I think it gives staff time to meet to identify positions of weakness, and build a plan for what they want to go after in the portal or via HS recruiting. Then they also will do year end meetings with each player to talk about how the season went and what the outlook is for them. The coach may tell them that they are looking in the portal for other players at their position and they may end up in a position battle or buried on the depth chart. If a team then takes someone from the portal and a player ends up 4 or 5 on the depth chart they still have a time to decide if they want to get in the portal.

My guess is that guys who hop in the portal early are either studs that are unhappy with their current situation/had a coach leave etc or a guy who is not getting the playing time they want and know from the get go they want something different. Then the guys that enter later may have had a new transfer come in that pushed them further down the depth chart or had a coach leave later in the cycle.

I think all in all, 45 days after a hectic season is totally fair to get some time away, let coaching decisions and changes play out and still give student athletes time to make a well informed decision. I would think that's why the spring window is only 15 days. By the end of spring ball you should have the information you need to decide to get in the portal or not and it doesn't need to take a month and a half.

I believe the 45 days is how long the portal window is open. A player has 45 days to enter after the Championship selection. If a player is in the portal when it closes they are still able to talk to schools and sign but no new players can enter until the next window opens May 1st and lasts until May 15th. This is supposed to be after spring ball so coaches can solidify rosters for summer workouts and fall camp. Then I believe there is a another window in August when the new academic year starts.

Glad we are keeping him. The offensive line has been a huge part of our success and hopefully we can continue to be dominant in the trenches.

I do wonder if our OC is coming from the NFL ranks. I feel like if he was coming from another college program we would have heard about it already. Given the NFL is only in week 15, if the OC were to come from an NFL club we likely wont hear about until mid January. Just speculation.

It's not unusual for players to graduate in 3 years. They spend so much extra time on campus in the summer that they pick up extra units and all of a sudden they have a degree in three years. The redshirt piece is certainly a little bit harder but I could certainly see us getting guys who didn't get much playing time at a CAL,UCLA etc with two years remaining.

There are options for some one year programs. I was in the Masters of Professional Accountancy program with one of our players. Only a one year program and the world is in need of accountants! I do wonder if there is potential for one year guys to enter a multi-year program with the first year paid for and the rest pay your own way. There were certainly a solid number of Grad Transfer pre Covid so I think that will continue but obviously in a much diminished number.

Was listening to College Sports Today on XM yesterday and one of the hosts threw out a figure of about 10% of College Football players from last years rosters are in the portal. Given 133 FBS Schools with 85 scholarships + 128 FCS schools with 63 scholarships, it looks like 10% might be a touch low. Crazy turnover this year.

As @Riveraggie and @NCagalum were referencing, it will be interesting to see how the portal numbers change as most of the players enrolled no longer have the free COVID year. My guess is that it comes down a little bit but with NIL and the like I think it still stays high. Davis likely sees less incoming transfers due to issues noted above, academic requirements and most transfers being Grad Transfers.

Totally! I think its great that a ton of the guys leaving have been here a while and gotten their degrees. But the fact we have only seen defensive guys enter is quite interesting. LL and TT are in the same class as Teddye and as of yet we haven't seen them enter.
I'm not saying the coach is the only reason but could certainly be a contributing factor. Could be part of the reason that Teddye chose CAL over Stanford. Justin Wilcox is a defensive minded coach who has a history of producing some great college LBs. I'm sure there a ton of factors that play into a players decision to transfer and the coach has to be one of them.

I would love to see us get aggressive in the portal and see if we can get some defensive guys back. Evan Tattersall is a guy that comes to mind. Had a pretty decent career at CAL, came here and was a big part of our defense. Cal has a couple guys in the portal on defense that could be pieces we look at.

My guess (hope) is that since we hired an offensive guy, a couple defensive guys hopped in the portal. They likely knew we would be moving to an up tempo offense and that would mean putting considerably more pressure/less rest on the defense. They had an opportunity to make a change, and took it.

I think outside maybe a one or two guys that see the writing on the wall, guys are done leaving for the fall window. I think real clarity will come in the spring window after spring ball when guys have a better idea of where they stand on the depth chart.

Teddye Buchanan commits to CAL. Great pick up for the Bears. Good luck to him!

https://x.com/TeddyeBuchanan/status/1732103588258906360?s=20

The AD just needs to find someone who doesn't suck at their profession, and if they've never been a HC then we are rolling the dice again. — SochorField

This is why I am a little hesitant to bring back Plough. He is obviously a great position coach as he turned around the TE room at Cal. He showed some ability to run an offense here but I wonder how much of that was on the players (Maier & Doss, Gould's Recruits?), vs his ability to scheme up an offense. He only made it 14 games at Boise before being shown the door. He built an average at best offense while the defense seemed to keep them in games in 2021. They had an abysmal run offense which we have hung our hat on for the last couple of season with LL and UG.

The last two seasons our defense has kept us in games and it has honestly felt like we are a QB away from being truly competitive. I would like to see us bring in a defensive minded coach with an OC that get us over the hump. With Damon Wrighster committed we may just have that QB we have been looking for but the defense likely takes a step back. I hope I'm wrong and next year we become even more fearsome.

Either way I hope we make this decision quickly as the early signing window opens soon and I would hate to see us lose out on commitments/transfers because we are behind the 8ball.

I think I read in one of the articles that he mulled stepping away at the end of last season. I wonder if he felt like there was unfinished business after being snubbed for the playoffs. Comes back looking to make a real playoff push only to be left out again. He sees it as a sign from the universe as its time for something new.

Might be late to the game here but I really wish we wore the gold helmets tonight.

I was listening to Full Ride on XM a week or two ago and they had Dan Mullens on. He had a pretty interesting solution for bowl season. His thought was that we move bowl season to the spring and instead of having a spring game, bowl eligible teams play a bowl game at the end of their spring practice. It would be in late April early may when is the slowest time in the sports world and could attract viewership, get your new team some game action and avoids this issue of guys opting out for the draft etc. I thought it was a pretty interesting option.

I wish we would wear our gold helmets more often but the white blue white looks decent. Go Ags!

can’t say I disagree. I think teams have figured it out and it’s time to rotate him in more as a receiver or true running back and less of the wildcat. We obviously need him on the field but figuring out how to make that happen is the question.

These games have taken years off my life with the back and forth! Just kidding! But I’m all seriousness it has been so fun to watch the games between these two teams. Today we just ended up on the wrong side. Great game to Weber and I hope you guys continue to win! Good luck next week with EWU. Hope you guys blow them out!

100%. Defense is doing everything they need to put us in a position to win. The offense and kicking game is not holding up their end of the bargain. Like I said earlier we created 3 turnovers today but the best we could muster was a FG from a fumble we recovered on Webers 26. We also had a interception at the Davis 39 that we took 6 plays for 13 yards and a punt and then a fumble at the Weber 25 at the end of the game that we could not convert anything on. Our defense creates opportunities but the offense cannot move the ball effectively.

One thing I did see was I thought Hastings played better. He didn’t have a pick and for the most part made good decisions but just had some really bad throws. I really hope we figure out a way to make some changes offensively to turn these shoulda coulda woulda games into W’s.

But always and forever go Ags!

wasn’t this an issue with Dan at Colorado? Wanted to play Cody at QB over the other guys in the room who potentially have them a better chance to win? I get wanting to have your son on staff but if he’s not getting it done then ou have to make that tough decision. Will be interesting to see what Dan has to say in his next media session.

On a separate note, seems weird to me we get one media session per week unless I’m missing the postgame and only seeing the pregame sessions.

We need a change at OC. Cody is not getting it done.3 points off of 3 turnovers is unacceptable. Someone needs to be held accountable.

WHAT ARE WE DOING?! Hawk that’s got to be 4 down territory!

Once again the offense does nothing with what the defense gives them. We have got to get this figured out. Too many missed offensive opportunities.