The biggest thing was not that he was a super star, though he was much more than average, but that he played 2 important positions and could start at either. He really played a lot of snaps this season, and was a leading tackler. Nobody is irreplaceable, but like losing Bywater to injury, even with the young, upcoming stars, you are losing veteran experience and leadership.I don’t know the validity of those claiming he was a bad teammate, as everything I heard was that he was very well liked and a solid part of the secondary.
I would love to have him return, as I think his entering the Portal has more to do with his being upset with the way some made fun of him and blamed him for getting hit in the head by that Kansas QB punt. He thought it was an incomplete pass, as did many others, whose view from his spectrum, didn’t allow them to see the the QB kick it. I think he took that hard, but I had hoped his huge play on the onside kick TD, had helped him move on.