Transfer Portal Thoughts

Lots of people here also declared that Mertz would suck for a variety of reasons. Great fans we are. SMH

 

Losing the best boxer on the squad.

 

It only took half a brain and half an ounce of character to say let's hope for the best and wait and see, especially after watching 20 seconds of him throwing.

 

needed to go

 

If you’re saying that because they weren’t team guys I get it but looking back hard to tell me D. McMillon, Hopper, and a couple of linemen weren’t team guys. I get Etienne but Princely was a little troubling because he essentially wanted to be developed more and win more and why would Mazz leave when essentially guaranteed starting position? if we grab somebody in the portal at his level, then I’ll be OK unless Harris is expected to take over and be better than him and in that case I would be OK also

 

Maybe Mazzcua's NIL deal was a one year only deal and the coaching staff told him that Harris or George would start in his place in 2024 and he would be a backup. I doubt a NIL deal for a back-up would be that good. Going into the portal to get a new one as a potential starter somewhere might be more attractive. Rank speculation of course.

 

If you thought that Thornton or Castell were too slow to cover receivers, you might want to watch McMillon's pace. We tried to keep Hopper. I don't know why his name would even come up in this conversation. We have to give more snaps next year to Collins (much better than Princely in tackles per play though about 1/2 the sacks per play), Boone, Searcy (much better than Princely in tackles per play but a fraction of sacks), James, McCray and whoever we find in the portal at Edge who can make a difference. Those are really talented guys to let Princely handle the full load when he has had 3 years with 2 years starting to show what he has. Also, Mazz was seen as an upgrade to other guards we had last year, but it didn't show on the field. I would prefer he stayed for depth at guard, but he hasn't been a difference maker we expected.

 

Most of these guys you already know the story, not sure why it has to be rehashed but here goes
Hopper bro at UNC didn't mesh with Bateman so he didn't want to play for him
McMillon wasn't getting snaps and wanted to start
White off field issues, have you noticed he doesn't play anywhere
Tarquin married Boselli daughter, got overpaid by USC
Princely takes plays off and plays outside the system...talent but not a great team guy. Overpaid in portal
The stories I have heard on Mazz actually make me wish we booted him in the spring. Bad kid period. Most coaches think they can turn every kid around, I'm guessing the staff felt that way in this case. But I think everyone in the program has had enough at this point. Move George inside to his best natural position.

 

in retrospect, I can rock with the wave Napier went about preparing for the 2023 season. He could have went scorched Earth in the portal, but decided it was more imperative to get the young blood on the field and take their lumps and now he can REALLY see where the deficiencies are at. Getting Searcy, James, and Collins extended PT this past season is better long term than had we gotten a one year rental at that position and risking one of them hitting the portal this offseason.

We weren't going to make serious noise in year two no matter what so why not establish your core and grab a few solid, not spectacular guys out the portal that can play early but eventually get overtaken by his HS recruits?

In a sense, he coached next year's team this past season

 

Hated losing Hopper. That one still bothers me.

 

I did not say Castell and Thornton were too slow. Hopper’s name comes up because it illustrates several really good players, we’ve lost the last two years to the transfer portal that had starting jobs for us.

McMillon had an excellent year with 105 tackles and HM ALL ACC. If he’s on a decent team he’s at least second team for sure. You can say what you want about what he can’t do but what he can do is tackle. Tackling has been a problem for our defense for 3-4 years so I would have loved to have McMillon.

I agree with you about Searcy, Collins and guys like that as too many people don’t mention those two and they have great upside for the future. In bringing up, princely I’m saying it’s interesting in that he left us because he wants to develop more and win more and I think that says something. Im on record several times over last week and saying that I believe Searcy and Collins will equal his production. If not go beyond it in terms of sacks.

The concern becomes the quality we’ve lost to the portal the last two years for whatever the reason. Several all conference performers. From just the guy we lost last year, we had to perform at all SEC levels, and one at an all ACC level.

 

I believe he was asked to move to LB to use those tackling skills and wanted to stay a db, which is his prerogative.

But there will never, ever, ever, ever, ever be a year that I will want our Gators to have a db with 105 tackles. Never!

 

Seems like some of these players that were active in social media ended up transferring.

Princeley - constant back and forth with fans.
Mazz- left the program in spring before returning and tweeted about it
Etienne- pain in the ass family tweeting through the season
Wilson-liked the drama during recruiting
Copeland going back further

Just saying. There are players I hated to see go like Hopper and tarquin that weren't the case but a lot of these guys just seem like not the best lockeroom types.

 

Ok, makes more sense, but I still would have liked to keep him as he is a better tackler than any of our safeties. He was an All ACC selection. 105 tackles, which says something about his tackling ability.

Gonna disagree respectfully on tackles for a safety.

On 105 tackles- Not for a db but McMillon is a safety. Good safeties should easily average 6-7 tackles a game. Multiply that by 14 games and your at 84-98 tackles. Examples for you of Safeties and tackle numbers.

All Conference safeties below and their numbers:

I’ll start with our favorite. The others are from 2023.
2015-Keanu Neal 96 tackles. This guy and his numbers validate what a good safety can and should do as we know what he is still doing today in the NFL.

***2023 Safeties-All made some type of All Conf teams:
Kendarin Ray Safety Tulsa 131 tackles

Jack Howell Safety- Colo. State 114 tackles

Hunter Wohlers- Wisconsin 113 tackles

Terry Jones Old Dominion 107 tackles

AJ Haulcy Houston 98 tackles

 

Making your safeties be the star of the defense is usually not a way to make your team win in the P-5. Normally you would have a backup get a 1/4 of the snaps and the main contributor would get 50+ tackles. In most defenses your front 7 is broken if your safety needs to get that many tackles. I never want to see that. Keanu Neal was a unique individual that could have been a LB. Of course, this all can vary wildly by the defense you run. For instance, the db we are recruiting from W. Ky had 120+ snaps on the edge. That isn't a normal position for a safety, and is the reason he had so many sacks that otherwise might have gone to a lineman or LB. I would definitely like the mentality and physicality of these safeties that are getting that many tackles.

 

Nailed it

 

Devils advocate...fsu sold out to the portal to win now and their recruiting subsequently for whatever reason improved drastically.

I'm all for the experience the youth got last year and I hope it will pay off but unless scheme was the issue, then a more substantial portal haul at various spots could have been the slight difference we needed to win a handful more games this past year.

If Napier sold out to go young and gain experience that's fine but you gotta close out games like Arkansas, mizzou etc with better coaching and game management. As much as I support the current coach, he really hurt his own cause with those losses

 

my only comment in McMillon- he took a step down in competition playing in the ACC. Not sure he would have that success had he stayed in the big leagues.

 

100% agree

He knows we missed an opportunity and he has to work overtime to try and compensate for it. Beat Ark and just close out one, between Mizz & ClownU and it feels different this offseason.

 

At least we know he can tackle and he did that is extremely well ranking in the top 10 safeties in the country for tackles. I do agree. The ACC is not as good but he played plenty of competition and showed what he can do. To say we could not have used him. I would just have to disagree with 100%