Werd. So I think I answered a lot of what you wrote already above. I qualified the Larry stuff initially with "fwiw" and in a later post (that maybe you hadn't gotten to yet) I pointed out again that I qualified it. I get it. I would point out that while Larry rarely has anything negative to say about kids, he will often just decline to discuss one rather than falsely endorse them. He also told Donno off air that he thinks this kid is an excellent football player, not on the spot. But then again, we already know he is. He made plays. But like I said, I have a lot more faith in Larry than with the #BKD crowd who haven't seen the kid and are ripping him and the staff for it.
But if you discount Larry, then how about our staff who's jobs, careers, legacies and burning desire to succeed... how about
their evals? One of the best recruiters in the world and an NFL Player Personnel VP. Not good enough? No, let's rag, because, you know, we hate ourselves. How about FSU, who we play every year and who is recruiting very well right now? Or Matt Rhule who built Baylor by making great under the radar evals. Etc. It's not like he doesn't have some interesting offers.
As for the offers, again, we all lament the local underrated or overlooked or tough to project kids that get away and flourished at Vanderbilt, PITT, GT, NCST, L'Ville and on and on. You think those kids picked their schools over Alabama and OSU? LOL. Y'all can't have your cake and eat it too. This is EXACTLY what its supposed to look like. A kid that is a bit tough to evaluate, where most coaches can't see it (let alone the fans lol) who doesn't have all the big offers, but is local and productive. A kid who balls. With heart. And character. And work ethic. We have Mario, Zo, Guidry, LT, coach Joe and a swarm of analysts and recruiting staff who's job it is to identify the kids that are going to blossom later, that the big dogs are overlooking. Now add Mario and Zo's track record, and maybe everyone should have confidence, no?
Ask
@DMoney to repost his list of his All-SFL team or the SFL guys who got drafted and look at how many of them had no big offers coming out. This is what it looks like to nail these evals. We can't demand that UM identify and take the local kids that end up going from a mid program to the NFL and also question when they do find them because the kid doesn't fit the obvious 4* type profile as a HS JR. It's completely disingenuous bull****. You can't have your cake and eat it too and ***** about it on the way in and out.
I would also say a lot of people popped off without even seeing his stats, which were legit. As far as the DPOTY (as a JR, no less!) thing, it has validity. It's not absolute, plenty of athletes excel on one level, but their talents don't translate to the next. But as my home girl Martha used to say back on the skreets of CT... it's a good thing. This kid was productive as ****. If you're looking for "why," it's another positive piece of the puzzle. If he's a poor man's Bain, another kid who didn't have prototypical size but was very productive, then stick a needle in my arm and fill me with as much of it as you can.
I'll tell you what else, you need some scrappers. Some worth ethic guys in each class. Some hungry mother ****ers who haven't had 247 etc blowing smoke up their asses telling them they are gods gift for three years. You need some dogs to make sure the 4 and 5 star kids know there is someone ready to outwork them. I don't want an all-star roster. Look at what happened with TAMU. Even Bama, OSU, UGA etc sually balance off their classes with some guys like this. Guys that will die out there. Guys who aren't already thinking about the draft. Those are the guys who also probably bring some stability to a roster in this portal/NIL age. Top P5 football programs are each billion dollar companies with cutthroat comp. Mario KILLS himself recruiting 365. You really think he's just like, whatever take the mid kid in May? THINK. There are a lot of levels to this ****, its not as linear as people think it is. We need to know what we don't know.
We have a LOT of momentum at DL. If Mario, Zo, Guidry, LT, coach Joe want this guy, then there is a reason and I'm good. Not that me or anyone else here being good with it or not matters one little ****.
The end. Also I had four bushwackers at dinner.
