I see Oregon sitting there with five 5-star recruits in their 2027 class and I just laugh. You know what we did back in 1993 when we faced Michigan in that classic? We had a bunch of kids from Wisconsin farm towns who grew up wanting to play for the Badgers, not kids who picked the highest NIL bidder. Barry Alvarez built those Rose Bowl teams by recruiting the Midwest hard, by shaking hands with high school coaches in Platteville and Waukesha, not by flashing a checkbook at some camp in California.
The whole system is backwards now. We used to win because we developed three-star kids into All-Americans over four years. Chris McIntosh, Aaron Gibson, those guys were not 5-star recruits. They became great because they stayed, they worked, they bought into something bigger than themselves. Now every kid with a pulse enters the portal the moment they do not start as a freshman.
ESPN has us at number 24 in the 2027 rankings and everybody panics. Let me ask you something. When was the last time a 5-star recruit actually won a national championship for the team that signed him? Half of them transfer before their sophomore year anyway. I would rather have a kid from Waukesha who bleeds red and white than some mercenary who is already planning his next stop before he even enrolls.
I miss the old days when you committed to a school, not a bank accuont.