Watched that spring game and the biggest takeaway wasn't the play on the field, it was the sideline. The sheer number of priority 2027 targets we had on campus for that official visit weekend is a statement the staff is making right now. While the national guys are drooling over Oregon's five-star haul or Colorado's 43-man portal class, our blueprint is being drawn in Sharpie this spring. You host that many key croots, you're not just selling a program, you're selling a timeline. The message is clear: the guys we're bringing in this year are the foundation for the next push up the FCS ladder, and we want you to see the ground floor being poured.
Hearing the noise from those visits, the staff is hammering the development path hard. With the NFL Draft happening right now, it's the perfect backdrop. You can point to the guys getting their names called and say that's the end goal, but for a 2027 kid on an OV, you show them the redshirt freshman who just took first-team reps in the spring game and say that could be you in 18 months. It's about proximity to playing time, which we can offer in a way the bloated portal rosters at some of these G5 schools can't. Our pitch is direct: come here, get coached, play early, and then let the NFL talk happen. It's a simpler, more honest sell, and for a certain type of kid, it resonates way more than fighting through a 50-man portal logjam.
This weekend was about identifying those guys. The ccrystal balls aren't flying yet, that's not how this works at our level. It's about building the relationships that lead to silent commits over the summer. You get them on campus, you let them feel the energy around the new facilities, you let them sit in meetings and see how the scheme is evolving. The staff is smart, they're not just throwing a generic visit at these kids. They're tailoring it. The offensive line targets were glued to that new O-line coach every snap. The defensive backs were in the ear of the DC. That's how you make an OV count. You make it feel less like a tour and more like a preview.
The real test comes now, in the dead period after the visits. This is when the follow-up is everything. The staff has to stay relentl...