Andy & Ari On3 - BRING ON the Arch Manning hype | Who is QB1 at Michigan? | Is J.J. McCarthy really a top-five pick?

Episode Date: April 22, 2024

Thank you to Gametime for sponsoring today's episode! Gametime is the best place to buy last-minute tickets to sporting events, concerts and comedy shows. Making plans to follow your team on the road this college football season? Gametime has tickets to every game. Download the Gametime App and enter code: STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply. Last Minute Tickets, Lowest Prices, Guaranteed.(0:00-9:07) Intro - Texas Spring Game(9:08-13:15) Michigan Spring Game(13:16-17:09) USC Spring Game(17:10-18:45) Transfer Portal Update - Cormani McClain(18:46-38:31) Pete Nakos Joins to recap the overall transfer portal(38:32-59:39) Trevor Sikkema Joins to preview the NFL Draft(59:40-1:02:13) ConclusionAnother set of spring games is over, and it’s time to TOTALLY OVERREACT ABOUT ARCH MANNING. Sure, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian made it abundantly clear that Quinn Ewers is the Texas starter and that he just really wanted to give Manning a chance to play significant snaps in the spring game. But that’s not how the Internet works, Sark.Meanwhile, Michigan wrapped spring practice, and it appears the Wolverines’ QB competition will come down to Alex Orji and Davis Warren — unless Michigan coaches decide to dip into the transfer portal for a QB. So far, no QB that would appear worthy of Michigan’s starting job has entered the portal.That brings us to a transfer portal update from On3 national writer Pete Nakos. The weekend brought a lot of official visits, a few commitments and a few new entries.Next, Trevor Sikkema of Pro Football Focus joins to break down Thursday’s NFL Draft. Trevor is a massive college football fan who also happens to be a draft analyst, and he’ll help explain some of the more interesting swings in draft conventional wisdom. For instance, former Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy is now being mocked as a likely top-10 pick. How did he climb draft boards so fast?Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube and join us live, M-F, at 8 am et! https://youtube.com/live/6tylO-YDous

Welcome to Andy Staples on three where we are playing for clicks. You already knew that though because you saw the headline. Bring on the Arch Manning hype. That's right. Arch Manning. Torch the defense in the Texas spring game. 19 of 25, 355 passing yards and three TDs. Let's go.

So this, of course, will be a whole show dedicated to let's see uh should arch start over quinn ewers should arch transfer somewhere else no no no we're not doing that in fact sandman 23 before the show even started leaves this comment here i don't know if sandman is even watching or was planning to watch or just wanted to leave this comment for the rest of us to deal with. Arch isn't leaving. Yes, we know. We know Arch isn't leaving. We're not suggesting Arch should leave. Though, you know, if a job were open,

I'm sure they'd welcome him with open arms. But no, he's not leaving. Sandman is here, by the way. Arch is not leaving. Arch is not starting at Texas either. Quinn Ewers is starting at Texas, but this was a good development for Texas to see Arch Manning in this environment, to get to watch him operate the offense. And as a content provider, I got to tell you, thank you, Steve Sarkisian, for this gift. Because if Arch Manning's in the headline,

people from all over click on it. I was laughing. I was reading the various Arch Manning content over the weekend. And you saw people in the comments of various places going, okay, did he redshirt? What are the redshirt rules? And you're like, oh, wait. He's drawing people in who don't normally consume spring game content.

And that is the power of Arch. But the interesting thing about Arch and the thing that makes this whole situation different is that he seems fine with being the backup, seems to understand the situation, seems cool with being behind Quinn Ewers for one more year, and then can take over at Texas. And I think that's, if you look around the landscape, if you look around college football, that's pretty rare. You don't have that Ascension plan at most places. And I think that's very helpful for Texas, obviously. And we have some fun. And you know, on this show, we're always going to make fun of this

because everywhere else, you're going to see the arch manning oh my god how come he's not starting what are we doing here but i understand quinn ewers is the is a three-year starter like no you don't need to do anything different here you made the playoff last year you got a really good roster coming back you are one of the four teams with the highest preseason win total on FanDuel. Texas has everything they need. And one of the things you need is a really good backup quarterback. Somebody who can come in and that you're confident can keep your team going if something happens to your QB1. So let's hear from Steve Sarkisian talking about Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning after the spring. Yeah, that was the totally the plan for Quinn. That's why Quinn and Arch were on the same team. I wanted Arch to be

able to just go play football. He hadn't really played in a year, you know. And I know what Quinn's about. Quinn's had a great spring. And so to get, you know, I felt like it was important to get Trey a lot of reps too at this level. And so the biggest thing I saw from Arch was something that we kind of really harped on with him about a week and a half ago about just dialing into, know playing the play keeping your eyes up um you know and and i think i talked about this last week when when he gets himself in trouble at times at quarterback is when he relies on his athleticism which he has a ton of and he can do

and there's times today i blew the whistle on him i don't know if he was really happy with me that i blew it but he's non-contact but when he keeps his eyes up and steps up in the pocket, he can deliver those balls down the field the way we like to play. And so it was good to see. It was good to see some of the guys around him play with him the way that they did. The reference to Trey is Trey Owens, the quarterback who's behind Archman, who also had a really good day. He was 14 of 21 for 228 yards and three TDs. And this is an interesting situation because like I said, if you look around the landscape, the way college football works now, especially with your blue chip quarterback prospects, you rarely see them waiting their turn. You rarely see them wanting to wait around to play. Arch Manning seems perfectly willing to do that. And it's interesting because if you look around, who's probably the top returning

quarterback in college football this year? It's Carson Beck. He waited behind Stetson Bennett for three years. He didn't start until year four at Georgia. So there is value in that. It's not for everybody. There are guys who come in completely ready to play and that's fine. And they're the best quarterback on campus when they get there, but there's also value in developing and being ready when you get put in. Cause I think that's, that's the big fear among coaches is putting somebody in before they're absolutely ready. And what Steve Sarkeesian talked about a little bit during that press conference was that Arch Manning hasn't really gotten to play football at that level ever, and also hasn't

really gotten a chance to be that guy since high school. So just getting him game type reps in that volume is valuable. But as Sandman points out in the chat, it's good marketing for Texas. I'd rather have two QBs instead of one. The Manning family also expressed their approval of Arch slowly being developed as opposed to being rushed into the fire. That's the thing. You've got a family of people. And remember, Eli and Peyton are his uncles. Cooper, their brother, that's the thing. You've got a family of people. And remember, Eli and Peyton are his

uncles, Cooper, their brother, that's his father. Cooper played at Ole Miss as well. They understand how all this works. They see the bigger picture, which most families are new to this. They've been thrust into this, all this fame, all this, everything has come at them very fast. For the Manning family, they already know all this stuff. They know how it works. They know how the story ends usually. So I think that probably helps in this situation, but even more so having a very good backup quarterback in this particular day and age of college football, I think it's become even more critical. We've pointed out multiple times on this show that Quinn Ewers has not made it fully through the two seasons he's been the starter. Hudson Card

had to replace him when he got hurt against Alabama two years ago. Malik Murphy had to replace him for a couple games last year. So there's a chance you're going to need him, and especially now. Because remember, if you want to win the national championship starting this year, you're playing a 16 or 17 game season. So you better have a really good backup quarterback. You better have that guy who, if your starter goes down, can keep you going without a hitch. And I don't know how many teams have that guy. I think Texas feels very confident they do. But I don't know that there's a lot of other teams, when you look at how this is going.

Like Georgia, I mentioned Carson Beck. That backup would have been Brock Vandegrift. But Brock Vandegrift's going to start at Kentucky this year. He was tired of waiting. And so the backup at Georgia could be Gunnar Stockton. We'll see if Jaden Rashada winds up at Georgia. You know who that person is at Texas. And I think that's a pretty big thing. That's something that they have that not a lot of other teams are going to have. And it's very valuable. But we do appreciate all the PT for Arch Manning for the sake of us who make shows in April, who would like people to watch

them. Because when Arch Manning's involved, people want to watch. People want to read. People are very interested. And let's be real here. He looked awesome. He did. He looked great. So go get excited, Texas fans. I think there's a good reason for it. But get excited because you have a situation that I would say 95% of the other teams in the FBS wish they had. That's why you should be excited. Speaking of situations where we don't know much about the quarterback, let's talk Michigan. They had their spring game of a cold, cold day in Ann Arbor.

Tough throwing conditions, a lot of wind. Davis Warren and Alex Orji are your guys that appear to be fighting it out for the job. They've also got Jack Tuttle, who was the backup last year, transferred from Indiana. He was hurt, so he may enter the fray in fall practice. Jaden Davis and Jaden Donegal, they seem like they're further back on the depth chart. Jaden Davis is the true freshman who just came in this year. So what we saw was Davis Warren definitely looked like the more polished passer. Alex Orji, we've told you multiple times, is the best athlete on Michigan's team. And it's not a slight to Donovan Edwards

or Will Johnson, who are incredible players. Like, all of the Michigan players say that Alex Hordy is the best freakish, most freakish athlete on the team. So we don't know where that's going to go. We've talked, and remember, we talked to Chris Ballas and Clayton Safey from the Wolverine a couple months ago. And coming off of Michigan's season last year, their thought was Michigan's starting quarterback isn't necessarily on the roster. That maybe somebody would get out of the portal.

Well, Kirk Campbell, their offensive coordinator, said after the game that that doesn't feel like what's going to happen. He says that's not part of our thought process right now. Our roster evaluation is always part of the process, but right now it's not something that we're looking at. Now, of course, you're going to say that because you don't want your current quarterbacks to enter the portal unless you do. But if you don't know who you've got or who you really want to start, you don't want to blow up that room right now. So you want to make sure Warren, Orji, and Tuttle, and Jaden Davis, especially since you just signed him, are still there in the fall. So you've got to be very careful about what you do. And it was interesting

watching the Michigan spring game, and there were some key offensive linemen who didn't play, but they're going to be able to move the ball on the ground. I can tell you that right now, no matter who plays quarterback, that team is going to be able to move the ball on the ground. So I think it takes some pressure off that decision. And also the person you would think is the quality capable of starting in Michigan is not in the portal. So yeah, you could have the behind the scenes tampering stuff. That's about the only way this is going to work because I don't think there's a guy sitting there right now who you'd say, we'll grab him, plug him in, and he starts. I don't think that person's there. So Michigan is in an interesting situation because it probably winds up being somebody who's on the roster. And Davis Warren looked good throwing the

ball. Now it's a spring game. So we don't know. Alex Orji probably gives them another dimension. Kirk Campbell got asked about a two quarterback system. I don't know that that's necessarily where you want to go, but you could theoretically do the Chris Leak, Tim Tebow type system where Davis Warren is in on most of your standard downs. Alex Orji comes in with a defined package for him that where you're basically running a single wing. Because I think given Alex Orji's athleticism, his speed, his size, if you're running read option with that dude, that's a scary prospect for the defense, whether they know it's coming or not. So it is possible to have a package for that and not be telegraphing everything because I don't know if it matters. People may have trouble stopping that, but we will find out fairly early.

Remember, Michigan and Texas play very early in the season. One more spring game I want to talk about, and that's USC. The defense had four interceptions. Now, normally we joke because coaches will set up the spring game so the offense can just air it out. Quarterbacks put up huge numbers. Receivers have these long touchdown catches. Makes everybody

happy. Fans go home. They don't complain for four months. USC was the exact opposite. They needed to show that the defense was better. They needed to show that this new defensive staff was going to come in and change some things. So they had four interceptions. And this is probably the first spring game in the history of football where the defense had four interceptions and every fan's like, yep, that's exactly what I wanted to see. Thank God. Holy cow. So congratulations to the Trojans on all those interceptions.

And, you know, you watch them, their body types at corner look a little bit different. They look longer, bigger. We'll see if they have the pass rush they need. I think that was a problem too. And we talked about Bear Alexander when he was flirting with entering the transfer portal. What he did on the interior of their defensive line, I thought was very good.

I realized it didn't produce a lot of stats, but I thought he affected games about as well as he could. What he was playing around didn't help him very much. Let's put it that way. But we'll see what happens with this USC defense. But four interceptions in the spring game, that's what you're talking about. That is what you want to see out of a defense that has been completely revamped this

year. The Alex French era is over and now USC enters the big 10 with this new D. Oh, by the way, they got to play LSU right out of the shoot. You know, Garrett Nussmeyer is going to be flinging it. You know, JD Piquel is going to be calling him the gumbo gunslinger who will be playing quarterback for USC in that game. We're not entirely sure. We think it's going to be Miller Moss. Miller Moss had 133 yards on 16 of 21 passing with a TD and two picks in the spring game. Jaden Mayava, the quarterback who transferred from UNLV, he was playing in the go-go offense with Brendan Marion, who saw on the show last week. So Jaden was very accurate in the spring game, 15 of 17, 172 yards, TD and an interception. So one incomplete pass, one pass completed to the other team. Everything else went to his team. So we'll see how that quarterback competition unfolds. But Jaden

Maiava is an interesting one because he was very good at UNLV last year. Was not actually the starter at the beginning of the season. Had to fill in when the starter was injured and just really develop quickly. Remember, he flirted with the idea of going to Georgia for a minute and then wound up at USC. That competition probably plays out a little bit over the fall or into the fall. But we saw Miller Moss in that bowl game. He looked really good. Definitely seemed to have a connection with his teammates.

So I'm interested to see if USC's defense is really better, then this could be an interesting year in the Big Ten. I'm still approaching I'm approaching it with caution because I don't know if their offensive line is going to be that much better. It was very disappointing last year. I think that was one of the bigger reasons for what felt like a step back from Caleb Williams last year. And then obviously the defense was a massive liability, but I think we'll see. And I don't know exactly how much we're going to learn from the LSU-USC game because those are two teams where the offense was probably fine

and the defense was a giant problem. So if the defense is good, does it mean the offenses have taken a step back? If the defense is getting torched, does it mean the offenses are still really good? We'll find out. It's week one. We will overreact to that i promise we now turn our attention to the transfer portal we're going to have our friend pete nakos on in just one minute but i before we bring pete on i want to show you this clip so cormani mclean one of the players that left Colorado, there was a lot of players leaving Colorado, the transfer portal,

and none of them seemed like they were in the mix to start this year. Cormani McLean was one of those guys who did not seem like he was in the mix to start this year. But the reason it was newsworthy is he was a five-star recruit. Everybody seemed to want him coming out of high school. And it seemed odd that it didn't work out Deion Sanders criticized him pretty heavily and so here's where Kormani is he says his grades are fine but he posted a video on his YouTube page about what what happens next what is your message to your next school?

Just know whoever you are, you're getting a dog that's ready to work. Yeah, that's a simple fact. Yeah, you already know. No hard feelings. Some people just got to take a step back from things sometimes. Certain people, you know. Yeah, I feel like I just don't want to play for the Clicks. I actually want to be involved with the great leading program,

that's going to develop players. I don't want to play for Clicks. Well, we play for Clicks here. The thing is, all the Clicks go to Pete Nacos because he's the one with all the news on the transfer portal. He's breaking it left and right. Let us talk to Pete about this Cormani-McClain situation. Pete, that was a... It's sort of a Rorschach test, what he said.

I don't want to play for clicks. However you want to feel about Deion Sanders, or if you're a Colorado fan, however you want to feel about Cormani-McClain, I feel like you could kind of extrapolate whatever meaning you want from that. Yeah, and you and I know, right? Like Deion Sanders has always been about Deion Sanders since he got that Colorado job. From day one when he said he was bringing his Louis luggage to he's releasing daily vlogs through his son almost daily now. So I'm really interested to see where Corminey McLean lands.

I think that just from talking to sources the last few days, he hasn't been on a visit yet. I was told that he hasn't planned any visits yet this week. I think some programs are definitely skeptical if they want to bring in Corminey McLean at the moment. Well, and there was a lot of drama surrounding his recruitment. He was committed to Miami. Florida was heavily involved.

And it's interesting because the teams that were involved heavily in his initial recruitment, you don't see them at all in his transfer recruitment. And I think that's pretty telling. I mean, we've been talking more about UCF and USF than Miami. Yeah. Which to some is surprising. It doesn't really surprise me. I think Miami is going to go in a different direction at the cornerback position. But definitely, I don't think anyone, when we were going through this recruitment process,

thought Cormac would be in this specific situation right after his freshman year of college. Well, let's talk about Colorado, though, because I know I made all the Colorado fans mad last week, but at least I wasn't dumb enough to take the bait of you have all these guys entering a transfer portal. Are you worried? Because somebody asked Deion Sanders about that last week. And they're like, aren't you worried about losing potential starters? And Deion, same thing. What are you about losing potential starters? And like, and Dion, you know, same thing. What are you talking about? Potential starters. So they've lost a bunch of guys that they didn't expect to play, which again,

that Rick George, their ad saying, thank the attorney generals for that. Like that's the whole point. That's your coach's philosophy. Like you want to get those guys out of there. So yes, you should thank the attorney generals for letting you do it,

but they're bringing in a couple guys and one of the guys that they're bringing in is day on hayes the the edge from pit who is seemingly one of the more high impact guys in the transfer portal yeah he was he was on three's top ranked edge available on the portal so you bring in him uh they also landed a commitment from the Texas transfer, Peyton Kirkland. Peyton Kirkland, yeah. And then Ryan Buell, who played at Ohio the last two years and had a really productive season in 2023

and was a little bit under the radar. So three guys who can play probably right away. We'll be interested to see what Peyton Kirkland looks like in year one at Colorado. He might be more of a depth guy right to start off, but definitely a guy who can make an impact. Andy just talked to some people. They had six guys on campus this weekend who would all be high impact guys.

I think some more commitments could be coming up the pipeline. Yeah, and that's what we were saying last week. Don't get that exodus twisted. That was them continuing the churn of the roster. That is the philosophy is this is a tryout, and if we don't think you're good enough, we're going to bring somebody else in. Yeah, totally.

And, I mean, you look at the guys they lost. There's a couple surprises in my opinion, but, I mean mostly like maybe opening some scholarship spots uh there's a few offensive linemen who went in and it's clear that dion wants to add some maybe some more proven offensive linemen in the spring portal window so uh by no means was there any devastating portal losses for colorado so we talk about these impact guys and in the spring window we're not seeing a ton of the impact guys. Dayon Haynes certainly is one of those guys, but one who definitely is,

and not at a position you normally would think about in this situation. The reigning Lou Groza award winner, Graham Nicholson, leaving Miami of Ohio, he's going to Alabama. I love it. I love it. Obviously one of the best kickers in the country. There's some irony, too, right? He beat out Alabama kicker Will Raycard a year ago for the award. Now he's going to go to Tuscaloosa and take over the job, and Will will probably be one of the top specialists called uh this week

in the nfl draft so uh i love the pickup um i know it wasn't something every alabama fan had circled maybe but caitlin aborn knew they needed to prove talent at the position he went and got it and he definitely got the best available player well that's the thing i mean okay i said this last week and yeah it's one of those it's it's one of those well duh things once you think about it but given this has alabama picked up the two most impactful transfers in the spring window in caden proctor and graham nicholson i know we don't look at caden proctor as a spring portal window pickup but he actually is yeah i mean yeah i think you're onto something there, right?

Caden Proctor started and saw a lot of playing time last year in Alabama and now he's back. And, yeah, I mean, two of the more high-impact guys, Andy. That's a good point. I didn't think about that. But, yeah, I mean, those are two guys who are truly going to play right away. So we haven't talked to you since Jaden Rashada hit the portal. Obviously, you and I have both covered that saga pretty thoroughly.

But how surprised were you last week? One, when you hear he's going in, and two, when you hear that there's a chance he might be going to Georgia? Yeah, I got a phone call maybe about 90 minutes before the news broke, and I was like, this is really going to happen here. Like, okay, school three now for Jaden Rashada. School four, if you count the Miami decommitment. And then I was told Georgia is the school to watch, and I think my jaw dropped a little bit. And then I made some phone calls across the country,

and everybody was like, yeah, Georgia is the school to watch right here. So that's where we're at uh had initially reported he was going to go to athens this week that that's been pushed back a week um you know things are in the transfer portal and everything oh yeah so uh definitely surprised have also been told quite a few schools have been in contact, so it won't be surprising if you take some visits. But as Rusty Manziel said, the first domino of portal season finally drops. Yeah. Though I thought it was interesting,

and we mentioned this earlier in the show, like Kirk Campbell, the OC at Michigan, because we talked about all before this started, Michigan would be the one shopping for a quarterback. He says they're not really looking at that right now. Now that obviously might just be a smokescreen, but do you get the sense that, that Michigan's even in the one,

they said they're definitely in the market for receivers like that. They were very clear about that. Sharon Moore said that too, but do you think they look for a quarterback? You know, I was told that offensive line and wide receivers are the priority right now at Michigan. I think that Al's orgy is checked off in enough boxes this spring

where they feel comfortable, and unless this really proven starter jumps in the portal, I really just don't think Michigan's in a position right now where they feel like they need to take the forward back. So Dominic Williams from TCU, he's a defensive tackle. He feels like he's sort of in the catbird seat, like an impact interior defensive lineman in the spring portal. Very rare bird. What a list this guy has in terms of visits and uh how fast is this because i i looked at his visit schedule that hayes fawcett put out last week and it's like five visits in a week yeah yeah i mean that's like reality for a lot of guys like uh the the former michigan linebacker mikhail hill green went to arkansas colorado on a and m in like a matter of six days

um i mean that's that's a lot of travel. But getting back to Dominic Williams real quick, I think it's kind of coming down to an Oklahoma-Texas battle for him. He's a guy who has multiple years of eligibility remaining. He was a freshman All-American in 2022. I know he had flirted with the portal back in the wintertime, but now he's actually in it, and he's by far one of the top interior defense linemen available.

So we saw another bunch of spring games end on Saturday. Does that mean exit interviews Sunday, Monday, portal entries Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday? Yeah, I'm expecting the next 72 hours to be pretty fast-paced and see quite a few portal entries. I mean, I don't know if it's going to be a day one of the spring window, but we had Oklahoma, Texas, Michigan. We had quite a few play this weekend.

I think we could get some – if surprises are going to come at this point, it's going to come in the next 72 hours yeah and and we know who's who's shopping for things and i think that's when you look at the big name programs that want things so texas wants d tackles uh oklahoma wants offensive linemen and d tackles they got a commitment from the center from smu branson hickman but they're still in the market for d tackles. LSU wants a D tackle. Like, do you think there might be a situation where somebody who wasn't going to enter the portal goes, you know what, with all these people shopping for what I am, do I throw my name in?

Yeah. I mean, I, I fully agree with that, that idea. And like, I know quite a few programs also want linebackers, and I continue to hear from personnel directors, like there really aren't that many great linebackers in this portal. So if we see a really great linebacker jump in, I think that would be really interesting. But yeah, defensive tackles and offensive linemen are at a premium right now, man.

So I know your time has been consumed mostly by the portal, but obviously you're covering all the other aspects of college football and the business of college football and NIL. We got to talk about this law in Virginia. It was passed late last week. We didn't really get to it on the show because it's one of those things that I always worry that everybody's eyes are going to glaze over. But I feel like we got to talk about this because this is one that could really change some things.

So Virginia passes a state law that goes into effect this summer that basically says schools can pay athletes directly. They can make NIL deals with their athletes to market for the schools. And what is college sports if not marketing for the schools? Yeah. what is college sports if not marketing for the schools yeah i think the best way to that i've kind of been putting into people is like when we talk about that california bill right in like 2021 2019 that really forced a lot of states and the ncaa to move i think this virginia bill is going to play a similar role um it was signed by the governor uh young again this this past week hb 1505 i think it um it doesn't necessarily put the most pressure on the ncaa but it really gets the ball rolling um and and

charlie baker's like uh project d1 that that we've talked about a couple times kind of leans into this with the idea of schools paying athletes nil dollars. And this really sets the stage for it to happen nationally. Well, and I think it would also relieve some pressure on something that is a problem now and will become a bigger problem going forward if the system persists, which I don't think the system will persist because I don't think it can, but double charging your donors. You know, the big news over the weekend was FedEx was going to commit $25 million over five years to University of Memphis Athletics. And that's FedEx, obviously a very big Memphis company.

But corporate dollars were really the only, that was the next step because you keep hitting up these private donors to fund NIL. Like they're going to, they're not going to do it. Yep. And let's go big picture too for a sec. So we talked about what's happening in Virginia, which is really important. The big question kind of moving forward is like, if we get to collective bargaining or revenue sharing or something like that, is there a cap on how much schools can pay athletes? Because if that happens, we're still going to have the under the table NIL collective deals that we spent so much time talking about now. So that is something I definitely have my eye on as the future of college sports kind of evolves. Yeah. And that's the thing. If you want a salary cap, you got to, you got to collectively bargain it. That's really your only way to have any rules

about your salary cap, because if you don't collectively bargain it, if you just unilaterally impose it on the athletes, then the first time you try to enforce one of those rules, you're getting sued and you're going to lose. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's a reason why there's unions and collective bargains in the professional ring. So I think that's probably something we're going to either see, or if we don't see it, it's going to be a bigger mess. Yeah. So we'll, we'll pay attention to the other States. I realize when I say pay attention to your state legislatures, most people on this show are like, Oh no, God, we're here. Cause we don't want to talk about politics. But in this particular case, stuff might, might happen in your state legislature that really does affect college sports and does affect your favorite college football team.

So pay attention to it. It is kind of a big deal right now. Pete, what do you think the next big transfer portal dominoes are? We talked about Dominic Williams. We talked about Jaden Rashada. When do we expect to see some decisions from those guys? I think for some guys it will be like midweek this week. For other guys like Dominic Williams and Damian Martinez who have a loaded visit schedule, I think the end of this week at the earliest, maybe early next week.

And I think we're at a really interesting point right now in the portal, right? Like the NCAA signed the new emergency legislation last week. This is like officially the new norm. Do we see like a really high profile athlete just try to like negotiate for more money right now and threaten going into the portal because now they freely can? Like that's what I'm keeping my eye on these next like eight days is like, is there like a really high profile, whether it be receiver or top running back we haven't thought about, or an elite cornerback who we all know there's a really high demand for? Does that play out in a very public way? Right.

Do they drop some breadcrumbs or just straight up go to their coach and say, hey, I'm going to need more if you want me to stay here because the market for me is pretty good out there. Yeah. And, and the, the, the way we have to think about it too was like, this is the last time the athlete can really do that before the season. Yeah. Yeah. Cause they, they, they can't. And it's interesting because all these rules, I do think if you,

if you tried to sue for the you can't play for more than one team in a season like those rules i think the courts would be okay with upholding those like there's a limit to this yeah at a certain point it's uh yeah it's not the nfl it's not the nfl yeah the waiver process in October through the portal. God, if there were trades, it'd be wild. Something. But Pete, thank you so much. We will have you back later in the week probably because I'm sure there's quite a bit of news

that we will see over the next few days in the Transfer Portal. Thank you so much. You bet. Thanks so much, Andy. The great Pete Nacos. Watch for your Nacosifications. If you're not set up to get alerts every time Pete tweets this time of year, you're missing out because he is on top of the Transfer Portal. He's going to have it first. You're going to want to know what he knows.

Here's another thing I know. We talked about Texas and Michigan on the show. You know they play this year. They play in September at the Big House. Do you want to watch Texas play Michigan at the Big House? I know what you're saying. That game sold out, Andy. How would I do that? You would download the GameTime app.

You would type in Michigan football. You would select Texas at Michigan. All of a sudden, a whole bunch of tickets for that game would pop up, including the view that you would have from that particular seat. That's how GameTime works. The best source for last-minute tickets, for tickets to things that you thought you couldn't get tickets to. There are so many things on GameTime, so many ways to use it,

so many ways to say, I got this ticket that nobody else could get. That's what you do. I was looking at Luke Combs tickets. You want to see Luke Combs at Penn State's Beaver Stadium? Like, you want to see him in state college, you can get in for as little as 67 bucks right now. Unbelievable. But yeah, if you want tickets to that Texas-Michigan game,

they're not impossible to get. You can get them on GameTime. And if you use the code STAPLES, you get $20 off your first purchase. So use that code STAPLES, 20 bucks off your first purchase. Download the GameTime app for the best last minute tickets, easiest process guaranteed. It doesn't matter if it's a sporting event, a concert comedy show, they got the tickets. So go to game time and use that

code staples for $20 off your first purchase. All right. We turn our attention to the event that is going to dominate this week. Dominate. In fact, it's starting to dominate me because I had a friend text me and this friend actually works in the NFL, texted me and said, where's your mock draft? I want to read your mock draft. Like I don't do a mock draft. I leave that to the experts. And this friend said, are they all really experts? And I thought about that. I'm like, okay. Maybe I'm not too much of an idiot to make a mock draft. So maybe I will do a mock draft and I'm on it. You will be seeing my mock draft early this week. Also going to put together a list of guys who might be picked in the later rounds that we just loved in college football. And we know they're going to be successful in the NFL, even though they might not have the measurables, even though the draft picks might not like them

that much. We know they're going to be great. And this mock draft, I got to tell you, I know it's a deep offensive line class, but I think my offensive line bias might be showing as I go through these picks. I had it set up and I'm going to have to revise it. But initially I was like, man, I had a lot of offensive linemen going in round one. But you know what? I'm good with that. I'm good with that because I love some of these linemen this year. So look for that later in the week. But right now, let us talk to one of my favorite draft analysts, and he's one of my favorites because of his intimate knowledge of college football, his understanding of college football.

This is not someone who just grabs these video clips after the guys have finished playing. He's watching college football all year round and then digesting it breaking it down from an nfl draft perspective trevor sikama of pro football focus here's trevor honored to be joined by the great trevor sikama of pro football focus you find him at tampa bay trey on twitter and tre this is, this is go time for y'all. This is, this is big time. We are less than a week from the day that people's names start getting called and I I'm always curious, you know, as you guys study this year round, get ready for this. At what point do you say, okay,

how can we possibly change our opinions now like what what what what is there left to change here we're kind of like to that point right where people are just like okay the draft can get here now right it feels like when we reach the second week of april that's kind of what everybody's thoughts are um you know and and it's funny because the draft actually used to be further back in the calendar. Like there was a time when the draft was in May. And I think people in the NFL were just like, absolutely not. We cannot keep doing this.

And especially with how much the draft cycle and the draft process has grown as a major part of the NFL calendar. Yeah, I think that we're all just ready for it to be here, myself included. Like, I've just submitted my final draft guide report, final draft guide page. So that's all filed away. The big board is complete. You know, the final mock drafts will come out like 24 hours before the draft. But now it's just kind of a little bit of a waiting game.

Like, we're waiting until next week to just see what happens. Well, we're all kind of in agreement on Caleb Williams. I think we've probably been in agreement on Caleb Williams for over a year now, but right after that, the Drake made Jaden Daniels and now JJ McCarthy in there. That conversation is fascinating to me because like, I'll, I'll put it to you. Do you think it matters more basically what Cliff Kingsbury wants in a quarterback with the commanders or is it just who, who's better? Like if you were, if you were picking, if you were the commanders, which one of those guys are you taking so i mean sometimes that comes into being a factor of certain position evaluations like you have to envision those players on your team and how they're going to fit with your offense and

your offensive coordinator but i i always kind of push back on the how does this player fit with this coordinator because let's face it if jade daniels or drake may gets gets drafted to the washington commanders right and they light the world on fire this upcoming year or shoot maybe it's it's this year and then next year right like next year they play really well it's a two-year thing. Guess what? Cliff Kingsbury is gone. Like he's out of there. He's going to get another head coaching job because he's proven that he could take a young quarterback and make him a great quarterback in the NFL. So I always hesitate with – you want to get guys that obviously fit your scheme, but you want to get guys that fit your scheme and your identity of your head coach who you hope isn't going anywhere and your general manager who's building the team a certain way with a certain like dna of these guys character makeup culture if you will so like those are the things that gravitate towards a little bit more you know

and number two overall for washington okay yeah like jayden might be better for cliff kingsbury but i think drake may is the better prospect overall i think drake may has got the better overall arm talent you know i think that he is a better prospect overall. I think Drake May has got the better overall arm talent. You know, I think that he is a quarterback who I'm not worried about hitting basically every single throw at an NFL level. And so like, that's the guy that I would be picking if I was the Washington commanders, you could sit here and talk about the connection with offensive coordinators all you want. But I don't think that Drake May would be bad in any way, shape or form in a Cliff Kingsbury

offense. And anytime that it's close, I'm not really going to let the coordinator sway my opinion of a guy that you hope is going to be in your organization for the next 10 years. Because if you think that this guy is going to be your two contract type of franchise quarterback, well, guess what? They're probably only going to have this offensive coordinator for two years max if they're that good. So that's why I just just i kind of push back on that narrative and i'd be taking drake man number two so another reason why i love talking to you trey is because you watch college football unlike a lot of the folks who study nfl draft they're you know they may be looking at cut-ups they may be looking at

scheme fits for for nfl teams but you actually watch college football as it's happening. And so you're the perfect person to help explain to me the JJ McCarthy stuff. Like I like JJ McCarthy. I think he's a good quarterback. I think he did a good job in Michigan. They didn't ask him to do that much, but when he needed to do stuff, he came through final drive of regulation of the Rose Bowl, for example. But if you'd have said at the Rose Bowl, this guy's top five pick, I would've been like, really? Are we sure about that? But that seems to be where everybody has it. So the reason why I think we're here with JJ McCarthy, it's kind of a multi-layered answer, right? One of them is because at this time of the year, I would say late February into March, and then especially into April, we're doing mock drafts for what we think is going to happen. That's why there's been such a swing from December and January mocks when McCarthy was sort of second round pick, maybe late first round pick.

And that's kind of the range that I have when it comes to an overall grade. I've got McCarthy with a late first, early second round grade. But when you think that there is even a small chance that a quarterback can be a Super Bowl caliber quarterback for you, you're going to pay the quarterback tax to draft him. And the quarterback tax is often a top 10 pick. And that just kind of is what it is. So for McCarthy, I really didn't like his 2022 tape. I'm going to be honest with you. Like the first year that he was a starter, I thought he was a long way away from being an NFL quarterback. Really didn't feel pressure

really well. Didn't have a good feel for NFL quarterback. Really didn't feel pressure really well. Didn't have a good feel for the pocket. Didn't know when to hang tough. Didn't know when to escape and extend the plays. Was late getting to his different progressions. Was really fooled by defenses with how they were rotating their safeties and their linebackers. The sim pressures that they would show pre-snap

versus what they would drop to in the post-snap. Like, he was really confused. And just you could tell he was really inexperienced in those areas. All of that stuff got better in 2023. And it did. And he wasn't asked to throw for 300, 400 yards every single game. You mentioned I'm a fan of college football. I watch a lot of college football.

I watched how Michigan operated. And Michigan had the best offensive line in the country. They had great wide receivers. They had a really good run game. They had a fantastic defense. They did not need McCarthy to throw for 400 yards a game. They didn't. And so they didn't ask him to do it. They instead played pretty risk averse football, did exactly what they needed to do, set up a very efficient offense. But in those moments, and you mentioned him there where they said to McCarthy, Hey, go make a play, right? Third and long, go make a play last drive of the rose bowl hey go win it for us

he did step up in those moments they weren't as numerous as it was for other other other teams that put more on their quarterbacks plate but how do we really fault him too much for okay maybe he didn't have the volume of opportunities but when he got that opportunity most often he really stepped up to the to the plate so i that that goes into evaluation, how much he improved from 2022 to 2023, how he's just 20 years old. He's going to be 21 as a rookie. You got to believe that everything is still maturing for him. He's going to get stronger.

He's going to get bigger. He's going to learn the game better. He's going to speed up his process. We already saw it speed up from year to year in 2022 to 2023. And I think the last kind of factor here is why are we seeing him in top tens much? Well, in February, we learned more about what NFL teams think as opposed to maybe what draft evaluators think. That's when teams really start to turn the page and they start to really dig into this draft class. And the people that talk to agents from within the buildings talk more in February and March. And so we learned a lot more about where the league might be when it comes to how high these guys could go. So that's ultimately

the way that I would answer the JJ McCarthy rise and how we got here. Okay. So let's say the quarterback tax does get paid and it is one, two, three, four quarterbacks. And you are Jim Harbaugh. I'm going to put you in Jimim hart we're going to put you in jim harbaugh's rv you're living the rockford files life out in huntington beach you have a choice you're gonna go receiver you taking marvin harrison you taking malik neighbors you taking roma dunze this is this is pick your flavor. Who you got? Good problem to have, right? I mean, we're in a year where you can take any three of these guys and plop them in basically any other draft class I would say over the last decade. And one of these guys is probably wide receiver one. Any of them could be wide receiver one in that draft class.

So it's a special year to have all three of them in one. I would be taking Marvin Harrison Jr. and I really wouldn't be thinking twice about it. And to say it like that sounds insulting to the talent level of a Dunes and Malik neighbor. So I also think have all probability. But what Marvin Harrison has shown over the last two years is just a true sophomore and a true junior is a mastery of the position that is very, very rare. His athletic ability, there's really not

a hole to his game. The only big area of concern that I had from him going into the year was, okay, I didn't really think he was a big yards after catch receiver in 2022. And I noted like that could have been because of the situations that they put him in. He was more of a sideline receiver that year. You know, they had Jackson Smith and Chigba. They had a Mecca Agbuka as well. So him being more of that sideline receiver, maybe that was just the yards after catch issue. And then this past year, they put them in more situations to show that he could have the speed to be a yards after catch guy and guess what he did so just the total roundness of his wide receiver profile is so rare um he reminds me a lot of like a taller version of Devontae

Adams and obviously he has a ways to go to being that at an NFL level. But if you watch how he won at the college level, it was like a college version of what we see Devontae Adams and how he wins in the NFL. Elite releases, fantastic route runner, good catch through traffic, really nice speed. Because Devontae is not the fastest burner out there. He's not the biggest or strongest guy, but he is all of those things combined at a decently high level and honestly was one of the best receivers in the game that's insulting to him a very high level and that was Marvin Harrison this past year I cannot pass up on a player like that if I was horrible at number five and Harbaugh got a good look at Marvin Harrison jr as the last two years he put up 100 yards back to back and at least one touchdown, including on what is going to be a first round pick corner next year and Will Johnson

in 2023. So I think he'd be coming. Harbaugh wasn't there that day. I think he watched the film though. I think that he probably did watch the film. Yeah. Yeah. I think he probably watched. Oh, it's, it's amazing that the quality of the receipt, like it feels like it goes pretty deep in this draft at receiver. I mean, I'm looking at guys that could potentially be second round picks, third round picks that I think could be very good. And if like Keon Coleman's a guy that we kind of knew he wasn't going to test all that well. But you watch him play at Florida State, and you're like, this guy's going to be good no matter where he plays. Keon's an enigma to me because, man, I would push back on you a little bit there. I feel like he should have tested well.

Oh, okay. I mean, he's a crazy athlete. He looks faster on the field than he looked in underwear. And that's the mind-boggling thing is he runs a 4.61 at the combine, and yet when he was going through the wide receiver gauntlet drills at the combine, he had the fastest in-drill speed. So he was the slowest guy at the 40. And then when it came to the actual receiver drills, he was the fastest guy.

Where is the middle ground? And then he goes to his pro day, right? So a 4.6-1 as a wide receiver especially one that's supposed to be as explosive as he is okay you got to run fast enough 4-6-1 we get to florida state's pro day he doesn't run he stands on his 4-6-1 that he ran in indianapolis like what how what how are we here you know guy is, and the reason why it goes so much more into why he is an enigma as a wide receiver, because his separation scores are terrible. I mean, he is never creating a separation throwing window for his quarterback, almost never. And yet, this is somebody who, after the catch, we watch him have all sorts of flexibility and agility and wiggle.

They throw a wide receiver screen to him. He becomes a backyard playmaker. They put this guy on par return, for goodness sake, because of how much of a playmaker he is and how much he can make guys miss in space and show you those juke moves and that flexibility. And yet he can't separate when he's running his routes. Make it make sense. I can't. So it's just so strange to watch him play and then project what's exactly going to show up at the NFL level and that's the role of the dice that's the role of the dice

because you can get that guy and it turns out oh he's just a great football player and when the pads come on and the lights are on he's fantastic or it's when he plays against NFL level corners that inability to separate he can't then suddenly overpower them the way he would in 50, 50 ball scenarios. Right. And then what, where are you? It's it's,

this is why it's like, it's such a crap shoot. This is why so many staffs get fired. No, there's no doubt about it. And it's always, you know, the,

the draft is, is a lot of things, but at the end of the day, it is, you got to pick the right football players. And I was just on a show not too long ago talking about the Chicago Bears and like what they could do at number nine overall. This is just for an example.

And they put a scenario in front of me where, okay, Romo Dunze was still on the board at number nine. And they're like, but Chicago only has four picks in this draft. So they love to trade back and get some extra picks. So they put a scenario to me where, okay, what if you're Chicago and a doomsday is on the board, but you can trade back into the twenties, maybe 28 with Buffalo, for example, who really desperately needs a receiver now. And they're giving you next year's first rounder. And they're giving you more picks in this year's draft. And I guarantee you, you're going to come away with 80 Mitchell who I have as my wide receiver foreign in this class. I think he's

really damn good. But even in that scenario, I said to them, I'd take Rome. I would take, I would take Romo Dunzey because I just, even for as much as I think that Mitchell's incredibly talented, the what if with so many of these receivers or prospects in general, the further you get down the draft, it just becomes a, like you said, a roll of the dice. It becomes a throw of a dart at the dartboard. And the higher you are picking, the bigger the bullseye is supposed to get. And if I want a receiver and Romo Dune's a sitting there, that's a pretty big bullseye. So I'm not going to get cute with it. And I'm going to take a guy like that, but it's always really interesting conversations for those reasons.

So I'm fascinated. And I've seen multiple people say this draft has set a record for offensive players taken in the first round. It's not just the receivers and quarterbacks though. Like I'm looking at, at the combined mock draft that you guys did at pff and seeing how many interior offensive linemen you like you have jackson powers johnson the oregon center going 16 and you've got you know you've got a duke offensive lineman in in graham barton it's amazing to me how these guys because those positions I've always been told you have to be

so good as a center as a guard to jump into the first round but what is it about these guys that that is special I think they're just really good football players now I don't know if all those interior offensive linemen end up going in the first round you know if you see Troy Faltano from Washington is more of an interior guy okay Okay. I think that's one lock. I think Graham Barton is going in the first round. So I think that's two locks. I would say there's a good chance that Jackson Powers Johnson goes in the first round, but it's been trending more towards, you know, late twenties, maybe fringe first round might

still be on the board at the top of the second round, sort of because of that positional value. But the reason why all of those guys are even seen as potential first round players, and you could throw Zach Frazier from West Virginia in there as well. Who is the ultimate football player's football player. Yes, right. And you don't normally take centers that high, but when you can say, okay, he's a center, but he could also play guard for me which I think is the case for all of those guys that mentioned I think Fulton who could play center or he could

play guard or he could play tackle which is why he's gonna go high I think Graham Barton could play guard for you and if you ever need him to play tackle in a pinch he can because he started left tackle for Duke I think that Powers Johnson has the strength level and the mobility and the quick feet to be able to play either center or guard. Zach Frazier, the same thing. He's got the right size. He's got the length. He's got the core strength to be able to play center or guard. So those players that are these versatile starting interior offensive linemen who could start at a multitude of spots, that then becomes a little bit more valuable and yeah we just have so many of these players who are just really dang good offensive linemen and because of it I think a

lot of NFL teams realize hey this doesn't happen every year you know we're not we don't often have a year where this many good players could all go in the first round for them from the offensive trenches and that's why you see a massive run in mock drafts of those guys going pretty early. Well, and that's what I want to ask you about a Marius Mims from Georgia and Tyler Guyton from Oklahoma, because those are guys that they're not the most polished offensive tackles in the world, but their athletic traits are so off the charts. Like it, it, it, I feel like if you showed Amarius Mims and Tyler Guyton to someone who played offensive line in the NFL in the 1980s, they would not believe such human beings exist. And that's, dude, I saw the pictures of just Amarius Mims standing next to regular human

beings when he was walking around the combine in Indianapolis. And I don't know if there's a human being that's ever carried 340 pounds better than a Marius Mims that's like that's that's not on steroids and is about to get on stage at Mr. Olympia right I mean like that's that's kind of like what we're talking about here and those two guys you know they're they're very fascinating because as athletes they're very rare very rare athletes but both of them have sort of this other side of the coin. Marius Mims has not played a lot of football over the last three years. George has been so good and so talented during his first years of being in Athens.

He didn't really play much because he hit the portal, right? I mean, he's going to go to Florida state. I know. And they had to get on the field, right? They had to convince him to come back and he did. And okay, he started to write tackle, but then he's got the ankle injury. And so he missed a lot of time this past year. So's like he's barely got any time he's actually played the game of football but you watch him and you watch him move and you say god just draft this dude and let an offensive line coach at the NFL level kind of work with him for the next couple of years and you

might have an all-pro on your hand you might but this Tyler Guyton kind of the same thing one year starter at Oklahoma you watch Tyler Guyton right now the way that I would describe it to you is he's not really a blocker. He's just a shover. Like he just, when defensive linemen get into his chest and they get close to him, he just tries to shove them as hard and as far away from him as possible. He's not putting the hands underneath the armpits and he's not trying to lock these guys up and get his grip strength in there and really just control them and maintain that block. And so even Tyler Guyton is very frustrating because he has so much, I mean, he's so raw.

He is so raw as a player. But again, you watch how the dude moves and you go, you could lose 40 pounds and play tight end. Like that's how well you move. So there's just, there's a handful of guys like that who are super alluring athletes as offensive tackles. And I think the league's just going to, like you mentioned, again, roll the dice on these guys because they are that talented.

They have that eye of the ceiling. I cannot wait because there is an element of this, this may not work or this may hit huge. That's what I love about the draft because it really is a big casino at the end of the day. Trevor, thank you so much. I appreciate it, man. No, this is a fun draft class. It's a lot of fun to talk about a lot of these guys. So appreciate you having me, buddy.

Trevor Sikama from Pro Football Focus. Give him a follow if you're not already. He is awesome. And like I said, big college football guy, understands the relationship between college football and the NFL. Also understands how we who watch a lot of college football sometimes look at the draft and are like, wait, why do you think this about this guy,

but not this about this other guy? And the JJ McCarthy one's the one this year. I think it was Anthony Richardson last year. And Richardson was, I guess, a little bit easier to understand because he's such a physical freak that you go, okay, well, humans like that don't come along very often. So that's why they're willing to take the gamble. It's kind of like what we were just saying about Tyler Guyton, the Oklahoma offensive tackle. You take the gamble because athletes like that don't come along very often. They don't grow on trees. And so JJ McCarthy, not necessarily in that box where he's physically freakish, but I do agree with Trevor that there is a quarterback tax that people may have to pay.

It's just a higher valued position. And if you feel like you need that guy, and there's a bunch of teams that have draft picks in the teens that feel like they need J.J. McCarthy, then there will be competition. There will be trades up. I don't know that it's going to be definitely trade up to four. There's never been quarterbacks go one, two, three, four in the NFL draft.

It hasn't happened yet. I don't necessarily think it's going to happen this year either. In fact, in my mock draft, I don't have quarterbacks going one, two, three, four.

That's it. That's your last tease. I'm going to stop. I'm going to stop plugging it. I'll just get it ready, and then you can read it. We'll talk about that. We'll talk about these draft picks as recruits. That's right.

We got Cody Valera, our national scout. We got Charles Power, our director of rankings at On3. They're going to join me to talk about what all these guys are about to be drafted, what they look like as recruits, who was a surefire thing all the way, and then who were the surprises, like who is in the draft that they didn't think would be a first-round type guy this year. Who do they think was going to be in this first round? It's maybe still in college

or maybe not even playing anymore. Talk about it all tomorrow.