closetojumping

I already addressed your ignorance upthread. You appear too spineless to respond. Get a grip with your weak BS and whining, clown.

This is simply false. I already ran through this nonsense with CJ Vogel a few weeks ago. Is Texas baseball NIL on LSU's level? No, no one is. Stating that Texas is lower half of the SEC is either ignorantly spreading false information or purposely offering up misinformation. Not sure which is on you, but it one or the other, sorry.

Good. He was a hypocritical, wife-beating murderer of innocents. He deserved worse than what he got on this planet.

Just so we're clear here, are you espousing the notion that this isn't a grown man's fault for his own idiotic decisions, but instead, it's all these big meanie businesses that conspired together that forced said idiot to make these decisions? "Gee, I've known since childhood that betting on a sport that I'm currently playing in could lead to a lifetime ban, and, it makes it even worse if I bet for or against myself and my team, but gosh dangit, ESPN and the NBA do have relationships with legal gambling sites. That must make it all okay, so I am going all in on myself! Prop bets on me for everyone!" Right.

Not everything is black and white, and that isn’t “my schtick”, but this situation is. You equivocating otherwise just creates noise in the thread. If people can at least understand the legitimate variables associated to the matter, interesting discussions can then occur. Noise gets in the middle of that. Take the maudlin “think of the kid and his family” notion and post about it on Twitter or in your diary if you feel the need. Ant Hill is doing a lot of work for you in this post. A hell of a lot.

Hey man, you’re welcome to your fantasies, but I’m not sure it’s helpful to be sharing them in public. If anyone is living under the illusion that Bear Alexander is in the portal for reasons other than NIL, get a frigging grip and kept that silliness to yourself. Jesus.

What happens this time is that if they take this idiot, I will purposefully get blitzed out of my gourd at the TOF function in May and then projectile vomit in the general direction of both Kenny Baker and Steve Sarkisian.

I hope Texas stays as far away from this mercenary imbecile as they possibly can.

It’s literally in the post above yours.

Including summer transfers and enrollees, there are 89 guys on scholarship. Include Auburn and you get to 90. Include 2-3 new transfers in this portal cycle and you have 92-93. Texas will have a minimum of 7-8 guys leave the program before August. That gets you to 85.

Update:

Cool, no kidding. In the meantime, get a frigging grip and realize that isn’t happening yet. Either donate or don’t, but spare us what amounts to fantasy.

We have scholarship players that aren’t getting NIL. Some of that is okay and some of it isn’t. If you want to be serious about it, we can crowdfund a young guy in the back of the depth chart who we know they don’t want to visit the portal. I won’t help or support the walk-on notion knowing that, however. One key thing to understand here is that the program would need to have input.

I am not going to go into details or resume read to you here, but this back and forth is trending towards one of the funniest frigging experiences I have ever had in my 25 years of being a poster on the boards. Back to TPF, it was for one year. It ran for the 2022 roster cycle. It ended last August. That doesn't mean many OLs aren't getting decent-to-great NIL from last August forward. But that isn't TPF. Stop now while you are simply behind.

You may want to get a feel for the other posters on the board and their backgrounds first before speaking in certitudes like this.

There's no harm in having a little fun with it all in your mind, but no, most of what you wrote won't happen. Regarding buying guys out, that's a concept that will almost certainly never get traction. It is really hard to get people to wrap their heads around paying players to be on campus. Trying to convince someone to give a player dead money to leave would get laughed at by all parties. There are 85 spots, paying to have a single one open up doesn't make sense. Regarding Auburn and the walk-on notion, that's just not how the players and their parents/handlers/agents see any of this. They want the scholarship as a matching of their value on the team, rightly so, and, if they are good enough, should be getting NIL as well. Supporters of Texas have experimented with paying walk-ons NIL, or expanding legitimate roster spots with NIL, and the juice isn't worth the squeeze. Other programs have tried it as well and it hasn't gone anywhere for them either. Guys on scholarship resent it, and it doesn't change any walk-on behavior. Guys getting scholarship offers from other big time programs aren't going to take walk-on status for your school.

If you say so.

It's a good sentiment, but the Pancake Factory was only active for one season. What you see now is active roster management regarding NIL across all position groups, and not everyone is assured of NIL, either. This approach has, however, led to optimized results regarding the comings and goings within the portal. A few other things: 1) Auburn will be on scholarship and will also continue to be a part of the NIL side of things. 2) Expect some pain. It's a tribute to Sarkisian and Co. that the roster is more or less maxed out and that is reflected by there being a very limited set of players that anyone will just shrug about if they head to the portal. I assume several OLs will be gone and none will be named Max Merrill. Feels like almost a certainty at DB, LB, E, and TB as well.

To be clear, even Georgia went back a step once Davis left. There wasn't a Jordan Davis on the field for UGA in 2023. ****************************** Even terrific roster management involves ebb and flow at the collegiate level. Texas is managing its personnel at an elite. Where we may go back a step at the interior DL, we make a leap forward at E and S. Anyone thinking that Murphy and Sweat could be replaced without giving a little is being willfully ignorant.

I know everyone has to say the right things about Conner, but the film doesn't lie. The guy just flat out missed touching the opponent in numerous key situations last year. It was unbelievable to watch. Neto will be the starter at LG and the team will be markedly better for it.

The guy flat out whiffed on touching defenders in numerous plays throughout the season. "Sound" is doing a lot of work in your post. All accounts have Neto being a better performer towards then end of last season and into spring practices. Sounds like the best player is winning the spot and, thank goodness.

Is it a 2 S class? 3? Seems like Texas is already pretty stout at S and the portal has proven to be fertile ground for quality S talent as well.

What do you think the big board actually looks like right now at S? I feel like I'm behind on understanding priority and class count at that position.

Yes. Skenes got $1M from LSU two years ago. College baseball is at the point of being able to compete with mid-lower round draft pick money for many roster spots and a much better lifestyle for 2-4 years versus riding buses in the minors. If you're surprised by this, I shudder to think about how you'd react if you saw the football and basketball side of things. LSU and Arkansas are ahead of everyone else, and Texas is right in the thick behind them. Moneywhipping one player, which is what ATM did, isn't getting out in front in NIL. It's being a drunken sailor fresh off the boat in a new harbor, which is who ATM has been in NIL dating back to when it was called playing the bag game. ATM isn't committing major NIL resources to baseball on the whole and the guy who helped on the Montgomery effort isn't always going to help - just ask Jimbo. Any school, at any point in time, in any sport, can do something crazy for a single player. It happens every cycle in football and basketball. We'll see it happen in other sports going forward. That isn't foundational or directional with NIL building though. Regarding Florida and Ole Miss for baseball, we'll have to agree to disagree. I already laid out for you the rest of the complications in examining and comparing NIL across many programs and understanding where Texas is at in the landscape. A high school player claiming certain dollar figures should only be believed if you see that crap in writing. Referencing where NIL sits if it is accurate in comparison to the tip top of the heap is fine, but the situation isn't dire. There are 299 D1 baseball programs. Texas NIL is top 4-8 in the country. As to corporate, outside of Marucci, I'm unfamiliar with other major corporate support for an individual program somewhere unless the Arkansas families are diverting through their corporate side, which is what the former LSU player/trainer is doing at Marucci. The work on the corporate end for Texas across all sports is burgeoning and will be a national leader over the longer haul. Folks forget that NIL is still a baby. Just now almost 3 years old. As Texas enters the SEC, any lamentations about where NIL sits in comparison to any other program in any other sport is unwarranted handwringing with few exceptions. LSU and Arkansas in baseball, OU in softball, and SCar in women's basketball are all formidable. The gap was wide early in baseball and that will close over time. Maybe the OU gap never closes because that program is so important to OU. Texas has met SCar where they are at in women's hoops, if not surpassing them. That's it. Texas is either the leader or at-level with others across the rest of the board and where we are even, we will be leavin'. Not saying there isn't a ton of work to be done, but that is a never-ending given.

One of things that almost never gets discussed about NIL so far, irrespective of sport, is how the capital gets allocated. I realize that is in part due to the opaqueness of NIL generally, and necessarily so. That said, it's also probably simply due to how poorly NIL is understood by fanbases and many folks in the media. I know it's not due to lack of interest, as NIL discussions sprout up on the boards and on XM84 daily. NFL salary caps are discussed ad nauseum. The big issue with the capital allocation is that it really freaking matters. It's like getting the salary cap wrong. Perhaps it is somewhat self-serving, but I really think the football NIL work at Texas, from both ends, is managing the roster in elite ways. Yes, there are still warts and the work never ends, but proof is visible. Basketball is a more even thing, but if the whole program is just above the vast majority other programs nationally in total outlay, that strategy isn't a problem. Volleyball is apparently similar. Baseball? I don't think they're on the right path strategically. If they were doing what they're doing at, say, Kansas State, it would make a lot of sense.