Alcaus said:

Is Devin Jackson signing live or something?

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rsmacke said:

Pretty sure he reaffirmed his commitment to Oregon anyway

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vailhusker said:

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Baron Winnebago said:

Just randomly stating that I think most of the dudes in the class have the potential to be very good players and we shouldn't shit on "the class" when it's really the dereliction of duty by the coaching staff to go get some defensive lineman that is the big red flag

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Baron Winnebago said:

Just randomly stating that I think most of the dudes in the class have the potential to be very good players and we shouldn't shit on "the class" when it's really the dereliction of duty by the coaching staff to go get some defensive lineman that is the big red flag

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NCsker said:

Honest question with no snark intended, So you think we should have diverted NIL $$ to high school DLs that won’t see the field for 2 years instead of spending it in the portal on proven players?

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NCsker said:

Honest question with no snark intended, So you think we should have diverted NIL $$ to high school DLs that won’t see the field for 2 years instead of spending it in the portal on proven players?

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herbsinator said:

Yeah, a couple more class of ‘26 DL recruits would have fixed our problems up front

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Baron Winnebago said:

Not so much about fixing the '26 DL as it is avoiding a situation where you repeat the '25 DL again the future.

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Alcaus said:

Hoffken played more than most the other underclassmen DL. Played in more games than Jaylen George.

Very wtf

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Hedley Lamarr said:

this is why I am creating a time machine

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Baron Winnebago said:

Yeah and you just go back in time to ask how we got to playing 4-5 dudes who are way too green to be asked to play as much as they did.

2021 class (5th year seniors)
- Ruquan Buckley (transferred to Mich State)
- Jailen Weaver (last seen at Garden City cc.)

2022 (4th year)
-Brodie Tagaloa (now at Sac St., spent a year at TE, then DL, then car accident wiped out a year)
-Jake Appleget (was at NIU then portaled, was a TE but listed as DL by crootin service)

2023 (3rd year, probably when we should expect dudes to start getting run unless they're legit)
- Van Poppel. First year as a key contributor getting his legs under him.
- Cam Lenhardt. Regular player for 3 years is
- Sua Lefotu. Garbage time duty.
- Maverick Noonan. Garbage time duty.

- Princewill (now at Ole Miss)
- Vincent Carroll Jackson (now at UCONN, looks like he played a bit)
- Kai Wallin (now at Oregon State)

So of the 3 classes you'd expect to make the bulk of your contributors in 2025, they signed charitably 11 guys. Only 4 of which are still on campus. And of the 4 only 2 of them have been regular contributors.

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Dell Husker said:

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Baron Winnebago said:

I think you can't view a position like that as an either/or.

You have to maintain a healthy pipeline of high school recruits because that is going to be where you land the best players (most of the best players never hit the portal) and most players take multiple years to develop.

Nebraska is in a situation where they need transfer DL too, but this season is a pretty stark example of the risks of not having a healthy pipeline of young guys developing on the defensive line. They had to hit on transfers this off-season and they didn't.

You also know who is going to be in a HS class vs. hypothetical future portal guys. Maybe it's a lean year for DL in the portal anyways so you can't plan on that, but if you are at a point where you're losing truly proven portal DL over money, you're not a serious program anyways.

Even if you're dealing with a finite NIL budget, I'd much rather see them spend on both HS and portal DL and go light on other positions that are easier to patch and/or freshman are more likely to contribute at early.

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