Dude, you know I love ya and regardless of whether we agree or disagree, this is NOT about "being objective". You're standing around yelling "scoreboard" to make it out like Prison Mike is some great recruiter.
Here are the facts.
1. THIS YEAR, Prison Mike has a slightly better high school class ranking than Miami. At this moment. Could change. But Prison Mike's high school recruiting over his entire tenure has been...not good. First, he has had HIGH SCHOOL classes than average around the 20th spot. Second, and more importantly (and what I THINK you were getting at, but did not articulate so well) is that Prison Mike has not DEVELOPED his high school recruits very well. This is evidenced by his ongoing "recruiting over them with Portal guys", as well as the guys who have left a 13-0 team because the HS recruits are secondary to the Portal starters.
2. You tout all this "Portal" success as though the two different forms of recruiting (Portal vs. HS recruiting) are identical and/or interchangeable. And you lose sight of the context of Prison Mike's Portal recruiting before 2023. So let's review. A HS recruit is usually recruited over 2 years, and building relationships and trust are important. HS recruits are looking for a coach they can vibe with, and have plenty of time to sniff out corniness or lack of authenticity. On the other hand, Portal kids may make their decisions over a 2 WEEK period, and are looking for immediate playing time and a chance to win more than anything. Portal kids can put up with a corny coach, they only have to deal with him for a year or two.
3. But the most relevant part of the analysis is that Prison Mike was at his Portal Best a couple of years ago, when Nick and Sabo were still nervous about recruiting the Portal, and schools had not yet devoted a lot of resources to scouting the Portal. There was not nearly as much competition when Prison Mike started to hit the Portal, which was out of DESPERATION at first. The Portal guys that F$U signed in 2023 were not NEARLY as impactful as what Prison Mike did in earlier years. (Coleman and Bell made an impact, but not many others were at a similar level to earn big NIL dollars to come back to F$U for another year). So, yeah, if there is more competition in the Portal now, it's very possible that F$U might not land as many impact transfers in the future.
I expect Prison Mike will have a Top 5-10 HS class and a Top 10-15 transfer class this year. But if F$U drops off in 2024, I think Prison Mike's "recruiting prowess" will be short-lived as well.