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People can dog some of his productivity, but if a major program with a legit coach (bama and Daboer) are trying to bring him into their program it means they see potential. Which to me says that he's been underdeveloped, which adds more evidence to our previous sad state of affairs
Let the man cook...
The best teams in the country get the guys they need because they're already the best teams in the country. I would expect top teams to do well in the portal because they will take the top talent out of it too, just like high school recruiting.
Why not watch the pros then?
You can't punish a team for playing an extra game. If Alabama is out then so are Ole Miss and Oklahoma because they didn't even make the conference championship game (I don't care about uneven schedules). Either get rid of championship games or deal with championship game losers getting in.
Btw, Alabama is one of only 5 teams to win a playoff game this year, so they absolutely deserved to be in.
The sport is better for it. More games mattering > one single game mattering.
College football was different, it was great because of that
It was stupid because of that. Randomly assigning postseason games that matched up teams with sometimes wildly different records and arbitrarily deciding the national champion based on purely on voting while sometimes splitting the championship was fucking idiotic.
I couldn't disagree with this more. The best teams in the country build their rosters out of high school and supplement where needed from the portal. There are some exceptions, notably Ole Miss, but most of the "portal teams" are either a result of a coach bringing his players from a previous job (Indiana) or inconsistent (FSU, VT, LSU, Auburn). The 247 portal rankings aren't as good as the HS recruit rankings. 4 of the top 10 teams made the playoffs, the other 6 are LSU (fired coach), FSU (back-to-back losing seasons), Mizzou (8-5), Auburn (fired coach), UNC (dumpster fire), Kentucky (fired coach). I don't give a rat's ass where we're ranked in the transfer portal rankings.
Here's who Franklin has brought in via the portal
2022 - Chop Robinson (now with the Dolphins), Hunter Nourzad (now with the Chiefs),
2023 - Dante Cephus, Storm Duck (two high quality college players among 5 other transfers)
2024 - Julian Fleming (former 5* WR), Nolan Rucci (former 5* OL who started for 2 seasons), AJ Harris (starter, one of the top guys in this years portal), 6 person transfer class
2025 - Amare Campbell (one of the best LBs in the country this year, led the team in tackles), Trebor Pena (was PSU's leading receiver this year), King Mack (58 tackles and 1 int this year), Devonte Ross (2nd on the team in receiving), Kyron Hudson (3rd on the team in receiving), TJ Shanahan (started at RG), Enai White (in the 2-Deep at DL)
Franklin recruits well enough from high school that the portal classes don't need to be big, but he uses it to strategically fill holes. He knew this years team needed WR help so he went out and got 3 guys who ended up being PSU's top 3 receivers this year.
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
thank you! I don't know how to do that
How many teams this year looked good against Indiana in the past 2 years? How many teams have beat Indiana in the playoffs? How many teams made the SEC Championship game? How many teams made the 12 team playoff this year? How many teams won a playoff game this year? How many teams won an away playoff game this year?
I'll answer all those questions
- I'd say 3: Ohio St (2024), Notre Dame (2024), Penn St (2025)
- 1 (Notre Dame 2024)
- 2 (Alabama and Georgia)
- 12 (including Alabama)
- 5 out of 12 teams (including Alabama)
- 2 (Miami and Alabama)
| Position | Dude | Location | Stars |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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) |
| 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* |
It isn't over yet and I'm not winning. But, 21 of us are inside a 6 game window after 40 games, pretty tight. 2 more tonight and then the rest of the CFP games remain.
Let's Go!!
Did you watch the Bama game last night? It is not Nick Saban's alabama. Indiana absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage.
This is a big loss. Woodson is being offered by some of the best teams in the entire country. A guy who transfers from VT to a program with national championship aspirations is a massive loss for us (see Delane, Mansoor). This means we'll have to bring in even more LBs to replace him instead of Woodson plus portal LBs.
He's being offered by Alabama, so yes it is.
Well we didn't hire any new LB coached so ...
Bat signal from Evan Watkins
#PortalSZN pic.twitter.com/LFgOCrHiwg— EvanGWatkins247 (@EvanGWatkins247) January 3, 2026
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*
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
He'd fit in at UGA.
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
I wonder if it's so the schools can validate how much eligibility the player/student has, where the player may intentionally or otherwise list their eligibility incorrectly (assuming that's something that's entered, possibly also academic eligibility stuff?).
I recall Franklin saying he liked high productivity (check) players and low maintenance (uh-oh) players.