The Texas Longhorns' luck may get even worse this weekend or next week. After Texas lost out on 5-star North Lawrence (IN) receiver Monshun Sales to the Indiana Hoosiers on Friday, the Longhorns got a negative "Fong Bomb" that could signal a second major loss to their 2027 class's receiving corps.
Elsewhere, James Franklin flexed his new head coaching role with the Virginia Tech Hokies at the 2026 ACC Kickoff in a way that could be taken as a shot at the Vanderbilt Commodores' lack of resources in football.
Here were your end-of-week headlines on the gridiron from around the SEC:
LSU predicted to flip 5-star NOLA WR Easton Royal from Texas
Lane Kiffin's quest to lock down the state of Louisiana on the recruiting trail may kick into high gear within the coming days. The LSU Tigers received a crystal ball to flip 5-star Brother Martin receiver Easton Royal from Rivals' Steve Wiltfong.
This comes on the heels of Sales sticking with his home-state Hoosiers on Friday after Texas made a late run to land him. There was optimism in Austin that there could be two 5-star receivers in their 2027 class. Now, there's pessimism that Royal will de-commit and flip to his home region in South Louisiana, leaving the Longhorns with none.
It's unclear what that says about Steve Sarkisian's prospects at UT without Arch Manning, who could declare for the 2027 NFL draft and leave the program with a massive void, moving forward.
James Franklin makes curious comment that may be about Vanderbilt
Franklin got everyone wondering what he was talking about at the ACC's media days when he said this:
"Early in my career, we always had to do more with less, and then when you get to a place like Virginia Tech you got to understand how to do more with more."
Surely, he wasn't talking about the Penn State Nittany Lions. $13,338,959 was spent on NIL and revenue sharing in Happy Valley last season. That's less than the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines, sure, but that's still more than most of their Big Ten opponents.
He definitely could've been talking about Vanderbilt, though. The Commodores have been more aggressive in recent years in NIL spending, but while their in-state rival and conference counterparts were digging in with pre-NIL payments to players, Vanderbilt was focused on academics.
Franklin did a great job in Nashville, and he's absolutely not wrong to say he did more with less. He had a 24-15 overall record, including back-to-back 9-4 seasons in 2012 and 2013; two seasons in which he beat the Tennessee Volunteers. The program floundered until recent years following Franklin's departure to Penn State.
It's good that Franklin knows he has more resources than most of his ACC counterparts. He understands the assignment in Blacksburg. Now he just has to execute the assignment, which is always easier said than done. Franklin's Nittany Lions tenure over the past decade was a perfect example of that statement in action.
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