Honest thoughts on the 2026 season

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twk
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In reply to magnolia tiger • 12:51p, 1/19/26
AG
magnolia tiger said:
That's fair. Surprisingly LSU baseball only gets 2.5% of the rev share, fortunately we have a couple very generous donors who basically give Jay a blank check to do what he needs to do. If I remember correctly basketball gets 5%, and they still suck. But your right, not many care about basketball there

A&M is doing a really small revenue share for baseball because, unlike some other schools (sips are the only one I know for sure), we are fully funding all available baseball scholarships. Some other schools chose to ease into that over several years rather than all at once, but may be compensating for it, with the big guys, by having more revenue sharing.
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JW1612
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In reply to TarponChaser • 12:57p, 1/19/26
Wow that is unreal! I get that winning the championship is the goal but that program resume is amazing! I don't know if I would swap all of it for not claiming the title one time though. Weird how FSU was so good for so long and never made it all the way tot he top
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mwm
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1:26p, 1/19/26
Interesting take on the new scholarship rules and how different coaches are adjusting -

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17pxc9zhJm/?mibextid=wwXIfr

(I hope that pastes okay...)
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cs69ag
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2:43p, 1/19/26
AG
Re Arky......they have a larger, better stadium than we do, and better indoor facilities for the players.
We are trying to catch up. DVH has a few recruiting advantages.
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dermdoc
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In reply to cs69ag • 2:48p, 1/19/26
AG
cs69ag said:
Re Arky......they have a larger, better stadium than we do, and better indoor facilities for the players.
We are trying to catch up. DVH has a few recruiting advantages.

True. But they are way behind us fb and can never catch-up. Like Miss State, they understood this and found other sports they can compete in. The problem is a lot of the big Arky donors want to be great at fb too, And that is going to be tough for anyone not named Cignetti.
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twk
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In reply to mwm • 3:18p, 1/19/26
AG
mwm said:
Interesting take on the new scholarship rules and how different coaches are adjusting -

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17pxc9zhJm/?mibextid=wwXIfr

(I hope that pastes okay...)

Can't read it. Says that it may be private.
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hogfan14
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In reply to dermdoc • 3:59p, 1/19/26
dermdoc said:
cs69ag said:
Re Arky......they have a larger, better stadium than we do, and better indoor facilities for the players.
We are trying to catch up. DVH has a few recruiting advantages.

True. But they are way behind us fb and can never catch-up. Like Miss State, they understood this and found other sports they can compete in. The problem is a lot of the big Arky donors want to be great at fb too, And that is going to be tough for anyone not named Cignetti.


Yeah it's always going to be an uphill battle in football until Walmart decides to start dumping truckloads of money. But I never thought it would be possible for Ole Miss to be one game away from a national title game either haha
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TarponChaser
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In reply to hogfan14 • 4:02p, 1/19/26
hogfan14 said:
dermdoc said:
cs69ag said:
Re Arky......they have a larger, better stadium than we do, and better indoor facilities for the players.
We are trying to catch up. DVH has a few recruiting advantages.

True. But they are way behind us fb and can never catch-up. Like Miss State, they understood this and found other sports they can compete in. The problem is a lot of the big Arky donors want to be great at fb too, And that is going to be tough for anyone not named Cignetti.


Yeah it's always going to be an uphill battle in football until Walmart decides to start dumping truckloads of money. But I never thought it would be possible for Ole Miss to be one game away from a national title game either haha


I thought I saw somewhere that despite having the HQ in Bentonville most all of the Waltons have little affinity or affiliation with the university and so they don't donate a ton there. Especially not to athletic facilities or NIL.
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dermdoc
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In reply to hogfan14 • 4:10p, 1/19/26
AG
hogfan14 said:
dermdoc said:
cs69ag said:
Re Arky......they have a larger, better stadium than we do, and better indoor facilities for the players.
We are trying to catch up. DVH has a few recruiting advantages.

True. But they are way behind us fb and can never catch-up. Like Miss State, they understood this and found other sports they can compete in. The problem is a lot of the big Arky donors want to be great at fb too, And that is going to be tough for anyone not named Cignetti.


Yeah it's always going to be an uphill battle in football until Walmart decides to start dumping truckloads of money. But I never thought it would be possible for Ole Miss to be one game away from a national title game either haha

You make a great point. Ole Miss has some old money that really want to win in fb.

We can't seem to get lead donors for baseball. Y'all are flush there.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
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Luigi Vampa
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In reply to TarponChaser • 5:21p, 1/19/26
AG
TarponChaser said:
hogfan14 said:
dermdoc said:
cs69ag said:
Re Arky......they have a larger, better stadium than we do, and better indoor facilities for the players.
We are trying to catch up. DVH has a few recruiting advantages.

True. But they are way behind us fb and can never catch-up. Like Miss State, they understood this and found other sports they can compete in. The problem is a lot of the big Arky donors want to be great at fb too, And that is going to be tough for anyone not named Cignetti.


Yeah it's always going to be an uphill battle in football until Walmart decides to start dumping truckloads of money. But I never thought it would be possible for Ole Miss to be one game away from a national title game either haha


I thought I saw somewhere that despite having the HQ in Bentonville most all of the Waltons have little affinity or affiliation with the university and so they don't donate a ton there. Especially not to athletic facilities or NIL.

I mean, their basketball stadium is named Bud Walton arena and their football stadium has gigantic walmart logos plastered in the endzones. But yes, walmart is way more invested in philanthropic venture like local museums, bike paths, and general community improvememt than paying millions of dollars to 18 year old athletes.
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cs69ag
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5:51p, 1/19/26
AG
My take was re baseball facilities....not football!
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TarponChaser
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In reply to Luigi Vampa • 6:21p, 1/19/26
Luigi Vampa said:
TarponChaser said:
hogfan14 said:
dermdoc said:
cs69ag said:
Re Arky......they have a larger, better stadium than we do, and better indoor facilities for the players.
We are trying to catch up. DVH has a few recruiting advantages.

True. But they are way behind us fb and can never catch-up. Like Miss State, they understood this and found other sports they can compete in. The problem is a lot of the big Arky donors want to be great at fb too, And that is going to be tough for anyone not named Cignetti.


Yeah it's always going to be an uphill battle in football until Walmart decides to start dumping truckloads of money. But I never thought it would be possible for Ole Miss to be one game away from a national title game either haha


I thought I saw somewhere that despite having the HQ in Bentonville most all of the Waltons have little affinity or affiliation with the university and so they don't donate a ton there. Especially not to athletic facilities or NIL.

I mean, their basketball stadium is named Bud Walton arena and their football stadium has gigantic walmart logos plastered in the endzones. But yes, walmart is way more invested in philanthropic venture like local museums, bike paths, and general community improvememt than paying millions of dollars to 18 year old athletes.


I was referring to the living Walton's. Bud Walton died 30 years ago. And corporate stadium signage ain't the same thing as paying for NIL or facilities upgrades.
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Great2BeAnAGGIE
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7:09p, 1/19/26
AG
Honest question…
What did Earley do between last year and this year that makes you think we will be any better than last year?

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mwm
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In reply to twk • 7:15p, 1/19/26
I've sent you a PM.
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Wrecking Crew 21
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7:38p, 1/19/26
Luigi Vampa
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In reply to cs69ag • 7:59p, 1/19/26
AG
cs69ag said:
My take was re baseball facilities....not football!

Basrball related, I feel like I remember their new half of champions building connected to the player development center is Walton sponsored too? Could be wrong, but the Walton's have put a fair amount of money down for facilities. They just dont care to get into NIL it seems.
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twk
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In reply to Luigi Vampa • 8:34p, 1/19/26
AG
I can't say of you are right about that, but the building itself is named after the Hunt family (JB Hunt trucking).
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W
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In reply to Great2BeAnAGGIE • 8:45p, 1/19/26
AG
Great2BeAnAGGIE said:
Honest question…
What did Earley do between last year and this year that makes you think we will be any better than last year?


um, well, er...we should know fairly quickly

last season began going off the rails within the first 10 games
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TarponChaser
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In reply to Great2BeAnAGGIE • 9:55p, 1/19/26
Great2BeAnAGGIE said:
Honest question…
What did Earley do between last year and this year that makes you think we will be any better than last year?



Got some major bats in the portal. Got guys healthy. Brought in a top tier IF coach in Pennington. And retaken control as hitting coach.
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JW1612
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In reply to TarponChaser • 10:04p, 1/19/26
And another damn good recruiting class
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TheDecadeSapling
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10:29p, 1/19/26
AG
I'm glad longley is gone. That alone gives me hope
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jja79
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In reply to JW1612 • 11:49p, 1/19/26
AG
No questioning whether that's true but where did it rank in the SEC?
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hogfan14
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In reply to Luigi Vampa • 12:20a, 1/20/26
Luigi Vampa said:
cs69ag said:
My take was re baseball facilities....not football!

Basrball related, I feel like I remember their new half of champions building connected to the player development center is Walton sponsored too? Could be wrong, but the Walton's have put a fair amount of money down for facilities. They just dont care to get into NIL it seems.


Yeah sponsorships and facilities are great but they're way less important now than they were 10-15 years ago when giving it to players is the easiest way to instant success in the NIL age.

The current Arkansas administration is also very conservative and wants to stay away from "illegitimate" NIL which doesn't really help since no one else cares and is doing what it takes to win.
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TarponChaser
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In reply to hogfan14 • 8:23a, 1/20/26
hogfan14 said:
Luigi Vampa said:
cs69ag said:
My take was re baseball facilities....not football!

Basrball related, I feel like I remember their new half of champions building connected to the player development center is Walton sponsored too? Could be wrong, but the Walton's have put a fair amount of money down for facilities. They just dont care to get into NIL it seems.


Yeah sponsorships and facilities are great but they're way less important now than they were 10-15 years ago when giving it to players is the easiest way to instant success in the NIL age.

The current Arkansas administration is also very conservative and wants to stay away from "illegitimate" NIL which doesn't really help since no one else cares and is doing what it takes to win.

I think it was last summer that Tilman Fertitta was griping that UH had spent like $100MM on facilities upgrades and he felt like it was better spent on NIL.

Although, it might not be a bad idea for UH to spend whatever it costs to put a giant wall around the campus to keep the 3rd Ward hood rats out. They've had some pretty high-profile armed robberies on campus the last couple months.
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magnolia tiger
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In reply to jja79 • 8:56a, 1/20/26
[url=https://www.perfectgame.org/Rankings/Recruiting/Rankings.aspx][/url] Top 2025 Recruiting Classes | Perfect Game USA
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TxAg76
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In reply to dermdoc • 9:09a, 1/20/26
AG
dermdoc said:
cs69ag said:
Re Arky......they have a larger, better stadium than we do, and better indoor facilities for the players.
We are trying to catch up. DVH has a few recruiting advantages.

True. But they are way behind us fb and can never catch-up. Like Miss State, they understood this and found other sports they can compete in. The problem is a lot of the big Arky donors want to be great at fb too, And that is going to be tough for anyone not named Cignetti.


Cignetti has PLENTY of financial backing. More than most. He's just building things different.
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TxAg76
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In reply to dermdoc • 9:15a, 1/20/26
AG
dermdoc said:
hogfan14 said:
dermdoc said:
cs69ag said:
Re Arky......they have a larger, better stadium than we do, and better indoor facilities for the players.
We are trying to catch up. DVH has a few recruiting advantages.

True. But they are way behind us fb and can never catch-up. Like Miss State, they understood this and found other sports they can compete in. The problem is a lot of the big Arky donors want to be great at fb too, And that is going to be tough for anyone not named Cignetti.


Yeah it's always going to be an uphill battle in football until Walmart decides to start dumping truckloads of money. But I never thought it would be possible for Ole Miss to be one game away from a national title game either haha

You make a great point. Ole Miss has some old money that really want to win in fb.

We can't seem to get lead donors for baseball. Y'all are flush there.


After finishing #2, had Dewshnozzle committed to staying, I bet we'd have had donor money coming in from everywhere.
But he moved on, and we went with Earley, surrounded by 100 question marks.
The big checks are gonna hold on for a second before throwing money at a young, inexperienced HC surrounded by gray areas.
And after his first season WTF, now they're back into "show me" mode before they open back up.
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DaAggies
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In reply to jja79 • 9:41a, 1/20/26
AG
jja79 said:
No questioning whether that's true but where did it rank in the SEC?

Probably towards the middle of the pack, but I would encourage you to look at it in the sense of filling needs.

Our team last year had strikeout problems and lived and died by the long ball. We returned some talented guys, some were injured last year, but we really only needed to fill a few to small handful of starting roles and situational guys.

So what did we get for position players:
  • Chris Hacopian - Possible the crown jewel of the portal and projected 1st round pick, known for one of the best K:BB rates
  • Jake Duer - Was in the top 10 for BA of all college baseball before going down with injury
  • Travis Chestnut - starter on our best team in history, brings elite speed on basepaths as a situational runner in the worst case
  • Wesley Jordan - averaged 0.316 BA and had 19 HRs in 2 years at Baylor
  • Zane Becker - young, talented catcher that transferred after 1 year at Arky to be closer to home
As for pitching:
  • MJ Bollinger - reliever/closer from FAU with very good 2.11 ERA
  • Ethan Darden - 162 IP and 32 starts for solid Clemson team in competitive ACC league. ~5.5 ERA but low walk rate
  • Juan Vargas - 3.19 ERA over 42.1 IP as a reliever at a lower level competition at Tenn Tech
I would have liked one more experienced arm to push for meaningful innings, but we did a great job of realizing what went wrong with plate approach and picked up guys that will give the lineup lots more balance. We didn't have the top portal class, but we may have got the best transfer in Hacopian and should have more depth throughout the lineup.
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TarponChaser
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In reply to TxAg76 • 11:30a, 1/20/26
TxAg76 said:
dermdoc said:
hogfan14 said:
dermdoc said:
cs69ag said:
Re Arky......they have a larger, better stadium than we do, and better indoor facilities for the players.
We are trying to catch up. DVH has a few recruiting advantages.

True. But they are way behind us fb and can never catch-up. Like Miss State, they understood this and found other sports they can compete in. The problem is a lot of the big Arky donors want to be great at fb too, And that is going to be tough for anyone not named Cignetti.


Yeah it's always going to be an uphill battle in football until Walmart decides to start dumping truckloads of money. But I never thought it would be possible for Ole Miss to be one game away from a national title game either haha

You make a great point. Ole Miss has some old money that really want to win in fb.

We can't seem to get lead donors for baseball. Y'all are flush there.


After finishing #2, had Dewshnozzle committed to staying, I bet we'd have had donor money coming in from everywhere.
But he moved on, and we went with Earley, surrounded by 100 question marks.
The big checks are gonna hold on for a second before throwing money at a young, inexperienced HC surrounded by gray areas.
And after his first season WTF, now they're back into "show me" mode before they open back up.


From what I've heard the donors are backing baseball to the hilt on NIL. And didn't we just announce/reveal the new plans for Olsen and facilities??
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DDowl44
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11:33a, 1/20/26
AG
The variations of where this team could go range from missing the tourney again to a trip to Omaha and it will all Come down to:
1) Getting on base. Sorry Brauny but if you use the words exit velo on put outs I'll be tearing my beard.
2) Relief pitching. The 2024 bullpen was amazing. And honestly our 2025 bullpen wasn't as problematic as some would have you believe considering how anemic our bats were. But they need to be slightly better to get us to playing ball in June.
3) Fielding. An underrated weakness that cost us games. Pennington fixes this and we may win a few games that we otherwise wont. Defense is an underrated part of the game
----------------------------------------------------
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-Thermistocles

Titan 20 '09, EMPSA '20

OEF VET 2011-12, 13-14
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JW1612
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In reply to jja79 • 1:21p, 1/20/26
I don't know but I will look into it tonight. I would think top half and maybe top 5 but I know LSU, texas, and Miss St kill it in recruiting too
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JW1612
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In reply to DaAggies • 1:25p, 1/20/26
Nice rundown thanks! I think that last arm was Carson Bailey. I am sure we knew there was a chance he wouldn't make it in but that would have been a potential big add to the pitching staff ass well.
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Fairview20
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In reply to DDowl44 • 4:28p, 1/20/26
AG
#3 is a big one for me and was the first red flag that popped up early last season. We had so many inexcusable errors the first 2 months of the season. Not even 50/50 plays, big ones that basic fundamentals would have prevented. We got better as the season went on (Mainly because Royo and Kash became everyday starters at 2B and 1B).

I am encouraged by Earley recognizing that and going and getting a great IF coach in Pennington. I bet we're much improved there.
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LB12Diamond
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In reply to DDowl44 • 6:31p, 1/20/26
AG
So hitting, pitching and fielding?
Gig ‘Em Baby!
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HoustonAg2106
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In reply to DDowl44 • 6:38p, 1/20/26
AG
LOL at Brauny focusing on exit velocity for outs
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