Quante Gillians in the portal

[CbusCuse]

I’m not surprised he didnt see the field. We were loaded with experienced bodies in the DL this past season. Cant expect true freshman to do much of anything. The DL was not great but I don’t think it was awful. Certainly underperformed though. Sucks to lose Gillians as he was a good sized, somewhat higher rated prospect that now had a year of college under his belt and the DL is a position of heavy need already. But like other have stated, not exactly sure what we are losing if he leaves. He barely saw the field and some other young bucks saw the field a bit more than he did.

Really hate that we didn’t make a bowl. We have guys sitting around so long with time to reflect and think. On top of that, SU likely has more coaching changes happening than at many other schools that are still playing games. It seems like a recipe to have more people transfer out, and that I think is even sort of regardless of how we performed. All of it just brings a constant negative vibe for an extended period of time when we have players matriculating to the portal and we are unable to add anyone at this point.

Really looking forward to the portal opening so we can finally start making some positive positional additions.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Starting to see some cracks in the armor. This could we get plenty of run (I assume) next year.

“Starting”? We finished the season with 8 straight horrific losses where the team looked inept and we have lost a ton of our best young players in the portal. Tough to develop these good HS recruits when they don’t stay long enough because the team stinks and tough to win games with no talent. Viscious circle. You can’t just replace these guys via the portal either unless you have Texas Tech type funding. More and more the portal is just highest bidder type stuff, there are exceptions for sure but adding starters and guys that can contribute immediately takes a lot of money.

The 8 losses in a row has turned the program upside down in a hurry. Nobody wants to play for a laughing stock losing program and that’s the perception out there. Fran’s stock absolutely fell off a cliff in 2 months. It’s actually staggering how quickly it happened

 

[1776]

“Starting”? We finished the season with 8 straight horrific losses where the team looked inept and we have lost a ton of our best young players in the portal. Tough to develop these good HS recruits when they don’t stay long enough because the team stinks and tough to win games with no talent. Viscious circle. You can’t just replace these guys via the portal either unless you have Texas Tech type funding. More and more the portal is just highest bidder type stuff, there are exceptions for sure but adding starters and guys that can contribute immediately takes a lot of money.

The 8 losses in a row has turned the program upside down in a hurry. Nobody wants to play for a laughing stock losing program and that’s the perception out there. Fran’s stock absolutely fell off a cliff in 2 months. It’s actually staggering how quickly it happened

Spot on…

 

[AngryOtto]

“Starting”? We finished the season with 8 straight horrific losses where the team looked inept and we have lost a ton of our best young players in the portal. Tough to develop these good HS recruits when they don’t stay long enough because the team stinks and tough to win games with no talent. Viscious circle. You can’t just replace these guys via the portal either unless you have Texas Tech type funding. More and more the portal is just highest bidder type stuff, there are exceptions for sure but adding starters and guys that can contribute immediately takes a lot of money.

The 8 losses in a row has turned the program upside down in a hurry. Nobody wants to play for a laughing stock losing program and that’s the perception out there. Fran’s stock absolutely fell off a cliff in 2 months. It’s actually staggering how quickly it happened

May happen but I would not say we lost our best younger players. I think we have kept most of our young talent.

 

[tep624]

“Starting”? We finished the season with 8 straight horrific losses where the team looked inept and we have lost a ton of our best young players in the portal. Tough to develop these good HS recruits when they don’t stay long enough because the team stinks and tough to win games with no talent. Viscious circle. You can’t just replace these guys via the portal either unless you have Texas Tech type funding. More and more the portal is just highest bidder type stuff, there are exceptions for sure but adding starters and guys that can contribute immediately takes a lot of money.

The 8 losses in a row has turned the program upside down in a hurry. Nobody wants to play for a laughing stock losing program and that’s the perception out there. Fran’s stock absolutely fell off a cliff in 2 months. It’s actually staggering how quickly it happened

So explain if nobody wants to play for this program how we just landed our best recruiting class in 30 years and both of our Freshman AA’s on Defense are coming back?

Yeah the season ended like a burnt turd but none of us need the chicken little routine. Willis, Ross, Gillians, and Singleton were the 4 more heavier recruited younger players that have opted to leave, and most of them had other players as young as them ahead of them on the depth chart.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

So explain if nobody wants to play for this program how we just landed our best recruiting class in 30 years and both of our Freshman AA’s on Defense are coming back?

Yeah the season ended like a burnt turd but none of us need the chicken little routine. Willis, Ross, Gillians, and Singleton were the 4 more heavier recruited younger players that have opted to leave, and most of them had other players as young as them ahead of them on the depth chart.

I do love a “chicken little’ reference. Kudos

You’re still drinking the kool aid. What good are these recruiting classes if the solid depth leaves after their first year or maybe two. They red shirt, sit and then leave. It happens but a team of 3-4 really talented kids isn’t going to win games. The depth is being eroded every year and replaced with over priced portal guys like this year. Fran loves the shiny new toys but can’t maintain what’s already here.

There are obviously issues with this program right now and only winning next year will take care of it. Fran’s starting to wear kids out that are with the program, it’s become rather evident. The NJ kids are suppose to be the bread and butter for the program and they are packing up and getting out. You don’t need to be a genius to figure out that Fran lost control this thing from October on. He’s made some good corrective measures but we shall see. Needs 6-7 wins to right the ship and get back on track. Quite honestly, Fran got a huge serving of humble pie this season, let’s see how he responds. His ego needed a bit of a reality check anyway should be good for him in the long run.

 

[Irt4su]

“Starting”? We finished the season with 8 straight horrific losses where the team looked inept and we have lost a ton of our best young players in the portal. Tough to develop these good HS recruits when they don’t stay long enough because the team stinks and tough to win games with no talent. Viscious circle. You can’t just replace these guys via the portal either unless you have Texas Tech type funding. More and more the portal is just highest bidder type stuff, there are exceptions for sure but adding starters and guys that can contribute immediately takes a lot of money.

The 8 losses in a row has turned the program upside down in a hurry. Nobody wants to play for a laughing stock losing program and that’s the perception out there. Fran’s stock absolutely fell off a cliff in 2 months. It’s actually staggering how quickly it happened

I was speaking to the recruiting. Cuse has sucked for years but he was getting talent to make it better. McCord was an aberration but blessing. I never thought we would have been that good two years ago (or this bad this year). Recruiting is a gift he has. I assumed retention came with that whether we won or lost as they grew. Losing recruits a year or two down the road when playing time is available is a worse sign than our team not turning it around by year two or three. I was hoping the kids he brought in became men on the field.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

I was speaking to the recruiting. Cuse has sucked for years but he was getting talent to make it better. McCord was an aberration but blessing. I never thought we would have been that good two years ago (or this bad this year). Recruiting is a gift he has. I assumed retention came with that whether we won or lost as they grew. Losing recruits a year or two down the road when playing time is available is a worse sign than our team not turning it around by year two or three. I was hoping the kids he brought in became men on the field.

Recruiting good talent that the fan base is excited about only to lose them in the portal a year or two later isn’t a path for success. Not every kid that leaves is a bust or gets the talk or can’t find a spot on the 2 deep. Recruiting or retaining kids on your current roster is extremely important for programs without huge NIL $. It’s actually the only way for success. Right now, the money in the portal just grows every year which makes it harder to swim in those waters for programs like Syracuse

 

[IthacaBarrel]

The fact that the head coach stated that he prefer to recruit, develop and retain less than 6 months and now that clearly is not happening should be a red flag as to what is going on . Now everybody is praying for a portal haul just seems like we are grasping at straws. Sure, We will get couple of decent guys and then some others we hope are better than they look on paper but this isn’t what the plan was.

 

[AngryOtto]

The fact that the head coach stated that he prefer to recruit, develop and retain less than 6 months and now that clearly is not happening should be a red flag as to what is going on . Now everybody is praying for a portal haul just seems like we are grasping at straws. Sure, We will get couple of decent guys and then some others we hope are better than they look on paper but this isn’t what the plan was.

Players leave in the new landscape. It’s how Georgia and the other programs recruit. You bring in 25. 8 will exceed expectations, 7 meet expectations and the other 10 are encouraged to leave. Same cycle every year. Remember recruiting ranks in the end means very little it’s field production. However it is better to start with better recruits which Fran has shown he can recruit.
The new wrinkle is that players and their agents may over value their worth. I higher rated recruit may have gotten more to sign but did not perform to that value. Even though they underperformed they want the same money which the school says no. The player than leaves. We as fans get upset because we see a high rated recruit leave but in reality the school and player made a business decision. The player goes to think they can make more money and the school invests their money in a player they think is a better value. Time will tell who made the better business decision.
Fran would like to develop the players but he is not going to make a bad business decision if he can avoid it. Sometimes he will be right (Pena, etc) and sometimes he will be wrong (maybe Barnes). We just need him to be right more than he’s wrong.
He’ll get a mulligan on this season. The positive is that he is making changes. Coaching changes and moving some players on the free room up is the first changes. Now let’s see who we get in the portal before we decide next year is another development year. From what I see from Fran he does not see it that way.

 

[sufan59]

The fact that the head coach stated that he prefer to recruit, develop and retain less than 6 months and now that clearly is not happening should be a red flag as to what is going on . Now everybody is praying for a portal haul just seems like we are grasping at straws. Sure, We will get couple of decent guys and then some others we hope are better than they look on paper but this isn’t what the plan was.

It’s a red flag if he is adjusting his strategy on volume of what Syracuse can handle for developing players? Despite transfers, if guys coming to Syracuse out of high school are being developed, producing on the field, and being retained. Strategy is still being fulfilled even if the volume is down.

 

[OrangeTarheel]

The fact that the head coach stated that he prefer to recruit, develop and retain less than 6 months and now that clearly is not happening should be a red flag as to what is going on . Now everybody is praying for a portal haul just seems like we are grasping at straws. Sure, We will get couple of decent guys and then some others we hope are better than they look on paper but this isn’t what the plan was.

What is the magic number of players that can leave every season?

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

“Starting”? We finished the season with 8 straight horrific losses where the team looked inept and we have lost a ton of our best young players in the portal. Tough to develop these good HS recruits when they don’t stay long enough because the team stinks and tough to win games with no talent. Viscious circle. You can’t just replace these guys via the portal either unless you have Texas Tech type funding. More and more the portal is just highest bidder type stuff, there are exceptions for sure but adding starters and guys that can contribute immediately takes a lot of money.

The 8 losses in a row has turned the program upside down in a hurry. Nobody wants to play for a laughing stock losing program and that’s the perception out there. Fran’s stock absolutely fell off a cliff in 2 months. It’s actually staggering how quickly it happened

I could not disagree more.

 

[Ttk.gman2]

The fact that the head coach stated that he prefer to recruit, develop and retain less than 6 months and now that clearly is not happening should be a red flag as to what is going on . Now everybody is praying for a portal haul just seems like we are grasping at straws. Sure, We will get couple of decent guys and then some others we hope are better than they look on paper but this isn’t what the plan was.

We’re retaining the top contributors on the team while making room for better players and cutting the dead weight. What else do you want him to do—keep the same roster that went 3–9?

 

[PAcuse]

We’re retaining the top contributors on the team while making room for better players and cutting the dead weight. What else do you want him to do—keep the same roster that went 3–9?

It's best to put him on ignore.
He is LOVING Fran failing and just rolling in the slop of the season.
Clearly the current landscape of college football is lost on some folks.
We will have around 20 portal enteries just about every year, it's just the way the game is now.

 

[tep624]

I do love a “chicken little’ reference. Kudos

You’re still drinking the kool aid. What good are these recruiting classes if the solid depth leaves after their first year or maybe two. They red shirt, sit and then leave. It happens but a team of 3-4 really talented kids isn’t going to win games. The depth is being eroded every year and replaced with over priced portal guys like this year. Fran loves the shiny new toys but can’t maintain what’s already here.

There are obviously issues with this program right now and only winning next year will take care of it. Fran’s starting to wear kids out that are with the program, it’s become rather evident. The NJ kids are suppose to be the bread and butter for the program and they are packing up and getting out. You don’t need to be a genius to figure out that Fran lost control this thing from October on. He’s made some good corrective measures but we shall see. Needs 6-7 wins to right the ship and get back on track. Quite honestly, Fran got a huge serving of humble pie this season, let’s see how he responds. His ego needed a bit of a reality check anyway should be good for him in the long run.

If the shoe fits….

This is the portal era. If you have 4/3 year starters as Frosh or Soph at a position you are likely losing young players behind them, regardless of recruiting rank, and it happens to practically every program. A kid that can play starter minutes elsewhere isn’t waiting 2-3 years for his turn anymore. And there’s no penalty to leaving. That’s not a “Fran” thing.

You’re just being a D with comments like “No One wants to play here” and you know it.

 

[cayugacuse]

We’re retaining the top contributors on the team while making room for better players and cutting the dead weight. What else do you want him to do—keep the same roster that went 3–9?

With the new defensive line coaches and coordinator in place they likely have evaluated their players and spoken with them. Portal window opens in a few days, and this is crunch time. Agents' phones are probably burning up now as well. Would be interesting to see if he follows Williams or ERob.

 

[TexanMark]

What is the magic number of players that can leave every season?

Less than what we are experiencing. Team culture seems amiss to me. If you are trying to develop from the bottom up and Fran keeps losing so many 1 and 2 year guys it screams "Red Flag" to me. Either Cuse develops underclassmen and grabs a handful of portal players yearly or you turnover 20-25 players into the portal and re-recruit with each portal window. Choose one or the other.

The secondary issue to me is our APR is likely to be constantly negatively affected. Cuse's FB APR is mediocre and could get worse. A school of Syracuse's stature should be 975+.

I do love the coaching hires so far, so there is hope. As IB stated, 6 or 7 wins is a minimum expectation in Year 3. I still think Fran will get us there. We do need results in '26.

 

[dwilmont44]

Fran is a great recruiter!

But we lost a large percentage of the players he recruited.

They weren't very good!

How are we going to replace them?

Fran is a great recruiter!

 

[Ttk.gman2]

With the new defensive line coaches and coordinator in place they likely have evaluated their players and spoken with them. Portal window opens in a few days, and this is crunch time. Agents' phones are probably burning up now as well. Would be interesting to see if he follows Williams or ERob.

The coaches we brought in have legitimate experience and will raise the standard in player evaluations, effort, and pure X’s and O’s, just like you said.

 

[TexanMark]

He hasn’t lost a ton of young talent. He’s lost a handful while retaining the most important pieces.

There is enough bad that has happened the past few months that the hyperbole is just tiring.

Really?

Look at the top rated guys of his first class.

6 out of the Top 10 are gone or announced for the portal.

These were supposed to be the backbone of the '26-'28 seasons

 

[upperdeck]

College is hard on most kids. Culture change is hard on everyone. All the prep in the world doesnt tell you how kids will handle these things. Until you have a team of 3-4 yrs of kids it will be hard to really know how its going. YR 3 it starts to go the right way or it doesnt.

 

[Ttk.gman2]

Really?

Look at the top rated guys of his first class.

6 out of the Top 10 are gone or announced for the portal.

These were supposed to be the backbone of the '26-'28 seasons

Ratings don’t mean anything once you get to college—it’s about what you produce when you step on campus. People get too caught up in high school rankings. Toney at Miami was a three-star, and so was AD, who became a freshman All-American for us this year.

 

[jr4750]

Really?

Look at the top rated guys of his first class.

6 out of the Top 10 are gone or announced for the portal.

These were supposed to be the backbone of the '26-'28 seasons

It’s almost as if his plan to build with youth has changed. Perhaps he has decided it’s portal or bust, or maybe the ship is sinking. I guess we will see in ‘26.

 

[OrangeTarheel]

Less than what we are experiencing. Team culture seems amiss to me. If you are trying to develop from the bottom up and Fran keeps losing so many 1 and 2 year guys it screams "Red Flag" to me. Either Cuse develops and grabs a handful of portal players or you turnover 20-25 players into the portal. Choose one or the other.

The secondary issue is our APR is likely to be negatively affected. Cuse's FB APR is mediocre and could get worse.

I do love the coaching hires so far, so there is hope. As IB stated, 6 or 7 wins is a minimum expectation in Year 3. I still think Fran will get us there. We do need results in '26.

It seems like we could be losing at least 20 players every year between the combination of not enough playing time and misidentification of talent level/attitude (getting “the talk”) and moving on to grab a bigger bag at a better NIL funded program. This year add to that a lot of coaches (and recruiters) leaving staff.

For me it just doesn’t seem like that much to lose 25 players under those circumstances. I get the loss of culture to pay forward and potentially loss of player leadership as well. Not sure how that gets addressed, those are tough things to instill quickly in young people.

Hopefully next year we have a good showing on the field and we reduce some of the reasons for the departures. Having a big season in 2026 would mean success for two out of three years for Fran. It would also demonstrate a propensity for executing a quick turnaround for a failing team. A lot there on the table to potentially feel good about.