1. When you have big money, you can be used as a tool by other people to get more money. And it looks like the Aggies have been that tool for Washington offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb. He got a pay raise today to $2 million a year — coincidentally, what A&M has been known to be offering its targets. So Garrett Riley and now Grubb have used A&M as a pawn in their games to get a nice pay raise. Smart move, even if it is annoying from the Aggie perspective.

2. The absurdity of the current transfer portal hit its high to date this morning when Wake Forest’s Sam Hartman entered the portal. He threw for 3,700 yards, 38 touchdowns and just 12 INT this year. And, from the instant he went in the portal, Notre Dame has been his anticipated destination. Jimbo Fisher may get mocked by the national media a lot of late, but his comments on tampering? Dead. On.

3. I think I’ve figured out how certain programs have signed certain transfers in spite of the fact that everyone knows their GPAs would not qualify (or exist). The new schools will cite privacy laws and scream bloody murder about how their aggrieved players are being libeled or slandered by these scurrilous allegations. And how do you prove what’s true or not? Another bit of absurdity in the current system.

4. While A&M’s recruiting class is kind of getting scoffed at, it’s still a good class. In fact, I think it’s being overlooked at how good it is. A&M got the #1 defensive end, the #1 running back and the #1 offensive guard in the nation. There aren’t many teams who can say that they picked up the top player at their position, much less three of them.

5. The Aggies got three top players at their position last year, too: Walter Nolen (#1 DT), Conner Weigman (#1 dual threat QB) and Donovan Green (#1 TE).

6. In addition to the three #1s in this class, the Aggies picked up the #4 (Dalton Brooks) and #7 (WR Micah Tease) overall athletes, the #13 TE (Jaden Platt), the #6 dual threat QB (Marcell Reed), the #4 guard (Chase Bisontis), the #6 and #9 corners (Bravion Rogers and Jayvon Thomas).

7. David Hicks was the #1 player in Texas according to Rivals.com. In spite of their strong recruiting, the Aggies have not gotten the state’s top player since 2019, and that was DeMarvin Leal. A&M would likely be quite happy with a repeat performance in terms of production from Hicks.

8. For those of you worried about there not being any offensive linemen, corners, linebackers or wideouts in the transfer portal who are not committed, relax. There are double-digit numbers of uncommitted players at each of these position groups, with more coming after the big bowl games.

9. If my math is right, the Aggies have lost six players from the vaunted 2022 freshman class, or about 21%. Three of those players, at least, weren’t coming back no matter what. You don’t want to say kicked out of school and/or the team, but that’s the general idea — and everyone knows it. In the class of 2021, they lost 3 out of 23 after a single season. Well, one of those didn’t even make it to training camp before leaving. Only one player left after one season from the 2020 class, and again, it was the kicked out of school scenario. But of the 25 players signed in that class, 16 are now gone — two retirements, three “get out”s, three to the NFL and the rest transferring for playing time.

10. I met J.J. Watt once when he was playing for the Texans. We both went to the grocery store at the same time to get milk. Ironically, it was not HEB, who he advertised for. But we got to talking and he was more interested about my job than anything. He was a classy guy to some schmo he’d likely never see again, and I appreciated it. Now that he’s heading off into retirement, I hope he and his family get nothing but the best, because that’s what he deserves.