Under the circumstances, I'm kinda impressed we could get the backup TE from bama. Maybe Staes doesn't impress him and he thinks he can start here? Dunno, but I'm glad we have a fully matured option to use and aren't limited to an injury plagued youngster. In a way, I'm also glad we didn't go ape in the portal and are relying on our evals and young recruits instead. Might be a protective mechanism on my part to avoid what some would call a poor portal performance, but I still cling to the idea that building a roster is far better through the traditional methods.
I tend to see it as our staff feeling good about the talent and character of our players. They're building a culture, trust, and loyalty by developing and building the roster though recruiting vs putting a different team of mercs on the field every season like Kiffin and aTm are doing. We're filling holes, but not diving into the deep end. Maybe that's me trying to take the moral high ground here, but I really hate the idea that we're in an era of free agency and the main goal for so many players is money.
I agree I believe this roster has some very good young talent and hopefully we only need the portal going forward to complement the roster we have. I don’t think these teams that are using the portal to build their roster are going to have long term success but I don’t get paid millions to coach a team either.
