'23 FL DE Keon Keeley (Prodigal Son)

[Lberry]

Twitter rumblings point to Georgia, which is on par, and makes sense for a guy of his pedigree. I wouldn’t hold my breath, but let’s light a candle just in case.


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Posting cause it's burried. Georgia has signed six edge players rated 93 and above in last 2 classes.

Maybe he doesn't care about depth, but coming off of zero playing time he might?

 

[NDpendent]

Posting cause it's burried. Georgia has signed six edge players rated 93 and above in last 2 classes.

Maybe he doesn't care about depth, but coming off of zero playing time he might?

Honestly I want the guys who don't give a shit about depth. It's the right mentality to have.

 

[NorthDakota]

Honestly I want the guys who don't give a shit about depth. It's the right mentality to have.

It's also unrealistic. Guys want to play.

 

[NDpendent]

It's also unrealistic. Guys want to play.

Of course, just saying you want the guys that a confident they are going to beat out the guys in front of them on the depth charts. We don't need chicken shits that are scared of competition.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

I bet we're under 85 to kick off in A&M.

Clarence Lewis
Kenny Minchey/Angelli
KK Smith
Micah Bell
Chance Tucker
Preston Zinter
Ben Minich
Junior T
Chris Tarek
Ty Chan

Not suggesting there's any rumors here or that I want them gone, but none of these going out would surprise me.

Oof, not a big fan of speculating transfers without any tangible evidence or rumors. EDIT: I see @stlnd01 beat me to it, but I completely agree.

 

[Lberry]

Oof, not a big fan of speculating transfers without any tangible evidence or rumors.

That's ok, I am ok with it, and respect that you are not. It's an actually scenario facing the team and it's the offseason.

 

[stlnd01]

It's also unrealistic. Guys want to play.

I think the portal situation has changed the whole game about depth.
Used to be talented guys were willing to sit and develop and compete for playing time at an elite program, knowing it'd be their turn eventually, and trusting that when it was they would thrive. That was Bama's model, and to some extent Georgia's. (It is also the model that Notre Dame and Michigan have built, although with fewer five-stars).
But now not only can you jump wherever you want, but Georgia and Bama can (and do) have the ability to recruit a comparably talented, and perhaps more experienced, player in over you. So why sit as a redshirt freshman/sophomore when you can go somewhere else and probably start? Why take that chance?
It is distributing the talent, which is good from a competitiveness aspect. But it's also created a situation where everyone is a mercenary on a one-year contract. And that feels pretty chaotic and unsustainable.

 

[Rambler09]

 

[NDMatt91]

It looks like next Tuesday is the last day for class changes (add/drop) if I'm reading the ND Academic Calendar correctly, so if ND were to be an option for the spring he'd have to get in the portal asap.

 

[BoredIrish]

Is he even going in the portal?

It seems like half the Bama roster already announced... not sure what he is waiting for?

 

[Blazers46]

That's the "cover" story. Keeley flipped to Bama because he had an uncle that wanted to get a big NIL payday, and ND wouldn't play that game.

This isn't sour grapes because what Bama did is completely above board now. But numerous insiders said that if the choice was KK's, he'd be at ND, but the family pressure got to him.

My brother knows a guy that has family members that were offered $20k to get another family member to go to a school. He didn’t know or remember which school.

You almost have to imagine that eventually with enough kids, leaving after their freshman year and not ever seeing the playing field that some of these NIL deals will start to decline, but who knows. I’m curious how much money Alabama spent on players that are currently leaving that have never saw much playing time.

 

[irishandy]

If he does enter the portal...MAKE. ROOM. FOR. KEELEY.

I think ND is the perfect fit.

You've got OSU & Georgia loading up, eventually there is going to be no room at the inn or it's will be the same wash, rinse, & repeat- I will be surprised if all of these kids who transferred in to OSU & Georgia are there in the next 1-2 years.

 

[irishff1014]

My brother knows a guy that has family members that were offered $20k to get another family member to go to a school. He didn’t know or remember which school.

You almost have to imagine that eventually with enough kids, leaving after their freshman year and not ever seeing the playing field that some of these NIL deals will start to decline, but who knows. I’m curious how much money Alabama spent on players that are currently leaving that have never saw much playing time.

I think you will see the high school deals drop dramatically. And you will see the transfer deals go up. Why pay for an unproven high school senior when you can pay for a sophomore at the college level that has proven they can play at the NCAA level.

 

[NDpendent]

I think you will see the high school deals drop dramatically. And you will see the transfer deals go up. Why pay for an unproven high school senior when you can pay for a sophomore at the college level that has proven they can play at the NCAA level.

While I agree with you completely on paying for proven players rather then HS kids, what more specifically do we know about Keeley now compared to when he was in HS?

 

[Lberry]

While I agree with you completely on paying for proven players rather then HS kids, what more specifically do we know about Keeley now compared to when he was in HS?

Fair question. I think all we've learned since is that Botehlo isn't that great, and outside of edge, we have a great DL with depth. And we wanted him in HS, so a year in Bama's program probably helped.

 

[stlnd01]

While I agree with you completely on paying for proven players rather then HS kids, what more specifically do we know about Keeley now compared to when he was in HS?

Only that he never saw the field. If anything, the $$ market for his services has probably declined. Which may be why he hasn’t entered the portal.

He could be making just as much if not more at Bama than he would elsewhere, and have a better shot at playing time with a year in the program and so many people leaving.

 

[NDRock]

I think the portal situation has changed the whole game about depth.
Used to be talented guys were willing to sit and develop and compete for playing time at an elite program, knowing it'd be their turn eventually, and trusting that when it was they would thrive. That was Bama's model, and to some extent Georgia's. (It is also the model that Notre Dame and Michigan have built, although with fewer five-stars).
But now not only can you jump wherever you want, but Georgia and Bama can (and do) have the ability to recruit a comparably talented, and perhaps more experienced, player in over you. So why sit as a redshirt freshman/sophomore when you can go somewhere else and probably start? Why take that chance?
It is distributing the talent, which is good from a competitiveness aspect. But it's also created a situation where everyone is a mercenary on a one-year contract. And that feels pretty chaotic and unsustainable.

To be fair, they really never had the choice to transfer like they do now. I’m not really sure those players were any more loyal. I do agree with your overall sentiment.

 

[IrishLax]

To be fair, they really never had the choice to transfer like they do now. I’m not really sure those players were any more loyal. I do agree with your overall sentiment.

Yeah, Saban used to tell freshman “no NFL team has ever asked about your minutes as a freshman” … he’d get guys to sit behind a stud, knowing they couldn’t transfer without sitting out a year, with the idea that they’d play as a soph/junior. And then if they weren’t playing as a junior it meant he found someone better.

With insta transfers the era of “unhappy freshmen” sticking it out is over. They are incentivized to transfer as soon as possible if they aren’t playing or don’t see a path to playing time.

 

[NDPhilly]

Did anyone even ask for the autotransfer rule? I mean the ncaa dropped it seemingly out of nowhere, directly following NIL So much of our current issues would be resolved if that move wasn’t made.

 

[IrishLax]

Did anyone even ask for the autotransfer rule? I mean the ncaa dropped it seemingly out of nowhere, directly following NIL So much of our current issues would be resolved if that move wasn’t made.

They were getting sued about it I think, and they knew they were going to lose a la the NIL case they had just spent millions fighting.

 

[DillonHall]

Any other college student is allowed to transfer whenever they want (whether they had a scholarship or not). Why should there be restrictions on students who play football?

A lot of kids will hurt themselves by transferring instead of staying at their current school, but they should have the right to make that decision

 

[Blazers46]

I think you will see the high school deals drop dramatically. And you will see the transfer deals go up. Why pay for an unproven high school senior when you can pay for a sophomore at the college level that has proven they can play at the NCAA level.

Not only unproven but basically uncommitted

 

[stlnd01]

Did anyone even ask for the autotransfer rule? I mean the ncaa dropped it seemingly out of nowhere, directly following NIL So much of our current issues would be resolved if that move wasn’t made.

Lawsuits were part of it but I thought the immediate decision was a COVID-era thing.
Before the pandemic guys (especially QBs) were increasingly seeking, and winning, waivers so they wouldn't have to sit a year. Justin Fields got one when he went to Ohio State b/c some idiot at Georgia had called him the n word. Phil Jurkovic got one when he transferred to BC for instance. I don't remember the rationale. BK was mean to him?
Then with all the tumult that year, and different schools/conferences/states having such different rules, they waived the rule altogether on a temporary basis. But then it seemed like they could never put in back in the bottle and probably would have lost in court if they tried.

 

[Henges24]

Any other college student is allowed to transfer whenever they want (whether they had a scholarship or not). Why should there be restrictions on students who play football?

A lot of kids will hurt themselves by transferring instead of staying at their current school, but they should have the right to make that decision

Sure but there should still be limits on the number of times you can transfer for athletics; to protect those kids from those bad choices and to protect the integrity of the game.

Point being, if you’re having a rough time finding a spot to play, maybe you should stick to the books.

 

[Blazers46]

Sure but there should still be limits on the number of times you can transfer for athletics; to protect those kids from those bad choices and to protect the integrity of the game.

Point being, if you’re having a rough time finding a spot to play, maybe you should stick to the books.

I assume if they start the pay for play and eliminate NIL the players would be bound by some sort of contract.

 

[NDQuebec]

Sure but there should still be limits on the number of times you can transfer for athletics; to protect those kids from those bad choices and to protect the integrity of the game.

Point being, if you’re having a rough time finding a spot to play, maybe you should stick to the books.

While I understand your point, I disagree with limits to protect kids from bad choices. They have themselves and their family to do that and don't need the NCAA to protect anyone. As for the integrity of the game, I fail to see how limiting the number of times one can transfer will protect it.

 

[EvilleIrish]

Is he actually even entering the portal?

 

[stlnd01]

Is he actually even entering the portal?

He hasn't yet.

 

[IAIrish]

Is he actually even entering the portal?

We're all waiting patiently.

 

[NDWarrior]

I think you will see the high school deals drop dramatically. And you will see the transfer deals go up. Why pay for an unproven high school senior when you can pay for a sophomore at the college level that has proven they can play at the NCAA level.

The Free Market will take care of things here.