Gonna just keep it simple, “short and (not at ALL) sweet”:
With the additional evidence coming in now week-by-week as to what “Elite Teams” look like, how though they are few, they are not only WIDELY talented, but DEEPLY so...
What it portends for US is THIS:
I project that it will take Mullens & Co. AT MINIMUM THREE STRAIGHT YEARS OF “Top 5 or BETTER” recruiting classes to step up INTO that category.
I don’t doubt that he will KNOW what to do with it, that they’ll do fabulously with that kind of roster—but, as I say, even WITH that kind of outstanding build-out period we are STILL looking at being YEARS away from a solid and TRUE “return to greatness” and the kind of dominance we see elsewhere and expect in ourselves. The various “other factors” that our Head Coach in particular has been able to cleverly exploit as they’ve become available has helped to mitigate some of our shortcomings, kept us “close here and there”, but it hasn’t been, ISN’T ENOUGH.
And remember: As we grab more of that top-echelon level-of-talent all over the field and develop it, it isn’t just that OUR team gets stronger, but the current “elite teams” are denied a certain portion of their current advantage—in general AND head-to-head play when we DO eventually meet them directly (likely in Playoff games in the case of non-SEC teams).
But the point is, that’s where we have to get to, and that’s what it will TAKE:
TIME and TALENT, pure and simple.
Oh, it will be fun watching us get there, if we can get to work properly, promisingly and successfully—and it WON’T be some “single-season bust out” (a la Orgeron’s 2019 LSU “surprise”) either: In a more solid/less brittle result all around than what even Meyer’s efforts produced when HE was here, I think we can reasonably hope for, even EXPECT an extended run at the very top (the likes of current Saban and Sweeney regimes, not coincidentally) once such a consistent streak of “build and coach” has been begun and sustained.
But THAT is what will be required.
“A good portion of ALMOST the best, under a great coach“ might get mostly “really good years NEAR the top”, and MAYBE “a place in the Play Offs now and then”, BUT...
Do I need to go on? Let’s not fool ourselves. I doubt our Head Coach does—I sure as HELL hope not, anyway!
With the additional evidence coming in now week-by-week as to what “Elite Teams” look like, how though they are few, they are not only WIDELY talented, but DEEPLY so...
What it portends for US is THIS:
I project that it will take Mullens & Co. AT MINIMUM THREE STRAIGHT YEARS OF “Top 5 or BETTER” recruiting classes to step up INTO that category.
I don’t doubt that he will KNOW what to do with it, that they’ll do fabulously with that kind of roster—but, as I say, even WITH that kind of outstanding build-out period we are STILL looking at being YEARS away from a solid and TRUE “return to greatness” and the kind of dominance we see elsewhere and expect in ourselves. The various “other factors” that our Head Coach in particular has been able to cleverly exploit as they’ve become available has helped to mitigate some of our shortcomings, kept us “close here and there”, but it hasn’t been, ISN’T ENOUGH.
And remember: As we grab more of that top-echelon level-of-talent all over the field and develop it, it isn’t just that OUR team gets stronger, but the current “elite teams” are denied a certain portion of their current advantage—in general AND head-to-head play when we DO eventually meet them directly (likely in Playoff games in the case of non-SEC teams).
But the point is, that’s where we have to get to, and that’s what it will TAKE:
TIME and TALENT, pure and simple.
Oh, it will be fun watching us get there, if we can get to work properly, promisingly and successfully—and it WON’T be some “single-season bust out” (a la Orgeron’s 2019 LSU “surprise”) either: In a more solid/less brittle result all around than what even Meyer’s efforts produced when HE was here, I think we can reasonably hope for, even EXPECT an extended run at the very top (the likes of current Saban and Sweeney regimes, not coincidentally) once such a consistent streak of “build and coach” has been begun and sustained.
But THAT is what will be required.
“A good portion of ALMOST the best, under a great coach“ might get mostly “really good years NEAR the top”, and MAYBE “a place in the Play Offs now and then”, BUT...
Do I need to go on? Let’s not fool ourselves. I doubt our Head Coach does—I sure as HELL hope not, anyway!