UCLA lands big DL

Uo just kept the top recruits who beat him out. If you can recruit that much talent then this works. Oregon is doing that and gets to keep that top talent for 3-5 years. The ones that stay. I like their approach better than USCs frankly

while true for the most part. There were a few they didn’t want to transfer: McGee, Thornton, Flowe, Mataveo. All were going to get significant playing time. 2nd string at worse.

What's next? I'll tell you what's next.

First, the government (state or federal, it doesn't matter which) will declare that in the NIL Era the players are employees of the university.

Then, players' unions and a series of CBAs. I see local or regional unions, not a national union. What will the players -- strike that -- what will their representatives demand? Revenue sharing. A week off before any big game (the Notre Dame rule) or a game against the Citadel after Veterans' Day (the SEC rule). No games starting after 7:00 local time. First-class travel. Wolfgang Puck traning tables.

And then, load management.

I think the used car approach can be valuable. I've only bought one new car in my life and learned my lesson; why lose five grand driving the fucker off the lot? I don't buy pieces of shit, I buy nice cars, and there's nothing wrong with a used car if you know what you're doing, which I do.

So it is with portal guys -- a lot of them anyway. Maybe not with this Williams kid, who hasn't really shown what he can do, so they're probably taking him on potential. But look at so many other portal transfers who have panned out. And I'm not just talking about the Caleb Williams of the world, those guys are different and it's a different situation (tied to a coach, etc.). At UCLA, take a guy like Jake Bobo, for instance. He may have played for Duke, which isn't a killer program. But it's still ACC, and they still play FBS football, and sometimes they're good. So, it was easy for Chip to see that this guy had skills that enabled him to get open, catch the rock, and get upfield. Chip knew that in his offense this guy, while not a burner, was going to move the chains. Bottom line: this guy had already played a lot of FBS football, so the learning curve was minimal (just learn the new offense), and he didn't have to get used to being in college, etc. That is far more valuable than most high school kids. True, if you can get the burners and the freaks out of high school, by all means do it. But most of those guys don't go to UCLA, just the way it is. And that was even before Chip.

The trouble with the portal is COMPETITION, same as high school. The good ones go fast, but the return can be much greater if you land the right ones. If you don't get the portal guys you need, you better have high school kids you are developing. It can't be either or, it has to be both. That's where Chip needs to improve, and fast.