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2020 Transfer Portal Thread


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11 minutes ago, Hopsing said:

I believe the Kouandjio brothers is who that was.

Correct! Couldn’t remember how to come close to spelling it.

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I heard that Tua's little brother will be using the Transfer Portal. My guess is he'll go to either Miami, FAU or South Florida.

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3 hours ago, auburn4ever said:

I heard that Tua's little brother will be using the Transfer Portal. My guess is he'll go to either Miami, FAU or South Florida.

Or my Lobo's

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21 hours ago, auburn4ever said:

I heard that Tua's little brother will be using the Transfer Portal. My guess is he'll go to either Miami, FAU or South Florida.

Them Tagavoloa's are a tight-knit bunch... A little too tight-knit for my preference but that's neither here nor there.

But it'll definitely be either Miami or Florida Atlantic.

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1 hour ago, JBiGGiE said:

Them Tagavoloa's are a tight-knit bunch... A little too tight-knit for my preference but that's neither here nor there.

 

They’re somoan. That’s what somoans do 

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18 hours ago, JBiGGiE said:

Them Tagavoloa's are a tight-knit bunch... A little too tight-knit for my preference but that's neither here nor there.

But it'll definitely be either Miami or Florida Atlantic.

My bama buddy called this before the 2019 season started, and it was mostly because of family and family/bama dynamics.

17 hours ago, Sizzle said:

They’re somoan. That’s what somoans do 

This is exactly what @ClaytonAU told me when I relayed the above from my bama buddy. Not only are they a tight knit group, but evidently it's totally normal for a Polynesian dad to still whoop that ass even if his kid's in college. 

A recruiting expert shared that Lil Bro told him several times that he only went to bama so that they could all stay together and his parents could make it to all of Tua's home games. He never wanted to play there because he didn't want to be in Tua's shadow. I wouldn't be surprised if they were up front with bama all along and it was a deal bama was willing to make. 

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32 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

 

This is exactly what @ClaytonAU told me when I relayed the above from my bama buddy. Not only are they a tight knit group, but evidently it's totally normal for a Polynesian dad to still whoop that ass even if his kid's in college. 

A recruiting expert shared that Lil Bro told him several times that he only went to bama so that they could all stay together and his parents could make it to all of Tua's home games. He never wanted to play there because he didn't want to be in Tua's shadow. I wouldn't be surprised if they were up front with bama all along and it was a deal bama was willing to make. 

Yep they stick together no matter what. If Tua would’ve transferred to USC like he originally planned then the whole family would’ve moved to the Pasadena area with him 

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22 minutes ago, Sizzle said:

Yep they stick together no matter what. If Tua would’ve transferred to USC like he originally planned then the whole family would’ve moved to the Pasadena area with him 

Evidently the Chargers were going to take him if Miami didn't. I think they were really hoping that would happen and they'd get to move to the west coast. 

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4 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Evidently the Chargers were going to take him if Miami didn't. I think they were really hoping that would happen and they'd get to move to the west coast. 

It wouldn’t be a bad second option. But Tua and his family loved Miami before they even drafted him. Tua has Tweets from when he was in high school talking about how much he liked Miami 

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9 minutes ago, Sizzle said:

It wouldn’t be a bad second option. But Tua and his family loved Miami before they even drafted him. Tua has Tweets from when he was in high school talking about how much he liked Miami 

Oh, interesting. Well then good for him/them. 

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The humbling process of being stuck in transfer portal purgatory

by Chris Hummer

4 hours ago

The workouts have continued for Terrell Bailey, even amid a health crisis in his home state of Louisiana. The former three-star corner hasn’t played a snap since Nov. 24, 2018 when Vanderbilt upset Tennessee. Bailey, formerly the No. 492 overall player in the 2017 class, works out at John Ehret High School with his old coaches and trainer.

He’s stayed ready. One problem: Bailey hasn’t found a landing spot despite entering the transfer portal on Sept. 3, 2019.

“I heard it’s like being recruited all over again,” Baily told 247Sports last month. “As a recruit it was way better than this. A lot of schools are on you and they really want you coming out of high school. Once you hit the portal, it’s not really the same. They’re still trying to recruit high schools and JUCO guys. You’ve really got to put yourself out there and recruit yourself.”

Bailey could have pretty much gone wherever he wanted as a high school recruit. He chose the Vols over Texas A&M. Now, he’s hoping for any FBS opportunity after two seasons in Knoxville, where he totaled six tackles during the 2018 campaign.

Schools are still talking with Bailey off and on – Florida State and Iowa State reached out in early April – but nothing is consistent for Bailey, who isn’t a graduate transfer.

“I just feel like it’s so hard for me to get in school right now,” Bailey said.

This man-on-an-island scenario isn’t uncommon in the transfer portal era. There have been 3,135 FBS players who have entered the portal since the system began on Oct. 15, 2018, according to a source. And for every Justin Fields-like success story, many of those players end up dropping to the FCS, JUCO or out of football entirely. 

247Sports examined its internal portal data – 247Sports’ portal can differ slightly from the official numbers – for the 2018-19 cycle and found that there were 680 total FBS transfers who ranked as three-star recruits or better coming out of high school. Among that group, 311 of them ended up staying on the FBS level, not including those players who entered the portal only to withdraw and remain at their school, while 369 did not. That means only 45.7 percent of three-star prospects or better who enter the portal remained in FBS football.

Some transfers expect to move out of the FBS in order to find more playing time. But for many, like Bailey, the lack of attention can come as a shock.

Bailey decided to leave Tennessee ahead of the 2019 season in search of additional playing time. He wasn’t recruited by Jeremy Pruitt’s staff and wanted a new opportunity. More than a dozen schools reached once he entered the portal – several hit him up before his name hit the portal – and more than a few wanted Bailey to sign quickly.

But Bailey didn’t want to risk losing academic credits, so he decided to stay at Tennessee through the end of the semester.

The interest remained high as the December signing period approached. A number of FCS schools wanted Bailey to sign as part of their class, but some FBS programs were frequently communicating with him. Bailey decided to wait out a better option. 

Problems started to arise from there. Foremost among them: Eligibility questions.

The NCAA is expected to vote on transfer legislation next week that would allow players to utilize a one-time transfer waiver which would allow for immediate eligibility. Momentum seemed to be pushing toward that change, but the COVID-19 outbreak looks to have put that measure on pause. For a player like Bailey, who is yet to graduate, the lack of a rule shift is devastating to his transfer hopes.

Coaches tend to ask two questions when they reach out to Bailey for the first time: How many years do you have left, and can you play this year?

Both inquiries are kind of up in the air. Bailey did not play in 2019 or participate in football activities. He thinks he’ll get his year back, giving him three to play three. But he’s not sure and hasn’t received any clarification from the NCAA. What’s perhaps more harmful is the second question. Bailey hopes to submit a waiver request to play next season, but he isn’t sure if it’ll go through. To find out more, he’d have to get on campus and work with compliance to construct his appeal. 

Thus, he’s stuck in a scenario where he can’t answer the question without information he lacks.

“I guess schools don’t want to take that risk on me sitting out one year,” Bailey said.

Bailey is far from alone in portal purgatory, and the reasons can vary. Some players were highly-recruited out of high school but lack film. Some players have their reputations dinged by their previous coaching staff — one player told 247Sports a Power Five program was “dragging his name” after he entered the portal. Sometimes coaches are telling the truth, other times they’re mad a player departed their program. It can be both.

Often, it just comes down to timing and spots. Schools tend to prioritize high school recruiting as a roster-building strategy over transfers. Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith told 247Sports earlier this year that more and more FBS coaches “are being flexible” with their numbers. But at the end of the day, a program can only take 25 players a cycle. Given that a transfer-heavy strategy can cripple a program over the long term – look at what happened to Kansas after Charlie Weis’ JUCO bonanza in an effort to win immediately – most schools keep only a handful of spots available.

Those fill up quickly when you consider more dozens of players enter the portal each week from August to May.

“I feel the portal isn’t as pretty as it seems, and I say that meaning it’s not really in anyone’s favor,” Pittsburgh defensive back transfer Elias Reynolds told 247Sports. “Coaches don’t have much to go off, and players are restricted to only promote certain credentials of themselves into the actual portal. I feel like it’s more so who you know.”

Reynolds, who continues to weigh several options after posting 68 career tackles for the Panthers, said much of the transfer process comes down to who you know. The highly-rated five stars of the world will always find new homes as will players with hefty FBS resumes. Everyone else is at the mercy of past relationships, or other connections who can help, and their needs.

A three-star prospect in the 2016 class, Reynolds is years removed from his recruitment. Many of the coaches who recruited him have changed jobs more than once. A handful of those relationships have carried throughout Reynolds’ career. But for the most part Reynolds described his outreach as: “Hey, remember me?”

Sometimes they’ll respond. Sometimes they won’t. Sometimes they’ll keep in contact. Other times they’ll sign someone else and move on.

Karter Johnson ranked as a four-star defensive end in the 2019 class, signing with TCU. One year later, he entered the transfer portal expecting similar interest. Instead, contact was inconsistent at best and he ultimately signed with Butler Community College, hoping to restart his career as a tight end.

“It’s humbling,” Johnson told 247Sports. “You realize within a few months, a year later, the whole process restarts. Once your class is through – I don’t want to say they don’t care about you – but it’s a business.”

Bailey, for the brief time that spring ball took place, got in his feelings a bit about not having a spot. He described the transfer process as “depressing.” He occasionally thought about what life would still be like at Tennessee, but Bailey remains resolute in his decision to transfer.

He’s hopeful to play for an FBS program in 2020. Bailey brings positional versatility with his ability to play any role in the secondary and even a little linebacker. He can claim plenty of in-game SEC experience and his academic standing is in good order.

For now, the process is a waiting game. He’s had coaches hit him up daily for weeks only to drop off the map for a couple of months. With visits off the table for the foreseeable future, Bailey can’t even set up trips to get an in-person idea of where he stands.

“Sometimes it’s you thinking, ‘What if I don’t get back to a school?’ Bailey said. “I don’t know where I’m going to end up.”

Bailey is good enough to play FBS football. Nothing has changed in that regard since he entered Tennessee as a promising prospect three short years ago. Thing is, he’s hardly alone in that regard and many of those promising prospects have more assured future eligibility.

His wait in portal purgatory continues

“I was supposed to be getting ready to play spring ball,” Bailey said. “I’m just ready to get back on the field. … Just trying to stay patient.”

 

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Connections matter: The process of scouting potential transfers

by Chris Hummer

9 hours ago

Nearly 3,200 FBS players have entered the transfer portal since its start on Oct. 15, 2018. Add in FCS transfers looking for new homes, and the number doubles. So how the heck are programs sifting through to find players who fit their program and needs? The process starts with figuring out numbers, which my colleague Brandon Marcello hit on in-depth Tuesday. After schools figure calculate how many transfers they can take – and that number can be fluid depending on who pops up – the conversation shifts to needs.

What are the roster holes? What sort of experience is needed in that room? Who’s available?

“We look really positionally,” a Conference USA offensive coordinator said. “We just continue to look and pop up the stats. Then we start to drill down on who we want to get film of.”

At that school, the process usually starts with the Director of Recruiting pulling up the portal each morning. He’ll note players who might fit a need and print out information on those potential targets. From there the conversation shifts to: “Let’s find out more about these guys.”

Then the operation turns into a fact-finding mission.

One AAC recruiting coordinator told 247Sports the process starts with a single question: Are they eligible? From there the conversation is a stemming tree of possibilities depending on a program’s priorities. For example, Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith told 247Sports earlier this year his preference is to bring in older players, many of whom can sit for a year and learn within the program while still maintaining long-term eligibility of at least two years. “I knew this thing was going to take some time to turn around, so I didn’t want to go quick fix,” Smith said.

For other programs, filling needs with an experienced graduate transfer might be the priority. Either way, the next step is to make calls. This usually happens through connections. Coaches will dial someone they know at the transfer’s former college or high school, attempting to glean more information about the situation before proceeding.

Everyone 247Sports spoke to for this story said having a contact – a truth teller, if you will – is critical for taking a stab at a transfer, most of which have a somewhat concerning reason for leaving their previous school. The only real exception, the Conference USA coordinator said, is if it’s a grad transfer with lots of film. Those players have already said everything on tape.

“It’s really similar when you’re interviewing somebody for a job,” SMU Director of Player Personnel Jeff Jordan told 247Sports last year. “You check the references and you call and check on background and do your due diligence.

“It’s a little bit of detective work.”

The most difficult part of scouting transfers can be a lack of film.

Outside of a small percentage of portal entrants, the majority of players leaving FBS programs do so with few to no meaningful game reps. Overcoming that issue takes two things: Someone to tell you what happened at the previous school and an open mind as you consider less conventional tape.

“Practice film is not as sexy as a game, but at that point you’re looking for any information,” the recruiting coordinator said. “You’ve got to make a big-picture decision. ‘OK, this guy is good enough because he’s showing up on the practice film’ So what’s his character? Can we bring him to the program and will he mesh with our players?”

Those questions lead to what is the final step of the fact-finding process: An interview.

It’s not that formal. But the initial phone call between an interested coach and a prospect can make-or-break a pursuit. The recruiting coordinator likes to ask an open-ended question: What’s your story? That's a chance for the athlete to explain what happened at his previous stop, why he’s in the portal and what he’s looking for the rest of his career.

The conversations can go well. They can also end the process quickly.

“Within the first two minutes guys are like: ‘I’ve got a 2.0.’ Well it’s like, ‘Alright, this ain’t going to work. You can’t get in here. Next,’” the recruiting coordinator said. “’Next guy is like, ‘I’m talking to Oregon, USC and Alabama.’ Well I’m probably not getting that kid – next.”

Coaches will reach out, vet and decide whether to pursue. Then it’s on to the next player on the list. Coaches cross out names until they find someone who fits the program.

The actual recruitment might be the easiest part of the process. Coaches compete against dozens of schools for high school prospects. That’s not usually the case with college transfers, who have fewer options and are generally more business-like in their approach.

Colleges certainly have the upper hand in terms of leverage when it comes to transfers.

“If I offer a kid at a nearby high school, we’ve got to do it right,” the coordinator said. “If we fill up, we’re going to call and say, ‘Hey, we’re full’ and all of that. We have to do that for our reputation. Anything we do for our transfers is out of morals and ethics, not out of reputation.”

Evaluating transfers is a sporadic, uneven process in this era.

One thing was clear with the people 247Sports spoke with: No single case is the same, and fact-finding is foremost when scouting portal players.

“Guys are always in the transfer portal for a reason,” the recruiting coordinator said. “That can be that they’re not good enough. They got let go for discipline problems. They didn’t get along with their coach. It’s all situational. … As a college coach you’ve got to say, ‘Is this something you want to deal with?”

 

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1 minute ago, Paladin said:

 

Kudos to @Hunter48 who called it on the bunker even though most said it would be a South Florida school.

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I guess it was the Mike Locksley connection at Alabama he had while there?

So far though, Locksley has not had very good success as a HC, actually its very bad. But they know him well, so they will give him at least 3 years(only been there 1). If Tua can play immediately that will help him even more probably...

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