pointed it out, didn’t think you would get this upset. Was expecting more of an “oh crap, I am getting our best player’s name wrong” response. I’m sorry.

Typos happen and I don’t comment on them, but you continuously call him Hamlin, not just one-time slip ups. Dude just had one of the best single seasons of any of our players in years leading us to our best season in years, the least we can do is get his name right.