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Texas Recruiting Notes 2023: Strippers, Monkeys, and 5-Stars


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There's also a possibility that some of the larger schools enter into a gentleman's agreement not to poach each other's players.

It would be interesting to see how that would be treated from an anti-trust perspective, since it's typically frowned upon to conspire amongst competitors to keep wages low, but it's also mostly illegal (state laws vary) to entice athletes to enroll based on the promise of money.

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6 hours ago, closetojumping said:

It's not all going to be about booster support as things continue to develop. In this instance, a big part of retaining a guy at that level will be corporate-related work, which is already a part of his outlook. So, not totally crazy for Texas. But USC, specifically, can put together corporate packages for flashy talent just the same, or more. 

Sounds like you're suggesting that we're a bit below USC, Bama and maybe a few others on the transfer portal pecking order. Presumably we're able to and will aggressively poach players from programs like Okie State, Washington, Utah etc. this year? 

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5 minutes ago, NevaLost said:

Sounds like you're suggesting that we're a bit below USC, Bama and maybe a few others on the transfer portal pecking order. Presumably we're able to and will aggressively poach players from programs like Okie State, Washington, Utah etc. this year? 

I'm not saying that. I'm saying that other schools will be ready to take advantage of the portal, same as us. They'll have dry powder and plenty of backing and we'll be after some of the same players. Nothing is a slam dunk.

3 minutes ago, Shaggyhorn said:


I’ll gladly take the L if/when the time comes and I’m proven wrong, as we all should do. That’ll be after the season so plenty of time to hopefully enjoy some good football and more recruiting wins.

I find it amusing that you view as binary as "If Worthy stays, I was right the whole way, and if he doesn't, whoops". That's not how it is going to work. Texas will work to retain him and you won't know jack shit about it if they do. If they lose him, you'll just blame regression or some other phantom. 

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9 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

I know we've been discussing WR recruiting and transferring, when not being interrupted by Mongo, who somehow got loose from his cage. But the principles around recruiting and the portal will hold true across all positions save QB in this cycle for Texas. 

a) They'll stack as strong of a recruiting class as they can at each position group. They'll add as many guys at each spot as they think they can irrespective of the portal and current depth chart. 

b) They'll work their asses off to retain not just standout personnel, but also those developing across the board. We're doing work to ensure a specific amount at a minimum across the roster, so developing back up guards and ILBs and TEs will have plenty of reasons to stay. Then major NIL work for impact players has been done and will continue to be put together to ensure Texas keeps the stars it's developing.

At non-super star positions where Texas has major talent, like Dicker at Kicker last year, Texas will have NIL help to push forward in a significant way to keep those guys from leaving to the NFL hoping to get drafted late or signed as an UDFA. The 3rd guard with a year left, the 6th WR who does well on special teams, the starting LB thinking about leaving early because he already has 3 kids. Shit like that. I don't know if that will matter in this particular cycle, but players are now learning that they can earn a good living by sticking it out. What Dicker did was idiocy. He left 6 figures on the table.

c) Then, they'll carve off the roster and ensure that players who aren't fits going forward will have enough time to enter the portal for greener pastures. There will, again, be some significant desired churn after this season. Not like last year, but certainly around double digits.

d) Finally, they'll be all over the portal if they can find one of two types of players:

1) players that are simply better than anything on the roster who can push the talent level up again, even if just a one year rental. Again, outside of QB, this is likely to be every position, including WR. They're not going to worry about depth behind Worthy if they can pick up a difference maker, All Conference type guy that is looking to join a program with more visibility. 

2) players that have 2+ years of eligibility left who fit the culture profile, have shown they have the talent to start, and will come here to earn a starting position or first off the bench. They have guys scouting the non-blue blood programs on staff right now. People are watching footage of every game from this weekend and they're adding guys to list review in the event they opt-in to the portal. 

Pre-portal scouting at the G5 and FCS levels is an area where the "haves" can have a giant competitive advantage to the "have nots" as things continue to evolve in this landscape. I expect Texas to keep adding help on this front. I expect Clemson to continue falling behind on this front, gloriously. 

Regardless of where a player fits into these categories, the overall outlook is trending towards a very healthy "Up or Out" approach. Get enough "up" on the roster and no single player can ever hold you hostage outside of QB. 

Do you think we will do more recruiting kids into the portal? It seems like teams who were in first (like USC) had an advantage in the last cycle.

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I find it amusing that you view as binary as "If Worthy stays, I was right the whole way, and if he doesn't, whoops". That's not how it is going to work. Texas will work to retain him and you won't know jack shit about it if they do. If they lose him, you'll just blame regression or some other phantom. 

It’s not binary at all. I disagreed with your assessment on WR depth and thought two points were the most wrong. You think we’ll have to retain Worthy by ponying up the most dollars like last year and that we’ll also NEED to go fishing in the TP. I think there’s enough talent in house and incoming to remain relevant, especially if we land Hale.

Additionally, I think we have more to sell than just dollars at seasons end, unlike last season.

I’ll take the L if we lose Worthy to mercenary work or have to pony up a cool seven figures+ to keep him. I’ll also take the L if we go hard after other WR talent, which is funny, because of course we should do that regardless of how loaded we are.

You take the L if our WR room looks much the same minus senior/depth chart attrition and adding the incoming class.
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18 minutes ago, Hornlover said:

@Bevo got there first, but I'm curious whether we will be content to wait for guys to opt-in to the portal, or if we're going to be more brazen about recruiting guys to enter the portal. 

no man GIF
 

I don’t think that’s something you ever talk about with anybody, just a common understanding between men willing to do whatever it takes to win. No receipts 

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2 hours ago, WinningIsHard said:

I don’t think that’s something you ever talk about with anybody, just a common understanding between men willing to do whatever it takes to win. No receipts 

Arrested Development Flirt GIF

 

 

(Edit: RIP)

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1 hour ago, Shaggyhorn said:


It’s not binary at all. I disagreed with your assessment on WR depth and thought two points were the most wrong. You think we’ll have to retain Worthy by ponying up the most dollars like last year and that we’ll also NEED to go fishing in the TP. I think there’s enough talent in house and incoming to remain relevant, especially if we land Hale.

Additionally, I think we have more to sell than just dollars at seasons end, unlike last season.

I’ll take the L if we lose Worthy to mercenary work or have to pony up a cool seven figures+ to keep him. I’ll also take the L if we go hard after other WR talent, which is funny, because of course we should do that regardless of how loaded we are.

You take the L if our WR room looks much the same minus senior/depth chart attrition and adding the incoming class.

@closetojumping Just ignore him at this point. It made sense to respond earlier to clarify the inaccuracies, but he’s alone on that island now. No reason to keep giving him a reason to repeat himself.

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3 minutes ago, SquishMitten said:

@closetojumping Just ignore him at this point. It made sense to respond earlier to clarify the inaccuracies, but he’s alone on that island now. No reason to keep giving him a reason to repeat himself.

Yeah, I already did and didn’t see that post. We’re good. 

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2 hours ago, closetojumping said:

I know we've been discussing WR recruiting and transferring, when not being interrupted by Mongo, who somehow got loose from his cage. But the principles around recruiting and the portal will hold true across all positions save QB in this cycle for Texas. 

a) They'll stack as strong of a recruiting class as they can at each position group. They'll add as many guys at each spot as they think they can irrespective of the portal and current depth chart. 

b) They'll work their asses off to retain not just standout personnel, but also those developing across the board. We're doing work to ensure a specific amount at a minimum across the roster, so developing back up guards and ILBs and TEs will have plenty of reasons to stay. Then major NIL work for impact players has been done and will continue to be put together to ensure Texas keeps the stars it's developing.

At non-super star positions where Texas has major talent, like Dicker at Kicker last year, Texas will have NIL help to push forward in a significant way to keep those guys from leaving to the NFL hoping to get drafted late or signed as an UDFA. The 3rd guard with a year left, the 6th WR who does well on special teams, the starting LB thinking about leaving early because he already has 3 kids. Shit like that. I don't know if that will matter in this particular cycle, but players are now learning that they can earn a good living by sticking it out. What Dicker did was idiocy. He left 6 figures on the table.

c) Then, they'll carve off the roster and ensure that players who aren't fits going forward will have enough time to enter the portal for greener pastures. There will, again, be some significant desired churn after this season. Not like last year, but certainly around double digits.

d) Finally, they'll be all over the portal if they can find one of two types of players:

1) players that are simply better than anything on the roster who can push the talent level up again, even if just a one year rental. Again, outside of QB, this is likely to be every position, including WR. They're not going to worry about depth behind Worthy if they can pick up a difference maker, All Conference type guy that is looking to join a program with more visibility. 

2) players that have 2+ years of eligibility left who fit the culture profile, have shown they have the talent to start, and will come here to earn a starting position or first off the bench. They have guys scouting the non-blue blood programs on staff right now. People are watching footage of every game from this weekend and they're adding guys to list review in the event they opt-in to the portal. 

Pre-portal scouting at the G5 and FCS levels is an area where the "haves" can have a giant competitive advantage to the "have nots" as things continue to evolve in this landscape. I expect Texas to keep adding help on this front. I expect Clemson to continue falling behind on this front, gloriously. 

Regardless of where a player fits into these categories, the overall outlook is trending towards a very healthy "Up or Out" approach. Get enough "up" on the roster and no single player can ever hold you hostage outside of QB. 

All of this is logical and makes sense and stuff I was hoping we’d do (along with actually, you know, tampering with guys). 
here’s one thing you didn’t mention NIl wise that I’m curious about: 

Might we see a return of the 4 year superstar?  Let’s say a guy like Bijan is targeted to go something like 20th overall (he’s a RB and that’s not super unlikely to be the spot for the top RB on the board). That’s something like 4/14M territory. Will there be the possibility if he’s likely the missing piece to a final 4 entrant type team to scrape up $5 or 7M or something to stay?  Is that money unrealistic for the right guy?

I think we all know VY coming back would have been about as close to a guaranteed title as possible. Could we see a $10M type deal for a guy like that?  Would it matter?  

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12 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

All of this is logical and makes sense and stuff I was hoping we’d do (along with actually, you know, tampering with guys). 
here’s one thing you didn’t mention NIl wise that I’m curious about: 

Might we see a return of the 4 year superstar?  Let’s say a guy like Bijan is targeted to go something like 20th overall (he’s a RB and that’s not super unlikely to be the spot for the top RB on the board). That’s something like 4/14M territory. Will there be the possibility if he’s likely the missing piece to a final 4 entrant type team to scrape up $5 or 7M or something to stay?  Is that money unrealistic for the right guy?

I think we all know VY coming back would have been about as close to a guaranteed title as possible. Could we see a $10M type deal for a guy like that?  Would it matter?  

Those are interesting thoughts, and I've wondered about this as well. 

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20 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

All of this is logical and makes sense and stuff I was hoping we’d do (along with actually, you know, tampering with guys). 
here’s one thing you didn’t mention NIl wise that I’m curious about: 

Might we see a return of the 4 year superstar?  Let’s say a guy like Bijan is targeted to go something like 20th overall (he’s a RB and that’s not super unlikely to be the spot for the top RB on the board). That’s something like 4/14M territory. Will there be the possibility if he’s likely the missing piece to a final 4 entrant type team to scrape up $5 or 7M or something to stay?  Is that money unrealistic for the right guy?

I think we all know VY coming back would have been about as close to a guaranteed title as possible. Could we see a $10M type deal for a guy like that?  Would it matter?  

VY’s rookie contract guaranteed 25.7 million but a lot has changed contract wise for rookies since then. 

Edited by BurntOrange&White
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41 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

All of this is logical and makes sense and stuff I was hoping we’d do (along with actually, you know, tampering with guys). 
here’s one thing you didn’t mention NIl wise that I’m curious about: 

Might we see a return of the 4 year superstar?  Let’s say a guy like Bijan is targeted to go something like 20th overall (he’s a RB and that’s not super unlikely to be the spot for the top RB on the board). That’s something like 4/14M territory. Will there be the possibility if he’s likely the missing piece to a final 4 entrant type team to scrape up $5 or 7M or something to stay?  Is that money unrealistic for the right guy?

I think we all know VY coming back would have been about as close to a guaranteed title as possible. Could we see a $10M type deal for a guy like that?  Would it matter?  

Bijan's financial priority needs to be getting to his second contract asap. And possibly to his third while he's still young. Unfortunately, RB is probably the position where it makes the least sense to stay for the fourth year. Fortunately, we're stocked at the position.

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Bijan's financial priority needs to be getting to his second contract asap. And possibly to his third while he's still young. Unfortunately, RB is probably the position where it makes the least sense to stay for the fourth year. Fortunately, we're stocked at the position.

That’s my thought too, in this situation. NFL will always be where’s it at for the superstars. They’ll up their game to beat anything college ball has to offer if it comes to it. My feelings on the RB room and the WR room are similar, but that is clearly a highly regarded take in most people’s minds.
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49 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

VY’s rookie contract guaranteed 25.7 million but a lot has changed contract wise for rookies since then. 

Sure. But that’s over 5 years. I’m talking about 10 a year and he can go get the rest of that money later. Along with taking out insurance of course. 

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3 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

image.png.cdc1b3046546fbc1fd8d64a1385947bc.png

You'd be a fool not to take 25 million guaranteed on a 58 million dollar contract.

rookie wage scaled plummeted after 2011 CBA. 

edit: nvm. see that you already pointed that out. Guess I don't know why VY as hypothetical is being discussed...?

Edited by TommyGufano
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Again- yearly vs total. In year 2023 we could pay Bijan (easily) more than the nfl would pay Bijan in 2023. I wonder if that will ever matter. 

I’m guessing the NFL quickly changes their rookie contract structure if this were a real threat.

That might be the play for a 3rd+ rounder, but the NFL will want the 1st and 2nd rounders in the league.
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2 minutes ago, Shaggyhorn said:


I’m guessing the NFL quickly changes their rookie contract structure if this were a real threat.

That might be the play for a 3rd+ rounder, but the NFL will want the 1st and 2nd rounders in the league.

Why would they care?  If superstars stay for another year that’s even more pub. They come into the league even more famous and more  developed. 

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46 minutes ago, Bodacious Bevo said:

Bijan's financial priority needs to be getting to his second contract asap. And possibly to his third while he's still young. Unfortunately, RB is probably the position where it makes the least sense to stay for the fourth year. Fortunately, we're stocked at the position.

Fortunately, we're stocked at the position RIGHT NOW.  I think CTJ is quite likely correct, and we will need to defend Keilan, Brooks, Blue, et al vigorously.  Otherwise they are subject to the portal also.
 

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2 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Looking it up now, it's yes and no.

 

image.png.43254a50c594dc24749342849ec68680.png

I mean, they can be if the player rep can negotiate it. But it’s not in the cba or anything and I doubt teams are interested in doing so for later picks.  First rounders are a huge capital investment, especially top 10, so the teams are more likely to hang onto them for that reason, and they are the highest graded players so the risk of poor performance isn’t as great. 

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2 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Because players have expiration dates, they want to maximize that date for their investment.

So let’s say Quinn Ewers plays 6 games this year. Then he has a really good year next year and we got 10-2 but he’s not in the Heisman contention and we don’t go to the playoffs, but he establishes himself as a top 5 pick… are you saying the NFL cares so much about getting a guy at 21 years old that’s going to play until he’s 36 that they prefer him entering as a well regarded guy vs waiting a year and getting him maybe as a Heisman winner and national champ? 

Right now the number of guys that stay is essentially zero in the situation I am describing. I’m merely wondering if you won’t see 2 or 3 guys a year stay in the new world of NIL and if some blue bloods would be willing to get toward 8 figures for a hypothetical senior year that could be a national title year. I don’t see this hurting the NFL but YMMV I guess. 
 

Interestingly enough, with Arch waiting in the wings I don’t think we’d even make that offer ourselves, but if Arch was a year away and getting ready to be a true frosh I could see js passing the hat if we thought it would be a national title as a result. 

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2 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

So let’s say Quinn Ewers plays 6 games this year. Then he has a really good year next year and we got 10-2 but he’s not in the Heisman contention and we don’t go to the playoffs, but he establishes himself as a top 5 pick… are you saying the NFL cares so much about getting a guy at 21 years old that’s going to play until he’s 36 that they prefer him entering as a well regarded guy vs waiting a year and getting him maybe as a Heisman winner and national champ? 

Right now the number of guys that stay is essentially zero in the situation I am describing. I’m merely wondering if you won’t see 2 or 3 guys a year stay in the new world of NIL and if some blue bloods would be willing to get toward 8 figures for a hypothetical senior year that could be a national title year. I don’t see this hurting the NFL but YMMV I guess. 
 

Interestingly enough, with Arch waiting in the wings I don’t think we’d even make that offer ourselves, but if Arch was a year away and getting ready to be a true frosh I could see js passing the hat if we thought it would be a national title as a result. 

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/agents-take-2022-nfl-rookie-contract-projections-for-key-round-1-picks-with-a-rookie-wage-scale-explainer/

 

 

This article is a good breakdown

image.png.3590f4555add85e7e0303716e02e7d16.png

 

So yes I think he'd go pro if he was projected top 5 pick. Tre Lance was taken in the 1st round of the 2020 and he didn't eve play football in 2020.

Edited by BurntOrange&White
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Why would they care?  If superstars stay for another year that’s even more pub. They come into the league even more famous and more  developed. 

I see your point and you may be correct, but I think that as more logical for the lower round guys. The guys that would impact a college team, but may be more of a developmental take for the NFL.

I think that for the superstars, that’s essentially the NFL brand. The NFL is about having the best out there at all times and they’ll just money whip anybody that tries to upend the status quo.

To make it recruiting relevant, would Cedric Baxter come to Texas if he thought he’d have to sit behind Bijan next year. Does that impact the college side from trying to keep the one off superstar?
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7 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/agents-take-2022-nfl-rookie-contract-projections-for-key-round-1-picks-with-a-rookie-wage-scale-explainer/

 

 

This article is a good breakdown

image.png.3590f4555add85e7e0303716e02e7d16.png

 

So yes I think he'd go pro if he was projected top 5 pick. Tre Lance was taken in the 1st round of the 2020 and he didn't eve play football in 2020.

The yearly salaries on rookie contracts are shit. The signing bonus is the key, and most of those are paid upfront. We’re not competing with the average annual salary for one year; we’re competing with $20M in year one.

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