Braelon Oliver (Sr LB) Into the Portal

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MNVCGUY said:
I just can't even imagine what it is like for the coaches. Having to go out and recruit high school players and then also having to recruit their own players and be ready for guys to just up and leave at the drop of a hat.

Makes it really hard to plan for the future. But it is the reality we are in so at this point all fans can really do is embrace it and expect the unexpected.
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I imagine Harbaugh sometimes thinks "I put on my footie pajamas for this?"

As for Oliver, did do some pretty impressive things when healthy. I've talked about how I don't think our LBs are disruptive enough on a consistent basis and Oliver was the one guy who could really blow stuff up.
 

BBJones said:
I won't be able to do it, but if I had any self discipline, I wouldn't read any Gopher football news until the start of spring practice. Less pain and disappointment along the way. On the other hand, getting all the bad news in one dose could prove fatal.
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I just made a similar post in the Markus Allen thread. Might be best just to tune out until August, but like you, I won't be able to do that.
 

Shocked by this, but as one of 14s biggest fans going into ‘22 he didn’t play great this year a lot of missed tackles. We must have some ballers behind him and he was told his PT will be challenged next year for this to happen otherwise he maybe is just looking for a change.
 




This one is interesting to me.

I think Oliver would have been a decent starter for us but I don't think that spot was guaranteed. We almost always play with 2 LBers and are pretty clearly looking to add a LB via the portal.

I don't think Oliver got passed on the depth chart per se, but I do believe he saw the writing on the wall that he would be fighting for PT kind of like T. Smith last year. However, unlike T.Smith, he doesn't play a position where we are going t play 3-5 guys. I don't think he got passed on a depth chart, but I think it was going to be murky for him.

Good luck Braelin!
 

Bobby Big Wheel said:
Transfer portal by and large sucks for fans - but its great for the kids. Im cool with it.
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Depending on what they want. Many end up with no offers and no scholarship. That’s not a good deal for them. The system is great for the high end guys but a bad deal most, particularly if getting a free education is at all part of the equation.
 

Holy Man said:
Depending on what they want. Many end up with no offers and no scholarship. That’s not a good deal for them. The system is great for the high end guys but a bad deal most, particularly if getting a free education is at all part of the equation.
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This is a really important point - the portal has normalized pushing people out of a program. Coaches absolutely must have the flexibility now because of the portal (and not sitting out a year after transferring), so there are going to be fewer and fewer recruiting "misses" who ride out their 4 years.
 





I don't get this one, at all.


- He's already a starter, and would be a starter next year, right?
- Who would beat him out next year?
- Only has one year left to go somewhere else and do something
- But he's not good enough to just go transfer to some helmet school and make big NIL $$$ and/or compete for a natty
- And obviously he isn't leaving for the NFL


So .... why???


Is Fleck trying to push out 6th year guys now, to try to normalize the roster turnover? I made that up as a wild guess. No idea
 

Gophers_4life said:
I don't get this one, at all.


- He's already a starter, and would be a starter next year, right?
- Who would beat him out next year?
- Only has one year left to go somewhere else and do something
- But he's not good enough to just go transfer to some helmet school and make big NIL $$$ and/or compete for a natty
- And obviously he isn't leaving for the NFL


So .... why???


Is Fleck trying to push out 6th year guys now, to try to normalize the roster turnover? I made that up as a wild guess. No idea
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I don't think the bold is guaranteed so that is why he left.
 

Oregon Gopher said:
Great for the kids??? Not nearly all of them. Significant number never get picked up, lose out on education etc
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Agree. After a couple more more years of this the studies will come out that a large amount of the kids who entered the portal ended up worse off because of it. Probably won't be a front page story though.
 



Its unfortunate to see him go, he was fun to watch. He could really lay the lumber on someone.
 

Used to be you'd tell a kid...work hard on Scout Team, get big in the weight room, pay your dues...you'll be starting for us at some point. With this easy transfer nonsense, anyone comes in and takes the spot from you that you've worked so hard for. Anyone who thinks this is a good change to college football is an idiot.
 

As CFB becomes more of a business at the althlete's level then things like "loyalty" naturally drop off the radar with each season of play.

"Brand Royalty" however can still have a foothold...and if we have anything with Coach Fleck and his "culture" (ahem, "our" culture)...is branding. Won't work for all but might take hold for some.

Good luck from here Braelon....
 


#2Gopher said:
I'm getting a little discouraged with NCCA football as a whole.
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Careful what you wish for. Isn't this what so many people were screaming for? You have to pay the players, you have to pay the players.... and here we are....
 

Lindenberg definitely blew by him last year and I think we have other guys with a higher ceiling and a similar floor IMO. Always hard to see someone transfer out, but I don’t think this one will hurt the team all that much unless Cody gets hurt again.
 

I've got a new attitude about the portal after watching an interview with PJ this weekend. His attitude is basically that they'll make the portal work in their favor...and to this point, I think that's accurate. The list of incoming transfers who've made an impact is long. The list of outgoing transfers who've made an impact elsewhere is short. Individual losses like Oliver sting both because they're talented, but also because we're emotionally attached to them. I mean, I've sat behind his family at an away game for goodness sake. But on the whole, I believe the portal era will be a net gain for PJ and co.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I just can't even imagine what it is like for the coaches. Having to go out and recruit high school players and then also having to recruit their own players and be ready for guys to just up and leave at the drop of a hat.

Makes it really hard to plan for the future. But it is the reality we are in so at this point all fans can really do is embrace it and expect the unexpected.
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I know, it is heart breaking what PJ has to endure. You would think at $7 million there should not be any grief at all. You think he might just pay somebody $30,000 a year to worry for him? :)
 


DCinOK said:
Used to be you'd tell a kid...work hard on Scout Team, get big in the weight room, pay your dues...you'll be starting for us at some point. With this easy transfer nonsense, anyone comes in and takes the spot from you that you've worked so hard for. Anyone who thinks this is a good change to college football is an idiot.
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You could tell kids that but it wasn’t true. Because an underclassmen or someone else could take their spot. Any coach who said that stuff was full of shit.
 

Is it bizarre that pro teams have more stability than NCAA football right now? Not just reacting to the Oliver news, just the insanity of the portal so far. Unless they change this, it will rip the sport apart and leave but a shell of itself behind.
 



Bob_Loblaw said:
I don't think the bold is guaranteed so that is why he left.
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OK, fair enough.

Latest game notes are still for the Wisc game, so don't show the Wisc starters, but still give a pretty good picture:

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So I guess I can see that he must feel like he has been replaced by Lindenberg for the 2nd LB that's always on the field. Maybe that right there is the reason.


But with Dixon gone, who I think was considered a "starter" at the LB-esque Nickle/5th DB position in a 4-2-5 configuration ... who is the better LB that would have beat out Oliver next year for the 3rd LB in the 4-3 configuration??

I guess it will be Willis now, or a transfer. Unless there is a younger player that will step up.
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
As a fan, I kind of liked watching Jack Gibbons play.
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Gibbons was really good. Not super dynamic...but was always in the right place. Rarely blew an assignment.

We've picked up more solid, contributing players in the portal than we've lost. So still a net gain...imo.
 


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