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Speaker 1: I'm sure every single Florida fan when they saw a

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Speaker 1: third and eight come and they're like, well, we know

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Speaker 1: how this happens, right that I think they were statistically

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Speaker 1: the worst third and medium defense in the country, which

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Speaker 1: is very difficult to do because there's only one worst

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Speaker 1: team in the country.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the solid verboll.

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Speaker 3: That for me, I'm a man, I'm forty.

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Speaker 4: I've heard so many players say, well, I want to

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Speaker 4: be happy.

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Speaker 1: You want to be happy for Dake Edith State is

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Speaker 1: that woo woo?

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Speaker 3: And Dan and Tie.

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Speaker 4: Welcome back to the solid verbol, Boys and girls. My

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Speaker 4: name is Tie hilden Brand joining me over. There is

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Speaker 4: always the one the only still be comparable, Dan Rubinstein, Sir, Nope, sir,

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Speaker 4: how are you?

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Speaker 2: I'm good.

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Speaker 1: I always get excited for people who are able to

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Speaker 1: cover teams efficiently, with great detail and to get into

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Speaker 1: the I was gonna say muck because it ties in

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Speaker 1: with our guest's name, David Waters, but there's I am

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Speaker 1: still an optimistic person when it comes to Florida football

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Speaker 1: just because of what we know the ceiling for the

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Speaker 1: Gators to be so I get very excited for people

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Speaker 1: to add additional context that we always that we generally

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Speaker 1: don't have time for for any team because we don't

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Speaker 1: really live and breathe a single team other than I

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Speaker 1: guess Notre Dame for you and Oregon for me. So

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Speaker 1: the off season is a great opportunity to fill in

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Speaker 1: some blanks with a number of teams and excited to

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Speaker 1: do it with Florida today.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely.

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Speaker 4: We did it with Ryan Abraham, our friend from usc

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Speaker 4: football dot Com on the previous episodes. So if you

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Speaker 4: want to find out more about the year one debrief

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Speaker 4: with respect to Lincoln Riley, go and check the Tuesday episode.

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Speaker 4: Had a great conversation with Ryan, and today we'll be

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Speaker 4: talking with Dave about Gosh Billy Napier. Billiy Napier is

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Speaker 4: in a really interesting spot. Anthony or Richardson getting steam

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Speaker 4: is the number one overall pick, but this past season

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Speaker 4: was very inconsistent. Showed promise, showed all kinds of explosivity,

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Speaker 4: but inconsistent questions about his developing questions about how the

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Speaker 4: recruiting game at Florida is developing moving forward, especially in

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Speaker 4: light of the Jade Reshada news which, at least for

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Speaker 4: a hot minute in time, captured the college football world

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Speaker 4: and our imagination. As for all things anil so a

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Speaker 4: lot here to digest and unpack with David, We're thrilled

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Speaker 4: to have him on the show. We'll talk about all

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Speaker 4: things Florida here momentarily. Don't forget if you like our show,

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Speaker 4: if you want to continue on this off season journey

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Speaker 4: with us, don't forget to hit subscribe wherever you can,

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Speaker 4: or follow whatever your podcasting app of choice allows you

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Speaker 4: to do. We're also on every social media platform. You

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Speaker 4: can watch episodes out on YouTube dot com. Just search

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Speaker 4: for the Solid Verbal you'll find us out there. And

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Speaker 4: if you're really a super fan and really appreciate the

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Speaker 4: hard work that Dan and I are putting in on

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Speaker 4: a weekly basis. Verbalers dot com, v E R B

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Speaker 4: A L L e r s dot com, that is

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Speaker 4: our Patreon, you can sign up to be either a

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Speaker 4: certified Premium verballer and get access to some bonus features

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Speaker 4: like extra episodes, our discord server and the like. Did

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Speaker 4: I miss anything, Dan?

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Speaker 2: No?

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Speaker 1: I think that's good. We've got a board meeting coming

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Speaker 1: up that'll be fun.

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Speaker 2: You we do, don't we?

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Speaker 1: We do have a board meeting for all of our

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Speaker 1: winners of our our in season pickum Pool the board

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Speaker 1: of the Solibrable Board of Trustees. That's we just do

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Speaker 1: ridiculous things here at sOliver Well, yes, that Pickampool was

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Speaker 1: at Verballers dot com. So if you're interested for the

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty three season.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, never do more to come. Yeah, all right,

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Speaker 4: let's talk some Gators.

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Speaker 2: Yes, let's talk some Gators.

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Speaker 4: You can find our guest of honor on the Gators

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Speaker 4: Breakdown podcast on the Gators Breakdown YouTube channel. He's all

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Speaker 4: over the place, He's on Twitter. David Waters, Sir, welcome

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Speaker 4: to the show for the first time. How you doing.

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Speaker 3: I'm good, Thanks for having me, absolutely so.

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Speaker 4: Look, we've been we've been doing this year one debrief,

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Speaker 4: as we're calling it here on some of the notable

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Speaker 4: first year head coaches and Billy Napier and Florida is

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Speaker 4: a really interesting one. I almost feel like we need

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Speaker 4: to bucket this into two categories, the first of which

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Speaker 4: is last season, what happened year one, let's break that down.

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Speaker 4: The second is what has happened since the end of

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Speaker 4: last season and how that narrative has maybe shifted a

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Speaker 4: little bit in light of the Jayden rishot of stuff.

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Speaker 4: What does it mean yeah, it's it's very complicated. That's

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Speaker 4: why we brought you on. We want to get your

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Speaker 4: insight on all of this. But why don't we start

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Speaker 4: at the very top year one Billy Napier and Gainesville

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Speaker 4: scale A through F like a report card. How do

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Speaker 4: you grade out the job that Napier did?

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Speaker 3: Oh man, you can't go higher than a C. Probably

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Speaker 3: there just based on I mean, look, he was handed

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Speaker 3: a mess from the Dan Mullen situation. But hey, look

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Speaker 3: Florida fan base doesn't really care about excuses sometimes. And

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Speaker 3: then when you go and see you first year head

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Speaker 3: coaches all throughout the country go and have a lot

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Speaker 3: of success at the same time, then you know, based

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Speaker 3: off and coming off of bad years previously, no matter

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Speaker 3: what the previous head coach left them. But a lot

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Speaker 3: of fans know this was a mess and you're in

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Speaker 3: the SEC. It's not as easy to bounce back, maybe

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Speaker 3: as it is in some form of fashion. But really,

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Speaker 3: when you go and look at the first year, it

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Speaker 3: was not being able to handle any kind of consistency.

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Speaker 3: You get that big win versus Utah week one, and

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Speaker 3: all the odds are on you and Anthony Richardson's on

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Speaker 3: the Heisman list, and the very next week, Flaida looked

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Speaker 3: like they were playing their first game of the season

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Speaker 3: against Kentucky. They couldn't figure out Kentucky's defense. Anthony Richardson

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Speaker 3: goes from you know, a high A grade to Utah

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Speaker 3: to not being able to he didn't know where his

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Speaker 3: throws were going versus Kentucky. And you know, the team

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Speaker 3: didn't couldn't handle success, didn't handle that with any kind

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Speaker 3: of consistency. You know, they kind of waddled through the

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Speaker 3: rest of the year. And after the Georgia game, Okay,

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Speaker 3: you were setting up in November where Florida had everything

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Speaker 3: in front of him. Okay, whatever happened in September and October,

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Speaker 3: that's behind you. Now you have some winnable games coming up.

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Speaker 3: And they did that. They went to Texas A and

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Speaker 3: M and got a big win of Jimbo Fisher and

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Speaker 3: a struggling A and m Aggi's team that they had

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Speaker 3: to get that win, and then host South Carolina and

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Speaker 3: beat the breaks off of South Carolina and then the

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Speaker 3: very next week go to Vanderbilt and just lose. Kind

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Speaker 3: of the team couldn't handle consistency, They couldn't handle success

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Speaker 3: very well, and you know they had in South Carolina

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Speaker 3: goes on to beat Tennessee and beats Clemson. Florida should

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Speaker 3: have been that team. Flordia should have had that momentum

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Speaker 3: after beating South Carolina to go beat Vanderbilt and maybe

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Speaker 3: go upset the FSU team in Tyla Hassee. But no,

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Speaker 3: they couldn't handle expectations there. Part of it was Anthony Richardson.

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Speaker 3: He the team kind of followed him. The inconsistency we

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Speaker 3: talk about with the team it followed because of Anthony Richardson.

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Speaker 3: Now Flarida had a better defense, the records better anyway,

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Speaker 3: but you know it kind of just seemed to ebb

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Speaker 3: and flow with the quarterback play of Anthony Richardson. Well,

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Speaker 3: what's what's really interesting.

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Speaker 4: I'm glad you brought that up because we tend to

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Speaker 4: look at efficiency numbers all the time on the show,

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Speaker 4: and in terms of the numbers, that kind of bears

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Speaker 4: itself out. Florida is one of the more fascinating teams

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Speaker 4: on paper because not very not very efficient, but extremely explosive.

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Speaker 3: From week to week.

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Speaker 4: They generally either vastly overperformed or vastly underperformed whatever their

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Speaker 4: projection was. Going into that game. Outside of Anthony Richardson

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Speaker 4: to what do we attribute that just week to week whipsaw.

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Speaker 3: The defense. I mean, you just you knew pretty much

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Speaker 3: what you were getting. But just an average defense gets

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Speaker 3: Florida eight wins, maybe none wins, and you know, just

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Speaker 3: one more stop versus Tennessee they maybe win that game.

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Speaker 3: One more stop versus LS shooting, maybe win that game,

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Speaker 3: one more stop versus fshoot and maybe win that game.

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Speaker 3: It was, you know, the defense just couldn't even be

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Speaker 3: average at times. As I said, you know that two

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Speaker 3: games stretch versus Texas A and M in South Carolina,

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Speaker 3: they played six quarters of shutout football and it just

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Speaker 3: came out of nowhere, just okay, maybe this defense is

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Speaker 3: turning a corner. And didn't They go to Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt

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Speaker 3: has one of their best offensive games of the season,

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Speaker 3: and then FSU, you know, they get into the backfield

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Speaker 3: versus Jordan Travis, and he miraculously somehow twice escapes and

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Speaker 3: scores two touchdowns or leads to two touchdowns for FSU.

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Speaker 3: And it was just when you thought the team was

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Speaker 3: turning good corner, just when you thought the defense was

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Speaker 3: turning a corner. They just couldn't seem to put it together.

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Speaker 3: So Anthony Richardson, for the most part, he played well enough,

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Speaker 3: you know, for Florida to win those games. It's just

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Speaker 3: they didn't have a defense to rely on whatsoever. So,

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Speaker 3: you know, I know, the efficiency and the up and

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Speaker 3: down of the quarterback play really comes into it as well.

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Speaker 3: But if Florida just has an average defense, they're looking

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Speaker 3: at an eight nine win season.

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Speaker 1: So obviously, with anything complicated, there's gonna be a number

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Speaker 1: of factors as to why. So you know, is it

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Speaker 1: a coordinator thing, is it a game planning thing, is

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Speaker 1: it an effort thing? Is it an injury thing? Was

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Speaker 1: there any through line with Look, you look at Florida,

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Speaker 1: and I'm sure every single Florida fan when they saw

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Speaker 1: a third and eight coming, they're like, well, we know

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Speaker 1: how this happens, right. I think they were statistically the

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Speaker 1: worst third and medium defense in the country, which is

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Speaker 1: very difficult to do because there's only one worst team

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Speaker 1: in the country.

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Speaker 2: What happened?

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Speaker 1: What was it that now you look back and you're like,

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Speaker 1: what is fixable? Obviously they hire a new defensive coordinator

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Speaker 1: in Austin Armstrong, and so hopefully there's sort of new

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Speaker 1: life and energy and scheme game planning stuff coming there.

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Speaker 1: But what was it as you looked at, like, here's

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Speaker 1: the through line as to why this defense couldn't figure

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Speaker 1: it out.

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Speaker 3: So we thought it was as easy as Todd Grantham. Okay,

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Speaker 3: Todd Grantham's going, I can go step in on that

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Speaker 3: sideline and get better production.

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Speaker 2: Out of this defense.

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Speaker 3: But no, that wasn't the case. You know, they were

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Speaker 3: just as bad in many of the metrics. The only

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Speaker 3: thing they really got better in was creating turnovers, and

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Speaker 3: then that saved them a whole lot. Saved them in

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Speaker 3: the Utah game at the very end of the game,

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Speaker 3: of course, but they were able to create turnovers more

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Speaker 3: so than they were under Todd Grantham, so that that

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Speaker 3: saved them a bit towards you know, during the season.

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Speaker 3: But all in all, it was mostly the same defense.

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Speaker 3: The third down struggles, as you said, stayed the same.

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Speaker 3: It was third and Grantham became third and Tony and

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Speaker 3: then you know, now he's gone and we'll see what

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Speaker 3: Alstin Armstrong could come in and do. But it really

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Speaker 3: was there's no depth up front, you know, for first

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Speaker 3: bad in the SEC. You got to be strong upfront

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Speaker 3: in the trench, which is they had jer Von Dexter

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Speaker 3: pretty much playing out of position. He was playing sixty

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Speaker 3: snaps of a game. You don't need to play that

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Speaker 3: many snaps up front in the SEC, but they had to.

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Speaker 3: They had nobody behind him, no depth behind him. He's

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Speaker 3: out there playing more snaps than he really should be.

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Speaker 3: Linebacker Marii Bernie probably had his best season as a

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Speaker 3: Gator at the linebacker spot. Vendre Miller was injured and

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Speaker 3: then he was suspended for the first half of the

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Speaker 3: FSU game. But behind them, you had to rely on

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Speaker 3: a young Chamar James as the true freshman. Everybody else

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Speaker 3: at the linebacker position kind of playing out of position.

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Speaker 3: And then the secondary besides Jason Marshall at corner spot

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Speaker 3: number one, a lot to rely on there. You had

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Speaker 3: some young guys that were stepping up throughout the season,

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Speaker 3: but they get hurt. Jayden Hill comes back in just

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Speaker 3: an okay second cornerback, but safety position Rashaw Towranch, Trey

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Speaker 3: Dean just didn't get any better than they were. From

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Speaker 3: Todd Grantham to Patrick Tony, this is Florida just wasn't

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Speaker 3: very strong up the middle, defensive tackle, linebackers, safety play

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Speaker 3: left a lot to be desired, and you know, the

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Speaker 3: say safety was a low I signed the defense and

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Speaker 3: throughout the years trouble tackling horrible angles to go get

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Speaker 3: those tackles. So to me, it was Todd Grantham probably

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Speaker 3: the game passing by a bit and then not being

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Speaker 3: able to recruit at a certain level and recruit too

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Speaker 3: many guys playing at a position that I think it

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Speaker 3: was too tough for Patrick Tony to really come through

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Speaker 3: year one and fix it. I do think probably no

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Speaker 3: matter who the defensive coordinator is coming up this year,

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Speaker 3: it probably would have been better in regards to the

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Speaker 3: transfer portal and the guys that developed last year. But

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Speaker 3: at the same time, I think Gator fans would this

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Speaker 3: whole reputation of Arston Armstrong being a little more aggressive.

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Speaker 3: I think Gator fans would like to see that, you know,

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Speaker 3: just to let the guys go user speed, user athleticism

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Speaker 3: to fly around a little bit.

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Speaker 1: How much of twenty twenty two is and is not

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Speaker 1: on Billy Napier.

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Speaker 3: I wrestled with that question myself too. I came into

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Speaker 3: last year with expectations a little higher, but it was

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Speaker 3: mostly call of Anthony Richardson making up for it. I

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Speaker 3: didn't think the defense would be great by any stretch

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Speaker 3: of the imagination, but I thought Anthony Richardson would make

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Speaker 3: up for it, and he didn't enough at times. So

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Speaker 3: I think in the totality, year ones can be weird,

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Speaker 3: and I think we can put too much on year

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Speaker 3: ones at times. But there were times when he could have.

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Speaker 3: Florida was a terrible team in the middle eight. The

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Speaker 3: last four minutes of the first half and the first

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Speaker 3: four minutes of the second half, Florida was terrible. They

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Speaker 3: couldn't go into any halftime with any momentum and for

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Speaker 3: whatever reason, could not get stops or scores coming out

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Speaker 3: of halftime either. So I think Billion Naper's got to

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Speaker 3: figure out something there. But his end game management at times,

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Speaker 3: I thought versus Tennessee, I know he kind of got

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Speaker 3: chastised a bit. I thought it was good he went

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Speaker 3: for fourth downs because he knew he had to keep

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Speaker 3: up with the Tennessee offense that was going to put

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Speaker 3: up some points on the board. But throughout the seasons,

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Speaker 3: maybe too aggressive and it would you know, the inconsistent

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Speaker 3: quarterback play of maybe going for many too many fourth downs,

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Speaker 3: running for it on third down because he planned it

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Speaker 3: going for it on fourth down, but that fourth down

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Speaker 3: would be a little bit longer than it really should

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Speaker 3: have been because of the asistency in the run game

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Speaker 3: sometimes as well. So I think end game decision making

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Speaker 3: has got to get a bit better that there. And yeah,

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Speaker 3: there's a lot of talk of, you know, should he

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Speaker 3: be a head coach slash oc, should he go hire

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Speaker 3: an offensive coordinator so he can be the uh, you know,

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Speaker 3: the CEO type, and he's going he wants to call

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Speaker 3: his plays. That was a question I asked him his

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Speaker 3: opening press conference, who's going to call the plays? And

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Speaker 3: it was immediate, I'm going to call the play. I'm

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Speaker 3: going to be the quarterback coach. But that's the way

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Speaker 3: he wants to do things. I'm not saying it's wrong,

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Speaker 3: and he'll probably change that before he eventually, ever, you know,

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Speaker 3: if if he gets fired at Florida or if there's

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Speaker 3: a decision if he's going to get fired or out,

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Speaker 3: he'll probably make He'll probably make one change to hire

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Speaker 3: an offensive coordinator. I don't know if that's going to make

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Speaker 3: a difference for billion Napier or not, But at least initially,

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Speaker 3: he's going to do it his way. He wants to

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Speaker 3: call the plays, he wants to be the head coach

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Speaker 3: offensive coordinator at the same time. So I think, you

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Speaker 3: know what, we'll see down the road how that affects.

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Speaker 3: But I do think in some ways there was a

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Speaker 3: lot on his plate in twenty twenty two because of

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Speaker 3: all the all the hats that he wants to wear.

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Speaker 1: So we're now in the midst of his first full

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Speaker 1: offseason as the Florida coach. How is he seen off

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Speaker 1: the field? Obviously there are there are always going to

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Speaker 1: be a number of transfers.

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Speaker 2: After year one of a new coach.

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Speaker 1: A lot of players are going to give that new

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Speaker 1: coach a shot and think, Okay, maybe this is going

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Speaker 1: to be a better fit for me, Maybe I'm going

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Speaker 1: to see more playing time than the last guy. And

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Speaker 1: of course there's always just going to be a bunch

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Speaker 1: of transfers when guys don't get that playing time, or

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Speaker 1: guys don't feel like they're a fit for the scheme

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Speaker 1: or whatever, they don't feel like they're a fit for

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Speaker 1: that staff. And so there has been a lot made

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Speaker 1: of all of the guys who have left Florida, especially

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Speaker 1: on the offensive line.

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Speaker 2: A couple guys head over to USC.

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Speaker 1: The recruiting class seems to come together nicely, even if

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Speaker 1: it's not at the level of the best of Florida

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Speaker 1: recruiting classes these past you know, ten, fifteen, twenty years.

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Speaker 1: How do you evaluate the you know, early to December,

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Speaker 1: let's go post Bowl game disaster against Oregon State, a

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Speaker 1: very thin Gator team in the Vegas Bowl, post Vegas

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Speaker 1: Bowl until this very moment, bringing in a number of

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Speaker 1: guys obviously starting off the twenty twenty four cycle very

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Speaker 1: very strongly. How do you evaluate the the off season

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Speaker 1: thus far for Napier and his staff.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, all the magic words of culture that you hear

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Speaker 3: about billion all that's a points the culture. You can't

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Speaker 3: ask for anything better there. The attitude of the players.

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Speaker 3: You know, I've gotten to speak a lot with them

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Speaker 3: through through the Gator collective in the NIL and we

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Speaker 3: get to speak to the players and very impressive young

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Speaker 3: young guys coming through the program right now. But then

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Speaker 3: you go through the transfer portal. Like you said, look,

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Speaker 3: it was either going to happen one of two ways.

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Speaker 3: You can either go to LSU routes and get rid

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Speaker 3: of everybody before year one even comes along, or you

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Speaker 3: can get rid of them after year one, you know,

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Speaker 3: and as you said, some guys stick around. Either way.

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Speaker 3: It was going to happen, whether it be before the

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Speaker 3: first season or after the first season. The mass exodus

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Speaker 3: was going to happen at one point at some point.

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Speaker 3: So it happens after the first season, and of course

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Speaker 3: it's going to turn some heads. Of course, Farnigo six

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Speaker 3: and seven and now guys want to leave. Most of

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Speaker 3: the time though, it was guys who weren't really going

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Speaker 3: to contribute a whole lot, except as you mentioned offensive

356
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Speaker 3: line Michael Torpin, he would have started along the offensive line.

357
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Speaker 3: Ethan White would have started at left guard for the Gators.

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Speaker 3: Those guys go to go on to usc and see

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Speaker 3: if they can contribute there. And Florida went and hit

360
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Speaker 3: the transfer portal pretty hard with Michael Mazuka from Baylor

361
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Speaker 3: who will start right away at the left guard spot,

362
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Speaker 3: and then conta goodwin from Kentucky as well, Damien George

363
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Speaker 3: from Alabama going to the battle out on the left side.

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Speaker 3: So they did some nice re placement there along the

365
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Speaker 3: offensive line. But in the end it did seem like

366
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Speaker 3: a bunch of just Dan Mullen players. And we've seen

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Speaker 3: some players say that too, of Hey, maybe this was

368
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Speaker 3: a little bit too hard for them. The demands billion

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Speaker 3: Napier puts on you on the field and off the

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Speaker 3: field may be a bit too much for that. And

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Speaker 3: now that's not fair to some of those players either.

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Speaker 3: Some of them just weren't fits. You know. Some guys

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Speaker 3: just don't get along with a new staff. They don't

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Speaker 3: get the playing time. As you said, they do put

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Speaker 3: into work, but the playing time's not there. They go

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Speaker 3: get a fresh start somewhere else. So it is a

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Speaker 3: mixed bag of why guys want to leave the program,

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Speaker 3: why they want to leave Florida. And I don't think

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Speaker 3: it's anything noteworthy of negativity going on. Some guys just

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Speaker 3: aren't fits for the staff, and some guys and the

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Speaker 3: staff's just not fit for the players. So I don't

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Speaker 3: think there was much there as far as negativity goes

383
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Speaker 3: of just a sinking ship and guys want to jump

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Speaker 3: off of it. Now, as you said that, the biggest

385
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Speaker 3: headline it would be the Jade Michau Osaga and just

386
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Speaker 3: how messy that gouts and it's, uh, you know, Florida

387
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Speaker 3: firmly has the top ten class with him. It falls

388
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Speaker 3: out of the top ten class without him. But it

389
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Speaker 3: forced Florida. Florida's gonna go get a transferred quarterback anyway,

390
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Speaker 3: And they brought in Graham Mert from Wisconsin and a

391
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Speaker 3: lot of polarizing quarterback and the transfer porta that's right there, yeah,

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Speaker 3: it's is it too much of Okay? Did the Wisconsin

393
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Speaker 3: offense hold him back? Or did he hold the Wisconsin

394
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Speaker 3: offense back? You know, and hey, look two things can

395
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Speaker 3: be true at the same time. I will find it out,

396
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Speaker 3: probably be in Gainesville with the answer for that one. Uh,

397
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Speaker 3: but now he is your guy. It was kind of

398
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Speaker 3: a luxury, all right, You're bringing him in and if

399
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Speaker 3: he doesn't work out, then maybe halfway through the season

400
00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:03,920
Speaker 3: you turn the keys every touring Jade Mashada, Well, now

401
00:18:03,920 --> 00:18:06,480
Speaker 3: you don't have that luxury. You're you're riding, are done

402
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Speaker 3: with Graham Mertz and just getting this coming up season.

403
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Speaker 3: And there were a ton of quarterbacks out there in

404
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Speaker 3: the transfer portal, and Florida goes decides to Getst. Graham

405
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Speaker 3: mertzal you know, a little bit inside there. You know,

406
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Speaker 3: they were really close with Michael Pratford Tulane. That was

407
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,280
Speaker 3: looking like it was going to happen. Behind the scenes,

408
00:18:22,359 --> 00:18:24,000
Speaker 3: he decides to stay up tu lane. So I think

409
00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:27,960
Speaker 3: Florida scrambled just a bit there. Uh, But Graham Mertz

410
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Speaker 3: is the guy and billion Apiers second year, you know,

411
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Speaker 3: everybody's gonna look for, Hey, quarterback play and improve defense.

412
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Speaker 3: That's the only two things they're really looking for, uh,

413
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Speaker 3: for for for Billi Napier and record improvement, and it

414
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Speaker 3: just kind of did you make the right decisions? Uh?

415
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Speaker 3: And then kind of wrapping up, Yeah, the recruiting class

416
00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:49,800
Speaker 3: for this past minus Jade and Rashada outside the top ten.

417
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Speaker 3: That's that's the first place a lot of people are

418
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Speaker 3: gonna look, where did you rank in the rankings? But

419
00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:56,280
Speaker 3: they did a lot of good uh in that recruiting

420
00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:58,680
Speaker 3: class they fixed up. They brought in three good receivers

421
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Speaker 3: who probably should contry tribute all this true freshmen. Andy

422
00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:03,960
Speaker 3: Jean is turning heads in spring practice really early. Is

423
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Speaker 3: one of the best route runners that you get from

424
00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:09,960
Speaker 3: a high school level, and he's making plays already in

425
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Speaker 3: spring practice. We'll see how that translates. And they hit

426
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Speaker 3: the transfer portal pretty hard as well. Offensive line, defensive line,

427
00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:18,040
Speaker 3: and the trenches where they need it the most. They

428
00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:22,439
Speaker 3: identified that those spots. So all in all, far as

429
00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:24,560
Speaker 3: the off season goes, it is kind of just waiting

430
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Speaker 3: se mode. I think Gator fans were after Utah were

431
00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:30,679
Speaker 3: ready to full board jump onto billion Apier wagon, and

432
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Speaker 3: it all just kind of inconsistency falls apart. The recruiting

433
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Speaker 3: class didn't really bring him back. A hard twenty twenty

434
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Speaker 3: three schedule has it really brought him back. It's kind

435
00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:41,199
Speaker 3: of just waiting se mode. With a hard schedule, what

436
00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:41,960
Speaker 3: Florida really does.

437
00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:45,000
Speaker 4: Let's go back to Jaydener's shot. I know you want

438
00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:48,080
Speaker 4: to talk more Jayden's shot. I can't imagine you're not

439
00:19:48,280 --> 00:19:51,240
Speaker 4: thinking to yourself, I'm so sick of talking about Jayden's shot.

440
00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:53,439
Speaker 4: But we're going to do it here because, as I

441
00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:55,720
Speaker 4: mentioned at the very top, you kind of have to

442
00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:58,600
Speaker 4: bucket a conversation like this into two camps. Right there

443
00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:00,920
Speaker 4: is what happened last year last year, and then there

444
00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:03,639
Speaker 4: is this big off season story that for many folks,

445
00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:06,040
Speaker 4: I think outside the Florida bubble, they look at the

446
00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:08,760
Speaker 4: Jade and Rashata thing. In a similar way that many

447
00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:11,840
Speaker 4: folks looked at the Florida State situation with Travis Hunter.

448
00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:12,600
Speaker 2: Big recruit.

449
00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:16,280
Speaker 4: It's working, it's working suddenly it's not, Oh my gosh,

450
00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:18,159
Speaker 4: now the bottom is falling out on this thing. The

451
00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:20,760
Speaker 4: bottom sort of did fall out on this nil agreement.

452
00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:22,320
Speaker 4: Maybe you can speak a little bit more to the

453
00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:26,159
Speaker 4: particulars about it, but the rumor was what thirteen million

454
00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:28,680
Speaker 4: dollars offered in some way, shape or form to Jayden

455
00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:34,120
Speaker 4: and Rashata the blue Ship quarterback recruit from California originally

456
00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:35,639
Speaker 4: was going to go to Miami and then was going

457
00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:37,919
Speaker 4: to go to Florida, and then it suddenly went boom.

458
00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:40,800
Speaker 4: Now he's going to be playing at Arizona State, probably

459
00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:44,840
Speaker 4: getting some time out there before long. What was your

460
00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:49,840
Speaker 4: view as for how that all went down, how, if

461
00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:53,720
Speaker 4: at all, it has affected the program, maybe how the

462
00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:57,840
Speaker 4: outside is viewing Florida football versus the realities on the

463
00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:00,520
Speaker 4: ground and the Gator collective and the Gator collect right,

464
00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:02,840
Speaker 4: I mean, there's just so much to discuss here. Where

465
00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:04,960
Speaker 4: where do you go first? When you think of the

466
00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:08,040
Speaker 4: Jade and rishot A story and either what folks like

467
00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:10,320
Speaker 4: Dan and I got right versus what we get wrong.

468
00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:14,480
Speaker 3: Yeah. So admittedly, you know, I'm pretty close with a

469
00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:16,119
Speaker 3: lot of the people in the Get Your Collector, So

470
00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:18,960
Speaker 3: I'll put that out there, you know, as a disclaimer

471
00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:21,760
Speaker 3: if people want to connect dots or whatever. But you know,

472
00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:23,760
Speaker 3: I tried to follow as much as I could from

473
00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:26,320
Speaker 3: from every single angle of it. You know, first of all,

474
00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:29,159
Speaker 3: just being a fan of Florida, but you know, just

475
00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:31,200
Speaker 3: trying to figure out what happened, where it went wrong,

476
00:21:32,119 --> 00:21:34,000
Speaker 3: and the way it was presented to me, and talking

477
00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:38,680
Speaker 3: to two different avenues of how it goes is okay, yep,

478
00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:41,960
Speaker 3: he flips from Florida to Miami. Okay, and then yeah,

479
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:46,040
Speaker 3: there is an NIO agreement and the thirteen million dollars

480
00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:48,600
Speaker 3: was brought up. And then all of a sudden, when

481
00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:52,360
Speaker 3: it's ready to come about with the first payment, it's hey,

482
00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:55,640
Speaker 3: I never wherever the money's coming from. Hey, I never

483
00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:59,040
Speaker 3: agreed to that. Well you mean you never agreed to that? Yeah,

484
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,600
Speaker 3: the thirteen me, that's that's not happening. By the way,

485
00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:04,320
Speaker 3: you know, the thirteen million dollars is not happening. Okay,

486
00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:07,120
Speaker 3: So now it's left to scramble, you know, how how

487
00:22:07,119 --> 00:22:09,760
Speaker 3: can we still make this happen. So the big thing

488
00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:13,560
Speaker 3: was with that scramble, he still signs with Florida on

489
00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:16,879
Speaker 3: early signing day, and this story is already you know,

490
00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:18,800
Speaker 3: behind the scenes out there, you know that, hey, the

491
00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:22,080
Speaker 3: money's not going to be there, the thirteen million is

492
00:22:22,119 --> 00:22:23,919
Speaker 3: not going to be there, but he's gonna sign with

493
00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:27,480
Speaker 3: Florida anyway. So of course you know there's the collective

494
00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:30,080
Speaker 3: of the nil side of it involved, there's a lawyer involved,

495
00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:34,040
Speaker 3: there's agents involved on the on the Rashata thing. Uh

496
00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:37,520
Speaker 3: and you know just the booster who you know, supposedly

497
00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:40,840
Speaker 3: promised to thirteen million dollars is now with drawn down. Okay,

498
00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:42,439
Speaker 3: so now what can we do? What can we do

499
00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:44,919
Speaker 3: to make this happen where you still end up at

500
00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:47,760
Speaker 3: Florida and they could just never come to the agreement,

501
00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:51,240
Speaker 3: and you know it's going to be responsible. I mean,

502
00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:53,159
Speaker 3: we've we're in March now, you know, that's back in

503
00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:57,520
Speaker 3: late December, early January, and he ends up going somewhere else.

504
00:22:57,760 --> 00:22:59,720
Speaker 3: I think if it's pretty much over with, if we're

505
00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:03,160
Speaker 3: going to hear anything about fallout of this, as far

506
00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:07,560
Speaker 3: as I mean there's legal legally, nothing can really happen.

507
00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:11,359
Speaker 3: I mean, it's uh, as a player gonna admit that

508
00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:13,919
Speaker 3: they took some money. I mean, the money never happened.

509
00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:16,200
Speaker 3: So that's why he's not at Florida. So that that's

510
00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,360
Speaker 3: that's the biggest thing. There's no money ever switched hands,

511
00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:21,520
Speaker 3: because that's why he's not at Florida right now. But

512
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:24,240
Speaker 3: somewhere along the way there was a disconnect though, Hey,

513
00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:27,760
Speaker 3: this money is going to be there. Now it's not there. Uh.

514
00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:30,600
Speaker 3: And you know the end up the NIL the Gator Collective,

515
00:23:31,119 --> 00:23:34,080
Speaker 3: they drafted the contract. The money's not coming from them,

516
00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:37,440
Speaker 3: is they would shared to them, Hey, put you'll draft

517
00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:40,840
Speaker 3: the contract, you have the template, put this in there. Okay,

518
00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:42,960
Speaker 3: we'll put it in there. Because where it was coming from,

519
00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,160
Speaker 3: they had, who they were dealing with, had pretty much

520
00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:49,320
Speaker 3: dealt with almost every NIL deal up to that point.

521
00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:51,640
Speaker 3: There was no reason not to trust it, right.

522
00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:53,959
Speaker 4: Why did they fall through? Why did the money just

523
00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:55,720
Speaker 4: dry up all of a sudden.

524
00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:58,439
Speaker 3: That's the part I can't I can't get. All I

525
00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:01,480
Speaker 3: know was, hey, this is this is the money we're

526
00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:03,480
Speaker 3: telling you to put in there. I don't know if

527
00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:07,399
Speaker 3: it was buyer's remorse, I don't know. If you know

528
00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:09,960
Speaker 3: Florida got a commitment from DJ Lagway at the same time,

529
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:12,320
Speaker 3: the high profile five star quarterback for the twenty four

530
00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:16,040
Speaker 3: class is that, Hey we got this guy lined up next. No, now,

531
00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:19,639
Speaker 3: we quote unquote don't need Rashata for that much money anyway.

532
00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:23,560
Speaker 3: That's me guessing there. I don't know if that played

533
00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:27,320
Speaker 3: into it or not. But as far as look, the

534
00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:30,800
Speaker 3: thirteen million dollars at first was unbelievable. Nobody was going

535
00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:34,639
Speaker 3: to believe it. But asking around, digging around more, all

536
00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:37,080
Speaker 3: the articles coming out from every other source out there,

537
00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:42,880
Speaker 3: that money. Somehow that number was real, no matter how

538
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:44,200
Speaker 3: asking that it is, no matter if you want to

539
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:47,320
Speaker 3: believe it or not, somehow that number was real. It's

540
00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:50,280
Speaker 3: a big number. It is a number astronomically. I mean,

541
00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:52,200
Speaker 3: you know, in some ways, I'm glad it didn't work

542
00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:55,399
Speaker 3: out because not only for Florida, but how would that

543
00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:57,400
Speaker 3: affect college football recruiting down the road.

544
00:24:57,440 --> 00:24:59,280
Speaker 2: Hey, that's a market. Yeah, yeah, this.

545
00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:01,560
Speaker 3: Florida quarterback go thirteen million? Okay, now I want it,

546
00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:05,120
Speaker 3: you know, so don't forget about Florida on that angle.

547
00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:07,520
Speaker 3: It was going to affect college football in some ways.

548
00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,480
Speaker 3: But you'll probably be part of that. The fallout from it,

549
00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:14,119
Speaker 3: from what I can gather, hasn't really hurt Florida. You know,

550
00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:16,840
Speaker 3: Florida's recruiting ranking for the twenty twenty four class. I

551
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:19,040
Speaker 3: don't think it's going to be affected all this down

552
00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,119
Speaker 3: by this all that much. In the end. I think

553
00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:27,080
Speaker 3: as we get through and all these visits start happening

554
00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:30,040
Speaker 3: with other recruits and all that, do we get some

555
00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:33,879
Speaker 3: message out there of maybe opposing coaches using this against Florida?

556
00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:35,400
Speaker 4: That was that was actually going to be my question,

557
00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:37,320
Speaker 4: Not to interrupt you, but I you know, so the

558
00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:39,760
Speaker 4: money drives up. This was a high profile kid, He's

559
00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:44,440
Speaker 4: now going elsewhere. Is there any kind of longer term

560
00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:47,200
Speaker 4: effect with respect to the Gator collective?

561
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:47,960
Speaker 3: I e.

562
00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:50,200
Speaker 4: We can't take their word for it anymore. If I'm

563
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:52,240
Speaker 4: a recruit, do I really want to go there?

564
00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:52,600
Speaker 3: Now?

565
00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:56,199
Speaker 4: To your point, doesn't seem like that's really affected that

566
00:25:56,280 --> 00:25:59,360
Speaker 4: many folks, if anybody. But it is a question that

567
00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:01,080
Speaker 4: I that I'd imagine is kind of hanging out there,

568
00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:04,320
Speaker 4: and certainly one in a competitive landscape like the SEC,

569
00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:06,399
Speaker 4: you have to imagine other schools will try and use

570
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:07,040
Speaker 4: that against them.

571
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:09,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so, you know, spring visits will be

572
00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:11,800
Speaker 3: starting to happen some more and more summer visits I'll

573
00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:13,760
Speaker 3: start happening more and more. Is that the message we

574
00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:17,640
Speaker 3: start getting As of now, you know, when they've had

575
00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:20,080
Speaker 3: about four or five visit weekends so far since the

576
00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:23,840
Speaker 3: new year, haven't heard too much about NIL affecting Florida.

577
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:26,240
Speaker 3: The Gety Collector is still going on and it's still

578
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:29,200
Speaker 3: doing deals. It's still offering you know, the NIL deals

579
00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:32,120
Speaker 3: to current student athletes out there, So it hasn't really

580
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,679
Speaker 3: slowed down in that regard. But I mean there are

581
00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:37,960
Speaker 3: some changes coming there behind Look this this opened eyes

582
00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:41,199
Speaker 3: at least for Florida, and behind the scenes a bit

583
00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:44,360
Speaker 3: of house series to take NIL and how much it's

584
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:46,760
Speaker 3: going to affect your recruiting class, and how much it's

585
00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:49,480
Speaker 3: going to affect the eyeballs on your program a bit.

586
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:52,280
Speaker 3: If anything, it could help in some regards to help

587
00:26:52,359 --> 00:26:54,760
Speaker 3: get this cleaned up. Get everybody on the same page,

588
00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:56,679
Speaker 3: so everybody's on the same page moving forward, and make

589
00:26:56,680 --> 00:26:58,880
Speaker 3: sure something like this does that happen again. But I'm

590
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:01,639
Speaker 3: sure every other college program out there, they saw this happen,

591
00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:04,000
Speaker 3: and hey, how did we make sure this doesn't happen

592
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,040
Speaker 3: to us? So all in all, it may be a

593
00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:10,200
Speaker 3: good thing overall for college football and for Florida in

594
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:12,520
Speaker 3: the end. We will have to see how it affects

595
00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:15,159
Speaker 3: Florida in the immediate future of you know, how can

596
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:17,479
Speaker 3: they build their twenty four to twenty five classes coming up?

597
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:21,359
Speaker 3: And maybe Kirby Smart, Nick Saban they might know avail

598
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:23,359
Speaker 3: using this, and hey, sure those deals there may not

599
00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:23,960
Speaker 3: be so good.

600
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:27,440
Speaker 4: Well, the immediate fallout is probably Graham Mertz. Graham Hertz

601
00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:31,639
Speaker 4: could be the starting quarterback first game come this September.

602
00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:34,679
Speaker 4: How do you feel about that, Like, have you started

603
00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:37,359
Speaker 4: trying to talk yourself into it? What is the Gator

604
00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:41,199
Speaker 4: community saying about Graham Mertz as the potential starting quarterback?

605
00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:43,439
Speaker 4: Because I got to say, I mean, there was nobody

606
00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:46,200
Speaker 4: higher on Graham Mertz than I was, And people who

607
00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:49,360
Speaker 4: listen to our show know I have talked at nauseum

608
00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:53,120
Speaker 4: about the five touchdown game he had against Illinois, and

609
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:58,480
Speaker 4: that just never really had much fruit beyond that, right

610
00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:00,320
Speaker 4: it was it kind of stopped there, and maybe it

611
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:01,919
Speaker 4: was a product of the offense, maybe it was a

612
00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:05,680
Speaker 4: product of his development, But I find it really hard

613
00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:08,920
Speaker 4: to get excited if I'm a Florida fan about Graham

614
00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:11,760
Speaker 4: Mertz being the dude going into twenty twenty three.

615
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:15,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree. I wait and see. It's probably used

616
00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:17,840
Speaker 3: too much for gat nation right now, but that's is

617
00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:19,920
Speaker 3: what it is. I think there's a little bit of excitement.

618
00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:22,200
Speaker 3: You know, we've done our grand Merch deep dive ins

619
00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:27,480
Speaker 3: and other podcasts and other avenues of media have as well. Look,

620
00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:30,879
Speaker 3: it is truthful. The Wisconsin offense did him no favors.

621
00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:34,720
Speaker 3: It's renal first down, rental second down. Hey go complete

622
00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:37,760
Speaker 3: third and seven third, Nick right, and barely do it

623
00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:40,160
Speaker 3: off of play action, which he excelled in. But for

624
00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:43,040
Speaker 3: whatever reason, a run heavy offense didn't use play action.

625
00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:45,959
Speaker 3: So you know, and now he was under center at

626
00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:47,800
Speaker 3: Wisconsin a lot. He'll be in shotgun a whole lot

627
00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:49,640
Speaker 3: more at Florida. They'll open up the offense a bit

628
00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:52,800
Speaker 3: more compared to what Wisconsin did. But at the same time,

629
00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:55,800
Speaker 3: you know, did Wisconsin not open up the offense because

630
00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 3: of gram Mert? I think that's a right, right, I

631
00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:01,960
Speaker 3: think that is a question that we have to ask ourselves.

632
00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:05,120
Speaker 3: And you know, I hate to take the easy way out,

633
00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:08,240
Speaker 3: but there will be differences of the offense at Florida.

634
00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:11,440
Speaker 3: Will that make a difference for Graham Mertz so early

635
00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:13,600
Speaker 3: on through spring camp right now we are here and

636
00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:16,200
Speaker 3: he's pretty much the number one quarterback already ahead of

637
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:18,320
Speaker 3: Jack Miller. Really no surprise. I'm not a huge Jack

638
00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:20,960
Speaker 3: Miller Jack Miller fan to begin with. That was even

639
00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:24,040
Speaker 3: before the Oregon State Bowl Game disaster last year. But

640
00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:25,880
Speaker 3: he's going to be He's going to be the guy.

641
00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:28,120
Speaker 3: The offense is going to ride or die with Graham Mertz,

642
00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:31,600
Speaker 3: you know, him being healthy. Forrigator fans, they do hope

643
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:34,440
Speaker 3: that it was the Wisconsin offense that held him back,

644
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:37,240
Speaker 3: that he can live up to that recruiting potential that

645
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:41,080
Speaker 3: he had and use his arm to advantage. And he

646
00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:43,520
Speaker 3: look credit to the Wisconsin I mean they recruited him

647
00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:45,719
Speaker 3: and it was you know, he played the en a

648
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:48,520
Speaker 3: more open offense in high school and he goes, okay, well,

649
00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:51,360
Speaker 3: you know, Paul Chris develops you know, quarterbacks pretty good.

650
00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:54,080
Speaker 3: He's got a track record there. But that offense didn't

651
00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:55,920
Speaker 3: do him any favors. But at the same time, we

652
00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:58,840
Speaker 3: don't know if there was a limitation of him.

653
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:02,400
Speaker 1: No, we talked about the offensive line filling in some

654
00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,440
Speaker 1: gaps nicely after a couple of transfers. Obviously, Graham Mertz

655
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:07,360
Speaker 1: comes in and is going to be the presumed starter.

656
00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:10,520
Speaker 1: Like you're talking about defense though, if you're saying it's

657
00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:15,160
Speaker 1: defense and quarterback, that's everything beyond that is whatever. If

658
00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:17,000
Speaker 1: you can figure out defense to whatever extent, if you

659
00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:19,600
Speaker 1: can figure out quarterback to whatever extent. Florida, even with

660
00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:21,120
Speaker 1: this schedule, I think they're going to be I think

661
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:23,440
Speaker 1: they're out of outside of Gainesville for like a month

662
00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:28,440
Speaker 1: of October something like that. What are the reasons for

663
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:33,840
Speaker 1: defensive optimism to ascend to below average to average?

664
00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:34,080
Speaker 2: Right?

665
00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:35,920
Speaker 1: Is it a new pieces thing? Is it a new

666
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,480
Speaker 1: coordinator thing? Is it a misuse thing like you mentioned

667
00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:41,960
Speaker 1: up front at times? Is the depth going to be better?

668
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:45,719
Speaker 1: What are the names people should know for why? You know,

669
00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:48,680
Speaker 1: striving for average might be realistic this year.

670
00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:51,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, and kind of connecting the dot like you just

671
00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:53,000
Speaker 3: did too. You know, whenever I was looking at Florida

672
00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:58,720
Speaker 3: going into transferred cordal transfer portal quarterback beingo lottery or whatever,

673
00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:01,760
Speaker 3: it was, Hey, let's get a quarterback that can maybe

674
00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:03,480
Speaker 3: make up for a bad defense. Now I'm not sure

675
00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:05,520
Speaker 3: grand Borth can do that, So that that was kind

676
00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:08,520
Speaker 3: of the worry there. But you know, with this defense,

677
00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:11,440
Speaker 3: and we did, of course a big spring preview of

678
00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:14,160
Speaker 3: and I got going. I got thinking of like, hey,

679
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:16,560
Speaker 3: this defense, especially up front, might be a bit deeper.

680
00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:19,320
Speaker 3: Yes they used, Yes they lose er Von Dexter, but

681
00:31:20,280 --> 00:31:22,360
Speaker 3: go and get Noah Banks from THEE. Go and get

682
00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:26,080
Speaker 3: Cam Jackson from Memphis, who I think he very underrated

683
00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:28,760
Speaker 3: transfer just cause he's coming from Memphis. I think he'll

684
00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:30,760
Speaker 3: slide right in and then SEC play and be a

685
00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:33,960
Speaker 3: verstal piece for Florida. Up front, there'smend Watson coming along

686
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:37,040
Speaker 3: with big plug up the middle there for Florida. Christ McClelland,

687
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:38,640
Speaker 3: who was a true freshman last year, gets a lot

688
00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:41,880
Speaker 3: of playing time. So I think I do think through development,

689
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:45,560
Speaker 3: through recruiting, Florida could be deeper upfront. Uh and the

690
00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:48,240
Speaker 3: linebacker spot to go, get to Roger Mitchell from Ohio State,

691
00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:52,240
Speaker 3: do spur Loot from Michigan to add to all SEC

692
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:55,800
Speaker 3: freshmen Shamar James, who I think you know who and

693
00:31:56,880 --> 00:31:59,600
Speaker 3: now should be deeper at the linebacker spot. Now lose

694
00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:01,920
Speaker 3: the experience of the Ventro Miller, lose the experience of

695
00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:04,840
Speaker 3: Mary Bernie so they're relying on some new faces that linebacker,

696
00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:07,800
Speaker 3: but through the transfer portal has shown showing us that

697
00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:10,240
Speaker 3: you know, it can be a quick fix, and Florida's

698
00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:13,120
Speaker 3: gonna have to rely on quick fixes on the defensive

699
00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:15,560
Speaker 3: front and at the linebacker spot. And I do think

700
00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:18,840
Speaker 3: I'll hit the transfer portal again for the secondary, as

701
00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:22,320
Speaker 3: I mentioned the struggles at safety for Florida last year

702
00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:27,920
Speaker 3: with Tradean and Rashad Torrants, Miguil Mitchell, Kamari Wilson or

703
00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:30,080
Speaker 3: two new safeties who are going to be in the

704
00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:32,880
Speaker 3: rotation there for Florida. You can rely on Jason Marshall

705
00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:35,080
Speaker 3: as cornerback one, but there's going to be a nice

706
00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 3: little battle for that cornerback two spot between Devin Moore

707
00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:40,400
Speaker 3: and Jadon Hill. One of the most intriguing battles for me.

708
00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:43,160
Speaker 3: But Jaydon Hill maybe even playing star for the Gators.

709
00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:46,400
Speaker 3: He told this last week, but Austin Armstrong coming in

710
00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:49,160
Speaker 3: to do the defensive coordinator and one big change it

711
00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:51,200
Speaker 3: was going to happen regardless whether they were getting a

712
00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:53,720
Speaker 3: new defensive cordier or not. But Corey Raymond taking the

713
00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:56,320
Speaker 3: complete secondary. He's going to be the voice for the

714
00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:58,200
Speaker 3: safety he's going to be the voice for the cornerback

715
00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:00,400
Speaker 3: still have one voice now instead of Patrick Toy at

716
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:03,840
Speaker 3: safety and Corey Raymond at cornerbacks. So I do think

717
00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:09,120
Speaker 3: those changes are very needed for Florida. Can they pay dividends?

718
00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:11,800
Speaker 3: I do think this defense will be better just because

719
00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:14,480
Speaker 3: they'll be deeper. But how much do you have to

720
00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:16,320
Speaker 3: make up for a graand Merks at quarterback? You know?

721
00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:22,200
Speaker 3: So it's it's we came into last year saying it's

722
00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:24,880
Speaker 3: hard to be as bad as they were, but now

723
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:27,320
Speaker 3: we've been saying that for going on three years now. Yeah,

724
00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:29,760
Speaker 3: and it's kind of the revolving door of We used

725
00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:31,480
Speaker 3: to say that about the Florida offense, well, it can't

726
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:33,640
Speaker 3: be worse than last year, and it was it can't

727
00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:35,640
Speaker 3: be worse than last year and it was. Now we're

728
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:38,800
Speaker 3: saying that about the Florida defense. And ever since the eighties,

729
00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:41,000
Speaker 3: Florida had always had a defense you can at least

730
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:44,280
Speaker 3: rely on, besides two thousand and seven that after the

731
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:46,840
Speaker 3: two thousand and six National championship team, Florida had a

732
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:50,000
Speaker 3: defense you could always rely on. Last three years, ever

733
00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:52,960
Speaker 3: since twenty twenty, the COVID year that did them in

734
00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:56,000
Speaker 3: they haven't been able to recover from that third defensive

735
00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:58,479
Speaker 3: coordinator in three years. Now. That has to pay off

736
00:33:58,520 --> 00:33:59,560
Speaker 3: of Florida and billionator.

737
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:02,800
Speaker 1: What's the state of recruiting for Florida right now? Both

738
00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:06,560
Speaker 1: in state and nationally. Obviously, Florida's rivals in Tennessee and

739
00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:11,960
Speaker 1: Georgia are ascending recruiting super well. In state, Miami can

740
00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:14,880
Speaker 1: recruit very well both because of Mario Cristobaul's ability and

741
00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:17,640
Speaker 1: they can sell. Look, this is a full rebuild. We

742
00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:20,239
Speaker 1: need your help and they're they're recruiting along the East Coast.

743
00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:23,480
Speaker 1: Obviously in state, Florida state's having the success on the field, though,

744
00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:28,440
Speaker 1: Mike Norvell isn't you know, streaming together top three classes nationally? Obviously,

745
00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:31,520
Speaker 1: Florida's twenty twenty four classes off to a great start,

746
00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:34,640
Speaker 1: as you mentioned with DJ Lagway from Texas excuse me,

747
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:38,320
Speaker 1: the five star quarterback. What do you expect from recruiting

748
00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:40,840
Speaker 1: moving forward? Is this a staff as is a program

749
00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:45,279
Speaker 1: that is built to compete with Georgia and Alabama in

750
00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:47,879
Speaker 1: the way that we're used to seeing way back when

751
00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:51,160
Speaker 1: or should we get used to more top eight to

752
00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:52,680
Speaker 1: top twelve classes.

753
00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:55,520
Speaker 2: What is the current moment for Florida recruiting.

754
00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:58,359
Speaker 3: Yeah, they have the nice base there with dj Likewa

755
00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:00,239
Speaker 3: as you said, Miles Graham and Darius Hay, these two

756
00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:03,319
Speaker 3: linebackers there, Chauncey Bowens are running back, who's really coming

757
00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:06,920
Speaker 3: on lately, and Georgia is heavily interested in Chauncey Bowens

758
00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:09,319
Speaker 3: are running back there. I look for him to shoot

759
00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:11,600
Speaker 3: up the rankings a bit more as we go through this.

760
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:13,640
Speaker 3: But look, it's in state recruiting, and it's not just

761
00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:16,480
Speaker 3: for Florida, for Miami and Florida State as well. I've

762
00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:18,680
Speaker 3: got to stop Georgia from coming in and getting all

763
00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:22,160
Speaker 3: the guys Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, I mean Ohio State

764
00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:24,879
Speaker 3: right now, still with Brian Hartline is you know, as

765
00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:27,799
Speaker 3: integrated as he is in that offense, is still coming

766
00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:31,480
Speaker 3: into Florida, still coming into South Florida and getting whatever

767
00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:34,000
Speaker 3: wide receiver he wants. Now, don't get me wrong, what

768
00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:36,759
Speaker 3: Florida did at wide receiver last class. I love with

769
00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:40,680
Speaker 3: Aidan Mozel, Andy Jean and Eugenie Wilson. Very good wide

770
00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:44,040
Speaker 3: receivers there for Florida. But you're still missing those elite

771
00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:47,920
Speaker 3: you know, those those top five state of Florida guys,

772
00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:50,200
Speaker 3: and there's a number one wide receiver in the country,

773
00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:53,239
Speaker 3: but they're going to Ohio state, you know, so or

774
00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:56,319
Speaker 3: Alabama or Georgia. And that's just been a trend. Who's

775
00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:57,520
Speaker 3: going to be the first one to stop that. It

776
00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:00,680
Speaker 3: hasn't been Miami yet, hasn't been Florida yet, hasn't been state. Yeah,

777
00:36:00,719 --> 00:36:02,880
Speaker 3: which in state school is going to be able to

778
00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:05,759
Speaker 3: stop that bleeding from in state? I think is still

779
00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:08,440
Speaker 3: the biggest question. The big three in the state of

780
00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:11,560
Speaker 3: Florida are not taking advantage of in state talent just yet.

781
00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:14,920
Speaker 3: So look, Billion Napier has built the staff, they got

782
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,040
Speaker 3: the army that they call it. The number of staff

783
00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:19,720
Speaker 3: members is up there with Alabama, is up there with Georgia,

784
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:22,400
Speaker 3: but still lagging behind and recruiting. Is it going to

785
00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:26,279
Speaker 3: take on field results to sell. I'm a believer if

786
00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:28,120
Speaker 3: you're a recruiter, you can recruit. That's just kind of

787
00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:30,600
Speaker 3: how kind of how it goes in there. So the

788
00:36:30,760 --> 00:36:34,640
Speaker 3: guy to figure this out. NIL was a bigger factor

789
00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:38,800
Speaker 3: when I think they thought it would be last cycle,

790
00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:40,640
Speaker 3: and I mentioned everybody getting on the same page and

791
00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:44,120
Speaker 3: taking NIL a bit more serious. Meetings have happened. That

792
00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:46,640
Speaker 3: needs to be the focus so they don't fall far

793
00:36:46,719 --> 00:36:49,640
Speaker 3: behind again. So I do think, you know, with the

794
00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:52,719
Speaker 3: focus being on nil the twenty the problem is the

795
00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:54,520
Speaker 3: twenty four class in state is not as good as

796
00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:56,520
Speaker 3: it was in twenty three. I think the twenty three class,

797
00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:58,560
Speaker 3: with the class Billiy Napier really needed to hit on

798
00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:02,839
Speaker 3: in state, wasn't able to do so if went out

799
00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:05,040
Speaker 3: of state for a big time quarterback. Right there, DJ,

800
00:37:05,239 --> 00:37:07,040
Speaker 3: lagway to the staple, you don't you don't. You don't

801
00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:09,120
Speaker 3: blame Farda for trying trying to stay in state for

802
00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:11,080
Speaker 3: a quarterback. There you get, you go get a big

803
00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:14,000
Speaker 3: time quarterback whenever you can get him. But in the end,

804
00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:17,240
Speaker 3: we know it comes down to which Big three school

805
00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:19,160
Speaker 3: can recruit to State of Florida better, and that'd be

806
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:21,440
Speaker 3: the first one I think that breaks through the mole

807
00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:24,840
Speaker 3: to go compete with Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson.

808
00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:29,479
Speaker 4: So Dave, let's let's wrap with this. You gave Billy

809
00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:32,200
Speaker 4: Napier a c kind of a mixed bag last season

810
00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:34,560
Speaker 4: right finish the year what six and seven lost the

811
00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:37,880
Speaker 4: bowl game? As we discussed a little earlier, but on

812
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:42,360
Speaker 4: the same note, I am definitely detecting notes of positivity

813
00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:45,440
Speaker 4: with respect to the quote unquote mess that was left

814
00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:48,160
Speaker 4: Billy Napier after the Dan Mullen era. We haven't talked

815
00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:50,600
Speaker 4: a whole lot about that, but maybe we can close

816
00:37:50,719 --> 00:37:54,520
Speaker 4: on that On that note, What were the depths of

817
00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:57,200
Speaker 4: that mess? How bad was it? A lot of us

818
00:37:57,239 --> 00:37:59,919
Speaker 4: here who followed college football more on the national level

819
00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:03,719
Speaker 4: don't have the kind of insight to go into a

820
00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:07,799
Speaker 4: particular program and understand the machinations that make something work

821
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:10,279
Speaker 4: or not work. But what was the state of the

822
00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:15,560
Speaker 4: program when Napier took it over, and at least for

823
00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:19,040
Speaker 4: things off the field, how would you grade the job

824
00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:21,319
Speaker 4: that he's done getting the house back in order?

825
00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:25,520
Speaker 3: I think we go back to twenty twenty. Florida comes

826
00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:29,359
Speaker 3: off of a very successful eighteen nineteen campaign under Dan Bullen,

827
00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:34,680
Speaker 3: double digit win seasons, winning New Year's Bowl games, beating

828
00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:38,520
Speaker 3: Michigan into Yeah Peach Bowl in eighteen and beating Virginia

829
00:38:38,640 --> 00:38:41,080
Speaker 3: Large Bowl. Everything was setting up for twenty twenty to

830
00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:43,880
Speaker 3: be a huge year for Florida, and then COVID happens,

831
00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:46,960
Speaker 3: and I don't think Dan mull could get out of

832
00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:50,160
Speaker 3: his own way when COVID happened. I think he had

833
00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:55,080
Speaker 3: NFL interest at that point, and then a delay of

834
00:38:55,160 --> 00:38:59,200
Speaker 3: the season trying to you had player you know, you

835
00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:02,400
Speaker 3: had civil rights coming along, and player of marches and

836
00:39:02,520 --> 00:39:04,520
Speaker 3: Florida's getting ready for a scrimmage, and then all of

837
00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:06,560
Speaker 3: a sudden, they're out. His players are out there in marching,

838
00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:07,719
Speaker 3: and he didn't know how to get him back in

839
00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:09,839
Speaker 3: the house. And you know, there was just a lot

840
00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:11,520
Speaker 3: going on in twenty twenty that I don't think he

841
00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:16,320
Speaker 3: ever really recovers from. Recruiting had always been a sore spot.

842
00:39:16,920 --> 00:39:19,439
Speaker 3: Even though Florida was winning double digit games, recruiting still

843
00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:21,400
Speaker 3: wasn't going as good as I think it should have been.

844
00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:24,239
Speaker 3: In that situation, a lot of it was approached. I

845
00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:27,400
Speaker 3: had talked to staff members behind the scenes, and they

846
00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:30,960
Speaker 3: couldn't agree offers, or they would offer somebody and Mulla

847
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:33,920
Speaker 3: would rescind the offer, and it just couldn't be on

848
00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:37,960
Speaker 3: the same page and recruiting, and that's ultimately where it went.

849
00:39:38,040 --> 00:39:41,600
Speaker 3: And then twenty twenty happens early loss to Texas A

850
00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:46,080
Speaker 3: and m mullen has some crazy postgame comments that kind

851
00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:48,440
Speaker 3: of does he men of you know, full stadiums and

852
00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:53,360
Speaker 3: all that, and then the end of the twenty twenty season,

853
00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:58,480
Speaker 3: he never bounced back from yet inexcusable loss to LSU

854
00:39:58,600 --> 00:40:01,400
Speaker 3: the week before the SEC Championship game. You give Bama

855
00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:04,040
Speaker 3: all they could handle, then you just don't completely care,

856
00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:06,960
Speaker 3: even admitting you don't even care about the Cotton Bowl

857
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:10,480
Speaker 3: versus Oklahoma. There's there's there's fans I know who played

858
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:11,920
Speaker 3: a lot of money to go see Florida play in

859
00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:14,399
Speaker 3: that bowl game, and you're telling them, hey, we don't

860
00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:17,640
Speaker 3: we don't care. This game means nothing to us. And

861
00:40:17,960 --> 00:40:19,719
Speaker 3: I just don't think he ever could check back in

862
00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:21,840
Speaker 3: if it was a big game to get ready for.

863
00:40:21,960 --> 00:40:24,440
Speaker 3: Alabama comes through the Swamp of twenty one and you know,

864
00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:28,239
Speaker 3: Florida loses by single digits, they're a chance to tie

865
00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:31,000
Speaker 3: that game late with a two point conversion. But he

866
00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:33,680
Speaker 3: just was never fully able to check back in from

867
00:40:33,719 --> 00:40:37,399
Speaker 3: the twenty twenty season. His NFL interest recruiting, like I said,

868
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:40,600
Speaker 3: have fallen a lot of guys at a position. The

869
00:40:40,640 --> 00:40:43,839
Speaker 3: wide receiver recruiting had had taken a step back as well.

870
00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:47,399
Speaker 3: He couldn't look he could develop his own quarterbacks. Hemry

871
00:40:47,480 --> 00:40:51,520
Speaker 3: Jones was a highly recruited quarterback, couldn't develop, didn't hit

872
00:40:51,560 --> 00:40:54,640
Speaker 3: on him, wouldn't play Anthony Richardson in twenty twenty one.

873
00:40:55,160 --> 00:40:57,680
Speaker 3: What more development could have Anthony Richardson could have had

874
00:40:58,719 --> 00:41:02,080
Speaker 3: under Dan Mullen to maybe even be better in twenty

875
00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:05,120
Speaker 3: one and maybe save Mullen's twenty one season and go

876
00:41:05,320 --> 00:41:06,560
Speaker 3: develop him for twenty twenty two.

877
00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:07,160
Speaker 1: Uh.

878
00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:10,240
Speaker 3: So it was just a lot of missteps and recruiting

879
00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:14,040
Speaker 3: early on and then on the field relationship wise in

880
00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:17,000
Speaker 3: twenty twenty that I think really did him in there.

881
00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:19,360
Speaker 3: That billion apier does have to dig himself out of

882
00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:22,200
Speaker 3: a bit, and you know, just the culture. A lot

883
00:41:22,200 --> 00:41:23,839
Speaker 3: of players got away with a lot of stuff. As

884
00:41:23,880 --> 00:41:26,080
Speaker 3: I said, when when Mullen checked out, he checked out

885
00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:29,080
Speaker 3: in a lot of avenues. Uh, And it was just, uh,

886
00:41:29,280 --> 00:41:33,560
Speaker 3: it's kind of isn't it. Yeah, Yeah, it's getting paid

887
00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:37,359
Speaker 3: all that money and uh not having to care as much.

888
00:41:37,520 --> 00:41:40,160
Speaker 3: So as I said, you know, when he wanted to

889
00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:42,120
Speaker 3: turn it on, he's one of the best play callers

890
00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:46,000
Speaker 3: out there. Uh. And you know, unfortunate because I thought

891
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:47,800
Speaker 3: he was the right higher in twenty eighteen. He was

892
00:41:47,880 --> 00:41:51,120
Speaker 3: the the higher I wanted to make for Florida. Uh,

893
00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:53,400
Speaker 3: look like everything was headed in the right direction, but

894
00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:56,000
Speaker 3: for whatever reason, twenty twenty comes along and just kind

895
00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:56,799
Speaker 3: of derails it all.

896
00:41:57,960 --> 00:42:00,840
Speaker 4: Dat Dave, Where could he people find your stuff?

897
00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:03,439
Speaker 3: Man? Yeah, they can follow me on Twitter at Gator

898
00:42:03,520 --> 00:42:08,120
Speaker 3: Dave Underscore SEC podcast is hosted at newsfor Jacks dot

899
00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:11,359
Speaker 3: Com slash Gators Breakdown TV station I'll work for Yeah,

900
00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:14,200
Speaker 3: follow me on Twitter, David Waters at Gator Dave Underscore SEC.

901
00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:17,000
Speaker 3: All the podcast platforms out there, YouTube version as well.

902
00:42:18,239 --> 00:42:21,359
Speaker 3: Just keeping it going. The moniker of Gator's Breakdown, There's

903
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:24,279
Speaker 3: never a dull moment in Gator Nation, and it holds up,

904
00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:26,200
Speaker 3: it holds up. You're here day.

905
00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:28,520
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for your time today, for your insight.

906
00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:32,239
Speaker 4: Best of luck to you through this offseason. I'm sure

907
00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:34,400
Speaker 4: it'll be very very busy for you and we'll have

908
00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:36,879
Speaker 4: to catch up soon as the as the season draws near.

909
00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:38,759
Speaker 3: Absolutely thanks for having me, guys.

910
00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:42,080
Speaker 4: There you go, Dann Gator Dave chiming in on all

911
00:42:42,200 --> 00:42:45,600
Speaker 4: things Florida, giving you the full month you of all

912
00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:48,000
Speaker 4: things Florida football, anything you could possibly want to know.

913
00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:50,600
Speaker 4: Dave did a great job of I think recapping that

914
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:54,640
Speaker 4: and giving us greater insight into what's going on in Gainesville. Again,

915
00:42:54,680 --> 00:42:56,520
Speaker 4: we cover this from the national level. We try to

916
00:42:56,560 --> 00:42:59,759
Speaker 4: be as plugged in as we can, but admittedly more

917
00:42:59,800 --> 00:43:02,040
Speaker 4: off the not we are on the outside looking in.

918
00:43:02,239 --> 00:43:05,040
Speaker 4: We are reading the same headlines as many folks out

919
00:43:05,080 --> 00:43:08,000
Speaker 4: there who aren't Florida fans are drawing our own conclusions

920
00:43:08,040 --> 00:43:10,480
Speaker 4: from afar. So it's great to get someone with on

921
00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:13,719
Speaker 4: the ground knowledge like Dave the set of Straight Yeah.

922
00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:16,040
Speaker 1: I mean, look, a lot of college football fans are dumb,

923
00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:19,719
Speaker 1: and we'd pride ourselves in being the dumbest, So it

924
00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:21,799
Speaker 1: is nice to find those smart people who can fill

925
00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:22,440
Speaker 1: in the context.

926
00:43:23,040 --> 00:43:23,840
Speaker 2: What is your opinion?

927
00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:28,200
Speaker 1: Obviously there is some guarded optimism that the talent level

928
00:43:28,480 --> 00:43:33,960
Speaker 1: is rising in Gainesville from David, obviously guarded optimism that

929
00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:38,640
Speaker 1: Grammertz is in a better situation potentially from a scheme standpoint.

930
00:43:38,719 --> 00:43:41,879
Speaker 1: And look, we all know the benefits of a fresh start. Sure,

931
00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:45,879
Speaker 1: and we've seen quarterbacks in the past find those fresh stars. Hell,

932
00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:49,640
Speaker 1: I root for a team that I was super down

933
00:43:49,719 --> 00:43:52,240
Speaker 1: on their quarterback transfer and it took me by surprise.

934
00:43:52,320 --> 00:43:54,120
Speaker 1: Now the defense is he face in the Pac twelve

935
00:43:55,640 --> 00:43:59,040
Speaker 1: are not on the level of what Grammertz potentially could

936
00:43:59,080 --> 00:44:02,640
Speaker 1: be facing with Kentucky and Georgia and Tennessee and LSU

937
00:44:02,760 --> 00:44:06,919
Speaker 1: on the schedule, But as far as you can tell,

938
00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:10,399
Speaker 1: cause you're at least you're in the same time zone,

939
00:44:10,520 --> 00:44:13,399
Speaker 1: I am. What is your feeling on Florida football under

940
00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:14,600
Speaker 1: billiy Napier moving forward?

941
00:44:15,200 --> 00:44:18,240
Speaker 4: I liked the hire a lot. When they hired Billy Napier.

942
00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:23,040
Speaker 4: It's funny. I mean, it was such a turbocharged coaching

943
00:44:23,120 --> 00:44:27,200
Speaker 4: carousel in which he ended up getting hired to Florida

944
00:44:27,239 --> 00:44:29,600
Speaker 4: because we had Lincoln Riley and Brian Kelly and we

945
00:44:29,680 --> 00:44:32,239
Speaker 4: didn't talk as much about Billy Napier. That hire got

946
00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:36,400
Speaker 4: so much less attention than any Florida higher in my memory,

947
00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:38,759
Speaker 4: just because it was kind of a no brainer and

948
00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:40,520
Speaker 4: it seemed like it made the most sense and they

949
00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:43,560
Speaker 4: made them move very quickly. So by all accounts, and

950
00:44:44,200 --> 00:44:48,439
Speaker 4: based on what Davis said, he has done a great

951
00:44:48,520 --> 00:44:51,520
Speaker 4: deal towards cleaning up the mess that Mowen made. And

952
00:44:51,680 --> 00:44:55,360
Speaker 4: it was probably always unfair to expect any kind of

953
00:44:55,480 --> 00:44:59,520
Speaker 4: meteoric rise in twenty twenty two. And look, as he said,

954
00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:03,640
Speaker 4: Florida fans don't really have patience. As one of their virtues,

955
00:45:03,640 --> 00:45:05,600
Speaker 4: and I think that probably extends to most of the

956
00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:08,600
Speaker 4: big teams in the SEC. They're not alone in that respect.

957
00:45:08,719 --> 00:45:11,279
Speaker 4: But a six and six regular season is not going

958
00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:12,520
Speaker 4: to be good enough moving forward.

959
00:45:12,600 --> 00:45:13,120
Speaker 2: He knows that.

960
00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:18,040
Speaker 4: I would expect that you will continue to see progress,

961
00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:21,920
Speaker 4: slow progress on the Florida side of things, that you

962
00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:25,160
Speaker 4: will see him kind of bridge that gap with what

963
00:45:25,280 --> 00:45:28,839
Speaker 4: we saw last season, right the inconsistency from week to week,

964
00:45:28,880 --> 00:45:31,600
Speaker 4: I think that will start to normalize out a little

965
00:45:31,640 --> 00:45:34,560
Speaker 4: bit and we won't hopefully see the peaks and valleys

966
00:45:34,560 --> 00:45:36,680
Speaker 4: in the manner that we did last season. I am

967
00:45:36,840 --> 00:45:39,960
Speaker 4: very skeptical though, on Graham Mertz. I'm very very skeptical

968
00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:42,200
Speaker 4: on Graham Mertz. I have wanted for as long as

969
00:45:42,239 --> 00:45:43,759
Speaker 4: I have known the name Graham Mertz for him to

970
00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:46,279
Speaker 4: work out and be a superstar. We have not seen

971
00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:49,560
Speaker 4: that yet. I'm skeptical that suddenly a change of scenery,

972
00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:52,080
Speaker 4: a new scheme, better players around him, is going to

973
00:45:52,200 --> 00:45:56,719
Speaker 4: unlock that potential. But like David, I will I will

974
00:45:56,960 --> 00:46:00,399
Speaker 4: remain optimistic that it can work. I don't think he's

975
00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:03,520
Speaker 4: a horrible quarterback by any stretch of the imagination, and

976
00:46:03,640 --> 00:46:06,240
Speaker 4: I don't think it's going to be an unmitigated disaster

977
00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:09,200
Speaker 4: with him as a signal caller in Gainesville. I think

978
00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:11,719
Speaker 4: it'll be okay. I just don't know if we're going

979
00:46:11,800 --> 00:46:15,479
Speaker 4: to see those high heights that we expected initially. So look,

980
00:46:15,520 --> 00:46:18,279
Speaker 4: you take all that in context of a really really

981
00:46:18,400 --> 00:46:22,200
Speaker 4: difficult schedule in twenty three. As ever, in the SEC

982
00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:24,279
Speaker 4: they're on the road at Georgia, they're on the road

983
00:46:24,280 --> 00:46:29,160
Speaker 4: at els At Utah, They've even got to go to Kentucky,

984
00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:32,040
Speaker 4: to South Carolina. These are all programs that in their

985
00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:34,320
Speaker 4: own right are building towards something. So it won't be

986
00:46:34,440 --> 00:46:37,800
Speaker 4: easy for Napier. But based on what Dave said, like

987
00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:40,399
Speaker 4: if the culture is there, if they've gotten buying from

988
00:46:40,440 --> 00:46:43,480
Speaker 4: the players, it does seem as if they'd done a

989
00:46:43,560 --> 00:46:46,359
Speaker 4: few things to try and to dress depth concerns along

990
00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:48,960
Speaker 4: the defensive front and in the linebacking course. So I

991
00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:51,200
Speaker 4: remain optimistic that it will be better than it was

992
00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:54,520
Speaker 4: last season. I don't know what a realistic expectation though.

993
00:46:54,560 --> 00:46:56,759
Speaker 4: Looks like, you know, if I said to you seven

994
00:46:56,840 --> 00:46:58,600
Speaker 4: and five or eight and four, is that good enough?

995
00:46:59,239 --> 00:47:02,239
Speaker 4: From the Florida commun this is a program that's very,

996
00:47:02,360 --> 00:47:05,560
Speaker 4: very used to having great success on the national stage

997
00:47:05,760 --> 00:47:09,040
Speaker 4: and maybe haven't been there now where they've wanted to

998
00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:11,279
Speaker 4: be for the last couple of seasons. What is enough

999
00:47:11,880 --> 00:47:15,160
Speaker 4: to signal progress? Is it eight wins? Is it nine wins?

1000
00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:18,360
Speaker 4: Is it just better consistency that that's an answer I

1001
00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:18,880
Speaker 4: don't really have.

1002
00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:22,560
Speaker 1: I think in year three, so we're entering year two.

1003
00:47:22,600 --> 00:47:24,839
Speaker 1: I think in year three and beyond, you give billion

1004
00:47:24,880 --> 00:47:29,720
Speaker 1: Apier two full recruiting cycles and portal cycles to fully

1005
00:47:29,760 --> 00:47:32,160
Speaker 1: populate this roster, because it's easier than ever, as we

1006
00:47:32,239 --> 00:47:34,839
Speaker 1: just talked about with our usc episode, easier than ever

1007
00:47:35,320 --> 00:47:38,520
Speaker 1: to improve your roster quickly. It helps when you're bringing

1008
00:47:38,560 --> 00:47:42,000
Speaker 1: in a Heisman caliber quarterback immediately rather than Grammar. It's

1009
00:47:42,000 --> 00:47:45,080
Speaker 1: all due respect to the highs of Grammars, that becomes

1010
00:47:45,120 --> 00:47:49,239
Speaker 1: a lot easier and depending on the conference, in year three,

1011
00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:53,560
Speaker 1: Florida should at year three and beyond, Florida should be

1012
00:47:53,800 --> 00:47:57,719
Speaker 1: competing for New Year six style results because it's just

1013
00:47:57,840 --> 00:48:00,880
Speaker 1: that kind of program with the type of talent nearby.

1014
00:48:01,760 --> 00:48:05,279
Speaker 1: And I look, George is going to be excellent for

1015
00:48:05,840 --> 00:48:08,359
Speaker 1: years upon years moving forward, as long as Kirby Smart

1016
00:48:08,440 --> 00:48:11,000
Speaker 1: is there. Now it's a different year for Georgia right now,

1017
00:48:11,160 --> 00:48:13,680
Speaker 1: just because of the quarterback change, coordinator change. You know,

1018
00:48:13,719 --> 00:48:15,080
Speaker 1: there's a lot of going to be a lot of

1019
00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:17,760
Speaker 1: new faces on both sides of the ball for George obviously,

1020
00:48:17,880 --> 00:48:21,160
Speaker 1: Tennessee making you know, a move to to Joe Milton

1021
00:48:21,200 --> 00:48:24,640
Speaker 1: at quarterback, with Hendon Hooker exhausting his eligibility. South Carolina,

1022
00:48:25,120 --> 00:48:27,520
Speaker 1: you know, loses a couple key guys to the portal,

1023
00:48:27,640 --> 00:48:31,480
Speaker 1: but there's still some consistency there in Columbia, uh, Kentucky

1024
00:48:31,560 --> 00:48:35,040
Speaker 1: making changes new quarterback, new, new, old coordinator. So there's

1025
00:48:35,080 --> 00:48:38,720
Speaker 1: a lot new happening in the SEC East. Now, Florida's

1026
00:48:38,719 --> 00:48:40,640
Speaker 1: on a losing streak to Vanderbilt at the moment, so

1027
00:48:40,719 --> 00:48:43,000
Speaker 1: they got to get over that Skott to fix that's

1028
00:48:43,440 --> 00:48:49,120
Speaker 1: got to fix that. But I think again Florida especially

1029
00:48:49,400 --> 00:48:53,080
Speaker 1: or the Florida schools especially, given that even if a

1030
00:48:53,200 --> 00:48:56,400
Speaker 1: player ends up going elsewhere out of high school, you

1031
00:48:56,560 --> 00:48:59,520
Speaker 1: get home sick, there's so much talent there that you

1032
00:48:59,640 --> 00:49:02,600
Speaker 1: can get. Yet you can fill out that roster, I believe,

1033
00:49:02,800 --> 00:49:05,799
Speaker 1: relatively quickly. If you're Billy Napier. The Austin Armstrong thing

1034
00:49:05,880 --> 00:49:09,000
Speaker 1: is interesting. He's twenty nine as young Tie, that's a

1035
00:49:09,080 --> 00:49:11,719
Speaker 1: few generations not just below you, but a few generations

1036
00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:15,040
Speaker 1: below myself as well. So he's at Alabama for a month,

1037
00:49:15,160 --> 00:49:17,800
Speaker 1: did good things at Southern Miss as their coordinator, and

1038
00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:21,680
Speaker 1: makes the move to Florida. He has experience with Billy Napier,

1039
00:49:21,800 --> 00:49:25,720
Speaker 1: So I think there is that muscle memory for Billy Napier.

1040
00:49:25,800 --> 00:49:28,120
Speaker 1: You mentioned liking the higher. I think there's a lot

1041
00:49:28,160 --> 00:49:30,320
Speaker 1: of reasons to still like the higher. He has the

1042
00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:33,120
Speaker 1: head coaching experience, and even more importantly, perhaps he has

1043
00:49:33,280 --> 00:49:38,320
Speaker 1: major program experience Arizona State Alabama of course, so that

1044
00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:40,680
Speaker 1: to me is interesting. He has the muscle memory about

1045
00:49:40,800 --> 00:49:45,280
Speaker 1: operating and improving things at big places, and so Florida

1046
00:49:45,360 --> 00:49:47,520
Speaker 1: is a different level from where he's been as a

1047
00:49:47,560 --> 00:49:52,800
Speaker 1: head coach. But still they keep the offensive line in

1048
00:49:52,920 --> 00:49:55,360
Speaker 1: a good place. Last year, they fill in those blanks.

1049
00:49:55,400 --> 00:49:57,040
Speaker 1: They run the hell out of the ball, at least

1050
00:49:57,160 --> 00:50:01,920
Speaker 1: from an explosivity standpoint. With Trevor atn in Montreal Johnson,

1051
00:50:02,520 --> 00:50:04,960
Speaker 1: it is that defense thing. And if there's a school,

1052
00:50:05,120 --> 00:50:07,280
Speaker 1: if there's a state that I believe you can quickly

1053
00:50:07,320 --> 00:50:11,000
Speaker 1: improve a defense, it's probably Florida. With the amount of

1054
00:50:11,080 --> 00:50:15,560
Speaker 1: speed you can recruit on defense. So I'm consciously optimistic.

1055
00:50:15,600 --> 00:50:18,440
Speaker 1: And look, we've both been in the situation where we

1056
00:50:18,520 --> 00:50:22,320
Speaker 1: say to ourselves, if they can just improve to average

1057
00:50:22,360 --> 00:50:27,520
Speaker 1: to below average, there's something there on defense. So yeah,

1058
00:50:27,560 --> 00:50:30,840
Speaker 1: it's a tough schedule. I am willing to they have

1059
00:50:30,920 --> 00:50:33,120
Speaker 1: to make a pole game, of course, and I think

1060
00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:37,279
Speaker 1: eight games in a still rebuilding time should be big

1061
00:50:37,360 --> 00:50:38,960
Speaker 1: picture considered a success.

1062
00:50:39,080 --> 00:50:40,960
Speaker 2: The Jade Rushota thing isn't you'd like to get.

1063
00:50:41,000 --> 00:50:43,000
Speaker 1: If you're a program like Florida, you got to get

1064
00:50:43,040 --> 00:50:46,000
Speaker 1: in a blue chipish quarterback every cycle. Now that's just

1065
00:50:46,120 --> 00:50:48,600
Speaker 1: the norm with how active the portal is. And so

1066
00:50:48,920 --> 00:50:52,160
Speaker 1: that's disappointing that Florida wasn't able to secure that guy

1067
00:50:52,360 --> 00:50:55,920
Speaker 1: out of high school this season. So I'm still I'm

1068
00:50:55,960 --> 00:51:00,360
Speaker 1: still optimistic. There's nothing that I feel, you know, razy

1069
00:51:00,440 --> 00:51:03,680
Speaker 1: down on about Florida at the moment. Because the change

1070
00:51:03,719 --> 00:51:05,560
Speaker 1: needed to happen on defense. They needed to hit the

1071
00:51:05,600 --> 00:51:10,040
Speaker 1: portal hard. They needed to secure good line classes in

1072
00:51:10,160 --> 00:51:14,200
Speaker 1: this past class line groups, and they did, so they're

1073
00:51:14,200 --> 00:51:17,520
Speaker 1: in a good spot. But it's they need that zazz

1074
00:51:17,560 --> 00:51:21,640
Speaker 1: at quarterback. And and so if Graham Mertz is just

1075
00:51:21,920 --> 00:51:25,719
Speaker 1: okay this year, then it's full savior to not just

1076
00:51:25,840 --> 00:51:29,799
Speaker 1: hold on to But to play DJ Lagway early that's tough, man.

1077
00:51:30,480 --> 00:51:32,399
Speaker 1: You'd liked that for there to be a better stop

1078
00:51:32,480 --> 00:51:36,520
Speaker 1: gap situation. And you know, if I'm a Florida fan,

1079
00:51:36,719 --> 00:51:40,879
Speaker 1: I'm impatient because I'm spoiled. I know what the best

1080
00:51:40,920 --> 00:51:42,520
Speaker 1: of Dan Mullen looks like. I know what the best

1081
00:51:42,560 --> 00:51:44,080
Speaker 1: of Urban Meyer looks like. You know, I know all

1082
00:51:44,160 --> 00:51:47,520
Speaker 1: of these things, and we know their ceiling. So I'm impatient,

1083
00:51:47,680 --> 00:51:51,400
Speaker 1: and the stopgap situation, to me, I don't want to

1084
00:51:51,440 --> 00:51:54,280
Speaker 1: play a DJ Lagway until late twenty four, early twenty

1085
00:51:54,320 --> 00:51:57,920
Speaker 1: five ideally. And so since we're already having this conversation,

1086
00:51:58,120 --> 00:51:59,919
Speaker 1: it's not an amazing sign at the moment.

1087
00:52:00,040 --> 00:52:03,360
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean that being said, I get the impatience,

1088
00:52:03,360 --> 00:52:05,960
Speaker 4: it's the sec and it's full of course, I get it.

1089
00:52:06,120 --> 00:52:08,760
Speaker 4: I mean they're used to a certain degree of success.

1090
00:52:09,160 --> 00:52:11,840
Speaker 4: There is also a lot of merit in a slow rebuild,

1091
00:52:12,880 --> 00:52:15,719
Speaker 4: in a slow rebuilding, if that exists now, though well

1092
00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:18,320
Speaker 4: I don't know if it exists, and it probably exists

1093
00:52:18,320 --> 00:52:20,400
Speaker 4: a lot less now with the money that coaches are

1094
00:52:20,400 --> 00:52:22,400
Speaker 4: being paid, in the air of the transfer portal and

1095
00:52:22,560 --> 00:52:24,680
Speaker 4: nil and all of these new factors that we have

1096
00:52:24,800 --> 00:52:28,080
Speaker 4: to consider, but I do think back to the Brian

1097
00:52:28,160 --> 00:52:31,960
Speaker 4: Kelly era at Notre Dame. I'm very familiar with what

1098
00:52:32,120 --> 00:52:34,480
Speaker 4: that program looked like when he took it over, and

1099
00:52:35,840 --> 00:52:38,760
Speaker 4: it took a while to get that program up to speed,

1100
00:52:39,400 --> 00:52:41,960
Speaker 4: to get it feeling like the line is going to

1101
00:52:41,960 --> 00:52:44,680
Speaker 4: be consistent year in and year out. The defense is

1102
00:52:44,760 --> 00:52:46,759
Speaker 4: going to produce at a pretty high level year in

1103
00:52:46,920 --> 00:52:49,680
Speaker 4: year out. There are obviously elements of that Notre Dame

1104
00:52:49,760 --> 00:52:53,680
Speaker 4: system that Kelly never quite solved, but he was a

1105
00:52:53,760 --> 00:52:57,680
Speaker 4: slow build in his time there, and so I think

1106
00:52:57,880 --> 00:53:00,919
Speaker 4: to the point, it's probably a lot easier to build

1107
00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:04,000
Speaker 4: quicker at Florida, given the proximity to talent and you

1108
00:53:04,080 --> 00:53:06,040
Speaker 4: don't have some of the same restrictions as you would

1109
00:53:06,040 --> 00:53:08,640
Speaker 4: at Notre Dame. I would expect that Napier can turn

1110
00:53:08,680 --> 00:53:11,920
Speaker 4: this thing around, can build this thing moving forward, but

1111
00:53:11,960 --> 00:53:14,120
Speaker 4: you got to start with the foundation. And if anything

1112
00:53:14,200 --> 00:53:17,239
Speaker 4: I took from that conversation we had with Dave, it

1113
00:53:17,360 --> 00:53:20,520
Speaker 4: seems like Napier's done some work on the foundation and hopefully,

1114
00:53:21,040 --> 00:53:22,719
Speaker 4: hopefully moving forward, it will make the whole thing a

1115
00:53:22,760 --> 00:53:23,400
Speaker 4: lot more solid.

1116
00:53:24,440 --> 00:53:26,200
Speaker 1: I yeah, I mean, it's when were they in the

1117
00:53:26,280 --> 00:53:29,279
Speaker 1: national Excuse me? The SEC championship game against Alabama. I

1118
00:53:29,280 --> 00:53:31,279
Speaker 1: think it was the twenty twenty COVID year, right the

1119
00:53:31,440 --> 00:53:35,600
Speaker 1: Kyle Trask season. They bombed Georgia a Georgia four or

1120
00:53:35,600 --> 00:53:39,200
Speaker 1: five years into Kirby's recruiting and so we know the

1121
00:53:39,280 --> 00:53:42,160
Speaker 1: potential's there. Maybe well it's a different coach then and

1122
00:53:42,280 --> 00:53:44,520
Speaker 1: different players then, but the potential is there and has

1123
00:53:44,640 --> 00:53:47,960
Speaker 1: been lately to compete with the best of the SEC.

1124
00:53:48,760 --> 00:53:50,800
Speaker 1: It's just you mentioned Brian Kelly, they were in the

1125
00:53:50,880 --> 00:53:52,560
Speaker 1: National championship in what year, three year.

1126
00:53:52,520 --> 00:53:53,720
Speaker 2: Four, Brian Kelly.

1127
00:53:54,400 --> 00:53:56,960
Speaker 1: So a slow rebuild and Notre Dame is a very

1128
00:53:57,000 --> 00:54:01,280
Speaker 1: specific place with no Georgia on their schedule.

1129
00:54:01,480 --> 00:54:05,120
Speaker 2: Usually they did have the home and home somewhat recently.

1130
00:54:06,400 --> 00:54:11,719
Speaker 1: It's I don't think there's an excuse if you are

1131
00:54:12,160 --> 00:54:14,880
Speaker 1: Florida as a program, and I know there's been facility

1132
00:54:15,000 --> 00:54:16,920
Speaker 1: chatter that they fell behind and they're doing more and

1133
00:54:17,040 --> 00:54:20,440
Speaker 1: more to catch up. There's no excuse for Florida, with

1134
00:54:20,800 --> 00:54:24,040
Speaker 1: three four years into a coach not to be playing

1135
00:54:24,320 --> 00:54:27,880
Speaker 1: in Orange Peach Sugar and now we're going to a

1136
00:54:27,960 --> 00:54:31,279
Speaker 1: playoff with twelve teams. Florida should be one of those

1137
00:54:31,360 --> 00:54:34,680
Speaker 1: twelve teams. Are competing to be one of those twelve

1138
00:54:34,760 --> 00:54:37,520
Speaker 1: teams late in the season much more often than not.

1139
00:54:38,080 --> 00:54:40,879
Speaker 4: And look, in college football is better, SEC is better

1140
00:54:41,320 --> 00:54:45,200
Speaker 4: football when Florida is playing at its peak because it.

1141
00:54:45,239 --> 00:54:47,320
Speaker 2: Might have the best home field advantage in the country.

1142
00:54:47,440 --> 00:54:48,120
Speaker 3: It is loud.

1143
00:54:48,360 --> 00:54:50,560
Speaker 4: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is loud.

1144
00:54:50,800 --> 00:54:51,400
Speaker 3: It is loud.

1145
00:54:51,400 --> 00:54:54,040
Speaker 4: It is built blow It's like subterranean. It just sort

1146
00:54:54,080 --> 00:54:56,719
Speaker 4: of bottles up the noise. It's an incredible game day atmosphere.

1147
00:54:57,400 --> 00:54:59,719
Speaker 4: And so we hope that for Billy Napier's sake, for

1148
00:54:59,719 --> 00:55:02,920
Speaker 4: florid to fans sake, that it it continues to forge

1149
00:55:02,960 --> 00:55:05,440
Speaker 4: ahead in twenty twenty three. Let us know what you think.

1150
00:55:05,480 --> 00:55:07,239
Speaker 4: We're at sliverbo at gmail dot com. You can of

1151
00:55:07,320 --> 00:55:10,200
Speaker 4: course find us all across social media if you like

1152
00:55:10,280 --> 00:55:11,719
Speaker 4: what we do, if you want to support the show,

1153
00:55:11,719 --> 00:55:14,359
Speaker 4: if you want access to bonus features, our discord server,

1154
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:19,000
Speaker 4: things of that ilk verballers dot com. V E R

1155
00:55:19,320 --> 00:55:22,560
Speaker 4: B A L l e r s dot com. Sign

1156
00:55:22,680 --> 00:55:25,880
Speaker 4: up to be a certified or premium verbaal or just

1157
00:55:25,960 --> 00:55:27,799
Speaker 4: go and check it out to what we have to offer.

1158
00:55:27,880 --> 00:55:30,360
Speaker 4: We'd love to have you stop on buy and and

1159
00:55:30,560 --> 00:55:32,920
Speaker 4: check out the perks that Dan and I are putting

1160
00:55:32,960 --> 00:55:35,200
Speaker 4: out into the world here throughout the long cold months

1161
00:55:35,320 --> 00:55:36,680
Speaker 4: of the college football off season.

1162
00:55:37,200 --> 00:55:38,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, that does it.

1163
00:55:38,600 --> 00:55:41,320
Speaker 4: For this week of public episodes, we've got our Bruin

1164
00:55:41,440 --> 00:55:44,960
Speaker 4: A which will be exclusively available to our folks over

1165
00:55:45,080 --> 00:55:48,640
Speaker 4: on Patreon again, you know the urlfitheverballers dot com that

1166
00:55:48,800 --> 00:55:52,520
Speaker 4: drops every Thursday morning. In the meantime, make sure you

1167
00:55:52,640 --> 00:55:56,440
Speaker 4: follow along via your podcasting app of choice, via the

1168
00:55:56,520 --> 00:55:59,920
Speaker 4: youtubeses and the social media and all the other hotspot

1169
00:56:00,120 --> 00:56:01,200
Speaker 4: where you can find our content.

1170
00:56:01,320 --> 00:56:04,160
Speaker 1: Dan, We've got We've got some totally out there, and

1171
00:56:04,200 --> 00:56:06,360
Speaker 1: I mean that in a terrific way. The subscribers on

1172
00:56:06,400 --> 00:56:09,200
Speaker 1: our Patreon who asked the questions for when you say Bruine,

1173
00:56:09,360 --> 00:56:10,880
Speaker 1: that's our weekly Q and A episode.

1174
00:56:11,400 --> 00:56:12,319
Speaker 2: We'll get one question.

1175
00:56:12,480 --> 00:56:15,960
Speaker 1: We'll be like, look, with Wisconsin making some changes on offense,

1176
00:56:16,160 --> 00:56:19,320
Speaker 1: do you expect them to be a more well rounded

1177
00:56:19,360 --> 00:56:20,680
Speaker 1: team to compete at the top?

1178
00:56:20,800 --> 00:56:21,160
Speaker 2: Should they?

1179
00:56:21,480 --> 00:56:24,839
Speaker 1: And then the next question will be like, in retrospect,

1180
00:56:24,880 --> 00:56:27,960
Speaker 1: did you lose your virginity at the right age? It's like,

1181
00:56:28,040 --> 00:56:31,600
Speaker 1: oh my god, same episode. Yeah, I don't know if

1182
00:56:31,640 --> 00:56:34,360
Speaker 1: we're going to be answering that specific question, but that's that.

1183
00:56:34,520 --> 00:56:36,280
Speaker 1: Those are the types of questions that it's.

1184
00:56:36,239 --> 00:56:39,080
Speaker 2: Great and they're they're all mad and a terrific way.

1185
00:56:39,160 --> 00:56:41,399
Speaker 4: So that's it for that guy there, my good friend

1186
00:56:41,520 --> 00:56:43,839
Speaker 4: Dan Rubinstein, for myself, Tie Hill, the brand, thanks again

1187
00:56:43,880 --> 00:56:45,279
Speaker 4: for downloading and supporting the show.

1188
00:56:45,640 --> 00:56:48,880
Speaker 2: We'll talk to y'all soon. Have good weekend, Stay solid, peace,