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QB recruiting in the aftermath of transfer gate

bobbydigius

bobbydigius

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So we talked ad nauseam about how this affected the team, how the local media continues to **** on the program and how NIL has gotten out of hand. I want to talk a bit on how this impacted recruiting.

First and foremost the proprietor of this site said it best, if nothing else we found out that Miami’s QB situation is better than Bama’s which in a vacuum is significant. Which brings us to QB recruiting which was quite the polarizing point of contention during the 23 cycle. With the portal being a new and seemingly viable option along with the game changing advent of NIL, there was a line drawn in the sand between those that said we must make HS QB recruiting a priority and those that said it was best to just go to the portal for QBs.

I believe today we got a major data point which I would say was the second one in the most recent transfer cycle. The first major data point was Drake Maye who stuck with UNC early in the cycle. Today, Miami had a major victory by staving off the dominant program of the last 15 years to keep our QB1. Which brings me to my point. Bama, 6 time Chip winner, with all the financial support you could imagine was in dire need of a QB1 and they have thus far missed on their guy. I’d imagine they aren’t done and will get someone worth while but it underscores the reality that relying on the portal for QB recruiting may not be as viable as some made it out to be and that HS recruiting should still be the foundation even if you need to over pay for unproven talent.
 
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supacane said:
Yeah but you could also point out that Bama high school recruiting is what lead them to needing a portal QB and the portal was gonna be how we got a replacement if necessary.
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It might also be that QB recruiting, from high school, is largely a crapshoot. Alabama recently:

2023 - got 8th and 13th rated QB recruits.
2022 - got 3rd rated recruit.
2021 - got 13th rated recruit.
2020 - got 1st rated recruit

2020 became a stud. Nobody since then looks to be picking up the reigns.
 
So is this like a debate?
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It shouldn’t be an either or situation. The strategy is to stack chips via high school across all positions, including QB and then use the portal to supplement that.

Also, as we saw with Maye and TVD it’s not always that much cheaper to pull a quality starter from another team via the portal than it is get a HS recruit.
 
Did Bama go all in for TVD or did we just make him an offer he couldn't refuse?

Bama likely had a number, I'd bet we went well north of if it's the latter of the two. If that's the case, hopefully it pays off for us. Not only in play here, but in the draft.

Players are commodities at this point and everyone values everyone differently. I'd love to know the numbers.
 
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Pearson704 said:
yup; cuts both ways.
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Except you have multiple years to get your room right via HS recruiting, whereas with the portal you only have a couple of months. The advantage of the portal was supposed to be getting and paying for a sure thing. Early returns show that availability isn’t that prevalent and teams will pony up to keep their guy and you may have to over pay.

Let’s be clear here, I’m not anti portal. I view it as a great supplementary resource I just was against it as the main resource for QB recruiting which is what was the debate during the 23 cycle. This is only a piece of that debate, showing that maybe the portal will be tough af in regards to QB recruiting. I’m not doing a victory lap here, just pointing out we have some returns is all and it’s worth continuing that discussion.
 
The portal was never a viable route, it was just excuse making and rhetorical coping.

Like if a team was down 4 TDS with 1 minute left. The craziest of fans might hold on to the idea that, in theory, their team could get a bunch of Hail Marys and onside kicks in 1 minute.

That’s what the “Miami will spend big and land the few (if any) stud portal QBs every year” where basically doing.

*In theory* I guess that could happen. But it was never going to work in practice, and is a bad strategy to follow.
 
Great observation about Bama not being able to lure 2 QB targets via transfer that was lost in the hand wringing of the possibility of TVD leaving. Is this a sign of things to come or just an anomaly? Time will tell.
 
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The answer is do both but depending on your budget don’t over spend on the QB from high school if you can land the big boys up front with that same money. Alabama has unlimited resources to land the QB and other positions where as we might have to be more choosey on where the money goes.
 
The difference is that in the portal, you're paying for a known commodity. In other words "you know what you're paying for".

But for high school kids, not only do you really not know how good they'll be, but you're not even certain they'll stick around at your school long enough to find out.

I still think Bama can get a QB this year that could start for them..they just were shooting for the stars first. They'll go down the board and find somebody.

Maybe Maye and TVD were there top 2 on the board? You're telling me somebody in the top 10 of their board won't take the money and leave?

What about the guy from coastal Carolina? Or the backup at Texas? So far they've tried to poach a legacy kid who is starting at a P5 program that has plenty of money and a 2 year starter at another P5 program that has NIL $ as well and has other "location advantages".

They'll find a P5 backup or a G5 starter who'll take what they're offering and can start for them.
 
Yoyo82 said:
The difference is that in the portal, you're paying for a known commodity. In other words "you know what you're paying for".

But for high school kids, not only do you really not know how good they'll be, but you're not even certain they'll stick around at your school long enough to find out.

I still think Bama can get a QB this year that could start for them..they just were shooting for the stars first. They'll go down the board and find somebody.

Maybe Maye and TVD were there top 2 on the board? You're telling me somebody in the top 10 of their board won't take the money and leave?

What about the guy from coastal Carolina? Or the backup at Texas? So far they've tried to poach a legacy kid who is starting at a P5 program that has plenty of money and a 2 year starter at another P5 program that has NIL $ as well and has other "location advantages".

They'll find a P5 backup or a G5 starter who'll take what they're offering and can start for them.
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Bama will be fine, if anything they are driving up the costs of guys they are going after and forcing teams to pony up or lose their marquee players. This can also have an indirect benefit for them in that they are forcing other teams to stretch their NIL limits.
 
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rustywalkedaway said:
It might also be that QB recruiting, from high school, is largely a crapshoot. Alabama recently:

2023 - got 8th and 13th rated QB recruits.
2022 - got 3rd rated recruit.
2021 - got 13th rated recruit.
2020 - got 1st rated recruit

2020 became a stud. Nobody since then looks to be picking up the reigns.
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Just like Texas quarterback recruiting. After Vince and Colt it was successive waves of four and five star quarterbacks. None were close to those two until they signed Sam Ehillinger.
 
Memnon said:
Isn’t it a coincidence that Bama hasn’t had any QB issues until Tommy Rees showed up?

Weird
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My best friend is an ND fan and he has a hard on for Rees. I can’t have a logical conversation with him…he thought their QBs were the problem. He was so ****ed when he left 😂

Like you said, both Milroe and Simpson don’t fit Rees’ offensive style. I don’t think he lasts long down there.
 
Ultimately this only impacts recruiting on how TVD performs. If he plays his way into early round consideration, no one is gonna care about this in a year. Much like Wong’s situation. If TVD struggles, Mario may not ever come back from his QB killer label.
 
Yoyo82 said:
The difference is that in the portal, you're paying for a known commodity. In other words "you know what you're paying for".

But for high school kids, not only do you really not know how good they'll be, but you're not even certain they'll stick around at your school long enough to find out.

I still think Bama can get a QB this year that could start for them..they just were shooting for the stars first. They'll go down the board and find somebody.

Maybe Maye and TVD were there top 2 on the board? You're telling me somebody in the top 10 of their board won't take the money and leave?

What about the guy from coastal Carolina? Or the backup at Texas? So far they've tried to poach a legacy kid who is starting at a P5 program that has plenty of money and a 2 year starter at another P5 program that has NIL $ as well and has other "location advantages".

They'll find a P5 backup or a G5 starter who'll take what they're offering and can start for them.
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I definitely didnt say somebody in their top 10 wont take the money and leave. The discussion surrounded taking highly ranked HS QB1s that some felt were asking too much in NIL and were potential flight risks with the new transfer rules and those same thought that it was best to turn to the portal to pay for a as you stated known commodity. Well the most dominant program just whiffed on their top two guys this cycle and now have just over a week to figure it out. I have no doubt that they will, but if the top program in the nation cant pry their top guy from UNC and Miami, what will schools like Miami do if they are in the same position? Like I said, just early returns, but so far they say that relying on the portal for that quality known commodity at QB isnt... reliable.
 
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