Indiana Oregon jawbreaker

Cignetti and his staff have an amazing eye for talent. They obviously don’t go by counting stars. He recruited a lot of kids to little JMU that excelled at Indiana….a huge leap in competition levels.

Somehow he/they can see what others don’t. It’s far more than developing a pkayed because you can’t develop what isn’t there.

Those ranking experts are pretty rank. They need to re-evaluate their systems.
 
Pennstate_one said:
I don’t disagree that Indiana is an outlier right now, and Mendoza has absolutely elevated them. Elite QB play always matters. My point is more about the direction of the sport than Indiana specifically.

The portal is creating a second path to contention that didn’t exist before. Proven college production, physical maturity, and reps against real competition can now matter as much as what a kid was rated at 17. Indiana is just the first program to fully lean into that model and prove it can work.
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Oh yeah I agree the future high school player rankings won't mean as much. Their first college will be just a stepping stone.

What get's me is, Indiana is sustaining injuries and it doesn't seem to matter. Cignetti must be finding very good back ups. I would think a team like OSU that could rely on putting a 5 star who is more physically developed in when a portal player gets hurt would be a huge advantage. Maybe when all the big money Schools start gobbling up more of the portal players, and the pool get's diluted, the Schools that can sub a 5 star freshmen will matter again.
 
Gitzit said:
Oh yeah I agree the future high school player rankings won't mean as much. Their first college will be just a stepping stone.

What get's me is, Indiana is sustaining injuries and it doesn't seem to matter. Cignetti must be finding very good back ups. I would think a team like OSU that could rely on putting a 5 star who is more physically developed in when a portal player gets hurt would be a huge advantage. Maybe when all the big money Schools start gobbling up more of the portal players, and the pool get's diluted, the Schools that can sub a 5 star freshmen will matter again.
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Exactly. Depth and proven experience are becoming just as valuable as blue-chip rankings. The portal is flipping the old advantages on their head.
 
NittanyLion99 said:
If this model holds, it will be interesting to watch. We should see a crating of NIL $$ for HS recruits with only the exceptional freak athlete. Most $$ will be reserved for proven players with the most going to upperclassmen
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Agree but this is just a progresson of what has been happening. A few years ago, all four teams in the Natty race had transfer senior QBs (Bo Nix and Penix were two). Last year it was only PSU in the final four that had home grown QBs. This year it is back to all four using xfer QB. But this year, it is Indiana dominating who's starters are almost all transfers. Their average age is 23 (GB Packers average age is 26).

Teams like NEB took a lot of time to land and develop a 5-star kid. Indiana is dominating with a kid from FL that had zero interest in Indiana until last year. Pitt is losing their Fr QB and all american kicker. You can see where this is going. MAC will be single A. Mountain West will be AA. PSU will be AAA. NFL will be the NFL.

If I am a top coach, I move my resources to NIL and portal and stop spending all of my time flying to HS football games and trying to convince a mom/dad to "COME TO PENN STATE!" Those days may well be over.
 
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