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My .02 on Collins et al...

ghost2

ghost2

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Losing a talent like Alex Collins hurts. A lot. It's a genuine miss by Golden and staff at a position of need.

That said, however you slice things, the playing field for this particular recruit was never level. Call it excuse, rationalization, paranoia, or just simple reasoning - Collins' entire recruitment was FILTHY from the moment he decommitted. Kid lived with his scumbag coach for two years, trusted him implicitly, saw him as a father figure. And that sleaze Gatewood took advantage of Collins' future as a professional football player for his own selfish gain. (Look for "Coach Gatewood" to join the Sooey Pig staff in the not-too-distant future.) Sour grapes? Maybe a little, but can anyone in the country sit here with a straight face and tell you that Arkansas is the best place for Alex Collins? **** in two weeks when the dust all settles, I'm not even sure Alex Collins would tell you that.

I bear ZERO ill-will towards AC in this whole fiasco. Throughout his recruitment you could see a kid who was genuinely torn and just didn't want to let ANYBODY down, least of all the one "man" who was supposed to be looking out for him. I wish Alex nothing but success and luck in his career. As for Gatewood and every other creepy hanger-on trying to get theirs by leeching off the talent of 17-year old boys - there isn't a fire large enough for you to go die in.
 
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Agreed. I really put blind faith in Golden here and thought Collins was a Miami kid at heart in the end.

FWIW I think he still is but it will take some time to realize that.
 
What I saw at the Duke game was a CANE.... The trip to Arky was highly impactful for whatever reason
 
Running backs are a dime a dozen, We need to land defensive talent on NSD.
 
Did winning factor into Collins' decision at all? Never heard the kid mention it once.

IMO, his comments last night were telling. Based his decision on the coaches that would tell him everything was ok if he screwed up. Me thinks Alex has some abandonment issues. Seems the kid is looking for a father figure more than a coach. Not so sure how this kid is going to do in the pressure filled SEC.

Collins is definatley a different type of S Florida kid. Not sure he would have fit in here.
 
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ghost2 said:
Losing a talent like Alex Collins hurts. A lot. It's a genuine miss by Golden and staff at a position of need.

That said, however you slice things, the playing field for this particular recruit was never level. Call it excuse, rationalization, paranoia, or just simple reasoning - Collins' entire recruitment was FILTHY from the moment he decommitted. Kid lived with his scumbag coach for two years, trusted him implicitly, saw him as a father figure. And that sleaze Gatewood took advantage of Collins' future as a professional football player for his own selfish gain. (Look for "Coach Gatewood" to join the Sooey Pig staff in the not-too-distant future.) Sour grapes? Maybe a little, but can anyone in the country sit here with a straight face and tell you that Arkansas is the best place for Alex Collins? **** in two weeks when the dust all settles, I'm not even sure Alex Collins would tell you that.

I bear ZERO ill-will towards AC in this whole fiasco. Throughout his recruitment you could see a kid who was genuinely torn and just didn't want to let ANYBODY down, least of all the one "man" who was supposed to be looking out for him. I wish Alex nothing but success and luck in his career. As for Gatewood and every other creepy hanger-on trying to get theirs by leeching off the talent of 17-year old boys - there isn't a fire large enough for you to go die in.
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Well said and agree 100%.
 
Collins was the one guy who always, always, always brought up the NCAA sanctions.

When you have Al in charge and a kid still brings that up at every opportunity, you know deep down something is ****ed.
 
My $.02: we recruited this kid as hard or harder than any other school recruited him, but we never had a chance. I hoped against hope that he would make an intelligent decision, but he couldn't overcome the adults in his life. It was over before it actually started. It's time to move forward.
 
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Think about it. We lost a 5 star renaissance man from South Florida to Arkansas. Kid could have gone anywhere and he chose the hogs. We are Harvard academically compared to them.
 
3FW said:
Think about it. We lost a 5 star renaissance man from South Florida to Arkansas. Kid could have gone anywhere and he chose the hogs. We are Harvard academically compared to them.
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In a strange way, it's almost refreshing to me. I mean we lose him to FSU of course it stings more, but losing him to Arkansas shows that yeah, sometimes **** is just broken. We always seem to fall back on the same excuses about facing uphill battles and agendas, but sometimes its the truth.
 
You can't lose what you never had. Golden and this staff hasn't missed ****. Golden and this staff has completely overhauled the roster and the fact that these ballers are even considering us again is what's telling to me. The previous regime would have never been in the mix for all of these studs like Golden is right now. As the wins start rolling in and the black cloud that is the NCAA blows over then Golden will land these kids more and more.

All of this negative BS certainly doesn't help.
 
I am going to agree here 100%, If anyone has any ill will against Alex Collins needs to calm the **** down and move on. He is an 18 year old kid. He lived with the coach and honestly I think coach etc whoever put it in his head "Arkansas = Good for your career, Miami = Drama" so the kid made a choice for himself. You can't blame him for that.

It is very easy from the outside to say "Miami is a better place for him"

Gatewood
In regards to Gatewood. at first I didn't care but now....

The fact that be bull_****ted by saying "I don't know where he is I think he left town" I posted that exact moment that AC is going to ARK.. this is a way for him to say "I had nothing to do with his decision" because he knew he was the one responsible for drilling this in his head.


Was ARK the right choice?
Arkansas is a very football driven school and AC will have lots of fans, but Bielman + Turf + Cold Weather + AC used to SF weather = not so great for him.

Gatewood will learn that sometimes.. just sometimes.. its not about how many carries you get but how you get them and when you get them. This is not high school and sorry to say this guys but SEC has hard hitting players vs the ACC.

ACC vs SEC
As a freshman, you want to ease in to this position otherwise you are going to come out bloody mid season.. unless AC is a hesiman type player and he blows up the SEC. I think he would of done much better against ACC vs SEC D.. this year alone SEC is loaded with D and they aim to hurt.

in short
AC made a choice based on not so great info but he is a good kid.. he DID NOT troll anyone and for that you need to respect the kid. I wish him good luck and guys.. he could of gone to FSU or a rivals school! next year we will forget all about this
 
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the news was even baffling to the sports guy on Channel 7 this morning. He said "ArkanSa?", with that you dumb as **** look on his face.
 
Guys need to quit trying to sound even-handed by calling the loss of Charlie Pride to Arkansas a "miss by Golden". It wasn't a "miss". We recruited him harder than anyone. The fix was in, and there are times in life when that **** just can't be overcome. Think about a fighter who fights his *** off and clearly beats his opponent, but the corrupt judges give the decision to his opponent (And spare me the "he should have knocked him out" replies because it's trite and inapplicable). Sometimes, you can do everything right and still get f#cked, and this was one of those times.
 
eliteproxy said:
I am going to agree here 100%, If anyone has any ill will against Alex Collins needs to calm the **** down and move on. He is an 18 year old kid. He lived with the coach and honestly I think coach etc whoever put it in his head "Arkansas = Good for your career, Miami = Drama" so the kid made a choice for himself. You can't blame him for that.

It is very easy from the outside to say "Miami is a better place for him"

Gatewood
In regards to Gatewood. at first I didn't care but now....

The fact that be bull_****ted by saying "I don't know where he is I think he left town" I posted that exact moment that AC is going to ARK.. this is a way for him to say "I had nothing to do with his decision" because he knew he was the one responsible for drilling this in his head.


Was ARK the right choice?
Arkansas is a very football driven school and AC will have lots of fans, but Bielman + Turf + Cold Weather + AC used to SF weather = not so great for him.

Gatewood will learn that sometimes.. just sometimes.. its not about how many carries you get but how you get them and when you get them. This is not high school and sorry to say this guys but SEC has hard hitting players vs the ACC.

ACC vs SEC
As a freshman, you want to ease in to this position otherwise you are going to come out bloody mid season.. unless AC is a hesiman type player and he blows up the SEC. I think he would of done much better against ACC vs SEC D.. this year alone SEC is loaded with D and they aim to hurt.

in short
AC made a choice based on not so great info but he is a good kid.. he DID NOT troll anyone and for that you need to respect the kid. I wish him good luck and guys.. he could of gone to FSU or a rivals school! next year we will forget all about this
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For example . . . Demetrius Summers and Marcus Lattimore were Heisman potential RBs in the SEC . . . they played on grass . . . they were worn out by sophomores
 
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JHallCanes said:
Collins was the one guy who always, always, always brought up the NCAA sanctions.

When you have Al in charge and a kid still brings that up at every opportunity, you know deep down something is ****ed.
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This - it did seem the sanctions were really on his mind based on past comments. I think this is a case where having them looming did have an impact on his decision.
 
The Franchise said:
Guys need to quit trying to sound even-handed by calling the loss of Charlie Pride to Arkansas a "miss by Golden". It wasn't a "miss". We recruited him harder than anyone. The fix was in, and there are times in life when that **** just can't be overcome. Think about a fighter who fights his *** off and clearly beats his opponent, but the corrupt judges give the decision to his opponent (And spare me the "he should have knocked him out" replies because it's trite and inapplicable). Sometimes, you can do everything right and still get f#cked, and this was one of those times.
Click to expand...


I hear ya, Chise and maybe I'm using the word "miss" too strictly here... I'm using it solely from a "you are what your roster says you are" perspective, to paraphrase Parcells. I agree that we were doomed pretty much from the start on this one.
 
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