https://instagr.am/p/CYb6qJfFHOv

Good luck to him. Next man up

Really like Deondre and hope he finds a good landing spot

Get ready for a lot more of these announcements

One of the unfortunate realities of recruiting at this level is that 3-star guys won't have much of a chance unless they are extremely underrated or extremely hard workers.

He was passed by 2 true fish, and another true fish would have passed him again this year in Moss.

Good luck to him, but if he wants PT, it would have never happened here.

Would expect 2-3 transfers soon from the DL...crowded with the studs coming in.

We are going to need around 15 additional portal outs. Crazy how big the number is to get to 85. But it will happen, has to happen.

I wonder if there will be more medical retirees too. Someone like Luke Mathews that has been injured forever.

Edit to add: medical retirees are typically given to guys who have been in the program several years and have an injury history that does not allow them to compete. They get put on a 'medical hardship' scholarship that allows them to finish their degree if they didn't have the financial means to do so. These 'medical hardship' scholarships do not count against the 85.

I like that guy. Seemed have more power than the young guys.

I thought he had potential but the handwriting was on the wall. Wish him the best.

I hope these guys are leaving on their own rather than getting trap doored . Not really sure how all that works but have been told Jimbo doesn't pull scholarships.

Last I heard the number is at 10? This assumes no more signees and no other transfers coming in.

If the Ags are over the 85 limit
( seems likely that we are )
Then Jimbo is responsible and he is going to trapdoor some guys

It is what it is

Help me out, what does "trapdoor" mean in this setting?

It means we bring a lot of guys in and then send them back out a couple years later. Term was more popular when it was Bama doing it. Maybe we should come up with something more palatable like "roster management analytics" now that it is us.

I am not quite sure how it works, but I have heard they will not pull someone's scholarship, so they are not really "trapdooring" them. But they basically say, look you have been passed up and will basically get zero playing time. Now if you enter the transfer portal we will put in a good word to try to help find you a good landing spot.

TnAg23 said:

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One of the unfortunate realities of recruiting at this level is that 3-star guys won't have much of a chance unless they are extremely underrated or extremely hard workers.

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Every 3 star we've ever signed is criminally underrated, haven't you heard??

Football careers are limited from a time perspective and kids need to play until they can't. Look at the starting RB for Cincy. A Tide transfer that helped his football team tremendously this year. Best of luck to the young man!

jsc8116 said:

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Would expect 2-3 transfers soon from the DL...crowded with the studs coming in.

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One more RB and a couple of TEs seem likely. Also, probably need some leveling with all the DBs in this class.

IIRC, we went for quantity in the 20 RB class. Needed to rebuild depth badly after losing Corbin and cordarian. Achane was the only composite 4* RB.

I hope he succeeds wherever he lands, except against us.

TAMU74 said:

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Help me out, what does "trapdoor" mean in this setting?

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. You are really not trapdoored. The coach calls you in and names all the players ahead of you on the depth chart. He then says "The prospects of you playing here are not good. If you want to transfer I will help you all I can to find a place to play." The coach rarely or never brings you in and says "You are no longer on the team." Most of these portal guys go on their own. If you have barely seen the field in a couple of years and see studs being recruited at your position every year you pretty much know.

Sq 17 said:

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If the Ags are over the 85 limit
( seems likely that we are )
Then Jimbo is responsible and he is going to trapdoor some guys

It is what it is

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A looooong time between now and when the 85 ship limit kicks in...

I think of "trap dooring" as you no longer have a scholarship here. As far as I know they aren't doing that .

Coaches will outline depth charts and goals and some guys want to try to stick and some don't (haven't heard asking them to leave unless there something related to law/character/team rules/compliance). The tricky part is figuring out who is leaving for NFL along with potential medical scenarios that may shut player down for a year.

The extra COVID year of availability has made this a bit more difficult.

Have lost count on those going to NFL(the underclassmen), but think there as an expectation on 10-15 range.

We have to make a lot more room so their will be more.

Brian DeSpain said:

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TAMU74 said:

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Help me out, what does "trapdoor" mean in this setting?

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. You are really not trapdoored. The coach calls you in and names all the players ahead of you on the depth chart. He then says "The prospects of you playing here are not good. If you want to transfer I will help you all I can to find a place to play." The coach rarely or never brings you in and says "You are no longer on the team." Most of these portal guys go on their own. If you have barely seen the field in a couple of years and see studs being recruited at your position every year you pretty much know.

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Thanks for the explanation.

Deondre Jackson committed to A&M 2.5 years ago over some big time offers, including some SEC competition.

Since that time he's been working out and busting his butt for A&M football.

We should all thank him for his efforts and wish him luck elsewhere, and hope he becomes a dominant RB1! Good luck Deondre!

Good luck Deondre! You are always welcome back to Aggieland.

Showstopper said:

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It means we bring a lot of guys in and then send them back out a couple years later. Term was more popular when it was Bama doing it. Maybe we should come up with something more palatable like "roster management analytics" now that it is us.

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Zoo posters accused Mack Brown of trapdooring players in the early 2000's when he was signing huge classes every year and kicking RC's and Fran's ass in recruiting.
Sips would only have room for maybe 22-23 players and then sign 26-27 while taking 4-5 guys we would've killed for.

My how times have changed.

Totally forgot about him. Don't think he had a clear path to playing time moving forward

This is a risk the players take going to big schools, he was a 3 star that didn't see playing time since we recruited 4 and 5 stars as well. It not that he was bad, we just had better players. If his goal was to be an Aggie he would stay, if he wants to play college and/or NFL he needs to find another school.

Jimbo is not trapdoor'ing anyone. Jimbo and the staff know more and well before any of you do about transfers, players quitting / leaving, medical situations, etc.

It is called roster management, and the best teams, the elite programs, they cull the bottom 1/4 to 1/3 of their roster repeatedly, you are only noticing it now as we are stacking so much talent and it has become a thing here under Jimbo. Gone are the days of Kibodi playing in an SEC game......

These kids want to play, not just practice and have no payoff of ever getting on the field or being a Rudy story.

Texas Tech has 2 transfer players from Bama that were highly recruited but were not seeing the field and were not going to, likely ever, and they transferred, but Saban did not trap-door them.

But bottom line, if Jimbo offers you a scholly, you are putting your best effort into all practices and school, and you want to stay and be on the team and part of the program even though you may never play 1 down in 4 seasons, not even 1 special teams play, and are staying eligible on the academics die, Jimbo will keep you on the team.

It was obvious after the last class we would see some thinning of the RB room, may also see some from the DL room and maybe a WR as well. Get used to, under Jimbo Texas A&M will have more transfers than we have ever had in the past and more than most of other teams in our regional footprint.

mm42 said:

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We are going to need around 15 additional portal outs. Crazy how big the number is to get to 85. But it will happen, has to happen.

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Depends on medical retirements, and graduations, too. They don't all have to be portal guys. Right now, we have 3 spots left in 2022 after Perkins. 29 total, can take up to 32. Right now, we have 95 ships.

So that means up to 98 guys, ie, needing to lose 13 more. I could see 3-4 medically retire. 2-3 more graduate and just quit football. Then maybe 7-8 transfer.

halfastros81 said:

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I think of "trap dooring" as you no longer have a scholarship here. As far as I know they aren't doing that .

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Being told there is no possibility of playing time because of your position on the depth chart and the team is over the 85 limit is just a indirect way of saying that you need to transfer because your scholarship is going to be pulled.

If a team is over the limit it is because the school signed players with the intentions of forcing some players to leave

I repeat
it is what it is

halfastros81 said:

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I thought he had potential but the handwriting was on the wall. Wish him the best.

I hope these guys are leaving on their own rather than getting trap doored . Not really sure how all that works but have been told Jimbo doesn't pull scholarships.

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It happens at every big time program, especially when they start winning or recruiting better. We should have turned down the #1 class because we have some guys on campus that aren't good enough? Tell me, what profession does this work in, in the real world? Well, we could make our company better, but we should just keep these lesser talents here and let the better talents go to other compaines. No, they hire them, let some go, or just reduce their salaries and/or make life a living hell to stay, knowing they are being passed up.

This happens everywhere. You may not officially pull a ship, but you sit down with everyone about where you stand in the program. Tough conversations are had. Most will work itself out. A few will want PT and naturally see the writing on the wall, a couple medically retire, a couple just graduate early and quit football. But you may end up 3-5 over come June needing to get down to 85 by fall camp, and have to have some tough conversations. Stuff like:

You'll never play here. We can help you find a home. We aren't going to pull your ship if you don't want us to, but we heard tech is looking for someone. etc. You tell me if you'd want to stick around knowing you aren't wanted, and could play somewhere else.

halfastros81 said:

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I think of "trap dooring" as you no longer have a scholarship here. As far as I know they aren't doing that .

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No, it will probably not happen. Usually it works out naturally, again with simply showing guys they won't play but we can help you find a home. Most guys just want to play. Though a few will rather stay at A&M and realize football isn't' their future.

But again, if push came to shove, no one was willing to leave and we were at 87 ships, what happens?

The coaching staff can't say with 100% certainty all 13 guys(if we take 3 more) that wil leave. They probably have a good idea on most of those 13, but realize a couple of tougher conversations might have to be held. But if you need 2 to leave, and you have that conversation with 7 guys, odds are 2 take the bait and it works out. Heck, wouldn't shock me if 3-4 did, and we ended up under the 85 by next season anyways.