It's time for The Mailbag, presented by HillCo Insurance, Edition 246.

I asked for your questions. You delivered. I'll get to my answers in a moment, but first, a message from our sponsor, Davey Farris:

First of all, thank you to the people who have reached out. I can write policies in all 50 states for both personal and commercial lines. I can look at almost anyone's home, auto, umbrella, or commercial needs. I have tons of vendors to shop your risks to. I can't win all the time, but at the very least, I can either get you a better policy or confirm that what you are doing the right thing. I pride myself on customer service and always answering the phone.

Now, let's get to the meat of the conversation. How can I motivate you guys to reach out and help me raise tons of money for The Grove Collective? I want this to be huge for our programs. I want to, with all your help, win national championships and get the best players possible. Lane continues to say NIL is the No. 1 need we have. I imagine the other coaches would echo that. Once we get more momentum with our program I will post monthly the amount of money we are giving back to our sports programs.

I have so many different ideas I would like to implement to make this a fun program for all of us. My question to you is what is holding you back from making the change? Let's make something we all hate paying for bring us some joy on the sports field. I am excited to hear from you guys; one of the biggest reasons I did this is to meet more OM fans. I can feel a little isolated out here in Dallas!

Thanks again for any feedback and I am including a link that will allow you to easily send me your policies and take a look at them for you. So, follow the link and let’s get some more 5 stars.

I don't know if it's a misconception or it's a barb fired from the minority who just don't like me/us, but when people refer to us as a "recruiting site," I typically push back for very obvious reasons. There was a day when sites like this one were "recruiting sites," but in the current media landscape, we're much, much more than that now. That's an attempt to minimize us or delegitimize us, and it's absurd.

If we're just a recruiting site, why in the world are we covering the football, men's basketball and baseball teams as beat writers? Why are we attending games and asking questions and writing stories about non-recruiting-related topics? Yes, we still cover recruiting, but we have adapted, noting that recruiting coverage -- and recruiting itself, for that matter -- has dramatically changed.

I would argue this site, combined with its affiliated but technically separate podcast network, has become a full-service media entity. As for recruiting coverage, I've said repeatedly I'd hire a full-time recruiting person on several conditions:

1. He/she/they/it/lion lives in or very close to Oxford.

2. Above has strong enough reporting skills that I don't have to help with recruiting at all.

3. Above can write well enough that work could be published without immediate editing and communicate well enough to be an occasional podcast guest.

4. Work for really cheap, as there's simply not enough meaningful recruiting news/content to justify a salary of any substance.

I've not found that person.

As for my role, I don't know. As I've said, I'm a bit of a dinosaur and an outlier all at once. The current landscape is skewing young and features more reporters who are essentially advocates for the program they cover. Most are recent alums of the school they cover, love it passionately and wouldn't do the same job covering any other school. That's not a knock; it's just a new reality. I think that creates confusion with some when they look at this site and my work, specifically.

But I could be completely wrong. I really don't know. It's just my working theory.

It's certainly a different show. It's not one I could do comfortably. It's just not me, and that's not a criticism. It's just not who I am.

As for the final part of your question, I grew up in north Louisiana, which is more Texas than it is south Louisiana. It's not how I grew up talking at all, and it's certainly not what I grew up around. Like you, I'm not a prude, but like you, it's not my cup of tea.

I didn't grow up an LSU fan. My grandfather was an LSU fan, but he died when I was very little. Both of my parents grew up with advanced degrees from Alabama and I grew up cheering for Alabama. I was much more of a Louisiana Tech fan as a kid than I was LSU. I typically cheered against LSU, though I sometimes found myself cheering for their basketball team during the Dale Brown era.

Baton Rouge and New Orleans always felt like different worlds to me when I visited there as a kid. It's nothing like north Louisiana. I remember New Orleans always felt sort of exotic, for lack of a better word. I remember going to Boys State in Baton Rouge the summer before my senior year of high school and thinking that I liked the campus, but I never even considered LSU. I didn't think I'd fit in, for some reason.

Sometimes I've wondered about that decision, but most of the time, when I go there to work, I think I was right. It's a little wild for my personality, I think.

It's a little early, but I'll start asking around a bit here in the coming weeks. There's some buzz, but I have no idea if it's real or not at this point. It's just too early to get a read on something like that.

I'll never understand the Sanders thing, and I'll just leave it at that.

As for Howard, he seems very immersed in the program right now. I don't see practice, so I don't know what reps he's getting or isn't getting.

My guess is Sanders is the guy if something happened to Dart, but I'd have to think they'd love to give some reps to Howard if they could get way ahead in some games.

I like them. I don't like the chrome helmets and whatnot, but their main uniform is cool. Once I found out the checkered shoulders were a nod to Secretariat, I changed my view on them.

I do think there should be a tiebreaker, but I understand, from a timing standpoint, the need to do it the way it's done.

And no, I can't say I was surprised. He was frustrated, but he couldn't afford to give Ole Miss a short field. In hindsight, he should've gone for it and given his offense more time, but that's the benefit of hindsight.

There are rumblings they'll trade for Pete Alonso. Matt Chapman is an unrestricted free agent and makes a ton of sense at third base. They could take money and go after Aaron Nola in free agency. I think you'll see them make some pitching acquisitions via trade and free agency. I expect an aggressive offseason. They simply must add power to that lineup. The lack of it killed them at times this season.

Simple. Joe Burrow is hurt. It's impacting everything.

I really haven't heard anything. I'm curious how he feels if Dart elects to stay at Ole Miss for another year. I don't believe, based on sourcing, he felt that scenario was in play when he transferred to Ole Miss back in January. That said, he's used his transfer so I'm not sure what choices he would have unless he was willing to go down a level.

No, I really don't. That would be unfair of me, I think, to pin that much on Michael Trigg.

I think we'll keep up this ruse through the Super Bowl.

Or through the next Pfizer/Moderna campaign.

Kidding. Sort of.

I'm here for you guys. I mean, I hired Kiffin, right?

/s

I'm for guys being able to go pro whenever they'd like, but there's no indication the rule is about to change.

I really don't know. If you'd like details about sorority rush at Arkansas, I'm your guy. If you want to know about the boutique exercise scene around Fayetteville, I'm your guy. If you want to know about the difficulties of advanced Spanish literature or 300-level honors finance classes, I'm your guy. If you need a tutor in finite math or advanced finance in Fayetteville, I'm your guy.

However, I'm not super connected in athletics circles. Here's what I can tell you, based on the very sporadic conversations I have with Arkansas fans when I'm up there: Pittman wasn't a wildly popular hire. He got off to a solid start, but he's now lost to BYU and Liberty and he's in the midst of a losing streak that should reach five games, at a minimum. Most seem to think they should at least be trying to be better in football. But again, these aren't conversations I'm frequently having. I don't get up there as much as I'd like to because of my work, and Caroline isn't exactly calling home to discuss the Hogs' struggles on the gridiron.

I don't know what their football NIL situation is. Musselman has built a power in hoops via the portal and NIL. Their baseball NIL is very strong. But I don't know about football. There's a lot of money up there. Drive from Fayetteville through Bentonville and you know there's a ton of money. But does it bleed into football? I just don't know.

I will say that once I start hearing someone has "one more year" left, I start expecting change.

That's just a game that's always on his mind. He respects Saban but I have a suspicion the two men aren't crazy about one another and I just think Kiffin really wants to beat him. I don't think it's any more complicated than that, and I think that week kicks Kiffin off his game.

It's a little early for that. Dart is in the mix, but to win it, he'll have to have huge days against Texas A&M and Georgia and see some of the Pac-12 guys and Ewers fall off. I think it's too early to handicap the race. There are so many big games to be played.

1. Dart

2. Daniels

3. Johnson

4. Jefferson

5. Milroe

6. Rogers

7. Auburn's QB room

1. Ariel

2. Belle

3. Cinderella

4. Jasmine

5. Snow White

Yes, and I'm livid -- on several levels. First, what she did by making those false claims makes it more difficult for real victims of sexual assault to come forward and be viewed as credible. There's no place for someone who would make up those charges in an attempt to extort someone. Unforgivable.

Major League Baseball banished Bauer. They didn't like his views on things. They didn't like his outspokenness and he was easy for them to just banish. So they did. Pitiful. Shame on MLB and the Dodgers. Disgraceful.

And shame on The Athletic, Molly Knight and so many others in the media establishment. They didn't like him but they loved the story, even though it was total BS. Bauer is a conservative. He's criticized liberalism and, at one point, espoused Donald Trump. In my field, those are all no-nos, so the media went after him. In Knight's case, even when she knew what she was writing was false.

He should be cleared and allowed to return to baseball.

I think they sign a third baseman, make a trade for a first baseman and add a ton of pitching depth. I have a suspicion they're not going to be able to retain Bellinger and that's going to force them to do something big. The one big name, other than Alonso, that I think could have some traction is Juan Soto. The Cubs have the financial flexibility to take on some other expensive pieces with Soto and give the Padres some financial relief. It should be a very intriguing offseason.