In all honesty the NESCAC has been fighting for so long to keep this image of an Academic first conference and to make the playing field level within the conference that it has hindered the league and probably hurt the schools more than it has helped anything.

There is no reason that schools should have roster limits less than that of any other level of college football. A gameday dress limit is one thing but for schools with less athletic training and strength and conditioning resources it is almost backwards and somewhat asinine to think that having a roster limit would do anything but put players in more danger for injury.

They also fought so long to keep teams out of the playoffs that it has significantly hurt recruiting.  I'm not saying that good kids still don't go but I think we can all honestly say in the past 4-5 years we have seen a drop off in the depth and amount of talent in the league that at that time felt like we were about to turn a corner in who the league could really get. Part of that is being able to recruit talent from outside of New England but with that comes an expectation of facilities and resources that are even equivalent with their high schools or local junior colleges. Many nescac schools don't even have their own varsity weight rooms or provide cleats or basic equipment players. And no that is not a d3 standard because most d3, naia and juco schools do that just like high schools do.

This league has some of the wealthiest donors in the country and it is honestly embarrassing that schools have not gotten to a point where schools not only have facilities but stadiums and campus support. The lack of it from the campus communities is atrocious. It is the easiest way to not only grow campus community but bring back donors and alumni into the fold for homecomings etc and get them to donate to other things as well.

I know there will be some who just say this isn't the mission of these schools to push sports and I am not arguing with that. But the amount of money spent on all types of things around campus that do not bring any funding or donations back to the school it seems like a no brainer to do it for sports if for nothing else to raise the schools profiles nationally.

Quote from: lumbercat on April 01, 2026, 07:23:17 PM

Quote from: NESCACFball24/7 on April 01, 2026, 05:11:45 PM

Quote from: lumbercat on April 01, 2026, 11:49:41 AM

Quote from: Brady12 on March 31, 2026, 09:06:12 AM

Quote from: NESCACFball24/7 on March 28, 2026, 08:10:59 PMSergio Beltran hits the portal. Big loss for bates.

Any ideas where he may end up?

Carnegie Mellon, CWRU among others. This is not necessarily a D1 play. He's looking to use his remaining year of eligibility as he pursues a graduate degree. He will graduate with his class in May.
He will be a Slot WR. Not a tweener, only played QB due to an unprecedented string of QB injuries and the transfer of QB Seneca Moore to USC.

He came into Bates as a quarterback. As I said, still strange timing given that he will be missing spring practice at wherever he decides to go.

Sergio Played QB in HS. Didn't take a QB snap at Bates until 2025. Conversion to WR began in the recruiting process. He was a WR at Bates day 1 and never would have been converted if not for some unforeseen circumstances.

He has no option on spring practice at another school. He has to finish up second semester classes to graduate and complete the transfer process.

He is listed on their roster as a freshman quarterback. He also threw a pass in 23 and took wildcat snaps both years. Either way my comment about him entering the portal at this point being strange stands. Most guys who plan to grad transfer get extra classes in so that they can leave in January with their degree and give themselves more options. With that being said almost all grad guys enter the portal in the winter even if they have semesters to finish so that they have more time to communicate with coaches. This is common with Ivy players. It allows coaches to offer them and hold their spot until the summer as opposed to now having to find a spot that is not already full. Especially this year since there is no spring portal there are going to be less roster spots available at this point because undergrads are not able to leave until next winter when in the past there would have been a natural reshuffling at the end of spring ball.

Quote from: lumbercat on April 01, 2026, 11:49:41 AM

Quote from: Brady12 on March 31, 2026, 09:06:12 AM

Quote from: NESCACFball24/7 on March 28, 2026, 08:10:59 PMSergio Beltran hits the portal. Big loss for bates.

Any ideas where he may end up?

Carnegie Mellon, CWRU among others. This is not necessarily a D1 play. He's looking to use his remaining year of eligibility as he pursues a graduate degree. He will graduate with his class in May.
He will be a Slot WR. Not a tweener, only played QB due to an unprecedented string of QB injuries and the transfer of QB Seneca Moore to USC.

He came into Bates as a quarterback. As I said, still strange timing given that he will be missing spring practice at wherever he decides to go.

Quote from: Brady12 on March 31, 2026, 09:06:12 AM

Quote from: NESCACFball24/7 on March 28, 2026, 08:10:59 PMSergio Beltran hits the portal. Big loss for bates.

Any ideas where he may end up?

Seems like an odd time to hit the portal given that most teams gave their roster filled for next year. Assuming he tries to jump I will be interested in 1) whst position he plays because he was always kind of a tweaner 2) if he ends up somewhere on scholarship or has to walk on somewhere.

This last cycle has seemed to be much less friendly to nescac transfers than in previous few. I don't know if anyone has landed anywhere new

Sergio Beltran hits the portal. Big loss for bates.

Quote from: Trin9-0 on March 19, 2026, 11:16:06 AMInteresting social media recruiting strategy by Tufts to promote several past players who transferred from the school to either FBS or FCS programs:


Speaking of the Jumbos, they take on (fellow NESCAC foes and the defending National Champions) Trinity in the Elite Eight tonight at 6:30 p.m. Unfortunately, it appears you'll need an ESPN+ subscription to watch. Tufts topped the Bants during the regular season 68-62 in Medford while Trin prevailed in the NESCAC semifinals 80-70 in Middletown. At the very least the NESCAC is assured of a representative in the Final Four for the third straight year!

I was surprised to see Richardson tested better than lutz in all categories at his pro day except the 3 cone and that was only a 0.01 difference. I always remember Lutz as the more agile finesse guy with Richardson being the big bruiser for the jumbos. Still wild that those teams with them weren't more successful.

https://usctrojans.com/news/2026/3/12/football-Seventeen-Trojan-Draft-Prospects-Showcase-at-USC-Footballs-Pro-Day

Did any of the guys who hit the portal from nescac schools land anywhere? It seems like the success of guys (Tomlinson, Richardson, lutz, helbig) from the past gave a false sense of how easy it is to transfer up

Any news on offers that some of the NESCAC transfers have receivers this cycle?

Quote from: Charlie on December 08, 2025, 11:02:09 AMIn terms of the transfer portal are the players that have entered going to finish school. I would think if they would want an opportunity to play on another level they would have to leave at the end of Winter break to get to these schools to participate in Spring ball to have any chance at playing which would mean missing graduation. Only alternative would be if they take a red shirt year at a higher level school. I think the D2 and D1 levels put a great deal of emphasis on spring ball.

The ones who Leah after th first semester of their senior year have normally finished their coursework early either through heavy course loads or summer classes. Others leave after the spring. Very much an individual decision for kids and her families but yes leavin in time for spring bal generally for them more opportunities in the portal.

Quote from: nescac1 on December 02, 2025, 12:02:54 PMNot sure what is up with Tufts, but Granville Anderson, as well as Keller Rogers previously announced, is now in the transfer portal.  If both leave that would be a pretty big hit at both receiver and KR, when combined with the guys already graduating. 

For whatever reason tufts has had a tougher time than the rest of the league retaining their top talent. A lot of transfers recently from their top guys and it has also been rare that they have been able to get top seniors to return for 5th years at the same rate as other schools

Quote from: Charlie on November 19, 2025, 12:22:52 PM

Quote from: NESCACFball24/7 on November 19, 2025, 09:55:11 AMThis could be the first time in a few years we haven't seen an exodus of talent from the league to the transfer portal right after the season looking to move up to the D1 level. Will be interesting to see if this remains true

Only one I know of so far is O'Brien WR from Trinity. I guess he figures on trying the portal although with one year eligibility and an injury prone career do not know how many takers there will be on a one year stint.He does not have the same pedigree as Tomlinson & Lutz of the past or size as well as eligibility. I did hear about rumblings out of Wesleyan that the Freshman WR Kelly could be moving on word is it that Uconn & Stonehill are possible landing targets. At this stage all conjecture.

I am curious when these kids enter the portal do they leave after Christmas break for Spring ball at these programs ?

In the case of O'Brien for Trinity or any senior would that mean forgo graduation if not would that not put them further behind pack not getting a Spring football season in or do they just red shirt for another year.

I do remember the C for Bates Pierotti last year entered the transfer portal but then played this year for Bates before getting hurt.So not sure on the rules for this.

Depends on the situation. For some kids if they are able to graduate early (after this semester) and get to their new school for spring ball it generally give them many more opportunities because they will have another 6 months at the new place.


What you said about kelly is interesting because lets be honest stonehill isnt exactly the pinnacle of football and giving up weseleyan for one of the worst teams in the worst conference in FCS would be kind of strange.

This could be the first time in a few years we haven't seen an exodus of talent from the league to the transfer portal right after the season looking to move up to the D1 level. Will be interesting to see if this remains true

Is it just me or does the league overall just look less talented than it has in the past? The last 3-4 years I had be thoroughly impressed by some of the top end talent these schools had pulled in and this last year I noticed it a little bit but this year there seems to have been a significant drop off.

Quote from: lumbercat on September 17, 2025, 11:31:02 PMOk Thanks

But am I right that not every program is not committing the same amount to this. They have proposed a cap because the biggest programs are sending exponentially more than others.


I'm curious and befuddled on this. I'm going to reach out to friends in the BC program as well. I know things have changed significantly but I'll get a grasp on it.

Thanks for bringing me up to speed.

I cant for sure that every single program is but they all have plans to in the very near future. By not using it they put themselves at a significant recruiting disadvantage. Many programs have turned their "collectives" into ways of guiding donors to the athletic department and donating directly to the program in order to offset some of these costs due to the new regulations around 3rd party nil. I would be surprised if any p4 program is significantly off of that number.

Quote from: lumbercat on September 17, 2025, 10:59:24 PMOk I see what the top players are getting in the major programs, that's pretty well known.

Let me put it this way, with your knowledge of this how many guys on these 100+ man rosters in power 4 programs are being paid more than, say, $50,000 ?

30k for a depth guy and up from there depending on eligibility remaining and potentional like I said. The new revenue sharing allows for 18.5 million divided amongst the team. In order to be competitive in recruiting most all p4 program are using the full amount. The scholarhsip limit at FBS is 85 so really only 85 player are getting paid plus 2-3 walk ons who have their scholarhips paid for out of the revenue sharing. Anybody in the 2 deep is almost definetely making more than 50k. Freshman, regardless of the depth chart on these rosters are often making more than older guys who are 2s or 3s simply because the schools had to pay to get the freshman there in the first place.

FYI I have multiple players going through the recruiting process out of high school right now as well and have had to be apart of many of these conversations between them schools and their families.