Lebowski

WR out of Homerville, GA 247 Rivals On3

The NW-Fitz thing is unfortunate. I never played at the college level so I'm completely oblivious with the ins and outs and what have you but I played the sport for 10 years and I recall being hazed with the teams I played on only once. I was a sophomore starting DB on the varsity and was 'hazed' by my fellow defensive LBs (all upperclassmen). And I wouldn't really consider it hazing. They picked me up in the locker room and carried me over to the toilet and began to attempt a swirly (Is that what they call these days?) only to pull me up before it ever happened. And this happened after a couple weeks into the season to where I was able to prove to hold my on own on the field for the team. It was all in good fun and all parties involved, including myself, never really felt threatened or came off as serious. Basically, a lot of smiles and zero issues. It felt more like an initiation and welcome to band of brothers more than anything. Were there incidents (questionable wtf moments) in the locker room where a one off player confrontation occurred? Yes. Were those confrontations personal? Yes. Were they ever a team building thing? No. Can I count on one hand how many times it occurred? Yes, once. Were the two players involved reprimanded by the coaching staff? Abso-effin'-lutely! So my question to anyone that has played at the next level. Is this a thing (the hazing part, not the accusations of abuse etc. etc.) that occurs at the college level often?

Doing away with the divisions is a huge upgrade for IUFB. They no longer will face arguably the three best football programs in the conference year after year. They will now only face Purdue year after year. 2024 Schedule Conference Away: MSU, Nebraska, Northwestern, Wisconsin Home: Maryland, Minnesota, PSU, Purdue, UCLA Non-Conference Away: Louisville Home: FIU, Charlotte 2025 Schedule Conference Away: Illinois, Maryland, OSU, Purdue, USC Home: Iowa, Michigan, MSU, Rutgers Non-Conference Home: Old Dominion, Louisville, Indiana State

I don't think they're focusing on MAC recruits per se. I'd imagine they're just not getting any interest from their first options? I do think however they are ramping up more on the portal than high school recruits. As they should because it makes sense if you think about it. The current portal situation is a perfect storm for schools like IUFB and last year CTA took full advantage of it. I wholeheartedly agree about getting both P5 and upgrades from the portal but IUFB historically just isn't that type of football program, unfortunately.

Or a shift in recruiting strategy now that NIL and the transfer portal is in the mix? IUFB's 2023 transfer class was in the top 20. I've said this on here before but this would be my strategy if I were coaching. I'd focus on the portal and try to land recruits that can fill holes. From what it looks like this is the same direction CTA is going. He landed 23 transfers and 14 high school recruits last year. Whether or not it works remains to be seen. But yeah, not getting solid P5 recruits interested to begin with is a cause for concern, for me at least. Somewhat related but unrelated, in my opinion, until IU Athletics gets serious about IUFB this will always be an issue. The NIL dollars allocated don't seem to be distributed very high to the program and that makes a difference. I just don't see the Athletic Dept. ever getting serious about the football program based on the program's entire history. It's also cheaper to not focus on the football program. I think the AD is happy to see the program finish .500 or very close to .500. They probably see that as a success. Just like us sorry saps cheering for IUFB, I think the department is exuberant when they have a winning season. It's a shame but wouldn't surprise me.

The optics don't look good for sure. I personally don't take too much stock into those rankings now that the transfer portal is here. Because by the time these kids step foot on the grid iron in Bloomington there will be transfers added to the class. Keep in mind last year's class due to the transfer portal ended up boosting in rank when it was all said and done.

Top Ranked LS out of Phoenix, AZ 247 On3 Kohl's

LB out of Dublin, GA 247 Rivals On3

Top 100 EDGE out of Hollywood, FL 247 Rivals On3

Top 100 TE out of New Orleans, LA 247 Rivals On3

Top 150 WR out of Nashville, TN 247 Rivals On3

Top 100 S out of Enterprise, AL 247 Rivals On3

CB out of Carmel, IN 247 Rivals On3

ATH, expected to play WR, out of Cincinnati, OH 247 Rivals On3 Twitter

Top 50 QB out of Dayton, OH 247 Rivals On3

Top 50 IOL out of Indianapolis, IN 247 Rivals On3

Not just the fans but coaches as well. Keep in mind a lot of coaches in the IHSAA played football at IU and ISU. And they coach/coached a lot of kids that are on both rosters. They'd like to make the trip to not only see their alma mater but also the kid(s) they coached in high school. Give up is probably not the word I would use but to each their own. The portal goes both ways and losing players (i.e. Dasan McCullough) to the portal is what it is. Overall, I believe CTA actually came out ahead with the portal this year and some of them are young and will need to be developed. But that's just my opinion.

I was thinking the complete opposite. LOL! Regardless, it's bad for IHSAA football.

That Sept 8 Friday game is blasphemy for ISHAA football. A lot of Indiana high school coaches and fans want to go see their hometown kid play but will miss out.

IOL out of Kaukauna, WI 247 Rivals On3

I'm sure he's expecting a national championship! LOLOL!!! We'll see man.

He'll probably be fine with his current team. LOL. He wins 2 games this year it's better than last season. His team sucked last year.

What's the count of players transferring to Colorado? I think it's pretty high, like close to 30 or something. I recall 24/7 had them transfer ranked #1 and the recruiting class wasn't bad either. Like something close to 20 recruits coming in. This team had a worse record than IUFB so it makes sense the mass exodus is happening. I guess what I'm saying here is that the players leaving probably will find a landing spot at a school like Ball St. or something because that's the talent level. It's no knock to those playing at mid-majors it's just that there's vast difference in talent from a PAC-12 school to a MAC school.

I don't see Gonzaga having deep pockets with the likes of Duke or UK. I foresee new universities getting in on this because of how incredibly deep their pockets are. Like don't rule out a school like Miami or Texas. It's going to be about alumni aka collective dollars when it's all said and done. Marketability will take a back seat because it's not about that anymore. It helps but in the end it's about collective dollars.