In a way they do. We have to keep ourselves at like 12 less scholarships total one way or another over a period of the next several years. It amounts 2-3 a year. So think of it as we now work to an 82 or 83 total number instead of 85. Whether you cut someone or just don't sign is kind of up to you, but it does lead into having to be mildly tighter with your scholarships.
We don't have many flips under this staff because of the way they recruit. When we do have potential flips, it's known pretty early on before it happens, that it's likely. Right now we don't have any potential flips in this class, but recruiting is fluid. This staff builds really strong relationships with the recruits and their families and they recruit kids with a specific character profile.
What I'm really looking forward to is seeing how Heupel manages the rest of this recruiting class and the numbers overall. This likely will be the most difficult recruiting season he's going to face at UT. Covid seniors are almost all gone, the NCAA defections have left a huge gap in experience in our roster and we can't afford to waste a single season with our 5 star stud QB prospect. We sit at 20 right now. I can't see us taking more than 1 or 2 more guys from the HS ranks and they'd have to be elite prospects. We've got a 2 'ship reduction due to the NCAA penalties. We're going to need to dive and dive deep into the portal. I'd have to think we need 5 OL, 2 DL, TE, WR and a backup QB. Deon went out and grabbed 80 so 10 doesn't seem like a lot, but outside of the QB, we really need all of the portal to be solid contributors at the jump. Heupel has one helluva hill to climb this year.
