Duke Football -- Offseason Discussion

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Seems to me that more players have entered their names into the transfer portal. Any correlations to the coaching staff and players leaving ? Every school has disgruntled players, but this year seems to be more peculiar

I think we'll see it more and more...it will become more the norm....which I'm not sure is good for the sport overall...not sure it's bad either. Tough on coaches...hard to plan.

[OldPhiKap]

Is there a site or list that shows how many players from each ACC school has players in the transfer portal? I am not sure if our uptick is a sign of the program, a sign of the times, or an anomaly from a relatively small sample size.

[Acymetric]

Sure. And I was wrong, we are at 8 transfers. I accidentally counted incoming transfer J'Marick Woods to get to 9.

FWIW, 247 has a pretty nice (free!) transfer portal tracker for all teams where you can keep up with who is going where.

https://247sports.com/college/duke/S...ransferPortal/


I'm going by whether 247 indicates them as having "immediate" eligibility to determine grad transfers so that part may or may not be correct.

Brittain Brown    (RB)   Appears to be a grad transfer
Scott Bracey      (WR)   Grad transfer
Aaron Young       (WR)   Grad transfer
Liam Smith        (OL)   Grad Transfer
Jacob Morganstern (LB)   RS Jr (not indicated as a grad transfer on 247 but he might be)
Isaiah Kemp       (CB)   Freshman
Javon Jackson     (S)    Grad transfer
AJ Reed           (K)    Grad transfer

The link in this post is to 247 which keeps a list, can filter by school/year/position etc.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Does the same rule apply as in basketball that if you aren't a grad transfer you have to sit out a year? That makes for a long collegiate career if you have already redshirted at your first school.

[Acymetric]

Does the same rule apply as in basketball that if you aren't a grad transfer you have to sit out a year? That makes for a long collegiate career if you have already redshirted at your first school.

Yes, but the year you sit out is treated as your redshirt year (so if you already redshirted you lose a year of eligibility while you sit out).

Basically all of our guys except one CB are grad transfers though as I understand it.

[budwom]

I've seen it stated that Stanford has 15 guys in the portal...somewhat counterintuitively, I think maybe good academic schools have a lot of guys in the portal because most of their kids stay on a graduation track. Gagnon has also entered the portal for Duke, no big deal, he doesn't have ACC speed, but maybe he can get some time elsewhere.

The only guy in the portal who disappoints me is Brittain Brown, who can be very good when healthy (which is, admittedly, rarely).

[Acymetric]

Oh, Xander Gagnon has put his name in the transfer portal (now the total is 9). Not a major contributor, but yet another departure (another grad transfer).

[BlueDevil16]

With everyone entering this portal, we need to be looking at bringing transfers in. As much of a feel good story as it may be, giving 5 scholarships to walk ons and backup long snappers isn’t going to make us competitive.

[budwom]

I think the system is working well...players who aren't playing much are graduating or are on track to do so, and looking elsewhere for more playing time. This opens up a roster spot for coaches to fill with presumably/hopefully a player who can ultimately contribute more.

[Acymetric]

I think the system is working well...players who aren't playing much are graduating or are on track to do so, and looking elsewhere for more playing time. This opens up a roster spot for coaches to fill with presumably/hopefully a player who can ultimately contribute more.

The Brown transfer really hurts. If healthy, arguably one of our best players (certainly on offense).

[budwom]

The Brown transfer really hurts. If healthy, arguably one of our best players (certainly on offense).

yeah, he's the only guy whose contributions will be missed, though he's never been able to stay healthy. And perhaps he won't even leave. Duke will have some new offensive coaches very soon, and that could have an effect on his plans.

[Bob Green]

Duke will have some new offensive coaches very soon, and that could have an effect on his plans.

It would be great news if Brittain Brown decided to stick around. Without him the roster is far from bare but either one of the youngsters will need to step up into the rotation or Marvin Hubbard will need to be healthy.

[luvdahops]

It would be great news if Brittain Brown decided to stick around. Without him the roster is far from bare but either one of the youngsters will need to step up into the rotation or Marvin Hubbard will need to be healthy.

Agreed on Brown. I think that when healthy, he is/was by far our best RB, with great hands and vision, and (to my eyes) twitchier and more explosive than either Jackson or Durant.

[jimsumner]

One of the things the wide use of grad-student transfers changes is the calculus on whether to redshirt true freshmen. Why hold them out if they're going to play their fifth year somewhere else?

[Acymetric]

One of the things the wide use of grad-student transfers changes is the calculus on whether to redshirt true freshmen. Why hold them out if they're going to play their fifth year somewhere else?

That's a pretty good point, although most of these guys would not have gotten any burn as true freshmen.

[jimsumner]

That's a pretty good point, although most of these guys would not have gotten any burn as true freshmen.

Brown and Bracey had some injuries early in their true freshman seasons but both could have played in the second half of the season. Duke didn't want to burn their redshirts on a half season and held them out, deriving no benefit from that patience.

[CameronBornAndBred]

One of the things the wide use of grad-student transfers changes is the calculus on whether to redshirt true freshmen. Why hold them out if they're going to play their fifth year somewhere else?

Good question, but isn't one of the reasons of a redshirt during a player's first year to give them time to be physically ready for collegiate football? They go from being literally the big man on campus to the small fry. I thought lots of that redshirt year was about developing their skills as well as their bodies. If a player isn't physically ready, he's gonna get hurt, and then the point of his potential grad transfer may be moot.

[richmclean]

Brown is the only one above a replacement level player. When I start seeing Casey Holman or Jalen Calhoun in the list this is pearl clutching at best. Our problem isn’t we are losing mediocre players it’s that we are recruiting almost all mediocre players. Cut raised our profile from mostly 2s to mostly 3s. While it has made a big jump in our record,our competition expects 4-5s just like Duke BB does. Coaching em up with the best of em , Cut has hidden the comparable level of our recruits vs most of our competitors. PS- I really do love all the kids on the team like LL teams I’ve coached. Unlike my LL teams these Duke teams haven’t been hit with the lightening bolt from God of comparable talent as our foes.

[budwom]

^ we absolutely do need more playmakers, that's for sure. Maybe some of the receivers will step up with new coaching, really hard to say.

[sagegrouse]

It would be great news if Brittain Brown decided to stick around. Without him the roster is far from bare but either one of the youngsters will need to step up into the rotation or Marvin Hubbard will need to be healthy.

I am reluctant to get too down on the number of transfers. It's a different world -- this here transfer portal -- Star Trek II, I guess. We'll see how many actually leave to play football at D-1 schools.