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Speaker 1: first purchase of a website or domain. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Solid Verbal.
Speaker 2: Come that for me.
Speaker 3: I'm a man, I'm for I've heard so many players say, well,
Speaker 3: I want to be happy.
Speaker 1: You want to be happy for day at the steak?
Speaker 1: Is that woo woom and down and tie? Welcome back
Speaker 1: to the Solid Verbal, boys and girls. My name is
Speaker 1: Ty Hildebrand, joining me as always my good friend and
Speaker 1: colleague and co hosts of many years over there in
Speaker 1: New York City, Dan Rubinstein, sir, how are you?
Speaker 3: I'm all right, Ty, life is all right. I just
Speaker 3: I went to a museum today, Okay, I saw a
Speaker 3: whole bunch of great artwork, went to MoMA, the Museum
Speaker 3: of Modern Art, saw great photography. I'm excited about today's show.
Speaker 3: I like a good check in ty, And we haven't
Speaker 3: spoken to Andy Staples. We really haven't had any guests
Speaker 3: on in a long time, just because there's so much
Speaker 3: information during the season and signing day. We obviously have
Speaker 3: a couple guests Bud Elliott and Brandon Hoffman, but it's
Speaker 3: good to just take a deep breath and say, what's
Speaker 3: going on? What are all these people doing? So I'm
Speaker 3: excited for this one.
Speaker 1: Wake in the morning and you step outside, Dan, take
Speaker 1: a deep breath, you get real high on Today. We're
Speaker 1: gonna talk about new coaches. We're gonna talk about new
Speaker 1: beginnings in the college football world. We've got a long list,
Speaker 1: as you know. Oh, the coaching carousel spun mighty quickly
Speaker 1: this college football offseason. So we're going to try and
Speaker 1: address at least the most prominent positions in the Power
Speaker 1: five that were filled with Andy Staples. Again, we're going
Speaker 1: to talk through some of our most pressing questions. Don't
Speaker 1: forget we are here all off season long. We're not
Speaker 1: going anywhere, so If you like the show, please tell
Speaker 1: your friends about the show. If you haven't already subscribed,
Speaker 1: you can do so out on Apple Podcasts or Spotify,
Speaker 1: Google Play, Stitcher, anywhere you can find a good podcast,
Speaker 1: you can find the soliverbal We've got all sorts of
Speaker 1: exciting things going on this offseason, and if you want
Speaker 1: to be in the loop, you can always do so
Speaker 1: by finding us out on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram,
Speaker 1: anywhere you can find social media. We are there as well, Daniel,
Speaker 1: is that correct?
Speaker 3: That all sounds right to me, that we're doing audio grams.
Speaker 3: I think that's what they're called Twitter and Instagram. And
Speaker 3: you know what I just learned, Ti, I learned that
Speaker 3: you can join somebody else's like you can request to
Speaker 3: join I believe somebody else's Instagram live feed. Oh and
Speaker 3: it split screens. It really so now you'll truly never
Speaker 3: have to leave, Oh the beautiful Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1: So we should start doing Saturday morning feels like a
Speaker 1: good time? Does that work?
Speaker 3: I literally I've never done this. I literally believe, and
Speaker 3: I hate the word literally, I apologize for that usage.
Speaker 3: I believe you go live on Instagram on your phone
Speaker 3: and then you can or somebody watching can request maybe
Speaker 3: they have to be your friend. That would make sense.
Speaker 3: So if I went from the solid verbal account, you
Speaker 3: could then tune in and call in and suddenly it's
Speaker 3: a split screen I think, not a side to side
Speaker 3: in the way that we're used to in sports television,
Speaker 3: more of like the Golden Eye top and bottom. Okay,
Speaker 3: was golden iight top bottom? I know Mario Kart was
Speaker 3: so sure, Mario Kart way, a lot of them were, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: So it's it's essentially that. So wow, you could do
Speaker 3: dueling New York Pennsylvania studio tours and just conversations. So
Speaker 3: I think every so often, maybe Saturday mornings. I'm gonna
Speaker 3: bug you, all.
Speaker 1: Right, I'm down with that. Yes, very good.
Speaker 2: Well.
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Speaker 1: And Daniel, while we're talking about dressing up your website,
Speaker 1: Oh oh, here comes here's the pro You know where
Speaker 1: I'm going with this. Hit me? How about dressing your
Speaker 1: yourself your person? M hmm. It can be tough, whether
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Speaker 3: Do you have a favorite collar style? Ooh, let me
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Speaker 2: No, not all.
Speaker 1: Don't go through all the names. Okay, I'll go through
Speaker 1: some of them quickly. Please.
Speaker 3: Are you a soft ivy? Are you a roma spread,
Speaker 3: a roma, a cutaway, A Londoner, a semi spread? Are
Speaker 3: you an English spread? Londoner? And English spreads a little
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Speaker 3: ask all these things tie just to prove that there
Speaker 3: are so many options to go with because you know
Speaker 3: what next. Shapes are different. Some next look better with
Speaker 3: different collar styles. I'm not gonna sit here and tell
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Speaker 1: I don't know.
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Speaker 3: I thought you were going to rhyme something with fit
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Speaker 1: That is dead. I cannot lie anymore. All right, Daniel
Speaker 1: joining us now from a makeshift studio if we've ever
Speaker 1: had one on the podcast our good friend from Sports
Speaker 1: Illustrated on Pristles.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Andy, how are you? I'm good? I mean, this
Speaker 4: is probably the best I've ever sounded. Sitting in a
Speaker 4: rental car in a Walgreens parking.
Speaker 1: Lot, Describe this setup for the people listening at home.
Speaker 2: All right, this is this is how the sausage gets made.
Speaker 4: So I have a work phone that has Skype on it,
Speaker 4: but nobody has the phone number, so nobody can call
Speaker 4: it and knock the Skype connection off. We are using
Speaker 4: the Skype as a backup because I am also talking
Speaker 4: into a stick mic, which the people who are coming
Speaker 4: out of Walgreens probably think I am insane, but talking
Speaker 4: into a stick mic that is plugged into a task
Speaker 4: Cam DR forty linear PCM recorder that should produce theoretically
Speaker 4: studio quality sound.
Speaker 3: This is probably the fifth or sixth different method that
Speaker 3: we have connected up with you to get your audio
Speaker 3: over the course of the solid verbal.
Speaker 4: Yes, now, I have done several podcasts like this in
Speaker 4: this manner before, but this is the first time I've
Speaker 4: done it on the solid verbal, and of course it's
Speaker 4: my favorite and the first and the best.
Speaker 2: So I'm honored.
Speaker 1: Where is the weirdest place that you've recorded from? Because
Speaker 1: Dan and I have done one from a hot tub,
Speaker 1: We've done one.
Speaker 4: There's a there is a the Illyweed game answer to
Speaker 4: this that you just don't want to know about it.
Speaker 3: But where is the strangest place you have broadcast about
Speaker 3: college football?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 4: That's a great question, and I think I've ever done
Speaker 4: it from a pool. I've recorded a podcast like in
Speaker 4: a cold tub area where guys were training for the draft.
Speaker 2: It's good answer, and nothing got soaked, thank goodness.
Speaker 3: So we are talking new beginnings, new coaches, and I mean,
Speaker 3: these are people that have been on the job for
Speaker 3: maybe two and a half months, and so there's only
Speaker 3: so much you can accomplish in that time. But we
Speaker 3: wanted to take ty and correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 3: A sort of holistic view of a very much non
Speaker 3: holistic situation. You have a short amount of time for
Speaker 3: signing day and to build a staff and to sort
Speaker 3: of give off impressions for what you're going to do,
Speaker 3: what your vision is going to be, and what the
Speaker 3: program is going to look like under you correct.
Speaker 1: Hi, That sounds right.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: We often find ourselves talking about new coaches at some
Speaker 1: point during the off season, and as Dan mentioned, most
Speaker 1: of the time, it's not till like May or June,
Speaker 1: after they've been on the job a little bit longer
Speaker 1: they've had a chance to kind of set some roots.
Speaker 1: We are doing it bright and early in the off
Speaker 1: season this time around spring, just because, as you know, Andy,
Speaker 1: this was a very active coaching carousel season, especially when
Speaker 1: you compare it to what happened last year. I guess
Speaker 1: we can start here. Did you expect it to be
Speaker 1: quite as active as it ended up being.
Speaker 4: I'm not sure how active it was. I know it
Speaker 4: was a bunch of huge jobs. I think that we're
Speaker 4: looking at the fact that Florida turned over Florida State
Speaker 4: turned over big, big jobs, and you know, we weren't
Speaker 4: sure going into the season that those were going to
Speaker 4: turn over Texas A and then we thought might turn over.
Speaker 4: But you know, the idea that Jimbo Fisher would leave
Speaker 4: Florida State for Texas A and M didn't sound like
Speaker 4: something in the realm of possibility in August, and then
Speaker 4: suddenly became more possible as things went along. The idea
Speaker 4: of Jim mcwain getting fired at Florida didn't seem in
Speaker 4: the realm of possibility in August, and things got real weird,
Speaker 4: real fast. So I think it's just a case of
Speaker 4: kind of the quality of jobs that opened up that
Speaker 4: made it feel really active. I'm trying to think the
Speaker 4: numbers I don't think are all that out of whack
Speaker 4: with how many head coaching jobs usually turnover.
Speaker 3: Fair enough, So let's start here. We mentioned Jimbo Fisher.
Speaker 3: He's coming over from Florida State. Obviously blockbuster move for
Speaker 3: Texas A and M. It did seem that no price
Speaker 3: tag would be too high, and fairly or unfairly, he
Speaker 3: will be compared against that seventy five million dollar figure.
Speaker 3: He hires two very solid coordinators, I think, particularly on defense.
Speaker 3: He inherits a younger team take a couple of years
Speaker 3: to sort of get into their own rhythm and reach
Speaker 3: his vision. I guess where should we look with Jimbo
Speaker 3: Fisher to measure his short term impact If it's not
Speaker 3: a situation where they're winning nine or ten wins.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure we can look at that right now.
Speaker 4: I'm not sure there's a way to gauge his success
Speaker 4: right now because they you know, in terms of recruiting,
Speaker 4: they had commitments already, guys that were committed to Kevin
Speaker 4: someone pretty much stayed committed to Texas A and M.
Speaker 4: They've got a very hard schedule, and so it may
Speaker 4: take a little while before we can really gauge what
Speaker 4: Jimbo Fisher's even doing there, because, like Clemson comes into
Speaker 4: College Station in September, this is not going to be
Speaker 4: easy for him, and I'm just it's one of those
Speaker 4: I think they're going to have to give him some time,
Speaker 4: a couple of years to get things the way they
Speaker 4: want it. And I'm not sure they're going to be
Speaker 4: that patient given the amount they're paying, but they're going
Speaker 4: to need to be because this is not an overnight fix.
Speaker 4: And you know, it's one of those is that some
Speaker 4: people wonder if you can even fix it at all.
Speaker 4: Because Texas A and M has never really been historically
Speaker 4: super successful. And the idea is you're hiring Jibo Fisher
Speaker 4: so you can compete for SEC West titles and SEC
Speaker 4: titles and national titles. Well, Texas A and M, throughout
Speaker 4: its history in the various conferences has not been a
Speaker 4: program that has been a year in, year out title
Speaker 4: contender type program. So that's what you're paying for, but
Speaker 4: it may take you a little bit to get it.
Speaker 4: So I kind of hope they'll be patient with Jimbo
Speaker 4: Fisher because one recruiting wise, he's got to deal with
Speaker 4: with Tom Herman trying to revamp the recruiting at Texas
Speaker 4: and Fisher gets there, you know in the midst of
Speaker 4: Tom Herman's first full recruiting cycle, and what you saw
Speaker 4: with Tom Herman's first full recruiting cycle was he kind
Speaker 4: of reclaimed the state of Texas for Texas when you know,
Speaker 4: in past years guys have been going out of state.
Speaker 4: The the best players in Texas would go to Ohio
Speaker 4: State or to Stanford, and then you also had to
Speaker 4: deal with Oklahoma and LSU and all these different schools.
Speaker 2: So it's one of those deals.
Speaker 4: Where Fisher's in a little bit of a tough spot early,
Speaker 4: but if they're going to be a little bit patient
Speaker 4: with him, I do think he can give them what
Speaker 4: they want eventually.
Speaker 1: So there's an easy transition here because obviously the school
Speaker 1: that Jimbo Fisher leaves in Florida State makes a splash
Speaker 1: higher with Willy Taggart, who comes to Tallahassee after a
Speaker 1: year in Eugene.
Speaker 3: And it's sort of an interesting dichotomy too, because Jimbo
Speaker 3: Fisher and his last year at Tallahassee was seen as
Speaker 3: being particularly stubborn on offense, and Willy Taggart's career really
Speaker 3: took off when he stopped being stubborn on offense and
Speaker 3: revamped things. So with Willie specifically, it seems irrefutable. He's
Speaker 3: a turnaround artist. He's done great things for a number
Speaker 3: of programs, re energizing, recruiting. He should do super well
Speaker 3: recruiting to Tallahassee. But that's different than down the Lady
Speaker 3: sustaining a relatively high level of success, which he's yet
Speaker 3: to do. So with Florida State being set up as
Speaker 3: a really really good job is what is I guess
Speaker 3: his in Florida State's biggest challenge in the short term
Speaker 3: when things seemed to be all right.
Speaker 2: It's just proved this can work.
Speaker 4: And I actually think people are very excited and intrigued
Speaker 4: about what that offense is going to look like with
Speaker 4: Florida State type talent, because Willie Taggart's offense is is
Speaker 4: you know, he ran the West Coast before at Western Kentucky,
Speaker 4: and when he first got the USF, he's basically the
Speaker 4: third Harbor brother, and his offense looked an awful lot
Speaker 4: like what Jim Harbor runs in Michigan. Well, they were
Speaker 4: about to get fired at USF, and so he made
Speaker 4: changes and a lot of the stuff he installed was
Speaker 4: kind of cribbed from the Baylor Art Briles offense and
Speaker 4: it really took off. The players loved it. They put
Speaker 4: up big numbers. It worked at Oregon with a different type.
Speaker 4: You know, Quintin Flowers very mobile quarterback at USF, but
Speaker 4: not the best.
Speaker 2: Thrower in the world.
Speaker 4: Justin Herbert is a great passer NFL quarterback and he
Speaker 4: also put a big numbers in it. So really interesting
Speaker 4: situation in spring practice with Florida State because you've got
Speaker 4: DeAndre Francois coming back from injury. You've got James Blackman,
Speaker 4: who replaced DeAndre francois quite capably toward the end of
Speaker 4: the year. And they're both, you know, guys who could
Speaker 4: succeed in this offense, but could succeed in different ways.
Speaker 4: And you know, for Willie Taggert, what kind of numbers
Speaker 4: can you put up with the kind of athletes they
Speaker 4: have because the knock and that one of the frustrations
Speaker 4: from the Florida State fan base toward the end of
Speaker 4: the Fisher era was they had all these great athletes,
Speaker 4: but they ran at a very slow tempo and it
Speaker 4: was going to you know, every play was going to
Speaker 4: develop though it was going to develop. You can read read, read, read, well,
Speaker 4: now what happens when it's all spread out? And remember
Speaker 4: that offense everybody thinks, because you have receivers lineup outside
Speaker 4: the numbers, that you're just gonna chuck it around, that
Speaker 4: offense is actually designed to really be really successful on
Speaker 4: the ground. Cam Akers is the guy who I think
Speaker 4: may benefit from all this the most.
Speaker 3: Fair Let's keep the chain going. Mario Christobal is now
Speaker 3: the head coach of Oregon after taking over for Willy Taggart,
Speaker 3: who left he's understandably, he's trying to model the way
Speaker 3: Oregon is run after his time at Alabama, or an
Speaker 3: SEC power, a generic SEC power whatever, from recruiting processes
Speaker 3: is if that's the word strength and conditioning, day to
Speaker 3: day scheduling, he's you know, everybody says he's a very
Speaker 3: organized guy. He's out three steps ahead of everything. Do
Speaker 3: you believe that? I guess philosophy is about program framework
Speaker 3: are transferable. Obviously a lot of people have tried to
Speaker 3: take that Alabama model and crystaball is just he's onto
Speaker 3: something he's to succeed at at Oregon, or do do
Speaker 3: certain methods only work at certain places?
Speaker 4: They're transferable if you can get the same kind of players.
Speaker 4: And that's the tricky part with Oregon. It's not can
Speaker 4: you get the skill players. They're gonna have the skill
Speaker 4: players they need. Can you get the guys in the
Speaker 4: offensive indefensive lines that can make you competitive with Washington,
Speaker 4: with Stanford, with USC in that league? And look, the
Speaker 4: Pac twelve lines of scrimmage, with the exception of probably
Speaker 4: the Washington D line, aren't really comparable to the D
Speaker 4: lines and offensive lines that you see at an Alabama
Speaker 4: or an Auburn or in Ohio State, So you don't
Speaker 4: have to get their defensive line and their offensive line.
Speaker 4: You just have to get something better than what you've had,
Speaker 4: and Mario Christobal.
Speaker 2: Has the eye for that.
Speaker 4: He knows what he's looking for, especially along the offensive line.
Speaker 4: The tricky part is convinced those guys to come to
Speaker 4: Oregon because they have tons of options. The kind of
Speaker 4: players you need to be successful at those positions have
Speaker 4: tons of options and for the most part, because most
Speaker 4: players tend to stay close to home, they'll stay close
Speaker 4: to home because that's what recruits tend to do. So
Speaker 4: you've got to be able to convince them that it's
Speaker 4: it's in their best interest to come to Oregon and
Speaker 4: that you can be really successful there. And a lot
Speaker 4: of times it has to be just good projection. I mean,
Speaker 4: h DeForest Buckner was not a guy that everybody was
Speaker 4: all over, but Chip Kelly's staff projected him really well.
Speaker 4: They realized what he could become. And that's something that
Speaker 4: the Oregon staff now has to be able to do
Speaker 4: is find those guys who may not be stud defensive
Speaker 4: tackles in high school, but may become stud defensive tackles
Speaker 4: find your find your own Vita Vea. You know, Vida
Speaker 4: Vea from Washington was a high school middle linebacker slash
Speaker 4: running back. Now he was a two hundred and ninety
Speaker 4: pound middle linebacker slash running back, which should have given
Speaker 4: you a good sense that he was going to grow
Speaker 4: into a very large person who could move very fast.
Speaker 4: But that's the kind of person they need to find
Speaker 4: who you know, maybe not even in Vidave. It was
Speaker 4: a different a little bit different case because there were
Speaker 4: some academic issues coming out of high school, so some
Speaker 4: schools kind of laid off him. But you've got to
Speaker 4: find that person who's not the perfect, ready made guy.
Speaker 4: That's the guy Alabama signs, that's the guy Auburn and
Speaker 4: Ohio State sign because they have those guys near them,
Speaker 4: or they just have this reputation as a year in,
Speaker 4: year out national title contender and they're going to get
Speaker 4: those guys.
Speaker 2: It's harder for almost everybody else.
Speaker 4: Including basically every school in the Pac twelve, to get
Speaker 4: those kind of players ready made. You will get them occasionally,
Speaker 4: I mean Oregon got one of Eric Armstead. It's possible,
Speaker 4: but it's not easy. So that's the challenge for Marie Cristobal.
Speaker 4: I think probably the the best thing he did was
Speaker 4: they found a way to get Jim Levitt to stay,
Speaker 4: because that defense improved dramatically under Jim Levitt, and if
Speaker 4: you can continue that kind of improvement, because the offense
Speaker 4: is gonna be good. They got Justin Herbert. I mean,
Speaker 4: they got one of the best quarterbacks in the country.
Speaker 4: They're gonna move the ball, can they stop anybody? And
Speaker 4: I think with Levitt there for a second year, they're
Speaker 4: going to be able to stop some people at times.
Speaker 4: It's not gonna be perfect. I mean, they're still not
Speaker 4: gonna be the best defense in the country, but they're
Speaker 4: gonna be a lot better than what you saw a
Speaker 4: couple of years ago when Markelfritz got fired.
Speaker 1: All right, Andy, you mentioned Chip Kelly. We got to
Speaker 1: talk about Chip Kelly. He's back in the college game.
Speaker 1: The Pac twelve as a whole a much different conference
Speaker 1: than the one he left, and specifically in terms of UCLA,
Speaker 1: they've made a commitment to infrastructure. It seems like the
Speaker 1: administration has brought into a much different degree, which Chip
Speaker 1: Kelly are we going to see at ucl Is it
Speaker 1: going to be the guy who took Oregon to new heights.
Speaker 1: Are we going to see that guy who ran a
Speaker 1: program previously in the conference doing it the way that
Speaker 1: he did previously, or do you think this is a new,
Speaker 1: more adaptable Chip Kelly who's essentially going to look new
Speaker 1: in an entirely new situation now at UCLA.
Speaker 4: I am really curious about that time because I don't
Speaker 4: know what exactly is going to happen here. Because when
Speaker 4: Chip Kelly was winning PAC twelve titles at Oregon.
Speaker 2: Everything was new. What he was doing was revolutionary, and
Speaker 2: everybody else was trying to catch up to him.
Speaker 4: Now everybody else has caught up to that because everybody
Speaker 4: else copied it, so.
Speaker 2: Everybody's gotten a look at it.
Speaker 4: Everybody has kind of figured out, well, this is how
Speaker 4: you stop that offense or this this is how you
Speaker 4: manage it. So how much has he evolved? You know,
Speaker 4: you look at what he did in the NFL, and
Speaker 4: it's interesting because I think I.
Speaker 2: Think the Eagles went the Super Bowl.
Speaker 4: When you look back now, you're like, you know what,
Speaker 4: he wasn't so bad in Philadelphia. It just you know,
Speaker 4: they wanted to win more than they were winning. But
Speaker 4: he seemed to be on track a little bit there,
Speaker 4: but San Francisco is a completely different animal. But you
Speaker 4: know what did he pick up there in terms of
Speaker 4: dealing with defenses that kind of could weak to weak,
Speaker 4: change to stop you. And you know, basically every defense
Speaker 4: he's going to see now has spent the last five
Speaker 4: years trying to stop the chip Kelly offense and all
Speaker 4: the people who copied it. So how how adaptable will
Speaker 4: he because he can't come back and just run what
Speaker 4: he ran and expect that to work. But if he's
Speaker 4: adapted with the kind of talent because remember UCLA under
Speaker 4: Jim Mora was the along with USC kind of the
Speaker 4: best off the bus team in the Pac twelve. When
Speaker 4: they got off the bus, you're like, oh, you got
Speaker 4: some dudes. So can he take advantage of the athletes
Speaker 4: that he's inheriting? And I think that's the key question
Speaker 4: he You know, we talked about the kind of lineman
Speaker 4: you can get, the kind of offensive and defensive lineman.
Speaker 4: Well at UCLA, because you're in such a prospect ridge
Speaker 4: environment in Los Angeles, you should be a little bit
Speaker 4: better at recruiting offensive lineman there. You should have a
Speaker 4: little more physically talented offensive lineman on the whole than you.
Speaker 2: Had at Oregon. Well, I think that would be very
Speaker 2: helpful in your office. Now, the other question is do
Speaker 2: they have the quarterback they need to run it.
Speaker 4: Is it going to be Devin Monster, who played a
Speaker 4: little bit in relief of Josh Rozen, or is it
Speaker 4: going to be a younger guy.
Speaker 2: Is gonna be one of the other guys?
Speaker 4: We don't know yet that That's the other question is
Speaker 4: does he have a guy who can run that offense
Speaker 4: very well?
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 4: I don't even know that it has to be perfect
Speaker 4: because you think about it, Jeremiah Masoli looked great in
Speaker 4: that offense, Darren Thomas lookedret in that offense, and then
Speaker 4: they got Marcus Mariota and it really took off.
Speaker 2: So it can work.
Speaker 4: He seems to be pretty pretty capable of making it
Speaker 4: work with just about anybody, you know. I put Dennis
Speaker 4: Dixon and Marcus Mariota in another class from Jeremiah Massolian
Speaker 4: Darren Thomas. But the offense was still very effective with
Speaker 4: Massolian Thomas running it.
Speaker 1: All right, Andy, you mentioned the word revolutionary, and when
Speaker 1: I think revolutionary, I think Herm Edwards, So you know Herm.
Speaker 1: Herm said some really weird freaking things since he got
Speaker 1: that job at ASU. And look, a lot of us
Speaker 1: have magnified it. We've portrayed it in a negative way,
Speaker 1: certainly in a humorous way on this show. But you know, look,
Speaker 1: the recruiting class kind of came together, alright. The PAC
Speaker 1: twelve as a whole, specifically in the South, is a
Speaker 1: bit in a state of flux. Could he beyond something
Speaker 1: here in his attempts to like change the process and
Speaker 1: the model, but.
Speaker 4: They're not changing the process or the model. Yeah, where
Speaker 4: do you come down on this whole thing? Nick Saban
Speaker 4: has had an NFL style front office at Alabamas's the
Speaker 4: second he walked in there eleven years ago.
Speaker 1: This is the model though with average players.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4: You know, they think they're being revolutionary, but the thing
Speaker 4: about it is they're just copying what every good program
Speaker 4: has been doing for the past ten years, where you
Speaker 4: have that kind of evaluation process. I think with her
Speaker 4: Edwards were being a little bit hard on him. He
Speaker 4: was kidding when he was talking about, Oh, it turns
Speaker 4: out you have to recruit the parents too. I think
Speaker 4: I think he was making a joke there. I think
Speaker 4: Herr Edwards not a dumb guy. He knows you have
Speaker 4: to recruit the parents. And actually, if you've ever talked
Speaker 4: to Herm Edwards, he has the personality to be a
Speaker 4: great recruiter. And so I don't think it's an accident
Speaker 4: that they did okay in that play signing period. So, uh,
Speaker 4: the question is can can he coach? Can can the
Speaker 4: coordinators they have now coach? Because remember this was supposed
Speaker 4: to be built around Herm Edwards working with Billy Napier
Speaker 4: and Phil Bennett. And Billy Napier and Phil Bennett are gone,
Speaker 4: So can the new coordinators do what they're supposed to do?
Speaker 4: And Herm Edwards, who is known as a pretty schematically
Speaker 4: conservative coach when he was in the NFL, how's he
Speaker 4: going to handle it when he doesn't have as much
Speaker 4: talent as some of the teams they're playing. You know,
Speaker 4: you don't. You can't be schematically conservative in that case.
Speaker 4: You got to you gotta try some stuff. Is he
Speaker 4: gonna be willing to try some stuff?
Speaker 1: Well, if you listen to his opening press conference, he's
Speaker 1: willing to try it all, try and be different. Yeah.
Speaker 4: The trying to be different that they were doing then
Speaker 4: has already been h has already been for not so yeah, Okay, he's.
Speaker 2: Gonna be different in a different way.
Speaker 1: Now let's stay in the great state of Arizona. We'll
Speaker 1: talk about Kevin someone a much different situation because rich Rod,
Speaker 1: as you know, unceremoniously fired on the third of January.
Speaker 1: While he was there, he brought a lot of excitement
Speaker 1: to the program with his system. They were certainly dangerous
Speaker 1: to play, they put up points. They didn't always or
Speaker 1: really at all play much defense, but an excitable team nonetheless,
Speaker 1: Now you bring in Kevin someone kind of has the
Speaker 1: same track record over at A and m a lot
Speaker 1: of excitement on offense. I don't think the defense ever
Speaker 1: materialized the way that they wanted. Certainly they had exciting
Speaker 1: prospects on the defensive side of the ball, but just
Speaker 1: was never a consistent product, at least defensively. When you
Speaker 1: look at this fit now someone going to Arizona to
Speaker 1: take over for rich Rod, do you look at this
Speaker 1: and say that this is an upgrade at all? Does
Speaker 1: it feel to you like it's more of a one
Speaker 1: for one swap? How do you assess this higher?
Speaker 2: It feels very similar.
Speaker 4: It feels like you're getting a lot of the same
Speaker 4: and look, Kevin someon and Ritrodriguez shared a lot of
Speaker 4: stuff over the years, so I don't think the offense
Speaker 4: is gonna look all that different at all now, Kevin,
Speaker 4: someone inherits Khalil Tate, knowing what Khalil Tate can do.
Speaker 4: And remember it took them about a month of the
Speaker 4: season before they figured it out with the old staff.
Speaker 4: So going into a season and having a spring practice
Speaker 4: in a preseason camp where you know what Khalil Tate
Speaker 4: can do, I think you can have some fun drawing
Speaker 4: up plays for that. So I do think they may
Speaker 4: be a little bit better this year than they were
Speaker 4: last year. But on the whole, I do think they're probably,
Speaker 4: you know, probably about the same as they were. But
Speaker 4: Ritrodriguez won a Pack twelve South. There's no reason with
Speaker 4: Khalil take Kevin someone can't win to Pack twelve South.
Speaker 4: You know, you think about who inherited the best quarterback
Speaker 4: situation among the new coaches. Willie Taggert inherited a decent one,
Speaker 4: but some and maybe Joe moorehead at Mississipi State probably
Speaker 4: inherited the best ones. You know, Khalil Tate's really good
Speaker 4: you know what he can do, and I think that's
Speaker 4: the thing that makes this a very attractive job at
Speaker 4: the moment. Now, when he's gone and they don't have
Speaker 4: that special quarterback, do they become an also ran again?
Speaker 4: That's going to be Kevin Summle's challenge can keep that
Speaker 4: from happening. But right now, with a special quarterback that
Speaker 4: they know they're going to have starting, it's a pretty
Speaker 4: optimistic time.
Speaker 3: So from there we'll go to an offensive mind who
Speaker 3: doesn't inherit really any quarterback that we know anything about,
Speaker 3: and that's Scott Frost at Nebraska. We know he is
Speaker 3: going to put together what looks like with his staff,
Speaker 3: a really really good offense, if not a great offense eventually.
Speaker 3: I think people think that, I don't know, this is like,
Speaker 3: you know, the second coming of the Messiah. Though there's
Speaker 3: added pressure for him that he doesn't that other coaches
Speaker 3: elsewhere don't necessarily have. He did win a national championship.
Speaker 3: We should point that out at UCF. Yes, so he
Speaker 3: looks like the real deal. There have been many attempts
Speaker 3: though now to restore Nebraska in to greatness aside from
Speaker 3: this offense. Eventually, what is it about Scott Frost. That
Speaker 3: should have people, not necessarily Nebraska fans, but people looking
Speaker 3: from the outside confident that he is different than the
Speaker 3: others who have tried.
Speaker 4: I think he does know what they need on the
Speaker 4: lines of scrimmage to make it work. And you've heard
Speaker 4: you've heard him say that a lot since he's been there.
Speaker 4: You know, he's basically said, skill position is not going
Speaker 4: to be the problem. We got to get those linees.
Speaker 4: Take what I said about Oregon, you can just transplant it.
Speaker 4: And I think coaching down at UCF and seeing the
Speaker 4: kind of talent that's available in the state of Florida
Speaker 4: and in the South, because you know, they weren't directly
Speaker 4: recruiting against Florida State and Florida and Miami, but they're
Speaker 4: evaluating players that are playing with those guys, and so
Speaker 4: that they're seeing that, they're seeing what those people look
Speaker 4: like in high school that make you ultimately successful at
Speaker 4: that level, and so they know what they're looking for.
Speaker 4: It's a matter of getting it now. I've heard good
Speaker 4: things about Adrian Martinez, the quarterback who signed with them
Speaker 4: in the early signing period, So we'll see if he
Speaker 4: competes for.
Speaker 2: The job right away.
Speaker 4: You got Gebbia there, who had red shirted last year,
Speaker 4: he might work, you know. I think they would have
Speaker 4: loved to bring Mackenzie Milton with them from UCF, but
Speaker 4: it doesn't work that way, so we'll see again. This
Speaker 4: is when I had advised patients on I don't know
Speaker 4: that they're gonna, you know, light the world on fire
Speaker 4: their first year, but I do think they understand the
Speaker 4: situation they're in. And I also think they understand what
Speaker 4: the realistic expectations should be at Nebraska, and I think
Speaker 4: most of the fan base does too. I don't think
Speaker 4: most of the Nebraska fan base is stuck in nineteen
Speaker 4: ninety five and assumes that Nebraska should just crush everyone
Speaker 4: in his path. I think most Nebraska fans realize what
Speaker 4: Nebraska should be is what Wisconsin is, not necessarily stylistically,
Speaker 4: but that level of success where you were in the
Speaker 4: hunt for the Big Ten West title every single year,
Speaker 4: you win it every once in a while, and then
Speaker 4: every once in a while in the Big Ten championship
Speaker 4: game you got a shot. That's that is the realistic
Speaker 4: expectation for Nebraska in twenty eighteen, and I think Scott
Speaker 4: Frost can pull that off.
Speaker 2: I just I don't know that he's going to pull
Speaker 2: it off in year one.
Speaker 3: That all seems reasonable. So we'll go from the smoothest
Speaker 3: and most seamless and feel good transition to a new
Speaker 3: coach with Scott Frost going to Nebraska too, the most
Speaker 3: turbulent one. So Jeremy Prewitt eventually ends up in Knoxville,
Speaker 3: and everybody seems relatively pleased early on with you know,
Speaker 3: a bunch of hires that came together pretty nicely. He
Speaker 3: has a very specific background of exclusively coaching defense in
Speaker 3: the SEC, which seems like.
Speaker 4: That, well, there was a year in the ACC, but
Speaker 4: Florida State's basically an SEC.
Speaker 3: They're pretty much the exclusively coaching in the South for powers,
Speaker 3: which seems like a pretty good background in terms of
Speaker 3: familiarity with personnel high school personnel coaches recruiting. Yes, the
Speaker 3: one year at Florida State, a couple of years at
Speaker 3: Florida State notwithstanding, whatever, So where do you think the
Speaker 3: vision and ability of Jeremy Prewitt zags where Lane Kiffin,
Speaker 3: Derek Dooley, and Butch Jones zigged.
Speaker 4: The strength of Jeremy Prewett is his ability to identify
Speaker 4: talent and get it to sign with him. That's his strength.
Speaker 4: Now here's the thing. He was doing that at Alabama,
Speaker 4: Florida State, and Georgia. It's probably a little harder to
Speaker 4: do that at Tennessee because he knows what he needs,
Speaker 4: and so he's going to go head to head against
Speaker 4: Nick Saban, He's going to go head to head against
Speaker 4: Kirby Smart, He's going to go head to head against
Speaker 4: Willie Taggert, Dan Mullen, head to head against ed Orgeron.
Speaker 4: You know, Tennessee is not the type of state that
Speaker 4: produces enough talent for you to fill your roster. You
Speaker 4: got to go outside. You got to go through three
Speaker 4: hours to Atlanta. You got to go over to Charlotte.
Speaker 4: You got to go into the Carolinas. You've got to
Speaker 4: go down to Florida. You've got to go out to California,
Speaker 4: got to you got to beat the bushes a little bit.
Speaker 4: And so knowing what you need and being able to
Speaker 4: convince what you need to sign with you are are
Speaker 4: two different things. And that's the challenge for Jeremy Prutt
Speaker 4: because if he can get some of these guys, they
Speaker 4: can be very very competitive. I especially don't worry about
Speaker 4: them on defense. Once he's been there a year or two.
Speaker 4: I'm not worried about them at all on defense. I offensively,
Speaker 4: you got to find a quarterback. You know, they're they've
Speaker 4: got Helpton as the offensive coordinator. So the thought is
Speaker 4: it's going to be like USC, which is, uh, you know,
Speaker 4: pro style is sort of a weird term now because
Speaker 4: the NFL seems to be adapting as well.
Speaker 2: But you know, the USC has adapted. They don't just
Speaker 2: go under center and run that.
Speaker 4: They're mostly out of the shotgun and they'll eat up
Speaker 4: the tempo every once in a while. It's it's kind
Speaker 4: of you know, pro style evolved, and that requires a
Speaker 4: really good quarterback. So we'll see if one of the
Speaker 4: guys on the roster fits that bill or if they
Speaker 4: need to recruit somebody. But that that's kind of the
Speaker 4: biggest question right now. You know, as you say, there's
Speaker 4: news that the Trey smith Is has got a medical
Speaker 4: issue that he's got to deal with. That's not good
Speaker 4: when you know that's basically your your best player coming back.
Speaker 4: But that'll be the deal for Jeremy Pruett and I
Speaker 4: don't know how it's going to go. I do know
Speaker 4: he's going to upgrade the talent level because he knows
Speaker 4: exactly what he's looking for and he's good at getting
Speaker 4: those guys to sign with him. So this is what
Speaker 4: I keep telling Tennessee fans. The worst, your worst case
Speaker 4: scenario in this hire is that he's ron Zuck. The
Speaker 4: worst case scenario that he that he loads up your
Speaker 4: roster and you get tired of him and hire somebody else.
Speaker 4: Ronzuick went to a Rose Bowl well, and ron Zuck
Speaker 4: set the table for Urban Meyer to win two national
Speaker 4: titles at Florida as well, So.
Speaker 2: That's not necessarily a bad thing.
Speaker 4: And if he's if he's a little bit better game
Speaker 4: day and look the way he calls defenses, he's a
Speaker 4: really good defensive play caller. So if he's if he's
Speaker 4: a little bit better game day coach. And I think
Speaker 4: I think Jerry Pruit's a lot smarter than he lets on.
Speaker 4: I think he's perfectly happy with with people thinking he's like,
Speaker 4: you know, redneck defensive coordinator. He's happy to let you
Speaker 4: think that. I think he's I think he's a pretty
Speaker 4: intelligent guy. So I'm really intrigued by what he can
Speaker 4: do at Tennessee.
Speaker 2: It's a hard job.
Speaker 4: It's especially hard given the circumstances of the coaching search.
Speaker 2: But if he can get the guys he's.
Speaker 4: Targeting, they will get better and they will be a
Speaker 4: you know, competitive in the SEC East. That the biggest
Speaker 4: problem though, is it's going to be hard because Florida
Speaker 4: got a guy that understands what kind of players you
Speaker 4: need to win in the SEC. Nick Saban is still there,
Speaker 4: Kirby Smart is building a monster. Will Muschamp knows exactly
Speaker 4: what kind of talent it takes to win in the SEC.
Speaker 4: So that's a lot stacked against Jeremy Pruett, even though
Speaker 4: I think he probably has the skill set to be Okay.
Speaker 3: Let's stick with the guy in Florida who also moves
Speaker 3: SEC west to east and Dan mullin. Is it just
Speaker 3: mad libs at quarterback for Florida? As soon as you
Speaker 3: fill in that blank, you'll get something good and weird
Speaker 3: and interesting for the Gators. His track record sort of
Speaker 3: suggests that he will do a better job developing a
Speaker 3: quarterback or building a program around a quarterback than Jim
Speaker 3: McElwain did with the asterisk of Will Greer. So is
Speaker 3: it as simple as that. Are we overthinking it or
Speaker 3: is there more to what he needs to do to
Speaker 3: resuscitate where Florida is.
Speaker 4: I don't think it's that simple. You know, you look
Speaker 4: who they had when he was at Florida and when
Speaker 4: he was Atsissippi State. The best quarterbacks were the ones
Speaker 4: that he went out and found or you know, cruited
Speaker 4: because they fit his style. It took Chris Leek, who's
Speaker 4: a pretty good college quarterback. It took maybe a season
Speaker 4: and a half for him to really be comfortable in
Speaker 4: that offense, and they eventually got it going. But they
Speaker 4: were uber talented around him too. You know, t Bow
Speaker 4: was a perfect fit. So that worked. And then you
Speaker 4: get to Mississippi State and Dak Prescott's a guy he
Speaker 4: went and found. Nick Fitzgerald is a guy he went
Speaker 4: and found who he thought fit perfectly. Fitzgerald's you know,
Speaker 4: his recruiting story is crazy. He had not even started
Speaker 4: for his high school yet when he got offered by
Speaker 4: Mississippi State. Dan Mullen just knew this is the kind
Speaker 4: of guy that could work in this offense. So you
Speaker 4: know the interesting thing about this though, Felipe Franks, if
Speaker 4: you look at him physically, He's exactly what you'd want
Speaker 4: in a Dan Mullen offense. The question is can he
Speaker 4: handle the offense? Can he learn it quickly? Can he
Speaker 4: internalize it? Can he play it without you know, having
Speaker 4: to think too hard? That's not easy to do in
Speaker 4: your first year. This is not an offense that people
Speaker 4: tend to pick up right off the bat. It's you know,
Speaker 4: you look at Dak Prescott, look at Nick Fitzgerald. They
Speaker 4: had to be in the program a while before they
Speaker 4: were comfortable with it. So I think that's the issue there.
Speaker 4: And you've got Franks and then you've also got Emory
Speaker 4: Jones the freshman. Now, Emory Jones is an interesting case
Speaker 4: because the first coach to offer him a scholarship was
Speaker 4: Dan Mullen, a Mississippi State So clearly he thinks that
Speaker 4: Emory Jones is the kind of guy who works in
Speaker 4: his offense. The question is how quickly can he pick
Speaker 4: it up. Does Dan Mullen want to start him as
Speaker 4: a true freshman and put all that pressure on him
Speaker 4: to be the savior of the program. I don't know
Speaker 4: the answers to those questions. We're going to have to
Speaker 4: wait and see what happens during spring practice before we
Speaker 4: have any idea. But you know, it's one of those
Speaker 4: things where I think Dan Mullen realizes he has some
Speaker 4: patience from the fan base because they do understand the
Speaker 4: problems on offense that he inherit merited. So I don't
Speaker 4: think they expect that to get fixed right away. So
Speaker 4: I think they're they're probably okay with this this season
Speaker 4: being kind of a trial and error and see what
Speaker 4: works and then you know, by twenty nineteen kind of
Speaker 4: have an idea of what you are on offense. But
Speaker 4: that's that's the thing. His offense is not. You know,
Speaker 4: it's not super simple. Quarterbacks have to worry about protections.
Speaker 4: They have to to deal with a lot, do a
Speaker 4: lot of things that the quarterbacks in the NFL have
Speaker 4: to do, and it takes some time to learn. So
Speaker 4: that's why I think this is one where the fans
Speaker 4: would be wise to be a little bit, a little
Speaker 4: bit patient. Though I do think they will be slightly
Speaker 4: better this year just because they got a better strength
Speaker 4: and conditioning program. I don't I don't mean to go
Speaker 4: all off season story cliche on you, but they were
Speaker 4: not They were not up to snuff in that department.
Speaker 4: The last couple of years, and I think just being
Speaker 4: a little bit stronger and probably a little have a
Speaker 4: little better stamina as games go on, I think that
Speaker 4: may be good for another winner too.
Speaker 1: Mullen's replacement, as you know, at Mississippi State, is another
Speaker 1: guy who's very bright when it comes to x's and o's,
Speaker 1: and that's Joe Morehead. He comes over from Penn State,
Speaker 1: did a great job there, did a great job at
Speaker 1: Fordham before he ever got to Penn State. I think
Speaker 1: we're all kind of excited Andy to see what he
Speaker 1: brings to the equation now in Starkville. But the real
Speaker 1: question now, as ever with Mississippi State is how much
Speaker 1: more production? M Yeah, can a thank you can a
Speaker 1: really bright scheme guy and x as and o's guy,
Speaker 1: how much more production can he get when the best
Speaker 1: recruits usually end up elsewhere in the SEC West? Does
Speaker 1: that upper limit still exist at Mississippi State? If it does,
Speaker 1: how does Joe Morehead combat it?
Speaker 2: It does still exist?
Speaker 4: And remember they hired a really bright, offensive scheme guy
Speaker 4: through a place, a really bright offensive scheme guy who
Speaker 4: had been more successful there than just about anybody had been.
Speaker 4: So the thing I think is really interesting about Joe
Speaker 4: Moorehead is he was a very good, very creative coordinator
Speaker 4: at Penn State, really good at building off of what
Speaker 4: he had, not saying this is my system and it
Speaker 4: works because I'm a genius. No, it was okay, I
Speaker 4: have Trace McSorley, I have Saquon Barkley, I have Mike
Speaker 4: KASICKI here's how we're going to build this offense to
Speaker 4: take advantage of the things they do best. And I
Speaker 4: would imagine that that Joe Moorehead got to Starkville, and
Speaker 4: I know Nick Vvisgerald is coming off an injury and
Speaker 4: we'll see how how quickly the recovery process goes. But
Speaker 4: the thought is if he's ready for the season, that's
Speaker 4: pretty exciting what Nick Fitzgerald can do. Not many guys
Speaker 4: have that combination of speed and arm. So I would
Speaker 4: imagine Joe Moorehead's pretty pretty happy about this, and I
Speaker 4: think they can be pretty good.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 4: I don't know that they're going to be a year
Speaker 4: in year out of CC West contender ever, because that
Speaker 4: they play in the same division as Alabama and Auburn
Speaker 4: and LSU and Texas A and M and it's just
Speaker 4: that's probably asking too much, But can they have a
Speaker 4: really good season every once in a while. In his
Speaker 4: next season, potentially one of those seasons, Yeah, I think
Speaker 4: they can do that. And the other thing that's interesting
Speaker 4: about Morehead is he was a great coordinator at Penn State.
Speaker 4: But he's not coming in there with no head coaching experience, right.
Speaker 4: He was already the head coach at Fordham. And granted,
Speaker 4: the dollar figures are different, the zeros on the check
Speaker 4: and then the budget are really different. But some of
Speaker 4: the issues you face as a head coach on the
Speaker 4: FCS level are identical to the issues you face as
Speaker 4: a head coach on the FBS level or in the
Speaker 4: Power five level. I mean just just being the guy
Speaker 4: who makes the fourth down decisions, the guy who go,
Speaker 4: you know, do we go for it? Do we punt?
Speaker 4: Being the guy do we go for two? Do we
Speaker 4: on side kick it?
Speaker 1: Here?
Speaker 4: Those decisions he's already made. You know, he's already had
Speaker 4: kids come in and say, Coach, I'm flunking out. He's
Speaker 4: dealt with those problems before he knows how it works.
Speaker 4: I think that puts him a little bit ahead of
Speaker 4: the curve of some of these other first time head coaches.
Speaker 1: Let's stay in the state of Mississippi, a much different
Speaker 1: scenario over at Ole, miss kind of in a rebuilding
Speaker 1: phase now after the Hugh Freeze era got to deal
Speaker 1: with sanctions shorthanded in terms of scholarships, they're gonna have
Speaker 1: to deal with guys like Shay Patterson who want to
Speaker 1: transfer out. I feel like we've seen this movie before
Speaker 1: and every time it's very difficult to both dig out
Speaker 1: from whatever penalties you've got and still find a way
Speaker 1: to move forward. Do you sense that Matt Luke has
Speaker 1: a realistic and executable vision to whether this kind of
Speaker 1: uphill fight.
Speaker 2: I think he knows what works there.
Speaker 4: I just don't know that he's going to be able
Speaker 4: to do it while they're under the sanctions and dealing
Speaker 4: with us. So I actually I've talked to Matt Luke
Speaker 4: and he said that the recruiting piece of it feels
Speaker 4: a little easier now that they know what the penalties are. Interesting,
Speaker 4: you know, before when they didn't know and they were
Speaker 4: just under this cloud constantly, he felt like, you know,
Speaker 4: I don't know what to tell anybody. Guys don't want
Speaker 4: to take us seriously because they don't know what the
Speaker 4: ultimate penalties are going to be.
Speaker 2: But now they know.
Speaker 4: Now they understand, especially going forward when you're talking to
Speaker 4: class of twenty nineteen guys, the bowl band will be over,
Speaker 4: you know, they'll be They'll be limited by, you know,
Speaker 4: by scholarship sanctions, but not completely gutted by them, so
Speaker 4: they should be able to start digging back out of
Speaker 4: this thing. The other part of this is, right now,
Speaker 4: even though they are banned from a bowl game, and
Speaker 4: I know they're trying to trying to take care of
Speaker 4: that and see if they can appeal it, but probably
Speaker 4: won't happen. But they do have a quarterback and that
Speaker 4: is kind of half the battle at this point in
Speaker 4: college football. Jordan Tama was one of the big surprises
Speaker 4: of last year. You know, when Shaye Patterson went down anything, Okay,
Speaker 4: what what is Ole miss gonna do now?
Speaker 2: But Tamu came in and was very effective and he
Speaker 2: was good. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean, so imagine how good high school football in
Speaker 4: Hawaii was when these three quarterbacks were all playing at
Speaker 4: the same time, Jordan Tamo, Mackenzie Milton, and two a
Speaker 4: tongue of Iloa, Wow, all.
Speaker 2: At the same time.
Speaker 1: Amazing.
Speaker 4: So yeah, and I think Tamu was one of the
Speaker 4: one of the bright spots of last year, uh overall
Speaker 4: in the country. And I think he will kind of
Speaker 4: ease ole missus way through this period having a recurt Now,
Speaker 4: if he gets hurt this is that's a little bit
Speaker 4: different story. But we'll we'll see you with Matt corral
Speaker 4: because he's a guy who was very highly rated, but
Speaker 4: then he was committed to Florida with McElwain, Mullen gets
Speaker 4: the job decided, you know, they kind of decide they're
Speaker 4: not really a fit for each other. He winds up
Speaker 4: at ol Miss he might be able to play immediately,
Speaker 4: so and he might be and you know.
Speaker 2: He's as good as advertised, he could be really good.
Speaker 4: So I don't think Ole miss is in a terrible situation,
Speaker 4: but I do think they're gonna suffer from the sanctions
Speaker 4: a bit.
Speaker 2: And you know.
Speaker 4: The fact that they've had this cloud over them for
Speaker 4: the last few years, I think is going to kind
Speaker 4: of come home to roost at this point. So Matt
Speaker 4: Luke's gonna have to weather the storm and the fans
Speaker 4: are gonna have to be patient with him. But I
Speaker 4: think that's kind of understood with the situation.
Speaker 2: He walked into let me.
Speaker 1: Close out the SEC West and we'll move over to Arkansas, where, look,
Speaker 1: it's it's tough to envision a more different offensive scenario
Speaker 1: under Chad Morris than with Brett Bielima. They run two
Speaker 1: vastly different systems. Morris comes over now, and look, it's
Speaker 1: going to be different. It's going to be exciting. Do
Speaker 1: you feel in your heart of heart, Sandy, like, this
Speaker 1: is a guy who can turn Arkansas into some sort
Speaker 1: of wild card in the SEC West, maybe not positioned
Speaker 1: on a concer and basis to win that side of
Speaker 1: the conference, but at a minimum, just like the angry
Speaker 1: horse who's just always ready to kick and you don't
Speaker 1: know when.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the one, the one you're scared could beat you
Speaker 4: or could derail a championships.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if this works, that's that's what they are.
Speaker 4: And this is the sort of the question since Arkansas
Speaker 4: left the Southwest Conference, it's always been, well, you know,
Speaker 4: can we really recruit in Texas since we're not a
Speaker 4: member of the Southwest Conference anymore? And you're gonna find
Speaker 4: out because Chad Morris, former SMU coach, former Texas high
Speaker 4: school coach, if he can't recruit in Texas.
Speaker 2: Nobody can.
Speaker 4: But my guess is he will have success recruiting in Texas,
Speaker 4: so you know, he knows exactly what he's looking for. Schematically,
Speaker 4: I think that offense is going to give people problems. Again,
Speaker 4: I don't know that they'll be able to get the
Speaker 4: kind of horses on the d line that they really
Speaker 4: need to be competitive year out, year in and you're
Speaker 4: out in the SEC West. But yeah, when when let's say,
Speaker 4: you know, those if he this is a good scenario
Speaker 4: for him, if he gets in a situation where you know,
Speaker 4: he's got a special quarterback every once in a while
Speaker 4: and some veteran players, that's where they're they're the team
Speaker 4: that can really mess up your your really good team season.
Speaker 1: So what they were in the back half a few years.
Speaker 4: Ago, yeah, or what they were under Bobby Patrino, I
Speaker 4: mean right, different different style obviously, but they were they
Speaker 4: were solidly the third best team in the SEC West. Uh.
Speaker 4: Right there at the end of the Patrino era, where
Speaker 4: the kind of when he got on the motorcycle, they
Speaker 4: were solidly the third best team in the SEC West.
Speaker 4: And you know, third fourth best in the SEC West
Speaker 4: be capable of beating the best every once in a while.
Speaker 4: That's what you can hope. You know that that's what
Speaker 4: you should be hoping for. And I do think if
Speaker 4: Morris can get the guys that work in his system,
Speaker 4: that is doable.
Speaker 3: Fair and last and least, I'm I apologize that was
Speaker 3: me and Oregon State fans. That was what UN called for.
Speaker 3: I did not mean to have it sound like it did.
Speaker 3: We had a question last week actually about whether Oregon
Speaker 3: State peaked in the two thousand and I think one
Speaker 3: festival that Chad Johnson, t J Huschman Zada. The answer
Speaker 3: is probably yes, if we're going to be fully honest.
Speaker 4: But then a couple good Thursday nights against USC they
Speaker 4: did part of that decade.
Speaker 1: I really hated that. I liked watching the Rogers brothers
Speaker 1: as much as I did.
Speaker 3: They were fantastic, they were so wonderful. Yes, So now,
Speaker 3: obviously since then the conference has gotten more competitive, there's
Speaker 3: a whole lot more money, better coaching. So does Oregon
Speaker 3: State under Jonathan Smith need to I think a good
Speaker 3: word is differentiate. Do they need to start thinking about
Speaker 3: what they're doing in extremes in terms.
Speaker 4: Of well they should have been thinking about that, but
Speaker 4: it's too late to hire an option coach.
Speaker 3: Now, it's too late to hire Kenna Modololo, which they
Speaker 3: definitely should have done.
Speaker 4: No, I mean, when you're Oregon State, you should absolutely
Speaker 4: do something completely psychotically different because that's your only shot.
Speaker 4: And you know, we'll see what Jonathan Smith can do that. Obviously,
Speaker 4: the offense he ran a Watchington is not that different
Speaker 4: than than anything else, So I don't know how that's
Speaker 4: going to go. But yeah, that's a prime, you know,
Speaker 4: prime option type candidate, and for whatever reason.
Speaker 2: They didn't, they didn't think that'd be a good idea.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 2: If somebody said.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, you can't ever recruit a five star quarterback, Well,
Speaker 4: I don't know how to break this to you, guys.
Speaker 4: You aren't going to do that anyway, and at least
Speaker 4: if you ran the option you wouldn't need to. But yeah,
Speaker 4: I think they should try very hard to differentiate themselves.
Speaker 2: And I'm not sure that that's what they're playing.
Speaker 3: As fair enough. So where are you right now? So
Speaker 3: you are outside the Orlando airports?
Speaker 2: Yes, correct?
Speaker 1: And where are you going?
Speaker 2: I'm going to Indianapolis for the combine?
Speaker 3: Have you done the combine before yes, I have, So
Speaker 3: what are you looking for to? Who are you looking
Speaker 3: forward to?
Speaker 1: Sing? What is what is the plan?
Speaker 4: You know, you get to talk to the players, which
Speaker 4: is good not for the NFL aspect it, you know,
Speaker 4: that's what a lot most of the people asking the
Speaker 4: questions are there for. So they ask questions like, you know,
Speaker 4: the reporter recovers the Browns, goes, have you talked to
Speaker 4: the Browns? And the guy goes, I talk to everybody.
Speaker 4: I'm going to talk to everybody when I'm here, And
Speaker 4: that's what everybody says, because everybody talks to everybody, So
Speaker 4: don't ask if they've talked to a specific team because
Speaker 4: they're going to No. For me, it's it's nice to
Speaker 4: do kind of exit interviews because guys tend to be
Speaker 4: a lot more loose talking about their college days now
Speaker 4: that they're over and there's no sid sendent, you know,
Speaker 4: staring over their shoulder, or maybe it's a guy who
Speaker 4: they just weren't allowed to talk during their college career
Speaker 4: or talked very rarely, and you know, sometimes it's fun
Speaker 4: to ask them questions about, hey, you know, what happened
Speaker 4: in this game or what and they're happy to talk
Speaker 4: about it, because they'd much rather talk about that than
Speaker 4: what they're going to do in their underwear the next day.
Speaker 1: Right, do you have a pet term like loose hips,
Speaker 1: like wingspan, functional athleticism. Do you have a favorite that
Speaker 1: you'll be using?
Speaker 2: Bubble? Bubble, combine?
Speaker 4: Turn?
Speaker 1: There is bubble? Huh?
Speaker 2: You know what the bubble is? Right?
Speaker 1: Of course? Explain it? Go ahead.
Speaker 2: You don't know what the bubble is.
Speaker 1: I know what the bubble is.
Speaker 2: I don't think you do. I don't know.
Speaker 1: If ty, what is your guess? My guess? My guess
Speaker 1: for the bubble is sort of like a tweener, a
Speaker 1: guy who's kind of in between rounds or.
Speaker 2: You know, no.
Speaker 4: Tournament bubble in terms of NFL scouting is a guy's ass.
Speaker 1: Okay, the bass?
Speaker 2: Does he have a big bubble?
Speaker 1: I stand corrected. I was confident that I had that
Speaker 1: correct does as soon as.
Speaker 4: I heard he was a big bubble and a and
Speaker 4: a solid bass? Or you know, does he does he
Speaker 4: have no bubble? And and you know he might get
Speaker 4: knocked knocked off his bass?
Speaker 3: Andy said that I was like, he's talking very specifically
Speaker 3: about a backside.
Speaker 1: Well, I stand corrected.
Speaker 4: I just I'm glad we got to drag that out
Speaker 4: as a bit thank you that anything else, but yeah,
Speaker 4: thank you worried you were going to say the correct
Speaker 4: answer and I was gonna feel really stupid for dragging
Speaker 4: it out.
Speaker 3: This is actually, this is a really good opportunity. And
Speaker 3: Sports Illustrated gets some flak for the swimsuit issues, So
Speaker 3: here's a chance for Andy to sort of even it
Speaker 3: out and do like the best butts of the combine.
Speaker 2: I could do that.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't see a reason you couldn't, because.
Speaker 4: Guys who would prefer their butts not be ogled on
Speaker 4: a national website.
Speaker 3: I mean, this goes, This goes on the resume forever.
Speaker 3: Best it does, top five butt it does. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I will see what's funny? Is there already are bubble
Speaker 3: critics out there?
Speaker 2: Oh my god, you guys that you.
Speaker 4: Know may not gets really into the bubble. He'll talk,
Speaker 4: he'll talk a lot about the bubble.
Speaker 3: So is there like because all bubbles are not equal
Speaker 3: in terms of football bases and foundations. So even though
Speaker 3: something is big, is there's a difference speech like a
Speaker 3: difference between two good big bubbles.
Speaker 1: The bubble, bobble as it were, the bubble bobble.
Speaker 4: Imagine you've ordered an old fashion you know, like a
Speaker 4: double old fashioned glass that that kind of wide squat glass. Sure,
Speaker 4: if you can set that on a guy's bubble and
Speaker 4: it'll just stay there, that's a good bubble.
Speaker 1: That's a bubble shelf tie. Yeah, that's what you're looking for.
Speaker 3: So we could not if we asked Bruce Feldman to
Speaker 3: come on today, we could not have gotten that kind
Speaker 3: of insight.
Speaker 2: I think you probably would have. Bruce knows about the freaks.
Speaker 2: He'd be talking about some freak bubbles.
Speaker 3: That's true. Freak Oh my god, that's a tie. That's
Speaker 3: our band name moving forward.
Speaker 1: Freak Bubbles. Yeah, freak bubble. Andy Staples, Yeah, yeah, same page,
Speaker 1: Andy Staples from Sports Illustrated. Enjoy the combine and come
Speaker 1: back soon.
Speaker 2: All right, any time, gentleman.
Speaker 1: Okay, Dan, there you go, a lengthy but meaty conversation
Speaker 1: with our friend Andy Staples from Sports Illustrated.
Speaker 3: That would be a way to describe somebody at the combine.
Speaker 3: Lengthy but at the same time meaty beat you could
Speaker 3: you could probably accurately describe an elite tight end that way.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Okay, So I'm excited to see what he has
Speaker 1: to say about the combine. Check him out. He's all
Speaker 1: over Twitter, does great work for Sports Illustrated. Been our
Speaker 1: friend Gosh as far back as I can remember with
Speaker 1: this show, and it's good to have him back. Appreciate
Speaker 1: the conversation.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So we have scheme theme coming up starting in March.
Speaker 3: We still have some big plans moving forward after March.
Speaker 3: We want to talk to We've we've had some conversation
Speaker 3: with schools about coaching stuff. So we're gonna get weird
Speaker 3: with I know we've already talked about what are we
Speaker 3: going to.
Speaker 1: Do with Bill Barnwell at the end of summer.
Speaker 3: Did we talk about late nineties Internet, Internet chatting and
Speaker 3: internet overall friendships? So, yeah, I'm excited for what we
Speaker 3: have coming forward.
Speaker 1: With that being said, the show is not going anywhere,
Speaker 1: and I did want to take some time here at
Speaker 1: the end to address some of your news that broke.
Speaker 1: As many people have wrote in asking concerned what is
Speaker 1: going on with you man.
Speaker 3: I'm glad you asked, because I do want to clear
Speaker 3: the air because there were a lot of people that
Speaker 3: asked in light of some news that the soliverbal continues
Speaker 3: and continues stronger than ever. We're very excited about the
Speaker 3: twenty eight seen season and beyond. But yes, if you
Speaker 3: saw on Twitter, and I know not everybody's on Twitter.
Speaker 3: I don't think I posted this on Facebook or anywhere else.
Speaker 3: Last week I was part of the espianation and Vox
Speaker 3: Media layoffs. I don't know people follow media news and
Speaker 3: stuff like that, but Vox Media cut about I want
Speaker 3: to say, fifty fifty plus people whatever, really good, strong,
Speaker 3: smart people. A lot of people. I know it was
Speaker 3: a pretty big bummer for me and for a lot
Speaker 3: of people. But you know, with some time to reflect,
Speaker 3: I sort of admit and recognize how fortunate I have been, very,
Speaker 3: very lucky to have been there for six years. For
Speaker 3: an overwhelming majority of my time there, it was a
Speaker 3: place with creative people making fun, different video things.
Speaker 1: I was a host and producer. It was collaborative.
Speaker 3: Everyone, you know, for the majority of those years loved
Speaker 3: coming into work and working together, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 1: Whatever, But.
Speaker 3: Nothing lasts forever, ty, No, you know this, Yeah, and
Speaker 3: I learned a ton from a lot of people. I
Speaker 3: made a ton of fun things, hopefully that people liked.
Speaker 3: With especially with the college football team. A lot of
Speaker 3: people we've had on this show and hopefully we'll be
Speaker 3: back on this show. Spencer Hall, who he had on
Speaker 3: before I went to eSPI Nation. Of course, Jason Kirk
Speaker 3: I think is the best college football editor that exists.
Speaker 3: I mean the amount of content he's able to come
Speaker 3: up with and help other people come up with. He
Speaker 3: is incredible. Bill Connolly of course, one of our dear,
Speaker 3: dear friends. But Elliott does a great job with recruiting
Speaker 3: Stephen Godfrey and everything he does as a feature writer
Speaker 3: and embedding himself, even Roger Sherman when he was there
Speaker 3: now at the Ringer. So a lot of amazing, amazing
Speaker 3: people on that team. But it's media life, Tie, It's
Speaker 3: it's it's startup life. One day. One day you're making big, fun,
Speaker 3: ambitious shows. The next well, honestly, if we're gonna we're
Speaker 3: gonna jump into this this cone of honesty that the
Speaker 3: show is.
Speaker 1: Tie.
Speaker 3: You get a Slack message telling you to bring up
Speaker 3: your laptop and it's to a conference room and a
Speaker 3: like a carefully scripted message that my position is being eliminated.
Speaker 3: So that's one of those things, Tye. And it's very
Speaker 3: cool to hear from everyone immediately thereafter, and it's cool
Speaker 3: to have received a lot of support from a lot
Speaker 3: of people who've wanted to work with me moving forward,
Speaker 3: which is very cool and nice. But everything that comes
Speaker 3: of this is you know, solid verbal leads the way.
Speaker 3: So very excited to make cool things, hopefully that people
Speaker 3: enjoy with you. And here's the new beginnings. Tie, new beginnings, right,
Speaker 3: new beginnings. Espianation is and was a wonderful place, and
Speaker 3: now we move forward.
Speaker 1: I know the passion, I know the pride you put
Speaker 1: into your work. I think you're immensely talented. If you weren't,
Speaker 1: we wouldn't still be doing this. So look, no one's
Speaker 1: going to hold you down. No one's ever held you down.
Speaker 1: I think the twinkle in your eye that was there
Speaker 1: back in two thousand and eight when we started this
Speaker 1: is still very much there now in twenty eighteen, and
Speaker 1: just for you personally and for us collectively, I'm excited
Speaker 1: to see what comes next. So obviously you've got a
Speaker 1: big fan over here. I wish you well and I'm
Speaker 1: excited to be with you just in whatever small capacity,
Speaker 1: in whatever that next chapter brings. I'm sure it'll be great.
Speaker 3: I appreciate that tie and shout out to my Wake
Speaker 3: college football co host Richard Johnson. I swear I will
Speaker 3: still watch college football, hopefully if you'll watch it with me.
Speaker 3: But uh yeah, it's it's definitely a bummer. It's definitely
Speaker 3: a strange time, and I very much like working and
Speaker 3: it's strange to go to a museum in the middle
Speaker 3: of a Tuesday. But you know there, you know it's
Speaker 3: a it's a fun time in its own weird way.
Speaker 1: The main takeaway if you listen to our podcast is
Speaker 1: we're not going anywhere. It's still going to be Dan
Speaker 1: and I. We still ride with Brandon McKissick. We ride.
Speaker 1: All the usual tropes still apply here on the podcast. Yeah,
Speaker 1: as we move forward now into March, we're excited about
Speaker 1: scheme thing and for the long slog ahead through the
Speaker 1: college football offseason, which we promise we'll try to make
Speaker 1: as fun as possible. We agree on that note. For
Speaker 1: my good friend Dan Rubinstein, for myself to Hildebrand, thank
Speaker 1: you for listening to our show. Don't forget to subscribe
Speaker 1: and tell your friends and find us out out there
Speaker 1: on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and all of these social medias.
Speaker 1: We'll catch you all in a week. Stay solid peace
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