re: The transfer portal will make recruiting obsolete.

You are not wrong except that now coaches will take the director of the TAF who’ll hand the recruit’s family a copy of a bank statement and walk through the player’s salary escalators based on playing time, # of touchdowns scored, all-American awards, etc. it literally is free agency. Amateur athletics is over. However, very soon someone will figure out that even NFL free agents sign 2-3 year contracts and can’t just move around at Will. Also, the NFL salary cap strives for parity which leads to more interest (hope), tv revenue, etc. college football was already suffering a bit from the monotony of yearly Bama / Clemson / Ohio State dominance. People are going to tune out. They are already not sitting in stadiums at all or for the whole game

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Tell me why I'm wrong.

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Because the entire thing is completely out of balance and it’s eventually going to be dialed back because of that. The current setup isn’t sustainable. The portal will eventually be restrained by more rules and regulations to slow the flow of players out of programs. It’s creating too much instability to keep the majority of teams happy.

As for recruiting, it’s short-sighted to think there eventually won’t be a correction back in the direction of at least an even balance of recruiting and the portal. Personally, I think it’s more likely recruiting still ends up being the primary source of players for more major programs.

Just take a look at the NBA in the 90s and early 2000s for a good example of how corrections work. First there was a run on taking guys right out of high school based on a couple of home runs in Kobe and Kevin Garnett. However, even before the one and done rules change that prevented taking high school players, GMs had already started backing off because contracts are guaranteed and there were just too many huge misses to justify the risk.

Then it was foreign basketball players. People wondered just how far the balance would shift as foreign guys filled the draft lottery for 2 or 3 years in the 2000s. There are still several foreign guys taken in each draft class, but it’s nothing like that initial surge where everyone was searching for the next Dirk or Pau Gasol. Too many guys were busts and products of poor scouting and the market corrected again.

College football will find balance, as well. Once coaches figure out that you can’t build entire rosters and sustain consistent success depending on the portal, the pendulum will swing back. A great coach is always going to do better building a program’s foundation with their own 4 to 5 year guys and then supplement that with the portal to fill holes and bring in instant impact players.

They probably do have more not good players than good ones. That said, the portal has too many players in it anyway. Any college that has an elite player where he fell through the cracks and can't get paid is going to the portal. It's basically like free agency to them. There will be plenty of elite players in the portal just to go to the highest bidder in the current circumstances. You will be able to build a championship team in the portal if you spend your money right targeting the right talent. LSU could be transformed in a month's time through the portal. It's not like it's full of scrubs lacking elite talent.

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It's not like it's full of scrubs lacking elite talent.

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It is though. Most of the kids in the portal will go professional in something other than football.

Who do you think is in the portal, bro?

They need to be free agents and be able to go where the money is. They are not students and are not interested in education. The schools make millions off of them and that revenue should be shared. It’s all about money and the players are the revenue producers.

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Yes - there will always be the need for basic recruiting needed to be done by coaches but now schools will recruit athletes more based on NIL and ability to make $$.

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So you just negated your own point right here? And only a small minority of the 85+ players on the team will receive lucrative NIL deals (IF they play for a major program, no players on Toledo are getting any NIL deal worth mentioning). This is another case of fans here thinking the world of the top 10 programs applies to everyone.

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Secondly - if I'm a coach, I'm not going to go grovel in an 18 yr old's living room any more, especially if there's a chance he bolts in a year anyway.

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Well you wouldn't win much then. You still want the first crack at the guy if you're trying to build a championship program, not hope you can get him in the TP in a year or two.

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And if he does, no big deal. . . i can just go the transfer portal and have my pick of as many free agents I want.

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The top programs aren't going to be dependent on the transfer portal, and you can't sign an unlimited number of players from the TP.

People have been saying CFB is doomed for over 100 years. People thought that paying athlete's room and board would ruin the game.

Are you saying super teams don’t exist now?

Hi Lester, I can understand your perspective because of all the uncertainty. The portal right now doesn't appear to be that strong.

But, I looked up a few NFL draft stats. Every year, about 260 players are drafted of which 15-20 are former 5 stars (50% - 60% of all 5 stars coming out of high school). The largest population of draft picks were 3 stars and there are as many or more unrated players drafted as 5 stars. Combined, 5 star and 4 star rated recruits represent about 90 - 100 of the 260 drafted each year. The point is that there is plenty of NFL talent that are late bloomers and develop into NFL talent during their college career.

To compete, LSU will still need to recruit 2 or 3 of those 5 stars every year - and make sure these are program guys willing to invest time to be developed (I think Howard and Nuss are program guys, hence their desire to Red shirt). As CBK said in his press conference, looking for players that fit a profile.

To compete for championships, a difference maker QB is a must. LSU won a national championship by beating Bama on the road because Tua fumbled on the 2 yrd. line and threw a pick late in the first half. That was the difference in the game and those were the two best QBs that year. One was an athletic 5 star who played early and one was a 4 star who was patient and developed. Two different paths to the Heisman and NFL success.

LSU needs to elevate our program to a point where after 4 years, a player is NFL ready with strength, speed, technique, and football IQ. That way we will be able to win the portal battle and recruit the late bloomers who are gunning for the NFL. With that program we will attract the late bloomer kids that did not get much NIL money out of high school by providing a higher probability of developing into an NFL talent with their personal investment. I think this is the plan. Talent evaluation will be critical - need to find the late bloomers in the portal.

the Portal is crushing high school players. It is open free agency without regard to the incoming high school guys.

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You’re wrong because most of the kids who transfer are not good

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The transfer portal does not have good players???