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Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2026 3:56 pm
by mslacatfan
Something I've been thinking about- overall, does the current landscape with all the portal craziness Help or Hurt the cats more?
cuz we have seen huge examples on both sides. Plenty of big players leaving (which I'm pretty blunt about my feelings, ha)... but some all time greats coming in as well. So has the portal been better or worse for our programs success???
Some big examples off the top of my head (i'm sure there are other big names I'm missing):
Big losses over the last 5 years or so...
-Valdez
-Ifanse
-Blake Glessner (this one was a HUGE factor that following season, cost us games and a potential playoff run)
-Omar Agbedion (or however you spell it)
-Reimer
-Connor Wood
-TJ Session
-Connor Moore
-Dru Polidore
-Jon Johnson
-andrew powdrell
-Scottre Humphrey
-Rohan Jones (both an addition and a loss)
-and whoever we lose this year.
Big Additions...
-Lamson (I mean.... holy crap, might go down as the best QB in program history)
-Julius Davis
-Ty McCullough
-Chris Long
-Alec Eckert
-Amandre Williams
-Bryce Sterk
-Clevan Thomas
-Bryant Meredith
-Rohan Jones (both an addition and a loss)
-Sean Chambers
Thoughts? are we better off from the portal? worse from it? is it just a wash?....
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2026 4:07 pm
by coloradocat
We're better off with strong program support and great leadership inside the locker room, coaches offices, AD's office and President's office. With that the portal is mostly a wash.
Good comes in and good goes out. Without the support and leadership it would be less good coming in and all good going out.
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2026 4:09 pm
by BelligerentBobcat
Overall help.
Without the portal many of these good recruits never come here in the first place.
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2026 4:17 pm
by 2015cat
Generally speaking I think it depends on the year and how your staff manages it. That being said, I think Vigen and staff does an excellent job of managing the portal to fill holes on the roster.
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2026 4:19 pm
by WetBreeches
BelligerentBobcat wrote: ↑Tue Jan 06, 2026 4:09 pm
Overall help.
Without the portal many of these good recruits never come here in the first place.
This...few, if any, 3 star recruits come to MSU with no portal. They go the "old" route, of FBS -> redshirting -> sitting for a year or two -> and then playing. I'm sure the coaching staff even recruits some of the 3 star guys with the pitch of coming to MSU, playing early, and getting a bigger payday in 2 or 3 years...with the hope that maybe a couple stay a Cat.
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2026 5:08 pm
by MSU01
The way I look at it is that it's really awesome to get two years of solid contributions out of a player. Before the portal a player would come in as a freshman, work his way up the depth chart and hopefully play as a junior and senior. Now the portal is allowing teams like MSU to recruit players who are good enough to contribute as freshmen and sophomores and then potentially move on to bigger programs if they're good enough. Either way we're getting those two years, it just looks a little different than it used to in some cases.
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2026 5:44 pm
by Bobcat Sig
It’s both.
The answer is how you manage it and plan for it. Good programs at our level, and above, have embraced it. And they’ve built it on a strong foundations of recruiting. Both Indiana and Oregon are successful examples of this new formula.
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2026 5:53 pm
by 91catAlum
mslacatfan wrote: ↑Tue Jan 06, 2026 3:56 pm
Something I've been thinking about-
overall, does the current landscape with all the portal craziness Help or Hurt the cats more?
cuz we have seen huge examples on both sides. Plenty of big players leaving (which I'm pretty blunt about my feelings, ha)... but some all time greats coming in as well. So has the portal been better or worse for our programs success???
Some big examples off the top of my head (i'm sure there are other big names I'm missing):
Big losses over the last 5 years or so...
-Valdez
-Ifanse
-Blake Glessner (this one was a HUGE factor that following season, cost us games and a potential playoff run)
-Omar Agbedion (or however you spell it)
-Reimer
-Connor Wood
-TJ Session
-Connor Moore
-Dru Polidore
-Jon Johnson
-andrew powdrell
-Scottre Humphrey
-Rohan Jones (both an addition and a loss)
-and whoever we lose this year.
Big Additions...
-Lamson (I mean.... holy crap, might go down as the best QB in program history)
-Julius Davis
-Ty McCullough
-Chris Long
-Alec Eckert
-Amandre Williams
-Bryce Sterk
-Clevan Thomas
-Bryant Meredith
-Rohan Jones (both an addition and a loss)
-Sean Chambers
Thoughts? are we better off from the portal? worse from it? is it just a wash?....
FBS dropdowns have always been allowed since the dawn of FCS. Guys like Sterk and Amandre came to MSU prior to the portal.
What the portal changed is allowing players to transfer up or across without the 1 year penalty.
So the portal doesn't help us all that much, IMO.
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2026 5:55 pm
by MSU01
91catAlum wrote: ↑Tue Jan 06, 2026 5:53 pm
mslacatfan wrote: ↑Tue Jan 06, 2026 3:56 pm
Something I've been thinking about-
overall, does the current landscape with all the portal craziness Help or Hurt the cats more?
cuz we have seen huge examples on both sides. Plenty of big players leaving (which I'm pretty blunt about my feelings, ha)... but some all time greats coming in as well. So has the portal been better or worse for our programs success???
Some big examples off the top of my head (i'm sure there are other big names I'm missing):
Big losses over the last 5 years or so...
-Valdez
-Ifanse
-Blake Glessner (this one was a HUGE factor that following season, cost us games and a potential playoff run)
-Omar Agbedion (or however you spell it)
-Reimer
-Connor Wood
-TJ Session
-Connor Moore
-Dru Polidore
-Jon Johnson
-andrew powdrell
-Scottre Humphrey
-Rohan Jones (both an addition and a loss)
-and whoever we lose this year.
Big Additions...
-Lamson (I mean.... holy crap, might go down as the best QB in program history)
-Julius Davis
-Ty McCullough
-Chris Long
-Alec Eckert
-Amandre Williams
-Bryce Sterk
-Clevan Thomas
-Bryant Meredith
-Rohan Jones (both an addition and a loss)
-Sean Chambers
Thoughts? are we better off from the portal? worse from it? is it just a wash?....
FBS dropdowns have always been allowed since the dawn of FCS. Guys like Sterk and Amandre came to MSU prior to the portal.
What the portal changed is allowing players to transfer up or across without the 1 year penalty.
So the portal doesn't help us all that much, IMO.
I think where the portal helps a team like MSU the most is in recruiting high school players that may have received more FBS offers and not even considered going FCS prior to the advent of the portal era.
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2026 6:11 pm
by justafan
ask me after the portal closes....If we lose Taco and Caden and/or jones and Steele it will hurt us more than help.....Lamson too.. going to be nervous for a while...while still enjoying the moment....
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2026 8:18 pm
by VimSince03
I think MSU was much more prepared for it this year. Like everyone is saying, you have to manage it and Vigen preaches open communication with his players so they can plan or pitch accordingly.
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2026 8:45 pm
by catgrad05
VimSince03 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 06, 2026 8:18 pm
I think MSU was much more prepared for it this year. Like everyone is saying, you have to manage it and Vigen preaches open communication with his players so they can plan or pitch accordingly.
Are you reffering to the season that just ended or the upcoming season?
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2026 9:59 pm
by sdsyvie
The answer to this is simple
It emphatically helps us period!!!!
When you consider this, it's less about the players we lose or gain, and more about the depth and how impactful are the players our competition gains or loses. With the many other programs we face having less depth, and less success, the guys they lose leave bigger holes and they are harder to replace
Think pinnick, or idahos stars last year
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2026 8:55 am
by VimSince03
catgrad05 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 06, 2026 8:45 pm
VimSince03 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 06, 2026 8:18 pm
I think MSU was much more prepared for it this year. Like everyone is saying, you have to manage it and Vigen preaches open communication with his players so they can plan or pitch accordingly.
Are you reffering to the season that just ended or the upcoming season?
2025 going into 2026. So I guess the 2025 season for the 2026 recruiting cycle.
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2026 9:33 am
by TomCat88
MSU, and probably other schools, knows that some of the players it brings are going to leave if they have success at MSU. I believe a few of the players MSU has brought in were told to go to a FCS school and if you do well there, they'll make an offer.
Many players would transfer anyway, just like before the portal. They realize after they get here that Bozeman and Montana don't provide the lifestyle they're accustomed to, among other things, and leave. The portal makes it easier to do, so now it happens more often.
Most CFB programs have always been looking for players to transfer in and play over existing players. Now they need to be more aggressive with that. If MSU doesn't already have a couple cornerbacks that it's been in contact with, it should.
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2026 11:07 am
by Cats92
I ran into Clevan multiple times in Nashville and spoke with him a few times during the regular season. He’s been heavily involved in the Collective and seems invested in the community as a whole. For a guy who transferred in and is no longer on the team, it’s still paying dividends.
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2026 11:13 am
by GoldstoneCat
I think it's a net positive if you know how to manage it. I would posit that Carson Williams, jhase mcmillan, Seth Johnson, Cedric Jefferson, Omar, any of those highly touted/starred recruits would never have come to Montana state if the portal didn't exist. Our rosters will be younger but more talented than they've been in the past. The trick that I believe Vigen and company are starting to master is understanding that you need to take the in-state developmental guys (Eiden, Brott, Ortt, Jones, Crews etc) and have those old heads that stick around be the ones that foster the culture, lead the locker room, and be the faces that fans can more durably attach themselves to. That's what makes surpassing the Griz so important in this puzzle, it's being able to get those guys instead of them.
I'll put it this way... this program went 37ish odd years in the pre-portal era and didn't sniff another championship, and has one and could have had another in 4 years of this era. I think we're doing fine.
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2026 1:00 am
by 91catAlum
GoldstoneCat wrote: ↑Wed Jan 07, 2026 11:13 am
I think it's a net positive if you know how to manage it. I would posit that Carson Williams, jhase mcmillan, Seth Johnson, Cedric Jefferson, Omar, any of those highly touted/starred recruits would never have come to Montana state if the portal didn't exist. Our rosters will be younger but more talented than they've been in the past. The trick that I believe Vigen and company are starting to master is understanding that you need to take the in-state developmental guys (Eiden, Brott, Ortt, Jones, Crews etc) and have those old heads that stick around be the ones that foster the culture, lead the locker room, and be the faces that fans can more durably attach themselves to. That's what makes surpassing the Griz so important in this puzzle, it's being able to get those guys instead of them.
I'll put it this way... this program went 37ish odd years in the pre-portal era and didn't sniff another championship, and has one and could have had another in 4 years of this era. I think we're doing fine.
Ok, but 37ish other teams
did win a championship in the pre-portal era. Just because MSU wasn't one of them doesn't mean the portal got us a championship.
I don't see a correlation between the two.
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2026 5:31 am
by GoldstoneCat
91catAlum wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 1:00 am
GoldstoneCat wrote: ↑Wed Jan 07, 2026 11:13 am
I think it's a net positive if you know how to manage it. I would posit that Carson Williams, jhase mcmillan, Seth Johnson, Cedric Jefferson, Omar, any of those highly touted/starred recruits would never have come to Montana state if the portal didn't exist. Our rosters will be younger but more talented than they've been in the past. The trick that I believe Vigen and company are starting to master is understanding that you need to take the in-state developmental guys (Eiden, Brott, Ortt, Jones, Crews etc) and have those old heads that stick around be the ones that foster the culture, lead the locker room, and be the faces that fans can more durably attach themselves to. That's what makes surpassing the Griz so important in this puzzle, it's being able to get those guys instead of them.
I'll put it this way... this program went 37ish odd years in the pre-portal era and didn't sniff another championship, and has one and could have had another in 4 years of this era. I think we're doing fine.
Ok, but 37ish other teams
did win a championship in the pre-portal era. Just because MSU wasn't one of them doesn't mean the portal got us a championship.
I don't see a correlation between the two.
The question was does it help or hurt us more. It didn't get us a championship but it's fairly obvious it's not hurting us more than it's helping us or we'd be back-sliding.
Re: Portal question- Does it Help or Hurt us more?
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2026 9:22 am
by catgrad05
VimSince03 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 07, 2026 8:55 am
catgrad05 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 06, 2026 8:45 pm
VimSince03 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 06, 2026 8:18 pm
I think MSU was much more prepared for it this year. Like everyone is saying, you have to manage it and Vigen preaches open communication with his players so they can plan or pitch accordingly.
Are you reffering to the season that just ended or the upcoming season?
2025 going into 2026. So I guess the 2025 season for the 2026 recruiting cycle.