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Star UTEP WR Jacob Cowing enters the portal

Trav said:
I don't understand the the logic of not adding more talent to any position room. Unless it's clearly at the expense of other positions of need with similarly talented options available because of limited spots but I don't think that's the case and I trust Mario to make those judgments.
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The logic is that you can potentially alienate and lose younger talent that would otherwise develop. By continually adding upperclassmen from the portal you hurt the development of younger guys. We used to see this with programs that recruited heavily from the juco ranks. Those schools would have trouble signing talent out of high school because they were always juco guys already signed.

Specific to this example. Where is this guy gonna play? He might not take reps from Key Smith but he could likely take them from Romello Brinson and Jacolby George. I believe both George and Brinson could have a higher ceiling than this kid from UTEP. I'd hate to lose either of them.
 
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Im not as high on this UTEP kid as others here. He put up some big numbers against chump schools. The only two legit defenses he played against were UAB and Fresno State and he disappeared in both games. (1 catch against UAB and 2 catches against Fresno State).
 
SFbayCane said:
The logic is that you can potentially alienate and lose younger talent that would otherwise develop. By continually adding upperclassmen from the portal you hurt the development of younger guys. We used to see this with programs that recruited heavily from the juco ranks. Those schools would have trouble signing talent out of high school because they were always juco guys already signed.

Specific to this example. Where is this guy gonna play? He might not take reps from Key Smith but he could likely take them from Romello Brinson and Jacolby George. I believe both George and Brinson could have a higher ceiling than this kid from UTEP. I'd hate to lose either of them.
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Mario wants talent and competition. If you don’t like that then leave. Between now and spring the portal will be busy, coming and going.
 
Cribby said:
Mario wants talent and competition. If you don’t like that then leave. Between now and spring the portal will be busy, coming and going.
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That's a good year one approach but the concern I have is that it will lead to an approach where all we do is shop the portal every year. Bringing in high caliber HS kids will start to become difficult.
 
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SFbayCane said:
That's a good year one approach but the concern I have is that it will lead to an approach where all we do is shop the portal every year. Bringing in high caliber HS kids will start to become difficult.
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I get your concern, but you have one of the best recruiting HC's in America, and a very good roster builder. Don't worry be happy.
 
westcoastcanes said:
Plenty of passes to go around to bring in an experienced guy when we lose our all time single season and all time career receivers, as well as a depth player leaving. I doubt we are making a guarantee for any portal wr to get targets, they will have to earn them just like the young guys anyway. We have at least three WR leaving this year and only one signee, no question we need at least one from the portal for depth purposes at the minimum.
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We lost 5 WRs

Rambo, Harley, Pope, Wiggins and Payton
 
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SFbayCane said:
That's a good year one approach but the concern I have is that it will lead to an approach where all we do is shop the portal every year. Bringing in high caliber HS kids will start to become difficult.
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The thing is you are assuming the roster will remain this poor. If you are loaded up then the portal will necessarily just be about adding a sprinkle of players... It's not like 10+ portal guys should be standard, but there is no problem filling immediate needs yearly with it imo. Especially when you set the foundation that nobody will just be given PT. The new standard is being set. You either play at this high level or we find someone who will. Ideally I agree- we recruit so well we don't need it. But look at Bama getting Ricks+Gibbs... Even the best can use it...
 
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SFbayCane said:
The logic is that you can potentially alienate and lose younger talent that would otherwise develop. By continually adding upperclassmen from the portal you hurt the development of younger guys. We used to see this with programs that recruited heavily from the juco ranks. Those schools would have trouble signing talent out of high school because they were always juco guys already signed.

Specific to this example. Where is this guy gonna play? He might not take reps from Key Smith but he could likely take them from Romello Brinson and Jacolby George. I believe both George and Brinson could have a higher ceiling than this kid from UTEP. I'd hate to lose either of them.
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Sure I get that but it's a win now world. And if those guys are good enough or better they'll get plenty of snaps.
 
calinative umstudent said:
The thing is you are assuming the roster will remain this poor. If you are loaded up then the portal will necessarily just be about adding a sprinkle of players... It's not like 10+ portal guys should be standard, but there is no problem filling immediate needs yearly with it imo. Especially when you set the foundation that nobody will just be given PT. The new standard is being set. You either play at this high level or we find someone who will. Ideally I agree- we recruit so well we don't need it. But look at Bama getting Ricks+Gibbs... Even the best can use it...
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And last year the OSU WR transfer who did pretty well.
 
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Fly1 said:
I know Mario has his plans, but dang, we have some young talent at WR

X-man
The Smith boys
Brinson
George


And Arroyo
Would love to Arroyo and Mallory take the next step
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All are unproven and you saw what happened when Rambo stepped into the room last year. I remember posting we’d be taking a portal wr and people were like “ we don’t need a wr, we have a loaded wr room” lol.

We lost our alpha number one and the number two. You absolutely take 1-2 wr’s. It’s Mario’s job to improve every group.
 
Cribby said:
All are unproven and you saw what happened when Rambo stepped into the room last year. I remember posting we’d be taking a portal wr and people were like “ we don’t need a wr, we have a loaded wr room” lol.

We lost our alpha number one and the number two. You absolutely take 1-2 wr’s. It’s Mario’s job to improve every group.
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I'm not averse to adding a transfer, but we do have some talented young guns. It's a fine line to walk.....you want to breed competition, but you don't want to send the wrong message to guys like X and K Smith who (supposedly) have GREAT work ethics and have made a good # of plays in games. More portal help can subliminally tell them they aren't good enough. These guys aren't true freshman anymore.
 
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