2026 Anthony "Tank" Jones 5* DE from Mobile, AL Commits to Oregon

[TOcane]

That’s “ur world.” U’re not trying to go to the league. That’s the difference between the mindset of a competitor vs. chasing the bag. Furthermore, as I’ve explained many times, NIL does not work like a real, arbitrated, unionized contract. These deals r put together by boogey men in the shadows posing as legit businessmen on behalf of the schools.

There’s a lot of funny languages found in many of these deals, where kids r getting screwed. This is temporary $$, & the goal is to get to long term $$ which is the NFL. We have to be able to show not only r we winning, but we’re sending kids to the NFL, & I’m not talking 5th Rd.

No long term decisions that are good for you are made the way the poster is saying that your responding to. Money is always the biggest driver but there is a reason people build relationships. It's very rare in high end sales you are going to just stupidly outbid someone and that's all that matters. There are too many variables that play roles into deals and the money is the only obvious. Your post is how kids should be thinking. Hopefully you can sell 1 kid at a position that changes the narrative and keeps it going and then it makes it easier for you when the money is the same.

 

[Dwinstitles]

In my world, money talks. Idgaf is Jesus Christ was coaching WRs at Ohio State. You make the kid an absurd offer. One he can’t refuse. If you can’t do that, then just be content BATTLING for ACCCG appearances…

Not looking at it as a fan and thinking from where I grew up, I am taking the money. I could get injured or I could be not that good and peaked at HS. Give me the money cause it may not be there again, you do not leave money on the table. No athlete really ever does.

 

[JHallCanes]

In 2024, before the season how much more was Jeremiah Smith worth than JoJo Trader? Let’s say you gave Smith the absurd offer - $4M per year. How much do you elevate JoJo? They’re both elite players coming out of high school. And by extension how does it affect the rest of the wide receiver room?

I really hate to break it to people but if we had offered Jeremiah Smith 4 million OSU would have done the same thing to keep him

But I’ll just let fans keep saying make an offer they can’t refuse like we are the only ones with money

Nevermind OSU just had like a sold out practice that was direct fund raising for NIL

Miami is aggressive and ahead of the curve in many ways as far as NIL goes but saying “more money” is just such a shallow lack of perspective POV

 

[JHallCanes]

Some of yall ain’t never had a **** day worrying about overhead in your lives and it shows

 

[grover]

As in all cases on here, people seem to assume it's binary and take extreme points of view. There is a lot that goes into a recruit's decision. Immediate money certainly matters, but so does proven development, coaches, team, media coverage, location, culture, winning, , etc. If every Top 10-15 NIL program can match for any given recruit, or even stay close enough where the rest of it comes into play, that will make a difference.

There's a reason Mario and Mirabal have more success getting OL, Dawson has more success getting QB transfers and slot receivers, Taylor has more success getting DEs. We can match in NIL (or pay less of a suck tax) and land those kids because they see a path to the NFL and buy into all the other stuff Mario is pitching. Same thing in the reverse for outside WRs and DTs. Other programs with proven NFL development can match our NIL or pay slightly less and we will lose them.

 

[JHallCanes]

As in all cases on here, people seem to assume it's binary and take extreme points of view. There is a lot that goes into a recruit's decision. Immediate money certainly matters, but so does proven development, coaches, team, media coverage, location, culture, winning, , etc. If every Top 10-15 NIL program can match for any given recruit, or even stay close enough where the rest of it comes into play, that will make a difference.

There's a reason Mario and Mirabal have more success getting OL, Dawson has more success getting QB transfers and slot receivers, Taylor has more success getting DEs. We can match in NIL (or pay less of a suck tax) and land those kids because they see a path to the NFL and buy into all the other stuff Mario is pitching. Same thing in the reverse for outside WRs and DTs. Other programs with proven NFL development can match our NIL or pay slightly less and we will lose them.

I think Mario is a very good recruiter but lord knows he can make life easier on himself by switching some narratives

I mean he has already done that with landing Cam and Beck and bringing in Dawson

Part of the problem is those first two classes are gonna cause us some issues for a while it’s why I keep harping on the 2024 class this year on the field

 

[grover]

I think Mario is a very good recruiter but lord knows he can make life easier on himself by switching some narratives

I mean he has already done that with landing Cam and Beck and bringing in Dawson

Part of the problem is those first two classes are gonna cause us some issues for a while it’s why I keep harping on the 2024 class this year on the field

I feel like the problems are mostly positional. And to your point, whatever you think of those two classes, there's no one at WR and DT who looks like they're going on the first 2 days unless Ray Ray and Moten suddenly become AAs. Or Safety for that matter unless Brown (do you count Richard at this point?) moves to S and jumps to a high draft pick.

On the other hand, the younger guys can still change the narrative to some degree with a great season. What if Scott lives up to his 5-star rating? What if Jojo, Moore and/or Toney have a breakout year? Even Lucas who is a transfer is a local, should help with Safety recruiting. I believe in Mario, but he has to make it happen now. Not just finally making the ACCCG and playoffs, but also in sustaining that success for 2026 and beyond. I'm firmly in the No EXCUSES camp at this point.

 

[grover]

The good news in recruiting is it literally never stops. Mario had huge misses to end the 2025 high school recruiting cycle (though I think the guys he got will turn out to be high quality), then turned around and landed a very impressive Winter portal group, then filled nearly all the gaps in Spring portal group. And many of those transfers are multiyear.

He can still expand his board like he's doing at DL, flip kids from struggling programs late in the cycle like he did with Lowe last year and multiple guys in the 2024 cycle, go get Winter portal adds, go get Spring portal adds, and overrecruit positions where we're thin in the 2027 class. 24/7 year-round talent acquisition. And Mario remains elite at this IMO.

 

[Dgixxer252525]

In 2024, before the season how much more was Jeremiah Smith worth than JoJo Trader? Let’s say you gave Smith the absurd offer - $4M per year. How much do you elevate JoJo? They’re both elite players coming out of high school. And by extension how does it affect the rest of the wide receiver room?

Those are all very valid questions and points. I know that as fans, we want to win every recruiting battle and that maybe coaches value kids differently than we do

 

[JHallCanes]

I feel like the problems are mostly positional. And to your point, whatever you think of those two classes, there's no one at WR and DT who looks like they're going on the first 2 days unless Ray Ray and Moten suddenly become AAs. Or Safety for that matter unless Brown (do you count Richard at this point?) moves to S and jumps to a high draft pick.

On the other hand, the younger guys can still change the narrative to some degree with a great season. What if Scott lives up to his 5-star rating? What if Jojo, Moore and/or Toney have a breakout year? Even Lucas who is a transfer is a local, should help with Safety recruiting. I believe in Mario, but he has to make it happen now. Not just finally making the ACCCG and playoffs, but also in sustaining that success for 2026 and beyond. I'm firmly in the No EXCUSES camp at this point.

Yeah I posted about that the other day we only have one skill position player (out of about 9-10 I think) that is here to make an impact in 2025 from those 2022-2023 classes and that’s Fletcher

I mean the portal is cool and I’m a big proponent but you can’t have that

 

[GojiraCane]

Those are all very valid questions and points. I know that as fans, we want to win every recruiting battle and that maybe coaches value kids differently than we do

To me it seems you have to be careful because absurd offers can lead to overall roster spending going out of control across multiple position groups.

 

[The Sphinx]

I really hate to break it to people but if we had offered Jeremiah Smith 4 million OSU would have done the same thing to keep him

But I’ll just let fans keep saying make an offer they can’t refuse like we are the only ones with money

Nevermind OSU just had like a sold out practice that was direct fund raising for NIL

Miami is aggressive and ahead of the curve in many ways as far as NIL goes but saying “more money” is just such a shallow lack of perspective POV

Thank you and you beat me to it.

Do y’all really think we can out bag OSU, UGA and Texas on a consistent basis??!? Really?

Do you realize what their entire football budget is? Sure, we make an absurd offer - if one of those 3 schools wants said recruit bad enough, they have the funds to match or beat our absurd offer.

 

[GojiraCane]

Thank you and you beat me to it.

Do y’all really think we can out bag OSU, UGA and Texas on a consistent basis??!? Really?

Do you realize what their entire football budget is? Sure, we make an absurd offer - if one of those 3 schools wants said recruit bad enough, they have the funds to match or beat our absurd offer.

$1B dollars, OSU.

Match it, Porter school.

 

[TrumpyCane]

Thank you and you beat me to it.

Do y’all really think we can out bag OSU, UGA and Texas on a consistent basis??!? Really?

Do you realize what their entire football budget is? Sure, we make an absurd offer - if one of those 3 schools wants said recruit bad enough, they have the funds to match or beat our absurd offer.

TrumpyCane doesn't think so but our goal should be to out bag for certain players

 

[JHallCanes]

Thank you and you beat me to it.

Do y’all really think we can out bag OSU, UGA and Texas on a consistent basis??!? Really?

Do you realize what their entire football budget is? Sure, we make an absurd offer - if one of those 3 schools wants said recruit bad enough, they have the funds to match or beat our absurd offer.

I’m not an NIL expert but I know people involved at multiple universities and it’s the same vibe

Yes there’s a budget in general but when it comes to certain elite prospects that budget no longer exists

That’s why this whole “diverting funds” thing I believe is false when talking certain guys

So then it circles back to what @Rellyrell was saying about development (not always of course but in general) and it makes sense

Like look who are the 5 stars we’ve landed since Mario got here:

Mauigoa (Mario and Mirabal coached)
Samson (same)
Cantwell (same)
Lowe (hall of fame position coach)
Justin Scott goes against that trend so it’s possible of course

Also why I’ve felt Scott is the most important recruit we’ve landed in a very long time simply from a position need but also we have to establish something for the future

 

[grover]

I’m not an NIL expert but I know people involved at multiple universities and it’s the same vibe

Yes there’s a budget in general but when it comes to certain elite prospects that budget no longer exists

That’s why this whole “diverting funds” thing I believe is false when talking certain guys

So then it circles back to what @Rellyrell was saying about development (not always of course but in general) and it makes sense

Like look who are the 5 stars we’ve landed since Mario got here:

Mauigoa (Mario and Mirabal coached)
Samson (same)
Cantwell (same)
Lowe (hall of fame position coach)
Justin Scott goes against that trend so it’s possible of course

Also why I’ve felt Scott is the most important recruit we’ve landed in a very long time simply from a position need but also we have to establish something for the future

Facts. We NEED Scott to be in the conversation after this season projected to be a Day 1/2 guy to get some street credit at DT.

 

[skeeter]

TrumpyCane doesn't think so but our goal should be to out bag for certain players

Ummm why would you think that isn’t the goal.

 

[PUNCICANE]

I can tell u unequivocally that player development for true guys who wanna make the league is still the #1 incentive. NIL plays a huge role, & 4 some, it’s the only thing that matters, but player development is numero uno.

Do u think Carson Beck comes here if Ward didn’t just become 1st overall? Yeah the $$ was great, but this **** been driving a Lambo before transferring w what he had at UGA. My youngin played w Longstreet (5* QB) last season. Longstreet was committed to notorious bag school TAMU. He flipped to SC last minute not b/c they paid more, but this kid wants to go to the league & was convinced by Riley’s track record of putting QBs in the NFL.

We have to stop devaluing or underestimating what top tier athletes want; the end goal is still NFL.

This is why Mario gets elite OL commits. OSU gets WRs….

 

[Canesfan1899]

Yeah I posted about that the other day we only have one skill position player (out of about 9-10 I think) that is here to make an impact in 2025 from those 2022-2023 classes and that’s Fletcher

I mean the portal is cool and I’m a big proponent but you can’t have that

Can’t live in the portal, need that to supplement, or you turn into fspoo.

 

[Damiencane86]

we’ve got like 2 recruited and developed pro prospects at the moment

Cooper and Mauigoa

We will see about Bain. Wild how the board called him fat and lazy all last year and now suddenly hyping him as a first round pick but whatever

So you’re telling me it’s a coincidence that we got Jackson Cantwell!?!?

Bain definitely lost quite a bit of body fat this offseason. Hopefully it translates on field. If so he will be #3 for sure