Transfer Hindsight

[OBLIVION]

To be fair, he got injured in game 1 and hasn't been 100% healthy

While I agree. The only difference is that they are playing him at Tackle when he was going to play Guard here, which I think he would have done great at.

I get the position argument, but the comparison is pretty simple. Whether Kinsler is behind because of injury or because of the coaches' decision, when he has been on the field, he's graded lower than the sophomore he's competing with, and he, Kinsler is a Senior. And saying he would've been better at guard doesn't really prove anything, he never played guard here. That's a hypothetical. The actual evidence we have is that he's playing tackle at Ole Miss and, when healthy, hasn't outplayed the sophomore in front of him. That's all I'm saying.

 

[NicKane]

Hindsight is always 20/20. 2026 defense is solid thus far, but has left the fan base wanting. Two guys from the portal who could have made an impact and I wish we had pursued in the portal are Cade Ululae and Koi Perich.

Returning Toure and Smith as veteran LBs, Marcelin and Wiley in the wings, it's no surprise the staff felt solid. That's understandable. But with Smith playing below the hoped-for level of competition and Marcelin out, Ululae would have been a nice get to compete for LB #2 and a potential starting role. Watched him in person in 2025 at Cal. Man was a menace.

Poyser and Fitzgerald make up one of the strongest safety duos in the country. And Dunnigan is playing great as a true freshman. That said, with corners down and having to slide Fitzgerald to corner, Koi would have been a top-tier player to fill the role and push Poyerser and Dunnigan for competition.

Defense wins championships. Stack these two, with Wilson at full potential (eventually) out at DE, and we have a three-level defense that kicks d***s in. What say you?

First-time poster, long-time cane.

JC

Our defense has been excellent, even though it’s been injury riddled. Luckily, we’ll be getting all our injured players back this season. I have to say, for a first post, pretty terrible. Pretty terrible, sir! Smh

 

[CaneandAbel]

The real issue is the lack of the 2nd portal. I believe we got Scott, Thomas and Toure in that 2nd portal last year and they were all key players.

 

[DTP]

Now you’re changing the goalposts of the whole topic lol!

Who is even remotely questioning Mensah or the $ being paid to him? Who said that a pick-up at LB was impacted at all by the $ spent at QB?
It had no impact…

If you don’t believe having to spend $10 million on a single player affects the budget for the entire roster, I don’t really know what to tell you. They have a budget for the portal. They used a lot of it on a quarterback. That left very little for other positions.

Miami is a big spender in this NIL era but we need to understand that it’s not limitless. We use a ton of our allocated NIL funds to retain players. If we’re going to drop 8 figures on a quarterback we need to understand that we will have less to spend positions of lesser importance.

 

[goblin deez nuts]

We defintely needed to hit portal harder, during wake game when they flashed we were in 100s for portal players bought in this offseason and 17th I think in ACC was kinda shocking to see that we did soo little.. Listening to Mario he started to sound like dabo with his we are a high school recruiting program and we dont need to be in portal so much..

I think Oline, TE and LB were main spots that could of used some attention.. Koi probably was too expensive and if Hetherman didnt cosign, it was for a reason

The number is meaningless. ND took 7 indiana 17. You mentioned a few spots. They lost a TE to injury they expected to contribute and lofton has played well. The offense isnt TE centric and oh by the way we have the #1 offense right now, so not sure it was a necessity at the time. OL ok. They did bring in a couple so maybe 1 more true starter type. Lb i can agree they needed someone else but unfortunately they like toure and Smith, so who decides to grab a guy.


When HS recruiting is hitting, portal additions are going to be lower. Its quality over quantity. The total number is meaningless. Also, as @DMoney stated last year, they wanted to go after more multi year guys so they dont have to bring in 30 a year. Poyser, lucas, O'Connor, charmar, toure, bonner, etc. When you do that, you dont have as many spots.


I would expect next year to be a large portal class. Entire front 6 might be gone. A couple on the secondary. 3 OL. A rb. A qb. #2 wr etc. I dont think Mario is dabo

 

[grover]

Hope 17 takes the reigns once he’s healthy and doesn’t look back. Elite evaluation by the staff

I have never seen it with Marcelin. Hope he proves me wrong.

 

[DTP]

I’ve asked this question in other threads and have yet to receive any names. I’ll ask again now.

For the guys on here clamoring that we should’ve signed some IOL guys in the portal for some experience, who was available that we missed on? We did sign at least two - Meriwether and Cline. Who else could we have gotten? Please provide some names other than Seaton who’s been discussed as nauseum and he’s a tackle who only wanted to play tackle…for a ton of money.

EA Sports is not how real life sports works.

Don’t hold your breath.

I like to ask these types of questions whenever there’s a coaching debate. Everyone is a “coach” according to CIS and if you ask who isn’t you’ll get mostly crickets or ridiculous answers like Saban or Butch Davis. Everyone coach sucks but nobody can suggest which coaches don’t.

 

[DTP]

I don’t want to be a program that takes 25 guys every year in the portal anyway. Those teams mostly suck. The only time you’ll see a good program have a lot of portal turnover is when there’s a coaching change.

 

[Orig.CaneSawMassacre]

No one is talking crazy. The topic is portal hindsight guys…

If you don’t believe having to spend $10 million on a single player affects the budget for the entire roster, I don’t really know what to tell you. They have a budget for the portal. They used a lot of it on a quarterback. That left very little for other positions.

Miami is a big spender in this NIL era but we need to understand that it’s not limitless. We use a ton of our allocated NIL funds to retain players. If we’re going to drop 8 figures on a quarterback we need to understand that we will have less to spend positions of lesser importance.

Mensah did not affect us having money at LB. They were more sold on retaining Toure and Smith. And could not find an impact LB that boosters were sold on.

 

[NCCanefan]

Hindsight is always 20/20. 2026 defense is solid thus far, but has left the fan base wanting. Two guys from the portal who could have made an impact and I wish we had pursued in the portal are Cade Ululae and Koi Perich.

Returning Toure and Smith as veteran LBs, Marcelin and Wiley in the wings, it's no surprise the staff felt solid. That's understandable. But with Smith playing below the hoped-for level of competition and Marcelin out, Ululae would have been a nice get to compete for LB #2 and a potential starting role. Watched him in person in 2025 at Cal. Man was a menace.

Poyser and Fitzgerald make up one of the strongest safety duos in the country. And Dunnigan is playing great as a true freshman. That said, with corners down and having to slide Fitzgerald to corner, Koi would have been a top-tier player to fill the role and push Poyerser and Dunnigan for competition.

Defense wins championships. Stack these two, with Wilson at full potential (eventually) out at DE, and we have a three-level defense that kicks d***s in. What say you?

First-time poster, long-time cane.

JC

First time poster. First time joiner. First time coulda woulda shoulda.

 

[E1k]

This is why i kept wondering what we would have done if their was still a 2nd portal window. Im almost sure we would have brought in a few guys, they seem to like to give guys the chance or the benefit of the doubt to compete in spring but this may have been the year to think ahead instead of relying on the unknown

 

[SpringsCane]

I’ve asked this question in other threads and have yet to receive any names. I’ll ask again now.

For the guys on here clamoring that we should’ve signed some IOL guys in the portal for some experience, who was available that we missed on? We did sign at least two - Meriwether and Cline. Who else could we have gotten? Please provide some names other than Seaton who’s been discussed as nauseum and he’s a tackle who only wanted to play tackle…for a ton of money.

EA Sports is not how real life sports works.

I’ll play

I wish we woulda kept one of Kinsler and Plaz. We lack size and strength on the interior currently so at worse either of those two would change that. With regards to Kinsler, if the plan all along was to allow McCoy and Samson to float or get the first shot at tackle I wish we could have gotten Kinsler some guard snaps last year during some blowouts to see how he woulda done on the inside. I’m of the belief he woulda been a powerful guard as I don’t think he has the foot quickness for tackle. We Invested 2 and 3 years in both plaz and Kinsler and I woulda preferred one of them to stay. Whether or not they’d solve the interior who knows. But they both have started and are co starters in the SEC within this first month so clearly there’s enough talent there

 

[RangerGranger]

Indiana proved you can go from jag to national title winner with 25 inbound transfers. Most being 3 star guys.

 

[skyman]

This is why i kept wondering what we would have done if their was still a 2nd portal window. Im almost sure we would have brought in a few guys, they seem to like to give guys the chance or the benefit of the doubt to compete in spring but this may have been the year to think ahead instead of relying on the unknown

We always did great work in 2nd portal, cant even think of last year team with no keionte, jakobe, toure, keelan

 

[SinisterCane]

The injuries and OL development better not kill our championship hopes because we are pretty elite across the board except at TE and LB. Both showed progress against CMU but we need to see it against better competition Saturday.

You’re should never be your best LBs option to start to the season

 

[SinisterCane]

Indiana proved you can go from jag to national title winner with 25 inbound transfers. Most being 3 star guys.

And being 25+ years old