The "New" college football world is more like the NFL than the college football I had fallen in love with. I need to understand that high school recruiting, while important, is less important than in the past since you can plug holes on the rosters through transfers immediately. In the NFL, you draft and sign free agents and constantly adjust your roster. Aside from a handful of staples on your team, it often changes dramatically at key positions every couple of years, thus the reason why there is a lot of parity. Players seek new environments for new roles and to prove themselves. Many flame out quickly. So you get a product driven by your logo and love for the team and less so on the development of players.
Up until recently, in college football we could watch kids we chased on the recruiting trail at age 16/17 grow into RS seniors and it was cool to be part of that journey. The prime Dantonio days really sticking out for me with guys like Calhoun. Nowadays, we'll lose some of that perceived personal connection. There's just not enough room on a roster or PATIENCE from the kids or coaches to see it through for 3, 4 and 5 years at one school. It's the new world where there will not only be fresh faces coming in as freshmen getting special teams play, but also new upperclassmen coming in as immediate contributors at key positions.
To me, that changes the game personally knowing we'll see 2-3x more transfers in and out of the program annually. I'll find myself following the program in general and less so on individual players as they could be gone quickly and unexpectedly.
This new transfer world will lead to even more power at the top. The best guys on average teams may want exposure for a year and Bama, Clemson, OSU and a couple other programs will be in prime position to land them. It won't be hard for big programs to reach out "indirectly" to plant the seed of a transfer. The circle around players will encourage transfers even more.
It's going to be a wild ride. A different one. In this type of world, I'm excited we have CMT who is going to be a dawg on the recruiting trail both in HS and in the portal. But at the same time I feel slightly detached. Maybe that'll change when we have a normal season lol
Up until recently, in college football we could watch kids we chased on the recruiting trail at age 16/17 grow into RS seniors and it was cool to be part of that journey. The prime Dantonio days really sticking out for me with guys like Calhoun. Nowadays, we'll lose some of that perceived personal connection. There's just not enough room on a roster or PATIENCE from the kids or coaches to see it through for 3, 4 and 5 years at one school. It's the new world where there will not only be fresh faces coming in as freshmen getting special teams play, but also new upperclassmen coming in as immediate contributors at key positions.
To me, that changes the game personally knowing we'll see 2-3x more transfers in and out of the program annually. I'll find myself following the program in general and less so on individual players as they could be gone quickly and unexpectedly.
This new transfer world will lead to even more power at the top. The best guys on average teams may want exposure for a year and Bama, Clemson, OSU and a couple other programs will be in prime position to land them. It won't be hard for big programs to reach out "indirectly" to plant the seed of a transfer. The circle around players will encourage transfers even more.
It's going to be a wild ride. A different one. In this type of world, I'm excited we have CMT who is going to be a dawg on the recruiting trail both in HS and in the portal. But at the same time I feel slightly detached. Maybe that'll change when we have a normal season lol
