# Spring Intel: QB Battles, Line Questions, and Offseason Buzz

An episode of [The Solid Verbal College Football Show](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/270037732), 14 Apr 2026, 1 h 01 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/21437ee1-47d9-4b16-8696-b30d011a2c26/4278f8b9-6f70-45f0-b52c-b42b01428a21/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=51c7e0eb-425c-4d93-b5a8-b30d011a2c46

Spring football is ongoing, and the quarterback battles are starting to tell us what 2026 might look like. In this episode, we work through a few of the most unsettled QB rooms in the country, from a four-way competition out West to a pair of SEC jobs where the depth chart has been rewritten since December. We also dig into the teams we can't stop thinking about heading into the summer, including Notre Dame, Oregon, Miami, TCU, and Oklahoma State's intriguing first-year project. Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro 8:13 - Florida State's QB Race 16:49 - Arizona State's QB Race 22:44 - Florida's QB Race 27:18 - Alabama's QB Race 30:45 - Notre Dame's RB, WR, OL 37:55 - Oregon's Coordinators 41:43 - Miami's Line 49:02 - Rapid Fire Support the show!: https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal.
[0:05] Speaker 2: For me, I'm a man, I'm for I've heard so
[0:08] Speaker 2: many players say, well, I want to be happy. You
[0:10] Speaker 2: want to be happy for dake Edo State?
[0:13] Speaker 1: Is that whoo whoo and them and tie.
[0:18] Speaker 3: Dan Rubinstein. I believe congratulations are in order for you. Uh.
[0:24] Speaker 2: Because game one of the first grade flag football season
[0:28] Speaker 2: is in the books. I had nothing to do with
[0:30] Speaker 2: coaching it, But you wanted to do a deep dive?
[0:32] Speaker 2: Are we doing this like a live like we would
[0:35] Speaker 2: do for week seven? You want to go through the uh,
[0:37] Speaker 2: the flag football recap. I don't have a lot of
[0:39] Speaker 2: insight to add because I'm not exactly sure what was
[0:42] Speaker 2: happening in that game. I have zero clue what was
[0:45] Speaker 2: I don't know the rules. I don't know the order
[0:47] Speaker 2: of operations.
[0:47] Speaker 3: Were they running like a cheetah linebackers scheme or was
[0:51] Speaker 3: there a rover situation?
[0:53] Speaker 2: A lot of schematics, very complicated zone blitzing. Now yeah,
[0:58] Speaker 2: there's no blitzing, there's no line, there's no rushing the passer.
[1:01] Speaker 2: So it was like kind of glorified seven on seven.
[1:03] Speaker 2: I would say, uh, route trees, TBD. There was a
[1:08] Speaker 2: lot of go routes and turn around at random points.
[1:12] Speaker 2: But you know, it was a sunny day, it was warm,
[1:14] Speaker 2: everybody had fun, so I can't I can't actually complain,
[1:17] Speaker 2: but it just took me a while watching it was like,
[1:19] Speaker 2: all right, what is what are we? What is the
[1:22] Speaker 2: modus operandi here? What are we looking at?
[1:24] Speaker 3: Did you happen to see this is going back like
[1:26] Speaker 3: two or three kites now when they put some current
[1:31] Speaker 3: and former NFL players up against professional flag foot players,
[1:35] Speaker 3: did you see some of those highlights?
[1:37] Speaker 2: So I did see the highlights. I know Tom Brady
[1:39] Speaker 2: was involved, right, Tom Brady was like, yeah, yeah, there was.
[1:42] Speaker 2: There were a bunch of.
[1:43] Speaker 3: Like very very good NFL Joe Burrow was out there
[1:46] Speaker 3: like ripping around despite the fact that he hurt himself.
[1:49] Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean, and and the the existing flag
[1:53] Speaker 3: guys who are on. I think it's gonna be an
[1:55] Speaker 3: Olympic sport right correct? In LA they dominated.
[1:59] Speaker 2: It was like it was like.
[2:01] Speaker 3: NFL Blitz versus guys playing a simulation version of a
[2:06] Speaker 3: video game in Madden. Because there were some flag football
[2:09] Speaker 3: players pro flag football players out there putting crazy moves on,
[2:14] Speaker 3: doing duck unders and finding ways to get through opposing defenses.
[2:19] Speaker 3: In a way that frankly was eye opening for anyone
[2:22] Speaker 3: who hasn't seen it before. And I count myself in
[2:24] Speaker 3: that class. Say, it was very apparent that there probably
[2:29] Speaker 3: won't be any actual NFL talent on our Olympic roster
[2:33] Speaker 3: in twenty twenty eight in La.
[2:35] Speaker 2: Yeah, I somehow, Again, I'm very much pro Olympic and
[2:39] Speaker 2: so I sort of pumped up about any sort of
[2:41] Speaker 2: interesting Olympic evolutions in sports. But I can't imagine that
[2:47] Speaker 2: like if Justin Jefferson were to break an ankle playing
[2:50] Speaker 2: flag football, that Viking stands be like, no, no, totally
[2:53] Speaker 2: worth it, you know, for love of country, et cetera,
[2:54] Speaker 2: et cetera. No, I don't think that would go over
[2:56] Speaker 2: super well. So I think you stick with the flag
[2:59] Speaker 2: FOOTB players who are already better. So yeah, good for them,
[3:04] Speaker 2: it would seem.
[3:05] Speaker 1: As so well.
[3:05] Speaker 3: Welcome back in one and I hope you had a
[3:08] Speaker 3: good weekend. Hope that spring is in the process of
[3:13] Speaker 3: sprunging wherever you are. Certainly this weekend was nice here
[3:18] Speaker 3: in eastern PA. Now you've had a nice one out
[3:20] Speaker 3: there in Chicago. So the weather is starting to turn,
[3:23] Speaker 3: which means spring football is a foot. Yes, we thought
[3:29] Speaker 3: on today's episode, we would pay sweet homage Dan to
[3:34] Speaker 3: some of those Spring storylines, some of those Spring tidbits
[3:37] Speaker 3: that have come across the official desk of the Solid Verbal,
[3:41] Speaker 3: both East and West, and we thought maybe we could
[3:44] Speaker 3: talk a little bit about those items that are just
[3:47] Speaker 3: right now doing it for us, you know, the things
[3:49] Speaker 3: that are on the radar that got the heart pumping
[3:52] Speaker 3: a little bit more, that that has really captured our imagination.
[3:56] Speaker 1: Does that sound right to you?
[3:58] Speaker 2: Absolutely? And spring is even those spring football or at
[4:03] Speaker 2: least spring football games, aren't what they were in terms
[4:06] Speaker 2: of a tent pole event that's filling the stadium. As
[4:09] Speaker 2: coaches have become a little bit more paranoid about the
[4:12] Speaker 2: transfer portal. Although there's no official spring portal anymore, Scouting
[4:17] Speaker 2: is a little bit different, but even still, you get
[4:21] Speaker 2: to see players perhaps that you wouldn't ordinarily see that much,
[4:24] Speaker 2: and maybe down the line you've made a note to
[4:27] Speaker 2: tamper with somebody next year or something. But yes, it's
[4:31] Speaker 2: a little bit different, and the actual structure of these
[4:34] Speaker 2: games is a little bit different, and I don't know
[4:37] Speaker 2: it just it takes on new context. But we've never
[4:43] Speaker 2: had more people talking about these games, whether it's on
[4:47] Speaker 2: like substacks or podcasts or anything. So it seems like
[4:49] Speaker 2: there's more and more information out about what's going on
[4:52] Speaker 2: in the spring. I know some teams are more closed
[4:55] Speaker 2: lip than others, and the word gets out less and less.
[4:58] Speaker 2: Like I have some information about ORG and what's been
[5:00] Speaker 2: going on in the spring. They haven't played their spring
[5:02] Speaker 2: game yet, but that's one of those teams where they
[5:04] Speaker 2: returned so much that you just hope that you don't
[5:07] Speaker 2: see injury news on a certain level, and you're excited
[5:09] Speaker 2: to see, you know, which freshmen or early enrollies or
[5:12] Speaker 2: whatever are are making you know, impacts on the rotation.
[5:16] Speaker 2: But yeah, it's different, but I feel like we've seen
[5:20] Speaker 2: a lot of a lot more information than usual.
[5:22] Speaker 3: Yeah, I would agree with that as well, and I
[5:25] Speaker 3: think especially because a calendar has been fine tuned, if
[5:29] Speaker 3: you want to call it that, over the last couple
[5:32] Speaker 3: of years now, and certainly with them removing the spring
[5:35] Speaker 3: transfer portal window. Nebraska is an example of a school
[5:38] Speaker 3: that's sort of like I feel like the flip flop
[5:41] Speaker 3: Matt Rules flip flopped a little bit with his or
[5:44] Speaker 3: with his approach to spring football just because there's no
[5:47] Speaker 3: portal window. It doesn't mean guys can't still leave if
[5:50] Speaker 3: they are really adamant about it. But yeah, it looks
[5:54] Speaker 3: as though the next two weekends are going to be
[5:57] Speaker 3: in particular, very very active.
[5:59] Speaker 1: With rest back to spring football games.
[6:01] Speaker 3: I'm looking at the list now, there's no way I
[6:03] Speaker 3: could possibly read all of these off, but just know
[6:06] Speaker 3: that each of the next two weekends or are going
[6:08] Speaker 3: to be very very active in terms of spring football.
[6:12] Speaker 3: In some cases, like if you're UCF or UCLA, it
[6:17] Speaker 3: will bleed out into the first weekend of May, Washington
[6:24] Speaker 3: as a spring game, spring game on a Friday night.
[6:28] Speaker 3: So it's going to take a little bit longer to
[6:30] Speaker 3: get through all of this. And I think we've been
[6:32] Speaker 3: waiting to do a full spring recap until after we
[6:35] Speaker 3: have all of the data and all of the readouts.
[6:38] Speaker 3: But they have started spring practice as well underway at
[6:41] Speaker 3: most places, and so that's where some of these headlines
[6:45] Speaker 3: have popped up. Dan things that jump out to us
[6:48] Speaker 3: for one reason or another, and we thought we might
[6:51] Speaker 3: take some time here, take a knee out on the
[6:54] Speaker 3: old practice field, and talk through our feelings on some
[6:58] Speaker 3: interesting spring storyline.
[7:00] Speaker 1: I have this from Guy Fieri. I can't wait to
[7:02] Speaker 1: see this.
[7:03] Speaker 3: I don't you know, like maybe we could play that
[7:05] Speaker 3: before each item.
[7:06] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[7:06] Speaker 3: I don't even know what that's from, but I just
[7:08] Speaker 3: found it on the board here and I thought, why not.
[7:11] Speaker 2: Well, I imagine it's not from a Martin Scorsese movie.
[7:14] Speaker 2: I imagine it's from something on the Food Network.
[7:16] Speaker 1: But that's that is correct.
[7:18] Speaker 2: So although would watch, would watch Guy Fieri in a
[7:22] Speaker 2: Scorsese movie, I'm open to it. What is what is this? Intrigue?
[7:27] Speaker 2: Is this intel? Is this You're ready to be heard
[7:29] Speaker 2: again being seduced by something new about a team? What
[7:32] Speaker 2: do we what are we going with this?
[7:34] Speaker 3: Yes? Yes, and yes, okay all the above. This is
[7:39] Speaker 3: a combination of intel with the intel that has provided
[7:44] Speaker 3: the most intrigue and in some cases the art of
[7:47] Speaker 3: the possible and truly what powers college football at this
[7:52] Speaker 3: time of year. It's not unique to college football. This
[7:54] Speaker 3: is the case for pretty much every sport when you're
[7:57] Speaker 3: in the off season to start talking about what the
[7:59] Speaker 3: next season might have. But the intel that has led
[8:03] Speaker 3: me down the path of intrigue that has me genuinely
[8:08] Speaker 3: in most cases optimistic, in some cases just very curious.
[8:11] Speaker 1: As to what happens next.
[8:14] Speaker 2: Well, okay, so who where do you want to start?
[8:16] Speaker 2: Who is the team? Okay? I like the drum fill
[8:20] Speaker 2: at the end there.
[8:21] Speaker 1: Yeah, here, well here, I can't wait to see this.
[8:24] Speaker 1: It was just the way I cut it, you know,
[8:25] Speaker 1: I know I got it.
[8:27] Speaker 3: Quarterback battles right, Okay, Quarterback battles for me are obviously
[8:34] Speaker 3: first and foremost this time of year and what I
[8:37] Speaker 3: am finding across the board, and perhaps this should not
[8:41] Speaker 3: come as a huge surprise to anybody, but the teams
[8:44] Speaker 3: that seem to have their quarterback situation set overwhelmingly seem
[8:49] Speaker 3: to be the teams we feel the best about going
[8:51] Speaker 3: into twenty twenty six. Even in some cases where there's
[8:55] Speaker 3: a high profile transfer quarterback that has come over that
[8:57] Speaker 3: has produced at their previous stop, I still generally don't
[9:01] Speaker 3: feel as good about those teams as I tend to
[9:05] Speaker 3: with respect to like a Notre Dame or of Texas, right, okay,
[9:08] Speaker 3: And that includes a school like a Miami, Miami. We
[9:12] Speaker 3: could talk about Miami in a little bit here. Dari
[9:13] Speaker 3: Men's a very productive I think everybody feels very strongly
[9:17] Speaker 3: that Dariy Mens is going to be one of the
[9:19] Speaker 3: better quarterbacks in college football for sure, but still I
[9:23] Speaker 3: have questions about Miami as a result of some turnover elsewhere.
[9:26] Speaker 1: So we'll get into that.
[9:27] Speaker 3: But the one that I want to start off with
[9:30] Speaker 3: is Florida State.
[9:32] Speaker 2: Okay, let's talk Florida State.
[9:34] Speaker 1: Florida State's in.
[9:35] Speaker 3: A really unique situation this year, unique being that Mike
[9:39] Speaker 3: Norvella is very much starting the year on the hot seat.
[9:41] Speaker 3: That was the case last year as well, but it
[9:44] Speaker 3: is very much the case going into twenty twenty six.
[9:48] Speaker 3: And so what they do, mindful of the fact that
[9:51] Speaker 3: this is going to be a make or break year
[9:53] Speaker 3: for Novelle, they go out there and go five and seven.
[9:55] Speaker 3: It's done, so he ain't.
[9:56] Speaker 1: Coming back next year.
[10:00] Speaker 3: It looks like this is going to be between Ashton Daniels,
[10:03] Speaker 3: the Auburn transfer formerly at Stanford before that, and Kevin Sperry.
[10:10] Speaker 3: Seems as if that's a two horse race. Guys are
[10:13] Speaker 3: a little bit different. Ashton Daniels a little bit more
[10:15] Speaker 3: of a scrambler, a little bit bigger frame.
[10:18] Speaker 1: Sperry is much more of a pass pocket passer. Let's say, yes,
[10:22] Speaker 1: very different.
[10:24] Speaker 3: So I look at these two quarterbacks and I trace
[10:28] Speaker 3: back the narrative going back to the start of the
[10:31] Speaker 3: spring and really the start of even before the transfer portal,
[10:35] Speaker 3: and it seems as though there was a real assumption
[10:40] Speaker 3: on behalf of many that this was just going to
[10:42] Speaker 3: be given Ashton Daniels, not that there wouldn't be a competition,
[10:44] Speaker 3: but that Ashton Daniels was going to be the dude.
[10:47] Speaker 3: Even the tone of voice that Mike Norvel took on
[10:51] Speaker 3: when talking about his two quarterbacks seemed to imply that, well,
[10:55] Speaker 3: Kevin Sperry's got a little bit, he had some challenges,
[10:58] Speaker 3: need to overcome, right, Yep.
[11:01] Speaker 1: The tone is shifted now.
[11:04] Speaker 3: There's been a real tone shift where it feels as
[11:08] Speaker 3: though Mike Norval who's now calling the plays. Remember Gosmelson
[11:10] Speaker 3: walked away, so it is Norvell's deal.
[11:12] Speaker 1: On offense, There's.
[11:14] Speaker 3: Been a tone shift where it seems as though now
[11:17] Speaker 3: he's being a little bit more measured in how he
[11:19] Speaker 3: goes about talking about these two quarterbacks. Ashton Daniels may
[11:25] Speaker 3: have a bit of an athleticism edge, but I think
[11:30] Speaker 3: there has been plenty out there now about is he
[11:34] Speaker 3: going to turn the ball over, what's going to look like?
[11:37] Speaker 1: Is it going to turn the ball over.
[11:40] Speaker 3: And then on the quarterback race as a whole. It
[11:44] Speaker 3: seems as though this is now a wide open race,
[11:48] Speaker 3: and the intel that I've been able to ascertain now
[11:52] Speaker 3: over the last time, I don't know, a week or so,
[11:55] Speaker 3: seems to imply that they're going to go into the
[11:58] Speaker 3: fall camp not how having a great idea for who
[12:01] Speaker 3: the quarterback is, and when they kick things off it
[12:06] Speaker 3: might be the first that any of us knows who
[12:07] Speaker 3: is going to be the day one starter. It just
[12:10] Speaker 3: seems like this is genuinely a neck and neck quarterback
[12:13] Speaker 3: race at this point, and TBD on who is going.
[12:17] Speaker 1: To get that nod.
[12:19] Speaker 3: I love these types of stories, Dan, because we go
[12:22] Speaker 3: into spring camp thinking one thing, we come out genuinely perplexed.
[12:26] Speaker 3: The course is not going to do any favors for
[12:28] Speaker 3: Florida State hopefuls out there, who I think would like
[12:31] Speaker 3: to have things more set in stone and have an
[12:33] Speaker 3: understanding for where the team is headed. But it to
[12:37] Speaker 3: me feels like this is one of those races worth monitoring.
[12:41] Speaker 3: Maybe not because Florida State it's going to be in
[12:42] Speaker 3: the College Football Playoff or anything crazy, but just because
[12:45] Speaker 3: there's a lot riding on this. You know, and furthermore
[12:48] Speaker 3: than the scrimmages that they've had most recently, because they
[12:52] Speaker 3: were rotating in so many young offensive linemen, it was
[12:56] Speaker 3: really tough to gauge which quarterback is ahead of the other. So,
[12:59] Speaker 3: for my money, and maybe maybe not because I'm you know,
[13:03] Speaker 3: optimistic here one way or another, I genuinely don't know
[13:05] Speaker 3: which direction this goes. But I just think it's notable
[13:08] Speaker 3: that this seems neck and neck and was so much
[13:11] Speaker 3: riding on it for the coach and for the program
[13:13] Speaker 3: as a whole worth monitoring. Yes, right, definitely, I'm sure
[13:18] Speaker 3: you on the radar, Yes, yes.
[13:20] Speaker 2: So on the offensive line front, they bring in a
[13:22] Speaker 2: ton of new names in the portal, which I never like.
[13:25] Speaker 2: I never like that if a team has to go
[13:28] Speaker 2: wholesale changes and are going to depend to a probably
[13:31] Speaker 2: significant degree on portal names, either for starters or significant
[13:36] Speaker 2: contributors along the offensive line, that smells like trouble, especially
[13:40] Speaker 2: since last year this was an offensive line that allowed
[13:43] Speaker 2: a ton of pressures. And you couple that with, you know, Florida,
[13:47] Speaker 2: it wasn't a bad team last year. No, they couldn't
[13:50] Speaker 2: finish games, they gave away games. They were terrible in
[13:53] Speaker 2: the red zone on defense. But it was a matter
[13:57] Speaker 2: of like in those close games, in those fifty to
[13:59] Speaker 2: fifty more, there were just too many turnovers on offense
[14:02] Speaker 2: and too many interceptions specifically. And so Mike Norvell, to
[14:07] Speaker 2: whatever extent, has a pretty good reputation as an offensive whisperer,
[14:11] Speaker 2: and we'll see if that works out this year. But
[14:15] Speaker 2: you know, Ashton Daniels his starting experience both at Stanford
[14:18] Speaker 2: and a little bit at Auburn, had a really nice
[14:20] Speaker 2: game against Vanderbilt last year, ran well against Alabama and
[14:22] Speaker 2: the Iron Bowl. So obviously the seasoning advantage rides with
[14:26] Speaker 2: Ashton Daniels. But I never like it when we don't
[14:31] Speaker 2: see a story in the spring where it's like, oh, yeah,
[14:33] Speaker 2: this guy's just like so very clearly the guy well,
[14:36] Speaker 2: and I would go a step further, I mean clearly.
[14:39] Speaker 3: The Jordan Travis move worked out pretty well for Norville.
[14:42] Speaker 3: Jordan Travis are transferred in right. That was one of
[14:44] Speaker 3: the early sort of building blocks of the entire Norvel
[14:47] Speaker 3: operation that.
[14:48] Speaker 1: Worked out really well before he got hurt.
[14:51] Speaker 3: Obviously, Jordan Travis was a vocal leader on this team
[14:56] Speaker 3: and got Florida State to a point where obviously they
[14:59] Speaker 3: thought things might be different a couple of years down
[15:01] Speaker 3: the line, right, it felt like things were building. But
[15:03] Speaker 3: since Jordan Travis has gone dj Uyan Galile, that didn't work.
[15:07] Speaker 3: He was a transfer Thomas Castellanos that didn't work last year,
[15:13] Speaker 3: and now that we're going on, I guess a third
[15:15] Speaker 3: straight year post Jordan Travis of a new transfer if
[15:20] Speaker 3: it is Ashton Daniels being the guy, Yeah, what has
[15:24] Speaker 3: Norvel shown any of us at this point that we
[15:26] Speaker 3: should be confident that his next pick as a transfer
[15:30] Speaker 3: quarterback is going to be the guy.
[15:31] Speaker 2: I haven't seen it. No, I mean not much. Not
[15:36] Speaker 2: much is my answer, just because it's not the last piece.
[15:42] Speaker 2: There's still so much that needs to get better for
[15:44] Speaker 2: Florida State, just to finish games and finish drives, and yeah,
[15:51] Speaker 2: this sort of seems like hope for the best and
[15:55] Speaker 2: one of these guys stays clean and they're able to
[15:57] Speaker 2: win some close games. It doesn't feel super promising to me.
[16:01] Speaker 3: I mean, the schedule's got Alabama, Miami and Florida on it.
[16:06] Speaker 3: In between, you've got schools like SMU, which won't be
[16:08] Speaker 3: an easy out. Louisville a week before the Miami game.
[16:12] Speaker 3: They also play Clemson. I mean, this is not what
[16:15] Speaker 3: I would consider an easy schedule by any stretch, especially
[16:17] Speaker 3: for a team that might have some quarterback questions going
[16:20] Speaker 3: into it. And I don't think Ashton Dana is a
[16:23] Speaker 3: bad quarterback. I don't know if they got the most
[16:25] Speaker 3: out of him at Auburn for plenty of other Auburn reasons.
[16:29] Speaker 2: But it didn't start them.
[16:30] Speaker 3: So the don't start them didn't start them, right, So
[16:32] Speaker 3: it's it's been. His story is complex as well, and
[16:35] Speaker 3: I don't want to write off the fact that he
[16:37] Speaker 3: could come in and be very good there. But we're
[16:41] Speaker 3: deep into spring at this point and it doesn't seem
[16:43] Speaker 3: like there's a clear front runner.
[16:44] Speaker 1: If anything, it seems like it's neck and neck.
[16:46] Speaker 3: So that's the first thing that jumps out to me.
[16:49] Speaker 3: Next team, next team. Let's stick with the quarterback quandaries
[16:56] Speaker 3: a little bit. Let's talk about Arizona State.
[17:00] Speaker 2: Interesting one.
[17:00] Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a four way quarterback race right now.
[17:04] Speaker 3: If you followed the spring game at all, all four
[17:06] Speaker 3: quarterbacks got equal time. There was only one interception, but
[17:11] Speaker 3: they credited the defense because it was a tip pass.
[17:14] Speaker 3: But quarterbacks for the most pout All four of them
[17:17] Speaker 3: looked relatively clean. Cutter Buwlly is the transfer from Kentucky.
[17:21] Speaker 3: It is assumed that Cutter Bully is going to be
[17:23] Speaker 3: the guy, but he's been pushed by Jake Fetti, who
[17:27] Speaker 3: is their true freshman. Cameron Dyer is another name that's
[17:31] Speaker 3: been around college football for a bit, back from an ACL.
[17:34] Speaker 3: He showed flashes throughout the course of spring practice. And
[17:37] Speaker 3: also Mikey Keen still there. Mikey Keane still playing. Can't
[17:42] Speaker 3: count him out. Actually, in the early part of spring
[17:44] Speaker 3: practice he impressed. I haven't heard much about him since then,
[17:48] Speaker 3: but the takeaway from the spring scrimmage anyway is that
[17:51] Speaker 3: all four quarterbacks were clean.
[17:53] Speaker 1: Right.
[17:54] Speaker 3: What I would call out here though, is Cutter Bully,
[17:59] Speaker 3: who as I mentioned, was assumed to be the starter,
[18:04] Speaker 3: definitely had a bout with interceptions early on in spring practice.
[18:09] Speaker 3: And Jake Fetti has come in and has been very consistent.
[18:12] Speaker 3: If you read what any of the beat guys say,
[18:15] Speaker 3: if you listen to any of the Arizona State podcasts,
[18:17] Speaker 3: Fetti has been very, very consistent. He has shown mobility,
[18:21] Speaker 3: he's shown really good touch. It just seems as if
[18:24] Speaker 3: he gets it to the extent that Kenny Dillingham has
[18:27] Speaker 3: gone out there publicly and praise what he has seen.
[18:31] Speaker 3: So if we were to take anything away from that,
[18:34] Speaker 3: I think there is a real question as to whether
[18:38] Speaker 3: or not Cutter Bully separated himself enough via Spring or
[18:41] Speaker 3: if this is going to go into the fall.
[18:42] Speaker 1: My hunches is going into the fall.
[18:44] Speaker 2: My guess is Cutter Bully has not looked incredible this
[18:47] Speaker 2: spread he has. We're talking about a four way battle.
[18:50] Speaker 1: Being a little bit generous here with how I describe it.
[18:52] Speaker 2: You're being diplomatic. It does not sound like he has
[18:55] Speaker 2: been like the authoritative guy, like, oh, he's everything as
[19:00] Speaker 2: promise now. You know. I don't know what the enthusiasm
[19:02] Speaker 2: was in Lexington to have him back, but he was
[19:04] Speaker 2: brought in with fanfare with you know, sec starring experience,
[19:07] Speaker 2: has made a bunch of big throws, has had good
[19:09] Speaker 2: games against tough, tough teams. I cannot believe Mikey Keen
[19:14] Speaker 2: is still Mikey Kean UCF Fresno State, Michigan. ASU has
[19:22] Speaker 2: gone from a school touching the Atlantic Ocean, touching the
[19:25] Speaker 2: Pacific Ocean, touching Canada, and now touching Mexico. Just all
[19:31] Speaker 2: bases covered in this great land.
[19:33] Speaker 3: He is the human embodiment of modern conference realignment.
[19:37] Speaker 2: Correct, he is Lewis and Clark and Mikey.
[19:43] Speaker 3: So look, I obviously if he were to get the
[19:46] Speaker 3: NOD veteran experience, clearly not the long term answer that
[19:51] Speaker 3: Kenny Dillingham would shoot for it.
[19:52] Speaker 2: Area. I wouldn't say short term answer either, right.
[19:55] Speaker 1: I would assume no.
[19:56] Speaker 3: But again, in the early part of spring anyway, it
[19:59] Speaker 3: looked as if.
[20:00] Speaker 1: He was Okay.
[20:03] Speaker 3: My hunch is that it's still probably Cutter Bully given
[20:07] Speaker 3: the fact that, as we've mentioned here a few times
[20:10] Speaker 3: on the show, Kenny Dillingham initially recruited him. This is
[20:14] Speaker 3: going back to his days at Oregon, right, So he
[20:16] Speaker 3: liked Cutter Bullie. He obviously went out there and brought
[20:20] Speaker 3: him down. There was some talk about where are they're
[20:22] Speaker 3: going to go now after Sam Levitt, Dylanarola's name came
[20:25] Speaker 3: up a little bit, but Cutter Buwllie was eventually the dude.
[20:27] Speaker 3: And he's got some years of eligibility ahead of him
[20:30] Speaker 3: as well, so presumably he is still the guy. But
[20:34] Speaker 3: I think that is another situation worth watching, if only
[20:38] Speaker 3: because there's a guy coming back from an acl who
[20:41] Speaker 3: showed some real flashes in spring, and Cameron Dyer and
[20:44] Speaker 3: Jake Fetti, the true freshman has been really really solid,
[20:47] Speaker 3: very consistent and publicly praised by the coach. Yeah, and
[20:51] Speaker 3: so I don't think it's a done deal.
[20:54] Speaker 2: What the ASU quarterback whoever wins that job, what the
[20:57] Speaker 2: ASU guy has around him, and we'll have to contend
[21:01] Speaker 2: with should have a couple of at least a couple
[21:03] Speaker 2: like really promising receivers to throw to an O'mrion Miller
[21:06] Speaker 2: and Read Harris.
[21:07] Speaker 1: The tryer like.
[21:10] Speaker 2: Obviously, losing real Leak Brown to Texas is a big
[21:13] Speaker 2: loss in terms of his emergence last season. The offensive
[21:16] Speaker 2: line was not particularly good last year, but it was
[21:17] Speaker 2: also no real Sam Levitt for a big chunk of
[21:21] Speaker 2: the season, so it's hard to really look at what
[21:23] Speaker 2: ASU was and wasn't on offense last year. So look,
[21:28] Speaker 2: I would argue Kenny Dillingham as a guy with a
[21:32] Speaker 2: reputation for quarterback development, is ahead of Mike Norvell, even
[21:36] Speaker 2: though obviously they were together. But with what Kenny Dillingham
[21:40] Speaker 2: has done at ASU and what he did in his
[21:42] Speaker 2: short time at Oregon, there's every reason to think ASU,
[21:46] Speaker 2: whoever this guy is, if healthy, will have an opportunity
[21:49] Speaker 2: to be his best self in this offense.
[21:51] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean the offense.
[21:52] Speaker 3: Is kind of a portal gamble on many different fronts
[21:56] Speaker 3: that you mentioned the line. I mean the biggest question
[21:58] Speaker 3: mark on the team is I think the offensive line.
[22:01] Speaker 3: They don't have much back, if anything back zero returning starters.
[22:04] Speaker 3: I want to say I saw on the offensive line,
[22:07] Speaker 3: so that that's going to be a question. And I
[22:11] Speaker 3: was going through some coach quotes here before we hit go,
[22:14] Speaker 3: Like Kenny Dillingham has made some comments to the effect of,
[22:17] Speaker 3: like this team doesn't look doesn't look like there were
[22:21] Speaker 3: where I want it to be in terms of physicality,
[22:24] Speaker 3: you know, just a maybe a more diplomatic way of
[22:26] Speaker 3: saying that they kind of look soft at this point,
[22:28] Speaker 3: which to early as spring, and there's a long way
[22:31] Speaker 3: to go here. But there's reason to chart this one
[22:35] Speaker 3: as well. On the quarterback front, because I think it's
[22:37] Speaker 3: going to get interesting.
[22:39] Speaker 2: They do have text saying m on September twelfth, figure
[22:42] Speaker 2: it out.
[22:43] Speaker 1: Figured it out. One other quarterback battle here, Almo.
[22:45] Speaker 2: I can't wait to see this place.
[22:47] Speaker 3: The Florida quarterback situation is kind of weird.
[22:51] Speaker 1: So we had assumed and we even did.
[22:53] Speaker 3: I think an episode here not too long ago about
[22:56] Speaker 3: Aaron Filo mentioned why Aaron Filo was interesting in an
[22:59] Speaker 3: under the radar guy to keep tabs on, keep track of,
[23:05] Speaker 3: given the connection between him and Buster Faulkner, who is
[23:07] Speaker 3: now the new offensive coordinator coming down also from Georgia
[23:12] Speaker 3: Tech to hopefully reboot things at Florida Tremeel Jones Junior
[23:19] Speaker 3: has looked really good thus far the spring, and you
[23:23] Speaker 3: could make the case that he sort of won the
[23:26] Speaker 3: spring game. He looked really solid through two touchdowns, no interceptions.
[23:32] Speaker 3: He definitely has a bit of an edge in terms
[23:33] Speaker 3: of athleticism. Aaron Filo probably has the edge just in
[23:37] Speaker 3: terms of an extra year under his belt. He obviously
[23:41] Speaker 3: knows the offense a little bit better given that connection
[23:43] Speaker 3: with Faulkner. But I think this is worth monitoring. I
[23:49] Speaker 3: think if you read between the lines, based on what
[23:52] Speaker 3: I can tell listening to our friend Gator Dave and
[23:54] Speaker 3: reading others around the Florida world, it seems as though
[23:57] Speaker 3: John Summerl is still sort of I'm interpreting, sort of
[24:02] Speaker 3: leaning towards Aaron Filo, but has definitely given the impression
[24:06] Speaker 3: that this is a close race between these two guys
[24:09] Speaker 3: are closer than many would have expected because Tremeel Jones
[24:13] Speaker 3: looked good. He connected on like a seventy five yard
[24:15] Speaker 3: touchdown pass in their spring scrimmage, which was I believe
[24:19] Speaker 3: this past weekend. And it should not be assumed that
[24:24] Speaker 3: it's a done deal at this point. It's going to
[24:25] Speaker 3: just go to Filo. It just seems like this is
[24:29] Speaker 3: going to be something that is we're not going to
[24:31] Speaker 3: find out until fall camp. Filo did have two picks
[24:35] Speaker 3: in that scrimmage. Summer all kind of waved it off.
[24:40] Speaker 1: You know.
[24:41] Speaker 3: It's like I threw behind him a little bit. He's
[24:43] Speaker 3: not where he wants to be and it's not a
[24:45] Speaker 3: big deal. So I don't think we should read too
[24:47] Speaker 3: deep into that. But Tremel Jones Junior has given it
[24:50] Speaker 3: as all and we should not just assume it's going
[24:53] Speaker 3: to be Filo's job.
[24:55] Speaker 2: Yeah, the interesting thing will be to what extent either
[24:58] Speaker 2: of these guys will be used as a runner in
[25:01] Speaker 2: Buster Faulkner's offense at Florida. Last year's Georgia Tech offense
[25:06] Speaker 2: was actually pretty balanced in terms of what they were
[25:08] Speaker 2: successful in doing. They were better rushing team than passing team.
[25:12] Speaker 2: The big deal will be if you're looking specifically at
[25:16] Speaker 2: what Georgia Tech struggled with last year, which I think
[25:18] Speaker 2: is kind of a fool's errand honestly because it's just
[25:21] Speaker 2: new team, new situation, new you know, different players and
[25:23] Speaker 2: stuff like that. But with the offense, they did struggle
[25:26] Speaker 2: in the red zone some last year, so maybe that's
[25:28] Speaker 2: something that they're looking at with these guys. Sure, it
[25:30] Speaker 2: is something that they're looking at with how they perform
[25:32] Speaker 2: in those high leverage moments. And the only difference between
[25:36] Speaker 2: these two to me is, well a difference is Tremelle
[25:39] Speaker 2: Jones is not big. No, I think it's like five
[25:41] Speaker 2: to eleven six foot tall something like that. He's not
[25:43] Speaker 2: especially big, And so I wonder, you know, to what
[25:47] Speaker 2: extent the offense is being looked at, uh, with quarterbacks
[25:52] Speaker 2: running and maybe not running in the way that Haines
[25:54] Speaker 2: King was able to take advantage of.
[25:56] Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know, like the Fukner system, you don't
[25:58] Speaker 3: need a quarterback who is like cjs are, you know,
[26:03] Speaker 3: like they're not necessarily looking for a quarterback who's out
[26:06] Speaker 3: there as like a fully finished product. I think you
[26:09] Speaker 3: can get by just fine in this system without that
[26:12] Speaker 3: which which works to their advantage given circumstances. I don't
[26:17] Speaker 3: know how deep we can read into what we saw
[26:19] Speaker 3: in the spring game, like Dallas Wilson's out, Like everyone
[26:24] Speaker 3: right now is dealing with injuries and keeping guys out
[26:28] Speaker 3: in some cases on a pitch count so that there
[26:30] Speaker 3: aren't further concerns down the line with respect to health.
[26:34] Speaker 3: But this one, to me was I put it on
[26:37] Speaker 3: my list. I'm interested in this just because I kind
[26:40] Speaker 3: of didn't expect it. I was assuming that it was
[26:42] Speaker 3: going to be Filo. I think the assumption should still
[26:44] Speaker 3: be that it's going to be Filo.
[26:45] Speaker 1: But Tremelle Jones Junior has given it as all he
[26:48] Speaker 1: really has.
[26:49] Speaker 2: He's looked good by the way. What I do like
[26:51] Speaker 2: when you talk about quarterback competitions is I do like
[26:54] Speaker 2: watching a spring game, even if you don't know how
[26:57] Speaker 2: the teams are broken up. You don't know what the
[26:59] Speaker 2: offensive lines. That's like this is everywhere where you'll see
[27:02] Speaker 2: a sentence or you'll hear somebody talk about the offensive line,
[27:05] Speaker 2: We're like, well, we don't really have a good read
[27:06] Speaker 2: on the offensive line because they're mixing and matching and
[27:08] Speaker 2: trying this guy out at right tackle and this guy
[27:10] Speaker 2: out at left guard. So you're not actually necessarily seeing
[27:14] Speaker 2: if there were a game tomorrow what the offensive line
[27:16] Speaker 2: would actually look like. But what I do like seeing
[27:20] Speaker 2: is what the reports are out of the A game,
[27:23] Speaker 2: the Alabama spring game, where basically there is this unified opinion.
[27:29] Speaker 2: You're like, oh, yeah, Kilan Russell's better.
[27:31] Speaker 1: Well, hold on, hold on, I can't wait to see.
[27:33] Speaker 3: This, So give me the real I didn't read enough
[27:35] Speaker 3: on the eight A game. And because I've been nosed
[27:39] Speaker 3: down looking at some of these other races, I know
[27:41] Speaker 3: you flagg the Alabama one very high profile quarterback battle.
[27:47] Speaker 1: Kelon Russell.
[27:49] Speaker 3: Austin Mack is a bit much bigger dude came with
[27:53] Speaker 3: Debor from Washington, and I went so far as to say,
[27:59] Speaker 3: was it last last year? Before last year? Oh Milroe,
[28:04] Speaker 3: I recall saying that I wouldn't be surprised if they
[28:07] Speaker 3: turned it over to Austin Mack, because it didn't feel
[28:11] Speaker 3: like mil Roe was a great fit for what Debor
[28:14] Speaker 3: wanted to do. Now they found a wait or Ty
[28:17] Speaker 3: Simpson that year, or Ty Simpson right like it was.
[28:21] Speaker 3: I've been waiting This is a long way of saying
[28:24] Speaker 3: I've been waiting to see what Austin Mack could do
[28:26] Speaker 3: on center stage when he gets his time. But is
[28:29] Speaker 3: it going to be Austin Mack or is it going
[28:31] Speaker 3: to be Keilon Russell? Because Keilon Russell is very, very
[28:33] Speaker 3: good as well.
[28:34] Speaker 2: M hm Okay, Austin Mack was a little bit dinged up.
[28:39] Speaker 2: He didn't throw as many passes as Kailon Russell. I
[28:41] Speaker 2: don't believe the other big thing is just so it's
[28:43] Speaker 2: not Ryan Williams anymore. It's Ryan Coleman, will Rank Coleman, Williams,
[28:46] Speaker 2: arci do get that in your your lexicon. I think
[28:50] Speaker 2: it's Sadarian Morgan is the big new true freshman receiver
[28:54] Speaker 2: who's come in. He turned heads and so there's obviously
[28:58] Speaker 2: offensive line questions, linebacker questions for Alabama. The secondary looks
[29:02] Speaker 2: like it's an incredible spot. You know, new full time
[29:06] Speaker 2: guys along the defensive line, but if they're able, I mean, look,
[29:09] Speaker 2: the big question that Alabama is what is the running
[29:11] Speaker 2: game going to look like? But obviously when you have
[29:14] Speaker 2: a new quarterback that's always going to be at the
[29:16] Speaker 2: top of the mountain in terms of questions, and it
[29:18] Speaker 2: looked like Keelan Russell, the speed with which he operated
[29:21] Speaker 2: and got the ball out and improvised, it just looked
[29:25] Speaker 2: like you're like, oh, you can see a super high ceiling.
[29:28] Speaker 2: Why this kid was a five star coming out of
[29:30] Speaker 2: high school and it just looked like, oh, yeah, that
[29:34] Speaker 2: guy's a starting quarterback at a major place. And so
[29:37] Speaker 2: I think I think that's what sort of popped to
[29:40] Speaker 2: people who watched this game, myself included.
[29:44] Speaker 1: So we think he's the favorite? Is that what you're seting?
[29:47] Speaker 2: I think so. But look, if Austin Max's injury was
[29:49] Speaker 2: very real and you know, he wasn't able to show
[29:51] Speaker 2: off what he has grown into. Look, maybe it'll continue
[29:54] Speaker 2: into the fall in earnest, but it looked like Keilan
[29:56] Speaker 2: Russell just had the appearance of being guy more than
[30:00] Speaker 2: Austin Mack, who did make a couple of really nice throws.
[30:03] Speaker 3: To be sure, I'm very curious about this line. Yeah,
[30:08] Speaker 3: the line to me is definitely one B in terms
[30:13] Speaker 3: of questions going into the season the quarterback. We all
[30:17] Speaker 3: know that the quarterback race is going to be the
[30:20] Speaker 3: main headline about Alabama.
[30:21] Speaker 1: This offseason, but.
[30:24] Speaker 3: Is the offensive line going to function well enough to
[30:27] Speaker 3: support a better run game, because now turning this thing
[30:30] Speaker 3: over to a much greener quarterback, you gotta have a
[30:36] Speaker 3: run game. It can't be one dimensional this year and
[30:39] Speaker 3: expect to get back to the playoff.
[30:41] Speaker 1: I just don't see it.
[30:42] Speaker 2: Okay, next team, I can't wait to see this.
[30:47] Speaker 1: It's talk about Notre Dame. Baby.
[30:49] Speaker 3: Okay, there is not a quarterback derby going on a
[30:55] Speaker 3: Notre Dame at least I certainly hope not. If there is,
[30:58] Speaker 3: that means there's an injury. But CJ. Carr has been
[31:01] Speaker 3: great out there so far. He's been taunting defenders. There's
[31:05] Speaker 3: a clip of him running into the end zone pointing
[31:07] Speaker 3: at defenders. I believe there's been some commentary from some
[31:11] Speaker 3: of the coaching staff that CJ's definitely more of a
[31:16] Speaker 3: vocal leader this time around, sort of picking some fights
[31:18] Speaker 3: and bringing in intensity that they like.
[31:21] Speaker 1: They all like intensity in the spring, as.
[31:23] Speaker 2: You know, of course.
[31:24] Speaker 3: But the three position groups in particular that I think
[31:28] Speaker 3: are notable for Notre Dame on the offensive side of
[31:32] Speaker 3: the football, running back, offensive line, and wide receiver. Those
[31:38] Speaker 3: three things are what I am most interested in going
[31:43] Speaker 3: into the fall. What are they going to do at
[31:46] Speaker 3: running back right. We're doing this about a week and
[31:48] Speaker 3: a half before the NFL Draft. We're going to see
[31:51] Speaker 3: both Jeremiah Love and Jadarian Price get picked. I mean
[31:56] Speaker 3: Love's going in the top ten, Jadarium Price probably in
[31:58] Speaker 3: the first three rounds. We will have a draft show,
[32:01] Speaker 3: maybe more draft shows than usual upcoming here over the
[32:05] Speaker 3: next week and a half, so stay tuned for that.
[32:07] Speaker 3: But it's a big hole for Notre Dame because so
[32:10] Speaker 3: much of what they did offensively was built around the
[32:12] Speaker 3: ground game on top of it. Now in the spring
[32:16] Speaker 3: and he has Williams nicked up, Kedrin Young working his
[32:19] Speaker 3: way back from injury, some freshmen who are not yet
[32:21] Speaker 3: on campus, which has really opened things up for Nolan
[32:24] Speaker 3: James Junior. We've been out there and really impressive so
[32:31] Speaker 3: far at the running back position. I don't know if
[32:34] Speaker 3: it's enough to sort of differentiate himself into the point
[32:38] Speaker 3: where he's going to be like RB one, but there's
[32:41] Speaker 3: probably a conversation to be had about where his role
[32:44] Speaker 3: is on the depth chart now given what he has
[32:47] Speaker 3: shown so far the spring. So this is maybe more
[32:51] Speaker 3: of like addition by subtraction in a sense, or at
[32:56] Speaker 3: least clarification by subtraction because some man of the other
[33:00] Speaker 3: names that I was looking at are not really an
[33:03] Speaker 3: active part of the spring thus far or as active.
[33:06] Speaker 3: But No One James Junior is a name worth tracking here.
[33:09] Speaker 3: If you're a Notre Dame fan, or if you've got
[33:10] Speaker 3: Notre Dame on your schedule, No One James Junior.
[33:13] Speaker 1: Remember that name?
[33:15] Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean, who is going to be the guy
[33:17] Speaker 2: to tote the rock against Navy and Rice? I just
[33:20] Speaker 2: Purdue in Boston College. It's you know, Michigan State. What
[33:24] Speaker 2: a what a question?
[33:26] Speaker 3: He is going to be running behind a line that
[33:28] Speaker 3: also looks to me to be upgraded in a sense.
[33:32] Speaker 2: That's probably right.
[33:33] Speaker 3: Yeah, Will Black is going to slide in at left tackle.
[33:38] Speaker 3: And Anthony Napp, who has been the left tackle for
[33:40] Speaker 3: each of the last two seasons, started there as a
[33:42] Speaker 3: true freshman after there were some injuries, stayed there last year.
[33:46] Speaker 3: Now he's going to be moving to the inside as
[33:49] Speaker 3: Will Black assumes his role as left tackle. Everybody is
[33:53] Speaker 3: going crazy for Will Black. They're talking about like he's
[33:56] Speaker 3: going to be a franchise left tackle. Know that everything
[34:01] Speaker 3: you would want to hear as a fan, and you
[34:03] Speaker 3: got to temper some of this and take it with
[34:04] Speaker 3: a grain of salt, because you got a lot of
[34:06] Speaker 3: team guys talking about it. There is some homer Ism
[34:09] Speaker 3: that sneaks in here, you know, like this is true
[34:11] Speaker 3: for all these teams. But I do like the commentary
[34:15] Speaker 3: that you get from members of the defense that play
[34:18] Speaker 3: up against the likes of Will Black or really anybody
[34:21] Speaker 3: along the offensive line, and overwhelmingly everybody's been like this,
[34:25] Speaker 3: dude's awesome. He's going to be really, really good, which
[34:28] Speaker 3: is what you like to hear when you've got a
[34:30] Speaker 3: team like Notre Dame that has loved to play a
[34:33] Speaker 3: very physical brand of a rushing offense, something that you
[34:38] Speaker 3: love to hear. Of course, when you've got what appears
[34:41] Speaker 3: to be a quarterback of the future, at least for
[34:43] Speaker 3: the immediate future in CJ.
[34:44] Speaker 1: Carr. Will Black is I think going to be a
[34:47] Speaker 1: pretty nice addition to this offensive line in twenty twenty six.
[34:50] Speaker 1: So I'm excited about that.
[34:51] Speaker 2: Yeah, there's the good news of your Notre Dame fan.
[34:53] Speaker 2: Aside from like me being pithy about the schedule, is
[34:56] Speaker 2: there was no obvious place that Notre Dame was bad,
[34:59] Speaker 2: either on the roster or in terms of how they
[35:01] Speaker 2: played their games. Now maybe you can look a like, Okay,
[35:05] Speaker 2: they didn't perform well against the best two teams they played,
[35:07] Speaker 2: and that's fine. But that's the good news. Even with
[35:11] Speaker 2: the roster questions. If the offensive line and the defensive
[35:14] Speaker 2: front looks like they're going to be in a good place.
[35:18] Speaker 2: You're talking about the margins where you know, if it's
[35:21] Speaker 2: an injury to a presume start or whatever, and you're
[35:23] Speaker 2: looking at young guys. Notre Dame isn't a great place.
[35:24] Speaker 3: They're in a great place, and each of the last
[35:26] Speaker 3: two seasons, going into the year, there were real questions
[35:30] Speaker 3: about the offensive line. Charles Jogi saw has not been
[35:33] Speaker 3: healthy for what feels like forever. He's got high upside,
[35:37] Speaker 3: but the guy can't stay in the field. He was
[35:39] Speaker 3: hurt the entirety of their national championship run two years
[35:45] Speaker 3: ago when they got to that game, then ended up
[35:47] Speaker 3: playing through the playoffs because of other injuries along the
[35:50] Speaker 3: line was hurt, didn't really play, you know, much of
[35:55] Speaker 3: a factor at all since. So it's interesting to see
[35:58] Speaker 3: how this line develops. But Will Black is a name
[36:00] Speaker 3: that I had been watching, certainly when they recruited him
[36:03] Speaker 3: as a five star and now is he's going to
[36:04] Speaker 3: step in at left tackle, moving Anthony Nap to the
[36:08] Speaker 3: inside at guard.
[36:09] Speaker 1: I think is the right moves.
[36:10] Speaker 3: Well, so they're in a situation where they've got an
[36:13] Speaker 3: embarrassment of riches upfront, which I.
[36:15] Speaker 2: Like, Yeah, I don't have a ton Okay, sorry, continue.
[36:19] Speaker 3: I was the only other thing I was going to
[36:21] Speaker 3: mention is that Jadeen Greathhouse is still not healthy out wide.
[36:25] Speaker 1: Oh he's a bummer for him.
[36:26] Speaker 3: And I was a huge Jadan Greathouse believer and I
[36:28] Speaker 3: was hoping we'd see more out of them last year,
[36:30] Speaker 3: but he just could not get healthy.
[36:32] Speaker 1: And now what's happened.
[36:34] Speaker 2: He had nine targets and four catches last season.
[36:36] Speaker 3: I mean, he was just he was not a presence
[36:39] Speaker 3: at all.
[36:39] Speaker 1: He was hurt the whole year.
[36:41] Speaker 2: Yep.
[36:41] Speaker 3: And so Notre Dame is not going to stand by
[36:44] Speaker 3: idly and just give the job to great House whenever
[36:46] Speaker 3: he's good and healthy. They went out in the portal.
[36:50] Speaker 3: They brought two guys over from Ohio State. They've also
[36:53] Speaker 3: recruited well at that position. They're going to have a
[36:55] Speaker 3: very I don't want to say a deep receiver room.
[36:59] Speaker 3: They're going to bed with options at receiver, and so
[37:02] Speaker 3: some of what we have seen now in the spring
[37:05] Speaker 3: is some of these younger guys popping. The name to
[37:07] Speaker 3: watch is Bubba Fraser. Bubba Fraser was not the highest
[37:12] Speaker 3: ranked recruit that they brought in this class. He's certainly
[37:15] Speaker 3: not the biggest guy. I think he's like five to ten.
[37:17] Speaker 3: But everyone out there has been complaining about trying to
[37:20] Speaker 3: cover this guy.
[37:22] Speaker 2: Right.
[37:22] Speaker 3: This includes some of Notre Dame's secondary, which should be
[37:25] Speaker 3: a really good secondary, one of the best in the country.
[37:27] Speaker 3: Everyone is going crazy for Bubba Fraser and his ability
[37:30] Speaker 3: to sort of make people miss and how difficulty is
[37:33] Speaker 3: to cover the understanding of the offense. He seems like
[37:36] Speaker 3: he could be a plug and play guy. Who you know,
[37:39] Speaker 3: we got a long way to go here before the
[37:40] Speaker 3: season starts, but they're certainly not short on options out
[37:44] Speaker 3: wide to try and fill out that receiver room.
[37:46] Speaker 1: And that's a name that's been popping.
[37:48] Speaker 2: Okay, so he's going to be potentially a problem.
[37:51] Speaker 3: A problem, A problem problem anyway, I've drawn on too on,
[37:54] Speaker 3: but Notre Dame, what do you got for me?
[37:55] Speaker 1: I can't wait to see this.
[37:58] Speaker 2: I mean, we can talk about I mean, very briefly,
[38:01] Speaker 2: we can talk about Oregons because they just returned so
[38:03] Speaker 2: many guys. I mean, their questions are about coordinators. I
[38:06] Speaker 2: guess they promote two guys in Chris Hampton and Drew Meringer.
[38:13] Speaker 2: Organ's going to be just fine. They're deep with good receivers.
[38:17] Speaker 2: I think in a way that Notre Dame isn't necessarily
[38:20] Speaker 2: because they just returned, you know, to Corey Moore and
[38:22] Speaker 2: Evan Stewart and Jeremiah McClellan from last year. Kenyan sidikas gone,
[38:26] Speaker 2: but Jamari Johnson steps in, and I think they basically
[38:28] Speaker 2: had the same amount of yard It's same amount of
[38:30] Speaker 2: yards last season. They both are over five hundred yards,
[38:33] Speaker 2: so they're in a great position at tight end. The
[38:35] Speaker 2: other big question with Oregon is basically going to be
[38:38] Speaker 2: where the offensive line ends up and so replacing both
[38:42] Speaker 2: tackles and a guard. They have options. They brought into
[38:45] Speaker 2: transfer from Yale. They're mixing and matching all over the place.
[38:48] Speaker 2: They had a scrimmage. The defense seemed to be well
[38:50] Speaker 2: ahead allegedly, which is normal for the spring, especially with
[38:53] Speaker 2: mix and match offensive lines. Strength of the defense up front,
[38:58] Speaker 2: there's you know, they return all starting defensive linemen or however,
[39:02] Speaker 2: you're gonna qualify, you know, an edge player and then
[39:05] Speaker 2: three defensive linemen and the secondary. Even with bringing in
[39:09] Speaker 2: Coy Perrits from Minnesota, who seems to be as advertised,
[39:14] Speaker 2: their corners should just be I think a huge strength.
[39:18] Speaker 2: That could be one of the best corner duos in
[39:19] Speaker 2: the country. Brandon Finnie and Iffi obadeg Wu. They're in
[39:24] Speaker 2: a great place. You know. Evan Stewart's health is a question.
[39:27] Speaker 2: I think this is first spring that he's actually played
[39:29] Speaker 2: at Oregon, right and so we'll see in their spring
[39:34] Speaker 2: game at the end of the month. But to me,
[39:36] Speaker 2: it's just the the the intel, the quote unquote intel
[39:39] Speaker 2: with Oregon is what their offensive line looks like, who's
[39:41] Speaker 2: playing where in the spring game and you know, bleeding
[39:44] Speaker 2: into fall camp because you know they have options, they're
[39:47] Speaker 2: you know, they have a five star freshman coming in.
[39:52] Speaker 2: I don't know they're they're incoming offensive linemen I think
[39:56] Speaker 2: are both built like basically angry vending machines. So I
[40:01] Speaker 2: think there'll be rotation pieces. I don't think they're going
[40:03] Speaker 2: to start right away, and we can sort of transition
[40:05] Speaker 2: to Miami. If you want to talk about a freshman. Yeah,
[40:07] Speaker 2: I'll tackle coming in, I'll talk about but yeah, I
[40:10] Speaker 2: mean it's Dante Moore, it's you know, they go four
[40:14] Speaker 2: or five deep at running back with you know, Jordan
[40:15] Speaker 2: Davison and Derre hillback, They're in a really advantaged position.
[40:19] Speaker 2: And aside from offensive line, I don't see any real
[40:24] Speaker 2: open questions about Oregon spring wise.
[40:26] Speaker 3: I am rooting like hell for Evans Stuart Okay, I'm
[40:30] Speaker 3: rooting like hell for him. I mean not if they
[40:32] Speaker 3: played Notre Nam Penn State, but otherwise, I mean, has
[40:38] Speaker 3: just not been able to stay on the field for
[40:41] Speaker 3: Oregon and showed a lot of promise. Was obviously a
[40:45] Speaker 3: very highly touted recruit coming out of high school.
[40:47] Speaker 2: Popped against Ohio State a couple of years ago in
[40:49] Speaker 2: the regular season.
[40:50] Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean showed that he can be an explosive
[40:53] Speaker 3: vertical threat, very slippery after the catch. I mean, he
[40:59] Speaker 3: has so much of what you want out of a receiver.
[41:01] Speaker 3: But the guy's got to stay healthy. So seeing him
[41:04] Speaker 3: out there in the spring and I know, wanting to
[41:07] Speaker 3: play on what is it, the twenty fifth their spring
[41:10] Speaker 3: game is paramount for him. So I'm curious to see
[41:13] Speaker 3: if he's able to play a factor this year for Oregon.
[41:15] Speaker 3: That would obviously make Dante more a lot more dangerous
[41:18] Speaker 3: as a passer.
[41:19] Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's obviously a great position because you know,
[41:22] Speaker 2: you bring in like uab's best receiver in Iverston Hooks
[41:25] Speaker 2: and like not necessarily a depth piece, but they're just
[41:28] Speaker 2: gonna be deep in the secondary, bringing in you know,
[41:32] Speaker 2: guys on both sides of the ball speed wise and
[41:35] Speaker 2: depth wise along the defensive line. So no, they should
[41:37] Speaker 2: be in a nice position. You know, That's been the
[41:39] Speaker 2: story in Evans Stewart right, like other worldly talent? Can
[41:42] Speaker 2: you stay on the field?
[41:43] Speaker 1: All right? You mentioned Miami? Where's my thing? I can't
[41:45] Speaker 1: wait to see this?
[41:46] Speaker 3: So I can't wait to see this? Actually good, I'm
[41:50] Speaker 3: I'm you know. I whiffed on Miami last year pretty
[41:53] Speaker 3: bad when we did our preview and.
[41:56] Speaker 2: They didn't win the ACC.
[41:57] Speaker 3: They didn't win the ACC, so I guess I was
[41:59] Speaker 3: right about that. But my thought was that they were
[42:04] Speaker 3: going to be slower on offense, if only because it
[42:09] Speaker 3: was definitely a shift in personnel going from the likes
[42:14] Speaker 3: of cam Ward to Carson Beck.
[42:16] Speaker 1: Those are two very different quarterbacks. Dan.
[42:19] Speaker 3: What I could not have accounted for, and certainly did
[42:22] Speaker 3: not account for, is a how good they'd be along
[42:26] Speaker 3: the offensive line.
[42:27] Speaker 1: I should have known.
[42:28] Speaker 3: I think I willfully chose to ignore it because they
[42:31] Speaker 3: played Notre Dame in Week one and nobody knew about
[42:35] Speaker 3: Malachai Toni. As a true freshman, Malachae Toni was incredible.
[42:39] Speaker 3: He's a constant threat. So coming into this season now,
[42:44] Speaker 3: I'm trying to be a little bit more balanced with
[42:45] Speaker 3: respect to Miami, I have nothing but the highest praise
[42:49] Speaker 3: for Darien Manson.
[42:50] Speaker 1: Maybe not with respect to how he got to Miami.
[42:54] Speaker 3: And his business acumen, but in terms of him on
[42:58] Speaker 3: the field, there's not a whole lot to doubt there.
[43:01] Speaker 3: He's somewhere in between cam Ward and Carson Beck. He's
[43:05] Speaker 3: clearly an accurate passer in Osawa process. He'll do just
[43:07] Speaker 3: fine in the Shannon Dawson system. And Malachi Toni is
[43:11] Speaker 3: back for a true sophomore campaign.
[43:15] Speaker 1: We know the deal with him. He is a menace
[43:17] Speaker 1: out there.
[43:18] Speaker 3: But what I'm looking at is this offensive line now,
[43:21] Speaker 3: because pretty much the entire offensive line is new, and
[43:25] Speaker 3: how that group comes together, I think is going to
[43:27] Speaker 3: really determine how Hi Miami goes this season. They've got
[43:31] Speaker 3: all the other pieces, but along the offensive line, certainly
[43:35] Speaker 3: along the defensive line, they're losing a lot as well.
[43:38] Speaker 3: That is going to be I think, first and foremost
[43:41] Speaker 3: the question for the Canes going into this season. So
[43:44] Speaker 3: thus far, Jackson can't well, who was what was his deal?
[43:48] Speaker 3: I'm trying to remember the deal with Jackson Cantwell coming
[43:51] Speaker 3: out of high school. He was like committed to Miami
[43:54] Speaker 3: and then not committed to Miami. What am I trying
[43:56] Speaker 3: to remember here about Jackson? Now?
[43:57] Speaker 2: He I mean, he was just a huge name. He
[43:59] Speaker 2: was down I want to say Miami, Georgia and Georgia. Yeah,
[44:05] Speaker 2: the I mean, I don't know if you're conflating him
[44:07] Speaker 2: with I think it was Jared Curtis who was committed
[44:10] Speaker 2: to Georgia, decommitted, looked like he was going to Oregon,
[44:13] Speaker 2: uh recommitted to Georgia and then committed to Vanderbilt because
[44:16] Speaker 2: he's a from Nashville. Jackson Cantwell was just sort of
[44:19] Speaker 2: down between those schools and looked good for all three
[44:23] Speaker 2: at a certain point. But obviously with Mario Cristobal and
[44:27] Speaker 2: Alex Mierbal's track record with offensive line lineman ended up
[44:30] Speaker 2: there there was like there was there were stories about
[44:33] Speaker 2: just how much Miami offered, and.
[44:35] Speaker 1: Okay, maybe that's what I'm thinking of. Don't listen.
[44:38] Speaker 3: There's a look, every a million recruiting stories every year
[44:42] Speaker 3: now that revolve around the money and the offers and
[44:45] Speaker 3: stuff like that.
[44:46] Speaker 1: So I'm getting him mixed up a little bit.
[44:47] Speaker 2: But anyway, can I had heard from in the offensive
[44:50] Speaker 2: line world, and there were a number of really big
[44:53] Speaker 2: and well thought of offensive linemen coming into the you know,
[44:57] Speaker 2: the twenty twenty six class that can't Well is the like, oh,
[45:01] Speaker 2: this guy's looks like and has the brain and body
[45:05] Speaker 2: and maturity, like, oh, this is just like an NFL
[45:09] Speaker 2: player right right that he is ready to play immediately
[45:13] Speaker 2: and just understands the nuances of the position and is
[45:16] Speaker 2: just you know, built for success almost immediately. So he
[45:20] Speaker 2: everybody's looking at him as like he is going to
[45:22] Speaker 2: slide into a tackle spot almost immediately. And the way
[45:25] Speaker 2: that you know with Miraball and Christaball, Pine Sewell was
[45:28] Speaker 2: able to do it Oregon from day one, Panay Sewell
[45:30] Speaker 2: started at left tackle, only had him for two years
[45:32] Speaker 2: because he sat out twenty twenty. But the thought of
[45:36] Speaker 2: in that same way that it was like an effortless transition,
[45:39] Speaker 2: and it seems as though that's going to be the
[45:41] Speaker 2: case here again. Right for Jackson Cantwell, because he is
[45:44] Speaker 2: a true freshman and he's been damn impressive so far. Yeah,
[45:47] Speaker 2: he's been really really good for Miami in the early goings,
[45:50] Speaker 2: and there's no reason.
[45:51] Speaker 3: To expect that he's not going to be the starting
[45:52] Speaker 3: left tackle week one.
[45:55] Speaker 2: So it is kind of amazing with Miami not to interrupt,
[45:58] Speaker 2: but to briefly interrupt. They're like, get Darry mensa good quarterback,
[46:03] Speaker 2: right the back half of his year was sort of
[46:05] Speaker 2: uneven and not as impressive for Duke last year, still
[46:08] Speaker 2: won the acc brings over his best receiver in Cooper Barkate.
[46:13] Speaker 2: The Harvard to Duke to now to Miami transfer Mark
[46:15] Speaker 2: Fletcher's back. And so if you're gonna give Mario and
[46:20] Speaker 2: alex Mirrabal the benefit of the doubt, that's me doing
[46:23] Speaker 2: my best Jesse Palmer impression with like over noticing and.
[46:29] Speaker 1: Alex Mirraball offenses several times. That's right.
[46:32] Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, defense is loaded, right, so that if they're
[46:38] Speaker 2: able to figure that out and you know, by all indications,
[46:41] Speaker 2: Dariy Mensa is as advertised, he should have the opportunity
[46:44] Speaker 2: to practice against even without the defensive linemen who are
[46:48] Speaker 2: gone in Mesador and ruben Bain. On all three levels,
[46:52] Speaker 2: there's a ton of experience and a ton of talent,
[46:54] Speaker 2: and I have even mentioned Malachai Tony as you did.
[46:58] Speaker 2: Miami should be in an amazing place.
[47:00] Speaker 1: I mean they should. I mean it's.
[47:04] Speaker 3: They have to replace like twenty two sacks I want
[47:07] Speaker 3: to say, walking out the door with benemez d'Or, both
[47:11] Speaker 3: of whom are going to be drafted in about a
[47:13] Speaker 3: week and a half as well. So they're losing a lot,
[47:16] Speaker 3: and you know that's not even counting the totality of
[47:20] Speaker 3: the pressures that they added to the tally sheet in
[47:24] Speaker 3: twenty twenty five. But I think they'll be fit. Damon
[47:28] Speaker 3: Wilson right comes over from Miszoo. That's a pretty big
[47:31] Speaker 3: ad that figures to be kind of like the primary replacement.
[47:35] Speaker 3: I don't think he's closing that gap on his own,
[47:38] Speaker 3: But there's enough there to feel good about Miami and
[47:41] Speaker 3: their past rush and what they'll be along the defensive line.
[47:43] Speaker 3: But offensive line for me is really the question, and
[47:47] Speaker 3: we tend to assume a lot when we're talking about
[47:49] Speaker 3: a crystal ball team, and I don't see any reason
[47:52] Speaker 3: to doubt that coming into the season. But there's just
[47:55] Speaker 3: there's plenty of new on this roster, and what the
[47:59] Speaker 3: line looks like to me is of particular interest, which
[48:02] Speaker 3: is why Jodd and down on my list here so far.
[48:04] Speaker 2: So just another all time spring quote season of like
[48:09] Speaker 2: we've yes, you know, we lost a bunch of dudes,
[48:12] Speaker 2: but we've never had a team that's felt this deep
[48:16] Speaker 2: at receiver or at you know, linebacker.
[48:20] Speaker 1: I've been seeing.
[48:20] Speaker 3: They've been talking that up about their receiver room, like
[48:24] Speaker 3: well it's you know, we have questions, but it's never
[48:27] Speaker 3: felt like like.
[48:28] Speaker 2: It's never been and like there's a lot of unfinished
[48:31] Speaker 2: business out there, Ty, there's a lot of Oregon Ducks unfinished.
[48:35] Speaker 2: There's a lot like the way that season ended last year.
[48:37] Speaker 2: Take your pick for this team or that team, you know,
[48:40] Speaker 2: just it left a sour taste in our mouth. And
[48:43] Speaker 2: then you have of course, I've seen this a couple
[48:46] Speaker 2: of different places, but I saw, I want to say,
[48:48] Speaker 2: sark at Texas, like there's.
[48:49] Speaker 3: Just a different feel this year. I know how to
[48:51] Speaker 3: tell you, there's just a different feel vibes. Vibe season,
[48:57] Speaker 3: Vibe season. Let me give you some rapid fire ones.
[49:01] Speaker 2: Okay, place place, I can't wait to see this.
[49:03] Speaker 1: Give you some rapid fire ones. Did you see Colorado
[49:05] Speaker 1: walking out of the tunnel this week?
[49:07] Speaker 2: Man talk about vibes? I it's not fully fair. I
[49:11] Speaker 2: don't think.
[49:12] Speaker 3: Brendan Mary called it a clickbait. He called it clickbait.
[49:17] Speaker 3: He said it wasn't fair, but I mean, coming out
[49:21] Speaker 3: of the tunnel, they looked like a high school team.
[49:26] Speaker 2: Guys were not bid bigger than me, right, bigger than you,
[49:31] Speaker 2: but it's biag for yourself.
[49:33] Speaker 3: It did not present as if, yeah, these guys are
[49:35] Speaker 3: going to be able to go toe to toe with
[49:36] Speaker 3: like BYU right and take a like.
[49:41] Speaker 1: It did not feel very encouraging, at least on the
[49:44] Speaker 1: eye test.
[49:47] Speaker 2: I'm with you. I also noticed the crowd for the
[49:50] Speaker 2: spring game, which, again spring game context is very different
[49:54] Speaker 2: than it used to be. But there was a lot
[49:57] Speaker 2: of excitement for coach Primes, first year, second year, whatever,
[50:03] Speaker 2: fulsome field not. It kind of looked like a White
[50:06] Speaker 2: Sox game in mid August, the vibes were not as
[50:11] Speaker 2: electric as they were these last couple of years. In Boulder.
[50:14] Speaker 3: But we'll say I'm interested in Jaden Craig, the Harvard
[50:19] Speaker 3: transfer at TCU. I have been detecting reports around his
[50:28] Speaker 3: arm strength.
[50:30] Speaker 2: Okay, I E.
[50:32] Speaker 1: Under throwing passes.
[50:34] Speaker 3: I E. If your arm isn't super strong, you need
[50:39] Speaker 3: to do a little bit better in the anticipation department
[50:42] Speaker 3: and throwing guys open instead of waiting for them to
[50:44] Speaker 3: come open. Sure, we have seen some issues around that
[50:48] Speaker 3: to the extent where some of the TCU world have
[50:51] Speaker 3: talked about do they need to tweak the offense if
[50:53] Speaker 3: he's the unquestioned starter right right, So, if we can't
[50:58] Speaker 3: throw downfield the way we might like, are we playing
[51:01] Speaker 3: a little bit more pickaball? Is it a shorter field
[51:04] Speaker 3: and somewhat expect I don't know if that's true. I
[51:06] Speaker 3: don't know if that's fair. We certainly know that Jaden
[51:10] Speaker 3: Craig is.
[51:11] Speaker 1: A little bit more of a runner.
[51:12] Speaker 3: He's a bigger guy than the likes of Josh Hoover,
[51:16] Speaker 3: and for what it's worth, he didn't really turn the
[51:18] Speaker 3: ball over nearly as much as Josh Hoover did, So
[51:20] Speaker 3: maybe there's an upgrade and maybe it all comes out.
[51:22] Speaker 1: In the wash.
[51:23] Speaker 2: He was an Ivy League quarterback. To be sure, I
[51:25] Speaker 2: listen different than throwing into like the Texas Tech defense
[51:28] Speaker 2: and with.
[51:29] Speaker 3: You, I'm just pointing out some of why this makes
[51:32] Speaker 3: it interesting to me, right, and this makes it interesting
[51:36] Speaker 3: to me to see what Jade and Craig looks like
[51:38] Speaker 3: in the Big twelve.
[51:40] Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look, Josh Hoover last season complete sixty
[51:43] Speaker 2: five percent of his passes, did you know. I think
[51:45] Speaker 2: Sonny Dykes was very clear about his thoughts about the
[51:47] Speaker 2: turnovers that Josh Hoover was involved with, and then you
[51:49] Speaker 2: know the back and forth with he and Kurt Signetti.
[51:53] Speaker 2: But I uh, I don't love to see that kind
[51:57] Speaker 2: of thing now in spring where it's like, oh, he
[52:02] Speaker 2: he doesn't really have much of an arm. No, and
[52:05] Speaker 2: maybe that's being overblown in spring and maybe, but I'm
[52:08] Speaker 2: just not an ideal first impression.
[52:10] Speaker 3: I haven't seen it phrased as he doesn't have much
[52:14] Speaker 3: of an arm okay, but I have seen a lot
[52:18] Speaker 3: of like indirect reference to the armstring illusions.
[52:22] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[52:23] Speaker 3: Yeah, people talking about underthrows pretty consistently in the early
[52:27] Speaker 3: part of spring anyway, So just watch that, Just watch.
[52:32] Speaker 1: That Oklahoma State man.
[52:37] Speaker 2: It seems like the vibes are good, great, Okay, vibes
[52:42] Speaker 2: are great everywhere.
[52:43] Speaker 1: Of course, the vibes are really good at Oklahoma State. Right.
[52:46] Speaker 2: First of all, I don't know if the vibes are
[52:47] Speaker 2: great everywhere. We've we've gone through what and Ashton Daniels,
[52:51] Speaker 2: Kevin Sperry quarterback competition, vibes are good.
[52:53] Speaker 3: Everything I read about Florida State is no, no, no.
[52:56] Speaker 3: Vibes are great. Vibes are everyone's feeling okay.
[52:58] Speaker 2: But Oklahoma State, you would I'm understand why quarterback vibes
[53:01] Speaker 2: are significantly higher than where they were last couple of years.
[53:04] Speaker 3: Yeah, and just in general, you know, it was time
[53:06] Speaker 3: for a change of scenery at Oklahoma State. And you know,
[53:11] Speaker 3: Gundy was great there for a long time, but clearly
[53:13] Speaker 3: it had slipped off. It was not good the last
[53:15] Speaker 3: couple of years.
[53:16] Speaker 1: So this was time.
[53:17] Speaker 3: This was this was the right move for the Pokes
[53:20] Speaker 3: to make. And I bring this up because obviously there's
[53:24] Speaker 3: a lot of hype around what the offense can be
[53:27] Speaker 3: as an Eric Morris team. The guy's quarterback whisper. Obviously,
[53:30] Speaker 3: Drew Mestamaker was incredible last year. Brings over Caleb Hawkins
[53:34] Speaker 3: and like They've got like this trio of guys at
[53:38] Speaker 3: the skill positions that they're going to feel great about
[53:39] Speaker 3: on offense, and there's no reason to think they're not
[53:42] Speaker 3: gonna be able to put up points. But actually defensively, yeah,
[53:48] Speaker 3: I had been surprised at what I have been reading
[53:50] Speaker 3: about what they look like along the defensive line and
[53:54] Speaker 3: how they feel about their past rush coming into this season.
[53:59] Speaker 3: And it's interest seeing to follow, if only because it's
[54:03] Speaker 3: been a minute since Oklahoma State had a defense worth
[54:06] Speaker 3: talking about. And if the defense comes in and if
[54:10] Speaker 3: at least along the defensive line, if they are better
[54:14] Speaker 3: at getting quarterback pressures, then people expect What does that
[54:19] Speaker 3: mean for the Pokes this year?
[54:21] Speaker 1: In year one under air Warts?
[54:23] Speaker 3: Now, might it be a function of an offensive line
[54:26] Speaker 3: that's still finding its way? Yeah, that could be the case.
[54:31] Speaker 3: There was a lot here without pads also, that's worth noting. Okay,
[54:35] Speaker 3: so you got to take this stuff with a grain
[54:37] Speaker 3: of salt, But so much of what we do this
[54:40] Speaker 3: time of years try to readvise, try to get a
[54:42] Speaker 3: sense for how the people who are team experts feel
[54:45] Speaker 3: about what they're seeing.
[54:47] Speaker 1: I've been surprised at the level.
[54:50] Speaker 3: Of optimism around what they could be along the defensive front,
[54:53] Speaker 3: and so it's just worth monitoring because the big twelves
[54:56] Speaker 3: wide open. I happen to think Oklahoma State is going
[54:58] Speaker 3: to be better than people expect. I am constantly testing
[55:01] Speaker 3: that theory based on what I read and what I
[55:04] Speaker 3: have seen recently, based on their defensive line, and I
[55:07] Speaker 3: don't know, just feels overwhelmingly positive.
[55:10] Speaker 2: Well, the good news for Eric Morris and the good
[55:12] Speaker 2: news for Oklahoma State is anything competent and competitive will
[55:18] Speaker 2: be an upgrade over where Oklahoma State has been for
[55:20] Speaker 2: the most part these past couple of seasons. There is
[55:23] Speaker 2: zero pressure on this Oklahoma State even program, but defense specifically,
[55:29] Speaker 2: and I know they spent in the portal. Obviously, Drew
[55:31] Speaker 2: mesa messmaker, didn't go to Stillwater out the goodness of
[55:34] Speaker 2: his heart. But if Oklahoma State is fielding a competitive team,
[55:39] Speaker 2: I think the defensive coordinator just came with Eric Morris
[55:42] Speaker 2: from North.
[55:43] Speaker 1: Yeah, Schylar Cassidy.
[55:44] Speaker 3: So Skywar Cassidy is the highest paid assistant on staff,
[55:48] Speaker 3: and his proof is in the pudding. I mean, he
[55:52] Speaker 3: improved the North Texas defense from one hundred and fourteenth
[55:57] Speaker 3: all the way up to sixty fourth nationally and once
[56:01] Speaker 3: and in terms of a past defense, they were really
[56:05] Speaker 3: up there. So he did a really really good job.
[56:09] Speaker 3: The problem is that what he's inheriting is is pretty grim,
[56:13] Speaker 3: you know. I mean, they gave up thirty three points
[56:15] Speaker 3: a game something like that a year ago, well over
[56:18] Speaker 3: four hundred yards, so he's got work to do. Their
[56:22] Speaker 3: past defense especially was really really bad.
[56:26] Speaker 2: Well, like, what does it matter though, if like it's
[56:27] Speaker 2: an entirely new it doesn't.
[56:29] Speaker 1: It doesn't.
[56:29] Speaker 2: But I'm saying this is the starting point, and this
[56:32] Speaker 2: is why in terms of expectations.
[56:34] Speaker 3: Yeah, this is why I have a hard time truly understanding.
[56:36] Speaker 3: Is it just the vibes are good because it was
[56:39] Speaker 3: so bad last year and it can't get any worse totally,
[56:42] Speaker 3: or are the vibes good because what people are seeing.
[56:45] Speaker 1: Is genuinely good stuff. I don't know.
[56:47] Speaker 3: I'm not at practice. I'm just trying to read the
[56:49] Speaker 3: teeies as best I can. But I thought that was
[56:51] Speaker 3: notable because Oklahoma State's team. I like this here, if
[56:54] Speaker 3: only because the offense, But when I start seeing things
[56:56] Speaker 3: about defense and optimism there, it's like, Okay, this, this
[57:00] Speaker 3: is something I need to flag in my.
[57:01] Speaker 2: Notebook should be noted, this is just a what is
[57:05] Speaker 2: Skylar Cassidy?
[57:06] Speaker 1: Cassidy?
[57:08] Speaker 2: North Texas's run defense last year was god awful. It
[57:12] Speaker 2: was bad, so different teams, defense, personnel, past defense had
[57:16] Speaker 2: a good pass defense obviously had the number one passing offense,
[57:19] Speaker 2: not Scylar Cassidy in the country.
[57:21] Speaker 1: Yep.
[57:22] Speaker 2: So there's there's a lot that like it seems that
[57:26] Speaker 2: even with the good vibes on defense, if Oklahoma State's
[57:29] Speaker 2: gonna win games, you might be seeing some.
[57:31] Speaker 3: Thirty eight thirty threes and look for what it's worth,
[57:34] Speaker 3: and it's just the preseason, but for what it's worth,
[57:37] Speaker 3: our friend Bill Connolly had them projected on defense at
[57:41] Speaker 3: like number fifty two. Okay, just not great, Okay, I'll
[57:45] Speaker 3: take it. Huge jump forward compared to where they were
[57:48] Speaker 3: a year ago. You would take that if you're a
[57:50] Speaker 3: Pokes fan. I'm just saying, yeah, throwing it out there, all.
[57:55] Speaker 1: Right, why don't we leave it there? So look, again,
[57:58] Speaker 1: we say this all the time.
[58:00] Speaker 3: We're not team experts, though we play one on the
[58:03] Speaker 3: podcast from time to time. These are some things that
[58:06] Speaker 3: jumped out to me to Dan, But if there are
[58:09] Speaker 3: any things that jump out to you, we would love
[58:11] Speaker 3: to hear about it, and certainly, if there's anything that
[58:13] Speaker 3: we missed in talking about these teams based on the
[58:17] Speaker 3: limited intel we have here from Spring, hit.
[58:19] Speaker 1: Us up saliverbo at gmail dot com.
[58:21] Speaker 3: Open door policy like, let let us know what's going
[58:24] Speaker 3: on in your world and what we got right, what
[58:26] Speaker 3: we got wrong, what maybe we should be paying a
[58:28] Speaker 3: little bit more attention to. We'd love to hear from you,
[58:30] Speaker 3: if not via email, anywhere out on social media, comments
[58:34] Speaker 3: are always welcome, leave it on Spotify and YouTube, wherever
[58:37] Speaker 3: it is you find the show.
[58:38] Speaker 1: Certainly, if you made it this far, hit follow or subscribe.
[58:40] Speaker 1: We'd love to heavy with us all throughout the off season.
[58:42] Speaker 2: Definitely.
[58:43] Speaker 3: As I said, now, with the draft coming up, we've
[58:46] Speaker 3: done a draft show the last couple of years. We'll
[58:49] Speaker 3: do that again, talk through just how some of these
[58:52] Speaker 3: college stars that we follow so closely project into the NFL,
[58:57] Speaker 3: and then maybe we'll do something a little bit different
[58:59] Speaker 3: as well to sort of react to how some of
[59:02] Speaker 3: these guys went in the draft and how they might
[59:05] Speaker 3: project again moving forward to the next level. It is
[59:09] Speaker 3: one of those weird points of intersect in the college
[59:11] Speaker 3: football calendar where you know, you watch, even if you're
[59:14] Speaker 3: not an NFL fan, You tend to watch just because
[59:16] Speaker 3: you're interested to see where some of these stars go.
[59:20] Speaker 3: Some of these guys that we've been following for the
[59:21] Speaker 3: last three to four years, so or seven years in
[59:25] Speaker 3: some cases, Like.
[59:26] Speaker 2: No, the interesting nature of like the trickle down from
[59:31] Speaker 2: scheme and roster building and the trickle up from like
[59:34] Speaker 2: this is what's happening in college. And so if you
[59:36] Speaker 2: really want to get the best out of this dude,
[59:38] Speaker 2: you should incorporate this way of using him into your scheme.
[59:42] Speaker 2: And I just read a bunch on just from like
[59:45] Speaker 2: a football dork perspective, how Mike McDonald has like weaponized
[59:50] Speaker 2: the pass rush and overloading fronts, and just you're going
[59:54] Speaker 2: to see that that kind of stuff in college because
[59:57] Speaker 2: it's a new idea. Everybody copies everybody. So if a
[1:00:00] Speaker 2: school has the ability to throw different kinds of players
[1:00:05] Speaker 2: along the defensive line or showing different things to force
[1:00:09] Speaker 2: an offensive line's hand, it's all interesting. So it's very
[1:00:13] Speaker 2: excited for it.
[1:00:14] Speaker 3: And again, these guys are all coming out of college,
[1:00:18] Speaker 3: and we have seen this time and again the scheme
[1:00:22] Speaker 3: to see in college the best of them. Anyway, given
[1:00:26] Speaker 3: the personnel moving up, that stuff tends to find its
[1:00:30] Speaker 3: way filter ever so slightly into the NFL and some
[1:00:33] Speaker 3: of the schemes that you see on Sundays. So it's
[1:00:36] Speaker 3: all connected here in the verballerhood and we appreciate having everybody.
[1:00:41] Speaker 1: Stop on by, download and support the show.
[1:00:43] Speaker 3: Forballers dot com is where you can go if you
[1:00:45] Speaker 3: want to sign up, get ad free episodes, bonus perks
[1:00:48] Speaker 3: and the like. We will be back a little bit
[1:00:50] Speaker 3: later on this week, but we hope to hear from
[1:00:52] Speaker 3: you before then. For that go there Dan for myself
[1:00:55] Speaker 3: tie to catch you on Thursday.
[1:00:57] Speaker 2: Say so on peace

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.