FishDuck Article Administrator No. 1 Share Posted June 1 Back in 1981, Video Killed the Radio Star was the very first music video ever played on MTV. It represented a big change in the way media was absorbed and signaled a huge shift in the music industry. The transfer portal has done the same to college football regarding how teams acquire players. Even Mr. FishDuck had to take... Portal Killed the Recruiting Star | FishDuck FISHDUCK.COM Darren Perkins of FishDuck.com believes that the transfer portal in college football has taken much of the lustre off of recruiting. 1 1 1 Two Sites: FishDuck and the Our Beloved Ducks forum, The only "Forum with Decorum!" And All-Volunteer? What a wonderful community of Duck fans! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smith72 Moderator No. 2 Share Posted June 1 Thanks Darren! I agree with you. It's a new world with money being involved. The players deserve a chance to be compensated for their talent. Oregon coaches and the NIL group Division street are doing well in the portal. They are working the Portal to fill needs, and spending wisely. Money is being spent but they are refusing to be the highest bidder for unproven talent. Our Beloved Ducks are proving that eventually players will want to be coached well and play for a winner. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
30Duck Moderator No. 3 Share Posted June 1 Oh my, MTV, Blockbuster, Casey Kasem & "America's Top 40" buying movie tickets at the door, HBO was cool. Players sitting at a table, 3 hats spread out in front, he feints picking that one. Then picks your team!!! And it mattered. National Signing Day stopped being the same a while ago. It's still big. you want to bring in the blue chips, but the urgency isn't there, the transfer portal, it's amazing actually how much stability there is now. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Administrator No. 4 Share Posted June 1 It is so complicated now...you gotta feel for the coaches. All that work... 1 1 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven A Moderator No. 5 Share Posted June 1 On 6/1/2025 at 9:33 AM, Charles Fischer said: you gotta feel for the coaches Not I, not at those salaries. Even the old timers like Dabo, it is not what they signed up for, but they originally didn't sign on for 7+ mil a year either. P.S. Good article Darren Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
30Duck Moderator No. 6 Share Posted June 1 On 6/1/2025 at 9:33 AM, Charles Fischer said: It is so complicated now...you gotta feel for the coaches. All that work.. Absolutely. Saban knew when to get out. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 7 Share Posted June 1 Thank you, Darren. Roster management in CFB and CBB is a full-time job. Dan and friends, to date, have not needed a GM, unlike $10 million a year men Lincoln Riley and Bill Belichick. In Bill's case, the GM is in addition to his granddaughter, er, GIRL-friend, following him around. A writer on a CFB site noted last week that a new criterion has popped up in recruiting and portal picking: Is having the young man on board worth having to deal with the young man's Old Man? In Wesley's case, at close to the same time his son cannon-balled "committed," his Old Man noted that his son's recruitment was not over. I hate to ask, but in this day and age of NIL, is Lincoln Riley's approach the way to go? An SC "commit" takes further recruiting visits, and SC's offer disappears. In other Forum discussions on this subject, I have noted many comments supporting Dan and Division Street on not spending $4 million on a guy who led the SEC in Ints in 2024, and $2 million for a high school student who hasn't played a down of college football. IMO, the D&D Forum fans support is $pot On! See you in December on recruit and portal signing days. Until then, a CFB 'Commitment' is only a rumor. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nevada Dawg No. 8 Share Posted June 1 (edited) On 6/1/2025 at 6:02 AM, Smith72 said: Thanks Darren! I agree with you. It's a new world with money being involved. The players deserve a chance to be compensated for their talent. Oregon coaches and the NIL group Division street are doing well in the portal. They are working the Portal to fill needs, and spending wisely. Money is being spent but they are refusing to be the highest bidder for unproven talent. Our Beloved Ducks are proving that eventually players will want to be coached well and play for a winner. Were I sitting to write a post about Kirby Smart's recruiting philosophy, I could do no better than this. Nailed it on every point Smith72!, particularly on the philosophy of not setting the market for unproven talent. Georgia missed on two of the highest rated recruits in the country recently, i.e., OT Cantwell who went to Miami and TE Bowmen aka Baby Brock who went to USC, and I merely shrugged Why? Because I knew the coaching staff had other option recruits who were likely to perform as well at Georgia whom they'd gladly take. Kirby has said he has a hard time giving an untested recruit a salary that far exceeds the average of what his juniors and seniors will make based on their "potential". Start messing with culture and you can get in trouble in a big hurry. Georgia reportedly did not waver even with stud QB recruit Jared Curtis. Curtis has been on the same wavelength as Georgia OC Mike Bobo for several years now and, consistent with Kirby Smart's and apparently Dan Lanning's philosophy, was willing to take less to be developed in a way that made sense to him. In other words, Georgia's 4-year offer to Curtis was in the ballpark with other offers but backloaded heavily in year one and contingent upon satisfactory development and performance. Both Jared and the Curtis family were on-board with this approach. Edited June 1 by Nevada Dawg Big space between this and previous post 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
30Duck Moderator No. 9 Share Posted June 1 On 6/1/2025 at 1:23 PM, Jon Joseph said: I hate to ask, but in this day and age of NIL, is Lincoln Riley's approach the way to go? No. Back in the good ol' days, even being No.1 in recruiting on June 1 didn't mean a thing. Now being No.1 on National Signing Day is better than nothing. USC is on top now, check back in December. 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 10 Share Posted June 2 On 6/1/2025 at 5:41 PM, 30Duck said: No. Back in the good ol' days, even being No.1 in recruiting on June 1 didn't mean a thing. Now being No.1 on National Signing Day is better than nothing. USC is on top now, check back in December. Without reservation, I agree that it isn't over until signing day in December. I agree with others that it is senseless to overpay for untested recruits. I do have reservations about the 'once committed, no more visits' philosophy. How much time was wasted pursuing Curtis, who, at the end of the day, stayed with Georgia. Did this prevent OBD from being able to focus on other QBs, and did it turn off other QB recruits? There are only so many hours in the too-long roster management days. And young men's families and agents are pushing for the biggest NIL jackpot they can score. "How much more money can we get for Jimmy or Joe if everyone knows he has 'COMMITTED' to Oregon?" I find it interesting that with the mature players in the portal, you rarely see this parapetetic behavior. Make no mistake, I trust Dan and company when it comes to recruiting and picking the portal. But is a "commitment" just that or not? Perhaps the philosophy of recruiting should change to focus on who is truly committed, so the courting can end before signing day. I don't know my friends, and I cop to being an Old-Timer, but if someone is 'committed' and flakes out, well, how much do I want someone using us coaches like that on our roster? Someone who is attempting to leverage 3rd parties and us? If we're not going to play that game, increase our offer because you played footsie with us, what's the harm in telling a so-called commit," Here's a road map, son, go find yourself.' And today, there's a chance you will get a more mature recruit from the portal. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
30Duck Moderator No. 11 Share Posted June 2 On 6/2/2025 at 2:24 AM, Jon Joseph said: But is a "commitment" just that or not? Perhaps the philosophy of recruiting should change to focus on who is truly committed, so the courting can end before signing day. "Commitment" is a word that hasn't met anything in sports for a long time, along with loyalty. It started with the coaches of course, one day they're in a living room, telling the prospect and his family how great it will be to coach his son at... and then a week later the coach is somewhere else. Even back in the day, and still now, player's "flip". A flip won't really happen now because a player will only be at a team as long as he wants. In the NFL, players renegotiate contracts all the time. In college, we've seen NIL deals being tossed up. If the NIL ever does get managed. The renegotiation, like in the NFL. will become normal in college. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Administrator No. 12 Share Posted June 2 The majority of verbals do stick, but they are certainly more fluid these days! 1 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike West No. 13 Share Posted June 2 Great article Darren as usual, I say we can't even rely on signing LOI anymore. Look what happened with Dallas Wilson this year. I am begging to believe it may be better to sign four or five highly ranked recruits that have the kind of character to grow into their respective rating, and really scout the diamonds in the rough and develop them. Offensive Line especially comes to mind. It is possible to develop a high 3 star OL into a high 4 star performer. Look at Dillon Gabriel. That dude is money. Was that apparent before he got to Central Florida? Furthermore, when Gabriel was at Central Florida before going to Oklahoma? And others like Derrick Harmon, and Cam Ward before he got to WSU. The Portal has become more important than high school recruiting now. You can find real talent after a year of play. I don't like that OBD lost as many 2026 recruits as we have, but damn, there are at least 20-30 that will be as good or better that play college football this year. Those are the guys to scout, and recruit this season. Not to mention the kids on the roster now (like Darren emphasized) that will contribute in the coming year. OBD has a very loaded roster, and its going to perform way better than most of the top recruits will now, or their entire career. They wanted NFL money, its time for NFL cutting the potential and paying the performers. The smart kids, including kids that aren't really looking for "the bag" should know by now OBD are developing kids that will get drafted. Thus, I hope Lanning is actually scouting Sophomores that play this year, and any Freshman that played last year that are looking for a title and want to get drafted. ESPN has their top 300. I say only 100 from that list are worth signing. It's find those in that group, and maybe find diamonds in the rough, and find the proven players that will be around for at least 2 years in the portal. These "$2M" kids can take a hike. If a high school kid isn't bringing me $5M, I'm not justifying signing an NIL deal worth $1M. He is a liability, not an asset. He isn't going to start year 1, and that is a waste of money instead of signing a portal guy that will play the year you sign him. 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
