The official/UNofficial Bobcat-Redbirds National Championship Gameday Thread

[grizzh8r]

The first block which was absolutely pivotal was made by a player who quite likely would never have come to MSU without the portal and the freedom it gives guys to transfer. That player, Jhase McMillan, has in fact transferred out now.

Why do you think this? Did he have better offers coming out of HS? I'm not that familiar with his situation so I'm curious where you think he would've gone to college if no portal.

As has been mentioned in other threads, a lot of good players that normally would have been on FBS teams are now finding homes at the top FCS teams, as so many FBS schools have shifted more recruiting efforts to scouring the portal. A decade ago, they never would have been on FCS rosters. Instead, they are good enough to get a chance to play legitimate, meaningful snaps - and a lot of them against overall higher level and more experienced D1 competition (as compared to just HS competition). They build their stock and then move up to FBS with 2-3 years of eligibility left.

So while overall I still don't like the portal from a societal perspective (reinforcing the "instant gratification" epidemic and eroding loyalty, dedication, and stick-to-it-iveness), the Cats - and other FCS teams who build with HS recruits - are landing better HS talent than ever before.

[Joe Bobcat]

The first block which was absolutely pivotal was made by a player who quite likely would never have come to MSU without the portal and the freedom it gives guys to transfer. That player, Jhase McMillan, has in fact transferred out now.

Why do you think this? Did he have better offers coming out of HS? I'm not that familiar with his situation so I'm curious where you think he would've gone to college if no portal.

Well first it's only something I think and not saying it's some kind of absolute. I'm going on the idea that with the portal most FBS schools are replacing their graduating players more from the portal and less from the high school graduating class than they were pre-portal. Just spit balling some numbers: say the FBS needs to replace 700 players at some position each year. Pre-portal maybe they got 100 of those via transfers and 600 via high school grads. Now with the portal to replace those 700 players maybe they get 250 via transfers and only 450 via high school grads.

I guess what I'm suggesting is that Jhase might have been somewhere between the 451st and 600th best at his position the year he graduated and pre-portal would've gone FBS right out of high school, but now in the days of the portal FBS had filled their needs before they got to his number so he went FCS at MSU. My apologies to Jhase if I've placed him much lower than he belonged which I truly suspect I've done. I know it's much more complicated than that with lots more moving parts, but the idea remains the same regardless of the simplistic example and spit balling. I can certainly think of a few other examples of why a high school grad might view going FCS as a better path to faster and greater development and then use the portal to move to bigger teams and conferences.

[cat22[2010]]

BLOCK PARTY:

Hang it in the Louvre

[91catAlum]

The first block which was absolutely pivotal was made by a player who quite likely would never have come to MSU without the portal and the freedom it gives guys to transfer. That player, Jhase McMillan, has in fact transferred out now.

Why do you think this? Did he have better offers coming out of HS? I'm not that familiar with his situation so I'm curious where you think he would've gone to college if no portal.

Well first it's only something I think and not saying it's some kind of absolute. I'm going on the idea that with the portal most FBS schools are replacing their graduating players more from the portal and less from the high school graduating class than they were pre-portal. Just spit balling some numbers: say the FBS needs to replace 700 players at some position each year. Pre-portal maybe they got 100 of those via transfers and 600 via high school grads. Now with the portal to replace those 700 players maybe they get 250 via transfers and only 450 via high school grads.

I guess what I'm suggesting is that Jhase might have been somewhere between the 451st and 600th best at his position the year he graduated and pre-portal would've gone FBS right out of high school, but now in the days of the portal FBS had filled their needs before they got to his number so he went FCS at MSU. My apologies to Jhase if I've placed him much lower than he belonged which I truly suspect I've done. I know it's much more complicated than that with lots more moving parts, but the idea remains the same regardless of the simplistic example and spit balling. I can certainly think of a few other examples of why a high school grad might view going FCS as a better path to faster and greater development and then use the portal to move to bigger teams and conferences.

Thanks, that makes sense that there would be fewer FBS offers in general. I didn't know if Jhase had some specific FBS offer(s) he turned down to come to MSU.

[MSU01]

The first block which was absolutely pivotal was made by a player who quite likely would never have come to MSU without the portal and the freedom it gives guys to transfer. That player, Jhase McMillan, has in fact transferred out now.

Why do you think this? Did he have better offers coming out of HS? I'm not that familiar with his situation so I'm curious where you think he would've gone to college if no portal.

Well first it's only something I think and not saying it's some kind of absolute. I'm going on the idea that with the portal most FBS schools are replacing their graduating players more from the portal and less from the high school graduating class than they were pre-portal. Just spit balling some numbers: say the FBS needs to replace 700 players at some position each year. Pre-portal maybe they got 100 of those via transfers and 600 via high school grads. Now with the portal to replace those 700 players maybe they get 250 via transfers and only 450 via high school grads.

I guess what I'm suggesting is that Jhase might have been somewhere between the 451st and 600th best at his position the year he graduated and pre-portal would've gone FBS right out of high school, but now in the days of the portal FBS had filled their needs before they got to his number so he went FCS at MSU. My apologies to Jhase if I've placed him much lower than he belonged which I truly suspect I've done. I know it's much more complicated than that with lots more moving parts, but the idea remains the same regardless of the simplistic example and spit balling. I can certainly think of a few other examples of why a high school grad might view going FCS as a better path to faster and greater development and then use the portal to move to bigger teams and conferences.

Thanks, that makes sense that there would be fewer FBS offers in general. I didn't know if Jhase had some specific FBS offer(s) he turned down to come to MSU.

From what I can find on his recruiting profile, Jhase had three FBS offers (Utah State, Texas State, and Old Dominion) as well as others from MSU and multiple FCS programs.