I can't keep up with this stuff, but I know some of y'all are good at it. I think the definitely gone include Kennard, Simon, Sanders, Nick. What other key contributors are out of eligibility or most likely to declare?
Players who are definitely gone, likely gone, definitely back, likely back?
- Thread starter 18IsTheMan
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Don't even want to think about it; (and this is just my guessing - zero or less 
credible info)
Debo, D. Knight, (both) Sanders, Hemmingway, Huntley
Everyone is concerned about the D, and rightfully so, but we are going to miss Rocket and Simon next year!! I don't think we have anywhere near anything in the RB room to replicate Sanders' production.
credible info)Debo, D. Knight, (both) Sanders, Hemmingway, Huntley
Everyone is concerned about the D, and rightfully so, but we are going to miss Rocket and Simon next year!! I don't think we have anywhere near anything in the RB room to replicate Sanders' production.
We lose all our top RBs and WRs. Harbor will be back, we hope, but he's still an experiment at WR. We will need portal help at WR and RB. We have some TEs in the system. One is 4 star.
The starting O-tackles will be back. The interior O-line will be different, but the starters are probably already here. We have several, decent, experienced O-line returning. There should be some competition, but the coaches should already have a strong idea who the starting five would be for next year.
Defense is scary, we lose a lot of dudes. At DT, Sanders and Goodwine have another year. At DE, we should have Umeozulu, Stewart, and Geer coming back. The starting LBs are gone. Mo Kaba has another year. Freshman LB JayR Johnson should be decent. DE might be ok, but we are going to need Portal help at DT and LB.
The great news for the defense is the back end. Every player on the 3-deep except for 2 guys has eligibility. Only Fortune and Spaulding are out of time. If they all come back, the secondary is going to be strong. Will Emmanwori come back? I suppose that depends on how high he might go in the draft.
If we didn't have a star QB, I would expect a drop off next year. Since we do have Sellers, I think that will help us in the Portal with getting some more skill guys.
Defense upfront is probably our biggest worry. If end up with a bend-don't-break defense with a good backend, we will need to pair it with an offense that can score a bunch of points. Is Braswell going to emerge at RB? Who knows? We definitely need to find some star talent at WR.
Hopefully we don't lose anyone we need to the Portal.
The starting O-tackles will be back. The interior O-line will be different, but the starters are probably already here. We have several, decent, experienced O-line returning. There should be some competition, but the coaches should already have a strong idea who the starting five would be for next year.
Defense is scary, we lose a lot of dudes. At DT, Sanders and Goodwine have another year. At DE, we should have Umeozulu, Stewart, and Geer coming back. The starting LBs are gone. Mo Kaba has another year. Freshman LB JayR Johnson should be decent. DE might be ok, but we are going to need Portal help at DT and LB.
The great news for the defense is the back end. Every player on the 3-deep except for 2 guys has eligibility. Only Fortune and Spaulding are out of time. If they all come back, the secondary is going to be strong. Will Emmanwori come back? I suppose that depends on how high he might go in the draft.
If we didn't have a star QB, I would expect a drop off next year. Since we do have Sellers, I think that will help us in the Portal with getting some more skill guys.
Defense upfront is probably our biggest worry. If end up with a bend-don't-break defense with a good backend, we will need to pair it with an offense that can score a bunch of points. Is Braswell going to emerge at RB? Who knows? We definitely need to find some star talent at WR.
Hopefully we don't lose anyone we need to the Portal.
I'd be shocked if TJ Sanders stayed another year. I've seen mock drafts with him going in the first round.
Nice chart.
Yellow = Out of Eligibility
Green = Eligibility but possibly/probably gone
I think Doty is out of time too.
Scary when you look at it this way.
Brutal. Simply brutal.
With regard to Doty; I hate that it's worked out this way for the kid, but I don't know that I recall even hearing his name this year....
Tonka, Huntley
Nick is definitely gone. TJ, most likely. DQ isn't getting a grade high enough to go to the NFL though.
This is a very unpleasant topic in the current circumstances.
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I think we may regress a bit in 2025, but this year has earned us a lot of good publicity w recruits and we can probably land some great ones, HS and portal, to make a special 2026 for Sellers 3rd year as a starter
Man, oh man! I just want to enjoy this year for a week or two (even though I really hated about 28 minutes of that game Saturday) before thinking about how bad it could be next year.
Hopefully success brings kids in. I don't think our collective has the $$ to bring them.
My question for next year is: How many really skilled kids can we get who want to win rather than want to be paid? It's clear that we can win - even with several "project" players like Kennard and Knight... even Campbell These guys had something to prove and they are doing it. How many of those guys are out there? We definitely need some offensive weapons.
Hopefully success brings kids in. I don't think our collective has the $$ to bring them.
My question for next year is: How many really skilled kids can we get who want to win rather than want to be paid? It's clear that we can win - even with several "project" players like Kennard and Knight... even Campbell These guys had something to prove and they are doing it. How many of those guys are out there? We definitely need some offensive weapons.
Should move Jalon Kilgore to FS- dude looks as big as Emanwori. I would be mad at him for letting Mizzou catch the game winner over him, but Burton is a 1st round talent. He will be bigger and faster next year.
Huntley is out of eli
Perfect pass that required a one handed catch because Kilgore had the WR pinned against the sideline. I can't hold that against JK. That was big time balling from Brady Cook and Luther Burden.
There's also no assurances that Dylan Stewart won't find another home in the portal. We haven't had a team like this since the transfer and play immediately deal became a thing and we have typically lost some of the best talent thru it. So maybe a little hopeful having a better team will curtail some (most) of that.
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In the pre-portal days, we'd feel pretty optimistic about the future, likely returning a lot of pieces and feeling like we were building a foundation for the future. But when you're dependent on so many portal pieces who only have a year of eligibility, success in one season is no longer a predictor of success the following season.
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