Official 2026 Roster Movement Thread - Who's In and Who's Out?

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MonikerSchmoniker45 said:
Who? Grant Washington looked pretty good when he got his opportunity.
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Will be interesting to watch how PJ uses Washington next season. Injuries could open the door for Washington to really shine. I like what I've seen of him and he will be a red-shirt freshman in 26.
 

goldfan24 said:
Will be interesting to watch how PJ uses Washington next season. Injuries could open the door for Washington to really shine. I like what I've seen of him and he will be a red-shirt freshman in 26.
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If he doesn't show up better than Estrada in camp it'll push him to 4 on the depth chart probably which could lead him to the portal. Or I suppose Taylor could leave or Tyler could underperform but if not it'll be him or Estrada at 4 and I could see either being unhappy with that proposition.
 





Lots of teams are signing a bunch of high school recruits, but why?
  • Option 1: Recruit a bunch of high school players and hope they stay. Per the rumor mill, we pay them $75K to sign. By far, most of them don't see the field in any meaningful way their first two years, and once they do become meaningful players (meaning they get playing time and show they can contribute), they can enter the portal and leave.
  • Option 2: Recruit only a few high school players (e.g., the top players in the state) and instead focus your NIL money on portal players. Pick players from the portal that fill positions you need.
For Option 1, we're basically the farm club for other teams, where we spend time and money getting the player up to speed, and then they leave (e.g., Jason). Am I missing something, such as does the $75K for new recruits come from a different bucket of money than the NIL for portal players?
 

Full Speed Ahead said:
Lots of teams are signing a bunch of high school recruits, but why?
  • Option 1: Recruit a bunch of high school players and hope they stay. Per the rumor mill, we pay them $75K to sign. By far, most of them don't see the field in any meaningful way their first two years, and once they do become meaningful players (meaning they get playing time and show they can contribute), they can enter the portal and leave.
  • Option 2: Recruit only a few high school players (e.g., the top players in the state) and instead focus your NIL money on portal players. Pick players from the portal that fill positions you need.
For Option 1, we're basically the farm club for other teams, where we spend time and money getting the player up to speed, and then they leave (e.g., Jason). Am I missing something, such as does the $75K for new recruits come from a different bucket of money than the NIL for portal players?
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I thought I saw the 75K comes from our revenue sharing allotment. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, I'm sure of it.
 

$75,000 is rev share and not NIL. NIL is outside money on top of rev share. I still think you have a better shot at developing players from HS and getting them to stay rather than trying to compete in the open market for transfers.

We get 105 spots and your need about 60-70 each year to be able to field a roster for the whole season. You can afford to take 30 HS kids every year. That gives you a year to evaluate and get them into your depth chart, and have difficult conversations.

How many prime starters have left MN for better programs or have done better at their next stop.

Bucky Irving
Daniels
 

MaxyJR1 said:
$75,000 is rev share and not NIL. NIL is outside money on top of rev share. I still think you have a better shot at developing players from HS and getting them to stay rather than trying to compete in the open market for transfers.

We get 105 spots and your need about 60-70 each year to be able to field a roster for the whole season. You can afford to take 30 HS kids every year. That gives you a year to evaluate and get them into your depth chart, and have difficult conversations.

How many prime starters have left MN for better programs or have done better at their next stop.

Bucky Irving
Daniels
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🎤 Drop
 




MaxyJR1 said:
Put him on the board!
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Great news.

Also if I'm being honest, I don't believe a word of anything roster wise until they play game 1 and said athlete is on the field. With the money being thrown around nowadays it only takes 1 booster to say I want that guy and they're gone. This isn't a comment on Drake at all, it's on the poor excuse of a system the NCAA has allowed.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
$75,000 is rev share and not NIL. NIL is outside money on top of rev share. I still think you have a better shot at developing players from HS and getting them to stay rather than trying to compete in the open market for transfers.

We get 105 spots and your need about 60-70 each year to be able to field a roster for the whole season. You can afford to take 30 HS kids every year. That gives you a year to evaluate and get them into your depth chart, and have difficult conversations.

How many prime starters have left MN for better programs or have done better at their next stop.

Bucky Irving
Daniels
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Beanie Bishop is one you missed.
I would also add Trey Potts as one that left for a better program, although he did not do better at Penn State.
 





MaxyJR1 said:
How many prime starters have left MN for better programs or have done better at their next stop.

Bucky Irving
Daniels
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additional guys who played important roles transferred in the P4 and found big success:

Beanie Bishop at WVU
Flip Dixon at Rutgers

and Austin Butler didn’t play much here but he became an NFL player at Kansas
 

Flip Dixon hurt. He played that safety linebacker role and they struggled with that until Jack Henderson
 

MaxyJR1 said:
$75,000 is rev share and not NIL. NIL is outside money on top of rev share. I still think you have a better shot at developing players from HS and getting them to stay rather than trying to compete in the open market for transfers.

We get 105 spots and your need about 60-70 each year to be able to field a roster for the whole season. You can afford to take 30 HS kids every year. That gives you a year to evaluate and get them into your depth chart, and have difficult conversations.

How many prime starters have left MN for better programs or have done better at their next stop.

Bucky Irving
Daniels
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Right on. So far, over the past years, we have not lost many high-profile players thru the portal. That said, last year we did not get many transfers in thru the portal that contributed a lot to the team, just the DB from Iowa and the punter. The gophers need to do a much better job this year if they want to be more competitive next year. The need to get five to six guys that make a significant contribution to the team.
 

DRJ said:
Right on. So far, over the past years, we have not lost many high-profile players thru the portal. That said, last year we did not get many transfers in thru the portal that contributed a lot to the team, just the DB from Iowa and the punter. The gophers need to do a much better job this year if they want to be more competitive next year. The need to get five to six guys that make a significant contribution to the team.
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Cade McConnell and Martes Lewis were OL starters at their new schools.
 

Screenshot 2025-12-11 at 9.12.12 PM.png
That is $15M NIL added to the $15M revenue sharing...totaling $30M, not $20M. Lindsey is getting more than $1M or giving us a big time discount.
If it is $30M UofM to $40M for LSU shouldn't we be better?
 
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60's Guy said:
View attachment 40818
That is $15M NIL added to the $15M revenue sharing...totaling $30M, not $20M. Lindsey is getting more than $1M or giving us a big time discount.
If it is $30M UofM to $40M for LSU shouldn't we be better?
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Who knows if any of those financial numbers are accurate.....that said....

2025 season
Minnesota 7-5
LSU - 7-5
 

MaxyJR1 said:
$75,000 is rev share and not NIL. NIL is outside money on top of rev share. I still think you have a better shot at developing players from HS and getting them to stay rather than trying to compete in the open market for transfers.

We get 105 spots and your need about 60-70 each year to be able to field a roster for the whole season. You can afford to take 30 HS kids every year. That gives you a year to evaluate and get them into your depth chart, and have difficult conversations.

How many prime starters have left MN for better programs or have done better at their next stop.

Bucky Irving
Daniels
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Beanie Bishop?
 

60's Guy said:
View attachment 40818
That is $15M NIL added to the $15M revenue sharing...totaling $30M, not $20M. Lindsey is getting more than $1M or giving us a big time discount.
If it is $30M UofM to $40M for LSU shouldn't we be better?
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The way that reads is that Kiffin will have $25M total in cash-rev share. That could be 15 in rev share and 10 in NIL. MN is $15M in rev share, so there is no way they only have $15M total.

See I just interpreted and made my own assumptions. No one knows.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
The way that reads is that Kiffin will have $25M total in cash-rev share. That could be 15 in rev share and 10 in NIL. MN is $15M in rev share, so there is no way they only have $15M total.

See I just interpreted and made my own assumptions. No one knows.
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I read it similar to what you laid out there.
 


DRJ said:
Right on. So far, over the past years, we have not lost many high-profile players thru the portal. That said, last year we did not get many transfers in thru the portal that contributed a lot to the team, just the DB from Iowa and the punter. The gophers need to do a much better job this year if they want to be more competitive next year. The need to get five to six guys that make a significant contribution to the team.
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I don’t think that’s true. We didn’t get any that turned out to be stars, but we had transfers playing a ton especially on offense.
 





btowngopher said:
I don’t think that’s true. We didn’t get any that turned out to be stars, but we had transfers playing a ton especially on offense.
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One wide Receiver from the MAC conference, Javon Tracy caught 35 passes and he was a good addition and Cam Davis a RB who caught 18 passes and AJ Turner who only played in 3 games and got hurt. They signed 4 or 5 OL and two or three of them never played, they signed 2 DT and one got hurt and missed the whole year, signed a LB who never played. I believe only 1 of the OL played a significant number of reps. Out of about 17-19 transfer portal players, only two started full time and Javon Tracy was starting at the end of the season. Cam Davis was their 4th best RB, Turner who got hurt would have had a bigger impact at the RB position if he had stayed healthy. Three players got hurt and missed either the whole season and majority of games, a RB, a DT and LB. When you sign 17-19 portal transfer players, you need more than three players to make a significant impact on your team. You are not signing freshman but guys who have played at other venues and show talent. The Gophers are not a deep talented, experienced team. One cannot predict injuries. Furthermore, the Gophers lost two OL from the 2024 team thru the portal, Daniels and Ersery. Our OL would have been much better with them here as well as the running offense, You cannot rely on freshman to make you a competitive top tier team.
 

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