(09-21-2025, 07:15 AM)cardcrimson Wrote: By not playing guys will ensure they will be transferring out. Even at Stanford. Bear saw the writing on the wall; so will others . . . . .Not playing is indeed an incentive to look for another opportunity. However, in these days of "free" transferring and NIL money, those that actually do play and do well are IMO more at risk of taking a better offer. The AI answer to "Why did Bear Bachmeier transfer" is at least interesting. The opportunity to start immediately was indeed one of the factors. There were however several other factors. Bachmeier may not be a good example for your argument because he didn't stay at Stanford long enough to even play in a game, let alone start one.
It is however undeniably true that the players have an opportunity to transfer in order to maximize their "value". In the past that was much less the case. Any player that looks at his current situation and concludes he isn't ever going to play will indeed probably look to move on. It is still clearly possible for the coaching staff to convince a player that "his time will come" if they are viewed by the player as "honest" and if the plan presented is reasonably attractive to the player involved. That kind of rationale gets harder as the player gets older. In general, if after your second year of eligibility you have not received significant playing time, the message is that probably you never will and should move on. There are exceptions, particularly for QBs, but the coach is going to have to keep the player in question on board via lots of convincing.