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Kenneth Walker and Trey Rucker enter Transfer Portal

technically Walker isn't a starter either

Maybe that is what he is looking for: someplace where his name will be announced with the starting 11 on offense.

ETA:

With CBS returning for Wake in 21 (not on Walker's original timetable) Walker likely wouldn't be the announced starter for Wake in 21. That may be important to him.
 
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He didn’t get nominated for All-ACC. He was 3rd string last year and 2nd string this year despite everyone in the stadium knowing he was the best RB (perhaps aside from blocking). I honestly get it.
 
It’s a good point - would Clawson have demoted CBS , a senior starting tailback, to allow KW3 to shine? Respect to CBS, but Walker is too good to have to split carries.
 
College football in the era of free agency for better or worse. This should put an end to the idea of student athletes. All D-1 schools should have a professional sports major and pay the players up front and just be honest about it. Many kids will take advantage of the academics, but the football first/sports first athletes should be better able to prepare for their chosen career as players, coaches, administrators and whatever careers for those who never move to or succeed at the next level. Best wishes to Walker, glad we had him for a short time. I respect his career choice although I don't like it at all as a WF fan.
 
Love KW3. Not many RBs have the ability to take it to the house on any play. He does.

That said, I got the sense from Clawson's comments heading into the bowl game that he wasn't losing any sleep over the guys that opted out. He justifiably lauded the 98% of the roster that stuck it out, and got the feeling that it was up to the guys that opted out to decide if they wanted to comeback, but Clawson wasn't going to go begging for their return. Once those guys missed the end of the season, the attachment of Walker and Rucker to WF was not the same (also, WF not nominating KWIII for all-ACC was no accident; that was sending a message). Given the relaxed transfer rules, it makes sense for both to see what the options are. Guessing everyone will want Walker. RB is a position that you can never have enough depth as even the 3rd guy on the depth chart gets carries. Rucker has size and ball skills. Power V schools will want him too.

Clawson appears mild mannered, but he is a hard ass. It's his way or go somewhere else. That's why he has been successful wherever he has gone.

Clawson doesn't give a **** if you don't like the RPO or if you want more jet sweeps or double pass plays; similarly, if a player thinks the grass is greener at another program, Clawson just moves on with the guys that buy-in. Wish KW3 was coming back, but the program will be strong with or without him.
 
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^ all that

it was nice of KW3 to provide me a distraction from the end of the republic and looming civil war.
 
curious if anybody has any info on 1) any chance KWIII comes back a la Hinton and 2) any word -- not conjecture -- on the "why"
 
Yeah, Clawson seems like an all-in kinda guy (based on discussions with both Wake and BG players of his) - you either believe in the complete picture of Wake or you don't. Like how he reacted to the Colbert thing. I really believe it's perfect for Wake and essentially the opposite of a Manning-like approach where he always seemed to talk like Wake's size and academics were obstacles to overcome. Forbes seems to be the same way - just a complete 180 on that approach - he talks constantly about those things as a positive.

Reminds me a little of UVA basketball. They sucked early on even with some NBA talent on the roster, and even recently they've had some ugly transfers and fit issues with the culture. They also have a National Championship. They know who they are.

Just one more COVID kick in the nuts though - doubt he bounces without the eligibility rule changes, plus considering we barely lost to NC State and UNC despite how much COVID hurt the program we might have finished with a decent ranking and bowl game.

You'd think Newman making the splash transfer and then losing out to another QB before getting bailed out by the COVID opt-out option would give guys some pause on just how easy it is to transfer somewhere and walz into a successful role.
 
^ wait Newman was beat out by who? Daniels wasn’t even practicing when he bounced right?
 
Who knows? Maybe he wants to be THE guy, maybe he doesn't like our offense, maybe there's a completely non-football reason he's looking to leave.

I'd love to have him back but we should be ok either way. I just hope we don't have any attrition at receiver because that's where the (proven) quality depth is really lacking on offense.
 
^ wait Newman was beat out by who? Daniels wasn’t even practicing when he bounced right?

Daniels hadn't even announced to UGA when Newman made his decision. According to the UGA boards and other program insiders Daniels had the inside track on the starting job and he was the best fit for their offense (i.e. it was a "his to lose" situation even though the coach had stated it was an open competition). The lesson for Walker and other transfers is that there are no guarantees on playing time, so the situation you know might be the situation you don't.

I am not upset about these transfers, I hate to lose Walker and Newman but we will also have the opportunity to receive players from the portal who will help the team.
 
Daniels hadn't even announced to UGA when Newman made his decision. According to the UGA boards and other program insiders Daniels had the inside track on the starting job and he was the best fit for their offense (i.e. it was a "his to lose" situation even though the coach had stated it was an open competition). The lesson for Walker and other transfers is that there are no guarantees on playing time, so the situation you know might be the situation you don't.

I am not upset about these transfers, I hate to lose Walker and Newman but we will also have the opportunity to receive players from the portal who will help the team.


Didn't Kirby Smart bring on a new OC literally like the week following Newman joining UGA? Pretty sure he did. It's those kind of dynamics that make these types of decisions much less certain.
 
Both were flipped in recruiting as well. Bolting on your team is different than bolting from a recruiting pledge, but I think you might see a trend between the kids that don't stay committed, staying committed.

It seems like Wake does have a serious case of really good players going elsewhere. Newman, Walker, Rucker, etc. All are NFL prospects if Rucker can get back healthy.
 
I'm a huge Clawson fan, but he is pretty damn stubborn. Most of that leads to a good outcome, but not playing Walker over CBS probably really bothered Walker and his camp as the season went on (especially since it was obvious that Walker was a much better RB overall). Almost in the same vein as Donavon Greene last year. The only difference was/is that this year didn't count towards eligibility and Greene did play in four games last year behind a few studs, but the message was pretty clear that we wanted to keep him for another season if possible. I don't think that message was very clear for Walker.

And then, when Walker opted out and Clawson didn't submit his name for All-ACC, I bet that was when the wheels fell off. He's not coming back and that's probably already been decided by both sides. I think Clawson messed up on this one, personally. Walker was special and we would have been much better with him than without. And I'll defer to Clawson, but this seems like a bit of his ego got the best of him.
 
Daniels transferred to Georgia on May 28, 2020. Newman transferred on January 11. Daniels wasn't fully medically cleared to play when Newman opted out. I find it hard to believe that Newman was getting beaten out by D'wan Mathis or Stetson Bennett, but it's possible that he got down there and started stinking up the joint before he opted out on September 2, just 24 days before the season opener. If Daniels was physically able and had the inside track on the starting job, he would have started against Arkansas in September, not against Mississippi State two months later. Georgia basically started a fourth string quarterback for five games, including two against Top 10 teams, because Newman bailed and Mathis stunk.

Kirby probably could have played Daniels Week 3 (a week before the Alabama game), as he reportedly had been cleared, but decided to hold him back. Kirby was reportedly very much in communication with the Daniels family about JT's progress and when he would play.
 
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^ wait Newman was beat out by who? Daniels wasn’t even practicing when he bounced right?

There were rumors at the time of Newman's underperformance putting his starting position in question. The timing was suspect as well. Just out of curiosity I was reading the most recent draft reports and scout feedback and one of them noted that the majority of scouts had dramatically cooled on Newman because they all believed he was losing the starting job and that, more than the risks of COVID, led to him sitting out. Some have him as 6th round at this point. Most of the higher rankings assume he dominates in his workouts and they do note that a significant number of scouts are still very high on him.
 
Didn't Kirby Smart bring on a new OC literally like the week following Newman joining UGA? Pretty sure he did. It's those kind of dynamics that make these types of decisions much less certain.

Sure, but it's not like Monken was running the single wing or something. Former OC James Coley only had the job for one year anyway. He moved on to A&M to coach tight ends.
 
Sure, but it's not like Monken was running the single wing or something. Former OC James Coley only had the job for one year anyway. He moved on to A&M to coach tight ends.

My point was the OC joined AFTER Newman committed to UGA. More specifically, what if an OC brings his beloved 5-star QB with him to the new team? I was simply stating that there can be a number of dynamics out of the player's control that make things much less certain than they might perceive them to be.
 
My point was the OC joined AFTER Newman committed to UGA. More specifically, what if an OC brings his beloved 5-star QB with him to the new team? I was simply stating that there can be a number of dynamics out of the player's control that make things much less certain than they might perceive them to be.

I'm not arguing with you, but Georgia's passing offense in 2019 was pretty shitty. A lot of that was due to the WRs being hurt, but Coley was kind of in over his head too. Newman didn't transfer to Georgia because he was in love in James Coley. He did it because he hates Wake Forest football. Monken did not bring a beloved 5-star QB with him.
 
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