Leaving Early for NFL wish list

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This Michigan guy declared early on, in addition to the recent two mentioned above:

Josh Uche: The junior linebacker from Miami was the first to make his decision known, announcing in December (less than a week after the conclusion of the regular season) that he would forego his senior season and enter the draft. It wasn’t a necessarily surprising move for Uche, who thrived the last two seasons as an edge rusher. He led Michigan in sacks for a second straight season (8 1/2), while piling up 11 1/2 tackles for loss, 8 quarterback hurries, 2 pass breakups and 2 forced fumbles. He did a little bit of everything for the Wolverines and should be rewarded come April. ESPN’s Mel Kiper currently ranks the 6-foot-2, 250-pound Uche ninth among draft-eligible outside linebackers for 2020.
 


Wisconsin will be down: Taylor, Cruickshank, Biadasz, and Cephus plus all the seniors they are graduating? Wow.
 

abrams said:
Wisconsin will be down: Taylor, Cruickshank, Biadasz, and Cephus plus all the seniors they are graduating? Wow.
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They bring back most of the defense minus the two star LBs but will be interesting to see how they do in replacing all the skill guys they lost. The heir apparent to Taylor was not as obvious this year as it has been in the past and Cephus was a huge weapon for them at WR. Sure they will be fine but that is a lot of talent to replace without clear cut replacements at the moment.
 


MNVCGUY said:
They bring back most of the defense minus the two star LBs but will be interesting to see how they do in replacing all the skill guys they lost. The heir apparent to Taylor was not as obvious this year as it has been in the past and Cephus was a huge weapon for them at WR. Sure they will be fine but that is a lot of talent to replace without clear cut replacements at the moment.
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I think they got a highly rated RB as an incoming freshman
 

According to HoosierSportsReport.com, Coy Cronk is now listed in the transfer database.

If Cronk follows through on the move, it would serve as a significant blow to Indiana’s offensive line in 2020.

A third of the way through this past season, Cronk suffered a lower-leg injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the 2019 campaign. Prior to that, Cronk had started 40-straight games at left tackle for the Hoosiers.

In 2016, Cronk earned Freshman All-American honors according to multiple media outlets.
 

Raheem Blackshear is moving on.

The Rutgers running back announced he will transfer to Virginia Tech on social media Friday night, officially parting ways with the Scarlet Knights six weeks after he placed his name in the NCAA transfer portal. Blackshear will be a redshirt junior next fall and has two years of playing eligibility left, but he will need an NCAA waiver to play for the Hokies in 2020. Blackshear is expected to face an uphill battle to get a waiver, according to several people with knowledge of the process.

Blackshear was Rutgers’ best offensive player in 2018, earning honorable mention All-Big Ten honors, and through the first four games of last season after being voted a team captain in the spring. But he decided to sideline himself and preserve a year of eligibility following the firings of former coach Chris Ash and offensive coordinator John McNulty after four games last season. Blackshear voluntarily sat out the final eight games, but stayed with the program up until the final week and participated in practices as a scout team player before entering the portal on Nov. 27, three days before Greg Schiano was hired as head coach.

“He’s in the portal,” Schiano said earlier this week when asked about Blackshear. “We’re kind of just working through that."

Virginia Tech was the only Power 5 conference program Blackshear was tied to after he entered the portal. He was also connected to Temple, which is near his Warminster, Pennsylvania, hometown. The likelihood Blackshear will be forced to sit out the 2020 season after an FBS transfer is considered one reason the market for his services was somewhat depressed before he chose the Hokies, despite his career production.

Blackshear scored 12 touchdowns in his Rutgers career and had 29 catches for 310 yards and two scores last season before shutting down. He had close to 1,000 yards of total offense in 2018 with five touchdowns and also returned kicks the last two years.
 

Still no A. J. Epenesa... Darn.
 



Illinois sack leader Oluwole Betiku Jr. on Saturday announced he will declare for the NFL Draft.

A former 5-star prospect, Betiku transferred to Illinois last season after playing just 14 games at USC during his first three seasons, totaling two tackles.

Betiku started 10 games at Illinois this season. He had 36 tackles and led Illinois with 13.0 tackles for loss, 9.0 sacks and seven quarterback hurries. The 9.0 sacks were seventh-most in a single season in Illinois history.

Betiku had 7.0 sacks during his first four games, including 3.5 in a win at UConn. He cooled off later in the season, totaling just 2.0 sacks during his final six games, though he missed three full games due to an ankle injury.

With Betiku graduating, Illinois will lose all four of its main starters on the defensive line. Defensive tackles Jamal Milan and Tymir Oliver graduated and Ayo Shogbonyo is passing up a fifth year of eligibility for personal reasons. Adding to the unknown upfront, second-year defensive line coach Austin Clark was hired by the Miami Dolphins earlier this week to be their outside linebackers coach.
 

It will be a bummer for some of these players who declare early if they end up like Dedrick Seldom.
 

hungan1 said:
Still no A. J. Epenesa... Darn.
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He has till the 20th to declare. Most seem to think he is coming out but until he makes it official one way or another anything could happen. Agree that I would love to see him take his talents to the NFL, kid was a beast in the game against us last year.
 

MNVCGUY said:
He has till the 20th to declare. Most seem to think he is coming out but until he makes it official one way or another anything could happen. Agree that I would love to see him take his talents to the NFL, kid was a beast in the game against us last year.
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I'd like for him and Golston to declare. These two cost the Gophers the Rose Bowl.
 




Dinkytown Don said:
Rooting for the competition to lose talent? I don't get it. We have a weak non conference and fairly soft big10 schedule. I want those teams we play to be good. We shouldn't shy away from good competion. The days of being scared to play North Carolina are behind us.
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I'm with you here. How about the Gophs just get enough better and beat these rivals when they are at full strength? Much more satisfying.
 

There is a 1.6% chance of being drafted. That is 256 out 16,346 draft eligible players.
 

PMWinSTP said:
I'm with you here. How about the Gophs just get enough better and beat these rivals when they are at full strength? Much more satisfying.
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If Epenesa at Iowa goes pro and we beat them in game 3 next year I won't feel like we beat Iowa at less than full strength. If someone is taking the stance that the only way we have any shot of beating a team is if some key guys go pro early then yeah that is kind of sad.

But guys leaving early for the NFL happens all the time and I see no issue with being glad to see top players from rivals and other conference teams move on to the next level early. I am sure there are plenty of fans for those teams that are glad Winfield is heading to the NFL and not coming back for another year.
 

MNVCGUY said:
If Epenesa at Iowa goes pro and we beat them in game 3 next year I won't feel like we beat Iowa at less than full strength. If someone is taking the stance that the only way we have any shot of beating a team is if some key guys go pro early then yeah that is kind of sad.

But guys leaving early for the NFL happens all the time and I see no issue with being glad to see top players from rivals and other conference teams move on to the next level early. I am sure there are plenty of fans for those teams that are glad Winfield is heading to the NFL and not coming back for another year.
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Touche`
 

PMWinSTP said:
I'm with you here. How about the Gophs just get enough better and beat these rivals when they are at full strength? Much more satisfying.
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I bet Iowa and Wisconsin are pissed that Winfield declared because they want to beat us at full strength... /s
 



Toren Young a back up rb for Iowa is also leaving early. He had over 80 carries this past year.
 





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