Jaqwondis Burns enter the portal.

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This one stings a little.
 


WriterGoph said:
Just like the kid from Vandy was a "reach" yesterday, right?

Can you tell us exactly what you'd seen from Burns in the past 2 years that makes it sting?
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5th highest rated 2020 recruit. Multiple offers to good P5 programs, originally committed to Mississippi. Almost certainly the fastest LB on the team. Perhaps a chance to keep that IMG pipeline open.

But perhaps you're right...every transfer in is a certified stud, every transfer out not anyone needed.
 

USAF said:
5th highest rated 2020 recruit. Multiple offers to good P5 programs, originally committed to Mississippi. Almost certainly the fastest LB on the team. Perhaps a chance to keep that IMG pipeline open.

But perhaps you're right...every transfer in is a certified stud, every transfer out not anyone needed.
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And Jack Gibbens was how many stars coming out of high school? Burns’ recruiting rankings and other P5 offers are meaningless after he’s already been enrolled and in our system this long. Either the staff has failed to develop him properly or the recruiting rankings were wrong. I’ll trust the staff.
 



U2Gopher said:
And Jack Gibbens was how many stars coming out of high school? Burns’ recruiting rankings and other P5 offers are meaningless after he’s already been enrolled and in our system this long. Either the staff has failed to develop him properly or the recruiting rankings were wrong. I’ll trust the staff.
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He was pretty young and behind some really experienced LBers.

I trust our staff and I'm getting comfortable taking the good with the bad when it comes to the portal, but I don't think we know enough about Burns right now to know whether he failed to develop or not.

That said, it is weird that some people who are super critical of the transfers coming are super bummed out by people (who played way less) leaving.
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
but I don't think we know enough about Burns right now to know whether he failed to develop or not.
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That’s a fair statement and I agree. I guess what I was trying to say to the OP was that to be upset about someone coming in or going out and basing their success of failure on recruiting rankings seems a little foolish to me. The rankings have been proven to be far from foolproof.
 



btowngopher said:
About the same as Gordon for me. I think Thomas, Dunlap, Boyd, and Anderson sting more to me.
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Hopefully as (I think) Bob pointed out yesterday, Surgers = Anderson or better. I think we have enough young talent at WR that I'm not concerned about Boyd as much. And one would hope Carroll is able to replace Dunlap's production.

How the RB situation plays out after Ky's departure seems to be the million dollar question this offseason.
 

High school players' star rating coming out of high school is not an absolute barometer of how they will do in college. There are obvious exceptions.

They become average. Other players are equal or better than them. Look at every recruiting class that PJ fleck had starting with 2017. There were attritions then before the advent of the Transfer Portal.

IMHO, Jacquondis Burns is a good player. But, he is not ready to move up the depth chart. Others were either more seasoned or talented than him. If he stuck it longer, he may develop into a Boye Mafe. He may also be stuck in the depth chart.
 

I agree, this one stings a little. There was a good chance Burns was going to see the field a lot in 2022, possibly even start.

He was excellent in the Purdue game filling in for MSM. He will be a good player where ever he goes.

Hopefully, Lindenberg heals up and continues to develop. He could end up being really good, too.
 

tjgopher said:
I agree, this one stings a little. There was a good chance Burns was going to see the field a lot in 2022, possibly even start.

He was excellent in the Purdue game filling in for MSM. He will be a good player where ever he goes.

Hopefully, Lindenberg heals up and continues to develop. He could end up being really good, too.
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Obviously none of us know exactly why he transferred or where he really fit on the depth chart here, but if your first paragraph is true than a transfer would not make much sense at all.

If the transfer is playing time related at all than it is far more likely that he felt he was going to be stuck behind the guys on the roster and wants to take his shot at getting regular time somewhere else.

Will be interesting to see where he ends up and if he is successful there. But we should be fine at the LB position with the guys we have in place.
 



The devil is in the details in recruiting. Middling tier teams cannot afford a lot of recruiting mistakes. They rely on their player evaluation acumen and other sources. They look for fit and talent.

Then, past that they have to worry about major injuries, transfers, and managing the roster depth.

The Gophers are doing alright under PJ Fleck. We will see how the team do with inbound and outbound transfers. It has to be a nightmare.

We hope the Gophers gain more than they lost talent-wise in the transfer balance sheet.
 
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hungan1 said:
The devil is in the details in recruiting. Middling tier teams cannot afford a lot of recruiting mistakes. They rely on their player evaluation acumen and other sources. They look for fit and talent.

Then, past that they have to worry about major injuries, transfers, and managing the roster depth.

The Gophers are doing alright under PJ Fleck. We will see how the team do with inbound and outbound transfers. It has to be a nightmare.

We hope the Gophers gain more than they lost talent-wise in the transfer balance sheet.
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It's really going to be interesting watching this all unfold.

Do you still recruit a QB every year?
Are college teams going to start playing more like the NFL and having "rebuilding" years? What I mean is lets say you have a number of really talented FR/SOs, do you just play them right away and build for the next year? Or do you bring in portal players and risk losing those guys?
Do we lose Boyd this offseason if we didn't bring in Wright?
Do we lose Cheney this offseason if we didn't bring in Pickney?
Do you only bring in portal players and this risk alienating underclassmen if you think you have a legit shot at the conference championship? Is it even related? Will players still transfer out because they are young and impatient (grass is greener) regardless of who you bring in?

I'm not really sure how it all shakes out. I will say this to those of us who love college football from recruiting to games - - we all need to be less invested in the recruits. I think our teams are going to be made up, less and less, by the HS recruits we followed for years.
 

hungan1 said:
The devil is in the details in recruiting. Middling tier teams cannot afford a lot of recruiting mistakes. They rely on their player evaluation acumen and other sources. They look for fit and talent.

Then, past that they have to worry about major injuries, transfers, and managing the roster depth.

The Gophers are doing alright under PJ Fleck. We will see how the team do inbound and outbound transfers. It has to be a nightmare.
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The expansion of the portal actually makes it less vital to be perfect in recruiting because it is way easier to fill holes with experienced players.

So far we are benefitting way more from the portal than it is hurting us. We have lost a couple guys that could have helped us but we have brought in way more productive players than we have lost.

Wins - St. Juste, Williamson, MDT, Gibbens, Pinckney, Trickett, Wright
TBD - Shaw, Stapp, Biship, Carroll, Surgers
Losses - Thomas, Anderson, Annexstad, Boyd (maybe), and then some other guys who all might have had potential but hadn't proven anything on the field yet.

On the whole, transfers and the portal have been very good for us.
 

hungan1 said:
The devil is in the details in recruiting. Middling tier teams cannot afford a lot of recruiting mistakes. They rely on their player evaluation acumen and other sources. They look for fit and talent.

Then, past that they have to worry about major injuries, transfers, and managing the roster depth.

The Gophers are doing alright under PJ Fleck. We will see how the team do with inbound and outbound transfers. It has to be a nightmare.

We hope the Gophers gain more than they lost talent-wise in the transfer balance sheet.
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More accurately, I think we'd hope to break even from an overall talent-in/talent-out point of view, but redistribute the incoming talent to positions of need. Lose one of your six capable RB's? Oh well. But a talented O-lineman comes in at a time when you lose four starters? That's a win.
 

Seems we always assume a player is leaving because he doesn't like his chances of playing more. Or there is some friction with the coaches. There are probably many who transfer for reasons other than FB. Maybe to be closer to family. Maybe a girlfriend. Maybe for academic reasons. Maybe climate. Maybe they're uncomfortable in Minneapolis. Do we use exit interviews?

I agree that FB is probably the primary reason, but I have to guess that most commonly the coaches encourage some to seek better opportunities.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
It's really going to be interesting watching this all unfold.

Do you still recruit a QB every year?
Are college teams going to start playing more like the NFL and having "rebuilding" years? What I mean is lets say you have a number of really talented FR/SOs, do you just play them right away and build for the next year? Or do you bring in portal players and risk losing those guys?
Do we lose Boyd this offseason if we didn't bring in Wright?
Do we lose Cheney this offseason if we didn't bring in Pickney?
Do you only bring in portal players and this risk alienating underclassmen if you think you have a legit shot at the conference championship? Is it even related? Will players still transfer out because they are young and impatient (grass is greener) regardless of who you bring in?

I'm not really sure how it all shakes out. I will say this to those of us who love college football from recruiting to games - - we all need to be less invested in the recruits. I think our teams are going to be made up, less and less, by the HS recruits we followed for years.
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All good questions that probably don't really have definitive answers.

But to your last part, totally agree that the portal is going to be toughest on those that really get wrapped up in recruiting and invested in guys who haven't seen the field yet.
 

MNVCGUY said:
So far we are benefitting way more from the portal than it is hurting us. We have lost a couple guys that could have helped us but we have brought in way more productive players than we have lost.

Wins - St. Juste, Williamson, MDT, Gibbens, Pinckney, Trickett, Wright
TBD - Shaw, Stapp, Biship, Carroll, Surgers
Losses - Thomas, Anderson, Annexstad, Boyd (maybe), and then some other guys who all might have had potential but hadn't proven anything on the field yet.

On the whole, transfers and the portal have been very good for us.
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Well, sure, but we're dealing with the present or, more accurately, the future. Five of those seven guys you listed as wins will no longer be playing here while all of those players you listed as losses are current transfers with remaining eligibility. I would also add at least Dunlap to the loss list. So, we certainly are in the net loss situation so far for current transfers. To my knowledge, we've secured only two incoming. I suspect they will get some more but it will take a real effort to close the gap.
 

cjbfbp said:
Well, sure, but we're dealing with the present or, more accurately, the future. Five of those seven guys you listed as wins will no longer be playing here while all of those players you listed as losses are current transfers with remaining eligibility. I would also add at least Dunlap to the loss list. So, we certainly are in the net loss situation so far for current transfers. To my knowledge, we've secured only two incoming. I suspect they will get some more but it will take a real effort to close the gap.
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Current number incoming is 4 for this year. And I disagree fully with the idea that we are at a loss for 2022 with the transfer portal. Obviously we won't know how good the incoming guys are for a while but based on recent track record with transfers we have brought in, it is reasonable to think they will all be contributors.

Dunlap appeared to have been beaten out on the depth chart so don't see him as a massive loss either way.

Transfer portal is the way of the world so people may as well get used to it. We are going to lose some quality players to it and we are going to bring in quality players from it. I stand by the assertion that to this point transfers have helped us way more than they have hurt us.
 

tjgopher said:
I agree, this one stings a little. There was a good chance Burns was going to see the field a lot in 2022, possibly even start.

He was excellent in the Purdue game filling in for MSM. He will be a good player where ever he goes.

Hopefully, Lindenberg heals up and continues to develop. He could end up being really good, too.
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Respectfully, not sure how you can say Burns "might have started in 2022"? We start 2 LBS and he is most definitely behind MSM, Oliver and Willis. He hardly played the last half of the year. He was also behind Lindenberg in 2020 and there has been a ton of steam about how good Devon Williams looked while redshirting this year.

If he was close to starting, he would have at least played in the games that meant something down the stretch.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Dunlap appeared to have been beaten out on the depth chart so don't see him as a massive loss either way.
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Really weak argument. Dunlap was beaten out on the depth chart mostly due to four guys that will no longer be playing here.
 

WriterGoph said:
Respectfully, not sure how you can say Burns "might have started in 2022"? We start 2 LBS and he is most definitely behind MSM, Oliver and Willis. He hardly played the last half of the year. He was also behind Lindenberg in 2020 and there has been a ton of steam about how good Devon Williams looked while redshirting this year.

If he was close to starting, he would have at least played in the games that meant something down the stretch.
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Respectfully, he may not have started but just last month Rossi mentioned Burns was in the mix when talking about 2022 playing time.

sports.yahoo.com

Gophers football: Outgoing transfers hits 15, where are these players headed?

Jan. 6—Second-year linebacker Jaqwondis Burns on Wednesday became the 15th Gophers football player to enter the NCAA transfer portal since midseason. "I want to thank the University of Minnesota, the coaching staff and my teammates," Burns posted. Burns, who was listed at 6-foot-2 and 220...
sports.yahoo.com sports.yahoo.com
 

cjbfbp said:
Really weak argument. Dunlap was beaten out on the depth chart mostly due to four guys that will no longer be playing here.
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Fair enough. Sure seemed like he had slipped behind some of the guys that will be here next year as well. It is what it is with Dunlap, he clearly doesn't want to be here so we move on. Still don't see it as a massive loss.
 

SonjayLarrick said:
Respectfully, he may not have started but just last month Rossi mentioned Burns was in the mix when talking about 2022 playing time.

sports.yahoo.com

Gophers football: Outgoing transfers hits 15, where are these players headed?

Jan. 6—Second-year linebacker Jaqwondis Burns on Wednesday became the 15th Gophers football player to enter the NCAA transfer portal since midseason. "I want to thank the University of Minnesota, the coaching staff and my teammates," Burns posted. Burns, who was listed at 6-foot-2 and 220...
sports.yahoo.com sports.yahoo.com
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I guess I feel like "in the mix for playing time" and starting are quite different. I remember that Rossi press conference on December 13th and - for full clarity - he mentioned everyone who was beyond their true freshman year all the way down to Aune and Finnessy.

I guess the biggest indicator for me is that Burns was not seeing the field in our most important games. I personally wouldn't have expected him to be in our Top 4 LBs in 2022.
 

WriterGoph said:
Respectfully, not sure how you can say Burns "might have started in 2022"? We start 2 LBS and he is most definitely behind MSM, Oliver and Willis. He hardly played the last half of the year. He was also behind Lindenberg in 2020 and there has been a ton of steam about how good Devon Williams looked while redshirting this year.

If he was close to starting, he would have at least played in the games that meant something down the stretch.
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Who plays MIKE where Gibbens was? Possibly could have been Burns. If it is MSM moving over to take Gibbens spot, then Burns may have taken MSM role, which Burns did the only time MSM was out (vs. Purdue). And, he did great.

Gibson is a third down/passing situation guy, Oliver played when we went with 3 LBs. In fact, Oliver started seven games. So, with Gibbens leaving, there is room for someone to start seven games and play a lot. I think Burns could have been a guy to fill some of that time, and possibly start.

I know you know this, but if a guy is behind Gibbens and MSM and they play almost every snap, it is hard to find the field. Just because Willis played in certain situations (passing downs) doesn't mean Burns was "behind" him. He was behind Gibbens and MSM and those roles. I would just say Burns could have worked his way into that rotation.

Again, I said "possibly" start. I believe he definitely would have played.

I'm excited for Lindenberg, too. Loved how much size he added from freshman to sophomore year.
 
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hungan1 said:
The devil is in the details in recruiting. Middling tier teams cannot afford a lot of recruiting mistakes. They rely on their player evaluation acumen and other sources. They look for fit and talent.

Then, past that they have to worry about major injuries, transfers, and managing the roster depth.

The Gophers are doing alright under PJ Fleck. We will see how the team do with inbound and outbound transfers. It has to be a nightmare.

We hope the Gophers gain more than they lost talent-wise in the transfer balance sheet.
Click to expand...
I think a better barometer is "the finished" product; how many of our guys get drafted year in and year out?

Look at this year for example, Big Dan I expected to get drafted when he signed (assuming no career ending injury, due to his "gravitational pull"), but what about the other OL? Or Boyd and O?

Of course the players need to have the talent and work ethic, but when you're not signing the top tier guys, ala OSU and are a developmental program, such as we are, the culture, coaching and program are huge for putting out players into a position to be draftable.
 

with all due respect - if a player likes it at MN - AND the coaches are telling him "you're the man; you're the future of this program," that player is probably not going to transfer.

players transfer because they're looking for something they don't have or don't expect to have at their current situation.

and from a coaching point of view, If a guy doesn't want to be here, I don't want an unhappy player on my hands.

on the portal - when a school like MN brings in players through the portal, those players are coming in here to start or play major minutes. most of the players who are leaving are backups. so, you are essentially replacing a backup with a starter. Yes, the portal player may only be here for a couple of years, but in today's situation, college FB is becoming more like the pros. Rosters are going to change on a year-to-year basis. you can't just assume that a recruit will be at the same place for 4 or 5 years. If a recruit is good enough, he might leave early for the pros. and if the recruit doesn't crack the lineup in the 1st 2 years, he becomes a candidate for the portal.
 

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