Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

No argument. The college football landscape is littered with stories of two and three star athletes who turned into superstars and four and five star athletes who didn’t pan out at all.

my point is a counter to those who are all up in arms because Ohio State didn’t get all the guys they were going after and has not dove deep into the transfer portal yet. They completely forget the great players who are already on the roster from the last year or two of recruiting, and the fact that the transfer portal is still open and signing day officially isn’t until February. My point overall is that Ohio State did extremely well on the recruiting trail again and is in great position.

Michigan under Hoke was landing 5* kids that were not any good almost yearly. Derrick Green, Shane Morris, Patrick Kugler, Kyle Bosch, Ondre Pipkins, Drake Harris, list goes on and on. None of these kids could actually play.

OSU is going to be fine. Not solely because of the recruiting rankings. Because they have a really good head coach and are loaded with talent. Does anybody really think Ryan Day won't have another explosive offense in '23? If they do- they are kidding themselves. Marv & Emeka Ebugaka are only going to be JRs next year- both are going to be 1,000+ yard WRs and Marv will be the best WR in CFB...again. Day has proven he can recruit, but more importantly he's proven he can develop talent.

Imagine the locker room for guys who committed and spent 2-3 working their ass off, only to be passed up on the depth chart by someone who transfers in from another school or some graduate transfer.  It will not sit well. 

and remember the main reason you have to hit the portal so hard is because you did not recruit well.

I'd guess the portal is a case by case type thing. Some years you take more, some less. Depending on needs and depth. How the players react to bringing new guys in via portal all speaks to the culture. You build a really strong culture, it shouldn't matter and the players on the team should embrace the new guys imo. 

Michigan has three 4* OLs that could play center in back to back classes that could've played center in 2022, but when you have a chance to get a guy like Olu Oluwatimi- you don't pass that up. Drake Nugent isn't quite at that level, but PFF is super high on him and my guess he's a plug and play starter at C. Don't think you pass that up unless you have a stud proven C already. Michigan has recruited the EDGE position really well and are kind of loaded there, yet they just landed one of the top EDGE dudes in the portal.

I trust 5* linemen much less than I used to.

never trusted them. OL 'croot ratings are virtually useless imo. Olu Oluwatimi won the Rimington and was the best center in CFB. He was a 2* 'croot ranked in the 3000s out of HS. Zak Zinter might be the best guard in CFB, he was a 3* out of Boston area, not exactly a hotbed for 'crootin' talent. Michigan won the Joe Moore Award for best OL two years in a row, the center on last years OL was a walk-on.

I think the ratings are pretty much only somewhat accurate for RBs, WRs, CBs, and EDGE rushers. Positions where athleticism is at a premium. So much development goes into becoming a great QB/OL/DL/LB/S that you can't really predict. And besides, most of these guys doing these rankings are not former players or coaches. I'd bet a lot of them have no fkn clue what they are even talking about. And A LOT of these rankings are based off kids coming to events/camps/combines/7on7's- you know- not actually playing football lol.

My point overall is that Ohio State did extremely well on the recruiting trail again and is in great position.

Hopefully but some may wash out,my point is Michigan brought in 5 proven CFB guys(so far) - even if for just a season can bridge the development gap covering incoming freshman.

Most of those came in from NIL coin,my guess is sponsors not ponying up for a repeat performance of that

yup. and if all that's getting them to go there is NIL money- then of course when sh&t hits the fan they'll just hit the portal and bounce. which is what happened. they got paid, then bounced.

https://twitter.com/Menace2Sports/status/1605958208287227904?s=20&t=QFK9NYYjEqc218ZQo0OEHg

Very excited for this kid.

Took the development route as opposed to cash, as he says. 
Great athlete- D1 offers in football, Bball and baseball.  6 ft 1 but dunks like a lot bigger guy on the court. 

he looks very athletic and mobile. that's the trend that position is and has been going to in college for awhile now. that's one of the major reasons I wanted JJ over Cade last year. that's why as good as Stroud has been as a passer- and he's been better than Fields in that area imo- Fields was better than him at QB at Ohio St. QBs today have to be able to move and make plays with their feet.

If you straight-up buy an entire class of mercenaries, then you shouldn't be surprised when those mercenaries bounce for better offers elsewhere. 

This is one of the main reasons I believe it will stabilize over time.  Do you think the people who paid out all that money, believe they received a worthy return on their investment? Do you think they're likely to repeat that behavior in the future? 

I mean, I know Longhorn fans like to make a lot of jokes at the aggies' expense about a lack of intelligence, but even their boosters aren't THAT stupid.

yeah makes no sense paying HS kids imo. 

I think what you'll probably see going forward is NIL booster collectives throw gobs of money at proven portal guys and at stars on the team to try and keep them in college. Most dudes that are NFL draftable bounce after their RS Soph or true JR years now, might wind up seeing NILs throw huge money to keep kids around for their SR or RS Sr 5th YRs. 

Blake Corum is a JR and could go pro. IF an NIL collective offered him say $2 million in deals for his SR year, you might have a shot at keeping him around for his final year.

Makes more sense to spend money on a guy that is proven he can play than a bunch of shitheads in high school.