Damn, it's an interesting world.  If you'd have told me 3 years ago that there would soon come a time when we need to go get a 2-star that wants to get out of ULM...and he'd immediately be "in the OL mix" going into Spring ball, I'd have demanded one of whatever you were drinking.  Yet, here we are.

Welcome young man. 

Now get to work!  You've got a shitload of technique to master and strength to add, with very little time to do it.

Football is too much a team sport to compare players any position in a vacuum over history.  Especially with changes in the offensive scheme, playcallers, complimentary players, competition, etc.

With that said, unfortunately, his legacy comes down to coulda, woulda, shoulda.  In the end, no nattys, no gold pants, no playoff wins, and no B1G titles is never going to rank well at OSU...and two trips to NYC don't really help that much.

I know some will say the defense let him down.  However, it's a team sport and whether its a bad defense, a weaker WR corps, a poorer complimentary running attack, or coaching holding you back doesn't rally matter.

If you're asking who I'd want (assuming all are in their best season and only recent QBs) to lead the bucks for a year, I'd take (in this order): Fields, JT,  Smith, Stroud, Haskins, Pryor.  Pryor was maybe the best athlete (close call with Fields), but never developed the passing skills probably in-part due to coaching and scheme.  Miller belongs in that latter camp too.  Incredible athlete, decent passer.

If we just look at the TTUN and UGa games...how many of those big plays that killed us came from: 1) Players didn't know the defensive scheme;  2) We didn't have the kind of players Knowles needs for his scheme?  I'm hard-pressed to say it was very many at all.

So, I throw the "another year to learn the system" argument out the window. 

Secondly, I'm not sure Knowles has ever been a top-tier recruiter.  So, "getting his players" is a hard sell too as far as I'm concerned.

On top of that, I'd go so far as to day the opposite as the OP.  In my eyes, a lot of the pieces of our Defense are missing or still suspect at best. 

LBs are fine (assuming health).  However, every other position has at least some question marks.  For example, we know JT is good at DE and we know of potential (a few flashes) for the other bookend...but nothing we can say "yeah, that piece is back and we know are good to go."  The same is true of every other Defensive position group, especially the secondary.

So, unless the OP is defining "special" as "statistically good against weaker competition, but gets lit up against the top teams when it counts,"  I have to press X to doubt.  And I hope Knowles and Co. prove me wrong.

I'm pretty sure he already was recruiting for the rest of the team.  It's my understanding that in addition to recruiting their position, each coach has a geographic region to recruit (regardless of position).  So, this will be no change whatsoever.

Do you remember when we tried to get that WR from Detroit?  Coombs was his primary recuiter and on the last-ditch in-home visit, Urban took the whole damn staff up there in a snowstorm in an effort to flip him from TTUN.  I'd bet that's how it's going to continue to be now.  Coaches have regions they cover as primary (regardless of position) and probably recruit the top 2-3 players at their position in addition to their regional guys.

No way they just give Hartline more geography and/or positions that he has to recruit in addition to the new scheme planning, game planning, and maybe play-calling duties.  Doing so would be a recipe for failure (setting him and the overall recruiting up to fail).

The only way Chicago trades Fields and the #1 pick is if they get a very good QB and a boatload of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks (or good existing players) to go with him.  They already have their QB, they need other pieces.  So, you don't give away what you already have unless you are getting something comparable and a lot of other pieces to complement the replacement.

Agreed!  It would take not only the signing bonus but also the first year salary and enough to cover a massive insurance policy to make it justifiable to CJ.  Remember, if he came back, he'd be taking a massive career earnings risk, even if he did manage to improve his draft stock by playing the '23 season here.

My conclusion is that if CJ comes back, he either isn't bright (and is getting bad advice) or one of the boosters broke the bank paying him to do so.

That being said, I hope the lawyers take this to court and win big for a couple reasons.

1) As I said, I think its the right thing, because the kid was offered the money and a contract is a contract.

2) Hopefully, the uproar over the case, bad publicity for UF,  and hit the UF collective would take would get this NIL issue nailed down and controlled so that it is no longer as insane and can't cause hard feelings between teammates, schools, etc.

The kid is an absolute victim here.  I've seen multiple reports that Miami had offered him a $10mil NIL deal to go there and then UF started recruiting him harder and a Gator collective started to raise the offers until they got to $13 mil which he could not say no to and he flipped to UF.  Come January, the collective doesn't have the cash and tried to back out of it late, thinking the kid was screwed (having backed out of his $10mil Miami deal) and had to enroll at UF.

If you're the kid or his parent and somebody offers you $10 mil, you've got to take it.  If someone wants you worse and keeps sweetening the pot up to $13 mil, you've got to take that too.  Anybody who says they'd tell their kid to say "screw the money, go play for XYZ instead" is either lying or stupid.  The difference between degrees and experiences between any two major football universities is simply not $3mil, let alone $10mil or $13mil.   And both the kid and his parents should be looking out for the kid's best interest.

I love OSU.  I was born, bread, and will die a Buckeye.  Met my wife there.  But if my son was young enough and had a plain schollie offer from OSU and then BG called and said we've got $3 mil if you come to BG...I'd pack his bags and drive him to Bowling Green myself, for his own sake.  (And we are not even remotely poor and I would never touch the money one of my kid earns.  I have no idea this kid's family situation.)

Motorcycles...or girls on the staff?

So, let me make sure I've got this straight.  He's going to give Top 2 (maybe 3 if that's how you feel) money this year with no more risks to take before he cashes that signing check.   OR   Behind door number 2, he plays another 13-15 games here missing 3 starting OL (including both tackles) in hope that 1) he survives in tact; 2) That he has better market value in the 2024 class; (reportedly with a new OC and playcaller);  3) That the Defense (which he has zero control over) gets markedly better such that his best performance is still enough to win the next Natty.

Oklay, I've got a handle on it now.

All I can say is...man, don't Bogart those mushrooms...pass them around to the rest of us.

Of course, the whole list is an insane projection at this point.  However, I think it is particularly crazy to put us at #2 right now.  Losing QB, 3 OL starters, at least 4 DL, a CB, at least 3 S, our RBs had injury problems in '22, we have a tough schedule (at least looks that way now).   I'm not saying we will suck, but #2 is quite a stretch given that situation.

I guess we're getting a heck of a benefit of the doubt based on tradition, past recruiting, and coaching expectations.

Bummer, but expected.  USC was the leader all along.

Non-optimal for a new starting QB with 2 new OT and a thin line in general if we are talking about experienced players.  Still, Day gets paid big bucks and Frye gets paid lesser big bucks to overcome such situations.

2-3?  

I think we'd probably be in great shape if we only gave up 2-3 big plays per game.  The problem is that we gave up half a dozen back-breakers to TTUN and 10-11 big plays to UGa.

That said, I agree it would be best to make the other team beat you in small chunks if they can rather than giving up 1-2-3 play TDs.

Help...yes.

Ensure...no.

It's football, meaning the "better team" can sometimes lose...which would create more of a mismatch in the next round.  You also could have a situation where one team is just clearly superior to all others (not saying that was the case this year, but some...especially at ESPN and in the SEC...would argue it's true this year).  In such a case, it wouldn't matter if you had 2, 4, 12, or 48 teams.  That superior team probably blows out whoever it faces.

Humans cheat when they think they can get away with it.  That's just the way it is.

In-helmet headsets would be nice, but I have no doubt that would spawn "signal intercept and decoding" as well as lip-reading efforts galore.   It will always be a cat-and-mouse arms race between the cheaters and cheatees.

What if...sure, it would be great for '23.  Maybe not so much for the other QB room members.  So, depending on how that shook out maybe neutral or a problem for '24.

Regardless, like most folks (I think), I want CJ to do what's best for CJ.  Hopefully, he'll get sage advice.

Personally, I'd think getting that signing bonus and rookie contract started ASAP would be best for him coming off the game of his career.  Plus, there is the talk Day is giving up playcalling, which would mean a new OC...and after the freak Hamlin event, I'm sure every young player has "my career could be over on any given play" in their head now.  However, all that matters is that he does what he thinks is best for him...nobody will ever know about the alternative "what ifs" either way.

He's getting grief because he deserves the grief.  That's the cost of the bigass paycheck, corner office, and awesome entry on his resume (especially for a completely inexperienced HC).

Listen, he had the team ready and did his best job on Saturday.  However, he still made a few mistakes...and we were not good enough to win with a few mistakes.  It happens, but that's how it goes.  We lose and you were anything but perfect and you will get grief.

Beyond that, he hasn't earned any passes since he's 1-2 against TTUN and 2-5 in what most would call the marquee matchups.  (That's debatable whether you'd call Oregon '21 a marquee game and not ND '22...but even if you count ND this year he's 3-5.)

If that is what JJB wants, I wish him nothing but the best and give him nothing but thanks for his efforts.  Good luck young man.

Like most things in life both can be and often are true.

The game-planning and play-calling was generally very good.  However, it got too conservative after Marv was out.  (I understand he was clearly WR #1, but you can't afford to put the game in the hands of the Defense during the fourth quarter.)

We needed a TD, not a FG, on the second-to-last drive and regardless of what Day says, the run call on the last series was a bad one.  They were not in Cover 0.

Likewise, CJ played his best game ever.  However, he made some bad reads/decisions too.

In the end, it's a few things here or there that usually decide those equally-matched games.

If any of them had any qualms, fine.  If not, no foul as far as I'm concerned as long as it was after hours, not in the office, everyone was an adult, and it was consensual. 

Regardless, booting the player (who theoretically is the lowest-power individual in the dynamic) doesn't make much sense to me.

In the end, its done, LSU is doing what it's doing and I can only hope it sets back their recruiting in a way that benefits the Bucks.

Shoulder and a supposed problem with run-gap integrity is what I've heard rumored...but I doubt we'll ever know for sure.  Day treats injuries like state secrets and no coach is going to tell the media "yeah, this guy isn't good at this or that yet...so we're slow-playing him until he gets up to snuff".

Probably a good idea.  He'll still be able to lead the game planning, especially during preseason, bye weeks, and bowl prep.  He can focus on QB coaching, recruiting, etc.

Maybe we can get the plays in a tad faster also.  The whole, rush to the line and then wait 10-15 seconds to barely get it off before the flag has gotten way too frequent.

If it happens, I guess time will tell if it's a good thing or bad thing.

Other than a player somehow getting invited to the staff sex party, and assuming everything was consensual, why does anyone care what adults do on their off time?   I don't know what "got caught" means, but I'm not quite sure why this was seen as some terrible thing that required the player to be booted and staff fired.

Was it in a public locale or something?  

I mean we're talking about LSU here.  Does anyone think their entire roster and staff are virgins...or examples of piety and good decision-making?

It would probably be a smart move to go out on top (2 straight thumpings of OSU, 2 straight B1G titles, and 2 straight CFP appearances). Plus he is losing a lot of his OL, star RB, top 2 TE, and best WRs as well as his best DLs and CBs.

However, I suspect this is either smoke from the NFL side or someone in his camp raising the specter to get him another pay bump. 

Breaks go both ways. 

Marv's fumble went out with 2 UGa defenders unable to get a handle before it did.  They lost Washington (their big TE) early also.  I also thought the Bowers spot was fair.

I did think the targeting should stand, but it wasn't a cheap shot.  If that guy had not blasted Marv, he likely makes another of his unbelievable catches for TD.  We should also have got defensive holding on the play where interference got waved off due to the tip.

In the end, you can't control the breaks...you need to overcome them and we didn't.  Bummer.  But it is what it is.