Bam Bam Sam

Wanted to mention that Sark did not "start cleaning house with creative" and did not let Lange or Turnquist go. First, creative department doesn't report to Sark, they report to DPP. Second, both guys are very ambitious and talented individuals. While they both love sports, this part of the creative industry does not leave much room for career growth after you get to where they're at. Working directly for a team is typically much longer hours, much larger volume of work, and more work to oversee than other jobs outside of a sports program at their level. Matt didn't enjoy doing some aspects of his role that are necessary, but he was viewed very favorably in the department anyway. If they wanted to stay, they could have. They're both moving on to jobs that will allow them to have more time with their families, less volume, and more income. Sark and Billy view their roles as an important part of the program and recruiting. so I have faith they will hire people who are hungry like Lange and Turnquist were and not hire just anybody. As of right now I'm not sure if their replacements are lined up or if that's something they'll wait until Spring or later for. Moving on, I am excited to see what the recruiting trio of Banks, Choice, and Gilbert will be like. It can't be undersold how excellent a hire Gilbert was by Sark, he has been an absolute force for Texas this season. I am hoping Choice brings Texas an opportunity to build on that.

RB Tahj Brooks out with injury.

"That's, like, one 6-star, man!" Let's not pretend it's hard to make Nahlin sulk and jump off the cliff. IT was ready to pull the plug on Sark when the staff wasn't recruiting all of their perfect prospects in fucking April, then they jumped back on board once they had their nap and a juice box. FWIW, I don't think anyone should outright trust any Texas beat writers right now, at least not with a good dose of skepticism. Piggy-backing off of these remarks. I haven't heard much of Jimbo referencing EOT against Texas (from my end, at least). If so, it's hopefully because he's learned he can't cast those types of stones while he's coaching A&M. The biggest EOT slingers that I've heard of continue to be Alabama. The rest of these problems can only be invalidated by getting shit done on the field (what a revelation). I also liked the comment about perception. How successful programs recruit against each other is not how pretty much every program, regardless of their success, is currently recruiting against Texas. Much of the battles between elite programs come down to "let me show you why we can do more for you here instead" (and obviously payment for qualifying prospects). To contrast that with what Texas is dealing with currently, every school is spinning pretty much the same negative recruiting pitch outlined above. If every negative recruiting pitch can be successfully generalized to the point where the majority a kid will hear all sound the same from multiple different sources, it's going to have a stronger effect, regardless of the validity of their pitch or the resume of some of our staff. I have zero clue if Texas can reach back out to Sexton, or if they will even try. I will say it's pretty standard practice by any program to tell a kid 'sorry we're full' when they've got someone they like better in the class. @closetojumping's take regarding confidence and confirmation earlier is apt. Unfortunately for Texas, Cam gave them confirmation when he wasn't confident about it himself. I can lay out what I heard from Texas as far as how things went last weekend on Cam's visit. Monday morning, they felt like he was committed. Texas validated his commitment status early Tuesday morning. I don't know shit about what happened between when my people received that confirmation and today. I can tell you Texas is not happy about losing him this way. Hopefully they're upset enough to make them stop being so relaxed regarding the commitment status of what's now been two targets that have seemingly pulled the rug out from under them. Regardless, this is an outright loss on a prospect that had committed to Texas just days ago and had been made a priority by Flood after offering. There's not a reason to spin it as anything else, and any pessimism regarding Flood I'll admit to being warranted at this point. We've all seen good on-field coaches in the past that can't recruit or can't close, and everyone probably knows how it works out. At best, you become ND, starved of the talent you need to get over the hump. At worst, we're hiring someone else in 2 years and proclaiming them the savior of the program or the nail in the current HC's coffin. At the very least, try not to let the losses make you all jump off the ledge before a down of football has even been called by this staff.

Sark and Glasscock's mentality seems to be 'pursue the best talent and if you can't get them on campus, condense the board, and expand the search.' Texas and many other programs stopped pursuing Cooper. Texas isn't as high on him as recent reports make it seem. It's not. It's June. You're 6 months early on the Texas OL battered wife syndrome. Take a fucking shot and enjoy the momentum.

Every high school recruit is required to pass a high-contrast design class prior to enrolling to a collegiate institution.

It’s nothing particularly awful, at least to my knowledge. He’s a kid who flashed a lot of potential early but plateaued in his development, so programs slowed down their pursuit. Not saying it’s the right choice or wrong one. Just seems to be the consensus.

There are plenty of reasons for a school to tell a kid to move on, many do, and Texas is justified in doing so here. Lewis may not be the last if the other receivers currently being evaluated for similar issues do not look at this as a wake up call.

Their sources are good. The staff just isn't adhering to their particular vision for the class and is moving a lot of different directions at once, which I guess hurts their feelings since they've established themselves in the industry as accurate, infallible talent evaluators.

This is what I imagine is the beginning of the reality with upcoming NIL. The SEC doesn't want it to happen because it will allow schools who they traditionally don't have to compete with for prospects (when it comes to bags) to challenge them. However, that does not mean schools will cease all under-the-table compensation once it arrives. Some kids will surely take the up-front guarantee as opposed to a lofty promise (for some prospects) of potential NIL earnings. Regardless of a kid's confidence in themselves, or even their family's, there will still be those who want to take the safe money. There will still remain recruiting uncles and trainers who want a piece of the pie as well, and those individuals are unlikely to get that piece from a player's NIL revenue. This is where I believe Evan's situation falls. While Evan is the literal perfect pitch for a kid to capitalize on their NIL, he is still being pulled away from a program that has all the resources to help him accomplish that due to others around him who want a cut.

Ja'Quinden's very respected up there by his teammates and the coaches, and his word has a lot of weight compared to other former players. He is a good leader, and people gravitate towards him. The information regarding Abor and Duncanville isn't entirely accurate. While what Coach Terrell said is true, Texas has been in contact with Abor. This isn't to say that Vogel doesn't know anything - he can only write what he's been told by Abor and Duncanville. You all can read between the lines for the rest. Texas hasn't lost Duncanville. Regaining stable inroads there will be an uphill battle for sure, though. I'd keep a heavy eye on one of their 2023 kids.

No.

"Hughes' model" was designed with staff and put in working order before Hughes got bounced by compliance. That model will remain in tact, as requested from the top. A DPP, Two ADPPs. Some full time staffers. A good force of support staff interns, some of which I am guessing will be "volunteers" to ensure they can get the labor hours the coaches are pushing. Each coach assigned a region in Texas and some have additional regions OOS, as well as their respective position groups nationally. They'll also each have a group of evaluators dedicated to helping them find and evaluate prospects at their position and region. It's sounds similar to what I've heard former Saban assistants speak of. I don't know which of Texas' coaches have which regions in or out of state. I do know that Glasscock was hired and fit into the system Hughes started, not hired to bring his own. For background on Hughes, he spent 4 years as an intern under Saban's front office staff while he was a student at Alabama. He's done it their way, or close to it, ever since from a structural perspective. Sark had that while in TTown, I assume his desire to keep it is a top priority for him based on his quick hiring of one who knew the ins and outs of the model and then hiring a backup that could be slotted into it. Regardless of how true to form it compares to Alabama down the road, it has already been described as quite an upgrade.

This is a complete guess, but maybe the 9.95ers may have whiffed so badly on L. Hullaby's recruitment similar to why they were wrong on Xavion Alford for so long. To summarize, the beat writers' assumption that he was a lock to A&M (after his near commitment to LSU), annoyed him and he went along with it hoping they'd stop pestering him and his family while he figured out where he really wanted to go. The media settled until they were made aware of the news that he was going to Texas shortly before his announcement, which I'm guessing is when he notified A&M's staff he had committed to us. LJ Johnson did something similar, which I had hinted about prior to this last season. Obviously that recruitment wound it's way up and down into A&M's favor in the end.

Because he is. For now. He's talking to kids, directly or indirectly, and trainers, when it comes to Texas targets for now. Perhaps others. But not Texas. Correct. This is what Saban did to Javonne Shepherd and A&M, which obviously helped us. Saban's not the best recruiter in the sport just because he's charismatic, persistent, and backs it up on the field, but he frequently works to negative recruit his competition to their targets until NSD has come and gone, even prospects his school is not interested in taking. Assuming good coaching to be held by all competing teams, the difference will be the size of the talent gap, not the total talent quantification on either team. An excellent example of this that has been discussed frequently on the Football board is ND, who has good coaching and talent, and can never compete once it gets to the peak of the sport, because it's just not talented enough by comparison. Making sure your conference rivals never escape that purgatory is why Saban has held such a stranglehold on the SEC and the national championship trophy. It's a strategy that is used against Texas a lot by our regional competition, and one I hope we start to utilize in the near future. (Was not meant to come off preachy to you Tex, apologies, just meant to expand/vent on something I've seen often that Texas didn't do enough of on past staffs). We wanted him. It's a loss for Texas, but that is okay. He's a kid we'll keep contacting and maintain a strong relationship with throughout the cycle while we pursue the multiple other prospects left on the board. Most of our targets in the secondary are still on the market. There's no reason to spin it as anything other than a strikeout by us, and simultaneously no reason to worry right now. I'm not sure how the recruitment went down, but I agree with what @golfclap said to have been a big factor. I don't think he liked being penciled into Texas' 22 class for so long largely because his brother was there, undoubtedly with some negative recruiting having exaggerated that emotion. The same thing happened to Kelvontay Dixon, who would have signed with Arkansas had that religious zealot Morris not gotten shitcanned.

I don't think this is BC's replacement. I believe she's the replacement for Jordan Fields, who left the program shortly before Herman was let go.

I refuse to believe Gerry proposed that title. Watching Nahlin catch second-hand embarassment from himself is truly a spectacle to behold considering the other forced jokes he's published. Watching Nahlin twist himselves into knots about accepting Ewers may not end up at Texas per his prediction is certainly a silver-lining to the non-ideal outcome.

I'm not sure what your definition of Chang's guys is, but if you are speaking on the young GAs and coaching assistants departing the program, they weren't Chang's, and they damn sure weren't evaluating talent for Chang. Most couldn't name more than 2 or 3 people in Chang's department, and most couldn't name more than one or two recruits at their position. The coaching guys and GAs interview with and are selected by the coaches. Yurcich for example brought in a guy from Michigan or Minnesota, one of the M's anyway. If you are including Shipley in this group, which I am not sure if you are but the post was unclear to me, Shipley was hardly ever in the facility more than a few days a week, one being Saturday for game days. The dude has been pseudo-retired for a while according to a couple people, but I've yet to have that verified by anyone other than them. I have no idea if he's sticking around and I haven't read or asked around to find out. Obviously I'd prefer he stays on, but he's also not irreplaceable. I wouldn't be surprised if Shipley leaves Texas on his own for retirement or whatever. However, if you are speaking on the younger interns, volunteers, and staffers such as Langi, those who actually cut up film and evaluated recruits with and for Chang, only some of which speak to recruits and their families, those are "Chang's guys". Most, if not all of them remain with the program currently. Chang was the only member of the recruiting staff that worked through the transition that has been let go (so far). A majority of these guys, recruiting and coaching interns alike, didn't form or even attempt to form relationships with recruits or coaches, much less their trainers and street agents, outside assistants like Langi and rarely a coaching assistant like former assistant Coats. According to a former coaching assistant, the recruiting department actually had grievances about the coaching assistants and GAs not being more involved in recruiting to assist their position coaches. There are several reasons not to have a full staff hired in the department by now, unfortunately the recruiting facility is not as simple as sticking a bunch of evaluators in a room with cubicles containing a desk treadmill, a pillow, and routine rations and saying "get to work". There are several criteria and standard that must be developed and agreed upon by the new staff for them to implement the system they desire to replicate to form the basis of evaluation going forward before the recruiting staff can evaluate to the coaches' standards. This was not a transplanted staff like Herman brought from Houston, so they weren't magically all on the same page once they were graced by the doorway of the northern gates of DKR. I share your sense of urgency on the trail, but we wouldn't have gotten it done anyway with the few stooges Hughes may have managed to uproot and transplant on an overnight flight. The recruiting staff has been in high gear both before and after Hughes was brought on, the urgency from them is a non-issue. Chang was one of Herman's very few phenomenal hires and did a great job, but that doesn't mean things in his department couldn't have been improved upon. There's no need to deal in absolutes. all of these ive seen at least have been former ga's and coaching assistants not recruiting staff. Agreed with all of this above, much more accurate take. There is reason for some skepticism as golfclap has said, but we don't need to twist ourselves into Satya knots over inconsequential or forgone changes (insert "You new here?" comment). I was told it became apparent to those within the department that a "Chang and Hughes" deal was never truly on the table. the reception from Sark to the retainees has been welcoming and the coaching staff relied heavily on certain individuals throughout the transition. i've yet to receive any feedback about hughes himself but his resume is more than enough to have earned the benefit of the doubt at the very least I laughed, sadly. 11 years. Pray not much longer.

Incorrect.

Herman should not receive credit for that, despite him enjoying its spoils. Others in the football department led that initiative. My best guess as some form of an answer to you actual question is that Sark likely saw the benefits of having the walkons Saban does while he was at Bama, and will likely see the benefits of similar caliber walkons we currently have when they hit the field this Spring, and hopefully seek to continue that. If Shipley is retained, it probably will be.

This is what I began thinking as some of his reports started coming out earlier this month. Many reports were close to, but not, 100% accurate; there were minor discrepancies that I thought personally made them come off as second-hand instead of from a direct line to CDC. Interesting to see this is actually the case, as I was just guessing before, but not surprising. It's Chip Brown. Clearly he's not BIG TIME connected. There's more people in and out of that building with CDC (and now, Sark) than one might think. While those two certainly make the calls, they wouldn't necessarily be the only individuals hearing or seeing the calls being made. My current theory is an individual who assists CDC with his daily routine is feeding FCB overheard conversations or names passing by on emails/papers, but I'm not in the know enough to actually have any ideas of how plausible that really is.

Make it what? I couldn't here you.

Ice cream talk not going away, but i'll bite lick. Blue Bell overrated but still good. My main gripe with them is that Bride's Cake is a seasonal thing, I've yet to find another almond ice cream in stores.

They do, as do the boosters. All parties involved know how important the next hire is. Imo, that is a double-edged sword. On one hand, you will have a united drive to find the guy and setting a goal to have everyone all-in on him in order to give him what he needs to make this place what it was again. On the other, the process to get said point is going to be marred in ugly disagreements that may ultimately set us up to fail if we don't reach a conclusion.