It sucks that this is what college football has turned into. FCS teams who find real talent and develop them just for FBS teams swoop in after the fact. I hope Caden and Drew both stay, but I agree that keeping Drew will be the real challenge.

Totally sucks. Only good thing is players are finally getting compensation but the transfer portal sucks. It killed high school recruiting and development.

It sucks that this is what college football has turned into. FCS teams who find real talent and develop them just for FBS teams swoop in after the fact. — CA Forever

True.
And, FCS schools never land these guys in the first place and enjoy them for a year or two pre-portal era.

Somehow the courts under the guise of allowing players to earn from sales of their name image or likeness, have created a system of professional teams with an independent farm system where players are directly paid by the teams, totally disconnected from how their name image or likeness is marketed.
I suspect this is because the NCAA, who were defendants in the case, largely were representing the big programs interests, some of whom were very comfortable with the opportunity to raid other rosters.

The increase to 105 scholarships will allow the big programs to have their cake and eat it to. They can still offer 20+ scholarships to high school players, while bringing in a dozen transfers every year.

I think Cap Space rule is the only way to fix this a bit.

exactly. If I recall, the premise of the House case was really that if an individual who happened to be an athlete wanted to make YouTube music video, should they be able to monetize it. What we have here is something so far removed from that fundamental question. As per usual, the legislative branch was nowhere to be found, so judges legislated this. The NCAA and universities should be regulated with some cursory guardrails on the greed like power and insurance companies are. Said another way, congress should have slapped Ohio State right on the pp and said this is too corrupt even for politicians.

I think I heard he has already been offered a $1M deal from a team in the BIG. Can’t blame the kid for leaving. After seeing what happened to the Connor’s brothers grabbing the money is a smart financial move.

Sucks but that football today.

This is about money, not reps. The kids are often not the ones making any of the decisions. There are parents, uncles, street agents, 7x7 coaches, etc. brokering these deals and taking a cut of the action.

I know this stuff is pretty complicated (especially with some of LeFan's insights) but as an educator/coach, always keeping the kids first is essential. It can look like encouraging them to stay, and helping them navigate leaving. As long as Plough advocates in their best interest he's doing the right thing.

If he advocates for his guys, no matter how that looks, he can't lose in the long run and he'll continue to build a great program.


P4 FBS football is a different story. That's a cut-throat business where coaches are trying to survive and protect their own interests. I enjoy the FCS for many reasons, the fact that we aren't a football factory or media corporate arm is the biggest.

So scholarship offers aren't contracts? Or it's a one-way deal?

Why not build in a buyout like coaches?

This is exactly right. And the advocacy is part of the reason they had such a solid group of grad transfers. There are going to be some frustrating departures but keep the frustration private and market all of the successes publicly to attract the next crew.

It is a two way deal for practical purposes. Most guys in the P4 are on one year NIL packages and a good portion of the kids that wind up in the portal are there because they have been told to move on.

And here I was thinking to myself. Man how great of a 4 year run are we about to have with CP and Vargas both being freshman.

I mean, I'll admit I'm a pretty selfish fan and graduate of UC Davis. I guess these guys have to do what's best for themselves whether that's financially or career-wise in football. I don't wish ill on players that choose to leave, but I'm also not going to pretend that I'm happy for them that they are choosing opportunities over Davis. Idk, like I said, maybe I'm the outlier here.