Andy & Ari On3 - College football coaching staffs are about to BLOW UP | Will Georgia PILLAGE USC's recruiting class?

Episode Date: June 25, 2024

We'll talk unlimited coaches and big recruiting news, but first congratulations to the Tennessee Volunteers for winning the baseball national title. Daddy hats for everyone!(0:00-6:25) Intro - a Comment from Brandon on USC(6:26-9:39) Congratulations to Tennessee on being CWS Champs!(9:40-13:55) Welcome back, Longhorn Network(13:56-27:54) Pete Nakos Joins to discuss coaching rule changes(27:55-33:05) Houston Christian Challenges House Settlement(33:06-34:58) EA Sports Top 25 Tease(34:59-50:03) Steve Wiltfong from the Wiltfong Whiparound Joins! on USC(50:04-57:46) Steve Wiltfong on Oregon(57:47-1:03:39) Alabama with Kalen DeBoer after Saban(1:03:40-1:08:49) Michigan with Sherrone Moore after Harbaugh(1:08:50-1:11:33) Wrapping up With Steve(1:11:34-1:13:00) ConclusionAlso, the Longhorn Network -- which made Texas a lot of money but drove a wedge through the Big 12 -- will relaunch as a streaming service when Texas officially joins the SEC next week.Pete Nakos of On3 joins to discuss a potential rule change that would allow teams to have unlimited on-field coaches. The NCAA Division I Council is meeting Tuesday and Wednesday, and it is expected to pass a change that would lift the cap on on-field coaches. That cap currently is 10 assistants. If the change goes through, it could start a mini-coaching carousel as teams either promote analysts to on-field positions or hire extra coaches.Later, On3’s Steve Wiltfong joins Andy to discuss a busy week in the world of recruiting. USC recently lost two high-ranked defensive recruits for the class of 2025. One, edge rusher Isaiah Gibson, committed to Georgia Monday night? Could defensive lineman Justus Terry join Gibson soon? Meanwhile, quarterback JuJu Lewis — another USC commit — visited Colorado this past weekend.Alabama is on a recruiting hot streak as well. Meanwhile, Michigan has gone on a run in the past few weeks. Plus, the class of 2026 QB dominoes have started to fall.Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube and join us LIVE, M-F, at 8 am et! https://youtube.com/live/JEf7M5T4tV8Host: Andy StaplesGuests: Pete Nakos, Steve WiltfongProducer: River Bailey

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. Big day. We got a new national champion in college baseball. We got some recruiting talk with Steve Wilfong later. We have a potential big rule change coming in college football. We'll talk about that with Pete Nacos. First, we're going to talk about a comment from Brandon. He left it before the show even started.

He left it before the show even started. Left it last night. You guys have a weird obsession with USC. These narratives are crazy. Georgia just lost three commits and not a word. Y'all have been actively trying to get Juju to flip to any other school. It's weird. Brandon's mad because we're talking about USC losing its highest rated committed players to Georgia. We're going to talk about that with Steve Wiltfong. It's a big deal because remember

USC got some commitments from some very highly rated like top 50 in the country type defensive players, which is something that Lincoln Riley's teams have not done historically, which is one of the reasons why they've not been good on defense historically. And he was getting them to commit. And it's like, okay, this is finally going to be something here. Well, apparently not because two of them have decommitted. One of them is already headed to Georgia. One of them might be headed to Georgia, if you are to believe our recruiting prediction machine, which seems pretty accurate. So that's the issue.

Yes. Like for instance, Georgia just had a player flip. Georgia had an offensive lineman named Mike Edobo's flip to Alabama. That was a loss for Georgia. But guess what? They replaced him in the class with a five-star edge rusher.

We're not worried about Georgia because they continuously sign really good offensive linemen, really good defensive linemen. That's never been an issue for Kirby Smart. It's a major issue for Lincoln Riley. So that's why we talk about it. And as far as Juju Lewis goes, the quarterback who's committed to USC, I actually think Brandon will enjoy what Steve Wiltfong has to say in a little bit. But we're not talking about Juju Lewis flipping because we want him to flip.

We're talking about him potentially flipping because he goes and visits Indiana, because he goes and visits Colorado. Like there are committed players who aren't visiting anywhere else who are just going to go to the school that they've said they're going to commit to. So he very well may stick with USC. But yes, we are going to follow the trail when he goes to Colorado, and there's a picture of him sitting in a throne in a Colorado uniform with Shador Sanders, the current Colorado starting quarterback, handing him the keys, like literally and figuratively. Literally, those, I think, are Shador's car keys.

Figuratively, of course, he's talking about potentially the keys to the offense. But that's what we're talking about here. It's really interesting. And so, yes, we're going to talk about it. It's not necessarily an obsession with USC. It's a, okay, USC was doing something different in recruiting with the level of defensive talent that they were getting commitments from. And now they are not because it seems like Georgia is picking those guys off. As far as Juju Lewis goes, I have no doubt that USC will sign a highly rated quarterback,

whether that is Juju Lewis or somebody else, because why wouldn't you go play for Lincoln Riley if you're a really good quarterback? Then his track record speaks for itself. But his track record also speaks for itself when it comes to defense. And that track record is not good. And that track record is they don't typically sign very talented defensive recruiting classes. We thought this year would be different. It looked for a second like this year would be different. It looked for a second like this year would be different. And then this happens.

So that's why we're talking about it. It's interesting because you have this coach who is historically great on offense. Who's put, I mean, think about the quarterback run. Baker Mayfield wins the Heisman. Kyler Murray wins the Heisman. Jalen Hurts is a Heisman finalist in his one year at Oklahoma. Caleb Williams wins the Heisman, his first full year as a starter at USC. It's amazing. But on the other side of the ball, problem, problem, problem, problem, problem, problem, problem. The problem can be solved by getting the kind of players that Georgia, that Alabama, that Ohio State sign. And that's why you got Lincoln Riley as your coach to get those kinds of players. When Pete Carroll was there, he got those kinds of players. That's what this is for.

But it's not going to work if you can't keep them in the boat. So yeah, that's why we're talking about it. We'll talk about it more with Steve Wilfong. Find out what USC can do now. Because there's a lot of golf left between now and signing day in December. So they can still bolster that class. They can still get some of those guys. But that's what they've got to do. We are not worried about USC offensively. None of us collectively hear it on three.

You in the commentariat there. None of us are worried about USC offensively. But defensively, yeah, they have to get better. And the way you get better is by bringing in the best raw material. They have not done that. We thought they might do that. We'll talk about that more with Steve Wilpong. First, let's congratulate the Tennessee Volunteers. Daddy hats for everyone.

I feel like our guy Grant Firking, who runs the On 3 Elite Series, former Tennessee walk-on wide receiver, I don't know if we're going to get him back from Rockos. I don't know how much he spent on get him back from Rocco's. I don't know how much he spent on jello shots at Rocco's in Omaha, but I'm told the number is staggering. Staggering. Big, big day for Tennessee. The first number one overall seed to win the College World Series since Miami in 1999. So the way the baseball tournament is seeded, they have these overall seeds and they've been doing it since 1999 and Miami won it the first year.

And then the number one seed never won it again until Tennessee won last night. And it was actually since 2009 that the number one seed had even been in the final series at the college world series. So it's actually a pretty hard thing to do as the number one seed, because you have to carry this through a very long regular season. Then you've got to have a deep enough pitching staff to make it. And the pitching staff part of it, very interesting with Tennessee last night, because take a one-nothing lead with the first inning homer. They build that lead to 3-1. They hold that 3-1 lead through most of the game. They expand it to 6-1, and you get into the eighth inning, and it's like, uh-oh, they're

going to give this away. The eighth and the ninth were skin of your teeth. Just hold. It looked like Texas A&M was going to come back to Texas. And it was amazing because the Texas A&M players were absolutely. Did not flinch from the moment they're down six one and you see them getting on base, getting hits, and they're just like, all right, we're here. We're in, we're, we're winning this thing. And so if you're Tennessee, that probably makes you very, very, very nervous. And the control from the Tennessee pitching staff, and it was multiple pitchers. It wasn't just one guy, but the control was slipping in the eighth and the ninth Christopher to see almost let it slip, but they held on. You're exactly right. They buried Steven in the chat.

They very nearly went full Tennessee and fell apart. Well, you may have to retire full Tennessee because Tony Vitello and company did win the national title. It was close. When you let the score to make it a one-run game, score on a wild pitch in the ninth, it's a little scary, a little dicey. Tying run at the plate, but with one strike left to go. That's what made it a little bit, you know, you just, okay, you got to get one strike, and they got it. So congratulations to Tennessee.

And so ends the 2023-2024 college sports season. The new one starts officially for a lot of conferences July 1st. So that's when Texas and Oklahoma will enter the SEC. And when that happens, the Longhorn Network. Remember all the sturm and drang about the Longhorn Network? Remember how the longhorn network basically drove a wedge into the big 12 caused a lot of realignment the longhorn network is going to launch as a streaming service a free streaming service

on monday when texas enters the sec so the the rela will happen, but it will not be the same thing because obviously the games that were on the Longhorn Network, the football, basketball, baseball, other sports games, all of those games are going to be on the SEC network now. And it's amazing to me to think about how much this idea affected all of college sports. Because remember, Larry Scott, when he was the commissioner of the then Pac-10, was going to get six schools from the Big 12. Six, Colorado, Texas Tech, Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State.

They were all going to become the Pac-16. One of the reasons they didn't is because Texas pulled an okey-doke on Larry Scott. Texas was trying to get the best deal for Texas. They had been exploring the idea of creating their own conference network, or exploring the idea of creating their own conference network or exploring the idea of creating their own network. So the Longhorn Network. The PAC-10, which was going to become the PAC-16, was going to create its own network. And so they get down to kind of the final night of negotiations. And the lost odds from Texas and the leaders of Texas, they talk to Larry Scott and they say, okay, but we're going to want our third tier rights to be separate so we can form our own network.

And Larry Scott was like, that's not part of the deal. You're going to give those rights to us and we're going to have a conference network and we're all going to share in the revenue. And Texas is like, nah, we're going to keep it for ourselves. And so the Big 12 is miraculously saved, except the concept of the Longhorn Network caused major angst with members of the Big 12. Now, at that point, Nebraska is already gone. Colorado is already gone. Colorado goes to the pack with Utah to become the Pac-12. Nebraska goes to the pack with Utah to become the pack 12. Nebraska goes to the big 10, but A&M leaving. And remember A&M had an offer to join the SEC during that first round where

everybody was talking about the pack 16. A&M re-engages with the SEC because of the Longhorn Network. Let us not forget the interview with former ESPN exec Dave Brown on the radio where he's talking about broadcasting games of Texas football recruiting targets on the Longhorn Network. It's quaint now because we know what happened with Longhorn Network. We know that it didn't turn Texas into this mega power. Texas didn't get good again until just a couple of years ago but it was the ultimate fear of all those other schools that it would create this insanely prohibitive competitive advantage for texas it

never did in fact it basically wound up being people making fun of the lack of availability of the Longhorn Network. I think they had Friday Night Lights reruns going for a while, which, you know, Texas forever. But it is amazing that now all of that, the games go to the SEC Network, and the library and the coaches' shows and all the stuff that they'll create from here on out will be on this Longhorn Network streaming service. The name will remain. The logo will remain. It's just one of those things. When you see it now, it's just going to be like, wow.

I remember 2011. I remember how this all started. But it's just the streaming service now. They say those streaming services are the future. We'll talk to a man who can predict the future. Pete Nacos. The great Pete Nacos. Pete, you were like 12 years old when all that stuff happened. aware how aware of you were the were you of the longhorn network and and the the impending danger to western civilization that it i'm not i'm not gonna lie here i knew that the longhorn longhorn network existed but i'm not gonna pretend and say that i really recall the uh impending disaster it could have caused in realignment. Pete, there were meetings, like Board of Regents meetings called

after it came out that the high school games were going to be on the network. Then they made a rule. It was a whole thing. Texas A&M and Texas probably would have been together at the same conference all along if not for this network. I think this was when I just knew Andy Staples by his byline at SI. Well, I did write a lot about it at the time. So we got to talk about something that is happening now, though, that is very interesting. The NCAA Division I Council is meeting,

and this is something that has been talked about over the past few years, but it is possible that within the next couple of days, there will be a vote and a ruling that all of those analysts that work in these college football programs, they'll actually be able to coach on the field. Yeah. So this was something that came up a year ago and actually failed to, to make it and,

and really become the law of the land. But now it's back up. The D one council meets Tuesday and Wednesday this week in Indianapolis. It's a 40-person council representing the 32 Division I conferences. And, yeah, I mean, the best way I have been able to describe it to some people who have gotten a little bit in the weeds is, imagine if every analyst and quality control person that Nick Saban brought to Alabama could also coach on the field and, and,

and the impact that would make some would argue it wouldn't make a big impact. Some would somewhat argue it would, but either way you're, we could see overnight major college football programs, coaching staffs expand in, in a really quick fashion. Well, and I I'll, you know, the, coaching staffs, uh, expand in, in a really quick fashion. Well, and I, I'll, you know, the, the one closest to me, Florida's had this issue where fans have

said, okay, you have this, this problem where you keep sending out 10 on the field goal block team, but you keep having an analyst run special teams. Well, now that, that analyst or is now those analysts at this point, uh, would be elevated to on-field coaches. Now, here's the reality of this, Pete, is these guys have been coaching to varying degrees all along. Some schools try to hide it better than others, but most schools don't even bother at this point. You'll see it on the sidelines during games where player goes to analysts on the sideline what do you think is happening yeah so the other interesting position where this is really going to be highlighted andy and you and i talked about was the quarterback position um do some

programs decide to bring in one of these outside quarterback consultants um or how about for some of these programs where you really have an offensive coordinator head coach sort of role and there really isn't somebody spending the most time with the quarterbacks at practice um or even if you want your oc to only focus on um the overarching uh points for the offense and you just want somebody working with your quarterbacks that's going to be an interesting development to watch and um the other thing i'm really keeping my eye on too is was reading this proposal yesterday when i was working on my story and so there still can only be 11 off-campus um coaches recruiting and that includes a head coach so 10 assistants and a head coach um but that head coach can choose any 10 assistants from my understanding. So let's say you want to recruit this really savant, right?

A really good recruiter. And maybe you need to grow him into being a really great on-field coach, but you could still theoretically employ them on your staff and have them go off campus. Oh, yeah. And that, I think, makes this very interesting. And what you're going to see, and this is because a lot of times you've had these Uber recruiters, these really good recruiters. They are in an on-field coaching role.

They are a position coach, but they're not particularly good teacher of the position. They don't really, you know, they don't really add much from an on-field standpoint, but they are necessary as recruiters. And you're going to see those guys get assistant position coaches who will actually be the position coaches. And it's like a big joke that we've had over the years. I always tell people, let's say you have a wide receivers coach. I'm not naming names here, but let's say you have a wide receivers coach who when the offense comes off the field they meet with a ga who might possibly now be a head coach and your receivers coach stands near the sideline waving a towel and cheering on the defense is that person really your receivers coach i don't think they are so but that's been going on for a long time like that that's that's been going on for a while

and it is the the argument was always okay it would widen the gulf between the haves and have nots pete have we got to the point where that they're finally just accepting like akron and ohio state aren't the same and never will be. Yeah, I think that that's this. And you pointed this out yesterday, not to go into the legalities of it, but this is like another class action lawsuit waiting to happen. Yeah. This is one of those things that the NCAA needs to kind of get through just so it's just one less legal factor they have to deal with. The other interesting thing to me too, Andy,

is do we see a coaching carousel in the next two weeks? If this comes together in the next 48 hours? I can't promise that. I don't, and I'm not saying it's going to be overly aggressive if we do see some moves, but it is going to open up a whole new can of worms per se for, for the group of five. And what if a really good, I don't know, quarterbacks coach or wide receiver or a phenomenal special teams coordinator or something like that in the group of five wants to make the leap

and the best way for them to do it is to be an assistant, wide receivers coach, middle linebackers coach, things like that. And I'll be frank, too, here, Andy. I've had some really interesting conversations with assistants in the group of five and and there are some who just want to get out because of this impending health settlement um yeah and we're really skeptical that they'll even be able to compete specifically in football and basketball and does this open up the avenue for them to easily leave so i i would say based on my conversation the past few days, like with agents and coaches that I wouldn't worry about it as much right now.

Having a mini coaching carousel, it seems like right now it's going to be more. Analysts who were hired anticipating this rule changing will just have their titles changed. Yes. After this season. Yes. I think we're going to see a lot of this, a lot of this churn. If this just have their titles changed. Yes. But after this season, yes, I think we're going to see a lot of this, a lot of this churn if this, if this goes through and you brought up the legality part of it. I do think it's interesting to talk about that. We'll, we'll go back to another, uh, before Pete was born moment. Uh, there, there was a case in the nineties. They had these things called restricted earnings coaches, and it was basically

baseball coaches. And I can't remember what the, what the salary figure was, but it was something obscenely low. Like they were capped. This was like the third baseball assistant and they were capped at something ridiculous, like $12,000 a year. And it was a pure cost cutting move, trying to let, you know, different, you know, most schools be competitive that of course didn't work, but they sued the restricted earnings coaches sued and lost in federal court. And the NCAA had to pay them a bunch of money. And so this is essentially a layup for those coaches if they want to sue over it.

And that's why, that's why this is happening right now uh interesting question from Christopher in the chat will any coordinator be able to talk to the QB or will only one designated coach be able to communicate with a single player I would like to get some clarity on that too but I'm pretty sure it's just one coach because I don't think most coaches want more than one person capable of talking to the quarterback are we talking about over the headsets during the games yeah yeah just one it's just like the NFL from my understanding yeah and it is a good question from a practical standpoint I don't see how you would like your quarterback would take his helmet and throw it at the

sideline if he heard like four people talking in his head before play so that that from a practical sense i think you've got to do it like that you mentioned the quarterback situation there's a term that's popped up that i i don't know if i was familiar with this term before this summer but uh walk around coaches and it makes sense when you hear it so basically a coordinator who isn't tethered to a position right he'd be a walk around coach so practice he's walking let's say he's the defensive coordinator he's going to see the safeties he's going to see the corners he's going to see the the d line he's going to see the linebackers and that is yeah exactly you're gonna yeah so you're gonna see more of that probably

and also i was thinking about this, Pete, you just mentioned the quarterback situation. Coaching quarterback technique. So like how your feet are set, how you move, throwing on and off platform. That is a very different skill set than play calling. Yeah, completely different. Completely different.

Especially during the game week too, right? Like you need to get your sheet together. You need to have a few meetings and make sure like you're comfortable running, play X or Y on third down. And that has nothing to do with getting a quarterback ready for the technical part of the football game. Yeah, and I think that's one of the interesting things because I've noticed through the years there are quarterbacks

who play for certain great play callers whose mechanics seem to deteriorate through the season because maybe they don't have that, that person. And there are, I'm not, there are play callers who also are great teachers of the quarterback position. Totally. Yeah. Mike Bobo at Georgia is a really good teacher of the quarterback position you look at carson beck and his mechanics and like so it's not that you can't do both it's that there are not that many people who are good at both yeah and and in in the nfl right now right there is no cap on coaches right so that's why you have your um assistant to the offensive line coach or your pass rush specialist titles like that are going to definitely be coming to the college game

um it will be interesting to see what salaries are like for some of these um coaches like does an analyst get a pay bump now because they're going to be doing more um but at the same time revenue sharing might start in a year so So how does that impact the budget? So we'll be, we'll be ensuring to see how much like some of these really big programs can pay the next quarterback coach at Georgia or something like that. Yeah. And I think that's a very interesting thing. I also think it,

I'm wondering if we're going to see kind of a correction based on how things are changing to staff sizes, staff. Because do you need as many people in your recruiting office now that NIL money does a lot of the recruiting work for you? Or do you need to shift more people to your, I don't know what we're calling it in college football. In the NFL, it's called player personnel. Like the scouting the other teams in the NFL is that group. Like scouting the other teams in college football, it feels like you want a bigger department there than you've had before.

That's becoming a big thing too. I know multiple programs across the country are now, right, they have some positions where a guy literally spends time scouting the opposing team, but also spend much more time thinking about college football outside the building than the coaching staff. And I mean, I spent so much time in the transfer portal. That's why some of these staffs can they've watched enough tape where they understand, OK, player X or Y in the ACC or the Big Ten. I mean, if they go in, we need to get involved because their upside's really good or they had a really great year.

I mean, don't kid yourself. None of the head coaches in the SEC and the Big Ten and ACC and Big 12 have any idea what's going on during the season. Yeah, they're a little busy. They're not in their locker room. Yeah. Yeah, it will be interesting to see how this goes because i i would prioritize i think the on-field staff now over necessarily the high school staff

especially if you are keeping that one you know those one or two key recruiter people and you can kind of unleash them on recruiting full-time rather than having them try to coach tight ends or try to coach safeties yeah yeah it's and yet again andy i mean not sounding like it's it's gonna be really good for the haves and not so great for the have-nots yeah it will be it it will be different but the thing i keep telling people is you could always work with a head coach and 10 assistants like you can still do it i like i remember yeah hearing you know mike leach and will muschamp tell stories of coaching in division two and where you also had to line the field and like there are degrees of all this stuff if if you're at a group of five

school and you've got 10 assistants and a couple people in your recruiting department like you've got 10 assistants and a couple of people in your recruiting department, like you've still got it better than most coaches. Right. Yeah. A hundred percent. Now I do want to talk to you about one of the thing that popped up last week that I found very interesting and that's Houston Christian, former formerly Houston Baptist. Uh, if you're a draft Nick, uh, we had J Alex hunt on the show during the senior bowl. He played a edge rusher at Houston Christian, but Houston Christian is an FCS school. They're in the Southland conference. They actually have challenged the house settlement, basically saying, Hey, we don't feel like we should have to foot this much of the bill for this thing. Because remember the four power conferences are paying, I believe 23% of the settlement and the non-power conferences are paying, I believe 23% of the settlement and the, the non-power conferences

are paying 35% of the settlement. So now spread out over 28 conferences, but this is interesting because do you think anybody else might actually challenge this thing? So my initial reaction when I saw this was this is okay, one, this is really interesting, and two, why are they doing this? Because the only thing that's going to happen to Houston Christian is that they're not going to get cut off, but it's also just going to bring them much more scrutiny. At the same time, though, some of these Division I members who play FCS football and obviously D one basketball are

really going to have to, to take a brunt of this, this payment. And, um, I mean, yeah, it's, it's really gonna make an impact on their budget. And, you know, we talk about budget cuts and things like that right now, like at those levels of college sports, like we're talking about, um, back office staff getting cut, or we're talking about, um, staff getting cut or we're talking about um you know like development stuff being cut we're not in and like these athletic departments are going to do everything they can to not cut sports but the the the cash they typically receive from the

ncaa that they're not going to receive anymore that's got a lot to do with their their overall um budget opposed to some of these other schools i mean that's 10 of their budget to be to be frank it's not just like five percent or two percent at some of these other institutions yeah it's it's basically the analyst we were talking about getting bumped to quarterbacks coach yeah like that that amount of money but it is that significant to those people and it's not significant to an sec school or big 10 school but it's very significant to those people and it's not significant to an sec school or a big 10 school but it's very significant to a southland conference school but the the reason i would think most of them won't challenge is because there's always the threat of the sec and the big 10 and the big 12

and the acc just sort of we'll take our ball and go home right need us for the NCAA tournament to bring in that money yeah and I'll give Ross Dellendrut uh credit where it's due you wrote a great story yesterday in Yahoo about the the impending split between oh the scene of the meeting that Ross wrote oh my so we'll go go to Yahoo and read Ross's story. It's really good. But the, he leads with this scene. There's a, it's a luxury hotel in Naples, Florida. The Ritz Carlton. Yeah. So they're upstairs, ACC, big 12, SEC, big 10, all meeting with Charlie Baker, the NCAA

president. And Ross talks to a commissioner of one of the other 28 division one leagues is like, I don't even know where they're meeting. Yeah. Yeah. Ross talks to a commissioner of one of the other 28 division one leagues is like I don't even know they're meeting yeah yeah so but he also really highlights in the story and we've talked about it on the show Charlie Baker has cited in the past of how this deal would keep them all together for the next 10 years and obviously that's when some TV contracts are up. Crazy how that works. Yeah, crazy how that works. So there is an impending split. Yes, the power four are gearing up for a split. Houston Christian's move in this lawsuit,

I think just highlights that the major massive gap between the two. I was going to use a bigger word. It didn't come out of my mouth no gap is fine chasm ravine i was trying to say chasm just wasn't chasm is a good word yeah trying to say chasm wasn't coming to my head but anyways uh houston the other really not mind-boggling but really interesting part about this is like houston christian has really put its neck out there now like they officially have an x on their back like it's it's quite the move and and and if i could have predicted it i

would have thought like two or three of these schools would have come out together to kind of make a bond but no houston christian they're fighting i don't remember what tv show it was there was there was a tv show where somebody was on the log flume ride, sort of like Splash Mountain at Disney, and somebody gets thrown off, and a guy's like, you ruined it for the whole log! And that's what I'm thinking of Houston Christian right now with its FCS brethren, like, no, no, we still need the money from them.

Yeah. I mean, and they're going to have their chance, right? They filed their brief, and it's going to go in front of the judge, and it also starts the longer process where athletes in the back damages class are going to be able to object and things like that so it it's going to be very interesting it's going to give you a heck of a lot to to write about but right now we just wait on the dividend one council to see if we got a little uh little mini coaching carousel to start pete nicos thank you so much thanks andy all right little programming note by the way so this week we you

know we've talked a ton about the ea sports video game coming back they're gonna do some some drops this week they're dropping their 25 toughest places to play at some point on Tuesday, which I cannot wait to see. And I've actually done my own top 25 list of toughest places to play. And so we're going to put that out after they put out their list and we'll compare the two. I think it'll be really interesting, but I'm kind of trying to think about it from a video game perspective, because I was thinking about like, I was trying to rank the toughest places to play. And I was like, okay, I need to divorce this from how good is the team inside?

Cause like Georgia might be number one right now because you have to play against Georgia when you're playing at Sanford stadium, but it's Sanford stadium, necessarily the toughest place to play. If say LSU is firing on all cylinders and tiger stadium, is it at full roar? That's the question. And so, because in the video game,

you can take any team in Dynasty mode and turn it into a national title contender. So which stadiums should you use to your advantage and which ones would be more advantageous? And I'm thinking about terms of architecture and all of that stuff. So we will talk about that later on Tuesday. If you don't catch that video on Tuesday, we'll, we'll talk about it here tomorrow as well. So don't worry. We're definitely going to talk

about that. And they've got a couple other things that they're going to be putting out their, their best offenses and defenses in the game, which I fascinated to see and then a little looks like a little bit of player rating reveal coming up so that that's something we've all been waiting for but you know we rate players here at on three as well we just wait we do it before they get to college and that brings us to the great steve wiltvong, the man behind the Fong Bomb. Steve, a lot of five stars moving around, flipping, decommitting, not committing, visiting. This has been a very busy couple of weeks. Good morning, guys. It's Groundhog's Day. Every year, same stories, new names, rinse, wash, repeat. That's recruiting. And it's been going on forever, man. I've been

covering recruiting for 20 years. And these college football coaches, you give them an opportunity to make their pitch to you, they're going to be very convincing. They didn't get these jobs by accident. The more people you talk to, the more, the more likely you got a chance to rethink your college decision. And it's, it's flip season. It's offer season. It's, uh, it's, um, money season. And kids are trying to make their college commitments before they start their senior seasons. Steve, I was going to warm you up before we got into this, but like we had a comment on the USC thing basically left as soon as I set up the stream last night for this deal, uh,

where Brandon says we have a weird obsession with USC. Georgia just lost three commits and not a word. Y'all have been actively trying to get Juju to flip it to any other school. That's weird. And Mike, before you came on and says, Oh my God, how many videos lives is on three going to talk about a committed player

visiting a school in a week? I will say as the person who programs these things, when a player committed to USC takes a visit to Colorado and coach prime rolls out the red carpet and Shador is handing keys to that player. And that player also has visited Indiana. And that player is also being hotly pursued by Auburn. And we're talking about, of course, Julian Lewis, the quarterback from Carrollton, Georgia. Like, of course, we're going to talk about that a bunch. But Steve, I was watching you and watching Philip Dukes talk about Julian Lewis. What I thought was interesting. Let's let's let's reassure the USC fans a little bit, because you seem a lot higher on the idea of him sticking with USC

than maybe all of this visiting suggests. Are you rolling? Were you rolling B roll? Sorry. I thought you said you're, Oh no, we're just talking. Well, yeah, no, I think, I think that there is a chance that Julian Lewis, you know, if you're asking me stick or flip, I think stick as, as I talked to you this morning. But that certainly doesn't mean that I'm ruling out Auburn or Colorado. I would think after a conversation I had yesterday, I would point towards Colorado in better position than Auburn.

Auburn trying to perhaps flip another quarterback, KJ Lacey, longtime commit to Texas. That could be ramping up on the planes right now as Auburn, Auburn trying to perhaps flip another quarterback, KJ Lacey, longtime commit to Texas. That could be ramping up on the plains right now as Auburn's looking for their quarterback in this cycle. But Julian Lewis, there was some time where I think when he was talking about reclassifying, he was also thinking about perhaps reopening his recruitment. But then you get Lincoln Riley comes and visits the school. He goes out to USC in the spring, goes out there in the summer for his official visit. He knows what USC is.

He knows the opportunity there, what Lincoln Riley's done offensively, what Lincoln Riley has done in developing quarterbacks, turning them not only into the Heisman Trophy winner, but the number one pick. And the other thing the family pointed out to me is how healthy Lincoln Riley quarterbacks typically stay under center as another point of emphasis.

And so that's something major to walk away from. And the magnitude of that is well known around the Julian Lewis camp. But this is a process with a lot of moving parts for a lot of these prospects. And he's gone out and taken some visits. Also went down to Indiana where he has a close relationship with quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator Tino Censeri. Great visit to Colorado this weekend. Obviously the whole town rolled out the red carpet. It got a lot of action on social media. I think that's one of the reasons why he likes Colorado, the microscope on Colorado football and the way your platform can blow up playing for coach Deion Sanders and that staff on that stage is certainly something that can be beneficial for you from a

social media standpoint. But USC, I'm still in the stick department right now, but I mean, that recruitment is still moving too. It's, you know. Yeah. Well, and the way you put it, and we talked about this at the beginning of the show, like if you're the quarterback Lincoln Riley wants, and you look at that history, the second half of the 2022 Pac-12 championship game, I can't even remember an injury to a Lincoln Riley quarterback. Like Baker Mayfield was very healthy. Kyler Murray stayed healthy. Like that, that's an interesting point that I hadn't even thought of, but yeah, it is, it's hard for me to imagine just looking at the recent history of Lincoln Riley quarterbacks, that if you are the person he's decided he wants,

that you would end up saying, no, thanks. I'm going to go somewhere else. That Caleb Williams class, Andy Brock Vandergriff was committed to Oklahoma. Lincoln Riley recruits one quarterback a year and he's loyal to you. And for Julian Lewis, he recruited them originally as a 2026, but pretty much knowing that he was likely going to reclassify to 2025. So with that other 2025 quarterbacks like Bryce Underwood, the number one quarterback in the country, he wanted to visit USC and the Riley USC was like, no, we're, they just, we're good. Yeah. So that was before Julian Lewis committed even in August. So then Julian Lewis commits,

reclassifies, you see why they were never offered a 25. They only offered Julian Lewis in the 2026 class. But where I'm going with that is Brock Vandergriff was his lone target. He was committed. Then Brock decided that he wanted to stay closer to home. down the road from Athens, goes to Georgia, maybe ultimately would have been the starter at Georgia, but is now transferred to Kentucky. He's still writing his own script there and has a chance to be a draft pick, but Lincoln Riley pivots to Caleb Williams. Caleb Williams commits to Oklahoma, fouls him the USC. The rest is history. Number one pick, Heisman trophy winner. And that's that I think is something that the Lewis camp, if they know that if they don't play for, you know, I've kind of had this dialogue. If they know if they don't play for Lincoln Riley, someone else is. Someone else is going to be a starting quarterback. And his track record is pristine.

I mean, like there's no, like Ryan day has a great quarterback track record. But like Lincoln Riley's is the best one. I mean, there's only a few people breathing that air. And Ryan Day can they may say they can say we have maybe the best quarterback in the NFL coming up. So certainly everyone has their different legs to stand on. But Lincoln Riley quarterbacks, Georgia tight ends. There's just some places where you get that Iowa tight end too.

Yep. And not necessarily to be a first-rounder, but just to be a draft pick, and that's a pretty damn good thought too. If you're a tight end and Iowa offers you, how do you turn it down, man? They got walk-ons in the league, a couple of them. Exactly, yeah. LeVar Woods says be in my position room. You're going to make it. be there and if you start yeah you know not all of them but if you are the starter you know yeah so i mean obviously

you got to get there and earn it from there but you go bet on yourself at a place like those well and the riley thing because you know most schools sign a quarterback a year which usually means that that for every one that hits three probably don't with riley it's actually a little closer to 50 50 and maybe more more than 50 because you know we're talking about the ones that that quote unquote didn't work out malachi nelson obviously transferred to boise state spencer rattler winds up transferring because caleb williams took his job but But Spencer Rattler still got drafted. You just got beat out by Caleb Williams, man.

I mean, who knows how that works out between the two. If, if Caleb Williams doesn't come in, you know, and Lincoln Riley, that's another thing, best player will play. So, you know, there's a lot of, you know, if you earn it under Lincoln Riley, you're going to play. He's not, you know, and so I'm in the stick camp, but certainly it's recruiting. Anything can happen.

Deion Sanders every year, going back to Travis Hunter, has had a major recruiting win, an eye-popping one. And so you can't count them out. Who's it going to be this cycle? Could it be Julian Lewis? You know, there's obviously a lot of positive buzz from people that spent time with him over the weekend how could you not I mean there was a burger at a restaurant named after him and I talked to some other recruits that spent

time on campus and it was great energy great atmosphere Deion Sanders is the most charismatic head coach in the country when he wants to be and so that's why I always say he could go on the road. He could go in the, he could, if they, they've, they've obviously prioritized the transfer portal. That's been their recipe to quickly turn the program around. And they're optimistic that this year they'll break through. And so they're writing their script and we'll see what happens with that. But I've always felt that he could crush the high school ranks and he would have two full high school recruiting classes in already and working on the third. When Nick Saban retired, I called guys like Ryan Kelly and Ari Kuhn-Digio and did a little story about what it was like to

be recruited by Nick Saban. And they talked about how they just still remember vividly what it was like when Nick Saban walked into their school. It would be like that for Deion Sanders. Times a thousand. And so I just would be excited to see what that would look like if they prioritize the high school trail. But they have a few targets that I identify as instant impact players. Julian Lewis is one of them. That's certainly a place to play early. That's certainly a place to play early.

USC could be a place to play early. Auburn could be a place to play early. And certainly Indiana for a player of that magnitude as well. Although I like the quarterback they recruited in Tyler Cherry. There's going to always be competition. But Julian Lewis, he's the Gatorade Player of the Year finalist, Gatorade Player of the Year in Georgia. He's played as competitive high school football as just about anyone in the country and and so you know he'll have a chance to go in there and compete year one but as we kind of just conversate here a lot of these quarterbacks

hear their names drafted early they don't play right away you know they Carson Carson Beck is going to be a good example of that but even like CJ Stroud and guys like that, you know, Trevor Lawrence wasn't the day one starter, you know, guys, you know, you, it's just always good, good to come in and be in a stable situation and stay under a stable coaching staff. But, you know, there's a lot of factors going on with Julian Lewis right now. And I think Colorado's done some exciting things in that recruitment and have some exciting things going for them.

So certainly never ruling them out when they sink their teeth into a top target. But right now I'm still in the, in the stick camp. Before we leave the USC topic, I'll post this, this comment for Christopher QBs also look at defense. If you have to score 47 to win,

you know, all the pressure is on you. So that is a, that's Christopher taking a shot at USC and when USC had that run of really highly rated defensive commits it was okay maybe they are turning over a new leaf here but then you see Isaiah Gibson decommit Justice Terry decommit Isaiah Gibson he's now committed to georgia justice terry who's also like isaiah gibson from georgia uh it seems like you guys think that he's probably headed to georgia as well how hard is it to keep those that type of player when a georgia wants them well until you

play at the magnitude of a georgia on saturdays it's going to be hard to go out of region and land an elite player when there are region schools that are elite. But kudos to USC for getting those guys out on campus, and Eric Henderson and Coach DeAnton Lynn and Coach Lincoln Riley. They're trying to recruit those caliber of players to get USC back on track. But what I will say, and James Franklin coined it, recruiting is not about who you don't get. It's about who you get. So who's USC going to ultimately end up landing? And then they write their own script about developing. Now,

obviously, Isaiah Gibson, Justice Terry, those guys are elite players. I mean, our wives could stick five stamps on those guys. They're terrific players that are easy to evaluate, that are freakish football players. USC, Lincoln Riley understands that he needed to upgrade his defense. DeAnton Lynn went out and hired one of the better defensive coordinators in college football last year. Eric Henderson was known as one of the best defensive line coaches in the NFL.

They've overhauled that staff. I think we're going to see their players on their roster play at a higher level than they did last year from pure development. And so we'll see who USC rallies with on the trail after losing those guys, and they'll keep swinging for big fish. And if they start playing the way they want to play. They can do what Ohio State does and go into Texas and go out of region and land five land, a five star corner from Texas, land a five star corner from Alabama. And those aren't easy for us, but it's about who you get, who's who's who's USC going to get and how are they going to develop them?

I think you're excited about the defensive coaching staff they put in place. And Lincoln Riley, they had to make over an entire culture at USC. And that's hard to fix. Steve Sarkeesian had to do it at Texas. A few guys failed before Sark. And what I mean by that is USC, Texas, they had some splash plays, some splash wins, could be exciting on offense under previous regimes, but they weren't physical around the line of scrimmage. They weren't physical

around the point of attack. I think USC likes the way that they're building up that offensive line room through the recruiting trail. Coach Henson's a really good offensive line coach. And then to the point on defense, Julian Lewis is certainly looking at the defensive recruiting. That was one of the things that's, you know, got I think has opened the door for other schools is how's USC going to recruit on defense? But, you know, so that's certainly something that they're evaluating right now. But I think that they have an exciting coaching staff on the defensive side of the ball. And I'm interested to see what they look like this season compared to last. So let's stay on the West Coast in that, this sounds weird to say, in the Big Ten, but Oregon had a ton of talent on campus this past weekend. And look, Oregon has been stacking its roster like a title contender stacks its roster.

But tell us about the group they had this weekend and where they stand with some of those guys. Oh man, it was five-star extravaganza out there at Oregon this weekend as Dan Lanning and company hosted some of the nation's best prospects. And they're looking for a second straight top five recruiting class. And yeah, this is a program that's one that you mark. They have a chance to win the national championship. Excuse me. Man, I need to stop before you boys, and I don't have a drink in here.

That's the thing. We make you talk too much, Steve. That's what it is. We make you talk too much during offer and flip season, and that is entirely our fault. I don't have my morning smoothie in here. I don't have my coffee in here. I don't have water in here, so I'm just going to have to push through.

But, look, Oregon, nobody's recruited the quarterback position in the transfer portal better than them going out and getting Bo Nix and then Dylan Gabriel to replace him and Dante Moore and so on and so on. And certainly they've had some big wins at the skill positions with Evan and then around the line of scrimmage. Now they're trying to build this up foundationally through the recruiting trail as well. Top five class last year, top ten right now,

and could easily push into the top five. They're the number one receiver in the country. DeCorey and more on campus. Mom said it was a great visit. Loved seeing Corey around the other recruits. So it feels like he fits in. He's been to Oregon like five times. I know the on three RPM favors Texas.

Certainly that's going to be hard to beat Texas for a player of that magnitude from their state. But LSU, Ohio State, and Oregon are still in the thick of that one. Jonah Williams is the number one safety in the country. I think he's been to Oregon a couple times. He says he'll be back. He's going to play high school, or he's going to play college baseball and college football. The RPM favors Texas A&M, but he's also looking at LSU. And there's Michael Terry. He's the number one athlete in the country.

Texas was kind of the first school to say, hey, you can play multiple positions for us in your scheme. Texas A&M matched that on their official visit. So what does Oregon do? They have the Anthony Thomas drive him around. And then they'll say, you can play like the Anthony Thomas in our system. I think Oregon leads for the number two safety in the country, Trey McNutt. I think they lead for one of the most coveted tight ends in America, Deshaun Brame. But one thing we know about Oregon, if you look at the elite players in the country year in and year out,

they're in the middle of it for most of them. They're a finalist. They get a lot of them on campus. And the way that they've been playing, it's allowed them to win some of these recruiting battles that USC is aspiring to win. So, you know, the results on the field, results on the draft, you know, that will lead to, you know, the results on the trail for the five stars. But again, there's a lot of good players out there and a lot of guys with a lot of upside to be developed. And so that's who USC is going to have to pivot to. And there's, you know, so good evaluation. And then they hired those coaches to develop. And,

you know, I don't know what that means for USC this year, but I still, you know, you look at Lincoln Riley's track record. He's had some great football teams in his career. And he's typically near the top of college football. And even in his first year at USC, that was once a college football playoff somehow. Yep. Exactly. And, and it's doable. Like we look at Georgia and we say, okay, they, they get all these five stars, but they're also one of the best evaluating and recruiting staffs and developing staffs.

You talk about Jordan Davis, you talk about Ladd-McConkie. Those were players that, that other schools didn't. Jordan Davis was committed to South Carolina. Recently. Yeah. Ladd-McConkie didn't have any offers. They were worried about Vanderbilt swooping in. It's not like that was the- Look, player development trumps all. I mean, look at Michigan. How many top 10 classes contributed to that national championship? Recruiting classes are just a preview

of what your football team could look like. The NFL draft and the wins are what dictate what your team really was and how you developed them. Michigan's had a ton of success in the NFL draft. Even that Cincinnati team that went to the

college football playoff, that was not a product of their schedule. They were damn good. I mean, they had nine players drafted, including their quarterback. They had a first-round corner, second-round quarterback, second-round wide receiver. So that team Luke Fickle put together that they played Georgia. If you go the year before, Georgia won the title

and Cincinnati made the playoff. Cincinnati and Georgia played in the Peach Bowl and that was a good football game. Yeah, Cincinnati lost one of their offensive linemen to a targeting call that changed the game because they just weren't as deep, but you're absolutely right. And we had Luke Fickle on the show

because I was saying, that second class you had at cincinnati um is this for you know the second class of wisconsin going to do the same thing because like you you look at that that second class at cincinnati and it's like half the starting lineup of that playoff team so it's and and nobody knew what sauce gardner was going to be nobody knew what what some of those players are going to be they just knew he had some those players were going to be. They just knew he had some upside. Look, and then these guys get in there and they write their own script. But for Georgia and Alabama, people are like,

it's so easy to recruit at Georgia. It's so easy to recruit at Alabama. Are they really recruiting? So I'll say two things. Yes, they are really recruiting. There are some other good logos out there. But the second thing, the thing that was so impressive about the Nick Saban era, and you see it with Kirby Smart, they pass on players that don't fit their culture or don't fit what they're looking for schematically.

And those guys might be good players elsewhere, but they stick to a script. It's like the Roxbury outside their football facility. All these elite prospects are trying to get in, and they have to choose who gets to come through the rope. And sometimes they look in the back and they see a Jordan Davis or a Ladd McConkie, and those guys get to skip the line and come in too. And then they have great strength and conditioning, great player development. I mean, Georgia's practices are as physical as any in the country. People go up there when they're not they have great strength and conditioning great great uh player development i mean georgia's practices are as physical as any in the country people go up there when they're not in pads and

talk about how physical it is i mean it is uh you got to be built a certain way to play at georgia and yeah and then you see what it looks like on saturdays and and uh under Nick Saban in Alabama, Nick Saban was as thorough a head coach evaluator in history. He was as involved in, are we taking this guy as he a taker? Is he not? Sometimes head coaches all over the country still today put the trust in their position coaches to decide who gets to walk through the rope. Nick Saban stamped all those guys that played at Alabama. Yeah. Yeah. It was, and,

and, and was very active in talking to them, recruiting them right up until, right up until the end. I just have some stories of, of guys in the class of 2024 that he just wouldn't stop or committed to other schools. He just kept going and going and going through the football season.

Even if he didn't get them, you know, it was like, I'm going to try right up until the end. I consider coach Saban more of a closer, but like someone that like, when he's talking to you, everything he's saying to you is true. Where like, sometimes these kids they're talking to coaches, even on good teams.

I'm like, are they selling me a vision? Is this true for me? Nick Saban obviously uh best closer in recruiting history too but there's some guys that like you know there's a lot of head coach recruiters now that are nine inning guys that they're in on these guys from start to finish and they're just as relevant in the process as as uh the which is great for the portal era. If they go somewhere else, they might come to you later.

And you know who I think kind of started that? I'm teeing you up. I think it was like Pete Carroll. He's like one of the first head coaches. Urban Meyer, certainly. Charlie Weiss, even at Notre Dame. And I think the old guard put in rules after that where the head coaches like were to not be as active because they didn't want to do what pete carroll and oh yeah mire and guys

were doing on the senator toby tubberville got got the coaches taken off the road in april because he was tired of nick saban just wearing him out on the trail he It got the head coach to say, so my recollection of early Nick Saban is not as strong. I just know at the end of his, like the last eight, nine years, he was just a great closer. And it was the early was the same though. The early,

like a lot of the stuff that was established early endured where he'd say, you know, he all, he had their top targets. Nick Saban personally recruited all of their top targets. And it was like, I'm calling this guy this, you know, during the once a week call we get, I'm making that call. And a lot of head coaches just didn't want to do that.

And it was interesting. But I'm glad you mentioned Nick Saban in Alabama because one of the big questions when Nick Saban retired and Kalen DeBoer got hired is Kalen DeBoer going to be able to recruit at the level that Nick Saban did and I think it's a fair question and like to even expect anyone to be close is asking a lot but given what we've seen in the last couple of months, it sure seems like Kalen DeBoer is going to keep this thing rolling. Well, when you talk about someone replacing Nick Saban, it's humongous shoes to fill.

They go out and hire a head coach that's 100-something and 12. So Kalen DeBoer knows losing about as much as Nick Saban knows losing. Now he's on a different stage and he's got to go prove it again in Alabama, but he certainly has earned this job with what he's done over the course of his career as an assistant coach and then as a head coach, taking Washington to the college football playoff and having them right there with a chance to win the national championship this past year. Just an exciting run for the Huskies. So he comes into Alabama.

I got a chance to spend some time around that facility in the spring. And I think one of the things that quickly resonated with me is how quickly the players bought in to Kalen DeBoer. Could you imagine being a player at Alabama and being coached by Nick Saban? And then another guy walks in. Some other guy walks in, yeah. It doesn't matter what he's done. And he's going to start telling you how he's going to run his program.

And you're like, well, I have, I was just coached by the best. So he had to earn the trust of the players. And I think that he was able to quickly do that with the environment that he and his coaches created. That's the kind of guy Kalen DeBoer is. And so I got a chance to spend some time with him when he was at Indiana. And I've been around him a few times. And so he's created a culture and environment that the players quickly respected. And then he went out and hired a terrific coaching staff from Kane Womack to Jamarcus Shepard,

one of the best position coaches in college football. He retained some really good ones, Freddie Roach, Robert Gillespie, Brian Ellis is an exciting tight ends coach recruiter. You got, you know, coach, coach Mo Linguist on the staff. It was the Buffalo head coach. Yeah. Nick Sheridan's, you know, one of the exciting young coaches in college football. So then he put together a great staff and a lot of these guys love recruiting. So and then they have such a great vibe together. Like these guys love working together. I mean, you've been around college football programs where there's internal jealousies or guys don't get along or it's just not even a great culture on the coaching staff.

I mean, I think that these guys will go, you know, get a cigar together or what have you after work. You know, I think these guys enjoy working together. So that chemistry not only rubs off with the players on the team, but it rubs off anytime recruits and their families come on campus. They just get a great vibe. It's just such a positive energy around there. And again, it starts with Kalen DeBoer, but this coaching staff, they just love being around each other. And the support staff is really strong too, with guys like Courtney Morgan, Bob Welton, Aaron Hodges, just to name a few. But there's just so many people that have been in that building and been around that football program for so long that they were able to just hit the ground running. Because Alabama still is, you know, they've got a great roster returning.

They're going to play in the biggest games in the country. Ken and DeBoer's got a track record. The NFL draft's going to be big again for Bama next year. And what these guys have done at other places, they got NFL track records. So, you know, these kids see it right away and so they come on campus they fall in love they see what bam has been and they see what this coaching staff's been and then nick saban still has a presence around the program so um it's uh easy to see why they're crushing it so while we're on the topic of replacing legends but

i want to let you go with this one i i think, you know, there's been a little concern among the Michigan fan base about Sharon Moore's recruiting and, and, you know, in the new staff and see what was going on in Ann Arbor before they made that decision? Well, I think anyone that gets caught up in is Michigan doing a good job recruiting or not hasn't been paying attention to the last couple of years where they are truly one of the few schools where it is irrelevant with the way that they've developed their players. I wouldn't get caught up on star rankings with Michigan. But with that being said, they're now pushing for a top 10 recruiting class. And I think it was just a matter of the timeline of the guys that they were recruiting. When were they ready to commit? And so for some schools, some of their top targets, they were able to get in the boat early. Maybe they were squeezed to get in the boat early or maybe their timeline was just, hey, I fell in love with this school and they were going to say yes. Their time was this summer. And so guys have taken their official visits to campus and they're heating up, they're heating up and they're trending for several more. And this has got a good chance to be a top 10 class on the heels of a national championship. You got a new head coach, you got a new offensive coordinator,

got a new defensive coordinator, you got a new strength coach. But a lot of those guys have ties, had previous ties to the program in some shape or form. So I think that the recipe is still there. And so I'm still super, super high on Michigan and the trajectory of this new coaching staff. Well, and that's the thing that, especially on the offensive side of the ball, like if Sharon Moore's in charge it gives me confidence that they're going to have a good offensive line always and that if whoever they identify as an offensive lineman they want is probably going to be a very good one at some point so it is I feel like there's a little bit of a cheat sheet here a lot of new coaching staffs you don't know but i feel like we we do at least on that side of the ball have an idea of what what

it's going to look like and they can they can sell it well and then on the defensive side of the ball you know jim harbaugh he made two elite hires you know one hires one's now the seahawks head coach for mcdonald yeah and then you know he takes jesse, one's now the Seahawks head coach. Mike McDonald. Mike McDonald, yeah. And then, you know, he takes Jesse Minner with him, and he'll be an NFL head coach, I would imagine, in the next three to four years. But Wink, he's like the godfather of the defense. He had the most boss answer when people actually –

when people asked him how he was going to be able to step in. And I'm paraphrasing. I don't remember the exact thing. I just remember the answer, you know? And so there's a lot of confidence in wink. They promoted from within on the strength staff after losing, maybe the best strength and conditioning coach in college football.

And I mean, look, Jim Harbaugh was a leader of men. He was a great coach, took the 49ers to super bowl, a couple of NFC type games, took Stanford from one win to a major double digit win and contender. So he was a hell of NFC-type games, took Stanford from one win to a major double-digit win in contender. So he was a hell of a coach, but I like Michigan.

They promote it from within. These guys know the culture. They know the scheme. They know what it's about. And these players, if you look at this recruiting class that they have in the fold, there's a lot of tough, physical, hard-nosed football players. Or if you look at the skill positions,

there's guys with high upside athletically. And I just think they're all tough, physical, hard-nosed football players. Or if you look at the skill positions, there's guys with high upside athletically. And I just think they're all tough, you know, and that's kind of Michigan's MO, you know, just hard-nosed, lunch pail, all the cliches. But that's how they won, man. I mean, and then they out-schemed you. You know, how about Jesse Minner in the college football semifinal? Jalen Milrow didn't know where the rush was coming from.

He also didn't know where the ball was coming from with the snap. I was stunned with Tommy Reese. Alabama should have handed the ball off 55 times. I'm stunned that still to this day that they didn't. I'm not saying they didn't. They were getting chunk plays on the ground, but anytime Jalen Milrow dropped back, he didn't know where it was coming from.

No, I know. My problem with that is that if I look up and I see Kenneth Grant and Mason Graham state sitting across the line of scrimmage, I'm like, Oh, I'm a little scared to run the ball too. No, what they were getting chunk plays when they ran. I mean, I don't know. I'd love to hear someone. I just, I thought Alabama, I was tweeting during the game. I run the ball. I mean, not that I was rooting you know, I don't know. I'd love to hear someone. I just, I thought Alabama, I was tweeting during the game.

I run the ball. I mean, not that I was rooting for him, but just, it was just so fascinating to me because anytime like Michigan out schemed them, that was very rare that Nick Saban got out schemed. Well, it was, it was fun and it was legend versus legend. And now they're both, both out elsewhere. One retired, one in the NFL, and we're watching the replacements stack those rosters. And every time you hear that ding, that's a commitment.

That's a flip. That's a decommit. Steve Bultong is a very busy man. Andy, I got one for you. Okay. Just because I'm having a fun time. Michigan sticks with Jim Harbaugh. You got people that want to throw him out for winning 10 games regularly,

and then they have a terrible COVID year. He gets to overhaul his staff. They go on and win a national championship. I just think that's a lesson to the diehards out there. And Notre Dame went through it, too, with Brian Kelly, and they win five, six straight years double digit wins as well you know these guys are good coaches man well and what what ward manual did i i don't know that a lot of coaches other than jim harbaugh would have would have agreed to this because a lot of you know i think harbaugh was working without an agent when

this happened a lot of the coaching agents wouldn't allow their clients to accept this. But word manual is saying, look, you can stay our coach, but we're going to cut your salary and you have to earn it back. Like nobody ever does that. Why not? Why not suggest that when some guy's making an obscene amount of money and he's not living up to expectations, but maybe you don't necessarily think there's anybody better out there. I tell you what,

we'll cut you down. We'll incent heavily incentivize you actually getting the results you're supposed to get. And then if you do all as well, it ends well, like why not do that? I don't disagree with that point per se, but coach Harbaugh was doing a fine job.

He just didn't beat Ohio state. And I understand the magnitude of that position. And it's the same. Hey, it's the same with Ryan Day. Now you got people that are probably saying coming into this year, they got to beat Michigan or Ryan Day's on the hot seat or maybe even some. Look, dude, his only losses are to Georgia in the college football semifinal where they had him on the ropes and Marv gets hurt. They've lost to Michigan a few times. Those Michigan teams have been damn good. And then they lost to Missouri in few times. Those Michigan teams have been damn good. And then they lost to Missouri in a game where they had a ton of opt-outs and then their starting quarterback in the game got hurt.

I mean, sue them. Well, listen, just like Jim Harbaugh had to beat Ohio State. And once he did, everything was fine. Ryan Day has to beat Michigan. And once he does, everything was fine. Ryan Day has to beat Michigan. And once he does, everything will be fine. But as we just mentioned, Sharon Moore trying not to make that easy. So Steve, you got me even more excited now. Like as if that's even possible. But like I said, every ding is news. So hopped on three, watch the Wilt Fong whip around on the

on three recruits channel. And listen, he's the best in the business. Steve Wilt Fong. Thank you so much. Thanks guys. Appreciate it. Batman knows more about recruiting than anyone on earth. He has forgotten more about recruiting than anyone on earth. We are so lucky to have him here. We're so lucky to have you here. Thank you so much for listening. If you have not already hit subscribe on the YouTube channel or on whatever podcast platform you're listening to give us a like every once in a while. We're on Monday through Friday,

eight to 9 PM East, eight to 9 AM Eastern. Sometimes we go past 9 AM Eastern because sometimes we're having a good talk with Steve Wilfong, but lots of fun. Got a fun one tomorrow. Fun one tomorrow. Actually, you can watch it later today.

We just, we don't know when EA sports is going to drop this thing, but I've made my list of toughest places to play. I am fascinated to see what their list is because they have just spent a couple of years trying to recreate the environment in all these stadiums. And having met those guys in Orlando, I know how detail oriented they are, how much they want to get it right. So I'm really interested to see what their list is. We'll compare and contrast. So I'll be putting out a video and a column on On3 about that on Tuesday. If you don't catch it right away, don't worry. We'll talk about it on the show tomorrow as well. Thanks so much. We'll talk to you on Wednesday.