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Transfer Cycle 2025-2026 - Eloi! Eloi, lama sabachthani!

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7 minutes ago, MirrOlure said:

lol at total thread meltdown over a 4th string TE, when we are bringing in another more experienced and (at least apparently) more physical TE and have 3 that were ahead of him remaining....

3 minutes ago, BachelorTrek said:

FUCKED OL = Losing season

Change my mind.

Total meltdown based on a TE is a straw man argument. Washington was the starting Y TE according to the Michigan depth chart and that's with everyone healthy.

A favorable read is that our coaching staff just devoted 4 semesters of development on someone that will contribute elsewhere in 2026. I get that's a running theme in this portal season and it's hitting everyone, but that doesn't mean it's not a bad way historically to run a program OR a business and/or that Sarkisian/Harris/CDC deserve a pass because it's chaos everywhere. They are getting paid the big bucks to outsmart the system and the other teams.

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18 minutes ago, Duane Moore said:

That is fucking ominous

Well, either that or he's a moron.

5 minutes ago, RabidM said:

He's not Cam Coleman. Nobody wants to pay his asking price for an offensive lineman. We're just desperate enough to maybe do it.

He's visiting A&M.. If they don't get Coleman they'd be desperate enough..

Just now, TexEx15 said:

Cedric Baxter should suck less. Then he wouldn’t have to take a pay cut.

If Simon and Winston enter the portal I’m just gonna go ahead and assume we are Marshall after the plane crash killed everyone

This was the RB Texas was hoping to pair with Raleek Brown

1 minute ago, Getafix said:

When it rains ...

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So literally every single scholarship RB has left or is looking to leave, cool.

1 hour ago, William Bludworth said:

At this stage, I'll take a Raleek Brown and be happy.

At this stage, I’ll take that cyclops RB.

2 hours ago, LebongJames said:

You can all them misses but it looks more like Harris is getting played and he’s too fucking dumb to notice. I have ran sales teams for a long time and there are some sales people that think they are going to close every deal and bring it to management stating that. Then there is always a reason it never pans out. The GM has to have a better pulse of what is actually possible. Being publicly connected to five guys that all returned to the original schools sounds like agents know to fucking jerk off Harris. None of these guys went to another school, this just seems like terrible sourcing by Harris and anyone that reports to him.

When this mess first became apparent, that was my thought. When any executive staff starts smelling their own farts thinking they are going to win every deal, it’s a sign of immature, ineffective management. I was constantly bringing my sales team back to reality until I finally got a smarter more experienced guy in to lead the org.

And I love how the “don”t panic” crowd continues to serve up their false bravado, as if they think the rest of us don’t realize they are just throwing shit out on a message board to try and look calm and collected, but meanwhile are clutching their favorite stuffed animal in a corner weeping. This is a train wreck. It’s okay to say that it is.

27 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Ohio State On3 mod just put out this article. Some familiar talking points.

COLUMBUS—There are no simple fixes in college football anymore and Ohio State is well aware of that.

Every year, the Buckeyes—and the rest of the country—are faced with the need to make fundamental, philosophical changes or risk falling behind a game that is rudderless and leaderless at a national level.

Just a month ago, Ohio State signed 28 prep prospects in its 2026 recruiting class. That was more players than the Buckeyes have ever signed in the modern recruiting era. It seemed necessary at the time. The NCAA removed a second portal window from its spring calendar and it’s necessary to, somehow, get ahead of backfilling the roster.

We realize that makes no sense, yet here we are.

A month later, another reason for that backfill is rearing its head: it’s nearly impossible to build long-term, sustainable depth in college football anymore. The Ohio State roster has lost a number of key players over the past few portal cycles but departures from players like Bryce West and Aaron Scott feel … different.

Those are two Ohio born, Buckeye-for-life type of prospects who were highly-sought after recruits when they came out of the 2024 recruiting class. They each spent two seasons working toward a potential starting role in Columbus. That opportunity was right in front of them heading into 2026.

Yet, they’re each gone now. Multiple years of development, NIL payments and—at worst quality depth—are now gone.

And there will be others to depart that fit a similar bill. High-profile recruits who demanded big money as freshmen but didn’t really make an impact? They’re coming to ask for more money, too.

So Ryan Day and his program will be forced to make further difficult decisions. Culture takes years to build and days to destroy. The Buckeyes have avoided being too aggressive when it comes to paying high school talent big money for that reason. The idea of paying an unproven high school athlete more money than a guy that’s spent years developing at Ohio State didn’t make sense. It still doesn’t.

But does it matter anymore? Should it matter?

That’s something that the Buckeyes have to consider moving forward. The notion that Ohio State—or any program like it—can build a three or four-deep roster that lasts for years is a pipedream.

And so the way the roster is constructed will have to change. That puts the onus even more squarely on Day, Mark Pantoni and the roster-construction crew to get evaluations right. To build a culture that isn’t easily bent to the whim of individual player or two. It means everything that has led to the recent success in Columbus has to be considered, and reconsidered, as the game keeps changing.

Here are a few things we think Ohio State may have to consider moving forward as it builds its future rosters.

Ohio State may need to sign fewer high school prospects

As frustrating as it will be for those who are a fan of enormous high school signing classes, it’s becoming less and less prudent to sign classes like the 2026 class.

Ohio State signed a handful of top prospects in this last cycle. It also signed what is, conservatively, 17 or or so players that have to be viewed as “developmental.” That’s not a malignant term and it’s not an insult. It just means that the top of the class comes into the 2026 season with higher expectations. Those expectations are relatively straight-forward, too.

Compete to have a role in the two-deep. Any player without that expectation is basically a crapshoot at this point. It makes less and less sense to sign high school seniors to any significant monetary agreement if they’re not going to play as a freshman. Why? Because the kids that do play as a freshman will be the kids that a program can usually count on to build the program for two, three years.

Ohio State is learning, right now, that even that isn’t always the case. There are first-year players who had marginal roles in 2025 that are expecting major pay raises despite making no real impact on the team. That approach is only going to become more and more prevalent. Programs with the cachet that the Buckeyes have aren’t going to acquiesce to those demands, generally.

The bottom line? Unless a player is viewed as a first-year impact guy—and that doesn’t mean someone that turns heads in practice, etc.—it’s hard to fully believe they’re going to stick around long enough to become an impact guy later.

Ohio State could, and we believe should, focus on signing 15-18 of the best high school players it can every year. Beyond that? It may make more sense to bring in productive, veteran players from less competitive programs. Real, tangible experience matters as much as untapped potential. Especially if the player with untapped potential isn’t willing to actually commit years to developing in the program.

The Buckeyes must be willing to walk away from young standouts

Holistic changes are rarely easily accepted.

And here’s one that folks may not like. It’s sort of tied into the previous point but it may need its own subheading here.

When a freshman who was a “big dollar” high school prospect doesn’t make an immediate impact and still comes back demanding more money? Ohio State needs to be willing to walk away and let that player move on.

It’s counterintuitive to move away from five-star talents after one year but in this new world an old adage feels more true than ever.

“If a dog is going to bite, he’ll bite as a pup.”

And Ohio State has plenty of resources to give a lot of pups a chance to bite early. If they don’t? In today’s advanced college football era? It’s a pretty good sign that player isn’t going to. When the motivation of a big pay day is removed, schools find out pretty quickly the difference between kids who want to play football and those who simply want the perks of being a football player.

There’s no one who begrudges these young players for getting a payday. However, reasonable asks are becoming less and less common. Going back and asking for more money without making any impact is becoming more and more common. That’s a bad combination.

No one wants talented players to leave unnecessarily but in a world where the schools have no leverage, proper expectations are vital. It’s entirely unreasonable to expect Ohio State to double up financial agreements before making any impact on the program. Will that lead to good players ending up elsewhere? Yep, it will.

But the money, despite public belief, isn’t unlimited. Delusion seems to be.

The roster may need to look more like an NFL roster

The inclusion of money in college football roster building means the game will begin to look more and more similar between college and the NFL.

And that means big money positions are going to be paid big money. Quarterback. The offensive and defensive lines. Edge rushers. That’s where the game has always been won and that’s where it will be won in college over the next era of the sport.

So while the Buckeyes have done a remarkable job recruiting some of the skill positions in the last few years, don’t be surprised if there’s a reallocation that occurs. Veteran quarterbacks matter. Winning in the trenches matter.

Receivers and cornerbacks and safety and running back? Sure, if it’s a generational player. Beyond that? They’re a dime a dozen.

Ohio State knows it can’t pay 60-plus players enough to keep them in Columbus anymore. Maybe it makes more sense for the Buckeyes to pay 40-45 players real money instead. Build a two-deep, pay specialists and let it ride. That makes more sense moving forward than allowing all the work done on the recruiting trail to be wiped away for the bottom third of the roster. Those players are going to be interchangeable across the country. As long as there is essentially endless free agency and contracts that have to be re-upped every year, what’s the value in truly trying to build depth that deep.

Insert "Texas" anywhere you see "Ohio State" or "Buckeyes" and it's a nearly perfect overlay. The dilution of CFB bluebloods into mediocrity seems well under way.

Dudes who haven’t produced anything having their “representatives” meeting with the staff is hilarious. Lockett needs to be retained. If Simon and Winston are trying to negotiate, politely tell them to fuck off.

10 minutes ago, TexEx15 said:

CJ Baxter is the last one who should be liking this tweet

3 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

LT with Goosby at RT and Baker at RG?

Yes - I’m sure Goosby is super excited to pass up the NFL draft to come back and move to RT.

14 minutes ago, Bevo said:

Rosters, I think are going to change in the future to more closely resemble those in the NFL. Why do you want a payroll of 85 or 105? Those need to go down to 65 to 70 guys who can truly play at the level needed. Use that money saved for a star QB or lockdown corner or game changing WR.

The problem with this logic is that if an NFL team has injury issues, there's hundreds of borderline NFL players who are unsigned or on practice squads that they can pick up. If a college team has an NFL sized roster and has injury issues, they're fucked, any player worth anything is on a roster somewhere and there is only one portal window now.

3 minutes ago, Chuckie Finster said:

So literally every single scholarship RB has left or is looking to leave, cool.

I'd love to know who we are actually spending money on.

Just now, Lonestar88 said:

The problem with this logic is that if an NFL team has injury issues, there's hundreds of borderline NFL players who are unsigned or on practice squads that they can pick up. If a college team has an NFL sized roster and has injury issues, they're fucked, any player worth anything is on a roster somewhere and there is only one portal window now.

I'd love to know who we are actually spending money on.

Texas Football Hook Em GIF by Texas Longhorns

11 minutes ago, Hiphopopotamos said:

Cedric Baxter should suck less. Then he wouldn’t have to take a pay cut.

He should try not being constantly fucking injured.

This fire sale is crazy. Anyone that's not literally a lock to start next year appears to be a flight risk. At this point there are like a dozen guys on the entire roster that it would shock me if they transfer. It's not just us, either - pretty much all of the top programs have a shitload of dudes in the portal. The concept of building depth over time is absolutely dead.

Where are all these promising-but-not-guaranteed-to-start guys going to end up? Seems like a few smart middle class teams with money to spend could put together a pretty damn dangerous roster. For one year only of course before it evaporates into thin air again.

3 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

I have to admit, I had no idea how bitchmade @crash_davis was before today's vaginal discharge all over this thread.

Vaginal discharge you say?

Tim And Eric Smile GIF

I think Tom Herman would have managed the offensive side of the ball during this portal window better than Sark.

Shitty management of potential incoming portal dudes, shitty evaluations, shitty management whole position groups, shitty management of your own players...shitty across the board.

No fucking wonder all the actual rich dudes don't want to touch NIL with a ten foot pole when you plan is this poor on both the plan and execution side of things. If I had it, I wouldn't give these fucking guys a couple of million either.

13 minutes ago, Getafix said:

n it rains ...

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Calm Down Kevin Bacon GIF by Puffin Graphic Design

Sark right now..................

1 minute ago, NoName said:

I think Tom Herman would have managed the offensive side of the ball during this portal window better than Sark.

Shitty management of potential incoming portal dudes, shitty evaluations, shitty management whole position groups, shitty management of your own players...shitty across the board.

No fucking wonder all the actual rich dudes don't want to touch NIL with a ten foot pole when you plan is this poor on both the plan and execution side of things. If I had it, I wouldn't give these fucking guys a couple of million either.

You would need to have a net worth over 500 million dollars to be giving 2 million dollars out anyways. So let's not act like you could ever potentially be in a position like that.

6 minutes ago, SarksJuggs said:

Dudes who haven’t produced anything having their “representatives” meeting with the staff is hilarious. Lockett needs to be retained. If Simon and Winston are trying to negotiate, politely tell them to fuck off.

In case you have not noticed, we are not exactly lighting the world on fire scouting and recruiting offensive players. I’m not sure we can afford to lose anyone on offense that we want anymore.

There may be a money issue, but there definitely is something else going on. There are way too many players hitting the portal or contemplating hitting it. This is a disaster and Sark is 100% responsible for it.

18 minutes ago, Getafix said:

When it rains ...

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Simon wouldn't surprise me. Got no PT vs Michigan. Winston would with Washington leaving. I'm a Lockett fan so that would suck.

If you're offers are too low for current guys and you can't land replacements, what does that say about you?

14 minutes ago, satyanash said:

This was the RB Texas was hoping to pair with Raleek Brown

At this point, we should just offer $5M to everyone to drive up their price when they eventually return to their old school. Just don't get mad at me when we end up signing the KSU guy for $5M.

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12 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

When this mess first became apparent, that was my thought. When any executive staff starts smelling their own farts thinking they are going to win every deal, it’s a sign of immature, ineffective management. I was constantly bringing my sales team back to reality until I finally got a smarter more experienced guy in to lead the org.

And I love how the “don”t panic” crowd continues to serve up their false bravado, as if they think the rest of us don’t realize they are just throwing shit out on a message board to try and look calm and collected, but meanwhile are clutching their favorite stuffed animal in a corner weeping. This is a train wreck. It’s okay to say that it is.

As someone who runs Sales orgs, I completely agree. This is a matter of not knowing who is SQL. The fact that there are no professional agents but rather a group of dumbass fucksticks makes this a lot harder to qualify.

Pretty fascinating that Michigan in the midst of 2 massive org wide cancerous scandals isn’t having the issues we are Maybe Sark shoulda fucked some of the GAs

1 minute ago, Sgt Hulk said:

Pretty fascinating that Michigan in the midst of 2 massive org wide cancerous scandals isn’t having the issues we are Maybe Sark shoulda fucked some of the GAs

If you're an OL you would be intrigued by the OL coach coming to UM under Kyle. It's not that hard to understand imo.

I think the evaluation misses on our High School recruits over the years at OL are worse than our inability to get a stud to transfer from UM.

5 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

There may be a money issue, but there definitely is something else going on. There are way too many players hitting the portal or contemplating hitting it. This is a disaster and Sark is 100% responsible for it.

Yeah, what is happening is that the players have all the power and we are getting bent over because the agents are playing hardball with all the leverage they have.

2 minutes ago, Sgt Hulk said:

Pretty fascinating that Michigan in the midst of 2 massive org wide cancerous scandals isn’t having the issues we are Maybe Sark shoulda fucked some of the GAs

Be careful what you ask for he may do something worse.

5 minutes ago, Tex-19 said:

Simon wouldn't surprise me. Got no PT vs Michigan. Winston would with Washington leaving. I'm a Lockett fan so that would suck.

If you're offers are too low for current guys and you can't land replacements, what does that say about you?

Clark was running too well to sit him imo...and I love Simon. I thought Simon was going to take over at some point during the season.

Sark and Brandon Harris are like Louis Winthorpe III and Billy Ray Valentine waiting for just the right moment to buy back all the shares of Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice and corner the market. Or maybe it’s sell them, I’m never really quite sure.

Fuck the Dukes, and the Sooners and the Aggies, I guess that’s what I’m really trying to say.

Look at that S car go…

6 minutes ago, Tex-19 said:

Simon wouldn't surprise me. Got no PT vs Michigan. Winston would with Washington leaving. I'm a Lockett fan so that would suck.

If you're offers are too low for current guys and you can't land replacements, what does that say about you?

Lockett probably wants starter money when he didnt produce shit for us all year and is taking advantage of our weakness while the portal is wide open. Not exactly a classy move, it's a cold blooded money grub move.

While fully believing the staff fucked up with their approach and overconfidence, I will say two things:

  1. Other schools are dealing with this shit too. tOSU just lost a 5-star freshman WR. UGA just lost a multi-year starting safety. LSU lost a 5-star Freshman OL. It's the new world.

  2. The run game will still likely improve. Unless Goosby goes pro, the OL will still likely be better than last year. Plenty of average iOLs that can enter and even average is an improvement. Raleek Brown would be a big upgrade as starting RB and there are others out there too.

Just now, The_Great_Hornsby said:

Yeah, what is happening is that the players have all the power and we are getting bent over because the agents are playing hardball with all the leverage they have.

It feels like at least a few of these players are going to regret not taking the reduced offers Texas was offering. Whatever.

I know shit about fuck but man does it look like Sark is messing up in terms of letting Brandon Harris learn OTJ as the GM. In addition keeping Flood and letting the OL recruiting just die for Arch’s last season just seems crazy to me.

Fingers crossed good things happen in home stretch but man does it look bleak right now

I was disappointed with Guernara but I thought Sprague was happening. He was a big part of making the math work. Tough scene.

28 minutes ago, ITHorn said:

He's visiting A&M.. If they don't get Coleman they'd be desperate enough..

They've signed 4 other OL from the portal. That probably cost well over one million, maybe upwards of 2 million. I'm not saying they might not do it, but they are not desperate in the same way we are right now.

IT confirms Zion Williams made it to campus for his visit.

Kyle Flood currently trying to get the 360 pounder into his OL room.

Edited by Hiphopopotamos

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Thankfully it’s too late for Arch to declare for the draft! It is isn’t it?

7 minutes ago, caliHORNia said:

I think the evaluation misses on our High School recruits over the years at OL are worse than our inability to get a stud to transfer from UM.

Me, too--there's zero reason our scouting program shouldn't be the best funded, most talented group in the country, with the result that our hit rate should be the class of college football.

13 minutes ago, Sgt Hulk said:

Pretty fascinating that Michigan in the midst of 2 massive org wide cancerous scandals isn’t having the issues we are Maybe Sark shoulda fucked some of the GAs

I think it's further evidence that you've got to recruit high school for some kind of home court advantage.

4 minutes ago, Getafix said:

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Only to turn around and re-sign with Arizona St.

1 minute ago, Daichee Bell said:

Only to turn around and re-sign with Arizona St.

I laughed. But I think we actually land him. ASU isnt as rich and I think this dude actually wants to come here.

11 minutes ago, Tex-19 said:

The run game will still likely improve. Unless Goosby goes pro, the OL will still likely be better than last year. Plenty of average iOLs that can enter and even average is an improvement. Raleek Brown would be a big upgrade as starting RB and there are others out there too.

This is what I need. Thank you. Likely 100% unadulterated sunshine pumping bullshit, but it hits right now.

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