My stance has nothing to do with my "Nd blinders". There are plenty of schools that don't meet ND's standards but do a pretty good job, no issue with those at all. My issue is with the programs that are consciously making very poor decisions and obviously Ole Miss is in that category. Just like with my career, I would never work for or hire someone that I knew was running their business the same way as Ole Miss and Hugh Freeze are running their program. You can be extremely successful doing it the right way. Sometimes the other way is easier, I get that, I'm just not going to appreciate that.
Ole Miss and Hugh Freeze are running their program just like every other top program in the country outside of probably five schools if that, but those few schools that play within the rules bend the rules every chance they get.
The difference is that Ole Miss got caught. That's the reason I like Notre Dame and respect Stanford, is that they do have morals and values. Don't get me wrong here, Notre Dame does things right way for the most part and it costs them.
However, to think that Ole Miss is doing something worse than other schools just isnt accurate. They are competing with their competition and schools across the country to get the top talent in the country in Oxford. Why doesn't Ole Miss land big-time classes on the regular if they worse than other programs? The other programs are topping Ole Miss.
For the record, it was more than likely posted in this thread, but probably the main reason Trey likes Ole Miss is the connection to the program with his late mother. Long story short, Trey's mother was with him at Ole Miss when he got his first offer. Since then she has passed away and Ole Miss and Clemson were two of the few schools she saw with him.
If you haven't lost a parent, then you probably wouldn't understand that connection to past memories. You can say that Notre Dame is a better choice and he needs to see past that, but he is a 17 year old kid that those schools are one of the few connections and good memories he has with his mother.
It goes deeper than football and money for Smith, but Ole Miss also benefits his future. Playing the top defenses in the country showcases his skills. Notre Dame plays a good schedule and he will get that exposure, but Notre Dame isn't playing the schedule Ole Miss plays for 10 weeks. That's huge, esp for an offensive lineman. If he can hold his own against the best defensive lines in the SEC..thats great.
Tunsil benefitted from that, as well as Ryan Kelley.
