Andy & Ari On3 - College Football's TOP prospects for 2026: Are Arch Manning & LaNorris the BEST QBs in the SEC? Yahoo! Sports' Nate Tice joins the show

Episode Date: May 4, 2026

As the calendar turns to May, most college football programs have wrapped up spring ball and are turning their attention towards the beginning of fall camp. Who are the top prospects for the 2026 season? Yahoo! Sports’ Nate Tice joins the show to discuss his top 25 list of best players for next year’s NFL Draft. Do you agree with his list?   (0:00) On Today’s Episode (1:04) Intro: Previewing Nate Tice (2:46) Nate Tice joins (6:13) Nate’s rankings: Arch Manning (11:50) March for Arch? (15:17) LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina QB (19:20) Dante Moore, Oregon QB (22:02) Cam Coleman, Texas WR (27:13) Presenting Sponsor (29:11) Ryan Coleman-Williams, Alabama WR (31:50) Nick Marsh, Indiana WR (34:20) Notre Dame’s Talent (37:12) Drake Lindsey, Minnesota QB (44:49) Drew Mestemaker, Oklahoma State QB (50:02) Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss QB (52:45) Julian Sayin as a prospect (57:22) Sam Leavitt, LSU QB (1:01:13) Wisconsin in 2026 (1:05:22) Byrum Brown, Auburn QB (1:07:54) Closing out with Nate: See you tomorrow!   Who are your favorite prospects Nate mentioned? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!   To read Nate’s full list, head here: https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/article/arch-manning-jeremiah-smith-headline-way-too-early-2027-nfl-draft-top-25-prospects-040848373.html     Send your questions to: [e-mail] [e-mail]   Our show is also presented by BetMGM!   If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works:   1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB. 2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game. 3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sure you use bonus code CFB when you sign up!   Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary.   See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. This promotional offer is not available in DC, Mississippi, New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET (Available in the US) . 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only (if applicable). Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel   Join On3 today! https://www.on3.com/join   Watch our show on YouTube instead! https://youtu.be/XuXsKiPe520   Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey   Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's episode of Andy and RN3 presented by BetMGM, our friend Nate Tice from Yahoo Sports joins us to talk about which players in college football could wind up at the top of the 2027 NFL draft because it means they had a great year as college football players in 26. What does Arch Manning have to do to be the number one pick in the NFL draft? Can he be? does he have somebody to throw to who could be very special as well? Plus, we talk about some other quarterbacks, Nate likes,

including South Carolina's Lenora Sellers, who may sound like a surprising name with this topic, but Nate explains why. We'll get into that. We'll also get into why Notre Dame is expected to be as good as they're expected to be. And who are some of the other players that were really going to be talking about in 2026 during the college football season? Right now on Andy and Ari on 3 presented by BedMGM.

Welcome to Andy and Ari on three and Ari. This is a fun, fun conversation that we're about to have today. Our friend Nate Tice from Yahoo Sports joins us. He's a draft analyst, but Nate's also a big college football guy. And I love looking at the guys who are going to be blowing up this college football season and that all the NFL folks can we talk about this time next year. I mean, my favorite part about it, I mean, I know this is not an NFL show, although it is fascinating to see how the draft goes. You know, you can't be a good top first round pick without being very productive for your college team.

So hearing him work through some guys and I know that, you know, because you illustrate traits and, you know, what you look like and how you how you operate has a huge impact on, you know, where you're going to be drafted. But some of the names that came up too are some names that we've hyped up in the past that, you know, quite frankly, might have really big years. and I'm excited to get into it. It was a really fun conversation with him. Yeah, and there's one quarterback we're going to talk about who I don't know that a lot of the folks who really cover college football and follow college football would be predicting as a potential big time NFL draft pick. Nate is very high on this guy. I'll give you a hint. We had his coach on a couple weeks ago.

I'll see if you can guess who that is. And I'll give you another. There's a defensive end on his team that also could be a first round pick. But that's it. I'm not telling you anything else. There you go. Actually, that's really two different teams. That's right.

Who am I? Here's Nate Tice from Yahoo. We are joined now by Yahoo's Nate Tice. One of the greatest backup quarterbacks in Wisconsin football history. QB2 to Russell Wilson, among other things. But now he's one of the best draft analysts in the game. And, you know, we don't need the draft analyst before the draft.

Nate, we need you after the draft. draft because we want to talk about the guys that are still in college. And when I saw that you were grinding on Drake Lindsay film last week, I was like, this is, this is perfect, perfect. I've realized because I've made them, I wouldn't say made the mistake, but now it's become a thing to do those two early big boards. And I've realized that it's much easier to stay into the, the draft grind mindset, rather than come out unplug and then try to plug back in in the month or so.

So I just stick with it. And then once that finishes, I usually catch a cold right after because then my immune, my immune system that I've been putting off and putting off and hiding and hiding finally just crashes. But I've avoided it so far. But no, it's, it's been. Actually, it was my pleasure to look at next year's draft class because I'm very excited to talk about with you guys, but also to watch these guys this whole next year. Well, it's funny because next year's draft is always the best draft we've ever seen. But next year's draft is really one of the better ones we've ever seen. I think it's going to be better than this year's at the totality of players.

And, you know, I have this theory that might be mildly insulting to you, but at the same time, kind of funny, which is, like, you look at film and you analyze these players on a plane that I can't understand. You look at footwork, you look at tools, and, like, you can see things. And I think that it's kind of like the five-star system, too, or it's like even like a layman can identify who the top 10 players are just by watching them play. But when you start getting deeper into it, I guess it's so fascinated by how you can decide. based on those traits and those features who's going to be next i think is harder than identifying who's already good so these lists are always interesting to me yeah and that's the that's the that's the thing is that oh i'm sorry to cut you off yeah i was just going to say is that that it's just as much as college and the NFL have a like that it's just two totally different games um and it's

really fun to see what translates and see what guys grow and what guys are maybe capped out and i think that's it's just a fun puzzle uh i'm into board games i'm at all that stuff so it's like it's a fun puzzle for me to try and figure out every year. So that yeah, no, I agree with you. It's just, I'm wrong. But most of the time, I really do think it's like a batting average. If you go, you know, if you're, if you're, if you're hitting 400, oh man, I'm in the hall of fame. So I do think that it's one of these things that it's just a really, really fun aspect. But I agree with you that. I think that's why this year's draft class was even more fun because there's no consensus on anybody. And I'd love that. And I think that's what everyone's still freaking out, you know, the consensus boards this whole conversation.

But it's just I think people freaked out about certain. guys getting drafted it's like dude this is what this draft class was there was like six first round grades i think i had seven first round grades which i know it's an arbitrary thing but just saying elite talents which is called that blue chip talents five stars wherever you want to call and i looked at next year's class i'm i think i'm at 16 17 like i'm already like and that's yeah and i'm like i'm like i'm like okay i can't be handing these out willy-nilly you know and i'm like holy crap there's another guy there's another running back like i just kept going and like every position so It's been very fun to like already get into this one.

But yeah, but thank you for the comment though. But if I'm right, 50% of time, I'm very happy. Some of these guys try to project them. You put out your way too early big board right after the draft. And you had Arch Manning on top. And so I'm going to start there because let's be real Archmanning clicks. No, but seriously, he's become such a debate in college football. And I thought.

he got better as last season went on. Did I think he was the best quarterback in the country at the season? No, but I certainly thought he improved. And I'm curious what you saw, you know, using a scouts eye, what did he look like the beginning? What did you see in those last few games? Yeah, the first game, well, it's not really easy going against Ohio State with all those first rounders and a pretty good defensive coordinator, you know, Patricia, whatever you want to say, he was dialing it up last year. I do think that was just tough circumstances. There was, you know, I don't know what the whole shoulder thing was or anything, but you could tell he was very rushed. And I thought even just starting with that Ohio State game, you could tell them to get more comfortable in the second half.

And from there and on, and I get how kind of the hype of things goes. And I try to, especially with college football, is trying not to get too much into the week to week ups and downs. I know that's a big part of the fun of it. But also when I'm scouting a guy, really, when you want to look at the totality of the season and look out the and flows once it's all finished. But he's as this season went along, and I would include games that people thought he struggled in. So Florida, I would include Kentucky.

Games that you look at those stat lines, you look at close games, I believe the Kentucky game went to overtime. He got banged up in it as well. You watch it back on film, and that's why film doesn't lie, the all 22, just being able to see those angles of everything, and you see the process is so much better than I was even giving them credit for.

You understand why he's tucking the ball. You understand why he's taking a sack. you start kind of, you don't want to always, you know, blame the blame pie, you know, it's different pieces based on every play. Sometimes it is quarterback's fault. Sometimes it was the play call or having a terrible play call. Sometimes the alliance coach having a terrible pass protection scheme. Sometimes the receivers can't get open.

Sometimes they drop the ball. And sometimes that's really hard to see until you can see all 22, the all 22 film. And when I rewatched him in the second half of the year, I was like, oh my God. Like you could see him progressing. You see things calming down. You could see that he was. maybe starting to put some more touch on the throws where maybe he was fireballing those in early in the season. I just kind of amped up and revved up. But right away, you can see a lot of polished pocket

movement. You can see that he was a he's a manning. You know, even if his name was Joe Smith, like these things are pretty, pretty standout traits. His eyes are always downfield. I think that's what's a really cool aspect with Archmanning is how aggressive he is. On a certain play call or a pass play, some of them will have what they call an alert, which is usually the post draft. And it's kind of a way of a coach kind of talking out both sides of their mouth going like, did you alert that play or did you not alert that? You know, it's kind of a, it's a choice for the quarterback. Hey, I got this alert open.

I'm going to launch it. That's always available to Arch. Even if he gets knocked off his launch point, some guys when they get locked off the launch point, they go, uh, check down. Or I get knocked off the launch point. Like I have to move in the pocket. Okay, I'm going to go scramble. Arch will move, move and keep his eyes downfield and try and launch and create an

explosive play. And that's what's the name of the game is, it's explosive play. So those aspects are what's really appealing. at the NFL levels, that willingness and really being able to complete those deep balls. He throws a beautiful deep ball throws, beautiful throws intermediate. But I would also just say he's a plus plus athlete. And I kind of keep reiterating this that he is, as much as he's Eli and Peyton's nephew, he's Archie's grandson.

And Archie, you know, is a legend. Archie was a freak athlete. And Cooper Manning, his dad was a really good athlete as well at receiver before he had to retire at Ole Miss. So that's who he plays. He's a great athlete. excellent athlete, I'd even say. And I think that's still kind of getting underrated as an athlete. But so it's just this combination of pocket movement, athleticism, eyes downfield, aggressiveness. It's a lot of what you want. The timing is exquisite. He throws, throws early with a good arm.

So I will say he doesn't have the elite Josh Allen arm, but he has a very, I would say good to very good arm. Like he's a pitcher that throws 95, 96 and touch 98, 99. He's not a guy that's hitting triple digits. but I, oh man, it's just a, it's a total package and it really improved, I would say, is things kind of calmed down. The old line coalesced a little bit. I thought the O line was really rough last year. And, you know, the receivers were frustrating at times, but I think they got more chances and better chances as a season went along too. So the production started coming along with the process that was so good, even in those tough moments against Florida, Georgia, Kentucky. Really good process finally started leading to results.

Andy, can we just play that answer on repeat for the rest of the show in this call of the day? I don't, Ari just wants to make sure he doesn't have to run five miles because Arch needs to get to New York or Ari's got to run five miles and I'm going to run behind him with the GoPro and just make fun of him the entire time. So if Arch is what you say is,

and, you know, certain people on, who are also on your big board play as well as they should, like Trevor Goosby, his left tackle, Kim Coleman, one of his receivers. Yeah, so maybe, maybe Ari doesn't have to do that run. Like Andy and I think, both agree that Texas should be the favorite to win the national title right now. And then you look at lists like this and it's like, oh, well, that's why.

But the one thing I don't, because I follow the NFL as a fan. I enjoy watching it, fantasy, gambling, all that. But tanking in other sports is kind of a thing, especially like in the NBA where teams like tank for picks. Do you think that we're going to get to a place this year if you had to guess where NFL teams, like this is going to be a discussion for NFL teams in the middle of November? about like who's going to get arch banning is we going to get is it going to turn into that there's going to be a march for arch i think uh there's there's there's some uh there's a name for it already there's going to be a little your name or is that what they're saying in NFL

circle i've seen some i've seen i've see some hashtags already out there you know it's it's not like the baton death march this is a happy one uh you know is this a good one it's um it's not like a drive for 325 at iowa a few years ago yeah right um no it's it's there's there's The last couple years, the NFL is kind of at the crossroads right now. I would say last year especially, and that's why it was so wide open. That's why the Patriots were able to make a run. Like even if you looked at the who had top 10 picks last year, like teams that were like six and 11 were barely in the top 10. You know, like it was there's a lot of teams are openly bad last year.

And I think this year there will be teams openly bad. There's the dolphins who have more money that's into their dead cap on players that they're not even on the roster than they have currently open. So they're paying more players. Before you continue talking about the Dolphins, you are you are positing the possibility of Quinn Ewers once again being moved out in favor of March. Well, they how do you else 20 something million dollars to believe. Wells also did that too. But yeah, no, yeah, we could do is actually actually like had a decent moments last year,

better than I expected in the NFL level. But he was got all right. That's why you're a seventh round pick. But yes, yes. No, dolphins are very live in this. Um, anyone that's kept like, I've, I see the, I do a big board, but I see two early mock drafts and they have the dolphins taking a receiver. Like usually Jeremiah Smith. I'm like, uh, they're, they're taking arch if he's there. Um, so I do think that like they're paying more money to their dead cap than to their live cap. So my, they're paying more money to players that are not on their roster than currently on their roster. Um, there's other teams. The Jets have three first round picks. They're open, you know, Geno Smith is not their long term solution. The Cardinals took a stab at Carson Beckin, that they're, um, there's. round but that doesn't mean like they're they're fair game they're open to looking at picks or looking at a quarterback of the future there's a lot of teams that are alive for this so there's going to be

definitely teams that are openly going like yeah we're you know if this doesn't work out you know the browns who what they have deshawn watson coming off two Achilles injuries and barely on the roster is now leading the offseason reps right now so there's just it seems like a lot of teams are setting themselves up for even just their surroundings like the browns are perfect test case of this or a perfect example of this. They're setting up the surrounding. So if they do drop an arch or another young quarterback, that it's not just like, oh, just dire straits right away.

He actually has some talent around him. So you see teams setting themselves up. No one wanted to trade 2027 round picks or picks at all for second, third, fourth, fifth, six. I think only one 2027 pick got drafted or traded. Is everybody trying to keep the reserves to like either to move up next year or to have options when they get there? They want bullets.

Yep. Yep. And it's not even just quarterback. like this is a loaded class. You mentioned Goosby. There's a couple of good tackles. There's a couple good edges. Dylan Stewart,

I'll throw out there. Dylan Stewart would be a number one pick if there weren't quarterbacks. You know, like he moves like those guys. How many players, Nate, would be the number one pick in next year's draft if there weren't quarterbacks on your list? Because that's the thing with Jeremiah Smith too, right?

Because he would be the first round picking some drafts. Yep. Dylan Stewart comes to mind. Dylan Stewart. I mean, even Cam Coleman. I know, and we can talk about him in a second. But Cam Coleman, talent-wise, is up there too. And I see Lenora Sellers is really high in your list.

Well, let's talk to Lenores, because you've got, you've got Lenores sixth on your big board. He's the second quarterback. You have him ahead of Dante Moore, who probably would have been the second quarterback off the board in this draft had he decided to leave. But what about Sellers? Because Sellers is one who everybody loved him coming out of 2024 when South Carolina was a nine-win team. Their season falls apart last year. Their offensive line was bad, bad, bad. and they fire the OC.

So what did you see in the seller's film that makes you think he can translate it? Yeah, when I watched him two years ago, it was, okay, look at these tools, look at these traits. This is like elite elite, so got to have him high. And then the process was okay, I would say two years ago, got better. I would say the Clemson game was the one that really stood out to me. And then last year watching him, I saw the production. I watched him week to week. It's frustrating.

Why is he running again? Why is he breaking contain again? But again, this was great watching film was, yeah, their offensive line was horrendous. That offensive line protection plan was horrendous. And he was just running for his life a lot. And it wasn't guys break contain or break the pocket in different ways. There's reasons they do. And again, this is where the film is really nice to watch.

Some guys just break contain because they do. Like I would say like Zach Wilson, you know, like when he was coming out, like guys, Malik Willis, when he was coming out of Liberty, there's plenty of quarterbacks that just leave the pocket. And then sometimes it's okay if you're a freak athlete, but sometimes it's like, hey, hey, you got work from the pocket and find a checkdown. Because once you get to the NFL, like, everybody's a freak and you can't just keep breaking contain, keep breaking contain, keep breaking contain. So I watched sellers and there's so many times I understood why he was leaving the pocket or understood why he went to scramble mode because no one was getting open either. We're still doing Nick Harbor in 2026. You know, nobody was getting open guys were dropping the ball.

I think he was the most pressured quarterback or the second most pressured quarterback last year. Him and Arch, actually, were the two most pressured guys last year in FVS. And he also, when I watched Sowers, his process was so much better in 2025 than I think people realize. He was throwing the ball away. Like, again, so at breaking the contain, if he did have to leave the pocket, it wasn't like he was trying and forcing throws over the middle of the field where there's seven bodies there. He was throwing the ball away. I want to say he had the most throwaways last year or one of the most. That's to me his improvement because he's saying, okay,

I can't make that, but everything else was so bad that he had to throw the avoid ball so many times. But I do think they put protection stuff on him, which is really a fun indicator for me about how much they can handle the offense. You know, in the protection process, you can see him communicating on third down. I thought that was really interesting for a guy that's, you know, talked about so raw and toolsy that they, you know, that's pretty interesting mental polish that they kind of showed there. And so you don't even have to talk about tools and traits, but just even his process got better. I think this offense will be a little bit better for him.

I'm very curious to see the new offense, the Briles offense with him. It should be a little better, so he'll have a little bit more easy buttons. But those tools are just hard for me to overcome. And it's not tools like tailing green where there's just raw inaccuracy, some, you know, late process. The ball is coming out a little late. Sellers a lot of times has good timing and good more quarterback to him than just the freak athlete stuff. So I'm staying high on them. And I didn't put this in my write up.

but I'm glad this is my first time I get to talk about, sellers. I'm going to say, he has to tell Halloween. You know, until Halloween. Until he has to still Halloween. If he does it, if he stays the same plateaus, then you'll see him dropping on my board.

But if I see the process lead to results the first two months, then I'm going to keep him high. And I think others will catch up because, again, I do think he improved the quarterback aspects more than he's getting credit for right now. But yeah, he's, I mean, obviously he has all the tools in the town. And we can talk about Dante Moore, maybe why I'm a little cooler than others.

Well, my next question was going to be about Dante Moore. Where did he stand in your mind as an NFL prospect had he come out? Obviously, we know where he would have been projected to be selected, but in terms of tools and, you know, where he is advanced in his game, maturity, all those things. You know, how does he stack up and why is he lower than Lenores? Yeah, the thing with him is he kind of, this is fun to review these guys, sit down and watch, you know, four or five games is sellers, his process, well, like, okay, you're a little bit better than I anticipated.

More, I cooled on him a little bit as I watched him more, not to say he doesn't still have a chance. I still have him as I, you know, migrating system is a little different, but, you know, getting into a guy that I would take in the top 20. So that's a first round pick. So more to me is that you can tell which place he doesn't have time on task with. You can tell he's comfortable with certain concepts. He's comfortable getting the ball out.

He's comfortable pushing the ball. If there's any pressure or if things aren't perfectly clean, he's instantly checking it down. or he's instantly just kind of like, you can see him kind of frizz out a little bit. And not to say that you can't improve. This is why it's actually kind of good. He gets more reps because now you can see maybe, okay, get more time on task with certain concepts that aren't just your staple plays that you run every week. Because that's a big thing in the NFL.

Your game plan is going to change every single week. So you got to get comfortable of stuff that you've only run once or twice. I don't need you to throw only deep when it's perfect. Like I watched Dante Moore against Rutgers. And it's like, yeah, this guy's a top five pick. He's launching stuff throwing seam routes to Kenya and Sadiq. I'm like, yeah, here we go. Then I watch him against the big boys, and he's getting pressure.

And he's getting a little, I wouldn't say skittish, but just a little bit like, I'm not going to get here or check down. Not to say he saw if you watch a Penn State game, he's taking hits there. He can create a little bit there. I think his tools are more good than anything is very good to excellent. So if your tools aren't going to be outstanding, then your process has to be very, very good. That's just the math. It's the sliding scale.

Sellers can get away with a little bit because he's a freak. more is more good with everything. If he ends up being like a, you know, CJ Stroud's a good high in comparison for more of what he could become. But CJ got comfortable in his second year starting, full year starting, then started to pushing the ball a little bit more,

creating a little bit more out of structure. So I think that's maybe what's just keeping me back from more is just, as I watched more of him and I saw the bullets kind of flying, I saw him kind of just become safer. And the NFL would bring up all that stuff about Arch Manning. Bullets were flying. He's about to get hit. He's launching the ball 20 yards down the field.

And that's why he gets tough. for in the NFL. So it's muddy pockets. You got to stay aggressive. More kind of becomes a little bit more passive as it becomes a little tighter. So that's why you came back to school. Like he can easily approve on this, but that's why I just got to see a little bit more,

a little bit more aggressiveness from him when he was playing maybe those tougher opponents. This is for Ari now. This may take the rest of the show. Well, it does have to do with Arch because Arch will be throwing this person the ball. Because you know I am obsessed with Cam Coleman, ask about him. Yes. Yes, we've got to talk Cam Coleman.

Nate, we've been playing Cam Coleman clips on this show since he was a senior in high school. We've got all these freaky catches, you know, going back to when he was very young. Oh, this is from Texas. But obviously underutilized at Auburn. And I think the question is, is that because of him? Is that because of you freeze? Is that because of the quarterbacks?

Now he goes to Texas where he will be thrown to. by Arch Manning. Plays will be called for him by Steve Sarkesian. It feels like we're going to get the version that we're supposed to see. But what did you see on film from two years at Auburn that leads you to think he's a guy who will blow up in this offense?

This was my one regretful tweet I had where I'm not as, you know, I'm a college football fan, but especially during the season, it's very much, you know, I'm more NFL and then it's more dabble in college on Saturday. It's great now. I mean, kind of. Wisconsin's terrible now. So I kind of watch everybody else. But watching Kim Coleman, I, you know, doing my study, watched three games. And I'm like, holy crap. This guy is fast. He's catching everything. He's actually a willing blocker. Like he's doing dirty work stuff. The route detail. Like, yeah, it looks sometimes a little loosey, but he's getting to his depth. Like the detail was there. And he's catching everything. And so I'm watching watching. I'm like, this guy's, I agree. And then I look online. It's like, oh, yeah, he's been compared to AJ Green since he was a senior in high school. Way to go, Nate. Way to a great way to tread new ground here with this comparison. But it the ball skills are excellent. He's got a legit speed deep speed. It's not like he's just a big stiff like maybe like a Mike Williams who is more of a ball winner, but didn't have that long speed at Clemson. Um, but man, this is this is a guy that I'm very excited to see him with Arch, see him also with other help with their other auxiliary receivers that they have there. They have some other talented players. Um, but man. This is this is a guy that I'm very excited to see him with arch. See him also with other auxiliary receivers that they have there. They have some other. They have some other talented players. but he's got he can stretch the field remember what I said about arch is super aggressive there's

going to be plenty of post routes and go balls to cam Coleman you can also see for a taller guy that's six four you watch them on double moves and double moves are a great way to see kind of like how fluid of an athlete a guy is and he's great on them you see him getting separation I watch him against Dylan Everett on a play that got it ended up being a PBU but Coleman wins on the double move easily he's he's got five yards of separation just the quarterback couldn't even get it there, which was, you know, pulling my hair out of when watching it. And you just described what it was like to be an Auburn fan for the last year. Oh, I'm sure.

Yeah. That's also a funny thing. Watch, like watching Texas A&M when I was watching Casey Concepcion. I'm like, oh my God, what was going on here with this passing game? But no, but I'm watching. Oh, I know. I know. I learned that's a touchy subject.

I learned that. Yeah. I've learned that to touch. See again. Sometimes I get, I'm like, hey, what's this? I'm going to press this button. Oh my God. I just got shocked.

Why did I just do that? You're an NFL person, and I, you know, I know you're in college, too, but like, there are a lot of landmines in college football. You got to watch out. I realize that. Coleman, tweeting about Coleman, because I was like, hey, he, Jeremy Smith is receiver one. He's my number two player overall on the board, only because Arch is there. But Coleman's in the same tier to me. It's, and I realize this, this is how they've been recruited. I've understand the Julio Jones, AJ Green comparisons, which actually kind of eerie because their playstiles are very similar to even those two back in the back of the day. But man, this is a number one receiver. He'd be the receiver one in last year's class. He'd be receiver one in a lot of draft classes if Jeremiah Smith wasn't in here.

And he still doesn't mean. I talked to Dame Brueger from The Athletic, who's one of the best at this draft stuff as well. And he was like, yeah, I mean, some people already consider them like 1A, 1B. Like it's not crazy as far. Again, this isn't draft terms and scouting terms. But I mean, the sky is the ceiling here. He's unbelievable. And it's also got some more real football to him than just being a freaky athlete because of his hand.

is blocking and some of the route running is actually a little bit than I'm not even I'm not even training for this run dude this is this is this is funny because we did this with Texas last year and they probably didn't deserve this hype yeah they actually probably do deserve it now but everyone's cool on them again like this is what happened with the bears when Caleb Williams got drafted everyone overhyped them and I was like dude are you guys looking at the old line they're not going to be able to block at all everyone gets fired and then next last year when ben jonson goes to the bears everyone's like we

did this last year everyone's overhyping them and then actually they became good and had a top 10 offense and all that stuff like sometimes you just just wait a year you know maybe it's it's an early take but i do this and you know i'm scouting these guys i watched probably 40-something guys and i would say my three favorites as far as just the NFL talent and this is pretty good indicator texas norder dame and Oregon those were the three schools that i was like these guys have the the most talent and like true needle moving talent at important positions as well. We write back with more from Nate Tice after these words from BedmGM. We are presented by BetMGM.

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Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. There's somebody on your list that's actually an honorable mention, but while we're talking about receivers, I wanted to bring him up, and that's Ryan Williams. I thought he had a very bizarre year, and I don't know that that's a unique take, because there were times,

like I remember Andy and I were watching the Iron Bowl together at the MGM Grand and Casino downtown in Detroit, and I was like, is Cam Coleman? I mean, sorry, is Ryan Williams even on the field right now? Like he had long spurts of just not affecting games. And then there's other times where he looks like the most sensational player that you could ever imagine. When you watched the film on him, can you explain maybe what you saw from that standpoint? Why did he disappear from games?

Why did he have an odd year? And then why is he so high up on your board? Yeah, there's a he surprised me how cool I actually ended up on him because I remember his freshman year. And then watching him last year, film-wise, because I was watching Ty Simpson. So I got to watch him a decent amount even before I kind of just studied him. There's just a lot of inconsistencies with this game. You know, sometimes with his ball skills, like he crosses his hands, which is weird, you know, kind of just catches. You guys can't see me right now, but crosses his hands when he catches like this, like, which is leased to drops.

It's kind of like just really sporadic. It's very interesting. There's just a lack of detail. I think that's my best way I could put it. Sometimes the routes he's a little shorter on. Sometimes he's getting out there too quick. And also if you look at the this receiver class is looking pretty loaded. Like there's other guys that are like, okay, guys are faster in him or okay,

you're going to be this fast, this quick, this agile. Well, I can find this guy that's more consistent with maybe some of his details. Not to say I ended up fully out on him, but ended up going what I call an early second round grade late first, early second. That's why he ended up in my honorable mention. Like he's like, but still a very talented guy. But now NFL terms, he looks more like a Z, which is more of an off ball or, Usually Zs are the second receiver in an offense, but a guy that has to be off ball, has to be on the move, not as opposed to an X, which is what Jeremiah Smith is, which is Cam Coleman is, which is what Charlie Becker is, which is what Nick Marsh is, which is or Mario Miller is, like all those guys can be X's, which is harder to find because an X has to win on the ball. They can't go in motion.

They don't get in stacks where somebody's helping them out. So if a guy wants to press them, they have to win against press. and usually it's hard to find X's and I just rattled off four or five of them while two of which are on Indiana by the way yeah I was going to I was going to mention unbelievable Charlie Becker

we saw him break out at the end of the last season for Indiana Nick Marsh people may not know because he was playing for Michigan State last year but I have a feeling like once they get going they're oh crap signetti's done it again yep Marsh ended up I think 11 on my board yeah that's he would have been

probably receiver one or battling for receiver one in this year's class, you know, with, with Cardinal Tate because he's an ex. I was, he is like really just smooth. Like I really liked Marsh. He's not more of a, like he has the size and the speed, but maybe he's not as much of like a force of nature as Smith and Coleman, but I just thought his like his route running and his like friendliness to quarterbacks were excellent. I was, I really liked him. Like not a total burner, but he maximizes everything he's got. So March, Marsh was cool watch, like in Michigan State's offense, which is all over the place at times. You know, so yeah, no, he was, he was probably my more surprising guy that I like, I was like, okay, I'm going to include you.

You know, I've heard of you, obviously, you know, you've been on my kind of like big list watching him and studying him. He was the guy that was probably my biggest kind of mental risers. I was like, okay, you're way more real than I even gave you credit for. And also compliments Becker, who's dunking on guys left and right. I mean, he, he was, what was the revelation he was. Second half of last year, what a revelation he was. I mean, he won the national title game, in my opinion. Yeah.

Yep. Oh, yeah, the 50-50 ball on the outside. I mean, he had big, though, big catch. And then the third and two against Ohio State, he has the deep post. Yeah. And that's my favorite play by Fernando Mendoza because remember I was talking about the alerts with Arch Manning? That was Mendoza finding an alert on third and two while they're down in the third quarter in the Big Ten championship game. That's why I was like, that's why one of those plays, I was like, Mendoza's got it.

Like he's got kind of the right aggressiveness. And also it was Becker winning against Ohio State vertically. This interview is sensational. Like I am like learning so much and enjoying it. I hope this is a three hour episode. Andy, can I ask more? Becker also sets up the Omar Cooper catch in the Penn State game. There's an insane Becker catch that's if that doesn't happen, there is no Omar Cooper catch.

I love that Penn State drive. That was another Mendoza like he has, he has like three throws on there. Brilliant. But that's right. Becker makes a great catch on that to kind of like keep that drive alive. No, that's, that's a great point. Um, he was, he was one of those guys once he, I think he dunked on like Iowa or somebody. And I'm like, who the heck is this guy?

It was like, who's Charlie Becker? And then he never went away and never, and no, like he's a top 25 guy. Yeah. Nate, so you mentioned, I was going to say, Nate, you mentioned a Notre Dame is one of the, the most talented teams. You've only got one, one Notre Dame player, Bubacour triori. Oh, the edge guy on the, you mentioned. the big board. But I'm curious where...

You got Leonard Moore. You got Leonard Moore. Oh, Leonard Moore. Oh, shoot. Leonard Moore's way up the top. My bad. Talk about number one picks if they're...

Leonard Moore is the number one pick if the quarterbacks were in this class. Like that, he's one of the best corners I've ever watched my life. I'm curious beyond the superstars of that group. Like, where else are you seeing the talent on Notre Dame's team? It does seem like they're one that we're looking at as a potential national title contender. that feels like it's good and pretty much everywhere.

You know, first off, they have a quarterback that you can win a title with in C.J. Carr. Now, I'm not as high on him as an NFL prospect as others are. I view him as more of like a third round, fourth round type because he just doesn't have high-end tools, but he throws a clean ball. He also just has a very aesthetically pleasing motion and throws a lot of spiral. So I think that wins a lot of people over. Of course, this guy's great. Look at that spiral.

Chris Leak was like that. Chris Leak threw a perfect spiral every single time. And I was like, oh, yeah. I watched a lot of Chris Leak, throws. I love. You know we're talking about landmines, Nate? You just stepped on another one, by the way.

Was that another? Can I bring up John Brantley? Remember John Brantley? Hey, another guy threw a perfect spiral. So many tools. Sean Brantley. I was behind him at a camp, at the Nike camp, and he threw a perfect ball every time. I'm like, I can't go after this guy.

Are you kidding me? But no. So Carr is good enough to win a national championship with. And he's, he's going to be a drafted quarterback. So like that, already a good start right there. I think their offense a long. line has improved. They have a guy that's bumping in inside the guard. I viewed him as a day two guy, but their offensive line has talent. I also just do think, too, they have enough kind of

auxiliary talent as far as skill position. But I would say the strength of your team is going to be defense. And I mentioned, or you mentioned, well, Leonard Moore first off is locked in top five. As long as he just doesn't do anything horrible this year, he is a top five pick. He's absolutely incredible. He's the best corner I've watched since Jaylon Ramsey as far as scouting terms. But no, a linebacker, they have a guy, they have a guy, they have. have some names that are going to be tough for me. Villamahu Asa. Really fun player.

I probably butcher that one. Troy was another one. You already mentioned him. I'm just great names. I'm so glad I get to talk about them. They also have a safety. Bronte Johnson. That actually was really interesting to me and intriguing to me as well as a

Richard sophomore. So their defense to me had, well, I thought the linebacker was more of like an early day two guy. He's an early day two guy. That's very talented. So they have four defenders that. that I have decent grades on. And then I think the offensive line has some talent. And I just think they have a decent quarterback as well to win this.

So they were one that's like as I watched more of them. They just have like a lot of good players that I think they can make a decent run. That's a pretty good segue because I was looking for C.J. Carr on your list. And then I realized for next year there's like a bunch of quarterbacks in next year's draft that people think could go high up. some of the names that you would, you know, see, like are the names that you have listed here, obviously, but Jade Maiava, Julian San, guys like that, C.J. Carr, but you only have three quarterbacks on the list, if I counted correctly. And the third quarterback is probably not the name that people would expect. And that would be the fourth, because he's got, yeah, he's got four.

He's got Arch, Lenores, Dante, but in the honorable mentions, you have Drew Mestamaker. We're going to get to that, Andy. I wanted to ask about Drake Lindsay, though, because it's like, okay. Oh, yes. Sorry, number four. Oh, please. Oh, yeah. But, like, we want to, obviously, if you're paying attention to college football over the weekend, he did get in trouble.

He did. DUI. But no, no, not a DUI. It was underage drinking. Underage drinking. Fake ID. What's interested, arrested by the Fayetteville, Arkansas Police Department. Now, for those who know, that is Drake Lindsay's hometown.

Yehog, the name of the, like, everything about these. great. But, and I tweeted this, and I was quickly corrected by the Arkansas fans, because I said the last college quarterback who got arrested by the Fayetteville PD won the Heisman and was the number one overall pick. So I'll correct myself. The last non-Aransas quarterback was the best of the Bayfield. I'm just going to say, is underage drinking you're in a front? It's been a great field. You should have a Wikipedia page for this. It's going to have so many subsections. It's like, Yeah, Carthagos to Cole Kelly and to KJ Jefferson.

I think KJ, well, shoot, I think I can't even say non-Arcosso because I think KJ had already transferred to UCF when he got caught doing 100 in a 70. Oh, okay. I was trying to remember when Dak Prescott got his DUI,

but that was in Mississippi. So I knew he got down there too. Yeah. Oh my God, right? Okay. I misread the headline in what you said is far less serious than what I thought happened. So, but it is, it is very.

similar to the Baker Mayfield thing. Baker, I think, was 21, but I believe it was publicly drunk and quite a tackle by the member of the Fayetteville PD, why he was not signed immediately to Arkansas team. I don't know. But Drake didn't have any fun video as far as we know. But he had some fun film, apparently, to be on this list. So what is it? Because Andy, if you would have been blindfolded and just said, read this list and name four quarterbacks that you might find on it. I don't know, like, if Drake Lindsay would have been. been no he didn't he didn't blow up numbers wise last year no and in an offense it's maybe he's not going to and this goes back to the beginning of the show where i said you guys are looking at things

on a plane that we aren't and you're here because we can't explain it so can you please explain to the listeners what is it about drake lindsay that you have here and are we looking at like a really big stud like are we like mis-evaluating him and minnesota altogether yeah he god he i watched him, my first exposure to him was he was, I was on the, uh, I was part of the Cal algorithm early last year because I was all aboard that J.K.S train. So I was watching, he's, I love JKS. He's so much fun. Um, so anyways, I was watching Minnesota at Cal and I'm watching that game and I'm like, all right, this big two for Minnesota is ripping it. Like, where, what the heck? Oh, he's a wretched freshman. Okay. So I kind of put a pin in him, you know,

he's retro freshman. Okay, you're not going to be eligible this year. But, you know, when I do my process next year. I'll watch and I have four games on him. So I was watching them throughout the throughout the spring and then finally did it last week. And I mean, he reminds me a lot of Drew Bledso of all people. He's got the size, the strength. When we talk about tools and traits, like there really is a thing. It's not just much height. And I know people make a big deal about height with quarterbacks. It's more weight and bulk, especially at the NFL level. It's just durability. It's how you hold up in the pocket. You know, you're getting, are you getting dragged down in the pocket because you're under 205 pounds or can you withstand a hit as you're throwing again that's an appeal of arch

that's an appeal of fernando mendoza that's an appeal of shoot even guys like cam ward cam war's not six two but he's thick and strong um well we get Drake lindsay and it's kind of like okay i think even in my write up i go well this is kind of what the prototype pocket passer it looks like and i get that but it's not just a big arm and this is where it comes down to timing and you can get a lot with timing and when i say timing is that andy you know there's probably a little bit too is that uh protections the dropback of the quarterback and the routes are all tied together. That's five-step timing. That's seven-step timing.

That's three-step timing or quick game timing. That's an RPO. Lindsay is asked to do seven-step stuff, real NFL stuff. He's asked to go under center. And his timing is very good. I would say good, but good for a redshirt freshman. That probably will get better with more reps. The ball comes out on time.

And so he has a plus-plus arm. And if you time that well, then all the throws are available to you. He can launch that thing with one hitch all the way, down the field on a post route. He can throw it to the sideline and push the ball on the opposite hash because it gets the ball out early enough and no one could the defender can't break on it. That's the difference. When people say NFL windows, I think people always think like literal windows like a little tight space. It's more NFL timing is what we should say because if you hit throw one too many time. Yes, throw a guy open or you hitch one too many times and that corner

breaks on it and the quarterback's making the tackle on a pick six. You know, like if you're just that quarter second late, that's how good those defenders are. Is they just, oh, shoot, I'm going to break on that. And I run a four-four and they, you know, they can close like nothing. Getting through all this is because big arm, big size, but just throws guys open, throws over the middle, launches seam routes, you know, it's kind of the opposite of Moore a little bit. Like, and he didn't have a lot of help. I watched that Oregon game, which was very underwhelming statistically. And I had people going like, he threw over 138 yards. Why are you hyping this up? Look at process. And look at him avoiding a sack and throwing a ball or throwing a ball that you should have been sacked on or throwing a guy open, the guy drops it.

So, yeah, he's, I think he'll be a big riser this year, not just, I'm kind of glad I kind of got out in front on it, because he just has the tools you look for. And I think he's strong. I think he just has a lot of those intangible, or just tangibles, I should say, that you look for. But also the process is pretty dang good with him for a guy that, just a retro freshman. That's really exciting stuff, I think, with no help. I mean, they, they're trying to do a real pro style offense there. And it's like, I don't think you guys got the horses for that guys. But you need a little few more gimmicks in that offense, maybe help you guys out a little bit.

Yeah, they want to do that, though, because they want to pound you up front. They want to limit possessions to protect their defense. Like PJ has gone back and forth stylistically and philosophically, but it seems like they want to play that cold weather big 10 ball, which I'm sure you're a little familiar with, Nate. I am, I am. But that's going to help them in a big way when evaluators evaluate them. Because it's just easy to translate in their head. Oh, you've got to understand.

Oh, you've turned your back to the defense. We do that concept. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they can kind of make that work in their heads a little bit. No, yeah, I know. Because I remember watching them with that one quarterback that was there for nine years when he had Rashad Bateman and Tyler Johnson. And they ran an RPO every single play.

And now it's like just a couple RPO's. And it's very, very, like you said, running the ball and true play action off of that. So, yeah, it's a totally different offense. But much more conducive to scouting Lindsay and preparing them for what he's going to do next level. I want to keep going because I do, Andy. You can keep going. This can be the whole show. We can do this update the whole show.

It's fine. Player by player. All right. Here's the question. Are you ready? Let's go. Drew Mestemaker. Yes.

I put him in my honorable mention. because it was just kind of, I didn't know what to do with him. I see the appeal. I see he's willing to chuck things. I wanna give a lot of credit right now to that offense and that offensive system. It's kind of a money play offense,

meaning it's seven different offenses merged together. It's a Frankenstein monsters. One snap they're doing Art Brile's stuff. The next snap they're doing go go. Next snap they're doing like, you know, it's just a little bit of everything. And he's, there's a lot of times. His eyes are going to the right place.

And that's a good start. But now I want to see him progress a little bit more. Because he's played very little football. Very little football. That's to expect. Well, very little quarterback. Yeah, because he played other positions in high school. And that's why I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

I like to call this kind of narrative scouting. You know, guys that weren't groomed to be quarterback since nine years old, like I, I think their ceilings a little higher than people give them credit for. Guys that played multiple sports, they weren't going on a QB camp all spring. You know, those guys I really do kind of go, okay, there should be more to tap into here in theory not every guys the same that's you know but that's the josh allen kind of discussion it was that he barely played you know when juco was barely coached so okay which has harnessed his talent so with messemaker though is he's kind of got that natural willingness to push the ball he's got good eyes as far as you know he's willing to stay in the pocket

move actually his pocket movement is surprisingly good for a guy like you guys just even said hasn't played a ton of football um holds the ball a little weird which i don't really care aesthetics or aesthetics Like it's as long as the ball's out of time, that's all I care about. And you don't get the ball batted down. The thing for me, I thought he had to improve a little bit on is I thought you could get a little stronger just as an athlete. I thought a little too many times he got kind of tripped up or knocked down a little too easily. And also he just didn't play a really tough opponents. He, it was kind of easy when they had a great offensive system and then he was able to just throw guys that are wide open or kind of like, hey, if I'm late here, I throw it now and not get punished for it.

So I do want to see with a step up in competition. but he has got the size he's got plenty of arm he's a good enough athlete to move and throw on the move as well and create a little bit that's a big component of NFL play as well as being able to create off script which is again something arch does phenomenally phenomenally at um but i do think that there's a lot of appeal with him but i kind of put him in that kind of section of honorable mentions because i didn't want to get too high because i still have some questions but i do see some talent there that's very appeal he might be he might be a he might be a year away like he might be a 2028 guy as opposed to a 2027 guy.

You're praising the offensive system, which of course the brainchild of Eric Morse, the head coach at Oklahoma State now. You know his list of quarterbacks, right, Nate, where he was either the first offer or the first power conference offer. That's what it was, right? It was like.

So Patrick Mahomes. Okay. He was the Texas Tech assistant calling Cliff Kingsbury like, Hey, word guy, that's right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So you got Patrick Mahomes. You've got Baker Mayfield.

He offered him Washington State when he was working for Leach. John Matere. I'm sorry, Cam Ward first. Cam Ward first as the head coach incarnate word. John Matier as Washington state's OC and now Drew Best to make her. So some guys. Some guys just they did get it. I understand the appeal and Messemaker, but it's crazy because then he just

go from walk on and you starting somewhere at X amount of games after that. So his QB coach is Mahomes private coach. Okay. Called Eric Morris and said, hey, I've got your next NFL quarterback. And Eric Morris is like, cool, where does he play? And the guy says to high school. And he's like, he's not the quarterback of that high school. No, he's the safety in the punter.

But he should be playing quarterback. Yeah. Imagine a six-four safety running down and saw the off. Like, shoot. I mean, it could be Kyle Hamilton. But no, yeah, it's, he has the tools. And I understand why you can see the appeal. I mean, he's, he's tall.

Like he's got good size. He's got enough arm. Like I wouldn't say it's in the lead arm. I would say it's good, good to very good. Kind of like what I said with Arch. He's willing to chuck it. It's just that's why I'm curious. Like he could go, he could flatline and that's what he is.

And it's just the money play offense, which is kind of like with Lane, anyone that plays on like Lane Kiffin's offense can get hit like that. For me anyways. When I, we can talk about Chamblis too. I really like Chamblis. But no, it's, but no.

Yeah, I know. He's more real than I think people. He's a better real. quarterback than dart was. Dart was a better athlete and freak, but I like, Chambliss in the pocket's like much more better at quarterback stuff. But anyways, Mestemaker has a lot of that kind of natural feel to it.

But you can see sometimes it's robotic where it's like, okay, this is that play. We practice. Okay. All right. I'm going to throw it right there, but retro,

you know, barely played. So it's like I'm willing to kind of like give him a little bit of room for error and just see what he is. But he has the tools to have a chance. So that's why again, I kind of kept him that mid-level spot. Well,

now we have to talk for that dad, Chambliss because he is definitely in. definitely in the 27 draft. He's not getting another year. Yes. Are we sure? Are we 100% sure? Please not.

Please not. We're not a thousand percent sure. But, all right. But he seems like one of those that, like, from a physical standpoint, you go, oh, the NFL people aren't, they're going to discount him. They're not going to, they're not going to like. But his production was so good at the end of last year. His ability to operate was so good. If he does this another year, it feels like he'll be fairly undeniable.

come draft time. Yeah, I, I'm surprised. I have him over a lot of other guys that even we talked about. Like I have him over Carr. I have him over Sorsby. I had him over, uh, saying. Like I probably in the same tier and probably actually probably if I had like gun to head, probably over Mentsa as well. Um, but man, I, I really liked him because I scouted him because I thought he was coming out. And so I was like, all right, I got watch you. So I watch a bunch of games and I, of course, watched the playoff games on TV and then watched all 22. And I, a guy that I compared him to Jeff Garcia, former 49ers quarterback who was undrafted at San Jose State,

ended up playing in Canada, and then went up to the 49ers, was a pro bowler where they're about the same size. I thought Chambliss, though, working from the pocket was really cool. When you usually get these undersized guys, you can kind of compartmentalize how they're going to play, kind of stereotype them, kind of, okay, you're going to break the pocket,

you're going to throw a lot on the move. Okay, there's going to be a lot of go. balls he's thrown over the middle which is not a thing you usually see with a shorter guy which also shows off his anticipation understanding of space he's got good arm he's got a quick throwing motion he can create of course he's the guy i'm all about tools all about traits especially a quarterback but he's one of the guys i'm willing to make an exception for because he understands how to play quarterback i i really really enjoy watching him um like i have a day too great on him which i think is very fair and i do think that like i just i prefer watching him play maybe over some other guys

just to just because how he understands to play it so he's one of those where as high he's as high as i can get on a guy that maybe lacks those ideal tools and traits shoot if he snuck up like if he came out this year i had a late second early third round grade on him which is kind of the same i had as nussmire and simpson i would have those two above them but same grade same tier uh so one went in the first round one in the one in the seventh so Somewhere in between there. But I do think like he's a real, he's got more real quarterback to him than I think he even gets credit for.

So really fun player. I'm excited to watch him this year. Like he's just one of those guys I enjoy watching, but he's got more real NFL quarterback to him than I think he gets credit for. Nate, I might be putting you on the spot here. And if you don't have an answer to this, it's a totally okay because it's kind of off the wall.

But Andy and I were talking about players who might not be NFL guys in college space because of, you know, tangibles or tools or size, but are also just amazing college players that could help you win a lot of games. Are there guys that you've come across on film that maybe wouldn't be on a list like this that can help a team win games who are just awesome? And I know it's kind of hard maybe to just rattle them off off the top of your head. So if you don't know, it's okay.

But I'm just fascinated by, because this is a college football show, which team has players that aren't going to the NFL that are going to make them be good this year? Well, I mean, Indiana. You know, just because they're so well coached and everything. I couldn't even name any guys. I can just assume just off to watch what I watched last year and everything. But I would even bring up a guy. This is a great example of maybe the difference between NFL and college guys is a guy that gets a lot of hype.

And I'm sure this clip will just be clipped right now. As Julian saying is just a guy that I understand the appeal of him as a college player. But it's a big difference in a big jump to how he wants to play to what he would have to do in the NFL. He's very accurate. I understand that. But the accuracy waves when he has to put. the ball and that that that's what happened to watch the guy like dylan gabriel last year um supremely accurate like very productive in college and the NFL as soon as you have to push the ball that ball

was kind of floating on him and his receivers kind of stopped running over the middle for him because they're tired of been teed off on by safeties uh so again that's where tools and trades come in so sane is a great example of this like i have a third fourth round grade on him um i i see a ton of hype about him. I know he plays Ohio State. I know how state's always good. I know he's very productive and everything. But also just watch how those games ended up at the end of the season when stuff got tight things got tough and things got tight. I thought you couldn't just really see him push that ball and throw into those windows that you need to. And also just maybe even stand up in the pocket and create. So he's just a little smaller. And as opposed to smaller guys like a guy like Chambliss, who I think

has got a little more juice in his arm or even guys that have had success in the NFL before. Well, Russell Wilson, and Kyle Murray, guys like that, those guys had, those guys were drafted in baseball, you know, because they had great arms and the ability to push the ball and kind of alleviate the tightness of the offense. So, you know, especially in the NFL because the defender defenses are just incredible and just so sophisticated and just so advanced now. They are daring you to check, just always throw underneath. What you have to do is break the top off the defense, which is you have to push the ball. And they're daring you to do that because they're making it uncomfortable for you. But you have to do it.

You have to create space in the offense. If you're going to be a guy that constantly checks under down or throws underneath five, 10 yards, five 10 yarders, all that the defense just gets really tight. And they're just going to force you. It's what happens with a guy like Tua, who is extremely productive. But then as soon as stuff, weather got cold, defenses clamp down on all their money plays that Mike McDaniel had, then also he couldn't push the ball and create, you know, space for the offense.

So that's where I can only get so high with saying, even if he does, he's a very fun college player and I see the accuracy appeal to him but it's just this is where it gets into the kind of differences of what the asks are in the NFL to maybe what the asses are in college so I know that's a it's one of these where I can tell what kind of who translates the stuff when I see maybe saying over arch as a prospect because it's just like you know they're just totally different tiers of players as far as in NFL terms just look at their you know player profiles but that's was one that comes to mind maybe a very notable guy there's others I can maybe come up with if you give me a sec but That makes me

that's kind of the feeling We had this discussion last week Yeah That's the thing Because we were talking about Backup quarterbacks And so Tadie and St. Clair Who you probably haven't

gotten a chance to look at much yet Is there back on? Do you break into the swing game? No, no, no. I've watched them yet. Yeah. He's got the physical traits that you guys go Gaga over

and Ari asked me. He said, he said, does Ohio State have a Julian saying problem? not in so many words. I wouldn't necessarily say the end of last season was a Julian Sain issue. I think it was more of an offensive line issue.

Yeah. But you make the same point that Ari was making, like, just because you're throwing you Jeremiah Smith and Carnal Tate doesn't necessarily mean you are the greatest quarterback. Yeah. Just because you throw the alley-up doesn't mean you're dunking it. You know, just because you get the assist doesn't mean you're doing the windmill dunk. Um, you know, and another quarterback that's gotten a lot of love that I couldn't, is Sam Levitt.

Um, that that's, I haven't even lower grade than that because that, remember I was talking about guys that bail out of the pocket too much and that's him to like, incredibly frustrating amount at times. Um, and that, that was the thing too that like he's not big enough or like he's fast enough at the college level. He's not fast enough at the NFL level to maybe get away with that. And that's where you have to get better from the pocket. if you want to win. And so that's why I only can get so high with those guys that, yeah, he's going to be great at the college level.

He's going to produce. It seems like Lane Kiffin loves this kind of type. He likes the runaround guys for whatever reason. But this is, you know, Matt Corral, Dart, and then now Levitt, those are the guys I could just think off top of my head. But he can only get so high with him because how he has to win from the pocket, he's not there yet, even with the guy with a lot of reps. But again, it doesn't mean he's a bad college player. Like, he can win a lot of games for he running around. It's just that the NFL level, just the ass are just harder and different.

And that's what sometimes you have to have those tools to give you the room for error to kind of let you get away with that. That's what I appreciate about you because you do actually watch the college game and can understand why somebody would be. Yeah. Because a lot of the folks that just cover the NFL, they dip in on it as soon as draft seasons. But the NFL season ends and they're like, okay, now I'm going to watch some college stuff. Like, you understand that some of these dudes can just ball out, but may not translate. And we did a whole video on this for Yahoo, you and I did. And I just, I'm fascinated by it because it is, it's two different sports.

Yeah. It's, it really is. And it's not just the hashes. It's just the speed and size of players creates new constraints to what you can and can't do. And that creates new, like even that play call wise and everyone goes, NFL is a copycat league it's yeah it's copycat but it's more like the best concepts and the stuff that's trendy gets distilled down because once you get to the NFL level the athletes and players and the coaches and I'm not the same like college coaches aren't good there's plenty of good ones um but I just think

that they realize what the weaknesses of certain concepts are and then they just nuke you as soon as you try to do it so then what was a trend I'll say like the Eagles with RPO's in 2017 that was a last about two years where you can build a whole offense out of that. And then defense has got a lot better of teeing off on it. And so now it's just a sprinkling. Everything gets distilled down at the NFL level. So it just becomes then it becomes what can you get away with? All right, why are you able to get away with that?

And in college, you can get away with more things. You can run tempo and run five plays and repeat a play call and that's fine because I'm going against a corner that filled a math final, you know, or a corner that was not really paying attention or like you there's always going to be certain amount of those guys on a college roster. NFL roster, it's like, okay, we have two advantages. And those advantages only come up on third down when they run this play call. You know, it just becomes so specific and distilled.

And then it's situational. I'll always forget, never forget. I'm sorry, Chip Kelly, when he got fired from the 49ers, I think, he, one of the times he got fired. He comes out and someone goes, what's the difference NFL in college? And he goes, NFL is just so situational. And that's something I can't run my first down run play on third and seven like I couldn't college you know like it's just it's just different and so it's not that's worse or better or anything it's just just different asks of the sport and different constraints of the sport and i think that's

what makes it fun um that's why i love watching the college game because i get inspired sometimes watching with some of these coaches do and i'm like wow that's i'm gonna if i were calling plays i'd steal that stuff right there yeah i think that's really fun when you see when i fl coaches go oh i'm taking that and i'm gonna run that and it's kind of cool to see it kind of trickle up sometimes and they were not letting you leave without talking about the badgers though we're oh no Now, we can, they don't have any talent. They don't have any draftable guys. We can, well, I, listen, I, I have a little faith in Mason, Posa, and Cooper, Catalano,

but they have years, years left, years left. They're just getting started. But, yeah, how, how, how frustrating has this been? And do you, do you feel like it can get better? We know, just from, you know, the reporting we do, they did make more competitive offers on the NIL front this offseason. The question is, is it going to translate? I think this is a good and bad thing,

is that this offseason, I feel like they've done all the right things, reaching out the past alum, making competitive offers, being way better in the transfer portal, not just chasing formally higher recruited receivers, you know, actually chasing guys that match what Wisconsin should be doing. There's a, you know, I'm not a guy that's like, you know,

I'm not going to be like the old, Nebraska guys that you have to run eye formation option ball every time. But I do think that Wisconsin, what, what our advantage is is big guys. So we should build through the offensive line. That should be a certain system. I will say that it's great that they're doing that now. Great that they're doing that. Why weren't you doing that year one?

And that's where my frustration lays is why weren't you, you know, reaching out the former alum? Not that that's the end all be all, but it just kind of shows maybe a little bit of, you know, pep in your step. And maybe a little bit of, oh, thinking things through and thinking about, you know, how things can trickle down or trickle up or how things can kind of amplify itself. So I do think they've learned their lessons, but is it too little too late is my fear. And I think that's just that would be my main concern. Like if this was year two and they had this offseason, I'd be feeling pretty good.

I'll be like, okay, they're doing the right thing. And they got cool quarterback for them. That thing, like can actually do some of the things they want to do. Colton Joseph, QB run game going to be big this year's fun. Yeah, he's, yeah, he's got something to him. You know, throwing the ball wise, like he's got a little funky motion and stuff, but he can get enough done at the college. Well, perfect example of a good college quarterback, maybe not an NFL guy, but he can run.

He can roll and I think he can actually, how they want to run, operate offense. He can do some to play action stuff and everything. So I just think they got away from themselves a little bit. And why? And it's not because, oh, fickle's not from Wisconsin or anything like that. I could care less. I mean, Brett Bielmo was an Iowa guy. You know, I could care less about any of that.

it's more just that it felt like they tried to do something different as opposed to me completely different as opposed to maybe merging maybe what fickle wants to do maybe evolutionize or maybe kind of bring Wisconsin into a different light as opposed to maybe just totally going off kilter there like as well as Paul Chris is one of my mentors I played for him I G8 for him at pit then it goes back to Wisconsin of course I'm cheering for Wisconsin but also that led to an issue where we came kind of a little bit I always call it the Texas problem when mac brown was there A little too much of the same. Every same coach. No one's leaving. No new ideas. All right. We're recruiting the same. Like it was just there's no fresh blood new fresh ideas coming in.

Now we kind of went a little too away from that. And now it's kind of like, okay, now we got to merge this, merge this a little bit. But I would say I'm happy with how they've operated the last four months, but that doesn't wave away the last four years or three years. So it's kind of that's, that's my worry. Is it too little too late? The AD's gone. You know, it's, it's.

It's a weird time right now for a team, for a program I've been very proud of being an alum of, how sometimes feeling how disorganized they felt is just a weird feeling. Because I always felt like they were always on top of their stuff. And now it just kind of feels like a new world and not always in a great way. Well, we'll check in with you after the Notre Dame game. See, see. We, listen, we have another offseason show idea for you, we're going to bring you on at one day in the summer. I'm just going to call you out of the blue.

And I'm like, Nate, we're going to spend it. hour breaking down byron brown film oh yeah we didn't even talk about byron brown can we talk about him for five seconds and then we love iron brown yes let's do it remember i said talk don't a aesthetics just yes wait there's something about qb mechanics everyone shut up about qb mechanics it's footwork it's footwork you have to look at his footwork is good it's so he's got to get away from whatever qb coach he's working with with anything but man this guy's a great athlete he's big he's strong and honestly when he throws the and he's asked to throw like real throws.

He's accurate and throws with good timing. It just looks weird. And I get it looks weird. And I totally get that. But I, man, I had loved him after his first year's full year for, I mean, so young. Um, his first full year starting. I watched him. I had him as my top 50 player on that like that big board because I was like, I'm going

to take a chance on this guy. He had a year from hell in 2024, but then 2025, you got to see it and you got to see what he's all about. And I, I have some people going like, yeah, when he played Miami last year was rough it was like oh you mean when south florida play the national championship finalist it was rough yeah no no no kidding it looked rough like yeah i mean well come on but i'm very i like i like i like i have like i like i have like i have like i was like a top if i had to do like a top 100 he would be in my top 100 top so this is an example of a guy who can be dominant in college and and maybe maybe it

doesn't translate to the nfl yeah what he's saying is it's going to the nfl yeah i'm ready i'm all in Yeah, he's got, I mean, and his footwork and pocket movement is actually pretty good. Like I know, I hate the offense. Like, as far as translating it to the NFL, it kind of hinders he like how you have to operate. You have to translate it a little bit, but he maximizes it. It's one of these guys. I want to see him in a different offensive system. And I think you would see more of his real ability.

But I don't know. I had a tweet a few years ago. I said it's watching Byron Brown in the offensive system is like in the Wizard of Oz when it goes from black and white to when he's out of the system, it turns into color. And then it's like, Ooh, there it is. Like, there's the real traits and everything. Like there, oh, shah, rainbows everywhere.

And it's like, oh, here he is again, throwing a weird hitch route where the receiver's at two yards because they kept running back towards them because that's what the offense teaches and everything. But he's legit guys. Like, I, I'm very excited to watch him at Auburn. Like, I think people are like, oh, yeah, he's fun. It's like, no, he's got legit tools and legit brain and legit operation. Like, that actually translates to the next level.

Just get over the motion. The monkey, the motion is so funky. I get it, but just get over that. It's pretty good. I love it. Nate, thank you so much. It has been a pleasure, and we will definitely be bothering you again very soon. Nate, when I know we have a good guess is when I'm engaged and I'm at the edge of my seat and I'm listening, because when I listen to you, I feel like I'm listening to the podcast myself.

And you did a really good job. And I obviously know your stuff. And it was just a real pleasure to have you here. And I really appreciate it. He's just glad you agree with him about Cam Coleman. That's all he does. I know. That's it.

I mean, I wanted, yeah. It was just like listening to you say things that I want to be true was such a delight. Just come on. Just get a hard confirmation bias Wasserman right there. That's perfect. Hey, guys, thanks for having me. This is a blast. I thought we're only halfway done.

I was ready for the next day. But no, thanks for having to show every day, Nate. We'll turn a recorder off. All right, guys, we will talk to you tomorrow. We have plenty to talk about, including an update on Trinidad, Shambliss. And how has he been communicating with Lane Kiffin so far? since Lane took off to LSU.

We'll talk about that from Chris Lowe's story. All on tomorrow's Annie Nariang Three.