OT: Newest 5* addition to Texas A&M’s 2022 class makes it the best class of all time. (Since sites started scoring)
https://247sports.com/Season/2022-Football/CompositeTeamRankings/
Now that they have got a commitment for 5* LB, Harold Perkins, TAMU now has (6) 5 stars and a total score of 328.82 which is 1 point better than the previous high by Alabama of 327 in 2021.
That oil money sure seems to be doing wonders for an 8-4 team.
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:25 PM ^
This is not true for boosters. Case in point, Matt Ishbia (sp?) is paying only male athletes at MSU.
January 3rd, 2022 at 3:03 PM ^
I think that is about what the university pays. NIL is not paid by the university.
I don't think there is any Title IX thing that says every student athlete has to have a lucrative NIL deal if there is somebody on the campus that has one.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:35 PM ^
"It's not Jimbo Fisher"
He's won a national title, and his classes at FSU averaged a rank of 5.8 with him and 19.3 since he left, and A&M averaged a rank of 15.4 between 2010 and when he arrived and now averages 4.8 with him.
Where's all the reports of massive amounts of NIL money going to A&M recruits this year and last?
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:46 PM ^
They are also doing it with a guy who his whole career has been an elite recruiting coach in a talent rich area with all of the traditional rivals down. 4 of the 6 five stars are from texas and about half or slightly more overall are from texas. So yes its money, but its also Texas losing six straight games including to Kansas, Riley leaving Oklahoma, and LSU going half the season without a coach which are the three schools that traditionally are pulling those guys, especially LSU pulling guys from the Houston area.
Jimbo is a great recruiter who took advantage of a great situation, I'm not sure there is that much to learn for Michigan on this front.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:52 PM ^
This is dead on target. Finally, we can compete on something like a level playing field. I have a big problem with cheating. I have no problem with legit deployment of money. Alot of these guys have pressing financial needs. And they are producing millions for the schools (and coaches). Unleash the NIL money cannon.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:11 PM ^
Sort of a minor/academic point but... Why the bright line distinction between 'cheating' and paying over the table in the NIL era?
Obviously, 'cheating' per se is a bad thing. But when things formally labeled 'cheating' are ubiquitous and done by most while no one cares to enforce the rules... the morality of it becomes...cloudy, debatable, uncertain.
As Jimbo Fisher stated: "There's always been NIL stuff going on, it just wasn't legal."
There are parallels to people who went to speakeasys while the police actively looked the other way (and went to the speakeasys themselves) during the Prohibition Era. Drinking alcohol did not flip from immoral to moral just because the formal law (prohibition laws) changed.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:23 PM ^
When an organization comprised of competitive entities bands together and makes a set of rules and some members of that organization don't follow them, that "cheating"--not following the rules that you agreed to and others are following--sets up a competitive imbalance.
Immoral is a strong word for it maybe, but it is cheating.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:34 PM ^
I agree that the fact that the NCAA rules prohibited payments, but really was never able to enforce those rules, set up a competitive imbalance situation.
Some programs were willing to break the rules flagrantly, routinely, and with full institutional buy-in. Others were perhaps willing to only look the other way when boosters...did stuff. Those in the latter group were at disadvantage.
But when so many are cheating, and when the NCAA is stridently reluctant and/or simply unable to enforce...it becomes cloudy.
Again, as Jimbo Fisher said...there has always been NIL stuff...
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:56 PM ^
“Once something has been approved by the government, it’s no longer immoral.”
- Rev. Lovejoy
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:55 PM ^
Do you really expect UM to get into open bidding wars for HS 'sport' students? (if it happens it will not be something that can be easily kept in the dark)
Would they do it for 'student' students? I highly doubt it.
And I say thats prob true with most of the schools outside the SEC/OSU. NIL could easily lead to further separation from the 'haves' and everyone else because some programs have a massive head start with their ingrained 'win at all cost' cultures while others adhere to varying degrees of trying to maintain some sense of 'student' in the athlete programs and will struggle culturally in a shift to 'win at all cost'.
Its truly the wild west...are there real contracts involved in NIL deals? What happens if the recipient leaves school for some unsavory reason, transfers, loses his starting position? Or blows up and wants much more so moves to a competitor NIL opportunity? Imagine the NFL without contracts and no salary cap..fun times.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:21 PM ^
Michigan gets into bidding wars for coaches and assistants. It gets into bidding wars for sports facilities. It gets into bidding wars for AD administrators (have you seen Warde's compensation?).
It has no problem with any of this in the name of big time sports success. And make no mistake, that success benefits the university tremendously in terms of national visibility and fundraising.
Drawing the line at the actual players seems . . . inconsistent.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:57 PM ^
Coaches, admin, sports facilities all have clearly drafted contracts negotiated directly by UM..Not UM playing middleman in a ill defined space that AFAIK doesn't have real contractual obligations to begin with.
What do you mean by consistency? Who's going to be the arbiter of ensuring consistency?
Man, I wish it was that simple and UM was just going to do all they can to help put money in pockets of these guys..but I just don't see it..not from UM, not from ND (I imagine that had something to do with Kelly leaving for the SEC), not from PSU...not from most universities outside of the SEC/OSU (which has only a couple of academic oriented programs).
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:07 PM ^
"They are a bit of an outpost. . ." As with the way people here have routinely derided the chances of UCF, in my experience, this is a fundamental misreading of demographic and power trends in this country, many of which certainly make me uncomfortable but which one denies at one's own, maybe everybody's, peril.
And having money? I mean, Harvard and Stanford have heaps; and money buys things. But while we're tossing respect for or belief in fairness out the window once and for all, we should also (again) be honest with ourselves. There are some fundamental structural reasons why Michigan may not be catching up soon. The CFP was a stark f'ing reminder. Count me among those who are okay with that.
January 3rd, 2022 at 7:00 PM ^
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:07 PM ^
Good for TAMU. They'll be the most talented 9-3 team of all time.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:20 PM ^
Exactly, they have had a top 10 class nationally every year since 2019, and top 25 in 2018 when Jimbo took over. Id expect them to be very good now, but 8-4 finish?? I guess they did topple the monster Bama, but 4 losses with that much talent is interesting.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:48 PM ^
Their QB went down injured but they certainly underperformed this year
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:52 PM ^
They went 9-1 last year. This year they were 8-4 while losing their QB to injury. They compete in the SEC West, where landing a top 10 class isn’t that big of a deal, and top 25 is substandard. Given that their best players were underclassmen, in a year with lots of Covid seniors, their performance isn’t surprising to me.
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:03 PM ^
You mean the mighty SEC West that lost every bowl game except Bama? Yep, that's quite the tough conference. SEC is Big 2 and a bunch of other mediocre teams.
January 3rd, 2022 at 3:55 PM ^
Even if you think the SEC West sucks all of a sudden, the fact remains that in any given year, it has a few schools bringing in top 10 classes. Bama has a top 3 class every year, LSU is usually top 10 and Auburn gets in there sometimes. So for Texas A&M to do likewise isn’t a guarantee of dominance.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:45 PM ^
Exactly what I was going to post. At least all this talent is gathering on team that isn't a threat.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:55 PM ^
Also only 2 top 100 recruits in the state of Ohio for 2023 and one of them is going to Notre Dame ,and the other one is Luke Montgomery who has at least decent interest in Michigan. So between that and USC possibly getting a stranglehold on the So Cal area and A&M locking down Texas it will be interesting how OSU fares in 23 recruiting.
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:44 PM ^
In a weird way could this be good for the big ten (not a panacea but an improvement)? With Miami (YTM), Florida, Florida State, Texas, USC and other big time schools being down. It has potentially helped Alabama and Georgia. If they all start competing for the 5 stars and force Alabama and Georgia to overpay eventually Alabama and Georgia get watered down a little bit? I know it is a stretch but there are only so many 5 stars each year and if other schools start taking a cut, maybe Al and GA only get 3 or 4 a year instead of 5 or 6? Wishful thinking?
I do think Michigan, ND and a few others will always be at a disadvantage because there are only so many 5 stars (high 4 stars) that can qualify academically. So they are competing with the big boys on a limited number of athletes. Not saying Michigan does not stretch on some academics but some of these athletes are never gonna have a chance to get admission. Transfers are a whole different story.
Michigan will probably still get beat by the SEC champ but maybe it is closer?
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:12 PM ^
Most of their kids are instate kids, and UT kinda sucks, so this doesn't really surprise me that much.
Plus it's good they aren't going to OSU.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:14 PM ^
UT has kinda sucked since they had Colt McCoy though.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:21 PM ^
Probably OU and LSU both being in transition years as well. Big power vacuum around Texas right now
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:30 PM ^
Yes, it’s good they aren’t going to OSU. 1/3 of Ohio’s 5-stars from 2019-2021 came from Texas, including Garrett Wilson and Smith-Njigba. This year they had 0 5-stars from the state.
It would be nice to get players like that, but if they’re staying in Texas rather than going to Ohio, that’s still a net win for us.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:34 PM ^
Same thing for southern California too.
There is no sane world where a team from Ohio should be vacuuming up all the talent from TX and California.
Glad to see it stop.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:30 PM ^
Between Texas and Texas A&M opening up wallets to get Texas kids, and Lincoln Riley bringing back USC and getting the kids from California to stay home, I’ll be curious to see if we see some dynamics shifting. Schools were able to make inroads in these states while things were down. It’s going to be a lot harder to pull a kid from Texas and USC who they want.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:36 PM ^
Indeed. We used to pull elite kids out of Louisiana when LSU was down in the '80s / '90s.
Good luck trying that now.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:56 PM ^
It seems that most of our 5*s have come from either the area in the B1G (MI, NJ, IN, IL), from the northern fringe of the South (OK -- Dax; GA -- Hinton), and Florida. California will also be important for the future. But Texas has long been a reach for us.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:45 PM ^
Texas might be harder for every CF team outside of Texas going forward. The NIL, while not the determining factor, will play a big role and Texas has a ton of it.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:12 PM ^
Prior to this year, Texas A&M lost 4 or more games 7 years in a row. They're a mediocre program. There is no explanation for this that doesn't involve illicit activity.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:25 PM ^
The formerly illicit (but unenforced) is now licit...
January 3rd, 2022 at 3:53 PM ^
You mean prior to last year (2020)? They went 9-1 in 2020.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:13 PM ^
Haven't been following closely, but is this just because of some special NIL package they have going on? I can't see Jimbo having that kind of impact by himself.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:40 PM ^
I have been reading some things from the Arkansas message boards. They follow A&M very closely. They state that it is large amounts of NIL money doing it.
It would be interesting to see the structure of these deals and how creatively they skirt the rules and intent of NIL.
There seems to be some fire behind all this smoke.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:58 PM ^
There's more to this than money. Michigan could just as easily fully open up the money spigots. But are a lot of these kids going to qualify academically to come here and get past our admissions? And are they all going to want to be forced to actually attend classes? You know damned well other schools are really lax on all this. We've all read about the OSU players who took all their classes online. Is Michigan willing to go this route?
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:09 PM ^
Personally, I think I had class with maybe 3 athletes before starting at Ross and to say that the athletes (FB and BB) were contributors in discussion or group projects would be a very very generous statement. I'm pretty sure they went to less than half the classes anyways
January 3rd, 2022 at 3:17 PM ^
Doesn't the NCAA have a reporting policy on NIL that will shed some light on what is actually happening?
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:18 PM ^
Again I ask- why are all these guys dying to go to A&M? You can make NIL and/or bagman money elsewhere. A&M is a perennial 3-4 loss program
I assume it's partly a power vacuum from Texas sucking and OU being in transition (most of their croots are Texas kids) and riding a high off last year, but still. Go to Bama or something
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:38 PM ^
Well ill give it a shot, Good money now to go there, Good fanbase, Nice weather, Good lookin Texas woman, "Best" conference in football, Good HC who proves he will stay if they put money into program "main reason he left fsu". It might change once UT gets into SEC but they have a head start. If I were a recruit id look at A&M over UT right now.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:50 PM ^
Again I ask- why are all these guys dying to go to A&M? You can make NIL and/or bagman money elsewhere.
I'd guess TAMU is offering more.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:27 PM ^
A LOT more, allegedly.
NIL is going to release some bidding wars y'all.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:21 PM ^
Better A&M than OSU.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:33 PM ^
Wait till Riley starts the USC machine back up again. The whole thing cycles. Hell remember when the Florida schools were good. Jimbos gonna do the same thing he did at FSU and then take over when Saban retires. I will say though, the talent getting distributed to more schools is better for all. Just need better coaches at the big time programs(Miami, FSU, etc)
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:50 PM ^
Fisher has always followed the Saban model or recruiting ($/NIL) and has always had elite recruiting before ever winning anything.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:34 PM ^
Aggies are special.....
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:34 PM ^
Is this NIL on steroids?? If so, is it all legal?
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:42 PM ^
Is this NIL on steroids??
Apparently yes.
If so, is it all legal?
Likely some creative interpretation going on. To be seen.