I guess we should define the term strategy. A strategy is a general plan or set of plans intended to achieve something, especially over a long period/a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim (according to the dictionary).
He articulated his plan in 2021. The plan was to focus more on the portal/go heavy on the portal etc. Hence that was and still is his strategy. You say it's a seized opportunity. But a strategy and seizing an opportunity are not mutually exclusive. In fact strategies can be used to seize opportunities.
At this point I'm more interested in whether what he's doing, whatever you want to call it (strategy/lazy recruiting/seizing opportunities), will work long term in this new environment.
Look, you can try to play semantics games on what constitutes a "strategy". Even your own definition indicates a "plan to achieve". Which is something you do in advance, and not when you've run out of options. I would guess that General Custer's final "strategy" was to fight to the death, to fight to the very last man, but I don't think that was his "strategy" a few days earlier.
I've already posted snapshots, Lane's recruiting classes have been rated among the three worst in the SEC for 3 of his 4 years. Only his "bump class" made it up to 6th best in the SEC. And with 8 SEC games each year, Lane isn't going to be earning contract extensions by beating up on 4 OOC teams each year.
I do not deny that he has done fairly well with the little talent he has assembled. He played the Portal brilliantly for ONE YEAR (so far, and Year 2 is To Be Determined).
Here's what he's done thus far:
Y2 (bump class, best class) - 25 HS/JC recruits and 4 transfers
Y3 (Rise of the Portal) - 18 HS/JC recruits and 17 transfers
Y4 (still in progress) - 12 HS/JC recruits and 6 transfers (thus far)
Now, the reason I discount whether Lane will get many more HS/JC recruits for 2023 is that (a) there aren't many left, and (b) there aren't many who list Ole Miss as a finalist. But I certainly do not deny that he can rack up more transfers.
So you're trying to act like this is a "strategy". But let's analyze Y3 (last year). Because the vast majority of the 17 transfers selected Ole Miss as a transfer desination in 2022, after most of the HS recruiting was OVER. Only TWO Ole Miss transfers chose Ole Miss in December 2021, while the high school class was still being recruited.
And, as I suspected, exactly TEN of the Ole Miss transfers chose Ole Miss from the period from January 29, 2022 (a few days before the second high school Signing Day) to June 2022.
Which means that Lane's ORIGINAL "strategy" was to sign 18 HS/JC kids and then take 7 transfers. The OTHER 10 transfers came about because of a desperate CHANGE in strategy that was made possible by the suspension of IC rules.
And now we fast forward to the current time, when we already know that it is POSSIBLE to take 18 HS kids and 17 transfers. And yet...Lane...voluntarily(?)...cuts his HS/JC signees by 50%, only taking TWELVE?
It just doesn't make any rational sense. You can call it a "strategy", but he did it ONE TIME when he couldn't sign more HS kids and the IC rules were suspended. Yay. NOT A STRATEGY. More like a lurch, because the original plan didn't work out.
As for this year? What, is his strategy to take 25 Portal transfers? Fine. Let's see...
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