GivemTheAxe said:
TheSouseFamily said:
Sebastabear said:
If you want evidence of how the players view Wilcox and the trajectory of the program look no further than this. How long has it been since we had players who could even sniff the NFL elect to come back? In the not too distant past we seemed to lose all of them. This year none. Terrific stuff.
60 years without a conference championship is long enough. Seems like some of our most experienced and talented players feel the same.
Well said, Sebasta. This is one of many clues into the type of culture Wilcox has built and the type of connections he and his staff form with players. The lack of attrition in recruiting between guys committing and guys signing is another example of the relationships he's developed. So too, the below average number of transfers out of the program. We're certainly lucky to have someone like that running the show for us and hope he's around for a long time. Having lived up close through the end of the Campanelli era, the player revolt and the Bozeman coup, the relationships between the coach and the team can't be under-stated.
To extrapolate. Using the same criteria, what do the numerous departures from LSJU say about player sentiment at that school.
I think the LSJU transfer situation has been significantly overblown. Currently, (according to an exhaustive review at The Cardboard) they have 92 guys on scholarship, including the incoming class. With nine guys in the portal, they expect to lose them all and bring in a couple guys on Feb 5 giving them 85 guys on scholie. Of the guys in the portal, all are fifth year players and only two are considered guys they would like to keep (which would necessitate a shuffle of the remaining players on scholie (medical retirement? etc).
In other words, it is usual dance of moving guys out to make room for new players. The only difference is the creation of the portal - a nice way of saying, "Hey, fifth year guy, time to move on since you have your degree and are no longer contributing".