FSU Football: Derrick McClendon Enters The Portal As A 5th Year Jr. Graduate Transfer
Fifth year junior, Florida State Seminoles defensive end Derrick McClendon enters the transfer portal as a graduate transfer. This after signing a retainment deal via The Battle's End NIL Collective.
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Veteran Defender Hits The Road
Readers and listeners of Renegade Report should have seen this one coming. Unfortunately for Derrick he just wasn’t able to lock down the leadership positions within the team and depth chart he felt he was due. You have to feel for the young man who has been through hell with the Noles and was a big part of last years success and the total program flip since Norvell arrived three and a half years ago.
The public got their first whiff of discontent from the DE when the FSU Social Media account published a graphic highlighting the defensive line comprised soley of transfers with his conspicuous absence. To be honest he does have a point in that it isn’t really fair but football is a reflection of life and more specifically war. Absolutely no room for rivial things such as fairness in war or on the gridiron.
There is no room for this type of attitude in the locker room at FSU but at the same time it had to be hard for him. He bought in and stayed for the CLIMB. He watched Jared Verse, Jermaine Johnson, Keir Thomas, and now Gilber Edmund, Braden Fiske all transfer in from other places and keep him from his starting role. I can’t say I wouldn’t be devastated myself, as much as we try to be team players we are human beings and the return of Verse, Briggs along with the explosive growth of Patrick Payton doomed McClendon to simply being a rotational piece.
I was honestly super excited to see him grow on the season he put together this year and realize his fullest potential. The crucible of this new group of talent’s camp battles will certanly forge an elite group and who knows how McClendon would have grown. Unfortunately we will never know as he felt he had already proven himself and had earned his role at the front of the room. He drew a line at the teams player led Leadership Council. When he wasn’t named to it he did not react very well at all and here we are saying goodbye.
I hope he indeed finds the perfect situation and a team he can help improve immediately and lead their DL room from the front. While he was just a piece in the rotation he was certainly a very good one and a valuable asset against the run especially.
As I had mentionded in a previous article this situation did not come out of nowhere and all of the coaches and insiders around the program were fully aware of the situation and simply waiting for a decision to be made before letting any of the circumstance go public.
When Noles247 went public on the record I knew it would only be a matter of time before he hit the road. Rest easy though Seminoles as when I say this was known it also figured into all of mine and surely other media outlets diagnosis for the 2023 defensive line’s potential. The question now is if Norvell and his defensive staff will simply run with the group they have now or attempt to grab another DE out of the summer portal period from May 1st - May 15th.
a rotational piece of a fsu team about to be back on top would be so much better tha a shot in the dark with no guaruntees especially when on any given day not just a game day an injury or a rule broke and you are back as a #1 because the staff knows you,but GOD,bless you in all your future choices
does NIL know what it's doing I hope someone is keeping score and following the money.