Gets me? Seeing Oregon land Dylan Raiola from Nebraska in the portal and everyone acting like this is just normal business now. That kid was supposed to be the future in Lincoln. He was the face of their program. And now he is in Eugene battling Dante Moore for a job because the grass looked greener. I remember when a quarterback committed to a school and that was it. You stayed. You fought through the rough years. You earned the right to call yourself a Husker or a Badger or whatever you were.
This whole system has turned college football into free agency without the contracts. These kids are hopping around like they are changing fantasy rosters. And the worst part is we are doing it too. We have to. You cannot compete if you do not play the game. But I hate that we have to. I miss the days when Barry Alvarez would build a program with high school kids who wanted to be Badgers because their dads were Badgers. Now every spring you hold your breath wondering who is going to enter the portal next.
The new rule eliminating the spring window is a start I guess. But it is too little too late. The damage is done. Loyalty is gone. You look at what Indiana did last year winning it all and now they are scrambling to replace half their roster through the portal. Even the national champs cannot keep their guys. That tells you everything.
Oklahoma State brought in 50 transfers. FIFTY. That is not a team that is a collection of mercenaries. Eric Morris is basically running a tryout camp. And Colorado with 43 transfers under Deion? That is not buildnig a program that is assembling a roster like you are drafting a fantasy football team. There is no soul in it anymore.
I will go to Camp Randall this fall and I will cheer because that is what I do. But it does not feel the same. It has not felt the same since the early 2000s when kids actually wanted to put on the motion W and run through that tunnel for four years. Now they are just renting a jersey for a season.