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2026 Derrek Cooper 5* RB/ATH from Chaminade Commits to Texas

Gables Canes said:
To be fair, everyone had Cooper previously going to Miami, including D$.
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Not in the know but definitely was a silent commit who was bagged up till Texas upped the bag and put the cherry on top of “your our only RB croot this cycle and an inside track to start next year”
 
Big loss. But we lack the performance on the field for these big timers to trust us. We need a really good year and that will fix it. But we need to go to the playoff. No other option.
 
PBJFanatic said:
Big loss. But we lack the performance on the field for these big timers to trust us. We need a really good year and that will fix it. But we need to go to the playoff. No other option.
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That’s BS. We got outbid. Same reason we’ve lost most head to head battles. We win(outbid) some and we lose some. I personally think RB is not the place to be throwing huge money at. We need to try and flip WRs and DTs. What’s lifewallet looking like these days haha
 
kedr said:
It’s just bad timing, right as we get a big-time recruiter for a head coach, the NIL-era begins. NIL completely outweighs recruiting ability now and for the foreseeable future.

Lincoln Riley is not a great recruiter (except for QBs). Mike Elko is not some recruiting guru. Brian Kelly, Kalen DeBoer…the list goes on. They all have top-notch NIL operations and will end up in the top 5-7 classes.

A bit simplistic, but essentially it all boils down to 2 things:
A) Get the players in the building (basically just NIL)
B) Get players drafted high year after year

Part B requires getting as many talented players to begin with - hence Part A and why NIL basically determines everything. In the past there were some position coaches where we could just have them be great recruiters and not have to be upper level in terms of actual coaching ability, but maybe that shifts going forward.

Cam Ward, Francis in 2026, we badly need impact NFL players. There are essentially no Canes on the all pro or pro bowl squads. No Canes winning awards. Slowly but surely we can get impact players into the league, but in the meantime it’s all about NIL. If you have the 50th best NIL program, you will end up with around the 50th best class. Maybe an elite recruiter can bump you up a couple of spots beyond your NIL level, but that’s probably it.
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I dont know if I buy that. Lincoln Riley and Brian Kelly both had their teams in the top 10 of recruiting most years before nil. Kalen Doebor and Elko its hard to say because one was at Duke and the other at Washington. Not exactly a easy sell. Plus its not like we dont have a top nil program in the country, even our haters cant deny that. I think the lack of development and the unproveness of our staff is being used against us big time.
 
JZCane0825 said:
case in point
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Confused Tbs Network GIF by The Detour

The Tale of JZcane
 
TexasCane90 said:
Not in the know but definitely was a silent commit who was bagged up till Texas upped the bag and put the cherry on top of “your our only RB croot this cycle and an inside track to start next year”
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If he didn’t go to Texas he was going to Georgia
 
Texas has not been coy about trying to emulate what Ohio State did last year, via recruiting and the portal, trying to put together the pieces for a national championship team next year and the year after. They are reeling in a lot of players that were not even on their radar until late in the game.
We are not going to win every recruiting battle in this current arms race. The money these kids are receiving is life changing. Not hating on UM coaching staff for not getting a kid that went to a team that paid for his commitment, has been recently relevant in the sport and has also been relevant in the expanded playoffs.

When it comes to our wants and our needs, UM winning and making the 2025 CF playoffs will go a long way with some of these local kids. Winning solves a lot of our problems.

A lot of these kids only stay at these schools for a year then jump into the transfer portal for either more money or more play time. Best of luck to D. Cooper but in this day and age you gotta remain diplomatic and you gotta have thick skin. This kid could end up at UM in the future.
If he doesn’t end up at UM, this coaching staff will neither stop recruiting elite local talent or elite RBs. We will be fine.
 
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