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Congratulations to the Iowa Hawkeyes, who finally have something to smile about in college football:
Since December 2019, 25 Nebraska players on scholarship have entered the transfer portal.
— Mitch Sherman (@mitchsherman) January 27, 2021
Just like there’s no single reason for the departures, there’s no universal fix. But the Huskers must address their issues in the wake of Luke McCaffrey’s transfer. https://t.co/mD6hs7SNeL
So we’re going to talk about this, huh?
Well, for the most part, I can look at each one of these transfers and think, “sure, I don’t blame the kid” and while you want to point out OMG FROST, it’s also important to think “Well, why would a kid want to come to Lincoln from Florida in a god damn pandemic in the first place?”
Thing is, I am not NOT blaming Frost and the coaches.
There’s enough smoke around the team that says he is resistant to change, not super fun to be around if you aren’t in his circle, etc. etc., but also, like, some of the transfers are guys like Will Farniok, Kade Warner, and Luke McCaffrey who were probably not going to play a lot in Lincoln anymore and wanted their chance.
Is that ideal from a depth perspective? Hell no, but also, if you want to play, go somewhere you can play. I dunno, I’m sad to see players go without winning, especially guys like JD Spielman and Wandale Robinson, but for the most part, the transfers were guys who didn’t get a ton of playing time.
It uh, happens.
Maybe we should hope that people stay and compete, and maybe they would if they were from the area, but it didn’t work out that way.
I will add that a lot of these were also kids who were new to Lincoln and didn’t even get a chance to start their journey here.
Something didn’t click, and that’s definitely an issue we’ve seen a lot. If it’s because of high pressure recruiting tactics, telling kids things that aren’t true, or just the geographical thing, I don’t know, but that sucks even worse somehow and has been a problem since, well, forever.
I’m not saying there isn’t a problem, here, but how do you fix it or even assess it outside of Iowa and Minnesota fans being like “OMG YOU ARE THE WORST” (sure) is difficult for me to figure out. All I can do is say I wish the best for everyone to go do what it is they enjoy doing most. Hope they all have great careers and get what they want out of football.