closetojumping

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.

Sorry, just to build on this because NIL misinformation kind of pisses me off for very legitimate reasons on my end: -LBJ, Witt, Porter aren't back on the roster without strong NIL. -Gordon and Campbell don't end up thinking long and hard about a return to Texas without significant, mid-6 figure offers to each of them from TOF. There aren't more than 5-7 programs in the entirety of the college baseball landscape that are coming in that hot on such matters. Sorry.

Arkansas and LSU are ahead of Texas in baseball NIL. The Marucci money certainly puts LSU at the top of the class. The Hunt family and other uber wealthy folks for Arkansas have chosen to emphasize NIL on baseball. Tennessee beats its chest but they are not ahead of Texas in NIL unless marginally so. If they were able to flex the way they want folks to believe, they'd have kept Chase Burns. Any coach, for any program, is going to tell you they don't have enough NIL. Some guys on the collective side feeling the weight of delivering for a program will always tell you they don't have enough either. As a reporter, you're also an easy mark for getting word out there that someone somewhere doesn't have enough NIL support. Texas is not in the bottom half of NIL in the 16 team SEC for baseball. It's not even close, and if you really believe that, you are flatly wrong. It also won't be the case going forward. Now, Pierce choosing to more evenly distribute NIL is probably a strategic error on his part. That isn't what they're doing at LSU, Arkansas, Clemson, or Miami. That's a different discussion, however.

Give us the 8 programs in the SEC that you’ve discovered have strong NIL than Texas.

Now I see what you’re saying. I don’t know why I quoted you when I just wanted to post that image. Maybe I was going to type something and switched gears and forgot to delete the quote.

Sorry, man, I wasn’t responding to you. I just thought it was funny. Of course we all still would like to see things turn around on the year.

I don't think that word means what you think it means.

Calling people with a different opinion than your own a "troll" is weak and lazy as a forum tactic. Texas is currently 4-5 guys over the 85 man number for August. Texas is interested in multiple roles from the portal, so the number will go up by 2-3 more including a punter. There is about to be attrition in the range of 6-10 guys leaving the program. Anyone can leave, but prime candidates have some or all of the following traits: 1) Far from home 2) Helicopter parent 3) Running 3rd string or worse as a 1st or 2nd year player, running 2nd string or worse as a 3rd or 4th year player. Usually hasn't made a dent in the 2 deep. 4) In the doghouse with the staff 5) Potentially significant and career limiting underlying medical issue There is one player on the roster that checks all of those boxes and only one. Maybe Mitchell sticks around, but if you guys don't understand that he's a prime departure risk, you either haven't been paying attention or you are too naive to understand how things work in the portal + NIL era. Either way, you're taking an uninformed position and then howling at others that they're trolls. That's Dunning Kruger in real time.

How many Edges do you guys expect to be taken in this recruiting cycle?

There isn’t a person on this board who wouldn’t be pleased as punch to see it all come together for Vasek. So as long as he’s on the roster, no one is counting him out. Counting on him, however, would be foolish at this point. It’s year 2 for the player in a new era. Up or out, their choice or a program’s, it doesn’t matter. It has become too easy to move on quickly if someone can’t stay out of the training room.

Vasek is made of glass. Glad Texas is loaded at Edge in spite of that.