Andy & Ari On3 - Coach Prime's leading rusher hits the portal | Reggie Bush Heisman Returned |Andy's mock draft | Top 25 college football coaches

Episode Date: April 24, 2024

This show is sponsored by Rhoback, the makers of the world’s most comfortable hoodies, polos and shorts. Use the code “ANDY” on Rhoback.com for 20 percent off for all new customers through the end of this week.We’re a day away from the NFL draft, so it’s time for Andy to break down his mock draft. But first, there’s a lot of transfer portal news.0:00 Intro - Reggie Bush Gets his Heisman Back!12:56 Intro14:24 Transfer Portal Update - Colorado22:08 Other Portal News27:02 Jesse Simonton joins to talk the NFL Draft51:57 Jesse Simonton breaks down his top head coaches in college football1:14:42 Conclusion, Dear Andy Tomorrow - [e-mail] most interesting name is Dylan Edwards, the Colorado tailback who led the Buffaloes in rushing last season. Edwards was one of Deion Sanders’ first big flips, choosing Colorado over Notre Dame out of high school. But now Edwards plans to hit the portal. Where will he go? We’re not quite sure, but Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson posted a photo of he and Edwards playing together in pee-wee football.Next, Andy and On3 national writer Jesse Simonton have things to argue about. Andy released his mock draft, while Jesse released his All-College Football team of potential NFL draftees.Jesse also revealed his top 25 college football coaches this week. That topic certainly won’t create any debate in the chat.

Welcome to an emergency edition of Andy Staples on three. Yeah, big news. Reggie Bush has got his Heisman back. Finally, the Heisman Trust has come to its senses and reinstated Reggie Bush's 2005 Heisman Trophy. About time, about time. This is a case that has dragged on four years that started with Reggie Bush and his family taking money from two guys who wanted to be Reggie Bush's agent. So took money, lived rent-free in house. The parents did all stuff that you could do now that since 2021 has been perfectly within the rules in college sports, but the Heisman

trust, no, no, we couldn't give it back. And eventually they caved to pressure though. But you had guys like Johnny Manziel saying, listen listen i'm not going to the heisman ceremony until you give reggie his heisman back because it was always stupid that bush lost his heisman trophy over this you had situations where people were accused of taking money you had situations where people were accused of much worse things and didn't lose their Heisman Trophy. So this was always dumb that he didn't have it, but it was especially dumb since 2021 when they changed the rules to allow the thing he got it stripped for that he didn't have it. So the Heisman Trust comes to its senses and now Reggie Bush has his Heisman Trophy back. But let's go back through the case. Let's walk down memory lane,

just so we can see how stupid this was that Reggie Bush didn't have his Heisman Trophy. So the case involved is that Reggie Bush took money from a couple of agents, took gifts. His parents lived in a house that one of the wannabe agents had bought. And the NCAA retconned this into saying that those agents did this to help USC, which they didn't. In fact, they tried to tie all of this

to USC's running backs coach Todd McNair. He ended up suing the NCAA for defamation and the NCAA ended up paying him in 2021. So it was always sketchy, shady. And yes, it was against the rules for him to take what he took from those guys in 2003, 2004, 2005. It was. But they were stupid rules, which is why those rules don't exist anymore. Because again, and I've said this for a long, long time, including when USC was being investigated by this, by the NCAA over this, there's nothing morally wrong with giving people money for being good at football. And in this particular case, they never really could tie USC to it. And that's

the thing, like Reggie Bush didn't lose his Heisman when it came out that he took money from two guys who wanted to be his agent. Like that was not really in doubt as of about 2006. He had to give up his Heisman in 2010 after the NCAA sanctions came down. And if you remember correctly, this particular case, they had the picture of Todd McNair with the two agents. I believe the other person in the picture was Faison Love, who played Big Worm in Friday. Like, it was the dumbest case you've ever seen.

And then you found out as the years went by, as Todd McNair's suit unfolded, that the NCAA basically cooked the evidence. They didn't actually have any. That USC was involved in this. And it made perfect sense as to why these agents wanted to get in with Reggie Bush. He was the most exciting player in college football. He was a surefire first round draft pick. We were sure he was going to be a star in the NFL. He was a very good NFL player. He actually wasn't the level of star we thought he'd be based on the level of star he was in college. But let's go back to 2004, 2005.

He was electrifying. Watching Reggie Bush play at USC was incredible. Now, Mary says his ass cheated. Also, Vince Young deserved the award instead. If you want to go relitigate the 2005 Heisman Trophy and say that Vince Young should have gotten it. I'm not going to argue with you there. Vince Young had an awesome season and when they played, which was after the trophy was given out, Vince Young won. So I don't have a problem with you saying that. If you believe Vince Young should have won that trophy, that's fine. But Reggie did win it and it got taken away for some pretty dumb reasons

and fortunately now it's coming back steve says glad you're mentioning that it's it's from external agents who are giving him money and not usc well that's what happened that's what happened the ncaa had to retcon this whole thing to make it about USC so it could punish USC. But it's really just a prime example of how the NCAA system was never going to be sustainable. The system of not letting the athletes get paid by anybody was never going to be sustainable because Reggie Bush was an incredibly valuable person when he was at USC. Everybody wanted a piece of him. Everybody who was going to be a marketing agent or an agent in NFL circles wanted Reggie Bush as a client.

There was value there. So to say he can't take anything from any of these people was unsustainable. Because if enough people throw enough money at enough different people, those people are going to start taking it because they're not stupid. They understand how valuable they are in the system. And so this was one of the earliest instances where you realize this is never going to sustain. You're going to get to a system where these guys are going to be allowed to have agents, where people are going to be allowed to pay them, whether that's the schools or somebody else. Right now it's somebody else. If you follow the news, the state of Virginia just passed a law. As of June 1st, the schools will be able to pay them in Virginia,

which means everybody else is going to pass the same law. So the world has come to its senses on this. And now finally, the Heisman Trophy itself, the Heisman Trust, the people who hand out the trophy, they've come to their senses as well. And good. I hope that Reggie Bush's Heisman Trust, the people who hand out the trophy, they've come to their senses as well. And good. I hope that Reggie Bush's Heisman trophy gets to make an appearance in a Wendy's commercial now. I really do. He's earned it. Let him make some cash off this thing. There's enough former Heisman winners cashing in on their trophies. Reggie's been doing a good job working in TV. He's been doing a lot of things, but there's always been this thing hanging over that he got punished for this. Hardly anybody else actually did. Todd McNair got punished punished but he at least got paid by the NCAA in that that settlement now it all makes sense Johnny Manziel he tweeted

couldn't be happier for my guy and Johnny I think had a a big hand in this because Johnny saying that he was not going to the heisman ceremony if reggie didn't get his heisman back i think there were going to be other heisman trophy winners who maybe hadn't said that publicly but were not going to be there who were going to protest this in that way neil now reinstate ohio state for tattoo gate well they've been reinstated ohio state is eligible to win trophies uh you know that they chose not to take the bowl ban in 2011 when they could have missed a pretty mid gator bowl against florida and then had to miss the 2012 one but yeah that like jim trestle's a university president like it's all been

reinstated but that was dumb too I agree the Ohio State tattoo thing was dumb I remember when that happened the the column I wrote after it happened was Terrell Pryor, Devere Posey all you guys just go pro now don't don't play in this system anymore it's stupid and Reggie Bush was already gone by the time all this stuff had happened. But this was just an example of holding up the NCAA's rules as something sacred. These rules against paying players, against players taking money. It wasn't even against schools paying players. It was against players taking money from people who wanted to give them money for being good at football. Like that was something sacred troy in the chat if bush gets his highs and backs totally agree then trestle should get

his reputation back he's a university president he got it back relax guys my goodness Relax, guys. My goodness. But Reggie Bush, what do you do now? Like I said before, you got to get that Heisman Trophy in some Wendy's commercials. Like I would just bring the Heisman Trophy everywhere with me if I was Reggie Bush. Like, hey, got it back.

It's mine now. Never taking it away again. Never giving it back again. And the Heisman trust it's too late. You should have done this three years ago. Like the day the NCAA changed the rules is when this should have come back. Onakuno in the chat, does SMU get their 1987 and 1988 seasons back?

They should. You invent a time machine and we'll let SMU play football in the late 80s. But yeah, Reggie Bush should just carry that heisman trophy everywhere be like got it back never should have lost it remember me i won the 2005 heisman trophy i was awesome the heisman trust the the statement they put out. Explained it very well, I thought, because they talked about, you know, massive changes in college football. And that's the reason they're doing this. This is to reflect the massive changes in college football. And yeah, I think everybody's kind of on board with this now. I still, it's interesting as we talk about different teams, different players, as players move around based on NIL deals, I do see occasionally, well, they bought a championship

and good luck with all those bought wins. Guys, we're past that. We're past that. The players are incredibly valuable pieces of a multi-billion dollar industry. Reggie Bush was an incredibly valuable piece of what might not quite have been multi-billion dollar by that point. Might have only been a multi-million dollar industry at that point, but it was headed toward multi-billion. And you knew you couldn't sustain it. You knew you couldn't keep saying these guys can't take any money. It didn't make any sense.

There's nothing morally wrong with giving people money for being good at football. And now a grave injustice has been corrected. So congratulations to Reggie Bush. Enjoy your Heisman. Again, put it wherever you want. Put it in your living room. Put it in your trophy case. If you're still mad at the Heisman Trust, put it in your bathroom. It's yours.

You can put it wherever you want. Congratulations to Reggie Bush. And kudos to the Heisman Trust. You're three years late on this, but you got it right. Welcome to Andy Staples on three. It is NFL Draft Eve. One day away from guys in suits they may or may not regret wearing, hugging Roger Goodell, and knowing they're about to get paid.

We're going to talk about those guys later in the show. My mock draft is out. Lots of offensive linemen, lots of quarterbacks. Jesse Simonton and I will break that all down, Jesse. Of course, one of On3's national writers. We also have to talk to Jesse about his top 25 college coaches list which I'm sure will produce no angst or debate in the comments section especially where he's got Ryan Day because Ryan Day doesn't ever produce angst or debate

in the comments section oh it's gonna be it to be, it's going to be glorious. Jesse also has his all college football team heading into the draft. So we can talk about that with the mock draft as well. Because these are, these are the guys that were kind of our favorites in college football. Some of them are potential first rounders. A lot of them are not though.

Like where's the thicker kicker going to go? Is Harrison Mivas getting drafted? Is he going to be a free agent signing? Is there a place in the NFL? I would think so. Man's hitting 60-yard bombs to beat Kansas State. Like, I think there's a spot for the man. But we'll talk about that in a bit.

First, we're going to talk about the transfer portal because it is popping. Popping. we're going to talk about the transfer portal because it is popping, popping. We've talked about Colorado quite a bit during this spring transfer portal window because they had players going in. They've had players that they are pulling out to come onto their team for the fall. Until Tuesday, it seemed like most of the players that were leaving Colorado were players that they did not expect to have a big role on the team. Savion Washington, who was a starting left tackle, that's probably the one who played the biggest role last year, who was leaving. He committed to Syracuse on Tuesday. But remember, they did sign Jordan Seaton, the number one offensive tackle prospect in the country, and they had a couple offensive line transfers come in.

So they were feeling pretty good about where they were a couple offensive line transfers come in. So they were feeling pretty good about where they were on the offensive line. Tuesday's where it got a little bit different. Dylan Edwards, their leading rusher from 2023 entered the transfer portal. I remember Dylan Edwards was a freshman last year. Coach prime gets the job. He flips Dylan Edwards from Notre Dame. Now, this is a guy he knew from when he was a kid. Dylan Edwards grew up mostly in Kansas, though, and that becomes part of the story a little bit later. But Dylan Edwards decides, I'm out, and we'll see where he winds up. Maybe K-State, maybe Nebraska, but he's headed to the portal according to our Pete Nacos. And this is one that's interesting because this is not one that I think Colorado was expecting

or Dion was expecting if you asked him a couple weeks ago. This is a guy that he's been praising in the spring. This is a guy that they wanted to have a role in this offense. Now, they did get a commitment from Dallin Hayden, the Ohio State transfer. So that could be the reason. Because remember, I said Dylan Edwards is the leading rusher last year. That was with 321 yards on 76 carries. Anthony Hankerson was second with 321 yards on 76 carries. Anthony Hankerson was second with 319 yards on 78 carries. So it was a very much a running back by committee situation. Dylan Edwards, you remember it's interesting because the way he came on the scene, you probably thought he had a

bigger season than he did. So I mentioned 321 yards led the Buffaloes by two yards. He also had 36 catches for 299 yards and four TDs, but five of those catches went for 135 yards and three touchdowns in the season opener against TCU. That was the one where we were saying, oh my God, this offense is unbelievable. They got Dylan Edwards and Travis Hunter and Jimmy Horn, so many weapons. And of course, Shador Sanders throwing everybody the ball. Well, they still have Shador Sanders and they still have Travis Hunter and they still have Jimmy Horn Jr. They have LeJonte Wester from Florida Atlantic who came in that they feel like is going to do some pretty big things. But this one is interesting because, again, it was one, and I feel like it's the first one we've seen

where this was somebody they expected to contribute. And look, Colorado's not alone in that. There have been plenty of teams that have lost players that they thought would contribute to the portal. And it might be a role situation, or it might be that Dylan Edwards just thinks he can do better somewhere else or have a better role somewhere else. Christopher Neely, basically Dion's proxy, he's the guy behind the camera on a lot of Dion's

videos. He put out a video on Tuesday, basically saying that Dylan Edwards didn't want to compete. I'll be curious to see how Dylan Edwards responds to that. And I think maybe his choice of next school will probably give us a clue or a hint of how he responds to that. As far as where that school will be, we know somebody who wants Dylan Edwards real bad. And that is Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson, because when our Hayes Fawcett tweeted out that Dylan Edwards was expected to enter the portal, Avery Johnson retweeted that and then put the little house emoji, basically come home, come home to Kansas, not university Kansas, Kansas State. Avery Johnson then posted this picture of himself and dylan edwards playing peewee football and oh my god it's adorable avery johnson's hair not long yet rocking the short hair back then

adorable picture i feel like if you have the pop warner pic of you two playing together it's the ultimate recruiting tool because that's the first the pick of you two playing together. It's the ultimate recruiting tool. Because that's the first thing you say when you see that is, aw. And then you think about Dylan Edwards in that TCU game, how explosive he looked. And you think about Dylan Edwards, not the tallest running back.

You know who's been great with really short running backs? Kansas State. Then you think about Avery Johnson's really fast. And Kansas State is very committed to running the football. Can you imagine Avery Johnson and Dylan Edwards in a read option mesh? What do you do if you're the defensive end getting red on that play? I think that's what got probably some Kansas State fans excited on Tuesday. Although I do think there'll be competition for Dylan Edwards because we did see flashes

his freshman year of what he could be. And it was pretty interesting. As far as Colorado goes, am I going to predict doom and despair? No, I'm going to continue to predict the same thing I've been predicting all along. Colorado will be basically the same as they were last year. That's the prediction. Basically the same. Because they didn't really try to commit to building anything. They did essentially the same thing they did last year. I think it will net them the same results they got last year.

Now, if more people who we thought would contribute to them start to leave, remember they're not done with spring practice yet. So there's going to be more. I'm assuming the more is going to be people who aren't going to have roles. Because Deion Sanders' roster building philosophy is flush the people we don't think can play, bring in new people. Can those people play any better than the ones we just flushed? We don't know. And the problem with doing this in such high volume in the spring portal

is there isn't that level of quality. There probably is in the winter portal. There probably is that level of quality if you can get them to come to you, but the problem is everybody else is shopping like that too. So it's not an utter disaster because Dylan Edwards left Colorado, but it is a warning sign. If nobody else who they expect to contribute takes off between now and the closing of the Spring Portal window, then don't worry about it. If a few more do, yeah, that's cause for concern. But we shall see. We'll see where Dylan Edwards winds up. Again, that's an adorable photo from Avery Johnson. You see that photo and you're like, yeah, okay, you got to go to Kansas State because you got to recreate that photo. The first thing they do if he goes to Kansas State is they go out to the

field and recreate that photo. Got to. Other news in the transfer portal penny boone your 2023 mac offensive player of the year at toledo remember he had transferred to louisville and then this past week looked like he's not going to go to louisville so he was looking around at different schools it looks like he has picked a school according to on threes pete naco's but he's not leaving the state of kentucky penny boone favored to commit to kentucky now kentucky had great success with ray davis as a transfer running back last year remember ray davis had come from vanderbilt and was kentucky's leading rusher last year they've also got got Chip Trainham, who transferred from Ohio State this year. So they are heavily invested in transfer running backs,

but Chip Trainham and Penny Boone could be their one-two punch for new offense coordinator Bush Hamden at Kentucky. And also, remember, Rock Vandegrift, former Georgia backup quarterback, is your starting quarterback at Kentucky. So that will be a new look offense and two backs who we'll see how much they can contribute. But Ray Davis did a great job

as a transfer running back at Kentucky last year. I would imagine those two would carry the bulk of the load at Kentucky this year. One more transfer portal update. Penn State wide receiver, Keiondre Lambert-Smith. He's had a lot of options. It looks like he has narrowed it down to two, according to Pete Nacos and Steve Wiltfong. Auburn or Texas A&M for Keiondre Lambert-Smith. Choice has not been revealed yet, but it looks like those are the finalists.

So a couple of SEC schools, remember SEC schools can't take somebody who was in the SEC and have them play immediately if they entered the transfer portal in the spring window. So it's got to be somebody from another league. So when these guys from other leagues enter the portal and SEC schools feel like they can contribute, you get lots of fights between SEC schools over these players. Keandre Lambert-Smith is one of those. Oh, actually one, one more, one more. This one came as a little bit of surprise to me because I kind of thought he was already in the transfer portal. Deacon Hill, Iowa quarterback. He came in when Cade McNamara got hurt last year. He has entered the transfer

portal. I don't think anybody's particularly shocked by that. I'll give you one that this was from the winter window because I had to remind some people of this yesterday when they were commenting on Deacon Hill's potential transfer. Somebody said, well, does Spencer Petras have any eligibility left? Well, Utah State certainly hopes so because he's on their team. Yeah, Spencer Petras was actually on Iowa's team last year and then transferred, and now he's at Utah State. So Iowa still working through it at quarterback. Maybe this is the year. Maybe Cade McNamara stays healthy. We shall see.

All right, before we get to Jesse Simonton and he rips my mock draft and I rip his top 25 college coaches list, I got to tell you about Roback. That's right. Roback is back. I'm wearing my Navy performance hoodie right now. The best, most comfortable hoodies in the world. When you buy your first Roback performance hoodie, you at least need to buy two. I'm telling you this right now because someone in your house is going to steal one of them. I have to be careful. I have a bunch of rowback hoodies, but I also have a daughter who's decided she loves oversized sweatshirts. And so I'm much larger than she is.

Therefore, my shirts are oversized on her. I've got to figure out how to put an alarm on my rowback hoodies because she's going to take them all. But these things are amazing. They're not super hot winter weight hoodies. These are perfect for spring and summer. I wear mine fishing. They're great for those cool mornings, but also you roll up the sleeves. They're good for you all day. And don't forget, Roback also has performance polos and shorts. It is the brand as the weather warms up.

So look for that beautiful Rhodesian Ridgeback right there. Got one on my left shoulder here. Go to roback.com, R-H-O-B-A-C-K.com. Use the code Andy for 20% off your first purchase. That's roback.com, R-H-O-B-A-C-K.com. The code is Andy. Load up on those performance hoodies. I'm telling you, you got to order at least two because somebody's stealing one. All right. It is time to talk to Jesse Simonton. We have much to talk about because it is draft day eve. He has a column coming out on the all college football team in the NFL draft. The people that we loved in college football who may or may not be first rounders, but they were our favorites. I've got my mock draft out.

Jesse's also got his top 25 college coaches list. We will get to that shortly. We're going to talk draft first, then we'll talk top 25 coaches. But, Jesse, the draft is upon us. Do you believe that six quarterbacks will go in the first round? Because it feels like all this coordinated misinformation, people are really trying to squeeze Michael Penix and Bo Nix into that first round. So I have another piece teasing this coming out tomorrow on the NFL draft. And it's just a bunch of bold predictions. And one of those is a five-by-five. I think there's going to be five quarterbacks and five receivers.

That may actually be shorting it. I'm gambling a little bit there with the wideouts, but I do not believe the Bo Nix smoke. I would not be surprised, honestly, if Penix did not get drafted in the first round either, you know, just with his medicals and some of the concerns. It's funny, though, Andy, you know, the with his medicals and some of the concerns. It's funny though, Andy, you know, I'm the veracity of these rumors. It seems like it's every other year, whether they get these things right.

It was the year ago, literally at this time that will Levis was surging up the boards and had the number two overall odds, you know, according to you know, the gambling odds to go number two overall, he goes in the second round. And yet a couple of years earlier, the info info what was the information right around now wow baker mayfield's coming out of nowhere he's gonna be the number one overall pick and he was so yeah it's just really hard to it's just really hard to kind of delineate uh you know fact from fiction well and jj mccarthy's been the guy this year where it's, it's felt like there's been

these surges of coordinated information, like, okay, everybody loves. And look, Jim Harbaugh saying take JJ McCarthy doesn't mean anything because that's his quarterback from Michigan. He won him a national title. And also Jim Harbaugh would probably love if you would trade, trade with the chargers to go get JJ McCarthy because the Chargers need receivers and tackles and guess what this draft is thick with receivers and tackles so if they if they were to trade down six spots they're still going to get a guy they really like no I I mean Harbaugh has has been you know McCarthy's biggest

cheerleader throughout this entire process. Trumpeting the winning quarterback as maybe like Mahomesian. But obviously, as you just alluded to, there's some selfishness in here as well because the Chargers are sitting at five. They'd sure like to move out, get some more comp picks, just some more collateral so they can go up and maybe take a tackle, get one of these wide outs in the second round, whether it's a Ricky Pearsall or one of those guys. So there's a lot of guys that are acting in their own self-interest here.

So it makes sense. So what would you do with JJ McCarthy? If you're the Vikings, the Broncos, the Raiders, the teams that we've talked about need a quarterback now but aren't in a position to draft one of those top three guys, would you trade up or would you just let it go and say, maybe next year we get ourselves in a position to take one of the guys we really want? If I'm Denver, I'm not getting desperate. I just think you have so many other needs, so many other holes to give away another first round pick or even more compensation.

To me, it doesn't make sense. I'm not some NFL insider. I just follow the league from afar. But from what we saw from J.J. McCarthy, I think that in college, I think that would be rich well and the broncos need everything right exactly and and so so i think they have uh a reason to stand pat and kind of see the way the board plays out now if you're minnesota diana rossini from the athletic reported this morning that i guess there's even more smoke now around drake may

to the vikings but if you're Minnesota, I understand why they're getting desperate. They have two first round. They've already traded up into to accumulate a second first round pick. You have Jordan Jefferson there. You have your coach who you believe in, you know, is maybe this QB whisper. The rest of that roster is from a foundational standpoint, is in a much better place. So it makes sense that they're going to maybe, you know, be aggressive, whether it is a Drake May, whether it is a JJ McCarthy,

they're going to go up and get a guy because they've pretty much announced it to the world that we need a quarterback. That's what's missing. Yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun. So I had the Vikings trading up with the bears because here's the thing. I don't think anybody from the Cardinals down to the Vikings needs a quarterback. So you can trade with any of those as long as you are sure that nobody else is going to trade up above you. And the Bears fleeced the Panthers so well.

Like, I would take another bite at that apple. Because if you're the Bears, you could drop down a couple picks. And you could still get somebody awesome. Like, in my mock, I had them taking Roma Dunze. And I don't know if Roma Dunze is going to be available at 11. But I had them trading down with the Vikings. Vikings trade up to get McCarthy. Bears get Roma Dunzay to add to DJ Moore, who they got in the trade that wound up landing them Caleb Williams

and got the Panthers Bryce Young. And they also got Keenan Allen this offseason. So imagine that receiving core to put around Caleb Williams to start with. That's what's so fascinating honestly andy about the whole caleb williams at one you know uh debate in general it's just a decent team yeah i mean this is a team that won seven games a year ago that you know that's not your prototypical number one overall pick because again they weren't the worst team in the nfl they just happened to fleece a team that was the worst team and then was the worst team again.

I want to nitpick your second pick there. Go for it. I don't disagree that Jaden Daniels is probably the favorite to go number two to Washington. But hypothetically, hypothetically, if the whole Topgolf kerfuffle is real if you know his agent popping on Twitter and hitting the emojis and he doesn't want to go to Washington what happens where does he go and how do how do the QB dominoes shake out if Washington ends up saying all right we'll take Drake May or we'll take he goes to new england if that happens in new

england's like thank god we got jayden daniels the one we really wanted okay so you think he so then where does drake go drake would go to washington in that situation because they're still going to take a quarterback okay so you think it would still be those three in that order that jj wouldn't leapfrog anybody if i don't I don't think so I don't think so and here's my thing Drake Bay is going to get drafted high because when you have that many traits when you are a 6'4 230 pound dude who can run who has a rocket arm they're gonna take you high like we saw this with Anthony Richardson last year, Anthony Richardson,

more, even more of a special athlete than Drake may, but Drake may has a, had a better quarterback CV than Anthony Richardson going into the draft. They're going to take that guy, but I keep coming back to it. I can say, I I've said this over and over again,

and it bugs me that that guy couldn't beat Virginia and Georgia Tech last year. I understand if North Carolina wasn't a great team, that North Carolina didn't win the ACC, anything like that, but you've got to be able to beat those teams. If you're going to be the number two pick in the draft, you you got to. And so if I can have the guy who played on a team that had maybe the worst defense in college football, who had to score 40 points every game to have a chance and went in there and won the Heisman trophy, I'll take that guy. Yeah. I mean, the whole quarterback debate this year, Andy, has been, I think, to kind of watch it from afar has at least been interesting because there is a lot of, you know, look how many games that Jaden Daniels

and Pennix and Bo Nix and these guys played in versus a guy like Drake May, who's 20, only started two years, JJ McCarthy, young guy, two seasons of starts, how much more growth or development would they have if they played another two years in college? And what would those seasons look like? And yet you can turn around and make the exact argument you just made. You couldn't beat a bad Georgia Tech team. I know- Georgia Tech was okay. It's the Virginia one that really sticks in my craw. That's the one that – Yeah, but Georgia Tech was still a fringe bull. Yeah.

It was – I'm saying your point stands there. Yeah. You can kind of certainly nitpick it from both sides. I will say my prediction of 5-by-5 or your question to start this entire prompt, how many quarterbacks, that could be thrown into a bit of a tizzy there. If the Giants end up, you know, saying, Hey, we're moving off Daniel Jones. We're going to take left here between these top four. And then suddenly Minnesota or Denver or Oakland, it gets much more desperate. So you had five by five. I had four quarterbacks and five receivers in my mock.

And the five receivers are Malik Neighbors, Marvin Harrison Jr., Roma Dunze, Brian Thomas Jr., and A.D. Mitchell. Now, I think Ladd McConkie could wind up in the first round. I think there's a chance Xavier Worthy could wind up in the first round. I think there's a chance Xavier Worthy could wind up in the first round. It's just that with the receivers, it's really a what flavor do you want? And do you get kind of a run on the bank situation where everybody who needs a receiver is like, OK, we got to take one right now? Yeah, I think to me, it's like receiver and offensive line offensive line. I think, again, teaser prediction,

I think you're going to see double-digit offensive linemen in the first round. Now, that's guard, tackle, and then you have a couple centers there, you know, with the Duke kid and then Powers Johnson from Oregon. Zach Frazier and Zach Frazier. Zach Frazier could find his way in there. Again, I'd say minimum 10, and then you could list another two or three guys. But it's a flavor of ice cream at offensive line and receiver. I mean, it's just kind of what are you looking for?

Well, I saw Paul Himbo, who's the producer at ESPN, who does all the crazy fun stats for all the different shows. So he put this out this morning, actually the three surest positions in the first round in terms of, are you going to get a bust centers? Number one. Now the sample size is much smaller than everything else, but it's 11 of 12 of hits. So that's like,

I remember like when, when the Cowboys took Travis Frederick out of Wisconsin and I was like, well, that seems like a reach. No, he's turned out to be awesome. Like every time somebody a reach. No, he's turned out to be awesome. Like every time somebody has done this, that person has turned out to be awesome.

And you mentioned Jackson Powers, Johnson and Graham Barton, who could both play guard or tackle by the way, but both of them played all of it in college. They would be kind of plug and play long-term solution type guys but yeah guard and tackle were the other two top three positions so this feels like if you want the surest thing like I go back to to the chargers they do need receivers sure but if I can take Joe Alt I'm taking Joe Alt yeah I kind of I kind of, Andy, I like the idea of J.C. Latham for them because they have Slater at left tackle. And do you just take a natural right tackle?

Now, Alt is probably the best pure offensive tackle in this draft. I wouldn't quibble with that. But if you're thinking about moving him to one side or the other, Hey, do you just take the best right tackle? JC Latham is enormous. You know, he's, I think, I think all it's a good athlete play up front. I think all it's a good enough athlete.

You play him at right. And Rashawn Slater, you, you have to make a decision by May 2nd on his fifth year option. You can pick up his fifth year option, but then you get two seasons to figure out do you want to break the bank to re-sign rashaun slater or do you use do you use joe alt at left tackle yeah exactly exactly so uh steve in the chat steve by the way one of my uh

former co-workers at the college newspaper uh problem with may couldn't beat virginia and georgia tech anthony richardson couldn't even beat vandy he did beat utah though now i i have the same i had the same issues with with the anthony richardson pick in the top five last year i understood why teams would would take a risk there but the resume didn't didn't support a top five pick. No. And we laughed about Anthony Richardson all last season. Just that how excited he had NFL folks and folks in the scouting world. And yet, Andy, he looked pretty good, although he couldn't survive the four games he played. I think he only finished two of them.

He was pretty mesmerizing the little bit that he did play. And I think he has a very bright future there in Indy. How many defensive players? What was the hardest defensive player to kind of peg? Was it where to put the pass rushers? Yeah, there's not a lot. With edges, Dallas Turner, you figure, is going to go early. Laitu Latu is going to go pretty early.

Jared Verse. So those are your edges that that'll go uh i just realized in moving around i just this is why my first time mock draft we knew there were gonna be problems i moved dallas turner out of a pick and didn't put him back in so i don't have him in my first round mock which is incredibly stupid dallas turner's no you got him at 14 oh I do have him at 14 okay oh I found him okay good there he is oh that's right I I sent him to the Saints I was originally going to have him going to the Titans and I do think he could get picked kind of anywhere in that that that area so yeah I sent him to the Saints because they've got Chase Young who just

had neck surgery and Cam jordan is 35 years old so like you might want to take an edge now i will say you have some very uh some some you know like my piece that's coming out later today about my college uh football favorite you squeezed a few of those in there um wait here's one one of thoseJAC the Great, says don't sleep on Braden Fisk. So check out my mock. I put Braden Fisk in the perfect place for Braden Fisk. Braden Fisk is the ultimate Detroit Lion. He is a Dan Campbell player.

Dan Campbell and Braden Fisk will love it. The bro hug when these two get together for the first time is going to be like it will it will measure on the Richter scale he was one of the ones I was going to allude to we already talked about Zach Frazier and then you got Darius Robinson in there uh 27 to Arizona that's probably a bit of a reach but I get it he was a fun player at missouri 285 pound guys who can actually come off the edge in a defense that that values shifting fronts pretty regularly and just need to take that guy that's right that's exactly right so who's your favorite receiver of these these potential first round guys because i i feel like you can't really go wrong with Harrison, Neighbors, or Adunze,

but it's really just kind of what you want. So if you, let's say you are the Cardinals and you aren't trading the pick and you want to take a receiver, who are you taking? So I kind of like Roma Adunze as like AJ Green 2.0, but I can't sleep on just how smooth and fluid and just freaky Malik Neighbors is.

I think he had 34 catches the last season, over 20 yards. I mean, he just glides past defenders. And so what you think about what he could be in the NFL, he would be my number one. I understand how polished and NFL-ready Marvin Harrison is, but I think Neighbors is my guy. What he's done at LSU the last two years. Led the SEC in receiving two seasons ago. Couldn't really find the end zone. You know, kind of had the connection there with Daniels wasn't exactly always on point. And yet those two, man, they dialed it up this fall. And it was a lot of fun to watch. So a very important guy, I think, from your all-college football team.

We got to figure out where he's going to go. We were texting about this last night. Torrey Taylor, the punter from Iowa, the punt God, he is just a spectacular weapon. Now the question is, would he be the highest drafted punter in the modern era? And we looked at, and so Brian anger, not to be confused with former Iowa linebacker Pat Angerer, but Brian Anger from Cal was taken by the Jags, I think at number 70 in 2012. Very rich.

Todd Sauerbrunn went number 56 in 1995. So that'd be in the middle of the second round. Like, I don't think Tori Taylor is going to go in the middle of the second round or the top part of it. Well, he might, he might go in the top part of the third,

but this guy's a legit weapon. Like where, where do you, is it a team that just values that sort of analytical, like how much can I change field position? How much is field position worth? Like I do think a team that's heavy in the analytics might be willing to take Tori Taylor early third round.

I mean, I think they're going to be watching all that, you know, Iowa tape with Cooper to Jean and they're going to be like, man, how did they ever score? And then they're going to, somebody's going to say,

Hey, look at what they had on special teams and how they would just pin teams into the end zone every single play, every single possession. The guy's an Aussie boomer. I mean, he is just – he's amazing. I had him and, as you kind of mentioned, the thicker kicker there as my punter-kicker combo. That, you talk about two guys we're going to miss in college football.

Those two guys have been, you know, specialists don't get a lot of shine. They deserve shine because they brought plenty of joy to both fans, you know, and us media alike. So Harrison Meebus wins an NFL kicking job and becomes world famous overnight, right? Because we know what the ratings are for the NFL. Imagine that guy kicks a game winner on Monday Night Football. Yeah, I mean, for folks that don't really know about the Missouri kicker, I mean, this is like Sebastian Janikowski 2.0. Except Sebastian Janikowski looked like an NFL defensive end

and Harrison Mevis. Well, listen, we're not going to shame anybody here. But Harrison Mevis, we call him the thicker kicker. He's not the tallest guy in the world, but he's put down some biscuits in his time. He's portly. He's portly. He's portly. Yeah.

Here's an over under for you though. I, so, uh, do you know the latest, uh, a running back has come off the board or the early, the latest, excuse me, the latest first running back first running back. Uh, do you know around guess where that pick was? I'd say around like pick 45 close pretty good so nine of the last 10 years there's been a first round running back uh the guy that went to the jets from iowa state uh was the first running back off the board like the second pick in the second round but uh bishop sankey in 2014 from washington to the titans oh okay overall 54 overall that is the nfl record right now i think that gets i think

that might be broken this year i think trey benson or one of those teams. I think the first running back off the board is going to Dallas, which is 56. And it's Jonathan Brooks, Trey Benson. Trey Benson. Yeah. I mean, apparently there's all sorts of, you know, the rankings with these running backs in the draft this year seem all over the place. So, again, flavor of ice cream, what do you prefer there? But could be an NFL record there, that running back.

Just not the season. Had two go in the first round last year with Gibbs and Bijan, but not that sort of upside with this class. You know, as I look at your all-college football team, I'm struck because a lot of these, there aren't a lot of these guys who are like, oh, no, that guy's going to be a sixth rounder. And we usually have that. This is a year where we like these guys, and the NFL likes these guys too. Peyton Wilson, the linebacker from NC State, he's probably a second rounder.

Love him. Mike Saner still from Michigan, the DB. He may actually be a first rounder, but he probably we're talking about a second rounder. These guys were really good in college, and it translates. It's interesting because a lot of times, a lot of years, we'll have half the guys that are among our favorites that were All-Americans in college.

It's like, okay, you're not really an NFL guy. But it feels like almost all of them are. Cooper Beebe is probably a second-round pick at Kansas State. Yeah, Cody Schrader, my RB2 from Missouri. This is a guy that led Division II in rushing in 2021 and then comes up in two years later as an All-American for the Tigers, rushing for 1,600 yards. He probably won't go until like the fifth or sixth. But you're right.

I mean, a lot of our most fun players, Cooper DeGene, you know, Javon Bullard and Cam Kitchens, two safeties. They'll go a little bit later. But they were highly productive players, and the NFL still seems to like both of them. Bullard a little bit more than Kitchens. So fun group, fun group. It's a fun kind of stroll down memory lane.

I love my defensive tackles, and that's where it's like, hey, can't go wrong there. I mean, there's a lot of good – Braden Fisk just missed the cut, but big fan of Sweat. He's like this giant rhinoceros, and then you got the crocodile in Newton there from Illinois. Two totally different looking dudes. Johnny Newton's a fringe, potential

first-round pick, too. He's one that could slip in there or could be early in the second. Devondre Sweat's an interesting one because he just got a DUI. I don't know. In the age of Uber, that's a bad it shouldn't do it anyway you should have never done it but Uber exists like how do you how do you do

that especially when you know all eyes were on you yeah and and I believe you got it in the middle of the afternoon which is even more uh concerning there, so we'll see what happens there, but that is going to be fun. It's going to be really fun to see where these guys get picked, and I'm sure we'll be sitting there tomorrow night and be mad about who didn't get taken, and there'll be a trade who blows up everybody's mock draft, and it's going to be great.

Like you mentioned it, like if somebody trades up to get Drake May or trade, you know, trades up to get Jaden Daniels, uh, it would be wild, but can't wait. Now we have more to argue about though, because Jesse, you put out a column that generates quite a bit of buzz every year, the top 25 coaches in college football, and you've taken cracks at the top 10 group of five coaches. You've done quite a few variations on this, but this is one of those years when Nick Saban retires, Jim Harbaugh goes to the NFL, makes number one very easy, Makes everything else very hard.

Uh-oh, I think we lost Jesse's sound. I don't know what happened there. That is not good. But I can talk about this a little bit because one, I'm glad there we're back, Jesse. Okay. Hi.

I don't know. I guess my pods got disconnected. All good. So I had Kirby number one a year ago, but like you said, Jim Harbaugh leaving that creates a big vacuum. What's going to happen there. Maybe at number two,

um, a lot of debate, you know, ESPN released uh their top 10 they didn't even have Brian Kelly in the top 10 um I'm I'm pretty high on LSU's head coach you know I think it's kind of much like Sarkeesian um it's going to be kind of a matter of of when not if he eventually wins a national championship so he he with what he's done in all these different levels of the sport, still has two 10-win seasons the last couple years with the Tigers, what he did at Notre Dame.

He's kind of a pretty solid number two there. Super high on Kalen DeVore. Sark was a tier five coach a year ago, Andy, on your former, with your buddies there at The Athletic there in their head coach rankings. Tier 5. I mean, like way down the list. Because he never had a really good year. Exactly.

I'm not quibbling with it at all. And I wrote a column just about a week ago that his rise is, it's his rise is, is should it could at least give hope to fans like here in Gainesville, Florida, you know, Billy Napier, some other Mario Cristobal at Miami, just cause you haven't done it, but doesn't mean you won't do it. Doesn't mean you can't do it. Uh, Sark had never won 10 games finally, you know, get the monkey off his back. And now he's seen as, you know, one of the highest or is one of the highest paid coaches in the sport. Well, and the thing with Sark, and I've been pretty high on Texas this off season, which if you've been watching me for a while, you know, I was pretty down on Texas for quite some time. It feels to me like Sark has gotten Texas to do

the things that it was not doing, like developing players for the NFL, turning those recruits who Texas has always gotten highly rated recruiting classes, but turning them into even better players when they leave. And that's something Texas didn't do for like 12 straight years. They're doing that now. They are deep on the lines of scrimmage it feels like they're prioritizing the right things it feels sustainable and that's why i don't necessarily

quibble with where you have sark right now even after only one good year because it feels like he's developed something sustainable there now if they just fall off the map, that's a different story. But I don't think they will, because I feel like he took, maybe he took the lessons from working with Nick Saban in terms of program building. But it feels like even if you put a replacement level coach in there right now, this roster is going to win you nine or ten games. The biggest thing that they've changed is I think, uh, you know, their, their offensive

line development. I mean, that's been so key. And then they did lose Bo Davis, but they also, you know, as we mentioned to Andre sweat, you know, Murphy, you had him in your first round mock, you know, they, they rebuilt the lines of scrimmage. Texas has had plenty of playmakers, but then they've gotten the best out of those guys as well. Last year, Bijan was their first round offensive player since Vince Young to get drafted. Now they could have one or two this year. Quinn Ewers, we saw what Arch did in the spring game. There are no shortage of weapons there. You go out and get Isaiah Bond. I mean, I i am sky high on texas this year as well i mean i think it's pretty clear that it's kind of them georgia and ohio state as kind of a tier one and then a lot of teams kind of

behind them who did you have any any quibbles with the top 10 or i was i was fascinated by the kaylin deborah i actually agree with you on Kalen DeBoer, but I think most people are not going to agree with you on this. Putting him at number three, because I look at Kalen DeBoer's overall resume. He has won every, it's actually the same as Brian Kelly. It's the same thing you're talking about with Brian Kelly,

where the person has won everywhere. They've been successful at every level. Like you take what is baseline success at the NII level, at the Group of Five level, at the, you know, power conference, but not one of the power conference level. Like, Kalen Moore's been above the line everywhere he's been. Brian Kelly, above the line everywhere he's been. Brian Kelly, above the line everywhere he's been. He doesn't lose, Andy. He's lost 12 times in his life. I mean, it's just remarkable. He's 12 and

two versus top 25 teams. Again, I kind of weigh what have you done and what is your future? Because if this was just about what have you done, Dabo is going to be number two on everybody's list. But this is about both the past, the present, and the future. There certainly has been some pushback on Kalen DeBoer at three, but I'm sky high on him. I think he's clearly one of the best head coaches in the sport. And you know who else believed that? Alabama's athletic director, which is why he's succeeding the GOAT there.

So a different Andrew, other than me, has a question. There's no Dan Lanning in the top 10. That's a shame. You had Dan Lanning at 11. Hardest coach to rank. Yeah. I at 11. Hardest coach to rank. He's doing all the things he's supposed to do, except has not cracked through with the right wins. Probably should have won a Pac-12 title in one of his first two years at Oregon

because he had the most talented team. He does not have the most talented team in the Big Ten, but he may have the second most talented team. He does not have the most talented team in the Big Ten, but he may have the second most talented team. Yeah, I love Dan Lanning. And if you were ranking this list, Andy, I think in terms of who would you have as your head coach over one or the other, so almost like a trade value column, like if your school called another school, Dan Lanning would be much higher on this list

because he's probably on the short list of two or three guys that you would have behind Kirby. But he's got to do it now. And that's not exactly what this ranking is. And so he'll certainly find his way into the top 10 in due time if he has a big year. Oregon, right behind that Texas-Georgia-Ohio State trio that we mentioned, Oregon is right there with what they've kind of assembled via both high school recruiting, the portal. You have that combination there. Little quarterback insurance with not only Dylan Gabriel, but you bring in Dante Moore.

So really like uh what the ducks have to offer in 24 all right so you got ryan day at number four and ryan day is the lightning rod like you got me if you didn't see it the other day i may retweet it again there's a michigan fan who essentially wrote a broadway score making fun of ryan day and recorded it professionally. Like, it's just, it's incredible. Even if I was Ryan Day, I would laugh at it just because of the effort involved.

But Ryan Day is a lightning rod because he has been, by any objective measure, extremely successful at Ohio State. But you'll have rival fans say, well, Urban Meyer handed him something ready third base and you'll have Ohio State fans saying well maybe Michigan maybe Jim Harbaugh was right about the third base thing like they are I think Ohio State fans are probably more conflicted about Ryan Day than anybody so let me ask you this Jesseesse because this is four is a controversial place

to put ryan day but if you were one and two against michigan in the past three years would anybody question it at all if what if you make a field goal against georgia you're right probably you have a national title. Yeah. Yeah. So the margins are that thin. So, again, he rarely loses. He doesn't have these games where, oh, suddenly Rutgers is beating us. Or, oh, we're going down to Illinois and losing in championship. Ohio State wins the majority of the games they're supposed to. They, unlike Penn State, do also beat some top 10, top 15 teams.

They're on a skid versus Michigan. This is the season they absolutely have to get it done. Your former colleague there, Ari Wasserman, would say that game's even more important than winning the Big Ten championship or the national title. I don't know about that. I don't think it is, especially in the new format. Well, exactly. But you know what? He needs to win that game, and he's made every stride this offseason that suggests. Rondae gets it. He's won a lot of games doing it his way, but now he said, hey, I need to seed some of these responsibilities. So he takes a more CEO approach, goes and gets Bill O'Brien to be his offensive coordinator. O'Brien leaves for

the head coaching job. What does he do? Dials up and says, oh, I got Chip Kelly waiting on the line. Boom. He's pushed the chips all in to be aggressive with the roster. Not only landing guys like Caleb Downs, which no one's going to turn that down. Quinshawn Judkins, you know, Will Howard. But then he's like, oh, Julian Sainz is going to get in the portal, even though we already have five-star Aaron Nolan, even though we already have this deep quarterback room, we're going to just add even more talent to the roster

and just let it play out. And however it plays out, it plays out. But competition wins. And so I just really like what Ohio State has done this offseason for as many wins as Day already has on his resume too. I think he merits being there in the top five. So you've got Mike Norvell at seven. You've got Lane Kiffin at 10.

Was there any consideration of bringing these guys higher because they've figured out how to do it in this environment? I don't think there's any guys that have been better at doing it in this particular environment than those two. They have elevated their programs. Norvell's program has been in this space before. Florida State has been dominant, has been one of the best programs in the country before, but has been dominant has been you know one of the best programs in the country before but it was a deep hole he had to dig them out of and he used the rule changes to make that happen meanwhile Lane Kiffin has Ole Miss in a place where maybe

it hasn't been because he's been able to work the system better yeah I was tempted by Norvell but it was hard for me I think if he if he if Florida State wins the ACC again this year, I think he'd leapfrogs Dabo. But Clemson won the title a year ago, so they've split it the last two years. Let's see what happens in the rubber match this year. I didn't really have any consideration to move Lane any higher than he was. I love what Lane has done in Oxford, but I think the next step for him, much like James Franklin at Penn State, circumstance is different. But, you know, you've got to start beating some teams

that maybe you're not supposed to. And so it's nice to rack up a lot of wins, but where are these top 25 wins? You know, can you pull off an upset or two? Ole Miss' schedule sets up this year where if they do that once or twice, maybe it's a Georgia, maybe it's an LSU. Suddenly you're looking at going to a college football playoff, maybe making the SEC championship game for the first time in school history. So there's a lot of potential there for Lane and Norvell, I think, to kind of climb up this list so two guys i'm

looking at i'm wondering if we've seen them as high as we're ever going to see them dabbo and lincoln riley like has lincoln riley crested because i think we do this three years ago lincoln riley's in the top three or four, three, even, even with Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh working. And now it's like, okay, the longer this goes, the more you say, will this guy ever figure it out on the lines of scrimmage? Will he ever figure out how to have a good defense opposite his amazing offense? We'll see what the new defensive staff this year, but it's interesting because this is the first time I can remember a Lincoln Riley team that you weren't really excited about going into the season.

What, and why is that Andy? Because this is the first time you don't have a fighter pilot at quarterback. Uh, if you saw some highlights from that spring game, it was not it. Now Miller, uh, Moss had a monster bowl game and, you know, got that ring endorsement from Riley. But this is, whether it's Maiva or Moss, I'm not sure that, you know, considering what Riley's worked with at the position over the last, you know, almost 10 years or so, you know, seven, eight years, he doesn't have that this year, and that could be problematic

because that being Caleb Williams and some of these other guys have masked over the fact that Lincoln Riley's teams just don't play defense. Maybe they will with DeAnton Lynn and the new staff there, but you're right. He could be a guy that this may be a swan uh season in terms of him being in the top 10 of these head coach rankings now dabbo i'm not sure i would have put dabbo even in the top 10 right now i i think the refusal to use the transfer portal in the year of our lord 2024 is disqualifying and i'm not sure he's ever like he's got to show us he can get back here because he is, he's sort of put a stake in the ground.

Like I'm going to do it this way. And if you can't do it this year, I think we're going to be pretty sure you're never going to do it again because unless you actually want to build your roster the way every other team in America builds this roster. Now, who would you put in there? If you take the elbow out,

Lance Leipold, I Lance Leipold because of degree of difficulty. He has been spectacular at Kansas. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And I think I'd put him in the top 10 just because that job was so hard. Like that. It looked hopeless hopeless think about when the guy got

hired the guy got hired after spring practice right the spring games the next day i think when he got hired and within two years they're competitive like they won nine games last year they have an exciting quarterback they like you go in year one they did they did like you go into this season excited about kansas football and look chris climate at kansas state doing a great job too did a great job at north kota state but i think that degree of difficulty you saw for Leipold, if he can keep doing this, keep making them better, let's say he makes them where they're competitive in the Big 12, really legitimately competing for a Big 12 title. That is the hardest coaching job to do.

I always say the greatest coach of all time is Bill Snyder because of what he took over at Kansas State and what he turned it into. And Lance Leipold of what he took over at Kansas state and what he turned it into. And Lance Leipold, what he took over at Kansas was as bad as what Bill Snyder took over at Kansas state. And they're going to be fun this year, Andy, because they return, I think more production offensively than any team in the country. So you got, it's not just two NFL corners. If they can keep them, if, if, if the tampering doesn't, doesn't snag one, but if they can keep them, if the tampering doesn't snag one. But if they can keep them, they got some dudes. There were some folks that were upset about him.

There were some folks upset that I had Jamie Chadwell so high. I think Jamie Chadwell is a good coach. Now, here's the Jamie Chadwell thing. And we're never going to know this until somebody sacks up and hires Jamie Chadwell in a power conference. Because the reason he hasn't been hired in a power conference is he's never worked in one. Remember, he's been a head coach most of his career, North Greenville in Division Two, Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina Liberty. So he's never been like South Carolina's receivers coach where he had to go recruit at that level. And most of his assistants have not recruited that loyal.

He's extremely loyal. And so he's had a staff that's been made up of his guys for years and years. Is there any, is there, is there a guy that I, that's not in the top 25 that i whiffed on to you i like this list i i feel pretty good about it i you know like jeff braum at 20 i think is a good inclusion because his teams are never not above average it feels like jeff trailer at utsa i might go a little higher on eli drinkw, but maybe I'm being a prisoner of the moment because I think I do remember last year when we were, when we were saying, wait, what about make or break year?

Yeah. Why, why are you extending this guy? He just won six games. What's going on? I still think Dave Clawson, even though they had a bad year has worked miracles at wake forest. So I probably would

have kept him in the top 25 so it was a tough cut i cut stoops too uh we're gonna have fringe cut well speaking of stoops and and the job he he was up for and then the the regents rebelled and he didn't get it i think mike elko is going to be on this list next year that's that's a strong prediction. I had him in the just-miss list. I mean, two seasons at Duke. He goes 16-9, I believe. He's a heck of a coach.

He's a heck of a coach. And, you know, it's been crazy to kind of spin this forward, and it's been crazy to kind of watch from afar as we're all, you know, kind of getting the intel from the spring, you know, kind of, you know, getting the intel from the spring, you know, kind of getting some ducks in a row. Man, it has been so quiet comparatively, especially out of College Station this spring. With good reason.

With good reason, exactly. And I just think that, you know, they're doing the work and not exactly puffing their chest about it. So that schedule, A&M, if they can get Conor Wegman right with what they've done in the portal, kind of supplementing some holes, they have a chance to maybe scare some teams and win more games, I think, that most people anticipate this fall. When we had Elko on the show about two months ago, he mentioned that the talent level was not what everybody thinks it is there. And I was thinking,

maybe that's just coach speak. He's just trying to light a fire. But talking to people, I get the sense that when they got in there, they looked around at the roster and they said, you know what? The Jimbo staff was chasing stars. They were not necessarily building a cohesive team. They were saying, well, we can get nine. I don't think it was nine. I think it was maybe seven, but we can get all of these top 100 defensive linemen in the same class. Well, how often do you sign that many defensive linemen in one class? Like there is this thing called class balance in your position rooms and that sort of thing, and they did not necessarily have that.

And so I think a lot of the work that's been done this offseason has been trying to fill holes at certain positions where they weren't then. Well, and they filled it at defensive line because you go out and get nick squarton from purdue who might be the most impactful transfer uh defensive transfer in the entire country this season i mean he was a monster in their spring who's from brian texas by the way yep and so you have him playing opposite of shamar stewart i mean that could be one of the best pass rushing duos in the country yeah i think the quiet out of out of College Station by design.

But yeah, and the Mark Stoops not being on the list is interesting because he's being paid a lot more than most of the people on this list. You know, and this is why I say Kentucky's the best job in the country, because they will pay you like a national championship coach. But they don't expect you to even compete for the conference title. They don't, but they probably would like a little bit better results than they've gotten in the last two years. What's kind of been a little bit of a backslide there. So we'll see if you got the OC,

right? Well, they saved some money, not having to pay a $33 million buyout for John Calipari. So that, you know, a little, it's a football school,

Andy. It is football. I mean, Mark Sto stoops won the war let's be real here exactly if you're not gonna pony up then then you you've met you've declared we are at football school now so that's exactly right mark stoops won that one and like it's funny because you read about what happened with John Calipari and that incident where he was saying, we need the money now. We got to rebuild our practice facility. And Mark Stoops kind of shoots back at him because Cal had said, well, we did all this for football. Stoops won the turf war there.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Don't be messing with the man's bourbon. He's there for the long haul. Well, he wasn't going to be if A&M hired him, but he is now. Jesse, thank you so much. Cannot wait to see where our favorites in college football

wind up in the draft. And, of course, we'll just ignite a little more debate on your top 25 coaches because that's going to keep burning through the offseason. Thanks for having me, Andy. All right, that is Jesse Simonson. Tomorrow is draft day.

So, if you feel like tilting your dear Andy questions toward the NFL draft, by all means do it because that's probably the one I'm going to answer. That's what everybody wants to talk about. But also if you have a good college football question, please don't hesitate to ask.

You know how to find me. Andy underscore staples on Twitter. Andy underscore staples on Instagram. Andy staples on three at gmail.com. If you have a longer question, feel free also to turn the camera on yourself. We'd love to see you when you're asking your questions. I thought last week's dear Andy was, was one of my favorites that we've done. I thought the questions were outstanding.

I, do you guys just really get me thinking? So I expect you to step up again this week. You were amazing last week. I expect you to do it again this week. You were amazing last week. I expect you to do it again this week. So send those questions. Andy underscore Staples, Twitter and Instagram. Andy Staples on three at gmail.com. And tomorrow we answer your questions and we get ready for draft night.