Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal.
Speaker 2: I'm that for me. I'm a man, I'm forty.
Speaker 1: I've heard so many players say, well, I want to
Speaker 1: be happy.
Speaker 2: You want to be happy for day Edith State is that?
Speaker 2: Whoo whoom and Dan.
Speaker 1: And tie welcome back to the solid verbe boys and girls.
Speaker 1: My name is ty Hildebrant, joining me as always over
Speaker 1: there in beautiful New York City, the one, the only.
Speaker 1: To Andrew Rubinstein, sir, how are you?
Speaker 2: I'm outstanding, Ty, I am. I wouldn't go as far
Speaker 2: as saying reinvigorated. But today is not only National Signing Day,
Speaker 2: maybe the late signing day. I don't think we should
Speaker 2: be calling the first one the early one. Maybe that's
Speaker 2: just signing day in today's straggler signing day. But I
Speaker 2: feel pretty great. I mean, there's a lot in the
Speaker 2: news to discuss. There's a lot of big picture recruiting
Speaker 2: stuff to discuss. How that relates to maybe some new hires,
Speaker 2: maybe what programs are looking like for spring, summer, fall,
Speaker 2: or I don't know, I'm feeling a jolt. How about you?
Speaker 1: I am feeling a little bit of a jolt as well.
Speaker 1: To be perfectly honest with you, as you know, if
Speaker 1: you've been listening to The Solid Verbal for any period
Speaker 1: of time, we're going to be with you all off
Speaker 1: season long. Just because there aren't games doesn't mean there's
Speaker 1: not going to be a podcast. As you said, there
Speaker 1: is a lot to discuss today. We're going to talk
Speaker 1: through a bunch of Signing Day storylines and some other
Speaker 1: storylines that have popped up seemingly out of nowhere here
Speaker 1: in and around the world of college football. Don't forget though,
Speaker 1: if you do like the show, if you are interested
Speaker 1: in college football content as we are year round, going
Speaker 1: out to our website at solidverbal dot com. It's free,
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Speaker 1: If you feel ever so inclined, going out and leave
Speaker 1: us a review or star rating. All that stuff helps.
Speaker 1: And finally, if you really are super verballer, sign up
Speaker 1: for our newsletter. Yeah, it is on our website and
Speaker 1: the main purpose for that newsletter is to give our
Speaker 1: subscribers early as early as we can alerts on when
Speaker 1: we're going to be doing live shows and where, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, we have started planning out far, far
Speaker 1: earlier than we did last year, so we will have
Speaker 1: announcement sooner this season.
Speaker 2: Can I throw a strong verballer ephis real quick?
Speaker 1: Please?
Speaker 2: You say, if you're a strong forballer, subscribe to the newsletter.
Speaker 2: All of that is true. I'm gonna say, if you
Speaker 2: want to be the strongest verballer, go to your local mall,
Speaker 2: find an Apple or a Windows store and subscribe all
Speaker 2: of those computers.
Speaker 1: Good call?
Speaker 2: Do that? Good call? I think the algorithm loves that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it may also be illegal, but who's keeping tracking it? Right,
Speaker 1: Shani ignorance, ignorance, We do have some bread. How about
Speaker 1: this news yesterday? Yeah, about the Michigan State coaching situation,
Speaker 1: Mark D'Antonio stepping down. Okay, that's a bit of a development.
Speaker 1: Somebody alerted us out there on the Twitter sphere that
Speaker 1: we had mentioned this maybe in the preseason, that it
Speaker 1: could end this way. I don't think we saw it
Speaker 1: ending quite this way, certainly not at this juncture in
Speaker 1: early February, which is not at all the template. But
Speaker 1: now Michigan State very quickly trying to hunt down a
Speaker 1: new head football coach. I saw some names mentioned, most
Speaker 1: of them I thought were very bad ideas, and now
Speaker 1: here we are where they're they're left having to pick
Speaker 1: up the pieces and figure out their next move.
Speaker 2: What you have one specific name? I think Pat Shermer,
Speaker 2: formerly of the New York Giants is the bad idea
Speaker 2: because the other names I saw have been recently pretty
Speaker 2: successful in Matt Campbell, Pat Nardouzi, Yeah, Okay, Luke Fickle.
Speaker 1: I think Luke Fikele and Matt Campbell would be terrific.
Speaker 1: I don't think either of them want the job. If
Speaker 1: I saw correctly.
Speaker 2: Matt Campbell allegedly was approached and was not interested. Luke
Speaker 2: Fickle it's less clear. It may take a lot of
Speaker 2: cash to get Luke Fickle, but he's got a good
Speaker 2: situation Michigan states. It's at the same time a good
Speaker 2: job with the absolute right dude, with the right timing,
Speaker 2: as I think Mark D'Antonio was good enough to take
Speaker 2: advantage of, especially in that twenty thirteen fourteen to fifteen zone.
Speaker 2: But also that's a tough division with Penn State. As
Speaker 2: talented as they are, obviously, Michigan Ohio State are going
Speaker 2: to be incredibly tough outs moving forward. That's a tough ask.
Speaker 2: Still a good job, but yeah, yeah, interesting timing. I mean,
Speaker 2: there's never really great timing. And you know, there's always
Speaker 2: speculation that sometimes coaches do this so that they have
Speaker 2: to give the interim tag to their chosen coordinator or
Speaker 2: favored assistant. In this case, I think it's the defensive
Speaker 2: coordinator Tressel for Michigan State. He's the interim as of now,
Speaker 2: and we'll see what happens moving forward. He collected a
Speaker 2: four point three million dollar retention bonus based on a
Speaker 2: contract he signed a while ago. He collected that bonus
Speaker 2: January fifteenth. I want to say, can't blame him for
Speaker 2: waiting to take that bonus. It's never gonna look the best,
Speaker 2: but nothing ever really does when you step down. And
Speaker 2: there's there's some smoke around this ongoing situation, a legal
Speaker 2: situation with a former staffer, Curtis Blackwell at Michigan State,
Speaker 2: and D'Antonio and his outgoing presser said it has nothing
Speaker 2: to do with you know, potential NCAA type accusations. Who knows,
Speaker 2: but that's that's Stantonio's word, and so we'll see potentially
Speaker 2: a very good job. Michigan State reached very high heights,
Speaker 2: even low heights in the playoff appearance they made against Alabama,
Speaker 2: but an interesting job, nonetheless, because that is a division
Speaker 2: that plays a lot of huge games.
Speaker 1: I don't like the Nardoozi move. I know he was
Speaker 1: a bit of a cult hero there because of his defenses,
Speaker 1: but I haven't seen anything at Pitt that leads me
Speaker 1: to believe that Michigan State would get anything other than
Speaker 1: what they just had. And I think they do need
Speaker 1: to take a step in a different direction because the
Speaker 1: offense has been stagnant and Nardoozi doesn't inspire me in
Speaker 1: that respect. The Pat Shermer one is the one that,
Speaker 1: as a recently aggrieved New York Giants fan, right, does
Speaker 1: not make any sense to me. I know there's a
Speaker 1: bit of a tie there, and maybe Pat Shermer has
Speaker 1: played at the highest, most elite levels of the National
Speaker 1: Football League, but dude, if you can't get the ball
Speaker 1: the Saquon Barkley, that does not inspire me either. So
Speaker 1: I hope for their sake they go in a different direction.
Speaker 1: Because neither one of those guys, to me, stirs it.
Speaker 1: It just doesn't go.
Speaker 2: I might be a little inspired by Jim McLaine in
Speaker 2: the turnaround job he did in year one right there,
Speaker 2: same state.
Speaker 1: He's familiar with the area.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I could deal with that Michigan the year before
Speaker 2: Central Michigan. Now let me Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean the two that stuck in my crawl were
Speaker 1: Nardoozi and to a much greater degree. But you can
Speaker 1: have a case for Macklewaine.
Speaker 2: You have an anti pat bias right now, I.
Speaker 1: Do I do.
Speaker 2: The other somewhat large bit of coaching news. I don't
Speaker 2: know how much we just did. We discuss this last
Speaker 2: week Bo Polini to LSU maybe in passing. In passing
Speaker 2: so he joins uh the LSU coaching staff. There hasn't
Speaker 2: been too too much in the way of coaching carousel stuff.
Speaker 2: I saw Joe moorehead was introduced into the media for
Speaker 2: the first time today as Oregon's new offensive coordinator. I'm
Speaker 2: pretty excited about that. TI. I don't know if we've
Speaker 2: had a chance to discuss that, because I talked coaching
Speaker 2: carousel stuff with Andy Stables a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 1: I think the last time we broached the subject, it
Speaker 1: was still kind of an outside possibility, but maybe he
Speaker 1: was playing foot Sea's a bit with Oregon as potentially
Speaker 1: his next stop. Are you excited about the move?
Speaker 2: Absolutely, one hundred percent, absolutely excited. It's a much needed
Speaker 2: boost of creativity to me seeing what he was able
Speaker 2: to do as an offensive coordinator at Penn State, and
Speaker 2: I understand some of the issues at Mississippi State. I
Speaker 2: don't know if it was necessarily an offensive creativity issue,
Speaker 2: and as much as it was, quarterbacks didn't seem great slashed,
Speaker 2: very green, and it seemed to be some interpersonal locker
Speaker 2: room issues there at the end. The defense certainly took
Speaker 2: a huge step back, especially against the past, and maybe
Speaker 2: we'll get into that some more as we talk about
Speaker 2: signing day. But I am very excited by that. And
Speaker 2: you have formerly Tommy, then tom back to Tommy, now
Speaker 2: meet Thomas Reese calling the offense at Notre Dame.
Speaker 1: Well, we almost did an emerger pot to talk about
Speaker 1: the Tom to Tommy reconversion, which I'm very excited about.
Speaker 1: And we will clearly get a lot of mileage out
Speaker 1: of whether we stick with Tommy or decide to go
Speaker 1: very very formal with the Thomas. I don't know if
Speaker 1: we've settled on that internally yet.
Speaker 2: Did you see who ASU now will have calling, or
Speaker 2: at least co calling their defense.
Speaker 1: I did catch wind of Marvin Glue with Dan.
Speaker 2: Yes, Syracuse hires away Tony White running the three three
Speaker 2: five for ASU, and it's Marvin Lewis Antonio Pierce co
Speaker 2: defensive coordinators for Arizona State. And I know we're going
Speaker 2: to talk some more ASU later, but man Herm Edwards,
Speaker 2: Marvin lewis there, it is there, it is the Arizona
Speaker 2: can make this stuff up, all right, let's good. I
Speaker 2: like it. I like big names, recognizable faces.
Speaker 1: We can get into some other tidbits here as we
Speaker 1: go through, Yeah, and talk about what's going on on
Speaker 1: signing day, Dan and Tiger. You're up for National Signing
Speaker 1: Day twenty twenty signing Dan, Yeah, Trs are out and about.
Speaker 1: They're trying to construct.
Speaker 2: Hence what you're hearing underneath tie.
Speaker 1: Yes, trying to construct their their next rendition. We have,
Speaker 1: as per usual, try to put a little bit of
Speaker 1: a creative spin on this, so it'd be very easy
Speaker 1: and not that novel to go through the top ten
Speaker 1: classes the top twenty five classes and talk about some
Speaker 1: of the highlights, the low lights, surprises, late gainers, that
Speaker 1: sort of thing. Instead, we're trying to look at it
Speaker 1: from a little bit more of a holistic approach. Now,
Speaker 1: we already did an interview back in December, you did
Speaker 1: an interview with our friend Brandon Hoffman in which you
Speaker 1: guys talk specifically about some of the tactics, some of
Speaker 1: the strategies, some of the names to watch now as
Speaker 1: we move forward. But recently, as you know if you
Speaker 1: follow college football, they changed up the timing. This signing day,
Speaker 1: the one that we're accustomed to making a big deal
Speaker 1: about in February as of like two or three years ago,
Speaker 1: is no longer quite what it used to be. This
Speaker 1: is kind of like the second signing day period. Where
Speaker 1: we're at now is most of the big names of
Speaker 1: sign There are a couple that we're going to talk
Speaker 1: about here that have certainly influenced rankings, and congratulations to
Speaker 1: the Georgia Bulldogs on getting that number one spot this year,
Speaker 1: But it just has taken on a much much different complexion,
Speaker 1: and from our standpoint, it's really given us, i think,
Speaker 1: a better chance to digest what has going on in
Speaker 1: the world of recruiting. We're not sitting here looking at
Speaker 1: this all day throughout today trying to figure out where
Speaker 1: things stack up and how they fall. We've sort of
Speaker 1: known for a while. Today was really just the icing
Speaker 1: and the cherry on top, and now we can provide
Speaker 1: some analysis and look at it in terms of that construction.
Speaker 1: Is that right?
Speaker 2: That's all sounds correct, Although when you said icing cherry,
Speaker 2: I thought it's the hot honey on top of sizzling
Speaker 2: pizza cheese. So I believe we have six categories and
Speaker 2: we are vaguely connecting them to the idea of construction.
Speaker 2: In past off seasons, we've done scheme theme Month, we
Speaker 2: did the Two's Crews. So I think we're gonna because
Speaker 2: college football and recruiting is largely about construction and remodeling
Speaker 2: and renovating, maybe demolishing your program and starting things anew,
Speaker 2: whether you have you know, termites in the floorboards, whether
Speaker 2: you're adding a wing to your mansion, whether you are,
Speaker 2: you know, really trying to maybe have an open floor plan,
Speaker 2: open things up, look through the window.
Speaker 1: Tie.
Speaker 2: We are going to build a house out of the
Speaker 2: class of twenty twenty, and we are going to try
Speaker 2: and hit all elements or some elements of building said,
Speaker 2: recruiting and program, construction, house, and we can start wherever
Speaker 2: you'd like, but we have this. We were trying to
Speaker 2: hit more teams than just you know. Okay, Tennessee jumped
Speaker 2: into the top ten, which they did, by the way,
Speaker 2: they did get to Malachi today they jumped up to
Speaker 2: number ten, and Oklahoma, normally a top five seven program
Speaker 2: in recruiting rankings, I think fell out of the top ten.
Speaker 2: Oregon had a nice day, Miami had a nice day, certainly,
Speaker 2: text A and M. I think Georgia finished with the
Speaker 2: number one class officially. Clemson put together an unbelievable class.
Speaker 2: But these are things that I sort of discussed with
Speaker 2: Brandon before. So let's go let's zag and talk about
Speaker 2: the construction elements we want to hit.
Speaker 1: Let's zag, but just for important context, if you're picking
Speaker 1: this up midstream and you want to know, well, where
Speaker 1: how did the top ten shakeout? Okay, we don't have
Speaker 1: to focus too much on this, but Georgia, Alabama, Clemson, LSU,
Speaker 1: Ohio State, that's your top five, followed by Texas, A
Speaker 1: and M. A class that I want to talk about
Speaker 1: in a little bit. Auburn did very well, Florida at eight,
Speaker 1: Texas at nine, reeling in two big name quarterbacks, and
Speaker 1: as you said, Tennessee bubbling up to number ten having
Speaker 1: themselves a nice day.
Speaker 2: Yes, and some teams who were able to translate some
Speaker 2: on field success into perhaps an improved And we talked
Speaker 2: about this. I talked about this with Brandon a little
Speaker 2: while ago. Utah jumped up to number thirty. I would
Speaker 2: imagine Baylor would have had a better class had they
Speaker 2: not had to go through a coaching change. Virginia, which
Speaker 2: ended up in the ACC Championship game. Not a great class,
Speaker 2: but they finished in the top ten of the a SEC. Otherwise,
Speaker 2: it's a lot of I mean, Wisconsin, I think had
Speaker 2: a nice class, finished I think fifth and the big ten,
Speaker 2: which they never really get it done in February. They
Speaker 2: seem to get it done in the fall. So good
Speaker 2: for Wisconsin stringing together some more blue chips in this class,
Speaker 2: perhaps than usual. And I think I'm ready to get
Speaker 2: into this construction. So why don't we start here.
Speaker 1: Let's let's focus on the teams that are already coming
Speaker 1: to town with an embarrassment of riches. The teams that
Speaker 1: you know they've already got the mansion. They're adding on
Speaker 1: a selarium or some sort of luxurious doomsday bunker home theater.
Speaker 2: Yeah, doomsday bunker. Yeah. These are the billionaires of college football.
Speaker 2: What are they doing? How are they adding that? These
Speaker 2: are the.
Speaker 1: Super yachts with the helipad. That's what That's what these
Speaker 1: programs are. So yes, let's start with the Clemson Tigers. Now,
Speaker 1: Clemson did not win this cycle, not technically they finished third,
Speaker 1: but they loaded up on defensive line again in a
Speaker 1: way that of screams what we saw last year, and
Speaker 1: that to me is terrifying if you happen to go
Speaker 1: through and look where just in general, some of their
Speaker 1: recruits rank, according to twenty four to seven relative to
Speaker 1: some of their previous classes. Three of their top eight
Speaker 1: all time highest rated recruits came from this cycle.
Speaker 2: That is one percent correct, tie. I think it's what
Speaker 2: Miles Murphy along the defensive line, Brian Brezie, if I
Speaker 2: pronounced that correctly, who I think might be the number
Speaker 2: one overall recruit in the country. Yes, And dj Uyanga
Speaker 2: Lalay right by.
Speaker 1: This all year, that's gonna be trouble.
Speaker 2: He is one of many Californians and West Coasters who
Speaker 2: have looked at Pac twelve teams and said, I'm going
Speaker 2: to go East. You're going to go and play for
Speaker 2: teams that more people watch.
Speaker 1: By the numbers, Clemson did very well along the defensive line.
Speaker 1: They clearly added to what was a young core this
Speaker 1: past year. But they also stocked up on offensive line.
Speaker 1: You know, they've really made a lot of halong that
Speaker 1: offensive line as well. It's important to protect their star quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: And by the numbers, more offensive linemen coming into this
Speaker 1: class than any other position, which is I think notable.
Speaker 2: All right, who else is adding helipads? Alabama? Alabama's already
Speaker 2: got like four helipads. What they've done at the running
Speaker 2: back position, what they've done at linebacker again is nothing
Speaker 2: short of incredible. Yes, the highest rated players in their
Speaker 2: class aren't even at the running back position. But I'm
Speaker 2: looking at Jace McClellan, an exciting prospect out of Texas.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at Royd L. Williams, exciting prospect out of Alabama.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at Jackson Bratton, a great name inside linebacker
Speaker 1: from Alabama. These are all four star kids. By the way,
Speaker 1: the list goes on and on here. So I'm excited
Speaker 1: about Alabama to the extent that I can. At some
Speaker 1: point it becomes old hat. But again, Nick Saban does it.
Speaker 1: He goes out, He gets the positions that he needs
Speaker 1: to keep this thing going in the direction that it's been.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the linebackers and the edge players on you. It's
Speaker 2: a defensive hyper loop. Is that what Elon Musk is
Speaker 2: trying to build. Yeah, yeah, it's a defensive They have
Speaker 2: the helipads. It's a ridiculous class. Bryce Young. We can
Speaker 2: talk about later with another construction question, but yeah, it's
Speaker 2: a ridiculous class. They were passed by Georgia because they
Speaker 2: put together. They don't have quite the helipad situation, but
Speaker 2: they close strong, and I think it's what Kelly or
Speaker 2: Khaley ringo. Yeah, the corner out of Arizona, another one
Speaker 2: of those West Coast players who decided to uh to
Speaker 2: head east. He headlines the class. But everywhere everywhere, I
Speaker 2: know they got a quarterback. I know they are fortified
Speaker 2: along the lines. But man, this Georgia class too, number
Speaker 2: one in the country year after a year, even without
Speaker 2: I don't know how much attention you paid to the
Speaker 2: Zach Evans situation there running back from Texas who looks
Speaker 2: like his recruitment. It's gonna be like a Bryce Brown
Speaker 2: Terrell Pryor situation. It's going to go into the spring
Speaker 2: and just weird smoke around the recruitment. Georgia let him
Speaker 2: out of his letter of intent in December, so we'll
Speaker 2: see where he and where he ends up. But another
Speaker 2: what incredible class for Georgia. I'm assuming number one.
Speaker 1: Turning to Ohio State two gigantic wide receiver recruits now.
Speaker 1: The first one is a gent by the name of
Speaker 1: Julian Fleming from southern Columbia. Here in Pennsylvania. I have
Speaker 1: a good friend who had the opportunity to see Julian
Speaker 1: Fleming up close. He is ridiculous. This is an incredible
Speaker 1: signing by Ohio State. To be able to see a
Speaker 1: kid like this play in high school in the flesh
Speaker 1: is sort of an experience. He's a five star, He's
Speaker 1: a number one wide receiver in the country. And that's
Speaker 1: not even the full story. For Ryan Day. Also Jackson Smith,
Speaker 1: nijigba is that how I say it?
Speaker 2: I hope not in Agiba. I don't know. My guess
Speaker 2: would be in Agbar, but I don't.
Speaker 1: Know Rockwall, Texas another five star receiver, the fifth rated
Speaker 1: wide receiver in college football.
Speaker 2: Come yes, and imagine, imagine you're CJ. Stroud, who was
Speaker 2: sort of a late comer to the recruiting scene. He
Speaker 2: won the Elite eleven from southern California, another West coast
Speaker 2: or heading east, and you're looking at where should I go?
Speaker 2: Then you watch what Justin Fields is doing on the field,
Speaker 2: and then you see Ryan Day and specifically Brian Hartline,
Speaker 2: the young the new receivers coach for Ohio State. You
Speaker 2: know everybody remembers him playing, but he is. I think
Speaker 2: he won twenty four to seven's Recruiter of the Year
Speaker 2: and he brings in two five star receivers in your
Speaker 2: same class. How do you say no? How do you
Speaker 2: say no to that type of opportunity? You get to
Speaker 2: sit behind Justin Fields for a year. It's it's a
Speaker 2: terrific situation at the top of that Ohio State class.
Speaker 2: And another West Coaster g Scott from the state of
Speaker 2: Washington heading east to play at Ohio State as well,
Speaker 2: just Rich getting richer for Ohio State.
Speaker 1: Oregon. Your ducks finished with the twelfth overall.
Speaker 2: Class something like that. Yeah, they take the pack to
Speaker 2: and have the best recruiting class in the back.
Speaker 1: How do you feel about the pieces they added? I
Speaker 1: know you're pretty high on the linebacking corps.
Speaker 2: Yes. Noah Sewell, who is the younger brother of Piney Seol,
Speaker 2: the Outland Trophy winner, looks to be ridiculous. He's at like,
Speaker 2: you know, he's playing to sixty five linebacker and moves
Speaker 2: crazy well justin flow is being compared and Brandon Huffman
Speaker 2: talked about this to a like a vontez Berfeck type,
Speaker 2: So just an out of control, good middle linebacker. And yeah,
Speaker 2: they're defensive class. They added a four star defensive tackle
Speaker 2: today from I think the state of Alabama. But their
Speaker 2: class is very good. They had two quarterbacks, one of
Speaker 2: whom was pretty highly regarded, Jay Butterfield from northern California,
Speaker 2: who's a Stanford legacy. All in all, it wasn't the
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen class, but the twenty twenty Oregon class looks
Speaker 2: to be very very strong at the top, especially on defense,
Speaker 2: which this is a defense that returns so much next
Speaker 2: year and they will have some pretty scary depth there,
Speaker 2: especially in a downpac twelve.
Speaker 1: Is Jay Butterfield gonna play.
Speaker 2: Tyler Shuck looks to be the favorite. They seem to
Speaker 2: like him. He was justin Herbert's backup this year. He
Speaker 2: got into some garbage time. He played well against USC
Speaker 2: in that blowout game. I could see him impressing. I
Speaker 2: think he's already enrolled, so that's at least a good
Speaker 2: sign for picking up the offense. But unless they add
Speaker 2: a grad transfer we don't know about. I know maybe
Speaker 2: there was some interest in kJ Costello before he headed
Speaker 2: to Mississippi State. I would imagine Tyler Shuck is pretty
Speaker 2: head and shoulders above the pack. Right now.
Speaker 1: The other program here that I want to call out
Speaker 1: before we talk about some of the more tactical stuff. Oklahoma. Yes,
Speaker 1: Oklahoma's been in the playoff now a couple of years running.
Speaker 1: Oklahoma seemingly went out and reaffirmed its commitment to its
Speaker 1: offensive line. Yep, it's defensive line and its defensive backfield.
Speaker 2: Smart smart to address that secondary. At last time we
Speaker 2: saw Oklahoma wasn't perfect.
Speaker 1: Oklahoma eked out by Texas, so they didn't win with
Speaker 1: the Big twelve's best recruiting class. But you know, Nate
Speaker 1: Anderson Andrew Raim along the offensive line, to guards, to
Speaker 1: interior linemen to help bolster what Lincoln Riley's trying to build.
Speaker 1: It's again another situation where they already had the best
Speaker 1: offensive line in the Big Twelve a year ago. Add
Speaker 1: more beef to that line, keep the train rolling.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's going to come down to what
Speaker 2: they added on defense. I know they look to the
Speaker 2: j C ranks for an interior defensive lineman to help
Speaker 2: get some pressure. I know they have a pretty good
Speaker 2: safety in this class. But yeah, Oklahoma, We're not going
Speaker 2: to question what Lincoln Riley's been able to do on offense.
Speaker 2: It's building that complete team that's the lingering question.
Speaker 1: So I guess on the flip side of teams such
Speaker 1: as the Clemsons and Ohio States in Alabama's of the world,
Speaker 1: we didn't even touch Georgia. We can talk about them
Speaker 1: in a little bit, But what are some teams on
Speaker 1: the opposite end of the spectrum, Dan Like, if we're
Speaker 1: thinking of this in terms of construction, what are some
Speaker 1: teams that have effectively raised their previous infrastructure and now
Speaker 1: they've got to start a new new foundation. Maybe they
Speaker 1: had a really bad termite infestation, like who has to
Speaker 1: start over and who has given you reason to believe
Speaker 1: or not believe in the strategies that they deployed here.
Speaker 2: The bottom of the Power five area of the sport
Speaker 2: is pretty bleak. It's not great, I mean, other than
Speaker 2: maybe Arkansas. Arkansas was pretty horrific last season, and I
Speaker 2: think there's some reason to believe based on the hire
Speaker 2: of Sam Pittman and the coordinators he was able to hire,
Speaker 2: and their proximity to talent, I think I feel better
Speaker 2: about Arkansas. We can talk about new coaches that we
Speaker 2: can talk about down in the dumps teams and sometimes
Speaker 2: that's both, but especially Arkansas, the jewel of their class
Speaker 2: is Miles Slusher, the safety. They recruited well up front,
Speaker 2: which I imagine Sam Pittman will continue to do, but
Speaker 2: they're really Their big recruit this year was Felipe Franks,
Speaker 2: who comes in from Florida. And I'm a fan of
Speaker 2: the fact that twenty four to seven has sort of
Speaker 2: included transfers. I don't know if they give all the
Speaker 2: transfers new star ratings, whatever the case is. They've brought
Speaker 2: in a couple transfers. Last season. They had a top
Speaker 2: twenty five class and brought in a couple good pass catchers.
Speaker 2: This year, Arkansas focused upfront on defense, which from what
Speaker 2: we saw of Arkansas defense last year, seems pretty smart.
Speaker 2: They need, I mean, they need to focus everywhere. But
Speaker 2: if the teams that truly have termites man Kansas is
Speaker 2: at the bottom of the Big twelve. They focused on
Speaker 2: receiver and offensive line. They didn't bring anybody in all
Speaker 2: their transfer and transfer portal situations are outgoing. Arizona is
Speaker 2: the bottom of the Pac twelve right now. They've focused
Speaker 2: on wide receiver, offensive line, and defensive back. They bring
Speaker 2: in an all purpose back in Frank Brown from Texas
Speaker 2: who's promising. Brendan Schooler was a starting receiver at Oregon.
Speaker 2: He joins his brother at Arizona, albeit on the opposite
Speaker 2: side of the field. They lost a lot of bodies
Speaker 2: to transfer from their secondary and twenty nineteen wasn't much better,
Speaker 2: So I don't know if the outlook is all that good.
Speaker 2: I don't think there's all that reason for optimism unless
Speaker 2: you're a big believer in the new coaching staff at
Speaker 2: Arizona Vanderbilt. They just, you know, their ad steps down yesterday.
Speaker 2: Derek Mason has brought in the last place class in
Speaker 2: the SEC. They focused on an offensive line. They lost
Speaker 2: quarterbacks plural, so they brought in quarterbacks plural. There's not
Speaker 2: a ton of reason for optimism there. Maryland's might be
Speaker 2: the worst situation of all. They lost a ton of bodies.
Speaker 2: I'm seeing seventeen eighteen guys in the transfer portal because
Speaker 2: Tyrrell Pigram has entered the portal. Last year's class wasn't
Speaker 2: anything special. The big jewel though, of all these classes
Speaker 2: that perhaps are representing programs that need to rebuild founds
Speaker 2: in a major way. Rackem Jarrett, local five star receiver,
Speaker 2: talked about him a little bit with Huffman, but their
Speaker 2: focus this year was on the the offensive line receiver
Speaker 2: headlined by Jarrett, and defensive back. So of the teams
Speaker 2: that really, really, you know, needed to bring in fresh
Speaker 2: bodies and sort of find a reason and maybe convince
Speaker 2: higher level recruits that you can play right away. You
Speaker 2: can be the reason for the turnaround right now. Those
Speaker 2: four schools to me, and we can get into Rutgers
Speaker 2: as well, because they hired a new coach. They're you know,
Speaker 2: tearing things down to the studs. There's some optimism with
Speaker 2: Greg Ciano because of how well he is versed in
Speaker 2: the state of New Jersey, a pretty talented state. Chris
Speaker 2: Long is the headliner there. I think he's listed as
Speaker 2: an athlete. Looks like he'll play receiver, but you know
Speaker 2: that's always up for you know, we'll see what happens
Speaker 2: in camp. They were very active in the transfer market,
Speaker 2: and I'm including all of that here because they bring
Speaker 2: in Peyton Powell, a former blue chip quarterback from Baylor.
Speaker 2: They bring in Michigan into defensive lineman. Michael dwumfor Brendan
Speaker 2: White played a lot at the end of twenty eighteen
Speaker 2: for Ohio State at safety, sort of lost favor in
Speaker 2: this new defense the twenty nineteen Ohio State. But you know,
Speaker 2: greg Ciano has his familiarity with him and brings him
Speaker 2: to Rutgers. So I would say, weirdly enough of the
Speaker 2: teams that really look like they were heading in a
Speaker 2: very terrible direction, Rutgers, I think they're The temperature of
Speaker 2: bodies there is warmer than the other places.
Speaker 1: Interesting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that was my takeaway. I think I like
Speaker 2: the staff he hired. Sean Gleeson comes in from he
Speaker 2: was Princeton and Oklahoma State. Now he of course is
Speaker 2: familiar with that area. So I don't love that they're
Speaker 2: in the Big Ten East. But in terms of fielding
Speaker 2: a competitive team compared against those compatriots, yeah, I.
Speaker 1: Think it's Rutgers interesting. Okay, Yeah, I focused a lot
Speaker 1: of my time looking at teams that seemingly have a window.
Speaker 1: I like this, seemingly have a window to make a jump,
Speaker 1: Like maybe the house is in order for the most part.
Speaker 2: Yeah, get a.
Speaker 1: New throw, maybe paint a wall or two, but by
Speaker 1: and large, you got key pieces in place.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Other divisional opponents have some issues or some questions.
Speaker 2: Maybe we're regrouting. We are just like simple stuff, changing
Speaker 2: a few light bulbs, uh huh, immediate issues that needed
Speaker 2: to be resolved, perhaps through recruiting. But teams that seemingly
Speaker 2: are in a really.
Speaker 1: Good place now as we enter the twenty twenty season.
Speaker 2: Going in the right direction, and because of what's going
Speaker 2: on in their division. You know, a team atop the
Speaker 2: division losing a bunch or a new coach for a
Speaker 2: key rival, something like that, you have windows. College football
Speaker 2: is about taking advantage of windows.
Speaker 1: Right. Let's start with Texas A and MDN okay. So
Speaker 1: this is an outstanding recruiting class. They finished sixth in
Speaker 1: the nation and it comes at an exciting time because
Speaker 1: the Aggies lose what three starters from last year. Most
Speaker 1: of the team is back. Jimbo's in a good spot
Speaker 1: where he's got a really good team coming back, and
Speaker 1: while you're always looking for those immediate impact guys, he's
Speaker 1: in a spot where he can look to build depth
Speaker 1: for the future without really compromising the present, which is
Speaker 1: a good spot to be in. Jooj The other key
Speaker 1: point here the SEC West is good. It's always good.
Speaker 1: It's not without its share of questions. In twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: Ward knows the schedule for A and M isn't nearly
Speaker 1: the Murderers road was last year. It's still tough, but
Speaker 1: it's not the gauntlet it was in twenty nineteen. There
Speaker 1: is a chance, and I hate to go like all
Speaker 1: Missouri here and jinx them in early February, but no,
Speaker 1: there's a chance that they're nine to one or ten
Speaker 1: and zero headed into the last two weeks of the
Speaker 1: year when they're on the road at Obama and then
Speaker 1: home against LSU. What I like about what Jimbo did here.
Speaker 1: First off, he has seemingly focused on past defense. It
Speaker 1: was really bad two years ago. It didn't prove last season,
Speaker 1: but now he is very very out there and trying
Speaker 1: to solidify the back end of that defense. Two four
Speaker 1: star safeties Jalen Jones Antonio Johnson, they both can come
Speaker 1: in and help with the back end of that defense,
Speaker 1: and perhaps right away, So that to me is maybe
Speaker 1: a plug and play situation. We'll have to wait and
Speaker 1: see about playing time, but certainly some bodies that can help. Otherwise,
Speaker 1: he made a real concerted effort here to add depth
Speaker 1: to the offensive line. And we've said it once, he
Speaker 1: said it a thousand times. It's essential in the SEC
Speaker 1: to have really good offensive line play. He focused in
Speaker 1: particular on the interior offensive line. Yes, I don't know
Speaker 1: if either of those will be enough to spring them
Speaker 1: to a twelve and oho season, but I like the
Speaker 1: fact that he's able to add depth for the future
Speaker 1: and at the same time maybe some guys who he
Speaker 1: can plug and play. Now. I think he did a
Speaker 1: good job.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I had one of the things last year, maybe
Speaker 2: the biggest thing last year was just generating bigger plays
Speaker 2: on offense. And they did well at receiver. It's I
Speaker 2: think they had a quarterback last year and it's at
Speaker 2: Hayes King Haines King this year for Texas A and M.
Speaker 2: If you have the class in front of you, so
Speaker 2: they bring in a blue chip quarterback of the future
Speaker 2: to compete for that job once Kellen Mond exhausts his eligibility.
Speaker 2: And also Jimo Fisher did a really nice job expanding
Speaker 2: the recruiting footprint of Texas A and M. You see
Speaker 2: where they they've brought in commitments from, and it's really
Speaker 2: I mean a big guy from Illinois, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, Arkansas.
Speaker 2: So they're not relying even though you know, East Texas
Speaker 2: is a very fruitful area for recruiting. They went out
Speaker 2: and seemingly found the best players for them no matter
Speaker 2: where they were. They went into I think Georgia, they
Speaker 2: went Maryland. So really good job for Texas A and
Speaker 2: M and the specific window and you mentioned it having
Speaker 2: an easier schedule. But which quarterbacks right now are proven
Speaker 2: to be dangerous in the SEC West? Mac Jones? Probably? Yeah,
Speaker 2: probably probably Mac Jones. Is that the entire list? I'm
Speaker 2: not terrified of Bonix right now, maybe he evolves into
Speaker 2: that kind of quarterback. The old miss quarterback situation is
Speaker 2: up in the air with where Lane Kiffin goes. Mississippi
Speaker 2: State certainly up. Yeah, I mean it's it's going kJ
Speaker 2: Costello in an air raid is certainly interesting. But this
Speaker 2: is a new quarterback, new system, new school, So, especially
Speaker 2: with his injuries from last season, I can't say I'm
Speaker 2: confident that it's just going to be a turnkey situation.
Speaker 2: I feel really good about the window. A and M
Speaker 2: has to sort of take another jump up whatever whatever
Speaker 2: that ascension looks like.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and to your point, recruited from thirteen different states here.
Speaker 1: You compare that with ut only two states Texas and Arizona.
Speaker 1: Got their big gun from from Arizona. We'll talk about that. Yeah, yeah, Bijan.
Speaker 1: But otherwise H, A and M. I think is in
Speaker 1: a good spot. Penn State, let's talk about Penn State
Speaker 1: for a second. Yeah, generally speaking, in a very good spot.
Speaker 1: Recruiting has been strong. We saw it last season. They
Speaker 1: were able to get contributions from a bunch of the
Speaker 1: young guns on the roster, sure, which which is nice. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the immediate needs here at least from my vantage point,
Speaker 1: are in the passing game, both in creating it and
Speaker 1: in stopping it. Now they do bring back Pat Fryarmouth.
Speaker 1: He's gonna still be around this coming season, so he's
Speaker 1: last year, I promise you, baby. So that's a good
Speaker 1: starting point. Johan dots in his bat back that helps too.
Speaker 1: But Kja Hamler's going pro. They're having some guys transfer out.
Speaker 1: I just feel like the wide receiving core is very thin,
Speaker 1: so could a freshman like KeAndre Lambert from Virginia step
Speaker 1: up and make an impact. He's a name that some
Speaker 1: have pointed to with someone who could step in, But
Speaker 1: it doesn't feel like there's a whole lot of depth
Speaker 1: beyond those top two guys. And I said on a
Speaker 1: previous show about how Sean Clifford I really liked him
Speaker 1: in the beginning of the year. By the end of
Speaker 1: the year I didn't quite feel as rosy about his
Speaker 1: chances moving forward.
Speaker 2: But a new offensive coordinator, there's a window to certainly
Speaker 2: surprise people and improve on offense. There.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think there's reason for optimism. And there were
Speaker 1: many points, to be fair, where his wide receiving corps
Speaker 1: just did not do him any favors correct.
Speaker 2: It took Jowan Johnson going to America's school, the University
Speaker 2: of Oregon, to really hone his craft. I get it.
Speaker 1: So I'm curious to see if some of the bodies
Speaker 1: they bring in at receiver can help kind of take
Speaker 1: that offense to the next level. And defensively, look like
Speaker 1: we saw some breakdowns against the past last year. They
Speaker 1: were super banged up the corner. But they do have
Speaker 1: some options coming in on the back end of that secondary,
Speaker 1: Enzo Jennings, So I think it's an early commit Tyler Rudolph,
Speaker 1: some guys that could play again back end of that secondary.
Speaker 1: They really needed help there and we saw it in
Speaker 1: a game like in Minnesota where Frankly, they couldn't stop
Speaker 1: the pass Minnesota's passing. It was just too much for him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and they need to have some solutions there. But there
Speaker 1: are questions maybe like outside Ohio State in the Big
Speaker 1: Ten East.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and even Ohio State, you don't have to block
Speaker 2: Chase Young in twenty twenty, that's enormous. You don't have
Speaker 2: to throw into a Jeff Hafley defense with those dudes
Speaker 2: in the secondary. For Ohio State, that's large. Shaye Patterson gone,
Speaker 2: Michigan's defense new look, Michigan's offense new look, Donovan Peoples,
Speaker 2: Jones gone. There's a lot to be I mean, Michigan State.
Speaker 2: We have no idea what Sparty's gonna look like in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty, who's coaching them, what systems they're gonna be
Speaker 2: running on either side of the ball. So Penn State's
Speaker 2: window outside of Yeses Fields and Ryan A are still
Speaker 2: in Columbus. But even I can't imagine Ohio State's defense,
Speaker 2: even if they're excellent, looks what looks like what it
Speaker 2: did in twenty nineteen. So there's a window for Penn
Speaker 2: State if Sean Clifford and Kirk Shiraka can make beautiful,
Speaker 2: beautiful offensive magic together.
Speaker 1: Let's talky about ASU. You mentioned ASU earlier. ASU a
Speaker 1: seven and five regular season eight and five after winning
Speaker 1: the Bowl over Florida State. Three of their five losses
Speaker 1: were one possession games. It was a gritty team in general.
Speaker 1: In general, I think ASU under her Edwards has been
Speaker 1: a really good story, way better than we expected after
Speaker 1: that weird press conference a couple of years ago.
Speaker 2: I think that's reasonable.
Speaker 1: It goes without saying another solid class this year so
Speaker 1: things are going in a good direction, especially given that
Speaker 1: they've got Jayden Daniels that they can build around again
Speaker 1: freshman quarterbacks, seventeen touchdowns, only two picks as a true
Speaker 1: fresh and he has a lot of the tools that
Speaker 1: you like. There's reason to be.
Speaker 2: Excited there, for sure.
Speaker 1: I guess my bigger picture question, and I struggled with this,
Speaker 1: is whether we feel ASU is truly complete enough at
Speaker 1: this juncture to take that proverbial jump, like how open
Speaker 1: really is the window? Because I don't remember a moment
Speaker 1: outside of like September or maybe mid October where on
Speaker 1: the show you and I were talking about ASU as
Speaker 1: a genuinely good team that we weren't at all skeptical about.
Speaker 2: I mean, I wasn't thrilled when they beat Oregon and
Speaker 2: knocked him out of playoff contention in Tempe that Saturday night.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think my disappointment was a backwards compliment
Speaker 2: to how well they played and made those key passes
Speaker 2: in those key moments that night. They lost four in
Speaker 2: a row before that win over Oregon at home in
Speaker 2: the Desert. But no, I think it's more of what
Speaker 2: ASU has done in hiring. They've recruited well in southern California.
Speaker 2: Now that there's that USC, UCLA recruiting vacuum for a
Speaker 2: number of reasons, and I think they're just one of
Speaker 2: those teams with now USC certainly looking really good on
Speaker 2: offense but making changes on defense, Ucla not looking like
Speaker 2: a contender. Utah should be once again very good, but
Speaker 2: they have to make a change at quarterback. I guess
Speaker 2: it might be Jake Bentley this year. We'll see who
Speaker 2: ends up starting and winning that quarterback job for the Utes.
Speaker 2: But in terms of opportunity, in terms of window, in
Speaker 2: terms of talent level, and now in year three of
Speaker 2: the Herm Edwards era, I don't think they have a
Speaker 2: tough September. They have BYU before they have SC but
Speaker 2: it's Oregon State, UCLA, Colorado, Wazoo. With a new coach,
Speaker 2: cal should be pretty good. I know they're in Eugene,
Speaker 2: but they have Utah at home, and Arizona is kind
Speaker 2: of a and by kind of I mean a complete
Speaker 2: mess in Tucson for the Territorial Cup. So schedule, quarterback continuity,
Speaker 2: recruiting improvement. I think it's a really nice window for ASU.
Speaker 2: I really like LV Bunkley Shelton. I know you like
Speaker 2: Johnny Wilson, so Elijah Badger a pretty highly regarded recruit.
Speaker 2: They did well on offense, they did pretty well upfront
Speaker 2: on defense. I think I think AC was definitely a
Speaker 2: window team.
Speaker 1: I yeah, so you mentioned Johnny Wilson. I like Johnny Wilson,
Speaker 1: big kid from your old stomping ground in southern California.
Speaker 1: But I like the two tackle transfers coming in from
Speaker 1: Stanford and Texas, A and M. They need the help
Speaker 1: up front, they really need the help up front. And Herm.
Speaker 1: I think when you look at the class, regardless of
Speaker 1: whether or not you feel there's a legit window here,
Speaker 1: Herm definitely made an effort to bring in some athletes
Speaker 1: to give the offense a boost and just improve it
Speaker 1: in as well rounded a fashion as he could. So
Speaker 1: I think he did a good job. We can debate
Speaker 1: the merits of that window at some other point in time,
Speaker 1: but by a larger pretty good job. In let's face it.
Speaker 1: A side of the conference that has so many questions.
Speaker 1: We could do podcast upon podcasts talking about the questions
Speaker 1: of the PAC twelve South.
Speaker 2: Sure, let's keep looking at windows. We've got a big
Speaker 2: round house what a roundhouse is called an igloo? Well, iglo, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I think a yert. I'm looking that up.
Speaker 1: So we have to have more window teams acc window
Speaker 1: North Carolina. You're right, North Carolina, North Carolina. I'll say
Speaker 1: it again. I think I said in the preseason that
Speaker 1: if North Carolina got to four wins it would be
Speaker 1: a crazy revelation. M hm and well and behold, Daniel,
Speaker 1: this is a team that finished with six eventually won
Speaker 1: the bowl game. Yep, and now they sit ahead of
Speaker 1: Florida State. They finished third in acc recruiting, behind Clemson
Speaker 1: and just a bit behind the Miami Hurricanes. So by
Speaker 1: all accounts, they did very, very well. It helps to
Speaker 1: have Sam Howell leading that charge at quarterback again, the
Speaker 1: signal caller that you can build around. I saw an
Speaker 1: effort here to boost defense. Yeah, yes, I think it's
Speaker 1: a really good class in that respect. Desmond Evans and
Speaker 1: Miles Murphy to four star defensive ends. They bring in
Speaker 1: a four star tackle, they bring in two four star safeties.
Speaker 1: Mac Brown knows that he needs to get better as
Speaker 1: a defensive entity. It can't all be on the arm
Speaker 1: of Sam Howell, and though he did add some pieces
Speaker 1: along that offense that can help. What he did on
Speaker 1: defense is definitely pretty striking.
Speaker 2: Yes, I am excited for North Carolina football moving forward,
Speaker 2: and it's been a little while since I was able
Speaker 2: to say that. But with Virginia losing Bryce Perkins, with
Speaker 2: Pitt's offense not really looking like it's going to do much,
Speaker 2: Miami is still a huge question mark, even with de
Speaker 2: Eric King, but that's a new system, new coordinator with
Speaker 2: Rhet Lashley Duke seems to be not heading in the
Speaker 2: right direction. Georgia Tech is going to take a while
Speaker 2: longer the division for them. I mean, we'll see what
Speaker 2: happens with Virginia Tech, but there's transition there among that
Speaker 2: coaching staff. The window is right there for North Carolina
Speaker 2: if Sam Howell, If samhow improves from being one of
Speaker 2: the best I don't know, three freshman quarterbacks in the
Speaker 2: country last year, depending on how everything falls for you
Speaker 2: and Keton Slova's is in that conversation, Dylan Gabriel. But yeah,
Speaker 2: they should be winning what you said they Their record
Speaker 2: this past year was six A, six plus a winning
Speaker 2: the ball.
Speaker 1: That's correct.
Speaker 2: Yep, they should be winning nine games next year. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't have their non conference schedule in front of
Speaker 2: if they if their defense can improve, especially what against
Speaker 2: the pass, and I don't even love all the quarterbacks
Speaker 2: they'll be facing, they become a pretty dangerous team.
Speaker 1: Last window team here that'll throw out. Texas is back. Baby,
Speaker 1: they got that window. They have that window. It made changes.
Speaker 1: Texas is back. They made some changes. They won the
Speaker 1: Big twelve recruiting race by a nose over the Oklahoma Sooners, right,
Speaker 1: and it was It's an interesting class the way they
Speaker 1: went about formulating this. So the their top prospect, as
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, Bjean Robinson, a running back out of Tucson, Arizona. Yeah,
Speaker 1: number one running back in the country. But beyond that,
Speaker 1: they went out and made a very concerted effort to
Speaker 1: try and secure a quarterback of the future. So Sam
Speaker 1: How not going to be there forever. Sam How could
Speaker 1: get hurt tomorrow even though he's been pretty durable. Hudson
Speaker 1: Card and Jaquindin Jackson, Yeah, are.
Speaker 2: The Hudson Card.
Speaker 1: Yeah. There are two four star quarterbacks that they were
Speaker 1: able to reel in from the state of Texas, in
Speaker 1: addition to the other like sixteen recruits that they got
Speaker 1: from the Great State of Texas. So that's all notable.
Speaker 1: I think that bubbles to the surface and it definitely
Speaker 1: stands out on the top line. But they need defense.
Speaker 1: This is a class that you can only construct if
Speaker 1: you know you need defense. I don't know how else
Speaker 1: to put it in. I'm looking at how they did this,
Speaker 1: how they broke it down by the numbers. I see
Speaker 1: a lot at defensive line, linebacker, defensive back, Yeah, even
Speaker 1: in the trenches on the offensive line.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they focused at offensive skill these past couple of
Speaker 2: years and even felt like they focused on the secondary
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago with a ridiculous class and
Speaker 2: strong at safety this year. And they have a window,
Speaker 2: I mean essentially, because we don't know what to expect
Speaker 2: out of presumably Spencer Rattler at Oklahoma. We have a
Speaker 2: number of second year guys in the conference. Sam Allinger's
Speaker 2: back for his seventeenth year. If there is going to
Speaker 2: be a season in which they put it all together,
Speaker 2: and the guys that you are mentioning these are probably
Speaker 2: rotation guys because all healthy Texas has a good amount
Speaker 2: of talent on both sides of the ball. But the
Speaker 2: window is there that even if these rotation guys work
Speaker 2: out as true freshmen. They should be in a really
Speaker 2: good spot. I'm not sure who you're terrified of right now.
Speaker 2: With Baylor, who was really really strong last year. They're
Speaker 2: working in a new coach and we'll see what this
Speaker 2: offense looks like. Defense, they should be very strong once again,
Speaker 2: I would imagine TCU I don't feel great about right now.
Speaker 2: West Virginia I think still has a ways. Kansas State,
Speaker 2: Texas has a such like their window is so obvious,
Speaker 2: which should be terrifying for for Longhorn fans.
Speaker 1: What else do we got here?
Speaker 2: So we've alluded to some teams with new coaches, new
Speaker 2: building crews, tie just learning the architecture, looking at the blueprints,
Speaker 2: figuring out their own blueprints. They have to know where
Speaker 2: beams are going at this new place. They have to
Speaker 2: know the plumbing, the electricity. They're learning on the job.
Speaker 2: They haven't had much time to piece together these classes,
Speaker 2: but I think it's important and we talked about this
Speaker 2: once again a couple months ago when we did our
Speaker 2: early signing day show Ole miss lower part of the SEC.
Speaker 2: In terms of recruiting class under Lane Kiffin, they focused
Speaker 2: on the trenches and in the secondary I know You'd
Speaker 2: love to call them demon clowney, but it's demonologize tie.
Speaker 2: I know, and I think promising thing for ole Miss
Speaker 2: is one The defense took a nice step forward last
Speaker 2: year under Mine McIntyre. It's Dj Dirkin at least as
Speaker 2: the co defensive coordinator, and even with all of the
Speaker 2: legitimate baggage he brings along with his name, they should
Speaker 2: have a good defense. He's been a good defensive coordinator
Speaker 2: along the way, or they should have an improving defense.
Speaker 2: Last year was a huge class, like thirty thirty one
Speaker 2: guys under Matt Luke, and it's around the same talent
Speaker 2: level this year. Jerry and Eely obviously made an early
Speaker 2: impact for the Rebels, and they've been pretty pretty active
Speaker 2: on the transfer market. Brought in a couple tight ends
Speaker 2: safety from Georgia. They convinced some of their guys that
Speaker 2: enter the transfer portal to come back to Oxford. So
Speaker 2: ole Miss pretty good. I think Lane Kiffin should probably
Speaker 2: continue to do a good I would imagine top eighteen
Speaker 2: classes for Lane Kiffin moving forward, considering his record as
Speaker 2: a recruiter and what ole Miss is at least near
Speaker 2: recruiting wise, staying in state. Mike Leach pretty similar. The
Speaker 2: jewel of this class probably a manual Forbes. They need
Speaker 2: all the help they can get in the secondary for
Speaker 2: what we did or didn't see from from the Dogs
Speaker 2: last year. Jordan Davis I think is a Juco guy,
Speaker 2: and it was again, if they can pressure the quarterback,
Speaker 2: that's better than what they were able to do for
Speaker 2: much of twenty nineteen. kJ Costello is the big recruit.
Speaker 2: We alluded to him earlier. That's the big recruit form
Speaker 2: Mississippi State this year. How quickly can he get comfortable
Speaker 2: in what everybody that has played for him has said
Speaker 2: is the most simple offense imaginable the air raid Mike
Speaker 2: Leach's version of the air raid. And Felipe Franks also
Speaker 2: in the conference going to Arkansas, So at least there's
Speaker 2: somewhat recruiting wise interesting quarterbacks heading to the SEC West
Speaker 2: and Scott Lashley another guy coming in, a former Alabama
Speaker 2: blue chip offensive lineman to fortify Mississippi State upfront. Will
Speaker 2: stay in the SEC missoo also the lower part of
Speaker 2: the SEC. But Ty, if you can please play Eli
Speaker 2: Drinkwitz absolutely losing his markets.
Speaker 1: Oh this is great.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So that is that is id tie. That is pure,
Speaker 2: unfiltered id over a. I don't think he's a blue
Speaker 2: star corner, but a corner who chose Maszoo and had
Speaker 2: some laid offers from big places and so I respect it. Tie.
Speaker 2: It was the adult version of do you remember the
Speaker 2: video where the kid gets the Super Nintendo for Christmas? Oh?
Speaker 2: I mean it was a little Howard Dean in there
Speaker 2: wasn't there. It was Howard Dean put into a blender
Speaker 2: with the spirit of whatever that video it was Super
Speaker 2: Soaker or a Supernintendo was something super. Yeah, Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2: Eli Drinkwitz is amped on this signing day. They bring
Speaker 2: in Damon Hazelton, which I think is something he led
Speaker 2: Virginia Tech and targets and touchdowns last year. At receiver,
Speaker 2: it was not a great class last year. They brought
Speaker 2: in some defensive back, so this year's class was pretty
Speaker 2: even all over the place, pretty spread out. They did
Speaker 2: focus a little bit on receiver, so I suppose we'll
Speaker 2: see Missoo has a lot to work on after what
Speaker 2: they finished looking like last year. Washington is on the
Speaker 2: other end of things, Tye. We've talked about Jimmy Lake
Speaker 2: a little bit, but this class was really strong. From
Speaker 2: the Huskies and from Jimmy Lake. I'm still a little
Speaker 2: bit out on the offensive coordinator higher John Donovan. You
Speaker 2: probably have more thoughts about that than I do. But
Speaker 2: Savelle Small's ed rusher who looks to be a nationally
Speaker 2: elite edge rusher. I know he disappointed a little bit
Speaker 2: at the All Star Games, but looks to be another
Speaker 2: great Washington defensive player. Jalen McMillan, I know everybody in
Speaker 2: the country wanted at receiver. Ethan Garbers is the younger
Speaker 2: brother of Chase Garber's. Yes there is another, and that
Speaker 2: Washington quarterback job is pretty open. Jacob Sermon, Dylan Morris,
Speaker 2: Chase Garber's, we'll see. They all sound like West Coast
Speaker 2: quarterbacks to me. They did lose out on kJ Costello.
Speaker 2: That's a name that we have said a lot this episode.
Speaker 2: Last's class was also incredible, especially upfront on defense. So
Speaker 2: just from a pure s talent talent standpoint, excuse me.
Speaker 2: The Washington building crew, they have an understanding for the neighborhood,
Speaker 2: for permits, for laws, for gardening, whatever needs to happen
Speaker 2: at Washington.
Speaker 1: Let me let me fast forward jump in over some
Speaker 1: of the other teams I know we have listed. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Florida State. Yes, Florida State, as we mentioned earlier, came
Speaker 1: in behind North Carolina in terms of ACC recruiting. We
Speaker 1: know there's work to do there. What did you see
Speaker 1: from that building crew?
Speaker 2: Obviously late for Mike Norvell coming into the process, not
Speaker 2: there for the early signing period, but a pretty good
Speaker 2: but not great. I think they finished fourth in the
Speaker 2: ACC twentieth nationally at least in that area. The focus,
Speaker 2: rightfully so, was on the offensive line, a little bit
Speaker 2: on receiver Chubb a party I think is the headline
Speaker 2: name along with the Morey Tates. Purdy is the younger
Speaker 2: brother of Brock. He was committed to Louisville forever and
Speaker 2: he flipped to Florida State late in the process. It
Speaker 2: was an active year in both directions from Florida State,
Speaker 2: both coming and going. They lost a couple of blue
Speaker 2: chip receivers or pass catchers and a tight end to
Speaker 2: who left for Georgia and a receiver who went back
Speaker 2: to the West Coast to Oregon State. But they bring
Speaker 2: in Jayshawn Corbyn from Texas A and m The class
Speaker 2: wasn't where it was last year, but I imagine with
Speaker 2: a full cycle, Florida State should at least be back
Speaker 2: in that top dozen conversation. Okay, interesting I mentioned Rutgers
Speaker 2: Boston College. There's not too much talk about They focused
Speaker 2: on the offensive line. We'll see, and Wazoo is the
Speaker 2: I think the lower part of the Pac twelve in
Speaker 2: terms of talent. But Jaden to Laura same high school
Speaker 2: as to a tongue of Iiloa Marcus Mariota in Hawaii,
Speaker 2: So that makes sense with Nick Rolovich being a good fit,
Speaker 2: although he signed I think before Nick Rolovich took the job.
Speaker 2: So nothing too exciting transfer wise. It was the worst
Speaker 2: class in the conference in twenty nineteen, so if they
Speaker 2: can at least get to me, maybe it's just a
Speaker 2: tough place to recruit to in terms of available talent,
Speaker 2: high end talent, but you know, ninth or tenth in
Speaker 2: the conference, we'll see, I think it can be pretty dangerous.
Speaker 1: So one thing that we kind of alluded to here, yeah,
Speaker 1: is turn key solutions.
Speaker 2: Yes, always nice when you can just walk in and
Speaker 2: there's your house.
Speaker 1: You can walk in, there's your house. And we have
Speaker 1: seen this, I think slowly develop over the course of
Speaker 1: the last ten years certainly in the time that we've
Speaker 1: been doing this podcast. But freshman quarterbacks are coming into
Speaker 1: the college ranks much better prepared than ever before, and
Speaker 1: so to have freshmen standouts like we saw this past
Speaker 1: year a good number of them. Really, it's becoming far
Speaker 1: more common. It's always exciting, but it stands to reason
Speaker 1: that some of the names coming in this year, given
Speaker 1: the fact that we've got questions around college football at
Speaker 1: many starting quarterback positions, some of these guys could be
Speaker 1: in a position to really make an immediate impact. So
Speaker 1: give me, give me three names. I have three and
Speaker 1: a half. I'll say on my list of freshman quarterbacks
Speaker 1: that you look at the situation, you look at what
Speaker 1: they bring to the table, and you could say, yeah,
Speaker 1: I could see that quarterback either coming in and outright
Speaker 1: winning the job or winning the job by say week
Speaker 1: four or five. You got any names that jump out.
Speaker 2: To you, There's nothing super obvious. Bryce Young is. Everything
Speaker 2: I've heard about him is he's twitchy, he has that
Speaker 2: special potential. Maybe he's a little bit like Kyler Murray.
Speaker 2: He's not huge. He's gonna get that comparison because I
Speaker 2: think he's under six feet tall, But He's still finished
Speaker 2: as the number one quarterback in the nation. And while
Speaker 2: I think mac Jones gave Nick Saban and the offensive
Speaker 2: staff every reason to think that he can win a
Speaker 2: lot of games for Alabama, he's not obvious obvious obvious,
Speaker 2: like you know toul was before him when healthy. So
Speaker 2: I think Bryce Young is certainly he's going to see
Speaker 2: the feet in some fashion. There are quarterbacks that I feel,
Speaker 2: if they are thrust into a situation because of injury
Speaker 2: or something happening to a starter, will miss limited beats.
Speaker 2: You know. It's dj ouyong Lele Well, I'm just Dju
Speaker 2: for Clemson, who's just built like a tank. He's like
Speaker 2: six five, two fifty. You know. Luke Dody is interesting
Speaker 2: to me at South Carolina because Ryan Halensky wasn't amazing,
Speaker 2: you know, being thrown into the fire as a true freshman.
Speaker 2: So we'll see there and physically I don't think he's huge,
Speaker 2: but we'll see he's well regarded. Ethan Garber's is a
Speaker 2: name that I know, our friend Yogi Roth really likes
Speaker 2: a lot. And it's tough to expect a true freshman
Speaker 2: to just win a job outright immediately. It happens we've
Speaker 2: you know, Sam Howell is a best case scenario, Dylan
Speaker 2: Gabriel a best case scenario beating out Brandon Wimbush last year.
Speaker 2: But there's nobody that I think is going to that
Speaker 2: is so good right now. And I guess, you know,
Speaker 2: Chabba party, we'll see. It's not like anybody at Florida
Speaker 2: State is incredible and has a lock on that job.
Speaker 2: But there's nobody right now to me that says, okay,
Speaker 2: they are immediately displacing a presume starter or somebody who
Speaker 2: has been waiting in the wings. But you know, at
Speaker 2: the top of this class, there's enough talent there at
Speaker 2: quarterback where yeah, if something happens to a starter, they
Speaker 2: can come in and uh and move the ball.
Speaker 1: So Bryce Young is the one that jumps out. Bryce Young,
Speaker 1: as he said, he's a slighter build, five to eleven.
Speaker 1: He's headed to Alabama, and of course Mac Jones is there.
Speaker 1: Mac Jones is gonna have a thing or two to
Speaker 1: say about who gets that job. But you could see
Speaker 1: a situation where they play Bryce Young because he does
Speaker 1: bring an interesting skill set. From everything I've read about him,
Speaker 1: he is pretty much unflappable. M He does have a
Speaker 1: slider frame, but he seems to play his best when
Speaker 1: the pocket breaks down. Like most of these quarterbacks, his
Speaker 1: deep ball could be improved upon. But the comp that
Speaker 1: I saw was Russell Wilson. Wow, and that maybe a
Speaker 1: smaller version of Russell Wilson at this point he needs
Speaker 1: to fill out. He's only eighteen. But yeah, nonetheless, that's all. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a pretty good comp if you're getting that kind
Speaker 1: of quarterback. So it's tough to take a guy like
Speaker 1: that into a situation like Alabama where he does have
Speaker 1: such a good supporting cast and not at least think
Speaker 1: about it. Yeah, that's intriguing to me. Another one here
Speaker 1: that I'll throw out. We even talked a lot about
Speaker 1: Georgia even though they got the number one class.
Speaker 2: And Jamie Newman Jamie Newman as well.
Speaker 1: Jamie Newman comes over from Lake Forest. He is a transfer,
Speaker 1: but Carson Beck is their prize quarterback in this class.
Speaker 1: He's a four star. He was mister football, as they
Speaker 1: all are in the great State of Florida. Hails from Jacksonville.
Speaker 1: He's a different quarterback, right. He's not Bryce young at all.
Speaker 1: He's six four and a half two twenty six. He's
Speaker 1: a much bigger kid. The comp I saw for him
Speaker 1: was Deshaun Kaiser on twenty four to seven.
Speaker 2: Okay, big arm.
Speaker 1: And I wrestled with that little bit, and I was wondering,
Speaker 1: if you put the Sean Kaiser in that Georgia offense,
Speaker 1: how would they do.
Speaker 2: Hey do pretty well.
Speaker 1: I think he's got a pretty good supporting cast already.
Speaker 1: Obviously the recruiting has been there, and if the Jamie
Speaker 1: Newman thing doesn't work out, you could definitely see a
Speaker 1: situation where Kirby Smart hands the keys over to someone
Speaker 1: who's going to do enough to get the ball to
Speaker 1: playmakers and turn the ball over to defense and win
Speaker 1: a lot of football games. So that's an interesting situation
Speaker 1: because there's a supporting cast.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely no, He'll have good receivers. George Pickens obviously
Speaker 2: highlights the situation in Athens and the other advantages. It's
Speaker 2: not like an offensive coordinator comes in with his guy
Speaker 2: preconceived notions. Todd Monkin is new. This is a new
Speaker 2: offense we're assuming for Georgia. And I'm actually going to
Speaker 2: stay in the state because of Jeff Simms and he
Speaker 2: was committed to Florida State now Georgia Tech, And if
Speaker 2: you watched Georgia Tech football last year, you didn't come
Speaker 2: away thinking, man, do they have passing figured out?
Speaker 1: Yeah? No.
Speaker 2: And Jeff Simms, the four star quarterback I think from Florida.
Speaker 2: He's skinny, but the ball flies off of his hand.
Speaker 2: I like watching him a lot than the limited amount
Speaker 2: of tape I've seen on him. I think he'll at
Speaker 2: least compete. I think he has an opportunity because of
Speaker 2: how much they're still overhauling the offense in Atlanta to
Speaker 2: see some time.
Speaker 1: The one that I am super intrigued by is Harrison
Speaker 1: Bailey at Tennessee. Okay, so Tennessee still has Jared Guarantano obviously,
Speaker 1: and Jared Garantano has been all over the map. Sometimes
Speaker 1: he's been really good, other times he's been really bad.
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is a situation where Harrison
Speaker 1: Bailey comes in and plays right away. I don't think
Speaker 1: it is. But he's a four star kid out of Marietta, Georgia.
Speaker 1: He's got prototypical size. The comp I saw was Kyle Orton,
Speaker 1: who's really good in college. If you remember Kyle True,
Speaker 1: he absolutely was. He by all accounts is the kind
Speaker 1: of guy who could thrive in a situation where he's
Speaker 1: playing off a lot of play action. And it seems
Speaker 1: to me like that's a spot at Tennessee that that
Speaker 1: could suit him well. If it falls through with Guarantano
Speaker 1: and if Harrison Bailey is given an opportunity, that's another
Speaker 1: situation where really good recruiting class. There's a lot to
Speaker 1: like about the way Tennessee played second half of the
Speaker 1: year last season, and that's an interesting situation to me
Speaker 1: as someone who could come in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and big dude, physically he seems to be there.
Speaker 2: It's how quickly can you pick up the offense? How
Speaker 2: quickly you know, just being thrust as into the starting
Speaker 2: quarterback at Tennessee. It's a lot to ask Yoh for
Speaker 2: Shan Georgia playing Florida, Yeah, this is this is a
Speaker 2: lot playing South Carolina's defense. I wouldn't envy a situation
Speaker 2: like that, no matter how physically ready he may seem.
Speaker 2: I think Jarrett Garant Guarantano has that that job on lock.
Speaker 2: But we've seen bad Jarrett.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's exactly.
Speaker 2: It's ugly. It's really ly, so we could I could
Speaker 2: see reps be it in garbage time, be it against
Speaker 2: some smaller teams early, sure we could. We should be
Speaker 2: able to see something from him, even though there's a
Speaker 2: couple of a couple of guys ahead of him right
Speaker 2: now in the depth chart.
Speaker 1: Now the name and I said three and a half.
Speaker 1: The final name I'll throw out here. I really want
Speaker 1: to say Deuce Hogan at Iowa.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just because his name is Deuce Hogan.
Speaker 1: I don't honestly believe that this is going to be
Speaker 1: a situation where he's going to do anything other than
Speaker 1: red shirt.
Speaker 2: I want to move on to teams because I have
Speaker 2: a natural transition from this discussion point that are desperate
Speaker 2: Oh no, or updating and remodeling. Ty, you you've been
Speaker 2: in houses. I've been in houses. You walk in You're like, oh,
Speaker 2: you love nineteen ninety two. You really loved what nineteen
Speaker 2: ninety two look like where it's just white carpet and
Speaker 2: weird mirror placements and there's a sunken living room. You
Speaker 2: know what I'm talking about out Tie, just desperate for
Speaker 2: the property Brothers or Fixer Up or one of one
Speaker 2: of our favorite shows on was HGTV Need some Ship Lap.
Speaker 2: Let's start with some remodeling because let's start with Michigan State,
Speaker 2: whose offense was terrible. It's a big question mark at
Speaker 2: this point because we do not know what to expect
Speaker 2: out of this Michigan State team. We know that they
Speaker 2: focused on receiver that you know, a lot of receivers
Speaker 2: and running backs are out. They lost offensive skilled to
Speaker 2: transfer guys. Darius Snow is the jewel of the class.
Speaker 2: But this this is a Michigan State team who recruited
Speaker 2: well enough when they were winning games, they you know,
Speaker 2: whether it was Malik McDowell, whoever, where they were getting three,
Speaker 2: four or five six blue chips eventually in a class.
Speaker 2: There were zero in this year's class, lower part of
Speaker 2: the Big ten, So not a lot of optimism for
Speaker 2: immediate retooling, remodeling and renovation in East Lansing. But UCLA
Speaker 2: u CLA is a little bit interesting to me. They
Speaker 2: bring in a blue chip quarterback. They weren't great at
Speaker 2: quarterback last season, even though we went into it in
Speaker 2: a promising way. The focus in this class was upfront
Speaker 2: on defense, which it probably should have been. Damian Sellers
Speaker 2: great linebacker. Looks like I watched a little bit of
Speaker 2: his tape from Arizona quarterback from New Hampshire, the Granite
Speaker 2: State tie. And his name is Parker McQuary. And where
Speaker 2: is granite mined? Tie in a quarry?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2: That is a fun fact that only Tom Hammond.
Speaker 1: That is true. True.
Speaker 2: UCLA desperate for some renovation remodeling. Will see what happens
Speaker 2: in year three. But at least their recruiting is improving
Speaker 2: from where it was as they lose a ton of guys.
Speaker 2: They lost the O Howard's Oklahoma unfortunately he gets hurt.
Speaker 2: NC State. At least they finished in the top half.
Speaker 2: I think they finished number six in the ACC. They
Speaker 2: went hard after receivers. They revamped their coaching staff. Porter
Speaker 2: Rooks is the jewel of this class. They don't bring
Speaker 2: any transfers in, but twelve guys. Twelve guys will not
Speaker 2: be in Carter Finley next year. I guess that's probably
Speaker 2: headlined by Matt McKay, who I think a lot of
Speaker 2: people are optimistic about it. Quarterback. He goes to Montana State.
Speaker 2: So I'm not feeling great about NC state renovation. TCU
Speaker 2: third in the Big twelve. Your beautiful, beautiful purple horn
Speaker 2: Frogs tie. You're ready, right, I've been ready ready since
Speaker 2: two thousand and eight. A lot of receiver, a lot
Speaker 2: of offensive line. They bring back Doug Meacham to take
Speaker 2: over the offense he once at least co coordinated. Justin
Speaker 2: Rodgers is out, Michael Collins is out. So it's a
Speaker 2: good class. It's third in the Big twelve. I'm not
Speaker 2: previewing TCU right now, but in terms of at least
Speaker 2: some optimism, there is reason to feel pretty good in
Speaker 2: Fort Worth, and that's to me, is the jewel of
Speaker 2: these renovation cases. I don't feel good otherwise about I mean,
Speaker 2: Missoo is desperate after last year. We went through their
Speaker 2: recruiting class and it's pretty good. I mean the Eli
Speaker 2: Drinkwitz fa or is elite. But I think of anybody's houses,
Speaker 2: of anybody's homes, the horn frogs have the best chance
Speaker 2: to D sync that living.
Speaker 1: Room, all right, D sink the living room.
Speaker 2: Dcink the living room. That's all I ask. A sunken
Speaker 2: living room is rough. Okay, Well, how do you feel
Speaker 2: about Notre Dames class? What is there anybody from Notre
Speaker 2: Dame's class that makes you and you can play it
Speaker 2: one more time, have a reaction just like Eli Drinkwitz did. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it did. Is there anything like a singular commit or
Speaker 2: class Yeah.
Speaker 1: Anything that gave me the full drink wits.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I gotta be honest, it's it's tough to sort of
Speaker 1: compose myself after the Kyle Hamilton get last year. Like,
Speaker 1: I'm still kind of okay, I'm still sort of in
Speaker 1: the in the glow of that one. I have a
Speaker 1: very unnatural affinity for Chris tyree Purpose, who I think
Speaker 1: that's from Virginia. Not a big kid, but really exciting
Speaker 1: someone who could give them some explosiveness. I really like that.
Speaker 2: What I like about it running the ball well these
Speaker 2: past couple of years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but there's a bit of uncertainty about which direction
Speaker 1: that running game is headed. We saw questions on that
Speaker 1: front last year. Of course, they had some losses that
Speaker 1: they had to replace and injuries that they needed to
Speaker 1: deal with. So now as they kind of shift from
Speaker 1: Chip long over to Thomas Reeves, of course it's a
Speaker 1: question of, well, what does that running game look like?
Speaker 1: And I feel better knowing that they have some other
Speaker 1: weapons that they that they can use. They did go
Speaker 1: heavy at receiver though, and I think that's important. Notre
Speaker 1: Dame has done very well at the receiver position the
Speaker 1: last couple of years. It is a position they need
Speaker 1: to restock. So I'm excited to see guys like Jordan
Speaker 1: Johnson who comes up from Missouri. Excited Xavier Watts, who
Speaker 1: is maybe only a three star but someone that I've
Speaker 1: read a lot of exciting stuff about as well, even
Speaker 1: at tight end. You know, their biggest recruit was a
Speaker 1: gentleman by the name of Michael Meyer, who is somehow
Speaker 1: only eighteen, but in his photo looks like he might
Speaker 1: be thirty eight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it looks like JJ Watts's uncle.
Speaker 1: He's incredible from Kentucky sixty four two thirty four. He's
Speaker 1: a five star tight end. I like the fact that
Speaker 1: they went out they got some of these guys that
Speaker 1: can make an impact on the offensive side of the ball.
Speaker 1: They didn't do it so much in a way that
Speaker 1: it disadvantaged other aspects of their recruiting class. They did
Speaker 1: pick up a couple offensive and defensive linemen, but I
Speaker 1: think by and large, when you look at this there
Speaker 1: was clearly a focus on adding some receiver options, and
Speaker 1: I like that. I think they did a pretty good job.
Speaker 1: Not as high a class as they've had in recent memory,
Speaker 1: but I think pound for pound a pretty good one.
Speaker 1: I think they were like number seventeen or something overall.
Speaker 2: I also saw they brought in a starting receiver from Northwestern.
Speaker 2: I think he probably has to sit out a year.
Speaker 2: I don't know what his transfer status is. Isaiah Pryor
Speaker 2: from Ohio State safety transfer yep to Notre Dame and
Speaker 2: Brandon Huffman talked about. I think it was but Tosh Baker,
Speaker 2: the offensive lineman he loves from Arizona basketball player as well.
Speaker 2: Tall guys should develop well six Notre Dame, big dude.
Speaker 2: So good class for Notre Dame, very good. No more
Speaker 2: Chase Claypool, right, he's done.
Speaker 1: Chase Claypool is going in the NFL. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So they need to replace a good chunk of
Speaker 2: production there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we'll see. But I think by and large
Speaker 1: they did. They did a really good job. You know,
Speaker 1: Notre Dame won't be without its fair share of questions
Speaker 1: going into twenty twenty. But this is not a class
Speaker 1: that you're going to look at and say, oh boy,
Speaker 1: they're in trouble. This is this is a pretty good class.
Speaker 2: They will be without Phil dr Kovic, who transferred to
Speaker 2: Boston College. They will be without Filedderkovic also tie before
Speaker 2: we sign off, how many corrections do you think will
Speaker 2: be made by people listening to the show via email
Speaker 2: or Twitter or solidverble dot reddit dot com.
Speaker 1: Uh, about six and a half, That's what.
Speaker 2: I was thinking. I was right around a touchdown, that
Speaker 2: we pronounced a name wrong, that we got a position wrong,
Speaker 2: that we you know, somebody has torn their acl so
Speaker 2: clearly they're not going to be an early impact guy
Speaker 2: this coming fall. I would maybe we need an old
Speaker 2: stat boy type person, the stat boy PTI used to
Speaker 2: have because on these recruiting shows, woof six and a
Speaker 2: half is if we're under six and a half, I
Speaker 2: would consider the show to be a success.
Speaker 1: That sounds That sounds about right. Okay, now taking applications
Speaker 1: for stat boy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, or stat girl, stash stack girl, stat gal, whatever
Speaker 2: you want to call yourself.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, that's National Signing Day it is. We
Speaker 1: will talk more about this as we progress forward. Lord knows,
Speaker 1: there's plenty of news to discuss. It doesn't seem to
Speaker 1: ever end, even though we are now squarely in the
Speaker 1: college football offseason. So we'll be back in about a
Speaker 1: week Yeah, talk through more of what's going on. We've
Speaker 1: got a lot of stuff planned. As we sat at
Speaker 1: the top. Subscribe to the show so you get everything
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Speaker 1: also sign up for the newsletter. Again, as I said
Speaker 1: at the top, we are starting to think about live
Speaker 1: shows for later this year. What's up Ketch You can Yeah,
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Speaker 1: get yourself the best chance of tickets. You can sign
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Speaker 1: We promise we're not gonna spam you. It's not.
Speaker 2: What is our number one? Because we discussed this and
Speaker 2: we know where our downloads come from, yep, so we
Speaker 2: knew when the National Championship game was in Atlanta, for instance,
Speaker 2: We're like, we have a solid chunk of people in
Speaker 2: or around Atlanta that we think might show up, and
Speaker 2: they did. We had an amazing crowd in Atlanta. Or
Speaker 2: Chicago had a great crowd. Dallas Fort Worth area had
Speaker 2: a great crowd. We've really we've we've been strategic. What
Speaker 2: is a city that is probably nowhere near our most
Speaker 2: listened to city or town or whatever. But there's a
Speaker 2: robust little following like are we huge in Missoula? Like,
Speaker 2: at least compared to other podcasts I'm not doing, like
Speaker 2: do you like is? Do you do? You always see like, oh,
Speaker 2: we've we've got like a steady eighty three people listening
Speaker 2: in Paris, Texas.
Speaker 1: Well, I don't. There's something surprising. So I'll say this.
Speaker 1: I don't have in front of me the full list, okay,
Speaker 1: of of where we're downloaded, but I do have a
Speaker 1: top twenty five okay, and the top twenty five has
Speaker 1: had some some interesting results over the span of the
Speaker 1: last year. The one that jumps out to me as
Speaker 1: being one of our most downloaded cities is Philly.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, love Philly.
Speaker 1: Now Philly doesn't exactly fall into the you know, small
Speaker 1: town motif, so to speak, but Temple Zone Philly has
Speaker 1: done really well for us, and Philly is obviously very
Speaker 1: close to me, So that would be an intriguing spot.
Speaker 1: Dark Horse, Yeah, an intriguing spot. Some of the other
Speaker 1: ones that I find of interest, I've heard good things
Speaker 1: about Nashville, Tennessee.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's I've been there. It's a good time.
Speaker 1: I've never been to the Pacific Northwest. I've been to Portland, Oregon,
Speaker 1: but I've never been to Seattle. And Seattle does pretty well. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's another one and one other one that I'll throw
Speaker 1: out here just off the top of my head because
Speaker 1: I can't seem to get this to load. We had
Speaker 1: a really good time in Minneapolis.
Speaker 2: We did have a great time in Minneapolis. Facts only,
Speaker 2: so just some places that are of interest. But Philly,
Speaker 2: if i'm if I'm thinking.
Speaker 1: Put off the cuff here, Philly is the one that
Speaker 1: surprises me, maybe because it is known more of a
Speaker 1: professional sports town than a college town. But yet we
Speaker 1: get a ton of downloads from there.
Speaker 2: Okay, so we like there's no Yeah, I want to know,
Speaker 2: like what market number one oh four is?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Are we big and broken Bow Nebraska? Are we big
Speaker 2: in Overland Park? That's just Kansas City, though.
Speaker 1: We're big in Spartanville, South Carolina.
Speaker 2: There's one that would be oh see, that's great, great
Speaker 2: to know playblow Colorado.
Speaker 1: I will find these you know.
Speaker 2: That El Segundo Yell? Okay, all right, I would go
Speaker 2: to flag Staff. There's a pizzaria. I really want to Honestly,
Speaker 2: if we could do a show at Pizza Cletta in Flagstaff,
Speaker 2: I'd be thrilled.
Speaker 1: All right, well right in. You know, sOliver bloodgmail dot com.
Speaker 1: Let us know where you want to see us. We
Speaker 1: already have pretty good data on where our people are at,
Speaker 1: but we're always up and open minded for new suggestions.
Speaker 1: So Soliverblodgmail dot com or any of our social channels
Speaker 1: is where you can hit us up and let us
Speaker 1: know what's on your mind, where you might want to
Speaker 1: come and see a live show. As we are planning
Speaker 1: that stuff out for probably later July, early to mid August,
Speaker 1: some time in that time block. We'll be back in
Speaker 1: a week. We'll talk more college football Dan. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: hope you enjoy the rest of your evening and all.
Speaker 2: Of your week. Thank you you too, Ty.
Speaker 1: I will talk to you soon. I will talk to
Speaker 1: all y'all pretty soon here as a college football offseason
Speaker 1: plods forward. For that guy over there, Dan Rubinstein, for myself,
Speaker 1: Die Hilton Brand. Thanks again for tuning in, Cat y'all soon,
Speaker 1: Stay solid, hey,