@DMoney you were actually right when Manny Diaz was HC because he had no appeal to attract National recruits.
The reason why it’s working now is because
1) the financial investment in the program is real
2) Mario is national coach from his time at Bama & as HC at Oregon
I suspect at least 95% of these National recruits we’re after we wouldn’t stand a chance with if we still had Manny at the helm. I didn’t think it would happen this soon, my summation was that it would take a class or 2 before the National kids got back on board with us.
When he was able to snag TreVonte Citizen from out of Louisiana & I was proven wrong in that instance, in which
@supacane was 100% right, that’s when I realized that Mario was really about to bulldoze over the National recruiting trail, because landing a 4-star high ranked kid from Louisiana has been a rare feat to accomplish if you weren’t LSU, Bama or TAMU.
I knew we were getting Cyrus Moss, but stealing Citizen was a huge win that laid the foundation for what was to come.
Now this class for 2023 is looking to be predominantly OOS with a good mix of local athletes who are explosive & good athletic upside.
Once we forge a pipeline into TX, STL & the Northeast all **** is going to break lose in the recruiting world, because all the Playoff teams have been hoarding all the talent from those regions for themselves & now that Miami has bought our stake of land & planted our flag in the ground in regions we normally would be laughed out of town in, the rest of College Football is in trouble...
I underestimated how fast he would be able to turn things around on the recruiting front, because the fog of the last 20 years clouded my judgement, but Mario has made it clear he plans on winning & winning big ASAP & these first 2 classes will be the building blocks for what returns us back to prominence.
We are on the rise!