2026 ND Portal Targets

Dale

Dale

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So if we rewind to the beginning of the portal, the names in question are:

- Marsh they clearly got played IMO.
- I don’t know we ever heard much more on UCF DT Lockett but to be fair he cancelled what would have been a handful of visits and confidence was never overly expressed with him. IMO not a big deal.
- Foley we thought we could use. He wanted more. We said fuck off. No issue there.
- They wanted ISU CB Williams to play Nickel. USC promised him CB1. I don’t view this as a failure either. Kid made a choice. Clearly we were working on McKinney and Sanders quietly for days prior to anyone knowing.
- Ian Strong. Was expressed that ND wasn’t really that high on him. Most here didn’t want him. WR as I said 100 times was very deep in the portal. Another I don’t find much of an issue with.
- Unnamed kicker. Considering how confident people were, seems like they got played a bit.
- Lastly, Wake Forest DT Ibirogba. This is the interesting one. This is one where NDs need met + obvious candidate (ACC + GTown). But to be fair the II board insider repeatedly said it never felt like ND was that in this one. The visit then kept getting scheduled and cancelled which felt like maybe his agent was threatening Tech to pay more than anything. Nobody ever said we were landing him though so I think this caused an emotional reaction because we need a DT, but I don’t see the failure of ND staff.

Long and short, ND front office I think probably knew what they were doing a bit more than credited for. NDs retention versus the rest of the country + last 4 days shows that. We also forget that ND doesn’t exist in vacuum. Sometimes other schools also have plans and want to be aggressive and have money. That doesn’t make anyone incompetent. Would still like anyone to answer why no visits the first weekend. They made some mistakes to start but not as many as we thought in the moment and certainly none that proved to be death blows.
 
GATTACA!

GATTACA!

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Dale said:
So if we rewind to the beginning of the portal, the names in question are:

- Marsh they clearly got played IMO.
- I don’t know we ever heard much more on UCF DT Lockett but to be fair he cancelled what would have been a handful of visits and confidence was never overly expressed with him. IMO not a big deal.
- Foley we thought we could use. He wanted more. We said fuck off. No issue there.
- They wanted ISU CB Williams to play Nickel. USC promised him CB1. I don’t view this as a failure either. Kid made a choice. Clearly we were working on McKinney and Sanders quietly for days prior to anyone knowing.
- Ian Strong. Was expressed that ND wasn’t really that high on him. Most here didn’t want him. WR as I said 100 times was very deep in the portal. Another I don’t find much of an issue with.
- Unnamed kicker. Considering how confident people were, seems like they got played a bit.
- Lastly, Wake Forest DT Ibirogba. This is the interesting one. This is one where NDs need met + obvious candidate (ACC + GTown). But to be fair the II board insider repeatedly said it never felt like ND was that in this one. The visit then kept getting scheduled and cancelled which felt like maybe his agent was threatening Tech to pay more than anything. Nobody ever said we were landing him though so I think this caused an emotional reaction because we need a DT, but I don’t see the failure of ND staff.

Long and short, ND front office I think probably knew what they were doing a bit more than credited for. NDs retention versus the rest of the country + last 4 days shows that. We also forget that ND doesn’t exist in vacuum. Sometimes other schools also have plans and want to be aggressive and have money. That doesn’t make anyone incompetent. Would still like anyone to answer why no visits the first weekend. They made some mistakes to start but not as many as we thought in the moment and certainly none that proved to be death blows.
Click to expand...
Give me Graham + Porter > Marsh any day.
 
Crazy Balki

Crazy Balki

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Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, I wouldn't consider Ibirogba as a failure by the staff. I think he would be a good get, but probably not at the price TT gave him.

Frankly, if you are having to choose between Brewu and Ibirogba, I'm taking Brewu in a millisecond. Not to mention, you add Tionne Gray to that pot.
 
NDWarrior

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Maybe the 2026 schedule doesn't permit this level of greatness (altho' a strong slate of CFP opponents could make up for this), but I would like to see a late 2020s ND talked about like this years from now. 🍀🍀🍀

 
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BruinDomer

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GATTACA! said:
Give me Graham + Porter > Marsh any day.
Click to expand...
Depends on what you value. Marsh is likely the best player of the 3 next year so it would have been nice to pair him for what is presumably Carr's last season. Graham + Porter have greater upside as a tandem and if needed, can attract a portal QB next year so the aggregate value exceeds Marsh alone but man, it would've been nice to pair a surefire day one or day two NFL pick with Carr next year. Porter and Graham both have that potential but not sure either play at it next year, especially if Porter misses the spring. Still an incredible job by the staff
 
FU BK

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Really like the kicker pickup. Seen him a couple times during the 24 season vs ND and Pedo State. Dude was hitting some long ones in warm ups. Something to be said about adding a kicker that is used to the late fall conditions we can see in northern Indiana
 
The Backer

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Dale said:
So if we rewind to the beginning of the portal, the names in question are:

- Marsh they clearly got played IMO.
- I don’t know we ever heard much more on UCF DT Lockett but to be fair he cancelled what would have been a handful of visits and confidence was never overly expressed with him. IMO not a big deal.
- Foley we thought we could use. He wanted more. We said fuck off. No issue there.
- They wanted ISU CB Williams to play Nickel. USC promised him CB1. I don’t view this as a failure either. Kid made a choice. Clearly we were working on McKinney and Sanders quietly for days prior to anyone knowing.
- Ian Strong. Was expressed that ND wasn’t really that high on him. Most here didn’t want him. WR as I said 100 times was very deep in the portal. Another I don’t find much of an issue with.
- Unnamed kicker. Considering how confident people were, seems like they got played a bit.
- Lastly, Wake Forest DT Ibirogba. This is the interesting one. This is one where NDs need met + obvious candidate (ACC + GTown). But to be fair the II board insider repeatedly said it never felt like ND was that in this one. The visit then kept getting scheduled and cancelled which felt like maybe his agent was threatening Tech to pay more than anything. Nobody ever said we were landing him though so I think this caused an emotional reaction because we need a DT, but I don’t see the failure of ND staff.

Long and short, ND front office I think probably knew what they were doing a bit more than credited for. NDs retention versus the rest of the country + last 4 days shows that. We also forget that ND doesn’t exist in vacuum. Sometimes other schools also have plans and want to be aggressive and have money. That doesn’t make anyone incompetent. Would still like anyone to answer why no visits the first weekend. They made some mistakes to start but not as many as we thought in the moment and certainly none that proved to be death blows.
Click to expand...

Also Gilliam, ND matched or exceeded Tennessee’s offer but it sounded like he pushed back a lot on academics.
 
Irish8248

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Dale said:
So if we rewind to the beginning of the portal, the names in question are:

- Marsh they clearly got played IMO.
- I don’t know we ever heard much more on UCF DT Lockett but to be fair he cancelled what would have been a handful of visits and confidence was never overly expressed with him. IMO not a big deal.
- Foley we thought we could use. He wanted more. We said fuck off. No issue there.
- They wanted ISU CB Williams to play Nickel. USC promised him CB1. I don’t view this as a failure either. Kid made a choice. Clearly we were working on McKinney and Sanders quietly for days prior to anyone knowing.
- Ian Strong. Was expressed that ND wasn’t really that high on him. Most here didn’t want him. WR as I said 100 times was very deep in the portal. Another I don’t find much of an issue with.
- Unnamed kicker. Considering how confident people were, seems like they got played a bit.
- Lastly, Wake Forest DT Ibirogba. This is the interesting one. This is one where NDs need met + obvious candidate (ACC + GTown). But to be fair the II board insider repeatedly said it never felt like ND was that in this one. The visit then kept getting scheduled and cancelled which felt like maybe his agent was threatening Tech to pay more than anything. Nobody ever said we were landing him though so I think this caused an emotional reaction because we need a DT, but I don’t see the failure of ND staff.

Long and short, ND front office I think probably knew what they were doing a bit more than credited for. NDs retention versus the rest of the country + last 4 days shows that. We also forget that ND doesn’t exist in vacuum. Sometimes other schools also have plans and want to be aggressive and have money. That doesn’t make anyone incompetent. Would still like anyone to answer why no visits the first weekend. They made some mistakes to start but not as many as we thought in the moment and certainly none that proved to be death blows.
Click to expand...

The only thing I can think of is a blend of what we already know. They had a plan with priority targets plus the belief and confidence of who was part of that second wave. They lacked urgency because they're plan didn't need it -- until it goes sideways like it did with Marsh and a couple others. They honestly thought certain people were locked up or close enough to it and took their word for it.
 
Irish#1

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Dale said:
So if we rewind to the beginning of the portal, the names in question are:

- Marsh they clearly got played IMO.
- I don’t know we ever heard much more on UCF DT Lockett but to be fair he cancelled what would have been a handful of visits and confidence was never overly expressed with him. IMO not a big deal.
- Foley we thought we could use. He wanted more. We said fuck off. No issue there.
- They wanted ISU CB Williams to play Nickel. USC promised him CB1. I don’t view this as a failure either. Kid made a choice. Clearly we were working on McKinney and Sanders quietly for days prior to anyone knowing.
- Ian Strong. Was expressed that ND wasn’t really that high on him. Most here didn’t want him. WR as I said 100 times was very deep in the portal. Another I don’t find much of an issue with.
- Unnamed kicker. Considering how confident people were, seems like they got played a bit.
- Lastly, Wake Forest DT Ibirogba. This is the interesting one. This is one where NDs need met + obvious candidate (ACC + GTown). But to be fair the II board insider repeatedly said it never felt like ND was that in this one. The visit then kept getting scheduled and cancelled which felt like maybe his agent was threatening Tech to pay more than anything. Nobody ever said we were landing him though so I think this caused an emotional reaction because we need a DT, but I don’t see the failure of ND staff.

Long and short, ND front office I think probably knew what they were doing a bit more than credited for. NDs retention versus the rest of the country + last 4 days shows that. We also forget that ND doesn’t exist in vacuum. Sometimes other schools also have plans and want to be aggressive and have money. That doesn’t make anyone incompetent. Would still like anyone to answer why no visits the first weekend. They made some mistakes to start but not as many as we thought in the moment and certainly none that proved to be death blows.
Click to expand...
It sounds like Marsh screwed ND over, but I'm not sure how much ND got played on some of these. If a team offers money that ND wasn't willing to match, it could be as simple as ND had someone else in mind that would perform at a similar level and not cost as much.

I'm also betting that MF and company have a better idea of which agents are straight forward and which ones are slimy which should help in figuring out who's playing portal NIL games next year.

Regardless of opinions, we're there fellas and in the end that's all that matters.
 
rtrn2glory

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I know this is probably an ass move, but is it too much to keep the new kicker away from Biagi or whoever has been in charge of the kickers the past two years and just let him keep doing what he's been doing?
 
BleedBlueGold

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Jiggafini19Deux said:
The Purdue kicker has never missed an extra point. This is the way.
Click to expand...

Didn't have Tyler Buchner as his holder...

I'm joking! Everyone calm down.

rtrn2glory said:
I know this is probably an ass move, but is it too much to keep the new kicker away from Biagi or whoever has been in charge of the kickers the past two years and just let him keep doing what he's been doing?
Click to expand...

Last season's issues definitely seemed operational as opposed to purely individual. I'm sure it'll get fixed, if it hasn't already.
 
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