ATM spends $25-30M on 2022 class

[WFE12 9,191]

Texas A&M Boosters Spent Unfathomable Amount Of Money To Land No. 1 Recruiting Class, Per Report

Grayson Weir

Texas A&M football currently holds the nation’s top recruiting class for 2022. With six five-star prospects, 19 four-stars and three three-stars, the Aggies are loaded.

Among the commitments, head coach Jimbo Fisher and his staff landed the nation’s top-rated linebacker, top-rated defensive lineman and the second-ranked wide receiver. They also kept the nation’s second-ranked quarterback in-state, locking up the program’s biggest need for the foreseeable future.

And, although the class is all-but finished, there is still time to land another prospect or two before or on National Signing Day. With a 247Sports composite score of 328.82, it is the nation’s No. 1 class by more than 11 points over Alabama.

Needless to say, the Aggies have hit the recruiting trail extremely hard. Per a recent rumor, their boosters also spent a small fortune.

Apparently, Texas A&M’s 2022 recruiting class cost upwards of $30 million.

According to a message board user who goes by SlicedBread, the Aggies spent between $25 and $30 million to sure-up the nation’s top class. He reported that the effort was targeted and coordinated.

Although SlicedBread is not necessarily the best source in the world, the number is likely in the ballpark.

IT IS PERFECTLY LEGAL. TEXAS A&M IS DOING NOTHING WRONG, OR EVEN INVOLVED. IT IS ALL BOOSTERS.

In previous years, money was (allegedly) dispersed to recruits under the table. It was and is illegal to hand a prospect money directly in return for his commitment.

That is not what Texas A&M is doing. Under the NCAA’s new rules on Name, Image and Likeness, it can be done above the table, kind of.

For example, like what is reportedly being done amongst the boosters at A&M — and everywhere across the country — money can be distributed through deals for NIL. A recruit can be offered a lucrative deal in return for a commitment.

The University of Texas reportedly weaponized NIL to land No. 1 overall quarterback recruit Quinn Ewers. Texas boosters are also paying every offensive lineman on scholarship$50,000 through NIL.

So, when the math is all said and done, for Texas A&M to spend that reported number, is not hard to believe. Good for the Aggies for having that kind of money and using it effectively.

Here is how it reportedly plays out in College Station:

• A recruit is targeted for a specific recruiting class.
• A “point donor” then heads the recruiting effort.
• The “point donor” gathers other donors around him.
• Those donors create an LLC.
• The LLC, in turn for a commitment, sponsors the targeted recruit.
• That recruit, upon arrival on campus, receives money from the LLC.
• In turn, the recruit promotes the LLC and its “cause,” whether that be a charity or a business.

According to SlicedBread, the Aggies even have a backstop in place. The deals are structured to keep players in College Station for multiple years.

Contracts are set up as multi-year deals. If a player leaves, he leaves the money behind in Texas.

NIL has changed the landscape of college football and what A&M is doing is completely legal and clearly effective.

Not only do the Aggies have the No. 1 recruiting class for 2022, but they currently hold the No. 2-ranked class for 2023. They all-but print money in College Station and it is really paying off. Literally.

[PowerOfDixieland 3,226]

Thanks for posting.

I don't know how much credibility "SliceBread" or BroBible should be extended.  Even if the low number is to be believed, that equates to nearly $300,000 for every scholarship player.  From the way this reads, the eyepopping number was for the signing class alone?  If so, they forked over roughly $1 Million per.  Not completely out of the question, since they have the deepest pockets in the SEC based on endowment totals.  Not sure I buy it though....

[autigeremt 6,600]

It’s happening in Austin and LA as well. Get ready…..the days of dodge chargers and Chevy Tahoes with cash in the glove compartment from Pensacola are over. It’s much bigger now. Bammer will have to work harder now. 

[SRBautigerfan 1,040]

8 hours ago, PowerOfDixieland said:

Thanks for posting.

I don't know how much credibility "SliceBread" or BroBible should be extended.  Even if the low number is to be believed, that equates to nearly $300,000 for every scholarship player.  From the way this reads, the eyepopping number was for the signing class alone?  If so, they forked over roughly $1 Million per.  Not completely out of the question, since they have the deepest pockets in the SEC based on endowment totals.  Not sure I buy it though....

The story says the deals are multi year structured so maybe divide those numbers up over 3-4 years.  Regardless it’s here in black and white, buying players out in the open.  I guess bama isn’t the dirtiest institution any more.

[SRBautigerfan 1,040]

8 hours ago, autigeremt said:

It’s happening in Austin and LA as well. Get ready…..the days of dodge chargers and Chevy Tahoes with cash in the glove compartment from Pensacola are over. It’s much bigger now. Bammer will have to work harder now. 

The heat has now officially been turned wide open on Jimbo’s ass.  He better have one loss or less for the next 3-4 years because they’re just as loaded as bama and uga.  

[Gowebb11 9,314]

1 hour ago, SRBautigerfan said:

I guess bama isn’t the dirtiest institution any more.

It ain’t dirty once it is sanctioned. I tip my hat to TAMU for being out front with what sounds like a very organized plan and approach to NIL. I hope AU is on a similar path. 

[SRBautigerfan 1,040]

1 hour ago, Gowebb11 said:

It ain’t dirty once it is sanctioned. I tip my hat to TAMU for being out front with what sounds like a very organized plan and approach to NIL. I hope AU is on a similar path. 

Agree.  They’re definitely working it like a boss right now.  It’s almost as if they already knew how all this worked before NIL. 😉

[LKEEL75 2,566]

Absolutely ridiculous!  Nothing amature about college athletics any more.

Just sad state of affairs.

[Gowebb11 9,314]

19 minutes ago, LKEEL75 said:

Absolutely ridiculous!  Nothing amature about college athletics any more.

Just sad state of affairs.

I’m pretty sure the whole story is fake news. 

[LKEEL75 2,566]

2 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

I’m pretty sure the whole story is fake news. 

No way!!!  Someone found it on the internet.  It must be true!!!!

 

 

[WDE_OxPx_2010 5,297]

1 hour ago, Gowebb11 said:

I’m pretty sure the whole story is fake news. 

 

59 minutes ago, LKEEL75 said:

No way!!!  Someone found it on the internet.  It must be true!!!!

 

 

Can't be false, they provided a link

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

6 5 stars, 19 four stars 

What the ****

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

I have no idea the financial amount, but the fact that that much high end talent went to play for the fifth best coach in the conference 

[keesler 5,924]

We better be ready to pony up if we’re going to hang with the big boys.  Hopefully we are offering nice package deals to come play in O&B because others are damn sure doing it.  

[meh130 1,043]

“A recruit can be offered a lucrative deal in return for a commitment.”

This is expressly forbidden under NIL. That is why you see the broad deals like every OL at Texas, or the entire team at Miami.

I have no doubt there are under the table promises. It would be completely legal for a high school athlete in a state where there are no laws against high school athletes getting an NIL deal to get a deal before signing with any university. That would make sense for apparel and other items.

[TeamZero77 1,784]

For the past 2 weeks Colin Cowherd has talked about the NIL and transfer portal in college. He said he has some good friends on college coaching staffs and that they all told him there's a certain SEC school who pays every 5 star recruit $1 million dollars. The first time he mentioned this, he didn't name the school. The few times since, he has said it's Texas A&M. He also told a story about how a couple of college coaches in the midwest told him that every coaching staff in the entire nation knows that if the SEC schools really want a certain player, they're going to get that player 10 times out of 10. The SEC schools may lose in a recruiting war for a player but it will be to another SEC school. If the SEC school is in a recruiting war against a team from another conference, they told him the SEC team will almost always win that recruiting battle if they really want that certain player. It totally makes sense too because most years Auburn will finish with a recruiting class ranked on average from about #8 to #15 nationally but we will be around #4 to #7 in the SEC. 

[keesler 5,924]

It’s legal now, I don’t see why Auburn wouldn’t pay in tandem with aTm, uat, lsu, uga and every other program dealing out huge NIL packages.  What's stopping us from doing exactly what those teams are doing?

[LKEEL75 2,566]

12 hours ago, keesler said:

It’s legal now, I don’t see why Auburn wouldn’t pay in tandem with aTm, uat, lsu, uga and every other program dealing out huge NIL packages.  What's stopping us from doing exactly what those teams are doing?

 

AU is no where close to aTm in that ball park

Edited January 14, 2022 by LKEEL75

[WFE12 9,191]

Man I can’t stand Jimbo

[SRBautigerfan 1,040]

On 1/6/2022 at 8:50 PM, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

6 5 stars, 19 four stars 

What the ****

As of today they have signed 20 four star and 7 five star recruits.  

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

15 minutes ago, SRBautigerfan said:

As of today they have signed 20 four star and 7 five star recruits.  

I am NOT one of those guys that thinks some markets should be limited by some salary cap, esp since it has brought a few more teams to the table than the ~4 we’ve had in the CFP era

BUT…I wouldn’t be shocked if the plucky guys in the big program markets; Baylor, TCUs, every California team, Cincinnati, etc..some of those next programs just get sizzled in terms of quality talent. 
 

There’s more talent ever but there’s even more capacity for programs to recruit nationally/globally than ever. NIL changes it from a 6ish program race to probably 12-16 programs, but those 16 programs are gonna have an even wider gap. WHICH…I think the NCAA, ESPN, CFP has been leading into anyway. 

[Randman5000 4,226]

Quote

Instead of celebrating the No. 1 signing class on Wednesday, Texas A&M football coach Jimbo Fisher vehemently defended his program against accusations that money fueled the Aggies' success on the recruiting trail.

Fisher called out an anonymous message board poster who uses the handle "Sliced Bread" for claims that the Aggies had $30 million at their disposal in name, image and likeness funds, calling it a "joke."

But Fisher also took aim at the media, a Notre Dame administrator and fellow SEC coaches for spreading rumors about deals promised to recruits, saying it was "insulting" and "irresponsible."

On Tuesday, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin quipped that, "Texas A&M was going to incur a luxury tax in how much they paid for their signing class."

The Aggies' class includes four five-star prospects and 22 players ranked in the ESPN 300.

"To have coaches in our league and across this league to say it, clown acts," Fisher said. "Irresponsible as hell. Multiple coaches in our league. And the guys griping about NIL and transfer portal are using it the most and bragging about it the most. That's the ironic part. ... It's a joke. It does piss me off."

Fisher didn't stop there, threatening retaliation.

"I'll tell you what, I know how some of those guys recruit, too," he said. "Go dig into that. I know the history, I know the tradition. I know things. Trust me, you don't want to go down that avenue."

In December, Fisher told The Paul Finebaum Show that "There's always been NIL stuff going on, it just wasn't legal."

On Wednesday, he doubled down.

"Some of those guys complaining," Fisher said, "those aren't new NIL deals, they're them old NIL deals, you know what I'm saying? I'll stand by that."

At the Senior Bowl on Tuesday, Alabama coach Nick Saban lamented the way recruiting has changed thanks to NIL.

"When we start using name, image and likeness for a kid to come to our school, that's where I draw the line," Saban said. "Because that's not why we did this."

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• 

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  Bama's Saban laments NIL influence on recruiting

  1dAlex Scarborough

Saban did not mention Texas A&M or Fisher specifically, but he did push back against the idea that paying players has always happened.

"I hear these crazy people on TV who say now you're doing it aboveboard," Saban said. "We never did it. We never did it. We never cheated to get a player. We never paid players to come to our school.

"And now that's actually happening. People are making deals with high school players to go to their school."

Saban said that the schools with the most money -- whether through alumni backing or other means -- "have the best chance to have the best team."

"It's not about coaching and developing as much as it is, what kind of money can you make?" he said.

On Wednesday, Fisher pointed out how Alabama quarterback Bryce Young earned around $1 million in NIL deals last year.

"The $800,000 was wonderful," Fisher said. "Now it ain't wonderful no more, huh? ... We ain't got that. Ours are on record what comes up. We didn't do a lot of big deals."

Fisher then turned his attention to the transfer portal and how coaches gripe about it on the one hand and then turn around and take as many players as they can with the other.

 

"The hypocrisy is a joke," Fisher said. "It's an absolute joke. And it's insulting to our staff, how hard we work, how we do things. It's insulting to Texas A&M because there ain't a better place to go to school and play ball.

"You don't like that we're coming on? Get used to it, all right? We ain't going nowhere."

Fisher insisted that NIL earning potential isn't used in the recruiting process.

"We don't control the NIL," he said. "We don't do that. That's outside forces, outside funds."

Fisher added that if any coaches have a problem with his comments, they can come find him.

"I ain't a hard guy to find," he said. "We'll be in some meetings. You can say anything you want."

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/33202615/texas-football-coach-jimbo-fisher-fires-back-clown-acts-criticizing-aggies-relying-nil-deals-recruiting-trail

[AEAugirl 9,632]

Jimbo straight called out Saban by name in that presser. 

[autigeremt 6,600]

Looks like a lot of panties in a wad. 

[weagl1 1,782]

Jimbo was really raising hell about this article yesterday.  It’s either BS or whoever wrote it really hit a nerve.  Probably somewhere in between it usually is.