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Post by tapsgator on Mar 7, 2024 13:28:31 GMT -5
Don't sleep on Jackson, George, and Waites gaining 12-15 lbs. a piece. All those guys needed to lose weight. Big Des should be cut at this point. It is not medically safe for him to be playing football.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 7, 2024 10:15:09 GMT -5
His completion percentage dropped to 40% on passes of 20+ yards with Florida in 2023, compared to 63.2% between 10-19 yards, 84.7% between 0-9 yards and 89.8% behind the line of scrimmage, per PFF. UF limited Mertz to 40 deep passing attempts on the year, of his 358 total throws. Source: www.si.com/college/florida/football/florida-gators-2024-positional-outlook-quarterback-graham-mertz-dj-lagwayLook, he seems like a good guy (can't really call him a kid at this point) and he has a hot girlfriend. Cajun Willie is very ingenuous and has great hair. Starkville Scotty is an asshat of the first order, but they can't all be real deals with steady hair. All the usual qualifiers. You cannot win games playing offense like this in 2024, and I don't know what games Cajun Willie thinks proved the offenses explosiveness, but throwing underneath a prevent played by LSU, South Carolina, and Arkansas is not fucking impressive and there's no need to run it back.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 5, 2024 14:00:36 GMT -5
If you support Napier or think SOS is out of line here you're not a Gator fan. You're a Napier fan. Which is fine, but know the difference.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 5, 2024 12:41:59 GMT -5
I think if he wins 7 games and has a losing record after 3 seasons with no top 10 recruiting classes he's almost guaranteed to come back. Between Spurrier and now Emmitt it almost seems like the current administration and athletic department want to get as far away from a legendary football program as possible.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 5, 2024 11:38:36 GMT -5
Hayes is a moron but even a blind squirrel gets a nut. My question is this:
Is the new generation/breed (because it's not just an age thing) of Gator fan ignorant or soft? Everybody doesn't get a trophy, when you lose and can't recruit you get fired. It's really not that tough to follow. You should have to do both at a job like UF. The new thing is "the mean Bull Gators aren't donating money because they aren't happy with Napier. That's not fair!"
A) don't tell other people how to spend their money B) results matter C) Starkville Scotty is taking 750 million dollars away from NIL for a stadium renovation nobody wants except for the construction companies and sky box crew many of which are one and the same. Those Bull Gators (and I'm guessing at least 50% of Bull Gator money has some nexus to construction in the State of Florida) are donating but it's not getting to NIL and they're not going to pay double for a bottom tier SEC program.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 5, 2024 11:31:28 GMT -5
He's disgusted. I'm about to make the rounds on the sunshine pumping sites can't wait to see them spin this one. Jimbo Fisher was on ESPN Radio saying "somebody I forget who said you don't need so many coaches but you DO!" I assume he was referencing Spurrier, Dimbo holding court on how to run a program in this era is hilarious in and of itself but telling SOS he's wrong about how to run the FLORIDA GATORS PROGRAM is absurd and Napier-esque delusional. Dimbo and Cajun Willie are starting to remind me of each other except at one time Jimbo was actually a good Power 5 coordinator and offensive mind, not just real good at interviewing for jobs and kissing the right asses.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 4, 2024 14:47:41 GMT -5
Here's a question for the room:
Could Cajun Willie bring home a Sunbelt Conference Title with this roster and staff? His staff is considerably worse than it was at Louisiana and the guys who are clearly SEC level stars that he inherited or recruited are all gone or have fallen off a cliff. Wilson could be a star but is anybody betting on that after seeing what Ricky Pearsall did with what turn out to be elite tools? Lagway is a slightly less physically gifted and more experienced Anthony Richardson, and we've got him firmly second string, he hired an independent NIL advisor, and the guy who he has said was "huge" in his recruitment just made a lateral move to a school that is 90% closer to his house and has unlimited NIL money. At least DJ is a good enough kid to congratulate him publicly. No red flags here.
Alright let's get back on that down elevator, this rabbit hole ain't gonna dig itself. Go Gators.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 4, 2024 14:32:52 GMT -5
This could easily go in the CWT appreciation thread but I guess here is most apropos. Pearsall has entered most people's top 50 prospects even in a loaded WR class. Here's a sampling:
Ricky Pearsall, WR, Florida
Ricky Pearsall was another receiver who had a great showing in the on-field drills. While this was no surprise, Pearsall showed some unexpected athleticism. He ran a 4.41 40, leapt a 42-inch vertical and hit 10-9 in the broad jump.
So last year we had Etienne, Pearsall, and Tre Wilson and were:
in a 7 team tie for 84th in the country in number of 30 yard plays this season, tied for last in the SEC with Vandy. 40 yard plays we were in a 10 way tie for 100th.
And that's being sold as progress with the SECOND BESTEST QB IN THE GATOR ERA SINCE TIM TEBOW. Let's say GGTCM really is not the problem (and fwiw I think he's like 20% of the problem), this is how CWT wants to play offense.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 1, 2024 11:38:23 GMT -5
Big Des was a huge (in every sense of the word) proponent of promoting Hocke's intern. He's gotten comfortable with this staff and it would probably take awhile for him to adjust to another staff. Consistency and repeatability is a lifestyle, even if it's consistently and repeatedly gaining weight.
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Post by tapsgator on Mar 1, 2024 11:34:58 GMT -5
The only comfort that I take in all of this is the fact that this sad, psychotic experiment in alternative reality will be over within the next year. I agree but my biggest fear is that after a 5-7 record this season Napier will get the excuse of the tough schedule to justify keeping his job for one more year. It's so sad that this is actually a thing. I've even heard 6-6 "he's definitely safe." I don't know how far down the rabbit hole we're gonna go, but there's so much sunshine pumping bullshit. We've had 3 straight losing seasons. Our 2 best players left for schools we play this year. We haven't had a top 10 class under Napier, even Mullen who admitted to hating recruiting and had a show cause pulled top 10 classes at UF. Over 50% attrition from the 22 class. 2 invites to the combine and the second one barely squeaked in. He is far and away the worst coach at UF of our generation, maybe ever, but "if he can get to .500 with that schedule everything is moving the right direction." Also, it's a tough schedule but it's not like next year we get to play Vandy, Mississippi State, and Arkansas and nobody else. The problem is the schedule is tough because every top program and even many of the middling programs have passed us or pulled well ahead. It's pathetic.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 29, 2024 14:57:37 GMT -5
Yeah but does Texas A&M have the guy who got fired as an OC after scoring 3 points at home against Mississippi State working on "head coaching projects," and/or could their QBs face off in practice with a defense armed with the de facto fired DC of Auburn acting as the head coach of the defense and coaching the coaches on that side of the ball since he's the "Godfather" of the defense that rules the Sunbelt Conference with 28-33 year old portly reddish haired DCs jumping around on the sidelines either with or without a beard? And do they have the former intern of the guy who sent 2 whole people to the NFL combine (the same number as Holy Cross) this year running the S&C department? I think not. The players love that dude. They probably don't even have a sweet GM type guy that does some kind of roster management type deal as part of the process of evaluation and analysis since we stole that idea (and actual person) from their former coach who is getting paid 9 figures not to coach them anymore. They probably have this antiquated idea about having a special teams coach and one Offensive line coach. We have a whole department and are soon to get the tag team reformed. Texas A&M is a dying program. That's why we tricked our most respected coaches and best recruiters into going there. Oh yeah and our best Defensive player. And our leading tackler. Probably some other guys that I can't think of because I'm still playing checkers while the DDD plays chess. Not regular chess Chinese Chess. We wouldn't understand it but it's a thing that brings the things meticulously attending details and whereas the what for process thusly.
Game, set, match, General Napier.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 29, 2024 13:58:33 GMT -5
Saw that. Baker #1 seems very odd to me, they even say "Newton, Young, and Burrow had the best seasons (debatable as I would put Tebow's 2008 against anyone but I get it), Mayfield had the best career." He had better careers than those guys, but he didn't have (nearly) as good a career as Tebow. They're even kind enough to put the stats right there to prove it. There's also the whole 2-0 in the most important stat (natty), but I digress. For a season I'd take Burrow then Newton then Tebow. For a game I'd take Young in the Rose Bowl. I really don't see the discussion if the criterion is really best all around career, but it's damn sure not Baker Mayfield.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 29, 2024 10:51:32 GMT -5
Nevermind, nothing to see or worry about here.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 28, 2024 15:30:11 GMT -5
For what it's worth, looks like Enos is the Hamilton replacement. Still sort of a round peg square hole kind of thing, which if you are so stacked with coaching talent you are now just hording more, is probably not a bad thing, but seems to me we could have easily found a round hole for this round peg. Exactly. I'm going to forsake political correctness and say that replacing the young black coach who has the closest relationship on staff with the kid you're banking on as a program savior who happens to be from Texas (just like the coach in question) with an old white guy who is doing "head coaching projects" probably isn't going to pay off from a recruiting standpoint. Also who in the Sam Hell actually announces that he's hiring a "head coach for the Defense" and an analyst in charge of "Head Coaching projects?" On the bright side Enos could actually be an interim if need be.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 28, 2024 11:59:47 GMT -5
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 28, 2024 11:56:23 GMT -5
Wow. Dan Enos is on head coaching projects while Sale and Callaway are co-OCs. Smart.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 26, 2024 11:40:39 GMT -5
Look for Desmond Watson to come be the Running Backs coach if for some reason his NFL career doesn't pan out.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 26, 2024 11:39:04 GMT -5
www.gatorcountry.com/feature/what-russ-callaways-rise-to-co-offensive-coordinator-does-and-doesnt-mean/This article is informative and kind of funny. When GC starts questioning the rationale/motives behind a move in any way, shape, or form you know it's some bullshit. This is my favorite part: "Napier’s offense is very different from the Air Raid. Napier doesn’t like to use a lot of short passes in place of the run game, he likes to use the run game as the run game. He wants to pound the rock to then hit passes over the top. He wants the offense to help out the defense, but Air Raid teams often end up in interminably long contests that tax everyone’s stamina. Napier famously likes two-tight end sets more than most, but 2018 Samford had two listed tight ends on the entire roster." That's right, not only did we hire an offensive coach as a defensive intern, we then promoted said Defensive intern to Tight Ends coach. So, last year our TE coach was an analyst whose only offensive coaching experience beyond an analyst position was when he was the OC/QB Coach at Samford. At Samford they ran an Air Raid offense and had 2 TEs on the entire roster. Now he will be our co-Offensive Coordinator with "input" on play calling. That tracks. Essentially CWT just brings in guys who co-sign his bullshit and arbitrarily assigns titles. I can't believe it hasn't worked so far. This feels like the year.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 26, 2024 8:49:04 GMT -5
gatorswire.usatoday.com/2024/02/25/florida-football-dj-lagway-nil-advisor/This seems like a soft sell of some not very good news. The timing is concerning. After 6 weeks on campus Lagway has decided it's time to get an outside advisor for NIL. The fact that the agency worked with Tim Tebow and Anthony Richardson isn't particularly comforting. Tebow played in a different world and AR left as quickly as he could after a year with Cajun Willie that had people believing he would go undrafted and still to this day claiming that Graham Mertz is a better QB. This seems like a vote of no confidence if there ever was one. I'm guessing that most incoming freshman are content to follow the advice and directions from their new school. The ones that I've seen hire advisors always do it during the recruiting process, not after they've been in the program for 6 weeks. That said, given the staff turnover and lack of proactive change on the offensive side of the ball along with the Offensive line somehow continuing to get worse, this is probably the smartest thing Lagway could do.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 26, 2024 8:36:03 GMT -5
Napier is the worst. The degeneration of the UF football program over the last 15 years is unparalleled by any college program's fall from grace that didn't involve major scandal and/or sanctions. Obviously that's not all (or even mostly) him, but we've gone from a program that moved on from a coach that was 23-14 and 16-6 in the SEC with to keeping a coach who is 11-14 and 6-10 respectively, and I don't think anybody thinks he'll get fired if he has a winning record this season. He also is yet to have a top 10 recruiting class. It's insane.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 26, 2024 8:25:59 GMT -5
I have a new theory. Napier is trying to prove that his initial staff hires were really good by making even worse hires as replacements.
Toney, the 32 year old DC who had 2 years of Sun Belt experience as a coordinator has an atrocious year and leaves, you replace him with Titties McJiggles who has 1 year of Sunbelt experience as a coordinator and "steal" him from Bama where he had taken the job as a position coach (because that's a normal career path) by doubling his salary.
After 2 years of horrendous results from the S&C department you move your buddy Hocke to a football coaching position (because why not?), actually hire a real S&C coach who leaves after a month, so the response is "fuck it, let's go back to Hocke's intern who used to work at Duke with the water polo team, because the players like him and stuff."
The coup d' gras though is with calls for a real OC and all the Kool-Aid drinkers saying "he's making serious runs at all the big names" the fix on offense is "we were pretty good there back in that time when we played those teams that we losted to but we were close whereas nobody else processed against South Carolina and LSU so there's that deal," and you basically take away Sale's title and give it to his lackey because that's a plan of action there man!
We also hired the "GM type guy" from Texas A&M and the de facto fired DC from Auburn because those are the type of results that really flip Cajun Willie and Starkville Scotty's skirts. It really is pretty comical at this point. Watching the local honks try to circle the wagons as if this is all part of some master plan is pretty amazing stuff.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 26, 2024 8:13:29 GMT -5
He has to be trying to get fired at this point.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 26, 2024 8:13:09 GMT -5
Here is Russ Callaway's resume:
2023 Florida, Tight Ends 2022 Florida, Defensive Intern 2021 New York Giants, Offensive Assistant 2020 LSU, Senior Offensive Assistant and Analyst 2018-19 Samford, Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks 2016-17 Samford, Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks / WR 2015 Samford, Wide Receivers / Pass Game Coordinator 2014-13 Murray State, Wide Receivers / Recruiting Coordinator 2011-12 Alabama, Defensive Analyst
That's right, he's been a position coach at the D1 level for exactly one scintillating year where our tight ends did that one thing where GG the Checkdown Man threw a 4th & 12 pass behind the line of scrimmage and Etienne made a block to spring them despite never ever making any blocks ever. And that was it. Certainly worthy of a promotion. Especially since as a Defensive Intern he probably got to really scheme against a high powered Cajun Willie offensive scheme in 22. Also, he's basically Rob Sale's protege. Here's Sale's resume:
2022-Pres. Florida, Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach 2021 New York Giants, Offensive Line Coach 2018-2020 Lousiana, Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach
The fact that this is being sold as a change is fucking hilarious. It's basically the boss asking his secretary's assistant what a good plan would be for the day when she brings him his morning coffee because when he's disregarded the secretary's plans and done what he wants it hasn't worked.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 23, 2024 14:45:55 GMT -5
Pathetic. Fucking pathetic. I mean hilarious. He has to be trying to get fired at this point. There can't be any other way around it. I really hope it doesn't cost us Lagway or McCray by subjecting them to this nonsense or any of the underclassmen who have gotten a chance to start by attrition and therefore have some sort of misplaced loyalty to the DDD.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 16, 2024 11:07:56 GMT -5
Russ Callaway, savior of programs and hot-seat (totally made up word) coaches.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 16, 2024 11:06:58 GMT -5
I consider the process just built to build drama. Kind of like the S&C hire. I love the line of thinking that Napier will go get an offensive coordinator now. All the very best OCs not only are available in mid-February, but chomping at the bit to come in for a guy who refuses to hand off play calling.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 15, 2024 13:17:10 GMT -5
Actually I bet Cajun Willie and Starkville Scotty saw this one coming in their maniacal preparation meetings on Sunday nights when they watch True Detective together in their PJs. Then they hatched this brilliant plan to renew his contract and announce he'd be back a week ago to create a market for the next guy to come in. Smart. Real real smart.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 15, 2024 13:11:51 GMT -5
That’s HALF of our offensive line coaching staff!! Might be for the best since our O line was arguably the hottest mess going last season. It's the wrong half unfortunately, and he got hired by a much better coach at a lower position. He basically took a demotion to get away from Cajun Willie. They've all sucked, but our interior line (Stapleton) has been well ahead of our tackles (Sale). Torrence (who Stapleton coached at Louisiana where the 2 man approach actually worked so I'm guessing Stapleton brought him) was a second round pick and first team all-rookie in the NFL. Get ready for him to sign a huge contract when he comes off his rookie deal Trent Brown style, if he keeps his weight down (he's done much better since getting to a real s&c coach) he'll be a perennial Pro Bowl guy, possibly first team All-pro once Nelson retires. Eguakan is projected 3rd day pick or UDFA with a pretty good shot at getting drafted. Jake Slaughter was our top rated lineman by a good bit and he plays inside. Compare that to Sale, who held the OC title the past 2 years and was in charge of our tackle group. He brought in Waites who hasn't been able to crack a terrible tackle rotation and may need to move inside. Both of the 2022 starting tackles transferred out after 1 year and were replaced by incoming transfers who were abject failures. He's Napier's guy. Nobody is going to hire him away because he's sucked really badly since he got to UF. He's from Louisiana and played at LSU though so we have to keep him. Especially as well as he's recruited and worked the transfer portal. It's a deal man. Anyways, glass is half full: it's hilarious that we lost the one guy remaining on staff who has accomplished at least 2-300% of what the other coach at his position to Dan Quinn and a demotion. It's even funnier that we're going to probably take the OC tag off Sale and give it to Russ Callaway who in 2022 was hired as a DEFENSIVE INTERN. The most hilarious thing will be when we get the high school offensive coach at Lake Ponchatrain high school to come in and coach interior line as an on-field coach and leave our special teams department and offensive staff with the same structure that has created magic against Arkansas and LSU in losses and real teams in garbage time. Oh yeah and it will take at least a month to name a replacement unless the old S&C guy has always wanted to get into Offensive Line coaching since Cajun Willie and he like to talk about their hopes and dreams. Can't make this shit up.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 15, 2024 12:09:39 GMT -5
So can we get rid of him after these renovations are complete? Because if that’s the case, I might be willing to make a donation. One would think, but we're through the looking-glass here people. It's Bizarro world where shit that would get a coach and AD fired at UCF has become "nothing to see here" at UF. The only way we get rid of him based on history seems to be if he did one of the two things he's clearly doing: 1) Embarasses the university by getting caught red-handed with malfeasance or nonfeasance. Welp, you've got him hiring a coach who abuses female athletes to the point of serious self-harm, emails where he blows past abuse allegations, a presser where he says "I never would have extended the coach if I had known," and then another coach he hired has to be let go for abusing female athletes in a disturbingly similar fashion. Now he's named in an NCAA investigation for NIL violation on a botched attempt to outbid Miami and then renege on in the ultimate bait and switch on a 17 year old kid. Again, the worst thing that could happen to UF is that Rashada suffers an injury or just flat can't play, and they circle back and file suit based on fraudulent inducement and/or breach of a binding agreement (at least verbal but it would surprise me not at all if the assclowns that ran the Gator Guard reduced shit to writing). He's got 5 years to file that suit, more if he wasn't 18 at the time (he'd have until he's 23). That's a helluva lot scarier than the NCAA investigation by the way. Gator fans should be huge Jalen Rashada fans at this point. Like the cockroach he is, Starkville Scotty has survived all of this and is out there holding court with the local yokels reassuring the fanbase that it's gonna be okay because he's meeting with his partner once a week to give his football insight. 2) The right people pull their money. Again, the guys that benefit off of construction projects (necessary or not) aren't going to pull their money because it's essentially legal money laundering, they make donations that they can write off and then the donation comes back to them via a project they wouldn't have otherwise. Let's pretend for a second CWT actually was what we all hoped he'd be as far as recruiting and program building, it's a stretch but pretend, the only reason he'd be falling on his ass would be that NIL has made $$$$$$$ even more important. Well, SS just said that UAA is competing with Florida Victorious for funds on some level immediately after saying what we really need is to eliminate seats for the middle class to make the luxury seats more luxurious. He couldn't really be more clear that he doesn't give a shit about the average fan and yet it seems like the average fans are okay with all of this which is how this dynasty has fallen. Stricklin was hired in large part due to his great success in fundraising for major renovations of football, basketball and other faclities at MSU. Now that we have succeeded in that here at UF he is no longer useful. Unlike the rebuilding of our athletic training facilities, renovating the football stadium will not translate into acquiring better talent. Yeah, Foley is a narcissist who at least cared about UF because he felt it reflected on his legacy of being a legend in his own mind, so he let us fall behind in facilities in the name of collecting prestigious fake awards and the faux title of "best AD in the country." The fix to that was to bring in a guy who doesn't give a shit about UF because he's never been out of Mississippi in his life who brings in a guy who publicly called UF a lateral move and whose wife wouldn't shut up about how much better Starkville was than Gainesville unless she could talk because she was kissing 100 college kids as they got off the team bus. He asked for and received a shitload of money and it went to facility upgrades (again the money was largely circular but that's the world we live in). Of course it hasn't yielded any real results because his version of Ron Zook got a show cause when he tried to recruit which kept him from jumping college jobs so he made up things like NFL interest and "recruiting season." Don't worry, he still got his buyout. Then we hired a guy who had been sold as a recruiting ace who hasn't cracked the top 10 one time in 3 years and is far and away the worst recruiter since before Spurrier and when they started tracking things. I really think Napier and Stricklin both want to take their buyouts and go back to Starkville or some other armpit of America on the gulf coast, but for some reason we won't let him. My guess is $$$$$$ for those invested and apathy from those who are not.
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Post by tapsgator on Feb 14, 2024 12:33:11 GMT -5
Annnnnnnnnd I think I just stumbled onto how Stricklin still has a job.
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