WR Damien Alford withdraws from portal

[orangepassion]

Dude. Do you really think a power program is going hard at a dude with those stats? I get it with the shrader tunnel vision stuff but be realistic.

Yes.

 

[CbusCuse]

Dang. Certainly a loss. He was just ok this year for us but I’m disappointed mostly because of what we all hoped he could turn into. Seemed to improve a little but not as much as I’d hoped. Hard to say when or if he will definitely pull it all together and be really good though. I don’t think he will quite ever be be a Gadsden type of talent though but you never know. We are going to miss that 6’-6” size and physical presence blocking. Not many on the roster that can compare. Pretty sure Isaac Jones will step in and do well in his absence though which will absolutely be necessary. He’s a big 6’-4” kid that I think just has a better overall feel for the game and will be a better route runner and better in the intermediate passing game. He is coming off an injury though so we will see I guess.

Question is how will we replace the loss. Really the loss of him and the others. Depth wise we had 13 receivers last year including Gadsden. If Alford goes we are down to six Yes Six receivers! Yikes! (Edit: 7 receivers with Gadsden) And we only have one freshman in the fold so Staff better be working hard to find some talent.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

As a Canadian, is he eligible for NIL? I thought that got weird with guys on student visas.

 

[Cuse'91]

Wide receivers are basically Dino's kryptonite. Imagine if he just had mediocre luck with wrs. I know we haven't exactly brought in the most passer friendly quarterbacks during his tenure; but, we play on a fast track, in a controlled environment for half our games, for Christ's sake.

 

[PhatOrange]

He dropped as many passes as he caught.

 

[BKCuse]

I’ll be curious to see if it was a power program tampering or not.

Pretty sure Tampering is a thing of the past. Unless you’re a total moron you simply have intermediaries reach out.

Free transfers + NIL = very little recourse from NCAA

 

[BKCuse]

Could he have wanted more NIL and was getting it?

Yes

 

[tep624]

Pretty sure Tampering is a thing of the past. Unless you’re a total moron you simply have intermediaries reach out.

Free transfers + NIL = very little recourse from NCAA

It’s still tampering, it’s just not enforced against by the sackless NCAA.

 

[SmilinBob]

Is it possible that more 3 set WR's and an actual TE are going to be used more thus maybe the movement? I don't like losing Alford at all but I am curious for the reason...may turn out to be an NIL offer or maybe just another reason we don't know yet.

 

[Chris02M]

If by The Talk, you mean he/his family/HS coach heard from a bigger school about NIL money, that would make sense. Why would it make any sense for the SU Staff to chase away one of their best receivers?

because he was going to be replaced on the depth chart? 29 catches is easily replaceable

 

[cali315phan]

We don't have an abundance of WR talent. Alford came on towards the end of the season. Was big, fast and a good blocker. This off-season has been horrible. We've lost far more than we've gained in the portal, and our recruiting class is G5 level and we lost our top 2 recruits. The future is not bright.

 

[Bayside44]

NFL body who had proven ability to make big catches. He developed for a couple years now he is ready to take the next step.

I’ll bet you 10-1 he’s getting offers from schools with bigger NIL resources than us.

This is a VERY BAD indicator of the future of programs like ours. We are all going to become a minor league development system for the selector schools unless NCAA does something about it

I like the kid - but a 2 catch a game guy at a 7-5 program isn’t anything unique.

 

[Scooch]

People get very enamored with looks. I get why. But there’s a lot of great specimens at the gym who couldn’t hack it at their sport. Maybe this guy will flourish somewhere else, but I kinda doubt it.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

I like the kid - but a 2 catch a game guy at a 7-5 program isn’t anything unique.

I think people have always been enamored with his measurables and big upside which they should be, maybe he moves on and lives up to that potential. Don't know.

Have to get into the portal and find some WR's. Up to Dino to dig in. Chaos to say the least, some thrive in it some don't. And it's clear that some don't have the stomach for it

We still need a WR that can work the slot and move the chains as well.

 

[Chip]

I like the kid - but a 2 catch a game guy at a 7-5 program isn’t anything unique.

People do overstate it with him because of size and speed. It never matched production.

I do worry about depth at WR, the catches he does make are usually big ones, and he's been a good blocker on the outside.

But what are we going to do, such is life now in college football. It's not worth getting that upset about. Hopefully someone steps up (Jones, Adams, Hatcher, Brown) and/or we can grab something with equal production from the portal.

 

[Finwad32]

He was a deep threat and a matchup problem regardless of production. I don’t like losing him but we will replace him.

Best of luck Damien.

 

[CIL]

Good luck to him. Maybe he’ll find a place that’s a better fit for his game. He and Gadsden are similar players from an athletic standpoint - and Gadsden is the more reliable of the two by a long shot.

The sky is not falling at WR, and I would be willing to bet some of these guys got a nudge to move on.

It is abundantly clear that we need more speed at this position. Having a bunch of 4.7 guys running around out there that aren’t Jerry Rice is not a recipe for success in this system.

We were dominated later in the year by not just injuries, but the fact that teams could play a lot of press man coverage, put a spy on Shrader, and not have to worry about any vertical passing game because we couldn’t get open.

Are you kidding me??????? That’s the basketball equivalent of playing your entire defense in the paint because the other team literally cannot shoot a basketball. The boxed and one’d our read option game.

 

[hoopsupstate]

If we have any wide receiver injuries next year, this team is in serious trouble. It now looks like Dino has to bring in two from the portal.

 

[gmoney44]

He dropped as many passes as he caught.

Yup.

This is a big nothing burger. He has had lots of opportunity to make a difference and has not. Good luck to him and hopefully the next man up can produce more which isn’t a high bar.

 

[NYCCuse826]

People get very enamored with looks. I get why. But there’s a lot of great specimens at the gym who couldn’t hack it at their sport. Maybe this guy will flourish somewhere else, but I kinda doubt it.

Jamal Custis didn't take off until his last season. Everyone doesn't hit the ground running.

 

[storange]

Remember Jones went down early and was highly thought of, Brown turned some heads in August and they have the track star WR recruit (Cohoon ). Assuming Gadsen is staying , I feel good about WRs . ( clearly need a couple as far as depth ) . Having said that the portal could change things tomorrow.( of course that’s the game today )

 

[steve deberg]

As a Canadian, is he eligible for NIL? I thought that got weird with guys on student visas.

I believe you are correct that his Canadianness impacts his NIL eligibility. Student visas (for the most part) require you to work on campus.

While this doesn’t preclude Canadians from collecting NIL, it likely severely limits NIL options.

 

[0.2 YNdeeR]

Et tu, Damien? Never expected this. We lost the cream of our defense to bags and now this. Unreal. Until the unproven guys show something, our WR's just dropped to the bottom of the ACC. When is this bs going to end?

 

[MSOrange]

People do overstate it with him because of size and speed. It never matched production.

I do worry about depth at WR, the catches he does make are usually big ones, and he's been a good blocker on the outside.

But what are we going to do, such is life now in college football. It's not worth getting that upset about. Hopefully someone steps up (Jones, Adams, Hatcher, Brown) and/or we can grab something with equal production from the portal.

This is pretty much where I am at. I hate to lose the depth at WR and we need to replace it. But I have my doubts if he's going to explode at another school. As you mention, his production never seemed to match his physical attributes.

Maybe he'll be a better fit in another offense. Most of the time I forget and move on, but I will be curious to see how Damien does at another school.

 

[RF2044]

I think people have always been enamored with his measurables and big upside which they should be, maybe he moves on and lives up to that potential. Don't know.

Have to get into the portal and find some WR's. Up to Dino to dig in. Chaos to say the least, some thrive in it some don't. And it's clear that some don't have the stomach for it

We still need a WR that can work the slot and move the chains as well.

Spot on. How we replace him will be key to evaluating how much this departure hurts, in the long run.