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Transfer Cycle 2025-2026 - Eloi! Eloi, lama sabachthani!

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6 minutes ago, BurntEyes said:

I didn't imply anything, I asked and admitted my ignorance. I don't see other top NIL schools losing pipeline players currently on the team like Bo. I asked if there were issues with Bo I wasn't aware of that might lead to his departure.

I don't imply shit. I state my opinion and position clearly. People are blaming the NIL environment and I was asking if other top NIL universities had the same issues.

You provided no examples at all.

I do know Texas has and continues to have portal issues with OL. I was concerned that might be an issue again. It's not an insane question to ask if Bo looking to portal is a system or a Texas problem.

Open your eyes. Ohio State just had their two top WRs from the 2025 class enter the portal. It looks like every freshman who didn’t produce year 2 is looking to get paid more somewhere else.

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2 minutes ago, deech said:

So going in we had a plan to sign three IOL when the portal opens:

Only for one player to not meet whatever height or weight measurement you have for the position.

One choosing to return to his original home.

And one still deciding now four days in.

That was our entire OL strategy for the portal? We didn't want to line up visitors on Monday or Tuesday on the off chance things fell through with our first three options?

Is that question rhetorical? Or are you just dumbfounded by the stupidity of the reality that you feel the need to ask for black & white confirmation? I can understand either way and the answer looks like "yes".

9 minutes ago, BurntEyes said:

I didn't imply anything, I asked and admitted my ignorance. I don't see other top NIL schools losing pipeline players currently on the team like Bo. I asked if there were issues with Bo I wasn't aware of that might lead to his departure.

Bo wasn't a pipeline player. It's why he didn't get reps this year. It's why we offered him a paycut.

Auburn lost Cam Coleman. UGA just lost two 5 star level OL into the portal. Bama has lost a ton of high level players. Ohio State just lost a 5 star WR to the portal. Michigan may lose their starting tackle to Texas. Florida has their best edge player in the portal. Tenn just lost their starting LT to the portal. Should I keep going?

3 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

Is that question rhetorical? Or are you just dumbfounded by the stupidity of the reality that you feel the need to ask for black & white confirmation? I can understand either way and the answer looks like "yes".

Dumbfounded stupidity of reality that I felt the need for confirmation. suicide GIF

This is just lazy as fuck from Flood and the staff. Talent is talent, regardless of where they are coming from. I guess this is why the NFL only has players from the bluebood college programs. Oh wait....
From the results on the field to the shit I read about Flood, why the fuck does Sark keep this disphit around. Can you imagine Smart or Saban keeping dead weight on the staff because he's a buddy? Yes I know Flood was on Saban's staff, but if Flood had underproduced like he has this and last year, Saban would've already kicked his ass to the curb.

Agreed. Group of 6 is littered with great players. Those teams just don't have the depth. Lazy and stupid. Stupid and lazy.
33 minutes ago, victory88 said:

With all the said, I'd bet Nick Brooks wins out and takes one of the guard spots for next year so this isn't really going to matter anyways.

oo64sfpuxr1d1.gif

1 minute ago, victory88 said:

Bo wasn't a pipeline player. It's why he didn't get reps this year. It's why we offered him a paycut.

The pipeline is longer for some than others.

So why even high school recruit? The hit rate is low for Freshmen to make an impact. Sounds like the highly recruited ones who have to take a pay cut into 2nd year are going to portal anyway.

Just spend all that money and time in the portal market. Tamper and moneywhip the players you want from the portal. Buy starters and backups.

It appears that we are letting backups walk. That is just wasted money.

Just now, ClubWhatever said:

The pipeline is longer for some than others.

Season 3 Nbc GIF by The Office

Oh for fucks sake. There are obviously exceptions to the ‘lower-level’ portal rule - as evidenced by taking Trey Moore.

Ohio State just lost Quincy porter, which is a bigger hit than Bo.

Georgia just lost Bo Hughley

USC lost Matai Togiai

Alabama lost Qua Russaw and James Smith

I’m sure there are others, come on man.

Just now, crash_davis said:

So why even high school recruit? The hit rate is low for Freshmen to make an impact. Sounds like the highly recruited ones who have to take a pay cut into 2nd year are going to portal anyway.

Just spend all that money and time in the portal market. Tamper and moneywhip the players you want from the portal. Buy starters and backups.

It appears that we are letting backups walk. That is just wasted money.

more importantly, how much are big time recruits going to be asking for day 1 ?

The quicker we go back to filling all of our HS classes with Centex white bread, the quicker this roster raiding will end.

Think Dota 2 GIF by Alliance

1 minute ago, closetojumping said:

Is that question rhetorical? Or are you just dumbfounded by the stupidity of the reality that you feel the need to ask for black & white confirmation? I can understand either way and the answer looks like "yes".

I think most reasonable fans can understand missing on players in the portal, and losing guys off your roster because they can attract higher offers than the value given to them by the staff. Wisner looks to have been a good call.

And the Texas strategy of going after Michigan talent made/makes a lot of sense given the coaching situation. However, everyone, especially coaches, should damn well know that teenagers are fickle, the portal is chaos, and anything can happen. The backup plans need to be in place and being executed.

If the staff is pursuing plan B’s under the radar so as to not tip off other schools, then get it. It makes sense. As long as the plan B’s close.

But if they really don’t have plan B’s, or didn’t do enough grooming of the plan B’s, then that’s just some stupid ass management. It shouldn’t even be 10 days before we see that. Given the criticality of the OL, plan B’s should be done by the end of this week.

2 minutes ago, Atticus said:

Ohio State just lost Quincy porter, which is a bigger hit than Bo.

Georgia just lost Bo Hughley

USC lost Matai Togiai

Alabama lost Qua Russaw and James Smith

I’m sure there are others, come on man.

Bad things only happen to Texas!

2 minutes ago, WBT said:

Nothing. Washington might sue but they will lose.

The courts will enforce exclusivity clauses after breaches. So he wouldn't be allowed to appear in LSU gear in public - effectively not letting him play.

Just now, Dbeasy said:

I think most reasonable fans can understand missing on players in the portal, and losing guys off your roster because they can attract higher offers than the value given to them by the staff. Wisner looks to have been a good call.

And the Texas strategy of going after Michigan talent made/makes a lot of sense given the coaching situation. However, everyone, especially coaches, should damn well know that teenagers are fickle, the portal is chaos, and anything can happen. The backup plans need to be in place and being executed.

If the staff is pursuing plan B’s under the radar so as to not tip off other schools, then get it. It makes sense. As long as the plan B’s close.

But if they really don’t have plan B’s, or didn’t do enough grooming of the plan B’s, then that’s just some stupid ass management. It shouldn’t even be 10 days before we see that. Given the criticality of the OL, plan B’s should be done by the end of this week.

Take it for what it’s worth but Bobby said that Texas is absolutely talking to back up options in and out of the portal there will be visits if Sprague or others don’t end up at Texas.

6 minutes ago, Hiphopopotamos said:

Jayden Woods trainer

Gerry said back to Florida.

2 minutes ago, Atticus said:

Ohio State just lost Quincy porter, which is a bigger hit than Bo.

Ohio State’s WR room is probably a lot healthier than our LB room at the moment. Don’t see how that’s a bigger hit.

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Just now, Elmer_Fudd said:

Gerry said back to Florida.

Another swing and a miss. Texas was confident they had this guy as of the Sumrall visit last night. Texas just got out-recruited. No big whoop. This is fine.

31 minutes ago, GreenspointTexas said:

What if, and believe me this is a hypothetical…. But what if we would have paid Lefau and Wisner instead of begging for scraps… would that do anything for you?

People would have (rightly) complained that we wasted money and overpaid to retain those guys. Quality contributors but not worth the amount of money they were asking for (Wisner) or actually received from another school (Lefau). Sad to see both of them go but they were not worth the ask. Maybe I would have just bit the bullet and overpaid, but it's not my money.

22 minutes ago, Skipper said:

I think it's beyond clear there has to be an expectation of binding multi-year contracts in this sport moving forward. Constant 1 year deals is an absolute shitshow. We absolutely need a real professional GM (and I've been saying so for years) but I can't fathom how anyone can effectively budget/plan in this chaos.

Coaches don't want multi-year contracts any more than the players do. Because they want to the option to push guys out if they don't meet expectations. But I definitely agree about the need for a professional GM rather than a biddable yes-man.

3 minutes ago, ClubWhatever said:

The pipeline is longer for some than others.

tenor.gif

For all intensive purposes we have an unlimited NIL budget, yet we seem to be operating like we have the budget of Kennesaw State. How the fuck do you let those Florida guys stay with the gators and let building blocks like Livingstone and Barnes leave?

4 minutes ago, victory88 said:

Bo wasn't a pipeline player. It's why he didn't get reps this year. It's why we offered him a paycut.

Auburn lost Cam Coleman. UGA just lost two 5 star level OL into the portal. Bama has lost a ton of high level players. Ohio State just lost a 5 star WR to the portal. Michigan may lose their starting tackle to Texas. Florida has their best edge player in the portal. Tenn just lost their starting LT to the portal. Should I keep going?

9 minutes ago, Hiphopopotamos said:

Open your eyes. Ohio State just had their two top WRs from the 2025 class enter the portal. It looks like every freshman who didn’t produce year 2 is looking to get paid more somewhere else.

This is all I was asking. I wanted to understand specifically about the loss of Bo and as he did play some later in the year wondered if he was simply falling into the pitfall of self-overvaluation or if there was an issue.

I don't care to deep dive into all the specifics of national recruiting and asking a question about a specific Texas player in the recruiting thread seemed appropriate. Asking for clarification if this was a Texas or system problem didn't seem to be such a toxic question. Moving forward I'll claim to know shit and make statements rather than ask questions because that's the fucking Surly way.

Edited by BurntEyes

18 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

This is correct. The most recent example of this working, and it has worked for many cycles now, can be seen with Ffrench, Lockett and M Terry. Folks were resolute that they were okay with any of them walking if they couldn't handle a pay cut. Most big $$ HS recruits either face no raise or a pay cut in the 2nd season. Those who play and kick ass or who look like the next big thing during practices might avoid this, but that's it. This not a process unique to Texas.

This is the exact reason I was saying last night we shouldn't go anywhere near Quincy Porter. He is probably going to be an excellent WR but he rode the bench year one and then asked OSU for double the money. It would set an extremely dangerous precedent. How are you ever going to convince your own former high ranked recruits who aren't impact starters to take less in year two (which is just an absolute necessity to maintain any kind of feasible budget) if you go reward a guy exactly like them from another school with a big payout? Fuck that drama.

2 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

So why even high school recruit? The hit rate is low for Freshmen to make an impact. Sounds like the highly recruited ones who have to take a pay cut into 2nd year are going to portal anyway.

Just spend all that money and time in the portal market. Tamper and moneywhip the players you want from the portal. Buy starters and backups.

It appears that we are letting backups walk. That is just wasted money.

All teams have to operate with a cap now. While I'm sure Texas would love to retain everyone, you can't keep guys that want stupid money that is going to eat the cap space like Wisner, Moore that have not produced. Then you have backups that are getting offered starter level money from smaller schools. Do you want Texas to match and not use that money on the elite guys they are battling for in the portal? All the guys we are letting walk are going to schools like Baylor, Kansas, Colorado. Who have we lost that was a guy this staff values and wanted to keep? If Kibble wants to go make more money and start at Baylor, well we'll find another Nate Kibble that will gladly be a back up here for less money allowing us to throw bigger offers to get some elite starters. We can't just money whip everyone. That isn't reality.

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2 minutes ago, Helobious said:

For all intensive purposes we have an unlimited NIL budget, yet we seem to be operating like we have the budget of Kennesaw State. How the fuck do you let those Florida guys stay with the gators and let building blocks like Livingstone and Barnes leave?

How? Intensively. For sure.

7 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

If the staff is pursuing plan B’s under the radar so as to not tip off other schools, then get it. It makes sense. As long as the plan B’s close.

5 minutes ago, Hiphopopotamos said:

Take it for what it’s worth but Bobby said that Texas is absolutely talking to back up options in and out of the portal there will be visits if Sprague or others don’t end up at Texas.

There are people who know more than I do but I'd think the lack of visibility into who they have for "Plan B" is what's driving the angst.

3 minutes ago, Helobious said:

For all intensive purposes we have an unlimited NIL budget, yet we seem to be operating like we have the budget of Kennesaw State. How the fuck do you let those Florida guys stay with the gators and let building blocks like Livingstone and Barnes leave?

Malapropisms are the lowest form of bait. You're better than this.

8 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

So why even high school recruit? The hit rate is low for Freshmen to make an impact. Sounds like the highly recruited ones who have to take a pay cut into 2nd year are going to portal anyway.

Just spend all that money and time in the portal market. Tamper and moneywhip the players you want from the portal. Buy starters and backups.

It appears that we are letting backups walk. That is just wasted money.

Finding guys who will stay for four years without being a wasted scholarship will soon be as important as landing elite talent. Like in baseball - finding a talented kid who isn’t good enough to get drafted before he steps on campus.

4 minutes ago, Helobious said:

For all intensive purposes we have an unlimited NIL budget, yet we seem to be operating like we have the budget of Kennesaw State. How the fuck do you let those Florida guys stay with the gators and let building blocks like Livingstone and Barnes leave?

You just made me feel a lot better about them leaving. Thanks

8 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

I think most reasonable fans can understand missing on players in the portal, and losing guys off your roster because they can attract higher offers than the value given to them by the staff. Wisner looks to have been a good call.

And the Texas strategy of going after Michigan talent made/makes a lot of sense given the coaching situation. However, everyone, especially coaches, should damn well know that teenagers are fickle, the portal is chaos, and anything can happen. The backup plans need to be in place and being executed.

If the staff is pursuing plan B’s under the radar so as to not tip off other schools, then get it. It makes sense. As long as the plan B’s close.

But if they really don’t have plan B’s, or didn’t do enough grooming of the plan B’s, then that’s just some stupid ass management. It shouldn’t even be 10 days before we see that. Given the criticality of the OL, plan B’s should be done by the end of this week.

Plan Bs should have closed shortly after Plan A fell through. It appears there is arrogance or stupidity at play in some of these efforts and my guess is both.

Just now, The Dog said:

There are people who know more than I do but I'd think the lack of visibility into who they have for "Plan B" is what's driving the angst.

Disagree. The angst is why those players haven't already been brought on campus for visits. We have known for several days now that two of the three players that were part of our interior OL gameplan were out. There is no reason to wait on one of three to decide they are also going to return before getting your next three up. I mean by the time they visit they could be locked into other schools.

2 minutes ago, Park Gothic said:

Malapropisms are the lowest form of bait. You're better than this.

high quality GIF

4 minutes ago, Helobious said:

For all intents and purposes we have an unlimited NIL budget, yet we seem to be operating like we have the budget of Kennesaw State. How the fuck do you let those Florida guys stay with the gators and let building blocks like Livingstone and Barnes leave?

Because it’s easier to retain than it is to pull someone away. Especially from places with very motivated boosters. It’s a mistake if Texas misses/missed out on alternatives while they were pursuing Baugh/Brown/Woods.

Livingstone wasn’t a building block. Muschamp apparently thought less of Barnes than you.

8 minutes ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

Gerry said back to Florida.

This should be the motto for this thread.

200w.gif

30 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

The Texas staff, both coaches and Harris' team alike, have been saying for more than a month to folks they deal with externally that they had 3 IOLs locked in and ready to transfer when the portal opened. I didn't know that they were the two Michigan guys and the Wyoming C, but clearly that was who they were banking on when pushing that narrative.

I can forgive the Michigan guys getting away, but to have your plans in which you had put all your eggs in the basket for a C go south because the guy showed up and wasn’t as big as you thought he was is just ridiculous.

Edited by Duane Moore

1 minute ago, The Dog said:

There are people who know more than I do but I'd think the lack of visibility into who they have for "Plan B" is what's driving the angst.

For me, it’s the staffs over confidence. They were sure they had 3 IOL lined up when the portal opened, until they didn’t, they were sure the RB situation was handled, until it wasn’t, they were confident about landing Jayden Woods until he stayed put.

Now they’re letting Barnes walk, because they’re confident about landing their top LB targets to replace him at better value. Great.

1 minute ago, BurntEyes said:

Plan Bs should have closed shortly after Plan A fell through. It appears there is arrogance or stupidity at play in some of these efforts and my guess is both.

What is ‘shortly’? If your backup is a guy not in the portal yet because he’s waiting to hear if the Texas money is available how quickly is that going to happen?

4 minutes ago, Chuckie Finster said:

Finding guys who will stay for four years without being a wasted scholarship will soon be as important as landing elite talent. Like in baseball - finding a talented kid who isn’t good enough to get drafted before he steps on campus.

Seems to me there's likely to be a systemic issue where a league that is mostly developmental in-nature is actively discouraged from developing talent.

Clark and Barnes illustrate how in a single-portal world it's risky to give bowl PT to talented backups of guys who opted out. For any rivals looking to poach, it's a conveniently timed audition. Maybe ND had the right idea.

It seems to me the staff should have gotten its head out of its ass the minute that Michigan hired their head coach and offensive line coach. Both coaches are good (especially their Oline coach by most accounts) so I would anticipate that they would work with boosters to retain the two linemen.

14 minutes ago, Gut Wagon said:

The quicker we go back to filling all of our HS classes with Centex white bread, the quicker this roster raiding will end.

Think Dota 2 GIF by Alliance

Do you know what kind of bread they recruit at LSU?

Challah!!!!

I think our portal strategy for this year was clear, and I think the results of that strategy are also very clear. From the looks of it Sarkisian was banking on all of the coaching turnover and churn shaking out some legit stars into the portal. While not a terrible thought, I think it was a miscalculation as to how hard schools will fight to keep those guys with new incoming coaching staffs desperate to start off well. To make it worse, we went after other schools in our stratosphere of spending in Michigan, Florida, etc. Just like we overspent to keep Worthy here and tell USC to go fuck off, I am sure these other schools did the same just to set an example. Clearly this did not work and now we are scrambling.

2 minutes ago, hook me said:

Shooting Shoot Your Shot GIF

Can you please stop posting Chendall Weaver game film in the recruiting board?

Edited by HateYouAndMyself

1 minute ago, Lonestar88 said:

For me, it’s the staffs over confidence. They were sure they had 3 IOL lined up when the portal opened, until they didn’t, they were sure the RB situation was handled, until it wasn’t, they were confident about landing Jayden Woods until he stayed put.

Now they’re letting Barnes walk, because they’re confident about landing their top LB targets to replace him at better value. Great.

Each one could maybe be explained and excused. Taken as a whole, Sark and staff are beyond clueless at navigating this Portal window.

When do we start worrying about the numbers???????

Additions.

Player

Position

Old School

Eligibility (years)

Ian Geffrard

DL

Arkansas

2

Trey Dubuc

LS

New Mexico

2

Gianni Spetic

K

Memphis

1

Mac Chiumento

P

Florida State

1

Michael Masunas

TE

Michigan State

2

Bo Mascoe

CB

Rutgers

2

Losses.

Player

Position

New School

Jerrick Gibson

Running Back

Purdue

CJ Baxter

Running Back

N/A

Quintrevion Wisner

Running Back

Florida State

Liona Lefau

Linebacker

N/A

Trey Owens

Quarterback

N/A

Derek Williams Jr.

Safety

RETURNING TO TEXAS

DeAndre Moore Jr.

Wide Receiver

N/A

Santana Wilson

Cornerback

N/A

Rickey Stewart Jr.

Running Back

N/A

Aaron Butler

Wide Receiver

Oregon State

Connor Stroh

Offensive Lineman

Kansas

Parker Livingstone

Wide Receiver

N/A

Lavon Johnson

Defensive Lineman

N/A

Neto Umeozulu

Offensive Lineman

N/A

Caleb Chester

Cornerback

Arizona State

Colin Page

Running Back

N/A

Nate Kibble

Offensive Lineman

Baylor

Daniel Cruz

Center

N/A

Elijah Barnes

Linebacker

N/A

9 minutes ago, Helobious said:

For all intensive purposes we have an unlimited NIL budget, yet we seem to be operating like we have the budget of Kennesaw State. How the fuck do you let those Florida guys stay with the gators and let building blocks like Livingstone and Barnes leave?

Let's be honest about this. Texas tried to steal what is arguably Florida's top NFL prospect. Imagine if someone came after Simmons, what do you think Texas's response would be? It sucks, but anyone that though this was not going to a tough battle was kidding themselves.

sidenote: seems like a lot of guys are testing the waters this year and returning to their team.

Edited by Codaxx

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