2024-25 Portal SZN Thread

[BorWhiskey]

Ya, i'm more about you gotta find a starter in the portal there. Them bringing in extra depth at DL wouldn't alleviate my concerns. I always thought the portal could be used for years where you just lose way too many starters that your development/depth behind them can't keep up. I think that is what DL is this year. You will never replace the talent we had there skill for skill (graduated and portal'd), but the only way you have shot to keep similar production is bringing in a stud from somewhere. There were a few, I think Texas Tech grabbed one of them. But I haven't taken a look too deep. You can find some DTs that are similar to the OTs we are excited about IMO.

I'm really shocked at our need for DBs still, we have so many guys there my head is spinning. But I love what we did in the WR room. I actually thought we did a good job recruiting that spot the first two years, but Holgo coming in and saying "nope we got Barney and let's grab other people" is somewhat eye-opening.

I don’t know if there was a starter for us in the portal. Maybe that kid Texas tech got. We’ve got to step up our tamper game if we want a starting DT.

 

[ShortSideOption]

Right now interior DL is my only concern. Van Poppel and Davis have tremendous upside but they are a year away at least. I hope they can be serviceable in 2025 or else teams like Michigan, PSU, Minnesota, and Cockeye are going to try to run it down our proverbial throat.

I think people will be really excited when they see Van Poppel. I've heard he was basically our third guy right behind Robinson and Hutmacher but since we had Jeudy and another they decided to redshirt him. If they can get one more guy to step up next to him that would be great. I'm pumped for him in 2025, I think he's going to turn some heads.

 

[ShortSideOption]

No I think On3 is flawed.

Simple question. Do you think we got better or worse at WR? No nuance, straight up. We clearly did. I’d bet On3 has us as equally to slightly better. It’s pretty clear our wr core will be vastly better.

I'd agree there. I went into it higher up here, but WR we got way better. That room flipped in a big way IMO But to the point you're asking, here's what I would say in regards to position by position:

QB: Even
RB: Down
WR: Up
TE: Down
OL: UP
DL: Down
LB: Down
DB: Up

So when you look at it like that, I think On3 got it right based on who we lost into the portal and who we gained. Again, this is just portal incoming and outgoing for us.

 

[KidsSeeGhosts]

I'd agree there. I went into it higher up here, but WR we got way better. That room flipped in a big way IMO But to the point you're asking, here's what I would say in regards to position by position:

QB: Even
RB: Down
WR: Up
TE: Down
OL: UP
DL: Down
LB: Down
DB: Up

So when you look at it like that, I think On3 got it right based on who we lost into the portal and who we gained. Again, this is just portal incoming and outgoing for us.

Are we really down at LB? Trent and McCullough seem like pretty solid adds.

 

[Kazman5k]

Are we really down at LB? Trent and McCullough seem like pretty solid adds.

Ya I like LB more this year. Gbayor was a JAG and although it’s hard to replace bullocks experience, give me a more athletic duo in Trent and McCullough along with a year older shavers

 

[ShortSideOption]

I don’t know if there was a starter for us in the portal. Maybe that kid Texas tech got. We’ve got to step up our tamper game if we want a starting DT.

Ya, I'd agree there. 1890 was so happy Nash and Robinson didn't just put their feet in the transfer portal last year because it would have been very tough to keep them.

 

[ShortSideOption]

Are we really down at LB? Trent and McCullough seem like pretty solid adds.

I figured LB may be the one that could be argued is even instead of down. I think the problem is you lose your JACK/Edge and leading sack guy Williams. Your only returning starter Gbayor took off. You lose Thompson (who I wasn't a fan of) and then Wallin was kind of a tweener. You bring in basically guys coming off injury, Go5, or high ranking guys that didn't play like Nwaneri.

I love Trent, I think him with Wright and Shavers back make me at least feel ok there. I like the McCullough addition too, but we will see how he looks coming off his injury. 2023 McCullough was a stud, 2024 he lost a bit of his step. Rumors we were looking at him at Rover too? I'll take Nwaneri over Wallin any day of the week. Hopefully he can be a better version of Williams for us.

 

[Scarlet ObsessioN]

Are we really down at LB? Trent and McCullough seem like pretty solid adds.

Plus we return Javin Wright.

 

[Carm]

 

[herbsinator]

I figured LB may be the one that could be argued is even instead of down. I think the problem is you lose your JACK/Edge and leading sack guy Williams. Your only returning starter Gbayor took off. You lose Thompson (who I wasn't a fan of) and then Wallin was kind of a tweener. You bring in basically guys coming off injury, Go5, or high ranking guys that didn't play like Nwaneri.

I love Trent, I think him with Wright and Shavers back make me at least feel ok there. I like the McCullough addition too, but we will see how he looks coming off his injury. 2023 McCullough was a stud, 2024 he lost a bit of his step. Rumors we were looking at him at Rover too? I'll take Nwaneri over Wallin any day of the week. Hopefully he can be a better version of Williams for us.

I think you’re overstating Williams’ importance a bit. He had a couple big games against lesser competition.

 

[ShortSideOption]

I think you’re overstating Williams’ importance a bit. He had a couple big games against lesser competition.

Listen, i'm the first one to say i'm not a big fan because he's only in during passing situations and he had one move, the speed rush. I'm not a huge Williams fan. But let's just put the shoe on the other foot, if we were getting Williams in the portal to us we would be bragging up how we just got a Power 4 conference bowl eligible teams top pass rusher and talking about how big of a get it is. We all know we would be doing that, so I don't think it's just "no loss at all". With that said, i'm pretty sure they are pitching to Nwaneri that he could be our better Williams. I'll never take a trade of potential for production, but i'm at least intrigued for it.

 

[ShortSideOption]

Here's how I would sum up the portal, especially at Nebraska. You need to use it to fill gaps like we did at QB, OL/OT, DB, and P. Where Nebraska faltered this year is losing production/starters in positions like RB, TE, DL, and LB. At Nebraska IMO you should rarely lose guys like Butler, Gbayor, Boerkircher, or Dowdell. 1 or 2 will happen, but you can't have as many as we did. When you lose guys like that you are basically just playing catch-up in the portal because they guys you've been grooming for 2 years to be your stars in 2025 just jump ship. Now you have to hope the guys you don't have as much familiarity with and don't have the trust with you are what you think they are. It's always better to keep guys that have played for you.

WR is a great example of what should happen at Nebraska. You process guys that were here and not going to contribute like Coleman, Lloyd, Hall, and McMorris. And then you bring in guys with FBS production like Key and Hunter, and then a developmental guy your position coach is excited about like Gilmore.

 

[SOHusker11]

Listen, i'm the first one to say i'm not a big fan because he's only in during passing situations and he had one move, the speed rush. I'm not a huge Williams fan. But let's just put the shoe on the other foot, if we were getting Williams in the portal to us we would be bragging up how we just got a Power 4 conference bowl eligible teams top pass rusher and talking about how big of a get it is. We all know we would be doing that, so I don't think it's just "no loss at all". With that said, i'm pretty sure they are pitching to Nwaneri that he could be our better Williams. I'll never take a trade of potential for production, but i'm at least intrigued for it.

If you'd rather have James fucking Williams instead of Williams Nwaneri, I don't even know what else to say.

I'll make that trade 1000 times out of a 100.

 

[SOHusker11]

Sounds good to me, but it sure doesn't leave kids much time.

 

[nscottie]

Sounds good to me, but it sure doesn't leave kids much time.

I’m fine with the kids not having has much time. CFB has turned into the inmates running the asylum. Time to give more control back to the schools.

 

[Fargo Husker]

Sounds good to me, but it sure doesn't leave kids much time.

I’m fine with shortening the window, still think it would make sense to have a short Spring window though too.

 

[SOHusker11]

Sounds good to me, but it sure doesn't leave kids much time.

 

[Carm]

At Nebraska IMO you should rarely lose guys like Butler, Gbayor, Boerkircher, or Dowdell. 1 or 2 will happen, but you can't have as many as we did. When you lose guys like that you are basically just playing catch-up in the portal because they guys you've been grooming for 2 years to be your stars in 2025 just jump ship. Now you have to hope the guys you don't have as much familiarity with and don't have the trust with you are what you think they are. It's always better to keep guys that have played for you.

This is why we are likely to see smaller recruiting classes in the P2/P5 in the future. It's going to be hard to keep guys at any school if the plan is to develop them with increasing participation until they are significant competitors in year 3. People who have real gaps at their positions will shell out money for one of the limited supply of true contributors available at the position. These guys will be hard to retain because we have our owns gaps to full. Some of them we will inevitably let go without much of a fight because we have needs elsewhere that are greater that we can't fill if we pay them the comp available at the margin.

 

[Carm]

Sounds good to me, but it sure doesn't leave kids much time.

predictable recommendation from the coaches - makes their lives easier.

If they constrain transferring to this extent, someone is going to sue over the legality of the portal itself and likely win.

 

[vailhusker]

I'm surprised the coaches didn't want to keep a spring window. It seems like it would be a good time to move some guys on after spring practice.

Like this year they are bringing in extra guys for the spring to compete for a spot on the 105 then will cut some after and probably some more in the fall.