Q: Jimbo vs Saban in an octagon. Who you got? (chuckg_07)

A: Jimbo is younger and more pissed off. I’ll take him.

Q: Is this Saban’s last season at Bama? I think it is.

A: I would doubt it, honestly, unless they win the whole thing. I can’t see him leaving without that validation.

Which OT, that A&M is in on, is at the top of your recruiting board this year? (Colt_Seavers)

Probably Miles McVay. He’s absolutely huge.

Q: Does the seasons success hinge on the bama game ? (compadre99)

A: no, but losing that game eliminates your margin for error.

Q: Who do you think looks worse between Saban and Jimbo in this very public NIL "debate"?

A: I think fisher does, at first — until you look at it. Once you see and watch what Saban said, where and why, then he unquestionably does. He broke the bro code and got stomped for it.

How do you think this will impact both teams' recruiting going forward?

I don’t see it affecting either team, at least negatively. If you liked Saban, you like him more now. If you liked Jimbo, you like him more now.

Any insight as to why Antony James de-committed? (kyling)

“Mutual decision”.

Q: Concerning your views on scheduling format: assuming they decide to go with pods, and a 9 conference-game schedule, wouldn't it make the most sense to go with 3 in-pod opponents + 2 opponents from each pod, where they switch the pod opponents every year, and swap home/away with them every other year?

Then, for student-athletes, you'd still accomplish the goal of playing every opponent every 2 years, with the ability to play in each venue once every 4 years.Thoughts?

A: from what I’ve heard, pods are pretty much DOA. I would much rather 3-6.

Everyone keeps saying congress needs to get involved to fix NIL. What would be the motivation for congress to get involved in NIL? Are they going to come out and limit the amount of money that, predominantly, young men from lower/middle class families can earn for themselves, or that donors can willingly give, especially when many of them are probably already large political donors? (Pskumar2728)

A: What motivates them? Well, it could be doing what’s right for two important constituencies.

Or even more sizable campaign donations.

Q: I didn't see Sankey at odds with us & Jimbo happening as it seems. What are the rumors that we don't know in the current Drama that is the Real Housewives of the SEC? (RogueAggie)

A: Sankey, IMO, is intimidated by Saban. He didn’t want to rock the boat and would have ignored things had Jimbo not brought out the big guns. Make no mistake, the blue bloods of the conference are a pissy that uppity A&M is making the impact it is. And wait until Texas shows up.

Q: Do you think Jimbo responded appropriately to Saban accusations via his presser?

What, if any, is the fall out from it? (Big Smoothie)

A: If you did that to me, you’d have to have my presser on a 10-second delay. So yeah, I think he did. It was unheard of, but so were Saban’s actions.

Q: Do you think the Aggies will have another number 1 recruiting class? (Mtholmes)

A: It’s definitely possible.

Q: Can you share Christian Harris recruiting story? (Mexaggie)

A: Tosh Loupi did a better job recruiting him than A&M did. But there seems like there’s something else there. Because after that recruitment, and Bobby Brown’s, things got very bitter between A&M and Alabama on the recruiting trail.

Q: So the issue with NIL and the "rules" written about it is that it is not supposed to be an enticement to recruits. I don't see any way schools can offer something like that and it not be an enticement. You got any ideas? Do you think they will try to make more "rules" so that it won't be an enticement? Do you foresee any changes to NIL in the near future? (Booyah)

A: Schools don’t offer anything. They’re not involved. Collectives or companies are involved and they do the NIL deals, with university compliance being made aware of it.

None of these contracts explicitly state that you have to go to a certain school to get paid. That’s clearly implied. If you want to get paid, you go to X school.

As for changes to NIL, that depends on if anything gets done in terms of regulating it.

Q: June seems to be historically a month where recruiting picks up. Or at least we seem to be getting more commits in June. Last year, the commitments seems to me to be strung out and took longer to come in. I am expecting that this year will be more like last year, with recruits taking longer to commit than in previous year. You have mentioned that one of the reasons recruits took so long to make a decision in 2021is that because of Covid and that they didn't get to visit campuses in 2020.

1. What is your prediction for the timeline of the majority of commitments to occur this year? In the summer or this fall?

A: I think it’ll be like it was last year, where you have a good number in the early summer, then a ton in the fall near signing day.

2. How has NIL changed the timeline, if it has changed it at all?

A: Honestly, I haven’t noticed any changes as a result of that. Taking officials in the summer has had more to do with any changes.

3. The hatred for A&M from people across the country seems absurdly high to me. People do not like us rocking the boat. I am not surprised that the blue bloods feel this way, but I am surprised that so many other SEC fans from schools that have not been good for a while feel this way. We are a friendly group, normally speaking. Should we embrace the black hat identity or should we continue to resist it, as it conflicts with our self identity (or the identity that I remember on campus from '98-'01?)

A: Do what you do and don’t worry about it. If they like you, fine. If they don’t, is it really going to keep you up at night? Act with respect and laugh on your way out the door.

4. If Saban is Emperor Palpatine, who are the rest of the SEC head coaches in a Star Wars Universe? (Aggie_in_NB)

A: Wow, this is tough.

I guess Kirby Smart would be Grand Moff Tarkin, since he’s buddies with the Emperor but wouldn’t mind usurping him.

Brian Kelly is Vader, since his ambition knows no bounds.

Sam Pittman is General Veers, who is quietly efficient.

Lane Kiffin is Admiral Motti, who shoots off his mouth too much and gets choked out for it.

Bryan Harsin is Admiral Ozzel, who gets choked out for a lack of competence.

Billy Napier is Director Krennic, who is young, ambitious, has big ideas but will get zapped by Tarkin.

Mike Leach is General Tagge, who just won’t go along with whatever everyone else is thinking.

That’s about all I’ve got. Sucks I can’t think of someone to be Jar Jar Binks.

Q: How have the recruits/new arrivals reacted to the Jimbo Saban beef? (ChampKindKHOU11)

A: A&M guys are totally on board with Jimbo. No shock there. Recruits seem pretty positive too, because Jimbo want to the mat for his newest players. That should resonate.

Q: Did Saban create false expectations for A&M recruits & players? Was this strategic such that A&M must now either pay more money, or risk offending their players & recruits?

A: No, this Saban needed to create a foil, an enemy, to get his donors to pay in more. I don’t think A&M’s collective — it’s important to differentiate — would have to play more.

Due to the publicity from the Jimbo/Saban drama, how much harder or easier will it be to get 5 star recruits on campus? What is the net effect on recruiting? (SGMan)

A: It makes very little difference. If anything, it should help.

Q: Do you think there will be a search for a new softball coach or is coach Snider that's already on staff just get promoted? (Etxaggie)

A: Considering Ross Bjork’s m.o., there will be a search.

Q: Is there a McKinley Jackson legal update? (Aggdaddy)

A: Only that he’s expected to be ready to play at the start of the season.

Q: Jimbo claimed that only 1 of the early enrollees has an NIL deal based on what he learned from the compliance group. That said, are all NIL deals required to go through the compliance office? The obvious answer is yes, but wondering what other things donors can do at schools. (Maddog83)

A: Sometimes the obvious answers are the best ones.

Q: Why do we need to cheat to win while in Austin, they run a clean program? (El Capullo)

A: Oh, that’s because they’re magically wonderful and cool and hip and Texas and all that. Just ask them.

Q: Do you think the band-aid that the NCAA just put on the sucking-chest-wound caused by complete and total failure to lead the NIL world will actually be effective, or is it just a measure to say "see...we tried”? (84aggiect)

A: The latter, and, like everything else they’ve done, it’s too little and too late.

Q: What does Arch Manning see in tu? (86Aggie)

A: I have no idea and really don’t have a desire to find out.

Q: Why are there so many Thur-Sat series in SEC baseball. Is that why we keep canceling Tuesday games? (Naytch)

A: That’s a fairly new thing and I’m not sure what’s up with it. I don’t mind it, though. But it’s not having any impact on the Tuesday games. Those are being cancelled because they would negatively affect A&M’s RPI.

Q: Which group benefits the most from practicing against each other?

OL vs. DL? Or WR vs. DBs? (DDDAggie)

A: That’s a great question that I don’t have an answer for. For some reason, I’d like to say OL vs. DL, but that’s just a guess.

Q: When do you expect the SEC to decide on the new division structure (no division or pods)? (3s2ghill)

A: Not anytime soon, but they are discussing it next week in Destin during the spring meetings.

Q: So asking again because I am excited. I think we all are. Which freshmen starts this year? (Staubach1972)

A: Evan Stewart, Chris Marshall and Bryce Anderson have the best shots right now, in my opinion. But a lot of them are going to play, and quite a bit.