College football 2020 offseason thread

If the primary goal of a university and, by extension, its athletics programs, is to provide opportunities for young people in your state, then it's also easy to justify it on that level. There are a ton of programs in the SEC, for example, where the number of in-state players is minuscule, like tennis, golf, soccer and softball.

 

Florida Gators 2021
Softball Roster
# NAME POSITION HT CL HOMETOWN / HIGH SCHOOL
1 Hannah Adams INF 5-8 Sr. Hoschton, Ga. / Mill Creek
2 Cheyenne Lindsey OF 5-9 Jr. Chattanooga, Tenn. / Baylor School
4 Charla Echols 3B 5-4 Jr. Newnan, Ga. / Northgate
6 Haley Pittman LHP 5-7 Fr. Montgomery, Ala. / Alabama Christian Academy
7 Jade Caraway OF 5-10 R-Sr. Winter Garden, Fla. / West Orange
8 Hannah Sipos INF 5-6 Jr. Cooper City, Fla. / American Heritage
9 Jaimie Hoover OF 5-8 R-Sr. Suwanee, Ga. / Collins Hill
10 Natalie Lugo RHP 5-5 Sr. West Covina, Calif. / South Hills
17 Avery Goelz 1B/OF 5-6 Fr. Myakka City, Fla. / Lakewood Ranch
18 Emily Wilkie UTL 5-10 Fr. Cumming, Ga. / Creekview
20 Kinsey Goelz INF 5-3 R-Jr. Myakka City, Fla. / Lakewood Ranch
21 Kali Reis SS 5-7 Fr. Bradenton, Fla. / Lakewood Ranch
22 Elizabeth Hightower RHP 5-8 Jr. Monticello, Fla. / Aucilla Christian Academy
24 E.C. Taylor OF 5-5 So. Marion, Ark. / Saint Benedict at Auburndale
25 Julia Cottrill C 5-8 So. Wichita, Kan. / Andover Central
29 Katie Kistler OF 5-8 Fr. Orange Park, Fla. / Oakleaf
32 Kendyl Lindaman C/1B 5-10 R-Sr. Ankeny, Iowa / Ankeny Centennial
33 Mia Buffano OF 5-4 So. Palm Harbor, Fla. / Palm Harbor University
34 Savannah Serrata RHP 5-7 Fr. Hesperia, Calif. / Sultana
44 Rylee Trlicek LHP 5-4 So. Hallettsville, Texas / Hallettsville
46 Bryn Thomas UT 5-5 R-So. Trenton, Fla. / Trenton
50 Baylee Goddard UT 5-4 So. Orange Park, Fla. / Oakleaf
52 Sarah Longley INF 5-8 So. Royal Palm Beach, Fla. / Wellington
56 Katie Chronister LHP 5-8 R-Sr. Gainesville, Fla. / Gainesville
99 Jordan Matthews UT 5-10 Sr. Anaheim, Calif. / El Dorado

12 Florida, 4 Georgia, 3 California, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Texas

Of course, it's a nationally-ranked program. You'd assume kids from around the country would want to play for a championship.

 

Florida Gators
Women's Soccer
2020 Season
No. Name Pos Ht. Year Hometown (High School/Previous School)
1 Ashley Pietra GK 6-1 SR Gainesville, Fla. (Buchholz H.S.)
2 Cassidy Lindley MF/F 5-7 JR Carmel, Ind. (St. Theodore Guerin Catholic H.S.)
3 Tori Grambo D/F 5-4 FR St. Johns, Fla. (Bartram Trail H.S.)
4 Laney Steed MF 5-5 SO Sharpsburg, Ga. (East Coweta H.S.)
5 Alexia Fotopoulos D 5-5 SO Land O’Lakes, Fla. (Land O’Lakes H.S.)
6 Kit Loferski F 5-3 JR-RS St. Augustine, Fla. (Bartram Trail H.S.)
7 Ava Kuyken MF 5-7 SO Oxford, England. (The Cherwell School)
8 Carina Baltrip-Reyes D 5-8 SR-TR Round Rock, Texas (Robert E. Hendrickson H.S./FIU)
9 Samantha Tobar F 5-6 SO-RS Parkland, Fla. (Marjory Stoneman Douglas H.S.)
10 Lauren Durbin MF 5-3 FR-RS Lone Tree, Colo. (Rock Canyon H.S)
11 Nicole Vernis MF 5-4 SO Palm Beach, Fla. (The Benjamin School)
12 Maddy Rhodes F 5-6 FR Vero Beach, Fla. (Vero Beach H.S.)
13 Izzy Kadzban MF 5-3 FR Longwood, Fla. (Lake Mary H.S.)
14 Madison Alexander F 5-4 SR Dorr, Mich. (Hamilton H.S.)
15 Alexa Goldberg GK 5-7 FR St. Petersburg, Fla. (St. Petersburg H.S.)
16 Julia Violante D 5-9 FR Indian Rocks Beach, Fla. (Largo H.S.)
17 Francesca Faraci GK 5-8 SO Park Ridge, Ill. (Maine South H.S.)
18 Ansley Frazier MF 5-1 SO-TR Winter Park, Fla. (Winter Park H.S./Massachusetts)
20 Anna DeLeon D 5-7 FR Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. (Palos Verdes H.S.)
21 Deanne Rose F 5-5 SR Alliston, Ontario (St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary)
22 Parker Roberts MF 5-6 SR-TR Leawood, Kansas (Blue Valley North H.S./Kansas)
23 Kouri Peace F 5-6 SO Chalfont, Pa. (Pennridge H.S.)
24 Cameron Hall MF 5-6 SO Buford, Ga. (Buford H.S.)
25 Delaney Tauzel MF 5-7 FR St. Johns, Fla. (Creekside H.S.)
26 Georgia Eaton-Collins D 5-5 JR Ipswich, Suffolk, England (Copleston H.S.)
27 Sydney Urban MF/D 5-5 FR Rockaway Beach, N.Y. (Poly Prep Country Day School)
29 Shaye Seyffart MF 5-8 JR-TR Ringoes, N.J. (Hunterdon Central H.S./Villanova)
32 Syd Kennedy MF 5-7 SO Fall River, Nova Scotia (Halifax West H.S.)
33 Ashlyn Kane MF/D 6-1 FR Jacksonville, Fla. (Bartram Trail H.S.)
34 Lauren Evans MF 5-5 SR-RS Lithia, Fla. (Newsome H.S.)
36 Taylor Baksay D 5-10 JR Palm Harbor, Fla. (Palm Harbor University H.S.)
40 Alivia Gonzalez D 5-7 SO Palm Harbor, Fla. (Palm Harbor University H.S.)
44 Susi Espinoza GK 5-6 SR-RS Wellington, Fla. (American Heritage H.S.)
99 Cece Price D 5-4 FR Potomac, Md. (Our Lady of Good Council)

17 Floridians, 2 English, 2 Canadians! Bunch of fancy-schmancy northeast prep schools. And two suburban Atlanta kids. Go figure.

 

The Gators are going to have a bunch of in-state players on every roster. Good school, flagship university, massive state.

 

Yep, because she's clearly "rooting for things to go badly."

 

Big Ten got played by President Trump, and he's eager to celebrate

Yeah, Wolken, but I think this is dead on:

"From the moment Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren and Trump spoke by phone on Sept. 1, any outcome that ended with the league reversing its early decision to postpone football was going to result in Trump declaring that he made it happen to boost his favorability in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota in the midst of a campaign where he is behind in the polls."

 

Depends on the state and the sport. States like Florida and Georgia should have plentiful talent, in-state, for diamond sports, tennis, track/field... really any sport unless someone breaks out ice hockey as a sport.

If you're looking at men's soccer in the Upper Midwest/Big Ten, you won't find a whole lot of local players on the roster -- unless it's Chicago/major metro kids. At the D1 level, even without making any money, the emphasis is on winning. That's why so many of these soccer coaches burn scholarships on international players from only looking at YouTube but make all the local kids walk-on or give them a 1/6 scholarship to start. They'll spend for some goalie from Brazil but make the Highland Park kid pay to attend.

 

Already spent, like all the other NCAA dollars. Instead of putting away for a rainy day - or a pandemic - it was already funneled in the pockets of coaches and athletics directors as well as already spent on facilities costing eight figures and built for no other reason than they had nothing else to do with the money.

 

In theory, anyone is qualified to write on politics. I guess I’m just surprised that a sports columnist would make Donald Trump and his political chances a focus of a sports column.

Again, I don’t get the impression that USA today sports columnists actually like sports. They like politics, and they’re using sports to talk and write about politics.

And, I get it. A lot of sportswriters really want to write about politics. They don’t want to write about the games; rather, they love the idea of A viewing societies problems through the lens of athletics. Politics is rarely, if ever, a joyful exercise.

 

Florida and Georgia are big talent wells for softball and soccer, so they will have plenty of in-state talent. Not so much the other states.
In soccer, LSU and Ole Miss are both 6/25 on in-state players. Mississippi State is 2/32, and Alabama is 0/26.
In softball, LSU is 9/23, Ole Miss is 1/29, Mississippi State is 4/23 and Alabama is 7/22.

The high school talent in those states is not as good as what it is in Georgia and Florida, so maybe the SEC schools recruit the high-end players from Georgia and Florida and the in-state ratios are a bit better at the lower-level DI, DII and DIII programs where lesser talent winds up. All I know is, those programs are not stocking the roster with homegrown players the way the football and basketball programs do.

 

Aw, screw that. I was reading Dan Wolken when he was the Memphis Tigers beat writer at the Commercial Appeal. No one is becoming a sportswriter for the big bucks. If you don't like and want to cover sports, you don't pursue that job.

Half the country talks politics and the latest Trump lunacy. Speculating that Trump would take credit for something that he did very little to make happen isn't becoming a political writer, it's a simple observation on how the executive branch of our country works nowadays. Take the credit, and dump the blame on whoever is convenient, that's been the WH standard for four years now. That "the buck stops here" crap was flushed down the crapper years ago.

 

And how much money is devoted to this softball team by the school? Why should immense resources be devoted to a team that only family members and few othe \rs care about? And I know about Title IV but I would make the same argument about the men's soccer team.

Both should be cut and student fees be reduced.