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Longhornfrenzy

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  1. A few things (long post Carter Karels Posted on 11 hrs, V I P, User Since 70 months ago, User Post Count: 427 I have been hesitant to weigh in on this whole ERob thing, because it is a weird situation and there is more that goes into it than you might think. But the uproar has been loud and there are some things that need to be addressed and clarified. Here is what I have gathered, with some context/backstory added at the beginning as a refresher (and stay tuned for some transfer portal updates at the bottom): The backstory After firing Jimbo Fisher last month, the Aggies promoted Robinson to interim head coach. The move made a lot of sense. The players love Robinson and quickly bought into the idea of him in that role. And at the time, the move helped stabilize the A&M team during chaotic circumstances. Beyond this season, though, the Aggies did not see Robinson as more than a defensive line coach. They never considered him when searching for their new head coach and ultimately hired Mike Elko on Nov. 26. Then, Elko passed on the idea of making Robinson his defensive coordinator. A&M obviously wanted to keep Robinson. There were talks about retaining him as DL coach and making him the highest-paid non-coordinator in college football. But the Aggies could not have predicted that Syracuse would hire Fran Brown as its head coach, which was announced on Nov. 28. Brown quickly looked to add Robinson as his defensive coordinator and did so. Even though Robinson would be making way, way, way less money with the Orange, the opportunity intrigued him. He is close friends with Brown. He is from the northeast. He had never been a DC. So Robinson took the job, which people learned on Dec. 3. How A&M responded Instead of immediately moving on from Robinson after he accepted the new job, the Aggies chose to keep him in his role through the bowl game. That decision has made the situation grow increasingly awkward over the last couple weeks. Now, Robinson is still performing his interim head coach duties. He was with the A&M team when they started bowl practice Tuesday. But Robinson has had one foot out the door and is focusing on some Syracuse-related things. Here is where it gets awkward Last Friday, Robinson attended a high school football game that featured Lafayette (La.) Acadiana’s Dominick McKinley, a five-star defensive lineman in the 2024 class who has been verbally committed to the Aggies since September. Robinson was seen on the sideline and was not wearing his A&M apparel from Adidas. He instead donned his new Syracuse apparel from Nike, which suggested that he was there to recruit McKinley to the Orange. Those suspicions were confirmed Monday, when Robinson took part in Syracuse’s in-home visit with McKinley. It is worth noting that before hiring Robinson, the Orange were not in the mix whatsoever for McKinley. Syracuse and Robinson are also pursuing A&M starting defensive end Fadil Diggs, who entered the NCAA Transfer Portal last Friday. He is still weighing his options but plans to take a visit to the Orange this weekend. Syracuse is considered a major player in his recruitment. One more thing: Syracuse flipped A&M receiver commit Jaylan Hornsby on Monday. That news might have only added to the bad optics surrounding this situation. However, it should not be considered a big deal. All I have been told is that Hornsby should have never been a take for the Aggies. They were fine with the Orange taking him. What all of this means For starters, it is common for a coach in similar situations to shift some of his focus toward his next move. Why wouldn’t they? They need to do what is best for them and make sure they start as well as they can at their next stop. This is not entirely uncommon during a transition period. At the same time, though, what Robinson has done is not the best look. He is not exactly hiding the fact that he is actively recruiting a current A&M pledge to his next program. And he is using his current platform to gain access to a five-star recruit that the Orange otherwise would not even sniff. In his TaxAct Texas Bowl press conference earlier this month, Robinson said he would not pursue any Aggie player unless they were in the portal. On the surface, that comment seemed noble. But doesn’t that comment give every A&M player who might want to follow Robinson a reason to enter the portal? Whether it was intentional or not, it was a subtle way of giving them a blueprint. We are seeing it play out with Diggs. I am not sure anyone can entirely fault Robinson for pursuing Diggs or kicking the tires on McKinley. He wants to do what is best for Syracuse. And it is not his fault that A&M wanted to keep him around. But this is the kind of stuff that can burn bridges. Why the Aggies can’t move on from Robinson … yet The Aggies could have moved on from Robinson when he accepted his new job. But they were not willing to make that change. They wanted to keep Robinson through the bowl game in hopes that it would continue to help stabilize their program during a time of uncertainty. Now, A&M has to live with that decision. People act like the Aggies can easily let Robinson go, because no one cares about the bowl game. They think that A&M could lose 63-0, and it would not matter. They are not wrong about the bowl game being irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. But it is not that simple. There is not an ideal way to cut him before the bowl game. The A&M players were promised a final game with Robinson and have bought into that idea. If the Aggies pulled that rug out from underneath them, it would not go unnoticed among the players. It could even be a little messy. Various A&M players remain undecided on if they want to stay in College Station or leave following this season. There are some players in particular – who I will not name – who are thought to be goners if Robinson was abruptly let go. I am telling you, they do not think it would be good. Think of it like this: What is more risky for the Aggies … keeping Robinson or cutting him? The prevailing perception is that cutting him would be more risky. So unless he does something that is considerably damaging, getting rid of him is not the answer right now. And that is why, even though Robinson has ruffled some feathers, it is safe to assume that his Syracuse-related activities are not as bad as they appear from a public perception standpoint. Which leads me to … Why this is not THAT big of a deal … at least so far The optics are a lot worse than the reality when it comes to this situation, at least so far. Here is why: 1. Syracuse is not flipping McKinley. I know it is unwise to speak definitively when it comes to recruiting (or anything else in this crazy college football world). But this is not happening. Now, could McKinley go somewhere else? Absolutely. He is a major threat to flip elsewhere. But McKinley is not going to Syracuse. 2. Yes, Diggs is in the transfer portal and plans to visit Syracuse this weekend. However, A&M still has a chance of bringing him back. In fact, the Aggies still have a decent chance of retaining most of the top talent on their roster (more on that later). Even if Diggs goes to Syracuse, I am not sure it would be the end of the world. 3. Hornsby is not a player you need to worry about losing. I think everyone already understands that, though. The Texas Aggies United stuff You guys probably noticed that Texas Aggies United, the official NIL partner of A&M athletics, has been posting on X about players coming back for the 2024 season. Defensive back Bryce Anderson and offensive lineman Kam Dewberry were announced Monday and Wednesday, respectively. I received some texts from folks who thought those posts were over-the-top silly. Because, of course Anderson and Dewberry are coming back! They are not draft-eligible and never made it known that they were thinking about leaving the team. But you guys have to understand two things: 1. Without going into all of the details, retaining your roster and keeping everyone happy is an extremely fluid and ongoing process. Anything can change at any time. And 2. Building momentum with this stuff is never a bad thing. I expect there will be a lot more of these announcements in the coming days. Some of them might make you yawn. Some of them might make you excited. But it is all about building momentum like you see with high school commitments. Hopefully for the Aggies, it will lead to a domino effect of players opting to stay. Which leads me to … The transfer portal A&M has lost 13 scholarship players to the portal so far: quarterback Max Johnson, offensive linemen Chase Bisontis, Jordan Spasojevic-Moko and Remington Strickland, wide receiver Raymond Cottrell, tight ends Jake Johnson and Fernando Garza III, defensive tackle Walter Nolen, defensive ends LT Overton and Fadil Diggs, cornerbacks Tyreek Chappell and Deuce Harmon, and safety Jardin Gilbert. There are going to be some guys who the Aggies are fine with leaving. You can probably count the Johnson brothers, Spasojevic-Moko, Strickland, Cottrell, Garza, Overton and Chappell as gone. There will be more players who enter the portal as well. We will see about Harmon. I don’t see A&M going all out to bring him back. I am not sure Chappell will even be able to transfer anywhere or come back. He has academic issues. I bet he goes to the NFL Draft. Bisontis, Nolen, Diggs and Gilbert are worth monitoring. A&M wants them back for sure. I am also keeping an eye on defensive end Shemar Turner and a few other guys. I could see Turner going to the NFL Draft. We will see. Nolen is a total wild card. I really have no clue what he is going to do. Anyway, just because someone is in the portal and visiting other schools does not mean they are not coming back. Again, these are extremely fluid situations. And when it is all said and done, the Aggies could retain almost everyone they wanted to keep. I would be more worried about A&M’s 2024 recruiting class. Based on how things are going right now, I fear the Aggies are in a very precarious spot. Keep an eye on it as the three-day early signing period approaches
  2. Lunch with Liucci: Billy Liucci joins TexAgs Radio (Monday, December 4) By Billy Liucci December 4, 2023 Segment 1 (00:00:00 - 10:45:21) I have a lot of thoughts on Texas in the playoffs. They are deserving by the way it's set up. They deserved to be in over Alabama. You could argue Florida State. Should Florida State be in over Texas, over what everyone knows but won't say, how rancid the Big 12 was? Should Alabama be over FSU? They beat No. 1 Georgia and beat the same LSU team that was FSU's best win by about the same. Alabama's only loss was to another playoff team. With Jordan Travis, FSU was not rolling people. Is 12-1 Alabama more deserving than a 13-0 FSU? There were a lot of teams that would have gone undefeated after that Alabama game with Texas' schedule. There are more teams that would have navigated that with one loss. No one looks at it that way. It will fall back on these imaginary moving target metrics. They are not doing what they said they would do, put the four best teams in. As things stood, Texas would have been at or near the front of the discussion where you are talking about Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, and Florida State for the last couple of spots. It doesn't make sense to me how they put Texas in without much of a doubt. They did not ask the counterpoint questions. That's all we got when A&M was considered. That's all Florida State got. No one ever said, "Notre Dame lost to Clemson in the conference championship." Before, Notre Dame beat Clemson without Trevor Lawrence playing. We talk about FSU not having Jordan Travis. Travis could not hold Lawrence's jock at quarterback. Clemson slaughtered Notre Dame with Lawrence. There were crickets. They put Notre Dame in back in 2020. There is no consistency. They don't give the real reason. No one will be happy when they are left out. I am very happy they are going to a 12-team playoff. I would like eight. I don't think the No. 13 team in football will win a national title. They could do that in basketball or baseball but not in football. In no particular order, the eyeball test says the best four teams are Michigan, Washington, Alabama and... That is where it is tough. Georgia or Texas. Everyone is talking about Florida State. FSU just beat Louisville. I have an opinion that has nothing to do with A&M. Oklahoma State lost 45-3 to Central Florida. They lost to South Alabama 33-7 at home. Those are disgraceful losses, and that is who Texas played in their conference title game. Louisville lost to Pitt, but they have been a good football team. FSU held them to six points. FSU won in The Swamp. That's a big difference between Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. FSU did it with a third-stringer. I think I would put Texas in there. I think I would go with Alabama too. I would be wrestling with Texas, Alabama and Georgia. Texas had the easiest path but one of the two toughest games. Georgia, how do you put them in over Alabama? I can't put Georgia in over Alabama. I couldn't put Alabama over Texas. To me, the best teams, those three are fighting got two spots. Segment 2 (10:45:21 - 11:15:17) Is Georgia better than Washington? Probably. Washington had a stretch where they weren't dominant. They barely beat Arizona, but look at Arizona now. Segment 3 (11:15:17 - 23:06:17) We have not talked about Elijah Robinson. There are a lot of things out there these days that were flat-ass wrong. One youngster in particular races to our site every time something happens. 75 percent of it is wrong. I will be wrong sometimes. It is not going to happen a lot. If you are reading or hearing stuff and I am holding back on it, there is probably a reason why. Elijah Robinson was never staying. He was always wrestling with a tough decision. His leaving is tough for the program, players and fans. There is not a negative thing I can say about that guy. One thing with portal and coaches leaving is don’t say the whole thing is falling apart when the transition is going to be rough. I mentioned Brian Kelly. People at LSU were like, "What the hell did we just do?" He was a wildly successful coach at Notre Dame. People forget when A&M hired Jimbo, there was a rough transition. I know, ultimately, it didn't work, but it wasn't cause Jimbo could not handle the job. People freaked out with Steve Sarkisian too. Look at how Kelly and Sark have turned out. Losing Elijah is tough, so you go hire Sean Spencer the next day. Mike Elko knew that if he lost him, which was possible, this was his answer. The key is to have an answer. Elko would have loved to keep Elijah. You lost a coach. You will lose some players as a result. I know everyone expects a mass exodus. I don't think it's that. You will lose guys that hurt. You have to replace them. You go find better. You go find the equivalent. My point is, as fans and on social media, try not to ride the wave so much, because all it does is feed the wave. This place is not burning. If you lost a veteran player at a position that is not All-Conference, for whatever they are making in NIL, you go get another one of equal or greater value if you are good at what you are doing. I know losing Elijah hurts, but if a couple of players go because of that, you can bring guys in. This has not been a national championship team or program. They are 12-12 the last two years. Who are the lay-down first-rounders? Is McKinney Jackson a first-rounder? He is a damn good player. I hope he is because that kid poured a lot into this place. He played and practiced hurt. My point is that the program is not where it needs to be, and that is why there is a coaching change. There needs to be a culture change. Part of it is coaching, but part is players too. I don’t think any one guy is bigger than the whole thing of what you are trying to get accomplished. I don’t think any one coach is either. Elijah will be as close as you get to that. I see people saying, "They should have made him the defensive coordinator." Some people go, "Well, Elko is the defensive coordinator, really, anyway." That is not true. He did not call the defenses at Duke on game day. That was Tyler Santucci. Elijah has never called a defense in a football game. As a head coach when you have a lot of money to spend on coordinators, is that the direction you go? He might be a great coordinator, but right now, he has never called a defensive play. Tyler Santucci has only done it for a year. In the perfect world, you keep Elijah, and he ascends to be your defensive coordinator, but you don't do it out of fear of what might happen. There is tough decision-making involved. I have watched coaches and A&M do things out of fear. Example: "Don’t let Dameyune Craig go because you have Evan Stewart committed or Cameron Coleman‍ committed." Then what happens? What has happened at that position in a five- or six-year stretch? That type of thing does not win long term. Segment 4 (23:06:18 - 29:14:16) This is the first coaching change we have seen at Texas A&M since the portal has been like it is. Jimbo was hired six years ago. There was a different landscape. It was just graduate transfers. Other guys had to sit out. It was not even called the portal. It's a different day and age. With the transfers, when guys say they are going in, there is a 48-hour period. Walter Nolen might go in, but they are meeting with A&M and Elko today before that is official to see if they can make it work. If there is not a way, wait to see who comes in. If a guy goes in, he does not have to transfer. Unfortunately, a lot of that will happen. They will test the market. They will be lied to. Elko and the staff will go into the portal with the intent to upgrade the roster and change the culture as quickly as possible. The goal is not to have a massive turnover, but there will be. You will not have answers immediately. Wait and see how things play out. Oklahoma State lost virtually every meaningful player last year, and they played for a Big 12 title on Saturday. They beat Oklahoma. They managed to field a football team and, in their conference, have a pretty damn good season. How does Sean Spencer do here? Who does Mike Elko hire as his offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator? That's what really matters. When you lose a player, who do you bring in? The first and second most important things are the offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator. Elko thinks that the defensive coordinator thing is important so he can be a head coach. He wants to be a head football coach. Let's wait to see who those are before we judge this first coaching staff
  3. Yesterday was almost as good as it gets for Texas fans. Texas in the CFP aggy decommit The favorite aggy coach bolts to Syracuse Nolan portals. Here's hoping for more meltdown's today🤘🏼
  4. Allegedly, there is a coach out there, I won't say who it is, who is trying to mess with the Texas A&M current roster. If you are A&M, use all the ammo at your disposal to thwart those things. That is for any school and any coach, especially anyone who worked here. That's what you will be dealing with We all know who you are referring.. 😁
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