closetojumping

Circling back here. 1) I didn't say you were blind. I said you were kennel blind, which I think you are here. We won't have 16 guys drafted in 2025. I doubt we'd have 16 guys invited to the combine, really. 2) I didn't "banish" you. I just said that trying to pump sunshine about the guy after a miserable 5-7 season wasn't an interesting endeavor for whatever thread we were on. I'll stand by what I said repeatedly early on, the guy had done nothing to earn that kind of benefit of the doubt. Could he go on to do great things at Texas? Sure. Was there any data to point to that at the time? No. Now, of course he's gone on and rewarded your faith, and that of many others, and that's great. I'm glad the dude is working out so far and have been just fine with believing it when I'd see it. 3) If you're right about a lot of stuff, others will say that for you. No one on this board is actively discrediting many of your takes, from what I can see. Cassandra wasn't wrong either. I don't see why you feel the need to get bummed. Homogeny is extremely boring from my end and I don't think there's anyone on here that I agree with constantly. Sarkisian and his staff appear to be evaluating and developing players at an elite level. I'm thinking they'll have anywhere from the 1st to 5th most drafted players off of the roster this cycle, again. I think that's great for the program. I just don't see 16 based on what I've seen so far, even though I think this is an elite team as well. One thing no one is discussing here is that the guys will 5th round grades and lower might be able to make as much or more than they would by going pro. If they want to elevate their outlook and come back for another season, staying in school is now an easy choice. This is exactly what happened with several guys the past few cycles and we can point to multiple instances in which coming back improved their draft positions significantly - K-Rob, Whittington, and Sweat easily come to mind. All 3 of those guys had a UFA grade or really late round grades in prior periods. Neither Robinson or Whittington got a grade better than UFA if I remember correctly.

For anyone thinking about the game this weekend, Florida will not have 7 of their top 8 DBs, their top WR is out, and their best DL, Searcy, is "questionable". On paper, it looks like Florida is outgunned with those injuries, honestly. If Weigatron can't throw for 300+ and several TDs this weekend, when is that idiot going to do it?

For anyone thinking about the game this weekend, Florida will not have 7 of their top 8 DBs, their top WR is out, and their best DL, Searcy, is "questionable". On paper, it looks like Florida is outgunned with those injuries, honestly. If Weigatron can't throw for 300+ and several TDs this weekend, when is that idiot going to do it?

He realized that. He literally said he was choosing Oregon in order to play behind someone and develop at a better pace while starting over.

Possibly the 5 star that looked like shit as a true freshman at UCLA last year.

South Carolina has a legitimate defensive front. Given OU's weaknesses on the OL and in the running game, that game isn't going to be the gimme that we might have all figured.

I don't know if this is correct. Last I heard was that they'd take his commitment in a heartbeat. The bigger deal is that he doesn't want to come to Texas. He wants to get away from his family, like, a lot.

I agree with a lot of what Liucci is saying here, sadly. I don't think you can overhaul a football program in disarray in a single season. Unfortunately for this idiot, he was running around and claiming exactly that about Elko. He talked about to anyone who would listen, and I heard him do it on Finebaum, Pate, and Meathead Radio at least. Any place with culture issues and major roster issues is going to be a 2+ year endeavor and any fanbase or talking head that doesn't get that wins their just desserts. The chemistry required for all of it with that many positions and people is too much to be able to pull off any shortcutting. I've been thinking and writing some on the development of the actual players at ATM. Take your points and add development and evaluation problems to the recipe and you someone who should maybe just be a coordinator. If you go back and look at the classes Elko helped sign and then what happened to those players once they got to campus (ignore 2022 forward since he left) and it is not pretty.

I agree wholeheartedly, but it's also absurd that basically everyone in CFB media believes that they have all kinds of talent as well. If anyone would actually just look at their roster objectively, and also consider who they have lost and gained in the last two portal cycles, it would be as obvious to them as it was to some of us this offseason. The reality is, this is not a talented team compared to its perceived peer set. The portal killed them, the evaluations killed them and I believe a lack of development is killing them. To me, this is a Chuckles Year One team or perhaps worse. Everyone points to that dumb talent composite index without even superficial examination of it. It ignores the transfer value of a player and merely recalls their HS rating. So, basically it is simply about recruiting rankings stacked year over year. If a program is hitting on their 4 and 5 star, evaluations and actually developing talent, the index looks correct. The index is dismissive of development for non-highly ranked players. Gunnar Helm actually pulls UT's score down and that dude is going to be drafted. There's multiple cases like that on the UT roster, which is quite fulfilling when checking it out. At the same time, the drivers for that vaunted #7 talent rating that continues to drive the "atm is so talented" narrative, are as follows: -Reuben Owens (index 5 star) - OFY -Dezz Ricks (index 5 star) - a bust trapdoored at Bama and bad at ATM -Gabriel Brownlow Dindy (index 5 star) - 4th stringer -Chase Bisontis (index high 4 star) - starter at LG, unfortunately for them -Kam Dewberry (index high 4 star) - bust running with the 2's and 3's -Donovan Green (index high 4 star) - a quiet-quit back-up at TE not involved with serious snaps -Bravion Rogers (index high 4 star) - 3rd stringer -Connor Weigman (index 5 star) - ??? -Enai White (index high 4 star) - guy hasn't played in years due to injury. not on depth chart. -Scooby Williams (index high 4 star) - He bombed at Florida and was struggling at ATM until an injury has knocked him out for some period of time -Sylla (index high 4 star) - played 19 snaps against McNeese, none versus ND and rarely last year in key games, looking like a bust Of their players with a .95 score or higher, that's 11 of the 17 who are either out, busted, or busting. The other 6 are: Anderson, Brooks, Hicks, Moss, S Stewart, and Turner. Several of these guys might wind up busts as well, but I didn't grade like that. So the #7 ranking looks hilarious in that context. And pathetic. https://247sports.com/Season/2024-Football/CollegeTeamTalentComposite/ - click a team link and you can see all of this for yourself for any team.

I don’t disagree that it could happen and it wouldn’t surprise me. If I were at a casino this weekend, I’d probably still take the points and Tulane.

I remember thinking getting Tapp was a real win, but also wondering why none of the SEC schools, and specifically LSU, seemed to care about it.

Calling your bullshit isn’t indicative of my view of you as a poster or personal feelings. I just think the prior post was weak and it feels like that kind of drive-by is one of your things. It’s not something you can factually support but it might make you look clever and above the fray of us plebes. Say that wasn’t what you were doing, but, yeah, that’s what you were doing.

Maybe. It’s hard to “work” a decently talented and well-coached team without a functioning offensive line.

I don’t understand the point of calling people into account about an initial knee jerk reaction regarding an asssitant coach elsewhere from 3.5 years ago. No one wanted to keep Coleman and everyone was correct in that regard. Once people actually looked into the Wiggins candidate, many of us were out. Solid work of positioning yourself as the guy who had it straight the whole way, which you often do. Congrats.

Texas is recruiting Hilson. Zion Williams isn’t close to the top of the board. They’re now thinking they might take 5 guys and I still don’t know if he’d be a first choice as the fifth guy.

I am not sure I said that losing Leonard would be a loss. The coaches playing an injured player will be a locker room and fanbase issue. That should be pretty obvious. Beyond that, Angelli had a good bowl game and they still went out and paid good money to bring a guy in over him. A QB controversy of any sort plays a role in the season's outcome for a team. The fact that you need that explained in paint by numbers fashion is fucking irritating, even for you.

I'm with anyone else who isn't sure what to expect this Saturday between these two mediocrities. In reading Napier's comments today on the SEC call and some of the other stuff he's said, he really is dumb enough to be trying a 2 QB system. I expect that kind of shit to fuck up the locker room and the gameplan and give ATM the edge. The only prediction that seems viable right now is that there won't be a 4 loss team in the playoffs unless they win their conference and get an automatic bid. At least this year. I don't think a 2 loss team has ever made the 4 loss CFP. A 3 loss team will have controversy attached, and even that will be surprising for the first turn.

Notre Dame's embattled QB, Riley Leonard, has a torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder. ND fans are clamoring for Angelli and the staff won't say whether or not Leonard will play. There's a chance that this season turns into a full blown dumpster fire for ND, even with the shitty schedule.

In an update last night, Venables told reporters that they're going to be adding a true freshman, non-early entrant, to their OL lineup. Not because they lack depth, have a mash unit for the group, and are playing like absolute shit so they're throwing anything at the wall to see if it will stick. No, they're doing this because this guy is fucking awesome. Okay, then.

That fat bitch reads this board and watches Gerry and Bobby's stuff, so he'll start hinting about things even when he doesn't know them. I hope folks who know better don't feel a need to give him anything.

Mathis isn't a Georgia target, also. They're too caught up in their metrics to see a badass player that reminds of Byron Murphy, physically.

Hudson, should he enter the portal, is very unlikely to be pursued by Texas. Reasons have already been accurately stated as to why. In addition to those reasons, Texas does not like to take potential in the portal when they have their pick of those with actual production at WR. Potential doesn’t pay the rent and no position offers more riches in the portal than WR.

The guy threw 3 tds in 6 games last year. He has thrown 0 in 2 games this year. He gets a ton of love for being gritty or some shit but he seems like he sucks. A key moment in the game was with about 5 minutes left and ND was driving. 2nd and 1, I think. Leonard takes the snap and then throws deep into double coverage and it was picked. The WR didn’t really ever look open and Leonard underthrew him even if he was. Northern Illinois then squeezed the air out of the ball and kicked the game winning field goal with only like 15 seconds left on the clock. That singular play is so far the dumbest, most boneheaded play in CFB this year. There’s still a lot of football left to be played, but that could win the award for the year due to its damage inflicted. Notre Dame has taken 3 QB transfers in 4 years and has more or less destroyed hope in their room for the home grown guys. I’m here for it.

You play the Cassandra card a lot and it gets old. I thought Texas would have 8+ drafted and said as much. Many of us assumed it would be a big draft class. I haven’t given much thought to the next draft cycle yet. I want to watch some more games and see some of the development. Gbenda suddenly looks like a draftable LB and that is great. Blue and Bolden haven’t done anything yet to merit the notion of being drafted. Can they? Sure.

If there is a gimp mascot on this board, it’s you, doofus.