2025 Transfer Thread

[Powellfan]

murphy is going from maryland to mt st marys ?

Where did you hear that?

 

[Troughin']

I'd say the same areas of concern that existed before the off season began are still there. But like you said, no other "real" issues have popped up, so that is a win, in and of itself. And all things considered, compared to other teams, the areas of concern that Syracuse has are a lot easier to deal with. Most other contending teams lost a LOT more than SU did. Syracuse will have their core players entering their junior season. That's a huge advantage. The biggest areas of concern for Syracuse, to me, are still as follows:

1. SSDM play - They supplemented a bit with Ryder Ochoa, and lost Vincent Trujilio to Loyola. All in all it seems like a wash. Perhaps someone like Jake Spallina or Nate LaVine takes a huge step forward like Carter Rice did last year. Fingers crossed Nick Turrini from Lehigh wants to follow in the lineage of Cole Kirst and Christian Mule.

2. Offensive dodging - I'm not sure how to classify this one. I feel like SU would be helped by adding one more guy on offense, but the transfer portal doesn't seem to have many obvious options. And all things considered, the Orange are in a good spot with seven of their top nine returning, and they are adding a five star recruit to the mix in Payton Anderson.

And there might just be something said for sticking to your own guys and developing them. SU has been recruiting well these last few years and they have a decent amount of young players to pull from. If they can't find a surefire attackman, they are looking at filling a second line midfield role. It's hard to recruit a grad transfer to that role. They are probably better off filing that role naturally and hoping a young player can take the reins. Matt McIntee, Tucker Kellogg, Tyler McCartney, Wyatt Hottle, Carter Kempney are all names that seem worth investing in.

3. Goalie - Things seems to be pointing in Jimmy McCool's direction. A lot of pressure on the youngster, but if you want a guy to replace your starting All American goalie, it's good to have a five star recruit waiting in the wings. If it's true that SU didn't go after local grad transfer Luke Staudt because they were confident in McCool, that would be a great sign.

4. The Joey Spallina "Divide" - This can't be "fixed" in the portal, but one thing that needs to be addressed next year is the way Spallina plays against Top 10 teams vs the way he plays against everyone else. I think a lot of this got blown way out of proportion last year (lots players struggle against better competition). That said, it seemed like the team played one way when Spallina was "on", vs the way he was off. I think the coaches need to try and get him more involved in the bigger games, whether with picks, or off-ball stuff, and not leave him to dodge 1v1 against All Americans (or playing decoy). He's a great player, but it always seemed very strange to me how different they played, based on Spallina's match-up. I think the coaches need to prepare better next season.

Would respectfully add one more concern to the list- game-specific preparedness. Too often last season, it seem like an opposing team did their homework and had us pretty much figured out going into the game. In some cases, we were able to overcome it because the talent gap was too great (see Towson), but other times, teams took full advantage and made us pay (see Denver). GG and Co need to figure out how to mix things up and to keep their opponents guessing. So far, Gait-coached lacrosse looks nothing like Gait-played lacrosse.
On the flip side, it seemed like we often didn't do enough homework on our opponents and ended up being caught off guard and unprepared. The talent is there- we need the coaches to make more effective use of it.

 

[cuselaxss26]

Where did you hear that?

oh missed read in one talking bout pod cast n draft of portal had schools next to players name b said murphy n someone else name with mt st mary’s next to it realizing it was for second name not stating both players going

 

[wgdsr]

I thought this podcast was well done by Foy and Kinnear. IL should do more of these things, where they just offer their opinions and speculations. Especially in the offseason, this stuff is fun to banter about. The coaching stuff was of less interest to me, but informative for anyone who had a staff shakeup this offseason.

In the transfer portion of the pod, they did a "impact transfer snake draft". Mike Grace was picked fourth by Kinnear, (Hackett, Gianforcaro and Staudt were picked ahead of him). Kinnear did say he was playing while injured for most of the year last year, and played on a partially torn PCL in the title game. How he comes back from injury, and how long it takes him will be something to watch. Still, seems like a promising pickup. Foy thought he might have two years of eligibility.

Surprisingly, Foy selected Vinnie Trujilio as his last impact transfer. I think his argument was mostly that Loyola produces very good SSDMs, so perhaps the staff there could turn things around for Trujlio. It was a head scratching selection since they left off players like Bryce Ford, Matthew Keegan, Jack Aimone, Aidan Blake, Spencer Wertheim, and Nick Dupuis, etc. Make of it what you will. He also said about the Syracuse SSDM group, that since they played so many guys, perhaps that was a sign they didn't have the right guys. Essentially, if you play two quarterbacks, you have none.

Some random notes - Kinnear said it seemed like Malever had been planning to transfer since before the season ended, and that it wasn't a surprise that he entered the portal. Also that Hackler was deciding between Hopkins and Notre Dame, doesn't appear that Syracuse was in the running for his services.

They also did a draft of best available players, which if I remember went, Griffin Turner (since committed to OSU), Owen Murphy, Mitch Dunham (Mt St Mary's), Dutch Furlong, Kolton Marquis and Tommy Barnds (who may or may not decide to hang it up).

grace has 1 year of eligibility. used 22, 23, 24. not a doctor, but good chance won't take surgery for a pcl rn. will be rehab, yada. physically, he should be ok by spring, don't know about fall. given he played on it already, good chance mentally it won't slow him down either. been there.

 

[Whitey23]

I thought this podcast was well done by Foy and Kinnear. IL should do more of these things, where they just offer their opinions and speculations. Especially in the offseason, this stuff is fun to banter about. The coaching stuff was of less interest to me, but informative for anyone who had a staff shakeup this offseason.

In the transfer portion of the pod, they did a "impact transfer snake draft". Mike Grace was picked fourth by Kinnear, (Hackett, Gianforcaro and Staudt were picked ahead of him). Kinnear did say he was playing while injured for most of the year last year, and played on a partially torn PCL in the title game. How he comes back from injury, and how long it takes him will be something to watch. Still, seems like a promising pickup. Foy thought he might have two years of eligibility.

Surprisingly, Foy selected Vinnie Trujilio as his last impact transfer. I think his argument was mostly that Loyola produces very good SSDMs, so perhaps the staff there could turn things around for Trujlio. It was a head scratching selection since they left off players like Bryce Ford, Matthew Keegan, Jack Aimone, Aidan Blake, Spencer Wertheim, and Nick Dupuis, etc. Make of it what you will. He also said about the Syracuse SSDM group, that since they played so many guys, perhaps that was a sign they didn't have the right guys. Essentially, if you play two quarterbacks, you have none.

Some random notes - Kinnear said it seemed like Malever had been planning to transfer since before the season ended, and that it wasn't a surprise that he entered the portal. Also that Hackler was deciding between Hopkins and Notre Dame, doesn't appear that Syracuse was in the running for his services.

They also did a draft of best available players, which if I remember went, Griffin Turner (since committed to OSU), Owen Murphy, Mitch Dunham (Mt St Mary's), Dutch Furlong, Kolton Marquis and Tommy Barnds (who may or may not decide to hang it up).

Here’s that full list.

 

[Powellfan]

Also, Brian Mack, First Team All MAAC defender from Siena to Rutgers. Things seem to be very slow right now.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[JeremyCuse]

Good place for him to land. Will get a ton of PT and his style will mesh better.

 

[Powellfan]

Word on FanLax is that Owen Murphy is not pursuing an extra year and is done playing lax.

 

[DMVCuseLax]

How many players is UVA going to have to cut when the roster sizes get restricted?

 

[JeremyCuse]

How many players is UVA going to have to cut when the roster sizes get restricted?

Their roster is usually significantly smaller then most of the blue bloods. That said I think the roster size restriction may end up not coming to fruition, lot of rumblings on it not happening.

 

[DMVCuseLax]

Their roster is usually significantly smaller then most of the blue bloods. That said I think the roster size restriction may end up not coming to fruition, lot of rumblings on it not happening.

I guess we will know soon enough. Last I read the number restrictions discussed for men’s lax ranged from 32 to 36.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

I guess we will know soon enough. Last I read the number restrictions discussed for men’s lax ranged from 32 to 36.

Not enough.

We had at least 32 guys who saw regular playing time last year, and factor in 3 guys who missed the season with injuries.

You'd have to carry only 2 goalies and 2 FOGO's. and you wouldn't be able to sub guys in during blowouts. And no more redshirting.

 

[Powellfan]

I guess we will know soon enough. Last I read the number restrictions discussed for men’s lax ranged from 32 to 36.

That seems crazy low to me. Some rosters last season were almost double that. They shouldn't have been, obviously, and there were extra covid years to consider, but still. How can the NCAA implement anything when they've basically been rendered toothless from all these lawsuits?

Like Extreme points out injuries would be a major concern. And unlike the pros, you can't just go out and sign a free agent. This seems totally unenforceable and ripe for more lawsuits.

 

[DMVCuseLax]

That seems crazy low to me. Some rosters last season were almost double that. They shouldn't have been, obviously, and there were extra covid years to consider, but still. How can the NCAA implement anything when they've basically been rendered toothless from all these lawsuits?

Like Extreme points out injuries would be a major concern. And unlike the pros, you can't just go out and sign a free agent. This seems totally unenforceable and ripe for more lawsuits.

I agree. Just passing on what I read.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[Powellfan]

Sounds like Nick Turrini, a SSDM from Lehigh in the portal, has transferred to St Johns. Perhaps I was off in my evaluation. Not sure I see many options for Syracuse left in the portal. Luke Nestor from Salisbury is perhaps the one to watch, but not sure how likely that is (he's from Maryland). Owen Murphy (Maryland) is supposedly done with lacrosse, Dutch Furlong (Bucknell) has some character questions and unsure if Tommy Barnds (Princeton) plans on using his last year of eligibility.

Mitch Dunham is the only defensive player I could see Syracuse targeting, but SU already has a lot of depth at pole, so that seems unlikely. The other players in the portal seem to be young guys who haven't yet seen the field.

I was expecting more from SU this year in terms of the portal, if only because they seem to bring in a decent amount of new players. But the team brings back a lot of starters from last year, and if it's true they are trying to trim the roster, it doesn't make much sense to bring in more players. Still a strong roster on paper, and for chemistry it's probably not good to rely heavily on the portal year in and year out.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[DoctahLexus]

That's a shame...

 

[Cuse4455]

He is one I really wanted us to pursue, absolute DOG. But I get not wanting to pay Cuse tuition.

 

[nyclax]

kinda weird when your best ssdm leaves with multiple years of eligibility to go play d3 basketball. denver might stink next year, they lose everyone

 

[Whitey23]

He is one I really wanted us to pursue, absolute DOG. But I get not wanting to pay Cuse tuition.

St Lawrence ain't cheap!

 

[DoctahLexus]

Sounds like Nick Turrini, a SSDM from Lehigh in the portal, has transferred to St Johns. Perhaps I was off in my evaluation. Not sure I see many options for Syracuse left in the portal. Luke Nestor from Salisbury is perhaps the one to watch, but not sure how likely that is (he's from Maryland). Owen Murphy (Maryland) is supposedly done with lacrosse, Dutch Furlong (Bucknell) has some character questions and unsure if Tommy Barnds (Princeton) plans on using his last year of eligibility.

Mitch Dunham is the only defensive player I could see Syracuse targeting, but SU already has a lot of depth at pole, so that seems unlikely. The other players in the portal seem to be young guys who haven't yet seen the field.

I was expecting more from SU this year in terms of the portal, if only because they seem to bring in a decent amount of new players. But the team brings back a lot of starters from last year, and if it's true they are trying to trim the roster, it doesn't make much sense to bring in more players. Still a strong roster on paper, and for chemistry it's probably not good to rely heavily on the portal year in and year out.

No desperate needs on offense. Practically zero room at the inn when you consider guys like Deere and Anderson are knocking on the door. Something like Hiltz not using his 5th year would have changed things, but that did not happen. Does not surprise me we did not land a name there, and it is possible we did not pursue any strictly offensive players.

Wish we had one more ssdm type in the mix (or another two way middie faceoff wing type guy), but there is minimal talent in the portal at that position this year. Turrini could have maaaybe competed for our backup ssdm spots, but not good enough to start. LSM is the other question mark, but Grace is a quality addition there. Cant really complain about what we did given the options in the portal this year.

I doubt our roster trimming goals got in the way of transfers. That most likely goes into effect the year after next, so would not be a factor for a one year grad transfer we land this season. Even if it goes into effect this upcoming season, I am sure we would find a way to make room for the right portal addition. Highly doubt that is the reason for minimal portal adds this year.

 

[DoctahLexus]

He is one I really wanted us to pursue, absolute DOG. But I get not wanting to pay Cuse tuition.

I believe Anderson was not in the portal before this was announced. Dont think he was ever an option as a lacrosse transfer. Now if we recruited him out of high school that would be nice.

 

[maceo511]

He was helping coach at the Powell Lacrosse camp this week