This actually makes it really difficult for Furman to bring players in. We don't always take all of the credits from some lesser schools and guys don't want to fall behind if they don't have to. So we kind of have to look for guys from like schools where all the credits transfer, or find guys who are willing to play here a couple years and then go do a fifth year some place else.The Jackal wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 8:25 amI thought some about this. In recent years, Furman really only lost graduate transfers. It was rare (still is somewhat rare) for Furman to lose an undergrad transfer.
Riley Leonard, current Notre Dame QB that transferred from Duke, had some interesting comments:
At some level, these guys really are trading a Furman degree for a degree from X University. Transfer credits, even among top flight national institutions, are going to be a mixed bag. You can probably get yourself into a spot where you can't get a degree from either institution before your football eligibility has expired.
Transfer Portal Thread
I am a little surprised at Hinton. I don't think, in the scheme of things that this decision will play out well for him. But, maybe he got some real dollars.
It definitely seems, from a football perspective, to carry some risk. He leaves a place where he was basically the top guy in the passing scheme to what I assume is a fair amount of unknown at CCU.
For Furman, it's unfortunate to lose a key contributor. I am fairly confident, though, in Furman's ability to replace a slot receiver. We've had a lot of good ones over the years.
Honestly, at times in 2024 I thought we became too focused on Hinton in the passing game. If felt a bit like some of the dark offensive teams we had from 2008-2018 or so when so much of our offense was just force-feeding the ball to the slot receiver.
Only 2 of 27 first team All-SoCon performers haven’t hit the portal or aren’t graduating. Wow.
I had missed that Cole Gonzales transferred to Oklahoma.
One take away from all of this is that schools need to continue to recruit their fannies off every season. I do not believe any school can get a solid core of players and just assume you are going to have 2 or 3 years with that group intact. These coaches are going to have to constantly be aware that their roster can have massive turnover year over year.
Honestly, Furman has done a pretty remarkable job retaining their own players all things considered.
One take away from all of this is that schools need to continue to recruit their fannies off every season. I do not believe any school can get a solid core of players and just assume you are going to have 2 or 3 years with that group intact. These coaches are going to have to constantly be aware that their roster can have massive turnover year over year.
Honestly, Furman has done a pretty remarkable job retaining their own players all things considered.
I'm not convinced we did a remarkable job retaining our own players. I think the players that did transfer were our best player at that position. I can think of perhaps 2 exceptions and those were the two true freshmen at QB and RB. We had player development happening with our youngsters all over the field. Perhaps our philosophy to not lose any Freshmen linemen was to not play them. I'm still mesmerized at our lack of game depth development on the OL. I believe there were 6 combined snaps and in only 1 game that our 3 freshmen played in. With at minimum 10 quarters of game time that were completely out of hand and to only get a few snaps in one game is really head scratching. They get 4 games to play in and still preserve their red-shirt. We were obvioulsy managing that 4 game restriction at many other positions. It wasn't even a factor on the OL.The Jackal wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 8:43 amI had missed that Cole Gonzales transferred to Oklahoma.
One take away from all of this is that schools need to continue to recruit their fannies off every season. I do not believe any school can get a solid core of players and just assume you are going to have 2 or 3 years with that group intact. These coaches are going to have to constantly be aware that their roster can have massive turnover year over year.
Honestly, Furman has done a pretty remarkable job retaining their own players all things considered.
We lost a couple of players, but virtually every college program is losing players. We aren't having to turn over half the roster like many programs.AllTimeFU wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 4:31 pmI'm not convinced we did a remarkable job retaining our own players. I think the players that did transfer were our best player at that position. I can think of perhaps 2 exceptions and those were the two true freshmen at QB and RB. We had player development happening with our youngsters all over the field. Perhaps our philosophy to not lose any Freshmen linemen was to not play them. I'm still mesmerized at our lack of game depth development on the OL. I believe there were 6 combined snaps and in only 1 game that our 3 freshmen played in. With at minimum 10 quarters of game time that were completely out of hand and to only get a few snaps in one game is really head scratching. They get 4 games to play in and still preserve their red-shirt. We were obvioulsy managing that 4 game restriction at many other positions. It wasn't even a factor on the OL.The Jackal wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 8:43 amI had missed that Cole Gonzales transferred to Oklahoma.
One take away from all of this is that schools need to continue to recruit their fannies off every season. I do not believe any school can get a solid core of players and just assume you are going to have 2 or 3 years with that group intact. These coaches are going to have to constantly be aware that their roster can have massive turnover year over year.
Honestly, Furman has done a pretty remarkable job retaining their own players all things considered.
It's hard to sit back and evaluate the OL from a distance, IMO. We have a head coach that was an offensive line coach. We have by all accounts a good position coach. Those two stuck with roughly the same rotation of linemen all season. I cannot imagine they did that haphazardly.
It's also my opinion that offensive line is one of those areas where you don't want a lot of simultaneous "on the job" training. At a lot of other positions, if a true freshman screws up, then there's an interception or a fumble or whatever. If a true freshman linemen screws up, folks can get hurt.
If we have a true freshman RB and QB in the game together, I'm not sure it is a wise move to stick three freshmen linemen in front of them. You'd probably want your most experienced and veteran group available with that much youth in the backfield.
I think The Jackals point is well made and I'd put it this way: You cannot apply the old rules here anymore. Rosters are going to turn over to some degree now. The question is how much?The Jackal wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 4:44 pmWe lost a couple of players, but virtually every college program is losing players. We aren't having to turn over half the roster like many programs.AllTimeFU wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 4:31 pmI'm not convinced we did a remarkable job retaining our own players. I think the players that did transfer were our best player at that position. I can think of perhaps 2 exceptions and those were the two true freshmen at QB and RB. We had player development happening with our youngsters all over the field. Perhaps our philosophy to not lose any Freshmen linemen was to not play them. I'm still mesmerized at our lack of game depth development on the OL. I believe there were 6 combined snaps and in only 1 game that our 3 freshmen played in. With at minimum 10 quarters of game time that were completely out of hand and to only get a few snaps in one game is really head scratching. They get 4 games to play in and still preserve their red-shirt. We were obvioulsy managing that 4 game restriction at many other positions. It wasn't even a factor on the OL.The Jackal wrote: ↑Thu Jan 09, 2025 8:43 amI had missed that Cole Gonzales transferred to Oklahoma.
One take away from all of this is that schools need to continue to recruit their fannies off every season. I do not believe any school can get a solid core of players and just assume you are going to have 2 or 3 years with that group intact. These coaches are going to have to constantly be aware that their roster can have massive turnover year over year.
Honestly, Furman has done a pretty remarkable job retaining their own players all things considered.
It's hard to sit back and evaluate the OL from a distance, IMO. We have a head coach that was an offensive line coach. We have by all accounts a good position coach. Those two stuck with roughly the same rotation of linemen all season. I cannot imagine they did that haphazardly.
It's also my opinion that offensive line is one of those areas where you don't want a lot of simultaneous "on the job" training. At a lot of other positions, if a true freshman screws up, then there's an interception or a fumble or whatever. If a true freshman linemen screws up, folks can get hurt.
If we have a true freshman RB and QB in the game together, I'm not sure it is a wise move to stick three freshmen linemen in front of them. You'd probably want your most experienced and veteran group available with that much youth in the backfield.
All things being equal, I'd suspect that the staff would say they'd like to have Hinton and Chappel back. The rest... they probably would not say much. I'd also suspect that they would say they are thrilled that Ian Williams is back and that Hedden is back and Pryor, and several others including 5th years like Ryan Lamb.
The TE we have coming in looks a lot like Chappel physically. The WR from ECU coming in looks a lot like Hinton physically, speed wise. There is a lot of love for the similar FR WR Evan James. We just need to see them do it.
I'm actually pretty fired up about this roster and the experience and the acquisitions.
Wake Forest WR commits. Was a PWO. Had a few FCS offers out of HS.