The Bank (1/8)

View as article
Who do I blame for bringing in Lichtenstein, Sagapolu, Denis (maybe those 3 pre-date Zo?), Ladson, Gore, Campbell, Davis, Harrell, McCormick, Roberts, and Brown?

I’ve heard Roberts and Campbell were all Zo’s diamond in the rough evaluation. Addae doesn’t even trust him because he forced Terry Roberts a spot on the roster lol
Absolutely have been reaches and missed evals. But teams taking double digit guys have misses.

FSU has about a dozen portal misses too the past couple cycles.

For us, 6 out of 11 guys were improvements in 2022.

8/9 out of16 were improvements this past cycle.

Out of the 5 we have the only "reach" is Poffenbarger and that's still TBD.

Marley Cook is the only other non P5 guy and he was being pursued by Larry Johnson at Ohio State.

Chances are 4 out of the 5 will be starters or key rotational pieces.

It would be concerning if we were reaching on guys again this year.

Sure seems like our portal evals/takes are trending in the right direction.
 
Advertisement
Absolutely have been reaches and missed evals. But teams taking double digit guys have misses.

FSU has about a dozen portal misses too the past couple cycles.

For us, 6 out of 11 guys were improvements in 2022.

8/9 out of16 were improvements this past cycle.

Out of the 5 we have the only "reach" is Poffenbarger and that's still TBD.

Marley Cook is the only other non P5 guy and he was being pursued by Larry Johnson at Ohio State.

Chances are 4 out of the 5 will be starters or key rotational pieces.

It would be concerning if we were reaching on guys again this year.

Sure seems like our portal evals/takes are trending in the right direction.
The improvements are mediocre. That isn't the correct way to use the portal. I'd rather see Kinsler get blown off the line of scrimmage than Lou Cristobal. Id rather watch Horton get pushed into the endzone than Thomas Gore. I'd rather see Carver drop passes than Mccormick. We add players that are maxed out as mid. Stafford can get torched all game just as well as Jaden Davis.
 
The improvements are mediocre. That isn't the correct way to use the portal. I'd rather see Kinsler get blown off the line of scrimmage than Lou Cristobal. Id rather watch Horton get pushed into the endzone than Thomas Gore. I'd rather see Carver drop passes than Mccormick. We add players that are maxed out as mid. Stafford can get torched all game just as well as Jaden Davis.
Morgan Freeman Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
 
The improvements are mediocre. That isn't the correct way to use the portal. I'd rather see Kinsler get blown off the line of scrimmage than Lou Cristobal. Id rather watch Horton get pushed into the endzone than Thomas Gore. I'd rather see Carver drop passes than Mccormick. We add players that are maxed out as mid. Stafford can get torched all game just as well as Jaden Davis.
Lou Cristobal played in one bowl game. Let's not act like Javion Cohen wasn't one of the best guards in the conference at that spot all season. Thomas Gore played sparingly until injuries moved him up the depth chart. McCormick sucks in the pass game but is a very good run blocker and best on the team by far in that regard.

The fact that your mind goes straight to those two as proof of "mediocre" shows your bias. The 8 to 9 I referenced don't include either of those guys.

You totally ignored the non "mediocre" hits we have had to like Mesidor, Porter, Cohen, Lee, Mauigoa, Parrish, Agude, Deen. Is that the "correct" way to use the portal?

The main point is that this cycle, we have only one arguable reach in Poffenbarger - and given the fact that we could have only Jacurri and Judd healthy for spring, that's still a logical take.
 
Lou Cristobal played in one bowl game. Let's not act like Javion Cohen wasn't one of the best guards in the conference at that spot all season. Thomas Gore played sparingly until injuries moved him up the depth chart. McCormick sucks in the pass game but is a very good run blocker and best on the team by far in that regard.

The fact that your mind goes straight to those two as proof of "mediocre" shows your bias. The 8 to 9 I referenced don't include either of those guys.

You totally ignored the non "mediocre" hits we have had to like Mesidor, Porter, Cohen, Lee, Mauigoa, Parrish, Agude, Deen. Is that the "correct" way to use the portal?

The main point is that this cycle, we have only one arguable reach in Poffenbarger - and given the fact that we could have only Jacurri and Judd healthy for spring, that's still a logical take.
Mesidor is a good player but he is always hurt still a good portal addition.
Cohen is a good player, good portal addition.
Lee is a good player, solid portal addition.
Porter is a good player, good portal addition.
Mauigoa is a good player, good portal addition.
Agude and Deen were not good portal additions. They were warm bodies.
Parrish is an RB3, same as Allen. I'd rather see those carries go to CJjr tbh, but I'm ok with having one of the 2 not both.
Mccormick is a liability he is not a neccesity and brings more negatives than positives.

Poffenbarger is not a questionable take. He is a desperation take because Mario used incompetence to recruit the QB position. How is Savion Riley not a reach? What has he proven in 2 starts to show he is a starter here?
 
Last edited:
Advertisement
Lou Cristobal played in one bowl game. Let's not act like Javion Cohen wasn't one of the best guards in the conference at that spot all season. Thomas Gore played sparingly until injuries moved him up the depth chart. McCormick sucks in the pass game but is a very good run blocker and best on the team by far in that regard.

The fact that your mind goes straight to those two as proof of "mediocre" shows your bias. The 8 to 9 I referenced don't include either of those guys.

You totally ignored the non "mediocre" hits we have had to like Mesidor, Porter, Cohen, Lee, Mauigoa, Parrish, Agude, Deen. Is that the "correct" way to use the portal?

The main point is that this cycle, we have only one arguable reach in Poffenbarger - and given the fact that we could have only Jacurri and Judd healthy for spring, that's still a logical take.
Now here is a different excercise. Explain Denis, Saggopalu, Ladson, Harrell, Roberts, Moultrie, Lichtenstein, Cristobal, Gore, Davis, Allen, Kirk?
 
Absolutely have been reaches and missed evals. But teams taking double digit guys have misses.

FSU has about a dozen portal misses too the past couple cycles.

For us, 6 out of 11 guys were improvements in 2022.

8/9 out of16 were improvements this past cycle.

Out of the 5 we have the only "reach" is Poffenbarger and that's still TBD.

Marley Cook is the only other non P5 guy and he was being pursued by Larry Johnson at Ohio State.

Chances are 4 out of the 5 will be starters or key rotational pieces.

It would be concerning if we were reaching on guys again this year.

Sure seems like our portal evals/takes are trending in the right direction.
I don't hate our takes this year by any means. They're solid players but we're talking 3rd day picks at best for the 2 DTs and likely 2 future undrafted kids in Riley and Poff.

I wish we would prioritize a difference maker at RB and/or WR or even pursue one of these **** good corners.

We've added starters and rotational guys but we've yet to add 1 true playmaker from the portal in 3 years. Closest thing we've landed to a difference maker is Francisco Mauigoa... which is why we're 5-7 and 7-5. Henry Parrish doesn't win games. Ajay Allen doesn't win games. Richard/Porter/Davis don't win games.
 
Who do I blame for bringing in Lichtenstein, Sagapolu, Denis (maybe those 3 pre-date Zo?), Ladson, Gore, Campbell, Davis, Harrell, McCormick, Roberts, and Brown?

I’ve heard Roberts and Campbell were all Zo’s diamond in the rough evaluation. Addae doesn’t even trust him because he forced Terry Roberts a spot on the roster lol

I like Zo well enough...but, you can kind of tell when the NFL mindset shouldn't apply to college football.

Example: Terry Roberts. The narrative was "if nothing else, he'll be a great special teams player."

That's cool for the NFL and all. But college rosters have no place for "if nothing else, he'll be a great special teams player." You got to be able to play.

I won't hate on Gore or McCormick...but that, too, is NFL mindset. Roster spots for situational interior pass rusher...pure blocking TE...that's NFL stuff and I won't **** on those takes because we have a roster and staff that otherwise allows those players to play well beyond their means. I thought Gore was basically FINE in a limited role until the end of the season where he played way too much. He was basically at the floor of what I thought would have been acceptable from him. I thought McCormick overperformed because as a blocker (do we win the Clemson game without his block?) he's good. Regardless of what we think of him as a pass catcher - he stinks - the blocking is legit ++ skill for him - he was a good add until we asked him to catch more than the occasional pass when no one was covering him. Then...ya know...corchin.
 
Advertisement
As of two days ago yes
You may have already answered this and I just missed it but aside from Mario trying to play Jedi mind tricks on Ward or hoping the NCAA grants Lil Tua a waiver are there other QBs we’re currently targeting?

Or is the plan to wait on those guys if neither comes go into spring with current QBs + Poff then hope someone else jumps in the portal then?
 
Here is my problem:
2022
- TVD - uncomfortable
- Jake - uncomfortable
- Jacurri - uncomfortable

Off-season
- Jake gone
- TVD flirting
- Jacurri shirting

2023
- 4-0
- Bye week
- TVD uncomfortable
- Emory uncomfortable
- Jacurri uncomfortable

Get down to Rutgers, team responds, we get the lead, everyone says this is the momentum drive and apparently between driving the team down the field and that point Jacurri wet himself to the point that we AGAIN, with the lead, went predictable, 3 and out…

This isn’t the Ritz Carlton, but let’s get our ******* QBs a little bit more comfortable please. Jacurri has been on campus for 2 years and we played ******* Rutgers…

Right now we have a coach getting more resources than any other Miami coach in those 20 years and he is 12-13, slow in the portal and a game day corch…

The problem isn’t the officials, the NCAA, Donna, the problem is in Mario’s mirror…

And that makes all the good he brings secondary, because he can’t step away on Saturdays…
We need a fire reaction button for this response!! Well said
 
You may have already answered this and I just missed it but aside from Mario trying to play Jedi mind tricks on Ward or hoping the NCAA grants Lil Tua a waiver are there other QBs we’re currently targeting?

Or is the plan to wait on those guys if neither comes go into spring with current QBs + Poff then hope someone else jumps in the portal then?
Is your question does Mario have all his eggs in the MAYBE basket.......
What Do You Think Joe Biden GIF by GIPHY News
 
I agree with that but the portal goes both ways.. if you're good at it you can get your players in more quickly and have earlier, better success due to faster roster turnover... and it affects all teams so that's an equalizer...

the investment from Miami isn't equal, so that's definitely an advantage for Mario over Manny...
The issue with the Portal (particularly the one this time of year) is that Mario does not seem to work well on short timelines. He plays the long game on EVERYTHING which can work well for something like recruiting, but we see him struggle with things like staff hiring and portal signings (not to mention game day decisions) where the timeline is generally much quicker.
 
Advertisement
I don't hate our takes this year by any means. They're solid players but we're talking 3rd day picks at best for the 2 DTs and likely 2 future undrafted kids in Riley and Poff.

I wish we would prioritize a difference maker at RB and/or WR or even pursue one of these **** good corners.

We've added starters and rotational guys but we've yet to add 1 true playmaker from the portal in 3 years. Closest thing we've landed to a difference maker is Francisco Mauigoa... which is why we're 5-7 and 7-5. Henry Parrish doesn't win games. Ajay Allen doesn't win games. Richard/Porter/Davis don't win games.
I suspect that at least for WR, the issue is more of a question from WRs of who is going to throw to them/will Miami run an offense that is favorable for them rather than Miami not trying.
 
Just for context, Harbaugh’s been at Michigan since 2015. Not saying Mario needs 8 years to get to that point, but it didn’t happen at Michigan overnight
When Harbaugh came in he took over for Brady Hoke who had taken over a putrid Rich Rodriguez. It was the equivalent of taking over after Randy Shannon and Manny Diaz. The place was a mess. He immediately had 2 back to back 10 win seasons and in his 8 years there (excluding Covid) he’s only won less than 10 games twice (8,9).

So yes, winning a title didn’t happen overnight which btw is not why people are down on Mario but he immediately turned that program around without the benefit of the portal. Mario would have to go 16-0 next year just to match his win total in the first 3 years. Mario has to massively improve to even be able to wear Harbaugh’s hand me down imitation dockers.
 
The way we’ve executed in the portal is a direct correlation to our struggles on the field the past two years.

Anyone arguing we’ve done “well” in the portal is on some good spin zone.

This cycle has to be different, or we’ll be having the same discussion a year from now. The bowl game exposed our lack of depth and the lack of ‘23 kids that were ready to contribute.

If you want to “trust their development”, good luck to you. I’d rather do what the big boys do and go get a stud in the portal, while pushing the youth and setting them up for success the following year. You're scared about people hitting the portal? Big woof.

Mario is hitting at maybe a 35% rate in the portal for acceptable talent on a 9 or 10-win team.
 
Advertisement
The issue with the Portal (particularly the one this time of year) is that Mario does not seem to work well on short timelines. He plays the long game on EVERYTHING which can work well for something like recruiting, but we see him struggle with things like staff hiring and portal signings (not to mention game day decisions) where the timeline is generally much quicker.
I don't think it has anything to do with strategy at all. I think he's just stupid.
 
The way we’ve executed in the portal is a direct correlation to our struggles on the field the past two years.

Anyone arguing we’ve done “well” in the portal is on some good spin zone.

This cycle has to be different, or we’ll be having the same discussion a year from now. The bowl game exposed our lack of depth and the lack of ‘23 kids that were ready to contribute.

If you want to “trust their development”, good luck to you. I’d rather do what the big boys do and go get a stud in the portal, while pushing the youth and setting them up for success the following year. You're scared about people hitting the portal? Big woof.

Mario is hitting at maybe a 35% rate in the portal for acceptable talent on a 9 or 10-win team.
We didn't even play the '23 kids in the bowl game. We played a bunch of upperclass JAG that had already maxed out.
 
Advertisement
Back
Top