Husker in WI

Awkward for sure, but the high school he transferred to coincidentally kind of has a reputation for sending guys to other schools. They don't always have top end recruits, but when they do those guys haven't picked UGA in recent years. This year you had Raiola, but then fellow 5-stars KJ Bolden and Eddrick Houston are going to FSU and OSU. Last year Justice Haynes went to Bama and Paul Mubenga signed with LSU. In 2022 the top 2 guys signed with Bama, no one else on the team had big offers. 2021 was a down year as far as recruits and we actually signed their top two. 2020 the top guy went to Bama, 2019 the top 3 went to OSU, Texas, and Florida. I don't think this actually had anything to do with Raiola flipping, and I've got to reiterate UGA probably only offers 1-2 Buford guys each year - sometimes 0. But they haven't actually signed a kid from Buford since 2013, and that was jokingly brought up by UGA fans when Raiola announced that's where he was going. Not as funny now I guess. The head coach there will probably have it worse than Raiola, he doesn't get to leave and fans are not always rational with these things.

By all accounts Evers has been a pretty big disappointment, but guys are hesitant to transfer twice as undergrads and there is definitely still time. I think the coaches would like one of Locke or Evers to transfer but I'm not sure they will. At some point kids will realize sitting out a year at their new school is better than playing scout team at their old school though, and the multiple time transfers will pick back up to some degree. There is an interesting parallel with us and Wisconsin at the QB position. Both teams had to rely on their QBs legs more than expected - we knew it was going to be part of our offense, but not to the degree it was. And now there are decent chunks of each fanbase insisting they need that mobility because it was one of the few bright spots on bad offenses. McCord and Van Dyke do not provide that, and that is worrying for some, although they do better fit what Satterfield and Longo want their offenses to be.

It was a rotation, with the idea being that should be a game with national interest. Not the conferences fault we didn't hold up our end of that. It is kinda their fault the structure changed right as we would've moved away from playing them consistently but that's just how it goes.

Feels more disingenuous if Raiola does sign though. When does "he asked for an official visit" turn into "he wants to commit here and we're taking him"? Better to have that in one conversation IMO - Kaelin knows Raiola is higher on the board. Assuring him he has a spot regardless of the outcome is the best path forward for everyone, and if I were Kaelin I'd hold off signing in the early window and see what actually happens.

That seems like the most likely scenario to me. Maybe Barthel is gone too, but I bet we'd hire a direct replacement there. I think a dedicated RB coach is more important than having dedicated TE and QB coaches. Any of those positions could go with the OC, but OC/RB and specific TE and QB coaches would be pretty unique from what I've seen.

Wouldn't get too excited about Etienne: Same On3 guy does say we're trending the right direction for both McCord and Raiola.

There isn't one, they would need to use their transfer unless the school releases them. There was a kid that kept flipping between USC and Texas include a flip after signing, but IIRC there was a crazy waiver process involved which would likely not be approved at this point.

Assuming Entz is paid like a top-ten LB coach (with legitimate head coaching experience I think that's pretty safe) he's also in line for a raise from ~400k to the 600-700k range. May not offset the cost of living adjustment between Fargo and LA but it's still pretty significant.

Yeah, it does kinda suck for him. Mizzou would probably take him back though, and they're a top-ten team right now. Selfishly I'd like both Raiola and Kaelin but I wouldn't blame him a bit for going elsewhere. There's definitely something to be said for embracing competition, and I do actually believe it would be a fair battle under this staff. But it is difficult to enter a competition knowing they preferred the other guy initially and they have more invested in him.

247 has him listed at 389 lbs - good lord.

I think Colorado won it last year

Pretty sure he was basically told he's not the starter and they are bringing in the best transfer QB they can find. He'd have the opportunity to win the job again, but I think it was going to be an open competition from day one. Which is pretty brutal when you went 11-1 with a close loss to the #1 team in the country - not guaranteeing your role is fine, but you'd expect to begin spring ball as the starter and I don't think he was going to.

Washington wants to come back but Rhule seemed skeptical on the waiver - he did somehow play in 6 games this year. IGC technically has eligibility, but coming off an ACL and I still have no idea how good he is. I've seen some things regarding Fleming going with McCord, but I've only seen it from fans and I don't buy it yet. Probably more to do with other WRs stepping up than the QB, but Fleming went from 34/533/6 with Stroud to 26/270/0 this year with McCord. Not like they had this insane connection that they'd want to keep intact. Don't get me wrong, I'd love Fleming and think we'll try to bring in a reliable transfer WR. But having some experience and getting to go through spring ball I also expect our WRs to take a big step forward - we'll be better than last year at WR even without adding a bunch of new guys.

None of the guys we're going after will put up the stats they did at their last schools. But our OL got to be decent by the end of the year, and having a year of going against Big Ten defenses is a big deal. Sure OSU was much better equipped to have answers against those defenses, but he still had to make the reads and throws.

Definitely a lot of swings last year, and I do think Jeudy, Borders, and Knaak still have the potential to be hits. Hood too - I'm still skeptical there, but he seems engaged peer recruiting so if he stays focused and in shape this offseason anything could happen. I thought Wallin was a juco? In any case, he played the first 4 games, didn't stick out as a negative, and used a redshirt. Jeudy rotated in a fair amount and was sometimes good, there's just a lot of depth on the DL. For having a blackshirt at the start of the year I didn't see anything from Borders on the field, and Collier seemed to go from potential starter in the spring, to backup in the fall, to completely off the depth chart during the season. I'm ok with taking a guy or two that isn't expected to contribute right away, but yeah last year I think everyone had the opportunity to and several didn't make it happen.

Think i got my answer - assuming he was the backup plan for Benning and committed to a spot that wasn't available yet. Or maybe the DB who decommitted from Wisconsin is higher on the board.

Had a perfect visit with his high school coach and committed, decided he needed an agent against coaches advice. Agents decided within 24 hours that wisconsin not giving him written assurance of NIL dollar amounts (which would be insane for them to do before hes even enrolled) is a problem. Coach asks player "wtf?!" after seeing the "my agents will handle my recruitment" and learns they are going to charge him 10% of his NIL money. He fires the agents and made up with the wisconsin coaches. Kind of exactly what it seemed like, lol.

I don't think it was to appease the fans. It was realizing our QB room would throw close to 30 INTs if we threw the ball the normal amount, and that involving them in the run game played best to their strengths. But I agree the goal for next year is making sure we have someone who can throw the ball at a reasonably high level.

I think this tweet has more to do with Princewill making The Athletic's 2nd team Freshman All-American team - an "I see you little bro" type of thing. But I am sure we're in contact, and I think we've got a good shot NIL or no. Supposedly a big fan of Rhule.

He's not a 1st round RB though - I don't think there will be one this year.

Yeah, I would think if you assume a second contract it would pay more in the long run to be negotiating that at 26 instead of 27 as an RB. But there's injury risk too, so might be smarter to just take the most money you can get now.

2008 was definitely a breakout year for him - several things people think were part of his Senior year (catching a TD against Kansas, pick sixes against San Jose and more famously Colorado) happened during his Junior year, with Ganz. He was first team all-conference his junior year, and it was a real possibility he'd declare for the draft. He was on a lot of preseason All-American lists going into 2009 - no one expected a Heisman-level Senior year, but he was excellent in 2008 and big things were expected.

Yeah, I was hoping he'd stick around and break out - I don't recall any problems with his play on the field other than a dumb holding on the INT return against Iowa. But we have a ton of bodies at DB so some movement was inevitable. He should do well in the portal, CBs with experience and length are hard to come by. I'd guess a Florida school will scoop him up.

I will admit sweat shops was an unnecessarily extreme example, but yeah the point is just "getting paid" doesn't mean it's anywhere close to fair. College football is a sport that makes a lot of people a lot of money, and it takes unusual skill and involves significant risks to their health. I think it's totally reasonable for players to have a much larger slice of the pie, as much as I also enjoyed when players stuck with one program.