AZ Longhorn

100%. But that is only a possibility if the guy requested to enter the portal by midnight last night. Thus the interest in whether he did, so we know if this is even a possibility any more.

11:15 CST cross-update from Bobby’s Saturday thread (because it can be hard to find information here, topical threads are nice). This is all straight from Bobby at this time. 1. The mystery Guard we’ve been hearing about is NOT playing in the champ game. Hubbard from IU would obviously be nice, but that’s not what they’ve been talking about. 2. Bobby doesn’t know whether the Guard decided to request to enter or not. It’s not just that Bobby knows but can’t say publicly, but Bobby actually doesn’t know what this guy decided (at this time).

What do y’all think is a solution to the problem super-late entries pose to teams? For example, assume the Duke/Mensah thing didn’t have a contract dispute at play, and he asked to enter on the last day he could. That’s your whole season right there, if you’re Duke… and the QB market has already happened, and you have no time to entice others to enter. You are totally screwed. One suggestion could be for two distinct phases: one phase for entry, then that closes, and only then can you negotiate directly with players and sign guys. But that disables both players and teams from reacting in real time to what’s happening—a Bo Barnes wouldn’t be able to go find playing time elsewhere after we sign a Biles over him, for example. Players would be forced to choose between staying or entering the portal, before knowing what their team will do. And that would mean essentially everyone would enter the portal to keep their options open. Not a great solution or effect. Thoughts on a better solution?

Thus the caveat. That would be a big clue... let's see if we don't receive a straight answer from the mods over the weekend or on Monday before the game.

Do you say this because we have heard from legit sources that he definitely didn't? Or is this the rumor going around? Or is this a statement based on the lack positive evidence that he did? Just curious, thanks

Well, here we are. Past the deadline for players to request to enter the portal (unless they're on one of the two teams playing for a natty). Our mysterious Guard has either requested to enter the portal, or he didn't. And if he didn't, there's no going back now. Yes, there would be many other things that have to happen before he could wind up on the 40. His previous team can delay two business days before fulfilling his request, which would put us into late Wednesday or early Thursday (sorry guys). And of course, even if he requested to enter, at any point he could decide to stay where he was. Then, if he does officially get entered into the portal, Texas would have to sign him against all other teams, including his original team. But we are past a significant branching of possibilities. If he has not already requested to enter the portal, all other possibilities are off the table. There are only two possible worlds at this point, and I want to know which one we're in! So: did he request to enter?

Is it reasonable for each of the 10,000 kids in the portal to have a certified agent? I ask just because I hear this suggestion a lot, but I don't know if it's scalable; this isn't the NFL with only 30 teams. As a locked-in horns fan, I spend most of my time thinking about the top 5% of the sport. But this thing is a whole lot bigger than whether some former 4-star recruit who's a backup at an SEC school is getting good advice on transferring to a Big 12 school. Outside of what concerns "us" and the very top of the sport, is it actually realistic (1) to require that every "agent" be certified, in the first place, much less (2) to enforce that? —— My proposal is actually to do nothing on the "agents issue." Maybe this is too much free market fundamentalism, but I am not concerned about the bad advice. These are legal adults 18+, and they get to make decisions that impact them. If as a player you tell teams to work through Uncle Joe, and he's a clown that schools won't deal with, that comes back and hurts you—just like the 18 year old who decides classes aren't important or whatever. Or maybe you're good enough that teams are willing to deal with the BS, then congrats. Everyone has free will here. It's just not worth creating a regulatory market on representation and trying to enforce that at the unwieldy scale that makes college football categorically different than, say, the NFL.

GOATed. Thank you!!

And that makes you the Jett walker?!

@Gerry Hamilton would love your take on this Devil's advocate thesis: the portal is dangerous for a lot of programs. But for Texas, with a proven commitment to spending top 5 resources in the market, the portal's radical liquidity (and entailed better information) is the absolute best thing that could have happened to us. Background: Markets are most efficient with the most information and the most ability to change course based on that information. Bad information and low liquidity creates losers out of most... but also, big winners for those who can "divine" the future before others see it and/or can act on it. Example in College Football (proof of concept): Taking advantage of these dynamics is exactly how Cignetti has pulled off the biggest turnaround in coaching history, dominating at a place without the resources of Texas (or Ohio St, or Oregon, or...): (1) he is a preternatural evaluator of talent who sees the "information" before others do, and (2) unlike previous "golden eyes for talent", he happened to exist at the dawn of a new system where he could combine that information advantage with the liquidity of the portal (while the "big fish" like UGA and UT were slow to adapt). Outlook: The coming (present?) reality of a Majors / AAA / AA etc. system — where each year maybe up to half (who knows?) of all college football players are moving up/down levels, or to better fits within their level — provides such better information to the "Majors" programs. Instead of the Majors having to evaluate and project a guy out of HS, they can pass that risk (bad information) on the farm system. This lessens the information gap that used to exist between genius evaluators (Cignetti) and the conventional evaluators at the "big fish" programs. And the portal combined with one-year contracts gives everyone the liquidity to act on that new and better information every. single. year! How this applies to Texas, a "big fish": Ironically, the same system that enabled Cignetti's unprecedented rise is going to just as quickly allow the "big fish" to overtake Indiana (unless the system changes or Mark Cuban ponies up to fund Indiana at the level of the top 5 NIL programs). Texas' information (evaluation) disadvantage against a Cignetti will be greatly decreased, the portal provides the liquidity to act on that ever-changing information on a yearly basis, and our "big fish" bags dominate acquisition in a market for talent that is less mysterious than ever before. Conclusion: This new reality tilts the scales, unequivocally, to the schools who have the biggest NIL funds. Texas should be among the 5 happiest programs for this new era.

@CJ Vogel check my math here but to end up with 10-12 in the OL room, as you suggest, we will see several more departures from our current room. We only have 4/7 playable depth (and please don't consider Chatman or Cojoe "playable depth" in a championship caliber top 7 lol) That means we need to add 3 more playable pieces. Current room is 12 guys 12+3=15 Based on your argument here, could we really see 3-5 more departures from the current room?

Marked with the "crimson letter" 🤣

He's absolutely electric. Needed some "between the ears" training as much as anything else. Excited for him to show his growth!

*Fifth-easiest, if I'm reading the chart right. Gotta love all this preseason prognosticating haha—we all thought OU's football schedule this year would be a gauntlet and it turned out very differently!

Surprising in a good way (for me at least). Shows the staff thinks the young guys have made enough of a jump to surpass them.

Asking a true freshman to contribute on an SEC line that's hoping to compete for a natty is more than you can legitimately ask. But even more so, Turntine inexplicably decided to lose a bunch of weight down to 275 (!!!), completely ensuring that he can't be a factor in Year 1.

Call this an overreaction and you'd probably be fair. BUT I think this could be a hinge moment for the Miller era. He has put his team on blast in the national media—rightfully so, IMO, but that's a version of pushing all your chips in. If you can't back it up yourself, and earn that grudging respect from college kids, then you're just a blowhard whose days are numbered. Today's win gives him "proof of concept" and for that reason is a MASSIVE deal, way disproportionate to the one game itself. It's Miller time!

How does he fit with Smith in Muschamp's base defense? Base is: 3 down lineman, 2 "overhang" edges, 2 backers, 4 DBs? With Biles and Smith as those two LBs?

If only. We offered more — sometimes significantly more — on each of Baugh, Woods, Isaac Brown, the Michigan OLs, and Alliegro, but all took less money to play elsewhere. We need fewer change-averse homebodies and more money-grubbing whores!!

I think it's a little low. Pre-season rankings are BS and all that, BUT it still gets a reaction from me, cuz I'm a sucker!! We do have a lot of question marks, and don't have a proven Friday night guy, I admit. BUT: - Non-SEC, I think we are a better team than UCLA and Oregon St. They will likely be seeded above us at tourney time, because of their pathetic SOS, but I am confident we are better than them. (That said: whoever meets OSU in a super is up against it with 2/3 starts coming from Whitney and Kleinschmidt.) - Within the SEC, I will be shocked if Tennessee or Miss St finish the season ahead of us. No way. - There are a couple teams below us that could be better than us, to be fair. But I feel, overall, this is a bit low. Bulletin board material!! 🤣🤣

Alliegro has been expected to notify Texas and Ohio St tonight of his decision. My guess on the weird Bo Barnes whiplash is that Texas got that call tonight and recalculated their offer to Barnes...

"Muschamp needs his press man corners" and "Muschamp needs two-plus over the ball guys" and "Muschamp needs his physical safety" and "Muschamp needs another game-changing EDGE" and "Muschamp needs two new LBs"... I am worn out haha. Wish I'd just understood earlier that he only likes 5-10 guys on the whole defensive roster 😅

@CJ Vogel @Gerry Hamilton: How confident would you be entering the season with the secondary as it is at this minute? - - - CB1 - Mascoe CB2 - Phillips N - Littleton S1 - McDonald S2 - Filsaime or D Williams? Rotational / Depth: Roberson, Mack, Black, D Williams or Filsaime, J Williams, Hicks - - - I like our depth: Roberson and Mack really showed me something in the citrus bowl, good reports on Hicks, Jonah can't be counted on to maximize his talent but is already filling reps at a serviceable level. And I really like our D line, taking pressure off the secondary to cover for 4+ seconds. So if we spend more money in the secondary, I think it has to be on a Draft-level starter at safety (like Edwin Joseph), and I don't know if that ROI can compete with instead spending that same money to our pool for other, more critical needs.

I mean we can debate different definitions of "bust" but the fact is "guys leaving to go find playing time" means that they weren't good enough to crack the starting lineup here. In the end, they didn't meaningfully contribute to Texas wins, which is what it's all about.

yep, heard that Bama is back in the hunt now because of it. Sidenote: bama has such a talented, proven, and crowded WR room. Obviously that's not a problem for Coleman lol, but surely if he goes there, we'll see a defection into the portal from a difference-making caliber WR who's currently there