GrayEagle

I haven't played in awhile. Did I lose all of my points?

I'm thinking that I had the same dream.

The worst is all black with green numbers and lettering but this combination is barely a cut above. Adler has us pretty well indoctrinated.

I like the realignments so far but I have a couple of questions and comments. You still have the AAC at 13 which is a scheduling nightmare, so if you added a team to make it 14, who would you add? What will happen to Stanford and Cal? Do they remain a part of the Pac12/10 or go independent? If they remained, would they add enough to make the Pac 12 a power conference?

How long would that take? And what criteria? Three straight conference championships and bowl wins? Three nine win seasons within five years? Of course, consistent would no doubt boost attendance but I believe that the time frame would be at minimum three consecutive years. We need to strike now while the iron is hot. New athletic conference. New coaching staff. Some great recruiters for the next few years. If we are ever going to be successful, now is the time. We have to sell give us a try for a couple of years and see if we are more successful and entertaining.

If SMU leaves who do we play every year? If you have 13 teams you short one team every year or after four years you change to another who will not have an every year partner for four years. The simplest for scheduling is add another team who will also have a common opponent each year. I believe that if we could add Army, our return to each member would be increased. And, of course, they will play Navy every year anyway so we would get Navy's every year opponent.

Jet was included in Vito's list of returning linemen but he didn't mention that Duncan was a second-team All-CUSA player? last year. I believe, in spite of the loss of Mose, that we will have a better offensive line this year.

How well are the new students being indoctrinated on athletics at boot camp? Get them enthused with band and cheerleaders present. Form competition between dorms and organizations. Have game day reminders displayed on campus. Free Wing Zone tickets to DISD elementary students on a given day when accompanied by a parent. Discounted tickets to middle and high school students. If we can't get enough students there work on the townspeople. No day games until late October to avoid the blistering sun that the student side faces. Hold pep rallies on campus the Friday before a home game. Deeply discount Wing Section tickets. As RV used to say, "An empty seat can't buy a hot dog."

I don't know how strong it is now but I'd bet that the recruiters on this staff know how to play the game as does Coach Morris. It's a selling point, I'm sure because I see pictures of recruits at most of the schools with gear from the school that they visited and I have doubts that they purchased them.

Well, if you've noticed lately TSU-SM is competing with us for recruits but we are winning most of those battles by being in a better conference. I would take them if they are the court of last resort but otherwise I hope that we can talk Army into the AAC again.

Frankly, so would I. But Mike Aresco is trying to get the larger markets to increase the TV revenue and Monroe LA is not a big market.

I believe that I see why we offered. Great acceleration! It's all about size. Hicks seems to be maybe a little faster than Harry Stewart who has an 89 composite and multiple offers because he is about 40 pounds heavier.

Actually, that won't happen. Both wanted to join the American but the Mountain West stepped in and long story short got both to sign an agreement that they would not change conferences.

Two scrimmages will be open to the public. And, of course the Spring Game.

I can't badmouth SMU because I have a daughter that is on the staff there. I don't defend them very often but in this case I don't believe that SMU is wanting to go to the Pac12 Conference in order to avoid us. Pure and simple they want to be in a P5 conference. What I don't get is why the Pac12? The Big 12 is looking very hard at Utah, Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado which they probably won't get unless the B1G comes after Washington and Oregon. If both happen then I don't think that Cal and Stanford will remain in the PAC12 with only Oregon State and Washington State. It's really a crapshoot. It's mostly up to Washington and Oregon. I'd hate to have to depend on them for the continuation of the PAC12.

Does anyone know if John Davis, the starting cornerback who went down in the UTEP game with a knee injury, will return this season? If he has recovered he will be a starter and make the corners and safeties a pretty strong unit with Anderson and Starling and Logan Wilson as the base of that part of the defense.

Great reporting jtm!

If they are ranking them on their pro potential they are missing the mark. That's virtually impossible since such a small percentage eventually go to the NFL. An extremely small percentage below Division 5-2 will make it to the pros. However, some in the lower classes will do very well in college. I think that they base their grade on size, speed, high school results (especially the skill positions) and who offers.

We would still have 13 football-playing members if SMU left. The AAC is in large media areas so I doubt that would include La Tech, Louisiana, Southern Miss, or Western Kentucky. They would also require a stadium of at least 30,000 or the promise to build one within one or two years of admittance (Charlotte). If they pick one from old CUSA, Marshall would be the most bang for the buck. Smaller market but they are better-known nationally. The other two that are in large markets are Texas State and Middle Tennessee. I have no idea if they would be considered since they are in markets dominated by the SEC. It's possible that we could try former member Army. They have national appeal and technically they are in the New York market. I don't really like to play two service academies in the same year but that wouldn't be every year of course. So, my choices to replace SMU would be Army, Marshall or Texas State.

I'm inclined to agree. We had too many quality PWOs who I don't believe would have accepted an offer without some type of compensation. Likely enough to pay for the first year.

I think that linebacker will be our strongest defensive position this year. In addition to Brown and Wood I believe that both Nixon and Richards have another year of eligibility. So, in spite of losing an All-American linebacker in Shark Davis, we're still in pretty good shape.

UTSA is the biggest (football) game in town. San Antonio is a city of 2 million with no professional football. UIW and Trinity are a notch or two below, respectively, in college football.

It does and he seems to be underpaid. If recruiting is really successful he'll likely be the first one to get a raise.

Since Sides was a first team 6A all-state receiver, I have serious doubts that Arnold had anyone more talented to throw to.