Frank Bartley and Isaac Nielson to transfer
 

I think Rose screwed up with FBIV. FB was in Rose's doghouse for far too long for reasons unknown. And you knew that he had to be steaming watching these unathletic no-defense trash players get serious playing time. Like Nixon. SLTrib is reporting that FB leaving is a surprise to the staff. Not a surprise to me. He felt like he got screwed and he gone.

Nielson on the other hand was reportedly urged to transfer. Let me give Coach Rose a tip. If your recruit can't run with normal form, he's no good. The guy is so unathletic he can't even run properly. Another recruiting fail of bigs from Rose (I'll toss Worthington in the junk pile as well. Along with Nixon, who played the 4 at times).

I liked Bartley, but on offense I often felt like it was a success if he had the ball and didn't lose it. He never quite got the offense when pretty much everyone else on the team did. He was a good defensive player which is why he did get playing time the second half of the season, and clearly the reason why he was in there. Also, I think the Trib is full of it and trying to stir things up for clicks on their articles. Rose was talking last week about changes to the roster that were about to come. I don't believe it was really a surprise, especially with having Pope leave to UVU. And there just wasn't enough room for Neilson. There was definitely a recruiting gap that occurred while Jimmer was here, especially among the bigs, of which Neilson was a part. But I believe we'll soon see that issue has been corrected as those players start coming home from missions.

By the way, it's been rumored that BYU is going after a five-year transfer and now suddenly has a scholarship to give even after now giving one to Kaufusi. They've already said that Austin if given a medical hardship will pay his own way next year. Despite Neilson's shortcomings, you keep him for depth instead of pushing him out unless you are expecting someone else to come in to replace him. Even if Bartley is a total surprise, which I'm skeptical about, the only thing that changes is giving Kaufusi a scholarship instead of having him come back with half-price tuition paid for by his family who can afford it. We're likely going to be hearing about someone else joining for next season within the next couple of weeks.

Nielson needed to be more athletic than he was. No amount of weight gain was going to change that. Big defensive liability and not much of an offensive threat. In other words, the prototypical BYU big man.

We'll have to see what happens in the next couple of weeks, but I would be surprised if we don't have someone transfer into the team to take the now available scholarship. I don't think Rose does this right now unless he has a pretty reasonable expectation that he can replace Neilson with someone who can help the team more.