Transfer Portal: Who's Coming and Going (2022 Roster)

bobongo

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In the OL case does the portal allow you to bring your younger (recruits) players along while you also have some experience playing?
That's a good question. The portal presents a new problem for coaches to solve. There's no one-size-fits-all solution, but just to state that, in general, if you're losing experienced players and replacing them with recruits, you're getting young and staying young. But you could be actually handicapping your own recruiting with transfers, or actually causing your own experienced players to transfer out. Or, as you suggest, hampering the development of your own recruits. There are a number of pitfalls. It's a complex problem with no easy answer.

I think in general it's best to get the best talent you can and let competition sort it out.
 

Oakland

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fwiw. , here are the 19 players we have taken through the portal and their time at GT.
2018 - Jack DeFoor, OT, Ole Miss - started 11 of 12 games, 2019 All-ACC HM
2019 - Antonneous Clayton, DE, FL - played in 5 games, started 4 in 2020, 9 tackles, 2 sacks
2019 - Jared Southers, OG, Vandy - started 11 of 12 games, one of 4 team captains
2019 - Marquez Ezzard, WR, Miami - played in 8 games, 9 rec 124 yds
2019 - Myles Sims, CB, Michigan - played 29 games with 5 starts over 3 years, 56 tackles, 9 pass breakups - has a year left
2019 - Tyler Davis, TE, UConn - started 11 of 12 games at GT, one of 4 captains, 17 rec, 148 yds, 1 TD
2020 - Derrik Allen, S, Notre Dame - played 19 games with 1 start over 2 seasons, 17 tackles - has eligibility left
2020 - Devin Cochran, OT, Vandy - started all 11 games
2020 - Ryan Johnson, OG, TN - started 21 games over 2 seasons, team captain
2021 - Ayinde Eley, LB, MD - started 11 of 12 games, 90 tackles, 3 QB hurries, 1 pass breakup, 1 year remaining
2021 - Brett Cimaglia, K, TN - 11-15 FG long 37, 31-33 XP

2021 - Keion White, DE, Old Dominion - played in 4 games with 1 start, 4 tackles, has eligibility left
2021 - Kenneth Kirby, OT, Norfolk St - appeared in 1 game due to injuries
2021 - Kenyatta Watson II, CB, Texas - played in 6 games, eligibility remaining
2021 - Kevin Harris, LB, AL - played in 12 games with 6 tackles and 1 QB hurry, eligibility remaining
2021 - Kyric McGowan, WR, NW - 11 games, 37 rec (T1), 467 yds (2), 7 rec TD (1)
2021 - Makius Scott, DE, SC - played 11 games, 1 QB hurry, eligibility remaining
2021 - Nick Pendley OG, Miss St - started 1 game, played in 3 others due to injuries, eligibility remaining
2021 - Trad Beatty, QB, Temple - one apprearance (KSU)

The players in bold are the ones I would consider to have made significant contributions during their time so far.
4 are OL - all moved on at this point
1 TE
1 WR
1 K
1 LB - coming back for one more year.

Likely due to necessity the 4 OL who have been healthy have all been starters.
The WR, TE And K all were significant contributors in their 1 year.
The only defensive player who really made an impact is returning for a COVID year. Most of the defensive players have been disappointments, unable to crack the starting lineups.
Thank you for doing this. Wasn't Azende Rey also a transfer portal guy?
 

SOWEGA Jacket

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I like the portal. Have zero issues with it. Good coaches will keep their players and attract higher end portal players. Mediocre coaches will lose solid players and attract the scraps. I think of it as the Peter Principle portal.

And like everything in life poor decisions will lead to poor results. So the 70% of players who give up a scholly will learn a valuable life lesson early that should pay off for the rest of their lives.
 

orientalnc

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I like the portal. Have zero issues with it. Good coaches will keep their players and attract higher end portal players. Mediocre coaches will lose solid players and attract the scraps. I think of it as the Peter Principle portal.

And like everything in life poor decisions will lead to poor results. So the 70% of players who give up a scholly will learn a valuable life lesson early that should pay off for the rest of their lives.
I agree with this. The portal is a fact of life in college sports. Liking it or not is irrelevant to the question of it's usefulness. I am not sure we are in a position to attract the best players in the portal, but, based on Red's list above we are doing OK.

Edited: To correctly spell attract!
 
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TromboneJacket

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I thought Bryce Koon did a good analysis of our transfer portal gains and losses on his podcast. The only guys he mentioned us losing that I would have really liked to have last season were Kaleb Oliver and maybe Antwan Owens. Another guy we lost to quitting football who might have been nice to keep was Zach Quinney. But I’d say overall we gained more production via the transfer portal than we lost. McGowan was a baller, Cochran and Johnson were decent on the OL, Eley was good, Keion White showed some potential and has one more year with us, and Cimaglia was good as a kicker. And frankly, I’d say that any time a transfer becomes an immediate starter, that’s a win because it means he’s better than what we had at his position. Pendley had a few starts before injury too, so he likely has more to give. And we’ve brought in some supposedly good raw talent at DB (according to the rating services), so maybe Tillman can tap into that.
 

CuseJacket

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fwiw. , here are the 19 players we have taken through the portal and their time at GT.
2018 - Jack DeFoor, OT, Ole Miss - started 11 of 12 games, 2019 All-ACC HM
2019 - Antonneous Clayton, DE, FL - played in 5 games, started 4 in 2020, 9 tackles, 2 sacks
2019 - Jared Southers, OG, Vandy - started 11 of 12 games, one of 4 team captains
2019 - Marquez Ezzard, WR, Miami - played in 8 games, 9 rec 124 yds
2019 - Myles Sims, CB, Michigan - played 29 games with 5 starts over 3 years, 56 tackles, 9 pass breakups - has a year left
2019 - Tyler Davis, TE, UConn - started 11 of 12 games at GT, one of 4 captains, 17 rec, 148 yds, 1 TD
2020 - Derrik Allen, S, Notre Dame - played 19 games with 1 start over 2 seasons, 17 tackles - has eligibility left
2020 - Devin Cochran, OT, Vandy - started all 11 games
2020 - Ryan Johnson, OG, TN - started 21 games over 2 seasons, team captain
2021 - Ayinde Eley, LB, MD - started 11 of 12 games, 90 tackles, 3 QB hurries, 1 pass breakup, 1 year remaining
2021 - Brett Cimaglia, K, TN - 11-15 FG long 37, 31-33 XP

2021 - Keion White, DE, Old Dominion - played in 4 games with 1 start, 4 tackles, has eligibility left
2021 - Kenneth Kirby, OT, Norfolk St - appeared in 1 game due to injuries
2021 - Kenyatta Watson II, CB, Texas - played in 6 games, eligibility remaining
2021 - Kevin Harris, LB, AL - played in 12 games with 6 tackles and 1 QB hurry, eligibility remaining
2021 - Kyric McGowan, WR, NW - 11 games, 37 rec (T1), 467 yds (2), 7 rec TD (1)
2021 - Makius Scott, DE, SC - played 11 games, 1 QB hurry, eligibility remaining
2021 - Nick Pendley OG, Miss St - started 1 game, played in 3 others due to injuries, eligibility remaining
2021 - Trad Beatty, QB, Temple - one apprearance (KSU)

The players in bold are the ones I would consider to have made significant contributions during their time so far.
4 are OL - all moved on at this point
1 TE
1 WR
1 K
1 LB - coming back for one more year.

Likely due to necessity the 4 OL who have been healthy have all been starters.
The WR, TE And K all were significant contributors in their 1 year.
The only defensive player who really made an impact is returning for a COVID year. Most of the defensive players have been disappointments, unable to crack the starting lineups.
4 of the 2021 transfers (White, Watson II, Pendly, Kirby) were hurt in 2021. Throw in Clayton (2019 transfer) into that mix.

I'm not sure including injured players proves or disproves anything relative to the portal. When we lump them into a list like this, it makes the situation/outcome look more dire than it really is. Two or three of those I cited would have been significant contributors this year, minimally, had they been healthy.

Same goes for Jordan Williams (OL), Leo Blackburn (WR), Matthew Jordan (QB), Jaylend Ratliffe (QB), etc. etc. We recruited them out of high school. They did not or have hardly contributed. We did the right thing in recruiting each of them out of HS at the time.
 

RamblinRed

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4 of the 2021 transfers (White, Watson II, Pendly, Kirby) were hurt in 2021. Throw in Clayton (2019 transfer) into that mix.

I'm not sure including injured players proves or disproves anything relative to the portal. When we lump them into a list like this, it makes the situation/outcome look more dire than it really is. Two or three of those I cited would have been significant contributors this year, minimally, had they been healthy.

Same goes for Jordan Williams (OL), Leo Blackburn (WR), Matthew Jordan (QB), Jaylend Ratliffe (QB), etc. etc. We recruited them out of high school. They did not or have hardly contributed. We did the right thing in recruiting each of them out of HS at the time.
And I pointed out they were injured.
But injured or not they did not contribute. Maybe they will this year, we don't know yet. And we don't know how much they would have contributed if they hadn't been injured.

We can't assume something that didn't happen, all we can do is show what did happen and we can give context for it as I tried to do.
Also, I wasn't trying to 'prove' anything about the portal other than just like any other form of recruiting it will be a mixed bag. Some will pan out, some won't.

Keep in mind part of the reason for the small HS class in 2021 was they used those scholarships on portal players instead. There is nothing inherently wrong with that strategy, it just appears that in the short term that did not work out well. It still could work out well if the injured players this past year become fully healthy and can make contributions.

I do stand by my opinion that the defensive transfers have largely been disappointments, not really making major contributions despite it being widely publicized that our defense was weak going into the new coaching staff.
 

CuseJacket

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And I pointed out they were injured.
But injured or not they did not contribute. Maybe they will this year, we don't know yet. And we don't know how much they would have contributed if they hadn't been injured.

We can't assume something that didn't happen, all we can do is show what did happen and we can give context for it as I tried to do.
Also, I wasn't trying to 'prove' anything about the portal other than just like any other form of recruiting it will be a mixed bag. Some will pan out, some won't.

Keep in mind part of the reason for the small HS class in 2021 was they used those scholarships on portal players instead. There is nothing inherently wrong with that strategy, it just appears that in the short term that did not work out well. It still could work out well if the injured players this past year become fully healthy and can make contributions.

I do stand by my opinion that the defensive transfers have largely been disappointments, not really making major contributions despite it being widely publicized that our defense was weak going into the new coaching staff.
At the end of the day I largely agree with everything you stated. The only nit I'd pick is the blanket statement that the defensive transfers have largely been disappointments. I agree if you are including injuries but for some reason I can't mentally connote "injury" with "disappointment". Bad luck? Sure. I may be caught in the semantics.

Because injuries have been so pervasive, that really leaves Sims, Allen and Harris - three players - who may not have met fan expectations based on actual performance.
 
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