Artimus Gordon said:

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Stands to reason with Michigan. They have Penn state & Ohio State in the same conference and are in close proximity with Notre Dame. They can ill afford to fall behind these three programs. College football recruiting has become a financial free for all.

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They also have Larry Ellison's wife to bankroll NIL deals.

How many A&M grads have $200+ billion to where throwing around 10s of millions on NIL deals is no big deal?

Mr. Fingerbottom said:

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Lmfao

Of course we aren't interested


Maybe we can find another 5th year walkon tightend to add though

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OMFG! Do want!

So how's passing on Haywood for Cantwell working out for us? Oopsies.

Yep. It's a pay to play world now. You still have to be smart about who you pay and how you balance the team but you absolutely have to get elite OL. God only makes a few elite ones that big, strong and athletic to be bonafide athletic people movers and pass blockers.

Yes. Manage the numbers. But be the best oline over time. Buy the best roster possible in that key area. And it's the slowest to show return because the elite ones don't transfer and plug play very well like other positions.

Davidtheag said:

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RC was saying the same thing back in the 90's about the athletic facilities; he couldn't recruit with other major programs without a major update. What was the response from the former students? We aren't going to update, players should want to come to A&M without all the incentives. How late to the party were we by the time we updated everything? By that time, every major program had exactly the same upgrades.

Now in the advent of NIL, are we going to be late to the party again because the first time we used it we got burned?

We need to ante up and pay these 5* players, or we are going to be left behind again.

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It's deja vu, all.over again

Davidtheag said:

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RC was saying the same thing back in the 90's about the athletic facilities; he couldn't recruit with other major programs without a major update. What was the response from the former students? We aren't going to update, players should want to come to A&M without all the incentives. How late to the party were we by the time we updated everything? By that time, every major program had exactly the same upgrades.

Now in the advent of NIL, are we going to be late to the party again because the first time we used it we got burned?

We need to ante up and pay these 5* players, or we are going to be left behind again.

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We went all in in 2022 and got absolutely nothing out of it. Then we paid the highest buyout in sports history to pay our coach to sit at home.

This shouldn't be surprising.

Justice Beaver said:

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So how's passing on Haywood for Cantwell working out for us? Oopsies.

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I was so sure we were in Cantwell's Top 3 and probably the favorite based on Premium's posts and in general. Then we don't even make his Top 6 and look like idiots. Lmao

mjhhawk said:

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vander54 said:

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24601 said:

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Mr. Fingerbottom said:

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Lmfao

Of course we aren't interested


Maybe we can find another 5th year walkon tightend to add though

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Hypothetically speaking, if he told teams he was looking for 5MM per year, we would tell him we are not interested. It doesn't mean he isn't a take if the price came way down, it just means not worth our time based on how we valued him and we know it

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They don't get it. They think if he's an available 5 star we must do everything we can to land him. Regardless of how it affects the team.

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Clearly there were some lessons we should have learned from the class of 22, aren't they? Buying players who don't really want to be here but only want the biggest payday is a recipe for disaster.

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Few on here care about lessons learned. Get the best possible players based on the rankings at all costs.

That worked out great for Jimbo and company.

Lets do it again. If any other you couch fans actually listen to Elko, you would know this is not his approach to recruiting. So keep whining as it will not change. Elko is not about paying players based on rankings. It doesnt mean he won't go after a lot of top recruits but it does mean he is avoiding money bag players that are primarily looking for pay checks and every year you have to deal with threats of entering the portal.

Personally I will take the longer term approach in trying to build a program based on more than just money bags.

Earley is the perfect example in baseball. He is building a culture focused on team 1st but developing players for their individual goals, too. Money bags? Dont fit that culture either.