Indiana like OM did this with the portal

Ranchdawg

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IU recruiting of high school players is nothing to write home about but they have #10 & #13 ranking in the portal the last 2 years. This shows the importance of getting your talent through the portal.
 
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L4Dawg

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Oct 27, 2016
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There was an article in the WSJ this week about how Cignetti evaluates players. It is different.
 
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OG Goat Holder

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IU recruiting of high school players is nothing to write home about but they have #10 & #13 ranking in the portal the last 2 years. This shows the importance of getting your talent through the portal.
You can’t just say ‘do the portal!’ Still have to have a plan.

Ohio State did it differently last year, more of an 80/20 split. Of course they’re a blue blood.

Good players are good players no matter where you get them.
 

Ranchdawg

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Dec 13, 2012
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You can’t just say ‘do the portal!’ Still have to have a plan.

Ohio State did it differently last year, more of an 80/20 split. Of course they’re a blue blood.

Good players are good players no matter where you get them.
I don't think I said just do the portal. I said it is an important part of college football based on those 2 teams results.
 

8dog

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OM didn’t have a ton of success on defense but to the extent they did it was primarily MS HS recruiting.
 

bulldoghair

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Jul 9, 2013
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You can’t just say ‘do the portal!’ Still have to have a plan.

Ohio State did it differently last year, more of an 80/20 split. Of course they’re a blue blood.

Good players are good players no matter where you get them.
Cignette prioritizes proven, ready now veterans from the portal to sustain success quickly- no long rebuilds. That’s also why he targeted a veteran like Hoover to replace Mendoza. Hoover fits the mold- accurate, experienced, one year rental who can elevate with better OL/WRs and a QB friendly scheme. Cignetti/Shanahan and the QB coach have already turned 3 portal QBs into conference award winners since 2022.
 

bulldoghair

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He does not fit the mold of their last two qbs, accuracy is a question
66% completion percentage this year.

Plus Indiana’s system- quick release, spacing, play action, should help his already good accuracy shine even more. Especially with better protection, weapons and the schemes emphasis on efficient throws. Veteran one year plug and play.
 

85Bears

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Aug 31, 2019
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66% completion percentage this year.

Plus Indiana’s system- quick release, spacing, play action, should help his already good accuracy shine even more. Especially with better protection, weapons and the schemes emphasis on efficient throws. Veteran one year plug and play.
Throws a lot of picks not the pure pocket passer Mendoza and rourke were, yea it could work out, but doesnt fit the mold
 

NukeDogg

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Mar 15, 2022
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Some water cooler discussion this morning (the guy probably got it from Bo Bounds, who knows) about State and having any shot at the playoffs. Now that you can buy a team and "do the portal", the discussion was around taking a wait and strike approach. Save all $ and don't spend a dime on NIL, and then in Year X spend all the money at once and try to buy a squad and go make a push for an Indiana year. I'm open to it...
 

johnson86-1

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That's a pretty limited piece of info, but it at least supports the argument that if you are not a blue blood, you probably are better off relying heavily on portal players.

Of course another argument would be it's still early enough in the free transfer era that we're not at equilibrium yet and the optimal strategy for each school is going to continue to change as other schools change their approach.

Or another explanation would be blue bloods don't lose players they want, non-blue bloods do, so of course the non-blue bloods have a lot more transfers, and the ones with good coaching and talent evaluation and a little bit of luck will rise to the top with the blue bloods, but they'd do even better if they could maintain more consistency.

I think all of those are true to an extent. You might see the story change next year, and some of the non-blue bloods that did a good job of retaining young talent and developed it might rise to the top with a veteran heavy team. I do think you'll start to see that as time progresses and players get less enamored with transferring every year and collectives get more focused on retention. I think we're at least another year if not two from that dynamic happening. We're certainly not in a position to benefit from that because we haven't retained the young talent to my knowledge.