IUFB 2024/25 Portalstravaganza

[Hovadipo 55,976]

Arizona transfer Safety Gunner Maldonado visited yesterday. 175 career tackles. 2023 Alamo Bowl MVP. 

[JSHoosier 20,167]

33 minutes ago, Hovadipo said:

Arizona transfer Safety Gunner Maldonado visited yesterday. 175 career tackles. 2023 Alamo Bowl MVP. 

That'd be a good get. Played at Northwestern in 2020.

[Magisterium 380]

4 hours ago, RaceToTheTop said:

Honestly, regardless of his brother, I don't Alberto Mendoza ever being the starting quarterback at IU.  My opinion is that even if nobody else is brought in, he will be third on the depth chart behind Jackson and Cherry in some order.

Haven’t seen Alberto play, but based on what I saw of his older brother this fall and what some NFL scouts are apparently saying, if he came to IU it wouldn’t surprise me if he was IU’s starting QB by opening day next season.

[Brass Cannon 24,710]

1 minute ago, Magisterium said:

Haven’t seen Alberto play, but based on what I saw of his older brother this fall and what some NFL scouts are apparently saying, if he came to IU it wouldn’t surprise me if he was IU’s starting QB by opening day next season.

Pretty sure he’s going somewhere where he starts 

[Magisterium 380]

1 minute ago, Brass Cannon said:

Pretty sure he’s going somewhere where he starts 

No doubt-not really sure what the attraction might be for Mendoza (or other portal QBs) about playing at Wisconsin, especially compared to Cig’s offense. Or Georgia, for that matter, where their overall record has been great but their record on QB development has been pretty mid imo.

 

[Hovadipo 55,976]

3 minutes ago, Magisterium said:

No doubt-not really sure what the attraction might be for Mendoza (or other portal QBs) about playing at Wisconsin, especially compared to Cig’s offense. Or Georgia, for that matter, where their overall record has been great but their record on QB development has been pretty mid imo.

 

Fickel has been pretty good with QBs but I think I read that he’s already considering ditching the air raid idea. If it’s a purely QB development decision, it should be IU. He’s the starter the day he steps on campus and Cig won’t have to promise a thing. 

[rcbowla 7,092]

On 12/13/2024 at 2:30 PM, Demo said:

https://x.com/TransferPortal_/status/1867651648887132173
 

1st domino. Welcome aboard, young man.

He looks the part. Looks to be of similar build type and running style as The Judge (JE).

[Magisterium 380]

10 minutes ago, Hovadipo said:

Fickel has been pretty good with QBs but I think I read that he’s already considering ditching the air raid idea. If it’s a purely QB development decision, it should be IU. He’s the starter the day he steps on campus and Cig won’t have to promise a thing. 

Some people are interpreting Fickell’s firing of Longo as a sign that he’s changing course on the whole Air Raid approach. Guess we’ll see on that one.

I would hope that the QB opportunity at IU is at least as attractive to portal guys as what’s currently available at Wisconsin or UCLA. And Mendoza (the Elder) doesn’t strike me as someone who would aspire to go somewhere like UGA so he can hand the ball off to a room full of 5-star running backs but time will tell.

[FootballSchool 40]

https://x.com/espzynalerts/status/1867972080920310178?s=46
 

Not sure if I trust the account. Would be cool if true.

[ebridges24 2,429]

9 hours ago, JSHoosier said:

It'd be nice to hear about landing a good QB. Especially after the dinosaur egg that was laid last night.

you mean turd?

[JSHoosier 20,167]

8 minutes ago, FootballSchool said:

https://x.com/espzynalerts/status/1867972080920310178?s=46
 

Not sure if I trust the account. Would be cool if true.

I don't buy it, I found nothing else about him committing.

[Hoosierfanyuh 2,193]

Matt weaver follows the account 

[Hovadipo 55,976]

That account has had a ton of scoops recently. Was on Miller Moss trending toward to UL all day, Jackson Arnold to Auburn, among other things. Worth paying attention to. Also has Wollschlaeger to Kentucky fwiw. I believe it’s a UK-based account. 

[JerryYeagley23 3,356]

I see the Thieneman (sp?) to Oregon news and honestly that kind of concerns me. Unless it was a strictly NIL that couldn’t be done move, we should be getting Purdue’s best players easily with our success this year and it being such an easy recruit and change for the player. Unpopular opinion, we need to leverage and then leave behind the plucky, under-appreciated non power 5 player model as soon as possible. Yes, Cig is a great coach and has had success with guys with a chip on their shoulders. No, I don’t think that’s a sustainable model if we really want to leap into the upper echelon of the conference perennially. You have to use your success to move the program forward. Our women’s bball program is dealing with this hard truth currently. Lighting in a bottle isn’t easy to catch, and even the best coaches can’t turn 3-star talent into national championship contenders consistently. Lots of programs have had their fleeting success only to fall back. I remember Northwestern making a rose bowl in the late nineties only to become irrelevant inside of five years. Our model needs to be the Gonzaga model. Used to be a Cinderella story in March Madness. Had a couple underdog teams that overachieved. Great coach. But turned the program into a mainstay by getting regular five star talent and transfers BECAUSE they had a great coach. Now they’re a new “blue blood” every year. My fear is that we rely on the theory that Cig’s a good coach and can get “more out of less” and continue prioritizing high production mid-major guys and our luck runs out and we fall back in line. What I want is for us to strike while the iron is hot and create a winning culture with better talent that has less risk of a downside so to speak. Rant over. But I’m bookmarking this and hoping not to have to point back to it in five years. I desperately want to have a football program that gives us this excitement and joy year in and out. I hope we do just that but also can see how this season becomes a flash in the pan if we assume it can be easily repeated. Go IU. Beat ND. Sorry to let the bourbon type for me tonight. 

[go iu bb 5,905]

4 minutes ago, JerryYeagley23 said:

I see the Thieneman (sp?) to Oregon news and honestly that kind of concerns me. Unless it was a strictly NIL that couldn’t be done move, we should be getting Purdue’s best players easily with our success this year and it being such an easy recruit and change for the player. Unpopular opinion, we need to leverage and then leave behind the plucky, under-appreciated non power 5 player model as soon as possible. Yes, Cig is a great coach and has had success with guys with a chip on their shoulders. No, I don’t think that’s a sustainable model if we really want to leap into the upper echelon of the conference perennially. You have to use your success to move the program forward. Our women’s bball program is dealing with this hard truth currently. Lighting in a bottle isn’t easy to catch, and even the best coaches can’t turn 3-star talent into national championship contenders consistently. Lots of programs have had their fleeting success only to fall back. I remember Northwestern making a rose bowl in the late nineties only to become irrelevant inside of five years. Our model needs to be the Gonzaga model. Used to be a Cinderella story in March Madness. Had a couple underdog teams that overachieved. Great coach. But turned the program into a mainstay by getting regular five star talent and transfers BECAUSE they had a great coach. Now they’re a new “blue blood” every year. My fear is that we rely on the theory that Cig’s a good coach and can get “more out of less” and continue prioritizing high production mid-major guys and our luck runs out and we fall back in line. What I want is for us to strike while the iron is hot and create a winning culture with better talent that has less risk of a downside so to speak. Rant over. But I’m bookmarking this and hoping not to have to point back to it in five years. I desperately want to have a football program that gives us this excitement and joy year in and out. I hope we do just that but also can see how this season becomes a flash in the pan if we assume it can be easily repeated. Go IU. Beat ND. Sorry to let the bourbon type for me tonight. 

That is a legitimate concern that I share. I'm not too concerned though, since some of the players IU is targeting in the portal are also getting recruited by other schools with good teams. If there is a time to really make a splash in portal recruiting, that time is now. 

Cignetti and his staff so far seem to have a good eye for talent. They also seem to have certain types they tend to target for the positions they're looking to fill. Remember, Cignetti was a main recruiter at Alabama so he knows what top talent looks like.

So while I can understand that concern, I think it's too early to really worry.

[Hovadipo 55,976]

I’m not too concerned about losing one guy to the national title favorite that likely dropped a sizable bag. At the beginning of the staff’s first non-transitional offseason, no less.

[cthomas 6,416]

23 minutes ago, go iu bb said:

That is a legitimate concern that I share. I'm not too concerned though, since some of the players IU is targeting in the portal are also getting recruited by other schools with good teams. If there is a time to really make a splash in portal recruiting, that time is now. 

Cignetti and his staff so far seem to have a good eye for talent. They also seem to have certain types they tend to target for the positions they're looking to fill. Remember, Cignetti was a main recruiter at Alabama so he knows what top talent looks like.

So while I can understand that concern, I think it's too early to really worry.

Agree. CCC understands what needs to be done. He will use the current model until he has the cache to up the recruiting level. We will get there with this coai, but it will take a minute for the football world to catch up.

[TucsonHoosier 38]

29 minutes ago, Hovadipo said:

I’m not too concerned about losing one guy to the national title favorite that likely dropped a sizable bag. At the beginning of the staff’s first non-transitional offseason, no less.

Exactly. On top of that, I don’t think there should be any expectation that we land Purdue players in the portal, there’s a solid chance the rivalry left a bad enough taste in their mouth that we aren’t any of their first options from the start.

[Hovadipo 55,976]

4 minutes ago, TucsonHoosier said:

Exactly. On top of that, I don’t think there should be any expectation that we land Purdue players in the portal, there’s a solid chance the rivalry left a bad enough taste in their mouth that we aren’t any of their first options from the start.

Thieneman’s defense did give up 66 points lol. We sure we don’t want the guy from your neck of the woods anyway?

[go iu bb 5,905]