The OT Transfer Market

Gophergrandpa

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Top-end OTs go fast in the transfer portal. Here is a list of the top 16 OTs in the portal so far for 2025 season (247 transfer rating)--I stopped the list at our new guy. I've placed in capital letters transfer destination with two OTs in the top 16:

Isaiah World, 92.00, Nevada to OREGON
Fa'alili Fa'amoe, 92, Washington State to ________
Xavier Chaplin, 92, Virginia Tech to AUBURN
Phillip Daniels, 91.00, Minnesota to Ohio State
Mason Murphy, 91.00, USC to AUBURN
Alex Wollschläger, 91.00, Bowling Green to Kentucky
Alex Harkey, 90.00, Texas State to OREGON
Corey Robinson II, 89.00, Georgia Tech to ARKANSAS
Carver Willis, 89.00, Kansas State to Washington
Rahtrel Perry, 89.00, Central Connecticut to ________
Howard Sampson, 89.00, North Carolina to TEXAS TECH
Jaquan McRory, 89.00, Oregon to ARKANSAS
Ethan Onianwa, 88.00, Rice to _______
Derek Simmons, 88.00, Western Carolina to Oklahoma
Will Jados, 88.00, Miami (OH) to TEXAS TECH
Marcellus Marshall, 88.00, UCF to Minnesota

Oregon, presumably with NIL money to burn, has hit the top end of the market hard despite being the No. 1 team in the country. The rich get richer! Not sure why Fa'amoe of Washington State hasn't selected yet--weighing his offers? Rahtrel Perry, an FCS transfer is "blowing up" the portal per one commentator.

My take: The Gophers must feel OK at OT despite losing Ersery to the NFL (presumably) and Daniels to tOSU. We appear not to have made OT a top priority in the portal, as have Oregon, Auburn, Arkansas and Texas Tech. Maybe PJ's got another transfer OT in the hopper, not yet finalized yet. Or, perhaps more likely, maybe Nelson or Roy or another current roster talent is ready to step up and start.

Every year some positions appear to be up in the air a bit. For me, so far at least, OT and CB are those positions. Go Gophers!
 

Isn't Carroll the only transfer OL we have played in recent memory? We do a pretty good job of development.

Carroll, NKele and Shaw are the only OL transfers we have brought in and now Marshall.
 

Top-end OTs go fast in the transfer portal. Here is a list of the top 16 OTs in the portal so far for 2025 season (247 transfer rating)--I stopped the list at our new guy. I've placed in capital letters transfer destination with two OTs in the top 16:

Isaiah World, 92.00, Nevada to OREGON
Fa'alili Fa'amoe, 92, Washington State to ________
Xavier Chaplin, 92, Virginia Tech to AUBURN
Phillip Daniels, 91.00, Minnesota to Ohio State
Mason Murphy, 91.00, USC to AUBURN
Alex Wollschläger, 91.00, Bowling Green to Kentucky
Alex Harkey, 90.00, Texas State to OREGON
Corey Robinson II, 89.00, Georgia Tech to ARKANSAS
Carver Willis, 89.00, Kansas State to Washington
Rahtrel Perry, 89.00, Central Connecticut to ________
Howard Sampson, 89.00, North Carolina to TEXAS TECH
Jaquan McRory, 89.00, Oregon to ARKANSAS
Ethan Onianwa, 88.00, Rice to _______
Derek Simmons, 88.00, Western Carolina to Oklahoma
Will Jados, 88.00, Miami (OH) to TEXAS TECH
Marcellus Marshall, 88.00, UCF to Minnesota

Oregon, presumably with NIL money to burn, has hit the top end of the market hard despite being the No. 1 team in the country. The rich get richer! Not sure why Fa'amoe of Washington State hasn't selected yet--weighing his offers? Rahtrel Perry, an FCS transfer is "blowing up" the portal per one commentator.

My take: The Gophers must feel OK at OT despite losing Ersery to the NFL (presumably) and Daniels to tOSU. We appear not to have made OT a top priority in the portal, as have Oregon, Auburn, Arkansas and Texas Tech. Maybe PJ's got another transfer OT in the hopper, not yet finalized yet. Or, perhaps more likely, maybe Nelson or Roy or another current roster talent is ready to step up and start.

Every year some positions appear to be up in the air a bit. For me, so far at least, OT and CB are those positions. Go Gophers!
Santa said you’ve earned a bonus 🎁
 

to paraphrase Carlos Correa, if you want to shop at the Dior store, you have to be willing to pay the price on the price tag.

if the Gophers wanted one of the better OT players in the portal, they would have to be willing or able to pay the price. so either they don't have the money, or they don't like any of the available players enough to meet their price.

that, of course, does not mean that the Gophers can't find a diamond in the rough at a lower level. But that is the type of evaluation you don't want to be wrong about.

as far as the current roster, your guess is as good as mine. whatever the issues were with Martez Lewis, he and the coaches had better figure it out, because right now, he looks like one of the starting OT's next year.
 

Wasn't there an OL from U Washington who was in the portal and visiting here?
 



Top-end OTs go fast in the transfer portal. Here is a list of the top 16 OTs in the portal so far for 2025 season (247 transfer rating)--I stopped the list at our new guy. I've placed in capital letters transfer destination with two OTs in the top 16:

Isaiah World, 92.00, Nevada to OREGON
Fa'alili Fa'amoe, 92, Washington State to ________
Xavier Chaplin, 92, Virginia Tech to AUBURN
Phillip Daniels, 91.00, Minnesota to Ohio State
Mason Murphy, 91.00, USC to AUBURN
Alex Wollschläger, 91.00, Bowling Green to Kentucky
Alex Harkey, 90.00, Texas State to OREGON
Corey Robinson II, 89.00, Georgia Tech to ARKANSAS
Carver Willis, 89.00, Kansas State to Washington
Rahtrel Perry, 89.00, Central Connecticut to ________
Howard Sampson, 89.00, North Carolina to TEXAS TECH
Jaquan McRory, 89.00, Oregon to ARKANSAS
Ethan Onianwa, 88.00, Rice to _______
Derek Simmons, 88.00, Western Carolina to Oklahoma
Will Jados, 88.00, Miami (OH) to TEXAS TECH
Marcellus Marshall, 88.00, UCF to Minnesota

Oregon, presumably with NIL money to burn, has hit the top end of the market hard despite being the No. 1 team in the country. The rich get richer! Not sure why Fa'amoe of Washington State hasn't selected yet--weighing his offers? Rahtrel Perry, an FCS transfer is "blowing up" the portal per one commentator.

My take: The Gophers must feel OK at OT despite losing Ersery to the NFL (presumably) and Daniels to tOSU. We appear not to have made OT a top priority in the portal, as have Oregon, Auburn, Arkansas and Texas Tech. Maybe PJ's got another transfer OT in the hopper, not yet finalized yet. Or, perhaps more likely, maybe Nelson or Roy or another current roster talent is ready to step up and start.

Every year some positions appear to be up in the air a bit. For me, so far at least, OT and CB are those positions. Go Gophers!

Is Carroll graduating or coming back for one more year? I think he has one more year of eligibility (COVID year plus redshirt). (edit: Carroll is playing in the Hula Bowl which means he's done).

Here's what PFF has for the returning tackles and guards that got snaps in 2024.

1734713109606.png
 
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Carroll has played three years here. I believe he is done. (Hopefully has an NFL shot)
 



Top-end OTs go fast in the transfer portal. Here is a list of the top 16 OTs in the portal so far for 2025 season (247 transfer rating)--I stopped the list at our new guy. I've placed in capital letters transfer destination with two OTs in the top 16:

Isaiah World, 92.00, Nevada to OREGON
Fa'alili Fa'amoe, 92, Washington State to ________
Xavier Chaplin, 92, Virginia Tech to AUBURN
Phillip Daniels, 91.00, Minnesota to Ohio State
Mason Murphy, 91.00, USC to AUBURN
Alex Wollschläger, 91.00, Bowling Green to Kentucky
Alex Harkey, 90.00, Texas State to OREGON
Corey Robinson II, 89.00, Georgia Tech to ARKANSAS
Carver Willis, 89.00, Kansas State to Washington
Rahtrel Perry, 89.00, Central Connecticut to ________
Howard Sampson, 89.00, North Carolina to TEXAS TECH
Jaquan McRory, 89.00, Oregon to ARKANSAS
Ethan Onianwa, 88.00, Rice to _______
Derek Simmons, 88.00, Western Carolina to Oklahoma
Will Jados, 88.00, Miami (OH) to TEXAS TECH
Marcellus Marshall, 88.00, UCF to Minnesota

Oregon, presumably with NIL money to burn, has hit the top end of the market hard despite being the No. 1 team in the country. The rich get richer! Not sure why Fa'amoe of Washington State hasn't selected yet--weighing his offers? Rahtrel Perry, an FCS transfer is "blowing up" the portal per one commentator.

My take: The Gophers must feel OK at OT despite losing Ersery to the NFL (presumably) and Daniels to tOSU. We appear not to have made OT a top priority in the portal, as have Oregon, Auburn, Arkansas and Texas Tech. Maybe PJ's got another transfer OT in the hopper, not yet finalized yet. Or, perhaps more likely, maybe Nelson or Roy or another current roster talent is ready to step up and start.

Every year some positions appear to be up in the air a bit. For me, so far at least, OT and CB are those positions. Go Gophers!
I think Kelly, Bryan, and Bowden are a good starting point at CB. But yeah I think they should add at least one more. LB is also concerning, but does not appear to be a spot the staff is targeting in the portal too hard. Seems like quite a few LB options are available.
 






I think Kelly, Bryan, and Bowden are a good starting point at CB. But yeah I think they should add at least one more. LB is also concerning, but does not appear to be a spot the staff is targeting in the portal too hard. Seems like quite a few LB options are available.
Williams and Maverick have played a lot of football. Staff is pretty high on Kingsbury and Carrier as well.Wonder if they think there's a chance Cody L comes back, but wouldn't mind adding a third of a high end guy is available or a Jack Gibbons type can be minded out of the rough
 

Must be an interesting story about how he ended up at Central Connecticut. Even a highly rated lineman being at University of Connecticut would be surprising.
He wasn't a very high end recruit out of HS.

I actually believe there are more OL from small schools than just about any other position. Last year OL were drafted from South Dakota State, Holy Cross, Findlay, a Canadian college, no college (played Rugby), and Yale.

I think it has to do with the fact that they aren't absolute freak athletes like DL and it's difficult to tell how people project. Some athletic kids who are 6'5" and 250 lbs can athletically carry 75 additional pounds - most cannot.
 

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Is Carroll graduating or coming back for one more year? I think he has one more year of eligibility (COVID year plus redshirt). (edit: Carroll is playing in the Hula Bowl which means he's done).

Here's what PFF has for the returning tackles and guards that got snaps in 2024.

View attachment 35105
I assume Marshall starts; other tackle job up for grabs?
 

Williams and Maverick have played a lot of football. Staff is pretty high on Kingsbury and Carrier as well.Wonder if they think there's a chance Cody L comes back, but wouldn't mind adding a third of a high end guy is available or a Jack Gibbons type can be minded out of the rough
I think Gerlach got some play, too. But he’s got to watch the stupid penalties. 😬

Maybe Karmo comes in and wows at Nickel or LB.
 






Does Nathan Roy project as a guard or tackle? Highly-sought recruit that hopefully sees the field next year.
 



Minnesota should consider becoming a transfers-mostly program.

Consider that the state has limited high school talent, the Gophers are perched right in the P4 middle where they can get a flow of up, down, and lateral moves along the recruiting hierarchy.

It's also a city environment with many corporations that might be more attractive to a little bit older player.

Fleck is good at getting quick commits, which are much more common in the Portal.

What if Minnesota only recruited Minnesota kids, took the top 3-5 guys they could get, and then only recruited and scouted transfers?

If I had to make a list of 5 schools that would be good at mostly-portal team building, the Gophers would be on it.
 

Minnesota should consider becoming a transfers-mostly program.

Consider that the state has limited high school talent, the Gophers are perched right in the P4 middle where they can get a flow of up, down, and lateral moves along the recruiting hierarchy.

It's also a city environment with many corporations that might be more attractive to a little bit older player.

Fleck is good at getting quick commits, which are much more common in the Portal.

If I had to make a list of 5 schools that would be good at mostly-portal team building, the Gophers would be on it.

Completely disagree. PJ is doing it exactly how he should. He has a culture and builds the core of the team through his culture and with HS recruits that develop over multiple years.

By doing this he has lost only 2 potential impact players to the portal, yet he fills the gaps in the roster with older transfer players, many who have been successful.

We don't have the $$$ to build entirely through the portal every year, and it would render PJ's culture useless.
 




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