Daily recruiting notes are presented by A-1 Discount Tree and Lawn Service. For removal, trimming, stump grinding, demolition and land clearing, call A-1 at 601-981-4900 (tel:601-981-4900) or check out their website www.A1DiscountTree.com(http://www.a1discounttree.com/
Here's the thread from the weekend:
RECRUITING: - Friday, Dec. 20 -- Sunday, Dec. 22 Recruiting/Transfer Portal Notes, presented by A-1 Discount Lawn and Tree Service
Daily recruiting notes are presented by A-1 Discount Tree and Lawn Service. For removal, trimming, stump grinding, demolition and land clearing, call A-1 at 601-981-4900 (tel:601-981-4900) or check out their website www.A1DiscountTree.com(http://www.a1discounttree.com/ Here's the thread from...
olemiss.forums.rivals.com
First, Merry Christmas. I hope all of you and your families have a joyous holiday.
Second, today is the beginning of a quiet period. Contact is allowed, but not in-person, on-campus contact. Negotiations will continue and I suspect there will be deals done, but the flow of visits that marked the past two weeks will stop until January rolls around.
Last night, Missouri landed former Penn State quarterback Beau Pribula, who we believe visited Ole Miss over the weekend. This morning, Auburn announced it had reached contract terms with former Georgia Tech wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr., who had been an Ole Miss target early in the process.
If you've followed our drama-free coverage of recruiting/transfer portal, neither of these developments surprised you. Pribula was always a long shot. He was going to be expensive and he wanted to start. So had he come and realized he wasn't starting, he was going to jump back into the portal. Had he come and won the job, Austin Simmons was leaving in April/May. Period. Singleton, meanwhile, was very expensive. I don't know what Auburn agreed to pay him for his 2025 salary, but I'd be willing to bet it was more than $1.2 million. Ole Miss didn't have that valuation on him. Is Auburn right? Is Ole Miss wrong? I mean, there's no way to know that now. We'll see.
The following isn't said sarcastically, as I know there are people here who don't have time to listen to podcasts and there are also people here who don't read 10 Thoughts or other big-picture pieces. There are lots of people here for community who follow sporadically, so when they ask frustrated questions on the message board, I get it. So here's a quick refresher:
Revenue sharing kicks in July 1. Every SEC school -- and most every Big 4 school -- is going to use the full $20 million-ish revenue share, with 75-85 percent of that going to football. So everyone has money this year. Further, the players now have agents. And while some of the agents are unscrupulous, most are young and good and motivated to do good by their clients. So the negotiations that were once held between the collective and the player now have layers of agents more involved. That's leading to a more methodical process. Further, the schools have learned from mistakes -- Ole Miss emotionally invested on Juice Wells last season, severely overpaying him and costing the Rebels some roster flexibility -- and are taking a more analytic approach to the portal and recruiting now. In short, it's pro sports now, and those of you who don't follow pro sports very closely are likely a bit perplexed by some of what you're seeing.
Some schools -- Tyler Siskey said last night on McCready & Siskey that Arkansas fit this profile -- are going to use more money on men's basketball and baseball next year at the expense of football. I suspect that's accurate and applies to schools other than Arkansas. But even take the Razorbacks as an example. Yes, they've had a lot of defections from the portal, including losing three players to Ole Miss. However, they're had a large number of acquisitions as well, and over the weekend, they convinced running back Braylon Russell, who was visiting Ole Miss, to get out of the portal and return to the UA. I presume that included a financial agreement that had terms Ole Miss didn't want to match/exceed. Everyone has money, and it's definitely changed the game this year.
Then there's the internal angle. Unlike pro sports, where everything is public, salary agreements are not publicly exposed by the schools. Therefore, there's a lot of rumor, which gets to current players and often leads them back to the collectives for renegotiations of their current deals. If those renegotiations don't work to satisfaction, the portal is an option, both now and again in April.
Finally, remember we are merely wrapping up the first wave of the portal. Players have five days after their bowl game ends or after their CFP team is eliminated to get into the portal, which closes to all others on Saturday.
I'm watching for Fresno State quarterback Mikey Keene, South Alabama running back Fluff Bothwell and Florida State linebacker Shawn Murphy today, and it's quite possible there are others I'm unaware of. Information isn't super easy to acquire, and things change pretty rapidly.
