Bunk Moreland

What are we even doing here? What a joke.

Wow, what a connection, Hank! I followed those Stanford teams very closely. Mitch was a tough, clever player. Not a very good shooter, but could hit the occasional clutch 3. But his court vision and IQ were excellent and he had a gift for creating plays in the halfcourt game. That 2007-08 Stanford team was loaded with talent. In addition to the Lopez twins, they also had Landry Fields (who played five years in the NBA and was the GM of the Hawks) and Anthony Goods and Lawrence Hill (who both played overseas for years). They never reached their potential because Trent Johnson could never maximize his squad. I had a hard time watching that sweet 16 game because I loved both teams.

Fair enough. Apologies for my defensiveness. I completely agree with you that the coaches should ideally allocate substantial resources to DT recruiting and that it should be split between elite prospects and more developmental players with elite traits or high upside. Using the latter criteria, I would say that Sweat and Murphy had elite traits, even if the industry did not consider them elite prospects. Byron Murphy had elite strength, quickness, and productivity. He broke Von Miller’s high school sack record at Desoto. That’s elite disruption at a high level of competition. The staff should look for guys with those sorts of traits, even if they’re not 5-stars.

This is an obnoxious response. The irony of your statement is that now the coaches are actually going to focus harder than they did even a year ago on developmental prospects with upside. So, paradoxically, it might be more likely going forward that the coaches would find another Murphy and Sweat than the trend lines the last few years would suggest. But my point was that if you can find a 5- or high-4-star DT, you go all-in because they are like a supernova if they hit their ceiling. Okay, how about this: you go offer all the 3-star DTs that you’d like hoping to find Byron Murphy and I’ll go pay $1.5M to Jalen Carter. Deal?

I would add Currie to the list. There are just not enough truly elite DTs out there, so loading up on high-end IDL talent in high school recruiting feels more important than ever.

Read my follow-up post. They clearly are a blue blood program based on overall resume, but at what point does their downward trajectory kick them out of the club? OU will be competitive going forward, but they are never going to be a dominant force in college football again unless something drastic changes like pooling revenues.

“Joey the Mouth” -Bobby

Yes, they are clearly a historic blue blood. But if that’s your criteria, then so is Nebraska. I know OU just made the playoff, but they are not even a top-tier SEC program IMO. And they have competitive disadvantages that make it highly unlikely they will ever come close to the kind of success they’ve had historically. Let me put it like this: OU may still be a blue blood based on their total resume, but we might be reevaluating that in 10 years. They are not a blue blood over the NEXT 50 years.

I’m not even sure I consider OU a blue blood anymore, so no.

The mod only threads during portal season were worth every penny of the subscription.

I’m surprised you had the audacity to say “OG” without it triggering your Floodphobia

@Bobby Burton with a cryptic hint on C&F this morning about more big news this summer. What could it possibly be? Documenting Chip’s acid trips live and sponsored by Rogue Shop? Buying out OB just to shutter that cesspool forever? Bringing on Wiltfong just so that OTF can trademark the Fong Bombs? The possibilities are endless.

Can we get a temporary truce with IT and get a Football Theory—Deep Dive crossover show?

A little teaser from Gerry’s OF

The staff already crushes it with extensive knowledge and covering of high school recruits, but I would love to see broader and more systematic coverage of portal players—even grading or ranking them like you do for high school recruits. Go ahead and use Gerry’s +++++++ scale if you’d like. I just think there’s some definite meat on the bone with the portal, and NOBODY in the industry has it totally cornered. Plus, I want to hear the OTF scouting report on portal players more than I do others in the industry who actively cover the portal.

You’re one to talk.

Better watch out, @CJ Vogel. Bobby’s trying to find a new young phenom because you’ve been around @Gerry Hamilton for too long and are starting to smell like mayo.

That must make you either David Wallace or Jan, Mr. Editor-in-Chief.

And to think that all it might have taken to prevent all this was Eric Nahlin being a little less greedy with YouTube revenues. Oh well! Their loss is our gain. We love OTF! Great get, Bobby!! Keep dominating the market, doing it the right way, and giving us by far the best UT sports fan experience and news coverage anywhere.

That’s fair. But the center position is so unique and specific that I’m taking Majors over Williams, call me crazy. And I want a big, physical receiver. Mitchell is more explosive, talented, and higher ceiling, but I’m going Humphrey.

Good list. My starters would be: QB: Arch RB: Bijan TE: Helm WR: Worthy, Duvernay, Humphrey (Coleman would be here if you included 2026) OL: Banks, (move Goosby to LG), Majors, (move Cam Williams to RG), Cosmi DT: Sweat, Murphy DE: Simmons, Omenihu LB: Hill, Overshown, Jefferson (Biles might be here if we included 2026) CB: Barron, Boyd, Hill S: Mukuba, Elliott K: Dicker P: Dickson KR: Jamison PR: Niblett