BOWLING GREEN — Scot Loeffler wants to avoid what he calls using the credit card.
The first-year head coach at Bowling Green is waist deep in a full-scale rebuild at the school, a process entering critical summer months for recruiting.
On one hand, the Falcons hope to build their future roster with high school prospects.
On the other is a transfer market, the Band-Aid that can help immediately but not necessarily in the future.
Therein lies what Loeffler termed the “quagmire” confronting a lean Bowling Green roster.
The NCAA allows a team only 25 initial counters per school year, and no more than 85 total at any time. Any new player on scholarship, whether from high school or a transfer from another university, is an initial counter. Ideally, a program can replace its outgoing players with high-school recruits and save the rest as a contingency plan.
“If you have 15 seniors, you bring in 15 [new] guys. That means you can bank 10 initials,” Loeffler said. “When you do have a guy who leaves for the NFL, who wants to transfer, a guy who gets injured and [disqualified], you can go out and replace him with a graduate transfer or what have you. You simply fall back on one of those 10 that you didn’t use.”
The problem is the Falcons don’t have the luxury of initial counters in the bank, putting Loeffler and his coaching staff in a crunch.
Every transfer to fix an immediate need means one fewer spot for a high school recruit that can be developed long term — hence Loeffler’s comparison to a credit card.
“We don’t have any fallbacks,” Loeffler said. “When you don’t have any fallbacks, here’s your business decision: Bring a guy in for four months, or bring a guy in for four years. On paper, it’s pretty simple.”
However, at some positions, Loeffler said the Falcons have no choice but to explore the transfer market. At running back, second-leading rusher Rico Frye was medically disqualified because of a serious injury, Ra’veion Hargrove transferred, and Charles Lamar moved to linebacker, where BG also needed depth.
That left Bowling Green with only two scholarship running backs before this week — an untenable number for a 12-game football season. Bowling Green helped soften the blow with Boston College grad transfer Davon Jones, who committed this week.
Then came an unexpected curveball that upended the most important position.
Quarterback Jarret Doege, the unquestioned starter, opted to enter the transfer portal, leaving BGSU with two scholarship quarterbacks and the season fewer than four months away.
“The piece of the puzzle that we did not expect is for Jarret to leave,” said Loeffler, who added he and Doege parted on good terms. “It just all came down to family issues, in my opinion. He wanted to be closer to home. I think that’s a major deal, but I can put my head on the pillow every night and say I did that completely the right way. I was completely up front with him from the time he walked in. I promised him he would get coached inside and out. I thought he improved a ton. I thought he took a bunch of great steps.
“Sometimes, there are a lot of things out of your control, and that’s what occurred in that situation.”
Loeffler said Bowling Green plans to add another quarterback to help fill the void left by Doege.
However, Loeffler said the Falcons remain focused on the future, starting with the 2020 recruiting class that will see heavy movement with recruiting camps during the summer months.
Two local players — Anthony Wayne tight end Bryce Boyer and Northview offensive lineman Matt Fortner — already have committed to BGSU.
While Bowling Green has immediate needs, Loeffer said he considers initial counters “like gold,” and he doesn’t want to sacrifice the future for quick fixes.
“Whenever you get into trouble, in my opinion, is when you’re hunting and pecking and trying to bring guys in who are only going to be here for a short amount of time,” Loeffler said. “What’s the value? What do you gain? How are you building your program? You’re not.”
It undoubtedly will be a difficult short-term call, but Loeffler said Bowling Green is planning ahead.
“What you have to do is really strategically pick,” he said. “The moral of the story is we want to get the roster right.”
First Published May 10, 2019, 3:00 p.m.
