FSU football: ‘Noles legend Marvin Jones dishes on transfer portal
By Kelvin Hunt
FSU football has seen a few players opt-out of the 2020 season as of late and enter the transfer portal. An FSU legend shares his thoughts on social media.
FSU football has had three players in the last month to announce they were opting out and entering the transfer portal.
Redshirt sophomore Jamarcus Chatman announced he was opting out nearly a month ago before announcing he was entering the transfer portal Friday.
It was reported redshirt sophomore wide receiver Isaiah Bolden would be entering the transfer portal a few days ago, and the same goes for senior wide receiver DJ Matthews.
The first two players were a part of the 2018 transition class salvaged by Willie Taggart, and the latter was a part of Jimbo Fisher’s last recruiting class in 2017.
It’s not uncommon for players to depart from a program with a change at head coach. Mike Norvell was hired in December, so it’s fair to say these players gave it a go-to see if they saw a future for themselves at FSU.
It wasn’t surprising to see Matthews enter the portal after the whole debacle with Warren Thompson last month. I’m not sure how much Jamarcus Chatman was going to play, and Isaiah Bolden had just moved from defensive back to wide receiver, so he wasn’t going to contribute much anytime soon.
A lot of fans on social media began to question what was going with this cluster of players entering the transfer portal, and an FSU football legend gave his opinion via Twitter Friday evening:
I don’t look at Players transferring from FSU as a negative it’s a positive . Says the kid isn’t buying into the program and that’s fine. Says they enjoyed being 18-20 the previous 3 years. #New Sheriff in town #ChangeisGood #Mikenorvell
— Marvin Shade Jones (@MarvinJonesJets) September 17, 2020
Thoughts
Matthews had had issues with three separate coaching staff and never lived up to his recruiting ranking as the No. 51 overall player in 2017. The lowest-ranked FSU signee of 2018, Keyshawn Helton, had surpassed him in productivity before getting hurt last season.
Bolden was often injured and was surpassed on the depth chart at defensive back, then asked to move to wide receiver. Chatman was likely going to be a reserve at defensive end.
So it’s probably a combination of not buying-in and realizing they were not going to see the field much moving forward.
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I can’t be mad at a player for wanting to play, but if they were not willing to compete to find their spot, Jones is correct in stating it’s a good thing they have decided to leave.
It’s also good to see a former player show public support for Mike Norvell.