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When I first started to track all of this, I had a thought that this portal class, this monumental and important transfer class, wasn’t just about 2025, but maybe also about 2026 and 2027 as well. It seemed as if this was a situation where this will obviously be impactful for 2025, but what was the class breakdown for the portal class and what position group was emphasized in each class.
The seniors-to-be appears to be pretty well rounded. There are 2 defensive backs, defensive tackles, offensive linemen, outside pass rushers and receivers, while there is 1 transfer quarterback. That sort of hits all of the spots that were a problem last year a beefed up offensive line is necessary, 6 defensive players, and I think the staff wanted more depth at receiver with the loss of Josh Kelly and Drae McCray, which I think they got in Virgil and Alexander. And by all accounts, Bailey, Height, Gill-Howard and Hunter along with Wisniewski are plug-and-play starters on defense and I would lean towards Balfour starting as well. That’s a lot of starters in one group.
The junior group focuses on 2 cornerbacks, Boyd and Pollack, a defensive lineman in Holmes that followed Wood from Houston to Texas Tech. Sampson at left tackle is supposed to be top-end and I suppose there is a chance he could declare after one year, which means that if he’s that good then the offense has been spectacular. I will be keenly interested to see how Carter and the other tight ends are integrated into the offense. These guys aren’t real blockers and I don’t know how much they need to be. I do think they are dynamic athletes and will be dangerous in space and will be able to take advantage of linebackers trying to cover them. The kicker is a bit iffy after the spring game, but he was supposedly good all spring and wasn’t great during the game. That’s one out of 15 practices, so I’ll wait and see how that works out. I think Boyd will also start, as will Sampson, and maybe Carter (not sure if it will be him or Miller) along with Bellenfant as of right now. That’s 3 starters that seem pretty certain at this point.
The sophomore group probably has just 1 starter in Joyner, but I’m even not sure about that as the running back group seems pretty stacked. You could pick any one of the 3 running backs and I’d be okay with that. It’s difficult to know what Hudson will eventually be and think that patience is key to his success. Cleveland could possibly be a starter, but I don’t know that he will be right now.
I think for me, it’s obviously very heavy for seniors, I think 11 total are seniors with more than a handful of starters most likely. That will certainly help in 2025 for players who are on the roster and who are not ready. But I do think there was some long-term planning involved as well, 10 additional players were juniors or sophomores, upgrading positions where things needed to be better, like defensive back and then taking special players like Boyd, Sampson, Carter and Joyner.
