[Mick]

Press conference reactions:

* Taylor contrasted this year with last year by noting they stuck with the previous staff's recruits. The subtext here is this is his first class with his own guys. That's obvious to all of us but Taylor subtly framing it as such is notable. There are probably guys, maybe a fair number of guys, in our 2023 class who would not be here if the new staff's evaluation and approach were previously in place. That's a reminder that it will take years for Taylor to have his full imprint, errr Cardprint, on the program.

* The reference to guys knowing they are coming in to play right away and compete reinforced the sense - no surprise - that Taylor doesn't think highly of the roster. He followed that with discussion of the six mid-year enrollees, so I think it's pretty clear that in his mind these are key guys for 2024. As a refresher, we are talking about Umeh, E. Brown, Mosley, Mattingly, Stephenson, and Richardson. In addition to Taylor's signals, we have the recent history of immediate playing time for mid-year enrollees Bailey, Roush, Reuben, and Bachmeier. Have to figure these six have every opportunity. I'm watching Umeh, Brown, and Mosley most closely but all have a real shot.

Great post, msqueri, as always. This reminds me of Harbaugh's arrival post-Harris. EUTM was able to take Wlat's 2006 1-11 class and go 4-8 the next year (Harbaugh's first year), including the Greatest Upset Ever, 24-23...and Harbaugh went 5-7 the next year. But it wasn't until Harbaugh's recruits were upperclassmen in Harbaugh's third year that he started to hit the heights at 8-4 in the regular season, then a close loss to Oklahoma in the Sun Bowl. And of course, Harbaugh went 12-1 in his final year with a 40-12 victory over Va Tech (with Shaw and Darth Vader as his DC), leading to a #5 overall ranking. Perhaps Taylor is headed for a similar result.

[Mick]

Press conference reactions:

* Taylor contrasted this year with last year by noting they stuck with the previous staff's recruits. The subtext here is this is his first class with his own guys. That's obvious to all of us but Taylor subtly framing it as such is notable. There are probably guys, maybe a fair number of guys, in our 2023 class who would not be here if the new staff's evaluation and approach were previously in place. That's a reminder that it will take years for Taylor to have his full imprint, errr Cardprint, on the program.

* The reference to guys knowing they are coming in to play right away and compete reinforced the sense - no surprise - that Taylor doesn't think highly of the roster. He followed that with discussion of the six mid-year enrollees, so I think it's pretty clear that in his mind these are key guys for 2024. As a refresher, we are talking about Umeh, E. Brown, Mosley, Mattingly, Stephenson, and Richardson. In addition to Taylor's signals, we have the recent history of immediate playing time for mid-year enrollees Bailey, Roush, Reuben, and Bachmeier. Have to figure these six have every opportunity. I'm watching Umeh, Brown, and Mosley most closely but all have a real shot.

Great post, msqueri, as always. This reminds me of Harbaugh's arrival post-Harris. EUTM was able to take Wlat's 2006 1-11 class and go 4-8 the next year (Harbaugh's first year), including the Greatest Upset Ever, 24-23...and Harbaugh went 5-7 the next year. But it wasn't until Harbaugh's recruits were upperclassmen in Harbaugh's third year that he started to hit the heights at 8-4 in the regular season, then a close loss to Oklahoma in the Sun Bowl. And of course, Harbaugh went 12-1 in his final year with a 40-12 victory over Va Tech (with Shaw and Darth Vader as his DC), leading to a #5 overall ranking. Perhaps Taylor is headed for a similar result.