Sark’s SNAFU?

Like the Aggies, Texas did a lot of work in the transfer portal and came away with some impressive results. Everyone knows that nobody is keeping to the NIL “cap”, with some schools being more obvious (LSU). But nobody really discusses it, because it’s the elephant in the room. And you certainly don’t make the SEC look like the NFL.

And that’s just what Steve Sarkisian did.

“I think in this day and age of the Portal and high school, you’ve got to have the ability to be strategic,” Sarkisian said on the Paul Finebaum Show. “To make the moves we make, to bring in a Cam Coleman, to bring in a Hollywood Smothers, to bring in a Raleek Brown, to bring in a Mike Masunas at tight end; we had to let DeAndre Moore go. We had to let Parker Livingstone go. We had to let Tre Wisner go. We had to let CJ Baxter go.”

We know there’s a cap, though it varies from program to program. That’s the reality of things. It’s why A&M got out of the Cam Coleman sweepstakes. Could A&M have spent that money to get him? Sure. But it would have hurt them elsewhere.

Every team has to make budgetary decisions. But somehow, A&M kept its guys and Texas lost quite a few. Again, that’s the way it goes.

But to sit there and publicly admit that you put a dollar value on player performance, that you cut players to sign others, is callous and more than a little foolish. This is still allegedly college football, so these are young men who made the choice to go to a school, then get the startling realization that the school they wanted didn’t want them. That’s pretty sobering.

It’s also something that you can absolutely expect other programs will use against Texas. You can already hear the refrain: “They don’t care about you. We don’t do that here. We’re here for you and your family.”

What Sark did was tell the truth. And he may pay for it in the long term.

Or pay more. Whatever.

SEC has plenty of QBs this year

Last year, before the season began, I said it was a down year for SEC quarterbacks. I thought Garrett Nussmeier was going to get battered behind LSU’s line (he was), that Auburn’s quarterbacks were going to suck (they did), that Kentucky couldn’t seriously go with Zach Calzada for a whole season (they didn’t) and LaNorris Sellers was overrated (he was).

On the other hand, Marcel Reed and Arch Manning emerged. So did Gunner Stockton at Georgia. And a guy nobody knew of two years ago, Trinidad Chambliss, became one of the nation’s best quarterbacks.

All those guys are back. So is Sellers, who has the tools to be a quality quarterback but hasn’t been consistent. Sam Leavitt has arrived in the bayou from Arizona State. John Mateer returns at Oklahoma. Austin Simmons, who is now the starter at Missouri, was a guy I expected big things from at Ole Miss. Byrum Brown, the new starter at Auburn, put up huge numbers last year at South Florida.

We don’t know who the starter will be at Tennessee and Florida. We don’t know how good Kamario Taylor will be at Mississippi State or Kenny Minchey at Kentucky. Vandy may start true freshman Jared Curtis. Keelon Russell, the 2024 Gatorade National Player of the Year, will probably get the nod at Alabama. KJ Jackson will start at Arkansas and he was pretty good at the end of last year — but he’ll be in a new system.

Quarterback-wise, the Aggies may catch a break. Kentucky’s starter hasn’t been one before; neither has Russell at Alabama. Jackson remains a question mark, as does Simmons. Tennessee has to figure out their quarterback situation. Simmons needs to stay on the field and be more consistent. But the Aggies will avoid Stockton and Chambliss.

But they will still have to deal with Arch, Leavitt, Sellers and Mateer.

Fun, huh?

you can’t buy everything (sorry, Texas)

Playing off of the first point, since we’re now seeing NFL-Lite in college football, you have to allocate properly. Hence the essential cutting of players from an institution of higher education. Look at what A&M had to do with their money:

• Get a big wideout. Ok, they signed Isaiah Horton when Coleman became too rich for their blood.
• Replace 80% of your starting offensive line. A&M brought in Tyree Adams, Coen Echols, Trovon Baugh and Wilkin Formby.
• Replace Nate Boerkircher and Theo Ohrstrom. Houston Thomas and Richie Alexander, come on down.
• Replace Cashius Howell and fill holes left by transfers at defensive end. Anto Saka and Ryan Henderson, you’re up.
• Replace Albert Regis and Tyler Onyedim. That becomes CJ Mims, Angelo McCullom and Brandon Davis-Swain.
• Replace Taurean York, no mean feat. They went out and got the best tackler in America, Ray Coney.
• Get another corner to replace Will Lee. Went and got Rickey Gibson, one of the best available.
• Get depth at safety. Tawfiq Byard is brought in.

Could they have gotten Coleman? Yes. But what are you going to give up in return? That would have probably been the cost of three defensive tackles and maybe more than that. Prioritize your needs over the flash. That’s a big reason why I think the Aggies will be really good again this year — they may not be getting a lot of hype, but they’re a solid team throughout. No position is truly a glaring weakness.

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