Just through the first few games hearing all the transfers and info about them made me think. There are now portal rankings and teams being ranked here and there based on their transfer class. There are examples of true superstars transferring ...Think Caleb Downs now at Ohio St. However outside of a few high profile guys I believe "portal class" rankings and so forth are a shame. Many of the transfer guys can be dumped into about 4 buckets:
1st Bucket:
High profile superstar that wants more money/play for a title
2nd Bucket:
MAC or FCS players looking to get on a bigger stage
3rd Bucket:
Guys who play for a team, maybe don't start but want a bigger opportunity/ getting passed on a depth chart at current team
4th bucket:
Graduated and wants to play somewhere big for their final year
I have no issue with Graduates at all..and the bucket 1 guys are just using the system that is now provided to make money. However the Majority of the guys fall into the 2nd and 3rd buckets. So teams like Florida St for example that have all these transfers, they are so highly regarded and the media talks them up. The players may be decent players but why did they transfer? Like Hayes and Okunlola last night.....Both would be 3rd bucket guys. That is no slight on anyone but it is just what it is. It seems like most guys who start and play a ton are sticking with the school they star for. So this whole Portal class and to assign a ranking or an expectation to those teams that they are far superior seems kinda stupid. Many of the transfers left for a reason and if it is money related and that is not a good thing from a team perspective. So you have a bunch of guys who maybe play 30% of the time, who were ranked high in high school and they get a high portal grade based off their high school ranking. Are those guys really playmakers? I am not necessarily making any conclusions here just making an observation about how stupid the media is making the " transfer portal" market a big business.
1st Bucket:
High profile superstar that wants more money/play for a title
2nd Bucket:
MAC or FCS players looking to get on a bigger stage
3rd Bucket:
Guys who play for a team, maybe don't start but want a bigger opportunity/ getting passed on a depth chart at current team
4th bucket:
Graduated and wants to play somewhere big for their final year
I have no issue with Graduates at all..and the bucket 1 guys are just using the system that is now provided to make money. However the Majority of the guys fall into the 2nd and 3rd buckets. So teams like Florida St for example that have all these transfers, they are so highly regarded and the media talks them up. The players may be decent players but why did they transfer? Like Hayes and Okunlola last night.....Both would be 3rd bucket guys. That is no slight on anyone but it is just what it is. It seems like most guys who start and play a ton are sticking with the school they star for. So this whole Portal class and to assign a ranking or an expectation to those teams that they are far superior seems kinda stupid. Many of the transfers left for a reason and if it is money related and that is not a good thing from a team perspective. So you have a bunch of guys who maybe play 30% of the time, who were ranked high in high school and they get a high portal grade based off their high school ranking. Are those guys really playmakers? I am not necessarily making any conclusions here just making an observation about how stupid the media is making the " transfer portal" market a big business.
