re: Dominick McKinley's RPM has changed

McKinley camped at LSU the summer before his junior year and left without an offer. He then blew up based on his stats his junior year and measurables. I think he may be bitter about not getting an offer. And what’s worse is he was on campus before anyone knew who he was and they evaluated him and still didn’t get an offer? Jamar Cain is the one who dropped the ball and he’s not even here anymore.

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The reality of the situation is that very few schools have a guy like Gordon McKernan whose business is making an absolute fortune AND he has the ability to justify massive NIL spending as an advertisement expense. The “Texas oil money” thing is funny to me because small oil companies in Texas aren’t dumping a ton of money into NIL because they can’t really justify it.

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Every major university in the country(and most smaller ones) have a guy like Gordon. Don't mistake willingness with capability.
Oil companies don't have to advertise the oil company. But they do generally have other businesses tied into the oil companies monetarily that can be advertised. Besides, Texas has school sponsored collectives so the money can be donated that way or the old fashioned way of just washing it through something else. Rich people guise money transactions all the time. That's elementary stuff.

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If Texas and Texas A&M had as much money as they pretend

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They're not pretending. They do indeed have all that money.
TAMs endowment(though irrelevant) is up there with the largest in the country. The people behind that still have money they apparently are more than eager to spend.
Texas has all those types of folks as well. If you need hard numbers to back up their prolificity then just Google highest earning athletic programs for the past 20 years. They'll be right there in the #1 spot. That money is equal to crumbs for all intents and purposes. War chest money in Texas.

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Short term money, development and long term success should be what their parents are wanting.

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Different families and kids have different priorities. It’s all individualized. Education, proximity to home, opportunity to experience somewhere new/different, etc. There’s an infinite number of things.

That’s part of what makes recruiting so difficult. The staff not only has to see performance on the field + potential to develop, but understand the kid, his priorities, who the influencers are and how to best approach/interact with them all, amongst other things. It’s a complicated calculus. I don’t envy people in those roles, regardless of how much they make.

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He’s going to verbal to UT and will end up signing with LSU.

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What’s your thesis on this? Is it that close and something (money, opportunity, team success, coaching) ultimately swings it back to us?

Doesn’t seem like the kind of kid to play games or be wishy washy.

He doesn’t have to be. LSU won’t lose him for lack of effort but I can tell you this. He won’t have half the career at texas that he would at lsu.

Boot

Oh boy....

Going to start off by saying I love LSU athletics and am happy we have people willing to invest in the program through TAF, NIL or other means, but there's so much wrong here...

A) By any objective metric, Louisiana is most definitely NOT one of the richest states in the country (median income, total GDP, GDP per capita, GDP growth, personal income growth, etc.... and if you don't trust me, check out the links below...)

LINK 1 LINK 2 LINK 3

B) Louisiana also has far fewer "rich" people than most states... also see below.

LINK 4 LINK 5

That said, yes, there are plenty of rich LSU alumni / boosters (whether they live in- or outside of Louisiana).

BUT, you do not "buy" players... they're human beings, not a play thing you get off the shelf at a toy store. While money is one component that goes into their decision, there's 1000 other things that could drive them to come to LSU or any other school (family, culture, relationships, academics, prestige, proximity to home, status of the program, ability to elevate them to the next level... it's endless).

So the insinuation that we'd just plunk down a check from one of the "rich" people in Louisiana and it's all taken care of is ludicrous. Not to mention completely downplays any and everything the staffs of all teams do to carefully identify and target the right players.

If you truly believe the only thing that matters is money, then you belong at aTm with their 2022 recruiting class - ya know the one that was tabbed as the "best of all time" and was going to lead them to the promised land... how has that worked out for them?

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Louisiana is one of the richest states in America

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In the end, that's why I think he makes the best decision, stays home, and plays for LSU. Following in the footsteps of 2 guys playing in the league, we need him and both sides benefit!