Far from it, it's pretty pedestrian. I appreciate you dapping it up, though!
Wildly long take coming. There's a TL, DR at the end.
We've hit a point with the current CFB landscape where it's illogical for us to do the polite Minnesota Nice clap and thank mercs, particularly homegrown ones, for gracing our poor little program with their athletic talent when they say see ya later without so much as a second thought. These athletes are paid handsomely and unconstrained by the rules that used to exist. If you're highly talented (enough that you're guaranteed mucho playing time here as time goes on), don't commit to the program for the long haul, and move on for reasons that are very clearly associated with a money grab, we owe you nothing but perhaps spite, which is what I choose in this particular case due to this being a homegrown mail-in/arm tackle specialist. Don't get me going on the "he was only going to play three years anyways" copium.
We should praise the great players who choose loyalty to the brand and scoff at those who leave because we arent good enough for them, but instead we do this self piteous "Thanks for your time Koi, good luck" spiel. That's awful, enabling messaging, especially when someone leaves without so much as a thank you to the very fans who want to make sure everyone knows they appreciate the time Koi put in here.
I will always have disdain for Perich because he is a Minnesota kid who committed to and then spurned his home program for the worst reasons, and in hindsight, it's very clear to me that he was half assing, on autopilot, and looking onward most of the year, which jeapordized our season (just compare last year to this year with the PFF data. It wasn't a sophomore slump). He absolutely fucked us out of nine wins, and was repeatedly out of position (likely) or arm tackling (100%) in the narrow games which we barely eked out. People will point to the Purdue win and how vital he was to that victory, but I'd challenge someone to watch that game film and find out how many plays Koi was out of position, misread plays, or was overaggressive on Purdue scoring drives. I'd venture this happened repeatedly over the course of the season and was a contributor to how some teams hung 30+ on us. Has anyone else considered that it's possible that part of why Collins' scheme sucked as hard as it did was due to Koi? Hard to be successful when you've only got 10 on the field on defense because the 11th guy is focused on either being opportunistic or protecting his body for the next year.
I'm aware this is a highly unpopular, opinion based take and I'll likely garner disdain from more people than already feel that way towards me, but I believe it's right, I stand by it, and I'm frankly surprised more people haven't shared similar sentiments. The "go get em kid, get as much money you can get" angle is absolutely bonkers to me but it's consistent with the shitty, destructive messaging we're sending our younger generations today.
TL, DR: I still think Koi sucks, hard, and think he mailed it in this season, protecting his body and chasing splash play opportunities with his eyes on the horizon the entire time, jeopardizing our W/L total.
