Programs with most portal entries-so far
Funny how Michigan lost Cade, All and Hansen and it was broadcast all over the place. Not saying we won’t lose more but look at the list here in just a few days.
TX A&M-21
Oregon-15
Bama-14
Florida-14
Oklahoma-13
Maryland-13
N Carolina-11
Miami(Fla)-11
Va Tech-10
Texas-9
Clemson-8
Southern Cal-7
Michigan, Penn St, Ohio St and Notre Dame under 5 apiece. MSU is at 6 I believe.
December 7th, 2022 at 11:53 AM ^
There aren’t any playoff teams in that list you have, which is to be expected when a ring is still on the table. Would be interesting to revisit in Feb.
Still a good baseline though, and not surprised to see A&M leading the way. Do you think those checks cleared yet?
December 7th, 2022 at 11:57 AM ^
I took it as A&M telling underperforming players that they aren't paying anymore and that they need to go
December 7th, 2022 at 12:18 PM ^
My interpretation is that they got the signing-bonus bag, sat through Jimbo's bad coaching for a year, and are now off to get another bag
At least I am hoping that's the case, for maximum schadenfreude purposes
December 7th, 2022 at 12:51 PM ^
Jimbo would never do that!!!
/s - just in case
December 7th, 2022 at 12:49 PM ^
and underpaying those players who are leaving, hence why they are probably leaving.
It goes to what I wrote long ago about NIL. It's going to cause some team issues when you have players playing for money and not for the team.
December 7th, 2022 at 1:15 PM ^
They are just mercenaries. Say what you want about our NIL, we have guys who are generally buying into the program/system and not looking for a quick payday.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:02 PM ^
TX A&M already has 1/4 of their roster in the portal, that has to have a major impact for next year. They have 11 commits already that will be freshmen and then add in a bunch of new players from the portal and it’s a recipe for another down year for them.
December 7th, 2022 at 2:23 PM ^
A quick speed read through the list a couple days ago made it hard not to notice the amount of aTm players there. A preseason playoff hopeful to not even a sniff of the Union Home Mortgage or Ticket Smarter bowls will do that to ya.
The anomaly of 4&5* players to aTm never made much sense unless you consider the tried and true factor that when nothing else makes sense suddenly makes it all make sense - $$$$$$.
December 7th, 2022 at 4:17 PM ^
Whoa... Jimbo said they didn't pay these guys! They all came for the love of the program/school. So I don't know what all this talk about paychecks is. Don't tell me Jimbo would lie about buying a recruiting class.
December 7th, 2022 at 11:53 AM ^
The exodus of A&M players isn’t surprising, but is funny.
I wonder if it’s mostly the freshman who received their signing bonuses but want to actually win games, or if it’s primarily the upper classmen who want to actually win games, or if it is a mix of freshman and upperclassmen who want to actually win games.
too lazy to look
December 7th, 2022 at 11:55 AM ^
It's probably one of those. Probably.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:04 PM ^
I took a look at their portal list (only has 19 listed right now).
Freshman - 3
RS Freshman - 5
Sophomore - 2
RS Sophomore - 2
Junior - 2
RS Junior - 2
Senior - 3
December 7th, 2022 at 12:06 PM ^
I counted off of 247 and it has 21 for TX A&M.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:08 PM ^
I was using On3. Likely just an update issue.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:58 PM ^
Or hoping to get a bump in pay to stay.
December 7th, 2022 at 1:30 PM ^
"Anyone who'd pay $50 for a cab, would certainly pay $75."
December 7th, 2022 at 11:54 AM ^
It's also the WAY they left.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:04 PM ^
You mean UM players? If yes, do you know how all the others listed are leaving? Not trying to be combative but throwing out a statement like that makes it sound like everyone leaving should be happy. I learned a long time ago that you cannot have everyone happy however hard you try. You still try your best and it should not be a knock on a person or a program.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:27 PM ^
This. Plus the fact that Cade did not do anything negative. People were just looking for excuses to bash him. How many "why isn't Cade at games" threads did we have? It is a bad look. Wish them well and then root for those who stay.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:21 PM ^
Not sure I get the point. Cade left taking the highest of high roads. Was that bad?
December 7th, 2022 at 1:12 PM ^
I mean, he could have posted a quick note thanking the coaches, teammates, and fans like most people do. I get that he’s salty about losing his job and about some dickhead fans who booed him though.
December 7th, 2022 at 1:17 PM ^
Cade was moping and acting entitled during the QB competition, even questioning the decision as to why there was a competition to begin with. I can understand his pov as a competitor, team captain and returning B1G championship QB, but I'd also question his relationship with reality if he didn't think there would be a legit QB competition with JJ, who has the better arm, is an absolute running threat, and had already taken some situation snaps the year before. Calling the competition and splitting of starts "weird" was obviously not going to go over well with the coaches and comes off entitled.
To Cade's credit, he was not a distraction during the year once JJ won the job, nor during his injury, and hasn't burned bridges on the way out...but his early season attitude and moping were not the best look.
December 7th, 2022 at 11:55 AM ^
Lol A&M. Maryland's count is pretty high. Seems random.
December 7th, 2022 at 11:58 AM ^
Lol. I thought the top 3 was very interesting because all of them shovel money at recruits and they still can’t seem to keep them.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:40 PM ^
I wouldn't be surprised if it's actually the coaching staffs telling players it'll be difficult to see the field. Coach Prime said as much to the entire Colorado team in his first meeting. With all the money, coaches are even more in the clear to coach and roster manage like they're running NFL teams.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:02 PM ^
I didn't look at who were in portal from A&M and Alabama, I am sure there are some highly recruited ones out of high school. However, All was a starter before his injury, and Cade was the QB behind last year's Big Ten Championship team, both were team captains as well.
December 7th, 2022 at 1:11 PM ^
Oookay but we knew we were gonna all but certainly lose either Cade or JJ after this year. Two talented capable and competitive guys who could and should play elsewhere if they aren’t starting. Cade lost the job and got hurt on top of it. Everyone and their mother knew he was going elsewhere. It makes sense to go as soon as you can and get ready for next year. Look at all the guys posting their well wishes to Cade on social media from our team.
The All situation is different but for a guy who (a) had a kid, (b) got hurt and had major surgery and (c) saw his close friend Cade transfer out, I’m not super surprised that maybe he is thinking differently about his future. Maybe there was something going on there medically where it got St. Juste-y, maybe he doesn’t like the coaches, who knows.
two things I know are true. This team doesn’t haven’t a culture problem and you can never assemble a group of 100+ dudes and keep everyone perfectly happy, let alone highly competitive athletes fighting day in and day out and giving everything to try to make their professional dreams a reality.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:04 PM ^
Maryland was the outlier for the Bigten as well. Some of these other conferences are being decimated by entries.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:27 PM ^
The portal and the no-penalty transfer rule are turning college football upside down even more than NIL (to be clear, I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing). Team recruiting rankings are quickly becoming a lot less meaningful, since so many top players will finish their careers at a different school from the one they signed with.
December 9th, 2022 at 8:25 AM ^
It’s strange really. There’s no salary cap, no contracts, no draft, so basically perpetual free agency. Little in the way of rules in general right now so it’s like the Wild West.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:05 PM ^
Does it just feel "broadcast all over the place" because we're in a relative Michigan bubble? I saw the Cade news as an ESPN headline but that's not abnormal for a former CFB playoff QB. Even JT Daniels got a headline. I'm not feeling particularly hard done by the media covering our transfers.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:09 PM ^
Combination of media and social media. Just like the Mazi news, it keeps popping up quite a bit. This kind of stuff and worse happens all over the country with programs. I know Michigan gets clicks, good or bad though, I’ve learned to overlook most of it. I just thought the list was interesting overall.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:31 PM ^
All of us have Sparty friends and family among our social media contacts, and I think it feels like the moves by Cade and Erick are getting more attention outside our fanbase than they're actually getting because Sparty fans post about them and Sparty fans are more obsessed with Michigan than many Michigan fans.
December 7th, 2022 at 1:00 PM ^
This exactly. We vastly overestimate the amount of time that other fanbases spend thinking or caring about Michigan football.
December 7th, 2022 at 1:07 PM ^
I agree, but the one exception to that is Sparty. Sparty fans genuinely seem to be more obsessed with Michigan (or "scUM", if you will) than they are with MSU. It's bizarre.
December 7th, 2022 at 1:48 PM ^
Illinois fans are getting just as bad. If you’re on Twitter, they show up on anything Michigan related that is even performed as potentially negative. They are desperate for a rival. I always assumed Indiana was kind of their rival?
December 7th, 2022 at 1:54 PM ^
I remember having a call with a new hire a few years back, and while making small talk, I mentioned that I went to Michigan. She said, "I went to a huge rival of Michigan. I hope you won't hold that against me." I had thought she was referring to OSU or MSU, but it turned out that she was talking about Illinois. 🤣
December 7th, 2022 at 2:02 PM ^
Well, the University of Illinois is indeed huge.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:08 PM ^
That's probably 75 high-3 to high-4 star kids out looking for a new school.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:15 PM ^
Kinda feels like some anticipated. If the only reason someone is with you is for money, they have no reason to stay if they get a bigger better deal elsewhere or if you're tapped out.
Michigan wants guys hungry to plan and prove themselves - we say - and so those guys, at least many of them, stick around to finish the job. That leads to a lower recruiting class ranking, but as we are seeing, if it doesn't translate to winning, ... bye felicia.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:26 PM ^
So far.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:26 PM ^
MSU doesn't lose as many players to the portal because they are too busy losing them to "the hole."
December 7th, 2022 at 12:30 PM ^
Thanks for the list. My hunch is that MSU would have more transfers out under Tuck being that they aren't going to any bowl game.
Maryland is also surprising since Locksley seems like a player's type coach.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:34 PM ^
Yeah Maryland baffles me. That feels like an ascending program. Maybe not much more ascension to be had but this was a pretty good season for them.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:43 PM ^
MSU had a lot of guys depart last off season. Mel's probably purged the majority of guys who didn't fit into the Mel's a-comin mantra.
I don't see them getting a big add, unless they poach Moore from Oregon.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:30 PM ^
The portal has become the new way to process players out that are underperforming or if the team needs the space for new recruits. There is no sit out a year after transferring now so those players can immediately go to another school and play right away.
I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing for the players themselves, but overall it ain’t a good thing. Maybe the culture at Michigan and some other schools will take off if Michigan continues to have success making playoffs and beating OSU on the regular. Maybe then more top ranked players might look towards going to schools that have continuity in the coaching staff and teammates to get to where they want to go. You’ll probably always have a small handful dissatisfied with their playing time and opt to go try somewhere else, but hopefully less underclassmen that get processed that way.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:51 PM ^
Playoff expansion should also help level the playing field in recruiting. The reality has been that you have to go to 5 or 6 schools if you want a real shot at a national championship.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:30 PM ^
There's been some consternation over Michigan's 2023 recruiting class, but I wonder if the impact of a down class can be mitigated by transfer portal. The schools with lots of transfers are all high in HS recruiting rankings, so there is talent to be found in the portal which should be able to paper over holes in the incoming freshman class.
Michigan has issues getting underclass transfers in but has done well with grad transfers - Olu/Okie this year, more examples in prior years. If the staff and school's NIL can outperform competitors in transfer recruiting, we should end up fine, now and in the future.
December 7th, 2022 at 12:32 PM ^
I guess when you're not starting at Bama, being yelled at by Nick Saban on a daily basis isn't very fun. Coupled with not making the playoff, of course.