Wisconsin Football 2022- The Jim Leonhard Show ends, the Luke Fickell era begins

[Jim French Stepstool]

11 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

There are plenty of clouds for you to yell at, though.

The NCAA is re-evaluating the policies for undergraduate transfers.  Saw a tweet about that on another forum a couple of weeks ago.

One can hope. I would be fine with immediate transfer eligibility if a coach left/was canned/retired. I just don't know how much they can backtrack from what's going on now.

[owbc]

2 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

It is, I'm sure. I just like the idea of working ones' way up through the depth chart, especially when you're only a year or two into your college career. IMO that builds a lot more character than being given multiple opportunities to bail.

Admittedly I feel a little uncomfortable taking this stance, as I don't have a front lawn to kick kids off of.😄

I don't see what "building character" has to do with any of this. You have to prove your value in order to transfer. 

The main problem seems to be that it's risky to enter the portal if you don't have options, so it encourages tampering because players want to send out feelers before they go into the portal. 

Personally I love the pressure it puts on coaches and programs to give talent a reason to stick around. As a Wisconsin fan, the added pressure on the administration to compete at a high level seems to be leading to good things. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

55 minutes ago, owbc said:

I don't see what "building character" has to do with any of this. You have to prove your value in order to transfer. 

The main problem seems to be that it's risky to enter the portal if you don't have options, so it encourages tampering because players want to send out feelers before they go into the portal. 

Personally I love the pressure it puts on coaches and programs to give talent a reason to stick around. As a Wisconsin fan, the added pressure on the administration to compete at a high level seems to be leading to good things. 

The way I view it, it takes character to work hard & improve even if you aren't where you'd like to be on a depth chart after a year or two. I see it as bailing on a commitment. Sometimes you're just homesick or unhappy or whatever, but this current landscape just expands the scope of justification to give up, whereas in the past you might be inclined to work through issues. And I think that builds character.

I agree with your comment regarding tampering. The portal encourages this due to the "quick fix" aspect of receiving help w/o a player having to sit out a year.

I think programs & coaches have always had plenty of pressure to succeed. I certainly won't deny being old school on this, I think the onus should be on the players, once choosing to accept a free education & now whatever NIL money comes their way, to perform to the best of their ability. They certainly aren't forced to stay, I just don't think bar hopping from school to school does the majority of them much good. Different sport, but Dawson Garcia is on his 3rd team in as many years. Talented player, but IMO hasn't improved one whit from his freshman year.

As dubious as I am about this, as a fellow Badger fan I'll also be pulling for the talent influx to lead to success. Fickell is playing by the new rules. Certainly can't blame him for that.

[LouisEly]

1 hour ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

The way I view it, it takes character to work hard & improve even if you aren't where you'd like to be on a depth chart after a year or two. I see it as bailing on a commitment. Sometimes you're just homesick or unhappy or whatever, but this current landscape just expands the scope of justification to give up, whereas in the past you might be inclined to work through issues. And I think that builds character.

One of Fickell or Leonhard said exactly this (or both of them - I think it was Leonhard, and Fickell just said that he doesn't like the portal and prefers to develop).

As for Dawson Garcia, he went back home to Minnesota because of family medical issues.  His family got hit hard by COVID and several family members passed away.  At the time of his transfer, his father had almost passed away and his grandmother was in the ICU.  He transferred to UNC after Wojo was fired.  I know there are other examples - I believe JT Daniels and Kedon Slovis are the examples you are looking for.

[areacodes]

6 hours ago, owbc said:

The main problem seems to be that it's risky to enter the portal if you don't have options, so it encourages tampering because players want to send out feelers before they go into the portal. 

Is it really tampering if the player reaches out before going in the portal?

[Jim French Stepstool]

5 hours ago, LouisEly said:

One of Fickell or Leonhard said exactly this (or both of them - I think it was Leonhard, and Fickell just said that he doesn't like the portal and prefers to develop).

As for Dawson Garcia, he went back home to Minnesota because of family medical issues.  His family got hit hard by COVID and several family members passed away.  At the time of his transfer, his father had almost passed away and his grandmother was in the ICU.  He transferred to UNC after Wojo was fired.  I know there are other examples - I believe JT Daniels and Kedon Slovis are the examples you are looking for.

Thank you. I wasn't aware of Garcias' family situation. Thoughts & prayers to his family, obviously.

[Samurai Bucky]

On 1/17/2023 at 12:47 PM, Jim French Stepstool said:

It is, I'm sure. I just like the idea of working ones' way up through the depth chart, especially when you're only a year or two into your college career. IMO that builds a lot more character than being given multiple opportunities to bail.

Admittedly I feel a little uncomfortable taking this stance, as I don't have a front lawn to kick kids off of.😄

Based on Fickell's comments, I believe he doesn't really want to build through the Portal.  He wants to recruit high quality individuals and have them work their way up the depth chart.  Chryst leaving the cupboard so bare on the offensive side along with implementing a new system required the huge haul from the Portal.

I'll predict something though... Wisconsin will start having very good recruiting classes with more 4 and 5 star kids.  Kids will start entering the transfer portal and people will be exclaiming, "What is going on here?  Kids are leaving the program!  What are we going to do?"  That will prompt another awesome "yell at the clouds" reference by Louis (well done 😉)

[homer]

Engram enters the portal. Not surprising.

[Jim French Stepstool]

45 minutes ago, homer said:

Engram enters the portal. Not surprising.

He has a little bro who just committed to Kansas State. Perhaps He'll land there.

Their dad hasn't taken another coaching job that I know of, at least not yet.