AGDAD14 said:

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Bottom line… it's not good for recruiting when players transfer to a higher profile school.

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Well until we raise our profile, that's gonna happen a lot.

fla_agfan said:

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Why can't we keep players?

The NIL coupled with the portal is killing college football

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Killing? Wrong tense.

Meh

AGDAD14 said:

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Bottom line… it's not good for recruiting when players transfer to a higher profile school.

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Happens at every school. Don't be so dramatic.

Quote:

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How many key players temps did we lose?

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It's the norm….Better get used to it

Folks, they don't play for each other, the coach, the school, an education or the fans. They play for themselves and the $$$.

Reno Hightower said:

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Folks, they don't play for each other, the coach, the school, an education or the fans. They play for themselves and the $$$.

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Correct. But that doesn't excuse Texas A&M from losing players to better teams. We have to be able to keep players that teams like Penn St and Georgia want.

fla_agfan said:

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jt16 said:

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fla_agfan said:

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Why can't we keep players?

The NIL coupled with the portal is killing college football

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You think it's just A&M?

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No... but it seems to hit us harder.

Could be that a&m is the only team I follow... but we should be able to hold onto starters at least.

Are we losing players to better teams or strictly cash?

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He's only a starter due to way too many injuries on the OL

texag101 said:

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Reno Hightower said:

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Folks, they don't play for each other, the coach, the school, an education or the fans. They play for themselves and the $$$.

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Correct. But that doesn't excuse Texas A&M from losing players to better teams. We have to be able to keep players that teams like Penn St and Georgia want.

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I can see why players that are buried on the depth chart want to go somewhere else for a better opportunity to get playing time. Losing starters however is a concern - unless, you are bringing others in from the portal that are better.
Concepcion > Noah ?
Reasons a starter would transfer:

• going to a program with better chance to win at a high level
• going somewhere they originally wanted to go but didn't get offered
• trying to get back closer to home/family
• like the coaches and think they'll do a better job to prepare you for possible NFL career.
• more NIL money offered

vander54 said:

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fla_agfan said:

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jt16 said:

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fla_agfan said:

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Why can't we keep players?

The NIL coupled with the portal is killing college football

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You think it's just A&M?

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No... but it seems to hit us harder.

Could be that a&m is the only team I follow... but we should be able to hold onto starters at least.

Are we losing players to better teams or strictly cash?

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How many key players did we lose?

Noah - sure
Tj - maybe

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I really don't think either of those guys were guaranteed starters next year so we basically lost depth.

Just Tired said:

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beerad12man said:

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We return 21/22 projected starters. On the high end compared to most.

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that's a lot of returning players to a defense elko never wants to have to look at again.

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This made my day. Thank you!

AGDAD14 said:

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Bottom line… it's not good for recruiting when players transfer to a higher profile school.

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It has little to no bearing on recruiting.

texag101 said:

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LOL…Shanahan is good enough for Penn St and Noah is good enough for Georgia, but the sunshine pumpers here are trying to convince us they're not a big loss for us.

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Let's see how much playing time they each get at those schools. Good enough to transfer doesn't tell me much.

AWP 97 said:

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texag101 said:

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LOL…Shanahan is good enough for Penn St and Noah is good enough for Georgia, but the sunshine pumpers here are trying to convince us they're not a big loss for us.

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Let's see how much playing time they each get at those schools. Good enough to transfer doesn't tell me much.

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Denver Harris went to LSU. Some are not even good enough to transfer and still get picked up by a big program.

texag101 said:

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Reno Hightower said:

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Folks, they don't play for each other, the coach, the school, an education or the fans. They play for themselves and the $$$.

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Correct. But that doesn't excuse Texas A&M from losing players to better teams. We have to be able to keep players that teams like Penn St and Georgia want.

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That's like saying you need to keep your wife or girlfriend because some other guy wants her. In reality, you know all of her faults and are happy to pawn her off on someone else.

Penn State must be really desperate to turn 3rd and 4th and 1s into 3rd and 4th and 6s

Noah can be replaced... loosing oline positions are bad. Might not seem like it but even to get to this level means they have a to be good. Sure we can say second string or worst graded but any oline loss is a big one. May not be flashy with a 85 roster but those positions are hard to plug and play.

texag101 said:

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LOL…Shanahan is good enough for Penn St and Noah is good enough for Georgia, but the sunshine pumpers here are trying to convince us they're not a big loss for us.

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texag101 said:

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LOL…Shanahan is good enough for Penn St and Noah is good enough for Georgia, but the sunshine pumpers here are trying to convince us they're not a big loss for us.

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The two aren't close. Noah is a loss. TJ is an unknown, but still ultimately our choice. Again, for the price he was asking, we never made an attempt to keep him. Also, those teams have both taken multiple players in each of the last two portal classes that never played for them.

Noah would have started. Just about everyone agrees.

TJ isn't even in the same realm of a loss of Noah. He would have absolutely been fighting just to stay 2nd string here. We had to make decisions on NIL and chose the RFR in Ivy, Ahfua, Funk, etc.

Also, of the guys who played for us last year on the OL, TJ graded out either 8 or 9 of 9.

This isn't sunshine pumping. These are just true statements. In fact, I could argue posters like yourself try too hard to make them into bigger losses than they are. It's no different than claiming someone else is a sunshine pumper. The truth is likely in the middle. In a perfect world that NIL wasn't a thing, we'd have seen TJ compete this spring with Ivy/Ahfu/Funk on the inside to see who came out ahead. But they were all competing for our 5th interior OL spot.

Noah is a loss for sure. But it makes complete sense if you guys can take a deep breath and try to see the world from a players' view vs a random fans' view. He came to play for Jimbo for several years then got a new head coach and offensive philosophy. He gave it a try for a year but is now looking for something new because he doesn't think it's a fit. Seems perfectly reasonable to me and doesn't strike me as a huge red flag. What would be a red flag was if Elko was losing a bunch of his own commits early on in the game.

I agree but if we were losing a ton of starters it would be a red flag regardless of who recruited them.

Who and what we lost isn't a red flag after year 1. If we continue to see huge numbers leave or several key contributors each year moving forward it will be a concern.

vander54 said:

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I agree but if we were losing a ton of starters it would be a red flag regardless of who recruited them.

Who and what we lost isn't a red flag after year 1. If we continue to see huge numbers leave or several key contributors each year moving forward it will be a concern.

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I personally feel like if a bunch of Elmo's own recruits are bailing after one year, that means he has zero buy in. Thankfully that's not the case and it's almost 100% Jimbo recruits leaving.

Haleyscomet50 said:

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Noah can be replaced... loosing oline positions are bad. Might not seem like it but even to get to this level means they have a to be good. Sure we can say second string or worst graded but any oline loss is a big one. May not be flashy with a 85 roster but those positions are hard to plug and play.

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I believe you have it reversed. Noah is the only one of the two (and really our entire portal losses) we tried to keep. We be willing to offer Noah a lot more than TJ based on our roster right now. I know some don't believe it, but they really, really like the 3 interior OL that just redshirted.

We are currently carrying 17 OL. Most teams carry 14-16. We had to make choices. Some really just don't get NIL and roster space. Would I love to carry 25 OL this spring and keep the 15 best if NIL and space wasn't a concern? Would I love to see TJ and Dewberry compete with Ivy, Ahfu, and Funk for our 2nd string OL next year? Sure.

But it's not very realistic. Some OL were leaving, and we essentially made a choice (NIL offers) between TJ and the 3 redshirts we like. Only time will tell if it proves to be the correct choice.

Being good enough for another team to want and take is a very different perspective than that of the current team trying to keep the player.

We know what we had with said player and we know what we are getting with other players. The depth and circumstance of each team is different.

There is a chance they may start or get more playing time with another team but they may also continue to be a depth piece for their new team. Maybe they are worth more as depth pieces on other teams.

texag101 said:

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LOL…Shanahan is good enough for Penn St and Noah is good enough for Georgia, but the sunshine pumpers here are trying to convince us they're not a big loss for us.

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He's good enough to take a flyer on? Yes. Is he a stud lock down the position lineman? No. Stop hyping it up more than it is.

texag101 said:

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LOL…Shanahan is good enough for Penn St and Noah is good enough for Georgia, but the sunshine pumpers here are trying to convince us they're not a big loss for us.

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Georgia's starting QB last 2 seasons is in the flipping portal... this isn't an exclusive A&M issue.

Actually thought he was pretty good and bummed to see him transfer. Glad its not to another SEC School that we play every year like LSU or Texas.

He was a decent player for us that could've developed into a very good player but was also a walking penalty waiting to happen.

It wasn't so much what he had done(not much other than commit a bunch of penalties) but what he could have done.

fla_agfan said:

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jt16 said:

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fla_agfan said:

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Why can't we keep players?

The NIL coupled with the portal is killing college football

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You think it's just A&M?

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No... but it seems to hit us harder.

Could be that a&m is the only team I follow... but we should be able to hold onto starters at least.

Are we losing players to better teams or strictly cash?

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He wasn't a starter. Maybe he thought he should have been, but he was not a starter in 2024 and was not projected to be a starter in 2025.

Last year, during a transition year, we got hit harder than most. Nolen, Stewart, Diggs, Overton, a couple others, etc.

This year, we have gone through relatively well. Probably one of the least hit rosters out there. 1 of our projected 22 starters, and maybe 4-5 more who would have made 2nd string.

Ouch!