Cael:
“We’re a blessed program. We follow the rules. There’s not a lot of that going on right now. And that’s one of the reasons we can sleep when the wind blows. We train hard and do the right things to the best of our ability and things will work out.”
Does Cael have a passive-aggressive side that I never noticed? Is this a general statement, or a veiled reference to any particular program(s)?
This could go a lot of ways.
It could be a defense of the Welsh transfer, where everyone knows Welsh reached out to PSU. Ryan has several times implied that Welsh was poached and has bragged about not going portaling -- never mind that he replaced Welsh with Fishback (NC State); and ignore his previous imports McKenna (Stanford), Orndorff (Utah Valley), Campbell (Pitt) among others.
It could be a veiled return volley at Iowa. Brands has been vocal over the years about doing things the right way, and it was often an obvious shot at PSU. Meanwhile he and Nicolls poached guys from other teams who weren't in the portal, including their swing at Lilledahl. Also Larry Lee, "I can get you a meeting with Tom but you need to enter the portal first."
Possibly also at OKST. I don't remember if Facundo and Steen were in the portal, but Taylor definitely contacted Ryder before any portal entry. (Not that this ultimately mattered, we got the best of the 4-team 184 trade.)
But just as likely it was a general factual statement. Cael is usually pretty direct when he wants to make a point.
