Defensive Linneman -- "Show me the Money"

Players hold all cards this late

Exactly. It’s not either/or

Getting Nolen probably would have solved our defense as long as he stays healthy. He is going to require double teams this fall and will make plays anyway.

Oh no doubt. We have plenty of talent in the secondary. If Baker and company were here last year we would have been 11-1 playing UGA in the title game

I'm glad we don't overpay.

1. That could be a locker room problem

2. It takes away from the elite recruiting we are trying to do now.

3. If we're spending a million plus on a mediocre transfer starter, I shudder to think what Jahkeem Stewart would ask for.


Look, we are not one player away from a real championship run. If we spent money like that, we'd have to break the bank and only get one guy. At this point, I don't care if it's the difference between 1 win and 1 loss. I want sustained success. I don't want to be Ole Miss. Ole Miss is about to lose like 800 thousand players after this season so if they don't make the playoffs, they just blew millions for no reason.

Build your team through the high school ranks. Pay to keep YOUR GUYS on the roster. If you can top off your talent with a reasonable cost pickup in the portal, do it. IMO, we need to drop some money on the ULM defensive tackle. Not for this year, but building into the next 2 years.

Walter Nolan got $750K. OU just paid Damonic Williams double that.

Waiting for the second portal opening was a fail of epic proportions.

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If OU paid 1.5 million for Williams, they are dumb.

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You know it was a high dollar amount if Texas didn’t pay it.

Great theory and I do agree. But we tried to keep OUR GUYS and it didn't work out. And it cost us any real opportunity(it's not happening with this transfer cycle) to beset those losses because Kelly waited until mid January to fire House and company. Then a few weeks convincing an average recruiter(excellent teacher) to come coach the DL at an over market rate yet won't go over market to get said coach someone to coach up. Meanwhile the average recruiter is gonna struggle to fill a very much needed 5-6 man group(hs and portal) with high quality kids that can help right away. The plan didn't work and now the situation is dire enough it could cost us the next 2 seasons at a minimum. They better start paying somebody other than coaches overpriced salaries.
As it was in the last cycle, it's not the individual battles lost that cause concern or even questions, it's the out of touch approach they take. It's as though they are always playing from behind in the forethought realm. No real plan for the worst case as with Smith/Wingo and the CB room. They keep digging the holes deeper with no rope to get out. Then a torn, overused rope is sent down with hopes we don't fall on our arse, like the CB room. With the DT room we now hope to just reach our feet after the fall. That rope broke.

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But we tried to keep OUR GUYS and it didn't work out. And it cost us any real opportunity(it's not happening with this transfer cycle) to beset those losses because Kelly waited until mid January to fire House and company.

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That is not the same thing and you know it. I want them to not be poached by other schools. The NFL is the NFL. Guys are going to leave to the NFL for various reasons, and one people forget is not having to go to class anymore.

What would be easier, paying your guys to stay, a guy who knows this situation, and now makes more money while running it back for another year, or to convince an outside guy who's never had any interest in you ever, to go to your school over 5-6 others in the matter of a couple weeks?

All this shutting on the defense watch them play better then offense