What do we have returning for '26?

[AllHusky]

Spring semester begins 1/20/26…

Figure we have until 27th before it’s too late to enroll, maybe later for a stud or two

 

[Bongo Fury]

It doesn't appear that Candle is making much of an effort to retain our players in the portal. Only Tucker and Hicks have come back, backups at best. This may be his philosophy, if you aren't sure you want to be here then you are dead to me. Values loyalty. Could explain why he rarely lost a lot of Toledo players to the portal.

Could be. Imagine if you’re spending money on players, might like others better or feel they are a better value.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

It doesn't appear that Candle is making much of an effort to retain our players in the portal. Only Tucker and Hicks have come back, backups at best. This may be his philosophy, if you aren't sure you want to be here then you are dead to me. Values loyalty. Could explain why he rarely lost a lot of Toledo players to the portal.

Merely a guess on my part, but I imagine he gathered as much information as he could from game film, the limited amount of practice time he was able to observe and what he could gather from conversations with coaches (from the 25 staff), he prioritized which players to make the effort to retain (he couldn't realistically try to retain all of them). From there, he makes whatever effort he views as sufficient to the player and his representatives.

 

[Chin Diesel]

It doesn't appear that Candle is making much of an effort to retain our players in the portal. Only Tucker and Hicks have come back, backups at best. This may be his philosophy, if you aren't sure you want to be here then you are dead to me. Values loyalty. Could explain why he rarely lost a lot of Toledo players to the portal.

I would assume Candle would have preferred to retain more of the offensive players than the defensive players. But, as has been mentioned in other threads, many of the offensive players have moved to CSU or P4 schools. Not as much demand for the defensive players.

 

[Jimdish255]

It doesn't appear that Candle is making much of an effort to retain our players in the portal. Only Tucker and Hicks have come back, backups at best. This may be his philosophy, if you aren't sure you want to be here then you are dead to me. Values loyalty. Could explain why he rarely lost a lot of Toledo players to the portal.

If that was the philosophy with Murawski and Cam it's short-sighted and stubborn. I'd like to think it wasn't because these guys earned it here. Especially a local guy who was miscast at the beginning of his career and carried the team at times.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

If that was the philosophy with Murawski and Cam it's short-sighted and stubborn. I'd like to think it wasn't because these guys earned it here. Especially a local guy who was miscast at the beginning of his career and carried the team at times.

From what was written very early on, both Murawski and Casady were looking to move on not long after the regular season was over. I don't know what effort Candle may have put into trying to retain them, but I doubt he could have been successful.

I don't know what Cam was thinking but I do believe that he is the ideal back for the type of offense Fitzgerald prefers and it wouldn't surprise me if MSU just came after him too strong for him to consider anything else.

 

[Jimdish255]

So I have a feeling we'll be leaving a little room for players that may fall through the cracks last minute. Possibly a QB or an outstanding guy who gets nudged out of what he thought was a great opportunity initially. The momentum is good and we're going to find out a lot about Coach's previous evaluations at Toledo and how that translates here. It hasn't been spectacular weather but I think most of them are going to love it here once we get past the January chill. Happy we've been stacking the OL and it looks like there's more than a few highly rated guys coming in.

 

[AllHusky]

Remaining portal uncommitted + transfers + HS signees + withdrew + known retainees(Chan, McLaughlin) gives me 66. Don’t know about eligible to return from 2025 roster(like Chan). Anybody else got a guess for current roster size?

 

[Tdaley]

I found this to be very informative, especially if you haven’t been following developments very closely. (Like me) Not sure if it’s been posted elsewhere.

Thank You. This was a great listen.

 

[ArtTheFan]

Are you for real?

Yes. I am...As I said, just because someone is a walk-ons, it doesn't mean they are a bad player...