There have been several posts here at 11W (as well as at mgoblog) about the wild west with NIL and the transfer portal. I don't know what the future holds, but I think many would agree that college ball is currently a hot mess.

I can't remember the last time I put up a post at 11W, but I saw something at mgoblog of general interest to football fans, which speaks to this issue. Josh Pate has put up a number of comments on the transfer portal. Here are several:

Talking to GMs this morning - dozens of examples of players in the Portal asking if they can return to the team only to discover their spot has been filled

Countless examples of players being told entering the Portal is a sound business decision with zero risk since the fallback option is your current roster spot

Other examples of the current team offering a reasonable $ figure and “agents” lacking the ability to even spell market rate convincing the player the offer is disrespectful

LINK:  https://x.com/JoshPateCFB/status/2012600356631351758?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

I won't exactly say players are being greedy. All of us want to be paid what we think we're worth. But the problem is gullible kids and parents thinking that they're going to make a ton of money by going elsewhere, not realizing that it doesn't always work that way. So-called "agents" are always going to tell kids that they are under-valued, and they will be much more appreciated elsewhere.

FTR, I know virtually nothing about the portal and OSU players leaving and coming in. As I said in another post, I have to believe that OSU is one of the most attractive destinations out there, and that your NIL budget is huge. What this means is that OSU can afford to buy some of the best players out there. I'm more thinking about kids who are (or were) currently on the team. These would seem to roughly fall into 3 buckets:

• You are so valuable, we'll pay even more to keep you.
• You are taking up roster space, will probably never see the field, and we're "encouraging" you to move on
• You are currently receiving approximately what you are worth, in terms of NIL.

Guys falling into either of the second or third groups need to really be wise about entering the portal. Because if you do, there may not be a spot available for you if you want to remain!