Speaker 1: If you thought more hours a day, minutes a week
Speaker 1: was enough, think again. He's the last remnants of the
Speaker 1: old republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He treats crackheads
Speaker 1: in the ghetto cutter the same as the rich pill
Speaker 1: poppers in the penthouse, to clearing house of hot takes,
Speaker 1: break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with Ben
Speaker 1: Maller starts right now in the everywhares we are back
Speaker 1: at the weekend begins with the Fifth Hour Podcast, and
Speaker 1: we thank you for finding us. However you found us
Speaker 1: here and telling a friend the gift that keeps on
Speaker 1: giving the Fifth Hour Podcast on the weekends, which it
Speaker 1: sounds sounds awkward, but we're gonna gonna kick off the
Speaker 1: college football season which is right around the bend. And
Speaker 1: there's no better way to kick off the college football
Speaker 1: season than with a p himer on what to look
Speaker 1: forward to. But it's not gonna sound boring. That sounded boring,
Speaker 1: It's not gonna be boring at all. And we again,
Speaker 1: we thank you, though for for finding us. The podcast
Speaker 1: has been doing very well, the weekend podcast. We don't
Speaker 1: have the big radio audience. It's a loyal group of
Speaker 1: minions that follow the fifth hour podcast, a spinoff of
Speaker 1: the Overnight Show. And you found it and you can
Speaker 1: tell your friends. It's available not only on I Heart,
Speaker 1: but wherever you get your podcast, you can get it
Speaker 1: and download the podcast. We're on Cameo, I am on Cameo,
Speaker 1: cameo dot com slash Benton Mallory. You want to personalized
Speaker 1: Mallard monologue type deal for you or you just want
Speaker 1: me to do something crazy. I had a Laker fan
Speaker 1: who wanted me to sing the praises of the Lakers
Speaker 1: on a cameo. That was awkward, but but but but
Speaker 1: he paid, so I did it. Kind of, I kind
Speaker 1: of did it. We are joined this weekend, surprisingly back
Speaker 1: to back weekends from West of the four oh five.
Speaker 1: I had to take a peek at some inventory and
Speaker 1: look at some some data since we're big these days
Speaker 1: on the science not a science or some science, but
Speaker 1: I had to look at some backlogs and noticed that
Speaker 1: a few days that I was out come right back
Speaker 1: and book a guy by the name of Rob Parker.
Speaker 1: It was the highest rated podcast in the last sixty days.
Speaker 1: So for that I must say thank you and a
Speaker 1: good job by myself. So yeah, I ever heard a
Speaker 1: lot of complaints, but we'll save that for the next
Speaker 1: next podcast. We don't want to sully the podcast here
Speaker 1: when we'll see you. You've been a huge NFL guy
Speaker 1: since you were a kid, But was there ever an
Speaker 1: instance where you just felt like, man, college football is
Speaker 1: the equal right now to the national football in terms
Speaker 1: of your fandom? Oh? Yeah, sure. When when I was
Speaker 1: a kid, I it was not insignific figuring at all.
Speaker 1: It was a big part. I have fond memories of
Speaker 1: watching you know, the big U I C games on TV,
Speaker 1: although my parents went to u C. L A and
Speaker 1: watching uh, you know, random Notre Dame games, and I
Speaker 1: bought into all of all of that, And I still
Speaker 1: love a great college atmosphere, like I the only one
Speaker 1: I've been to outside of California's Norman, Oklahoma. That was amazing,
Speaker 1: Like I would if I had the time and I
Speaker 1: had the resource. Like Dan Buyer, who works at our place,
Speaker 1: he got sent for years to like the biggest college
Speaker 1: football game of the week, and that's awesome, Like he
Speaker 1: got to experience all that. He's got to go to
Speaker 1: Tuscaloosa and see what it's like at Alabama and and
Speaker 1: go to all these these great college setups, but I
Speaker 1: really haven't experienced much of that other than Oklahoma UM.
Speaker 1: But no, I appreciate. And we don't talk too much
Speaker 1: college football on the The Overnight Show. And the reason
Speaker 1: we don't do that is that we're not on Saturday,
Speaker 1: and so we we could like preview the game, like
Speaker 1: there's a big scandal in college football, We'll talk about
Speaker 1: it because I love scandal. But by the time we
Speaker 1: get back Sunday night in the Monday, the NFL trump's
Speaker 1: college football, and so there's all these big NFL stories
Speaker 1: and then, uh, college football just gets lost in the
Speaker 1: haze of the NFL and does not get the the
Speaker 1: recognition on our show. There's a lack of recognition for
Speaker 1: for college football. But it's amazing though, because when you
Speaker 1: look at television programming top fifty sixty program shows throughout
Speaker 1: the year, it is dominated by the NFL up seconds
Speaker 1: college football, and then everything else. But there's for as
Speaker 1: much as that can run parallel in some ways, it's
Speaker 1: not even close with the NBA and college basketball. It
Speaker 1: just falls off a cliff. So yeah, man, I'm right
Speaker 1: there with you. I would love to go to death Valley.
Speaker 1: I would love to go down to SEC Country. I'd
Speaker 1: love to go to Notre Dame. I'm a biased guy
Speaker 1: when talking scenery, but I absolutely adore Pasadena and the
Speaker 1: Rose Bowl. I think it's the best setting in all
Speaker 1: of college. Well, you know you can go. Yeah, I've been.
Speaker 1: Have you been? You've been to the Rose Bowl. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've been to a bunch of I mean, I went
Speaker 1: back in the day with my cousin to go watch
Speaker 1: Ricky Williams trucks stick a bunch of Bruins and still
Speaker 1: get she lacked by sixty glory days of U c
Speaker 1: l A and Kate McDade. Those guys. Man, it was
Speaker 1: glory days and I'm a fan. But you know, you
Speaker 1: appreciate good ball and obviously USC in the two thousands.
Speaker 1: But hey, hey, I did postgame Bruin talk after the
Speaker 1: worst day in the history of u c l A
Speaker 1: football when they had to play that makeup Miami. Yeah.
Speaker 1: They had a seven team point lead late third quarter
Speaker 1: and ended up giving it all back to Edger and James.
Speaker 1: Hurricanes who had not many had heard of Edger and
Speaker 1: James what they did after that. He ran through them
Speaker 1: like a bull. He just ran over the U c
Speaker 1: l a team. It was so bad. How bad was
Speaker 1: It was so bad that the FBI investigated. They thought
Speaker 1: the game was a rigged deal. That U c l A.
Speaker 1: Tanked the game. That's how bad that the end of
Speaker 1: the game was there in the fourth quarter. And if
Speaker 1: they had simply won that game, they would have played
Speaker 1: for the national you would have gone to the postseason thing,
Speaker 1: the National championship game, because I think Kansas State had
Speaker 1: I think they had lost that same day, if I
Speaker 1: remember um, because Kansas State us in Tennessee all undefeated. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then dude Edrian James had thirty nine carries for
Speaker 1: two yards in that game. He went batshit craze in
Speaker 1: the second half. I remember that. Yeah. It was insane.
Speaker 1: It was absolutely insanity. And but that was I was.
Speaker 1: I was doing local radio. We had the U c
Speaker 1: l A Bruins radio rights, and we were there like
Speaker 1: all those games. It was remember one of those years
Speaker 1: and in that era was at the Rose Bowl. They
Speaker 1: played Michigan when Michigan was still considered good and Alabama,
Speaker 1: now Alabama was not considered great at that time, but
Speaker 1: still like a legacy program, and they beat him back
Speaker 1: to back, they beat him Michigan and Alabama back to back,
Speaker 1: and like, wow, that's like one of the greatest accomplishments
Speaker 1: of all time. And that's you know, it didn't end
Speaker 1: up with a championship anything like that, but but still
Speaker 1: looking back, it was like, wow, it was actually more impressive.
Speaker 1: I remember to beat Michigan than it was to beat Alabama.
Speaker 1: I also remember the Rose Bowl, uh, And I have
Speaker 1: a notebook somewhere here that Tennessee gave me from when
Speaker 1: Peyton Manning came to play at the Rose. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: they passed out all this They were trying to get
Speaker 1: Peyton the Heisman trophies, so they passed out all this
Speaker 1: paraphernalia for Peyton Manning. I kept some of it because
Speaker 1: I'm a loser, and I have some of it here
Speaker 1: in my many boxes as I moved. But another about that, Listen,
Speaker 1: we are don't bear the lead my man? All right?
Speaker 1: With that is the backdrop collegiant football to the gridiron
Speaker 1: we go. And if you're a college football fan, you
Speaker 1: are more than well aware of Bruce Feldman, who is
Speaker 1: the national college football writer at the Athletic and has
Speaker 1: been covering college football for more than twenty years. Now.
Speaker 1: You see him on Fox college football coverage, a sideline
Speaker 1: reporter the big Games Fox does. He's written a bunch
Speaker 1: of books on college football, and he has he's seen
Speaker 1: it and done it all over the last two decades plus.
Speaker 1: And so we are joined now by the aforementioned Bruce Feldman. Bruce,
Speaker 1: thank you. So why don't we start with this name,
Speaker 1: image and likeness. The era has a ride. We heard
Speaker 1: a lot of negative comments about this pearl clutching, people
Speaker 1: jumping up and down, pounding the table. What are your
Speaker 1: early impressions on how the n I L has gone
Speaker 1: so far? I do people have gotten a little numb
Speaker 1: to it. Maybe you know there's there's a little bit
Speaker 1: of a shock value. And you see, you know on
Speaker 1: Ohio State freshman defensive alignman, you know, posing pictures with
Speaker 1: a with a really nice truck or suv that you
Speaker 1: know he's doing some kind of partnership with with a
Speaker 1: car dealership. And you know, it's not too far removed
Speaker 1: from when you would hear chatter from like got message boards,
Speaker 1: so and so defensive lineman or star player who didn't
Speaker 1: commit to such and such school posing with a with
Speaker 1: a fancy car on his Instagram and people are like, see,
Speaker 1: look what happened there. So I think from that part
Speaker 1: of it, it's taking a little bit of readjusting for people. Um,
Speaker 1: I think some of the some of the reality of
Speaker 1: it is most of the money involved with student athletes,
Speaker 1: not just in football, but in other sports, especially the
Speaker 1: other non revenue sports, the money is probably not two
Speaker 1: ipop thing. So I just think, you know, I think
Speaker 1: it's probably getting gonna get normalized to a large degree
Speaker 1: before too long. It's just we are in such a
Speaker 1: you know, such a framework of being used to the
Speaker 1: n s A rules and regulations that I just think
Speaker 1: there's an adjustment phase that goes onto it. And quite honestly,
Speaker 1: some stuff that's showing up on social media, and there's
Speaker 1: probably a bunch of stuff that's not not getting on
Speaker 1: people's radar because it's not going on social media that's
Speaker 1: happening behind the scenes. Be sure to catch live editions
Speaker 1: of The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern
Speaker 1: eleven pm Pacific. Be sure to catch live editions of
Speaker 1: The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am eastern eleven
Speaker 1: pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio app. Yeah and the moment for me where and
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't have a problem. I'm fine with
Speaker 1: the players getting the money. I'm glad they're they're getting
Speaker 1: the money. But you're right, there's an adjustment period. The quarterback,
Speaker 1: the high school quarterback from Texas, I forget his name,
Speaker 1: that went to Ohio and uh. That was the satire
Speaker 1: moment for me when he when he posted uh commercial
Speaker 1: on on social media and he hadn't even you know,
Speaker 1: gone to college yet, and that whole that that was like, Wow,
Speaker 1: that this is really real. That's like that was wild.
Speaker 1: And now my I made an argument on my my
Speaker 1: show Bruce that I don't. I don't think that's gonna
Speaker 1: become the norm where guys skip their senior year of
Speaker 1: high school being your last year of eligibility to go
Speaker 1: wait to play football somewhere. I think that's only like
Speaker 1: one percent of guys. Are you with me on that
Speaker 1: or do you think this would become more and more
Speaker 1: of a regular occurrence. No, I think that example is
Speaker 1: probably even less than one percent. It's probably a fraction
Speaker 1: of a percent. I mean, the oddity of that one
Speaker 1: particular was you have a very high quarterback at a
Speaker 1: powerhouse school, in Texas, and you had the high school
Speaker 1: head coach basically finding out that this kid is is
Speaker 1: thinking of just basically both thing and and you gonna
Speaker 1: go to college journily on a news story that somebody
Speaker 1: forwarded to him. So you have like, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: the parents are thinking of doing what? And it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's like and there's a camp boot your drink and
Speaker 1: what is going on? Why are we hearing it? Like?
Speaker 1: It's just I think it's a It's that part of
Speaker 1: it is such uncharted waters and we'll see, you know.
Speaker 1: It's like I mean, in that particular case, is he
Speaker 1: gonna win the starting job? And you know he's in
Speaker 1: a four horse race and he's coming in He's I
Speaker 1: don't even think as we're doing this, he's not even
Speaker 1: there yet. I think he gets there tomorrow. So who
Speaker 1: knows how that one's gonna play out. I think a
Speaker 1: lot of this is going to be wait and see
Speaker 1: and how this works out. And I think there's gonna
Speaker 1: be a bunch of stuff where people are gonna look
Speaker 1: at and go, that's the return our investment they're getting
Speaker 1: from that. And I think that there's gonna go a
Speaker 1: lot of folks and a lot of businesses who were
Speaker 1: probably we're going to reevaluate as they go because it's
Speaker 1: just everything is so new right now. Yeah. Absolutely, And
Speaker 1: I did see there have been some guys that have
Speaker 1: pushed back a little bit. I saw Pett and our Doozy,
Speaker 1: the pit coach. He made a comment that was like
Speaker 1: legalized cheating, and they need a salary cap, like a
Speaker 1: national salary cap for recruiting. If you think that, do
Speaker 1: we get a new bureaucracy bruce in college football to
Speaker 1: oversee the oversight of name, image likeness And how would
Speaker 1: that even work? I think the n IS at this
Speaker 1: point is so backed into a corner of guard rails.
Speaker 1: I don't know how that works. I mean, I did
Speaker 1: a big story in the Athletic right on the eve
Speaker 1: of an I L being made official, and one of
Speaker 1: the coaches made the point towards the end of legalized
Speaker 1: basically legalized cheating and things above board. And hey, if
Speaker 1: you're a booster, he complained about your school, you know,
Speaker 1: losing top local recruits to maybe quote unquote more aggressive programs. Well,
Speaker 1: the coach made the point, Now, guys, it's put up
Speaker 1: for shut up time. You can legally UM have an
Speaker 1: impact on some of these recruits just the same. And
Speaker 1: it's not like it was in terms of in the
Speaker 1: n t a's heard you before. Now it's a different landscape.
Speaker 1: And and those are some of the things honestly that
Speaker 1: when I alluded to it is like maybe those are
Speaker 1: things that aren't done in the face of social media
Speaker 1: and necessarily UM you know, whether their appearance fees or
Speaker 1: things where it's like, hey, this is a star player
Speaker 1: who's going to go to some boosters kid's birthday party,
Speaker 1: and maybe he gets fifty grand for the appearance. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's a hundred grand. I mean, the question is who
Speaker 1: sets the value on that. I think the n c
Speaker 1: a UM and even you know, Congress I I think
Speaker 1: that that is a that is a really touchy subject, Bruce.
Speaker 1: Do you think it will have any kind of trickle
Speaker 1: down in terms of any kind of money, ally kid
Speaker 1: to guys that are in junior college or maybe even
Speaker 1: trusts that are set up for high school kids to
Speaker 1: at least try to make sure that they stay in
Speaker 1: for four years and not bail like some of these guys,
Speaker 1: and assure them that there will be some money that
Speaker 1: is guaranteed for what they have agreed to once they
Speaker 1: become freshman in college. Well, I think there's probably already
Speaker 1: a triple down for some high school kids. I don't know,
Speaker 1: depending on how it's related to their different state high
Speaker 1: school regulation bodies and the different state laws that are
Speaker 1: going to be quit in place for this our restrictive
Speaker 1: How how you know how detailed they are and how
Speaker 1: they're written and so one thing I've heard a bunch
Speaker 1: of from some A d s in the first month
Speaker 1: of this was Okay, you know, we've seen some more
Speaker 1: athletes come to us a great a minute. None of
Speaker 1: like we've signed your life away to something, But it's like,
Speaker 1: how what are the how long are the rights that
Speaker 1: you signed to to go do some Instagram posts for
Speaker 1: some gene company or something like some of those things
Speaker 1: I've already come up. And a lot of there's just
Speaker 1: a lot of tv D with some of this stuff,
Speaker 1: as as it's like happening on the fly, you know,
Speaker 1: and as a as a former athlete and as a
Speaker 1: game or two I think Ben and I can attest
Speaker 1: at least we're happy to see the return of n
Speaker 1: C double A Football on PlayStation Xbox right, Yes, that's
Speaker 1: huge Bruce, did you did you grow up in that
Speaker 1: area or were you more like the bird versus Magic
Speaker 1: on Atari? No, I remember, like it's both. I definitely
Speaker 1: remember the e A Sports original Bird Magic game with
Speaker 1: the not Bird Magic, it was actually Bird dr J. Actually,
Speaker 1: you know, I think about it was the first time
Speaker 1: I've seen it and he broke a backboard and there
Speaker 1: would be this like little comics cartoon ref who would
Speaker 1: who would who would shovel the glass off the off
Speaker 1: the court? But no, I mean like I love those
Speaker 1: old you know e A games where you know, I
Speaker 1: remember a specific day with my now life but remember
Speaker 1: she came home from work. This is before we were marrying.
Speaker 1: I was so excited to show her, uh this version
Speaker 1: of seven on seven that was added to the new
Speaker 1: to the game that knew that year, and she was like,
Speaker 1: how much time did you spend on this to day?
Speaker 1: And it was answer was probably about ten hours. And
Speaker 1: that was a little When it came out of my
Speaker 1: mouth and say it like that, I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I's pretty much wasted a day doing this. So but
Speaker 1: you know, I could see how addictive those games were
Speaker 1: or are, and um, you know how it's funny now
Speaker 1: that we're talking about. I'm thinking about some of those
Speaker 1: days the older Lead eleven was really sponsored by a
Speaker 1: sports and you'd have the newest game, and you know
Speaker 1: a lot of the quarterbacks. I remember back in the day,
Speaker 1: Ryan Malle was a high schooler. He's obviously went on
Speaker 1: to play at Arkansas, but I remember playing a game
Speaker 1: had you know, against him, and it was just like,
Speaker 1: I don't know that was I just felt like it
Speaker 1: was just such a part of the start of the
Speaker 1: season in the fall, the game was about the new
Speaker 1: version of the game was coming out, right. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you to be fair, if you grew up thirty
Speaker 1: years later, then he'd be actually getting paid to play
Speaker 1: these video games as opposed to cover in these athletes.
Speaker 1: So it's just a it's just a different time. Um.
Speaker 1: I want to go to the SCC real quick and
Speaker 1: ask you a specific question on Alabama and Bryce Young. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, locally, I covered Bryce when he was at
Speaker 1: Cathedral and he was at Modern Day and I have
Speaker 1: a completely different outlook on him, and I think a
Speaker 1: lot of people do, especially when they compare him to
Speaker 1: DJ we on GOL. But I feel like Bryce Young
Speaker 1: is gonna be in that similar situation that J. T.
Speaker 1: Daniels was, And what I mean by that is that
Speaker 1: he was heavily protected at modern day, no one breathed
Speaker 1: on him. And then as soon as he got to
Speaker 1: the big leagues in Division one and he had guys
Speaker 1: in his face, it was like a deer in headlights.
Speaker 1: And I know the office of line will be much
Speaker 1: better at Alabama than Southern cal. But I mean, do
Speaker 1: you do you see him being like the guy compared
Speaker 1: to DJ, Like, do you think that's one and two?
Speaker 1: Is that is that Leinerton Brady Quinn back in the day? Um,
Speaker 1: I don't know. There are obviously different stature quarterbacks with
Speaker 1: two of them, I don't know if I would see
Speaker 1: him as you know as as J. T. Daniels. I
Speaker 1: think we're going into different places. I think they're going
Speaker 1: into them in also different transition phases. Whereas Jack Dan
Speaker 1: has left a year early now I know it was
Speaker 1: about the same age as most frustram Moti's still kind
Speaker 1: of like a crunch to get him, you know, to
Speaker 1: get him ready and hit the ground running. Whereas Bryce
Speaker 1: Young had a year or two acclamate to college football
Speaker 1: on that program behind Mac Jones. Um, you know, there
Speaker 1: was no there was no Evan Neil anchoring the line
Speaker 1: would be the best offensive line in the country for
Speaker 1: j T. Daniels. Um, I don't know, you know, I
Speaker 1: temperament why I'd be lying if I said I had
Speaker 1: a great feel for Bryce Young and where he's at
Speaker 1: with things, UM, my understanding, he's probably he's probably better
Speaker 1: at um handling pressure in the pocket and some of
Speaker 1: the challenges j T. Daniels has. So but again, he's
Speaker 1: going to be in the SEC and the bar is
Speaker 1: incredibly high. You know, there's high expectations for j T.
Speaker 1: And there's definitely gonna be sky high expectations for Bryce Young. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, because it's been a long time now, you know,
Speaker 1: you have to go back pre Jalen Hurts, where Alabama
Speaker 1: hasn't had a quarterback been exceptional. Um, you know they
Speaker 1: had you know, Jacob Coco played for when they won
Speaker 1: the national title, but they were really you know, doing
Speaker 1: it with the pieces around them. Um, I don't you know,
Speaker 1: I'd be surprised if Bryce, you and he doesn't have
Speaker 1: a really terrific freshman year given everything I've heard about. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and as far as Nick Saban, I saw somewhat recently,
Speaker 1: he signed another big contract at Alabama. Good for him,
Speaker 1: a lot of money. He's gonna turn seventy in Halloween
Speaker 1: on Halloween. His birthdays on Halloween. So you've been around
Speaker 1: him over the years, Bruce, do you see Nick Saban
Speaker 1: as a guy that's gonna one of these old guard
Speaker 1: college coaches that coaches into his eighties. He do. We
Speaker 1: have another ten years of Nick Saban in Alabama. He
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to be slowing down at all. So it
Speaker 1: wouldn't surprise me if he's there for another six years
Speaker 1: or so. I mean, I don't know for him what
Speaker 1: replaces the energy he gets from the running a you know,
Speaker 1: the top program in college football. You know, would he
Speaker 1: get that if he was, you know, sitting next to
Speaker 1: Kirk clerk Street on the set of Game Day. My
Speaker 1: guess is he probably wouldn't. Um. You know, he seems
Speaker 1: to be in really good help. Seems to be as
Speaker 1: much on top of his game as to the point
Speaker 1: where he's involved to as a coach and as a leader.
Speaker 1: So um. And one thing that I think is very
Speaker 1: unique about his situation, and we're talking about guy who's,
Speaker 1: to me, hands down the greatest college football coach in
Speaker 1: the history of the sport, given what he's done in
Speaker 1: the here, he's done at it. But it's not like
Speaker 1: there's been like a right hand guy who has been
Speaker 1: constant with him. But the staff has turned over an
Speaker 1: incredible amount, and it only seems to get better with
Speaker 1: each twist or each turn. Um, and so to that end,
Speaker 1: you know, it's just it's just pretty remarkable what he's done.
Speaker 1: And you know when he at one point, when he
Speaker 1: ultimately does beside him to step down, UM, I'd be surprised.
Speaker 1: I'd be curious to see what is going to replace
Speaker 1: it for him. Be sure to catch live editions of
Speaker 1: The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven
Speaker 1: pm Pacific. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Speaker 1: Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm
Speaker 1: Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. So, so,
Speaker 1: how does it worked at Alabama? Brutil Is he you know,
Speaker 1: he's very obviously hands on, but is he is he
Speaker 1: either closer to the other people do the recruiting and
Speaker 1: then Nick comes in at the end rolling up in
Speaker 1: a private plane or like, what are the dynamics that
Speaker 1: you kind of take us behind the scenes that from
Speaker 1: what you've heard about how it works, because it is
Speaker 1: an absolute clearing house. Obviously it was insane how many
Speaker 1: NFL players come out of there every year. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: he has his model for what the standards of what
Speaker 1: he feels like are critical to success for each prospect.
Speaker 1: And I think because they have such a track record
Speaker 1: of not only winning championships that developed an NFL talent,
Speaker 1: I think the recruiting process is different than everybody else's.
Speaker 1: And so Nick Saban is is going to tab you.
Speaker 1: And I would use this example like Marty Cooper who
Speaker 1: obviously it was an amazing college receiver and before it
Speaker 1: like to the NFL, like he was not a big
Speaker 1: recruit coming out of South Florida, and you know, Miami
Speaker 1: at the time not move on him fast enough. He
Speaker 1: went went to a camp at at Alabama. Nick Saban
Speaker 1: watched him worked out, and he didn't care that he
Speaker 1: was at the time probably equivalent about three star. I
Speaker 1: don't even know if he was. He might have been
Speaker 1: a no star at that point. Nick Saban thought he
Speaker 1: was had a chance to be special. He offered him
Speaker 1: and the pipe flying to South Florida was cranked up
Speaker 1: and going because Nick Saban trusts his evaluation. I feel
Speaker 1: like one of the things you have with the great
Speaker 1: Fruit they trust their own evaluations. And you know, I
Speaker 1: saw that it was a great recruit to l s
Speaker 1: u h trust his evaluations. He doesn't really care what
Speaker 1: your star ranking is, and so that was a big
Speaker 1: piece of it. Bruce making her way from the SCC
Speaker 1: to the to the Pact twelve USC and and Clay Hilton,
Speaker 1: what's the leash like on him this season? That's a
Speaker 1: good question. I feel like, you know, two years ago
Speaker 1: their recruiting was really struggling with him being on the
Speaker 1: hot teaper so long, and then last year he shook
Speaker 1: up the staff. It was like, I had a great year. Um.
Speaker 1: But I think the assistance that some of these as
Speaker 1: systems they added really were good at developing relationships and
Speaker 1: cultivating trust and everything like that, and that helps. And
Speaker 1: they got some time local players especially, and that I
Speaker 1: think it's given them some some some new energy and
Speaker 1: some needed momentum. But if they remember last year they
Speaker 1: played for the Pactbell title, they didn't win it. They
Speaker 1: didn't have anybody out of the conference It's also at
Speaker 1: the beginning of here they almost lost. They really mediocre
Speaker 1: Arizona program that was winless and almost lost. They were
Speaker 1: trailing that game without a minute left. So you know,
Speaker 1: I think if they know, if they win nine games,
Speaker 1: you go nine and three, you know, USC fans won't
Speaker 1: think it's a great year. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: can fire him then I think if they go win
Speaker 1: en go tend and two. I really don't think you
Speaker 1: can fire him. The question is if you're nine and three,
Speaker 1: certainly eight and four, you know, can you you know,
Speaker 1: can you get Matt Campbell from Iowa State set and
Speaker 1: would he want to come? Um, if you can get them,
Speaker 1: if you have an option out there that you think
Speaker 1: is they really makes a lot of sense and get
Speaker 1: people excited, then I think, you know that's going to
Speaker 1: put even more pressure on him. You know, as Mario
Speaker 1: Crystal bla guy where you'd be able to pull him
Speaker 1: away from from Oregon and the other side of the
Speaker 1: conference is obviously recruited Southern California excepolutely well. He brings
Speaker 1: physical football, something I know a lot of old USC
Speaker 1: players really admire, especially in the days right now where
Speaker 1: they run an air raid, which you know, I think
Speaker 1: people like Graham Harold, but I think they're not thrilled
Speaker 1: over with USC being an air raid style team. So
Speaker 1: you know, all those factors go into it. But to me,
Speaker 1: the biggest thing above all is, you know, for a
Speaker 1: lot of USC people, Looster's former players and powert brokers
Speaker 1: around the program. I don't think I really were, you know,
Speaker 1: felt like Clay helping should be the guy. So how
Speaker 1: do you how does he convince them that he should
Speaker 1: be the guy going forward? I don't know, Suter. If
Speaker 1: he can win the Pactell title that's a ranked eleventh
Speaker 1: in the country, I think a lot of the people
Speaker 1: that matter at USC would just say, yeah, but the
Speaker 1: PAC twelve is really down. We should be better than this.
Speaker 1: I really think about the only real way he can
Speaker 1: prove to those skeptics that he should have the job
Speaker 1: going forward to get in the playoff I mean, get
Speaker 1: into four teams playoffs and not be top twelve. And
Speaker 1: that was gonna lead me to my next question, because
Speaker 1: the changing of the guard in the Pack twelve with
Speaker 1: Larry Scott being gone, what kind of resurgence, like, how
Speaker 1: fast do you think we'll see a resurgence with the
Speaker 1: Pack twelve being in that picture regularly with the Big Ten,
Speaker 1: with the Big twelve, and with the SEC in the
Speaker 1: A C C because you know, for all intensive purposes,
Speaker 1: it's committing that kind of redhead step child like, Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: if you have one loss and you win your conference,
Speaker 1: then then we'll consider you for a playoff game. But
Speaker 1: for the most part, these guys are getting slacked left
Speaker 1: and right, and part of it is because leadership at
Speaker 1: the top. Yeah, I need to say that I'm not
Speaker 1: to advocate to Larry Scott and so he did to
Speaker 1: a job when I don't when I think he didn't
Speaker 1: focus on the most important thing as it relates to,
Speaker 1: you know, running a Power of five conference. But ultimately,
Speaker 1: if the USC was in the position it was when
Speaker 1: Pete Carroll is a head coach, it didn't matter who
Speaker 1: was running the Pack twelve at that point of the
Speaker 1: Pac ten. At that point, you know, us like Larry Scott,
Speaker 1: ping the commissioner is not the reason why USC football
Speaker 1: went into a tail spin. It started with sanctions and
Speaker 1: then it went to some really bad leadership above the
Speaker 1: head football coach. You know, you can start with you know,
Speaker 1: went from Mike Garrett's tenure had Hayden's decisions and then
Speaker 1: to the curious and bizarre hire of Lynn Swan And
Speaker 1: I think that or what leadership had way more, much
Speaker 1: more to do with why the Pack twelve as a
Speaker 1: football product has lagged. I mean, if you take a
Speaker 1: look at the rest of the league, I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't feel like the really um you know orribles. I
Speaker 1: mean right now, christ Ball hasn't. It's not as scized
Speaker 1: when chip Kelly had them scoring in football is not
Speaker 1: like it's not the problem. Um, I don't think you
Speaker 1: know the place where uh that would help them back
Speaker 1: to all them mentally if chip Kelly got it going
Speaker 1: at at U c l A. Beyond that, I don't
Speaker 1: know if you looked at you know, Washington, Chris Peterson
Speaker 1: had did did very well for the Huskies. They didn't
Speaker 1: break into you know, they made the playoff, they didn't
Speaker 1: do much beyond that. Um, you know, Stanford has back
Speaker 1: slid under David Shaw in the last few years. But
Speaker 1: beyond that, to me, is really comes back to the
Speaker 1: l A schools, right. I mean, USC is the pre
Speaker 1: eminent powerhouse. They're the ones that need to be a
Speaker 1: national title consenter. They have not been U C l A,
Speaker 1: which had some success under Jim Borra, has sputtered and
Speaker 1: we'll see. Like I said, chif Kelly had a great
Speaker 1: resume coming out of Oregon and had success you know,
Speaker 1: early on in the NFL with the Eagles, but so
Speaker 1: far it's been it's been a struggle to elevate that program.
Speaker 1: That maybe year four this will be the year that
Speaker 1: they break through and that would be a huge thing
Speaker 1: for the conference. Right now, to me, it's really a
Speaker 1: usc shortcoming when you look at what what how people do.
Speaker 1: The back will help more than anything. And with that
Speaker 1: said Bruce, So you mentioned Chip Kelly the I think
Speaker 1: he's the most. He's won his four games. He's been
Speaker 1: there three years. You know, I think they went four
Speaker 1: and eight a couple of years ago. But the Boosters
Speaker 1: that used to there's always the issue with the Bruins,
Speaker 1: like are they're gonna find somebody for the football program?
Speaker 1: You know, how much time does Chip have left? I
Speaker 1: guess is the question as you know, if they go
Speaker 1: out this year the Bruins and again have three or
Speaker 1: four wins, does he come back to coach in two
Speaker 1: or do they have someone else take over. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think if they are a three win team the last year,
Speaker 1: it's a hard know, like they played seven games and
Speaker 1: I think, you know, you could tell that they were
Speaker 1: a better team, but they call me and it was
Speaker 1: in a pandemic and it was abbreviated season. I think
Speaker 1: if they go seven and five, I think there's a
Speaker 1: lot of people around your style figure like, Okay, now,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, we got some momentum, We're started,
Speaker 1: We've turned the corner. Because I feel like they were
Speaker 1: definitely better last year than they were in his first
Speaker 1: two years. I mean, he basically flipped the roster and
Speaker 1: now a lot of guys that have played a lot
Speaker 1: of football there. Now, if they go five and seven, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's more wins than they've had before. But I think
Speaker 1: then it's a tough sell. You have an a D.
Speaker 1: We didn't hire them. I think you have some expectations
Speaker 1: of Okay, maybe this just isn't a great fit here.
Speaker 1: But I feel like if they if they get to
Speaker 1: a plot season Bowls and I think you've seen some improvement,
Speaker 1: it would not at all surprise me if they won
Speaker 1: eight games this year or even more, because I feel
Speaker 1: like they have really kind of now established a culture
Speaker 1: or what he wants, Whereas when he was an orgy
Speaker 1: and remember he was the offensive coordinator. When he jumped
Speaker 1: in there, they were already rolling under Mike Ballati, and
Speaker 1: then they really elevated when he became the head coach. Here,
Speaker 1: he took over was already a program that was sputtering.
Speaker 1: At the end of Gym More, they had they missed
Speaker 1: on a bunch of recruits, and I think it was
Speaker 1: a real cultural shift going from More to Kelly and
Speaker 1: how he was going to runny things and they struggled.
Speaker 1: Now I think they're out of that kind of malaise.
Speaker 1: But let's see how much faster they can elevate and
Speaker 1: can they ascend to me a top twenty five program again.
Speaker 1: I think they have a real chance to do that
Speaker 1: this year. Yeah, and it's staying in the pact. Twelve.
Speaker 1: Herm Edwards, former NFL coach over at Arizona State. Ever,
Speaker 1: they're pretty optimistic about their team, but there's also a
Speaker 1: little bit of scandal there. How long do you see
Speaker 1: Herm lasting with the Sun Devils? Yeah, I think it's
Speaker 1: more than a little scandal, to be honest, When he
Speaker 1: had through assistant coach to put on the show. That's
Speaker 1: a full blown scandal. You know, the question is, I mean,
Speaker 1: I've heard from our reporting that the A. D ray
Speaker 1: Anderson really wants to keep firm. They really they really
Speaker 1: would do whatever they tend to protect him. Antonio appears
Speaker 1: and the defense were here, but really kind of the
Speaker 1: de facto head coach running the program. Yet as a
Speaker 1: relate from the scandal, you've had three young assistants who
Speaker 1: are position coaches put on leave. Now they're still being paid.
Speaker 1: But the question is it doesn't seem very plausible that
Speaker 1: these three young like basically entry level assistance, we're bank
Speaker 1: rolling some you know, this scandal as it relates to
Speaker 1: bring in players on unofficial business where they were you know,
Speaker 1: improper benefits also bringing players and from our report in
Speaker 1: the Athletic herm had had had met with players during
Speaker 1: the dead curry during COVID, which would be a real violation. UM,
Speaker 1: I don't know how like the question is going to
Speaker 1: be some of the former assistances were no longer in staff.
Speaker 1: From what I've been told, they are going to be
Speaker 1: willing to speak to the m C and discuss some
Speaker 1: of these issues, and that doesn't bode well if you're
Speaker 1: hours on the state. They're real question to me right
Speaker 1: now is how quickly does this come to a head.
Speaker 1: It does not look good for Arizona State. It's just
Speaker 1: a question of just herm and that staff they really
Speaker 1: make it through the season without this blowing up even further,
Speaker 1: because you know, everything I've heard is they want to
Speaker 1: basically have these three young staffer's kind of be the
Speaker 1: fall guy for everything. And I don't know if that's
Speaker 1: entirely plausible, but if the administrations we are going to
Speaker 1: back them, you know, maybe they you know, the people
Speaker 1: who that core unquote matter at Arizona State on and
Speaker 1: the coaching like her, maybe they end up with show causes.
Speaker 1: But Mullan at Florida has a show cause for recruiting
Speaker 1: violations and he's still coaching there. And not only still
Speaker 1: coaching there, Florida gave him a raise in this offseason
Speaker 1: of a million plus. So it's hardly today Town University
Speaker 1: is gonna handle scandal. Bruce On on a lighter note,
Speaker 1: speaking of of coverage, with what you do at the
Speaker 1: athletic um, it's an annual tradition with with the freaks
Speaker 1: and I took a peek at your list and and
Speaker 1: correct me if I'm wrong in the pronunciation. But Xavion
Speaker 1: for Kron from Southern Illinois, that offensive guard squatting eight
Speaker 1: hundred pounds and benching five hundred. Yeah, arguably the strongest
Speaker 1: man in college football. He's a really fascinating story. Not
Speaker 1: just this our house in the waiver of football field.
Speaker 1: This is the guy who grew up, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: without a father around his Both his mother and his
Speaker 1: younger sister passed away in the last two years. Through
Speaker 1: it all, was able to still manage to get a
Speaker 1: four point o g p A is going for his
Speaker 1: master's um head coach there and killed him and he's like,
Speaker 1: this is the greatest leader I've ever been around. Just
Speaker 1: to say enough good things about them. So one of
Speaker 1: things I love about the Freaks List is just because
Speaker 1: there are a lot of stories, maybe not exactly like
Speaker 1: that one of great perseverance and everything that maybe manifest
Speaker 1: themselfs like in the way you room more athletically, but
Speaker 1: also it speaks to some of the character guys and
Speaker 1: what they do and just being able to do it
Speaker 1: in this format where you can tell these stories and
Speaker 1: people may may click on the story to see the
Speaker 1: three of the Sisty found left tackle at Alabama doing
Speaker 1: crazy split like box jumps or seeing some other freaky stuff.
Speaker 1: But then you you hear the story of a guy
Speaker 1: like with and it just kind of really resonates with you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I like it, especially because you don't just
Speaker 1: you're not amongst the power of five. You dip into
Speaker 1: the mac which I love in the Mountain West Conference
Speaker 1: and of course the FCS like what was the genesis
Speaker 1: of the freaks um? A long time ago, I was
Speaker 1: doing a blog dot com, not going to be a magazine,
Speaker 1: and you do the term he's a free gathlete. And
Speaker 1: here's somebody who you know, like leg press twelve hundred
Speaker 1: pounds that you know some some you know, five seventh
Speaker 1: linebackers who was a walk on could do like you know,
Speaker 1: three sixty dunk or some freaky athletic thing. And I
Speaker 1: was like, I mentioned, there's ten guys I could do
Speaker 1: a little story on, and so it was ten, and
Speaker 1: I went to twenty five, and then when I got
Speaker 1: to the athletic we went to fifty. And then as
Speaker 1: this thing has gone on, I've been doing it for
Speaker 1: fifteen plus years and had so much buy in from
Speaker 1: college strength coaches around the country, developed those relationships where
Speaker 1: now they've become a great source of intel um and
Speaker 1: coaches as well. And now you start hearing from the
Speaker 1: players themselves, and then you got to verify, you know,
Speaker 1: players telling you he did some things, want to make
Speaker 1: sure that's in fact accurate. Um. But there's been so
Speaker 1: much fun from it that I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: this year, I think I could probably do a hundred
Speaker 1: because when ended up with a lot. So it's just
Speaker 1: a it's a fun process. I learned a ton about
Speaker 1: the players around the country, but also it's a great
Speaker 1: way to get ready for the start of the seat.
Speaker 1: Absolutely now changing gears. I wanna go back to the
Speaker 1: Southeastern Conference here, Bruce and the news that came out
Speaker 1: that eventually the Longhorns and Sooners are gonna be headed
Speaker 1: to the SEC. Now I've heard from some people listen
Speaker 1: to my my radio show, there's like, well, the the
Speaker 1: SEC arrogance is that both these schools are not gonna matter.
Speaker 1: You know, they're not gonna They're not gonna take down
Speaker 1: Alabama for example, in the in the SEC, where do
Speaker 1: you see them stacking up head to head once this
Speaker 1: let's say a year from now or two years from now,
Speaker 1: whenever this happens, Uh, will Oklahoma be relevant still? Will
Speaker 1: they still be at the very top of the SEC?
Speaker 1: Are they gonna be a mid level team? And what
Speaker 1: happens to Texas? I think that's Lincoln Rice on the
Speaker 1: head coach stern Ali stur interest to run defense. Absolutely
Speaker 1: think they will be relevant. I think there will be
Speaker 1: a playoff top five team everywhere. It's gonna be a
Speaker 1: lot harder. You know, you're gonna face a lot better
Speaker 1: defense and a lot better caliber defensive linemen um and
Speaker 1: athletes in the SEC than he ever did in the
Speaker 1: Big twelve. But I think if you have that kind
Speaker 1: of talent that they've had, that kind of coaching, I
Speaker 1: think they will definitely still be a factor in Texas.
Speaker 1: It's a big TV because they were always in close games.
Speaker 1: They won some, they lost some. You know, it was
Speaker 1: an underachieving program for a long time. Towards the end
Speaker 1: of the mac Brown here definitely for the Charlie Strong
Speaker 1: one and then from comperment start have to get the
Speaker 1: thing elevated in a big way or else they're going
Speaker 1: to be you know, somewhere along the line of probably
Speaker 1: what Mississippi and Missouri have been if they don't get
Speaker 1: it going. And that's not to say that, um, those
Speaker 1: are bad programs, but they're not. It's not going to
Speaker 1: cut it. W you could what you could do with
Speaker 1: not always having your a game and maybe not developing
Speaker 1: talent as much as you need to. At Texas in
Speaker 1: the Big twelve, you can get away and go eight
Speaker 1: and four in the in the in the SEC. Right now,
Speaker 1: into that league, I mean, you're gonna you're gonna struggle
Speaker 1: that winning record. You may go six and six, maybe
Speaker 1: you go seven and five, but the chances would going
Speaker 1: to win nine games. It's not gonna be it. It's
Speaker 1: it's probably the difference in a game and a half,
Speaker 1: I would say, each year, especially depending on how the
Speaker 1: schedules are getting getting straightened out. Do you think do
Speaker 1: you think Lane Kiffin is gonna find a way to
Speaker 1: win or help Matt Correll win the Heisman Trophy this year?
Speaker 1: Do you think he's gonna do everything in his power
Speaker 1: to make sure he does that. I think he's gonna try.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know it would have helped
Speaker 1: if he had a livea more. I mean, it's skill guy. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't think I think that's a real long shot
Speaker 1: for that to happen. But you know, one thing we've
Speaker 1: seen almost every year, whether it's Davante Smith or Joe
Speaker 1: or Joe Burrow or way back to Johnny football, somebody
Speaker 1: has come off and come out of the woodwork to
Speaker 1: make a run at the Heisman. I mean not Correl
Speaker 1: is probably better position right now than most of the
Speaker 1: guys who won Heisman's before. But you know, at this point,
Speaker 1: I would say still a long shot because you know
Speaker 1: you have to you know they're gonna be help from
Speaker 1: their defense. They were horrible on the last year. They
Speaker 1: were barely a five teams. You know they're gonna have
Speaker 1: to go be a top fifteen team. And otherwise he's
Speaker 1: just gonna put up big staff, which is fine, and
Speaker 1: maybe I get him invited to New York, but I
Speaker 1: think he's gonna have to do a lot better job
Speaker 1: taking care of the football and being a lot more
Speaker 1: consistent if he really wants to be in the Heisman concifration.
Speaker 1: So I want I want to backpedal to the to
Speaker 1: the conference shakeup thing. BRUSA and what happens to the team.
Speaker 1: I know the vultures are out the Big twelve? What's
Speaker 1: left once Texas and Oklahoma leave? Do they to half
Speaker 1: of them go to the Pack twelve and they make
Speaker 1: it a mega conference? Do they go to the A
Speaker 1: C C? Like? How do you think this shakes out
Speaker 1: with what's left of the current Big twelve minus Texas
Speaker 1: and Oklahoma. I think they're going to have to do
Speaker 1: a masterful job of trying to sell it and market
Speaker 1: themselves because right now, the idea of the leftover from
Speaker 1: the from the Big twelve, which don't have anywhere near
Speaker 1: the cache from a TV writings poll standpoint, you know,
Speaker 1: it's one thing to go partner up let's say the
Speaker 1: Pack twelve necessarily, but now also you're talking about instead
Speaker 1: of let's let's say they take the whole all eight
Speaker 1: of them, they're talking about splitting it twenty rays instead
Speaker 1: of twelve. I mean, it's Case State and and Texas
Speaker 1: Tech and Oklahoma State. Are they really going to be
Speaker 1: musty TV? For? You know, if you're the Pack twelve
Speaker 1: in the Utah Oklahoma State game, got to really get
Speaker 1: TV executives fired up. Those are two successful programs we're
Speaker 1: not talking about Canadas here um and yet I just
Speaker 1: think that that's not going to add to their bottom
Speaker 1: line in a profound way. If you're the Pack twelve.
Speaker 1: Now I can see why you want to do it
Speaker 1: if you're if you're the Big twelve, because you just
Speaker 1: got gutted from the top of the food chain to
Speaker 1: keep a partner up with a conference that has USC
Speaker 1: and has Oregon and some big big markets Washington, Arizona State,
Speaker 1: and you know those are those are big markets. But
Speaker 1: I from the PacTel standpoint, I don't know if it
Speaker 1: makes sense. And I even know if you're George cleopcom,
Speaker 1: you've gotta get a great feal for what USC values
Speaker 1: because they have a lot of cloud at this point,
Speaker 1: and they are attractive compared to the other other conferences
Speaker 1: in Power five. And if USC is looking at going,
Speaker 1: I don't want you guys to you know, it does
Speaker 1: nothing for us to bring in Oklahoma State or as
Speaker 1: good as Matt Campbell is what they've done at Iowa
Speaker 1: stake the last few years. I mean, is that a
Speaker 1: big sell for us to have Iowa State in there?
Speaker 1: You know, Matt Campbell leading anybody that excited about Io
Speaker 1: State at that point. Um, you know, those are some
Speaker 1: hard questions that I think the PAC twelve has to
Speaker 1: sort out. I mean, if you're the A c C,
Speaker 1: I don't know necessarily what that what that brings to
Speaker 1: them to add some of these programs. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: just me. It's a hard sell to take take necessarily
Speaker 1: to leftovers. As a straight on plan partner, Bruce, I'm
Speaker 1: looking forward to reading your stuff on the athletic during
Speaker 1: the football season, seeing you on TV and all that,
Speaker 1: and good health and we'll have you on to get
Speaker 1: Thank you my pleasure. Thanks for having me, guys. Cool.
Speaker 1: Thanks Bruce,