Watched that story about the Oregon quarterback competition and it just made me shake my head. You have a kid who transferred in to be a backup, talking about it like it's some grand career plan. That's not commitment, that's a calculated layover. It reminds me of the old WAC days when a Miner stuck it out through thick and thin, like a John Harvey or a Paul Smith. They built something you could believe in, not a temporary roster spot.
Now we're in an era where a program like Oklahoma State brings in fifty new faces, and Colorado has forty-three. What are you even rooting for? A logo? A uniform color? There's no soul in that. I remember when you knew the names, the stories, the kids who grew up in the program from the Sun Bowl practices as freshmen to leading the team as seniors. That meant something. Now it's just a revolving door of hired guns looking for the next NIL check.
The worst part is, it's trickling down everywhere. It creates this culture where loyalty is a weaknesss. Why would a kid stay and fight for his spot at a place like UTEP when he can just hop in the portal at the first sign of competition? We used to develop men, not just athletes. Coach Mike Price's best teams were built on guys who bled orange and blue, not on a spreadsheet of portal acquisitions. This isn't football anymore, it's fantasy football with real people, and it's gutting the heart of the sport.