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closetojumping

Burnt Ends
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Posts posted by closetojumping

  1. 21 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

    List of Guys in Portal (4/23)

    • S'Maje Burrell            LB
    • Payton Kirkland         OL
    • Billy Walton III            edge
    • J'Mond Tapp              edge
    • Zac Swanson             DL
    • Savion Red                 RB
    • Terrance Brooks         DB

    Can you also keep track of where they ultimately land, please?

    • Like 1
  2. 43 minutes ago, satyanash said:

     

    Justin Wells knows less about the program than the most idiotic poster in this forum.

    37 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

    Per Bobby as of last night no more starters are expected to enter. Brooks was the only one he's heard thus far. Jhadae was getting 1st team reps over Brooks at corner this spring as well according to Bobby. 

     

     

    Wonder if Jhadae will go full time corner with Guilbeau coming on and what we brought in from portal?

    I don't think Texas is going to have to start Barron at CB this year, but if they did, light the cigarettes now because we've already been fucked.

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  3. 2 minutes ago, Marshall_Lucky said:

    Years ago when my relative was being recruited in baseball (played for WG @Rice), I had a conversation with a Pirates area scout and this conversation came up. I asked what he looked for most in a high school prospect, “swing and miss” stuff, clean mechanics, physical build, etc. 

    Without hesitation he said, “command of the fastball”, followed by “swing and miss in the zone”. He said, “If they’re not throwing strikes in high school, it’s an issue. Very rare to see someone improve control as they advance in competition”. 
    Stating the obvious, but it’s amazing how many coaches are convinced they can “fix” mechanics and muscle memory.

    We were in the playoffs going up against a Clear Lake team with two old boys who threw in the 90's. One of them had control and we eventually got to him. Stud. They bring the other guy in and he throws harder, upper 90's. His control is notoriously garbage. I'm the first guy to face him and on his second or third pitch, he whips one up at my head. It nicked the tip of my nose as I tried to escape and his pitch seared the skin into a turf burn as it went by and I looked like Rudolph for a week. Hey, got to first and we won though.

    Anyway, the guy with control in the low to mid 90's never got drafted in HS or college. The idiot in the upper 90's went in the middle-late rounds of that summer's MLB draft. Played 2 years, couldn't stop walking people and has probably been selling insurance ever since. Scouts can talk about control (not singling this experience out since what he said may be how he really rolled), but they absolutely crave something elite like high 90's heat.

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  4. 6 minutes ago, StassneyHorn said:

    I do know more about football and less about recruiting than you. It’s easy to do.  Spend more time addressing autocorrects gone wrong.

    Every time you post on this board, we get collectively dumber thanks to your efforts. 

    "Nuh uhhh!! I'm really smart!!! Ignore all of my posts and just trust me, guys!!!"

     

    • Haha 1
  5. 32 minutes ago, Fud said:

    Reportedly some teams in the top ten don't want to draft him due to the low historical hit rate in the top ten for the position 

    And yet people are going fucking nuts about Malik Nabors being a top 10 pick. The two LSU WRs in this draft class might be as overrated as anyone. They averaged weak separation, played in a down SEC, and they had a wildman at QB dropping dimes and running around until he could throw them open. Nabors being ranked on par with Odunze and Harrison Jr is as laughable as someone not wanting to take a fucking Superman at TE because other, unrelated guys in the past didn't pan out in the same draft area.

    And really, the "low historical hit rate in the top ten for the position" is such a weird premise in the first place. Hockenson and Pitts have had shit heaped onto them from different places but Hockenson is putting together an excellent career even if he isn't trending towards the HoF. Pitts got Johnsoned as bad as anyone on the Atlanta roster. His first season, before the idiot decided to fuck with him as some sort of decoy half the time, was terrific outside of the lack of TDs. Anything further back than 2018 is not a data point. Things change. 

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  6. 56 minutes ago, StassneyHorn said:

    Sure. The recruiting board is run by fats who reneg on physical races. You can find that on this message board. These same people think they have inside scoops on players and coaches cause they rattle off some new script every offseason. They are the same people who spill cum in commitment threads when they gif blast themselves over no sunshine, forearm girth, and calf sizes, then celebrate their departures to the transfer portal as quick as they can put on new shorts. The overreaction from the Kansas State game in this thread was hilariously over the top, when it was Maalik who put it back together after he and Jonathan Brooks both gave them easy touchdowns.

    "reneg" is like when I go upthread to neg other idiotic, incoherent posts of yours. 

    You meant "renege" and you know about as much in regard to football or recruiting as you do about grammar, dummy.

    That you think Maalik Murphy is why Texas won the KSU game, or was at all a positive contributor in that game, is laughable but predictable.

  7. Spoilered below is one of the more moribund write-ups about team unit after a spring that you'll ever see an aggie $9.95er publish regarding their TB room. Wow.

    Spoiler

    1. Texas A&M operated its running back position by committee in 2023 due primarily to injuries and the inability of one player to be a full time guy. The 2024 season may result in the same thing but there's hope from the spring that it will because of people fitting into specific roles as opposed to being asked to do more than the coaching staff originally intended.

    2. If there's a down to down back on the roster, its third year man Le'Veon Moss who is a little bigger and stronger. He is going to have to stay healthy and that means improvements in running behind his pads and becoming less of a target at contact. His pass blocking is going to have to be stronger as well. Moss retains the ability to plant and go and he also showed off quality hands and route running skills during the spring game which makes him a three down player as well.  

    3. Second year back Rueben Owens has put on more mass, but he remains more of a home run hitter than someone who is going to lower his shoulder or necessarily run through tackles. He remains the most fluid runner on the roster and if he breaks onto the second level then he's got the quick feet and acceleration to run away from defenders as you saw last Saturday. Owens has the vision to be an avoid runner. He might be more of a change of pace guy at this stage of his career.

    4. Stanford transfer EJ Smith can perhaps provide some of the technique items that some of the other backs can't
the ability to keep his feet under his shoulder pads and then run behind those pads. He's got some vision and can bend plays back the other way if his blocks provide the opportunity. Smith might be able to take advantage of a line that sustains its blocks and moves people, something that didn't happen a lot with the Cardinal. He could also be useful as a third down back given his physical attributes and hands.

    5. Another veteran, Amari Daniels, can be a long distance guy like Owens but he's got to be able to run with more power. In addition, Daniels' size was problematic in pass protection last year and it would be again depending on how much the Aggies call on his number. Long term, he is probably best suited to a change of pace.

    6. There was a four game stretch in the middle of the season where Moss averaged about 15 carries a game but he never topped more than nine in any contest outside of that.  Owens only had a couple of games over ten carries. Daniel's per game productivity was based on his ability to break off a long run no matter how many touches he got. A&M probably needs Moss to be a 15 carry a game guy with Owens able to go that route less often and Smith able to fill in the cracks if he needs to.

     

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  8. The thing to remember about how Gerry and Bobby look at this stuff is that they both lean on a lot of history and patterns therein. That plus putting in a ton of work and being really well-connected makes them right a whole fucking lot compared to everyone else.

    However, in this instance, I don't find a lot of value in what prior generations of a family opted to do. It's a different era for all of us, the Mannings included. I view the possibility of Manning transferring before this window closes as a higher percentage chance than the guy staying to play a second year if he lights up the first season. I don't view either outcome as a double digit percentage possibility, nonetheless. 

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  9. 1 minute ago, Dbeasy said:

    I'm trying to understand Elk's strategy. He seems to be trying to change the culture of the program by either pushing out certain players or having them decide on their own they don't want to be there.  But the guys they are replacing them with are very pedestrian. I think that strategy might backfire.  Normally, a coach either: a) brings in quality talent right away that he can get from the portal, or b) does the best they can to recruit quality high school talent and bleed out the bad talent over a one to two year period.

    Either of these types of approaches ensure the coach can still win 6-9 games in the first year. With the current Elk approach, it could mean 6 or less wins, AND also the need to upgrade the roster over 1-2 years.  But the problem with that is once you've only won <6 games, things can spiral quickly. No top talent is going to join a <6 win team.  MAybe he thinks we can win with just pedestrian talent. He did it at Duke, but that was in a very different league.

    I am not quite sure he has an actual strategy. They really are touting to themselves the notion of The Return To Junction in terms of his perceived approach. Out with the coddled talent and in with the blue collared badasses that just want to get into a good scrap. Right.

    That entire outlook presupposes that one can out-tough the more talented opponents and just whip them into submission. How many teams on the 2024 ATM schedule are looking soft to you guys? We can say what we want about Freeman at ND, and I do, but they play tough. Texas under Sarkisian? Please. LSU? right. Auburn? Florida in The Swamp? Missouri? These are all teams with arguably more talent (yes, look at the UF and ATM rosters and then shut the fuck up to yourself) so how many won't be tough enough?

    To your point about the knock-on effects of sucking this season and needing to rebuild after that while things spiral, I was talking to an aggie booster yesterday. I know a few really big ones, but this guy isn't that. He is involved and enthusiastic though. We were talking about the past weekend and the two spring game events. He didn't take his family up and said he's having a tough time getting excited about the new regime. Felt fatigued from the Fisher experience. Given the less than 2000 people who attended their spring game, I'd say that's the whole base's outlook. Not good if you're going to really need them to give enthusiastically in future cycles.

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  10. This cycle keeps getting better and better regarding the aggie roster and The Elk's apparent alchemy with its construction. ATM has now added a third TE transfer to their roster. I have spoilered Karels' article below but it is more terrific shit. Melko has people monitoring the sites and multiple reporters have been reprimanded so these articles get more and more careful, which makes things more and more obvious. It's greatness. 

    The new TE was a starter at East Carolina. He put up extremely pedestrian numbers over a 4 year career and ATM beat out Cal, Tulane, UH, and Oregon State for his services. 

    Meanwhile, the other two TEs they brought in from the transfer portal both sat out the spring game. Some of the alleged insiders are vaguely stating that The Elk and Crew will not tolerate loafers and that the roster will continue to churn. They'd better fucking hope so, as they now have 8! TEs on the roster. They're gonna have to RIF some more people, man. 

    I believe ATM currently has 8 scholarship WRs and 8 TEs on their roster. That is Collin Klein roster-building 101.

    Spoiler

    East Carolina tight end transfer Shane Calhoun has verbally committed to Texas A&M, announcing the news Monday via X. He is the third transfer to verbally pledge to the Aggies during the 15-day spring window for the NCAA Transfer Portal, joining Utah center Kolinu'u Faaiu and Pittsburgh linebacker Solomon DeShields.

    As a graduate transfer, Calhoun has one season of collegiate eligibility remaining. He entered the portal last Wednesday and landed scholarship offers from several Division I programs, including California, Oregon State, Tulane, Houston, USF, New Mexico State and Marshall. He took an official visit to A&M over the weekend before making his decision public.

    Across four seasons with the Pirates (2020-23), the 6-foot-3, 242-pound Calhoun appeared in 38 games with 33 starts. During that span, he recorded a combined 63 catches for 594 yards and six touchdowns. Calhoun enjoyed his best career season in 2022, catching 25 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns. Through seven games last season, Calhoun tallied 15 receptions for 119 yards and two touchdowns.

    East Carolina initially signed Calhoun to its 2020 recruiting class. 247Sports gave the Saint Augustine (Fla.) Creekside product a three-star rating, ranking him as its No. 59 tight end and No. 138 Florida player in that cycle. Per the 247Sports Composite, Calhoun came in as the No. 57 tight end, No. 159 Florida player and No. 1,200 overall player.

    Where A&M stands with its scholarship numbers, transfer portal work

    Following last season, A&M made tight end a priority during the winter portal window. With Calhoun in the mix, the Aggies have now picked up three transfer tight ends this offseason. Garrett Miller (Purdue) and Tre Watson (Fresno State) were the other additions.

    Barring any additions or subtractions, A&M will have eight scholarship tight ends going into the 2024 season: Sixth-year senior Jerry Johnson III and Miller, fifth-year senior Calhoun, senior Watson, redshirt sophomores Donovan Green and Theo Melin Öhrström, redshirt freshman Jaden Platt and true freshman Eric Karner.

    When including Calhoun, the Aggies now have a projected scholarship count of 90 players for the fall. Per NCAA rules, A&M will not need to meet the 85-scholarship limit until the first day of its fall semester. GigEm247 will continue to update its spring transfer portal tracker for the Aggies, which can be found here.

    Five scholarship players have departed A&M for the portal during the spring window (April 16-30): linebacker Alex Howard, safety Jacoby Mathews, cornerback Sam McCall, offensive lineman Derrick Graham and kicker Ethan Moczulski.

    Here are a few gems from the comments:

    Big Ham Jones

    "Elko & company are adding GROWN MEN. We want to win now!!

    Dude has logged 1800 snaps in college!"

     

    thedewdbro

    "Can he play tackle?"

     

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  11. 39 minutes ago, MuellerHorn said:

    I'm really surprised Neon Deion didn't appear in this post: namely, "The Bad" or "The Ugly."

     

    37 minutes ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

    Solid. Any reasoning Prime didn't make rhe Bad or Ugly?

    He has his own thread here, so I figure he gets discussed plenty. 

    21 minutes ago, Mr. Drummond said:

    Brian Kelly has killed a guy, and has a fake southern accent.

    Good addition. I thought about putting him in the “bad” section and I’d forgotten his negligence with the student cameraman. 

    • Like 1
  12. 1 minute ago, immamac said:

    oh no, you just have a strong opinion where I have no real opinion and just wish them well. I meant the temperature of your takes quite literally.

    I don't think they took away from the program or performed in a way that cost the program anything. I don't think they were dead weight or "JAG", but they definitely weren't good enough to have strong contributions here.

    Red was never not a problem. He was good enough to play, but there was always something with him. It’s a net positive that he’s gone, so that would make him a negative contributor in my book. 

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  13. 1 hour ago, Fud said:

    Going to Jonathan's The Rub (I-10) tonight for a combo of my wife's bday and her parents' anniversary very early dinner. Very early because I'll have my 1 and 3 year olds in tow. 

    Is anything a must-get, or is it generic high end steakhouse fare? 

    If you can get the chicken-fried veal that is then covered in a brown mushroom gravy, do it. I don't even know if it is on the menu anymore but it used to be ridiculous. Also, they have a jalapeño cream soup sometimes and that thing is really good and not something you see on many menus.

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