The future of the Big 12 and other portal recruiting notes
Three of the four new additions to the Big 12 have completed their bowl games. With Houston’s 23-16 win over Louisiana yesterday, the group has gone 2-1 thus far.
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BYU held off SMU 24-23 while Cincinnati was beaten thoroughly by Louisville 24-7.
UCF plays Duke on Wednesday, so all four new entrants made a bowl game.
Add in the eight current Big 12 teams who made a bowl game this year, and next year’s conference will have 12 of 14 teams that made a bowl. That’s a pretty strong league.
By comparison, 9 of 14 Big 10 teams made a bowl this season. Same with the ACC. In the PAC-12, just seven of their 12 teams earned a bowl trip. In the SEC, three of their 14 teams did not make a bowl.
Just some fodder as we start to look to next year and the conference race.
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“Recruiting” is such a big topic. It takes months and months of following the ins and outs of it to finally get the payoff for a team’s future.
So I think it’s hard for some folks to realize that things can and will happen so quickly in the portal by comparison. There’s just not much of a dance to the portal.
Furthermore, the impact of the portal will likely be as immediate, if not more so, than the recruiting class that just got so much attention.
For example, Quinn Ewers and Ryan Watts were instant starters.
With the majority of high school recruiting in the rearview mirror, the next 20-25 days or so will be largely portal focused.
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Outside of Syracuse safety Ja’had Carter, Texas does not have an unreciprocated offer outstanding to any other portal prospect at the moment.
Texas has grabbed commitments from Wake Forest cornerback Gavin Holmes and Stanford punter Ryan Sanborn.
While there could be some behind the scenes maneuvering and perhaps the decision of Carter, I don’t expect to hear much about the portal for another week or so.
That’s when teams currently in bowl games will likely see more of their players enter the portal. Essentially it’ll be a new batch of prospects for Texas to consider.
The portal moves fast. Expect Texas to do the same if the right players come available.
And just like that, the Texas roster can change on a dime.
