Name: Cole Sullivan
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 225 lbs.
High school: Pittsburgh (PA) Central Catholic
Position: Linebacker
Class: Sophomore
Jersey number: #23
Last year: I ranked Sullivan #85 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He played in twelve games on special teams and one on defense, making 4 tackles.
TTB Rating: 87
I thought the 6'3", 215 lb. freshman linebacker would redshirt in 2024, but I was mistaken. He was named Special Teams Rookie of the Year at the end-of-year awards banquet and played in every game but one. That's a good way to get one's feet wet, but it also burned a potential extra year of eligibility for special teams use. Anyway, Sullivan performed his duties well while most freshman linebackers redshirt.
This season Sullivan is a bit of a wild card. While he's unlikely to break into the starting lineup (barring injury to one of the starters), he's probably in the second group and pushing Jimmy Rolder to be the next inside linebacker into the game. Sam Webb recently said Sullivan is pushing 240 lbs. (as opposed to his listed 225 on the spring roster) and he has the frame to carry it well. With the coaches talking about using Jaishawn Barham off the edge at times, could Sullivan potentially slide into Barham's spot in those packages? He could be the third linebacker or he could be behind Rolder and Georgia transfer Troy Bowles.
Another option is for him to follow in Rolder's path. Rolder took a redshirt in his second year to give him some more separation from the guys ahead of him. Sullivan could redshirt in 2025 and then have an open path to playing time in 2026 without Barham and Ernest Hausmann blocking the way.
Either way, Sullivan should be a key special teams player in 2025 and start to see more time on defense.
Prediction: Backup inside linebacker, special teamer
Loads of talent at LB
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure we'd redshirt a guy who has a chance to be The Guy next year. Get him more live reps so he can lead next year
Yep this is a thoughtful analysis. The red-shirt is in play. Crippen also did it in year 2 when he saw limited playing time opportunity. Given his lack of importance with LB depth he could be ranked lower on the list.
ReplyDeleteHe can still get 4 regular season games and the post-season while getting back the red-shirt.
Delete...I just don't think the coaches will see it that way since clearly they like having him out there already. Can't worry too much about 2028 these days when the portal is so popular and guys (like Rod Moore, Mangum, and McCulley) take red-shirts to manage injuries later in their careers.
Is there still an emphasis on retaining redshirt status nowadays? Serious question ... in this age of portal there's no guarantee they'll be around anyway, so why not use them if they can meaningful contribute, and just plan on managing the roster without the emphasis on redshirt. Some may still redshirt, but it's no longer the thing it once was?
ReplyDeleteYep nope it's not. Times have changed. The school has less incentive to invest in a long-term relationship. But...
DeleteIt can mean hundreds of thousands in earnings for individual kids to get that extra year. You see places like Michigan and OSU paying out big money to guys in their 5th or 6th seasons in college like McCulley, Payne, and Williams. Experience is really valuable in CFB and the champion caliber teams keep getting older and older. Sometimes guys are even getting paid enough to keep them from the NFL for a year.
If you're the type of player who is good enough to be starting at the top tier schools but NOT necessarily an NFL guy, you could be sacrificing several hundred thousand dollars by playing out your eligibility in 4 years rather than 5.
We don't know exactly what guys like McCulley, Williams, Payne, Guy, and Crippen, are getting but none of them were likely to get drafted after 2024. So what they are doing now is probably more lucrative than they would be getting if their eligibility was expired and they were out in the "real world".
Consider:
https://x.com/RandyWiseAT/status/1767358717169692979
Say what you want about Donovan McCulley quitting on an undefeated Indiana team midseason but from a business perspective it was a no-brainer decision to trade a half season of situational/backup role with the Hoosiers in '24 to being WR1 at Michigan in '25.
That was interesting ... thanks for the answer.
DeleteAs you point out, there's the redshirt question from the perspective of the player, and the redshirt question from the perspective of the coaches. Coaches are less motivated to redshirt someone, but a certain category of player might be motivated to redshirt for that fifth year.
I wonder if that might have been part of the motivation of Jadyn Davis? From what I understand, he insisted on his freshman year being a redshirt year, so he has four years' eligibility left. He's not likely to be NFL bound, so he's motivated to maximize NIL payments over the next four years ... at Michigan or elsewhere.
There's a dilemma: the coaches say, "Get in there, kid." What are you to do if you want to preserve your redshirt but the coaches don't care? Say 'no?'
In Davis' case he just wasn't ready to contribute at a high level. So even if he wanted it, it was probably moot because the coaches weren't going to play him. We know that because he could still play 4 games and keep his red-shirt, but he only played in 1.
DeleteThe more interesting case is a guy like Sullivan or Bowles at Georgia for that matter because they have a role on the team, it's just mostly special teams. Other programs aren't dumb either, so if they see a guy on an elite defense who is a backup and special teamer, that can probably be a starter for them. So, even by playing a backup role you establish a market value for yourself at a place like Georgia or Michigan.
Consider a guy like Matt Hibner. 4 years at Michigan and he had a role as a backup and saw meaningful snaps in the TCU playoff game in '22. But he was TE3 at best, again, as a senior TE in 2023. So he chose to redshirt, even on a national championship squad. Michigan chose to play him in anyway in the postseason (against Iowa and Washington but not Alabama) even though he decided to red-shirt his senior year, likely as an attempt to get him to come back in '24. But with Loveland and Bredeson back, again he wasn't going to have a feature role in the offense so he went to SMU. Now I don't know that he made hundreds of thousands but from what people have put out there he likely earned 6 figures at a minimum, likely with free room and board, tuition, plus a starting role. Probably better than your typical entry level job out of college, I'd say. That red-shirt paid off for him.
Hibner was a freshman in 2020 so he'll also be on of the last COVID guys in his 6th year. Hypothetically he could have showed his stuff as a 5th year senior at SMU and then used that additional year to again transfer to another bigger/higher paying program. But he chose to go back to SMU for year 6.
These are just examples and each individual situation is different but you get the idea. Players can earn a ton of money in college and that extra year can be really valuable to a player. But preserving their eligibility is far less likely to have value to a program like Michigan or Georgia.
In Sullivan's case he's either going to rise to a starting gig and then cost a lot of money or he's going to stay on as a backup and not be that valuable. Either way he's pretty expendable to a big time program like Ohio State, Alabama or Michigan. The optionality of the red-shirt has more value to him than the school.
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The dilemma you raised is interesting but I would guess in practice it's USUALLY a collaborative convo with the player that happens off the field. Like Indiana last year I'm sure that the coaching staff was bummed that McCulley quit on them because they did want to use him in a backup role, but as I understand it he left the team entirely. Hibner told the coaches not to play him anymore but he remained on the team and the sideline throughout the championship season, and indeed played in the postseason.
I would think it would be rare for it to play out so dramatically on the field. The debate is probably had in the coaches offices.
But the short answer is that the player has the power here. They are the commodity. They get to decide. It is up to them to say "yes" or "no" when a coach says get out there.
yep nope
DeleteCole looks like high level LB/Athlete that has NFL potential. He is behind some REAL NFL guys right now but he should shine when he gets his chance.
ReplyDelete