I thought I would start a new thread with a more positive spin on the portal. I think there are too many negative vibes for kids leaving using a simple thought of they are not first team on the depth chart and they might be someplace else. That is hardly the case and typically the exception to the rule like with Calvin Hart last year. Kids leave for mostly two reasons; (1) they have a difference of opinion of their worth than the coaches or (2) they have figured out they will not see the field and move down the road to play in lower-level environment than P5 football.
The migration of players out of your program is affected by your culture. A good culture will slow the migration of players with a difference of opinion, but it also can slow the migration of players who after two years have not developed to the P5 level especially this year when it is hard to find places that have room for you to play.
To be relevant, I advocated a two deep of kids that can play at a P5 Level and perhaps a few more in the DL. Since OL is the hardest position to predict if a kid can play at the P5 level you have to recruit more of them. The Covid rules for eligibility is causing issues for getting back tot he 85 limit and of course the impact of the portal is changing everything in filling holes in your roster and where you find out you have kids that are not P5 football players and giving them the best opportunities to move down a level in play. Having relationships to send kids to a good situation is the new recruiting relationship needed for the portal.
The impact of the portal is changing everything:
Reviewing our roster is interesting with respect to the portal and how we get under the scholarship limit. I will start first with the defense which I think is the deeper and better at all three levels than last year’ solid group.
If we are healthy on the DL then we are more than solid with a two deep. . Dawkins is an example of a kid has shown he can play but would have been fighting for snaps in the two deep next year with Kante and perhaps with two promising players under development. For sure it is going be hard to keep Price off the field and Larkins seems to be developing. Dawkins had three more years, and we will need to replace two in the two deep next year. The development of Price and Larkins should be there to replace that. The following year is an issue as we could lose three DL, which means last year’s recruits and this year’s recruits will probably need some portal help. Dawkins is an example of a kid who may be able to help another team next year but his snaps at State would be limited.
We are stacked at LB. Why everyone thinks this makes us susceptible to Jones leaving is a mystery to me. Jones is in a great situation to show case his talent and will get snaps no matter how healthy Wilson is. He is not a an automatic difference maker in another P5 program., at NC state the coaches know how to use him and he should have a big year. I do think there are a few kids susceptible to leaving that have not been good enough. I think our young talent is pretty good and they have another year to develop before stepping in with three years of eligibility. This year’s freshman have potential as well but we need at least six players.. so it makes sense to find a LB in the portal not because I am worried about Jones, Poole or Fordham but because we may lose three or four LB’s next year. it will be hard to sell playing time this year but I am not going to be surprised if the coaches are already talking to each kid about plans to play more LB's especially in certain pass situations this year.
We seem to have 10 kids in the secondar that have played. We currently have 21 grants in the Secondary . Here is where a few kids leaving might help so we can add a LB. My guess is we are going to lose 3 more. This will get us to 42 on defense.
I see an LB moving on, and a new one being added and 2-3 kids moving on from the secondary.
Right now, I like our QB room and Leary is a stud. I think Finley is the backup, but we might see Mclaughlin gets some snaps because of his ability to run. Morris will get every chance to develop. They all have lots of eligibility, even Leary could come back for one more year after next year.
All RB rooms are the most fluid. Good RB are more likely to leave early than any other position. I think the kids in our room are ready to step up and take solid roles and are talented enough to produce, but we need another running back and this is a huge portal need.
I put the HB position in the TE room. We have six scholarships at this position. We also have several walk on’s that might be able to produce better than a scholarship position.
This position is a mystery to me and our OL need TE's that can pull and block and I am just not sure what we have with Walker and Udoh. If they are not ready here is where the portal can help us.
We have 16 scholarships committed to the OL. We need at least one portal pick up at tackle. I think there are two kids on scholarship that will be at a lower-level program next year. We need to see two kids step up and beat out two current starters and we need a transfer at tackle. Hopefully, our OL recruiting will harvest three to four players next year.
The WR room needs some trimming. Right now, there are 13 scholarships and it appears that a few are them are not suited for P5 football. I also think we are in a position to have our best recruiting class at this position in years.
We need three pick up in the portal, RB, OT and perhaps a TE, or a speedster WR. This means a few transfers out to adjust the roster. There is certainly six or seven candaites that are better suited to a lower level.
The migration of players out of your program is affected by your culture. A good culture will slow the migration of players with a difference of opinion, but it also can slow the migration of players who after two years have not developed to the P5 level especially this year when it is hard to find places that have room for you to play.
To be relevant, I advocated a two deep of kids that can play at a P5 Level and perhaps a few more in the DL. Since OL is the hardest position to predict if a kid can play at the P5 level you have to recruit more of them. The Covid rules for eligibility is causing issues for getting back tot he 85 limit and of course the impact of the portal is changing everything in filling holes in your roster and where you find out you have kids that are not P5 football players and giving them the best opportunities to move down a level in play. Having relationships to send kids to a good situation is the new recruiting relationship needed for the portal.
The impact of the portal is changing everything:
- The portal puts more pressure on you to have more kids ready to play. However, it also gives you an opportunity to find players to plug into holes for your recruiting misses. Durden, and Pitts filled holes, Fagan and Zavala were good finds but did not have as much impact as we wanted due to injuries. Jones was a project from the portal that needed to be developed, I am not sure if Belton is a late recruit or a player front the portal that needs development.
- We developed several players from recruiting that surprised us, Toudle and Pennix in their 3rd year and Boykin in year two on defense. Many of you were ready to write them off. The light will turn on in year three for many kids that you have not seen take snaps or when you did see them take snaps, they were not very productive. Too often we dismiss these kids. I think we are going to have a few surprises and some of them will not show up for another year as they are behind NFL type talent.
- Ideally kids that leave are the ones fighting for a spot on the two deep, whether it looks like they are the next man up or the kid that got a development year is pushing you hard for playing time. You hope you have enough kids in development to replace the anticipated loss for the next year. You pray you do not have to count on kids without the capability.
Reviewing our roster is interesting with respect to the portal and how we get under the scholarship limit. I will start first with the defense which I think is the deeper and better at all three levels than last year’ solid group.
Roster | Grants | Recruits | Limit | |
| DL | 12 | 9 | 3 | 12 |
| LB | 14 | 9 | 2 | 11 |
| DB | 24 | 19 | 2 | 21 |
50 | 37 | 7 | 44 |
If we are healthy on the DL then we are more than solid with a two deep. . Dawkins is an example of a kid has shown he can play but would have been fighting for snaps in the two deep next year with Kante and perhaps with two promising players under development. For sure it is going be hard to keep Price off the field and Larkins seems to be developing. Dawkins had three more years, and we will need to replace two in the two deep next year. The development of Price and Larkins should be there to replace that. The following year is an issue as we could lose three DL, which means last year’s recruits and this year’s recruits will probably need some portal help. Dawkins is an example of a kid who may be able to help another team next year but his snaps at State would be limited.
We are stacked at LB. Why everyone thinks this makes us susceptible to Jones leaving is a mystery to me. Jones is in a great situation to show case his talent and will get snaps no matter how healthy Wilson is. He is not a an automatic difference maker in another P5 program., at NC state the coaches know how to use him and he should have a big year. I do think there are a few kids susceptible to leaving that have not been good enough. I think our young talent is pretty good and they have another year to develop before stepping in with three years of eligibility. This year’s freshman have potential as well but we need at least six players.. so it makes sense to find a LB in the portal not because I am worried about Jones, Poole or Fordham but because we may lose three or four LB’s next year. it will be hard to sell playing time this year but I am not going to be surprised if the coaches are already talking to each kid about plans to play more LB's especially in certain pass situations this year.
We seem to have 10 kids in the secondar that have played. We currently have 21 grants in the Secondary . Here is where a few kids leaving might help so we can add a LB. My guess is we are going to lose 3 more. This will get us to 42 on defense.
I see an LB moving on, and a new one being added and 2-3 kids moving on from the secondary.
Roster | Grants | Recruits | Llimit | |
| QB | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| RB | 6 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| TE/HB | 9 | 6 | 0 | 15 |
| WR | 16 | 12 | 1 | 13 |
| OL | 19 | 14 | 2 | 16 |
55 | 38 | 5 | 43 |
Right now, I like our QB room and Leary is a stud. I think Finley is the backup, but we might see Mclaughlin gets some snaps because of his ability to run. Morris will get every chance to develop. They all have lots of eligibility, even Leary could come back for one more year after next year.
All RB rooms are the most fluid. Good RB are more likely to leave early than any other position. I think the kids in our room are ready to step up and take solid roles and are talented enough to produce, but we need another running back and this is a huge portal need.
I put the HB position in the TE room. We have six scholarships at this position. We also have several walk on’s that might be able to produce better than a scholarship position.
This position is a mystery to me and our OL need TE's that can pull and block and I am just not sure what we have with Walker and Udoh. If they are not ready here is where the portal can help us.
We have 16 scholarships committed to the OL. We need at least one portal pick up at tackle. I think there are two kids on scholarship that will be at a lower-level program next year. We need to see two kids step up and beat out two current starters and we need a transfer at tackle. Hopefully, our OL recruiting will harvest three to four players next year.
The WR room needs some trimming. Right now, there are 13 scholarships and it appears that a few are them are not suited for P5 football. I also think we are in a position to have our best recruiting class at this position in years.
We need three pick up in the portal, RB, OT and perhaps a TE, or a speedster WR. This means a few transfers out to adjust the roster. There is certainly six or seven candaites that are better suited to a lower level.
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