Only Nebraska and Wisconsin were rated higher than IU's A-.
Portal Haul according to 247 IU #3 in B1G
- Thread starter vesuvius13
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That's a lot more comforting than the HS haul ranking. And makes perfect sense in today's big time college football world and IU in particular. My assumption would be our HS ranks will climb and the portal ranks will decline as CCC gets the guys he's comfortable with and the younger guys on the roster start to blossom.
I guess this is OK but I just don't believe you can build a sustained - year after year - winning program with a massive amount of Portal players. The Portal is made up of mostly players that couldn't see the field at their previous school (not all though)
Oregon had 10 players but, if you look at the other 2 B1G schools expected to be really strong in 2025 - OSU and PSU - took only 6 apiece. They used them to fill a couple of holes in their deep rosters. OSU came in at #32. And if you look at the Portal rankings, all of last year's Playoff teams (except Oregon and Indiana) were below OSU.
The point.....sustained success needs to be done through recruiting and development
Oregon had 10 players but, if you look at the other 2 B1G schools expected to be really strong in 2025 - OSU and PSU - took only 6 apiece. They used them to fill a couple of holes in their deep rosters. OSU came in at #32. And if you look at the Portal rankings, all of last year's Playoff teams (except Oregon and Indiana) were below OSU.
The point.....sustained success needs to be done through recruiting and development
You use the portal to plug holes. You build your foundation with high school kids. Cig's well aware.
Competing at the top level only happens we you can bring in top player through recruiting otherwise you need portal players that have played a lot of football. Coach Cignetti doesn't use portal players that haven't played much football like coach Allen did hence the big improvement in record with a large number of portal players.
The 2025 HS recruiting class was mediocre because Cignetti didn’t have any big time success to sell recruits on. He has that now. If the 2026 class isn’t in the top 35 then we can start to worry.
The 2026 high school class should be strong for Cignetti. He has a crap ton of success to sell right now. If Indiana has a nice 25 season, that should bolster the class even more.
As far as Ohio State and Penn State go, they're recruiting and landing dozens of top 250 kids in EVERY class. Hell, a 5.8 rated 4* recruit for them, is poo-poo. They don't necessarily have to scour the portal the way 90% of schools do. Of course that doesn't mean they won't grab a few upper crust dudes out of the portal.
As far as Ohio State and Penn State go, they're recruiting and landing dozens of top 250 kids in EVERY class. Hell, a 5.8 rated 4* recruit for them, is poo-poo. They don't necessarily have to scour the portal the way 90% of schools do. Of course that doesn't mean they won't grab a few upper crust dudes out of the portal.
if the Hoosiers can generate a top 40 recruiting class, then they very well may be successful in developing a top 40 team. If they are going to leapfrog into the top 20, it’s gonna be through the portal. CCC. Time and time again he has said he is not interested in recruiting potential as opposed to experience.
Your perceived dilemma was answered and solved in #3 before you even posted it.
He’s a troll. He goes from board to board. Cig has already addressed and admitted everything this tool has said. Clue? Him leading off with “I guess this is ok”.
According to ON3 our rank as a full portal class is lower than last year, I guess 17 vs 10th. And the average grade of our guys is slightly lower. Which is the 'feelz' I have from the class. Seems good, not great.
Maybe only because I was hoping for some rock star class... Seems like we got a little less production and had to take a few we need increases from. I think that's likely due to increased competition in the portal. But conversely I'm more sure, or 'less unsure' after seeing what Cig did last year. I'll trust him! QB is by far the most important and we did well there. Did pretty good with lineman both sides hopefully.
Maybe only because I was hoping for some rock star class... Seems like we got a little less production and had to take a few we need increases from. I think that's likely due to increased competition in the portal. But conversely I'm more sure, or 'less unsure' after seeing what Cig did last year. I'll trust him! QB is by far the most important and we did well there. Did pretty good with lineman both sides hopefully.
People are saying the overall portal this year had less talent than previous years. Probably because teams all have more money from the upcoming rev share (an extra $15M or so) to retain talent.
As for rankings… I can quite tell how we did vs last year.
As for rankings… I can quite tell how we did vs last year.
The problem with relying on the portal Year after Year, is that when You bring in a large number of Players from different systems and backgrounds, You won't always have a year where You get everybody to buy into the culture and system. We were very fortunate last Year to get Players Who bought in and realized success in the program early on. That is hard to duplicate Year after Year. Ideally You can reach a point where 80% of Your Players are guys You recruited out of High School and can work in Your system for 4 or 5 years, and You are bringing in 10-12 Players a year from the Portal to fill gaps in the roster.
Cig had said he'd need to heavily use the portal for the 2nd year as high school relationships and recruiting is being developed, so this should not be a surprise
When you are starting with virtually nothing from the high school ranks, you absolutely have to rely heavily on the portal. OSU and PSU have had sustained high level freshman classes for years. You cannot expect to compete with those teams with freshman classes who were not highly rated. That’s a recipe for disaster. Once you get established and can get a solid foundation of underclassman signed out of high school….yeah, you can afford to back off the portal. But, this is apples to oranges for a school that has to infuse immediate experience to try and level the playing field.
I agree, that’s the way we’d all like it to be, but I’m not sure that’s the way it will be anymore. NIL has changed everything. When you can “buy” proven players why wouldn’t you pick them over a HS kid that’s unproven? These kids aren’t sticking around for 4 years anyways unless they start signing 4 year contracts with guaranteed money. I hate this system that feels like the pro’s but I think that’s what we’ve got now.
And your not going to get high caliber kids to sit on the bench while you coach them up and groom them. They will transfer our if they are not getting their anticipated playing time, trust me. It going to be this way at all schools to different degrees.
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Although if a kid is smart, he can sit on a bench somewhere for a couple years while getting coached up and save the wear and tear on his body from starting early. Then earn a spot as a veteran and maybe get a look in the NFL based on being well trained. Might take a different mindset but I can see that.
Not sure that's right. The largest football programs are very focused on high school recruiting and they want these kids in their system early and they have the money to keep them around.
Per 24/7:
"Through four years of heavy transfer portal activity, national titles are not being won primarily through the portal. Michigan did have several in 2023, but most of the team was developed out of high school. Georgia did not take a single scholarship transfer in 2022 and had little reliance on it in 2021. The best teams recruit high school very well and then look to fill holes or upgrade in spots via the portal. Teams loading up on transfers are frequently coaches looking for a jumpstart to a new tenure, or, on the other end, looking for a fix to save their jobs."
And for OSU, their portal xfers were four in 2022, nine in 2023, and seven in 2024. They have six so far for 2025.
Since this is a message board, I'm not saying the portal isn't being used nor am I saying key players can't come from the portal. But the top teams are still very focused on recruiting and developing HS players.
As others have posted, Cig wants our recruiting to shift more towards high school. This will happen as the staff develops the long-term relationships needed to land more high quality HS kids.
Per 24/7:
"Through four years of heavy transfer portal activity, national titles are not being won primarily through the portal. Michigan did have several in 2023, but most of the team was developed out of high school. Georgia did not take a single scholarship transfer in 2022 and had little reliance on it in 2021. The best teams recruit high school very well and then look to fill holes or upgrade in spots via the portal. Teams loading up on transfers are frequently coaches looking for a jumpstart to a new tenure, or, on the other end, looking for a fix to save their jobs."
And for OSU, their portal xfers were four in 2022, nine in 2023, and seven in 2024. They have six so far for 2025.
Since this is a message board, I'm not saying the portal isn't being used nor am I saying key players can't come from the portal. But the top teams are still very focused on recruiting and developing HS players.
As others have posted, Cig wants our recruiting to shift more towards high school. This will happen as the staff develops the long-term relationships needed to land more high quality HS kids.
I have no reason to not believe Cigs when he said HS recruiting would be our focus after the first 2 classes (last class and this class). Probably see 10 or less transfers per class moving forward.
Coach Cignetti has shown the ability to adjust to his situation and I expect he will continue to do that in future years.
He needs the portal to create a second sucessful season. This sucess should be parlayed into recruiting HS kids that would never have come to IU before. The curve will come down over time.
He needs two years of success to really get a foothold in quality HS recruiting. It's coming.
The group of kids we've got coming in for officials is really good.
I have no doubt that our HS recruiting will pick up considerably over the next few years. Sustained success means you start having kids dreaming of playing for you before you even start recruiting them. We are not close to that yet, but we are in the best position we've probably ever been in due to our CFP appearance. I wouldn't expect our portal recruiting numbers to drop off too much for the next few seasons. Last year will be the all time high, but I think the numbers from this year's portal will be close to what we see until the HS recruiting really starts to takeoff. In year 4 is where I think we start to see the portal numbers drop down to what we are seeing at O$U, and dip below double digit hauls each winter.
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