Just saw that list of NFL draft superlatives and not a single Red Raider on it. Not one. That tells you everything you need to know about where we are. We used to send guys to the league who could play. Zach Thomas, Wes Welker, Michael Crabtree. Those guys defined toughness. Now we’re just hoping a five-star recruit like this Sweeney kid can stick around for two years before he gets a better NIL offer from some SEC school.
This whole thing reminds me of the old Southwest Conference days, when a rivalry game meant something. You knew you were going to battle with Texas or Texas A&M every year, and those guys hated you for four quarters. Now? The portal killed any sense of team identity. How are you supposed to build a hatred for a guy who was your teammate last spring? The game has lost its soul.
We get a kid like Sweeney to commit, and all I can think is, great, let’s see if he’s still here for the 2027 season opener. The loyalty is gone. The rivalries are gone. Everything is just a transaction now. I miss when beating the Aggies on Thanksgiving meant you owned the state for a year. You can’t manufacture that history, and you sure can’t buy it with a bag of cash.