Lots of talk (and rightly so) during the offseason about the quality of the freshman class, but the talent upgrade as a result of guys transferring in has also been extremely impressive. We've got four transfers (Nick Linder, OL, Miami; Brandon Dawkins, QB, Arizona; Kayton Samuels, DT, Syracuse; and T.D. Roof, LB, Georgia Tech) from major programs who could all be immediate impact players. I've been following the Hoosiers a long time, but I don't ever remember adding this many quality transfers (and from P5 programs) at the same time. Kudos to CTA and his staff.
Transfers
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I work with a number of Georgia Tech grads. While they understood, they really hated to see Roof leave their program and all say we got a good one.
Agreed. He twice received first team All-State honors in a state (Georgia) loaded with football talent. Lots of potential with this kid.
I would have to agree. This was the one gap year we assumed we might have after losing so much talent the last few years. It's now merely a bridge year and suddenly we are a good mix of veterans and youth to give us even more depth. There's viable reason to think this team can take a step forward and not regress at all.
And all 4 should start for us, if not by game one, by conference time for sure.
This is happening all over the country. I would call it another arm of recruiting now that the grad transfer is becoming more prevalent.
The grad transfer rule has been around since 2006. Russell Wilson was the first big grad transfer splash (NC State to Wisconsin) that I recall. Obviously IU does not have a monopoly on this. Still, in 2016 (the most recent year I could find stats), there were a total of just 117 grad transfers in all of FBS football. IU's haul this year was pretty darn good and its best, I believe, since the rule was enacted. Can you point to many/any programs who you believe did better this year?
The grad transfer rule should really benefit a program like IU. Quality proven players leaving a program because they may get edged out of a starting role at a big time program or a program in a declining cycle. Dawkins is a great example. He was a starter at a power 5 school, and lost his starting position because he go injured, his replacement , Khalil Tate, is a Heisman candidate. Arizona's loss is a big win for IU. Nick Linder is another example. The depth and competition they will bring to the Hoosier program is what is needed to take IU to the next level.
My reply to you said it is becoming more prevalent. That means it's really picking up. I would have no way of knowing who did better since the season hasn't started and individual performances cannot be evaluated can you?
You're right. It is picking up. I dug a little deeper and found a website that tracks grad transfers. I'm not sure when it was last updated but it reflects just under 150 committed 2018 grad transfers. I'll provide the link at the end of this post.
With respect to evaluating the relative quality of a school's incoming grad transfer class, there's probably a website that does this but I haven't found it yet. I would take exception to your argument, though, that's there no way of assessing who did better. It's arguably easier to size up grad transfer groups than incoming freshmen recruiting classes since grad transfers typically have extensive college game experience under their belt. Another factor that should be part of the equation is the quality of the program the grad transfer came from. For example, in the link below, you'll see that West Virginia's total number of 2018 grad transfers exceeds ours but, unlike IU, West Virginia's guys aren't all from P5 programs.
At first glance, it looks like IU has done very well with respect to 2018 grad transfers relative to other programs.
https://gradtransfertracker.com/2018-committed-transfers/
Well, it might be nice to see how IU did relative to other programs but since they are only here for one year I’m really only interested in how IU did compared to the teams on our schedule this year. I think Purdue got our attention last year when they did well in this regard. How did Purdue and others on our schedule do relative to IU this year?
Check out the link I provided and judge for yourself.
Also, the thread has morphed into a discussion about grad transfers, but my initial post addressed transfers in general. Roof isn't a grad transfer.
All that really matters is what happens on the scoreboard. At the end of the season we can look back and see how we did.
Ha Ha! I was going to send you the same link. It will be interesting to see if there is some kind of rating system in the future as more of these guys transfer. You can almost certainly rate how good they were for your program after one season.
In order to be a winner in the transfer contest it helps to have considerable depth problems. It would be interesting to see how this year’s recruiting class stacks up if you add in the transfers and the 3-star walk-on running back.
What’s the story with Zenden Dellinger’s transfer? I know he has to sit out the 2018 year but he’s not listed on the roster?
It also helps to have a staff that identifies areas of need, targets talented players who can fill those needs, and succeeds in closing the deal. Dawkins, for example, didn't suddenly appear in Bloomington simply because we were thin at QB. He had interest from other major programs, but we got him.
