Talent will fix the close losses.

and Greg McElroy questioned if it changed the culture at Bama for the worse. Players hitting the portal could be “me” guys and not so much “we or team first” guys. Malcontents like Cox.

Bama could have easily been a 4-loss team this year.

Some (a lot?) of the portal transfers sure aren’t the old “I want to play for my state school I grew up loving.” More like mercenaries doing whatever it takes to try to improve their NFL draft stock - Jermaine Burton leaving UGA is an example.

 

I feel CBN set the precedent at the get go when he said he wouldn’t be taking just anyone in recruiting or in the portal. He said he wanted to get to know the player as much as possible and do they fit what he is trying to build. Whether we like it or not, that was his plan. His plan is working this year with us likely finishing with a top 5 recruiting class (or close).

 

reminds me of when we were saying Mullen is ruling the portal, with our two 5 star rbs and our 5 star DE. The Hacker!

 

We did have several great players from the portal but those guys not so much.

 

Yup. We said Mullen was doing well with the portal when we got guys like van Jefferson, Grimes and Shuler who all contributed to really good years here. The later transfer efforts were just like the rest of mullens tenure. Underwhelming

Edit: lizardbreath reminded me of one of the alltime great transfers in Greenard too. Mullen crushed the portal his first years here.

Now that I think about it maybe the reason we didn't do as well in the portal in Mullen's later time here is because the other programs started tapping that well more and he just didn't like to compete for players. Just a theory

 

It will be the same folks who had the cash to pay the kids prior to NIL.

 

Surely you don't mean the roster that just went 6-6 and is a bowl game loss away from consecutive losing seasons?

 

And this year.

 

Tells me what I already knew. In the era of free agency, the free agent market is every bit as important as the draft.

 

Every School has attrition from guys that don't pan out but our numbers seem especially high. Going from memory so bear with me:

Russell and Robinson- lost to medical
Wilson - visa issue
Lemons, Huggins- attitude/behavior
Henderson- grades
Borders, Wingo, black- non contributors
Braun,Bogle, Hoppers, Diabate, elksnis, whittemore- transfers

That's just a few and a lot of those guys were counted as guys who were higher end of our classes. There were many more. That also includes a transitional class where numbers overall were low so misses hurt even more. I'm not one to claim we should have lost to Vandy or played close to usf because of talent but the talent is way under what we are used to. Way under.

 

I agree, at least in theory. There's no getting around the bidding wars for the top players, it's either put up or shut up time in CFB. The key is doing your homework and keeping things in perspective regarding production, character and team chemistry. But as we've already seen with ATM, the devil is in the details and loading up on hired guns who don't produce or don't fit team culture is a recipe for disaster. And like you alluded to, the concept of "amateur athletics" is dead and gone, like it or not. Que sera sera.

 

Point taken, with the caveat that the "dead weight" on that roster will likely be considerably diminished soon, and there are clearly some solid to excellent talents in place who have to be appropriately compensated in the era of "pay up or see you later alligator."

 

Greenard was a war horse too, possibly the best of the bunch.

 

Agreed...there are certainly a few very talented folks currently on our roster that deserve to be paid starting with Etienne, Johnson, Pearsall and some of the linemen. There is a portion of the roster that I wouldn't be upset at all if they entered the portal.

 

Absolutely looking forward to the day when we aren't depending on plan C types to scrape together a two deep. That schytt gets old in a hurry.

 

Bama could have easily been a 12-0 team this year too. Both losses were literally on the last play of the game by a total of 4pts.

 

How can I forget him? One of my all time favorites. Loved his character and he was an absolute game changer on the field. I'll tell you what. That guy alone could have set the edge for us and won us multiple games this year. I truly believe that. Smart player.

 

Bama's undoing was similar to ours...they were not the usual Bama defense.

 

It takes a lot more cash now and no one is afraid of sanctions. I expect some teams to step up.

 

I see the Texas schools and So Cal joining the herd and not many others.