Daily Bullets (February 16)

Happy “Trae Young’s recruitment is FINALLY over today” day!

Also, real quick. We have a YouTube page, and we have been using it. Would appreciate you subscribing here.

Combine Invites

Berry Tramel writes about how the demise of the Big 12 is forthcoming because of recruiting struggles.

The SEC, ACC and Big Ten each have 14 schools. So that’s 4.7 per SEC member, 4.3 per ACC member and 3.6 per Big Ten member. The Pac-12 has 12 schools, so that’s 3.9 per member.

And the Big 12 has 1.9 per member. Now, OU’s Joe Mixon and Baylor’s Ishmael Zamora would have received invites, but off-field issues kept them from Indianapolis. But even counting them, that’s just 21; 2.1 per school.

The SEC has 2-1/2 times that rate of combine invites. The Pac-12 twice as many. That’s not sustainable. And the Big 12 was wiped out in recruiting earlier this month. Recruiting problems will hasten the breakup of the Big 12 more quickly than anything other than television revenue dips. And TV revenue hasn’t been dipping. [NewsOK]

I don’t necessarily disagree, but I’m not totally sure how a lack of recruiting will break up the Big 12.

The Sterns Snub

On which Big 12 players got snubbed from the Combine.

The Big 12 took a hit defensively in combine selection — no doubt related to the overall quality of play on that side of the ball. But individuals still rose to a high level. The notable omissions are aplenty, from Lee to defensive backs Fish Smithson of Kansas, Orion Stewart of Baylor and Denzel Johnson of TCU.

I’m most surprised, though, by the absence of Sterns, an instinctive and athletic safety who played in the Senior Bowl last month. He’s a high-character prospect who led the Cowboys in tackles for three consecutive seasons, each year exceeding 100 stops. His 325 career tackles placed him fourth nationally among defensive backs active in 2016 and landed Sterns a spot on the All-Big 12 first team. [ESPN]

Shockingly I agree.

PFF Loves Mason Rudolph More than Us

And we love Mason Rudolph a lot.

If there’s a quarterback who could unseat Mayfield as the best of the best in the Big 12 next year, it’s Rudolph. Finishing 2016 as the second-highest-graded quarterback in the country at 92.3, Rudolph looked at times like the best QB in the nation. He’s one of the best deep-ball passers in the country, leading the country with a 125.4 quarterback rating on deep throws. Rudolph was a little inconsistent at times last year but when he’s at his best, he’s as good as Mayfield and can challenge him as the best QB in the Big 12. [PFF]

I honestly cannot believe Rudolph is already a senior and only has 12 13 14 15 games left before turning pro.

OSU and NCAA Notes

There are many (many) things to fret about in politics (particularly right now), this is not one of them … Baylor got some good news (!) … Ben Kercheval wrote about Gundy in his singlet, and it is terrific … Baseball starts tomorrow.

Impressive.

Last team to do it was Maryland in 1986. https://t.co/jBQFdJHxHi https://t.co/WBQejbazpF

— Mark Cooper (@mark_cooperjr) February 15, 2017

This is awesome.

Great work enviro. = FUN! Channeled inner kid to resonate with kids (recruits). Process of drawing, scanning & Photoshop. Creative Freedom! pic.twitter.com/7IDUtuFyNX

— Forrest Buckner (@ForrestBuckner) February 16, 2017

What You Missed On PFB

• OSU is home of the best offenses in the country.
• I asked Todd Monken for his thoughts on OSU’s two new coaches.
• Notebook on last night’s game in Fort Worth.
• When the chips are down, OSU knows where to go.
• Five thoughts on OSU’s win over TCU.
• Clemson graduate transfer looking at OSU. Not exactly breaking news, but I’ve been told that OSU is looking at several graduate transfer DBs.

More Stuff I’m Reading

I spent more time than I want to admit to my wife re-living old dunk contests yesterday … On Tiger Woods and sadness … This podcast continues to rock.