What I Know, What I Think, What I Wonder — The Iowa Week Edition

I know that we have about one more week of dealing with random and sudden “X player intends to redshirt and transfer” news in college football. Most teams are heading into games five and six, which means players are about to extend beyond the four-game redshirting threshold.

I think we have achieved a new paradigm in college football. It started happening a year or two ago but will now just create a new window of flux that coaches are going to have to deal with every September. The amount of roster maintenance that is required now is immense.

I wonder how many of the voluntary redshirts actually negatively impact a team. Yes, it hurts the depth, but departures like that can galvanize a team. At least for a while. Just ask UNLV.

I know that an established program like Ohio State can withstand being honest with players. It’s the programs that are trying to get to that point or stay at a high point where they don’t necessarily belong that will tell players more of what they want to hear. It’s the same deal with NIL. Sometimes you have to overpay for a quarterback when you are Tennessee. Sometimes you have to oversell a defensive tackle on how much they’re actually going to play when you are USC.

I think you saw where the trust is last week against Michigan State, and you’ll see it again this week. Arvell Reese only played 18 snaps last week despite starting. He may start again this week, but the defense may do a better job of keeping contain with Jordan Hancock on the field rather than a third linebacker. (He’ll probably also do better in coverage.)

I wonder where Sonny Styles would be in his development right now if he didn’t skip his senior season of high school football.

To read the rest of this edition of What I Know, What I Think, What I Wonder, you can click here, but you’ll need to be a premium subscriber. Additional topics include more on mid-season transfers, Sonny Styles’ development, the test this week against Iowa, rotations being shortened, and much more.