'25 Portal Thread

[Jimmy Football]

I do find it funny how everyone is now trying to hype up the WR room after missing on Tate.

I’m not. In fact, we’d still have an unproven (albeit, talented) WR room even if Tate came here.

That’s the funny thing about the meltdown yesterday: all of the concerns people brought up would still apply, Tate or no Tate.

Still think we should have made a big effort to get Lance from NDSU into the portal.

 

[Jimmy Football]

Honestly dont remember, did we get Heard in the winter or spring portal window?

1/21/24

 

[Pawleysvol]

Like 96% of posters say, play the young guys.

Let’s see who ends being right at the end of next season.

I’m not worried about the talent in the room this upcoming season. It’s the lack of numbers in the room that’s concerning.

 

[TrippieRedd]

I’m not. In fact, we’d still have an unproven (albeit, talented) WR room even if Tate came here.

That’s the funny thing about the meltdown yesterday: all of the concerns people brought up would still apply, Tate or no Tate.

Still think we should have made a big effort to get Lance from NDSU into the portal.

Shouldn’t have said everyone. Should’ve said majority.

Agree with the last part.

 

[JacketVol]

The 2026 receiver doesn’t help for next season. The issue is going into next season with only 7 receivers. The majority of those have little to no experience. On top of that, you are a couple injuries away from having no depth.

The season starts tomorrow I guess.

 

[marcusluvsvols]

Lmao at the Negas. Lots of new names showing up to whine or complain. We have a boatload of talented young WRs, twice as many as will start and play 70% or more of our snaps. We will see who the best are and as a group they will be better than last season IMO. We had a solid portal window, likely got both starting Guards for next year. Jefferson was a big get at WR also. Excited for Fingers threads in spring.

 

[jasonvol18]

M

My money would be on Miami offering Smith 4.5 mill

Mine would be on Michigan.. That's the rumor anyway.

 

[VolGee4]

WR depth and experience is lacking to put it mildly. I wouldn't count on the freshman contributing since we don't play them at the position, and I'm including Jefferson in that group. And Boo will be too critical to the defense to have a huge role on offense imo. Really would've been nice to get a top tier guy, but maybe one will be available in the spring.

I was naive in thinking we would recruit and portal at the highest level once we paid Nico and brought him in the fold. I know we tried for Tate and were willing to pay, it just seems like we're still operating at the tier below the top and not willing to go all in (in totality, not referencing Tate). I would hate to waste Nico's career, and I'm assuming he takes a big jump next year.

I'm a nega and freely admit it. It's just the way I see it.

Squirrel played as a freshman, so I don’t know why that people say we don’t play freshmen. I believe a freshman will play this year.

 

[Jackcrevol]

As I posted a few days ago. When Tate doesn't come this place will go nuts.

Doesnt strike me as nuts, twss.

Just overreaction. Do the research folks, we good.
no need.

 

[vol94]

Overpaying isn’t about not having the money, it’s about placing a value relative to the rest of the roster and not going beyond it.

Understood and agree. But sometimes in sports a team must over pay to obtain a player for a needed position. It happens every yr with NFL free agency as teams.

 

[LaagerVol]

I do find it funny how everyone is now trying to hype up the WR room after missing on Tate.

The ones hyping up the receiver room are the same ones who weren’t fretting over the “need” to get another receiver or bust to begin with.

This portal has messed with everyone’s way of thinking.

If you look at the pros, are the best teams the ones who go crazy in free agency, or the ones who draft well and develop their guys?

 

[marcusluvsvols]

After the portal thread meltdown I decided to look at actual production on the field by Carnell Tate who is apparently the second coming of Jerry Rice. Through 2 years he has 70 total catches for 997 yards and 5 touchdowns. Three of his touchdowns came against the football powerhouses of Akron and Northwestern. As a reference Squirrel White who these same experts claim sucks had 97 catches for 1184 yards and 4 touchdowns in his first two years. Paying a guy like Tate 2-2.5 million is the quickest way to destroy your team. You have to use your resources wisely because they are not unlimited. Tate appears to have more talent and potential than Squirrel but the fact is up to now, that’s all it is.
Last year Kitselman was the most underrated transfer we got and ended up being one of our best.
I think I’ll just relax and trust the coaches to figure it out. Personally I like spending our resources in the trenches.

.

 

[JacketVol]

The young guys are Staley and Matthews.

The plan was to redshirt Staley from the beginning. Matthews didn’t pay early because he dealt with an injury which slowed his progress. By the Vandy game, I believe he had passed Nimrod. He had definitely passed Webb.

They were freshman. They will be better. Plenty of great WRs don’t play as freshman over guys who they later pass. Peerless Price had just 6 catches and was behind Nilo Silvan and Benji Shuler as a freshman. Who ended up better?

You have a brain and use it. Others just panic at even perceived issues. Tate would’ve been great. Others who were in the portal either had no interest or not better than what we have. Staley and MM are SPECIAL. We now have OL that will allow Nico to sit and rip. He’s fine with time. We will feast and be SEC beasts.

 

[Jimmyandjoes]

This would be a nice Dlineman to go after. Still 2 years to play.
4 star. Top 200 (actually #121) coming out of HS,#9 player in Cali.and #15 nationally at his position.Be a good pickup and help our Dline out tremendously.

 

[LaagerVol]

Agreed. UT was never going to do a "splash" hire. Heupel will use the portal to fill holes and depend on his HS recruiting...for better or worse. I'd feel a lot better if we could snag a CB tho. That's the one area we haven't addressed in light of the injury. Still trying to figure out who plays if he's not ready to roll by August...and I'd be shocked if he is up to speed by the start of the season. Surely Heupel won't risk going into the season without addressing the possibility he won't be ready? Rhetorical?

Hopefully Beasley is ready to contribute

 

[EJVOL4LIFE]

Guys, I am disappointed that we missed on Tate. I thought he would drastically improve the WR room. And btw, for all of those who kept saying that Carnell Tate wasn't the "splash guy" and that we were dreaming so to speak, you were wrong, even though he ended up staying at OSU. Also, I do believe in our guys at WR we have now. And the reason they didn't play wasn't because of the talent level, it was because they planned on redshirting, were injured, or were just inexperienced. With that being said, they have a year now in the system in relation to Brazzell, MM, and Stayley. I'm sure Boo has a good jump on things since he has had to go against our offense in practice. And with Jefferson, Smith, Jackson, and Dodson, I'm pretty sure the coaching staff will stress the importance of them getting a grasp of the offense early if they want to play. So I would assume that those guys will make it a point to delve into the playbook and learn as much as possible before the start of the season. Again, I hate we missed on Tate. He would have helped. But I'm confident in what we have at this point and we could possibly end up with another big name WR in the spring if we decide to go after one. I believe that OSU will take a step back this year and Tate is gonna regret not joining the good guys as we make another run at the CFP!!

 

[vol94]

Feel free to go ahead and make that call.
Tell them we’re going to overpay whatever it takes to get Tate, tell them to get out the checkbook, because there’s gonna be 25 more already on the roster that are now wanting to get overpaid, so they will be asking for more $$$.
Glad to know it’ll take just one call to get all the $$$ we’re going to need.

Great idea. I think i will call someone I know who is with Spyre.

You are in the dark if you don’t think we have donors who will write a check to intone a player.


I don’t come onto this board to be smart a$$, yet post my comments. You can’t have a conversation.

 

[JacketVol]

I hope the wr’s do take a leap, it’s just hard for me to see the vision rn, hopefully after spring ball we see improvement

If this is how you feel and are right, Tate would not make a big difference. Bracket him and take him away and everyone sucks on O. Would be better if that’s the case to spend a million on D.

 

[LaagerVol]

Understood and agree. But sometimes in sports a team must over pay to obtain a player for a needed position. It happens every yr with NFL free agency as teams.

The best teams in the NFL generally don’t overpay, except for certain positions. QB, OT, Edge rushers

 

[JacketVol]

Wasn’t directed at you, I didn’t even realize you posted lol

Kind of crazy in my opinion. I’m usually the bitchy one and I’m kind of like whatever, but I guess that’s because I kind of expected to get waxed by Tate, oh well.

I think the only thing I can complain about is putting all of our eggs in that basket and not having a backup plan

That Omari Evans kid, granted wouldn’t be the best get, but we could’ve at least had an extra older body in that room. Sure, an older body doesn’t always mean something, but according to a ton of posters it’s gonna help the RB room. Actually surprised we didn’t at least try to hit him up and say “hold off for another week” just in case we missed on Tate.

I’m hoping one of the insiders come in and say we do have a backup plan, because I’m not as hopeful about our WR unit. Posters can send there paragraph long reasons why I’m wrong, but I don’t see that room being any better than this past season.

Hope this post “ages well” and we have 2-3 guys have 700+ yards.

They let the guys who left go because they know healthy guys like MM with almost 2 years on campus are better.

 

[NighthawkVol]

You have a brain and use it. Others just panic at even perceived issues. Tate would’ve been great. Others who were in the portal either had no interest or not better than what we have. Staley and MM are SPECIAL. We now have OL that will allow Nico to sit and rip. He’s fine with time. We will feast and be SEC beasts.

One takeaway from the Tate pursuit…and this was according to our insiders…they went after Tate because he was the only one in the portal who fit the description of “immediate star.”

IOW, the staff didn’t want another body. They went after Tate because he was the only one who would’ve really made the room better. THAT IS A GOOD THING. No, we didn’t get him. But we weren't looking for a depth piece or a “pretty good” WR because the guys we have are seen by this staff as better than that.

 

[NighthawkVol]

Honestly dont remember, did we get Heard in the winter or spring portal window?

Pretty sure he was winter.

 

[TrippieRedd]

The ones hyping up the receiver room are the same ones who weren’t fretting over the “need” to get another receiver or bust to begin with.

This portal has messed with everyone’s way of thinking.

If you look at the pros, are the best teams the ones who go crazy in free agency, or the ones who draft well and develop their guys?

This is a very fair point.

Good post, Laager.

 

[LotteryPick]

I’m not upset that they went all in on Tate because that shows they feel good enough about the room to only target a true difference maker.

They weren’t going for *a* wide receiver, they were going for *the* wide receiver. Big difference.

 

[TrippieRedd]

They let the guys who left go because they know healthy guys like MM with almost 2 years on campus are better.

I will agree with Matthews being better, I’ve been vocal about that all season.

The part that worries me is hoping Brazzell and the rest of the cast takes the next step.

I get people are hyped over Boo playing offense (myself included) but I’m not expecting him to blow the doors off his first season on offense in this system.

It’s a lot of hope and at the end of the day, that’s fine. Usually we’re on the wrong end of “hope” because time and time again have we seen toward the middle/end of the season posters will say “we should’ve gotten so and so” or “why didn’t we get so and so from the portal” because we have another close game against whoever.