Transfer Portal: Who do we need to target this offseason?

Papa Foxtrot

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
389
Kyle has played at GT for four (4) seasons and has a Covid year remaining. Does anyone know if he graduated?
I'd like to know also. Our difficulty in retaining grad athletes is pretty well documented. Hopefully, that's something that PAC can address.
 

jojatk

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,368
That would make one guess there’s a time sensitive inducement, wouldn’t it?

Otherwise, use the portal in Spring
I'd much rather guys use the portal now than in the Spring. Let's say a player like Kennard sticks around and goes through Spring practice, gets a ton of reps, and then decides to transfer. We are in much worse shape because we had 15 practices during bowl lead-up and we had all of Spring to figure out who would replace him but instead we had Kyle taking up all those reps.
 

ChicagobasedJacket

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
411
F him. He can take his facemask penalties with him
No need to bash Kyle or Kenan. As others have alluded to in prior posts, some of these are likely grad transfers leaving because either GT didn’t admit them into grad school or they didn’t like the grad program offering available at GT. It sucks but it’s probably better they leave now since the portal closes in January.
 

GTJackets

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
770
Location
Moncks Corner, South Carolina
I’m losing love for college football.

Donate to NIL so the players can take my money then leave for more money. I can’t donate more than Disney can to the SEC

Somebody convince me this isn't where I should be. Is there even a way we can contribute enough to make it worth a players time and effort to stay eligible at GT when he can go hang out at the Grove instead of attending actual classes? If every one of us bought a jersey and shirtsey for every player would it be enough to keep them around?

I have a close friend that's big on the NIL scene for the Gamecocks (USCe). Helps run a memorabilia group that coordinates player signings, sells player jerseys, shirts, etc. all under the NIL heading. He's already mourning the offseason and how much memorabilia he's going to have to eat due to transfers. How long can they keep going with the lack of player commitment to the team and the school. Or is it on his group for not selling enough shirts? Guess they'll have to go to an on-demand deal when nothing is printed until the order is placed.

Sorry, I came back from my trip to Neyland last week with the flu. Its been a tough week. Guess I should be happy that we got at least a week and a half to celebrate returning to a bowl game before being hit in the face with this dose of reality again.
 

RhoChi

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
581
Somebody convince me this isn't where I should be. Is there even a way we can contribute enough to make it worth a players time and effort to stay eligible at GT when he can go hang out at the Grove instead of attending actual classes? If every one of us bought a jersey and shirtsey for every player would it be enough to keep them around?

I have a close friend that's big on the NIL scene for the Gamecocks (USCe). Helps run a memorabilia group that coordinates player signings, sells player jerseys, shirts, etc. all under the NIL heading. He's already mourning the offseason and how much memorabilia he's going to have to eat due to transfers. How long can they keep going with the lack of player commitment to the team and the school. Or is it on his group for not selling enough shirts? Guess they'll have to go to an on-demand deal when nothing is printed until the order is placed.

Sorry, I came back from my trip to Neyland last week with the flu. Its been a tough week. Guess I should be happy that we got at least a week and a half to celebrate returning to a bowl game before being hit in the face with this dose of reality again.
Who needs loyalty when you have money? Isn’t the big thing now to jump ship every 3-4 years to get a raise for a lateral move?

Let’s face it. Our society has quietly (or maybe quite loudly) been spiraling into a culture of “Look out for yourself. Screw the rest”.

While I understand wanting to take care of yourself and those around you first, I think there’s a big disservice being done to these athletes.

I mean what does this teach them? If you don’t wanna compete, just leave? When the going gets tough, give up?

If I walked out of my office everytime I came across a difficult problem or project, I might as well work from home.

I’m gonna sound like an old coot, but money and the love of it, has ruined college athletics. Give the students a full ride and allow them to get a quality degree.

But with sports betting, and NIL, and everything it almost feels exploitative of these students.

They’re STUDENT athletes. Not the other way around.
 

GTJackets

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
770
Location
Moncks Corner, South Carolina
I'd much rather guys use the portal now than in the Spring. Let's say a player like Kennard sticks around and goes through Spring practice, gets a ton of reps, and then decides to transfer. We are in much worse shape because we had 15 practices during bowl lead-up and we had all of Spring to figure out who would replace him but instead we had Kyle taking up all those reps.

Agreed. If I remember correctly, wasn't that what Stone did last year? Captain of the spring game. Won some kind of defensive award. Promptly left for Ole Miss the next week. At least now we can use the extra practice reps for the bowl game on players that should at least theoretically be around next season.
 

slugboy

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
10,809
I'm guessing if I was the coach these players wouldn't be eating free at Tech.
They’re entitled the athlete’s workout rooms, their food plan, tutors, and the rest of their scholarship and training benefits, aside from team meetings and practices.
Them’s the NCAA rules for the transfer portal.
 

GTJackets

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
770
Location
Moncks Corner, South Carolina
Who needs loyalty when you have money? Isn’t the big thing now to jump ship every 3-4 years to get a raise for a lateral move?

Venturing a bit off topic here, but this is probably where my problem comes from. When I graduated with my CS degree back in 98, my dad gave me that exact advice. Change jobs every 3-4 years, drive up your salary. That's how you make the big bucks.

On Oct 16th, I celebrated my 25th anniversary with the company I work for. I just hit 50 in January. I've spent half of my years on this planet working for one company. Clearly I didn't follow his advice. I started with this company after graduation and have enjoyed it every day since. I'm sure my dad was right and that I could have made a lot more money following his advice. Maybe could even be retired by now. But I have no regrets and have been able to fully support my wife and four kids on what I have made.

A grad transfer, I can get. Your gave Tech four years of your best. Enjoy your last year. And I suppose some others could be "processing" a guy that just can't stay healthy and encouraging him to move on. I guess loyalty works both ways.
 

yeti92

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,621
Who needs loyalty when you have money? Isn’t the big thing now to jump ship every 3-4 years to get a raise for a lateral move?
I'm not sure most people doing this are even waiting that long. 1-2 years seems to be more and more common.

I mean what does this teach them? If you don’t wanna compete, just leave? When the going gets tough, give up?
The only guys who are leaving because things got tough/don't wanna compete are guys buried on the depth chart.

If I walked out of my office everytime I came across a difficult problem or project, I might as well work from home.
Working from home is great, you should try it.
They’re STUDENT athletes. Not the other way around.
Most of them don't want to be the student part, just the athlete part.
 

tmhunter52

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,356
This is honestly worse than free agency. At least in the pros you have an idea of how long a contract is, and both parties have a say. In college, a player has all the power to just do whatever.
Money (NIL) is driving this and the factories with the BIG money will outbid the have-nots for talent. The have-nots will develop some talent, like the minor leagues in baseball, but will get nothing in return for the cost inputs made to develop the talent that departs for good NIL paydays. If you don’t see the end to major college football as we know it, it is coming.
 
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