Some updates on targets from scanning other boards:
Franklin: sounds like He’s leaning towards leaving IU with Illinois being our toughest competition. Louisville sounds like they expect to get West and Watts, taking them out.
Gardner: all intel just from NC State board. They feel good about their zoom last night and standing. Us and Tennessee the strongest competition
Kessler: seems to have gone quiet. Nothing recently from UNC or Zags board.
Powell: even quieter. Not even a mention on Zags board. Auburn folks have no idea, UK still thinks they could have him but seemed to have moved on
Can’t help but wonder if any of these players are contemplating going together as has become the norm with NBA free agents. From a marketing standpoint it makes a lot on sense.
True, but I’m thinking more Fab Five type hype. I wasn’t necessarily thinking just to UVA, but more an overall mindset of players in the portal. Three of the top guys decide to transfer to say Miami. Spend a year or two in South Beach and create buzz, attention and exposure for themselves. Just wondering if they are thinking about it that way, or are things are more of an individual decision.
Especially with the NCAA creeping towards letting players profit off NIL related stuff, athlete brand-building is going to become a big deal. IIRC, part of Nebraska’s recruiting pitch is they’ve got a social-media branding consulting firm on retainer. They break down your social media presence, help you put together a plan to build it, and give you guidance on how to get the most out of it. I think one of their volleyball players has like 1M instagram followers or something.
Exactly what I was thinking. Let’s hook up at LSU (or wherever), enjoy a couple years of college, make some good money and build our brands for the next level.
B’ball program thank you tweets were both attached to announcements made by Casey and Justin expressing appreciation for their time at UVA. I’m unaware of Jabri doing anything similar.
He’s in a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation. Some people criticize the guys who make social media posts and commit videos as “me first” people and would rather they just make it low key. Jabri makes it low key and makes no announcements on social and he’s called off and odd.
Both Morsell & McKoy expressed their appreciation to those in the UVA family that helped them along the way. There is nothing “me-first” about showing appreciation and demonstrating proper protocol. In the old days it was called “good manners.”
I’m not going to read a lot into Jabri making a post or not making a post. Casey and McKoy are 19-20 ish and spent 2 years in Uni they have a little bit more experience. Jabri is 18/19 and hate to drag a kid for having “poor manors” for one discretion. How he handles it moving forward is far more consequential to me than what he did in the moment as a teenager.
