You want to know what gets me about this 50-man portal overhaul Eric Morris is doing? It reminds me of the 1988 season when Pat Jones had us at 4-7 and we didn't blow up the roster, we just went back to work. We ran the ball down people's throats and we hit them in the mouth. That's how you build toughness, not by running a draft combine in Stillwater every spring.
I watched Barry Sanders run behind offensive linemen who had been in the program for three years. They knew each other's families. They could block in their sleep. Now we're supposed to believe 50 strangers walking into Boone Pickens is going to create some kind of brotherhood? You can't manufacture grit in a portal window. You earn it through August two-a-days when the heat is cooking and you're throwing up on the sideline next to the same guy who's been next to you for three years.
The 1992 squad that went 0-10-1 didn't go grab 50 mercenaries. They took their lumps, they got tougher, and by 1994 they were bowling again. That's how it used to work. This new model feels like we're building a fantasy football roster instead of a football team. I hope I'm wrong. I really do. But toughness isn't something you can buy on the open market. You either have it in your soul or you don't.