I’m gonna bow out. As much as I wanted to play Division 1 football, I didn’t. This is the first time I’ve had an attempt made to convince me otherwise 😂
This is a football thread. For years Villanova has been a great basketball school with a 1-AA football team. That isn't anything new conceptually. About me: I'm a third generation Bobcat, and pretty proud of that fact. My Mom was the first African American appointed to the SWT Development Foundation Board, and is a Distinguished Alumnus. My Dad is a 2005 Hall of Honor inductee in Football and Track. My first job out of school was working for Dave Bailiff. I happen to know Coach Chisum, and if she left you feeling all warm an fuzzy that's wonderful champ. Continue to say whatever makes you feel good.
Just found this thread. Coach Bailiff put together a T Association mixer at Schoebel's last Sunday, and the plan is to travel well for this one. He had the guys from he and my dad's teams pretty lathered up about the new conference affiliation and prospects for this year. As for us being D-1 for 40 years, I got there in July 97 and played 1-AA, which is a pretty big departure from "D-1". The move to the WAC is what I'd use as an identifier where that's concerned. I don't really care, but it'd be like stolen valor to tell someone I played D-1 ball, and the reality is we were in the Southland riding a bus to Thibodaux to play the Battle for the Paddle. In any event, Eat em' Up and I hope to see y'all out there this year.
Bingo. This is a house of the flimsiest cards. I have no idea how the implosion will look, but let's all reconvene around November as some of these payments are supposed to crystalize. Kinda sucks that this is what recruiting has come to, but I've got a purchasing background and many high dollar procurements look similar to this.
This shit can get crazy if a kid doesn't have a mindset that embraces proving toughness outside the lines. This is the kind of thing coaches can't talk about, and don't normally even know about until the strength coach says something. I've seen Andre Jones and folks of that ilk talked about on this thread - when you're recruiting in the Southeast (namely Louisiana, Georgia and Florida), you will inevitably introduce a good number of kids whose socioeconomics lend to these behaviors. Don't want to CR this thread, but it's a reality, one that the GM and coaches have to be considering. Once you expand that to California, DC, etc - those regional "beefs" are extrapolated. I love what the staff is doing with casting a wider web, but this is a huge consideration in doing so.
Played behind Westbrook and Carruth his first couple years. He played lots his junior and senior years. Ate himself to tight end frame, but didn't love to block. You're right, talked a ton of shit.
To tie this back into Texas recruiting, the 96' summer is for me is a great reminder as to why Sark is doing things the right way. We were there when Ryan Nunez got to CU. It was obvious that the kid was talented enough to be impactful in the return game, even with Rae Carruth and James Kidd being on the roster. What was also evident was that the locker room wasn't conducive to a guy with Nunez' mental makeup lasting there. I saw more criminal shit in that summer than I've seen my entire life. Locker room/Weight room fights were commonplace and even encouraged. There was a legitimate national recruiting footprint, and as a consequence, each region wanted to show they were the toughest. There's a not so fine line between Tebow's Florida and the Florida we see now. Unfortunately, coaches do have to consider who are "Our types of guys", just as much as you look at measurables.
No, but Big Jim (Chris) is why we were there. We also went up for a month in summer 96 - insane collection of football players at CU then. I didn't go to LP, Shaun and I grew up in Bible Way church together, our dads were in camp together in Oakland and maintained a friendship and worked out together. To this day, having played with and against some incredible ballplayers, Chris is one of the best athletes I've ever actually been around. I wish he would've locked in. Neuheisel took the players' coach deal a little too far and had no controls on that team.
I grew up with Shaun. Christmas break of our senior year in high school we visited Colorado together prior to them playing the Holiday Bowl - he weighed around 282 (I remember this vividly because Doc Kreis, who was CU's S&C coach at the time said he could get Shaun to 300 prior to our Freshman year). He didn't hit 300 and stay there until his Sophomore year at Texas. When I saw Carlton he immediately reminded me of Shaun at the same age.
That's good news. He's a special athlete. Plays too high like most high schoolers that are at a physical advantage, but he'll probably be a composite 5 star by end of cycle. I saw him at a couple track meets, huge frame and explosive as hell. Could see him putting on 50 pounds over the next couple years and reminding people of Shaun Rogers.
Please don’t put too much (any) credence into yesterday’s post. In fact, take anything I say in the recruiting forum with the largest grain of salt, as I don’t know any of the kids Texas is currently in on. Just wishcasting and hoping y’all give me some good news at some point in the next 60ish days.
Man, I hadn't seen you post in a while and was worried. Your nuanced yet clear takes on all things Texas football is what turned me from lurker to full fledged BMD of the $treefiddy variety. I'm glad you didn't get tangled up in a DEA takedown like I thought. You coming back only reinforces the reality that we getting eeeeryfuckinbody!
I put very little stock into football without pads. 7 on 7 means next to nothing. Pass rush 1v1 even less than that, and is skewed towards the defense unequivocally. Gotdamn, Ojo had a horrible day at the Rivals camp in Indy though. Poor fella looked like he was on a tranquilizer of some sort. Hopefully he's a RS Freshman AA in a couple of years and it's a Landon Jackson bag drill memory.
Kids and parents really like Kirby Smart. They love Travaris Robinson. I'm not sure exactly why on Smart, but even as he's gotten it to a place that recruits itself, people like the guy. Good thing is that families really connect with Sarkisian also.
The Georgia talk makes me ask a question that's plagued me the entirety of 2025 - how the fuck did Gunner Stockton hold on to that ball while sleeping soundly?
I lurked the board for a long time, but this is the only handle. I guess there wasn't sufficient focus on my end to figure out who was who from a posting perspective. That said, thanks for the heads up and apologies to the board for shitting on it. Fool me once... 😂
I don't know if Howe got his first sentence on Sark's talent acquisition strategy from someone inside the program, or from just watching recruiting unfold that way like the rest of us. However it went, I think that plan makes a ton of sense from a roster building perspective. We've been told that WR under Sark requires tons of mental bandwidth, but I've watched transfers come in and immediately kill it the last couple seasons. Running backs are everywhere during portal season. I want Texas to win every big recruitment like I'm sure we all do, but I really like the LOS wins and having the QB nailed down two years out.
That last part is where it's at. The retention of the two-deep talent right now is insane. Shit, roster retention as a whole from All-Americans down to the developmental guys is competing to be the gold standard right now in college football.
I have zero idea on the staff's strategy when it comes to raising the floor for OOS recruitments, etc. - but I think they're involved in most of these because they genuinely want the kid and feel they have a chance to win them. LB recruiting OOS has been laser focused on the very best guys in the country with no wavering or flinching. When Atkinson and Griffin recruitments seemed to cool, Thomas Davis Jr. was hoping for/expecting/lobbying for an offer (especially as Texas staffers began heavily recruiting Greater Charlotte). The staff kept their powder dry. They are going to get guys they truly want, and they aren't good with "settling".
I'm at the age where lots of my friends/teammates/frat brothers have kids that are being recruited. There was a great deal of excitement around the House settlement in the past few months, but now most of them are just confused. This means that folks (even those who are formally educated), are becoming more reliant on intermediaries to help decipher what promises are realizable in this landscape. I'm trying to find the right words to say that this year, there is even more of an opportunity for schools or go betweens to overpromise. The positive is that some of that will come out in the wash prior to "signing day", or whatever will be in its place this year. Sucks as a fan of recruiting, but there will be plenty of decommits this year as people figure this stuff out. We were talking about this at a track meet last weekend, and it was like fifth graders trying to explain the federal reserve.
Really cool with the staff taking a hard pass on this one. As it stands, retention is tough as shit in this landscape. Imagine having to re-recruit this guy every year until 2029-2030. Kids are notoriously mercurial and selfish - some kids (and their uncles) more than others. Too much squeeze for TBD juice.