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Portal opens Jan. 2nd and closes Jan. 16
Big news of the new year so far is Grunkenmeyer is in the portal. Would not be mad if he became our QB, he's played pretty well this year.
NEWS: Penn State quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer intends to enter the NCAA transfer portal, he tells ESPN. He's a redshirt freshman with three seasons remaining. He started seven games for Penn State this season and led them to four-straight wins to close the season. pic.twitter.com/pddK9tgqX3— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 1, 2026
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Former Hokie Chance Fitzgerald back in the portal
In addition to Chance Fitgerald, two former Hokies back in the portal
RB Kenji Christian looking for his fourth team after stints at North Carolina A&T and Toledo
WR Da'wain Lofton from Oklahoma State
Holy gazoones lofton is still playing?
I had the same thought for both of them
Also former Hokie Justin Beadles is back in the portal from Louisville with previous stops at Houston and New Mexico St
He wasn't part of the TX2VT crew, was he?
No he's from Georgia
Wild that lofton was class of '21, i might have guessed 2018 lol.
Beadles was in the wack 2020 class, but given that the 2020 season didn't count for eligiblity it makes sense he and lofton are on the same timeline
I always assumed he was Dwayne Lawson trying to sneak back in with a subtle name change.
Former Hokie Ishmael Findlayter back in the portal out of Duquesne
The S*** is getting real.
I guess he just got more expensive.
He's just a slightly better version of Drones. No thanks.
Talk about curbing my enthusiasm...
Check out Ethan Grunkmeyer's stats from the last 6 games.
Edit: Here's his last five...
Assuming this is COMP, ATT, %COMP, YDS, TD, INT, looks like 81 for 111, 73.0% completion, 7 TDs, 1 INT.
I noticed that too and had the same reaction. But his completion percentage is really high. Setting aside jokes about were they counting completions to the other team in his stats, it seems really odd to have such a high completion percentage and such a poor TD:interception ratio. Were they a massive ground and pound team and so they would run for almost all the scores and not have any deep passing threats? The numbers just puzzled me.
Drones was 1/35 pick/throws. Pribula was 1/30. Drones still had 17 TDs to 9 picks this year. Would much rather we focus on Grunkemeyer vs Pribula.
AND he had more talent on the field around him, and better coaches designing/calling his offense (albeit against better competition) than Drones.
I think a lot higher of Drones than most people here, but doubt Ty Howle will be as good an OC as Kirby Moore. And if I'm wrong, then VT is in great shape.
I didn't watch any Mizzou games this season...but I did watch them get worked over by UVA and it was kinda weird watching them. Their offense was eerily similar to ours. So much so, in fact, that I made comments about it in this thread
I didn't watch the game, but I know it had to be weird since Kirby Moore had left to go be the head coach at Washington State and the new coordinator (Chip Lindsay) was there and sharing offensive coordinator duties with Drinkwitz.
Ball games in 2025 are unpredictable. In this situation was pretty unique as well. So I'm not surprised to hear it was underwhelming.
Isaiah Dawson, WR/KR 5'8 slot guy, Richmond planning an OV after an offer. This feels like a Kick Returner offer although he had 42 receptions for 575 and 5 TDs last season.
247Sports
ESPN Stats
Ory Williams, OT 6'8, 330 lbs LSU planning an OV
3 🌟 86 Rating
247Sports
Interesting names:
Tennessee Edge Caleb Herring who we offered out of high school
Georgia LB Kris Jones from Fairfax HS who was on the sidelines last night in his jersey but no pads
Norfolk St Edge David Ojiegbe a 4* prospect out of St. John's in DC who started his career at Clemson
Minnesota LB Koi Perich he seemed like a Minnesota lifer and is from a tiny town outside Duluth, but he's probably looking for a national championship contending team for his last year
ECU RB London Montgomery formerly of PSU
Wisconsin DL Ernest Willor from the Baltimore area
ND DL Armel Mukam from Woodberry Forest
QBs of note (some have been mentioned before, not including Pribula or Grunk here)
Texas Tech Mitch Griffis from Ashburn, previously played at WF and Marshall
Mississippi St Luke Kromenhoek was previously at FSU, 4th rated QB in his HS class
Arizona Braedyn Locke started some games for Wisconsin
Auburn Ashton Daniels
SCAR Air Noland previously at Ohio St, 7th rate QB in his HS class
FSU Brock Glenn
JMU Alonza Barnett III
UNLV Anthony Colandrea previously at UVA
Oregon Austin Novosad, 13th rated QB in his HS class
UConn Nick Evers, previously at OU and Wisconsin, 8th rate QB in his HS class
UCLA Henry Hasselbeck son of Matt Hasselbeck
Wisconsin Billy Edwards from Lake Braddock HS previously at WF and UMD, was injured most of this year
Michigan Davis Warren started for Michigan most of last year after the Alex Orji experiment didn't work, walked-on at Michigan
Auburn Deuce Knight was the 9th rated QB in his HS class
Oklahoma Michael Hawkins took Jackson Arnold's starting job in 2024 midseason
ECU Raheim Jeter had a VT offer out of HS
Ohio St Lincoln Keinholz who was in a QB competition last summer with Julian Sayin
Pitt Eli Holstein previously at Alabama, was beat out by a true freshman this year, started most of 2024 for Pitt
Auburn QB Jackson Arnold previously at OU, former 5* recruit but lost two starting jobs in two years
Coastal Carolina MJ Morris previously started for NCST then bailed halfway through the 24 season
Liberty Michael Merdinger already committed to Minnesota
Ole Miss Austin Simmons lost his job to Trinidad Chambliss, but was on the sideline with his helmet on during the Georgia game
Kentucky Stone Saunders from PA, we offered out of HS
Maryland Khristian Martin from Highland Springs
Tennessee Jake Merkingler 13th rated QB in his HS class
Nice Chart! Much easier to read than the list. Thank you!
Penn State outgoing transfers with hometown/home state and composite HS star rating
Edge Chaz Coleman, eastern Ohio, 4* (transfer portal 5* rating)
OL Alex Birchmeier, Ashburn - Broad Run HS, 4*
CB AJ Harris previously at UGA, Phenix City AL, 4*
LB Kari Jackson, Michigan, 3*
Edge Zuriah Fisher, Aliquippa PA, 4*
WR Anthony Ivey, Lancaster PA, 4*
LB Keon Wylie, Philadelphia, 3*
QB Bekkem Kritza, Florida, 3*
WR Kaden Saunders, Columbus OH area, 4*
DL Xavier Gilliam, Gaithersburg MD, 3*
LB Anthony Specca, Pittsburgh, 4*
Edge Jaylen Harvey, Gaithersburg MD, 4*
OL TJ Shanahan, Austin TX previously at Texas A&M, 4*
WR Jeff Exinor, Maryland, 4* (we recruited him as an Edge)
TE Luke Reynolds, Connecticut, 4* (100% crystal ball to VT, entered the portal with a "Do Not Contact" tag)
QB Ethan Grunkemeyer, Columbus OH area, 4*
OT J'ven Williams, Reading PA, 4*
WR Josiah Brown, New York, 4*
OT Eagan Boyer, North Carolina, 3*
S Lamont Payne, PA, 3*
RB Cam Wallace, Georgia, 3*
S King Mack, Ft Lauderdale, 4*
QB Jaxon Smolik, Des Moines, 3*
RB Corey Smith, Wisconsin, 4*
thank you! I don't know how to do that
1) copied your text to a text editor on.my phone (putting baby to sleep)
2) added commas after position
3) added title row
4) pasted at https://www.tablesgenerator.com/html_tables
5) pressed generate
6) copied here
7) replace tg in table class ="tg" with blog_statistics
8) press post
when at my computer I clean up them html more because I can but didn't because I did it all with my left thumb fire to baby sleeping on me and not in bed yet
Great assist on the chart!
Birchmeier transferring to Liberty
Add S Dejaun Lane
Edge Cortez Harris
Edge Mylachi Williams
Add WR Tyseer Denmark
Owen Wafle to Duke
RB Jabree Coleman and WR Tyseer Denmark are in the portal
I'll probably make a new PSU table later today
Yes please
Add Daniel Jennings to the list. Edge rusher from Princeton WV
BREAKING: Freshman PSU TE Matt Henderson is entering the transfer portal. Virginia Tech is certainly a school to watch here.
Kolby saying the same. Was a 3* out of high school from Powhatan
QB Michael Van Buren in the portal. Was at LSU last year, Miss St prior. Went to St Frances for high school.
As a Van Buren I assume he knows the secret hand sign...
Franklin hire has me so excited about recruiting and transfer portal I'm tempted to get a 247 sub. Just want the info so bad lol. Miss the old rivals 600-600 text
4500 kids in the portal. Wild times.
I don't even know how that compares to previous years.
FBS only
2022: 1,946 entrants
2023: 2,303 entrants
2024: 2,707 entrants
2025: 4,500 entrants as per above
Holy! $4!t!!
That's 1 in 6 of all Division I players
Estimates are that every year in FBS you see roughly 500-600 coach/asst coach changes across FBS each year. Last year there were 102 OC/DC changes alone.
There were 32 head coaches fired/left jobs this season. This creates an enormous amount of movement at player level.
I found some numbers from an article posted last year.
I'm sure that we'll get some better details by the end of the month after the portal closes.
But I'm also interested in seeing a deeper dive in those numbers. Even within that article, the language changes between "number of transfers" and "number of players in the portal". I'm sure there's a difference in those two numbers, and most articles are just going to use whichever sounds the most shocking.
The portal is also the method for a player to move up or down a division. How do the numbers of the players transferring between FCS and FBS compare to the pre-portal era?
There's a lot of nuance and qualifiers out there.
also with the 105 roster limit it affects rosters in new ways that we only saw the start of last season.
LB from Manassas
This is the one I want. Let's get him.
Hard pass. Transfers easily, and the "I can't allow myself to be undervalued" is just screaming "They didn't pay me enough."
He transferred from UNC after a coaching change and now transferring from PSU after a coaching change. I don't think transferring after coaching changes qualifies as "transfers easily"
Rumor is Tony Rojas got $1.2 million and Campbell, after being one of the best LBs in the country while Rojas was hurt most of the year, was offered $800k. 3rd Team All-Big 10, led PSU in total tackles and solo tackles, and led the team in run PFF grade.
Would instantly give us one of the best LBs in the country, and considering we're losing Woodson and have had porous LB play the past couple years, this is exactly the type of guy and position we should shell out for (the others being QB, LT, and an edge rusher).
I feel weird asking this... does Pry want him?
It's a legit question, according to Kolby Crawford tonight we're not currently in play for Campbell
Sorsby to Texas Tech in the Carson Beck model of follow your girlfriend. Sorsby GF received a huge NIL deal to transfer for volleyball.
That is some awesome upper level shit right there.
Originally wasn't going to post a new thread, but Nakos is also saying it
I think we'll have to wait til the morning to get confirmation that it's actually happening, and I'll update my tracker after I wake up.
Let's go!
Not a transfer per se, but Andre Clark was released from his Michigan NLI. From Richmond
Hayes Fawcett reporting and many others piggy backing. Could be a target.
Yes, please.
Was wondering where to share this, I think this is the right space since there's no recruiting thread at the moment.
His lead recruiter was LaMar Morgan. There is good chance he follows LaMar Morgan to his next stop. Morgan has been rumored to be heading to VT.
.... to be continued.
Committed to Kentucky. Stoops fell off because they wouldn't spend money on football, but it might've been a play to get rid of Stoops because it seems like they're splashing the cash at the moment. Flipped Minchey from Nebraska and Clark from Michigan. Rest of their transfer class right now is from big time programs.
The new coaching staff at Kentucky has put quite a few QBs into the NFL recently so probably a good move for him. It was one reason Kentucky was early rumor to get Sam Leavitt.
Drinking and distracted
LB Steven Soles who we made a late push for out of HS is in the portal
Hopefully will be a shoe-in for him
Committed to Arkansas
ODU's Colton Joseph to Wisconsin
Interesting. Thought he was gonna get interest from some contenders. Where did his OC go again? Anywhere? Forget
He went to be OC at Memphis.
Ethan Calloway, OT, 6'7, 310 lbs from LSU is visiting today and tomorrow. Was a US Army All American out of HS.
4 🌟 90 out of HS in 2024
3 🌟 89 transfer per 247Sports
247Sports
Yes, please
All the beef please.
Newest drama in college football
Washington QB Demond Williams apparently signed his new NIL contract to stay but is now entering portal. Thought to be either Miami or Tennessee tampering. Lot of fingers were pointed at Kiffin but LSU reached a deal with Sam Leavitt from Arizona St.
Wonder if we will see another lawsuit against a player.
So it might be the rev share that he signed, that's binding to the school, rather than a full on NIL issue. I hope it ends up in court
The revenue share is still required to be an NIL deal because of anti-trust. Will be interesting to see if these contracts have Termination clauses and what they call for. Also what is the period of performance on the Rev Share/NIL and had UW initiated any of their side of the agreement. Lastly if it does go to court and UW is forced to disclose how much they are paying all their players...not sure UW wants that can opened.
wouldn't what UW pays players just be a Foia request?
Pretty sure that's been tried and denied in multiple states for FERPA or that they are not public records. South Carolina lost a court case on disclosing but was only required to turn over general revenue share spending data, not individual deal numbers.
Sort of makes sense that FERPA would protect it but also weird that it would at the same time
This is where I have a problem....players have always deserved to make money off their legitimate NIL---jerseys, autographs, endorsements, ect.
But without any real rules or Regulation, we have players (and their largely unqualified NIL Agents) just doing whatever they want. Come/Go/Sign contracts/Eligibility---there are no consequences whatsoever and the "rules" are essentially voided as soon as you Lawyer Up.
I see much of nothing coming of this, See what happened with the CB Lucas who left Wisconsin for Miami---Wisconsin sued Miami and look what happened----Kid played with zero penalty.
No matter where you fall on the side of Player Compensation, I think we all can agree that this isn't good for College Sports and has nothing to do with actual "NIL". Moreover, it is doing nothing to prepare the 98.8% of these College Athletes that will never make a living playing their sport.
So what exactly are we accomplishing here? Paying money to guys who run fast so they can sustain adolescense and never really be prepared for the actual workforce where there are Rules, Regulations, and expectations for compensation? Where they can't job-hop every 6 months in any realistic profession??
The NIL Proponents are all for "get yours" without thinking about the long-term picture of where these guys will be when they are 35 and--for the vast, vast majority--that NIL money has been long gone.
Stop it DCWilson....
You are right though. I doubt UW does anything because it will hurt their reputation more than the contract is worth. And what stops them from now doing the same with some other QB?
DC would have used much more colorful words. But he and the poster were both about the shit show that is NIL and pay for play.
I'm less for NIL which has a lot of ways to exploit (im not against the idea of it but there is no way it won't be exploited) but im all for revenue sharing. The orange bowl executes make 7 figures for a single game. The stadium, the vendors everything is there and they just have to rent it and the ln make some t-shirts to sell. Sure there's contracts to manage but they're making millions while making conferences pay to play in the game if they don't sell enough tickets for a match up the orange bowl committee selects.
Bob Stoops won a national title while making less than his wife did selling mary Kay. 25 years later he would be make 8 figures at the same job. The money exploded at the end of the century and the players (which is what we actually tune in to see) were left behind. The value of a scholarship has increased just under 2x in that time but coaches make 10x more. Based on my out of state costs, players should be getting around 250k in balls each year if they followed suit.
If teams shared revenue with players then there could be escalation by year at school so that it benefits players to stay but wouldn't prevent them from transferring if there is a need.
Now if players we getting part of the revenue then coaches probably wouldn't have earned as much but that's a whole other exercise.
This is where the NCAA has failed time and time again. There is a simple solution, just make the players employees of the university.
Then they can sign binding multi-year agreements, have penalties for leaving early, etc. But the NCAA doesn't want to do this because the players will get the benefits that employees get and the OSHA protections, etc.
Every other student at a school is able to work for that school (I worked at Donaldson Brown for example). I don't agree with Jay Bilas often but this has been his point for decades and it makes so much sense it will never happen.
It would be the death knell for non rev sports because once they are employees, Title IX no longer applies.
And Darren Heitner has entered the chat as Williams's attorney
Williams was also dropped by his reps at Wasserman, which need to fact check, but someone said they also represent UW HC Jedd Fisch
Alabama in the market for a transfer QB as Ty Simpson announced he intends to go pro.
I'm not sure they are. Word is Deboer really likes Keelon Russell.
Notre Dame LB Bodie Kahoun from Roanoke in the portal. Was the 9th ranked player in VA in the 2024 composite.
I don't know where else to put this but I found it mildly interesting. Currently the first team in the On3 portal rankings that doesn't have a shade of red in its team colors is Duke at 16. (Orange counts to include OSU and Illinois)
https://www.on3.com/transfer-portal/team-rankings/football/2026/
Thanks for linking this.
Also, it's great to see that LOLUVA isn't listed in the top 50 since their entire philosophy is to ignore high school recruiting and go all in on the portal.
They just broke into the top 50 they've lost quite a few people on top of more than half their players accepting AARP benefits next year because they're finally out of eligibility.
i would like to see this data for the past 10 years and then compare it to how those teams ultimately finished the following season...
I'm pretty sure you're talking about portal rankings but initially I was thinking about ways to collate that data based on team color.
yes, based on teams with shades of red in their team colors
edit: also i wasn't serious, original comment was satirical in nature
someone did a deep dive on this for one season a few years ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/zqptta/what_primary_color_did_best...
and even further back: https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/8jbgs4/which_color_is_the_best_in_...
lol, yeah i have no doubt the data /info/studies are out there for that.
it's like the random commentator filler "stats" you hear during games. example: 'this is the first time since 1958 that a left-handed quarterback from the west coast has thrown for two touchdowns and rushed for another in an east-coast game in October'...
Patterns and anomalies! That's my jam at work in data management/data quality...
Nerd 🤓
j/k
Proudly so! (though I don't wear glasses lol...)
Penn State transfer status table to replace the one above
Thanks!
Two questions:
1. Are you able to easily add what year they are?
2. Has anyone heard of any other players leaning our way beyond Reynolds and Grunk? We could really use some experience at OL, S, LB.
I thought about adding the year, but I'm not sure which way to do it. Idk the accuracy of how many years left they have left and some redshirts haven't been assigned. What would you like to see?
Well, adding years left is fruitless! Could be anything from 1 to infinity.
I was thinking Fr, So, Jr, Sr and the related rFr, etc. Understandably, this is subject to error, but should give us an idea of whether we're getting a "youngster" or a one and done.
S and LB are huge priorities IMHO and largely have heard crickets on anyone we are targeting.
Might also help if we had a clear plan on who is going to coach them.
Pry needs to prove to me (among many things) that he can identify and bring in a solid LB from the Portal. The prior efforts while he was H.C. we're nearly all swings and misses.
I trust Franklin's plan, but linebackers must come from the portal or we are toast on defense.
Yeah I feel like we have some safeties we can roll with but LBs are hurting and that's the position we need the most ready to play guy
Tough to recruit Safeties when we dont have their coach official
Xavier Gilliam to Tennessee. Not a position of need for us, but one of the best players in the portal at any position.
Chaz Coleman, Dejuan Lane and Amare Coleman to Tennessee with Knowles and Pointdexter
Add DL Enai White to the PSU transfer list. Expected to follow Pointdexter to Tennessee.
Colandrea to Nebraska after they missed on Minchey.
I have been on this boat since he was at loluva and haven't left. Colandrea is not a P4 QB and is ass. Nebraska was dumb for picking him up even if just for a backup because he's way too high strung to be a backup qb. Usually you want a more steady eddy as your backup not a panic throw it to the other team eddy
4 🌟 WR Matt Outten added to the Penn State transfer pool. Had previously been committed to Hokies before Franklin big dawged us. From Portsmouth and was a Top 10 in VA kid.
247Sports
On3sports
Syracuse bound
Dealyn Evans just entered the portal. On3 top 15 DL in 2024.
Michigan DB Brandyn Hillman from Portsmouth is in the portal
Yeah. I expect him to be a hokie
He's a Hoo
One very questionable life choice after another...
Xavier Chaplin to Florida State. I'm surprised by a couple things 1) that he didn't have better offers 2) that he would go to FSU where Norvell is a dead man walking, did he not learn anything from the Hugh Freeze situation? 3) that we didn't make a stronger push for him to return
He probably only has one more year in college, no?
Yeah only one year left. I know there's seemingly been a build for the future strategy with the portal additions, but I don't agree with that strategy for this position (LT) and especially in this specific case of a guy who was previously here and is a high quality player at a premium position.
yeah LT is to premium a position, I would add LB is where id also take a 1 year guy just to get some talent in the room and call the defense on field
Yeah I've mentioned in other posts that the two positions that I want a top talent even if it's just a one year guy is LT and LB. I get the strategy of multi year guys to build for the future, but I don't agree with it for those two positions.
We are too far away, but a 1 year QB is something id take too just because its too important a position.
You posted this before the Grunk announcement (I'm playing catchup after travelling). Do you still feel like you'd prefer a 1 year QB or do you like Grunk? Personally, I like Grunk. It's also possible he shows out and becomes a one 1 year guy, but of the QBs available in the portal he was in the top group on my list regardless of years remaining.
Oh I meant in a general philosophy of the portal that you should always take QBs even at 1 year because they are worth it. We are in rebuild mode so Grunk is better to grow with the team, but we have a national title game against two teams with 1 year transfers.
If you want to contend then having the best QB you can get is important, we are just trying to get to winning more games, we dont have the senior talent to contend for titles (conference or national) at this point get the more developmental guy and build the program.
I think you might be putting more thought into it that Chaplin probably did
He has one year of eligibility left--doubt he cares at all about Norvell's security at FSU. Win or lose, he's there to make $$ and put out film for NFL Scouts....nothing more. I'd argue that that's largely what has led FSU to where they are--filling a team with guys who are short-term rentals rather than those who are going to buy into the Program.
I'm guessing FSU probably made him a big $$ offer and he went for it. Since there is absolutely Zero transparency in NIL, we don't know if VT made a competitive offer or thought the price was simply too high for Chaplin.
Danny Kannell agrees with you
I don't agree with it because of exactly what you said
If you want to put the best film out there for the NFL (and maximize your future earnings) you should be looking for a competent team. He should know after last year that when your coach gets fired midseason that a lot of things can start to fall apart which can make your film look worse than you actually are. Norvell is on the hottest of hot seats. That's not a good place to get solid film. There are plenty of other options to get a decent bag and put out solid film.
Amare Campbell to Tennessee
I respect the "let Franklin cook" theme and people who espouse it, and I've been a long time Franklin defender throughout his entire PSU tenure. Long term he's the right guy and building this to be successful for a long time.
BUT, I think this transfer portal has been full of missteps and missed opportunities. We could make a run at the playoff next year, there are Franklin players from PSU who are elite upperclassmen that could transform this team next season. Gilliam and Campbell are the top of that group, both are going to Tennessee. AJ Harris and Dejaun Lane could make our secondary great and are still uncommitted. I know our transfer portal ranking is high, but idgaf about transfer portal team rankings, good PSU players are not coming to VT the way I expected and the impact players next year are either going elsewhere or not committed. Additionally, other impact players at key positional needs, Xavier Chaplin premier among them, are not being pursued or are going elsewhere.
I still think Franklin will have this thing rolling soon, but we could've turned it over next year to make a run, and we aren't doing that and I find it very frustrating.
I would have really liked to have those guys too.
But reading between the Tea Leaves, I'm getting an obvious sense that there was alot of dysfunction and discord among the Coaching Staff at PSU.
Seems as if most of the Defensive Staff (particularly Terry Smith) have turned away from Franklin. Poindexter stayed with Knowles who despite an impressive resume has made Zero friends at his last two stops. Some of the players were likely to follow them. The guys loyal to Smith seem to be trending towards staying at PSU. There was some smoke that Dan Connor was coming to VT to Coach LBs but he's staying there and essentially taking a demotion. Long and short, pretty much none of the D Staff is coming with Franklin so I'm not surprised we aren't reeling in a huge haul of their Portal players on that side.
Kotelnicki was clearly on the outside there as well. It was just a very fractured organization.
Franklin's approach here seems to be to stick with "his guys" which may or may not end up being the right decision but I understand the rationale.
We have so many issues with our program that taking coaches that you know you can work with verse a flashier hire makes sense. I think lots of people underestimate how little talent we had on the team and we will be starting to be able to out talent teams in the ACC. Having stable coaches allows Franklin to manage upwards to make sure the athletic department doesn't keep doing what its been doing.
The dysfunction from within regarding the defense also started when Pry went to VT and ended up with a power grab from within to force out their staff fresh off a Final Four appearance. Seeing how long it took them to hire someone new, and how desperate they got at the end, there is some serious rot in Happy Valley that is going to impact them for a while.
I don't blame Franklin for immediately bringing Pry back and recreating what worked best at Penn St. Get back to basics with guys he trusts and move forward. We are assembling the best collection of talent we've had in Blacksburg in probably 15 years in a conference wide open for the taking. We should all be very excited about what is going on right now.
Poindexter may have stayed because rumor was as a Hoo he never wanted to go to VT. Terry Smith was a priority retention by Campbell, are we surprised that a hardcore PSU alum stayed in State College? Was there discord or was everything just kind of chaotic because the head coach got fired, much like it is at any program that fires the HC?
I do think the players following Knowles and Dex to Tennessee is the main driver.
Lastly, my concerns from last week have been mostly allayed because more players are in the boat and a significant portion from PSU. I'm not fully satisfied, but I am overall pleased.
I don't follow the leap from "we didn't get every single guy we might want" to "we didn't try for any of them". FSU and Tennessee have 10's of millions of dollars, too.
We don't really know whether we pursued any of them, but there was no scuttlebutt that we were in any way involved on a number of them. That's where the leap is. Although, I'm not a subscriber to some of the recruiting insiders, so tell me if I'm wrong.
Shocking twist when a college athlete decides to not go to a place that won 3 games last season.
We haven't even gotten to the spring game and this is a take already?
Wasn't the narrative that Franklin would take the PSU roster to Blacksburg? Isn't that what other coaches have done?
Obviously now that we're at the end of the portal what I was saying has faded because Franklin has taken a lot of PSU guys to Blacksburg, just not the one year instant impact guys.
I really don't know that this is realistic if we blew all of our NIL on older portal players we'd essentially need like and entire 2 deep for a decent shot at that goal. So the alternative is grab some positions of need and a bunch of promising young guys for way cheaper and build a balanced roster which imo is the much more logical thing to do instead of chasing a natty coming off a 3-8 season.
I know someone's going to bring up Indiana's transformation and I'll let that be known that's been done once in the history of football and Cignetti is a sicko genius I don't think that Franklin is on that level.
A sicko genius backed by Mark Cuban's money
I like the long view that Franklin seems to be implementing.
I never said chase a natty, or even consider it. I said run at the playoffs, which in the ACC shouldn't be that difficult. You make the ACCCG and then you probably have a coin flip chance at winning it, which would be an automatic playoff berth unless you inexplicably make the ACCCG with 5 losses.
Chandler Morris denied another year of eligibility by NCAA. Has stated he will pursue all options including legal action to get another season.
If he had been in UVA Law school, he could be his own lawyer by this point.
Countdown to a Darren Heitner Tweet regarding him "representing" Morris???
Good, 7th season is absurd.
The one thing that annoys me in the eligibility conversation one of the main reasons is to keep player safety in mind as a 24-25 year old against a 17-18 year old is physically completely different and can endanger the younger players.
I long to return to 4 years and no more conversations like this involving the evil scum of the earth blood sucking lawyers.
The Indiana University team average age is 23. They play like it too!
Thoughts on Eric Mensah from Ohio State? Saw a couple Titter posts saying it may be in the works. Had committed to Hokies in 2023 before Ohio St came calling. He would be a 3 🌟 87 rating from On3. He appears to only have gotten on the field in their CFP game against Miami.
Yes please. We need more DL beef. And he fits the VT mold of a young kid with 3? years remaining. I am sure the allure of Coach Chaos will help.
Faheem Delane in the portal from Ohio State
Let's bring him home
Oh man would that get like some sweet redemption. He was a safety I believe, which we could use some help with.
Went to 11 Warriors to try and get some intel on Mensah (i.e. was he expected to be a contributor next year ect) and there appears to be a mini-meltdown about the number of Portal entrants there.
Delane seems to have particularly set the powder keg off as it was thought that he had a real chance to step in at a Safety position next year.
"Will we even have enough players for a team next year" ect.
Its pretty comical to see opposing fans on the other end of this.
Especially anOSU fans, of all teams
All aboard De-Lane train. He's LSU bound
Guess their money monies the same despite not being the same coaches as his brother.
Looks like he's following his brother's move to LSU...
This is how JMFF is closing deals
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/aNSJU6REP0w
LB Kris Jones transfers from UGA to BC. That's a big change, but also he is a VA kid that I remember TKP being disappointed/annoyed that we couldn't secure. I want to say he was a 4 star
Yes, high 4 star. The other high 4 star linebacker that year committed to USCe
edit: also UGA took a five star LB from VA that year too, Chris Cole
He REALLY doesn't want to come home.
That name gave me major JPP rejection flashbacks.
QB Landen Clark goes from Elon to LSU
...and then Kiffin recruits over him with Sam Leavitt it appears.
But remember, it's not pay to play
Davi Belfort back in the portal
Randy Adirika, PSU DL announced he committed to Hokies. Don't have titter so nothing to link
https://virginiatech.sportswar.com/article/2026/01/12/penn-state-dt-rand...
Honestly good with this. I do not expect him to be anything near Chandler Morris. Could make them miserable which I support 100 times out of 100.
Oh so UVa signs the guy who transferred away from Franklin?
Yeah, as if we needed more reasons to make that game personal next year. Wouldn't be shocked if we absolutely woodshed them
Win the bowl, take the QB?
Just another player that will never see a win in this rivalry. 🤷♂️
Confession, TKP FAM...
I've been a bit of a glutton as it relates to going over onto the Sabre to cruise the board and see what little brother is thinking.
They all thought they were getting DJ Lagway (originally had their eyes on all the biggest QB names in the portal). Then slowly as each QB they wanted signed, they would get excited about the next one... then the next one... then the next one... Eventually it turned into a self gaslighting session where they were talking about how great the next guy would be (They've done this with every position group BTW)! Then Pribula... There are a couple of people who are a slight bit critical of his skillset, but for the most part they think he will continue to elevate that program.
To me, it seems like a big disappointment if you're a Wahoo. I think this is a downgrade from Morris.
One of my employees who's pretty tight with UVA athletics doesn't even think he'll start. Says it's maybe 50/50 that they start Geer despite Pribula's experience.
Here's the deal...
CTE, for whatever reason, has gone in the opposite direction of Dabo. He is one of the worst recruiters in the ACC, so he's decided to rebuild his team every year through the portal. This is an incredibly big gamble. You are banking on instant cohesion and success. Every single season. You aren't building anything and there's little to no future unless you simply keep chasing.
Texas just spent $40,000,000 on its 2026 roster. How do you keep up with that?? You don't.
I started out trying to figure out why Dabo is immune to head injury, and why that's relevant here.
I also was very confused why head injuries and Dabo was relevant to a UVA QB post.
Yeah I dont understand using these abbreviations at all, the worst is that Pry is less key strokes on phones (double tap shift and 3 letters vs 1 shift and 3 letters) and same on a keyboard. It's confusing to me every time I read CMY as My. Add that to the sport I mainly did doesn't calls coaches by their name, its just really weird to call anyone coach to me.
PS, Frank Beamer is CFB which means college football so it makes things even worse.
And CJF could be Fuente or Franklin
What sport did you do and what did you call your coaches? I was a swimmer and swimmers call their coaches by their first name. When I was a swim coach I wasn't "Coach Ben" I was just "Ben" to all my swimmers ages 6-18.
Swimming and you describe it perfectly. My coach is Frank. Growing up it was Tom (and others for summer swim and high school).
My sister coaches swimming and had swimmers at Olympic trials last time and they all call her by her first name.
It is going to be interesting to see if he can continue to juggle a junior and senior transfer team every year to sustain success.
This tracks with what my UVA friend has been reporting to me. He also said they had a "mystery qb" that was visiting and he thought it was Grunk. Turns out it was Eli Holstein apparently.
One of my best friends is a UVA grad (he actually sits in the suite with Tony Elliot's family during home games)... He loves CTE, but he isn't convinced the strategy being embraced is either reasonable or sustainable. In his estimation, UVA will be looking for a new coach in a year or two.
Let's be honest, if he had performed anywhere near his normal coaching this past year he would be looking for a job right now. It took a historic year for UVA not to have fired him. Now, will they extend him after one year of unsustainable success?
One can hope.
I hope so as well.
Sounds like the same thing we do here and the same thing every fanbase does
Time for CBRDog to come clean about those impermissible meal benefits!
I don't like this. Pribula is far from the best QB they could've gotten, but he absolutely has the ability to put a team on his back, create chaos, and win a game. I'm glad that we got Grunk and not Pribula, but I much rather would've had UVA land on a guy like Holstein or worse because Pribula is just dangerous enough to make that game risky.
Well they did get Holstein too lol
Oh I guess I missed that. Would've been nice if they just had Holstein. Pribula is capable, Holstein isn't.
Portal now has 10,200 entries
That's 1 in 7 across all levels
Mose Phillips on the move again. Sergio Render "We don't want him" as a reply to that tweet. Ouch lol
Sergio isn't messing around.
Expect another temper tantrum from Dylan Raiola...Dante Moore announced he is returning to Oregon.
I don't know why he would. projected as the #2 pick in the draft.
Didn't want to play for the Jets?
He didn't exactly play that well in his last game, which was against the #1 pick, so there's going to be some obvious direct comparisons.
1) You don't want to be ruined by the Jets
2) You want to run it back and win a Natty (we've seen this before in basketball and football)
3) Now that you're being paid a couple million in college, the difference between NFL salary and college salary isn't that big, you're already a millionaire. If you like college, if you want revenge on this season, if you think you can win it all, then I get why he'd want to come back. NFL will almost certainly still be there next year. This is the benefit of paying players, more good players and higher quality of play in college.
The NFL is just a different professional league.
But at that level, one year (a different draft) can make a huge difference in salary.
As a Browns fan who doesn't think Shaduer is the long term answer, I would love for them to take a WR and OT with the Jags 1st and go for the QB next year when the class looks MUCH better. That's the part of Moore I don't understand. This year's QB class has a lot of question marks, why take the chance of being in a better class next year and potentially being taken much lower.
Mose Phillips in the Portal out of Missouri. Bumpy road ahead for him.
Drink
Gladly...am going to leave the portal to you.
There are rumors out there that Mensah (Duke QB, not VT DL) may hit the portal today.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/duke-qb-darian-mensah-tr...
He's currently on a 2 year, $8M contract with Duke, but Miami is really pushing to grab a QB from the portal. This could get interesting.
ACC indirectly enabled Miami getting him with Miami getting 100% of CFP money.
They can put that towards capital projects etc and redirect big donor money elsewhere.
The U being back also helps with getting true NIL sponsorship deals.
Wait they get 100% of the money?
Yes.
Thank FSU and Clemson suing the ACC for that one.
Check out the Bowl Games topic for a bunch of talk on that.
could be fun to watch.
Duke says it owns his NIL. So Miami or Mensah would need to either buy them back or Miami can only pay him from revenue sharing...if they have the cap space or can restructure enough of their existing deals from revenue share to NIL. But all of those would have to go thru the Deloitte filter.
He hit the portal and is expected to sign with Miami
This is an illustration of why players aren't going to be employees (at least not anytime soon).
There's no advantage to them and being employees, other than maybe having to forgo any academic requirement.
But as a situation already is, they're getting paid, getting to be the "big men on campus", and they're finding out they really don't even have to honor contracts.
It's a complete free-for-all with unlimited free agency and no enforceable rules or body to provide any oversight.
Advantages: retirement benefits, likely get life health insurance, guaranteed contracts, regulations around what happens when you get cut
The benefits of the Wild West are mostly reaped by the top players, the majority of players are subject to changing whims and few guarantees while getting taken advantage of by unregulated "agents"
But no, there is no pay to play...
But wait, there's more:
Not required to attend classes or maintain satisfactory academic standing
Valet parking at all municipal venues within Miami
Pre-season celebration with the mayor where he his presented with 'the key to the city'
There will be a street in Miami renamed in his honor
Will only take part in 'two-hand-touch' during practices and scrimmages
Film room must be supplied with Nestles strawberry quick and werthers originals at all times
Meh, he could get that stuff anywhere.
/S
I am going to laugh if the current NIL contract was like Oregon and contains clauses like they have the right to restrict you from the portal.
There's a middle ground between kids getting punished for accepting meals and this. We should find that middle ground sooner rather than later
Maybe, but we really liked the Pandora's box approach, so we'll reap the whirlwind for a few years.
Couldn't agree more.
This has always been the point here....not that NIL is inherently bad, but that it was going to be abused and turned into a Pay-For-Play shitshow with no rules.
Tampering? Go ahead, no one cares
Eligibility? If you are good enough, we'll just make rules up to keep you eligible (I would bet a kidney Trinidad Chambliss is back playing in 26-27)
Contracts? just break them, this is a world free of any consequences if you play sports good.
Now you have a Program like Miami who is flush with new cash throwing around money and openly tampering with a team in its own Conference. Darian Mensah with an Adidas campaign????? probably 96% of the U.S. population couldn't pick him out of a photo line-up. The money being thrown around is insane--preemptively at least since NONE of this is transparent.
On the other end of this are the 6k or so guys still in the Portal, many of whom are going to find their NIL gone and a percentage who won't ever find a landing spot. Then there are the HS Seniors who are losing out on scholarship spots so we can let Diego Pavia, Faison at South Carolina, and the like play until their late 20's.
So who is really winning here? Are we really doing better for College Athletes as a whole, or just a select few...and then ignoring the rest that are left behind??
96% ?!?!? you're really giving him the benefit there. I couldn't pick out any current hokie if you showed me pictures.
And this my friends is a summation we call a "SHIT SHOW".
Insane it is, indeed!!!!
This is a secondary or tertiary issue, but don't even get me started on how much college tuition is these days as it relates to the median household income. My son was very fortunate (he worked his a$$ off) to have obtained an internship that just about paid for his full tuition at the JMU school of business, but most of his classmates... sheesh. These kids are going into an almost insurmountable amount of debt to earn a college degree while the athletic departments of these same universities are throwing around hundreds of millions of dollars to keep the football teams relevant in the current landscape.
It all seems incredibly out of balance.
OK, rant over.
Not wrong.
Gotta keep feeding the machine
JMU in particular with its $13K+ in 4 years for Athletic Fees
This is obscene, not doubt.
However, the JMU School of Business is a great bang for your buck. Fantastic degree, amazing network post graduation, and a very well respected business degree. So the extra $$, though frustrating, aren't something we really got too concerned about.
That being said, I can tell you that the broader staff at JMU is unequivocally frustrated at the current state of affairs as it relates to athletics, the Athletic Fees and staff compensation (which is low as it relates to their peers at the same level of institution).
Something must have changed because my sister graduated at the top of her class in the JMU business school and it led to 0 job openings. She ended up working in retail before getting an indentured servitude job in sports marketing. I know graduating on 2008 didnt help, but it took her about 5 years after college to work her way into a "real" job.
My brother struggled here too. Wasn't until he got into medical sales that he made real money. Best he could do after graduation was Enterprise Rental as an Asst Mgr
Really paid off.
For Indiana.
It is out of balance.
Out of whack, even.
In 1980 was 19 hours a week at minimum wage would get you room board and tuition at a 4 year state school. In 2015 it was 52 hours a week. Today it is 74 hours with national minimum wage and 48 with va minimum wage.
Thats insane to have a 48h a week job, with zero weeks off and you have to work 6days 8 hours a day snd go to class.
Duke is suing Mensah.
https://www.on3.com/news/duke-university-sues-qb-darian-mensah-to-keep-h...
I personally love watching athletic shit shows go on at other ACC universities, this one is a nice distraction from the reality show that is UNC football
Kind of a lose-lose for Duke.
If they win, they are gifted a pissed-off QB who doesn't want to be there.
If they lose, then Mensah and Miami get their way and Duke is essentially SOL and SNIL...
It almost seems like it was reasonable to have sit-out rules with transfers so that teams couldn't blatantly tamper with others, particularly in their own conference.
One "free" transfer seems reasonable...after that there should be some penalty for future transfers.
I get holding a
playeremployeeperson receiving money to a contract but this has to be a really bad look to any player doing an NIL deal with Duke dragging this out like this. Again I get it but the fact that this is not happening everywhere suggests its the language in whatever he signed and either was ill advised on his part or a dirty move by Duke.The UW qb was probably the largest to try and leave other than imaleava (sp?). One got a massive cut in NIL the other stayed at UW. Other places have dealt with this and are doing just fine dealing with it. The big ten makes their revenue sharing binding. We will see this a lot more as players try to break contracts. Also if you notice only one lawyer is really taking these cases and he hasn't been winning them.
Judge already denied the TRO on him entering portal. Duke was required to enter him. The rest will get sorted later.
Oh and here is a "shocking" piece.
Mensah is represented by Darren Heitner.
/s
I waiting for the response of Duke that the portal is closed and therefore we cannot enter him. He apparently requested release hours before the end of the portal.
I wonder how long it will be before universities start inserting Non-competes into the NIL contracts?
I.E. no in-conference transfers, no Miami since they are clearly predatory to others Rosters, ect.
They remain legal thanks to appeals court in Texas and doctors and nurses can be subject to them...so why not Football and Basketball players??
Wait....nevermind...they run fast and throw ball far so all of the normal rules of society and commerce shouldn't apply to them.../s
Noncompete is interesting. Many endorsement contracts do in fact prevent an individual from signing an endorsement contract with competitor (or with a brand that would be detrimental to their image). That seems like that same concept could be implemented into NIL contracts that these players sign. So, it's not a noncompete clause per se (which is an employment contract term) but maintaining a brand image clause.
The denial of the TRO into the portal makes sense. The judge did put in a TRO on the NIL rights and ability to enroll in another school. In essence, this results in him being able to enter the portal but not able to sign with another NIL deal or attend another University. This is a huge win for Duke early.
If they granted the TRO on entry into the portal, then the whole case would have been moot as he wouldn't be able to transfer due to the portal window closing. And the entry of the portal does not adversely affect Duke with the TRO granted on the NIL rights.
This will be an interesting case as it will primarily be based on contract rights. Generally, you always have freedom to break a contract as long as you justly compensate the other party for breaking the contract. Furthermore, you cannot force a person to perform against their will (because there are laws against slavery). There are a couple of interesting issues here:
1) Would buying back his NIL rights (which Duke purchased at $4M) be enough to be considered just or can Duke argue that the harm of him leaving can result in greater amount of damages (e.g., due to loss of speculative ticket sales, media compensation, etc.).
2) With the portal now closed and no other QB valued at Mensah's value (and notably, each individual is considered to be unique with unique attributes and abilities) can Duke establish that there truly is irreparable harm here as no remedy can truly replace Mensah.
3) How does all the violations of the contract (which amount to tampering) get sorted out? Will the court provide some guidance on remedies for specific tampering violations that may provide some guidance.
4) There is also an issue on the one-sided enforcement clause. Duke has the ability to sue Mensah (which clearly they have here) but Mensah only had the ability to seek arbitration.
I'm definitely interested to see how this plays out. My hope is that this will make schools more cautious about how they "tamper." But notably, it's not like Miami is on trial here.
Welcome to College Football in 2026
Would love to know what degree he was "working towards" during one semester..
As long as the fans keep feeding the machine, there's really no entity out there that has an interest in stopping it
It would be funny if the NCAA found out that he wasn't enrolled and denied him the ability to play though in not sure who this works since the CFBP isn't owned by the ncaa.
That response should have had the immediate effect of the NCAA banning him from playing again. Same as the player who tried to transfer to tech but failed because he hadn't actually been enrolled in classes at his old school despite playing on their team.
It was a lighthearted open to his response to the question. He's been taking graduate courses up until this semester. as you don't need to be enrolled in spring to finish the football season, per NCAA rules.
Besides, he's out of eligibility.
I predict the ACC championship no later than 2 years from now. Miami may interfere as I predict the same level of players we'll have that year, that will be Miami's next attempt at Natty. Next year their play will be slightly off from this year.
VT Run at the national championship no later than 3 years from now.
Bold and I like it
Mostly all the same suspects. No surprise.
I think our rating is too high and is in top 25 due to the hype.
Our guys are too young and the travel schedule too brutal. I'll be upset if we don't win our OOC and we'll win some others but At Miami, At BC, At Cal, At Clemson, At SMU.
Our guys will be barely alive after that travel sequence.
Sign me up.
Davi Belfort goes to JMU
for now...
I guess I missed it and don't understand the rules (does anyone?). Do playoff teams get an exemption from the portal dates? Like their players get to enter whenever their season ends? Just curious how Mendoza entered and goes to GT. Or people can only enter the portal while it's open and can commit whenever? Tried a quick google and didn't get much
For players on the championship teams they get an additional 5 day window that started yesterday
It is kinda crazy that they end up needing to transfer after classes have started already
Yeah they could have done the easier thing and just fixed the playoff schedule so the games don't go into mid January but that would be too easy.
Next years championship game isn't until January 25th.
Classic NCAA move:
Complaint - post season is drug out far too long
Fix - Extend post season
But this isn't the NCAA...the CFP is an entity separate from the NCAA entirely.
The NCAA sucks--no arguments there-- but the whole of college football needs to be revised. There are lots of disparate entities and forces making it into an increasingly scattered shitshow.
The courts have taken the majority of any enforcement power away from the NCAA.
This is like wishing on a shooting star, but what college football really needs is a centralized Authority that will make decisions that are best for the game and those involved as a whole.
Actual rules for transfers, a game and Portal schedule that isn't a complete clusterfuck, and transparency on the NIL process.
So many layers of f*ckery involved in the post season. You have CFP, you have media meddling, you have conference meddling and you have the "non-profit" bowl committees with their 7 figure bowl committee salaries. So many different ways of wasting money that could have gone to the schools involved.
Mensah's not enrolling at Miami just yet...
lol
Original judge recused himself after noting he was a Duke season ticket holder so his initial order was stayed.
I agree that players should have got a share of the profits from schools using their images, but I am routing for Duke on this. He is an adult and signed a contract and now wants to break it with no penalties.
It is wild the number of people accusing Duke of "slavery" and "owning athletes" we're talking millions of dollars contracts it makes sense to have some investment protection clauses in there.
That's because there are laws against slavery in the U.S. and therefore there is no legal remedy to force "performance" of contract. It is 100% legal to break a contract (even one that includes performance) as long as you justly compensate the other party to make them "whole." And people are conflating the NIL contract with an employment contract.
NIL contracts are for the purchasing of NIL rights and enrollment within a University. Compensation is based on performance, but Duke is not trying to force Mensah to play QB so that's not at issue here. If Duke wins, the legal remedy would not be to force Mensah to play, but to prevent Mensah from enrolling in another school or licensing his NIL rights to another school. The legal remedy cannot make Mensah go to practice or be the starting QB for Duke.
If Duke wins, Mensah could certainly sit on his ass all year (and then also not get compensated), but he cannot enroll at Miami and Miami cannot license his NIL rights.
It's not with no penalties. He would have to "buy back" his NIL valuation and any harm received by Duke to make them "whole again." But yea, Miami was ready to give Mensah the check to pay those penalties so it would essentially be no penalties to the player.
Would a relatively simple way to help prevent tampering to insert a clause to the effect of:
"if Player X transfers to school Y prior to contract expiration, then school Y must reimburse payment of (2x/3x) the remaining value of the contract"
Essentially, avoid language that is directly punitive to the player but puts enough of a financial burden on the tampering team that it makes it not worthwhile.
It could be called the "Miami Clause"
Would that be enforceable??
The exact language there would not be enforceable. A third party is not bound to a clause in a contract that they did not agree to. You could just put the punitive payment directly on the player, if they are willing to agree to it.
That's why collective bargaining or enforceable inter-institutional bylaws would be ideal. NFL teams don't notoriously tamper because if they get caught, the NFL punishes them. There's just nothing in college football to truly enforce a fair playing field across the institutions.
Good. I can't imagine any good coming from contracts meaning absolutely nothing.
Duke and Mensah reached some sort of financial settlement so he is Miami bound.
Clemson joining Duke and Miami in offseason transfer portal drama series.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/dabo-swinney-pete-goldin...
I dont blame Dabo for being pissed off. The kid was already in classes. Unfortunately the NCAA probably wont do anything even with a mountain of evidence, thus normalizing the behavior.
Feels weird to say, but I am with Dabo. I think the NCAA just got something they didn't want to see. A coach with clear and blatant evidence of tampering wants the NCAA to actually do their job. A different article says the NCAA says coaches just normally complain. Dabo wants sanctions and based on the rules should get them.
Respect dabo for naming names. All too often coaches complain like it's some boogie man poaching their players. Name & Shame. Force the ncaa's hand.
Interesting enough Clemson might be able to claim real damages. They have credited spring tuition, books, etc.
DC must be rolling in his grave
We should connect him to a generator
No problem with the kids getting paid but staying in college for 6 plus years as many seem to be doing and not taking classes just to play ball this is just insane someway somehow this needs to be fixed
The guys staying in college for 6-8 years, going pro and coming back when they don't make the majors, etc... all they are doing is taking spots away from 18 and 19 year olds whos turn it SHOULD be. They're screwing the people behind them to make a quick buck now.
It's horseshit, and it should piss everyone off.
Ehh, I get your take. I guess the flip side is, if I was 25, and my pro career wasn't going the way I wanted, and someone offered me $$$ to come back and play, I would 100% do it. I think the real issue here, and I would imagine you agree, is the emasculated NCAA governing body doing jack shit about any of this. The schools need a governing body with weight that will actually set and uphold standards. That is not our NCAA. Until that changes, its the wild west out there, and you better hire a gunslinger.
When your "rules" are made by and subject to the interpretation of ethically challenged judges, this is what you get.
TRO after TRO, we have moved farther and farther into absurdity and at every turn there has been a crowd there to shout "take that NCAA." And now we have reached the point where we have professionals being allowed to re-enter college sports and the same voices are saying "oh no, this is too far."
My only hope is that the Bediako situation (and also Mensah) finally lead to some meaningful change and oversight because turning College Sports into the Lord of the Flies has been (not surprisingly to those who thought this out from the start) completely idiotic.
Nothing will change until the money stops. Its to profitable in its current state. Coaches put up with it because they're paid insane amounts of money. Everyone is getting paid off to make this happen.
The Mensah saga is over I guess and I doubt it changes anything except how teams structure contracts. Duke's lawsuit and TRO was probably very beneficial to them. From what I heard on the TSL podcast, it was a 2 year deal and Duke did not have a damages clause for when the player breaks the contract. Without the lawsuit and TRO, Mensah probably could have just walked and Duke would have received nothing in return. But with the TRO preventing Mensah from enrolling at another school, Duke likely used this leverage to get a monetary return (essentially acting as a transfer fee).
And my guess is that's the next step in NIL contract evolution. Every NIL contract will require a value to be released from the NIL contract, which will essentially set up a transfer fee system. And similar to your noncompete suggestion earlier, I think you could probably set this value to be higher based on who the player signs with. Something along the lines of: "Player can be released from this contract for a cost of $1M. If Player enrolls at another institution prior to the end date of this Contract, the player will owe [CURRENT UNIVERSITY] an additional $1M if that institution is within the Big-10, Big-12, or SEC, or an additional $2M if that institution is within the ACC."
I'm sure pretty much every University across the country is going to try and copy Washington's contract structure.
Because whatever language was inserted in their agreement with Williams, he ended up back @ UW with the quickness.
A "supplemental buyout clause" for signing with certain teams would seem to be a reasonable next step, but that's only if players will willingly sign it.
At this point, there isn't any real impetus for them to do so, since there are really zero restrictions on how/when/where they move. Beyond that, there will always be teams willing to undercut others.
It would probably take a concerted effort on the part of a large group of schools to all have similar clauses...and that type of cooperation is a near-zero probability.
It was a Big 10 agreement but absolutely agree that it becomes the standard
Ok, now there's a different thought. A Conference level agreement that a player transferring from the team have a buyout.
Wish we could just go back to something like one transfer and if
you transfer a second time you have to sit for a year. Stil pissed that Brock had to sit because his home was a couple miles out of the 100 mile radius.
What players sign and dont sign depends on the industry standard. And for most players, especially HS and undergrad players, they will sign a clause like that because (1) they are looking to get a chance to prove themseleves on the field, and (2) the next University will be the one paying the transfer fee. And ultimately, values will be placed on transfer fees based on market. Currently, the market of $4M transfer fee prevents transfer of a known QB talent (schools backed off of Williams at UW with a $4M fee, but Miami is alleged to be paying Mensah $10M with that playoff money, so presumably Miami would have been ok with paying around $2M transfer fee). Or, instead of a fixed number, the fee can be set at a percentage of the new contract, which is common for Japanese baseball players that come to the MLB (25% is standard).
Would a clause like that prevented Mensah from signing with Duke? No. And in fact, a clause like that would have made it easier and more efficient for Mensah to transfer because there would not have been a need for a lawsuit, TRO, and negotiations to release Mensah from his Duke contract. Just a cool $2M (or 20%) from Miami to Duke. If it was $4M, Mensah likely doesn't transfer, but that is also more efficient for everyone involved as Miami says No and moves on to a fee they are comfortable with paying.
The length of the deal and the player age makes a difference here too. Williams just signed a 1-year deal for 2026 to be the QB for that year. That makes sense for an upperclassman starter with known attributes. So, it makes sense that all schools within the P4 (or atleast the P2) would make it the industry standard for it to be unpalatable to transfer within that year. For a multi year deal of a HS or undergrad portal player, it would make sense for a team to incentivize the player to return for year 2 but also ensure they get value if a player "pops off" and wants to portal for a level of pay that the team cannot afford (or will not pay based on standards, principals, etc.).
From the players side, they should bargain for when a transfer fee kicks in based on snaps. For example, Hilson just transferred from Mizzou to VT, but probably wouldn't have had a chance if he had significant transfer fee. So, if a player signs a multi year deal, they should bargain a transfer fee doesn't kick in unless they play a certain number of snaps, games, etc.