Chubba and Teddye getting those offers. Very cool to see!

Chubba:
Houston
Arizona


Teddye:
Michigan State
Arizona
Washington
Oregon State
Cal
Stanford

I'm sorry to see them go but happy for them that they're getting some high end offers. I hope it works out for them and they're happy wherever they land.

I know that Jonathan Smith just took the Michigan State job. Was in Corvallis, where he also played, looks like they've been eyeballing Buchanan for a while.

Teddye Buchanan commits to CAL. Great pick up for the Bears. Good luck to him!

https://x.com/TeddyeBuchanan/status/1732103588258906360?s=20

Play 'em Week 1, nice!

In one of the post press conference interviews, Plough commented that one of his first call was to Lan. Every time i see a new post on this thread, i hold my breath when i open it up.

I do the same.

Seldom do two players combine to make the future of an Aggie football program so important as TT and LL
I am holding onto my breath to breath to the point of my passing out.

I don't want to say we're in the clear, but at least in my mind if they were going to jump in the portal they would have done so already. Especially with a new coach already announced if they weren't happy with the decision they would have jumped... Certainly a big decision with that NIL money out there though.

For Larison hold your breath until the date undergraduates can declare for the NFL draft which i think is Jan 15th.

Sacbee article yesterday said Plough was going to have Lan to work with. I’ll look for the link.

My guess (hope) is that since we hired an offensive guy, a couple defensive guys hopped in the portal. They likely knew we would be moving to an up tempo offense and that would mean putting considerably more pressure/less rest on the defense. They had an opportunity to make a change, and took it.

I think outside maybe a one or two guys that see the writing on the wall, guys are done leaving for the fall window. I think real clarity will come in the spring window after spring ball when guys have a better idea of where they stand on the depth chart.

Players are leaving because the’ve accomplished what they came for. They aren’t leaving because of who the coach is. The defense is going to struggle next year due to all the players who have played their final year and players who move on, that probably influences others having friends depart.
We lost 4 linebackers that played due to using up their eligibility.. A fifth, the team captain graduated after four years. Suani used up his eligibility.
Chubba and Kennedy have been here 4 and 5 years respectively and are transferring. , Budgett and Bearden have been here five years, they likely have earned a degree if they want to apply.
There is no academic reason for many players to hang around for 6 years.

Totally! I think its great that a ton of the guys leaving have been here a while and gotten their degrees. But the fact we have only seen defensive guys enter is quite interesting. LL and TT are in the same class as Teddye and as of yet we haven't seen them enter.
I'm not saying the coach is the only reason but could certainly be a contributing factor. Could be part of the reason that Teddye chose CAL over Stanford. Justin Wilcox is a defensive minded coach who has a history of producing some great college LBs. I'm sure there a ton of factors that play into a players decision to transfer and the coach has to be one of them.

I would love to see us get aggressive in the portal and see if we can get some defensive guys back. Evan Tattersall is a guy that comes to mind. Had a pretty decent career at CAL, came here and was a big part of our defense. Cal has a couple guys in the portal on defense that could be pieces we look at.

Both Tattersall and Smalley were good pickups. Should be easier to transfer within UC system. Chance to pick up someone wanting more playing time perhaps and still get a UC degree.

Both of those guys actually graduated from their first schools. Thats what most of our losses are doing as well. When the extra COVID year fades into history transfers will drop off from schools which students initially chose because of academics. Underclassmen will still be bouncing around among less academic schools, but you won’t see as many senior or graduate transfers.

I couldn't imagine 6 years at the same place playing football and studying - no wonder a lot of these guys are graduating and trying something new for the final year.

yah. Maybe a better analogy would have been Castles. Although everyone has unique reasons.

Was listening to College Sports Today on XM yesterday and one of the hosts threw out a figure of about 10% of College Football players from last years rosters are in the portal. Given 133 FBS Schools with 85 scholarships + 128 FCS schools with 63 scholarships, it looks like 10% might be a touch low. Crazy turnover this year.

As @Riveraggie and @NCagalum were referencing, it will be interesting to see how the portal numbers change as most of the players enrolled no longer have the free COVID year. My guess is that it comes down a little bit but with NIL and the like I think it still stays high. Davis likely sees less incoming transfers due to issues noted above, academic requirements and most transfers being Grad Transfers.

Knowing that admissions can be hard for undergrad transfers, I wonder if we can just focus/dominate the niche of FBS grad transfers (maybe guys who didn't get a lot of playing time or concluded the NFL is not a realistic outcome). Even if we can just break even with the departures, let alone get net gains/upgrades.

We really do have top-tier grad programs. I wonder how admissions work for grad transfer athletes?

I think Cal, UCLA, and other academic places are key.

Once the COVID year is gone, grads won’t have remaining eligibility unless a player redshirts and graduates with his class or earlier. It is the two years of remaining eligibility that makes a grad transfer appealing since they can actually get a grad degree in many cases in two years. You can’t do much at Davis in one year, as school doesn’t offer much in the way of one year grad programs, other schools might have something vocational. And even the football program will have less interest in a one year transfer. Tattersall, Castles, Smalley all had an extra year due to COVID

It's not unusual for players to graduate in 3 years. They spend so much extra time on campus in the summer that they pick up extra units and all of a sudden they have a degree in three years. The redshirt piece is certainly a little bit harder but I could certainly see us getting guys who didn't get much playing time at a CAL,UCLA etc with two years remaining.

There are options for some one year programs. I was in the Masters of Professional Accountancy program with one of our players. Only a one year program and the world is in need of accountants! I do wonder if there is potential for one year guys to enter a multi-year program with the first year paid for and the rest pay your own way. There were certainly a solid number of Grad Transfer pre Covid so I think that will continue but obviously in a much diminished number.

There will be a few Grad transfers after COVID ages out but I don’t remember any pre COVID.

Our best targets for transfers are guys who walked on at big schools, and found they didn’t play much and likely didn’t earn a scholarship. Not the most exciting of transfers but in some cases they are players who can contribute here. Example Smalley at UCLA, Simonson at Nebraska, and even Cloyd who at least for a time was an Oregon State walk on. Get them as underclassmen, like Cloyd and Simonson.

No offers yet for Zach Kennedy

Not even from Montana?

lol, fcs to fcs at this point in his career would be . . . odd

Just generally, I do not like how the transfer portal makes it so easy for student athletes to move from school to school. Specifically, I do not like how many young men at UC Davis eschew the benefits of a first rate education to move to schools (not names Cal or Stanford) for, what? More playing time? More NIL income? Dislike of a coach? What happened to the whole idea of commitment?

Will the transfer requirements stiffen up after we get through the Covid hangover, or is this our new reality?