Carson williams…

[BelligerentBobcat]

Anybody who thinks the players aren’t going to bust their ass to win a freaking championship because they know they’re leaving has never done anything competitive at a relatively high level in their life. They want to be the very best, even if they’re leaving. Some of you fans need to get a grip.

[SparkCat]

Anybody who thinks the players aren’t going to bust their ass to win a freaking championship because they know they’re leaving has never done anything competitive at a relatively high level in their life. They want to be the very best, even if they’re leaving. Some of you fans need to get a grip.

Good post. If we can get this type of output and season from players it’s a win for us. We still get to get great athletes young, develop them, release them to the wild and rinse and repeat.

I actually think that getting it out there to the coaches and team prior to the game is a good thing. They don’t have to internalize what they are ultimately going to do. That would be more of a mind F than just ripping the band aid off, realizing that most your teammates understand and then go have themselves a game.

[hokeyfine]

Not a big deal to me, there will be other players out there on January 5th who also know they're transferring even if they haven't said anything on social media yet. On both sides. The best team that night will win like it (almost) always does.

I think it is a big deal. We had a TE last year that went to Arkansas that dropped several passes in the chipper that might’ve made a huge difference. That fella didn’t drop that many passes all year. Had a foot out the door before he got off the plane in Texas in my opinion.

I agree, and the secondary... still kinda pisses me off. Knowing what we now know, some of those secondary players were already gone, and did not play that great. I'm not saying they didn't try, or had mailed it in, but let's just say that was not the best performance of the season out of our secondary.

Simeon Woodard got toasted all night and it was his last game. Some revisionist history going on here with the "performance" of that game. How about a conversation about the coaches then while we're at it. Oline kind of played bad (Marcus Wehr had one of his worst games of his career), the defense called a play that literally allowed a 70 yard run untouched up the middle, and our offense was a no-show for the first 20 minutes. Should Walker, Johnson, and Daly be held accountable? Also Rohan Jones also caught a huge two point conversion.

Just saying fellas, everyone played damn hard that game. We lost because we didn't make enough plays and Tommy didn't pull the ball enough on zone reads. It is what it is. The players will play very hard to win our next championship in a week.

[94VegasCat]

Anybody who thinks the players aren’t going to bust their ass to win a freaking championship because they know they’re leaving has never done anything competitive at a relatively high level in their life. They want to be the very best, even if they’re leaving. Some of you fans need to get a grip.

I’d agree with you every day of the year! But not last year in Frisco. My money would be a handful of dudes didn’t prepare as hard or play as hard as they had in all the games leading up to it. AND IT SHOWED

[mslacatfan]

Anybody who thinks the players aren’t going to bust their ass to win a freaking championship because they know they’re leaving has never done anything competitive at a relatively high level in their life. They want to be the very best, even if they’re leaving. Some of you fans need to get a grip.

I’d agree with you every day of the year! But not last year in Frisco. My money would be a handful of dudes didn’t prepare as hard or play as hard as they had in all the games leading up to it. AND IT SHOWED

Accurate.

It’s pretty much been confirmed at this point- it was a massive distraction and portal guys were not fully engaged. This coming straight from players like Adam jones.

[catatac]

Anybody who thinks the players aren’t going to bust their ass to win a freaking championship because they know they’re leaving has never done anything competitive at a relatively high level in their life. They want to be the very best, even if they’re leaving. Some of you fans need to get a grip.

I’d agree with you every day of the year! But not last year in Frisco. My money would be a handful of dudes didn’t prepare as hard or play as hard as they had in all the games leading up to it. AND IT SHOWED

Accurate.

It’s pretty much been confirmed at this point- it was a massive distraction and portal guys were not fully engaged. This coming straight from players like Adam jones.

100%. Yes we all know this is the world we live in, and no I don't think the Cats will implode in Nashville due to the fact that some players are leaving and the whole team knows it. I think the Cats are going to be National Champions this year. All I'm saying is that it sucks, and it cost us the title last year, IMO.

[BelligerentBobcat]

Anybody who thinks the players aren’t going to bust their ass to win a freaking championship because they know they’re leaving has never done anything competitive at a relatively high level in their life. They want to be the very best, even if they’re leaving. Some of you fans need to get a grip.

I’d agree with you every day of the year! But not last year in Frisco. My money would be a handful of dudes didn’t prepare as hard or play as hard as they had in all the games leading up to it. AND IT SHOWED

Really? Wehr struggled. Tommy was bad for the first half. Even Ortt wasn’t as good as normal. Are we going to say they played bad because they were getting ready to prepare for the draft?

[TomCat88]

Anybody who thinks the players aren’t going to bust their ass to win a freaking championship because they know they’re leaving has never done anything competitive at a relatively high level in their life. They want to be the very best, even if they’re leaving. Some of you fans need to get a grip.

I’d agree with you every day of the year! But not last year in Frisco. My money would be a handful of dudes didn’t prepare as hard or play as hard as they had in all the games leading up to it. AND IT SHOWED

Accurate.

It’s pretty much been confirmed at this point- it was a massive distraction and portal guys were not fully engaged. This coming straight from players like Adam jones.

100%. Yes we all know this is the world we live in, and no I don't think the Cats will implode in Nashville due to the fact that some players are leaving and the whole team knows it. I think the Cats are going to be National Champions this year. All I'm saying is that it sucks, and it cost us the title last year, IMO.

No one said portal guys weren’t engaged. The team was distracted, which is what they said, most likely because they had never had to deal with it before. That’s normal. If a portal guy was so excited to play for his new team that he wasn’t fully engaged I’d assume they’d just move along unless he had a personal vendetta against his teammates. I doubt that was the case. I think we’ve all been in the same situation in a different aspect of life.

[BobcatDel]

Anybody who thinks the players aren’t going to bust their ass to win a freaking championship because they know they’re leaving has never done anything competitive at a relatively high level in their life. They want to be the very best, even if they’re leaving. Some of you fans need to get a grip.

You know some of us have experience in situations like this. I can tell you that more often than naught when a person has made a decision to leave his or her head isn’t in it like they were before. Not all…..but more than half have other things on their mind once they’ve made the decision to leave.

[TomCat88]

Anybody who thinks the players aren’t going to bust their ass to win a freaking championship because they know they’re leaving has never done anything competitive at a relatively high level in their life. They want to be the very best, even if they’re leaving. Some of you fans need to get a grip.

You know some of us have experience in situations like this. I can tell you that more often than naught when a person has made a decision to leave his or her head isn’t in it like they were before. Not all…..but more than half have other things on their mind once they’ve made the decision to leave.

I usually try to overcompensate when I’m in a situation like this. I think it’s a distraction to those who haven’t experienced something like this before.

[Bobcat4Ever]

@Colter_Nuanez Can you put up Adam’s quote from the Bigsky Breakdown that you and Brooks did on Saturday? I think that’s where I heard it.

[Joe Bobcat]

I think it would be an awful broad brush with not much paint on it to say that a player who is going into the portal, doesn’t at least once in a game make a business decision with that in mind That isn’t to say that most don’t play as they’ve always played
One only needs to look how many players opt out of playing bowl games to realize it’s on a player’s mind

[ilovethecats]

@Colter_Nuanez Can you put up Adam’s quote from the Bigsky Breakdown that you and Brooks did on Saturday? I think that’s where I heard it.

He did on page 5 before all this speculation our guys played bad in the chipper because they were leaving. Lol.

https://skylinesportsmt.com/jones-bucks ... ie-season/

[84CatGrad]

Anybody who thinks the players aren’t going to bust their ass to win a freaking championship because they know they’re leaving has never done anything competitive at a relatively high level in their life. They want to be the very best, even if they’re leaving. Some of you fans need to get a grip.

I’d agree with you every day of the year! But not last year in Frisco. My money would be a handful of dudes didn’t prepare as hard or play as hard as they had in all the games leading up to it. AND IT SHOWED

Really? Wehr struggled. Tommy was bad for the first half. Even Ortt wasn’t as good as normal. Are we going to say they played bad because they were getting ready to prepare for the draft?

I think they struggled because NDSU was damn good.

[PortlandCat90]

These are great reads on the situation. Rule - corporate, sports, wives, boyfriends, employees - once somebody has a new path similar, they need to go and go now. Anybody that says the portal players were fully engaged during that time-frame should be drug-tested. If I'm Vigen, and I've done this in the corporate world with transactions, if somebody has a new future they are gone to that new future NOW. I understand they want what their mind and competitive juices thinks is best for them and their competitive goals - so go get started. What was their mindset when they were out looking and interviewing and sending documentation and determining that they shouldn't stay dedicated to their current team/role/employer/etc.?

Irrelevant here, but we have enough guys to step up/in that want to play and bleed for the Blue&Gold. We are playing for a National Championship. Get these portal guys outta the lockerroom. We can have an open discussion about what is best for you if you want. No one person is bigger than the team. It's a privilege to play here and we expect 100% dedication when wearing that uniform.

Just for clarity - I'm not throwing this at Williams because I haven't heard it from his mouth nor seen the posts, etc.

[TomCat88]

These are great reads on the situation. Rule - corporate, sports, wives, boyfriends, employees - once somebody has a new path similar, they need to go and go now. Anybody that says the portal players were fully engaged during that time-frame should be drug-tested. If I'm Vigen, and I've done this in the corporate world with transactions, if somebody has a new future they are gone to that new future NOW. I understand they want what their mind and competitive juices thinks is best for them and their competitive goals - so go get started. What was their mindset when they were out looking and interviewing and sending documentation and determining that they shouldn't stay dedicated to their current team/role/employer/etc.?

Irrelevant here, but we have enough guys to step up/in that want to play and bleed for the Blue&Gold. We are playing for a National Championship. Get these portal guys outta the lockerroom. We can have an open discussion about what is best for you if you want. No one person is bigger than the team. It's a privilege to play here and we expect 100% dedication when wearing that uniform.

Just for clarity - I'm not throwing this at Williams because I haven't heard it from his mouth nor seen the posts, etc.

The portal doesn't open until Jan. 2 this year. Last year it opened on Dec. 9-28 and again April 16-25, 2025.

Players may be getting approached and may be committing verbally, but until they enter the portal, they aren't known to be leaving. It's also worth noting that some players enter the portal and stay.

[lutecat]

These are great reads on the situation. Rule - corporate, sports, wives, boyfriends, employees - once somebody has a new path similar, they need to go and go now. Anybody that says the portal players were fully engaged during that time-frame should be drug-tested. If I'm Vigen, and I've done this in the corporate world with transactions, if somebody has a new future they are gone to that new future NOW. I understand they want what their mind and competitive juices thinks is best for them and their competitive goals - so go get started. What was their mindset when they were out looking and interviewing and sending documentation and determining that they shouldn't stay dedicated to their current team/role/employer/etc.?

Irrelevant here, but we have enough guys to step up/in that want to play and bleed for the Blue&Gold. We are playing for a National Championship. Get these portal guys outta the lockerroom. We can have an open discussion about what is best for you if you want. No one person is bigger than the team. It's a privilege to play here and we expect 100% dedication when wearing that uniform.

Just for clarity - I'm not throwing this at Williams because I haven't heard it from his mouth nor seen the posts, etc.

The portal doesn't open until Jan. 2 this year. Last year it opened on Dec. 9-28 and again April 16-25, 2025.

Players may be getting approached and may be committing verbally, but until they enter the portal, they aren't known to be leaving. It's also worth noting that some players enter the portal and stay.

Plus with the portal opening later, wouldn't the team you're going to want to see you play hard? If you dial it in, is that someone you really want playing for you?

[Travelingcat]

Not a big deal to me, there will be other players out there on January 5th who also know they're transferring even if they haven't said anything on social media yet. On both sides. The best team that night will win like it (almost) always does.

I think it is a big deal. We had a TE last year that went to Arkansas that dropped several passes in the chipper that might’ve made a huge difference. That fella didn’t drop that many passes all year. Had a foot out the door before he got off the plane in Texas in my opinion.

I agree, and the secondary... still kinda pisses me off. Knowing what we now know, some of those secondary players were already gone, and did not play that great. I'm not saying they didn't try, or had mailed it in, but let's just say that was not the best performance of the season out of our secondary.

Simeon Woodard got toasted all night and it was his last game. Some revisionist history going on here with the "performance" of that game. How about a conversation about the coaches then while we're at it. Oline kind of played bad (Marcus Wehr had one of his worst games of his career), the defense called a play that literally allowed a 70 yard run untouched up the middle, and our offense was a no-show for the first 20 minutes. Should Walker, Johnson, and Daly be held accountable? Also Rohan Jones also caught a huge two point conversion.

Just saying fellas, everyone played damn hard that game. We lost because we didn't make enough plays and Tommy didn't pull the ball enough on zone reads. It is what it is. The players will play very hard to win our next championship in a week.

Yep.

Some distractions will be there, but I have confidence our guys will be ready to go. Nobody is looking past the opportunity to win a national championship.

[SparkCat]

These are great reads on the situation. Rule - corporate, sports, wives, boyfriends, employees - once somebody has a new path similar, they need to go and go now. Anybody that says the portal players were fully engaged during that time-frame should be drug-tested. If I'm Vigen, and I've done this in the corporate world with transactions, if somebody has a new future they are gone to that new future NOW. I understand they want what their mind and competitive juices thinks is best for them and their competitive goals - so go get started. What was their mindset when they were out looking and interviewing and sending documentation and determining that they shouldn't stay dedicated to their current team/role/employer/etc.?

Irrelevant here, but we have enough guys to step up/in that want to play and bleed for the Blue&Gold. We are playing for a National Championship. Get these portal guys outta the lockerroom. We can have an open discussion about what is best for you if you want. No one person is bigger than the team. It's a privilege to play here and we expect 100% dedication when wearing that uniform.

Just for clarity - I'm not throwing this at Williams because I haven't heard it from his mouth nor seen the posts, etc.

Does this apply to Vigen when he applies for a new job too?

[94VegasCat]

Anybody who thinks the players aren’t going to bust their ass to win a freaking championship because they know they’re leaving has never done anything competitive at a relatively high level in their life. They want to be the very best, even if they’re leaving. Some of you fans need to get a grip.

I’d agree with you every day of the year! But not last year in Frisco. My money would be a handful of dudes didn’t prepare as hard or play as hard as they had in all the games leading up to it. AND IT SHOWED

Really? Wehr struggled. Tommy was bad for the first half. Even Ortt wasn’t as good as normal. Are we going to say they played bad because they were getting ready to prepare for the draft?

For argument sake, let’s say they spend 20 hours per week all year long, doing prep on their opponent. What I’m saying is that those folks that left may not have had that amount of time devoted to opponent prep because they were focused on securing their future, which was NOT the recipe that had been used all year long. The focus wasn’t there and it showed. Is that a simple enough thought process? It was clearly a distraction. That first half was the WORST representation of the 2024 Bobcat football team there could’ve been.