Impact on players who stay

[I am I]

Just wanted to start a thread about players who choose to stay at N.
Many will portal, some will transfer, others will graduate. Even more will never see the field.

Nevermind the coaches who have to field a new team each season, they get paid very well to do that. So whatever. But when it comes to players who actually choose to stay 3-4yrs….

Let’s say a player comes in as freshman with his class, a nice solid B+ class. They come here because of blah blah blah. Within 2-3yrs that class (let alone every class above them) see’s 3-5 major dudes portal out or aren’t playing here for whatever reason and their peers, the freshman class looks entirely different from the one they joined 2-3 yrs later.

There are so many transfers and portal guys now. It must become a harsh reality for every team down into the FCS; what I’m saying is….
How in the world do players feel like there is a team bond, a drive to succeed, a chance to make something great etc etc? How do they ever get a college experience, learn to love the campus, get to know people, have fun at parties, get better at football?

Dylan is portal. Several others will follow. Some new guys will come in. Some will stay for 2-4yrs. I wonder…how is this all treating them? How is this good for the young athletes overall? How is this good for team cohesion?

Anyway, you get my drift. I think there are some far reaching ramifications coming down the pipe and I don’t think it serves young people very well overall. Let alone the schools, the programs, the coaches and most of all the fans.

 

[I am I]

Just to be clear, I’m calling for a $25M budget to get the best team we can possibly have. I know it’s not gonna change and I want us on the forefront of getting all we can so we are good again.
I just wonder how it actually feels to be a player that stays and wants to play for N (or any other school) and just be at one place for their college career. It must suck.

 

[JJ Husker]

Uh yeah.
The portal and NIL ruined all that stuff. No more team. No more of the college experience. A lot less of playing for the guys next to you and whole lot more of what benefits me first.

It’ll trickle down to the fans pretty fast. May take a bit longer for NU fans because we’re weird. Hell the last 25 years couldn’t shake us. But this…. the portal and NIL and merc players era? Yep, it sucks.

If that’s what a person wants, the NFL was and is still there but there is no more college football remotely resembling anything many of us liked about it. Now we can just instantly turn against our best players and go fish in the portal…just like we’ve been doing with coaches for 20+ years.

 

[commando]

maybe ask Haarberg this question

 

[Hilltop]

Just to be clear, I’m calling for a $25M budget to get the best team we can possibly have. I know it’s not gonna change and I want us on the forefront of getting all we can so we are good again.
I just wonder how it actually feels to be a player that stays and wants to play for N (or any other school) and just be at one place for their college career. It must suck.

The majority of these kids are very used to change from year to year. Most football players are- going through high school, kids age out, kids move, younger kids fill roles- it is ever changing. Part of the beauty of it is "next year might be my year" mentality that keeps the kids pushing to be better. As far as the bonds, it isn't as big of a deal as you think. They can come together fast when the chemistry and atmosphere are right.

 

[307husker]

Just wanted to start a thread about players who choose to stay at N.
Many will portal, some will transfer, others will graduate. Even more will never see the field.

Nevermind the coaches who have to field a new team each season, they get paid very well to do that. So whatever. But when it comes to players who actually choose to stay 3-4yrs….

Let’s say a player comes in as freshman with his class, a nice solid B+ class. They come here because of blah blah blah. Within 2-3yrs that class (let alone every class above them) see’s 3-5 major dudes portal out or aren’t playing here for whatever reason and their peers, the freshman class looks entirely different from the one they joined 2-3 yrs later.

There are so many transfers and portal guys now. It must become a harsh reality for every team down into the FCS; what I’m saying is….
How in the world do players feel like there is a team bond, a drive to succeed, a chance to make something great etc etc? How do they ever get a college experience, learn to love the campus, get to know people, have fun at parties, get better at football?

Dylan is portal. Several others will follow. Some new guys will come in. Some will stay for 2-4yrs. I wonder…how is this all treating them? How is this good for the young athletes overall? How is this good for team cohesion?

Anyway, you get my drift. I think there are some far reaching ramifications coming down the pipe and I don’t think it serves young people very well overall. Let alone the schools, the programs, the coaches and most of all the fans.

I think college football has begun a long decline. College football relies upon emotional connection to sell an inferior product. I'm attached emotionally to Nebraska football because it's where I grew up and the culture and community surrounding college football in the 80's and 90's. The players were "our boys" and we felt emotionally connected to the team and the players. They chose Nebraska football, when they could have the same scholarship elsewhere, and indirectly they became one of us, a Husker.

It's in transition. Now it seems many chase the $ and the loyalty is only extended as far as the next "best for me" deal. I don't begrudge them this opportunity, but I also feel little or no connection to them as a result. They're not "our boys" anymore and many will simply be onto the next opportunity for their own self interest. Same thing when we "buy" players. They aren't "family", they're just employees.

So, without the emotional connection, I'll act more rationally as a consumer and spend my time and $ on a better product, with more sane rules around fair competition and weirdly enough, more overall integrity, the NFL. Or, I'll root for DII programs, FCS programs, and the service academies where the toxic effects of $ are much less evident.

And when the connection is gone, and the fans are gone, the money will be gone too.

It will take quite a while, but I already see it happening on a small scale with friends and family.

 

[JJ Husker]

I think college football has begun a long decline. College football relies upon emotional connection to sell an inferior product. I'm attached emotionally to Nebraska football because it's where I grew up and the culture and community surrounding college football in the 80's and 90's. The players were "our boys" and we felt emotionally connected to the team and the players. They chose Nebraska football, when they could have the same scholarship elsewhere, and indirectly they became one of us, a Husker.

It's in transition. Now it seems many chase the $ and the loyalty is only extended as far as the next "best for me" deal. I don't begrudge them this opportunity, but I also feel little or no connection to them as a result. They're not "our boys" anymore and many will simply be onto the next opportunity for their own self interest. Same thing when we "buy" players. They aren't "family", they're just employees.

So, without the emotional connection, I'll act more rationally as a consumer and spend my time and $ on a better product, with more sane rules around fair competition and weirdly enough, more overall integrity, the NFL. Or, I'll root for DII programs, FCS programs, and the service academies where the toxic effects of $ are much less evident.

And when the connection is gone, and the fans are gone, the money will be gone too.

It will take quite a while, but I already see it happening on a small scale with friends and family.

It already seems to be more of a habit than the live and die with the team mentality it used to be for me. I can easily walk away from a bad game now when in years past that simply wouldn’t have been an option.

I’m not a big NFL guy due to the same reasons that are now inherent with college ball. It’s just about the money and what benefits the individual. And you’re right, at this point in time, the NFL has a better structure and more sensible rules/controls than CFB.

If a Nebraska football game is up head to head against a Colorado Avalanche hockey game (which did happen a couple times this season), I’m intently watching the hockey game with the football game on in the background. That would’ve been unthinkable for me in years past. But each new coaching hire still rekindles a bit of hope. They lost me with Callahan and Riley and towards the end of the Frost years. The Pelini years were mostly okay except when he seemed satisfied with 9 fairly easy wins including 1 or 2 embarrassing blowout loses. I’m still good with Rhule as long as he continues to try to correct the glaring issues. But the players…meh, whoever shows up, fine, but I don’t feel any connection to them. If they leave, fine also.

 

[runningblind]

It already seems to be more of a habit than the live and die with the team mentality it used to be for me. I can easily walk away from a bad game now when in years past that simply wouldn’t have been an option.

I’m not a big NFL guy due to the same reasons that are now inherent with college ball. It’s just about the money and what benefits the individual. And you’re right, at this point in time, the NFL has a better structure and more sensible rules/controls than CFB.

If a Nebraska football game is up head to head against a Colorado Avalanche hockey game (which did happen a couple times this season), I’m intently watching the hockey game with the football game on in the background. That would’ve been unthinkable for me in years past. But each new coaching hire still rekindles a bit of hope. They lost me with Callahan and Riley and towards the end of the Frost years. The Pelini years were mostly okay except when he seemed satisfied with 9 fairly easy wins including 1 or 2 embarrassing blowout loses. I’m still good with Rhule as long as he continues to try to correct the glaring issues. But the players…meh, whoever shows up, fine, but I don’t feel any connection to them. If they leave, fine also.

Good points, but at least with the NFL you know what to expect going in. Guys move around some, but at least there are contracts and you know who is on the team for that time period. It is also the absolute best product, so I love it for that. The NHL is the same way of course. While I love the Avs as well, I will still always watch the Nebraska game head to head, for the simple fact that there are only 12/13 of them all year and there are 82 + playoffs for the Avs. Football will always trump that simply due to scarcity.

The issue with college is the current reality isn't meeting our expectations because of what it used to be. We had something great, and they are taking it away/changing it, so that is naturally going to cause disappointment.