Andy & Ari On3 - Chris Low’s CFB Tour: Insider's Intel on Texas A&M, Auburn, Alabama, Texas and the SEC Championship

Episode Date: April 9, 2026

As the off-season is in full swing, On3’s Chris Low has been on a college football tour lately, visiting some of the top programs across the country. Watch here as Andy & Ari recap Chris Low’s first part of the tour as the fellas dive deep into Texas A&M, Ohio State, and many more throughout the country.   (0:00) On Today’s Episode (0:50) Presenting Sponsor (2:00) Intro: Previewing Chris Low (3:42) Chris Low joins the show (4:30) Texas A&M’s trajectory after CFP berth (15:33) Subscribe to the On3 YouTube page! (16:36) Jeremiah Smith rejecting $10M+ to stay at OSU (32:57) Alex Golesh’s first season on the plains (43:03) Is this Sarkisian’s best roster at Texas? (51:39) Alabama ahead of DeBoer’s third year (1:01:32) SEC Championship & Kirby Smart’s Comments (1:12:13) Conclusion: Closing out with Chris Low   As the fellas start the tour with Chris Low, the guys head to College Station to discuss the Aggies of Texas A&M. With a returning quarterback and a playoff berth last season, will Mike Elko's squad take the next step forward? Can the Aggies return to the CFP?   Next up, Andy & Ari dive into Chris Low's story on Jeremiah Smith staying at Ohio State. Reportedly offered over $10M to leave the Buckeyes, the fellas discuss the impact Jeremiah Smith has.   Down in Auburn, Alex Golesh is ready to lead the Tigers into the 2026 season. Bringing Byrum Brown from USF with him, how will Auburn fare this season? Chris Low dives into the Tigers here.   Continuing with Chris's tour, Texas is the next team on the list. As Arch Manning returns to Austin, Chris Low details the expectations of the Longhorns this season.   Heading to Tuscaloosa, the Alabama fans are anxiously anticipating Kalen DeBoer's third season with the Tide. How will Alabama fare with a new quarterback in Bryant-Denny this season?   To close out the tour, the fellas dive into Kirby Smart's comments on the SEC Championship Game. As the future of the CFP format is up in the air, what does the future of the conference championship game look like?   Our show is also presented by BetMGM!   If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works:   1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB. 2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game. 3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sure you use bonus code CFB when you sign up!   Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary.   See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. This promotional offer is not available in DC, Mississippi, New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET (Available in the US) . 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only (if applicable). Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel   Watch our show on YouTube here! https://youtu.be/JXZzVsRxuak   Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey   Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's Andy Naurian 3 presented by BetMGM, our friend Chris Lowe is here. And Chris has been everywhere. And some of the nation's most interesting coaches and players have been telling him everything. He's been to Ohio State, to Texas A&M, to Georgia, to Alabama, to Auburn, to Texas. And we will talk about his Jeremiah Smith story. We will talk about Mike Elko explaining what Texas A&M needs to do to take the next step. we will talk about Alex Golish, meeting with all his Auburn players, and deciding how to fix the Auburn program.

So much great stuff with one of the best reporters in the world. On 3's Chris Lowe joins us today on Annie Narion 3, presented by BedmGM. This show is sponsored by BedMGM, and we've got our own tradition, unlike any other, because college basketball is done, which means it is time to head to Augusta. later in the week during the tournament, the master's boost pack, grab this boost pack for the masters, and you'll have two chances to boost your odds

on your tournament bets. Activate one of your boost tokens for any master's bet April night through April 12th, and you receive a bigger payout if your bet wins. Make it legendary in Augusta this week with BetMGM. See Betmgmgm.com for terms 21 plus. Only this promotional offer is not available in DC, Mississippi, New York, Nevada,

Ontario or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem call 1-800 gambler or 1-800 My Reset, available in the U.S. 8778-8-Y or text Hope-N-Y or 4667-369 in New York, 1-800-5-0-0 in Massachusetts, 1-800-0-0-0-2002-3 in Puerto Rico. First bet offer for new customers only if applicable, subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in seven days in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3 presented by VETMGM, and I am so excited today because our friend Chris Lowe is joining us, Ari, and he's been everywhere. Texas A&M, Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Auburn. There's so much to get into it, Chris.

You know when you're on an NBA team and your team is pretty good and you're feeling pretty good about it and then they trade for like a superstar? That's what it felt like, I think, when we added Chris to our roster. So I'm like really excited because I think that we're going to go win the NBA finals now. Wait, is it? Oh, I was going to say, does this make me LeBron and you, Austin Reeves and him, Luca? Yes. I'll be awesome. I don't know if they're going to win.

So like I'm so happy that you made yourself LeBron. I'm bigger. I don't know about that. I'll be, I tell you what. Austin Reeves even good? I'll be Chet Holmgren, you be Alice Caruso, and Chris can be Sheigel, just Alexander. How's that works? a good one yeah i just like i mean i'm not so much against you being lebron i just don't know how good

austin reeves is in comparison and like i don't know if that's probably better now actually so lebron's old and washed that you agree with that's right like i i ain't saying in a hyatt centric either i was 47 athletic i was first and then they brought in like Bruce feldman and you and like i know what it's like to like bolster a team and like chris might be the single most influential and exciting addition of my career. And I'm so excited to work with him. And of course, the best part about it, too, Andy, is that we get to have them on the show.

I am so excited to. Let's bring Chris on. Chris Lowe from On 3. He's been everywhere. Chris, how much fun has this spring been just getting to see all these coaches and players as you've traveled around the country? Yeah, it's been great, guys.

First of all, what an introduction. I mean, how much do I owe you guys? Gifts you maybe some merry-out points or... Invoices coming. Can you dice a few over to me because I need some? At the very least. Yeah. And by the way, you guys are talking about NBA stuff.

There is no load management when it comes to on three. That's right. Not an on three. No load management. There's no such thing. Well, let's get right into it, Chris, because there's so many places I want to go. But I want to start where you were, a couple of weeks ago.

This story came out last week. You were in College Station at Texas A&M, talking to Mike Elko. And it was the, like, we've had Elko on the show, and he can tend to be brutally honest about his program. But I was really shocked at the candor about how they get from where they were, which is they made the playoff, they losing around one to Miami, to where they want to be. You know, Mike is, and that's one of the things you like best about,

Mike, because he is, there's just not a lot of frills about the guy. He's straightforward. He's a, he's a Jersey guy. He takes a lot of pride in sort of how he was, his upbringing and his path to here, to where he is. But they lost some really good players from last year. And yet, if you look around a college football and you look at recruiting, signings, and high school, portal acquisitions, as I was looking through that, no one had, really done both of those as well as they had this past year. I think they're the only team that was in the top 10 for whatever rankings are

worse. And I think there were something. We've seen that. I think the other thing too is he's got a quarterback now who's going to be going into his third year as a starter in Marcel Reed. And Mike's the first one to tell you that he's got to continue to develop as a passer. He's got to get a bit more polished. He's got to play better in some of the big games.

Not that he played poorly in all those games, but down the stretch, it wasn't just him, but officially. they didn't play their best football. But I think the thing they've done is they've been able to go out and bring in playmakers on both sides of the ball. And we typically think of just offense, but on defense too, and that back end on the defense,

they got a chance to be with some of the kids they brought in and some of the guys they got coming back like a Marcus Ratcliffe. They got a chance to be really good. And when you're good back there, it allows you to do things on defense. And Mike still calls the plays. I mean, you guys tell me, how many head coaches,

Venables would be one, call their own defensive plays down in college football. I can't think of many as I was writing the story, which tells you a lot about him, his ability to touch basically everything that touches his program and wear a lot of different hats. But I know that as the defensive play caller, you know, bring in again, some of the guys they brought in with that secondary, he thinks you're going to be able to do a lot of different things with this defense. Yeah, it doesn't happen very much. Gary Patterson did it when he was a head coach, but you see it more on the offense. side of the ball than you do on defense because Nick Saban never did that. He always had a play

calling defensive coordinator. So it is interesting. And Elko talking about A&M, and I think Elko having worked at A&M as the D.C. under Jimbo Fisher probably helped him understand the place a little bit. But he talks about the mindset. He said, talk about the players that would be good as freshmen and then don't get better. This quote he gave you is incredible. And that wasn't a Jimbo thing. It was more of a Texas A&M thing. I felt as though players here didn't always develop through their career to the level that you would hope they would. There were quite a few examples of kids that were really good as freshmen and they say, oh, that kid's going to be a first round pick. And he left here as a fourth round pick. There were a lot of different things at

play. How much do you commit to the offseason grind? How much do you commit to developing in practice? How much do you commit to trying to be the best player you can be? It can't just be, oh, I'm good enough. No, there has to be a level of accountability that you have to get to have to have in your life that you're going to prioritize being a football player at Texas A&M, developing every day to be everything you're capable of being. The mindset was wrong here. Does he feel like he's changed that? He's changing it. I mean, he's only had two years of it. And I think that's the thing, you know, in his second year they got to the playout. They never been to the playout. And with a quarterback, he was essentially going into his first year as a full-time starter,

talking about Marcel Reed. But that's something that's been right at the forefront, of his priorities to change that mindset. And you're right, he made it very clear a couple of times. Hey, this is not me just this on Jimbo because I was here for four of those years, including the 2020 season when really they were one of the best four teams in college football that year and should have gotten to playoff and didn't. But that's something when you look when you, and I had a chance to go watch them practice, their practice in the morning, the way they run practice and talking to some of the players,

what's important, the accountability part. all know you go back to the 2020 signing class there at a and him the way that thing fell apart and some of the things that happened and even before that even going back to when mike was there those are the kind of things you said you know we're just those are not it's not going to be allowed we're not going to we're not going to stand for kids even if they're talented if they think they got a chance to be good football players we won't guys as he said that are committed to developing and I think you see that you know you look at some of the kids that were freshmen last year, you know, that I think would be really good football players for him this year.

And watching those guys practice, guys like, you know, Marco Jones. Those guys will take, I think, a big step certainly this second year in the program. And that's sort of his goal, it's to continue that player development and create. Here's the second thing I would say, Andy, is watching them practice. And, you know, I've had a chance to go watch the Georgia's and the Alabama's and the Ohio states over the last several years practice where you create. the kind of competition on the practice field, that that's the secret sauce. People always say, what's the secret sauce? That's the secret sauce.

It's hard to do that now because guys that are second team are going elsewhere to play typically. But when you watch them practice, they look deeper. You can see the twos look a lot closer to the ones. And that's what certainly Mike Elko is trying to get to. And I think they're making a lot of progress in that area. You know, I think that A&M has always been a program that has the reason, resources and the location and all the things that are necessary to win a national championship.

And for whatever reason, over the course of decades, they just have never been able to put it together, even in years where they've had good teams, like the 2020 season you just referenced and the Johnny years and all that. But it feels different to me because of Mike Elko. When you walk into the building, what do you think is the biggest difference in him as a person and a leader that makes A&M feel more viable as a national title contender than ever before. Already just say what you mean.

They're one of the bigger underachievers in college football. I mean, they are. And Michael tell you that. And again, it's not just because he's there now. He was there. And he said, listen, we just, there's a lot of talk about what we haven't done here. And let's start doing it, talking about what we have accomplished. I think one of them going back to what I talked about a minute ago is he's involved in every,

and most coaches are. but there's really nothing that happens in that program that he has not right in the middle of it. He still wants to delegate to guys. He got confidence in his staff, but I think from calling his own plays on defense, he's heavily, heavily involved in the personnel side of it, much like Signetti at Indiana. There's nobody that comes in there, and he trusts his personnel people that he doesn't sign off on. And he doesn't maybe ask a few more questions or do his

on homework. The CEO part, I think, is really important. I talked to somebody I've known for a long time on the NFL side. And that's the part that, especially now as college football mirrors the NFL more and more, becomes even more important, you know, can you be that guy that manages these massive programs with all these people? I mean, you're tripping over. You go into the Texas end of the world, the Georgia, Ohio states, and you walk through the office. Guys, it's like going through the IRS. There's tables everywhere. There's offices everywhere. And Mike is really good and sort of the running joke. What I led the story with is sort of juggling all these things,

Ari. And I think he has probably cut out as well as anybody in this day and age to manage a football program and be up on top of every single thing that's happening in your football program. And I would fourth thing would be this is there's always been, like it is a lot of places, a lot of different cooks in the kitchen at A&M. You saw that a little bit when they tried to. to hire Mark Stoops. And there was that pushback. No, we're not paying Jimbo Fisher $77 million to go hire Mark Stoops. Now, Mark Stox, by the way, did things at Kentucky that a lot of people had done. So I don't know that he would have been the worst choice in the world, but they didn't want it. They went and they bring in Mike Elko. And I don't think Mike really gets caught up in what's going on around him. He just doesn't. And again, I think a lot of that's his background. And the fact that he's been at play

places like Fordham and Hovstra and Bowling Green. The U.S. Here's my favorite, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. He's seen all sides of football, and yet he's coached at Notre Dame. This is his second stint at Texas A.N. I think all those experiences and coaching at places where basically it's your show, and you don't have a lot of this, what I'm talking about, already on the outside, has prepared him.

I won't say it's, you know, you're never, completely ready for it until you walk in those shoes. But I think he's really pretty grounded. It understands that his eyes and his focus is straight ahead and all the things that are being said or done or those cooks in the kitchen that I just referred to. I don't think it really resonates much with Mike. So one thing that is changing and it's, you know, he is a good CEO global leader, but obviously is a defensive guy.

He loses Colin Klein as OC to become the head. head coach at Kansas State. Holman Wiggins takes over as OC there. Is the offense going to look different, Chris, or is it just going to be kind of a similar offense, but different flavor with a different person calling it? No, and that's a good question because we talked about that. I think they're going to do more to play to Marcel's strengths and yet continue to get him to be more decisive in the pocket, you know, when it's there. Maybe way to have second law. or a second longer. You hit that thing.

But so much of what he does is a little bit off script and making plays on the move. So yeah, they're going to play to his strengths. You know, and Mike, he went out and talked to people. It wasn't like he just said from the get-go,

we're going to promote from within. But he wanted to go out and see what was out there and compare them to Wiggins. I mean, I think Buster Falkner was someone that they talked to. And I think at the end of the day, and there's always different sides to when you go try to hire somebody or interview people.

You guys know that. Coaches and ADs never get turned down, right? We know that. They never, ever get turned down. But I think in this case, Mike did his homework. He looked at people. He talked to people and felt like

having somebody like him there and continue to take that next step with Marcel was the best thing they can do. So here we are. I cannot wait to see what they look like because they did take a big step forward last year. So we'll see where they go. We're going to move on to another Chris story

that blew up the internet on Wednesday. But I want to tell you, this is a good reason to subscribe to the YouTube channel, the On3 YouTube channel, because as you're watching this, we have a QR code on the screen. You can hit it with your phone and read all of these Chris stories

that we were talking about. But the value of the On3 subscription is incredible. So subscribe to the On3 YouTube page. Also, you hit On3.com slash join. You can get a national subscription for 1999 for first year. Read all of Chris's stories. Read all of my stories. Ari's stories. And you get things like, oh, I don't know, Jeremiah Smith prioritized Ohio State legacy over $10 million transfer portal payday. Chris, you talked to Jeremiah Smith at Ohio State this week and this story

just burned up the internet we knew Jeremiah Smith was a valuable player. We knew that if he was on the open market he'd probably get more than anybody in college football but were you surprised at the number he threw out to you?

Your context of these things is always important and when I sit down with him, what a neat guy and just you love having done this as long as I have, When you're around people that are supremely confident, you know, it sort of comes across in different ways. I don't care if it's someone like Peyton Manning or Tim Tebow or Jeremiah Smith or Johnny Mansell, guys that are elite competitors.

But in Jeremiah's case, he is really, really confident. But, you know, even some of the things he said, I wouldn't characterize him as cockney. He's just being in his mind completely honest. But the context of the 10 million thing is he was talking about Ohio State, what Ohio State had done for him. And I stopped him and I said, if you were just chasing, merely chasing money, Jeremiah, how much money could you got?

He smiled. And I said, could you gotten 10 million? And he looked at me, he said, over 10 million. And he paused and he said, easy without a just been chasing the money. So that's sort of the context of that conversation. And he mentioned Miami. Obviously Miami was somebody who was coming. after him hard, but they weren't the only ones.

He didn't go, he didn't do a roll call. But, you know, he's making a lot of money already there. And I talked to Ryan Day about that. They had conversations this offseason with Jeremiah's parents, his agent. The bottom line in all this is Jeremiah didn't want to go anywhere. He never got in the portal. He's won a national championship at Ohio State. He beat, let's pretend we're there.

So I won't say the word because I'm, I made, the mistake back when Irvin was there at Ohio state and I actually said the M word and he glared at me and he said, all right, that's your mulligan. You said again, you're doing push-up. So I was very careful. I didn't wear blue.

I did not wear blue in the building and I did say M-word. But Jeremiah's like, hey, I've won an Addy. You know, we beat the school up north. But what I haven't done is all the same year, I haven't won a Big Ten an Adi and beating the team up

north. So all this said, he's really a team guy. And I think that's the thing Ryan said. This guy hates to lose, you know, and if you dare say anything to him on the practice field or in a game, he's coming right back at you. And I think that competitive spirit has permeated that locker room. And that's what's refreshing about him. Because listen, all these guys are getting paid, they should get paid, especially somebody like him that's made millions for that university. but at his core, he's a buck-eye. And I think that's the thing that continue to come as we talked. I probably spent 25 minutes with him as we talked about his career,

the Ohio State program, Ryan Day, very much a big, you know, and he knows he talked about everything that Ryan went through in 24. You know, when they lost to the team up north. I know I sound like I'm a buck-eye, but I'm just sort of playing the way. You can say Michigan, we won't make any push-ups. I don't think Ryan Day would make you do. As long as Ari doesn't make me do like push-ups or sit-ups. Don't say the M-word around me.

I'll get offended. Ari's a Buckeye Homer, didn't you know? And Ari's name came up yesterday in a good way. It did? I will say that, yes. That's good. But no, he's a Buckeye. He's an Ohio State guy, and he knows what's important there.

He understands legacy. And, yeah, they all want to get paid. too. I mean, and, but he's making plenty of money. And I just think it's fascinating. I don't be you guys. I saw some of your show yesterday that we're at a point in college football. You know, it's not like the NIL, it was not like we're 10 or 12 years into it. Five. And you got a guy who is the best player. And he will tell you, as he said, yeah, he's sort of like scoff. Yeah, of course I'm the best player in college football. No way's close. I think in the context in that as I said, hey, if we were having a draft right now,

him college football and you had a hundred coaches that were drafting. How many, what percent of those guys take you number one? He said, 100 percent take them. He said, there's no way you don't take me number one. I'm the best player. You know, so, I mean, that some people may be taken aback by that. I'm not because you guys too have been around elite competitors, guys who are unbelievably talented but would rather have a lobotomy than lose a football game.

And that's the way this kid is. And I think that to me is what all the things we talked about jumped out to me. But no, it's fascinating that here we are, as you say, Andy, five years in, and here's a kid. And I take him out his word. I think he really pushed in his agent, and that was what was important to him. I have no doubt he could have gotten $10 million. He's making a ton of money already. Remember, he's got a Red Bull deal.

He's got an Adidas deal. He's got a key bank deal that he's making lots of money. And, you know, when you add all those buckets together, and if he wanted to take more money from, say, Miami or whoever, Oregon, you know, whatever school, Tennessee, Alabama, I take him at his word, I think he could have easily, to quote him easily, gotten over $10 million. Did you get a sense for how terrified Ryan Day might have been during the portal season? He admitted that there were not just one, Aram, but there were conversations with his people. Now, he said his mom and dad understood the big. I think what was his quote, they see big.

He sees big, the bigger picture, what Ohio State has done for players and receivers. I mean, but, you know, he could go to Stony Brook right now, the number one pick in the draft next year. Let's,

let's be honest. That's just how good he is. He didn't say he was nervous, but he understands the landscape that we're in right now. And when money like that is thrown around, And he even says, he said, listen, we're paying a lot of money too. Ohio states in that upper, upper tier of schools that are paying millions of dollars for the roster. But I think he also has a really good relationship with Jeremiah Smith and that Jeremiah himself told me,

hey, I came here for a reason. I'm not leaving. I've got an unfinished business. And I think at the end of the day, that's what Ryan was always banking on, that he is still. even though we get caught up in individualism now, probably more than ever. Kids are looking for a payday. And that's not wagging the finger at them.

They just, a lot of them are, but not all of them. And I think some people, when you get to a place like Ohio State and you, you know, it grows on you in a good way, and, you know, like Jeremiah said, he says, man, we can't lose a game here. You sign up for that when you come to Ohio State. You can't lose a game.

And when you do, all hell breaks loose. I'm sure you have a hard time to believe that, Ari. But he embraces that. And you know what? You know, as much crap as Ryan took, you know, when they lost in 24 to Michigan, I think he embraces it too. And I think they're looking forward to this. This should be even with, well, they may have five guys going the first round later this month.

They may have five guys to go on the top 15. Yeah. Yeah. Which sounds like, God, I mean, how do you ever? recovered from that. Well, guess what? As you look at their roster and you talk to guys, had a chance to talk to Arthur Smith, James Leonardis, guys on that staff, Ryan, players, they don't feel like there's going to be a drop-off because they have recruited and spent money to bring in guys in the portal, both the Alabama kids, that they should be just as talented,

maybe not quite as deep as they would have been four, five, six years ago. But as anybody, is Alabama, as George as deep as they were, and 21 and 22, no. But I do think from a talent standpoint and bringing back the Julian Say and Jeremiah Smith combo. I mean, does anybody else in college football have a better broketch combo than those two? No. And here's the key. And this is what Ryan said. You know, what has to happen, though, if we're going to be right there playing for it again,

is the offensive line has to be the strength of our football team. Just about all those guys come back. Now, most of them are hurt to spring it out there. They're recovering from or rehabbing from surgeries. But that's a group that did not play its best football to end of the season last year. Those guys are all back. And Ryan was very clear, very candid to me.

He said, we've got to play our best football up there. And that needs to be a strength of our football team. If they are, I think the Buckeyes are right there playing for it all. Well, and that was the difference in their two losses to Indiana and to Miami, where they got beat by teams that were better. better up front on offense. So I cannot wait. I'm fascinated by Jeremiah Smith, Chris, because he did, I think the Ryan Day said in your story that, you know, Jeremiah won the genetic lottery, but he's still the kind of guy who puts in the work. And I feel like that type of person,

the type of person who in spite of incredible physical gifts still works their ass off, that's not usually the type of person who's going to take the biggest bag or go just for the biggest bag. They're going to have other priorities. Yeah, you know the other guy that Jeremiah, I'm glad you asked that question because the other guy that Jeremiah mentioned was Mickey Mariani. And you know him well. Yep. Goes back with Urban to Florida. That's where I first met him.

And what they have done for him, that program. Again, it's an all-encompassing program. what they've done for him in the strength and conditioning department. Jeremiah said he was about 208 when he got there. He's 225 now. And when you look at him, I don't know if you guys have ever been up close and talked to him. Oh, yeah. He's got hands that look like Dr. Jay's hands.

I know I'm dating myself. People are saying, who's Dr. Jay? Massive hands. And just a big dude who looks like a cross between an H-back maybe and a smaller defensive end, but can run like the win. and said he was, I think, clocked at 23.4 miles per hour. Those guys, there aren't many of those guys on the planet. Yeah.

But he talked about how much he had developed physically with Mickey and his strength program. And he's won, to your point, Andy, I think he's won now four Iron Buckeye Awards. And, all right, they don't just hand those out like candy there. I mean, you've got to be just a maniac and the weight strength program. And the guy's an absolute alien. Like there's no other way. Yeah, he just, and he did, when you, when you're best and most talented players are your hardest workers,

it just has a way of a completely permeating your entire football team. And as you talk to guys like, you know, Kenyatta Jackson, he was known, and those kids grew up together in South Florida. And he just shakes his days. I'm not surprised anything that guy does. He's been like that, you know, since he was a kid. It just always supremely talented, but a guy that, again, would rather, you know, cut his left hand off than lose a football game. What we got to do, you guys are both good investigative reporters.

We got to track down the guy that cut him when he was seven years old. Oh, yeah. He said he knew what he looked like, but he didn't know his name. We didn't remember him. We want to track him down. All right, that's your assignment this June. Yeah, that would actually be like, honestly speaking, that would be an incredible story. Like if you could practice.

And the guy like helped him because Jeremiah was was late and he's like you can't be late. You're cut. He said he missed a scrimmage. Yeah. And he didn't say why. When you're seven, it's like like right. Right. And he said, I got through the next day.

He says you're cut. You're off the team. And I like it's cool that, you know. That neck of the woods, all of us wrote about this last year at the championship game. We talked to Malachi Tony. Those kids all remember the names of their teams. They played for it in those South Florida neighborhood leagues. They remember the names, the other teams.

They remember who played with them. They remember the grownups in the stands betting on the games. Yeah, yelling and screaming. How many runners are sitting around, you know, kids that are seven, eight years old saying, hey, this kid's going to be the next, Jeremy Smith, the next Malachi Tony. Oh, yeah. that's our next project you know we need to get on that we get shannon to put together like an investigative we're gonna find like two months we're just gonna rent a condo in for lauderdale and you guys have

seen and out i like it have you guys seen the clips of him as like a 10 year old in south florida do you know how this something of the coach you have to be to cut that kid regardless seriously that coach is i was probably twitching as he cut him like oh no what do you think's going through his mind right now you know the other thing we talked about And I find this fascinating is, I don't know. I guess, and I've referenced him, the only guy that I've seen that I thought could have physically going from high school to NFL was David and Clowning when he came out of high school. He looked like, he looked like T-Rex out there on the field, you know, long arms and big and fast and nasty. Jeremiah would probably be the other one that would fit in that category.

But even he said, no, no, I would develop it and running routes. and all the things you've got to know, I wouldn't have been ready. But physically he said, yeah. But I don't think, who else would fit in that category that you guys have covered? I mean, maybe Herschel Walker. Yeah. And you're talking 45 years ago. Yeah.

I mean, guys that I've seen. Bo Jackson, maybe. But there's just not many. You know, I mean, physically speaking, it's funny because the one that I would have said would have been Chase Young. I don't know if you ever saw him. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

And he went to the NFL and wasn't that great of a player. And Clowning. He was the same thing. Clowney was the number one overall pick, but he actually wasn't a dominant NFL player. His first few years, he was, and then you're right. And as he's still in, I think he's still in the league. Yeah, he keeps signing these one-year deals. Yeah.

But physically, you just don't see. There aren't many ready-made football players. I think what makes Jeremiah Smith interesting is that of that position, like when you start talking about like defensive ends and offensive alignment and stuff, like I think that the trenches are probably the, most difficult physical transition that people have to make like from a receiver position like i wholeheartedly believe that jeremiah smith would have been the receiver one on half the NFL teams last year yeah well he would have been i talked to two two buddies i've known for a long time

in personnel departments ones they had a college scouting the NFL and he said he was solid would have been solidly on their their number one of one on their board this year and he said he would have been a strong consideration if not the over unanimous overall overall overall two years ago as a freshman. So that tells you a lot right there. Yeah. And I'm very curious to see if a quarterback gets taken because next year is the generational quarterback draft.

I'm very curious where he actually gets selected next year. Well, those teams who pass on him if they do, is that we have a. Is that Sam Boy is one over, and Michael Jordan all over again? Sam Bowie, maybe. Sam Booy. Here again, I'm dating myself, Andy.

Yeah, but I remember. I think everybody knows who Sam Bowie is. If you don't look it up because it's fascinating. Chris, let's move on to another story. And this is the one that came out today. You were in Auburn, visiting with Alice Golis, who came from USF, trying to revitalize that program. The most interesting thing I read in that story.

And there were a lot because Alice Goulders was talking about his childhood in Russia. And, I mean, there were all kinds of things. But him talking about his meetings with the Auburn players when he got there and the stark difference in how the defensive players viewed the program and how the offensive players viewed the program. And you can tell that when you talk to those kids, Andy, not just Alex talking about it. And I think that's one of the reasons that keeping DJ Durkin there was a coup for Alex because those kids played their butts off. really the last couple of years and really with not much help from the offense. I mean, they never got it right at quarterback. They just didn't. They started three guys last year and they brought in transfers.

They just going all the way back to when Brian was there. They just could not get that position right. But the defense, and I love the part. I asked Byron Brown, who I, by the way, you talk about another impressive individual. Physically, the way he carries himself, the way that team already. three and a half months has really seemed to rally around him. By the way he's played first, the way he's led, his example.

But he tells a great story. He said that Xavier Atkins, who one of the best returning defenders in the SEC, pulled him aside soon after he got on campus today. And he'll be like it was last year, not even close. You know, we're going to play with a winning mindset, everybody, offense, defense, everybody. And I think that's sort of permeated.

that team this spring. Now, they got ways to go. The offensive line is a big concern. All new guys. We'll see what they do at receiver. But I think they've got a quarterback who will be a problem for a lot of people. I know some people say, well, he's not done it in the SEC. I get that.

But we've seen way too many examples, way too many examples. So I'm winning the swamp. That's an SEC stadium. Way too many examples in this era of football. who didn't play in the Big Ten or the SEC or the Big 12. There's a guy down in Oxford, Mississippi, who's a pretty good example of that. Yeah. Who's come to the SEC and lit it up.

I got a hard time believing that Brown is not a huge, huge upgrade for them at that position. When you just more than ever, if you're not really good at quarterback, you're going to have a problem. But no, there was a big divide. Not that they hated each other, but you play football.

All you guys, when you are on a defense, it's playing your asses off. And the offense can't move the ball and they're throwing interceptions. Man, that beat you down. And that's what Alex said, that that side of the ball, not that they hated Auburn, not that they wanted to get out of Auburn, they love the people of Auburn. It's just the football part of it. They were beating down. Chris, I don't know if there's anybody that's more plugged in than you in the sport.

And I just like, I wanted to know, because I think one of the most fascinating storylines of this season is which one of the first year hires in the SEC is the next great thing, because I think one of them will be. You've been in a lot of offices. You've talked to a lot of coaches over your career. When you are in contact and speaking to Alex Kowlish or any of the new first year guys, is there anything that you look for or a sense that you can get of like, hey, this guy gets it or this is going to work? And what was it like visiting with Alex Kulish? Yeah, well, yeah, great question because guys come in. the SEC and there have been guys who come in and I thought, hey, this guy's a good fit.

It's going to happen and it doesn't happen. There are a lot of factors that go into it. And so much of it is how much, how quickly can you get the right kinds of players on campus and press the right buttons with those guys. And I think that, you know, they, they have not to this point burned it up in the portal or the recruiting rankings. Again, whatever those are worth. But I do think in talk. to him and talking to his players, there's more of a sense that they're, that they're going to be pushed and challenged the way they want to be.

If you're a player, if your player worth your salt, you want a coach who's going to push you and challenge you and push you right to the edge. And certainly he's going to do that. I love his, his comment when he met with all these players. It took him four days.

He met with all but two players. And I asked him, by the way, I said, was Cam Coleman? No, no, he was not one of those who didn't come. I talked to Cam. But I love his quote where he said, hey, we're getting ready to, you're getting ready to do shit, the kind of shit you've never had to do in your life. It's going to push you physically, mentally, emotionally.

If you're not ready for it, you know, then you probably don't need to be here. The good players, the players who want to be champions, the guys who want to go on and play in the NFL, that's the way they want to be coached. And I think you sort of feel that vibe now when you're on campus at Auburn. You know, also, I don't think he's making any crazy promises like, hey, we're going to be a playoff team. He joked and said, you know, Signetti's made a heart on all of us to come in and do what he's done in two years. But I think his just straight ahead, brutally honest approach, the way they've gone after on the practice field.

And I think he, too, not that they're the level of Ohio State or Georgia or any of those teams, has really tried to make practice the kind of thing that makes games seem easier. I don't know how quickly they can flip it there. He asked the question, what is flipping it? Is it going from five straight losing seasons, which they've had to an eight-win football team? To me, that's flipping it if you do that in one year at Auburn. I mean, you go through five straight losing seasons in a place like that.

And there's a reason he's the fourth coach in seven years at Auburn. I mean, what they've done best there at Auburn is pay-byouts, not win football games. and he understands what the expectation, what the standard is there. I think the fact that you've seen so many players, and they've worked hard to get former players there to practice and functions to speak to the team.

DeKio Spikes has spoken to the team. Cam Newton has spoken to the team. Bo Jackson was there, I think, last week. So he's trying to do all the things over and above just coach his football team that you've got to do at a place like Oliver. Auburn's a different place, the community. it's not like everywhere else in college football. But again, I think Alex is up to the task.

He took over just an awful program at USF. I think they'd want one FBS game in three years and got them back to being really respectable and a team, as you say, and he beat Florida and Boise State his last year won nine football games. So he's proven he can flip programs. It's different in the SEC. It's different in the big team.

But I like what I've seen and just talking to players and people around that program. He is a, he's a guy that, well, what was this quote? He's not going to jack this thing up. So we'll see. I love that. Hey, here's the main thing, though. I said something about, I didn't even mention it. I said something about being here on a Saturday game.

And he said, Andy, Jordan hair, not Jordan hair. That's important. He's off to a good start. My mom's from Selma where Shug Jurdon's from. So that's that she went to Alabama. But you got to say it right. So he's got that part down. But it's like Ari said, because we've had, we've had Alex on the show.

We've had Will Stein on the show. We've had John Sumerall on the show. And they all, I mean, they all sound fantastic. They all sound like they got it figured out. And you've covered enough of these guys that you can have the best plan in the world. You can know exactly what you want to do. And it's just hard. What do you think is hard?

What do you think is harder, guys? Picking a franchise quarterback in the NFL draft or picking the right coach to lead your college team? Well, that's a toss-up. I think in this day and age, Ari, maybe college, because everyone is, everyone's closer. Elko had a great quote. I don't know if you saw it. He said, the ceiling's getting higher. No, excuse me, the floor is getting higher and the ceiling's getting lower.

And he's right. You know, Sark said, hey, there's 25 teams now with the way we can pay. pay that have a chance if you hit it just right. So it's, you know, the days of the dynasties, I think Lane said this last year, I think those days are over, man. I just, I do. And a place like Auburn, I'll say this,

at Auburn, you've got, you've got so, you got a lot of groom there to grow. Well, you go five straight years and don't have a winning season. I think the people there on the planes, and I've talked to a lot of them, they just want to see that team be, competitive again and win some games that count, go back to a bowl game to be a team that when you get into November, you're a much better football team than you were in September.

That's where you start. I think that's where Alex starts, you at Auburn. And I think to do that, he's going to need a couple years just to get in the right kind of players because they lost some good players. I think they kept, for the most part, the ones he wanted to keep. But if they're going to have to really work hard and pay some money in the portal, this next portal and really hit the high school recruiting, they're going to have to bring in some studs. And I think that's where you start to make the most ground when you bring in those players,

because it ain't about the X's and O's, man. It's more than ever. It's about the Jimy's and Joe's. And not only the Jimmy's and Joe's, but the Jimy and Joe's that you can spend money on and spend wisely. Just ask Coach Signet. I am glad you brought that up. And I'm glad you brought up the Steve Sarkeesian quote, because this is something. Sark told you when you visited Austin a few weeks ago.

And this is another Chris story that if you have not read it, you need to read it. A different feel for Steve Sarkesian, as Texas and the Horns look to leave, nothing to chance in 20206 is the headline. He said something in that story. And Chris, I feel like I have mentioned it on this show 10 times since he said it, that they're basically 25 teams in college football in the country paying the price of admission to compete for championships. And it is a matter of how much can you get out of what you're spending? How wisely can you spend? Because everybody says, oh, Oregon's just going to buy it or Texas Tech's just going to buy it or Texas is going to buy it. Well, everybody's trying to buy it.

So you can't just outspend everybody. So how is Sark deployed his money differently this year that will help him rise to the top of those 25 that have paid the price of admission? Well, I tell you one thing, he's made Arch Manning smile when they brought in Cam Coleman. You know, that's they, to have a guy like that, he could be your go-to guy. Their offensive line should be really good. He was, one thing Sark will readily tell you, and he's not shy about it. You know, out of high school, they got Arch Manning for free. You know, no, he's, they're paying him now.

And Arch, much like Jeremiah Smith has a bunch of outside deals. But he still told me, I think his quote to me was that arts is probably the most underpaid quarterback in college football from what we're paying him. And he says he still has a note from Cooper Manning or a text, excuse me, if you don't write notes anymore. I'm showing that I'm 60 years old. When the last time of you guys have written a note to somebody? I can't even read my own handwriting. I sent somebody's flowers once and was very mean to them in the note that I wrote in the flowers about two months ago. But he says he still has a text from Cooper.

saying we're not taking a dime. We want you to go out and get great players, and you can show this text to every player you recruit. And that's a big help. You don't find that everywhere when you're recruiting at that level. Obviously, Arch could have gone anywhere he wanted to. I think that's helped him. Sarkas, even before they joined the SEC, he knew if they were going to win national championships, they had to go through Alabama and Georgia.

So I think he has tried to build his team in the lines of scrimmage that way with difference makers on the perimeter. And you look at their team right now, and I think that's much like Ohio State, people say, well, I haven't been to every school. But when I look at teams that I think are stacked and teams that have the kind of talent level in depth, because, you know, he's certainly not, I know we just lost Coach Holtz, but he's not pulling Lou Holtz and sandbag.

He'll tell you this is the deepest, most talented team across the board I've had. And I think he really believes that. The players on that team believe that. He brought in a Will Muss champ. I think that's a guy that's a proven defensive guy who's done it at high levels, who's worked under savings, who's worked with Kirby Smart. They're bringing in Mark Stoops. I think when you look now at staffs that have a ton of former head coaches on it,

Mark's another guy, a really good, smart defensive mind as an analyst. You're getting getting back there. So I think he's really tried hard and it's been a priority over and above the talent, the players is to surround himself with the kind of staff that, that you're going to need in this day and age to win at the highest level. There's not any margin fair there. And he knows that.

Just when you. Yeah, they, they, they, if they don't win the national title, certainly they don't make a playoff run this year. there's going to be a lot of heat there in Austin. You know, same way as we'll be in Columbus, Ohio. But I think he's the thing, you know, I found Sark to be when I spent some time with him, he's like, bring it on, let's go.

I know what I signed up for. I know what we are. I know what Texas is supposed to be. You know, they've been in the playoff. You know, a couple years ago, they were in the semifinal. They didn't make it last year. And, you know, he's very adamant that, listen, we, the playoff,

he feels like has to expand. I think it will expand. If there would have been 16 last year, they would have gotten in. You had beat Texas A&M at the end of the season, but you know, they can't leave anything to chance. Talking to Trevor Goosby,

their future first round offensive tackle. And he said, listen, he said, we left it in somebody else's hands last year. We left it up to somebody else. That ain't going to happen this year. We can't let that happen. And I think that's the overall attitude or feeling there on the 48.

acres. Just when you think there can't be more Arch Manning hype, you go and say that it's underpaid. What a wild thing to say, but I'm excited. Sark said that. I'm not saying. I know. I didn't mean you, Chris, are you? Yeah, but that's just a wild thing to say. Well, and I was looking around the Vourri store. I think he's paid, he's probably paid pretty well, but, but to Chris, what Texas is paying him. What Texas doesn't have to pay that. Yeah. And that's the beauty, that's the beauty of where we are now is kids that are a national brand already or become a national brand or earn their way into that or even if they don't. And Cooper would tell you that the height that Arch received from the day you stepped on campus was crazy. I don't remember who else has stepped on a campus in the last 10 to 15 years amid that kind of hype.

Tebow. You guys think of anybody? I was covering the team when he did. That's been 20 years ago. Tate Martell. Stop making me feel old, Chris. Maybe Jeremiah Smith, maybe. Yeah.

No. I would be one. Clowny. Clowny, yeah, Clowny would be a good one. I think there's been a lot of people. Quarterback, the quarterback, probably you, Andy's right, you probably have to go back to. Trell Pryorpe. Yeah, Tebow.

Tebow would be a gentleman. And he, you know, I asked Sark how, how concerned were you. you last year about arch the very because you know he didn't play well obviously I mean everybody any neophyte could tell that and he said obviously it was concerned about how he would handle it you know he said but the thing that happened was the players rallied around him you know and he continued to get just beat to death well how many times was he sacked against Florida like six or seven times and got knocked around. And the fact that he kept getting back up and Sark said, he said,

listen, he said 99% of the kids would have melted in that situation. But he got stronger. And as he got stronger, the team got stronger. And if you look at Arch's numbers, his last eight games, they match up with a lot of quarterbacks in college football last year. It says that he started. He was so unsteady and just not very productive in his first four games. and so much was expected from him that you get articles and talk shows and people like us saying things like,

what was the one story that he was the biggest bust in college football history? I think he was the first bust in college football history, and I was happy to deliver a list of previous busts. Well, the actual article said that his name is synonymous with failure, which was a wild, wild. And you know, I'm, I'll tease it. Don't we tease things on this show? Yeah, tease. We do. I've got a story coming out on Arch and sort of the dynamic last year,

and as he points forward. And Stark said after that story came out, that that was a turning point in the season. Not only for Arch, but the season and the team, he said because there was no doubt after that that team was going to rally around Arch and stoked his fire, and we played our best football. Interesting. Very interesting. That's a hell of a tease, Chris. Yeah, we're going to, I'm going to, I'm going to leave the Texas part there and just let people salivate and get ready for that story. I got to talk to you about another one. You were in Tuscaloosa. You talked to Kayland Abor. This is another story that pretty much melted the internet when it came out. And it was Kaylin

abhor saying he plans to be at Alabama for a long time. You talked to him about the Penn State rumors, which there really wasn't much to, the Michigan interest, which there was something to. And then his relationship now and Alabama's relationship with him because it's complicated, Chris. It's not like, oh, here's a guy

who turned down interest in a big job somewhere else and we love him. It is he turned down an interest in a big job somewhere else. Then he got killed by Indiana and we're not sure how we feel about him. You know the irony in all this? is most fan bases, most ADs, donors, you always want to have a coach that you feel like everybody else wants

or everybody else thinks is a good coach, right? You don't want to have a guy that nobody else thinks can do it or thinks he's overrated or whatever. So you have two of the biggest brands, and obviously BAM is one of the biggest brands where his name was connected with last year, Penn State, and then Michigan. You're right. Penn State, Andy, that was not real.

Michigan was absolutely a thousand percent real. They wanted him, made it known that they had an open checkbook for him. And, you know, I pushed Camille pretty hard on it. And he was adamant that he never had any conversations with anybody in Michigan. And yet, yes, he knew, was well aware that if he wanted to be the Michigan head coach, he could. But, and I admire this about him, you know, he just said at the end of the day, I've been here for not even two years. I came to replace a legend like Nick Saban.

I couldn't in my gut-of-gut turn around at leave and certainly not look my players in the eye. We didn't get to the playoff the first year. We got to the playoff this year and say, hey, guys, I'm going to engage or I'm going to talk to Michigan about this job. He said, I just couldn't do it. And I think what we all forget is they won a playoff game last year. They went on the road in a tough place to play.

trailed in that football game and they came back and they beat Oklahoma. A team that they had lost to in the regular season. Now, yes, they got boat raced the next week by Indiana. Indiana did that to a lot of teams last year. But I think once they got past the Oklahoma thing, it was over with him in Michigan. Not that he was ever going to go. I do think, and he wouldn't really talk about this because I asked him,

I said, you know, the word was or the thing I kept hearing was if you had lost to Oklahoma, that you would have gone to Michigan. He just, Kaelin's such an easy going. Great dude to be around. He just smiled and says, yeah, I heard that a lot too. And that's about the end of it. I do think, though, personally, had they lost to Oklahoma in that playoff opener,

that he might have gone. I'm not going to predict he would have. I'm not saying he would have. But I do think there was a chance that he might have. Not because he is miserable. I mean, you hear all sorts of things. He's miserable. His family's miserable with Alabama. That's not it at all. It's just that sometimes, you know, when you're a coach at that level, sometimes restarting your clock at a place that's going to open his checkbook. But I think the thing to remember with Kailin DeBoer is he knows what he wants his legacy to be.

He understands that he's always going to be the guy that replaced Nick Saban. That will always be his legacy. you know who replaced we're going to give you guys a history lesson here who replaced john wood at UCLA i don't even remember all right i have no idea if you ask me a history question i don't know the answer just assume that i'm unaware who morgan wood who uh who uh oh yeah the uab and yeah and and it was it was pretty successful but he wasn't John Wood. And I remember Greg Byrne talking about that when he made the hire that he went back to hires like that,

guys that were legends that people had to come and replace. Kayla understands that. And so he didn't want to be that guy that came to Alabama, was there for two years, and well, he couldn't handle it. So he went somewhere else. And I think that's what has driven him. And he feels like they have upgraded. at some positions that they they have just the thing that's you know i know it's frustrating for him

it's uh it's i don't get it at a place like bama how you could not be able to run the football but they were all running the ball last year and if you look at some of the hires you made bringing in adrian clem his tight-ins coach was also at one point his career run game coordinator Ryan grubb the OC strong offensive line background that's been you know something that they have really, really tried to zero in on. Now, did they bring in the right guys? You know, he brought in several portal guys on the offensive line. The freshman running back, they think is going to be terrific pro well, but he was out a little bit this spring. I don't know that you point to any one player or anyone back or offensive line and say,

this person, this person definitely make me think they're going to be appreciably better in running the ball. But he said to, hey, we got to be. You're going, think about this. You couple not being able to run the ball again with the first year start at quarterback. You guys know what that combination means. And I think they feel good about both those kids, Austin Mack and Keel and Russell. I don't know who's going to win it.

I tend to believe having been there that if it's close, and I think it has been pretty close, that Mack will probably get the first start. I also think both those kids will end up playing. But they've got to run. the ball better and you know Alabama blooding your nose on offense as that's sort of synonymous those two things they weren't able to do that and if they're going to take another step in year three and make an even deeper run in the playoff because I don't buy that you know I hear this a lot

that well he's underachieve there well has you underachieve compared to what Nick did yeah but hell anybody would you know did they get to the play out the first year no but I knew that that transition would be hard. He did too. But they got to the SEC championship game last year. They snapped Georgia's 33 game home winning streak. They won a game in the plow. Is that the standard in Alabama? No. But I don't think you can look at it and say, well, they've not made some progress in his two years. Let's see what he does in year three. I think the battle that we have for us is that we're trying to decipher what the Alabama standard is and what the Alabama standard or what the standard is just for being a good team in general in college football in 2026. Those are different.

So, all right, Andy, go ahead. I didn't mean to cut you off. Yeah, there's a quote he gave you, Chris. It's either going to make him look like a profit or it's going to bite him in the ass. And it's this one. I think you probably can guess which one it is. A lot of the guys we added are better than what we had and we got them for a lot less money. That was his response to criticism of his portal class.

So he's either going to be right about that or he's going to get beaten over the head with that quote for the next year. year. But I think he believes it. And, you know, he's seen some of the guys they've gotten now in spring. And he knows what got away. So, I mean, that's, that's his perspective. You know, spending wisely, and we talked about this earlier, spending wisely is as important as you, as important as anything you can do. And retaining kids. You know, they were able to retain Ryan Colton Williams, who didn't have a great year last year. But I know in talking to Ryan, who I'll tease this, we're also got to. piece coming up on Ryan Coleman Williams.

It's just sort of how his life has changed. What is important to him now? Why it didn't go the way it should have gone for him last year and why he thinks it will go better this year? Because he's a big piece of that offense. They need the freshman version of Ryan Coleman Williams this year. But, you know, so they were able to retain some of those guys. They kept both the quarterbacks.

You know, it's hard even with younger quarterbacks to keep two talented guys. So retention is important to, you know, retaining, you know, the right guys. And, you know, Zabian Brown, that they're secondary, you look at their secondary. There, there were several guys that drew a ton of interest in the portal at Alabama, Sab, Zabian Brown, and they were able to keep those guys. So I think he feels good about who he retained, who he brought in. But you're right, the proof's going to be in the pudding. How do they play? I mean, they lose Cain Proctor to the NFL. And Caden, he'll probably be

a first round. I don't think Cain Proctor played like an All-American last year. He caught some screen passes, and I'm not dissing Cain Proctor, but he was not a dominant offensive lineman, the way... No, I don't think you're speaking out of school at all. I think that is

a fact. And, you know, there are other starting tackle Wilkins for me. He's gone to Texas A&M. And he may not have been the starter this year if he'd stayed at Alabama. So they were going to pay. Bama wasn't going to pay what he got at Texas A&M. Yeah.

Now, who was right? Who was right? Who was wrong? We're going to find out, right? Yeah. And that that's another layer of drama that this new system adds. But Alabama's athletic director, Greg Byrne, was talking to Blake Topmire from USA Today last week. And Greg said he thinks it's time to move. on from the SEC championship game that they don't need to play it anymore. I think he said the quote was, the ship has sailed.

And so shortly after that, you happen to be in Athens. And you were talking to Kirby Smart, who probably has more hands-on experience with the SEC championship game than any coach in the SEC. I think he's played in eight of last 10. And he was talking about, if the playoff expands to 16, then yeah, you can probably let it go.

And Kirby's a he's a life. man, he's an SEC lifer. He understands what that game is meant to the league. And it has. I know some people say, well, you guys don't need to be all this nostalgia. And I get it. It's a new day in college football. But that game has long been a staple in the SEC. It's really, I remember Mike Slive, the late Mike Slough telling me one time, it's the second best game in college football. And you look at the TV ratings and some of the games and the matchups they've had, I would tend to agree with him. But, and we're going to expand the playoff. I mean, I agree with Greg Byrne.

It's coming. I don't know how it's coming. Maybe what do you guys think? Do we have a better chance to get the Big Ten and the SEC degree on anything or the two sides of Congress? You had to get that. That feels like an even matchup right now. What do you think, Gordon? The SEC and the Big Ten have to agree on something eventually because the check stopped coming if they don't make a deal.

I think that the SEC and the Big Ten should be the favorite because they both have, they both, stand to gain a lot financially by working together. So my point is this. At some point, you're going to have to compromise in the playoff. I was with Ross, New York when I was in Columbus. Had a chance to meet with Ross. You know, and Ross has been at UCLA. He's been at Ole Miss.

He's been at Texas, San Amy. Now he's at Ohio State. So he has a pretty good feel for, you know, different places, different leagues. His sense is that it will expand initially the 16th. for three or four years. And then there will be language in that contract, a working agreement to get it to 24. And I think that's probably what will happen.

I think, but isn't that just Tony Petitie's goal? Yeah. I think that's what essentially was the proposal, what the Big Ten's proposal was. And I don't know that the Big Ten is going to just sign off on leaving it just at 16 for any real length of time. But if it's three years, we've only had two years at 12. So do you really truly assess a format just in two years?

I mean, so if you have, let's say just for hypothetically, you had three years of a 16 team lead and it was really good or really bad or no change at all from a 12, but you have at least three years to assess it. All right, 24 might be better. I don't like, I mean, I don't like the idea of 24 teams being in. I think that does water down the regular season to some degree, but I also think it will give us as junkies of the game, and we all three are, more opportunity to see Texas and Ohio State play.

And next year, Ohio State and Alabama, those games to me can never go away. I understand why coaches in the SEC don't want to play them now because they're going to nine games. You know, it's all about survival. And I get it. That'd probably be the same way. But if 24 teams in the playoffs says, yeah, we're going to see more games like that, sign me up.

And the other thing about 24 in the Big Ten's proposal and talking to Ross about this, I think there's some warming up in the SEC to this is you got two straight rounds of games on campus. And boy, nothing screams out college football than games played on college campuses. They could also put all of the games on campus, except the championship game if they want. I'm good with that. I'm good with that. Now, do you want games that the last two rounds where you have a really decided advantage at someone else's home?

I mean, that could be debate. Yes, because I want regular season games to matter. I love at least two rounds being played on a college campus. So I think that's, again, that's B. York's sense. But no, back to the, if that happens. or the 16 team thing happens, it's going to happen. Then I, yeah, the conference championships games are going to have to go because you're going to be playing playoff games that weekend.

You're going to have to start earlier, whether it's week zero. Maybe you have only one by week. Coaches don't like that, as you might imagine. But and then on what's it usually like December, second, third or fourth that you play the conference championship games, those, that weekend will be playoff games. And I think that's, that's where we're at it. there is some not everybody but as I've talked to you know to Josh Heppel and

Eli Traiquitz and Kirby and DeBoer and some of these guys in the SEC you know they're not sort of frowning when I mentioned 24 teams anymore I think they all feel like 16 might be a perfect number but I don't think they would be fighting it tooth and nail if it goes to 24 Thanks for ruining my week. Press, appreciate that. Well, you know, but, Ari, you understand, the coaches always want the bigger playoff. Coaches always, because they always think it will save their jobs.

You know what Sark said, Ari? I forgot to mention this. And I think I wrote this in the piece. He said, hey, I don't mind going back to four. He said, if we can't figure out an agreement or compromise, and it's just going to stay at 12. And again, this is going back to they didn't get in last year. And he felt like they should have.

You know, South Carolina could get in two years ago. They were playing as well as anybody in the country because they had three losses. He said, if that's the case, go back to four. And then you know if you win the Big Ten, if you win the SEC, you're going to get in. And we're not going to go backward. But I do think that was interesting that he would throw that out there. Yeah. But, you know, for R.

No, it's just, it's not like you taught me something new today. about i think everybody knows that we're eventually going to head there so um yeah i'm not surprised the coaches want that i still would prefer they did not go that big but they're not giving us a lot of a lot of votes here but i get where the big 10 was coming from this this year and not wanting to go to 16 i mean listen everybody's looking out for their own best interests yeah the SEC is the big 10 is coaches are but if you just use this year as a model now you could probably run it back a few years. But if you use the 25 season as a model and they would have played a 16 team playoff, well, who else gets in? Who are those other four teams? Texas gets in.

And he gets in. Notre Dame gets in and probably what BYU would be the yeah. BYU, yeah. Well, who's missing in those four teams? Nobody in the big 10. So that would have given the SEC seven because you already got in five and the big 10 three. I do love how they're using all these limited data points. though, because you do it in another year. And like the year before, maybe Illinois gets in if you do it. Yeah, exactly. And the year before, only three SEC teams got in.

Yeah. The entire college football expansion or playoff expansion debate is about using points with limited data to illustrate what you want. It's not about reality. Yeah. And I don't know what the perfect number is. And coaches, most of the coaches will tell you the same thing. nobody really wants to water down the regular season. You want games in November to mean something.

You really do. I mean, you want that even though it really, it could have for Texas, but you don't ever want to get to a point where the Texas, Texas A&M game doesn't mean anything. The last game of the season. And you also don't want to get to the point where Texas and Ohio State don't want to schedule one another,

which is where they're at right now. And fortunately, they are playing that game. And it sounds like, Alabama, Ohio State's still going to happen, which is good news in 2027. But, yeah, I mean, there needs to be a sweet spot. I just think I think 24 is outside the sweet spot. I wish they could come up with some other way to force good non-conference scheduling. But, you know, we'll see.

You guys need to get Eli on here and get his playing. Have you ever talked to Eli? I think you guys did, didn't you? Yeah, yeah. Talks about his playing weekend. He's got it all figured out. Listen, play in weekend is something that I've kicked around. You could have some fun with that.

Now, you really do just make a 2014 playoff with that. I do feel a little hypocritical when I talk about it because I'm like, ah, that sounds fun. Oh, wait, that's the same thing I'm saying. I don't want. And then you also exploded when you said, why should a team in the semifinals have home field advantage by making stakes in the regular season,

which is like contradictory to what that would do to begin with, which drives me. Well, no, if you go bigger, having more rounds on campus would at least increase some relevance to the regular season because you have to win more to earn home field. Yeah. Yeah. It's just.

They do that in NFL. Ryan Day throughout the NFL model when we were talking. Hey, look at the way the NFL does it. You know, you got, if you win your division, you're in. You got what, 14 teams get in? I think the NFL, is that right? About half. Yeah, there's eight automatic lawfires and six wild cards.

cards in the NFL. So he said, listen, that that model, some type of model that resembles NFL, you know, would be okay, you know, with him. But we're going to keep having this debate until they finally figure out what they're going to do. I asked Ross. I said, Ross, how long, much longer do we stay at 12? Again, just his sense is, you said, I'd say probably at least one more year.

So, yeah, that makes, that makes, 12, 27, 12. Five more years on the current contract after this one. So then they'll have to figure something out for that next contract. So they could max go another six seasons at 12 if they wanted to, but it doesn't sound like they're going to. Chris, this has been amazing. And we will have you back on very soon. And I hope you had fun on these trips. Hope you had some good meals.

But we are going to pick your brain every time you are in a coach's office. I'm just warning you now. Yeah, Chris, it's been a real pleasure being on your team. and I'm super thankful for everything that you do for us. And thanks again for being here today. You guys, too. It's great to be with a winning team and guys who get it and work together. It's been awesome.

And next week, Ari, I got my Midwest tour. Okay. It was 28 degrees when I woke up in Columbus the other day. And I looked at Ryan Day. I'm like, what's the deal with this? And he just sort of smiled. But I'll be making another Midwest swing. So I'll be trying to take my third.

Hey, you're a Tennessee grad. You should have run around the stadium with your shirt off before. South Bend's pretty cold still. Yeah. April. And Harvard's cold. Ann Arbor's cold in April. Yeah.

Like, you should just do what the Tennessee football team did in Colorado. You can suggest a man. I'm not going to do that. I will take my big coach. And I'll gift you some of my, my favorite, my Marriott points,

I need them. I need them bad. We got some stuff coming up. I will say this. I have never been more certain in my entire life. that a team was going to get their breaks beaten off and when Tennessee came out without shirts on. All those Tennessee fans who made that trip,

there were 30,000 Tennessee fans in the stadium and who, boy. Freezing off. You know, funny, I'll end with this. So Lauren Knight's, we were talking about that. And he says, you know, that game was sort of the, you know, we were on Crossroads. He said, we didn't really know.

He said, we'd practice well. But, you know, you hear all the, he said, and this was him talking. You know about the Big Orange Takeover and where were our fans and how would the players react? He said, we didn't know for sure going in that game. He said, but once the game started, he said, man, that was, that was really what the, because you think about it, since that game, how many straight do they win? They won, what, four straight playoff games, everything until. And then 12 in regular season.

Ohio State. He said, but that game really, in a lot of ways, turn it around for us, the way we respond. bonded in that game. Yeah. That's it. Just need the balls to take their shirts off. Then everything gets better. Excuse me, Chris Lo, you could put your shirt back on.

Chris Lowe, thank you so much. No black show tomorrow. Send us your questions at Andy. Napleson3.g.gmill.com. Ari.com. Aton3.com. We will answer them tomorrow.