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 12:06 PM ^
This is good news for us. They are doing it with money. We have a lot of that.
A&M is a historically good but not great program. They are a bit of an outpost with a passionate but weird culture. They have not been a huge "Alabama level" recruiting draw historically. They have few championships to speak of.
So how are they recruiting like this? No, it's not Jimbo Fisher. He is an effect, not the cause.
They are doing it with massive amounts of money, mostly legal now.
This is instructional for Michigan. We finally have a playing field we can compete on.
So what it comes down to is how legitimate we feel that fighting with money is. We can win that fight, but are we wiling to fight it?
Right now, the thought of paying players for success in college sports is still "unseemly" in the Michigan world. But make no mistake, Michigan as an institution has no problem paying for success in college sports and never has. There is an entire section of the university campus dedicated to it, and has been for over 100 years.
It just comes down to where you aim the money cannon.
It is just as legitimate to pay the actual players (allow them to get paid by third parties) for college sports success as it is to pay coaches, administrators, advertisers, architects, builders, etc.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:10 PM ^
Not doubting you, but I'm genuinely curious - can you elaborate?
Lots of programs have money, and Texas AM seems to be recruiting at another level than those other programs. I would have thought that it's money + something that we seem to be missing. I don't know what that something is because I don't follow recruiting too closely.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:13 PM ^
Something = lax academic standards?
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:24 PM ^
Hell, Ohio State has that.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:50 PM ^
Yeah but Texas doesnt have what Ohio does, and that's state income tax so that NIL money goes further.
January 3rd, 2022 at 3:46 PM ^
Im not sure state income tax matters much, particularly to kids who are residents of other states going to Texas.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:01 PM ^
Laxer than UM yes, but I live in Texas and have come around on A&M as a school. It's a great value for a STEM degree in state with many good research opportunities. Their grads are highly employable in a growing Texas economy. Weird ring and military stuff aside, I would be happy for my step son to attend there. Every friend I know that has sent a son or daughter there - and all had initial hesitation - has been very happy with it. While the early career pay is less than Michigan the mid career pay is a bit higher.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:12 PM ^
Yes, sports aside, as an academic university Texas A&M is ascending. So is UT Austin.
They are the flagship schools in an emerging neo Silicon Valley.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:16 PM ^
Sports aside is the best way to put it. Seriously doubt these football players will be working hard on a degree like the average student does
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:43 PM ^
That's sort of a lousy take. Student athletes work 10 times harder than the average student, even at OSU. Just ask that CB who didn't make the travel team for the rose bowl. While most of us have the bandwidth to "find" ourselves in college, athletes, even the ones who didn't come to play school are working their asses off at athletics and at least hard enough to stay elligible.
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:05 PM ^
UT Austin has been a Top 10 Public School for at least 20+ years.
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:29 PM ^
Yes and it will move up from there.
January 4th, 2022 at 2:41 PM ^
I doubt much. The ones still ahead of it will be much harder to jump than the ones it already passed.
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:32 PM ^
But mid-career pay, research opps, growing Texas economy all mean absolutely nothing to the vast majority of future NFL athletes.
All that matters from the school is that 1) they first need to be accepted and then 2) for 98% of them, they want to have the easiest time possible with their studies to make sure it doesn't get in the way of getting to the NFL.
The degree and career opportunities might matter more for guys ranked outside the top 250ish that have a lower chance of making the NFL but for top 100 guys which are the ones that are the difference between UGA and Michigan, the school stuff does not matter beyond the above.
Michigan will snag a few top 100 guys that have a unique bond with a coach, or are legacy, or what to stay close to home. What could tip the scales is obviously NIL.
January 3rd, 2022 at 8:36 PM ^
Son graduated from there in 20. Ring is a huge deal and the ring dunk is a wild celebratory tradition involving a beverage of choice filled up in a pitcher, with the ring placed at the bottom.
Commence the drinking of the pitcher to get the ring. Win. Normally it’s 8-12 ring wearers, sometimes more, sometimes less, and it’s pretty fun to watch. Lots of traditions unique to the school.
January 3rd, 2022 at 10:43 PM ^
Kudos that you would still send your kids there despite all the "weirdness" and "stuff".
Having a fantastic training and educational experience for America's future military officers is sure to offend the sensibilities.
And a ring earned that represents "Excellence, Integrity, Leadership, Loyalty, Respect and Selfless Service"?
Wow. So, so weird. You are brave Sir!
January 4th, 2022 at 12:04 AM ^
All the TAMU grads I’ve worked with are dipshits, fwiw.
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:48 PM ^
I think that is one issue we will always have. The other is geography. Players ideally want to stay close to home and in a warmer climate. The best recruits are notoriously not from the Midwest. So even though we have tradition and lots of money, TAM will always have things we can’t duplicate. This doesn’t mean we can’t recruit well, it just means regardless of NIL, we will always have some disadvantages we can’t change.
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:40 PM ^
How old are you? I think you may be underestimating how attractive an academic environment that offers AGRICULTURE and MECHANICS is to the youth of today.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:14 PM ^
I believe the order is first comes the money, then comes the power, then comes the 5-stars.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:16 PM ^
First you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:17 PM ^
"When you've got 'em by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow"
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:25 PM ^
I never trust a man unless I've got his pecker in my pocket.
-Lyndon Johnson
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:50 PM ^
I'm telling you, it's jobs. We gotta get jobs. Then we get the khakis. Then we get the chicks.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:23 PM ^
They are doing it with massive amounts of NIL money according to other programs in the SEC who are watching them closely. We'll know more details as time goes on.
We also know what Georgia has done in the Kirby Smart era.
These are good coaches, but there are lots of good coaches. These programs have infused large amounts of recruiting money. Some of if legal, some of it not.
But as more legal avenues open up, it is clear that infusing (now legal) money into recruiting does pay off. Look at what Jackson State just did in landing the #1 recruit. It was much more than just Deion Sanders.
We have been waiting to be able to legitimately use the Michigan money cannon on recruiting for years, now there is a line of sight to be able to do just that.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:54 PM ^
I hope you are correct in suggesting that Michigan could come out as a winner in the new NIL CFB landscape.
But...isn't it more likely that Michigan will be behind the curve on these changes, and not a cutting-edge innovator?
The Athletic Department is headed by a guy that wants to 'honor our bowl partners' (so not in favor of expanded playoff with on-campus games that force Southern schools to play in AA) and does not seem to be pushing to get Michigan's admissions policies optimized for the transfer portal era.
So isn't the most likely outcome that Michigan ends up not being among the most aggressive envelope pushers on the NIL stuff? They will do an adequate job on NIL because they have to. But the AD will do it reluctantly and pining for a bygone era...and, therefore, will end up not being among the most aggressive actors that get a first-mover advantage in the early NIL era reshuffle.
More briefly: Michigan (both University and Athletic Department) just does not have the type of culture that Texas A&M has. So Michigan is not going to immediately copy/match what Texas A&M did.
Am I missing something? I hope so, because Michigan does have the theoretical potential to be a winner in both the portal and in NIL. But...does it have the culture that maximizes potential on that stuff? I don't see it.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:07 PM ^
The universities don't pay money directly.
They either help facilitate the funneling of money from one party to another, or they take no active role, or they interject to stop it from happening.
Time will tell where Michigan winds up on this spectrum. But it will move on, with or without Michigan.
We can see where a number of programs are actively lining up on this.
NIL (and the way it will be "creatively" interpreted) and the Portal are two of the biggest changes in college football history. They will absolutely change the landscape. There will be new winners and new losers because of it.
It can be debated if these are good changes . . . are we essentially creating Free Agency in college football with no salary cap? This may turn into a monster.
But for now, the landscape is shifting. And ironically if it sticks, it actually favors Michigan if we allow it too.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:21 PM ^
You are correct in that the universities themselves do not fund NILs.
But...the more aggressive athletic departments are going to have NIL money funded by boosters highly coordinated with the football program and recruiting efforts.
Michigan will end up playing the NIL game by the rules--allowing NILs and keeping the athletic department at more of an arms length.
The schools seeking maximum advantage will have the NIL effort highly integrated with recruiting pitches, and really with the athletic department providing a 'turn key' operation for boosters that want to buy recruits over the table with huge overpays for likeness and image value.
And the NCAA will never be able to enforce the hazy line between legit NIL deals and NIL deals that are really just about buying recruits by way overpaying for their image and likeness.
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:54 PM ^
I think you are exactly right.
The overpaying is starting already and bidding wars are inevitable. And some of these universities are facilitating it as a way to funnel big bag money above board.
That is what TA&M is doing according to their own fanbase. It is "creative" (shady?) but not technically illegal in an enforceable way.
The NCAA does not have the time, money, resources, (or courage) to police true NIL "market value" of a recruit at this juncture.
It will be interesting to see where Michigan's unique brand of drawing self-righteous moral gray lines falls. I suppose we can way overpay recruits, and yet still ask them to go to classes. There is probably some subset of good recruits that would work for.
January 3rd, 2022 at 6:16 PM ^
This just popped up in...another corner of the internet... Link: https://twitter.com/Bapperton063/status/1477864948327927808?s=20
This is what NIL will become. But it is at a level that Michigan won't do (even though Michigan boosters have the $$$ to do it) because it is just not within the culture of the Michigan Athletic Department or the University as a whole.
Highlights: $30 million budget. Staff identifies recruits and tells boosters who they want. Boosters set up and fund LLCs to pay players. Not at all related to true image and likeness market value. Just about buying top 50/100 recruits.
People say this is within the rules. But it is not. Huge overpays (way above true image and likeness market value) is not within the rules. It is all just an easier way to cheat. This is not 'hey good college player is now freed from rule barring him from realizing his image & likeness market value.' This is not that at all.
As Jimbo Fisher said, "There were a lot of NIL deals going on before all this was going on, they just weren't legal," Fisher said on The Paul Finebaum Show (h/t Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports). "Nobody told nobody."
Thing is...this way of doing NILs is not legal either. And Michigan will never have this sort of set up.
I mean even Ryan Day said a few months ago he was concerned with what is going on with NILs. When things have turned in a way that gives even OSU pause... Then it does not look like a landscape where Michigan is going to get a boost relative to the 'win at all cost' programs. This won't level the playing field at all. The 'win at all costs' places just have a new way to gain advantage.
January 4th, 2022 at 7:59 AM ^
Thing is...this way of doing NILs is not legal either. And Michigan will never have this sort of set up.
What’s not legal about it? The rule is private entities can pay players whatever they want to use their NIL. I could pay a player $1M to tweet that I’m cool, and that would be fine.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:29 AM ^
The truth is that the University of Michigan can't actually prevent it.
If some rich Michigan boosters want to do this on their own, they can. It's not that big a secret what Michigan's recruiting needs are by position.
The key is coordination of the donors.
Hell, I'll throw a few hundred dollars into the pot every year if somebody who knows what they are doing takes the lead.
We collectively have the money as a fanbase. We just need to pool it and aim it.
The university gets to stay out of it and keep their semi-pure morals intact. We will make prized recruits unexpectedly fall into their laps like manna from heaven.
Maybe would could have an MGoBlog LLC that does NIL deals. This site knows our recruiting needs better than anybody.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:57 PM ^
I don't think a school can interject to stop legit NIL money from going to players. If you're talking about the under the table stuff, sure, but that's moot at this point, right?
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:38 PM ^
"The Athletic Department is headed by a guy ... and does not seem to be pushing to get Michigan's admissions policies optimized for the transfer portal era. "
If we knew that Warde was pushing the school to accept more transfers, there's a good chance his efforts would be counterproductive. I'd go so far as to say Michigan will never change their policy on accepting transfer credit as long as the perception is that it has been pressured to do so for football.
January 3rd, 2022 at 3:03 PM ^
You are probably correct. And that perfectly illustrates the culture of the University and why Michigan is probably also going to fail to maximize its NIL potential, too.
Other than people insisting that the world be the way they wish it were (when it never was and never could be that way), there is no particularly valid reason to oppose altering the transfer credits policy to allow the flexibility needed for the sports teams to maximize the transfer portal.
They admit kids of big $$$ donors, etc., that could not otherwise get admitted. They bend, break, and make exceptions to standards all of the time for various reasons.
It is not necessary to completely junk the approach to credit transfers. Just need to allow some number of yearly exception for transfer applicants that can make 'significant contributions the the University' (including X number of football transfer applicants per year)...
In the real world we are talking about maybe four undergrad football transfer players per year on average. What a ridiculous hill for the beard strokers to die on!
Hey beating OSU was fun! And it was great for the University, for the student body, for alumni...
But to have those things more than every once in a very long while, the University has to realize that the world is not static. Things change. We now have NILs and the transfer portal. Can't keep up by pining for a bygone era of the 'real' student athlete that never was...
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:25 PM ^
Good points. The irony of this involving Texas A&M isn't lost on me either. 40 years ago they literally bought/gave Eric Dickerson a Pontiac Trans Am but then SMU agreed to make the payments on. A&M cheated but then got outfoxed by a sleazier program. Given what Georgia likely did with Isaiah Wilson as well as all of the other yearly SEC nonsense (see, practically everyone in the conference except Vandy) makes their current whining laughable
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:59 PM ^
I remember all of that. I was shocked at the time, but the older me now asks: Did the world really end because Eric Dickerson got a Pontiac Trans Am?
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:19 PM ^
Agreed, lots of programs have a fuck ton of money. There's something else going on at TAMU that has the team that just finished 4-4 in conference with the best recruiting class ever
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:51 PM ^
Somebody needs to go ask Hugh Freeze how Ole Miss did so well.....lol
January 4th, 2022 at 3:12 PM ^
Could be a bunch of Quinn Ewers types, get paid A LOT for a year (or 4 months in his case), and then transfer out to a blue blood that can win a CFP. I can't imagine donors are going to line up year after year, pay a boatload of money for true freshmen, then watch them hit the transfer portal after one year. This will find an equilibrium at some point.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:16 PM ^
But Michigan won't. They wont even allow them to use the Block M for NIL. And to everyone saying they are the best 8-4 team they did beat bama this year, That was like our win over OSU. They could be a monster if they keep this up. Jimbo did win a natty at FSU he knows how to build a team and win it all.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:25 PM ^
They wont even allow them to use the Block M for NIL.
I'm not sure why people are surprised by this.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:33 PM ^
Pretty sure Jim has been pushing this for his players since NIL. We seem to be way behind the curve of NIL compared to most programs, it's kinda sad really. I thought once this passed Michigan could build a monster, I know its still early but you have legal cheating now. Michigan and its money need to take advantage.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:40 PM ^
It would take money away from the school and put it in the pockets of the players... which is exactly what we should be trying to do. You can't pay them a salary directly.
Make there be an approval process so it can't go on something obscene that affects the school's image. Simple.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:50 PM ^
The block M is on the Jerseys that MDEN sells with players names on them. The players get a cut of that money.
January 3rd, 2022 at 5:20 PM ^
Right, I assume that was facilitated with the athletic department since they're being sold at its official vendor. I think that Smitty is referring to players not being able to use the block M in their independently-brokered marketing deals, such as Hunter's "Big Dickinson Energy" shirts.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:21 PM ^
Michigan alums are still too snobby to fully embrace NIL.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:32 PM ^
The question is why?
We have zero problem in paying huge $$$ to coaches, administrators, advertisers, architects, builders, etc. for sports success. Crazy amounts.
Why is it unseemly to pay the actual players (or facilitate them getting paid) for college sports success if it is legal now?
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:59 PM ^
Title IX. Not saying I agree, but schools say if you pay football players you need to pay every single athlete.
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:10 PM ^
What? Title IX is the excuse? Impossible. First, NIL is not the University paying athletes. All of the money is private. Second, nothing in Title IX requires equal NIL money.
Female athletes are allowed NIL money. Some of the better-compensated NIL college athletes will be those who monetize their large social media followings. Several female athletes are already doing this. Link: https://justwomenssports.com/ten-female-college-athletes-with-the-highest-nil-potential/