Fears Confirmed..

[UDHoops]

Adding onto my prior post, Trujillo (UCF), Rehmann (West Virginia), Duplessis (Coastal Carolina) and Ellison (Tulsa) never reported offers on social media before signing with UD last year.

Not everyone does in the portal. Especially the P4 guys. High school, yes. I guarantee we probably made 10 other offers today that weren’t reported publicly.

I can +1 this. Plenty of offers and recruiting today that are not public

[GreenLiger17]

Recruiting great high school players does not mean they will continue to develop into great college players. Sometimes the unranked high school player develops into a great college player. Many guys that start their college career at Division II schools develop into FBS caliber talent. I think when you look at the school we are recruiting against it shows we are looking in the right places.

You just saw a fantastic example with Trinidad Chambliss. A guy who was severely under recruited coming out of high school ending up with Ferris state. Developed very nicely including winning a DII national championship. Transfers to ole miss, gets a shot at the starting job and leads them to the most successful season in program history. Just goes to show that it doesn’t matter where you start.

[Big R]

Also put the following in The Hatchery:

Delaware Tracker: https://www.cfbdepth.com/delaware-portal-tracker/

Hens Depth Page: https://www.cfbdepth.com/delaware-blue-hens/

National Home Page: https://www.cfbdepth.com/2026-college-f ... l-tracker/

Am not vouching for accuracy of these pages. Just something that popped up.

Per this, only 15 schools have less "talent churn" than Delaware. Four of those were in the playoffs as of dawn yesterday and three others are service academies.

Some good info here. Are you asking that these somehow be added to The Hatchery as some kind of separate feature?

Not sure if Hens Rock can set that up. In the interim, I just made it a separate topic in The Hatchery. We’ll have to watch it for accuracy and timeliness. For example, not showing Kion Wright. Also, the Coaching tab shows Goldrich still at UD.

[UD '01 grad]

No, not asking that. Just sharing for general interest.

[Info Hound]

I am hearing very good things about the retention of our other key performers.

[finpxz1]

I am hearing very good things about the retention of our other key performers.

Jordan stopped by the BBC Club Room last night before the men’s basketball game and mentioned that they are super focused on retaining our existing guys at the moment. So hopefully that aligns with what you’ve been hearing about player retention. Sucks losing O’Neal, but if we limit the losses and bring in more talent that can contribute immediately, we may truly be in a position to compete for a conference title next fall.

[72 Hen]

Recruiting great high school players does not mean they will continue to develop into great college players. Sometimes the unranked high school player develops into a great college player. Many guys that start their college career at Division II schools develop into FBS caliber talent. I think when you look at the school we are recruiting against it shows we are looking in the right places.

You just saw a fantastic example with Trinidad Chambliss. A guy who was severely under recruited coming out of high school ending up with Ferris state. Developed very nicely including winning a DII national championship. Transfers to ole miss, gets a shot at the starting job and leads them to the most successful season in program history. Just goes to show that it doesn’t matter where you start.

We have an offer out to (DT) Josh Hough. He a started his career at Syracuse as a 6'3" 250 power RB. He had a leg injury and as a result he ended up transferring to Division II. Today he is a 6'4" 320 DT. Our coaches see his growth and potential. He was a 3 star RB coming out of HS and is now a 3 star DT in the portal. You need to look at athletes future potential instead of where he is coming from. Weather HS or transfer that's the nature of recruiting.

https://cuse.com/sports/football/roster ... ough/20615

[Ramblinrec74]

I agree with 72 Hen! Must look at film, talk with individual and get idea of what drives him, talk with Coaches, and it's still a crapshoot! Both college and Pro levels have stories of unranked players becoming super stars!

[BigBlueRooster]

I agree with 72 Hen! Must look at film, talk with individual and get idea of what drives him, talk with Coaches, and it's still a crapshoot! Both college and Pro levels have stories of unranked players becoming super stars!

Nick is one of them coming in as a walk on and leading the CUSA in passing. Paul Worrilow, James Stull and many other walkons have done just that here for UD.

Other posters have hit the nail on the head. Tons of Juco and D2 transfers have been excellent players in FBS and beyond. Just gotta find the right ones.

[VIKING '87]

Also put the following in The Hatchery:

Delaware Tracker: https://www.cfbdepth.com/delaware-portal-tracker/

Hens Depth Page: https://www.cfbdepth.com/delaware-blue-hens/

National Home Page: https://www.cfbdepth.com/2026-college-f ... l-tracker/

Am not vouching for accuracy of these pages. Just something that popped up.

Per this, only 15 schools have less "talent churn" than Delaware. Four of those were in the playoffs as of dawn yesterday and three others are service academies.

Said differently, 119 schools have MORE churn than UD. That's a good thing, if I am understanding it correctly.

[UD '01 grad]

Less churn, more stability. If we're happy with what we have, this is what you want to see. Doesn't mean everyone is staying but means majority of teams have more turnover.

[adamdeveaney]

I disagree heavily with the idea of having to go after P4 kids or talented G5 guys. We're upset that P4 poaches our talent but nobody in P4 complain about recruiting G5 guys up. Talent is talent, and it rarely neatly aligns with the number of stars next to your name. There is NFL talent playing in the FCS, (Blue Hens fans should be well aware of this) and as a G5 school we now get to be the bad guy offering that talent an opportunity to play FBS ball for more than "free".

[VIKING '87]

I disagree heavily with the idea of having to go after P4 kids or talented G5 guys. We're upset that P4 poaches our talent but nobody in P4 complain about recruiting G5 guys up. Talent is talent, and it rarely neatly aligns with the number of stars next to your name. There is NFL talent playing in the FCS, (Blue Hens fans should be well aware of this) and as a G5 school we now get to be the bad guy offering that talent an opportunity to play FBS ball for more than "free".

My team of four stars will regularly beat your team of zero stars. Yes, there are always exceptions, but I'll bet an SEC 2nd stringer. on average, will be more valuable than than good FCS players looking to move up. Just look at all the stars next to SEC and Big 10 recruits.

[GreenLiger17]

A couple things to say here
1) 2nd string SEC guys in the portal aren’t looking at Delaware as a top choice. They likely are looking for playing time at other P4 schools or the top end G5 schools like Boise state, Tulane, etc. (not that it’s impossible to land a big time recruit like this but it’s just rare)
2) The FBS guys in the portal that could be looking at Delaware are likely P4 guys buried on the depth chart or 2nd string G5 guys.
3) The FCS guys in the portal are looking at teams like Delaware as their top options. It’s a realistic option to get playing time at a higher level.

So when it comes to recruiting in the portal, the staff likely understand that unless a P4 player already has interest, it’s unlikely to win them over especially against teams that are much better than us. So why waste valuable and limited time going after unrealistic options when you can try and get the best of the talent available to you (buried P4, backup G5, and FCS/DII). Just my take.

Also you have to understand that they have to be a able to fill out a roster and it’s impossible not to recruit guys from lower levels to field a full team with depth to last a full college season.

[BigBlueRooster]

A couple things to say here
1) 2nd string SEC guys in the portal aren’t looking at Delaware as a top choice. They likely are looking for playing time at other P4 schools or the top end G5 schools like Boise state, Tulane, etc. (not that it’s impossible to land a big time recruit like this but it’s just rare)
2) The FBS guys in the portal that could be looking at Delaware are likely P4 guys buried on the depth chart or 2nd string G5 guys.
3) The FCS guys in the portal are looking at teams like Delaware as their top options. It’s a realistic option to get playing time at a higher level.

So when it comes to recruiting in the portal, the staff likely understand that unless a P4 player already has interest, it’s unlikely to win them over especially against teams that are much better than us. So why waste valuable and limited time going after unrealistic options when you can try and get the best of the talent available to you (buried P4, backup G5, and FCS/DII). Just my take.

Also you have to understand that they have to be a able to fill out a roster and it’s impossible not to recruit guys from lower levels to field a full team with depth to last a full college season.

Some decent points here but I see no reason why UD can't grow into a top tier G5 program like a Fresno state or Boise State. Yes we are late to the party but now we are at the party.

We have seen plenty of P4 transfers that were just flat out duds as well. We will get a few P4 guys in this portal season time will tell if they turn out any better than the FCS orr d2 transfers we get. Frankly I don't care too much about where they came from so long as they produce while they are here.