Bobcat Portal News

[VimSince03]

Jhase going to ucla is really good for the Bobcat program. These studs MSU would never havr had a chance at five years ago are going to transfer. What a great recruiting strategy. Come here for two years, compete for a natty, then go to UCLA, Iowa State, Baylor, Michigan State, etc. I’ll take every one of these guys for a season or two if it means competing for Nattys.

It’s such an interesting topic……. I absolutely hate seeing these guys bounce after 1 season…. But I can’t argue with yer above post.

If we are competing for a natty every year, then I guess it works…. That is ultimately all that matters.

I think I would feel better if it were somewhere in the middle. Give us at least 2 years before heading out.

Dru Polidore for example. I hated seeing him leave last year, but he gave us 3 good years and wanted to make some money his last season. I hated seeing it, but I can also understand the reasoning.

Our guys transferring up to FBS P4 schools is why we get borderline 4 star high school players. Vigen knows we can keep up if we maintain great high school recruiting.

[nanacat]

Jhase going to ucla is really good for the Bobcat program. These studs MSU would never havr had a chance at five years ago are going to transfer. What a great recruiting strategy. Come here for two years, compete for a natty, then go to UCLA, Iowa State, Baylor, Michigan State, etc. I’ll take every one of these guys for a season or two if it means competing for Nattys.

So I'm guessing grades still matter, right? I mean the transfers still have standards that must be met correct? Admissions for some of the high level institutions require a certain GPA, and SAT/ACT scores, right, or is that different now after Covid?

[Norsky19]

Sorry to see him go, but he should get a good degree there. Hopefully he found what he was looking for. He'll always be a National Champion, and had HUGE play to make that happen. Best wishes to Jhase.

Ugh. UCLA? They're not very good. I really hope they are paying him at least 100K. WIshing Jhase the best and will never forget the blocked FG.

UCLA is one of the best universities in the world. Maybe he’s considering his education to be important?

I highly doubt that, but I could be wrong. I feel like he is 100% committed to the path he feels is the absolute best path to $$ playing football in college and the NFL. Not a knock on him whatsoever, it's just what I think.

He's committed to following the path that will allow him to maximize his potential in ALL areas of his life. Does UCLA revenue share? Yes. Is UCLA a p4 school? Yes Is UCLA one of the best schools in the country? Yes. Does UCLA have infinite connections for post football success? Yes

His family is NOT about chasing money. Does playing in the nfl produce lots of money? Yes but it isn't the driving force, its about a goal that kid has had from the time he was in 3rd grade and this gives him the BEST opportunity to achieve that. So again please stop trying to make it about money, his parents have good jobs and don't NEED money. Constantly making it about money is a cop out. His parents are rice graduates... the education definitely played a part. I talked to his dad and he had other schools offering more money than ucla and he turned them down because it was about fit.

I think yall forget he had fbs offers and NIL potential and still chose msu coming out of hs because it was the best fit.

THANK YOU!

Crazy how much people speculate about kids when they have no clue what is going on.

Wish this dude nothing but the best. He’ll live in MSU history forever.

Or people are just speaking to their opinions, you know kind of like we all do. Bobcatbuilt may be right who knows, but money, NIL, and whatever else all plays a role in these kids leaving and it’s not speculation it’s part of the reason. Just because someone has a different opinion on the deal doesn’t mean they are speculating anymore than the next person.I have a hard time thinking it doesn’t have a lot to do with money, just look how many times Bobcatbuilt mentioned money in his post. It always has to do with money to some degree, over 10k in the portal definitely supports that.

You just cannot stand being wrong can you? You are rarely right in your opinions.

How is he wrong if he's based his opinion on actual trends? Why be antagonistic?

[HelenaCat95]

Jhase going to ucla is really good for the Bobcat program. These studs MSU would never havr had a chance at five years ago are going to transfer. What a great recruiting strategy. Come here for two years, compete for a natty, then go to UCLA, Iowa State, Baylor, Michigan State, etc. I’ll take every one of these guys for a season or two if it means competing for Nattys.

It’s such an interesting topic……. I absolutely hate seeing these guys bounce after 1 season…. But I can’t argue with yer above post.

If we are competing for a natty every year, then I guess it works…. That is ultimately all that matters.

I think I would feel better if it were somewhere in the middle. Give us at least 2 years before heading out.

Dru Polidore for example. I hated seeing him leave last year, but he gave us 3 good years and wanted to make some money his last season. I hated seeing it, but I can also understand the reasoning.

Our guys transferring up to FBS P4 schools is why we get borderline 4 star high school players. Vigen knows we can keep up if we maintain great high school recruiting.

100%!
I wouldn't be surprised if our recruiting pitch is something like, "I know you didn't get the offers you want out of HS. That's ok, you can come to this Top Tier Football program, and Top Tier academic institution. We will develop you and plan to play you early. And as long as we keep the lines of communication open, we will help you move on to a Power 4 or G5 program. We hope that you would want to stay, but you're a competitor and want to play at the highest level you can. We will help you when the time is right."
I don't know that we say this for sure...but for the right kids, that might be what we say.

[GoldstoneCat]

Jhase going to ucla is really good for the Bobcat program. These studs MSU would never havr had a chance at five years ago are going to transfer. What a great recruiting strategy. Come here for two years, compete for a natty, then go to UCLA, Iowa State, Baylor, Michigan State, etc. I’ll take every one of these guys for a season or two if it means competing for Nattys.

It’s such an interesting topic……. I absolutely hate seeing these guys bounce after 1 season…. But I can’t argue with yer above post.

If we are competing for a natty every year, then I guess it works…. That is ultimately all that matters.

I think I would feel better if it were somewhere in the middle. Give us at least 2 years before heading out.

Dru Polidore for example. I hated seeing him leave last year, but he gave us 3 good years and wanted to make some money his last season. I hated seeing it, but I can also understand the reasoning.

Our guys transferring up to FBS P4 schools is why we get borderline 4 star high school players. Vigen knows we can keep up if we maintain great high school recruiting.

It's this, a thousand times. We never GET jhase, Carson Williams, Seth Johnson without the portal. We know the class of DB we got here for the prior 20 years and it isn't those guys. This is absolutely a deliberate strategy from Vigen and Co. Come here, sit a year, play a year, go get your bag. Next man up. Keep em coming.

[MSU01]

Jhase going to ucla is really good for the Bobcat program. These studs MSU would never havr had a chance at five years ago are going to transfer. What a great recruiting strategy. Come here for two years, compete for a natty, then go to UCLA, Iowa State, Baylor, Michigan State, etc. I’ll take every one of these guys for a season or two if it means competing for Nattys.

So I'm guessing grades still matter, right? I mean the transfers still have standards that must be met correct? Admissions for some of the high level institutions require a certain GPA, and SAT/ACT scores, right, or is that different now after Covid?

Of course, the player still needs to be able to meet the admissions standards of the school he's going to. I'm sure it's a little easier if you're a scholarship football player compared to a normal student applying to UCLA but he still needs to be a student in good standing to go there.

[Prodigal Cat]

Jhase going to ucla is really good for the Bobcat program. These studs MSU would never havr had a chance at five years ago are going to transfer. What a great recruiting strategy. Come here for two years, compete for a natty, then go to UCLA, Iowa State, Baylor, Michigan State, etc. I’ll take every one of these guys for a season or two if it means competing for Nattys.

It’s such an interesting topic……. I absolutely hate seeing these guys bounce after 1 season…. But I can’t argue with yer above post.

If we are competing for a natty every year, then I guess it works…. That is ultimately all that matters.

I think I would feel better if it were somewhere in the middle. Give us at least 2 years before heading out.

Dru Polidore for example. I hated seeing him leave last year, but he gave us 3 good years and wanted to make some money his last season. I hated seeing it, but I can also understand the reasoning.

Our guys transferring up to FBS P4 schools is why we get borderline 4 star high school players. Vigen knows we can keep up if we maintain great high school recruiting.

It's this, a thousand times. We never GET jhase, Carson Williams, Seth Johnson without the portal. We know the class of DB we got here for the prior 20 years and it isn't those guys. This is absolutely a deliberate strategy from Vigen and Co. Come here, sit a year, play a year, go get your bag. Next man up. Keep em coming.

I remember, and I’m including myself in this, a lot of concern over the almost zero activity in bringing in portal players last year. Initially it was limited to a couple Juco DBs, a QB later. We brought in 3 transfers and 2 contributed with one being well, a home run. It will probably be the same this year. Very little dipping into the portal especially compared to the school over the hill. It’s because the depth is already there and better than what we could attract via portal.

That said some DL depth seems like an area of need.

[nanacat]

Jhase going to ucla is really good for the Bobcat program. These studs MSU would never havr had a chance at five years ago are going to transfer. What a great recruiting strategy. Come here for two years, compete for a natty, then go to UCLA, Iowa State, Baylor, Michigan State, etc. I’ll take every one of these guys for a season or two if it means competing for Nattys.

So I'm guessing grades still matter, right? I mean the transfers still have standards that must be met correct? Admissions for some of the high level institutions require a certain GPA, and SAT/ACT scores, right, or is that different now after Covid?

Of course, the player still needs to be able to meet the admissions standards of the school he's going to. I'm sure it's a little easier if you're a scholarship football player compared to a normal student applying to UCLA but he still needs to be a student in good standing to go there.

Figured, thanks.

[mslacatfan]

Regarding DL depth being a potential area of need in the portal…

I’m not sure about that…. Yeah, we lose an amazing senior lineup. But also return a lot of studs that have been getting a lot of playing time rotating in.

I could see this being like the secondary this last offseason. Everyone thought we were in trouble, but the young guys that took over ended up being even better!

Not saying they will be better next year, just saying we have a lot of depth along the DL. Excited to see some of these guys take the next step next year.

[GoldstoneCat]

Jhase going to ucla is really good for the Bobcat program. These studs MSU would never havr had a chance at five years ago are going to transfer. What a great recruiting strategy. Come here for two years, compete for a natty, then go to UCLA, Iowa State, Baylor, Michigan State, etc. I’ll take every one of these guys for a season or two if it means competing for Nattys.

It’s such an interesting topic……. I absolutely hate seeing these guys bounce after 1 season…. But I can’t argue with yer above post.

If we are competing for a natty every year, then I guess it works…. That is ultimately all that matters.

I think I would feel better if it were somewhere in the middle. Give us at least 2 years before heading out.

Dru Polidore for example. I hated seeing him leave last year, but he gave us 3 good years and wanted to make some money his last season. I hated seeing it, but I can also understand the reasoning.

Our guys transferring up to FBS P4 schools is why we get borderline 4 star high school players. Vigen knows we can keep up if we maintain great high school recruiting.

It's this, a thousand times. We never GET jhase, Carson Williams, Seth Johnson without the portal. We know the class of DB we got here for the prior 20 years and it isn't those guys. This is absolutely a deliberate strategy from Vigen and Co. Come here, sit a year, play a year, go get your bag. Next man up. Keep em coming.

I remember, and I’m including myself in this, a lot of concern over the almost zero activity in bringing in portal players last year. Initially it was limited to a couple Juco DBs, a QB later. We brought in 3 transfers and 2 contributed with one being well, a home run. It will probably be the same this year. Very little dipping into the portal especially compared to the school over the hill. It’s because the depth is already there and better than what we could attract via portal.

That said some DL depth seems like an area of need.

Would think that plus maybe some secondary pieces ala Meredith last year. Maybe a power back? Maybe a receiver ala Chris long?

[MrGoodKat]

This is and has always been very simple.

People need to understand that no matter what Jhase does, BBT is going to tell us that it is the most awesome, wonderful, perfect thing that a player could do. Because he’s not a Bobcat fan; he’s a fan of one player who was here for two years.

BBT needs to understand that the rest of us are actually fans of the team rather than expecting the whole forum to be the Jhase McMillan fan club.

That's unnecessary.

Yes we all know BBT is Jhase's #1 fan, but nothing he said about this situation is hard to understand. Though I agree is a bit disingenuous to say money has nothing to do with it, as it does, it has to in light of the what the transfer portal is. But if Jhase can make a bigger name for himself on a larger stage, more power to him. If he can get a degree that suits his interests and sets his future up better, more power to him.

In his case specifically, had he chosen to stay, I think he would have had many eyes on him anyway, and many more opportunities, especially when MSU runs it back to Nashville again. I hope he gets a starting role at UCLA, he likely would have had one this year at MSU, almost guaranteed. But we all make choices, and sometimes the grass does look alot greener on the other side. Sometimes it is greener, sometimes it's not. These young men who choose to leave will have to figure that out.

Still grateful for their time here and all they contributed to Montana State Football's winning year!

What’s unnecessary?

[MrGoodKat]

Regarding DL depth being a potential area of need in the portal…

I’m not sure about that…. Yeah, we lose an amazing senior lineup. But also return a lot of studs that have been getting a lot of playing time rotating in.

I could see this being like the secondary this last offseason. Everyone thought we were in trouble, but the young guys that took over ended up being even better!

Not saying they will be better next year, just saying we have a lot of depth along the DL. Excited to see some of these guys take the next step next year.

How much or little of a need it is depends on how ready/capable Vigen, Frederickson, or one of the redshirts are to rotate in.

If only the top 3 can play against higher level competition, it’s definitely a need. But I don’t know that that’s the case.

[Travelingcat]

Regarding DL depth being a potential area of need in the portal…

I’m not sure about that…. Yeah, we lose an amazing senior lineup. But also return a lot of studs that have been getting a lot of playing time rotating in.

I could see this being like the secondary this last offseason. Everyone thought we were in trouble, but the young guys that took over ended up being even better!

Not saying they will be better next year, just saying we have a lot of depth along the DL. Excited to see some of these guys take the next step next year.

How much or little of a need it is depends on how ready/capable Vigen, Frederickson, or one of the redshirts are to rotate in.

If only the top 3 can play against higher level competition, it’s definitely a need. But I don’t know that that’s the case.

We are so loaded at linebacker right now (pending any possible transfers, which would not seem that likely).

I wonder whether any of our LBs could potentially convert to a DE.

I agree that we have a number of really strong guys returning on DL, but depth is definitely unproven.

[SparkCat]

Sorry to see him go, but he should get a good degree there. Hopefully he found what he was looking for. He'll always be a National Champion, and had HUGE play to make that happen. Best wishes to Jhase.

Ugh. UCLA? They're not very good. I really hope they are paying him at least 100K. WIshing Jhase the best and will never forget the blocked FG.

UCLA is one of the best universities in the world. Maybe he’s considering his education to be important?

I highly doubt that, but I could be wrong. I feel like he is 100% committed to the path he feels is the absolute best path to $$ playing football in college and the NFL. Not a knock on him whatsoever, it's just what I think.

He's committed to following the path that will allow him to maximize his potential in ALL areas of his life. Does UCLA revenue share? Yes. Is UCLA a p4 school? Yes Is UCLA one of the best schools in the country? Yes. Does UCLA have infinite connections for post football success? Yes

His family is NOT about chasing money. Does playing in the nfl produce lots of money? Yes but it isn't the driving force, its about a goal that kid has had from the time he was in 3rd grade and this gives him the BEST opportunity to achieve that. So again please stop trying to make it about money, his parents have good jobs and don't NEED money. Constantly making it about money is a cop out. His parents are rice graduates... the education definitely played a part. I talked to his dad and he had other schools offering more money than ucla and he turned them down because it was about fit.

I think yall forget he had fbs offers and NIL potential and still chose msu coming out of hs because it was the best fit.

THANK YOU!

Crazy how much people speculate about kids when they have no clue what is going on.

Wish this dude nothing but the best. He’ll live in MSU history forever.

Or people are just speaking to their opinions, you know kind of like we all do. Bobcatbuilt may be right who knows, but money, NIL, and whatever else all plays a role in these kids leaving and it’s not speculation it’s part of the reason. Just because someone has a different opinion on the deal doesn’t mean they are speculating anymore than the next person.I have a hard time thinking it doesn’t have a lot to do with money, just look how many times Bobcatbuilt mentioned money in his post. It always has to do with money to some degree, over 10k in the portal definitely supports that.

You just cannot stand being wrong can you? You are rarely right in your opinions.

How is he wrong if he's based his opinion on actual trends? Why be antagonistic?

Cool, show me the statistics of every player making a commitment based on money vs. education vs. playing at a higher level vs. personal reasons. Then you can mix and match and all the above and come out with as many trends as your heart desires. The reality is we don’t know and frankly it’s none of our business. We should be happy they initially chose us and hope they do well and speak well of MSU.

I’m being antagonistic as a decent amount of posters act extremely possessive and vindictive when a player enters the portal. Then they want to rag on the school they choose, like MSU is the pinnacle of universities and athletics. It’s silly.

[VimSince03]

Regarding DL depth being a potential area of need in the portal…

I’m not sure about that…. Yeah, we lose an amazing senior lineup. But also return a lot of studs that have been getting a lot of playing time rotating in.

I could see this being like the secondary this last offseason. Everyone thought we were in trouble, but the young guys that took over ended up being even better!

Not saying they will be better next year, just saying we have a lot of depth along the DL. Excited to see some of these guys take the next step next year.

How much or little of a need it is depends on how ready/capable Vigen, Frederickson, or one of the redshirts are to rotate in.

If only the top 3 can play against higher level competition, it’s definitely a need. But I don’t know that that’s the case.

Vigen and Frederickson earning the #4 spot would be great but I really think we'll pursue a few through the portal. Call me crazy but I'm going to keep pushing Ryan Krahe to DE for his senior season.

I personally think we're set at DT. Should be six deep.

[nanacat]

This is and has always been very simple.

People need to understand that no matter what Jhase does, BBT is going to tell us that it is the most awesome, wonderful, perfect thing that a player could do. Because he’s not a Bobcat fan; he’s a fan of one player who was here for two years.

BBT needs to understand that the rest of us are actually fans of the team rather than expecting the whole forum to be the Jhase McMillan fan club.

That's unnecessary.

Yes we all know BBT is Jhase's #1 fan, but nothing he said about this situation is hard to understand. Though I agree is a bit disingenuous to say money has nothing to do with it, as it does, it has to in light of the what the transfer portal is. But if Jhase can make a bigger name for himself on a larger stage, more power to him. If he can get a degree that suits his interests and sets his future up better, more power to him.

In his case specifically, had he chosen to stay, I think he would have had many eyes on him anyway, and many more opportunities, especially when MSU runs it back to Nashville again. I hope he gets a starting role at UCLA, he likely would have had one this year at MSU, almost guaranteed. But we all make choices, and sometimes the grass does look alot greener on the other side. Sometimes it is greener, sometimes it's not. These young men who choose to leave will have to figure that out.

Still grateful for their time here and all they contributed to Montana State Football's winning year!

What’s unnecessary?

The put down.

[RootinfortheCats]

I personally think we're set at DT. Should be six deep.

I agree. It’s fine to look for a Game Changer in the portal, but if they don’t find one, the guys developing are there already.

The 2026 team is going to be a banger.

[GoldstoneCat]

I personally think we're set at DT. Should be six deep.

I agree. It’s fine to look for a Game Changer in the portal, but if they don’t find one, the guys developing are there already.

The 2026 team is going to be a banger.

If we don't get any more surprises in the portal and can just add a couple pieces we'll be a favorite to get back to Nashville again, no doubt.

[luckyirishguy25]

Regarding DL depth being a potential area of need in the portal…

I’m not sure about that…. Yeah, we lose an amazing senior lineup. But also return a lot of studs that have been getting a lot of playing time rotating in.

I could see this being like the secondary this last offseason. Everyone thought we were in trouble, but the young guys that took over ended up being even better!

Not saying they will be better next year, just saying we have a lot of depth along the DL. Excited to see some of these guys take the next step next year.

How much or little of a need it is depends on how ready/capable Vigen, Frederickson, or one of the redshirts are to rotate in.

If only the top 3 can play against higher level competition, it’s definitely a need. But I don’t know that that’s the case.

Vigen and Frederickson earning the #4 spot would be great but I really think we'll pursue a few through the portal. Call me crazy but I'm going to keep pushing Ryan Krahe to DE for his senior season.

I personally think we're set at DT. Should be six deep.

what are our positions of need? Do we need some more corners to makeup for our departures or are we fine there?

[CodyCat]

Jhase going to ucla is really good for the Bobcat program. These studs MSU would never havr had a chance at five years ago are going to transfer. What a great recruiting strategy. Come here for two years, compete for a natty, then go to UCLA, Iowa State, Baylor, Michigan State, etc. I’ll take every one of these guys for a season or two if it means competing for Nattys.

It’s such an interesting topic……. I absolutely hate seeing these guys bounce after 1 season…. But I can’t argue with yer above post.

If we are competing for a natty every year, then I guess it works…. That is ultimately all that matters.

I think I would feel better if it were somewhere in the middle. Give us at least 2 years before heading out.

Dru Polidore for example. I hated seeing him leave last year, but he gave us 3 good years and wanted to make some money his last season. I hated seeing it, but I can also understand the reasoning.

Our guys transferring up to FBS P4 schools is why we get borderline 4 star high school players. Vigen knows we can keep up if we maintain great high school recruiting.

It's this, a thousand times. We never GET jhase, Carson Williams, Seth Johnson without the portal. We know the class of DB we got here for the prior 20 years and it isn't those guys. This is absolutely a deliberate strategy from Vigen and Co. Come here, sit a year, play a year, go get your bag. Next man up. Keep em coming.

I remember, and I’m including myself in this, a lot of concern over the almost zero activity in bringing in portal players last year. Initially it was limited to a couple Juco DBs, a QB later. We brought in 3 transfers and 2 contributed with one being well, a home run. It will probably be the same this year. Very little dipping into the portal especially compared to the school over the hill. It’s because the depth is already there and better than what we could attract via portal.

That said some DL depth seems like an area of need.

Would think that plus maybe some secondary pieces ala Meredith last year. Maybe a power back? Maybe a receiver ala Chris long?

I think the byu transfer RB is that guy.