Is redshirting a good strategy in today's portal era?

bb_fan

Chemistry is BS. Deion has proved that.

HootyHooKSU

I agree with that. But there are some key differences. One, it's f'n Deion Sanders. He's got kids lined up for miles who want to play for him. Two, on top of Deion, Colorado boasts some damn good facilities which KSU doesn't have at the moment. And 3, Deion had no prior relationships with any of those former Colorado players. It's a lot easier to be cutthroat like that when you didn't recruit those guys, practice with them and build a connection.

As for the thread topic, I do think KSU needs to hit the transfer portal as hard as possible. But with that said, our small but passionate fan base needs to keep their expectations in check. We're Kennesaw State, not UGA. We're not going to be able to just pick up 30 transfers ready to play. One day when the facilities are there and more money comes in, I could see us being UCF level or James Madison level, but that's going to be a few years at best.

It's also a bit unfair to criticize Bo for recruiting more FBS talent guys when KSU isn't even FBS yet. This is his first full recruiting year knowing what the offense truly is and looking for more FBS level talent and size. He deserves his fair chance before we start calling for his head. His big mistake this year is not putting the better QB in and sticking with Murphy. But if we don't start seeing improvement early into the second season of FBS play, its fair to start looking elsewhere for a new coach.

owlsportscontent

bb_fan depends on the situation. Good coaching can help make chemistry easier.

Hootyhoo

HOOTSTATE agreed. IMO, it's best to recruit and develop out of highschool. Building a culture matters and you don't really know who you're getting out of the portal. If they're transferring down, there is a reason they have to do that. If they're transferring up, you don't know if their game translates against better competition. Know where you're weak the upcoming season and portal to fill holes. Recruit out of highschool so you won't have many holes in a few years.

I don't love where the teams at right now but I can't imagine many players were eager to portal in for this weird season, so it was hard to plug holes. But it's not like Bo is dabo ignoring the portal. We got Daniel David, Jonathan Murphy, and that Vandy LB out of the portal off the top of my head and they were all good contributors.

I'd expect that this offseason we rely on it more than in the past or the future since we have A LOT of holes right now to fill.

HOOTSTATE

Chemistry is less important to me but FSU or some of the G5 schools are much better templates on how to use the portal. Colorado needed a once-in-a-lifetime celebrity coach with mega church pastor charisma, HOF pedigree, and nonstop headlines to turn over the entire roster. And all that got them was a slight bump from historically bad to just regular bad

jones682

HOOTSTATE Well look at it this way, SHSU redshirted and they are 0-7, JSU used the portal, like most teams do because we live in a portal world in college football now and they are one of the best teams in CUSA. We have to get up to date.

HOOTSTATE

jones682 brother I just said to hit the portal hard

TMac1325

jones682

Have you watched any SHSU football this year?

Yes, they are 0-7...But..Those 7 losses include 2 in overtime to Jax and FIU. 1 to undefeated Liberty that ended on the last play of the game. A 14-0 loss to P5 BYU. A loss to P5 Houston. A 13-3 loss to number 22 undefeated Air Force, and a 14 point loss to a pretty good New Mexico State on the road.

They are extremely offensively limited. We already have more offensive talent than they do..But, their only blowout loss was to Houston, and with the tiniest bit of luck they could easily have 3 wins.. They have gave some very good teams fits..

There may not be any such thing as a successful 0-7 team, but SHSU is absolutely headed in the right direction..

We will be bringing in around 30-35 new players this off season to replace those departing and to get to 85 scholarships. I expect at least half those to be transfer portal guys. I actually think we will be a competitive team next year. Some portal experience and depth on both lines, and actually playing our most talented kids will go a long way towards a nice transformation.

jones682

HootyHooKSU KSU budget is higher then an average CUSA school. You say that KSU is not UGA, KSU have not won a non D1 game this year and you think that is ok? No it is not ok, and I don't care if we redshirt everybody.

jones682

TMac1325 Look at JSU, they just beat WKU, and they are at the top of CUSA, and they used the portal to build their team. You cannot win FBS games with FCS players. We are red shirting FCS TO players to play in the FBS and in a pistol offense at that. Just think about it. If you think from a logical perspective, it is not a good ideal. I think we should of did what JSU did. This is not 12 years ago. We live in the portal era of college football.

Hootyhoo

jones682 do you believe good players wanted to portal into KSU for a 9 game season with 3 D2 opponents? We all to varying levels agree next year we need to portal heavily. But I don't know that was a realistic option for this season.

Oldarmydude

jones682 Have no idea about your background or your agenda. I’m putting my support behind the guy who authored the most successful startup program in DIV I history. Your argument about Deon Sanders is a red herring. He benefited from the NCAA’s first year coach scholarship rule as did Rich Rod at JSU. You may want to research it. I suspect KSU will hit the portal and JC circuit in the off season. Also I believe they are only redshirting those they believe will have an impact in future seasons.

jones682

Oldarmydude You sound like coach Bo can't do anything wrong. Look at what JSU is doing in CUSA and look at the current college environment in relation to the portal. The question is simple, do you want to win or you want to be loyal to a coach that would leave tomorrow if he was offered a better job. Like I said, you cannot win FBS games with FCS players. We are red shirting FCS TO players to play in the FBS and in a pistol offense. The logic of it makes no sense. Coach Bo is a TO guy who is stuck in 1995 or in a 2000 Georgia Southern mind set trying to chase after Paul Johnson. So I go back to my question, do you want to win or you want to be loyal?

HOOTSTATE

jones682 Which specific players are you upset about redshirting? Every comment of yours is just the same 4 or 5 takes delivered in a different incoherent way

jones682

HOOTSTATE We should of not red shirted any of them and used the portal and got FBS players to run our offense. Used this year to build the chemistry. We should of did what JSU did and NOT what SHSU did. Would you rather follow the team that is beating FIU by 34 points or the team that lost to FIU. FIU is a bad team BTW.

TMac1325

jones682

No decent transfer guys with 1 or 2 years of eligibility was going to waste a year to come to KSU to play this meaningless awful schedule..Zero, none, nada...

We redshirted all the freshman who were recruited for FBS, and 25 to 30 others that the coaches feel can contribute in FBS.

We are going to see 35-ish new faces next year, with at least half being these portal guys you are talking about..

Yes, Jax St hit the ground running with a ton of transfers and grad transfers whereas SHSU has struggled playing a bunch of redshirt freshman and true freshman. But, next year all these young players at SHSU will figure out how to win some of these super close loses, while Jax St will have to completely rebuild..To add, they will probably have to rebuild without RichRod since he is the ultimate job jumper and will no doubt be trying to find his next spot using this year's success..

KSU's approach seems to be a blend of the 2, hoping to be decent out of the gate but also have some continuity so every off-season doesn't bring a new rebuild..

HOOTSTATE

@jones682 If you think an FBS-caliber starter was transferring in to play 9 meaningless games to “build chemistry”, it’s a lost cause trying to figure out what you mean or which players bother you so much. Should they have played all the freshman receivers the entire season? Or burned Benyard’s redshirt? Or made sure every defender got in at least 5 games?

Somehow at the same time you are convinced that Bo is not the right guy and also that he is somehow capable of recruiting an entirely new roster of 85 instant impact players to come help us build a new program in the worst conference in the nation. I’m not sure how both ideas can coexist

jones682

HOOTSTATE I honesty think that Bo is not the guy going forward. Just because it worked to get us here does not mean it will work in the future.

jones682

TMac1325 I am going to have to agree to disagree. I am not obsessed with our coach because we won some games against schools we should not have been playing in the first place due to our budget, size, talent etc. I have concerns. I don't think he can recruit FBS talent to KSU and I think his offensive philosophy is outdated.

TMac1325

jones682
You do realize the offense has been changed? That's a big part of the growing pains to go along with everything else..

bb_fan

Can Bo recruit? Depends on the balance in the NIL account.