Eric Decker reports Ohio is the only team in FBS without a single player in the portal to this point.
In my best Sgt. Schultz voice, "Verrrry Interesting!" There appear to be many twists and turns to the Albin Soap Opera. Waiting for the final act.
One possibility is that all the grumbling/unhappy people left last year, and the team was simply "more fun" this year with everyone happy to be at Ohio. That's a very good thing about the portal; people don't have to stay where they don't want to be, so if they aren't happy, rather than grumbling, they can just leave.
Probably at least a few Ohio players will enter the portal after the bowl game, but for now, they want to stick together and have fun as a team for one more game.
L.C., I believe you're on to something. I'll pile on and add another potential factor for the lack of portal entrants thus far: Albin's botched departure on the night of the championship was no doubt a very challenging situation for the team. I think facing that kind of adversity as a unit may have galvanized them somewhat...a kind of "us against the world" mentality.
The departure was "botched" by the athletic department, not Coach Albin. The AD had five months to get Coach Albin's contract completed. The administration failed to do so. The administration including the president knew of his offer at Rice before the Ball State game and still didn't get a deal done. However, when Coach Albin departed it didn't take the administration but 4-5 days to get a deal done with the new head coach. Just another way this administration mistreated the two time conference coach of the year and a semifinalist for national coach of the year.
As for the players having "more fun" this season. That could be true, but many of these players stayed on for a few reasons. 1) The bowl was in Orlando and one of the early bowls before Christmas. 2) They wanted to add another chapter to Bobcat football history trying to be the only team to win 11 games in a season. 3) Our staff did a great job getting the team prepared and keeping the focus on the bowl game. As far as all the grumbling/unhappy people leaving last season, I'm not sure about that. Kurtis Rourke along with several others got paid pretty well to leave for a new school. Those players couldn't make that kind of money staying in Athens. The majority of the players that depart in the portal in the next few days will not be rewarded financially like Rourke and a few others last season.
Last Edited: 12/26/2024 2:36:57 PM by Bobcat1996