Between The Eers: A Major Portal Loss for WVU
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:10 Don't you just hate it?
00:12 Whenever you do something, felt like you did it well or
00:16 explain something well and then all of a sudden, something changes.
00:21 And all of a sudden everything that you just did or
00:26 said no longer exists or means anything.
00:29 Yeah, that was me yesterday, after I recorded yesterday's episode
00:34 talking about the 2023 West Virginia football transfer class.
00:40 The hits, the misses, the guys that still were trying to figure out whether or
00:45 not they're gonna be contributors or not.
00:47 And among those was Tomiwa Dorejia,
00:52 who as you now know is in the portal again for
00:57 the second time in his collegiate career.
01:02 Spent the first year at Kentucky, he redshirted and made his way over to
01:07 Morgantown, developed into a quality rotational defensive lineman.
01:12 Was probably gonna be in line to either start or
01:16 have a very significant role in 24.
01:19 And for whatever reason is now in the portal.
01:24 Had I known or had an inclination that this was a possibility,
01:29 I wouldn't have mentioned Dorejia's name.
01:32 Or I wouldn't have mentioned it in the way that I did.
01:37 And that was I thought he was gonna be a big impact player in 24 for
01:40 the Mountaineers.
01:42 This came out of absolutely nowhere.
01:46 I can tell you right now that this was out of left field.
01:52 This was one that many were not expecting.
01:56 And I don't know exactly the reasoning behind it,
02:01 outside of my guess and my assumptions.
02:04 And that would be, I mean, I hate to bring it to this, but money, right?
02:12 That's what all these kids are chasing nowadays.
02:15 They're chasing the opportunity that carries the most bag or
02:20 baggage or whatever that gives them the most opportunity
02:25 to make as much money as possible.
02:28 And I 100% understand it.
02:31 I too was a college athlete.
02:34 I understand the situation that these kids are in.
02:41 They go to school, they're in practice, they're in meetings all day.
02:44 There's no time really to make money.
02:46 And what they do, they put their body on the line,
02:48 particularly in football.
02:51 But man, there's gotta be some sense of patience.
02:55 There's gotta be some small sense of, I don't know, common sense.
03:00 And I feel like a lot of these kids just are not using it and
03:05 don't have that patience.
03:07 [BLANK_AUDIO]
03:09 And I'm just gonna be honest with you.
03:13 This was a bad, bad move.
03:17 For Dershawi, and I'm not saying that he won't rebound and
03:23 find a good place for him and develops into an NFL caliber player.
03:29 But taking the news for what it is, I mean, it doesn't make any sense.
03:36 I mean, he just solidified himself along this defensive line.
03:44 You're not going to go in the portal and demand a crap ton of money.
03:50 And I'm not saying that that is exactly the reason because I truly do not know.
03:54 I'm just saying if that is the reason for bigger NIL opportunities,
04:02 good luck because the market right now is not very good.
04:06 A lot of these schools are starting to back off on how much money that they're
04:10 gonna be putting, or not the schools, but the collectives, if you will,
04:14 are starting to be very cautious with their money, including West Virginia.
04:20 They're not gonna overpay for people.
04:22 They're not gonna pay guys that want absurd amount of money.
04:29 And again, I'm making this very clear.
04:31 I don't know if this is the reason behind it.
04:33 It's an assumption.
04:36 And I'm not trying to put that narrative out there that this is why Tommy Wah is
04:40 leaving.
04:40 I'm not doing that at all.
04:42 What I'm saying though is, if he stays at West Virginia,
04:48 he's gonna get his money that he wants, or the NIL opportunities that he would want.
04:55 He's going to develop into an NFL caliber player.
04:59 He's already on that path.
05:01 But the second you derail and you take a different turn, and
05:06 you all of a sudden have to learn a third defense in as many years, and
05:10 you have to learn a new scheme, new verbiage, new teammates, new atmosphere.
05:16 You're having to constantly battle uphill.
05:22 That's a very tough thing that you're putting yourself through.
05:27 When you go through, Not just one, not two, but
05:33 three different positions, battles, and defenses,
05:38 and learning of schemes, that is very, very tough.
05:42 And what I found interesting the other day was a tweet by Max Olson of
05:49 the Athletic, that 72%,
05:54 72% of Power Five and G5,
06:00 Power Four and G5 transfers,
06:04 see fewer snaps at their next school.
06:07 72%, that's overwhelming.
06:12 That is an absurd number.
06:15 Catch this, 37% of those same transfers
06:23 don't even start a game that next season, 37%.
06:27 That's going out on a limb,
06:31 that's a huge risk if you go in the portal.
06:36 And not every case is the same, not every kid that enters the portal is gonna see
06:42 a reduction in snaps, or is gonna fail to get a start.
06:45 And in some cases,
06:51 you're gonna see guys that don't even get a home.
06:57 I don't think any of those three are gonna be the case for Derjai.
07:00 He's a very talented kid, he's got a lot of upside, and
07:03 he's got a bright future ahead of him.
07:05 I think he's gonna find himself playing as much or more than he did this year.
07:11 He's gonna start, I don't see that being a situation at all.
07:15 What I'm saying though is, and maybe I should back this up and
07:22 say this isn't necessarily for Tommy Wong.
07:27 But the kids that transfer two and three and four times,
07:31 you're making this more difficult than it needs to be.
07:35 You're going to a college to put stuff on tape for the 32 teams at the NFL.
07:42 You're not putting stuff on tape for
07:46 the other 120 some schools at the collegiate level.
07:52 I mean, you can if you want, but the ultimate focus,
07:57 the ultimate goal should be the NFL.
08:00 And if there's an opportunity where you can go to a different school and
08:03 make more money, I get it.
08:05 It's life changing money for a lot of these kids.
08:09 And a lot of people would be crazy to pass up some of the money that's been
08:13 floated around out there.
08:14 But the long term goal is to get to the NFL.
08:20 That money that you get in the NIL space is only going to last for so long.
08:24 It's going to eventually run out.
08:26 That money in the NFL, if you work your way into becoming a quality
08:33 player at this level, and you can develop yourself to be a coachable person.
08:40 You have great work ethic, and you improve every single year you're in college.
08:46 You're going to play a long time in the NFL.
08:47 Guess what, that money lasted a hell of a lot longer than the one that you're about
08:51 to get in the NIL space.
08:52 When you bounce around from place to place, from defense to defense, or
08:58 scheme to scheme, you're putting yourself in an extremely difficult position.
09:04 Because you're never set going into that year.
09:09 Again, for Duregi, this is his third defense he's going to have to learn in as
09:14 many years.
09:15 It's the third time that he's going to have to prove himself to a defensive
09:20 coordinator, to a position coach, to a head coach.
09:23 That hey, I deserve this role.
09:25 I deserve this amount of playing time.
09:26 I deserve this type of playing status.
09:31 He already knew what that was going to be if he came back to Morgantown in 2024.
09:38 So again, I'll take a step back, not necessarily push this as
09:44 Duregi making a bad decision.
09:48 But this is more so, I guess a warning,
09:55 if you will, to those that are transferring two, three, and four times.
10:00 Some situations, it's okay to do that, if it makes sense.
10:05 And this may be a case where it makes sense for Duregi.
10:09 We'll find out.
10:11 But more often than not, as those numbers just point, I just rattled off to you.
10:16 The grass isn't greener on the other side.
10:19 I'll go over those numbers again.
10:23 72% of P5, well, Power 4 and
10:29 G5 transfers see a reduction in snaps
10:34 their following season at their new school.
10:37 37% fail to start a single game.
10:44 That is an absurd amount of players taking a backseat to what they had.
10:54 But they didn't know that what they had was good for them.
11:00 And I get it's not all about playing time.
11:04 I understand there's culture.
11:05 There's coaching changes.
11:07 There's all sorts of things that go into this.
11:09 But if you were to read me those stats, and I was a player in college,
11:18 whatever sport, and I was thinking about transferring, and
11:24 I looked at those numbers, I'm second guessing it.
11:31 Because is it worth me taking a whole year to gain the trust and
11:38 gain the familiarity with the new coaching staff and scheme to build
11:43 myself back up to where I was this year, instead of staying where I'm at
11:49 and increasing my production, increasing my role?
11:53 You're setting yourself back in most cases, unless you're a proven commodity
12:01 at a quarterback or a big time receiver or running back or defensive back.
12:06 And you have been an all conference player, started a bunch of games,
12:12 and you're gonna get a ton of money opportunities.
12:15 That's different.
12:17 What I'm talking about is these young cats that are rotational players
12:24 on the fringe of becoming a starter.
12:26 And they think that moving is the best thing for them.
12:31 Be careful with these decisions.
12:36 They're not always what's in best interest for you.
12:40 I hope it works out for Tom.
12:43 I really do.
12:44 He's a good, good kid, very talented player.
12:48 And in my opinion, I think he will, as long as he ends up in the right situation,
12:53 in the right place, the right defense, I think he will play his way into the NFL.
12:57 One way or another, whether it's a draft or
12:59 he just finds his way onto a practice squad as a UDFA.
13:01 One way or another, the kid's got the talent.
13:05 Hope it works out for him.
13:08 But at some point, at some point,
13:13 we've gotta see these transfer numbers cut down.
13:17 I don't care if you transfer once, whatever, I get it.
13:22 You make a decision out of high school and you realize you had a mistake.
13:27 But the second, third, and fourth time transfers, man,
13:31 these numbers have gotta come down.
13:33 Unfortunately, it probably won't any time soon,
13:35 thanks to the TRO against the NCAA enforcing their transfer rules.
13:41 It worked out for West Virginia basketball with Rayquan Battle.
13:44 Now it's coming to backfire on them on the football side of things.
13:49 So it's gonna be interesting.
13:53 Transfer portal is a wild, wild thing.
13:57 It's a dangerous tool, I guess we wanna call it for these kids.
14:03 But maybe one day, 10, 12 years from now, there'll be enough data out there
14:10 that shows the pros and cons of leaving the situation you're in.
14:15 And maybe we'll have some better educated decisions.
14:19 And again, I'm not trying to slam Tommy's decision.
14:23 I'm not trying to criticize his decision at all.
14:26 What I'm saying is, I hope the best for the kid, hope it works out.
14:31 But what he would have done here in West Virginia in 2024 would have really put
14:38 him, I think, on the map the following year to be on the NFL radar.
14:44 At a much sooner pace than he's gonna probably be at another school.
14:49 We'll see, we'll see.
14:51 Hope it works out for him.
14:52 That'll do it for me here today.
14:53 I'm Scott Callan, here on Between the Years.
14:55 Make sure you hit that subscribe button.
14:57 @MountaineersNow and give us a follow on X at the same handle.
15:01 We'll be back tomorrow with another episode.
15:03 [MUSIC]