re: Portal Extravaganza - Walker/Texas tackle returns! edition

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I'd rather lose every game than become a whore

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Under the “money is everything” NIL culture, there are two types of organizations; “whores” and “losers”.

They will sell every square centimeter of space they can monetize. In fact, it may be that players have spaces their reps can sell on the jersey. It will make NASCAR look pedestrian.

Every inch of the stadium will be available for sponsorship. Every play. Every second.

This is just getting started.

“Welcome to PatDye Field at Jordan Hare Stadium brought to you by Apple. Current Rolex time is 330; 30 minutes before your Gatorade kickoff.”

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quote:I'd rather lose every game than become a whore.quote:And we could have got one.

We didn't want to pay the cost to get it, but the money was there.

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Haha
That’s too funny. Doesn’t want to become the whore, just the pimp.

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How do we actually know Golesh is happy with that spot?

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He had the money right?

And I could be wrong here but I dont remember us being in the conversation for very many edges at all. So either our staff, DJ included, are buffoons or (using your logic since you know we had the money) they like what we've got and didn't think it wise to overpay.

Me personally I think that's one of 3 positions you do overpay for, but I think we've got a good, savvy, with the times group of coaches and I trust them.

For now

The top teams have top talent. That hasn't changed. We have middling talent at best and with our schedule this season, regardless of how many other teams are dealing with some degree of middling talent, Golesh and his scheme will have a lot to prove.

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Was a starter for the school he played for before transferring in.

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You mean mighty Arkansas State?

Keyron Crawford would not have been a starter at LSU or Ole Miss either. You understand this, right?

You are now arguing that a player's specific circumstances are irrelevant. Which is idiotic. Being the backup to Jeremiah Smith at OSU is obviously not the same as being the backup to whoever was the #1 WR at Kentucky last season. They are completely different circumstances, even though both players are "backups".

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That player that was Ahead of Wommack left right? So why didn't they try to keep him.

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Who says that they didn't try? His HS position coach (Wayne Dorsey) is on staff at Auburn and played a huge role in getting him here. He didn't even take any other visits, which means we clearly worked hard to push him straight to Auburn from Ole Miss.

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The light very rarely comes on in someones senior year.

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He was in the regular playing rotation on one of of the best teams in the entire country. He even played in the CFP. You keep speaking as if he wasn't even able to get on the field. Again, he was considerably more productive at Ole Miss as a JR than Keyron Crawford was at Auburn in 2024 as a JR. Do you think its an impossibility for a contributor on an elite team to become a viable starter on another team?

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Faulk and Phillips we're buried on the depth chart and haven't done anything on the field and a week ago not a soul here would have cared if they transferred, but now they are ready to jump from not contributing to starter.

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I have no idea what to make of Phillips, but Faulk was a true freshman last season. So whether or not he was a buried on the depth chart is irrelevant. They clearly prioritized keeping both him and Phillips on the roster, which is telling. Its not like Faulk wouldn't have been coveted if he had entered the Portal.

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How do we actually know Golesh is happy with that spot? For all we know he's as worried as I am.That's just a guess.

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Because that spot has had minimal roster turnover. They have lost Crawford to graduation, and Amaris Williams to the Portal...and hat is basically it (counting Keldric Faulk as more of a DL). Caleb Wheatland also left, but that guy barely even saw the field. They have otherwise CHOSEN to retain basically all of the young & highly recruited talent that they had on the roster. This is telling because if you look elsewhere on the roster, there have been position groups where they have basically flipped the entire room over. And that includes young talent as well (eg: Donovan Starr at CB, who was in the same HS class as JJ Faulk). If they thought that they had nothing at Edge/DE, then you would have seen more aggressive cleansing of the roster. And this is supported by what they have done at positions like TE, WR, OL, etc. by comparison.

So like I said before: the staff is either higher on Womack/Nate Johnson than you are, or they are higher on the young players on the roster who they chose to prioritize for retention than you are...or both.

You can also look at their recruitment (or lack thereof) of Edge players in the Portal as proof. Who else other than Womack and Johnson were even brought in on visits? You would be able to tell that Golesh was "worried" if we had brought in a bunch more players for visits at that position and ultimately missed on them, but that isn't what happened at all. They basically prioritized two guys and landed both of them. There has been no scrambling to try to find more bodies, which is what you would expect to see if there was worry about the position.

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For teams that can’t afford the top talent the best strategy may be finding the best middling talent you can through scouting and get them playing together as a team through coaching and chemistry. A bunch of middling talent may appreciate the opportunity and not be too worried about who is getting play what. There’s my Pollyanna thought for the day.

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And I suspect that strategy will - more often than not - still get you the same results as it did from the last guy we hired who pushed it.

It looks like Ole Miss is going to land Miami OT Tommy Kinsler:

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Ole Miss and Pete Golding are trending to land another transfer portal commitment, On3 has learned. Miami offensive lineman Tommy Kinsler has made visits to Auburn and Ole Miss, but sources tell On3 that the Rebels hold the momentum.

I’ve logged a prediction in favor of Ole Miss to land Kinsler, who can play guard or tackle. The 6-foot-6, 340-pound offensive lineman backed up offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa on this year’s Miami team, which played for the national championship on Monday night. Kinsler has two years of eligibility remaining.

The Ocala (Fla.) Trinity Catholic product was part of the 2023 high school class and is a former four-star recruit. The Rebels have lost five offensive linemen to the portal and have already brought in three. Kinsler would mark the fourth addition.

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I can hear it now. Welcome to Auburn Tigers football, today's sponsors are hims & yellowwood...you know what they say, you don't need hims if you got the yellow wood. Now for the line up... Oh Jim you know that the fans now can rent head phones sponsored by beats to listen to the game in a voice of their preference along with VR goggles sponsored by Meta to watch Replays of their choice, for a small contribution to the NIL fund...

How bad can this get & can I go find a small school to watch players play for the love of the game?

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Golsesh has to win 7 or 8 minimum this year. I really do hope he has the roster for it.

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i dont think people have come to grips with what an absolutely colossal frickup of a hire Freezus was

Golesh has had to do a complete rebuild of this program from the ground up - i plan on being patient this season