This thread has broken a lot of yalls brains. This place has gone into absolute panic mode so quick lol. This season will tell us just about everything we need to know...
We are almost certainly spending in the 5-10 range for NIL on the team as a whole. Where we stack up in cash avaialble for this 26 HS class IDK, but I'd bet its closer to 10 than 3.... There are some programs clearly spending more that have performed worse on the field than us recently, but will out-recruit us on average or especially for any handful of recruits. We probably win very few of those head to head battles where we are the clear lower bidder because we don't have a great performance record even if it's better than some of these teams (like USC/A&M). Being slightly better but still bad doesn't count for all that much. Then There are some programs spending basically the same as us that have consistently performed MUCH better on the field, and thus will out recruit us on many recruits, but we will still win some H2H battles over them (UGA/Bama/OhioSt/Clemson). There are some programs that both outspend and outperform us recently (Texas/Oregon/etc), that it will be VERY difficult for us to win H2H battles against. Then finally there are programs that may spend less on average but can match or even spend more for any 1 recruit and win a single H2H recruiting battle. .... All these are factors Mario has to overcome to get us to the goal of top 5 class. It's still only July. There is a lot of time, but top 5 is a goal, It's very difficult to accomplish. Right now we're currently sitting on a good class that needs a handful of players to become a great class. Basically if we can flip like 2 top Dlineman at some point this year, our class will be looking VERY Good. And right now, I'd say It's VERY likely this class ends as Marios 2nd best class here, regardless of all the current doom and gloom right now. Recruiting aint for the weak, and right now there is a lot of people acting like little girls tbh. Theres 5 months and a whole ******* season to play until NSD.
We have also consistently improved season after season, and have possibly the most complete team on paper we've had in like 20 years. Obviously a lot rides on this season. Its up to Mario to maintain/continue that positive trajectory. There are multiple ways this can be done. 1. Winning the ACC, 2. Making the CFP. 3. Winning 11 games. If any of those 3 things happen, this season will have been a success. But at an absolute minimum we can't take a step back and We absolutely can not have any bs blown games against teams we should easily beat this year. There are 5 key opponents - Louisville, SMU, FSU, ND, and UF. We need to win minimum 3 of those games and then run the table on the rest.