closetojumping

Are you one of the last few holdouts who actually believes the shit you're shoveled from the state-run media regarding "life and news"? I don't venture into the political discussions very often, which you've pushed into the discussion here because you guys cannot help yourselves, but I've not seen a "trust the media" honk in the wild in what feels like forever.

No shit? That isn’t a groundbreaking take. There’s also quite a gap between competence and the Wrecking Crew, which was a dominating defense at times during that period. Elko is a solid defensive coach. ATM has okay starting talent and no depth on defense. They’ll do fine until guys get hurt against mediocre competition.

What mystifies me about these kinds of takes is that Elko isn't some new addition at ATM. The guy was there for four years, hammering the buffet lines and happy hours. He made a dent in the College Station GDP with his presence alone. He had a chance to "resurrect the WC" the first time around. Why did he not do it then but he's going to do it now? Was Jimbo Fisher also quietly holding back the defense's true potential? That guy really is the Alpha and Omega for aggie failure of late, I guess.

1) Scourton 2) Bob Johnson 3) Jag Jaggerty 4) Oliver Closeoff 5) Merry Christmas 6) Kiss My Ass 7) Kiss His Ass 8 ) Kiss Your Ass 9) Happy Hannukah 10) Tits McGee

You're a good and rational poster, but I do think you're being a little kennel blind regarding what you bring back. I think you're right regarding QB and I plan on enjoying another summer of seeing media folks talk themselves into believing that Klubnik is still some sort of burgeoning 5 star phenom. My criticisms of him haven't changed since he was a HS recruit at Westlake. He's a long stepper with a big windup, he hears footsteps, he was a system QB, and he takes too long in his reads. You must have a lot of faith in Matt Luke as the OL coach. Clemson has never had an elite OL and losing the 6th year C isn't probably going to help anything. Right side of the OL should be good. TE is a strength. TB should be above league average. WRs still scare no one. Maybe Moore comes in and changes that. Bringing back a bunch of production isn't always a good thing, and Clemson's offense may well illustrate that this season. Offense considered, the Clemson defense has carried the team for awhile. 2024 is that going to be the case? I don't see it. They lost a ton of production, including their best players. Wiggins, Trotter Jr, Orhorhororororo, Davis, Thomas - that's a lot. They also basically lost 4 out of 5 in the secondary and a key back-up. That's a problem. I know Woods, Mickens and Carter are good, but how good are the other 8? How good is Goodwin, also? Not sure I'm a believer. Also, has Clemson solved its PK issues? Schedule-wise, it seems tougher than usual if the preseason thoughts about the ACC being on the upswing have any validity. UGA is a tough opener. App State will play you tough. NC State should be good. They should crush Stanford, Virginia, WF, and The Citadel. I like Norvell, but FSU lost a ton. Virginia Tech will be a trendy top 25 pick and Drones is good. Are Pitt, SCar and Louisville decent? I'm skeptical but just one of them being good adds a challenge. Missing UNC, Miami and Notre Dame doesn't hurt. I'll be surprised by anything better than 9-4 given the QB, defensive losses and schedule.

I heard or read somewhere not long ago that various folks supporting the Clemson program have come to the conclusion that Swinney's camp had that caller planted on his show last fall. It was something like "Tyler/Chas/Todd in Spartanburg" or some shit. He was allowed to whine about all of the negative talking points within the program that had/have become issues online and in social media. Then, Swinney cut him off and went down the line knocking each of those issues down succinctly. Almost immediately, the guerrilla PR went into warp speed getting the sound byte out to the media realm. If you go and listen to that clip in this context, it makes a ton of sense. Now, who does that remind you of? Swinney has always had some serious parallels with Mack Brown in his program approach and that will only get worse with age and struggle. It's fun to watch. I do seriously believe that Swinney still really wants to win. The reality is, he's just not that intelligent and he's too narcissistic to be introspective enough to consider material change. He had enormous success doing things a certain way. Why change, right? Successful people run into this trap quite often. The problem here is that the space in which Swinney has been successful has now fundamentally changed. It's systemic. There is no going back. Paying players openly and with massive war chests, that's not just a Swinney problem, that's a Clemson problem, same as for Bama, LSU, and various other former bag game winners with poorer fanbases. I have seen the numbers. They're stunning. You need numerous big backers plus the many mid-level supporters plus the crowdfunding and then a bunch of corporate. That isn't the base for many places and these guys hate it. They don't see what they did as being wrong and they now think what's going on is absolutely wrong. It's hypocrisy at its finest, and it is glorious. Beyond that, the portal is simply another issue of player empowerment and guys who don't just preach "family", but believe that that's what is working for them, are going to always fucking hate the portal. They're hypocrites on that issue too. Swinney is now the gold standard for the wrong way to approach the new world of CFB. We are going to continue to see their slide back into a rightful background in this landscape and it's going to be a tough fucking climb out of that spot due to the nature of the new world.

I plan on being in Vegas a couple of times before the season starts. If the ATM win total is at 8.5, I am putting $1k down on the under. This shit is greatness. The complete lack of anyone looking at that roster critically is fascinating. Vegas has had the following for win totals with ATM since 2021 - 9.5 (2021), 8.5 (2022), and 8.5 (2023). The actual totals were 8, 5, and 7. They've been overly bullish on them for awhile, I'm sure because aggies and the public (driven by the constant offseason media hype) forces them to post the higher numbers because that's where the market requires it. A schedule is only "easy" if a team has the talent to make it such.

God. I can’t be the only one who finds it incredibly gratifying when the dirtiest shitheel institutions during the bag game era try to posture with piety when it comes to paying players. Saban and Bama, Clemson and Swinney, now LSU. Fuck those hobos.

I used to like Pate before really paying attention to his schtick. He is 100% full of shit. He pumps ATM for clicks more than anyone else that isn't affiliated to the university. His stuff before each of the last two seasons was slobbering the knob of Jimbo and the sleeping giant bullshit. He does shit like that all of the time. Zero analysis, just spewing nonsense. Go back to March of this year and listen to his takes on the spring portal. In retrospect, they are fucking hilariously wrong. "Several unsuspecting rosters are going to get absolutely gutted by the portal in a few days/weeks, my friends." He reminds me now of this huckster who used to run infomercials and write books about things "they don't want you to know about" and idiots would eat it up. I think that clown ultimately went to prison for fraud. Pate's a CFB version of that dude. He's got multiple insiders in every program and he always knows more than "they" want him to know about each program.

Brooks wanted more than he was viewed as being worth. He wasn't pushed to leave. He was merely not asked to stay. I wouldn't be surprised by some portal takes (1-2 of the remaining 3 slots) with 2-4 years of eligibility left. I don't really get it, but whatever. There's not a lot of meat left on the bone this cycle. Maybe the scouts find something somewhere on tape that excites them.

I've followed this thread for the bizarre train wreck quality it brings. Until this post, it never really hit me that there could be personal finance issues at stake here. What part of the debts that you guys are calculating would pierce the corporate veil?

This is another of your bizarre positions that make the rest of us scratch our heads. There’s not a fucking thing wrong with the guy deciding to stay home. IMG approaches hundreds of players each cycle. Many say they’re in and then no-show.

I don’t know this answer. What I do know is that Pierce hasn’t handled NIL the way others have, spreading things across the roster. So maybe everyone is good to go, but it’s proving to be an idiotic approach compared to the programs applying NIL pressure to key recruits and transfers.

Williams going to one of our enemies and then seeing them beat their chests over it, will be hilarious. Do not want.

What’s funny is that they’re not even close with a new deal against the old Texas/Nike deal. They went with a shorter term deal to match up with when Texas inks its next one. They somehow think that they should get comparable money to whatever the next Texas/Nike is from Adidas at that time. Boy, that cannot be viewed as a good deal for Adidas at this point. Louisville has truly sucked in basketball since inking that deal and the football team hasn’t even been visible for stretches during the same period.

He’s a highly recruited and ranked running back. Are you concluding from Burton’s comment that he won’t be getting a large sum?

There is still plenty of portal news before this wraps.

Everything in this post is bullshit, right down to your attempt to admonish me about NIL and my posting habits. All of it is, of course predictable, and also tedious.

You are utterly clueless. As are those whining and bitching alongside you. Has it not dawned on you dense motherfuckers that the person who wouldn’t pull the trigger on Williams is the fucking head coach? This wasn’t a result of lack of access to capital. It was a choice around long term capital deployment made by the staff and coordinated elsewhere accordingly.

I am calm as a bomb. I don’t need to relax. Your attempt at moving the goalposts here is coming up short. You stated that Texas was a player or two away from making a run this year. That implies: 1) you don’t think they’ll be making a run 2) there are better suited teams who will be doing so in UT’s stead. If you don’t understand how context clues work and want us to believe that that isn’t what you meant, okay, I guess. After that, you’d mentioned multiple guys that you claimed Texas got beat on due to money. I responded, debunking the ignorance of that statement. Then you return and posture that you were merely talking about the Williams situation. That’s weak rhetorical shit. I don’t have temper tantrums and I don’t respond to NIL commentary that is legitimate. I absolutely have made it a habit of helping people understand where NIL is whether due to their requests or due to a post like yours, which is was misleading and unhelpful.

If a program holds performance dear to its heart, they’re going to protect it. I’d be surprised if softball or gymnastics are hurt at OU due to Venables trying to sign every DT that answers his phone call. I assume the ramifications are with the 2025 cycle in recruiting for football or with opportunities in basketball and baseball. There are few schools that can work NIL for every sport, or nearly every sport. There are more who can concentrate on football and a few other programs. There are some focused on other sports and not football. Then there are those who seem to only be focused on football. Everyone is making difficult choices.

Texas will make a run this year. That initial part of your post is just fucking dumb. The roster is as solid as any in the country. Do you think there’s a flawless roster somewhere in which every spot is manned by veteran 4 and 5 stars? If so, point me to it. If not, get the fuck out with that ignorant take. Tired of seeing it on this board. Ohio State has a shit OL and Will fucking Howard at QB. Georgia has inexperienced offensive skill players and across the secondary. Oregon just lost a ton to the draft on the skill side. Are those not teams that you think could “make a run for a title”? As to the rest, Toia and Alexander had their home schools match big offers. One of those was fucked by a Texas $9.95er. Are you making an argument that Texas should have gone in with something ridiculous for either of those anyway? The original numbers are ridiculous in the first place. Texas wanted no part of Nolen, for reasons noted here repeatedly, and money played no part in that evaluation or non-offer. Honestly, from here forward, when someone laments Nolen, they’re getting auto-negged. I don’t give a fuck if he wins national defensive player of the year at Ole Miss, the Texas staff had excellent reasons to avoid the guy. “It’s not my money” and then ignorantly touting the false notion that Texas was beaten due to money with the names you reference is a solid surly move. No one has an endless spigot. If you want Texas to year in and year out get the top classes and the top guys in the portal, discipline matters. Paying $1M for a good but not great guy at one spot not called QB is the kind of stupidity we should be gleeful about witnessing from our enemy.

I’m not going to go into too much detail for what should be obvious reasons for most of you. But here are some thoughts, some humorous. Missouri put the big offer out there. They’ll be doing more of this. It’s effective and will land them some guys. It will also make other programs really think about how much they want a player. This is usually going to be good for us. They sit on fertile terrain that has often been plundered by Ohio State, OU and SEC schools. Them being good impacts other rosters. Texas will still get who they want if they’re sure they want them - see Ryan Wingo. LSU, as we have discussed on this board, is poor. Baseball-only clowns will often interject Marucci because they are myopic and uninformed. There have been interlopers on recruiting threads over the past few years insisting that LSU will do what they have to do because they did so when only 10-ish schools were playing the bag game and the numbers were a lot smaller. LSU was able to scratch together about 40% of where this allegedly finished and that was scrambling. OU’s choices here have consequences. They focus on football, softball, gymnastics, and targets of opportunity for baseball and basketball. There are knock-on effects for robbing Peter to pay Paul. We will see that impact somewhere, probably in hoops and baseball. The player wanted LSU. They’re weren’t even close. The player wasn’t super interested in OU but the handler was. Good luck inside the new Jimbo Fisher school of roster management being deployed in Norman. Venables seems to genuinely believe that Clemson won two national titles because they had the best DLine in college football. That no doubt helped, but maybe, just maybe, having two awesome QBs that were picked at the top of the NFL draft plus elite skill talent on both sides of the ball also played a role? I don’t know. Weird.

He’ll see the field. They paid him too much for that not to happen. You don’t sign big free agents to bench them. Nolen will be out there, then he’ll be doing what he does, flashing for a play, taking more plays off, then calling for a sub or faking an injury.

To this point, the handler is getting half the dough. If you’re that weak at 21+ years old, enjoy life and don’t ask me to round up in the grocery line because your little sister can’t afford book fair.