Florida Transfer Portal 2022 & NFL Declared (Live List Post #3)

Lesson One to my kids and employees is "Finish what you start." That one commitment will serve anyone well in life.

 

Eli Ricks?

 

The bottom line...
Kids want to play some football for two reasons:
1. They just want to get on the field and play some damn football. That's it.
They go out to practice and bust their butts in practice every day. They get dinged up... get their hands stepped on, twist an ankle, bruise a shoulder, etc.
Lift weights every other day, etc. Watch film, etc.
Do their best to work on their studies and grades, etc.
They know that their NFL prospects are slim... but they simply want the reward of being able to get on the field and play some football.

2. For those who have NFL potential, they want to get on the field and play some football to raise their value in the eyes of the NFL scouts.

With both cases above, if they are not getting on the field, then they will want to go somewhere else to have a better opportunity to simply play.
Have a fresh start with another team just to be able to get out on a football field.
Even though they love the University of Florida, grew up being a fan since childhood... they still just want to get out there on the field and play.
(When I was at Florida back in the early 80's, I was a third stringer. Got both my knees messed up as a freshman. So, I could run straight but could not cut sideways, so I was relegated to, "3rd String Purgatory."
So, I did not have the option to just transfer out and play at a smaller school, etc. With my knees, who was going to take me? And I did not want to lose my four-year scholarship. And besides, the the portal was not available back then.)
So, sure... it is disappointing to see Whit transfer out and to see his younger brother go elsewhere.
But I understand the feelings of all of our recent players who have decided to enter the portal.
They just want to get out on a field and play the game they love.
Our perspective as a fan and the perspective as a college player might be a bit different.

 

I think this is right, but I also want to suggest that there are interactive effects of particular actor combinations. Eg we saw Whittemore go from top 3 WR with the previous to non-existent with the current staff. Now it could be that Whittemore internally changed that drastically over the summer, but more likely it had something to do with the staff change. One specific issue that occurs to me is that a player needs to feel that a system is fair. Now some may view not starting for any reason as unfair, but in some cases, players really do blossom at their second stop for whatever reason.

 

Rashad

 

Rashad

 

Rashad

…now go put YOUR crack pipe down

 

I'd like to state that just because they enter the portal doesn't mean they will leave

 

reminds me of how Guss Scott use to be for us. Never will be an All Conference but a steady presence

 

Once they enter the portal, the school no longer has to honor their scholarship. So coming back probably is not an option.

 

I think those are fair points. But let's also realize Trent was never top 3 WR on the roster in receptions....8th last year and 5th among wr on a VERY average wr corp. Had he stayed in the mix he was likely to produce similar results. He caught 19 passes last year....heck he could have caught a half dozen vs Vandy if he hung around

 

Those are good points, GatoRade. If, in fact, he was being treated unfairly, then, by all means, he should go. But, with this staff, I really doubt that was the case. Napier and his coaches seem reasonable in terms of playing the best talent on the field. We were also short on WRs/TEs when guys like Copeland and Gamble didn't stick it out after last year and at least see what the new coaching staff had to offer. He should have at least finished the year; he certainly won't be treated any more fairly in terms of playing time sitting in front of his TV during the bowl season. If he thought he was better than Pearsall this year, he wasn't really opening his eyes.

 

He will be there in the later rounds

 

In football, the option is probably more available than in other sports just because of the abundance of schollys. If a guy like Hopper or Del Rio would have had a change of heart last year, I think we would have figured it out. A guy like Copeland? Yea, he can kick rocks. It’s definitely a risk, and not all these guys find a soft landing spot.

 

Whittemore's perspective on "fair" may be different from the staff's perspective, but I think it is also different from most fans'. He played a fair amount to begin the year for the coaches to evaluate, but seeing him versus the starters, he was not in line to be a starter. He will find another program that doesn't have better starters than him.

 

I wouldn't want to be in the position of going to BN with my hat in my hand after rolling snake eyes in the portal. That does not sound like a promising situation at all.

 

No, you weren't the only ones that noticed, I just didn't want to post anything in here since he was a True Frosh just getting his feet wet.

 

With the exception of Jevon Kearse that Miami model hasn't worked out great for us (especially under Mullen). We seemed to have a lot of tweeners that only fit in either position awkwardly.

 

ouch!

 

Funny comment: don't need to sell merchandise or get gate, conference TV money is emough.