Boy, I know I am trying to mentally catch-up, and adjust to the new approach to roster management . The strategies and the overall philosophy has changed dramatically in the past three years with the emergence of the transfer portal and NIL. Below is from a post by HDuck in another thread that illustrates my point:

"Why is Ohio State losing so much? Keeping depth players sidelined for multiple years doesn’t work anymore when they can get money and playing time elsewhere. But Ohio State’s commitment to developing high school players, which has been the Buckeyes’ philosophy for years, is being overhauled right now."

"Losing 29 players to the transfer portal is never good. That’s the equivalent of losing an entire recruiting class."

In the last two years...I have written FishDuck.com articles warning Oregon fans to savor this year, because next year is a major rebuilding year. Yet, by the time Dan Lanning was done in the portal--we ended up with a great teams that finished in the top ten--again.

I look at how so many great young defensive linemen have left in the last two days, and I feel a twinge of, "Dan is sacrificing the future years, to make 2026 a great one with the Defensive Line starters returning." And boy...those starters must be getting some tasty NIL numbers thrown at them to remain, but it worked.

No, Charles. Roster management is now looking at next year only. Why? Because if you are Oregon, you can massively rebuild each year, just as the other elite teams are. The new philosophy is, "Forget Next Year and Beyond," and assemble a great team for this year, and worry about next year--next year.

That's spot on, Charles. It's a totally different game nowadays. But it can't sustainable, can it?

It's got to be much tougher for these players too (formerly student athletes), not knowing where you are going to end up year after year. But then again, the big carrot is definitely there. It's really a wild wild west where only the fittest survive and advance!