The Portal, 2025 Style

[Fightingscot82]

Rashan Murray, CB from Cal (Pa) transferred to Pitt today.

Interesting. He's a very good D2 DB. I hope he gets some playing time, I believe he has just one season left. They're going to use him as insurance, so he can use them for a degree with more cache than Penn West.

[goalieman]

Rashan Murray, CB from Cal (Pa) transferred to Pitt today.

[Boro33]

Well I don’t have to work..so…😂

That's wonderful. So let's use all that extra time and educate yourself by taking a class or two at a local Community College 🤓

[RamPride]

As are your uneducated comments...

Well I don’t have to work..so…😂

[Fightingscot82]

Bringing in a portal player without meeting him in person is foolishness. Quality staffs do not go this route.

Happens more than you'd like to know when you're bringing in kids from California, Florida, and Texas. You've Facetimed with them, have all the info you could possibly have, and the recruit is satisfied but just can't make the trip.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Baseball scouting is more date/info driven than ever; especially for pitching. Not saying the “eye test” is gone but you’ll frequently see teams draft college pitchers who kinda suck because their Trackman/PitchFX data shows they have desirable underlying pitch movement or the like and the team thinks they can develop that better than a college program did.

I'm sure you've read it or seen the movie ... but Moneyball is fantastic. It (incredibly) went inside the way Billy Beane went against the trend in scouting. His use of analytics was so ahead of its time.

[TheBigCat2192]

College football recruiting and baseball scouting are still stuck in the world of the "eye test" and judging "upside".

Baseball scouting is more date/info driven than ever; especially for pitching. Not saying the “eye test” is gone but you’ll frequently see teams draft college pitchers who kinda suck because their Trackman/PitchFX data shows they have desirable underlying pitch movement or the like and the team thinks they can develop that better than a college program did.

[Ship69]

On high school Signing Day I don't even read the player bio. At this level they are all "All-this and All-that".

To your point every class is tremendous on Signing Day - stacked with can't miss steals, etc. Reality usually is the complete opposite. If you sign 30 freshmen in a class, you'll be lucky to have 6-7 of them walk on 'your' senior day.

it is a crap shoot to a great extent. Size, speed and athleticism that is adequate to even outstanding in high school doesn't always translate to college, even at the D2 and D3 levels. We've had kids at Ship who've scored hundreds of points in high school basketball and have mostly ridden the bench for the Raiders. I'm sure at IUP you've had all-league or even all-state kids who barely see the floor. Once in a while you see a kid who obviously stands out. We had one in Frank this past year and might have another one in Jaydon Smith this season. Most teams in the PSAC are going to have at least two or three studs, but the crucial thing might be how well each coach recruits his supporting cast. You don't want your first three guys off the bench to come in and completely torpedo your game plan.

[TheBigCat2192]

On high school Signing Day I don't even read the player bio. At this level they are all "All-this and All-that".

I typically don’t pay attention to All-League or All-Division (or their respective equivalents in neighboring states) but I usually do have somewhat higher expectations for the ones that are All-State unless it’s an “honorable mention.” It’s a bigger pool of competition and standing out against all of them should mean more than just all-league. Of course you run into the problem of having too many selectors and that does water things down.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Just for fun I went and looked at BU’s 2020 & 2021 classes as those were some of Sheptock’s earliest and those guys should be at or near the end of their careers. There were a number of recruits that had been All-State at various classifications (mostly 2A and 3A but at least one 4A in there). Around half of them are no longer with the team and I’m not sure they’re still playing CFB at all. A few of the others are around but serve as either role players or non-impact starters. Even high-performing guys flop here. It’s a good reminder that for as poor as the promotion from our schools/conference/the NCAA is smaller school ball is not just “high school 2” the way some perceive it.

On high school Signing Day I don't even read the player bio. At this level they are all "All-this and All-that".

To your point every class is tremendous on Signing Day - stacked with can't miss steals, etc. Reality usually is the complete opposite. If you sign 30 freshmen in a class, you'll be lucky to have 6-7 of them walk on 'your' senior day.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Bringing in a portal player without meeting him in person is foolishness. Quality staffs do not go this route.

You'd be shocked how often this happens. To your point, the 'good' programs don't operate in this manner.

[Fightingscot82]

Wanted to know the thoughts of anyone on the board who has seen CB Rashan Murray from Cal (Pa) play of how good he is ...... what are his strengths and weakness, do you think he has the ability to play P4 football ...... interested because he is in the portal and apparently visiting Pitt this weekend ...... thanks in advance for any input !

Who the heck knows, honestly. The PSAC is full of guys with all the same measurables who probably could play FBS but didn't get the looks or parents didn't have the money to spend a summer sending him to all the biggest camps. But I also think the new portal rules are going to allow the P4, G5, and FCS schools to poach D2 and D3 stars as more impactful recruits vs high school kids.

Dude very quickly racked up 10-15 offers from FCS and G5 schools, some of them have really great names on the degree. If he were my kid, he'd take that Miami offer and go try to win the MAC but end up with a top 25 public degree.

[TheBigCat2192]

A huge percentage of 'recruiting' at this level is throwing darts at a board (blindfolded) - especially how some programs try and sign transfers.

The budgets are tight. I get it. Bringing in kids -- sight unseen -- is just such a risk. There are programs in this region that sign portal players who don't even visit campus or meet a coach in person. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it's a freaking disaster.

Just about any fool can fake their way through a Zoom call/interview. It's more difficult in person.

Regarding the 'small school' recruiting on the high school level ... it is tricky. Lots of diamonds out there ... lots of total duds, too.

Just for fun I went and looked at BU’s 2020 & 2021 classes as those were some of Sheptock’s earliest and those guys should be at or near the end of their careers. There were a number of recruits that had been All-State at various classifications (mostly 2A and 3A but at least one 4A in there). Around half of them are no longer with the team and I’m not sure they’re still playing CFB at all. A few of the others are around but serve as either role players or non-impact starters. Even high-performing guys flop here. It’s a good reminder that for as poor as the promotion from our schools/conference/the NCAA is smaller school ball is not just “high school 2” the way some perceive it.

[EyeoftheHawk]

A huge percentage of 'recruiting' at this level is throwing darts at a board (blindfolded) - especially how some programs try and sign transfers.

The budgets are tight. I get it. Bringing in kids -- sight unseen -- is just such a risk. There are programs in this region that sign portal players who don't even visit campus or meet a coach in person. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it's a freaking disaster.

Just about any fool can fake their way through a Zoom call/interview. It's more difficult in person.

Regarding the 'small school' recruiting on the high school level ... it is tricky. Lots of diamonds out there ... lots of total duds, too.

To your point, one of the most dynamic high school players in the state, Jase Ferguson of Central Clarion, remains unsigned. He played at the AA level and is the PA Football Writers Association’s pick for All State QB and player of the year, but I’m guessing the quality of the competition he played against is why he’s still not signed. The thing is, he was dominant against the best teams too and anyone having seen him play can clearly see he’d be a top-tier D2 signee. He’s not a QB at those levels but he sure as heck could be a receiver or DB with his speed and athleticism. One thing he can’t help is only being 6’0”.

[goalieman]

Wanted to know the thoughts of anyone on the board who has seen CB Rashan Murray from Cal (Pa) play of how good he is ...... what are his strengths and weakness, do you think he has the ability to play P4 football ...... interested because he is in the portal and apparently visiting Pitt this weekend ...... thanks in advance for any input !