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All great questions and, unfortunately, I don’t have any concrete answers to any of them. It’s possible Landers entered the portal, but more likely a grades issue. Not sure what this staff requires in that situation. I wouldn’t count on him being back, although I’d really like to see it happen at some point. I figured Holt would end up on Minnesota’s roster, but the longer this goes on it seems less likely. There’s a chance he’s already landed somewhere and it hasn’t been reported. Would love to say I have access to the NCAA portal, but I don’t. I don’t know how the staff feels about taking guys back who have already entered the portal. I know some coaches are more forgiving than others. He’d definitely help us and a team can’t ever have enough talented defensive linemen. Although, there could be another issue going on we don’t know about?

I’d hate to see Landers go. He looked the part the second he took the field and could have been a huge force in the league for a long time. Maybe grades weren’t up to par? He was a late HS signee after all, with previous big offers.

Unfortunately Ka'Marri Landers also no longer appears on the roster. He's another guy I couldn't locate on the sideline or field during spring game. Right now, I have us at 90 scholarship players, with bringing in 23 JUCO/transfer portal players. I decided not to count Ridge Howard as he didn't post the same committed graphic as the other clearly scholarship players and I don't believe he was actually on scholarship at NIU either as he wasn't included in their signing day bios. Zips Football Scholarship Chart.xlsx

Another OL incoming?

A couple guys made the 3rd and 4th team that I thought should have been on the 3rd team at the end of last year in Daniel George and Nate Thompson. Nice to see Hester as a KR, Nate Williams, and Banks get a little recognition. Lingard on the 3rd team too and he hasn’t played a down. If this team plays up to their talent level, this list will be flipped on its head. I’m betting we have several defenders make an all conference team by the end of the year too.

Until we start winning consistently and putting up some big numbers, we will be overlooked and disrespected.

Incredible offer list coming out of high school. Didn't do much at during time at IL, but still has 2 years of eligibility. I like me some big, athletic linebackers.

Good question. I’m not sure if there is any one player with the ability to make a bigger difference for their team than Lingard. Especially considering how inept our running game was during portions of last year. Each MAC team has landed at least a few good players in portal. I can’t point to any one team and say that’s probably an awful portal class. However, CMU has collected the least amount of portal players. The teams I’m most interested in are: Ball State - A new QB and some nice additions at receiver. Wouldn’t be surprised to see them steer in a new direction offensively. They lost Carson Steele at RB and replaced him with Kent State’s Marquez Cooper. Bowling Green - They’ve added some athleticism and size at the OLB position. Just not sure what to expect from the rest of their defense. Connor Bazelak could be a wild card if he has time to throw the ball. OL is still an issue. BGSU has some solid talent at WR. Kent State - They are going to be awful, but got off to a hot start initially landing Jalani Williams, Dallas Craddieth, Devin Nicholson, and Mattheus Carroll. The recruiting of late has been unimpressive to say the least. Miami - Rashad Amos is a good back that never really got an opportunity at South Carolina. He could potentially make a difference for what should be a solid Miami squad. Western Michigan - What are they going to be? I like what they’ve done in the portal and they had a top heavy HS class. Keshawn King, along with the two freshmen RBs, could make some noise and provide a strong running game.

Thomas gone already?? Damn.