2023 Cormani McClain CB Commits to Colorado

[SWFLHurricane]

I was just at a secret MLK Holiday luncheon with a multitude of current/former coaches, staff, players and notable alum. We started it about 6-7 years ago.

Some candid discussions were had and the immediate future looks bright.

Footnote: we purposefully have not invited @SWFLHurricane over the years. No one can stand that guy.

****...that'll make me lose sleep at night...

 

[Jassid82]

I just think that is wishful thinking based on how you feel about the kid right now. I would be shocked if he doesnt pan out.

depending on the definition of pan out I guess..Hes definitely All-conference at the minimum but the hype on this kid was top 5 NFL pick in 3 years and take it to the bank. Dont even have a 2nd thought. That hes a sure thing. We will see. I definitely still want him in O&G.

 

[Cribby]

Why should players be held to a standard higher than coaches, administrators, support staff, and everyone else much less responsible for the money-making behemoth college football has turned into?

When a kid leaves and breaks his contract the school won’t get a huge buyout like most programs when a coach leaves. So the school / collective spends hundreds of thousands of dollars or more on a scholarship , housing , nutrition , medical , development / coaching then he gets a wild hair up his butt and leaves. So now you have to recruit / negotiate with your entire roster as well as all the HS kids. While agents and other programs are in contact, with a weak and powerless Ncaa overseeing things.

This is already legal pay for play and the school by law has no hand in it. So the NIL contracts aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. A player has a decent year and I mean ” decent “ he demands 300-500 k or else. Even though he has an active deal.

If you don’t want a cap cool , don’t have one but there has to be something in place to slow down the chaos. Right now It’s beyond the wild Wild West.

If people actually knew the insanity that was going on they’d change their minds on making a kid sit one year. It’s a small ask imo.

 

[hoops156]

When a kid leaves and breaks his contract the school won’t get a huge buyout like most programs when a coach leaves. So the school / collective spends hundreds of thousands of dollars or more on a scholarship , housing , nutrition , medical , development / coaching then he gets a wild hair up his butt and leaves. So now you have to recruit / negotiate with your entire roster as well as all the HS kids. While agents and other programs are in contact, with a weak and powerless Ncaa overseeing things.

This is already legal pay for play and the school by law has no hand in it. So the NIL contracts aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. A player has a decent year and I mean ” decent “ he demands 300-500 k or else. Even though he has an active deal.

If you don’t want a cap cool , don’t have one but there has to be something in place to slow down the chaos. Right now It’s beyond the wild Wild West.

If people actually knew the insanity that was going on they’d change their minds on making a kid sit one year. It’s a small ask imo.

eliminate collectives. plain and simple. the NIL was stuff was never supposed to be for collectives imo. it was suppsoed to be businesses that see the beneift in having a famous college football player as a sponsor (Raising Canes hiring Rattler, Kool-Aid signing Kool-Aid, etc.)

 

[Cribby]

well tech, the NIL deals arent with the school technically so thats where its tough but id just eliminate collectives.

That’s the issue. This whole thing was thrown together with no parameters. Bringing back make a kid sit one year calms things down while everyone still makes their money.

 

[Cribby]

You should not be able to transfer where your coordinator or position coach went. That create an even bigger **** show.

Agree.

 

[PennsylvaniaCane]

When a kid leaves and breaks his contract the school won’t get a huge buyout like most programs when a coach leaves. So the school / collective spends hundreds of thousands of dollars or more on a scholarship , housing , nutrition , medical , development / coaching then he gets a wild hair up his butt and leaves. So now you have to recruit / negotiate with your entire roster as well as all the HS kids. While agents and other programs are in contact, with a weak and powerless Ncaa overseeing things.

This is already legal pay for play and the school by law has no hand in it. So the NIL contracts aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. A player has a decent year and I mean ” decent “ he demands 300-500 k or else. Even though he has an active deal.

If you don’t want a cap cool , don’t have one but there has to be something in place to slow down the chaos. Right now It’s beyond the wild Wild West.

If people actually knew the insanity that was going on they’d change their minds on making a kid sit one year. It’s a small ask imo.

I think the one year sit out benefits the players as well in the long run. The fact there’s hundreds of players who willingly or unwillingly got into the portal and have no landing spot is really bad for the sport overall. Benefitting the top 5-10% of players and punishing the others. The one year sit out keeps both sides honest.

 

[Warrior808]

That’s the issue. This whole thing was thrown together with no parameters. Bringing back make a kid sit one year calms things down while everyone still makes their money.

I been saying this since they took away the sit out rule. Its such a simple and easy solution that does not limit a players ability to transfer or put any cap on NIL money. It just calms down this out of control fire.

 

[ssj4cane]

I think the one year sit out benefits the players as well in the long run. The fact there’s hundreds of players who willingly or unwillingly got into the portal and have no landing spot is really bad for the sport overall. Benefitting the top 5-10% of players and punishing the others. The one year sit out keeps both sides honest.

One year sit is fair but I think the players should get a guaranteed 4 year scholarship when they sign. As long as the player doesn't break code of conduct issues he should get the chance to get his degree without worry of not getting his scholarship renewed.

 

[Canefan73]

Since NIL contracts are being written just as most other business contracts could we see NIL's having non-compete clauses added? Something to the affect of if they leave it has to be out of conference etc....

 

[PennsylvaniaCane]

One year sit is fair but I think the players should get a guaranteed 4 year scholarship when they sign. As long as the player doesn't break code of conduct issues he should get the chance to get his degree without worry of not getting his scholarship renewed.

I’d be good with that.

 

[hurricaneman]

The best way to calm the insanity down is bringing back sitting out a year if you leave. Only if there’s a head coach change or a legit reason to get a waiver. It’s free agency right now and it’s hurting Cfb.

It’s gone from the program having all the power to the kid having it all. You get your money but you can just leave when a school / collective offers you more.

The stories I hear are just unbelievable , a kid has a decent year and he’s demanding six figures or else. It’s lunacy.

It's also a result of a league operating without a salary cap where nobody wants to admit the teams are actually paying the players. You can't sustain a system at this level where everyone is winking and nodding to each other about the reality of the situation and there's no oversight. That's destined to fail.

It's also groundbreaking for sports, and the business world in general, in that we're in a situation where people with no financial stake in a business (fans) are willing to just give their money away to fund a payroll without a monetary return on their investment. There's utility in the sense that they're paying millions of dollars to make a show more entertaining to them, but where's the precedent for that? It would be like watching a TV show that's getting cancelled and you contact the network and say, "I'll give you the millions you need to keep the show on, I just need to see how it ends. Don't worry about paying me for whatever revenue the show earns".

Everyone, at some point, needs to stop pretending and they need to establish a new body to govern this and establish rules. I think the major conferences should spin off. And I think the first rule should be that outside of an established payroll and salary cap that CAN be funded by fans and boosters, no additional money can be sent a players way via those same fans and boosters.

You can't fix this thing through a new rule here and there.

 

[Ghandi]

Since NIL contracts are being written just as most other business contracts could we see NIL's having non-compete clauses added? Something to the affect of if they leave it has to be out of conference etc....

Non-competes are really difficult to enforce, especially after recent rulings at the higher courts.

They’ll have to figure out better ways to do it. The issue is the “it can’t be inducement” when it obviously is. That’s the phrase that is giving all of the leverage to the student athlete.

 

[Da Jumbo Mutombo]

When a kid leaves and breaks his contract the school won’t get a huge buyout like most programs when a coach leaves. So the school / collective spends hundreds of thousands of dollars or more on a scholarship , housing , nutrition , medical , development / coaching then he gets a wild hair up his butt and leaves. So now you have to recruit / negotiate with your entire roster as well as all the HS kids. While agents and other programs are in contact, with a weak and powerless Ncaa overseeing things.

This is already legal pay for play and the school by law has no hand in it. So the NIL contracts aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. A player has a decent year and I mean ” decent “ he demands 300-500 k or else. Even though he has an active deal.

If you don’t want a cap cool , don’t have one but there has to be something in place to slow down the chaos. Right now It’s beyond the wild Wild West.

If people actually knew the insanity that was going on they’d change their minds on making a kid sit one year. It’s a small ask imo.

Yup I said it from day one, the transfer portal (with immediate eligibility would be a disaster). The way i see it, there are two fixes:

1. No immediate eligibility unless your HC leaves or is fired. Otherwise, sit a year.

2. Quit the sharades with this NLI **** not being connected to school. Make it connected to schools and make the contract enforceable. If in year 2 the kid wants to leave, you have to buy out the school from the contract. If in year 2 the kid wants a raise? Tough fckin ****. You signed a contract, so pay the buy out or sit.

 

[Da Jumbo Mutombo]

It's also a result of a league operating without a salary cap where nobody wants to admit the teams are actually paying the players. You can't sustain a system at this level where everyone is winking and nodding to each other about the reality of the situation and there's no oversight. That's destined to fail.

It's also groundbreaking for sports, and the business world in general, in that we're in a situation where people with no financial stake in a business (fans) are willing to just give their money away to fund a payroll without a monetary return on their investment. There's utility in the sense that they're paying millions of dollars to make a show more entertaining to them, but where's the precedent for that? It would be like watching a TV show that's getting cancelled and you contact the network and say, "I'll give you the millions you need to keep the show on, I just need to see how it ends. Don't worry about paying me for whatever revenue the show earns".

Everyone, at some point, needs to stop pretending and they need to establish a new body to govern this and establish rules. I think the major conferences should spin off. And I think the first rule should be that outside of an established payroll and salary cap that CAN be funded by fans and boosters, no additional money can be sent a players way via those same fans and boosters.

You can't fix this thing through a new rule here and there.

I agree, ppl need to stop pretending the schools aren't involved in NLI.

As you your precedent question...look no further than CFB. It was just under the table before and hidden. Now its out in the open.

 

[SSCane]

They will have alot of deion highlight speeches.

That will grow old, when they start losing a ton of games. I don’t think Deion makes it to year three.

 

[Cribby]

I agree, ppl need to stop pretending the schools aren't involved in NLI.

As you your precedent question...look no further than CFB. It was just under the table before and hidden. Now its out in the open.

It’s bs . The whole thing is smoke and mirrors. Of course the schools are involved even though they aren’t lol.

Agree with everything.

 

[hurricaneman]

As you your precedent question...look no further than CFB. It was just under the table before and hidden. Now its out in the open.

Agreed. But the ironic thing is the under the table part actually acted as governing tool in that you couldn't pay a player or players too much because it would become very obvious and you'd get caught. There was, albeit with little teeth, consequences.

 

[Cribby]

I think the one year sit out benefits the players as well in the long run. The fact there’s hundreds of players who willingly or unwillingly got into the portal and have no landing spot is really bad for the sport overall. Benefitting the top 5-10% of players and punishing the others. The one year sit out keeps both sides honest.

Another good poInt.

 

[Hoyacane1620]

From ON3 this morning:

Speaking to a source close to the situation in Lakeland on Wednesday morning, it appears that Miami remains an option.

“He’s committed to Miami still but is playing the game,” . “I know how secretive the kid is. I think they are still waiting (to make a final decision). If they knew what they were going to do they would have announced it already.”

The source also said that not only did McClain keep Miami coaches in the dark about his Colorado visit, but he also kept the Lakeland High coaching staff in the dark. The net result of that was Miami sending up its entire defensive staff to Lakeland High on Friday unaware that McClain was already on his way to Boulder,

“Nobody knew anything about it,” the source said. “He’s just having fun.”

The source also said that a film crew has begun following McClain around, apparently part of a documentary that his mother told a reporter about back in December. It was described as “a group” of camera people by the source.

It all makes for quite the recruitment.

This is the recipe so far: Top recruit + secrecy + documentary = chaos.

Oh, and let’s also throw this in: Per the source, apparently the McClain family was unaware that he couldn’t sign anywhere Jan. 15. Originally Cormani was telling people that he would be signing this past Sunday.

Of course, that was impossible. The three-day December signing window had long since passed. And the next window to sign a binding letter-of-intent doesn’t start until Feb. 1.

“I don’t think they realized that,” the source said.

Now there will likely be a couple of more weeks of drama, as Miami apparently will still take McClain if he opts to stick with his commitment.

So what will ultimately be the final stop of this bizarre recruiting road show?