Really no issue. I just didn’t want people to think I was dishing players. Unless they do something really ******, like that Washington QB, I’m all in favor of players making good financial or career decisions.
Portal Losses Thread
- Thread starter AdamOnFirst
- Start date
Don’t forget the scholarship money he’ll save!
Most seasons, we seem to struggle with placekicking but have ample pass rushers (or enough of a pass rush for our D to do well). And we need to spend money on impact WRs and OL.
I take nothing for granted as an NU fan.
He’s a kicker that couldn’t be trusted past 40 yards in 2025. That’s just not good enough.
We usually don’t have one we can trust past 30…
Aside from Budzien and a healthy Demos, in most years we do not have a reliable kicking game. Didn’t we miss some easy kicks when Olsen was out against Tulane?
Olsen is the second most accurate NU kicker since 2000, behind only Budzien, so I generally agree with you more than GCG that this is a palpable loss... but looking at the actual stats, Olsen was a fantastic 78.4% for his career (and an amazing 90% this year), but 7 other guys who kicked at least a year were above 70%, so it's actually not that unprecedented that we have a pretty reliable kicker, and the new guy Kleather was 19/22 last year with multiple makes over 50 yards, so it's proving not that difficult to bring in a reliable guy annually in the portal era. Kleather is just as good or better than Olsen, tbh.
Here are the stats btw
Northwestern Wildcats Kicking Stats | College Football at Sports-Reference.com
Check out the Northwestern Wildcats Kicking Stats and more about College Football at Sports-Reference.com
www.sports-reference.com
Wow - Kuhbander was less accurate than I remembered.Here are the stats btw
Northwestern Wildcats Kicking Stats | College Football at Sports-Reference.com
Check out the Northwestern Wildcats Kicking Stats and more about College Football at Sports-Reference.com
That list is a trip down memory lane. Slade Larscheid has been in the news as Ohio University’s AD - but he actually did his job well and axed their outgoing head coach as decently as he could.
Joel Howells was the walk on kicker who took Slade’s soot and earned a scholarship.
Wasielewski was the opposite of Olsen: he had one of the strongest legs on this list, but was very inaccurate (the 2002 OSU loss could have been even closer…).
Villareall (sp?) is perhaps the most underrated kicker on that list.
I don't know, I think we should milk a made FG for all it's worth.
I know there were many times during the season where I said to myself, "he butter make this!"
The knew guy will be able to make our field goals, so we butter just get used to all this churn as the new whey of things.
Hunter Welcing apparently to the portal now, and apparently also with eligibility left. Must have gotten or be hoping for a medical waiver for 2022 that would allow him to be in college for a SEVENTH year. Would have liked to keep him, he's good.
Saka actually ended up committing to A&M, so the assumption he was following Smith was totally flawed. He would have indeed gotten a significant check, it will be interesting to see if his actual production improves there.
ALso as per Lou Chandler and Herzog to the portal now. Chandler wasn't on the two-deep, Herzog was a fourth year backup. I have calmed down from my initial concern over Herzog toward recognizing a guy who hadn't broken the starting lineup to this point as a fourth year was probably not gonna. As long as they bring in sufficient quality numbers behind him it's okay to see guys like this move on. Imperative, actually, to have space for additions.
I was wondering how we were signing so many and even planning more without losing too many to the portal, it there is still another week for players to declare.
I’ll be cheering for him at A&M. Hope he puts it all together - they’re likely paying him top dollar.
He was basically disinvited once we got the Minnesota-Duluth kid, who’s got 3 years of eligibility and is better.
I didn’t realize Welcing was a 6th year. Clearly no obligation from NU to continue his scholarship. Like Olsen he must be done with a grad degree so he really should try to go somewhere else if he can get eligibility for either a bigger playing role and/or another grad degree.
Yeh, it does kind of suck that we have to kowtow to this new system......
We still need a WR or two and an OL or two. A Edge Rusher would also fit our needs. The class is great so far but getting a few more is ideal.
Not a bad place to be a backup TE and special teams blocker. They’ll likely be in the CFP again next season (and most).
That makes me think twice…I liked him this year but I didn’t anticipate he’s OSU level talent, which would be like the best TE we’ve had in many many years?
First off, he was the best TE we've had in quite a few years (which is both a legitimate compliment and faint praise at the same time). I'd frankly expect him to be a TE2 type at OSU, to be honest, but still, they didn't bring him in because he isn't good.
Well I guess it’s not fair since we didn’t really have TEs for some years due to the super back position. The guy we had in 2000 transfer from Miami was definitely more impactful I think. I mean, I said he’s good I just didn’t think jump to OSU good.
Obviously I'm including the superback era as tight ends and we had plenty of guys in the superback era who were as good or better than Welcing... but that was quite a time ago. Cam Green graduated in 2018. To be clear, I am not saying Welcing is better than everybody from the Green/Dickerson/Dunsmore/Vitale era guys. I AM saying he's the best since then, and VERY clearly a LOT better than everybody since then other than John Raine.
Have you seen the recent guys OSU is bringing in? Looks like they are targeting veteran back ups. Many if one year if eligibility. It looks like a thought out strategy of having “ready to play” talent if the need arises.
OSU has lost 4 & 5 stars to the portal who want starting role, bigger pay checks, or lots of playing time. They spend money to retain starters but not willing to pay high for backups. So, they are looking for experienced portal players who will accept the role as backup while their freshmen class is developing.