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What transfer will make the biggest impact this upcoming season?

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Right now, I think the answer is Kaidon Salter. Going into this past season, PFF named Salter the #1 QB in the Group of 5 and PFF stated the following:

“Salter is the clear choice for the top spot after leading Liberty to an undefeated regular season and a Conference USA championship last season. He also enters 2024 as the highest-graded returning Group of Five quarterback.The 6-foot-1 junior is a true dual threat with a big arm and dangerous feet. He placed third in the FBS last season with an 8.3% big-time throw rate and 1,117 rushing yards. He also led all quarterbacks with 57 forced missed tackles. While the Flames face uncertainty on the perimeter with the departure of top receiver CJ Daniels, Salter and his backfield partner Quinton Cooley are expected to continue dominating Conference USA.”

And while Salter’s 2024 season wasn’t as statistically impressive as his 2023 season, he graded out at an 82.0 for the 2024 season, which is considered “great” and is a higher grade than every player on CU’s team last season with the exception of Travis Hunter and Sheduer Sanders. I don’t think people understand how talented Salter is. He’ll be a difference maker for CU. Check out the mailbag for more. https://buffsblog.com/the-world-famous-buffsblog-com-mailbag/

I think the other option is Jaheim Otis, but he's joining a position of relative strength vs. Salter, who is joining a position with no P4 experience...
 
**** you.

Stay Cool Thank You GIF
 
I think it's easy to pick QB since it's the most important position in football - maybe the most important in any sport.

I'll go with Oatis. A dominant DL changes everything.
I think it's clear that Oatis will start and be a difference maker.

While I think it's very likely Salter starts (75+%) I still think there's a chance JuJu shines early and takes over. I think that any vote for Oatis probably acknowledges that Salter is not a guaranteed starter.
 
I think it's easy to pick QB since it's the most important position in football - maybe the most important in any sport.

I'll go with Oatis. A dominant DL changes everything.
Guy was legit under Saban and fell out of favor for whatever reason last year under DeBoer. Freshman All-SEC, full time starter/heavy rotational guy under Saban, named as defensive player of the week multiple times, Outland Trophy watch list for 2023. It's been a really long time since CU had a guy like him on the DL.
 
Re: the punter, Kansas (where our new punter was punting last year) had the lowest net punting average in the Big 12. That signing was a bit of a head-scratcher for me, honeslty. Hopefully the altitude helps.
 
I think it's clear that Oatis will start and be a difference maker.

While I think it's very likely Salter starts (75+%) I still think there's a chance JuJu shines early and takes over. I think that any vote for Oatis probably acknowledges that Salter is not a guaranteed starter.
As buffnik said, Salter is the easy choice because of the impact of the position, but I think success in CFB is equally dependent on DL play, and I think if you look at the last three CFP winners in Ohio State, Michigan, and Georgia there's an argument to be made the DL play is more important than QB play.
 
As buffnik said, Salter is the easy choice because of the impact of the position, but I think success in CFB is equally dependent on DL play, and I think if you look at the last three CFP winners in Ohio State, Michigan, and Georgia there's an argument to be made the DL play is more important than QB play.
I've heard this argument and I disagree. I think QB is far and away the position that most ties to wins and losses.
Look at Michigan this year -- 2 first round DTs, both studs, and the team fell to 8-5 because their QB play was so terrible.

Maybe this is the way to put it --- assuming average QB play, DT play means more than any other position....
 
I always think back to that Auburn national championship. Cam Newton + Nick Fairley elevated them from a good team to an undefeated. I don't think any other positions do that on O & D, respectively, like QB and DT.
 
As you all know I'm extremely pro-Juju for my own reasons, and this may come across as petty, but I have not been overly impressed with Salter's attitude and connections with the team to-date. Couple that with some things I heard from coaches at Liberty and I'm not so sure I'd bet on him to be the biggest difference maker next season.
 
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I've heard this argument and I disagree. I think QB is far and away the position that most ties to wins and losses.
Look at Michigan this year -- 2 first round DTs, both studs, and the team fell to 8-5 because their QB play was so terrible.

Maybe this is the way to put it --- assuming average QB play, DT play means more than any other position....
Sure. I'd also say losing arguably the best all around football coach in the world played a fairly sizable role in Michigan's decline (along with many, many other starters from 2023).

Of course you can't have bad QB play, but in college football the biggest difference between elite programs and even good to great programs is the talent disparity and matchup favorability in the trenches. This isn't as pronounced in the NFL because most NFL teams have competent and talented players on both the OL and DL so elite QB play is the primary factor (although this year's Super Bowl bucked this trend).
 
I'm thinking one of the transfers on the OL. We're going to have to run the ball a lot more effectively this season so someone stabilizing the right side of the line would do wonders for the teams success.
 
I'm not particularly impresed with the quality of OL transfers brought in -- their PFF scores are not exactly lighting the world on fire....and I know that PFF scores are not the "end all be all," but they are a decent data point.... <ducks for cover>
 
As you all know I'm extremely pro-Juju for my own reasons, and this may come across as petty, but I have not been overly impressed with Salter's attitude and connections with the team to-date. Couple that with some things I heard from coaches at Liberty and I'm not so sure I'd bet on him to be the biggest difference maker next season.
Curious what you've heard from the Liberty side of things. It's not uncommon for "jilted" coaches to lob shots at departed/departing players.
 
Salter and Oatis seem to be the obvious answers so I’ll go with some dark horses.

Martavius French is a tackling machine with 17 TFL’s last year at UTSA.

Tawfiq Byard is a hard hitting, young safety who could end up as a starter.

Joseph Williams WR from Tulsa jumps off the film. High points the ball very well and could be a red zone threat this year.

Zach Atkins is a really athletic TE from a small school and if the offensive philosophy changes like many of us expect, he could be an important piece.
 
Right now, I think the answer is Kaidon Salter. Going into this past season, PFF named Salter the #1 QB in the Group of 5 and PFF stated the following:

“Salter is the clear choice for the top spot after leading Liberty to an undefeated regular season and a Conference USA championship last season. He also enters 2024 as the highest-graded returning Group of Five quarterback.The 6-foot-1 junior is a true dual threat with a big arm and dangerous feet. He placed third in the FBS last season with an 8.3% big-time throw rate and 1,117 rushing yards. He also led all quarterbacks with 57 forced missed tackles. While the Flames face uncertainty on the perimeter with the departure of top receiver CJ Daniels, Salter and his backfield partner Quinton Cooley are expected to continue dominating Conference USA.”

And while Salter’s 2024 season wasn’t as statistically impressive as his 2023 season, he graded out at an 82.0 for the 2024 season, which is considered “great” and is a higher grade than every player on CU’s team last season with the exception of Travis Hunter and Sheduer Sanders. I don’t think people understand how talented Salter is. He’ll be a difference maker for CU. Check out the mailbag for more. https://buffsblog.com/the-world-famous-buffsblog-com-mailbag/

I think the other option is Jaheim Otis, but he's joining a position of relative strength vs. Salter, who is joining a position with no P4 experience...
Yet to be acquired OLineman.
 
Sure. I'd also say losing arguably the best all around football coach in the world played a fairly sizable role in Michigan's decline (along with many, many other starters from 2023).

Of course you can't have bad QB play, but in college football the biggest difference between elite programs and even good to great programs is the talent disparity and matchup favorability in the trenches. This isn't as pronounced in the NFL because most NFL teams have competent and talented players on both the OL and DL so elite QB play is the primary factor (although this year's Super Bowl bucked this trend).
To your point, the top three QBs in this years draft class, Shedeur, Cam Ward, Jaxson Dart all helped their teams to good seasons but none of them have a playoff appearance.

In the top true DTs in the draft class Graham and Grant have a national title a year ago, Derrick Harmon (Oregon,) Tyleik Williams (tOSU,) Alfred Collins (Texas,) Omarr Norman-Lott (Texas) all have playoff appearances. The only ones in the top group that don't are T.J. Sanders (South Carolina) who may be more of a DE in the pros and Walter Nolen (Ol Miss) who also is smaller and likely to end up lining up over the tackle.

Having a big man who can control the middle of the LOS completely changes what the offense is able to do against your defense, it frees the ILBs cover more gaps in the running game and to more quickly cover short zones in the passing game.
 
I've heard this argument and I disagree. I think QB is far and away the position that most ties to wins and losses.
Look at Michigan this year -- 2 first round DTs, both studs, and the team fell to 8-5 because their QB play was so terrible.

Maybe this is the way to put it --- assuming average QB play, DT play means more than any other position....
I actually look at it the opposite. Their DL was so dominant, they were still able to manage 8 wins, including one over the eventual national champion, after losing a massive amount of production from last year’s team. I think a great QB in college can only take you so far, see 2023 CU. An average QB with an elite DL can win nattys, see 2024 Ohio State or any of the Saban teams before he adjusted to the modern offense and recruited 5 star QBs.
 
I actually look at it the opposite. Their DL was so dominant, they were still able to manage 8 wins, including one over the eventual national champion, after losing a massive amount of production from last year’s team. I think a great QB in college can only take you so far, see 2023 CU. An average QB with an elite DL can win nattys, see 2024 Ohio State or any of the Saban teams before he adjusted to the modern offense and recruited 5 star QBs.
They won it all the previous year with a good to great QB and the same 2 DTs…and without a great QB this year lost 5 games.
 
They won it all the previous year with a good to great QB and the same 2 DTs…and without a great QB this year lost 5 games.
I think his point was that if the DL had regressed this year as much as QB play but they'd had a great QB, Michigan wouldn't have been any better and probably worse.

The only mediocre team they lost to was Washington (Texas, Oregon, Illinois, Indiana) and they beat Ohio State and Alabama. USC was also a solid win, especially since they were flying at the time.
 
As you all know I'm extremely pro-Juju for my own reasons, and this may come across as petty, but I have not been overly impressed with Salter's attitude and connections with the team to-date. Couple that with some things I heard from coaches at Liberty and I'm not so sure I'd bet on him to be the biggest difference maker next season.

Salter had to play in a different type of offense than what he did his junior year and the stats showed. Maybe the Liberty coaches expected Salter to be as productive as Grayson McCall was for them at Coastal Carolina and that didn't happen?

I think you'd need to give Salter time to get acquainted with the other CU players while JuJu was doing that for perhaps at least a year. Give him a chance.
 
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