These names could be in the Sun Bowl, but they won’t be.
It’s become increasingly common for college football players to opt out of inconsequential bowl games for one reason or another. With the College Football Playoff field tripling in size next year, that could solve the problem a bit, at least as far as the number of team this practice impacts. This is the future of college football, even if you don’t agree with it.
With Notre Dame facing Oregon State in the Sun Bowl, several Irish players are missing, either having entered the transfer portal or choosing to focus on preparing for the NFL draft. That means many of the Irish’s leaders in each major statistical category will be absent, so it’s not worth listing a bunch of names that won’t play.
Instead, we’re going to list the percentage of each major statistic that will be missing from the Irish during the final game of the season because of opt-outs. Hopefully, this won’t discourage you from watching the game too much:
Really want to know who sent the text and what it said…
Recent Notre Dame transfer portal commitment [autotag]Antonio Carter[/autotag] II comes from Rhode Island, but he had several big-time offers. Along with Notre Dame were Ole Miss and Wisconsin, which he visited, and Florida and LSU, which he was supposed to visit after Notre Dame.
Carter, who committed over the weekend, was supposed to head to Baton Rouge after his Notre Dame trek. Upon committing to the Irish the trip to the Bayou was no longer necessary. So what happened next?
Carter was set to leave Notre Dame on Friday and head straight to Baton Rouge for his official visit, but that trip never happened despite LSU having a car service waiting outside The Gug.
After seeing Ole Miss, Wisconsin and Notre Dame, the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder informed Marcus Freeman he didn’t need to see more, and a Notre Dame staffer called LSU and walked out to inform the car service that services were no longer needed.
Personally I can’t help but wonder who the staffer was that reached out to LSU and who was on the receiving end of that message at LSU. Since we don’t know any better I’m going to just imagine it was Marcus Freeman telling Brian Kelly via text to go get his shine box.
[autotag]Benjamin Morrison[/autotag] might be developing into a star, but Notre Dame always can use some depth in its secondary. Once Rhode Island defensive back [autotag]Antonio Carter[/autotag] entered the transfer portal in April, the Irish were among many Football Bowl Subdivision teams interested. They officially made their offer May 5, and Florida and LSU followed over the next few days. Finally, Carter was ready to make his decision, and it was good news for the Irish:
Carter started 21 of the Rams’ 22 games over the past two seasons and played in all of them. During that period, he recorded 105 tackles, broke up 17 passes, had 5.5 tackles for loss, forced three fumbles, recovered another three fumbles and had one interception. Basically, he did everything expected of a defensive back, and he was ready to see what he can do at the top tier of college football. Here’s hoping he can at least approach what he did in the Football Championship Subdivision.
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The transfer portal churn continues this month for Florida football.
Florida football’s weak spring showing demonstrated the importance of the program’s efforts to reload the roaster after the departure of a handful of players to both the NFL draft as well as the NCAA transfer portal.
The Gators have done their due diligence in the portal this spring, with the latest name to plan an official visit to Gainesville coming on Wednesday. Former Rhode Island Rams defensive back [autotag]Antonio Carter[/autotag] II plans to make his OV in the Swamp on Monday, May 15, according to Swamp247.
The 6-foot-1-inch, 200-pound cornerback originally from Orlando (Florida) Oak Ridge has already made visits to see the Wisconsin Badgers and Ole Miss Rebels, with scheduled dates to visit with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on May 10 and LSU Tigers over the coming weekend. He has also received scholarship offers from the Texas A&M Aggies, Ole Miss Rebels, Kentucky Wildcats and Iowa Hawkeyes, among many others.
The rising redshirt junior played spent most of his game-time reps on the outside corner with Rhode Island in 2022 — when he graded as a plus defender for his position — starting all 11 games and finishing the season with 60 total tackles, 4.5 tackles for a loss, one sack, an interception, two forced fumbles and 11 passes defended. The season prior, he started 10 games and recorded 52 total tackles, a sack, seven passes defended and forced a fumble.
Carter is rated at three stars and ranked No. 602 overall and No. 77 at his position nationally according to the 247Sports’ transfer rankings. On3’s transfer portal predictions have Ole Miss in front for his commitment with a 28.1% chance of landing him, followed by Kentucky at 24.6%.
Antonio Carter, a Rhode Island transfer, is on the Iowa Hawkeyes’ radar. The defensive back recently picked up an Iowa offer.
There’s always extra room with the Doughboyz.
The Iowa Hawkeyes should feel great about what they have atop the depth chart at cornerback. After all, arguably the nation’s best returns in Cooper DeJean. Alongside DeJean will be Jermari Harris.
Before an injury sidelined him for all of last season, Harris was developing into a terrific defensive back for the Hawkeyes. He played in 13 games in 2021 and started six games, including the season’s final four contests. Harris tallied 34 tackles, eight pass breakups, four interceptions and 1.5 tackles for loss.
Meanwhile, DeJean was simply sensational in 2022. The 6-foot-1, 209 pound corner racked up 75 tackles, 13 pass breakups, five interceptions (three of which he returned for scores) and three tackles for loss.
For his efforts, he was named first-team All-Big Ten by the league’s media. He also tracked down Music City Bowl Most Valuable Player honors. DeJean registered a 14-yard pick-six, a 34-yard punt return and a seven-tackle performance against the Wildcats.
So, it’s safe to say Iowa feels good about its top two corners. Even though the Nebraska game demonstrated there’s still some growing to do, the Hawkeyes probably like what they have developing in fellow corner TJ Hall.
Redshirt freshman Deshaun Lee was the Hawkeyes’ other corner in the two-deep to begin this spring season.
With all of that coming back, Iowa would still like to bolster its cornerbacks room with depth. Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz said as much after the Hawkeyes’ open spring practice.
Asked about wide receiver Brody Brecht’s decision to focus on baseball, Ferentz confirmed that Iowa would look to continue adding to its roster via the transfer portal. He identified wide receiver and cornerback as the position groups Iowa will look to add to first.
“Definitely an area that we’ll look at if we can help ourselves on the perimeter. We’re not deep at corner, either. Probably the two areas we’re kind of looking at,” Ferentz said.
Enter Rhode Island transfer Antonio Carter. Since entering the transfer portal as a grad transfer on April 16, a bevy of FBS programs have come calling. The Iowa Hawkeyes extended an offer on April 19.
Iowa joins Virginia, Kentucky, Baylor, Louisville, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Minnesota, Texas A&M, Georgia Tech, Oregon State, Indiana, Wisconsin, Washington and Ole Miss as Power 5 programs that have offered Carter since he jumped into the portal.
Carter started 21 games over the last two seasons with Rhode Island. Over the past two seasons combined, he tallied 105 tackles, 17 passes defensed, 5.5 tackles for loss, three forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, two sacks and one interception.
The 6-foot-1, 200 pound defensive back has two years of eligibility remaining. Originally from Orlando, Fla., Carter spoke with realdawghuskies.com‘s Mike Martin on Friday to detail his recruitment.
Carter indicated that distance won’t be the determining factor in his ultimate landing spot.
“A place that I can go in and play and make a difference. I’m from Orlando and I’m in Rhode Island so I feel that anywhere away from home is going to feel away from home,” Carter said.
Asked to describe his game, Carter offered up the following description.
“My physicality stands outs as well as being versatile. I can play safety, corner or nickel,” Carter said.
Below is a look at Carter’s highlights from Rhode Island. Plus, his full recruiting profile, statistics from his time with the Rams and how and why his fit with Iowa makes sense.
Wisconsin offered Markevious Brown, a transfer cornerback from Ole Miss who entered the portal after two seasons with the Rebels.
Wisconsin offered Markevious Brown, a transfer cornerback from Ole Miss who entered the portal after two seasons with the Rebels. The 5-foot-10, 180 pound athlete from Florida still has three years of eligibility.
Brown recorded 19 tackles while deflecting two passes during his second campaign with Ole Miss, his first true season on the field. The Badgers appear to still be interested in adding to their secondary ahead of the 2023 football season.
Luke Fickell and his staff offered Rhode Island transfer cornerback Antonio Carter on Wednesday as well. With safety Jason Maitre impressing this spring after transferring to Madison from Boston College this offseason.
The Badgers offered Antonio Carter, a transfer cornerback from Rhode Island on Wednesday.
The Badgers offered Antonio Carter, a transfer cornerback from Rhode Island on Wednesday. The 6-foot-1, 187 pound athlete still has multiple years of eligibility.
Carter recorded 55 tackles, 10 pass deflections, two forced fumbles and an interception with the Rams in 2022 and has increased his production over each of his three years at Rhode Island.
With Luke Fickell and Mike Tressel coming to Madison from Cincinnati this offseason, the Badgers’ defense is expected to remain one of the best in the nation and could certainly benefit from adding an experienced option to their secondary.
Wisconsin has already secured former three-star safety Jason Maitre in the transfer portal from Boston College.
