The FCS Daily Dose is a blog-style article series featuring an assortment of news, rumblings, quick-hitters, and commentary on various topics. A new Daily Dose will publish multiple times a week to keep the FCS discussion going throughout the long offseason.
For March 7, 2024, let’s talk about…
Mark Gronowski Back In An SDSU Uniform
The big FCS offseason speculation is whether the defending Walter Payton Award winner and two-time national championship-winning quarterback will enter the transfer portal. The obvious tie was Northwestern, which is near Gronowski’s hometown and just hired SDSU OC Zach Lujan as its new play-caller.
Gronowski didn’t enter the portal after the title game. Sigh of relief. He was shown in videos doing SDSU offseason lifting workouts. Sigh of relief. And earlier this week as SDSU started spring practice, he was shown in a couple of photos in uniform. Sigh of relief.
Now, Gronowski isn’t set to graduate from SDSU until May. If he was planning to play elsewhere in the fall, he would likely have to transfer there during the summer instead of this spring anyway. Taking part in SDSU’s spring ball and being listed on the 2024 roster isn’t confirmation just yet he’ll be in Brookings in the fall. But one could reason that doing all the offseason workouts and practices is a positive sign of him staying for at least one more year. Gronowski does have two more seasons of eligibility. One could also ask that if he for sure planned on returning to SDSU, there would be some type of Twitter graphic announcement by now. The half-joke of a relationship not being official until it’s Facebook official also kind of applies to college football players and their announcement graphics.
While some Jacks fans celebrated him shown in an SDSU uniform this week, others said they won’t be 100% assured until fall camp hits or Gronowski confirms it himself that he’ll be back.
Gronowski has an evident love for SDSU. He is accepted into SDSU grad school next fall. He’s 13 wins away from breaking the FCS record for QB wins. And his legend will grow even more if he leads SDSU to a three-peat after losing multiple NFL-level players. All reasons why I wrote in February and said in January that I thought he’d be back. We’ll see if there’s more clarity soon.
As SDSU beat writer Matt Zimmer, who is much more plugged in than I, wrote this week: “Walter Payton Award-winner Mark Gronowski is practicing with the team, set to return as the starting quarterback. All indications are that his intention is to remain a Jackrabbit for at least another year … Gronowski being in uniform for the Jacks right now is certainly encouraging. Expect clarity on his final status for the 2024 season sooner than later.”
UAlbany’s Aamir Hall Enters The Transfer Portal
It’s hard for FCS programs without much tradition to sustain success. We’ve seen teams bubble up into quarterfinalists or semifinalists and then drop back down quickly: Maine, ETSU, Samford, William & Mary, UIW, Samford. To name a few.
The top-tier teams are more programs than teams. They can reload year after year and sustain success thanks to having the tradition, resources, and expectations in place. For many other teams, their rise either results in a standout senior class leaving, their top players entering the portal after making names for themselves, or their coach parlaying the success into a higher-paying job.
UAlbany’s run to the 2023 semifinals was a remarkable turnaround after a 3-8 season in 2022. Now the Great Danes are facing the challenges of being a good mid-major team with P4-level talent.
Standout QB Reese Poffenbarger transferred to Miami. Stud DL Anton Juncaj transferred to Arkansas. All-American DL AJ Simon declared for the NFL Draft. 100-tackle linebackers Dylan Kelly and Ori Jean-Charles graduated. The Top 2 wide receivers also declared for the NFL Draft.
A bright spot seemed to be the return of Aamir Hall, a top FCS cornerback who totaled 63 tackles, 15 pass breakups, and five interceptions last fall. But he announced his intention to enter the transfer portal on March 1.
Another tough departure for UAlbany. Such is life as a good mid-major, something that both FCS and G5 teams are dealing with. The Great Danes look to replenish the roster with three FCS transfers and six FBS transfers, including Wisconsin QB Myles Burkett.
Montana Standout TE Cole Grossman Returns
The other fan base in Frisco also enjoyed seeing a player back in uniform.
Montana began its spring practices this week. And back was talented TE Cole Grossman.
He missed all of 2023 due to season-ending surgery. There were some rumblings that he might decide to enter the transfer portal while rehabbing. Grossman, frankly, was underutilized. He was a freshman All-American in 2021 and a sophomore All-American in 2022, tallying 65 catches for 873 yards and 10 scores in the two seasons. But the 6-foot-4 pass-catcher certainly could have done even more damage.
A complaint of Montana fans in 2022 was the offense wasn’t creative and struggled to get the ball in playmakers’ hands. That wasn’t the case for most of 2023 when Brent Pease took over as offensive coordinator. Expect Grossman to be a major part of the offense, although there will be plenty of mouths to feed for the new starting quarterback.
The standout WR trio of Junior Bergen, Aaron Fontes, and Keelan White are back along with Jerry Rice Award RB Eli Gillman and the productive veteran Nick Ostmo.
