I think the portal business has taken the wind out of a lot a sails as far as interest in these formerly popular off season activities.
Maybe I am just speaking for myself, but Volnation traffic has dried up postseason, and that is highly unusual, so I don’t think it’s just me.
There are still a few die hards over there hanging on every nugget, but they are a tenth of what they used to be.
A remarkable quantification of Transfer Portal effect on fans!
This is my 3rd recruiting cycle that I haven’t followed recruiting headlines like commits and ongoing class rankings. If Arizona lands a commitment from a four-star receiver my first reaction is negative:
how long does he contribute to the roster before someone like Oklahoma or Ole Miss take notice and buy him away with their larger NIL offerings? If Texas lands a commitment from a five-star lineman, my first reaction is suspicion:
by how much did the Longhorns have to outbid LSU and Georgia? And what if Georgia, still liking what they see two seasons later, comes up with even more NIL money?I had followed offseason recruiting news for about twenty years before giving it up. And I’ve been wondering what happens to recruiting insider services like 247Sports? The obvious pivot is to focus on Transfer Portal, but I just don’t see that as quite as lucrative. There was something about tracking players as early as high school, that was like discovering a band before they hit the big time, that gave the fan some sense of having a rooting stake in watching players develop from the point of scholarship offers through college and even into the NFL.
And for programs like Oregon State (under Riley), Wisconsin, and Iowa, it was always worth watching which 3-stars their staffs were targeting and signing because it gave you insight into who they thought could be developed into the many all-conference lineman that rivaled the 4-stars and 5-stars that Ohio State and Michigan went after. Following recruiting gave me a backstage pass into program building and set my expectations for the next few seasons.
That’s all gone now. Program building is now watching Wisconsin and Michigan State replays, noticing lineman and receivers better than yours, and telling your GM to induce them away with more NIL money.
To quote:
Just tell me who is on the roster September 1