In recruiting we are the Alabama of...

[vidaliagamecock]

3 stars. I think it is pretty clear that when realignment comes, we are not going to be a part of it unless they want a perennial punching bag. We simply are not competitive enough to attract the talent to win. With NIL money SC is just never going to be able to buy sufficient talent. We really missed our opportunity to cheat huge and win one. Now that cheating is legal, Texas and A&M will be fielding teams that have NFL level money thrown at players. I wish I could be optimistic, but the prevailing winds are, like always, blowing against us.

 

[67gamecock]

Dismal post about our possible future in the SEC, but I must admit, I've thought the same since the 'Horns and Okies announced their intentions to crash our party.

Look at it this way: we'll have super athletic facilities from all the NFL caliber $$$ we'll rake in from SEC membership, but the same can be said for the other members of the conference.

 

[GamecockDiehard]

3 stars. I think it is pretty clear that when realignment comes, we are not going to be a part of it unless they want a perennial punching bag. We simply are not competitive enough to attract the talent to win. With NIL money SC is just never going to be able to buy sufficient talent. We really missed our opportunity to cheat huge and win one. Now that cheating is legal, Texas and A&M will be fielding teams that have NFL level money thrown at players. I wish I could be optimistic, but the prevailing winds are, like always, blowing against us.

You can't cheat when you play in a fishbowl and your most hated rival is in every orifice of politics a couple blocks away. Coupled with that same hated rival being protected in the deep woods and hills where police are terminated simply for writing the HC a ticket.

Yes they are corrupt and always have been. You can't fault them for it. It's rampant. Look at these small insulated towns where no one lives except hardened fans willing to do anything...and that's exactly what they do, except I'd qualify, it's not just anything, they do everything. It's a tight group.

So Carolina couldn't win with 2 of the most winningest coaches in the nation. Before them, Morrison lost to Navy way back! We had it locked and lost to Navy! Players won't risk their pro careers playing with teammates who simply aren't the same caliber. I know, occasionally we see a 2 or 3 star rise but they must play their hearts out to try to get to the NFL. They don't try to protect themselves as much because this is their only shot.

Sorry for the long post. I'm having a good day.

 

[GoCocksFight2021]

I remember all the morons on this board that thought NIL was a good idea.

 

[midline]

Don't disagree with much of anything above. And folks are fooled. I see all of these folks that go nuts every time Beamer sends out a welcome home tweet. But then you dig down into who is actually recruiting some of these guys, and it tells a lot. Yea, they get the odd 4 star that some others wanted, but the vast majority aren't even being recruited by the teams USC needs to beat if the program is ever going anywhere. A tough spot where I think sitting on the fence of bowl eligibility most years will be the norm.

 

[Boom4life]

I remember all the morons on this board that thought NIL was a good idea.

It was a good idea. Regardless of what it does to the game. The NCAA was wrong for taking that control to begin with. You should be able to make money off your name. Period.

 

[GoCocksFight2021]

It was a good idea. Regardless of what it does to the game. The NCAA was wrong for taking that control to begin with. You should be able to make money off your name. Period.

No, it wasn't. Amateurism was created to prevent exactly what you are seeing. Not sure what the Supreme Court was thinking.

 

[Lurker123]

Regardless of the idea of whether the players should be able to take money, a LOT of people were blind to the negative impact it was going to have on college football.

Short sighted angst over the NCAA, pity over student athletes who were getting free college plus stipends, maybe just wanting to stir the pot, whatever the reason, a lot of people are going to regret cheering that decision.

 

[Boom4life]

No, it wasn't. Amateurism was created to prevent exactly what you are seeing. Not sure what the Supreme Court was thinking.

We can agree to disagree. The players deserve to be able to make money off their talent and following. We won’t see eye to eye on that fact. I don’t care what it does to the game the Supreme Court was right when you get down to the fact that these men are mostly over 18 and have rights.

 

[ToddFlanders]

USC will never compete on a straight up recruiting basis with the big-time programs. But that's why Beamer was hired. If you have an eye for talent, and coaches that can actually coach (not just recruit), you can make your 3-stars into NFL-level players. It's more of the Boise State model - less of the Alabama model.

Can sustained success lead to being able to recruit on a level playing field as the big boys? Sure thing. But you have to find a way to have sustained success first.

And NIL and the portal will definitely help a school like USC. They can get difference makers (like Rattler) that want to come into a solid program, but that needs some top talent to move the needle. If USC can make sure it always has a solid O-line and a defense that can tackle - then they can pull stars in each year to make them a contender.

 

[GreatestCock]

It was a good idea. Regardless of what it does to the game. The NCAA was wrong for taking that control to begin with. You should be able to make money off your name. Period.

Exactly. The NCAA wouldn't be in this mess if they weren't so strict on this to begin with. Little things like paying the players an additional stipend for NIL as it relates to video games (EA Sports was willing) would have gone a long way to make this a gradual eventuality and not whats going on now.

 

[tngamecock#]

Basketball experts said Gonzaga couldn’t succeed at a high level either. Nice doom and gloom thread. Have a happy summer everyone🥴

 

[anon_lfvss99sqkvho]

You can't cheat when you play in a fishbowl and your most hated rival is in every orifice of politics a couple blocks away. Coupled with that same hated rival being protected in the deep woods and hills where police are terminated simply for writing the HC a ticket.

Yes they are corrupt and always have been. You can't fault them for it. It's rampant. Look at these small insulated towns where no one lives except hardened fans willing to do anything...and that's exactly what they do, except I'd qualify, it's not just anything, they do everything. It's a tight group.

So Carolina couldn't win with 2 of the most winningest coaches in the nation. Before them, Morrison lost to Navy way back! We had it locked and lost to Navy! Players won't risk their pro careers playing with teammates who simply aren't the same caliber. I know, occasionally we see a 2 or 3 star rise but they must play their hearts out to try to get to the NFL. They don't try to protect themselves as much because this is their only shot.

Sorry for the long post. I'm having a good day.

Officer got fired bc he posted it on Facebook.

 

[GoCocksFight2021]

Officer got fired bc he posted it on Facebook.

No.

The city of Pickens issued a statement after McClatchy's news conference at his attorney's office in Anderson, S.C., saying he "was terminated for engaging in private activity on company time on company equipment in addition to violating several general orders. It is important to note that Mr. McClatchy spent an hour and a half during his police shift at the police station "editing" his blog post."

Let's fire every public employee that has spent and hour and a half using their work computer for personal use. Let's see how that ends up.

 

[Boom4life]

No.

The city of Pickens issued a statement after McClatchy's news conference at his attorney's office in Anderson, S.C., saying he "was terminated for engaging in private activity on company time on company equipment in addition to violating several general orders. It is important to note that Mr. McClatchy spent an hour and a half during his police shift at the police station "editing" his blog post."

Let's fire every public employee that has spent and hour and a half using their work computer for personal use. Let's see how that ends up.

A, they usually are not making post about thier arrest. B, two wrongs don’t make a right.

 

[section907]

Lol. I though it was because he filled up his motor cycle with company gas.

osterine says Hello.

I thought all house taters except dee moved to on3.

 

[GoCocksFight2021]

We can agree to disagree. The players deserve to be able to make money off their talent and following. We won’t see eye to eye on that fact. I don’t care what it does to the game the Supreme Court was right when you get down to the fact that these men are mostly over 18 and have rights.

Not if you sign those rights away in a contract.

You have the "right" to take legal performance enhancing drugs. Should they be allowed to take all that mess now too, despite signing an agreement that they wouldn't?

 

[GoCocksFight2021]

Exactly. The NCAA wouldn't be in this mess if they weren't so strict on this to begin with. Little things like paying the players an additional stipend for NIL as it relates to video games (EA Sports was willing) would have gone a long way to make this a gradual eventuality and not whats going on now.

Yes, they would. Once they got a little money, they would have wanted as much as possible. Nobody wants to leave money on the table. Anybody that believes otherwise is a fool. From an academic viewpoint, a lot of the kids don't belong anywhere near a college campus to start with and would have never been admitted if they weren't athletes. Many (not all) are only here for a shot at the league, and don't give a crap about any degree. Money is their number one objective. Classes are just a necessary evil that presents more of an obstacle than an opportunity.

THAT is where the NCAA and schools went wrong. They should have kept the student in student-athlete instead of trying to work the system to allow anybody that can play ball in. Athletes should have to meet the same standards as any other student to get into a school.

 

[Boom4life]

Yes, they would. Once they got a little money, they would have wanted as much as possible. Nobody wants to leave money on the table. Anybody that believes otherwise is a fool. From an academic viewpoint, a lot of the kids don't belong anywhere near a college campus to start with and would have never been admitted if they weren't athletes. Many (not all) are only here for a shot at the league, and don't give a crap about any degree. Money is their number one objective. Classes are just a necessary evil that presents more of an obstacle than an opportunity.

THAT is where the NCAA and schools went wrong. They should have kept the student in student-athlete instead of trying to work the system to allow anybody that can play ball in. Athletes should have to meet the same standards as any other student to get into a school.

Then you leave out a large portion of the talent that makes the game what it is. People want to see exciting football that takes talent. No one wants to see a watered down product. It’s the same reason a second professional league won’t work. They will never be able to beat the product of players the nfl puts of them field.

 

[GoCocksFight2021]

Then you leave out a large portion of the talent that makes the game what it is. People want to see exciting football that takes talent. No one wants to see a watered down product. It’s the same reason a second professional league won’t work. They will never be able to beat the product of players the nfl puts of them field.

So. That wasn't the intent of college sports. College sports was created for actual college students to experience the benefits of sports, not as a farm league for some who are only interested in playing in the NFL. Quite a few legit student athletes are being cheated of an opportunity to experience those benefits because some better athlete that has no interest in being a student can be on the field and pretend to be a student.

And you can take every player today in college sports that doesn't met the school requirements and put them in a real farm league like baseball, and then get lesser athletes that actually meet the requirements to be in college, and the college football stadiums would still be full every weekend and nobody would care about the farm league.

At this point, the name on the team is nothing more than a licensed logo and people just pretend it really has something to do with their actual school. It was already getting there before NIL. NIL just made it way worse.

 

[Boom4life]

So. That wasn't the intent of college sports. College sports was created for actual college students to experience the benefits of sports, not as a farm league for some who are only interested in playing in the NFL. Quite a few legit student athletes are being cheated of an opportunity to experience those benefits because some better athlete that has no interest in being a student can be on the field and pretend to be a student.

And you can take every player today in college sports that doesn't met the school requirements and put them in a real farm league like baseball, and then get lesser athletes that actually meet the requirements to be in college, and the college football stadiums would still be full every weekend and nobody would care about the farm league.

At this point, the name on the team is nothing more than a licensed logo and people just pretend it really has something to do with their actual school. It was already getting there before NIL. NIL just made it way worse.

We will never agree. Personally I believe half of what you said is complete bullshit. Just my opinion.

 

[GoCocksFight2021]

We will never agree. Personally I believe half of what you said is complete bullshit. Just my opinion.

Believe what you want. NIL proponents didn't "believe" it would be a big impact on recruiting, and then we watched TAMU drop $30 million to land the best recruiting class in history. A class they never could have dreamed of before NIL.

You argue that a second "professional" league won't work, but that is exactly what that ruling created. The ONLY things different are that they have a college logo attached to it, no salary cap to ensure that money won't decide the outcome, and a lot of pretend student.

 

[BattleshipTexas]

Texas and A&M will be fielding teams that have NFL level money thrown at players. I wish I could be optimistic, but the prevailing winds are, like always, blowing against us.

Probably so, but even Texas is a bit frustrated by the NIL situation. Jordan Addison (All American WR at Pittsburgh) was so set to transfer to Texas he was looking at housing options. Then Southern Cal came in with a 2 million dollar NIL and snatched him away. It wasn't that Texas couldn't come up with $2 million, it was that would throw the whole NIL pay scale off. Established stars at Texas, who would be making like a third of that would wonder where their money is at. Same thing happened with TCU DE transfer Ochaun Mathis. All set to transfer to Texas, Texas hired his coach and mentor Gary Patterson and Nebraska comes in with an NIL that would be twice what any other Texas defensive player is getting. Money talks, Mathis isn't from a rich family like Manning, so he went to Nebraska. While Texas could have matched it, it couldn't do so without sewing discontent on the defensive side of the team. So last week the top all purpose running back in Texas, Reuben Owens, had been listing Texas, Texas A&M and OU, as his leaders, pretty typical and it was assumed after vicious recruiting fight one of those teams would win. He commits to Louisville, the highest rated Rivals recruit (No. 20 National) that Louisville has ever had committed. Out of the blue, never mentioned them before publicly. First visited 6/17/22. Massive NIL deal is assumed. Note that Louisville also has top 100 QB and WR from California committed, so they are throwing around some money.

 

[Gamecock Jacque]

It’s the same reason a second professional league won’t work. They will never be able to beat the product of players the nfl puts of them field.

The AFL asks how are you doing?

 

[Boom4life]

The AFL asks how are you doing?

That’s not even the same product lol. Don’t really think the 2 can be compared.

 

[Gamecock Jacque]

That’s not even the same product lol. Don’t really think the 2 can be compared.

?

 

[The Doctors Back]

Believe what you want. NIL proponents didn't "believe" it would be a big impact on recruiting, and then we watched TAMU drop $30 million to land the best recruiting class in history. A class they never could have dreamed of before NIL.

You argue that a second "professional" league won't work, but that is exactly what that ruling created. The ONLY things different are that they have a college logo attached to it, no salary cap to ensure that money won't decide the outcome, and a lot of pretend student.

While I believe NIL will destroy college football unless it somehow gets reined in, there is no way to deny these guys the right to make some money off NIL. You have a million college students who are “social media influencers” making tons of cash off stupid post. How do you deny these kids, many of whom come from dirt poor families,” the right to do the same? Maybe they should look at “capping” how much any one universities players can make. Even that is un-American, but it’s allowed in the NFL.

 

[ardencock]

I’m just scratching my head trying to understand the purpose of this thread. It is neither informative or cerebral … we learn nothing we don’t already know. I guess it does serve as a therapists couch for some and that may be good but it is highly unlikely any of these predictions will come to pass. It seems some folks have been depressed because we follow the same patterns decade after decade and they believe regularly winning 8 games is unacceptable…. And wail and gnash their teeth because we are not 10-2 every year. We have a large number of followers like the author who view themselves as prophets … let’s buckle in an see if they are!

 

[CockySC01]

I wish we could send Ray Tanner to remedial a/d training at a school like Alabama, since it’s obvious that firing him won’t happen. At least there would be a little hope.

 

[GoCocksFight2021]

While I believe NIL will destroy college football unless it somehow gets reined in, there is no way to deny these guys the right to make some money off NIL. You have a million college students who are “social media influencers” making tons of cash off stupid post. How do you deny these kids, many of whom come from dirt poor families,” the right to do the same? Maybe they should look at “capping” how much any one universities players can make. Even that is un-American, but it’s allowed in the NFL.

The un-American part of this deal is the fact that many "students" that couldn't sniff being accepted into a school under normal circumstances due to poor academic performance in high school are exempted from the rules that regular kids have to follow, just because they are athletes. All they do is steal an opportunity for a legit student athlete to participate in college sports.

In mean, if people want to get on their moral high horse about what people should and shouldn't be allowed to do and what is right and wrong, this is a bigger issue by far.

 

[ToddFlanders]

The un-American part of this deal is the fact that many "students" that couldn't sniff being accepted into a school under normal circumstances due to poor academic performance in high school are exempted from the rules that regular kids have to follow, just because they are athletes. All they do is steal an opportunity for a legit student athlete to participate in college sports.

In mean, if people want to get on their moral high horse about what people should and shouldn't be allowed to do and what is right and wrong, this is a bigger issue by far.

What your theory presupposes (and quite incorrectly) is that college admissions are a pure meritocracy. They aren’t. And they never were.

No one is having a spot stolen from them because no one is guaranteed a spot on any campus. Kids get on campuses for so many reasons besides pure grades and test scores. It’s why the admissions process has very subjective portions such as a personal essay and why being a legacy at a school can hold some weight depending on the school.

 

[ColumbiaNorth]

So. That wasn't the intent of college sports. College sports was created for actual college students to experience the benefits of sports, not as a farm league for some who are only interested in playing in the NFL. Quite a few legit student athletes are being cheated of an opportunity to experience those benefits because some better athlete that has no interest in being a student can be on the field and pretend to be a student.

And you can take every player today in college sports that doesn't met the school requirements and put them in a real farm league like baseball, and then get lesser athletes that actually meet the requirements to be in college, and the college football stadiums would still be full every weekend and nobody would care about the farm league.

At this point, the name on the team is nothing more than a licensed logo and people just pretend it really has something to do with their actual school. It was already getting there before NIL. NIL just made it way worse.

100% correct !!

 

[GoCocksFight2021]

What your theory presupposes (and quite incorrectly) is that college admissions are a pure meritocracy. They aren’t. And they never were.

No one is having a spot stolen from them because no one is guaranteed a spot on any campus. Kids get on campuses for so many reasons besides pure grades and test scores. It’s why the admissions process has very subjective portions such as a personal essay and why being a legacy at a school can hold some weight depending on the school.

That’s bullshit. Some of these athletes would have never had a chance of getting in without their athletic abilities. Essays and legacies have nothing to do with it. And they absolutely take an opportunity for a legit student athlete to experience college athletics.

 

[Lurker123]

That’s bullshit. Some of these athletes would have never had a chance of getting in without their athletic abilities. Essays and legacies have nothing to do with it. And they absolutely take an opportunity for a legit student athlete to experience college athletics.

Agreed. While Todd is right that kids get on campus for more than just grades, it's still true that 90% (my estimation) of the spots they take would go to other students who earned they way to college in something other than sports. (Primarily grades)

 

[ToddFlanders]

That’s bullshit. Some of these athletes would have never had a chance of getting in without their athletic abilities. Essays and legacies have nothing to do with it. And they absolutely take an opportunity for a legit student athlete to experience college athletics.

Sure - if getting in was only based on grades and test scores. And there are so many other students that also wouldn’t get in if not for other factors outside of grades and test scores. Sometimes schools want to let more out of state kids in - or have majors where you’re going to get grades and test scores for incoming freshman that may be lower than other majors (most likely the engineering kids are doing better at math than the English majors.

Schools have decided that athletics is important to their missions - Just like an English department is important. And they allocate a certain number of spots to athletics, the same way they do for the English department. The athletes aren’t “taking” spots at a school from someone else - they’re filling what was allocated to them.

But really, let’s take USC, they let in 6,150 Freshman a year. If someone didn’t get in, they don’t have it. If your rank for applicants is 6,151 or higher, “deserving” is a major stretch. Even if you take ever athlete out, they’re still sitting in the very high 5,000’s. There are 5,300 colleges in the US, there’s plenty of spots for anyone.

 

[GoCocksFight2021]

Sure - if getting in was only based on grades and test scores. And there are so many other students that also wouldn’t get in if not for other factors outside of grades and test scores. Sometimes schools want to let more out of state kids in - or have majors where you’re going to get grades and test scores for incoming freshman that may be lower than other majors (most likely the engineering kids are doing better at math than the English majors.

Schools have decided that athletics is important to their missions - Just like an English department is important. And they allocate a certain number of spots to athletics, the same way they do for the English department. The athletes aren’t “taking” spots at a school from someone else - they’re filling what was allocated to them.

But really, let’s take USC, they let in 6,150 Freshman a year. If someone didn’t get in, they don’t have it. If your rank for applicants is 6,151 or higher, “deserving” is a major stretch. Even if you take ever athlete out, they’re still sitting in the very high 5,000’s. There are 5,300 colleges in the US, there’s plenty of spots for anyone.

Yes , they are "taking a spot" from a real student athlete. Spin all you want, but you know good and damn well that without their athletic ability, they wouldn't even sniff getting on campus. College athletics were originally set up for real, deserving college student to experience the benefits of athletics whiles getting their education. They are cheated out of that opportunity to allow some ringers that don't give a damn about school or academics. Just use the school to try to further their athletic career.

Or maybe Vince "I scored 6 on the Wonderlic" Young had a hell of an "essay". LOL

 

[ToddFlanders]

Yes , they are "taking a spot" from a real student athlete. Spin all you want, but you know good and damn well that without their athletic ability, they wouldn't even sniff getting on campus. College athletics were originally set up for real, deserving college student to experience the benefits of athletics whiles getting their education. They are cheated out of that opportunity to allow some ringers that don't give a damn about school or academics. Just use the school to try to further their athletic career.

Or maybe Vince "I scored 6 on the Wonderlic" Young had a hell of an "essay". LOL

Of course many athletes across the country wouldn't be at specific schools without their athletic ability. And the music majors wouldn't be there without musical ability. And dance majors wouldn't be there without dancing ability. Have you been on a college campus? There are people there for any number of reasons and talents. You clearly have no concept of college admissions - especially with this hypothetical "real, deserving college student" that you claim is missing out. Who is this person? Where are all these "real, deserving" kids that couldn't get into college because of an athlete. They don't exist.

Again, schools have decided that athletics are important - so schools have spots open for athletes (including those that wouldn't be there on a purely academic basis). Then they try and get the best athletes - because if they only got people who could get in on a purely academic basis, then no one would want to watch their games.

 

[GoCocksFight2021]

Of course many athletes across the country wouldn't be at specific schools without their athletic ability. And the music majors wouldn't be there without musical ability. And dance majors wouldn't be there without dancing ability. Have you been on a college campus? There are people there for any number of reasons and talents. You clearly have no concept of college admissions - especially with this hypothetical "real, deserving college student" that you claim is missing out. Who is this person? Where are all these "real, deserving" kids that couldn't get into college because of an athlete. They don't exist.

Again, schools have decided that athletics are important - so schools have spots open for athletes (including those that wouldn't be there on a purely academic basis). Then they try and get the best athletes - because if they only got people who could get in on a purely academic basis, then no one would want to watch their games.

That's because there are DANCE MAJORS and MUSIC MAJORS. Has been for a long time. And, yes, I have 2 degrees from USC, so I've been on a college campus.

There is no major in FOOTBALL. It was designed as an extracurricular activity for STUDENTS. Not a farm league to the NFL with ringers, many of which have NO interest in an education. The only thing "important" is the money.

And people would still show up for the games. The value has always been in the school association. Put these same players in a farm league for the NFL and nobody would show up to watch them. But people would still show up at the college stadiums every Saturday, even if the talent level was lower.

 

[Neanderthal]

I can recall many instances of athletes who never showed an interest in academics get a free college education (plus just being admitted) because they could play football. Any coach can do that that has been around a decent amount of time. How about a head coach who comes in and says he is going to offer your player and you say “Well, you know he scored 460 on the SAT and is ranked 286 in a class of 345.” And the coach says “We have a diploma curriculum we will put him in so he’ll be fine.” How many regular students would a college admit with those numbers?
So you may ask, “Did the player get a degree?” Well, certainly he did. They held his hand, saturated his life with tutors, had other people write his papers for him. But the degree he received is worth nothing. He has had that degree since 1992 and has worked 30 years cleaning right-of-ways for Duke Power. Just guessing, he may now be up to $18 an hour. I give him credit for earning a living instead of looking for a gov’t handout. But the point is, he didn’t need a college degree for that job.

And he didn’t go to UNC with the fake courses either. He went to another colllege that provide easy courses for their athletes. All do. Even Georgia Tech. But when they apply for high-paying jobs, the employers see through that. But most think they are going to pro ball, anyway. Then the pipe dream ends and reality strikes.

I know one incident does not mean a lot, but there are many of these incidences I can recall. Many. And it is dismaying when they interview a “student/athlete” on TV after he has had a great game, a kid that has been on college for 4 years, and he can’t even put a sentence together.

Sorry for the rant. This issue hits a sore spot with me.

 

[ToddFlanders]

That's because there are DANCE MAJORS and MUSIC MAJORS. Has been for a long time. And, yes, I have 2 degrees from USC, so I've been on a college campus.

There is no major in FOOTBALL. It was designed as an extracurricular activity for STUDENTS. Not a farm league to the NFL with ringers, many of which have NO interest in an education. The only thing "important" is the money.

And people would still show up for the games. The value has always been in the school association. Put these same players in a farm league for the NFL and nobody would show up to watch them. But people would still show up at the college stadiums every Saturday, even if the talent level was lower.

So you agree - there are kids that get into USC that don’t necessarily meet the academic standards, but get in because of a specialized skill. Perfect. You think those dance majors all go for the “education” they’ll receive outside of dance classes?

If not, then by your account they’re taking a spot from a “deserving” student, right?

USC wants good football, so they bring in the best players they can get. They deserve to be here as much as anyone else because they were specifically invited by the school to be at USC. There are 85 scholarship football players out of over 27,000+ undergraduates. Get over yourself.