It would appear Alford was discouraged by not receiving an extension and reacted accordingly. His choice and now he will have to live with his decision and gut reaction. Good riddance in my opinion.
Well a certainly interesting turn of events... IOWA CITY, Iowa — The idea of Iowa native Kadyn Proctor playing football for the University of Iowa was stronger than the reality. The five-star offensive tackle, who joined the Hawkeyes after one season at Alabama, told Iowa he will leave the program, coach Kirk Ferentz said in a statment Tuesday. Iowa opens spring football practice on Wednesday. Proctor, who went on spring break last week with several former Alabama teammates, will return to Tuscaloosa, he told On3. “It is unfortunate that Kadyn has informed us of his intentions to leave our program today,” Ferentz said. “We wish him well in the future.” As a non-graduate, Proctor cannot enter the transfer portal until April 15, which gives him time to potentially change his mind. He is still listed on Iowa’s official 2024 roster. He is eligible to play at either Alabama or Iowa this fall.
Like everybody, we've always had one or a few hyped-up kids in spring practice that everybody gets excited about only to disappoint as summer camp grinds on or disappear as the season begins. Rarely are they early enrollee, first year freshman like the latest flash, WR Jeremiah Smith. The kid "lost" his black stripe after only 4 practices, an all time record. Losing your black stripe is symbolically when a new kid has shown his coaches and teammates that he has earned his way on to the team by his on-field and off-field actions and officially becomes a Buckeye. It is more typical for star incoming freshman to lose their black stripe late in summer camp or early in the regular season. Unheard of for a frosh to lose his stripe in spring practice, this early in spring practice has never, ever happened. Ya, ya,, ya, I know, it's spring practice and he's a freshman but it's hard not to get excited about seeing this kid on the field. The kid is making highlight film catches over very good DB's daily in practice. Here's the latest during yesterday's scrimmage....Kyle, Kyle, Kyle - not gonna see many of those in Syracuse.
Don, I know we always have a few flash in the spring and it's all the rage to hype the latest and greatest, but I can tell by the look in Hartline's eyes when he talks abou him, he knows this kid is different. Amongst the most recent 1st rounders that we've had in Columbus - Olave, Wilson, JSN and Harrison Jr - only Garrett Wilson was a meaningful contributor throughout the season as a freshman with 30 catches before becoming NFL Offensive ROY. I wouldn't be surprised to see this kid take a similar trajectory.
Yep, I believe he did finish overall #1. Thank you Coach Hartline. Looking forward to seeing him play. If his performance matches the hype, he'll be fun to watch!
He's an incredible talent, and Hartline has been a pied piper for top WR talent that's for sure and they have all developed. I don't know if you've had a failure of the guys he's recruited.
Well this is no big surprise, even though I think it's another step that might be good for the individual athlete but bad for the game overall. The NCAA Division I Council could adopt emergency legislation this month for a new transfer rule that would allow all undergraduate athletes to transfer and play immediately if they meet specific academic requirements, a source confirmed to ESPN on Monday. The proposed legislation, which was first reported by The Athletic, would not limit the number of times an athlete can transfer. Athletes would still have two transfer windows and wouldn't be able to transfer midyear and play for a second school in the same season.
I'm not aware of any "failures". There have been several guys that have transferred out because they weren't seeing the field but I think that's more because of the guys in front of them being elite. Julian Fleming was a #1 rated WR of his class, 2 yr starter, suffered nagging injuries throughout his career, never reached the heights expected of him but played alongside 4 1st round draft picks before his recent transfer to Penn State. Of course Jameson Williams transferred to Alabama because he was unhappy with his playing time behind Olave, Wilson, and JSN and was a star at Bama, won a Natty and was a 1st round draft pick, hardly a failure. Gee Scott highly regarded as a WR but early on decided his best path to playing time was to switch to TE where he played quite a bit last year in 2 TE sets and is the favorite to start this year. He pulled in the #1 WR in the 2024 class in Smith but he needs to get busy now as we're only looking to be leading for #4 and #15 for the 25 class. He does have the #1 for 26 so I'm not overly concerned just yet.... .
So what's the chatter about the Spring guys? Buckeyes are seemingly loaded. Did Will Howard firmly take the reins at QB?
I don't watch the spring games. The few times I did, I came away thinking one side of the ball was great and the other side was terrible or thinking that both sides were terrible. If the offense goes out and scores 50 points...is that good news about the defense? How about if the offense goes out and scores 3 points?
QB position still very much up in the air. Frankly I think many, my eyes included, would tell you that Devin Brown is in the lead. Still starts with the ones and has all spring. Howard brings many things to the table, experience, big body, very credible running threat but he struggles with accuracy, consistency and he's prob no better than 3rd or 4th best on deep throws and is new to the offense. My guess is that we're not gonna have a starter named until the last week of fall camp/game week. QB play was disappointing, but they didn't have much time as the D was in the backfield most of the game. We're not where we need to be at OL according to Day and anybody watching. Skill positions will be a strength if they have a chance to make a play! The long awaited debut of Jeremiah Smith was pretty much a non-event tbh. I think that's prob a good thing for the young man Defense is going to be the real deal, a step up from last years group. Caleb Downs, the xfr from Bama, is an outstanding football player. Bright, driven, great instincts, great work ethic, covers like a lock-down corner and plays run support like a LB. His addition, 3rd year of Knowles system and the return of alot of experience talent along the DL should take this group to the next level. Chip Kelly won the day when on the 1st play from scrimmage, the offense shifted into the Robust T formation - 3 backs, 2 TE and ran off tackle. A tip of the cap to Woody, it was his go to formation and favorite play. He gets it, I loved it.....
Spring game attendance is widely varied throughout the nation. I saw the Buckeyes had 80k, I imagine the Huskers will have similar numbers. The Irish crowds are no where near that, of course the Irish fans are spread out across the country and don't get on jets and book hotels for a Spring game. I think at Texas we might get in the range of 40K but I'm not sure. That picture remind me of the pitiful Stanford attendance at most of their home games. Anytime the numbers creep up past 1/2 full it's due to visiting fans showing up. I can't imagine that they get more than a handful of fans at a Spring game.
Regarding OSU quarterback situation; Why Ohio State football should consider nudging one of its top QBs into the transfer portal – Jimmy Watkins
QB position is probably the hardest spot to build any depth. As that article said Brown can't be told he has the job because the Buckeyes paid Howard too much to sit him on the bench, that's what happens in the NFL with highly paid draft picks they can't afford to sit them. Not to mention another battle next year with a fast developing 5 star Julian Sayin. The question is where does he go that guarantee's he'll start and that he'll be developed for the NFL. Irish QB room has 3 kids on campus behind Riley Leonard, like Howard a paid transfer, Steve Angeli the likely backup isn't gong to start this year and next year no guarantee's with 2 highly recruited kids including CJ Carr, grandson of the former Michigan coach. So he could wait only to be passed again. They were talking about the OL being the next hardest position to build depth as the starting 5 usually gets that vast majority of the PT unless there is injury, so transfers are the way for the kids to get playing time.