Remember when toughness meant something around here? I look at these ESPN offseason rankings grading us on portal hauls and I just shake my head. Back in the early 2000s under Coach Patterson we built this program on walk ons and junior college kids who had something to prove. We didnt need five star transfers every year. We needed guys who would run through a wall for the guy next to them. That 2008 team that went to the Poinsettia Bowl didnt have the most talent on paper but they had more grit than any roster I have seen in the last five years. NIL and the portal have turned this into a rental car program. Kids show up for a semester and leave if they dont start Day 1. You think LaDainian Tomlinson would have transferred after his freshman year because he wasnt getting enough carries? That man sat behind Basil Mitchell and learned the game before he became the best back we ever had. I miss when earning your snaps meant something.