Portal Opened again Yesterday

[RickRund]

Never watched him play a snap of football. I just want a Bobcat QB named General Booty to cheer for.

I don't follow that much big time football but looking at all the comments OU has some issues?

[TomCat88]

Never watched him play a snap of football. I just want a Bobcat QB named General Booty to cheer for.

Wonder if he’s related to former USC quarterback John David Booty? I think that booty got to usc via LSU. He should play for East Carolina…I think their nickname is the Pirates.

[onceacat]

With all of this portal-ing around, has academics become a non-issue? Are players vetted for academic fitness, have their transcripts reviewed, register for classes — each time they transfer at a moment’s notice? Transferring between higher education units can/should be a fairly arduous process. The seven-foot player that was with ORU when we played them is moving on to his fourth school!

I remain unconvinced that coursework is being seriously maintained for these athletic employees, as they put their time into high-energy workouts, practice, travel, NIL jobs, eating, social media. I do believe that perhaps MSU and a bastion of FCS schools are still treating these athletes as serious student-athletes — but when an athlete is moving to their fourth or fifth school, perhaps in less years, I don’t see how it’s possible to retain the student part at a significant level. Here’s an idea — recruit only players who are enrolled in engineering, nursing, physics, mathematics, pre-med (and others) — because if they truly want a degree they won’t be transferring five times.

Go ahead and look at some of the majors of players on the team, or any team. For some guys it seems like academics is a bonus, not a priority (which isn't exclusive to football players or even athletes in general). Plus, I assume that since the guys on the move, at least when it comes to the Bobcats, are out of state guys, they were on scholarship so it's not costing them much to transfer and drag out their graduation timeline. If they are interested in graduating they might have to pay for a year or two once their eligibility runs out but that's still a good deal.

As far as recruiting primarily STEM-type majors, it's a good thought but could lead to a couple things. A) Guys start out in a tough major and then switch to something less intensive after a year or two and B) it becomes harder to recruit top-level FCS/bottom-level FBS players.

My son is studying architecture & running at a D1 program. Due to his academic schedule, he rarely gets to run or lift with his teammates, which makes running a lot less fun.

That sort of thing is managable for an individual event like cross country or track, but theres no way a football or basketball (or soccer, or volleyball...or any team sport) could do that.