AJS

You need all hands on deck with returning D-Line & Secondary. LB clearly is a different story. Between incoming FR class and returners, you need 1/2 that amount. Numbers game. Those spots you use to add D-Line & Secondary from the portal.

Here's the breakdown of the numbers. Based on Herder's breakdown of roster limits, I'm assuming UND will opt in, in March and will have a roster limit of 105 next Fall. Current 2024 roster. 105 Players Subtract 15 Eligibility, 2 Portal (Feeney not listed on Roster -- Cetak, Folland), 4 Rumored not returning (retiring - Dixon, Schultz, Kupfer, Schaffner). As of 12/17 there are 21 players will not return. Additions. 23 FR class, +1 Portal As of 12/17 there will be 24 new players. Currently need to subtract 3 to get to 105. There will have to other players that either are unaccounted for in the "retiring" category or by entering the portal.

Love it. Clear direction now who is staying and who is going. No issues at all.

Based on the timeline he gave, we should be finding names out today.

You should read Herder’s article. He thinks all G5 and most FCS will say yes. Gives good reasoning. He explains the situation well.

Good point. Not graduating anyone, Higgins would cancel out Feeney. Re-defense. With a new system, new coaches, interested what a lot of these guys can do. Hope we see limited turnover outside of #’s game to fit new system. Retain & develop.

Got ya. WR - lose Bo, I believe both Schaffner and Kupfer are graduating and won't be returning. Two as part of the incoming class. That positional group really does have to improve. Wouldn't mind seeing 1 enter the portal (anyone but Deng Deng and Korey Tai) and try bringing in 2 from the portal. QB - also has to improve. You have Feeney's spot that is unaccounted for.

Interesting. The WR not as much, since that seemed fairly obvious the portal would be utilized for that position. Along with no clear cut #1 returning. QB much more interesting. Not sure what to make of that positional group or the route I hope they go. Still hoping for no more than 10-12 guys entering.

Must have gotten hurt as he played in only the first two games. Incredibly productive in G1 and had 3 tackles in G2 against UNI.

**Much, much** more important is retaining nearly everyone. Retain, retain, retain. Coach them up and see progression. I went down this path recently with the offers that were being given. Hopefully those they get will produce, but for those hoping for this big splashes from the portal. It’s not happening for UND & probably doesn’t happen at the FCS level for the most part. By splashes I mean productive FBS / FCS players. If you can retain almost all, slight attrition (8-10 program driven entries), 8-10 from the portal. Ideal! You’d see a big jump next year! In the portal era as an FCS team if you just retain, you’ll be better than 95%+ of programs in their off season cycle.

Finals week is Dec. 16-20 per academic calendar. Based on a few of his interviews, I’ve pieced together last Thursday / Friday were one on ones to get to know each guy. He did say that he was going to meet with each guy and go over more football aspect, etc as well. Portal closes Dec. 28. You would think the Football discussions would need to happen this upcoming week. Next week is going to be very busy. We should know the coaching staff / portal exits. Hoping between 10-12 guys enter (3 so far). Coaching initiated. With the change in defense, need to change the % of players in those respective groups. Schmidt is pitching a perfect game through week one. This week will be as challenging. I’m not even focused yet on getting guys from portal. Just getting coaching staff in place, retaining roster and a bit of attrition (program initiated) through guys entering.

100%. A loss they drop back and climbing 12/13 teams is an incredibly tall task in the 2nd half of the year to get an at large bid. Win, it’s absolutely doable, plus set yourself up well in the league.

Roster construction question. With the switch to 4-2-5. They just signed 6 LB’s to NLI’s. Is there a way to get out of 1/2 of those? That seems on paper to be easiest. Otherwise you would think you’ll see at least four 4/5 potential returners enter the portal. If you hand pick 7 LB’s to return + 6 FR is 13 too many to carry? What is the ideal amount of LB’s to carry moving forward?

Fair, but you could make that case for other positional groups as well, especially on the defensive side. LB’s weren’t great and we lose a lot of SRs and I haven’t seen any offers. With a 4-2 they might think they have enough in-house.

Fair assumption that all the secondary offers have to do with possibly switching to a 4-2-5?

This would be a big one!

He had a great interview with Dom Izzo today.

Based on the interviews he’s done, I would think it’ll be mostly new.

Question. I would think it would but can someone confirm the 105 roster limit is going into effect for both FBS and FCS this fall? Three phases to the portal era off-season (1) Keep key contributors. This means different things to different positional groups as well. I look at it as the coaching staff playing GM. It's the majority of players. (2) Attrition through players entering the portal. Program lead decision mostly. Call it mutual. (3) Upgrade your roster through incoming players. All phases incredibly important, but following this fairly closely, the first phase imo is the most important. It's really, really hard to replace key players. Certain position groups (like offensive line), call it impossible at the FCS level. The teams that are consistently at the top are losing very few top players. Great news, it seems like the current roster is in on the Head Coaching change. Very interested to see what kind of movement comes from the coaching changes down the roster. Home-run scenario. Key players hold tight, no movement. Over the next few days, we see some depth attrition. Feel good about the returning roster by the end of next week. Then it's on to phase 3!

What an interview! They absolutely got the right guy!!

Montana returns their starter as well, but lost the guy sharing snaps throughout the year. Really hope UND gets aggressive at QB in the portal.