Gotta presume Weaver is gone. He put his name in last season. Had another great season.

I hope he looks at Dulac and says why not me?

The MAC had more All Americans than any other G5. Like I always say, you can ball out here - get yourself some good tape - or go sit the bench at Colorado and jump back in the portal and never be heard from again. Think on it kids. It’s fun to come out of that tunnel… I bet Dulac is gonna have more fun on an NFL roster next season.

Buffalo has lots of kickers.

We should get the one that transferred there from Bama. He hardly plays.

Alex Kaase on the roster still. He handled KO duties last season. Is he the natural replacement? Bradley Weaver would be a huge loss. I guess wait and see on him. An elite talent.

Portal lessons from 2024:
1. Some good players will leave via the portal
2. Good players can also be found in the portal
3. If you have to replace too many players in the portal, it will take time to blend them into a team.
4. Not all players who succeed in moving up will end up with playing time, but some will do very well
5. Not all players who find a new home will be happier, but some will be
6. A portion of the players who enter the portal will not be able to replace the scholarship they gave up

The portal math works out that, if the number of players who have used up eligibility is about equal to the number of incoming Freshmen, then for every Ohio player who enters the portal, Ohio will be able to take one from the portal to replace him. Based on the current status of only 2 players in the portal, Ohio won't be able to take many from the portal this year, unless they take a less than usual number of Freshmen. I expect there to be a lot of players in the portal, so Ohio may opt to take a smaller Freshman class this year, and take players from the portal instead.

Note that OHio will also have to reduce the number of walkons this year. I count 113 on the roster, meaning 28 walkons. That will need to drop to 20 walkons to get a roster size of 105.

It has been posted in its own thread, but worth mentioning here Parker posted he will be back next year on Twitter/X.

It's not a case where you can "test the market". You have to give up your existing scholarship, and take a chance that you will get something better. Sometimes a team will take you back; sometimes they won't.

Per my understanding, a player has to give up his scholarship to enter the portal. A team can elect to give it back to him if he wants to return, but they are under no obligation to give it back.

Doggette in the portal

Sucks to lose Spetic after losing Vakos to the portal the year before. They were both great kickers, but I think Spetic was even better than Vakos.

But, we should still have the Jacob Lewis who transferred from Minnesota available next season because he had 2 years of eligibility as a graduate student when he transferred to OHIO.

And may I take this opportunity to say, is it just me or does OHIO have a pretty good propensity at being good at training up really good kickers? I have usually never been worried about our kicking game in all my years supporting the Bobcats. Maybe it even has a little something to do with the serenity provided by all the nature and those hills that makes it easy for kickers to focus on perfecting their art with a clear mind.

To that end, sorry to see Spetic go, but thanks to him for playing a big role in getting the bowl win. Because in the end that was the difference -- Jax State's kicker barely missed a FG and Spetic hit his. Although he did also miss an extra point, those 3 points ended up being the difference.

This is a sneaky big announcement. He played on the O-Line and I would expect him to play a key role in 2025.

For his career, Spetic was 5/13 from 40 yards. 1/4 from 50.

Inexplicably a ball got hung up into the wind and he made the 1 52 yarder. He previous career long was 40 yards. Kids on Pat McAfee’s show are doing that in work boots half drunk at 9am.

Often we punted from places we should kick. Another kicker handled KO’s because he had a weak leg.

I won’t lose two seconds of sleep. We can and should do better.

Looking through the portal commits from 2024, we might be able to fill some potential gaps with these guys who didn't play much and have years remaining.

S Jaylen Johnson - Transfer from Memphis. 6'2' 221. Great size. Just 3 tackles. Would be great if he could step in for Brawley if he does indeed go elsewhere. (Tried to last season as well)

DE Reise Collier - Transfer from USF. Not on the roster. Twitter says hes in the portal in Feb? Played at Coffeyville before USF.

DE Sinn Brennan - Transfer from SDSU. Freshman. 6"4 235. No stats this season.

DB Michael Mack - Transfer from Wisconsin. Junior. Played a little bit, behind a pretty veteran group. Expect he'll take a pretty big jump forward if he remains.

WR Iian Pugh - Transfer from Illinois. Freshman. Pretty obvious one. We'll need him to help fill the spot left by Owen.

WR Max Rodarte - Transfer from Juco. Jr. Likely will have a lot of years if he wants to use them. Led the California league in yards and td.