Nah the good news is we made their list. Get ready for how much we are excelling beyond our status this fall when we are competitive in the Big 12. We are going to have some great games in our future. JR is going to do well here.
***Official portal tracker thread***
- Thread starter demoncore1031
- Start date
Well how often do they mention former schools for other players?
Transfer rankings are worthless. I don't know why anyone pays attention to them. You think On3 or 247 "scouts" are deeply analyzing film for 5,000 players in 2-3 weeks to accurately assess their ability? NFL scouts can't even do that with a couple hundred players when they have a year to do it.
not much. I don't even remember hearing them talk about CJ or anderson etc. Maybe I was biased.
Yeah I don’t think most NFL fans care about where the players went to college. I only care if it’s an ISU player
I probably could only name where maybe half the Broncos starters went to school. Likely less now with most of them transferring at least once in their college career.
Cyclonepride
Thought Police
To an extent, I agree, but I think the NFL draws strength from the college game and fans getting to know players as household names prior to their professional careers. I think that is a real contributor to the overall success of the NFL and I think announcers regularly mention it for just that reason.
Transfer rankings are absolute bleeping bogus.
Example:
- productive FCS or G6 player commits to Penn State or other big named school = 4 star
- productive FCS or G6 player commits to ISU = wow ISU only gets lower level players - 3 star
Example:
- productive FCS or G6 player commits to Penn State or other big named school = 4 star
- productive FCS or G6 player commits to ISU = wow ISU only gets lower level players - 3 star
Here is a good example of where 247 transfer portal rankings fall short:
Micah Harper: Played 32 games (15 starts) over 4 seasons including missing all of 2023 with injury at BYU. Honorable mention Freshman All American in 2022. Transferred to Montana and started 15 games. 0.8300 transfer portal ranking. Appears they likely just reused his 0.8300 high school ranking.
Hunter Sowell: Walk on who played in 1 game on special teams at ISU. Transfer portal ranking 0.8400. He had no ranking as a prospect so I'm assuming this was just a baseline number given to him as a low level prospect, or the scouting department really liked the potential he showed on his 1 special teams play.
Micah Harper: Played 32 games (15 starts) over 4 seasons including missing all of 2023 with injury at BYU. Honorable mention Freshman All American in 2022. Transferred to Montana and started 15 games. 0.8300 transfer portal ranking. Appears they likely just reused his 0.8300 high school ranking.
Hunter Sowell: Walk on who played in 1 game on special teams at ISU. Transfer portal ranking 0.8400. He had no ranking as a prospect so I'm assuming this was just a baseline number given to him as a low level prospect, or the scouting department really liked the potential he showed on his 1 special teams play.
Star rankings tend to be more accurate on a macro level (team composite) than a micro level (each player).
If you give me a roster with of 25 recruits and 18 of them are 4 star, 2 are 5 star(only 25 each year I believe obtain 5 star) and 7 3 star rankings. Versus a recruiting class of 2 4 star 18 3 star and 5 star the first class probably has the most talented roster and the law of large numbers will probably win out more often over time but some of those 3 star and even a few 2 star will over perform.
ISU always needs a talent evaluator and talent developer as coach. If the coach doesn't exhibit those traits it isn't going to matter if he can improve on the Cyclones normal 40-45ish recruiting ranking to say a top 30 class. Think of it like playing fantasy football, and what would your chances be if you have to pick not at the end of the round but choose your roster after most teams completed their whole roster first. How good of a chance do you really have?
Hopefully, Jimmy Rogers has that trait.
I do agree there has the potential to be more under the radar players with NIL but the law of large numbers still prevails who starts off with a more talented roster.
Our former players were two and three stars and we overachieved according to the narrative. Not as much talent. Now all of a sudden they go to Penn State with Campbell they are 4 starts and one of the top ranked portal class. It's comical. Anyone who knows ball can watch knows they were good players. So which is it? Overachievers exceeding their talent level (while at Iowa State) or 4 star transfer that is going to elevate Penn State to the playoffs.
2025 Football Roster - Iowa State University Athletics
The official 2025 Football Roster for the Iowa State University Cyclones
Updated roster: 44 returnees, 57 newcomers
Hunter Sowell was only at ISU, and is only at PSU now because he’s a package deal to get Chase to come. If he ever sees the field at PSU…. they are in trouble.
The 2026 roster is up on cyclones.com. Garett Rutledge is on it. A handful of the 2026 recruiting class is also on it already.
Nice call, Stecker now listed as LB
Well Burkle did go to Penn State, so that part is at least true. The rest seems suspect.
And just like they did at WSU, Willie Breland II is listed as a LB. He's a 2026 JUCO recruit that must be on campus already and is listed most places as a cornerback. These are the "monster" guys. The hybrid safety/lb.
