It's been an interesting day.
1. Everyone can kind of relax with regards to the fuss over the last few hours/days regarding a handful of Texas football players
2. For instance, it sounds like things are in a good place with Xavier Worthy. Like pretty much every player in the sport, there's likely been some pondering over how much money he can make while in college off of NIL, but our sources indicated today that everything is cool. The sense I got is that Texas has been on the front foot with regards to making sure he's maximizing his NIL value.
3. Just to inform everyone about the process, when a player requests from the school to be in the Portal, the school has a couple of days to process the request. In theory, the school could process very quickly or it can wait 48 hours before doing so, while trying to smooth over a situation to the point that the portal entry doesn't take place and the public might not ever know that someone ever stuck a toe into the Portal waters.
For instance, Pittsburgh wide receiver Jordan Addison may have officially requested to enter the Portal on Sunday, but the official insertion of his name into the Portal might not happen until tomorrow because Pittsburgh is using as much time as possible to try and retain him before he enters.
4. It remains to be seen what will happen with Jahdae Barron, but there's still a very real chance that he'll return to Texas. Again, there's a sense that everyone needs to relax. Might he still enter the Portal? Yes. Might it still not come to that? Yes. In a normal situation, this is all happening behind the scenes without a public spotlight. That his situation became public means that we're talking about it in the open. I won't put a percentage on his returning to Texas because we all know how that can go, but there's more calm at the moment than anxiousness about this being resolved in a way that would make everyone happy.
5. I don't really have anything new on the Marcus Washington situation. Still waiting to see what happens, but there might be a motivation to put himself into a situation that would allow him to have better platform to play the most snaps possible in his senior year that isn't in Austin. With the emergence of Isaiah Neyor and the recruitment of Agiye Hall, it's a crowded receiver room and there's more urgency with Washington, who is a senior, to make sure that he's able to showcase himself as best as possible. I'll update this section if/when something more concrete comes in.
6. Did Ochaun Mathis get a nice NIL deal from Nebraska? Yes. Would have have received less at Texas? It doesn't sound like it. In talking to some people with knowledge of his recruitment today, it sounds like a couple of things happened.
a. The Nebraska coaches did a hell of a job selling him on his role within the defense in a way that probably connected with him more than the approach from the Texas staff. Sounds like they vibed with him better, which is a point his mother made today in the chat of our Monday Overreaction Show.
b. While the family has a lot of respect for Gary Patterson, that connection wasn't an overriding factor in his recruitment, as he was just as tempted to try something totally new than he was to follow his former coach.
It sounds like Nebraska just beat Texas. I talked to multiple people today that were emphatic that NIL was not the ultimate deciding factor.
7. Finally, one of the things I did have expressed to me via multiple sources is that Texas is much more organized on the NIL front than a lot of Texas fans suspect that they are. It sounds like in the coming month, there will be more announcements about projects connected to future NIL programs, but not everything gets processed at the snap of a finger.
While all of this is wild, wild West stuff and events continue to pop up that have never existed before in a pre-NIL world, I sensed a lot more organization in talking to various people connected to the conversation (all with different roles) than a lack of organization.
You can believe that or take more of a "I'll believe it when I fully see it" approach to the message, but it felt important to pass along.
Enjoy your Monday night.
1. Everyone can kind of relax with regards to the fuss over the last few hours/days regarding a handful of Texas football players
2. For instance, it sounds like things are in a good place with Xavier Worthy. Like pretty much every player in the sport, there's likely been some pondering over how much money he can make while in college off of NIL, but our sources indicated today that everything is cool. The sense I got is that Texas has been on the front foot with regards to making sure he's maximizing his NIL value.
3. Just to inform everyone about the process, when a player requests from the school to be in the Portal, the school has a couple of days to process the request. In theory, the school could process very quickly or it can wait 48 hours before doing so, while trying to smooth over a situation to the point that the portal entry doesn't take place and the public might not ever know that someone ever stuck a toe into the Portal waters.
For instance, Pittsburgh wide receiver Jordan Addison may have officially requested to enter the Portal on Sunday, but the official insertion of his name into the Portal might not happen until tomorrow because Pittsburgh is using as much time as possible to try and retain him before he enters.
4. It remains to be seen what will happen with Jahdae Barron, but there's still a very real chance that he'll return to Texas. Again, there's a sense that everyone needs to relax. Might he still enter the Portal? Yes. Might it still not come to that? Yes. In a normal situation, this is all happening behind the scenes without a public spotlight. That his situation became public means that we're talking about it in the open. I won't put a percentage on his returning to Texas because we all know how that can go, but there's more calm at the moment than anxiousness about this being resolved in a way that would make everyone happy.
5. I don't really have anything new on the Marcus Washington situation. Still waiting to see what happens, but there might be a motivation to put himself into a situation that would allow him to have better platform to play the most snaps possible in his senior year that isn't in Austin. With the emergence of Isaiah Neyor and the recruitment of Agiye Hall, it's a crowded receiver room and there's more urgency with Washington, who is a senior, to make sure that he's able to showcase himself as best as possible. I'll update this section if/when something more concrete comes in.
6. Did Ochaun Mathis get a nice NIL deal from Nebraska? Yes. Would have have received less at Texas? It doesn't sound like it. In talking to some people with knowledge of his recruitment today, it sounds like a couple of things happened.
a. The Nebraska coaches did a hell of a job selling him on his role within the defense in a way that probably connected with him more than the approach from the Texas staff. Sounds like they vibed with him better, which is a point his mother made today in the chat of our Monday Overreaction Show.
b. While the family has a lot of respect for Gary Patterson, that connection wasn't an overriding factor in his recruitment, as he was just as tempted to try something totally new than he was to follow his former coach.
It sounds like Nebraska just beat Texas. I talked to multiple people today that were emphatic that NIL was not the ultimate deciding factor.
7. Finally, one of the things I did have expressed to me via multiple sources is that Texas is much more organized on the NIL front than a lot of Texas fans suspect that they are. It sounds like in the coming month, there will be more announcements about projects connected to future NIL programs, but not everything gets processed at the snap of a finger.
While all of this is wild, wild West stuff and events continue to pop up that have never existed before in a pre-NIL world, I sensed a lot more organization in talking to various people connected to the conversation (all with different roles) than a lack of organization.
You can believe that or take more of a "I'll believe it when I fully see it" approach to the message, but it felt important to pass along.
Enjoy your Monday night.
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