Ace_Rothstein

Agree overall except we will need to account for Andrew Marsh at WR. He’s legit.

I mean, that’s kind of the issue. As much as we love Tre, not sure he is a starting caliber back for a team with deep CFP run/natty aspirations. We really need a hammer that can get there in short yardage plus a homerun hitter that can house it from anywhere on the field. Texas has no RBs that fits the description on either of those criteria.

Haynes is a dude. I follow the draft pretty closely for offensive players because I am a dynasty fantasy football degenerate that plays in like 7 leagues.

I could be thinking about it in relative terms compared to last year. I don’t think they have a bunch of Day 1 and Day 2 picks on that defense that are draft eligible.

I think that was last year. They don’t have a ton of top tier defensive talent this draft cycle.

Traits. He has requisite athleticism to stick outside at corner in the NFL and he has good length but he isn’t all that fast and probably not as fluid as you would like him to be at corner. He is a little light and the ball skills are lacking. But he does have the plus length, physicality and instincts.

They just re-signed Waymond Jordan who was leading the Big 10 and nation in a lot of rushing metrics before going down with an injury in the middle of the season. Say what you want about Lincoln Riley, but Bowden was a hell of a GM hire and the team is much improved and they are starting to recruit like USC did from 2001-2019 again.

He has for sure added weight and while Texas needs a power back to turn out tough yards, I think the lack of a home run threat that can erase angles and take advantage of smaller creases was the main deficiency in the run game. Lacy houses at least 2 of those big runs Wisner had against A&M.

Nick Marsh is very redundant to what we already have at WR. We could use a 3 level separator type. If we just want another outside guy to go up and get contested catches along the sideline, why not develop Lockett and retain Mosely, Terry and Livingstone. I get that Nick Marsh is already in the portal and he is definitely a good player (future NFL guy), but having 4 guys that are 6’2” 200+ that all operate in the same parts of the field on the same type of routes/concepts don’t make our offense function better.

Brown would be interesting and probably cheaper. I also will be intrigued by Michael Terry switching to RB full time if they give him some real opportunity there in the bowl game against Michigan. I just think you go all in and do the 2024 Ohio State offense and pay up if you have to. If guys like Andrew Marsh, Cam Coleman, Jadan Baugh and Kewan Lacy all end up in the portal, you go get 2-3 of them and try to retain Wingo + at least 1 of Livingstone and Mosely. Add in guys like Lockett, Bishop, and Cooper (younger guys) and you have no excuse as long as that interior OL is also taken care of via portal and development. I don’t want the staff to assume the RB room and WR room is “good enough”. Go bet the sure things.

The more I think about it the more my wishlist has shifted. I would love Baugh and Cam Coleman BUT… I think RB Kewan Lacy (Ole Miss) and WR Andrew Marsh (Mich) are the best fits for what we need on offense. I get Baugh is a punishing downhill RB, but Lacy has enough pop and has better home run ability. Wisner, Clark and Simon can’t hit homeruns. I think Cooper and Lacy can while both having requisite size 210+. Andrew Marsh at Michigan is also from TX (I believe we finished 2nd in his recruitment) and he is less redundant from a body type and play style from what we currently have in the WR room. Nick Marsh and Cam Coleman are big bodied dudes that get vertical for acrobatic catches. Andrew Marsh is a 3 level technician and separator in that 6’1” 185-190 mold that can be utilized in the slot, at Z/flanker or at X. Wingo, Marsh, Mosely/Livingstone/Lockett and Lacy/Wisner/Cooper would be deadly!

The guys at the top of the draft class don’t matter all that much unless he would otherwise be projected as a 1st or 2nd round prospect. His ceiling even with a monster season is probably mid day 2 so late 2nd to early 3rd. It’s not like he is going to shoot that much further up the draft board if he declares for this year. He’d be way behind Makai Lemon, Carnell Tate, Jordyn Tyson, Chris Bell, Jakobi Lane and KC Concepcion. Don’t get me wrong, I love Deandre Moore’s skillset and think he has a chance to be a more productive pro than college player. But the underlying metrics suggest even with a strong combine that he will be viewed as an NFL team’s WR3-4 as a median, most likely projection.

Coleman has a ton of straight line speed. He’s a complete WR and a total mismatch. If he is available, you throw a bag at him. And having him and Wingo as your two main guys would be pretty deadly.

I think a couple things are to consider. 1st round "talent" doesn't necessarily mean 1st round grade or draft pick. In reality, there are usually only 15-20 guys with real 1st round grades (consensus) and then everyone else is pushed up due to team need. There might be 40 guys that are "1st round talents" though. I would be shocked if Muhammed isn't gone by end of round 2 at the latest.

Go look at what Pop said about Kobe’s passing prowess. I won’t deny that he had ball hog tendencies especially early in his career but he had phenomenal court vision and elite passing ability when he decided to pass. And frankly, after Shaq left, those rosters needed 35 per night from Kobe just to have a shot at winning. I probably am not passing to Smush Parker or Caron Butler (solid player) if those are my next best options ha. It’s not hero worship. It’s just factual. You can’t find many if any all time greats or all stars from that era that don’t say Kobe was the best player they have played with or against (even before his death). Easy top 10 player to ever touch a basketball.

Yeah you can literally google just about any former all star and Kobe is going to be #1 or #2 (if they played with or against MJ). The spreadsheet socialists who don’t know ball and reduce everyone to a flawed advanced metric can’t comprehend how dominant, refined and complete Kobe’s game was. I am sure there are ton of Spurs fans on here. They should go hear what Pop has/had to say about Kobe Bryant as a player haha. “carried by Shaq” is hilarious. And I say that as a guy that totally understands and respects Shaq’s dominance. The Lakers don’t three peat with any other player besides Shaq. Maybe Tim Duncan but even then, probably don’t three peat. Kobe further validated his greatness in the #24 era when he went to 3 straight finals as the alpha dog winning 2 back to back. All the scoring averages of the top guys today are vastly inflated by defensive rule changes, the prominence of the 3 ball, and the increased pace of play. Kobe and Jordan would be putting up 40 burgers every other night in today’s game.

Casual misinformed take. At 22 years old Kobe Bryant averaged 30/7/7 on 49% shooting throughout the 2001 playoffs while playing elite defense against a stacked West. He averaged 33.3/7/7 against the mighty Spurs lol. He did this against 4 teams that finished with over 50 reg season wins. The Lakers had the 2 best players in the sport but the team around them was relatively shallow. They averaged only 103-104 ppg as a team and Kobe accounted for 30% of their scoring and like 45% of the team’s offensive production (scoring + assists + offensive rebounds). I swear people have brain rot over Kobe Bryant. There is a reason almost every former player from the 90s through 2010 says he is the best player they played with or against outside of Michael Jordan (for some of the 90s guys). Kobe Bryant is the best shooting guard of all time behind MJ and he would be averaging over 40 ppg in this modern version of the NBA lol.

Fine. Blue chip defensive prospects, dogs, dawgs, studs, ballers. Whatever you want to call them.

It will piss off the Penn State fans but that is probably the best they will get. LSU and Florida are better jobs. The only issue is Brian Kelly is basically James Franklin part 2. I think Kenny Dillingham would be an interesting name for one of the openings. A little riskier but I think he will succeed wherever he goes.

This is silly. Kiffin is a helluva a coach and has learned under arguably the 2 best coaches of the last 25-30 years in Saban and Pete Carroll. His offense is plug and play for QBs and he’d be able to get elite skill talent on offense and war daddies on defense if he were to go to LSU.

It won’t matter because my Dodgers are “ruining baseball” and I absolutely love it. The Giants suck and they act like they are not trying to spend as if they didn’t offer the same contract to Ohtani and paid Adames and all these other guys money just to not make the playoffs. Best of luck Tony. You aren’t going to move the needle in SF lmao.

Florida probably is on that list due to local talent that can be recruited there. Notre Dame doesn’t really have a perennial top 5 recruiting ceiling. Neither does Penn State. Florida does. It’s the reason coaches can pull top 10 classes at places like Texas, Florida, USC, A&M, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, and Miami even if they have down years. Those schools are in talent rich areas.

On at least one of the plays OP says the curl is “wide open”, the play isn’t that open. In real time I think the defender is passing off the guy he is on to the safety and about to break hard at the guy curling “open” if Arch turns his head and body towards the curl. Screenshots can be deceiving. Sure, there are some that you’d like Arch to plant his back foot on his drop and let it rip with more anticipation, but some of these are reaches.

Yes. Can they stop letting Tyler Allgier (solid player in his own right) rack up tds on drives where Bijan does all the work to get them inside the 10. I understand wanting to keep Bijan fresh, but it’s annoying how he doesn’t get the King Henry, Jonathan Taylor and Josh Jacobs layups around the goal line despite him clearly being a superb goal line runner. If healthy, his usage should warrant 2000+ scrimmage yards and 20+ tds every year for the next 5ish seasons.

Riley sucks and probably screwed up today by throwing to the endzone to take the lead with 1:55 still left. That said, USC looks much improved on offense (their offense was actually the problem last year) and while the defensive backs are bad outside of Kamari Ramsey who didn’t play today, their defense forces turnovers and their pass rush is legit. The defense took a step back overall from last year but it won’t be felt because they can get to the quarterback and make splash turnover plays. USC will likely be a 9ish win team. Sure, they could choke and go like 8-5 but I think they’ll be 9-4 or 10-3. Maiava, Lemon, Lane and Jordan are legit and the OL is really good. My point is that Riley isn’t getting fired unless they lose 5+ games with a couple of embarrassing performances.