Although I have not spoken to any of these 3 men, this is my opinion.

Mr Bangura, went to the Twin Cities and came back.
Bradley Weaver (who I followed all year) had a very good year @ Rutgers, with no bowl game to go to.
Will Kacmarek, might again be on a national title team, as a back up.

My question and comment is: Was it worth it for any of these 3 to transfer from Athens?
Bangura, definitely not.
Weaver, maybe more exposure, but would have been noticed if he stayed @ Ohio if the NFL was his goal and reason (many MAC players are in the NFL).
Kacmarek, yes it is fantastic to be on national championship teams. But it is also fun and great to be BMOC
(Big man on campus), which he would have been if he stayed in Athens. Will transferring to me is questionable.

So yes, the transfer portal can be useful. But Ohio University players, if thinking of transferring out ---
be careful what you wish for.
Often the grass is NOT greener on the other side.

The grass is greener in terms of NIL money so get used to it. Being BMOC means nothing compared to money.

I talk to one of these three regularly, and he ain’t coming back, he’s playing a lot and he’s having a great time. Had a very nice game yesterday in the Big House. The team plays multiple 2-3 TE sets so you can call him a back up all you want, he’s contributing to a great team.

I tuned into the OSU-Michigan game just to see how it might go and kept it on in the background even when it became uninteresting to me and I had started doing something else. In the fourth quarter I did decide to focus in on Kacmarek to see what I thought since I had already seen him make a nice catch over the middle for a long gain. Small sample for me but he was absolutely blowing up some people with his blocking. One play in particular saw him plant a Wolverine into the ground (totally legal play) and the planted player’s teammate taking exception to it. I’m thinking he has a future playing on Sundays; perhaps even putting on 30-40 lbs and switching to OL if he so desires.

Can't look at it that way. We are a mid-major school. If you do your job well, would you want to get promoted? If we become a P4 one day then I would agree but at the end of the day, coaches switch jobs to move up and get paid higher too. Those guys you mentioned deserved to move up and see how they stack against better competition week in and week out for a higher chance to play on Sunday.

Two out of three guys did well so that's not bad either. Throw in the fact that even ESPN announcers know OU is the "most stable team in the MAC" and it's going to continue to happen. Hopefully that revolving door keeps bringing in other talent that can not only hold that stability but get us championship wins, which it already has. (Bangura to Tyus II)

Remember that for players, maximizing long term earnings and maximizing short term earnings might not be the same. That's why G5 can now attract some top tier 3-star players. Let's say they get offered $X to play for a P4, but 70% as much by a G5. If they take the P4 money, they make more up front, but may ride the pine for a few years before their earnings go up. On the other hand, if they take less money up front, they will almost certainly play earlier, and then in year 3 or so, they may get a lot more NIL in the portal.

You can't fight the new system, but you can find some benefits, even for the G5 teams.

Do you have any idea what kind of cash these players made at Rutgers, Maryland and other places? This is a great pay day for a college kid. I'm not talking about 100 K. Some of these players made way more than 300 K. Would you as a 21 year old kid turn that down?

Their silence says it all.

I am more interested if any of our 3 Charlotte guys would rejoin us. I would take all 3 back in a heartbeat.

Sieh took a chance and he came back. In hindsight, I bet he wishes he destroyed the record books here - but he had to take a chance. Really proud of him.

Weaver - same thing. Really didn't have much else to prove here. Would've been great to have him, certainly. But this day and age, I don't blame you. Elite pass rusher. Just wanted to test his skills vs the Big 10 week in and week out.

Kac - OU doesn't utilize their TE's much anyway, so while it would be great to have the *opportunity* to use him - we didn't, and likely wouldn't have - probably more than the 150 yards in two years that he has at OSU, but I don't suspect we suddenly turn any TE into Fannin. I'm sure he's happy as hell to be at Ohio State. What a dream run.

Those are the three "big ones", some of the fringe guys are the ones that hurt the most.

Cam Rice - had a pretty comparable year at Maryland. So I'm happy for him. I'm sure he would've exploded on the scene this season at OU, but he did well for himself.

Buehl - This one hurts. Also cause our run D was pretty ass. He's had 10 total tackles in two seasons at Colorado and Memphis. Could've and should've stayed here and really put together some excellent draft tape.

Brawley - With Adonis and DJ we're pretty stacked up back there, so I don't think we missed him too much.

Charlotte Boys - I think we did more than fine filling in with Fries, Cam, Molnar, Christopher. So I didn't lose any sleep. Taylor would've been awesome to have this season though.


Crable stepped up. Dukes stepped in. Mason Williams is a beast (probably a portal jumper this year), so I don't think we missed Kac all that much, though his blocking will always be missed.

All in all... it sucks to lose some guys, but I don't think outside of Weaver we really dropped off too far in any position.

All great points but you have me thinking about who we could lose this year to the portal! Mason Williams has been a great soldier so I wouldn't hold it against him. Hendricks probably has about 95 text messages already. Walker had a very good season as well. Those are some studs I could see climbing the ladder. Everyone else, who knows. I didn't see Cam Rice to Maryland or Bralen Henderson to Mizzou either so this could be crazy or quiet. I do have faith in Brian Smith and his staff.

The Charlotte Boys must feel some type of way. Then again, I'm sure they are in the upper tier of NIL at Charlotte as a nice gift from Timmy. It would be shocking if they turn it around very quickly, and if they do, it's going to be more of a Kent State/Akron type of turnaround. Not expecting any rings anytime soon down there.