re: Simeon Barrow DT from Michigan State in portal

quote:

---

What is with all the Chalky hate on this board?

---

I don't think anybody hates him, but he's being a pretty big bitch on this topic, and he's not letting it go, despite getting the answer to his question. But he knew the answer anyway, so he keeps just repeating it rhetorically, which has getting pretty obnoxious.

Why didn't we take better DTs in the early portal. I think the timing was biggest factor. We didn't hire Bo Davis until late in the process (not portal process as much as the announcing for the NFL Draft timing). I think we really thought both Smith and Wingo were coming back. Supposedly offered them $500k each. So that's a million dollars we had set aside for our starting DTs. Which left us with not as much for portal DTs, and there was a lot of competition for them. So we could't offer them as much and we couldn't offer them a starting position.

So I think we were expecting them both to come back, but were shocked that neither one did. By the time they made their decisions, it was too late. Other DTs had either already signed and were enrolled in Spring classes at their new schools or had already taken visits, and/or established relationships with position coaches/HCs at schools that were courting them. And we were too far behind to catch up. It's certainly fair to criticize Kelly for that. But for how long and to what end? None of us has a time machine. Can't go backwards. Can only move forward. Could we maybe hold off on the bitching just a little bit, at least until we see who we wind up with?