You see Waymond Jordan throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium with the boys and it hits me how disconnected the national narrative is from what we are actually building. ESPN drops the Big Ten preview and has Oregon and Ohio State in front of us again. Fine. Whatever. But they put us in the "standing in the way" tier like we are just a speed bump and NOT the program that has been quietly stacking visits and closing on croots all spring.
The 247 composite does not tell the full story right now. I keep hearing from sources close to the program that the staff is sitting on a couple of silent commits that will flip the whole narrative when they go public. The dead period is the time when the real work happens behind the scenes and this staff has been grinding. Crystal balls are starting to light up for some names that nobody is talking about yet.
Meanwhile Oregon has five 5-stars in their 2026 haul and everybody wants to crown them already. Georgia is stacking elite taent. But the Big Ten is a grind and the teams that win it are the ones that build depth and develop. We are not there yet on paper but the foundation is stronger than the rankings suggest. The ESPN disrespect is going to look silly come November.