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Way to go SMU!

I think we should and will take more flyers on kids in today's portal environment. A percentage of a class consists of grad transfers and/or undergrad transfers; who may be out the following year. Here today and gone tomorrow. We have signed over 40 kids and are not through. This is another reason, in my opinion, to not invest too heavily in high school kids. (who would normally need a redshirt) Maybe this year was an outlier with over 20 that entered the portal. An historical review of past classes has always yielded kids (high school and juco) that never panned out. Why not bring in a 4-star periodically with question marks?

I know you said this in jest, but here is a literal quote from the Chair of Florida State's Board of Trustees: "The ACC voted, over Florida State's objection, to add three new teams that add no additional pro rata value to the conference." Didn't they get the memo that SMU is Dallas' team and people care about them??

Now that SMU is gone, it is

None of us have ever experienced this (I don't think) He went from being one of the top recruited, top ranked, the GUY at his HS to not sniffing the field. That can definitely do stuff to one's mindset. I have no clue about any of it other than from players I've had who weren't nearly as talented as him who went through the same thing being the guy in HS then get to college and for whatever reason don't crack the field. You go from football being everything and most of the reason people know who you are, to not playing. Harder on young men than one would think.

Definitely worth taking a flier on, but would be dangerous to count on this guy,

How is talking about the news surrounding a player in a forum where we discuss North Texas football something that bothers you? Neither my comment nor the one I responded to are hating for the sake of it, we hope he does well. It’s still a great pickup for the school.

Gilbert was his HS head coach. Kids had some problems but I think if anyone can get him on the right track it's Gilbert. Worth the gamble

Why is it more special to not be able to see your team's games every week? Rare is for steak and Pokemon cards, not sporting events. Being able to see every Mean Green game in Florida is glorious.

And when they're all gone, SMU can play football with Syracuse who USF just blew out 45-0 yesterday in their bowl game.

It's not a matter of FSU. If FSU sets the precedent the 5 or 6 brand names holding the ACC together will also bolt. Clemson, Miami, UNC, VATech, etc are all watching very closely.

The reactions to your comment are perplexing. Took a few minutes of research to see there is some unexplained stuff. He was left off the team at one point at LSU for unknown reasons and also transferred to OU for 2 months before going back to LSU. He had three separate stints at LSU where he left the team before returning. https://lsutigerswire.usatoday.com/2023/08/09/lsu-football-tre-bradford-second-chance-brian-kelly-explains/# That isn’t a hater comment to make given his history. Hopefully he balls out and it comes together at North Texas.

I think this is the guy the staff is in on the most. Entered the portal and UNT immediately offered him. Would be a great fit here

Good luck with all that. The AAC tv deal will dramatically change as will the new look ACC. But tell yourself what you need to.

FSU's lawsuit against the ACC is citing the "lack of football value" brought by SMU, Cal and Stanford, compared to the schools that other Power 4 conferences added. I wouldn't be so sure that SMU joining the ACC is still an improvement for them. If FSU and the other big schools leave, the ACC could fall apart like the PAC-12. Then SMU is floating on a headboard in the Atlantic.

Is Ken Seals still available? Dont he want to come home?🥺

I think this move has turned all well for both SMU and the American conference. SMU got to leave the America, something some of their alumni had been despite for. The American was able to bring in Army to replace SMU. Army is clearly a bigger national brand to include next time media rights are negotiated. It really is a win win!

Sounds like chance #4 or 5. 3 @ LSU, 1 @ OU and now us. I like the idea of second chances and hope that Gilbert can help but at the same time shoot him straight. Short leash.

For those of you who are convinced Braxton is the guy, what has you sold on him? His 2023 stats are not great. It doesn’t even look like he played very much. Am I just missing something about him?

Man why are we bringing this stuff up again? Let it go people. The jury has already spoken. Go on with your lives.

He would be a huge addition to our QB room! He’s from Frisco, I believe. If he gets here in the spring, he could compete for the starting job.

I think this is a good haul. I was not too worried about the offense. It was the defense I was worried about. If we got the defensive players we wanted and the defense is still last or is in the bottom 20, then Caponi is the problem and not the players.

The only financial problem FSU has is the ACC's TV deal. When FSU joined the ACC in 1991, they had to raise $7 million a year to keep up with elite teams in other conferences. Now the gap is $30 million. One of their trustees said today that if you take out TV revenue, FSU's athletic spending is the seventh highest in the FBS. He said, "It's one thing to fundraise and make up $7 million. It's another entirely to make up over $30-to-40 million annually." https://www.tallahassee.com/story/sports/college/fsu/2023/12/22/fsu-acc-takeaways-lawsuit-grant-rights-deal/71890649007/ FSU is going to chew its leg off to get out of the ACC beartrap just like SMU did the AAC.

https://tylerpaper.com/news/texas/unt-lands-lsu-transfer-rb-former-lancaster-standout-tre-bradford/article_7fe6973a-1a9d-5d57-96f4-1459de78f2bf.html Tre Bradford, LSU, Running Back (247sports.com)

Ooooor, perhaps FSU knows that their seat at the adult table is a given and they're suing from a position of wanting the best deal possible. They don't have to do anything desperate just to get the cool kids to play with them.

Lol then maybe it was a blessing in disguise! I'm confident the coaches will find the right DAWG

Who has invited FSU to join? They have been pretty irrelevant the past decade. The last 2 years have been ok. Where will they end up? Big10? SEC? AAC?

Interesting. If you believe SMU’s numbers, they could easily raise $575 million. SMU raised about $100 million in under a week. Yet Florida State, a much bigger football brand, says $572 is too severe a penalty and is suing to reduce the amount. This a a real “get your popcorn ready to watch” moment.

No such thing as falling through the cracks. Not in this day and age with twitter and instagram access to every coach in the country. What has changed is the recruiting landscape. The P5 will primarily LIVE in the world of the portal, and 4 and 5 star athletes. 5 star is basically predicting the kid is a 1st round NFL talent, 4 star is a chance to get drafted more or less. 3 star they just slap those ratings on guys like hot cakes because its easy and they're lazy. P5's used to drop from the 4 stars when they lost out on them or someone flipped them, would then come and raid a team like say North Texas who had some really good 3 stars committed and they'd offer and the kid would typically chase the bigger offer. Now that the portal is here instead of them trying to find a HS kid they just use a college kid who already has experience with college life, practice, academics etc. Now there is an abundance of kids like a majority of the ones we signed that lets face it prior to the portal UNT doesn't land 2/3 of the class.

Give the dude a shot

We just need a guy to hand the ball off! Right?

There is something going on behind the scenes with this young man. He has too much talent to not get on the field much for LSU. Hopefully he can get closer to home and figure it out. If he does, this is a homerun for us. I don't mind giving a kid a chance as long as he isn't a cancer to the team. That LSU was willing to let him come back tells me that he is not. I love that we are getting this level of transfer, even if he comes with a question mark.

Hopefully, reuniting with Coach Gilbert will help him stay focused.

I think the Manning family realizes the value of sitting and learning early on and enjoying the college experience. Both Peyton and Eli played until they were out of eligibility because they enjoyed the college life. Money isn't an issue either.

Yeah everyone will be mad with this offer, but when you have a LS who is an issue then everyone wants to blame someone. Good for the staff for identifying this area of need and addressing it the best way they know how, with a scholarship for the young man.

You decide to criticize the messenger although he has offered no opinion whatsoever? Did you really watch (and comprehend) the whole video? Did you watch the analysis discussion by what I would evaluate as two fairly neutral men? Please list where you disagree with their conclusions. I'm awaiting your reply.

FSU so *very* excited about those new ACC members . . .

Isn't there a forum just for these conversations?

FSU's claim is ridiculous. They are literally gaining additional revenue from us (and Cali) joining and looking at the top 25 rankings we improve the conference. It's a silly argument like much of their filing. Conference certainly could fall apart but if it does as a result of this filing it's going to be abject chaos. It would invalidate the Big12 GOR also which uses a similar structure.

6-6 teams tend to do poorly when they have to play their TE at QB much of the game. What's your point?

Yes, I hope to see the same addressed. We seemed to drop 8 a lot and LBs running to places on field where no WR was within 10/15 yards I’d like to see guys when they turn to their zone with nothing threatening eyes back on QB for help with scramble drill. The other option which is prob better imo is to bring an extra person via pressure from any level Corner, Safety, or LB that’s what makes 3-3-5 so tough is pressure can come from anywhere on the field with multiple coverages matched behind those blitzes

Let's hope so.

We know this. At SMU they're paying to be a part of that new FCS. It's all pretty funny.

They probably decided to include calves as a requirement and went in a different direction.

I'm skeptical for the reasons you stated but I'd be excited about the size and athleticism. With the offensive line and running back transfers, adding a mobile QB like Braxton can make for an incredible run game that can hurt defenses multiple ways. Make them bring the safeties in to help run defense and receivers will have more space to run which would hopefully help limit tight-window throws. We'll see what happens but I think these coaches would find ways to make the offense explosive with his skill set.

Were the games he did play played through injury? 2 tds to 6 int with 44% completion rate sounds bad. His rookie year was better with TD:INT of 10:2 but just 56% completion rate. I haven’t watched him play so I assume others think the talent is there and the situation/injury hurt him, just curious.

I’m very hopeful for the both of them actually. I’m on the bandwagon of Zach Evans since he’s had more plying time. But, I think we found our Adaway/Ayo 1-2 punch. These two may actually be better. Plus, I’m very intrigued by the OL additions from the portal. We got bigger and, hopefully, better.