Saturday night in Newark.
I haven’t heard anything new in the way of anything concrete happening, despite asking multiple people throughout the day while subway-hopping from downtown to midtown and back.
Obviously, Jordan Addison’s name isn’t officially in the transfer portal yet, and the deadline to enter said portal is Sunday, May 1. He has to be in by then. So that would seem to mean that there’s only three hours until we know for sure, one way or the other.
Except it’s not that easy, because a player only has to submit his intention to transfer in writing to the school’s compliance office by that May 1 deadline. Once a player files his papers with the compliance office, the school has 48 hours to submit his name to the transfer portal.
From what I've heard, that's what has happened: Addison put in his papers, but Pitt is still in that 48-hour period before the paperwork has to be submitted for the transfer portal.
So I don’t want to say this is as good as done, and I want to hold out hope and say it could still go Pitt’s way, but I’m not sure I see any way that happens at this point.
I don’t think you can overlook the impact on the locker room here. That alone would make it difficult - but not impossible - for Addison to come back after what has unfolded. I’m not sure how close Addison is/was with his teammates; I’ve heard that he largely kept to himself and maybe wasn’t the outgoing member of the team, at least when they were together in the South Side.
But to see a teammate, who had previously declared himself committed to the team, carry things the way Addison has carried them over the last few days - I can’t imagine that has gone over well. From what I’ve heard, there’s been more than a little eye-rolling over the last 24 hours.
There’s a more pressing concern, though, that Addison’s teammates will see some of the NIL deals he had gotten at Pitt, the details of which they might not have been privy to previously, and start to ask about getting more for themselves - at Pitt or elsewhere.
I think I brought this up on Saturday morning. Other guys might start looking for NIL opportunities, and I know there were some suggestions that a couple key starters were considering following Addison into the transfer portal. From everything I heard throughout the day on Saturday, that doesn’t seem to be happening. I know Calijah Kancey and Brandon Hill were both rumored, but I’ve been told both guys are set to stay at Pitt.
I do think it’s been interesting to see various groups mobilize in the last 24 hours. Pat Narduzzi has obviously worked to try to convince Addison not to make this move, and I think other entities have come together to reason with him about what he could accomplish at Pitt as well as looking to create more NIL opportunities.
Like I said Saturday morning, I’m not sure this was all about the money. The money will be a big part, of course, but Addison’s motivations don’t seem to be entirely centered there. I’m not totally sure what his motivations are - I’ve seen everything suggested, ranging from concerns about the change in offensive systems (if you’re Jordan Addison, are you really worried that you won’t get the ball enough?) to not feeling like he fit at Pitt - but it does feel like it’s more than just money.
Then again, maybe that’s all it is. And I certainly couldn’t fault him for making that decision. Truthfully, I couldn’t fault USC and its supporters for creating a lucrative package to get him away from the Panthers.
But the tampering - the seemingly blatant and clear efforts behind the scenes to extract a player from his current team outside of what’s allowed legally by the rules - that’s the part that feels the dirtiest here.
I think this tells you all you need to know:
Jordan Addison has apparently submitted his paperwork but is not in the transfer portal, which means coaches from other schools cannot contact him.
And yet he is in Los Angeles right now.
I don’t need to connect the dots on what’s happening here. You can see it yourself and so can the rest of the country.
Whether anything happens because of it…I have my doubts.
I haven’t heard anything new in the way of anything concrete happening, despite asking multiple people throughout the day while subway-hopping from downtown to midtown and back.
Obviously, Jordan Addison’s name isn’t officially in the transfer portal yet, and the deadline to enter said portal is Sunday, May 1. He has to be in by then. So that would seem to mean that there’s only three hours until we know for sure, one way or the other.
Except it’s not that easy, because a player only has to submit his intention to transfer in writing to the school’s compliance office by that May 1 deadline. Once a player files his papers with the compliance office, the school has 48 hours to submit his name to the transfer portal.
From what I've heard, that's what has happened: Addison put in his papers, but Pitt is still in that 48-hour period before the paperwork has to be submitted for the transfer portal.
So I don’t want to say this is as good as done, and I want to hold out hope and say it could still go Pitt’s way, but I’m not sure I see any way that happens at this point.
I don’t think you can overlook the impact on the locker room here. That alone would make it difficult - but not impossible - for Addison to come back after what has unfolded. I’m not sure how close Addison is/was with his teammates; I’ve heard that he largely kept to himself and maybe wasn’t the outgoing member of the team, at least when they were together in the South Side.
But to see a teammate, who had previously declared himself committed to the team, carry things the way Addison has carried them over the last few days - I can’t imagine that has gone over well. From what I’ve heard, there’s been more than a little eye-rolling over the last 24 hours.
There’s a more pressing concern, though, that Addison’s teammates will see some of the NIL deals he had gotten at Pitt, the details of which they might not have been privy to previously, and start to ask about getting more for themselves - at Pitt or elsewhere.
I think I brought this up on Saturday morning. Other guys might start looking for NIL opportunities, and I know there were some suggestions that a couple key starters were considering following Addison into the transfer portal. From everything I heard throughout the day on Saturday, that doesn’t seem to be happening. I know Calijah Kancey and Brandon Hill were both rumored, but I’ve been told both guys are set to stay at Pitt.
I do think it’s been interesting to see various groups mobilize in the last 24 hours. Pat Narduzzi has obviously worked to try to convince Addison not to make this move, and I think other entities have come together to reason with him about what he could accomplish at Pitt as well as looking to create more NIL opportunities.
Like I said Saturday morning, I’m not sure this was all about the money. The money will be a big part, of course, but Addison’s motivations don’t seem to be entirely centered there. I’m not totally sure what his motivations are - I’ve seen everything suggested, ranging from concerns about the change in offensive systems (if you’re Jordan Addison, are you really worried that you won’t get the ball enough?) to not feeling like he fit at Pitt - but it does feel like it’s more than just money.
Then again, maybe that’s all it is. And I certainly couldn’t fault him for making that decision. Truthfully, I couldn’t fault USC and its supporters for creating a lucrative package to get him away from the Panthers.
But the tampering - the seemingly blatant and clear efforts behind the scenes to extract a player from his current team outside of what’s allowed legally by the rules - that’s the part that feels the dirtiest here.
I think this tells you all you need to know:
Jordan Addison has apparently submitted his paperwork but is not in the transfer portal, which means coaches from other schools cannot contact him.
And yet he is in Los Angeles right now.
I don’t need to connect the dots on what’s happening here. You can see it yourself and so can the rest of the country.
Whether anything happens because of it…I have my doubts.
