[lex24]

Austin Jones to SC. Yuck.

Remain calm! All is well!

But seriously, this is a scathing indictment of our program.

No, it’s not.  It’s the new reality.  College free agency.  With Stanford having both hands tied behind it’s back.  I knew, and suspect most here did, that the transfer portal was very bad for Stanford.

Lex, do you think Jones or Peat transfer if Stanford has a winning program?  A NY6 program?

You fail to acknowledge that the state of the program is a factor (perhaps the controlling one) for the loss of players who are projected to get meaningful PT for the Cardinal.  THAT's a problem of this regime, and not necessarily something that's "bound to happen" with the transfer portal.

I'll acknowledge that the transfer portal is, on balance, going to hurt Stanford more than it will help.  But you need to acknowledge that the degree of the "hurt" is determined in some part (I'd argue in large part) by how (un)successful the Stanford football program is viewed by those players in the program.

Stanford had a horrible year.  That certainly could have contributed.  I don’t deny that.  They have had a “winning program” in large part over the last decade - with a couple down years thrown in.  Stanford has never been and never will be a “NY6” program.  That is reserved for the elite few in college football.  The success Stanford had from 10-18 (particularly ‘10-‘15) or so was not sustainable.  Particularly when the new realities of early admission and free agency came in.

The problem with the portal is it’s essentially a one way door at Stanford.  And, whether you believe it or not, kids leave for all sorts of reasons.  Maybe Jones left for program reasons, maybe he left cause he didn’t like the school or for reasons that we will never know.

The point is - they will lose players.  Every school does.  But they can’t get replacements through the portal.  And that’s an institutional issue that will not change.

[lex24]

Austin Jones to SC. Yuck.

Remain calm! All is well!

But seriously, this is a scathing indictment of our program.

No, it’s not.  It’s the new reality.  College free agency.  With Stanford having both hands tied behind it’s back.  I knew, and suspect most here did, that the transfer portal was very bad for Stanford.

Lex, do you think Jones or Peat transfer if Stanford has a winning program?  A NY6 program?

You fail to acknowledge that the state of the program is a factor (perhaps the controlling one) for the loss of players who are projected to get meaningful PT for the Cardinal.  THAT's a problem of this regime, and not necessarily something that's "bound to happen" with the transfer portal.

I'll acknowledge that the transfer portal is, on balance, going to hurt Stanford more than it will help.  But you need to acknowledge that the degree of the "hurt" is determined in some part (I'd argue in large part) by how (un)successful the Stanford football program is viewed by those players in the program.

Stanford had a horrible year.  That certainly could have contributed.  I don’t deny that.  They have had a “winning program” in large part over the last decade - with a couple down years thrown in.  Stanford has never been and never will be a “NY6” program.  That is reserved for the elite few in college football.  The success Stanford had from 10-18 (particularly ‘10-‘15) or so was not sustainable.  Particularly when the new realities of early admission and free agency came in.

The problem with the portal is it’s essentially a one way door at Stanford.  And, whether you believe it or not, kids leave for all sorts of reasons.  Maybe Jones left for program reasons, maybe he left cause he didn’t like the school or for reasons that we will never know.

The point is - they will lose players.  Every school does.  But they can’t get replacements through the portal.  And that’s an institutional issue that will not change.