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Kenneth Walker and Trey Rucker enter Transfer Portal

There is something seriously wrong with the culture at Wake Forest. Entirely too many kids, in both basketball and football, have looked for the exits in situations where kids at other schools wouldn't think about leaving.

If there was something wrong with the culture, then why did Mitch Griffis' and Luke Masterson's younger brothers juat commit, and things look positive for Cade's beother?
 
Look at college football- it is about leaving everywhere.
 
Walker is a much better back at finding space, even when little is there, he is a tougher runner (CBS rarely breaks tackles) and he is as big a home run threat as CBS. CBS had good numbers this year and played well, but Walker has a lot more upside then CBS .

This is ABSOLUTELY correct. Stats don't tell the story of how much more effective Walker is than CBS in key game situations. The real story here is how many college athletes, most notably the best ones, opt out of their commitments to their schools and their teams. Many power 5 schools can survive a few key player losses, but Wake Forest can't. You can spin this if you want to blame the kid, or the coach, or you can defend them. It's still a huge problem for us no matter what.
 
Think everyone here is too focused on WF and KW3 and not considering outside influences.

KW3 has been home in Tennessee for more than a month. When Walker initially opted out, he posted on Twitter that he would be back. It's not like KW3 suddenly woke up in January and felt like he wasn't getting enough carries or didn't like the RPO. College football is dirty dirty. You can bet that messages have been sent by multiple programs through intermediaries (e.g., HS coaches, HS teammates, any other connection) suggesting that KW3 enter the portal so that competing schools can directly recruit him. These schools aren't dumb enough to text or call KW3 directly, but they have ways of communicating with players to skirt those rules. Guessing KW3 has been recruited for awhile and based upon that, he decided to explore his options.

Yeah. I thought about that after noted Vols fan TheReff brought up Walker transferring yesterday before it was announced. Probably some chatter in those circles.

If there was something wrong with the culture, then why did Mitch Griffis' and Luke Masterson's younger brothers juat commit, and things look positive for Cade's beother?

Can't tell if this is a serious question. It's possible that Griffis, Masterson, and Carney are perfectly happy in this culture but Rucker, Walker, and others aren't.
 
Man, this really sucks. I guess I support the right for players to make the decisions that are best for them. But shit like this is going to make me lose interest in college sports. If players just move around each season and I don't get to watch players overachieve and root for their growth and development, I'd rather just watch pros. Walker, Surratt, Dortch, Newman...I'm tired of getting invested in players that never see their best at Wake.
 
So much for taking Walker at his word. Never too old to learn.

Personally, I was surprised and disappointed Walker wasn't the primary RB to begin the season. CBS may be better blocking. He may be better receiving. Walker is better rushing the football. He should have no problem finding a program that will give the opportunity for 20+ carries a game.

Clawson must be committed to a two back rotation.
 
I feel pretty confident Walker already has found a program...or more accurately, a program has found him.
 
This does suck. In general, I think Wake can be a hard sell to some D1 athletes for all the reasons many of us love it. And some leave as a result. Its hard, there's no place to hide and no AfFam classes to take.

And while I'm a huge Clawson fan, I suspect he can be very stubborn as a "my way or the high way" coach which doesn't fly with everyone,. Im a pretty good friend with a former UNC coach who now coaches at another D1 program and he always said while he respected Clawson, he had a very unique style/approach that wasn't for everyone. He didn't go into much detail on it but I got the sense it turned some players off in a big way. Again, Im a fan and I love what he's done with the program (win). Who knows what happened here but a coach like Clawson at a school like Wake isnt the best spot for some....
 
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Yeah. I thought about that after noted Vols fan TheReff brought up Walker transferring yesterday before it was announced. Probably some chatter in those circles.



Can't tell if this is a serious question. It's possible that Griffis, Masterson, and Carney are perfectly happy in this culture but Rucker, Walker, and others aren't.

Yeah, a program can work well for some and not for others. It was great last year when Sage and Boogie announced they were returning to Wake. And so far this year a lot of Wake’s best players are returning. Miles Fox, who has a lot of experience, said the following upon the announcement that he’s returning: “This is a really high-class program, and they expect to win here,” Fox said. “There’s no hoping to win. It’s really organized and I love it here.”
 
So much for taking Walker at his word. Never too old to learn.

Personally, I was surprised and disappointed Walker wasn't the primary RB to begin the season. CBS may be better blocking. He may be better receiving. Walker is better rushing the football. He should have no problem finding a program that will give the opportunity for 20+ carries a game.

Clawson must be committed to a two back rotation.

This.

I feel pretty confident Walker already has found a program...or more accurately, a program has found him.


AND this.
 
i think it's totally reasonable to think someone like walker (who is 20 years old) getting a bit emotionally upset at not being the starter / nominated for all-acc and wanting to transfer as a result. i think we all see the same thing at work with fully grown adults. i have no idea if that is why he's transferring, but there's no way that didn't sting. i'd say most decisions we make are driven by emotion as much as logic, esp. for college kids. i'd also say managing those might be the biggest part of a coach's job. (not saying clawson is to blame, or if there is any blame at all)

I think you have it. CBS was nominated and made Hon Mention ACC but not Walker- I can see Walker very POed, tho' he is the one who chose to sit out. Might be the 'straw' that broke things.
 
Man, this really sucks. I guess I support the right for players to make the decisions that are best for them. But shit like this is going to make me lose interest in college sports. If players just move around each season and I don't get to watch players overachieve and root for their growth and development, I'd rather just watch pros. Walker, Surratt, Dortch, Newman...I'm tired of getting invested in players that never see their best at Wake.
My exact thoughts.
 
This crap is only going to get worse with no penalty one time transfers and NIL
 
Walker's twitter account in the last day is a real mix of people defending him and people trying to fight him. He even retweeted a couple of people who wished that he would reconsider and come back next season. If he had thoughts about that, I am sure the negative actions by some are not helping.

His teammates really seem to have his back on this, so there does not appear to be animosity from them. Being home back in Tennessee probably had something to do with the decision after his initial comments to now change to this.

Man, I hope everyone liked the team we put out against Wisconsin, because that's pretty much what we will be seeing next year.
 
Walker's twitter account in the last day is a real mix of people defending him and people trying to fight him. He even retweeted a couple of people who wished that he would reconsider and come back next season. If he had thoughts about that, I am sure the negative actions by some are not helping.

His teammates really seem to have his back on this, so there does not appear to be animosity from them. Being home back in Tennessee probably had something to do with the decision after his initial comments to now change to this.

Man, I hope everyone liked the team we put out against Wisconsin, because that's pretty much what we will be seeing next year.

I noticed this. Fucking MocksvilleDeac needs to crawl under his barn and stay off Twitter. I also noticed him retweeted a few folks saying the grass isn't greener and please reconsider...Who knows...Walker seems like a great dude but come on man. This has shady business written all over it. Looks like the ship has sailed because Dave doesn't seem like the kind of bro to go begging Kenneth to stay.
 
I predict one of these in order of likelihood for Walker:

1. Tennessee
2. Memphis
3. Kentucky
4. Louisville
 
Man, this really sucks. I guess I support the right for players to make the decisions that are best for them. But shit like this is going to make me lose interest in college sports. If players just move around each season and I don't get to watch players overachieve and root for their growth and development, I'd rather just watch pros. Walker, Surratt, Dortch, Newman...I'm tired of getting invested in players that never see their best at Wake.

+1

And for a small school that struggles to put 25,000 butts in seats on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, I'm not sure this trend bodes well at all for us.
 
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