Gets me about all these spring practice reports and ESPN offseason rankings grading us on portal hauls? Nobody talks about what this program was built on. I remember the 2002 season when we went 13-1 and beat Florida State in the Sugar Bowl, and that team had guys who played together for three and four years. They developed in the system. They knew what it meant to run through the hedges.
Nowadays we are supposed to be impressed by how many flashy names we bring in from the portal. But I look at that Tennessee State morning game on the schedule and I think about the old days when we opened with a directional school and you could take your kids to see the band and the cheerleaders and just enjoy college football on a Saturday. The bowl games used to mean something because you earned your way there with the guys you recruited and developed. Now its all about who has the biggest NIL war chest for the transfer window. The sport lost something when the Independence Bowl st...