Andy & Ari On3 - Coach Prime hits the portal HARD | Bronny James makes his USC debut | Dillon Gabriel chooses Oregon

Episode Date: December 11, 2023

College Hoops is in Full Swing, Dillon Gabriel selects Oregon, and Coach Prime is up to something!(0:00-12:41) Intro: Coach Prime(12:42-13:29) New Mexico hires Bronco Mendenhall(13:30-17:51) USC Hires their new Linebackers Coach(17:52-36:05) Pete Nakos Joins to break down the portal(36:06-55:39) Jeff Goodman joins to talk College Hoops and Bronny James' Debut(55:40-1:11:30) Justin Hopkins from ScoopDuck joins(1:11:31-1:13:09) Conclusion - Congratulations to Jayden Daniels!During the season, Colorado coach Deion Sanders said he'd just go get new offensive linemen if he had to. It appears he's making good on his promise. After getting a commitment last week from No. 1 offensive tackle recruit Jordan Seaton, Sanders landed commitments from three transfer offensive linemen from the portal. He also added a commitment from a top-100 high school recruit at receiver. In other news, Bronco Mendenhall is back as New Mexico's head coach. North Dakota State coach Matt Entz is leaving the FCS powerhouse to be USC's linebackers coach. Next, On3's Pete Nakos joins to break down the action in the transfer portal. Former Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord is looking at Nebraska, and receiver Julian Fleming is considering the Cornhuskers as well. Pete also provides the latest on former Texas A&M defensive tackle Walter Nolen, who is On3's top-ranked transfer portal player. Pete also talks about the recruitment of former South Carolina receiver Juice Wells, who visited Ole Miss this weekend.Jeff Goodman of Field of 68 joins to discuss Bronny James' USC debut. The son of LeBron James played his first college basketball game Sunday. The younger James suffered cardiac arrest in July, putting his basketball future in doubt. But after being medically cleared, he returned. Now he's finding his way in the Trojans' rotation.Jeff also discusses how Caleb Love has turned Arizona into potentially the nation's best team and how Zach Edey is probably more valuable to Purdue than to an NBA team.Justin Hopkins of On3's Scoopduck joins to discuss Oregon's addition of QB Dillon Gabriel over the weekend. Gabriel could be one of the highest impact transfers in 2024, but Justin explains that the Ducks aren't done yet.Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube now! https://youtube.com/live/z_y742YhWVM

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. It has been a very busy weekend. It's been a while since we went a weekend without any shows. We had our postgame shows and last year, last week we were doing college football playoff reveal show. We were doing transfer portal opening show. So it felt like we were just on top of everything. Taking a couple days off, man, a lot happens. A lot happens. So let us go down a few of the things that have happened before we get to some of the big ones, but let's talk about all that we're going to talk about today, because this is a big one. We got Pete Nacos with all the Transfer Portal intel that you're going to want. You know, what's happening with Walter Nolan, our number one player in the Transfer Portal? What's happening with Kyle McCord, the former Ohio State quarterback? Where is he looking? Think big.

Go big red. Very interested in what Kyle McCord's doing right now. We're talking to Jeff Goodman of Field of 68 about Bronny James' debut. That's right, a little basketball. We know you love your schools. We're going to talk about a little bit of hoops going forward. This will still be very much a primarily football show, but I love college hoops too, so we're going to be talking about that. We'll also be talking about some of the other college sports because again we know you love your schools so

we're going to keep talking about them while they're playing sports that everybody's interested in we've also got justin hopkins from scooped out talking dylan gabriel to oregon potentially the most impactful transfer in this cycle we'll see see. There's a few more who want to vie for that title. But that will be a very interesting situation because, again, you think about what you saw from Dylan Gabriel at Oklahoma and at UCF, and you extrapolate that to what you saw Bo Nix doing in Oregon's offense, and it's very, very exciting. Oh, Buff Boulder City in the chat knows what I want to talk about, though.

We definitely are going to talk about Coach Prime because Coach Prime hit the transfer portal hard for some O-linemen and had a nice weekend on the high school recruiting front. So we've got Buff Boulder City saying, We coming, baby. That, of course. Coach Prime always say that. So we've got Buff Boulder saying, we coming, baby. That, of course. Coach Prime always say that. So we're grabbing Boo Carter and Walter Nolan.

Woo! Very interesting. Indeed, Boo Carter is a Tennessee commit that the Buffs are trying to flip. But let us talk about what Coach Prime has done over the weekend. It started Thursday with a commitment from Jordan Seton, who is the number one offensive tackle recruit out of high school.

He is a big one, not just physically huge, but big for a lot of reasons, because this is the type of player you need to build around and they just don't grow on trees. You don't typically find an athlete like this in the transfer portal basically a plug and play type left tackle now plug and plays a little little hard to say when it's a younger player going into college and they've got to start right away but he probably

will have to start right away at Colorado or at least we'll have a chance to start right away at Colorado but the question is who's he going to start alongside? And that's something that Deion Sanders has been very busy with this weekend. Four commitments from transfer portal offensive linemen. He's got two from the power five, two from the group of five. Now, we don't know exactly what this is. One these is is pretty highly rated uh justin mayers from utep he played left guard for the minors he's one of those that he was initially ranked a three-star recruit coming out of high school but our guy charles power has him as a four-star in the transfer portal so he's one of those group of five guys that played well

looking to move up he's committed to colorado. Tyler Houston, he started a guard for Houston. He's a more traditional transfer portal story. He originally played for Texas, left there looking for more playing time, founded at Houston. He was a starting guard at Houston this year. He will be at Colorado next year. Khalil Benson was the starting right tackle at Indiana. He's from Mississippi originally. Tom Allen always had that connection. He used to work at Ole Miss. But he is on the move. He's going to Colorado.

So a big guy there. And then Yakiri Walker, who was UConn's starting center this year, is headed to Colorado. And that, remember, Deion said, if the offensive line I have can't block, I will get new offensive line. And we said, I don't know if you can do that out of the portal. Well, he is going to try. He is taking as many of these guys out of the portal as he can. And again, like Jordan Seton, I think is probably one of your five opening day starters, unless

he's been completely mis-evaluated and i don't think he has been you know you saw caden proctor start every game at left tackle for alabama this year they're in the playoff caden proctor had a rough start it wasn't easy at first for caden proctor but he got better and better and by the time they played the sec championship game against Jordan against Georgia he looked very good so Georgia's Jordan Seton similar level to him and you heard Charles Power on Friday talking about maybe a more polished pass blocker coming out of high school so that's a big new big get for the Buffaloes and then you add I we we don't know are they adding bodies are they adding guys that will contribute the truth of the matter is we're not sure yet we need to see them play together offensive linemen tend to you know when they play together chemistry matters how does this

how do they work together so we'll have to see Phil Lodeholt the new offensive line coach at Colorado remember played at Oklahoma played in the NFL. He's been an analyst at Oklahoma, working under Bill Biedenboe, one of the most respected offensive line coaches in the country. Perhaps Lodeholt can get these guys going, get them together. It is going to be a fascinating scenario to watch at Colorado because that was the problem this year. You saw the hot start.

Then you saw them kind of fall apart as the season went on. A lot of it is they could not block for Shadur Sanders. And if they could block for Shadur Sanders, they would have won some more games. Now they went from one 11 to four and eight, and that's a good move. That's an improvement in a very deep Pac-12. They now move into the Big 12, which I think is going to be a pretty good league. Will it be as good as the Pac-12 was this year? I don't know if it quite will be, but this is going to be really interesting to watch

because some of those offensive linemen that they got last year may also grow into the role, but that group has to get better. Offensive line, defensive line, they got to get better. If they can, and Shador Sanders has time to throw, you're talking about a team that can be good in the Big 12. Can they win the Big 12? I don't know. Utah's going to be really good. They're bringing Cam Rising back. Arizona's going to be really good.

You expect possibly a bounce back year from TCU. We'll talk about them in a little bit. But this is where it has to get better. This is where the evaluations have to work. And once these guys start to play together, they've got to be effective. They don't have to be great, but they have to be effective because you've got to give Shador Sanders a little bit of time to throw. Now, I want to throw one more thing out here

because we mentioned at the beginning Jordan Seaton, who, not a portal guy, he's a high school recruit. Big, big get. So after Jordan Seon committed to Colorado, Josh Newberg, our guy, On3Recruits. If you don't subscribe to On3Recruits already, you need to. It's the YouTube page where Josh and our crew who cover recruiting talk about the high school recruits as they decide where they're going to go. So right after Jordan Seton committed, Josh Newberg made a video. And it was five things that Colorado needs to do.

Now, the first one was actually sign Jordan Seton. Because obviously, somebody that's not after people are still coming after him until signing day. He did commit on Undisputed. He seemed pretty all in on Colorado. But let's look at what number three was from Josh Newberg or what, what coach prime needed to do next. All right. Also add Draylon Miller,

the talented wide receiver number 66 ranked player overall out of the state of Texas. He D committed from Texas A&M about a month ago, maybe, maybe six weeks ago. Now he's a dynamic pass catcher with elite speed, need more guys like that on offense. And's a dynamic pass catcher with elite speed. Need more guys like that on offense. And he's been to campus twice already this season. A lot of people thought when he decommitted, it was going to be a quick switch to LSU. But that hasn't happened.

And he's been to Colorado a couple times. And the Buffs look like they could be a very viable landing spot. Got to close on him. But there is a strong relationship. Spoiler alert, they closed on him. Draylon Miller from Sillsby, Texas, 6'1", 190-pound receiver. Top 100 guy. He is going to Colorado. All of a sudden, the Buffaloes are shooting up our team recruiting rankings.

I see you guys in the chat. Walter Nolan to join Coach Prime. Lil Mark says, Buff Boulder, Andy, he got some big media line guys that are elite. Listen, I don't know if you watched a lot of Indiana football this year. Let's slow down on the elite talk. He got Jordan Seton, who is an elite recruit. We'll see what the transfers.

I watched Indiana play. I don't think you did. So we're going to see about that. UTEP wasn't great either. Also fired its coach. So let's not go too crazy yet, guys. But it is a good reason to get excited. It is a very good reason to get excited because that was the part you kind of

wondered about. I said it a couple of times when Deion Sanders had his, we're not an ATM speech, that worried me. That told me, uh-oh, is your collective not in a position that you can get the kind of O-lineman, the kind of D-lineman you need to succeed? Well, if you can get Jordan Seaton, you're doing just fine. Offensive line, tough to build out of the portal. But Justin Mayers is a guy that a lot of teams wanted coming out of UTEP. He played very well. His PFF grade was very good. So they are doing well. They're competitive in this space. The problem is the teams that are really, really good get guys like Jordan Seton, maybe not ranked that high, but that kind of guy over and over again, over a period of years, he's only been there two years. He's only been one year, really.

So it is not that easy to do that. But this is a start. And getting Draylon Miller, again, another big one. So can they flip some more trenches talent? Josh Newberg thinks they can. So there's more offensive linemen out there, more defensive linemen out there that could potentially land in Boulder. So keep your eyes peeled on the flip watch as we get toward National Signing Day on December 20th. Keep your eyes peeled on the portal. Because it looks like Deion is going very hard right now.

O-line, it seems like they've worked quick. And you had to work quick. Because if you look at the top-ranked offensive linemen, interior and offensive tackles in the portal, a lot of them have already committed. They don't last long. It's not like some of these quarterbacks that go take a bunch of visits and they're out there for two weeks. When a lineman goes in the portal, you've got to go. So they're moving fast so far in Boulder.

We're going to find out what Deion Sanders can do with this group, but this is all very positive news for the Buffaloes as they try to rebuild that offensive line, which is the most important position group for them this off season. All right, let us hit some other news before we talk to Pete Nacos and dive deep into the transfer portal and figure out where former Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord might be going. Bronco Mendenhall back in college football. He was hired at New Mexico, places Danny Gonzalez. Remember, Mendenhall's been out a couple years. Mendenhall's been talking about he's ready for NIL, knows what he needs to do, knows how to handle it. It's an interesting question because missing the last two years

means you've missed an awful lot on this front. The world's almost completely different than when he left Virginia. But Bronco Mendenhall's always been a very effective coach. He made BYU better. He made Virginia better. I suspect he's going to make New Mexico better. Very excited to see what he can do there. Another really interesting piece of coaching news.

North Dakota State head coach Matt Entz headed to USC as the linebackers coach. Now he is going to finish out the run with the Bison in the playoffs in the fcs but he's leaving one of the best fcs jobs in america to go be a position coach not a coordinator because remember janson lynn is is the coordinator at usc so the last two North Dakota State head coaches, Craig Boll went from North Dakota State to Wyoming. Chris Kleinman went from North Dakota State to Kansas State. It's going to USC, but as the linebackers coach, but I do wonder, does this make him

a faster riser if he wants to be a head coach in the FBS. I'd say he probably does. I'd say this is the way to go. He's at a Big Ten school now. We got to wrap our heads around that. USC is a Big Ten school. But this is the thing. You've had these coaches where the path was work your way up to a head coach at some level, and then you can become a head coach. You jump another level. You go from North Dakota State to a Mac school and then maybe go to a Big Ten school from there. But that's just not how it seems to work anymore.

You need to be the hot coordinator at a Big Ten or an SEC school if you want one of these big jobs, or at least you want to be considered for it. So perhaps that's the move he makes. school if you want one of these big jobs or at least you want to be considered for it so perhaps that's the that's the move he makes now also you saw david braun and he just saw this go from being hired away from north dakota state to be the defensive coordinator at northwestern pat festero gets fired braun does a great job as the interim and he's now the head coach at northwestern like he's a head coach at Northwestern.

He's a head coach at a Big Ten school. So if you're mad at us, you're looking at that, and the path seems pretty clear. But good luck to him and the Bison as he finishes out his time with them and then heads on to USC. Meanwhile, TCU looking for a new defensive coordinator. Stephen Johnson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that Joe Gillespie is out. It sounds like they're going to hire from outside. And this is one of those in-college football life comes at you fast kind of moments because Joe Gillespie was the toast of college football less than a year ago. Less than a year ago, they were preparing to play Michigan. They upset Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl.

They go to the national title game, and it looks like it's going to be all sunshine and lollipops for Joe Gillespie at TCU. And then this year, while we talked about Coach Prime earlier, it started with that loss to Colorado, and then it kind of got worse. So he'll be looking for a new job and TCU looking for a new defensive coordinator other transfer portal news this one came between when we talked to Pete

and when we went on the air Bo Collins from Clemson he has committed to Notre Dame so Bo Collins who fairly productive receiver at Clemson but the problem with Clemson is they have not been able to recapture the glory days of T. Higgins, Mike Williams, Hunter Renfro, Sammy Watkins, the list goes on. DeAndre Hopkins, I mean, the list goes on. They had some incredibly productive receivers at Clemson over the past 10 years or so, and then it felt like the well kind of dried up. Meanwhile, Notre Dame really did not get much out of their receiving core this year.

They would like to get more out of it. Perhaps Bo Collins becomes one of those productive receivers at Notre Dame. Now the question is, who will be throwing him the football? We don't know quite yet. I don't think it's going to be Kyle McCord, but I think we have a pretty good idea about where Kyle McCord is narrowing it down. Let us talk to On3's Pete Nacos.

He is deeper in the transfer portal than anybody in the country about Kyle McCord, Walter Nolan, Juice Wells, and all those guys that everybody wants in the portal. Here's Pete. We are joined now by Pete Nacos of On3. Pete is the transfer portal guru here at On3,

and it has been a very busy weekend for the portal and for Pete. How are we doing? It's been fun. It's been good. I'm doing well. How are you doing, Andy? Doing good. Doing good.

So you woke us all up Monday morning, the day the portal opened for most of the population, with the news that Kyle McCord was entering the transfer portal. You wrote over the weekend that he was making a visit, and it is to another Big Ten school. Yeah. Yep, he is going to be at Nebraska this week. And one of his favorite targets, Julian Plum, he's going to join him. Wow, very interesting.

So now, are they a package deal? Do we know that, or is that just they are buds and they might take some trips together? I have heard nothing yet that makes it suggest they're a package deal. But I think the thought, right, of Kyle being able to link up with one of those top targets out of Ohio State, I would imagine that only sweetens the pot for both of them. And, I mean, not a shot at the Nebraska wide receiver room,

but Julian Fleming, right, five-star recruit, former number one wide receiver in the 2020 class. I mean, when you have Marvin Harrison and Emeka Ibuka in that room, Julian could have been lost in moments sometimes, but I'm sure if he landed at Nebraska, I think he could really be a breakout star that we could see in the Big Ten. Well, Jamison Williams will tell you that if you leave a crowded Ohio State receiver room, good things can still happen for you. Very much.

But I was going to take a shot at the Nebraska receiver room, and thankfully you kind of did it for me. But I wasn't really gonna take a shot they had so many injuries last year the way they ended the season they just didn't have a lot of downfield options so I would say as many people as they can get who can catch the ball down the field who can make plays would be a big deal for them but let's let's talk about McCord a little bit uh who has he been looking at and and did Nebraska enter the picture? You know, the offensive coordinator in Nebraska, Mark Lee Satterfield, flew to Columbus last week

for a quick meeting and it's worth throwing out there that Nebraska has by far been the most aggressive school when it comes to trying to find a quarterback on this market. I think they've talked to five now. But that meeting went really well. In terms of where else McCord's looked, I heard some rumblings about Mississippi State. There was a thought that Syracuse could get in the mix. But, I mean, the last, like, 48, 72 hours, it's been all Nebraska. Let's hear from Matt Rule from a few weeks ago.

Do you feel like you have to address the quarterback situation in the portal by going into the portal? I think that the portal for me is I either want to, if we go to the portal, I either want to get someone at any position, someone with multiple years, I think is on caliber with the guys we have, or someone who's instant impact upgrade, like someone who can make a difference. Make no mistake that a good quarterback in the portal costs, you know, a million to a million five

to two million dollars right now. So just, just, just want the same page, right? So let's make sure we all understand what's happening. So Matt Ruhle had been doing his homework before he said that is what you're saying. Spot on, Spot on. Can I say one thing, too, that's the funniest thing about that clip? He probably thought Blake Chafin or someone like that was going to be his best target,

but all of a sudden he's going to host Kyle McCord, who started against Michigan, what, three weeks ago? Kyle McCord was not on Matt Ruhle's radar when he said that. Well, could he have been thinking like – because, you know, the Cam Ward smoke signals were out there. Right. I would think that's where that market setting number was coming from because we didn't know – well, Gabriel, the word was kind of out at that point too that last week of the season.

But, yeah, it is very interesting how that works. So is Kyle McCord that type top-of-the-market type quarterback? I can just tell you from my conversations I've had that Nebraska is going to be able to deliver the type of financial package that Kyle McCord believes he's worth and probably is worth. And the 1898 initiative, the main collective at Nebraska, I mean, yeah, I don't want to say a storied history, but it's been well-tracked. But yeah, I mean, Nebraska is probably in the upper echelon of the Power Five when it comes to NIL collectors. Yeah, your history can't be that storied when the thing you do only has existed for two and a half years. It can't be. But I will say, I've always thought Nebraska and Tennessee are the two places where if somebody were to come as a transfer and absolutely blow up, they become an instant superstar. And the NIL stuff, not just the preset, here's the deal we're going to make with you, but all the actual NIL stuff comes flooding in where you get endorsements and that sort of thing so i i do

think that's one of those places where if you can you can be the one who lifts them out you're going to be uh very well rewarded for it and then if you heard like matt rules comment again right he said instant impact kyle mccord will be an instant impact at nebraska and an instant impact according to matt rule is somewhere it sounds like between between $1 to $1.5 million. That's how I interpreted it. Well, congratulations to Kyle McCord because that sounds pretty good, considering that there was not going to be a guarantee. And it's interesting because Matt was also talking about a guy who has multiple years. Kyle McCord doesn't.

He was a junior this past year, uh, no COVID year for him. So he is, uh, he, he's done after this year, assuming he plays,

which we assume he will. So very fascinating just road. Cause he could wind up again in the big 10 and playing against a lot of teams that he's familiar with. And who knows, maybe Julian Fleming tags along as well. But Pete, let's move on to another position. A guy we talked about a lot last week, and that's Walter Nolan. He's the number one player in our on three transfer portal rankings

because there just aren't this type of defensive lineman available in the portal very often he's probably going to be the only one of those this year what's the latest on him well he was at oregon this weekend um and and just some early conversations from my understanding it went well um i think the one thing that's really interesting about walter n He's like, he'd be such a strong fit with Tosh Lepoy and Dan Lanning out and Eugene. By no means do I have any intel that says a commitment

is going to happen at any moment, but I just think that the Oregon and Walter Nolan situation just makes sense in so many different ways. Yeah, that is... We're going to talk to hopkins later in the show about dylan gabriel and all the other stuff at oregon but walter nolan i imagine is going to come up as well and you do think about their interior defensive line where they're losing some very

old and good players that would be a nice step up and jordan birch still there that would be that would be quite a uh quite an athletic front if they would be able to add him but of course there's a lot of other people who'd be very interested in in him as well it's it feels like it hasn't really slowed down much there's still a lot of good players out there um one thing I want to ask you about is Juice Wells uh former South Carolina well I'll go back just like you go to juice wells twitter feed the first pin post is his james madison twitter announcement and i that he was transferred from james madison and i remember when he said he was transferred from south carolina it was weird looking at the the i'm leaving james madison and now i'm leaving south carolina but he is on the

market uh what visited old miss lane kiffin sent some funny tweets out yep what who else is in the mix there so texas is in the mix oregon is also in the mix speaking of oregon um tennessee was in the mix for a minute doesn't doesn't seem like that uh the falls are really in it at this point anymore um talking to the om spirit uh zach barry on sunday like juice wells was still in ox Oxford at like noon Eastern time, which is completely unheard of on official portal visits, right? A lot of those are like, I'm going to fly in. I'm going to have dinner with the head coach.

I might handshake and say, have a great weekend or something. I mean, the portal visits are very different than high school recruiting visits. So to hear that juice wells was in town for so long is really eye-opening um last thing obviously reported friday that he was going to texas i confirmed that with a source at texas um then things kind of just i don't know if they broke off necessarily uh nothing about the relationship with texas but he wasn't in Austin this past weekend. So reported that Friday and I still kind of see Texas really being in the cards there. Yeah.

It seems like Texas has, has been pretty aggressive in the portal period these past few years, but last year they, they developed kind of a, here's what we want and we know what we like more as, as a kind of figure. And juice wells does seem like he would fit what they're looking for in the portal. Like A.D. Mitchell was a guy they took out of the portal last year.

Juice Wells seems very similar. Yeah. I mean, there's Deion Burks in the works too at Texas. There's other wide receiver names who have popped up, but Juice Wells has that track record in the sec that it seems like a lot of teams want to kind of grab and and run with in 2024. yeah if he's healthy he's he's really really good um another guy who it seems like everybody wants uh cam ward and we've talked about him his journey incarnate word in the fcs he blows up there he goes to washington state following his

coach from incarnate word eric well eric morris and now where does he go from pullman now that washington state not really you know power five anymore so i put out an intel piece on thursday saying that i had been hearing that that there was chance that Cam Ward was going to go to Miami this weekend. From my understanding, that did not happen. I think the really interesting thing, though, that you have to keep an eye on and remember when you're talking about Cam Ward is the NFL

is still very much... That was not just thrown out there to be like, hey, I'm not only going to the... No. He is very much waiting for that draft grade he could go to the nfl draft the other thing that go ahead oh the other thing i was going to mention about canada yet like i don't think they want to rush this process just like they're waiting on this draft grade i don't know if they want to make a decision and then find out the

draft grade so by no means am I anticipating something right away. You keep hearing Ohio State plays like he needs to take a couple of visits, in my opinion, and I think that's how it's going to play out. Well, and Miami's an interesting one, too, because when J.D. Piquel and I were talking about potential landing spots, I said a place where they run something similar to the offense that he ran at Washington State, which would be USC, which would be any of the old air raid coaches. Shannon Dawson at Miami is an air raid guy as well,

so that would make a lot of sense. But, yeah, the NFL piece of it is another one that I think we're just getting used to this now where you've got these older quarterbacks who the choice is not just do I go into the transfer portal? It's do I go to the transfer portal or do I go into the draft or do I stay here? And we're seeing Cam Ward and Will Howard, it feels like, make that three-way choice. Right. I mean, you look at Dylan Gabriel, right? He knew that he wanted to return to college. He made his decision under a week, right? I think if Cain Ward and Will Howard were sold on staying in college and finding a team, I think you may have already seen the decision. Gabriel also you know I saw some tweets out there Walker if he's so great why isn't he going to the

NFL you can look at him and say possibly his skill set doesn't translate that well to the NFL but it translates very well to certain college offenses so like he literally may be worth more to Oregon than he would be to any NFL team I think that's super fair. And I think the other thing, too, is Dan Lanning almost won the Pac-12 this year. I know it wasn't the closest game in the world, but it was interesting. My point is that Oregon, with the 12-team playoff coming, is on the cusp of really cracking the playoff and maybe making a run. And I was going to mention, I didn't want to cut you off,

but I think we need to realize that, too, with Walter Nolan. Why not play next to Mateo Uribe and and like try to win a pack a big 10 title excuse me there you go it's hard to get your head around yeah and and and make a run at cfp and oh wait we have a really good quarterback now like oregon is really going to be a fun place to watch during portal season yeah especially if they just get everybody and and dylan gabriel i would say i don't know about how you feel so far of the players who's committed he feels like the most impactful yes 100 i mean and you have someone like dylan now like maybe he's going to hang out in eugene the rest of the month i don't know that but if you're doing more visits this coming weekend and Dylan's there with,

with transfer portal recruits, like that's going to play a factor. And, and you know, I mean, he's been at Oklahoma, he's been at UCF, he's going to know what to do to just help Dan Landon build a good portal class. Yeah. It's, it's truly amazing how well they picked and chose out of the portal. The last two years really has has made landings ascension that much quicker now obviously they still got to deal with washington in the big 10 and now they get to deal with with ohio state and michigan and penn state but i think it's going to

be a lot of fun and i think you're right if they hit on some of these portal guys that they really want, they could enter the Big 10 as a Big 10 title contender right out of the gate. Yeah, I mean, it'll be really interesting, right? Big 10 media days and stuff to have these new teams. But also just like knowing that like, wow, Oregon just like completely won the off season. Like what's that gonna look like? Yeah, and I think this is also something

we need to get used to. We've seen it with teams that brought in in good recruiting classes but when you bring in a good recruiting class you don't know when those guys are really going to start to pay off and and you know even the really good ones like that that 2013 ohio state recruiting class it absolutely was paying dividends when they won the national title in 2014 but you didn't know in 2013 just how good all those guys were going to be and this type of thing oh you kind of know right off the bat yeah i mean if things are going to click they're gonna they're gonna click because right dylan or gabriel and that's one year so yeah that's a great point well it's been very interesting to watch and uh yeah we're still working on the we're workshopping the name for for we've had

uh necos grenades uh i kind of like that one yeah when a portal person commits um i still think i i still think necos bombs work but yeah we could we could go around pete but the problem is pete thamel also breaks a lot of news in the college football space. So if we do a Pete something, people might get confused that we're talking about him. And let's be clear that Pete is, I'm still working to get there.

I appreciate it. Listen, Pete's a little older than you. You keep working at it. You'll be right there. But yeah, we'll go with NACOS grenades for now. I'm good with NACOS.

That's my favorite. It's the leader of the clubhouse. I am open to suggestions. Hit me up, Andy underscore Staples on Twitter. We can find, you know, we're at PeteNacos underscore on Twitter. We can find the perfect one. But you just keep those coming, and we'll keep reading them. Sounds like a plan.

Sounds like a plan. Thanks so much, Andy. Thank you, Pete. Pete Nako, still workshopping the name for when Pete breaks Transfer Portal news, but he breaks so much of it, we'll have more opportunities to get that thing figured out. The big news in college basketball on Sunday, though, Bronny James making his debut. That's LeBron's son. And I think you making his debut. That's LeBron's son.

And I think you assume, oh, it's LeBron's son. He must be awesome. Well, he's pretty good. But a lot has gone on between him getting to USC and him making his debut against Long Beach State on Sunday. So we're going to talk some college hoops right now. And this is going to be a fairly regular thing on the show. Obviously, this will still be a mostly college football show.

But like I said earlier, we know you love your schools. And so we're going to talk about your schools with all of the things they do. We're going to talk about multiple other sports. But obviously, college hoops we want to get into because this is going to be dominating a lot of the headlines. I actually think college hoops, because of NIL, has become easier to follow than it was before because it's not all the really good players just pop in for a year and then leave. You see guys staying longer. You get to know them.

You kind of understand it. It feels a little more like college football in that way. So we'll talk a little Bronny James with Jeff Goodman from Field of 68. We'll also talk about Arizona, which looks like maybe the best team in the country. And we'll talk a little Purdue and Zach Eadie, who is one of those players who we've now gotten to know over the years and still one of the best players in the country. Here is Jeff Goodman, who is the best in the country. We are joined now by the great Jeff Goodman, the Field of 68 podcast empire.

I know everybody was up listening to Field of 68 after dark on Saturday night, after a huge night of college hoops. But Jeff, we got to talk first about Bronny James, his debut. This is the one. So this is our first college basketball segment. We're going to get everybody kind of broken in. We'll go with the one that everybody's Googling. Did Bronny James play?

How much did he score? Let's talk about Bronny James' debut for USC in a losing effort to Long Beach State. Congratulations, Dan Monson. But, Bronny, it's been such this whirlwind. You know, he's, because of who he is, he's a very famous recruit. He signs with USC. Cardiac arrest in July. And now he's finally able to get on the court. What did you see from him relative to what he looked like as a recruit yeah

I saw him a bunch you know over the last few years and and he got progressively better each year you know first first time I saw him I'm like all right is he going to be more than just kind of a mid major guy and he turned himself into a you know player that that was a McDonald's All-American you know might have gotten a little bit of the edge there because of his dad name but but listen this kid knows how to play that's the bottom line is he got that from lebron no he's not you know 6 8 270 and super explosive but you know what he is a high iq ball moving terrific defender who doesn't make mistakes who plays with incredible poise that's the one thing Andy when you saw him in his debut you said like this dude just he knows how to play he's not going to be rattled now he missed the key free throw down the stretch yeah

so did I see though yeah yeah he wasn't the only one he was not the only one um but but he was really to me he looked like he belonged in in his debut after which he he like you said listen he had cardiac arrest they weren't sure he's going to play again he's off and not able to do a whole heck of a lot misses the the first eight games, misses a ton of the preseason, and he looks like he belongs. So he's only going to get better. However, here's what I'll say. I've said this before. The expectations placed on him are way too much and always have been.

And I just hope this slows down the process for Bronny James. I hope LeBron doesn't. Listen, it's not like LeBron's retiring after this year. Like, he's turning 39. He's going to make it to 40. So don't rush your kid to the NBA. You're going to play with him. I think he'll play with him.

But let him go and play two years in college or a year and three quarters in college because I think he needs it. I don't think he's a one and done. I think you're doing a disservice to your kid in a lot of ways if you're going to rush him after just one year or really three quarters of a year. Well, so the first play that just makes your eyes pop up and you go,

okay, I see whose kid this is, was the chase down block in the first half. And I will say, I thought it was interesting, Andy Enfield had him in on the last play of regulation. Now, that might've been because Dennis Rodman's kid had just fouled out, which is another subplot. He's a transfer from Washington State, but they've trusted Ronnie James enough to have him in on that last play of regulation.

Had him in the first couple minutes of overtime as well. But then you do wonder about conditioning. Is he ready to be in crunch time in game one for him? Yeah, I think when we look at his season, obviously the trajectory is going to go up because, again, he's going to get more comfortable. His shot has gotten better over the last couple of years. But I think he's a piece unless somebody gets hurt.

You know, he's not playing minutes over Boogie Ellis. He's not playing him over the number one freshman, Isaiah Collier. He's not playing him over Kobe Johnson, who's an elite defender with more size. So I think he's going to be a role player. And I think, you know, he'll be a hell of a role player at that because again, he impacts winning. He, you know, the box score is never going to show up as like, oh my God, he had, you know, a double double. That's just not going to be his role. But you just watch him and you can tell he's got the intangibles. And here's the biggest

thing, Andy, that I don't think people talk about enough. And again, I've seen him for probably three or four years now. Like his teammates really like playing with him because he's not about himself and he never has been about himself. He just kind of plays the game the way it's supposed to be played, makes the right play, right?'t over-dribble. You watch him. What does he do? He gets the ball. He moves the ball. So guys love playing with him because, again, he's not a guy looking for his.

Well, and I thought it was interesting. You had the line of students wrapped around the Galen Center. If you Googled USC basketball, it was all Bronny James stuff. And you do wonder how that affects like, because like you said, Collier is a potential top three draft pick next year. Like we're talking about guys that are, that are in a little different place. I wonder if he hadn't had the heart issue, what would Bronny James have, have been coming into the season? Would he have been kind of a rotational off the bench role player starter player? Same thing. A starter?

Yeah, okay. That's what I thought. The same exact thing he is and he's going to be. I don't think anything changes. I just think, again, he missed the first eight games, and it might take him a little bit longer. You know, you always want to see, like, that second game, right? Sometimes that first game is deceptive.

It could be both ways, right? A guy could be overwhelmed or he could play above his talent level. Again, I think this was kind of brawny. I think some games you're going to get 10, 12, 14 points out of him. Other games he's going to do this and score a few points and have... I said

if you had asked me what his numbers are going to be at the end of the year, I would have said like 6 to 8 points three assists three rebounds a game you know shooting 36 from three uh again just making making his guys better and and again that doesn't jump off the pages of one and done but but when you're when you're LeBron's kid, does an NBA team, and I know you didn't get me on here to talk about this, and this is probably not what we even should be talking about after he makes his debut, but it is something that's interesting,

is does an NBA team take him with the 15th pick? You might get LeBron to sign with you out of that. Yeah. If I'm Minnesota, here's one. All right, here's a great example. All right. If I'm the Boston Celtics, okay, if I'm the Boston Celtics and I don't win it all this year and I get to the NBA finals

and I've got Tatum and Jalen Brown and all these dudes and I live in Boston. Porzingis, yeah. Yeah, Porzingis and Drew Holiday and you're like, all right, like with the 28th pick, would we burn it on Bronny James to get LeBron and have a chance for the next two years? Hell yes. Hell yeah.

That's exactly right. Well, and that – listen, sometimes membership has its privileges. But speaking of membership, let's talk about the University of Arizona Alumni Association, something you belong to, because your alma mater's team looks unbelievable i i was gonna ask you what the best undefeated you know the remaining undefeated teams is but i i think you were probably gonna answer arizona so i i do want to like what what happened to caleb love on the trip from chapel hill to tucson like he's he's like a different guy yeah yeah listen and I was super critical how about this so I I said when they got him I took him out of my top 25.

because he was so uh tough to watch last year and he didn't really guard and you know the the offensive efficiency hadn't had never been great right he was a guy that was kind of an all or nothing type guy. And when he was all, man, he was unbelievable. As we saw in the Final Four run a couple years ago. Last year, he was just not very good for the most part. More down than up. And again, my biggest problem was he did not guard. So he goes to Tucson.

And the difference is now Tommy Lloyd has other dudes and Caleb love heard it too he heard the skeptics whether it was me whether it was other people that not a team player didn't make people better didn't guard all this but now he's got other guys like Jayden Bradley if if Caleb love doesn't guard he brings on Jayden Bradley uh who's an elite athlete and defender coming off the bench transfer from Alabama you know he's got Kai Boswell one of the best point guards in the country running the team right now as a sophomore so it's funny so I was so harsh with them Andy that after the game they beat Duke and I actually went up to him and apologized after the game and said hey man like that was like Iowa York he was awesome

in that game yeah Duke it was a game it was a Cameron you're right Cameron yeah so I I just you know I felt like again but it's hard because I don't know how you feel about this but I've asked other college players this uh including Armando Bacon not specifically about Caleb Love but I said you know you guys are making more money than I am some of you right now so am I allowed to be critical of you guys because you're you're quasi pros some of you are really pros right now and he said to me absolutely Baycott's like a breath of fresh air um and he said absolutely you can criticize me if I'm not playing well you should criticize me if I'm not playing well.

You should criticize me because we are making money now. But I probably took it a little bit too far with Caleb Love. And I've been blown away by, again, the fact that Tommy Lloyd's kind of held him accountable. And he, in return, has responded and guarded consistently and been better and been more efficient. And I think it starts there. But man, this Arizona team has balance. They've got depth. They've got a great mix of international guys and transfers.

A lot of, you know, Keyshawn Johnson, kid who went to the national title game for San Diego State, comes in. And he's just an MF-er defensively. So let's go from one team that got bounced early in the NCAA tournament to another. And it's funny because in football, we just don't, and we may get this as the playoff comes in and talk about this, but I find it interesting. Like if you talk to the casual fan, the last thing they remember about Arizonadue is how they left the ncaa tournament but these are two of the best teams in the country again this season and like you go back to virginia a few years ago where

they get bounced by umbc in the first round come back and win the national title purdue playing very well played a really fun game against alabama on saturday night where you had you had zach edie with 35 points fouled out practically half of Alabama's team. He was perfect from the free throw line. And then Sears for Alabama with 35 points. That was as good as it gets. Yeah, and the crazy part is, Andy, next Saturday I'll be there in Indiana. It's a doubleheader.

It's actually Kansas and Indiana at 1230. And then I'm going to get my daughter in the car. She's a sophomore at Indiana right now. And we're going to shoot over to Purdue, Arizona in Indianapolis at Bankers Life. So, you know, one verse, two or three, whatever you want to put Purdue, you know, they're probably three behind Kansas. But, you know know at this point those are two of the best teams in the country and I can't wait because Arizona has beaten

Michigan State and Duke two teams that aren't in the top 25 right now okay so those are their two big wins they beat they blasted Wisconsin over the weekend in Wisconsin I think at the end of the day is probably a top 25-ish team this This one, if they beat Purdue in Indy, okay, I'm ready to say you're clearly the best team in the country, and we do have a dominant team this year. I don't think it's going to happen. I think Purdue wins this game because, frankly, I think Braden Smith is a completely different player than he was last year in terms of confidence and his ability now to re-ball screens

and react quickly and not dribble, dribble, dribble out of it, but say, you know what, I'm open. They're backing off me because of Zach Eaddy. I'm going to shoot the hell out of the ball here, and I have confidence. This is a kid that people don't realize going into his freshman year, that whole summer, he had been hurt, so he missed that whole summer. So last year was almost like people, like I was shocked. He was as good as he was.

First of all, he's tiny or maybe not tiny, but he's small. And he missed all this time. So I think he's a completely different player this year. Bring in Lance Jones from Southern Illinois, who frustrates me at times because he takes some bonehead shots. But what he is is is a big strong athletic guard who's fearless and can really defend right so that helps them because they didn't really have that last year um but ultimately listen it comes down to how tight are they going

to be in the first round of that tournament and who do they go up against and once you get through it i was at that virginia gardner web game and they were tight and they were rattled a little bit at halftime it was close and i remember talking to kyle guy and ty jerome after the game and they admitted they were like yeah we were nervous uh and purdue's gonna be nervous matt painter knows that zach edie knows that they all know that but if they can get through that first one i think then you kind of you exhale and and i think yeah this year well let's talk about zach he's later in the show we're going to be talking to to justin hopkins who works for our oregon site about dylan gabriel who is a quarterback going from oklahoma to oregon and dylan gabriel is

one of those guys that i don't know that what in it he has in terms of an nfl future but he's extremely valuable as a college football quarterback which is why he went in the portal and is getting a good deal at Oregon. Zach Eady, 7'3", feels like he's been basically kind of schemed out of the game that the NBA plays, but he seems like he's still incredibly valuable in college. Yeah, these bigs, man, it's just so different now because, again, you look at it 10 years ago and Julio Okafor was a top, what, three pick. Yeah. And now if he was playing college basketball, he wouldn't be drafted.

And if Zach Eady could have been drafted in the first round of the top 40, he probably would have been gone. Now he's making as much Nil as as you know he would probably if he had you know gone to the second round pick yeah yeah second round pick exactly so in his opinion it's and and again this is a kid you got to remember like just started playing basketball like six years ago you know he grew up in canada playing baseball playing a little bit of hockey but more of a baseball player first baseman and um so he's getting better and better you know he grew up in canada playing baseball playing a little bit of hockey but more of a baseball player first baseman and um so he's getting better and better you know instinctively he's getting better and better each year and the one thing it's funny because you look at hunter

dickinson who transferred from michigan to kansas and hunter has really been able to step out and make shots from from three okay so like what are the NBA, they're telling you as a big, right? You better be able to go out and be able to space it and make some shots from the perimeter. And then you better be able to guard ball screens, right? Because everybody wants to switch right now in the NBA. And if you can't guard and Hunter, that's his probably bigger weakness right now. Zach Eadie's gotten a lot better defensively,

but Zach Eadie is not going to step out. And I asked him about it a couple weeks ago when I was down at West Lafayette. I said, like, why don't you step out and show people that you can make this shot? Because supposedly he can. You know, Painter says that, and Eadie says that a little bit. And he said, he's like, listen, I know where my bread is buttered. I know where my team needs me i want us to win and ultimately honestly if he's down there andy he's drawing double teams and there's a reason braden smith is wide open those guys should be making those threes

on that team if they're decent shooters because they're all uncontested threes one after the other wow i i'm excited because zach Eady, Hunter Dickinson, them being back in college basketball again, it feels like NIL has made college basketball something closer to what we remember when we were kids, when there were people you remembered in the sport for three and four years, and it wasn't this continually changing cast of characters.

Now, they might be moving teams, like Caleb Love or Hunter Dickinson, but we know who they are, and we have kind of a history with them. Yeah, I mean, the bigs stick around. The guards and wings don't. And the other thing this year that's – the last couple years has been different is the freshman classes have been very, very underwhelming, very underwhelming. And you'll see it with the NBA draft this year, especially.

There's nobody at the top. There's nobody. Isaiah Collier's a nice player, as you watched tonight, but he struggled. He's not Brandon Miller from last year. No. There's just nobody right now in this year's class or next year's class coming in other than Cooper Flagg. Cooper Flagg is the one guy you're going to tank for, but nobody like the Washington

wizards right now stink, the pistons stink. And like, you feel bad. Cause honestly they're, they're, they're going to want to trade out of that number one pick whoever gets it. Cause it's, it's a type of pick that kind of like Anthony Bennett that year when the couch got him, get you fired forgot about Anthony Bennett yeah it's Chris Grant they're GM fired because again you can't win yeah well we always when we have you on Jeff Goodman field of 68 read him at the messenger thank you so much thanks my man appreciate it honored to uh be the first hoops guest well we're going we're going into hoops we're gonna be we've dipped our toe in now Now we're going to start dipping the foot in.

Love it. Thank you, Jeff. That's exactly right. Of course, we're going to have Joe Tipton from On3. He's coming on Thursday. We've got to talk about a big weekend in hoops next weekend. We talked about Purdue and Arizona with Jeff. They are playing next week in Indianapolis.

Jeff's heading to that game. It's going to be a lot of fun. This is getting interesting now in college hoops. And look, we're going to have a little lull. But we've got some bowl games too. Now, let's not forget about that. But there is still news happening in the transfer portal all the time. And the biggest news of the weekend was Dylan Gabriel. Late of Oklahoma.

Sorry, I got my O schools mixed up. Late of Oklahoma, he is going to Oregon. And I think if you watched that Oregon offense with Bo Nix and you watched Dylan Gabriel in two seasons at Oklahoma, you're thinking, you know what? This guy looks like a really fun fit in this offense. And it's pretty exciting. But there is a little domino effect and a very intriguing secondary portal recruiting story to this.

Justin Hopkins from ScoopDuck joins us to explain all of it. Welcome, Justin Hopkins of ScoopDuck, and it's been a very busy weekend for Justin on Saturday. Commitment from Dylan Gabriel, late of Oklahoma, late of UCF, now headed to Oregon, which, by the way, was the school he wanted to go to in the first place, Justin. He was going to go sign, well, I mean, all those Hawaii guys wanted to play for Oregon because of Marcus Mariota. Yeah. Yeah. No.

And Dylan Gabriel, I think it made it well known that he wanted. Like, this is the way he gets to end his career as he wants, right? He's more than likely going to compete, you know, or be in the Heisman conversation, hopefully. And he gets to finish it atregon where he wanted to go all along pretty fun pretty pretty fun this is what makes college football fun is these little stories like this and wearing marcus mariotta's number like that yeah it's yeah it is amazing because he he's he's such an influence on all those qbs that came out of hawaii and i'd imagine like oregon's a special place to all of them for that reason yeah he really did

kind of pave the way his success um you know that's it's and and then you look at Marcus Mariota the person and everybody realizes wow this is a really awesome dude like he's just such a good person to his core and he grew up that way so I think a lot of these young men look up to him because of the person he is on the field success he had at Oregon they're like man this guy maybe hasn't had the NFL career that you'd hope for but shoot there isn't anybody in the world that doesn't root for Marcus Mariota because he's such a great guy well let's talk about Dylan Gabriel in this offense so this is a little bit different than when Bo Nix got there because Bo Nix got there Kenny Dillingham

was the OC. He and Kenny had worked together at Auburn before. They both knew each other pretty well. This is Will Stein and Dylan Gabriel, who don't have a history together. Gabriel, when he went to Oklahoma, was playing for his UCF OC. So this is a little bit new for him. But how does he fit into the offense they run? Yeah, I think, you know, I think this offense sets up any quarterback for success if they understand the playbook, if they understand where everybody's supposed to be. I think that's what made Bo Nix just so efficient and made so few mistakes.

He knew where every receiver was going to be. So he's making read one, read two, and all of a sudden, like, it's not there. I'll hit my check down. I haven't even looked at yet, but I know he's over here. And I think that's what Will Stein's offense really does. It gives you options and almost always has something that's available to you if you don't force it. So, you know, Bo Nix threw two interceptions this year, really only threw one, but he did get credited for a second. And I think that's what Dylan Gabriel has to do. Take what's there, okay?

Don't try and push the ball, force it into these tight windows. It doesn't have to go downfield all the time. We know he's got an arm. I think the one thing he'll bring that maybe Oregon didn't utilize with Bo Nix, probably because of depth concerns, is the legs. Dylan Gabriel can run. I think we'll see that a little bit more in this offense but i mean you i know you know but you look at this oregon offense and as efficient

as it was this year there's no reason to change much no and that's the thing you've got a guy who has you know similar ability to run to bo nicks and has been known as a high volume very accurate efficient passer throughout his time in college, which that's what Bo Nix was at Oregon. That's not what Bo Nix was at Auburn. So like we, we already know Dylan Gabriel can be that because he's been that at Oklahoma. Yeah. It's almost like, you know, Oregon and Dan Lanning very early, of course, ran the lab test and said, well, let's take a high volume guy, you know, pretty decent completion percentage and see if we can work him into the offense. And of course, the Bo Nix experiment worked marvelously.

And you look at Dylan Gabriel and his experience and what he's done at UCF and what he's done in Oklahoma and just his completion percentage, you know, over 100 passing touchdowns, over 14,000 yards. You think, well, this is kind of the Bo Nix experiment reincarnated. It worked really well. Let's do it again. So, and he might, and I think Gabriel comes in even more polished than Bo Nix did when he transferred to Oregon two years ago. So Gabriel commits on Saturday very quickly. There's a very cryptic post from Ty Thompson, who was the backup at Oregon under, you know, when Bo Nix was there, a five-star prospect. He actually was at Oregon before Bo Nix got there. And clearly it looks like, okay, I'm not getting the starting job. It shows him walking away past a row of Oregon helmets. And then on Sunday, he tells Pete Thamel

from ESPN, he is entering the transfer portal. So what was Ty Thompson's Oregon career like, and where do you think he's going to be looking at going? Yeah. I mean, just to answer the first part that his career, you know, he's the, he was the guy everybody rooted for, right. He'd get out there and you'd want to see him play and he'd make mistakes. And a lot of fans would say, okay, those weren't great mistakes, but you know, Ty just needs more time. Ty just, and I think because he stuck with the transition from Mario to Lanning and Dillingham left and you've got Will Stein in here. And like you said, Bo Nix came in, he's just been around the program a long time and just, he's a pretty quiet guy, but always he's kept his nose clean,

been a great team leader. You know, just a lot of fans love him. And it's it's the hard truth of college football, right? It's, you know, with the transfer portal being created to help student athletes maybe find that greener pasture. It's also opened the doorway for it to be a business for coaches. They've got to win. And if these guys haven't produced in a certain amount of time, it's time to kind of have that conversation. And so for Ty, I guess to answer the second part, you know, I don't really know where he goes because his body of work is just so unfinished, right? You don't know, like he's a five-star, but so far, what's he done at the collegiate level? Not a whole heck of a lot, played some mop time and some cleanup time, and it hasn't always been the best, but you just kind of wonder, he's probably not getting a ton of reps so if you make him the

guy and you work on developing him can he be that i would immediately look at kenny gillingham at asu arizona state which is where ty is from ty is from gilbert arizona which suburban phoenix so uh you're you're yeah that's exactly what i was thinking is if Kenny liked coaching him the year he coached him, that's an easy fit. And I heard from sources while Kenny was here in that year that they just felt that to that point, Ty hadn't gotten a lot of development from previous coaches. And so they kind of felt like, OK, yeah, here's a guy who's been in the program a year or two, but is very much at a freshman level still from that standpoint because he just hasn't had the time to develop so I think if you're you know Kenny Dillingham you maybe have

the I know we'll get into it the Dante Moore talk with with Ty you say hey maybe I don't make you the starter this year but come in and and maybe in two years you're the guy I don't know so you mentioned Dante Moore who is one of the more interesting people in the transfer portal so for those who don't know we'll do the whole history dante moore was a five-star quarterback from detroit he was originally committed to oregon he then flipped to ucla on signing day he played some at ucla this year and now is back in the port or now is in the portal and Michigan's a possibility right by home Oregon's a possibility where he was originally committed but in both cases there's a veteran quarterback in the way and he seems perfectly cool with that unique is the word to

use here right because this is not typical of a quarterback going into the transport, especially somebody that's basically going to have every power five school chasing him like Dante Moore does. And it really makes you maybe appreciate the level-headedness of his family, of who he's getting his advice from. Like, hey, maybe sitting for a year isn't bad. Going and learning from a Dylan Gabriel, McCarthy, whoever you're going to go learn from an experienced guy. And it's, it's a, it's unique way. And you look at

like, kind of like looking back and you think, man, Dan Lanning might land Dylan Gabriel and Dante Moore in the same transfer period. That's unreal. And I, and I do think that there's a little bit of a hint here that the, the Ty Thompson move really opens that door for Dante Moore. Well, and the Dante Moore thing is very interesting because whether he winds up at Oregon or Michigan and winds up being the starter there as a third-year college player, that's kind of what would have happened had he signed with one of those schools out of high school. But he did, like, it felt like the flip to UCLA was a chance to play because they weren't sure what they wanted.

They had Ethan Garbers and Colin Schley, and it looked like there was a chance, and he did get a chance to play. And I think what he learned was he may not be quite ready yet. Yeah, I think I've been around because Chip Kelly was here at Oregon, and I've met him personally and talked to him, and he's always the smartest guy in the room. He really like Utah X and O's on offense with Chip and you're just like, I mean, and so I, if I was a quarterback and I was Dante Moore and Chip Kelly sat down and said, Hey, here's what I'm going to do with you. And here's how the offense you're

like, wow, that I could do that. I could be successful there. So I see that I'm not, I'm not saying he's sold him a raw bill of goods. We all still kind of envision Chip Kelly, the offensive mastermind. But I think maybe that window has passed Chip a little bit, and others have caught up to that style of offense, at least from a defensive standpoint. I think if you're Dante Moore, you go back to the drawing board, you're looking at Oregon, you're looking at Michigan,

and you said, hey, they had a guy with a ton of success in a, in an offense that works. I could learn that. I could be that guy. Yeah. It's, it's interesting because usually with the five-star QB, it doesn't matter. It's, I'm going to go find where I could play and that's it. And so this is, this is a little different, different take on that, but let's talk about the 2023 Oregon team. Obviously things did not end the way they wanted to in the Pac-12 championship game, but they've got one more game. They've got the Fiesta Bowl against Liberty, and it sounds like one very important outgoing player has decided he will play in this game.

Yeah. We've talked about Bo Nix already, and there's been a ton of talk about Bo Nix being in that Heisman trophy presentation, the finalist there. But what kind of got swept under the rug is the fact that he's going to play in the Fiesta Bowl. He's announced he'll come back and that he'll play. And it's just like, I don't know about you, but I love it. I mean, I understand why these guys make these business decisions and don't play them and get ready for the NFL. I totally get it, but it's refreshing. And I absolutely love it when somebody like Bo Nix does.

And I think that this is something Dan Lanning has said, hey, guys, look, didn't get the matchup we wanted, didn't make the playoffs like we wanted, but let's go out there and let's kick the crap out of Liberty and the Fiesta Bowl. And I believe he's that type of competitor, and I think that that's what he wants to do to kind of set the tone for this offseason.

Again, having somebody like Bo Nix in your program is so valuable for what he wants to do to kind of set the tone for this offseason again having somebody like beau nixon your program is so valuable for what he leaves behind the culture that he leaves behind and i think you know dan lanning's really trying to capitalize on that well i kairi jackson's announced he's going to opt out the cornerback but i would imagine there's some guys that'll think about playing just because beau nix is playing yeah i mean you look at a guy like troy frank Franklin who hasn't announced his intent or his decision yet on that. You know, Terrence Ferguson, the tight end could go both ways as looking at the NFL, looking towards returning. Those are the guys that

whatever decision they make, you might get them back to play. Hey, I want to play. Let's run it back one more time, Bo. I'd love to play with you one more time. So I think it could be kind of the cherry on top of the cake for what has been. I've done this a long time in covering Oregon specifically, and just the way Bo Nix carried himself and came in and really just revitalized this program on and off the field. Such a tremendous young man off the field. He's one of those guys you just gravitate to and i love to see that it's kind of going to end this way for him i'd love to see him win a heisman but this will still be fun yeah if he can go on a winner and and have fun with his teammates and you're right he he did because that mario leaving could have been such a a crippling moment for the

program and i know everybody was scared because it did feel like okay another coach is leaving but then you get Dan Lanning Bo Nix comes in and really settles things down and kind of raises the level of play offensively to back what you guys and Eugene are used to watching and it does feel like Oregon is a very sustainable program from here on out yeah I mean it was a fork in the road moment and you, you know, you as a fans, I know that they're looking back and saying, Oh, I'm glad Mario left. I'm glad you hear him say that. But at the time everybody was scared to death. Like Mario's leaving. Here's a fork in the road for Oregon. Which way are they going to go? Are they going

to kind of go back to make mediocrity or are they going to take the next level? And the next thing, you know, the guy that's showing up is, you years old and never been a head coach of a team before. So there's a lot of questions. Turns out he's really good at this. And it's been, like you said, Dan Lanning has done such a tremendous job identifying holes in the transfer portal and fixing them. Bo Nix is a perfect example of that. There's been Jordan Burch is another one. Kyrie Jackson. The list goes on and on. And he has built a roster that will be able to compete year in and year out with a combination of portal additions and effective high school recruiting as well. Well, and that's what's interesting.

So far, other than Dylan Gabriel, it's a lot of Oregon players going out because they weren't playing very much. The question now is where is Dan Landon going to go in the portal to spot recruit, to fill in holes? Oregon comes up whenever there's a big person in the portal because they've got a good collective. They're very organized on that front. Where do you see him targeting position-wise?

So a quarterback was going to be a big one, and it looks like that's at least halfway out of the way, if not all the way. You could just get Dylan Gabriel and be done. I think the next biggest one is safety. I think Oregon's got some concerns there at safety, and you can immediately point to that Pac-12 championship game. Washington was always a bad matchup for Oregon

because their strong suits on offense, you know, was Oregon's weaknesses on defense. So I think safety, you look for a body or two there, you know, depending on what Troy Franklin does, I assume he's going to the NFL. I think you need a couple of experienced guys there at wide receiver. I do believe they'll get Tez Johnson back. I do believe they'll get Treshawn Holden back. Those are big wins for Dan Lanning to bring both those guys back, but you could use a little bit more help there. And then of course, along with Dylan Gabriel visiting, Oregon brought in Walter Nolan,

the number one player in the transfer portal defense alignment. Here's the deal. As far as Dan Lanning goes in defense alignment, he's always going to recruit him because he loves him. So Oregon is going to be in the game with those guys. And that's pretty much most of the needs. They don't, I've said this elsewhere, but it's going to be quality, not quantity for the transfer portal this year. Well, there's only one Walter Nolan type in the portal right now. Maybe, maybe another one jumps in at some point, but there's only one like him right now. And Oregon does have to replace some D linemen who are, you know, sixth and seventh year guys who as great as they were

can't come back yeah yeah you do you do have some holes there i don't i don't think he needs a ton of guys but yeah somebody to steady the ship more so in the interior of that defensive line versus the edges and i think i mean walter nolan's a really good replacement well we shall see division street the uh the collective affiliated with Oregon. Maybe we're cut out for you on that one. So, Jay Hop, thank you so much. Thanks, Andy. That is Justin Hopkins from ScoopDuck.com.

And we'll see what happens with Dylan Gabriel at Oregon. Will he become the sixth transfer quarterback since 2017 to win the Heisman. That's right. Five transfer quarterbacks since 2017 have won the Heisman Trophy. The latest, of course, Jaden Daniels, who won it over the weekend. Congratulations to Jaden Daniels of LSU on the Heisman Trophy. You want to know how I voted? I am a Heisman voter. Well, the top three were Jaden Daniels,

Michael Penix Jr., and Bo Nix, and that is exactly how my ballot went this year. So I had Jaden number one, Penix number two, and Bo Nix number three. We have a big week for you. Obviously, we got the transfer portal. We are very close to signing day. National Signing Day is a week from Wednesday, so I imagine there'll be a Josh Newberg appearance on the show. Also, we're going to start previewing bowls. There are five bowl games on Saturday. Five! Chris Venini of The Athletic is going to join us as our special guest picker

because we are going to start picking bowl games. Not all of them. We're going to portion it out. But on Monday's show, we're going to start picking bowl games. Not all of them. We're going to portion it out. But on Monday's show, we're going to pick six bowl games. Because, man, it's that time of year. It's the most wonderful time of the year. Okay, I won't sing anymore. I promise.

But, yes, bowl games are coming. And we will talk to you on Monday night.