***Official portal tracker thread***
- Thread starter demoncore1031
- Start date
I didn't know until now that Rocco's dad grew up less than an hour from Penn State. Crud!
I'll be curious how many people's minds change on Matt once he's done raiding all of ISU best players.
This is what I don't understand, why haven't we seen anything like this from Washington State kids?
IMO, Rogers has confidence in pulling in higher caliber from the portal and he has higher confidence of retaining players. As many have said, this is a wait and see as rosters develop. By all measures as the dominoes fall in PSU's direction, the next level of dominoes will fall in ISU's direction and then WSU. But, again, the portal is the key.
Would it be accurate in saying that Matt is securing ISU players that he has relationships with in an effort to plug bodies into his roster at this point, only to recruit over them until Feb? His recruits will look totally didn't at Penn State.
I wonder if he'll back off on some of the ISU guys as he recruits over them come signing day? Isnt signing day in Feb? Maybe he wont be taking as many as it appears and just hedging his bet.
He could be focusing on raiding Michigan recruits at this point too.
I wonder if he'll back off on some of the ISU guys as he recruits over them come signing day? Isnt signing day in Feb? Maybe he wont be taking as many as it appears and just hedging his bet.
He could be focusing on raiding Michigan recruits at this point too.
Matt's letter to ISU was just part of the process. Him raiding ISU for its best players is being the best version of himself.
I would venture to guess it is more about him trying to bring his guys to instill his culture, than simply fill the roster. They will no doubt be recruited over long term.
Won’t change my opinion at all. Players are more loyal to their coaches than to a university. Fans may not like this, but it’s the truth
That crappy town north of Marshalltown is going nowhere.
And probably even moreso in this current transfer rules and NIL environment when a head coach leaves for another similar, but better resourced position rather than firing/resigning/retiring/leaving for the NFL.
For example, during the last ISU FB coaching regime change a lot of critical players were retained.
The current situation would suggest that we should expect a lot of roster attrition. Whatever players are retained should be met with elation.
Agree... players are more loyal to coaches than a school... but I would maintain they are most loyal to $$ above anything else.
If CMC was failing here, and was let go, and ended up going back to Toledo.... I'd bet none of these players would be going with him to Toledo for WAY less money... and they would still leave ISU for Penn St for more money.
People just have to wake up and realize that it is ALL a business... for all sides... schools, coaches, players, etc, etc. Every side needs to watch out for their own interests. It really sucks and is ruining college sports, but that's the way it is. These coaches and players "love" Iowa State University.... up until the point they get a better offer to leave... and then their loyalty is out the window... and I honestly don't blame them at all.
We all have to support the coaches and players that want to be "loyal" to ISU this next season. I have faith in Rogers... he had to replace like 60 players at WSU... and still took them to a bowl.
Unfortunately in this era... the slogan.. "loyal sons forever true" rings pretty hollow. But that's where we are.
What did Ray Liotta's character (Joe Jackson) say in "Field of Dreams"..........."I would have played for food money".
Those days are long gone.
I wonder just how many of our players can actually play at Penn State, looking at their recruiting from 247, PSU recruited 16 four star and 10 3 star recruits in 2024, and 20 four star and 8 three star recruits in 2025. While ISU had one four star recruit the past two seasons. of 2024 and 2025 according to their rankings. I get they could maybe get more money, but how about playing time with all the talent PSU already has in the building? Following Campbell to Penn State may seem like a good idea for a few guys but for many, they are going to struggle to play on a team with that much talent. We forget that PSU was picked to be the national champion by many before the season started and went off the rails, they were a loaded team.
Don't disagree, but I'm sure all of his players would like to follow him. Since he's has his "pick of the litter" he's just take the best ones.
Take away the top 25% of the BIG and they are the Big 12. So yes they will do fine. Will need to recruit more dudes if they want to win against the top 25% of conference. If Iowa is a pereneal 9-10 win team Penn St will be an 11 win team.
The biggest issue would be depth. We see how much it hurts us in the B12. It would be worse in the B10.
(Also don’t forget about Oregon and USC)
But Penn State is in that top 25% of talented teams, I am not talking about the EIU's of the world, that have to bring them in and develop them, teams like PSU are bringing in a dozen four star players a year. This has nothing to do with Iowa and their recruiting but of how many ISU players can play at Penn State?
A significant portion of that talent is walking out the door. Campbell needs bodies.
