re: Portal Extravaganza - the Freeze 4 horsemen of the apocalypse edition

Sorry I havent had time to catch up since earlier yesterday afternoon so I apologize if similar has been posted. But.......Im sure there's another 7 figure backup prospect that's proven as TJ Finley out there somewhere. I've been all B.Brown for QB1 from start regardless of it keeps another player on this losing squad or not. Until we whiff on Brown and replacing the Oline with talent then Im good. If Golesh does those things and sucessfully makes his offense work here with his guy, then signing a QB as good or better than Deuce wont be hard after this year.
We may not be better next year but it wont be because the same Bum coach fielding a squad full of loafing underachievers is robbing AU for 30plus Million because of the names on the back and that I can handle. WDE!!!

Oh yeah, Deuces!

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If I'm not mistaken it seems like our best wide receivers over the past couple of years came from the portal. If golesh strikes out big time in the portal I would be worried. I honestly think he's going to do great things at auburn.

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I'm not worried about WR at all. This is not a difficult position to fill, and this is an offensive system that churns out receiver production when there is a good QB leading it. On top of that, the USF WR room which I expect we will pillage is legitimately talented.

Replacing almost the entire OL is the bigger question mark, and this is where their scouting ability will be tested. The bright side is that since OL talent is hard to evaluate and project out of HS, there normally are pop-up guys across the country who put on ~30+ pounds or got faster/stronger and are now ready to line up in the SEC. You just need to find them.

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Portal Extravaganza - the Freeze 4 horsemen of the apocalypse edition

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Portal Extravaganza - our pets’ heads are falling off edition

Just a thought… hahahahahahahahaha

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Portal Extravaganza - our pets’ heads are falling off edition

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"Portal Extravaganza- Gonna be a Long, Dark, Knight"

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I expect Auburn to get get whoever they want from the Portal, given the amount of NIL money that we will have to throw around

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The big dogs are snickering at the reported $30MM budget for next year. Its been said that the average SEC roster this year was $20MM.

Im all for seeing how this shakes out because, as ive posted on this board, the portal cuts both ways. But, dammit, this does NOT create excitement for the new staff at Auburn.

For whatever reason, the people who matter cannot seem to strike a balance between the new school and the old school. Freeze was a 100% player's coach who was gonna pay for "potential" every time. Looks good on paper. The Golesh proponents push him as a "no-nonsense-what-have-you-done-lately" hard arse. There HAS to be a balance struck in this new era of ball. I have always been a cheerleader for hard work equals success...but you have to have the talent too.

Seeing this much talent walk is worrying at the least. Catastrophic at worst.

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The big dogs are snickering at the reported $30MM budget for next year. Its been said that the average SEC roster this year was $20MM.

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So our reported budget is 50% higher than the SEC average? Why are you snickering then? Do you understand that 50% more is a significant amount?

Also, your "big dogs" need to pay their own current players. Auburn is basically walking in with little committed to players, which means that they have WAY more cap space to throw around simply by virtue of how many players are no longer on the books.

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For whatever reason, the people who matter cannot seem to strike a balance between the new school and the old school. Freeze was a 100% player's coach who was gonna pay for "potential" every time. Looks good on paper. The Golesh proponents push him as a "no-nonsense-what-have-you-done-lately" hard arse. There HAS to be a balance struck in this new era of ball. I have always been a cheerleader for hard work equals success...but you have to have the talent too.

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This is you creating a narrative out of nothing. USF had one of the highest NIL budgets at the G5 level, and they used that money...hence why they have had all of this talent remain on the roster (Byrum Brown could have left a while ago, and didn't). They also ranked near the top of their conference in HS recruiting. They were clearly investing in "talent".

There is ZERO indication that this staff's plan is to try to win with "less talent". You need to simply accept the reality that new coaches mean new players in 99% of coaching changes. They are not planning on dumpster diving to replace these players.

For those of you that still seem to think that Golesh's big plan is to "Harsin" his way to wins, this is from The Athletic earlier this year:

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While most Power 4 programs are planning to compensate athletes up to the new revenue sharing cap of roughly $20.5 million, with up to three-quarters of that going to football rosters in many cases, Group of 5 programs live on a different planet.

Over the course of the offseason, coaches, general managers and personnel staffers have estimated that G5 revenue sharing budgets will be less than half that, with virtually everyone living in the single-digit millions for football, compared to $13-15 million for their Power 4 counterparts. But at least one G5 school has showed a willingness to invest at a higher level.

Three American Conference sources told The Athletic recently that USF is outpacing its league peers when it comes to its football roster budget, which is believed to be in the $8-10 million range. That’s well above the expected ceiling in the American: In February a head coach and a GM in the conference told The Athletic that a competitive roster would probably cost between $3 million and $5 million. The rev-share floor in the American is believed to be around $2 million.

The Bulls have made no secret of their ambitions and have been willing to spend in hopes of reaching them. In 2023, shortly after taking over as USF’s head coach, Alex Golesh said, “This is not a Group of 5 job. … I’m not recruiting against Group of 5 schools. We’ve got the highest salary pool in this league. … I gotta go beat alleged Power 5 schools for kids or we’re not recruiting the right kids.”

USF is also building a new, $340-plus-million, 35,000-seat on-campus stadium as part of a larger effort to appeal to Power 4 conferences whenever the next realignment plates shift. The Bulls’ athletic department budget is among the highest in the G5.

Things are trending up in Tampa. Golesh took over a program that was a combined 4-29 in the three seasons prior to his arrival and has turned in consecutive 7-6 seasons.

A competing GM said that budget has allowed USF to invest significantly into its 2026 high school recruiting class, which currently has 33 commitments and is ranked No. 1 in the American, per 247Sports Composite ratings. Though it’s unclear how sustainable their budget is, the Bulls are showing they’re willing to spend what it takes to win.

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