WR Williams to Baylor .
- Thread starter jimarnp
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Sucks and Franklin has to be terribly disappointed in this recent swoon at WR. To Franklin's credit, he spoke extensively during the season about the impact high level WRs make in football these days. He fawned over Marvin harrison.......we are simply unable to get game breaking recievers and I'm sure the coaches are racking their brains trying to figure it out. Maybe if we show a little pop on offense this year it will reinspire some revievers to take a second look in years to come.
True. “Popping” the offense will no doubt help, but make no mistake, this is an unregulated NIL problem. — Those with the financial ability, will be the victors. You’ll have a dozen or so “George Steinbrenner- like” teams that are bought, and will perform. Leaving 120 or so teams filling in the back end.
—Serious control features needed with NIL.
The courts have decided that NIL is a protected right for these “students.”
Not saying they don’t have a right. Saying controls are needed. — Sixteen, 17, &18 year olds are being bid on and purchased for a service/product…. Fine, they earned the right. But some limitations must occur. Even if it’s only limiting their amount received while in school ( or 21, or another demarcation), while their total amount stays “in tact”….. they can only spend “x” amount tops while in school. This will help mitigate the impulse driven , short term , massive payouts to “buy” kids. —- This doesn’t mean they don’t get their big paycheck, it just means they don’t get massive amounts right away. —Somewhat levels the initial playing field, and allows the 17, 18 y/o to mature.
Well he c
He committed without ever visiting and the coach admitted the recruiting success was due to NIL money.
Has the playing field ever been level in college football? There's always been tiers and always will be.
We've lost recruits to schools like Pitt Rutgers and Maryland for decades. Losing a kid to Baylor isn't a big deal.
No, it’s never been completely level…. But unregulated NIL makes it “much less” level.
Question for any Lawyers out there.. since the schools are theoretically Public Institutions.. where all Employees salaries are public records ? Doesn’t the school have to list.. what these players are “ making” now ? Talk about opening Pandora’s box.. can’t imagine the problems that could occurs in the locker rooms knowing what everyone is making…
Did Hagans bone your old GF or something.— He may not be an effective WR coach, but that jury is still out ( only been here a year and a half). NIL ( unregulated) is the elephant in the room.
College bball teams have adjusted to the new landscape. Football is about a year or so behind. PSU needs to recruit WRs in the portal who were highly recruited but decide to transfer.
Don't need to be a lawyer to know that the university has no involvement in payments made from a 3rd party to a student. NIL, legally, is not any different than a student working a part time job.
I totally agree with this, and they also should do that with most other positions too. That’s why losing these high school kids isn’t as big a deal as it used to be. In fact, getting experienced and productive players in the portal probably is better than hoping that an unproven high school kid pans out, and we all know a lot of these recruits don’t amount to anything.
With the above said, PSU now needs to have success in the portal, and we all know what the most important thing is to ensuring that, and PSU obviously has to improve in that matter.
3/4 or more of these recruits who actually end up signing will enter the portal, and a large number of those will leave their original school and play for at least one or two other schools before their careers are over. The portal, IMO, now is just as important as recruiting.
PSU needs to demonstrate for receivers who will enter the portal after this season, and there will be many, that its offensive scheme will help get them drafted or signed as free agents in the NFL. And then, they need to have the cash to pay them, which is almost obscene to say but that’s the reality.
These guys, Cyrus and Williams, are not elite guys. Not good enough for an OSU. 90 rated. We should be able to land guys like this but our passing game was so lousy last season it is holding us back. Yes, perhaps NIL but not sure that is the primary reason. We are punching below our weight with WR recruiting. Although the Maryland commit was a 4 star but we need more.
Yes, and great wide receivers usually are the difference between having an elite team and just a good team, although if you have a good line, backs and tight ends, you can scheme your way to success, which is what the offensive staff didn’t do fully last season.
Yep.
It's incredible to me that a blue blood like Penn State is having this kind of trouble recruiting WRs.
I'm not expecting us to beat Brian Hartline for dudes. I'm not expecting us to recruit WRs at the LSU or Texas level. But we are definitely recruiting well below what should be expected.
What’s perplexing is that really until last season, PSU under Franklin, while not having the quality of receivers that OSU has (nobody has), almost always has had at least one or two receivers every season that have played in the NFL. In 2022, Parker Washington was on the team, and he was starting games for Jacksonville last season.
Pretty sure the new OC will help somewhat with the WR situation with on the field production. This should help recruiting at least a bit.
And this cannot be all about NIL. You can't tell me a South Carolina or a Baylor can just easily out bid us for a guy we really want. With Williams apparently his friend commits to Baylor and that is the school he wants too. You can't do much about that.
The issue is not this particular recruiting loss but the bigger picture. That is we just can't get many WR that are even mid to low 4 star guys. So the implication is the talent gap at a difference making position becomes significant versus an OSU, Oregon, etc. And makes it very difficult to compete vs them. Especially if we can't develop who we do get.
Baylor was not really in the picture until they threw a nice NIL deal at him.
Cyrus said himself that he didn’t make his final decision until about two days before announcing, that kind of tells me he was waiting for the best deal. NIL is probably 90% of most recruits decisions now a days.
The kid has never visited Baylor and he committed there. Are you sure it wasn't NIL primarily?
Based on this, why would anybody get excited over a verbal commit like this? This is the type of recruit who has portal written all over him. That just tells you that the location, school, coach, etc., has almost nothing to do with a recruit like this; it’s all about getting a pay out.
I mean, how can you make a decision to purportedly spend the next four or five years of your life at a place that you’ve never visited? A lot of these recruits are going to be in for a rude awakening after their football days end, which for most will be in the next few years, and have to function in the real world.
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It could be so. One poster previously stated that the big donors could be putting their money toward the stadium renovation instead of NIL. I have no inside info.
Digging for money in a gold mine ( big schools and Ivy high dollar alumni), is a whole lot different that digging for money in a salt mine ( most of the rest of the 134 teams). —-If you ain’t set for big bucks now, you ain’t gonna be. So if you’re one of the “ have nots’, you can look for the right donor all day….its an exercise in futility
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Agree but PSU must have more NIL money than schools like Baylor & South Carolina.
This is an ugly look for Kotelnicki and Hagans. I can't help to think PSU spent most of their NIL money trying to retain existing players.
The recruits don't seem to be overly impressed with the new prospect of playing in a renovated Beaver Stadium.
That's their choice--it's Franklin's job to get more money. Constantly his job to get more money
As opposed to the past, when we all knew which teams would get the best recruits?
Did Mizzou find money? This doesn't hurt the "other" schools. It gives them a path they never had before.
We got the Maryland 4 star WR so we ran out of money? How much more can both of these schools have over us? Williams went where his friend went.
Anyway. Moving on from these two losses. Why would NIL only be a problem at WR? We landed three or four big time DL guys. The #4 or whatever CB. Top 10 QB for '26. Stud RBs. What gives at this position? We can't compete or have to be a much better coached team to have a bunch of 86 guys at WR play with an OSU with 96 guys.
Money clearly changed hands in the past , but it was technically illegal, and therefore somewhat muted/limited in total. People “ occasionally “ were cited and paid a price. Now it’s completely legal, with no real limits…. It’s the wild, Wild West. —The best alumni funded schools will be the best performing programs , secondary to massive war chests. —- most schools ( 100+) simply cannot compete . —Some limitations/restrictions are needed, or Division 1 football will cease to exist at many schools without massive alumni bases. Simple math.
Just like when the Louisville bball coach was "surprised" when a top recruit that they hadn't been expecting signed w the Cards...#Adidas basketball scandal.
Now w NIL it is the norm. As the "Notre Dame" of Christian schools there are plenty of believers who want to go there. I've had a few students matriculate to Baylor and like it.
Also know another Texan who left Baylor in the 80s for PSU. Being in Waco was stifling and she wanted a big state school with good football. Never stepped on our campus until moving in. She loved being a Lion. Baylor is not for everybody.
Throw in the buddy and you've got an interesting "recruitment." $$$
Wish him well....it is the way it is.
You just want it to cease to exist. Somehow the MAC CUSA MWC teams all survive. Everyone will manage. Their will (as there have always been) haves and haves not.
Ideally the top level ends up only being the SEC and Big Ten. That's long overdue and has nothing to do with NIL.
Unless you've been preaching for the schools to pay players for the last 40-50 years you can't complain. This exists because players were bringing in billions and don't seeing a cent.
I clearly understand the premise. The players need to be paid….I agree with this. I’m not against NIL, I am for it. —Unrestricted/ unregulated NIL is idiocy, however.
