2023 4-star linebacker Christian Brathwaite flips from Baylor to LSU

I assume the translation is: better NIL deal(?).

Johnny Bear said:

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I assume the translation is: better NIL deal.

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That was my first thought as well. We need to figure out how to be better at playing that game or we'll get left behind.

Odd flip. I don't think a single top 10 win would change someone's heart… especially bc ole miss was not a top 10 team beyond SEC bias.

It's clear based on interviews and former player reports Brian Kelley has thrown players and people under the bus and does not care about people like CDA.

This leaves blue chip school and NIL money left. Such a waste bc CDA is known to put LB in the league. I assume most have aspirations to play in the league as their long term goal.

Probably several factors. NIL, game day atmosphere, maybe he knows more people at LSU that he likes. Maybe just just likes LSU more now than he did before. This isn't the first or last time this is gonna happen with or without NIL

Perhaps it's time for us to do some flipping. For one thing, with all the crap that's currently flying around at a certain school 90 miles south of Waco, I'm wondering if there's at least a few commits that are having second thoughts (granted we'd be competing against some serious NIL $$).

BearlySober said:

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Johnny Bear said:

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I assume the translation is: better NIL deal.

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That was my first thought as well. We need to figure out how to be better at playing that game or we'll get left behind.

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Baylor's path to success will always be through identifying and developing talented three- and low four-star players who can be impact players by their junior and senior years.

It sucks that we lost this kid, but we're never going to consistently outrecruit the blue blood programs. We'll only compete with them on the field by building/maintaining an elite culture and developing the hell out of our talent.

bear2be2 said:

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BearlySober said:

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Johnny Bear said:

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I assume the translation is: better NIL deal.

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That was my first thought as well. We need to figure out how to be better at playing that game or we'll get left behind.

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Baylor's path to success will always be through identifying and developing talented three- and low four-star players who can be impact players by their junior and senior years.

It sucks that we lost this kid, but we're never going to consistently outrecruit the blue blood programs. We'll only compete with them on the field by building/maintaining an elite culture and developing the hell out of our talent.

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Kind of a defeatist attitude. You do know that the #1 recruit last year went to Jackson State, right? How did they get that player away from the blue bloods?

ScottS said:

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bear2be2 said:

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BearlySober said:

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Johnny Bear said:

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I assume the translation is: better NIL deal.

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That was my first thought as well. We need to figure out how to be better at playing that game or we'll get left behind.

---

Baylor's path to success will always be through identifying and developing talented three- and low four-star players who can be impact players by their junior and senior years.

It sucks that we lost this kid, but we're never going to consistently outrecruit the blue blood programs. We'll only compete with them on the field by building/maintaining an elite culture and developing the hell out of our talent.

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Kind of a defeatist attitude. You do know that the #1 recruit last year went to Jackson State, right? How did they get that player away from the blue bloods?

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Consistently was the key word

Jorkel said:

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ScottS said:

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bear2be2 said:

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BearlySober said:

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Johnny Bear said:

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I assume the translation is: better NIL deal.

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That was my first thought as well. We need to figure out how to be better at playing that game or we'll get left behind.

---

Baylor's path to success will always be through identifying and developing talented three- and low four-star players who can be impact players by their junior and senior years.

It sucks that we lost this kid, but we're never going to consistently outrecruit the blue blood programs. We'll only compete with them on the field by building/maintaining an elite culture and developing the hell out of our talent.

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Kind of a defeatist attitude. You do know that the #1 recruit last year went to Jackson State, right? How did they get that player away from the blue bloods?

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Consistently was the key word

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Look, in the olden days that is the way it was. The blue bloods got all these players. And if BU or SMU or anyone like that tried anything the NCAA hammered them (the smaller school). But with NIL its a new game. If Baylor or anyone else wants a player then can go get them. Schools can build collectives and fund NIL if they want. Or not. You are assuming a blue blood will have the most money for NIL. They might but they might not. They have to have the money and direct it to NIL. A smaller school might have some rich alums and they can now go get players without any issue. This is just getting started. We'll see how it goes.

Might have been the 100,000 + fans & the full stadium.

ScottS said:

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bear2be2 said:

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BearlySober said:

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Johnny Bear said:

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I assume the translation is: better NIL deal.

---

That was my first thought as well. We need to figure out how to be better at playing that game or we'll get left behind.

---

Baylor's path to success will always be through identifying and developing talented three- and low four-star players who can be impact players by their junior and senior years.

It sucks that we lost this kid, but we're never going to consistently outrecruit the blue blood programs. We'll only compete with them on the field by building/maintaining an elite culture and developing the hell out of our talent.

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Kind of a defeatist attitude. You do know that the #1 recruit last year went to Jackson State, right? How did they get that player away from the blue bloods?

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Not defeatist. Just realistic. We've never recruited at that level despite playing at a near elite level as often as not over the past 12 or so years. We built our brand on innovation and development. We'll sustain it the same way.

It would be interesting to go back and follow these kids who switch and how they actual pan out......Apparently he doesn't watch the Houston Texans...there's a certain NFL starter who just finished his career @ Baylor.

Kelly won't even be at the school in 4 years...

Honestly that's what would of did it for me being in that atmosphere, as much as I hate the SEC I give credit where it's due there fans pack stadiums every weekend.

Aranda may not be at Baylor either….

Nothing and no one is for certain.

BluesBear said:

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It would be interesting to go back and follow these kids who switch and how they actual pan out......Apparently he doesn't watch the Houston Texans...there's a certain NFL starter who just finished his career @ Baylor.

Kelly won't even be at the school in 4 years...

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1. Do you know how many LSU players are in the NFL? Do you know how many Notre Dame players are in the NFL? Answer to both questions is "a lot."
2. Yes, Kelly will be at LSU 4 years from now.

People need to get over this notion that there could never be anyplace for any good player to go except Baylor. Players change commitments every year, long before NIL. Some work out, some don't. But it's not nefarious if someone flips to a blue blood.

bear2be2 said:

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ScottS said:

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bear2be2 said:

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BearlySober said:

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Johnny Bear said:

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I assume the translation is: better NIL deal.

---

That was my first thought as well. We need to figure out how to be better at playing that game or we'll get left behind.

---

Baylor's path to success will always be through identifying and developing talented three- and low four-star players who can be impact players by their junior and senior years.

It sucks that we lost this kid, but we're never going to consistently outrecruit the blue blood programs. We'll only compete with them on the field by building/maintaining an elite culture and developing the hell out of our talent.

---

Kind of a defeatist attitude. You do know that the #1 recruit last year went to Jackson State, right? How did they get that player away from the blue bloods?

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Not defeatist. Just realistic. We've never recruited at that level despite playing at a near elite level as often as not over the past 12 or so years. We built our brand on innovation and development. We'll sustain it the same way.

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"Never" is a pretty strong word. I used to think we would never recruit with the blue blood men's bball programs. Granted, it took Drew a long time, but look at where that program is today regarding recruiting. Yes, football is tougher by comparison when you don't have a tradition of consistently signing a number of 4 and 5 stars recruits every year, but the point is it isn't impossible to get there for a school like BU - in fact Briles was on the verge of getting us to that level before we nuked ourselves in '16. We aren't there presently, but I believe it's possible - especially if we can maintain some reasonable coaching staff stability.

BluesBear said:

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It would be interesting to go back and follow these kids who switch and how they actual pan out......Apparently he doesn't watch the Houston Texans...there's a certain NFL starter who just finished his career @ Baylor.

Kelly won't even be at the school in 4 years...

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Okay but look how many LSU players are in the NFL starting.

I think 2-3 dozen players in the NFL are from HBCU's.

Johnny Bear said:

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bear2be2 said:

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ScottS said:

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bear2be2 said:

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BearlySober said:

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Johnny Bear said:

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I assume the translation is: better NIL deal.

---

That was my first thought as well. We need to figure out how to be better at playing that game or we'll get left behind.

---

Baylor's path to success will always be through identifying and developing talented three- and low four-star players who can be impact players by their junior and senior years.

It sucks that we lost this kid, but we're never going to consistently outrecruit the blue blood programs. We'll only compete with them on the field by building/maintaining an elite culture and developing the hell out of our talent.

---

Kind of a defeatist attitude. You do know that the #1 recruit last year went to Jackson State, right? How did they get that player away from the blue bloods?

---

Not defeatist. Just realistic. We've never recruited at that level despite playing at a near elite level as often as not over the past 12 or so years. We built our brand on innovation and development. We'll sustain it the same way.

---

"Never" is a pretty strong word. I used to think we would never recruit with the blue blood men's bball programs. Granted, it took Drew a long time, but look at where that program is today regarding recruiting. Yes, football is tougher by comparison when you don't have a tradition of consistently signing a number of 4 and 5 stars recruits every year, but the point is it isn't impossible to get there for a school like BU - in fact Briles was on the verge of getting us to that level before we nuked ourselves in '16. We aren't there presently, but I believe it's possible - especially if we can maintain some reasonable coaching staff stability.

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Basketball recruiting is completely different than football recruiting. You can recruit a top-10 class with two or three players. And you can build an elite program pretty much anywhere, so you can attract elite players to schools that aren't given a second thought by their football counterparts.

I'll believe we can recruit at that level in football when we do. We've never come close to sniffing that level of recruiting, despite having three consecutive coaches lead us to New Year's Six bowls. The best class Briles ever had was ranked No. 17. That would be a bad class for the types of programs we're talking about here.

Dude wanted to go to LSU and finally got an offer from them. Best of luck and onto the next recruit.

247 Composite Rankings from 2010 thru 2022 (13 recruiting seasons)

Number of Private Schools to finish in the Top 10 Recruiting:

1. USC - 9 times
2. ND - 6 times
3. The U - 2 times

That's it.

Number of schools in the Top 10 Recruiting for those 13 seasons who play in stadiums seating less than 50,000:

0


Never say never but TCU, Baylor, Wake Forest and a host of other schools better come up with awfully large collectives because otherwise they're not finishing in the Top 10 in recruiting just based on quality of coaching or any other tangible merits. Have to agree with Bear2 on this one -- we (along with the others I mentioned) are destined to rely on 3 and low 4 stars with an occasional high 4 or 5 star and then turn it into a power through culture and coaching. Or, in this day and age, just work the transfer portal to the best of our ability.

Every highly recruited defensive player in this class should be told by the coaches to take a gander at the current product on the field and consider that they have a great chance at early playing time

I wonder if CDA has any idea how to handle recruit flips?

Perhaps he expected every 18 yo to stick with their promises and now we are screwed

/s

We be fine

Sic em

Golden Helmet said:

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Might have been the 100,000 + fans & the full stadium.

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Ever been to LSU on a Gameday in any sport? Hard to turn down that atmosphere

They really need to stop calling it a "commitment" and just say that a player "chooses" a certain school. It'll put a lot less pressure on wide-eyed 18 year olds and temper expectations of the fanbase. Speaking on a larger scale, it's probably not healthy to diminish the meaning of "commitment" to actually mean "you're the one I choose...for now" in the minds of the next generation. The concept of "flipping a commitment" is oxymoronic and says a lot about where we are as a society.

Baylor should expect to sign 2-3 blue chip players (according to 247 composite) out of high school in any given recruiting cycle, and anything better than that is a win for the program. That is a dramatically different situation than a program like LSU for a wide variety of reasons - many of which are discussed above - and the Big 12's loss of UT/OU is almost certainly going to have a negative impact on Baylor's recruiting in the future.

The transfer portal should become a focal point for Baylor moving forward if it wants to maintain national relevance.