Wait so ESPN puts out their Big 12 preview and calls Texas Tech the team to beat and I am supposed to just nod along like that makes any sense at all. Back in the 1998 Sun Bowl season we did not need a magazine telling us who the favorite was because we settled things on the field in November when it mattered. You look at what psses for roster building now and it is all about who has the biggest NIL collective and who won the transfer portal arms race and absolutely nothing about developing kids over four years and teaching them what it actually means to play for the same uniform week after week after week.
I remember when Coach Franchione used to bring in these kids from small Texas towns nobody had ever heard of and by their junior year they were starting for us and you could see the growth in their eyes and their fundamentals and their understanding of how the game was supposed to be played. We did not have five star recruits falling into our lap we had kids who wanted to be Horned Frogs and who stayed Horned Frogs even when they were sitting on the bench for two years learning the playbook and the culture and the pride that comes with this program. Now you have guys entering the portal after one spring practice because they are not getting enough touches or the NIL money at the next stop is slightly better and we are supposed to call that a competitive advantage.
The transfer portal killed loyalty and recruiting the old way was about relationships and trust and knowing that the kid you offered as a sophomore in high school would be the same kid lining up for you four years later. You cannot build a program on one year rentals and you cannot build a culture on guys who are already looking at the next exit before they even finish their first semester of classes. I look at our spring depth chart and I see names I barely recognize and that is not how it used to be when you could name every scholarship player on the roster and tell you where they went to high school and why they chose TCU.
Give me the old way every single time. Recruiting the old way meant something. It meant a handshake meant something. Now it is just a bidding war and the kids are the ones losing in the long run.