Nope, no inside information at all. Just reading a few tea leaves from Mark, Landyn, and TOS (which I will not credit it here out of respect for the editor and hopes of not getting choked by Vader again...). It appears that the latest visit to a place east of us went well. It's even east of me and I live in Alabama so that should tell you where he went. There is an in home scheduled with "Lions, and Tigers and Bears, Oh My..." (see what I did there?! Wizard of Oz, C'mon guys, it's not that late...). But we still have the last bite at the apple and I always want to have that. Mark and Landyn have always said Bussey is a big relationship kid and school is very important. An underlying factor may be the distance. Will it be enough to sway him our way? Where will we play him? Personally, I like him as a WR. I just think he's big play waiting to happen, but I wouldn't be mad seeing him at corner. I just want him on the team!
State of the Program
State of the Program
- Vision - Coach Elko has done a fine job since taking over in attempting to fulfill short term goals within a long term plan for our program. In the wild, wild west west of the coaching transition, signing a prep class, the portal, hiring a staff, NIL and All The Rest, I believe he has done a remarkable job thus far. I kind of equate the job the job he has had to do in "selling" this vision to what I did when I was in the Army when I was detailed as as a recruiter (Please don't shoot me! I didn't lie to the kids...). As a recruiter, I was tasked with asking mostly 17-21 year old's with giving up two to four years of their lives on "my vision" for their service in the Army and how it would benefit them. Kids never join the service because they believe it's the best thing for them. They join because they believe in that person sharing that vision of who they can be. Sounds corny, but it's true. Now imagine what Coach Elko has to do and all the challenges of what he's doing on a much larger scale with tons of money involved, big egos and kids that can walk anytime they want. Again, I give him an A++ so far!
- Roster - Does our roster scream top of the SEC? Nope, and for me, that's fine. Let Kirby, Lane & Sark worry about that. It's more pressure on them. Coach Elko has filled in the holes he's needed to and in the Spring, he and the staff will continue to tweak the roster to where it needs to go. They're not done. I wrote iron sharpens iron. These kids are going to have to earn their positions. Elko is not going to give anything to anyone. Sure, there are guys who have the inside track. Conner is definitely QB1. Scourton came here to play. A few others could be penciled in, but other than that, competition is wide open. I like what we've done on paper and who've we brought in, but until we bring it on the field, we just don't know....
- Recruiting - Let's look at this in three parts. Re-recruiting the roster. I have to give the staff a solid B. Losing Nolen and Stewart is tough, but retaining the Shemars, Hicks, Dindy and of course the QB room among others was a very good job. The portal marks I have to give at this point at least an A-, good numbers addressing appropriate needs. We'll see when the pads come on, but I love the aggressiveness. If we hit on 60%, it will be a major success. Prep recruiting. Solid start. Kept the class together as best he could. Took hits but that was to be expected. Gained some flips in key positions. Hope we hold onto Bussey. Very good start in '25. Appears we are laying some very good groundwork in some areas I hope we can some big success in like DFW....
