Andy & Ari On3 - DT Walter Nolen is the NEW No. 1 in the transfer portal | Florida QB Graham Mertz joins | Dear Andy

Episode Date: December 7, 2023

Thank you to Gametime for sponsoring today's episode! Bowl Season is days away, don't miss your chance to watch your favorite team. Download the Gametime App and enter code: STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply. Last Minute Tickets, Lowest Prices, Guaranteed.(0:00-9:00) Intro - Walter Nolen in the Portal, A&M Players(9:01-11:29) Texas A&M Hires Collin Klein as OC(11:30-17:29) More Portal News(17:30-33:46) Florida QB Graham Mertz Interview(33:47-43:29) Dear Andy, Portal QB's Making Decision(43:30-47:39) King of Transfer Portal(47:40-53:28) Florida State's Motive for the SEC?(53:29-57:10) Sam's Hypothetical with Alabama-Michigan(57:11-59:21) CFP Expansion Revenue Lost(59:22-1:03:24) Is this the worst CFP Field in its era?(1:03:25-1:04:11) ConclusionThere's a new No. 1 in On3's transfer portal rankings, and it's defensive tackle Walter Nolen. Nolen, a sophomore at Texas A&M, announced Sunday that he was entering the portal, but he didn't officially enter until Wednesday. Now it's a question of where he's going. Tennessee? Michigan? Alabama? Florida State? Meanwhile, Kansas State offensive coordinator Collin Klein is coming to Texas A&M. The former Wildcats quarterback is leaving his alma mater to run the offense for new Aggies coach Mike Elko. Next, Florida quarterback Graham Mertz joins the show. Mertz, who went through the transfer process last year, explains what it's like to be a QB in the portal. He also tells the painful story of the broken collarbone that ended his season. Plus, the proud Kansas City native will have none of Andy's KC barbecue slander.Then it's time for Andy to answer your questions, and you have some great ones...Is situation or scheme more important for a transfer portal QB?Which coach is the reigning king of the transfer portal?Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube!https://youtube.com/live/z8erRkbIjug

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. It is a dear Andy show. And we also have a very special interview for you with Florida quarterback, Graham Mertz, who was in the transfer portal this time last year. And he explains what it's like in there. Is it scary? Is it dark?

Well, a lot of players are finding out what it feels like to be in the transfer portal because more and more are pouring in by the day, including one who officially entered on Wednesday and immediately shot to the top of our on three transfer portal rankings. Texas A&M defensive lineman Walter Nolan, the type of player we've talked about all season, off season, really since the transfer portal became a thing, the type of player that doesn't enter very often, a game-changing, potentially defensive lineman.

This was a five-star defensive lineman, signed with Texas A&M in the 2022 class, played quite a bit, is the type of player who can change games from the interior of the defensive line, and that is not the type of player who enters the transfer portal very often. So Walter Nolan, who announced on Sunday night that he was going to enter, did officially enter on Wednesday. And that's the thing with these things you never know. I had checked with somebody at Texas A&M as early as Wednesday morning, just saying, hey, is there a chance you get him back? Nope. And they said, it's Walter. It'll happen when it happens. And it did. It is now Wednesday night. Walter's in the portal. And I'm noticing

by the comments in the chat that people seem to think they know where he's going. So Phil Miller, Walter's coming to Tennessee. Go Big Orange. Ben, Walter is coming home. But here's a contradictory opinion from Joe. Walter Nolan is going to Michigan. He was highly recruited and was interested. This is true. He was also recruited by Tennessee and was interested. So Walter originally from Memphis, but played his final year of high school in East Tennessee near Knoxville.

And so the thought is Tennessee big time in the mix, but Michigan was a school that he considered seriously coming out of high school as well. So that's one that's potentially in the mix. Alabama, I would say is one that's in the mix because that's the type of place that people like Walter Nolan tend to go. So let's not rule that out. Basically, almost anyone wants a player like Walter Nolan,

which it'll be interesting to see what the market for him is, what the NIL dollars turn out to be, because we've talked about the NIL dollars for quarterbacks. We've talked about what Matt Rule said, where he said the going rate is into seven figures for a really good quarterback who makes your program better. Not for just any quarterback, but for one of the really good ones. So we are talking about in the current transfer portal, we'd be talking about somebody like Dylan Gabriel, who's leaving Oklahoma. Riley Leonard, who's leaving Duke.

It's not a huge long list, but there's a few of them that can come to your program and probably make you quite a bit better. The going rate? Probably around 1.5 million. Maybe even a little higher than that. But what about a guy like Walter Nolan? Because he's actually probably more rare. Now, the quarterback position is the most important position in the game, but it is followed closely by interior defensive linemen, edge rushers, and left tackles. Good offensive tackles in general. Those people are the most important. And that's where you got to go.

Riddy You Fly in the chat says he wants to be part of a team who can win 29 straight. I think that means Georgia, although they just had that 29 game winning streak snap. So, but yes. Also, what about Florida State? They've been the best transfer portal team going. They've been really good at it. They've shown that if you come there after you transfer, you tend to do pretty well. So I'm not ruling that out either. So lots going on there. Walter Nolan is certainly one of the most intriguing guys in the transfer portal. He's going to have his options. Now, the question is, what's somebody going to be willing to pay for him? Is a game-changing defensive lineman,

because of the rarity of that person in the portal, is that someone who would be worth six figures? I would imagine that is what his camp is asking for. Did I say six figures? I meant seven figures. Sorry, low seven figures. And I would imagine that is what his camp is asking for per year. We will see what ends up happening, where he ends up going. He's going to have so many options. He's not the only Aggie on the way out, though. Last night, it was LT Overton, another defensive lineman.

On Wednesday, Fadil Diggs, another defensive lineman, an edge rusher, announced that he was going to enter the portal. Not quite sure if he's actually in it yet, but he has made the announcement that he's going in. Offensive lineman Chase Bassanis started 12 games at guard as a true freshman. He looks like he's pretty darn good. And that's another one. Those people not plentiful in the portal. Someone who can hold their own as a true freshman at the power two level in the SEC or in the Big Ten. He is probably going to have a lot of options.

Another A&M player who got into the portal news flow and got himself out of it very quickly. Bryce Anderson. There was a tweet from Bryce Anderson. It said something like, I'm entering the transfer portal. Just a few little words. Very quickly in his Instagram story. He says, my Twitter got hacked.

I'm not in the portal. And as soon as I saw the, cause I saw the Instagram story first, I saw the, him saying he got hacked and he's not in the portal first. And then I saw the tweet and I thought, okay, I believe him. I believe him when he says that somebody else typed this, because that's not how people announce they go into the portal. They call our guy Hayes Fawcett on three and they say, Hayes, give me an edit. Give me a

graphic. You don't go in a portal without a graphic. So that's how I knew Bryce Anderson wasn't going in the portal, because he didn't have a graphic. So you got to have that graphic to make sure you're going in the portal. That is a lot of news out of Texas A&M, and a lot of people who are coming from Texas A&M, Nolan, Diggs, Besantis, and Overton, who are going to be highly sought after because there isn't that type of person

in abundance in the portal. Now, I do wonder if we're seeing this many come off of one team, are we going to see some more of this? Maybe they do become more plentiful as these guys realize their value because we talk about a team like Colorado, and I don't know that any of these guys are considering Colorado,

but Colorado needs offensive linemen. So Chase Bassanus maybe, but that's not what I'm hearing. I'm hearing maybe another SEC school. But we talk about Deion and Colorado needing offensive linemen. They don't have anybody who can block. So they got to find somebody. They're not apparently getting those guys out of high school. And even if you get a really highly sought after offensive lineman out of high school,

very few of them are ready to play right away. So you probably need to get somebody out of the portal. And those people just aren't there. So I am wondering, are some of these offensive linemen who maybe they're not perfectly happy with their situation or their position coach got fired or their position coach just left, maybe they're the ones that'll think about jumping to the portal,

realizing that there's potentially something out there for them. Now, Chris Callahan makes a point. Deion is broke. He's not getting any good players with no money. Deion's not broke. Deion's got plenty of money. Deion's collective might not have so much money because that's what that whole not an ATM speech was about. When a coach says, we're here for players to come and get a degree and become better players and get developed for the draft, that's code for our collectives not doing too well that's what that means so agree agree

chris that's probably probably true so maybe maybe they can't afford a good offensive lineman in the portal i guess we will find out but more texas a&m news we'll get we'll give you a little more transfer portal news in a second but more texas a&m news too. Mike Elkos found his offensive coordinator, guys. Colin Klein, the Kansas State offensive coordinator. And this is a surprising move because, not because Colin Klein is taking the Texas A&M job, it's that Colin Klein is leaving Kansas State when he was sought after by Notre Dame last year.

He was on Alabama's list last year. He was looked at apparently by Penn State this year. Now he's an all-time great Kansas State player. Very successful in his first couple years as a play caller. Did a great job for Chris Kleiman. Helped Will Howard that first year lead them to the Big 12 title. This past season, he had Will Howard, then he rotated him with Avery Johnson. So there is a lot to like about Colin Kline and his offense.

And, you know, you go back to when he played, he was second to Johnny Manziel for the Heisman Trophy. So he's been around some Aggies before at the Heisman ceremony. But he's going down there and it still looks like they're going with Connor Wigman at QB. And I think that that's, I don't have an issue with that at all. I actually am pretty excited about the idea of Connor Wigman playing in Colin Klein's offense. Cause remember Connor Wigman, that Texas A&M offense didn't look great, whether it was Jimbo Fisher in his next to last year, his penultimate year calling the plays,

or whether it was Bobby Petrino calling plays, which apparently were game planned by Jimbo Fisher this year. When Wigman was in there, the offense moved. The offense looked good. So put him in there with a guy who runs an offense that works today. I think that could be really exciting. But we'll find out. Because again, Texas A&M, they always seem close, but they never quite seem to put it together. So we will find out. But that is a really interesting hire and a big move because he had turned down interest from some very big

programs. So this is the one he said, all right, I believe in you, Mike Elko. I believe we can work very well together. And I think Aggie should be pretty excited about this because this is a guy that everybody wanted. So if you're worried about the talent going into the portal, I understand that. But you did get some talent coming in on the coaching staff. And we'll see what Texas A&M pulls out of the portal. Because I imagine, given what they're losing, they do have a lot they need to replace. And they also probably have the resources to take some of the people who are very, very sought after out of the portal. Speaking of sought after people in the portal,

I mentioned that offensive tackles are very hard to find. Spencer Brown left Michigan State. He has already committed to Oklahoma. So remember, Oklahoma lost both their tackles to the NFL this year, so they've got to replace them. So Spencer Brown probably going to be a plug-and-play type tackle there. Oregon State quarterback Aiden Childs. Remember, DJ Uyungle already near the portal. Aiden Childs, who was the freshman at Oregon State, who came in on occasion and looked like the future of the program

while then Jonathan Smith left. Our Pete Nacos has already put in a recruiting prediction machine prediction for Michigan State. The plan, we think, is that Aiden Childs will reunite with Jonathan Smith in East Lansing. Also, Rocket Sanders. Raheem Rocket Sanders, great running back from Arkansas. He's in the transfer portal as well. He entered on Tuesday night.

He is set to visit South Carolina. So that could be a fun one. Upgrade to the Gamecocks offense. They needed somebody like that. We'll see what happens there. Remember Bobby Petrino, the new offensive coordinator at Arkansas. KJ Jefferson, I believe out of eligibility. It's so hard these days.

I think he's out of eligibility, but I don't even know anymore. This is the problem with the COVID year and figuring out all of this stuff. Now, KJ is still potentially playing there next year, so he's not out of this stuff. And okay. Jay, KJ still potentially playing there next year. So he's not out of eligibility yet. This is going to be pretty interesting. Christian says, talk about Western teams. Okay.

Well, I did Oregon state, Aiden child went into the transfer portal. There's not a lot of other action. Dante Moore, who left UCLA. The thought is that he's looking at Michigan. The thought is that if JJ McCarthy, even if he sticks around, that Dante's okay with sitting behind him for a year. USC has a quarterback opening. They've met with Will Howard,

who used to play for Colin Klein at Kansas. It's funny how all of these guys just, it all sort of comes together and loops back around. And almost everybody in portal land can be six degrees, you know, it's a little six degrees of transfer portal. So this is going to be a very interesting next month. Vincent in the chat says, dude said Dion is broke. You didn't see the meeting with Bank of America CEO and the Cowboys game. Plus that school in city took it over $300 million. Great. None of it went to the collective. That's who needs the money. That's who has to pay the players. So if they can get those people to donate to the collective, then they'll be able to get really

good players out of the portal. If they can't, then they won't. That's how that works. So a lot going on in the transfer portal. Another one in the SEC. And another guy, you know, the edge rusher count in the portal seems to be going up a little bit more than we're used to. Princely O'Man Miellon, Florida defensive end. He's from Texas. He's got a brother playing at Nebraska. He announced his intention to enter the transfer portal on Wednesday. So it is nonstop news everywhere. You're going to get a lot of news pretty much every night on this stuff as people enter,

as people decide on schools. And it's going to be pretty fun if you are not losing people that you're relying on. And if you're getting people you think can help. If it's the other way around, then you're going to have a problem. So I see continuing arguments in the chat about where Walter Nolan's going to go. I don't really have a prediction on this because again, he's one who almost everyone will want. So you can go back to his recruitment, which is why the Michigan fans and the Tennessee fans are fighting one another because he was looking at both those very seriously. But I'm telling you, everybody else is going to walk into. A guy who was in this position last year is Florida quarterback Graham Mertz.

He was leaving Wisconsin. He'd started there, and Paul Chris got fired. Everything was changing. Luke Fickle was bringing in Phil Longo to run the offense. It was going to be completely different. And so Graham went in the portal. He wound up at Florida. We talked about Prince William and Miellon entering the portal today.

Florida is probably going to have a few of those guys. You had Caleb Douglas, one of the receivers, enter the portal. But Graham is trying to hold that thing down, hold that thing together, and keep as many of those guys in Gainesville as he can and also advertise to the people who are in the portal who might be able to help Florida win games next season. So he's talking. And I tell you what, he's a fun guy to talk to. Kansas City native.

Very proud of his Kansas City barbecue heritage. Not afraid to push back on my barbecue takes, which I really appreciated. But also just a tough, tough son of a gun. Talk about his decision to come back, his injury that knocked him out this season, which happened on a play where he looked awesome. And then what he needs to do to help Florida as they're trying to get this roster together for next year.

Here is Graham Mertz. Graham Mertz, staying in Gainesville. Oh, yeah. How did that decision process go, and when did you say, okay, I want to run it back? Yeah, I mean, kind of after our season ended. I mean, for me, it ended after the Mizzou game. So I had a little more time to think about it. Yeah, it took a took a few weeks with my

family, talk through people around me. Yeah, I mean, you get to that point where you play the sport and your goals go the NFL. Yeah. And for me, it's you have that option right in front of you. And but I kept thinking back to my time here this past year and how blessed I've been with the people around me. So, I mean, I put it in my post, the whole unfinished business thing. But, I mean, that's the truth. I care about this place and I want to win here. Well, let's talk about the way your season and obviously didn't end the way your team wanted it all. But you personally personally you truck

two dudes converting a third and five this i because the way that all went down you broke your collarbone but we'll we'll lay it out for the folks so you truck these two dudes i mean it's like boom boom and how much adrenaline is surging through you in that moment well a lot a lot no yeah I didn't feel anything yeah um I just saw I saw my teammates fired up on the sideline and I was juiced up so you take the next snap and you hand off to Montreal right and then it's like didn't you feel it all right so I got the snap and I put my I think I put my left hand down with the ball, and I just felt just crumble in there. So it wasn't a good feeling. Well, and the thing is, you know, that's a team that had a great season.

You guys are playing so well against them. You were in a position to win the game, and all of a sudden you're out for the rest of the year. How tough were those last couple weeks for you? I mean, I've never – I mean, shoot, my whole career in college as a starter, I've never been out for a game. Yeah. So my whole time in Wisconsin, played in every game. I did probably, might have not finished a few,

but never been in that situation. But I mean, it was good for me. I mean, I think being out that whole week and learning, kind of seeing the prep from a different lens, I mean, it gives you a different insight on um how you can improve your yeah your preparation and how you how you can mentor guys i was saying you were trying to help max as much as you could yeah yeah and uh but yeah being not being on a field and not playing was uh it was interesting that's why i saw you get an

interview during the florida state game by hollyowe. And it's probably surreal because you're thinking, what am I doing? I'm not supposed to be here. I was watching the game. And then they were like, hey, we got an interview. And I was like, wait, what? I didn't know they did that. They do it now. Yeah.

They make the coaches talk after every quarter now. Every quarter? Oh, it's wild. Wow. I don't think I could do it. I'd be nervous to ask them. Because I know how hot they get when things go wrong. oh it's wild wow i don't think i could do it like i i'd be nervous to ask them the quick because i i know how hot they get when things go wrong and you're gonna they're coming right to you and you're like hey coach uh that call you just made that didn't work uh why that's that feels dangerous

yeah but so what was that first year at florida? Did it meet your expectations, exceed? How did you come into this, and how did you feel coming out of it? Yeah, I mean, I think back to my time in the portal and the uncertainty of where I was going, and it happened so quick. And I came down here and met with the coaches, met with the staff, and I was like, this is the place I need to be. And for me coming in and just seeing how much time, effort, energy they put into me and developing me, from the start, it was all about work.

And that's what this whole year was about. So it's been absolutely awesome, exceeded my expectations. I mean, I love this place with all my heart. And that's why it was an easy, or not easy decision, but I ended up getting to that decision. So I wanted to ask you about being in the portal and that whole process, because we have all these people jumping in now. What advice would you give somebody who's in the transfer portal now in terms of dealing with that entire process? Yeah. I mean, it's, it's obviously, it's probably different than when I was in it.

And even a year later. Oh yeah. I think especially in today's day and age, I mean, it's, it's obviously, it's probably different than when I was in it and even a year later. Oh yeah. I think especially in today's day and age, I mean, it's, it's growing and it's evolving and that's what, I mean, I've had a few buddies at schools that whether they're from high school, high school buddies or Wisconsin buddies that are in the portal and everything I always tell them is, is look, you gotta, you're looking out for yourself and you gotta find a place that matches, um, what you need and what you can give to them. Like it's, it's a mutual agreement. Um, and it's a business decision. You gotta go in there and you gotta, you gotta provide everything you got. So it's, uh, that's kind of what I've told guys. So how you mentioned it happened quickly. How much time did you really have between making the decision? I'm leaving Wisconsin and making the decision. I'm coming to Florida. I think it was like 18 days total.

So I think I entered the portal on like, shoot, probably the 2nd of December. I can't remember exactly. And probably had to make a decision by the 18th or whenever. And your phone blows up when you, when you enter, right? Yes. Yeah. It was a, it's a stressful time. You feel that pressure of, Oh, I got to make a decision. I got all these options. I don't know what I'm doing, but it's also like doing your high school recruitment condensed time.

Yeah. So you're, you're balancing all these phone calls, text messages and trying to find the best situation. I've had guys say that that second recruitment, their priorities are vastly different than the first time. It's all about ball. Yeah. It's all about the system, how you fit in, and how you can make the team better.

So I think, yeah, everybody I've talked to, it's all about just ball. So your decision now gives them some continuity offensively. How much can you help when they're bringing those visitors in, the guys who are in the portal or the ones who might sign out of high school, to say, hey, here's what this is, this is what it looks like? I think that's a big part of my job this next couple of months is when guys do come in, showing them what we do, how we're going to do, how we're going

to improve, how we're going to be better. And really just talk about the character of the people that are here at Florida. I mean, it's second to none. I mean, the amount of people we have that are just great individuals that make up this team. I mean, it's a no brainer for me. So for me, it's relaying that information and showing the X's and O's. So what do you guys need to do better to be better than five and seven? Yeah, I think the big thing is finish. And you can't hurt yourself. I think that got us in trouble a little bit this year. I think back to games where we just flat out as a team, we didn't finish.

And I think that's a player leadership thing that we will attack, and we already are attacking. And you look at games like you think about Arkansas, you think about Mizzou, even LSU. We're in all those games, and we could have won them if we finished, and I think that's the big emphasis this offseason. How do you handle it with teammates who are thinking about entering the portal, deciding whether they want to be back here? that a big recruitment job as well i mean i think this day and age is so so

different where i mean everybody's always um making their own decision and sometimes they don't want to don't want to be in that that battle so i think it's interesting when uh when you look back at it and the recruitment of that i mean yes and no i mean you you don't always know what people are thinking and that's a different battle of this um but i think in the end it's with all the moving chess pieces coming and leaving i mean i think the the people that are here um we we know what this team needs to do and how we need to do it better so that's the emphasis. So you've done this before.

At Wisconsin, you were in the same offense the entire time, so you know what year two in an offense is versus year one. How different is it really? Man, I'm fired up. I think back to last year, like around this time, or not this time, probably like early January, I'm just trying to learn it. And that's the emphasis. And now it's like, like all right now it's my job to teach it and we get to get timing done earlier so um timing anticipation footwork on on yeah route depths and

all that stuff so it's for me it's all about the details and being able to relay that teach guys um and obviously I mean I think that i can i can grow on this offense as well so i'm uh i'm fired up for it well it felt like you kind of evolved in it as the season went on i mean it seemed like they really turned you loose against south carolina and were you comfortable before that or was it a case where as the weeks went by you're like all right i can add this and we can do this we can do this i mean i think the season the season if you if you approach it right it allows for a lot of growth and not only for individuals but but the entire unit yeah and you know i think throughout weeks um i mean we started off in camp going into the first game we were confident and we felt like we had a good

plan and all that stuff and i think that it just kept evolving. And I owe that to guys like Trey, Ricky, the entire backfield up front. I mean, the entire offensive unit, we just got a little bit better at our process every week. And that's what Coach always talks about. But especially in college football, that's what you need to do. And that's how you put yourself in those games and win games. Let's talk about Trey Wilson. He seems like the type that when you see him touch the ball for the first time, it's like,

ooh, that's a little bit different. I had that. We were in camp and I threw him a little out route. He just hit his right foot and turned around and spun out and wouldn't score. I looked at Coach and he looked at, and he's like, yep. Yeah, I was a beat writer when Percy was a freshman at Florida. And I remember the first practice. We were allowed to watch practice back then. And the first practice, they just dump it off to him.

And you heard everyone just go, whoa. Yeah. It's like that with those special guys. Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah, I mean, because because he came in late or not late, he came in at the normal time. Right. Right. Early. And it seems late in today's age. But yeah, so he came in the summer and I think he had a little injury. He was banged up recovering. So we didn't really see him in the summer, but he was still still around the team.

And then we get in the camp and we hit about i think it was practice four or five and we were like all right this guy's legit so i mean even just outside of football i mean he's such a he's such an awesome guy i mean his his locker is right down the right down the hall from mine and see him every day and so you you two are the ones that are telling everybody hey come play for this offense this is this is what we can be yeah yeah i mean i think yeah 100 i mean we we're excited about this offense and we do know we can be so yeah now i i heard i know you're a kc guy i heard you're a bit of a barbecue expert yeah which is so i've gotten to travel around the country got to eat a bunch of places now my kc experience is interesting because i did well i did the classics i did the gates and arthur bryant's but i've been to joe's okay so but i haven't been back lately they don't dump and i've been to lcs so this is

good it is good i don't like the sauce dumped all over everything it offends me it offends me oh you like the oh yeah i'm a dry guy yeah yeah so okay where do i go in kc where i'm gonna get the best barbecue now we're not messing with any nil deals i can't no i can't wait to go home oh my gosh um joe's is really good yes i love joe z-man sandwich classic next time you go okay place called q39 okay so it's a newer spot yeah um man it's it's ridiculous it's ridiculous i can't even like explain how good it is i'll show you a picture after this well i was gonna say you played at wisconsin like when when you were telling those offensive linemen about this kind of barbecue yeah you're just eyes as saucers like oh my gosh i mean i had yeah i mean they just we'd go to like uh some like chain barbecue place and like oh my god this is so good i'm like guys you haven't

even seen this like i'm like you are not even experiencing the the best barbecue in the world kansas city barbecue is the best barbecue in the world there it is all right all you texas people all you georgia people all you Georgia people, all you North Carolina people, you hear it right here? Yell at him. Yeah, yell at me. I can take it. It's funny because my barbecue opinions probably get more smoke

than my football opinions. Really? If I say this team's better than this, you get yelled at. Oh, yeah. But if you, let's say, say, you know, I prefer Texas barbecue to North Carolina barbecue, oh my god it's it's all of people yeah well in the kc people are very proud so we're proud i mean we like our sauce i'm not gonna i know it's okay but the sauce the sauce makes it oh anybody can smoke it you know no they can't

in kansas they can't properly cooked meat requires no sauce this is we well see here's the here's the argument all right so everybody in Kansas Kansas City can smoke it and it's delicious oh but then that's the that's the standard but then they separate with the sauce I have never heard it argued this way yeah I'm all I'm almost ready to buy it so they are so good so so proficient oh yeah the brisket is so great. The pork is so perfect. The ribs are so amazing that they have to put something on it because otherwise everybody would just be the same. Yeah, the standard's been set.

And that's why everybody's arguing. I'm like, wait, you can't say it's just good dry because that's the standard. Dude, you have a career in politics because the spin you just put on that is unbelievable. It's the truth. Wow. I'll take you to a barbecue spot I just want to see the picture of the Q39 I'm excited now I got you

appreciate it you had about 30 of them so I appreciate it I appreciate you so after that interview ended Graham did show me the Q39 pics, but our phones are very similar in that when you hit the photos button, it is mostly barbecue. It is mostly food. And it was very, very tasty looking. And, you know, we both live in Gainesville, Florida, not a great barbecue area, objectively speaking. So Graham was feeling very hungry. I was showing him some of the places I've been, but it was funny because I went to Martin's barbecue in Nashville on Monday. And so I showed him the half rack I had there and I went all dry rub on it. He's like, it looks like they just dumped a whole bottle of rub on it. And I was like, you sound like me with the sauce.

So I guess that's what I sound like. And I'm willing to hear his arguments. It's funny because I've been very anti-sauce as a corrective measure because you didn't cook it right. But his point of they're just so good at cooking it, they have to separate themselves some other way. I might be willing to buy it. Also, he would make an excellent spin doctor.

Just excellent. But good luck to Graham Mertz recovering from that broken collarbone. Should be back healthy for spring practice, and we'll see what happens. But he's a lot of fun to cover and watch. And we may have to do a little barbecue. I did give him and the Florida folks some tips for when they go to SEC Media Days in Dallas. So there are a few places I've already turned them on to.

So now come your questions. And you guys have some excellent ones. This is going to be a lot of fun a good dear andy segment because a lot of meaty stuff to talk about we've got the transfer portal we've got obviously the playoff decision and then you name it we'll start with a question from superior cfB on video about the portal. Hey, Andy. With the transfer portal now open and the abundance of quarterbacks going in, one thing I've heard a lot about is the idea of a quarterback choosing a system

to help improve their draft stock. You hear it a lot with guys like Riley Leonard and Will Rogers. And I'm just curious where you draw the line between the importance of finding a system that improves your draft stock and finding a situation that improves your statistics to then improve your draft stock. I think about guys like Bo Nix, Jaden Daniels, and Michael Penix. And I wonder if they would have gone to a more traditional pro-style offense and put up less glamorous numbers, would they be getting the draft attention that they're getting now? So I want to know what you think about that

and how important it is for a guy to find the right fit schematically versus the right fit situationally. Thanks. This is a great question. I think the answer is situationally. Now, that may include what scheme makes you comfortable as a quarterback, what scheme allows you to shine, to show the attributes you have that will then be looked at by the NFL teams and evaluated.

But I think the guys we talked about in the Pac-12 this year, Bo Nix and Michael Penks Jr., they're a prime example of how situation matters, how comfort matters, knowing who you're going to be playing for and understanding how that person operates and understanding how that offense operates really makes a big difference.

Because if you look at the Bo Nix situation, so when Bo transferred from Auburn to Oregon, Oregon had just hired Dan Lanning as the head coach. Lanning had just hired Kenny Dillingham as the offensive coordinator. Bo had worked with Kenny Dillingham at Auburn. Kenny Dillingham had been the OC at Auburn Bo's freshman year. Dillingham had come to Oregon from Florida State. Now at Florida State, Mike Norvell calls the plays. And if we're looking at it from an NFL perspective, so Mike Norvell, Kenny Dillingham both come from Gus Malzahn tree. That tree does not produce a lot of NFL quarterbacks. So if you think about that, you're like, is that really where you want to go?

But for Bo, having worked with Kenny Dillingham, knowing that Kenny Dillingham knew what made him work best, what plays he liked the best, what he was comfortable doing. That was the most important thing. That's what mattered. For Michael Penix Jr., same thing. He had been with Kalen DeBoer at Indiana early in his career, so he understood how Kalen DeBoer worked. He understood how he operated. He understood what the offense was going to be like, what he was going to be expected to do. And I think we've seen it now with Kalen DeBoer as a

head coach at Fresno State and now at Washington. Kalen DeBoer is a brilliant tactician and Ryan Grubb, brilliant play caller. They understand exactly how to best use Michael Penix Jr. And they allowed him to put his best foot forward. The Jaden Daniels one's interesting because there wasn't the previous connection to Mike Denbrock, the OC at LSU. I think Jaden was trying to get around the best talent he could. You know, if you look at Jaden Daniels' career at Arizona State, remember his three-year start, he started as a true freshman there.

The first year was the best. Well, Brandon Ayuk was his best receiver. First-round talent. Ronald Darby. No, Frank Darby. Ronald Darby played DB at FSU. But Frank Darby, very good receiver to compliment Brandon Ayuk. Eno Benjamin, excellent back at Arizona State. So that's what Jaden Adles had around him early in his career. He didn't have that kind of talent around him sophomore year, junior year. And so he goes to LSU where he could be reasonably certain he was going to have a lot of talent around him. And he absolutely did. I mean, Malik Nabors and Brian Thomas Jr. are the kind of receivers that don't grow on trees.

And you could look at some of those offensive linemen. He had the two freshmen playing tackle last year, but you could tell those dudes were going to be really good. So I do think it is situationally much more important than schematically. I don't think somebody saying, well, I run a pro-style offense means you're going to be better off for the NFL. You just need to be able to show that you can control an offense. I'll go back to Bo Nix. One of the things that opposing coaches said about Bo Nix this year is that he seems so in command of that offense.

He seemed to understand it so well. And remember, Kenny Dillingham is gone at this point. He's gone to Arizona State to be the head coach. Will Stein's running the offense. But Bo was so in command of that offense, it felt like he could get him into the right play no matter what the defense did. And I think that matters a lot.

So if we're talking about the guys in the portal this year, that's why I say for Cam Ward, if you can find a coach with air raid roots, that's the best thing for you because you're going to be able to, to go in and understand immediately what's going on and you can work and build on that. So that's where USC with Lincoln Riley or Wisconsin with Phil Longo, that's where those schemes matter. But it's, again, that's not a scheme that necessarily vaults you to the NFL. Patrick Mahomes played an

air raid offense, but until Patrick Mahomes, there'd never been an air raid quarterback who succeeded in the NFL. So it doesn't matter really what you play in. It's what allows you to show how good you can be. So for Cam Ward, again, I think finding somewhere that runs the air raid. For Dylan Gabriel, finding someplace that takes advantage of his running ability and then marries that with the way he can throw the football. That's why I get, you know, Oregon is the one that keeps popping up with Dylan Gabriel. And I tell you, it makes sense because you watch what Bo Nix did in that offense. And Dylan Gabriel is a similar quarterback. Like his first instinct isn't to run. He wants to keep the play alive. He wants to throw it downfield. But when he needs to, he makes things happen with his legs.

Ditto for Bo Nix. A very accurate passer who's played a lot of football who can run when he needs to and either extend a play or turn a negative into a positive, that sounds an awful lot like what Oregon had in Bo Nix. So that does seem like a pretty good fit. We do have a decision from one of the quarterbacks, Tyler Shook, who was at Oregon originally, then at Texas Tech playing in the air right under Zach Kitley this year. He is going to go play for Jeff Brom at Louisville. Now, Jeff Brom seems like the type who develops

quarterbacks very well. There's not a previous relationship there, but you look at what Jeff Brom did with Aiden O'Connell at Purdue. You look at some of the QBs he's had through the years, and they absolutely seem to thrive under Jeff Brom. So we'll see what happens, but I think the situation matters far more than going to some scheme that looks like an NFL offense because that doesn't necessarily help you do anything. You just need to show how good of a quarterback you are

and then the NFL teams will evaluate and they'll put you in those offenses and teach you those offenses. And then you can figure it out, but definitely go for situation, go for comfort, go for an offense, you know, a coach, you know, or in the case of Jayden Daniels, an abundance of good athletes around you that helps unlock how good you truly are. Before we get to our next question, I want to tell you about game time. So if you're excited about the playoff, maybe you want to go to the Rose Bowl. You're an Alabama fan, you're a Michigan fan. You've always dreamed of going to the Rose Bowl, of seeing the sun set over the San Gabriel Mountains in the third quarter, late third,

early fourth. You can do that. With GameTime, you can get tickets to that game right now. So you download the GameTime app. You pick your ticket. You see what the field looks like. And it's a picture of the field. And you're like, oh, okay, that's nice. It's a picture of the field.

No, it is the picture from the seat you would be buying. A couple more taps and that ticket is yours. You want to go to the Sugar Bowl? Do you want to see Texas and Washington play in New Orleans? GameTime has it. Download the GameTime app. Use the code STAPLES and you get $20 off your first purchase. So that's STAPLES is the code, $20 off your first purchase.

And yeah, if you want to go to those playoff games, you want to go to a Rolling Stones concert or a Taylor Swift concert, Game Time has those tickets too. Comedy shows, theater, you name it, Game Time has it and is the easiest, least stressful way to buy tickets

that you thought were impossible to get. Go to Game Time, use the code STAPLES, 20 bucks off your first purchase. Our next question comes from TiltTheField on X. I'm fascinated with the portal. I would like to ask what coach you would consider the king of the portal up until now, not based on how many players,

but based on production and hit rate. NFL draft picks are helpful, but not the be-all end-all for hit rate. Well, my producer River is giving away the answer. And I don't, I don't think you guys needed me to tell you that Mike Norvell at Florida state is the king of the portal. There is no question that Mike Norvell and his staff at Florida state are the best at using a transfer portal better than anybody. They seem to be able to fill needs that most teams haven't been able to fill in the portal. They find edge rushers.

Jermaine Johnson, Jared Burse. They find defensive tackles like Fabian Lovett. They find game-changing receivers like Keon Coleman. They go down to Division II to get really good quality second tight ends like Kyle Moorlach. They go to the Mac to get Braden Fisk to bolster their interior defensive line. Remember all the talk we were talking about Walter Nolan and how it's hard to find defensive linemen who can really help your team in the transfer portal? Well, Braden Fisk has really helped Florida State from the transfer portal. So Mike Norvell, without a doubt, the king of the transfer portal.

He's done an incredible job. And what is, I think, the most important part of what he's done is he's been able to take people out of the portal without disrupting the culture he has in place. The players that he inherited, the ones that have been with him for a while, they have established, this is how we operate. This is how we work. This is what's expected of you. This is the standard. And when the players come in from the portal, they then must rise to meet that standard. They don't drag it down. Because I think that's the fear with a lot of

coaches about the portal. That's why Dabo Sweeney has been so slow to use the transfer portal because he doesn't want to disrupt what has been a very good culture for them at Clemson. But if you do it right, you don't. Another coaching staff that's done a really good job with this is Michigan's. They don't have a ton of holes, but they've been really good at spot recruiting the people to help them in the transfer portal. One really good example this year is Ladarius Henderson, their left tackle. He was at Arizona State. Kind of like Jaden Daniels, plays a true freshman, played a lot, but it didn't seem like he was getting a whole lot better.

And then he gets to Michigan and he becomes one of the most important players on the team. And it becomes clear, hey, this is a very capable player. Olu Oluwetemi last year was the guy that they plugged in on the offensive line. He was at Virginia. He was a center and he came to Michigan as a grad transfer and did an incredible job and ended up winning the Remington Trophy, which goes to the nation's best center. This year, A.J AJ Barner is a tight end that they got out of the transfer portal. And you go back to that Ohio state game, Colton Loveland goes down. And all of a sudden, what do you do? You know, how do you, can you, can you throw to the tight end anymore?

Yeah, you can throw to AJ Barner and they didn't miss a beat. Now, obviously we talk about Lane Kiffin a lot in the transfer portal. He's done a great job at Ole Miss. But the two staffs, I mean, Florida State, Mike Norvell, Michigan, and Jim Harbaugh, they have done the absolute best job in the portal. Now, the best at taking kind of one-offs or at one position is still Lincoln Riley. Because Lincoln Riley has coached three Heisman trophy winners who were transfers Baker Mayfield Kyler Murray Caleb Williams now granted Lincoln Riley did originally recruit

Caleb Williams to Oklahoma and then he transferred to play for Lincoln Riley but it's still still a transfer and Lincoln Riley did get Jalen Hurts as a transfer and he was a Heisman finalist the year he played for Lincoln Riley so if we're just talking quarterbacks, then maybe it's Lincoln. But definitely, if we're talking everybody, it's Mike Norvell, and it's not close. Our next question, also about Florida State, but this is a little more big picture. From Josh, why was Florida State trying to move to the SEC this summer? Did they already predict it with everything that went down? He's talking about, of course, being snubbed from the playoff despite being a 13-0 Power Five Conference champion.

They weren't predicting this necessarily, but this was something they worried might happen because clearly the ACC is viewed as second class compared to the SEC and the Big Ten. And the Florida State people know it and they weren't afraid to say it. They were very adamant that they want to get out of the ACC. Now, obviously, part of that is the economic reason that the SEC and the Big Ten are going to be making much more money than the ACC. They're going to be distributing a lot more money to their schools. Those schools are going to have more resources,

and it's going to be harder for Florida State to recruit against them. But what also makes it harder for Florida State to recruit, remember Florida State recruits against the best of the SEC because of where it is. What also makes it harder is now given what's happened with Florida State getting shut out of the playoff despite being undefeated is those SEC teams that recruit against the Seminoles are going to use that. They're going to say, you don't want to play in that conference. Look at what happened to Florida State. And Auburn's going to say that, and Alabama's going to say that, and Georgia's going to say

that, and LSU's going to say that. And guess what? Florida State has to recruit against them all. So Florida State's leadership is not dumb. They are trying really hard to move to the SEC or the Big Ten if they can. The problem is, can they get out of the ACC's grant of rights? Will one of those other two conferences take them? I think from a brand standpoint, they would be a valuable addition to either one of them. But the question for both those leagues, the SEC is going to have its first year as a 16 team league next year Big Ten versus an 18 team League can they manage a conference that big is getting any bigger worth it and that's the question that has to be asked before Florida State or Clemson or North Carolina

or Miami which all want to leave the ACC before they get any clarity on whether there'd be a place to land if they wanted to leave the ACC. But the frustration that you got from Florida State people when that playoff ranking was announced and they were there at five, well, that's just a magnified version of the frustration that they were explaining all summer. And I know a lot of people made fun of them, got on them. So you're just whining. You're just stop whining and you signed a grant of rights, get over it.

No, they knew they got a bad deal. You got to fight. You don't need to be stuck there for another 13 years. I think Florida State was doing the right thing by fighting. And they had the guts to actually do it. Nobody else would say it out loud. Well, now you see why.

This is exactly why. They're in a conference where the commissioner joined the alliance a few years ago. The Big Ten, the ACC, and the Pac-12. And basically what the alliance was, was the Big Ten tricking the ACC and the Pac-12 into joining forces to block the early adoption of the 12-team playoff.

Because the Big Ten wanted to get its TV deal done with Fox and all the other bidders in the marketplace without the competing product of the 12-team playoff out there potentially siphoning off a few bucks. The ACC and the Pac-12 needed the guaranteed access that the 12-team playoff would bring. It was better for their leagues to have that. But they went against the best interest of their leagues because the SEC had just taken in Oklahoma and Texas, and they were worried who was next. But they didn't think about it from a standpoint of what do I do

that will help my league the most? Their commissioners did not think it through. They did not think clearly. One of those commissioners, George Kliapkov, presided over the destruction of his own conference. The other one, Jim Phillips, didn't say squat about Florida State deserving to be in the playoff until Sunday afternoon when it was too late. So yeah, Florida State was absolutely right to say they didn't need to be in the ACC anymore because they knew. They knew the ACC had failed them and was going to fail them. Unfortunately, it failed them in a big, big way this year. It's a, it's a good question. As that,

that is something that I think Florida state took a lot of undue heat for during the summer. I think the, the criticism of Florida state for saying we don't need to be in the ACC anymore and we need to find something better. I think that was unjustified. Florida State, unlike the ACC when it joined the Alliance, is doing or trying to do what's best for Florida State. If the ACC would ever do what's best for the ACC, maybe Florida State would need to do that. But that's what they've got to do. This question comes from Sam slightly sarcastic if Michigan beats Alabama but J.J. McCarthy tears an ACL late in the fourth quarter the winner of the Peach Bowl will face the winner of the Sugar Bowl instead of Michigan or would that be an utterly ridiculous thing

that would never be allowed to happen in a serious sport Sam I feel you I feel you this is a discussion of the committee using the Jordan Travis injury as an excuse to leave Florida State out. And it was a convenient excuse for sure. But I was on a radio show on Wednesday with Jacob Hester and Chris Doering, and we were talking about this whole thing. And I threw a hypothetical at them. I said, what if Jalen Milrow had gotten hurt with an obvious season-ending injury in the second half of the SEC championship

and Alabama had still beaten Georgia? Would you put a Ty Simpson-led Alabama team in the college football playoff? And the three of us said, probably not. And the three of us said probably not. But the three of us all agreed the committee might. The committee probably would. And that's the problem, is the double standard there. Because I do think it matters.

And I do think that's part of the reason why they left out Florida State. But I think the main reason is they just think Alabama is better. And even if Jordan Travis had been healthy, they just thought Alabama was better. And again, that's fine if you're going to admit it's a beauty pageant. That's also fine if you have enough of a field that the undefeated team doesn't get left out entirely. So next year, no, this doesn't matter because Florida State still makes the playoff, has a chance to prove it on the field.

The reason you need the bigger playoff is because we don't always know what's going to happen. We don't know. We didn't know TCU was going to beat Michigan last year. We assume Michigan would just roll over them. But they play the games for that reason, and that's what makes it fun. And that's why you need a bigger field. Thank goodness

it's coming. Should have been here this year. Because if we just assume, we may as well just simulate the whole damn thing. And I say this as someone who's really excited to see Michigan play Alabama in the Rose Bowl. But I would much rather it have gotten to this point because Alabama beat Florida State in a quarterfinal. That would be better because then you'd know. Then instead of hypothetically, what we think if they played Alabama would win, then you'd know.

And if they played, maybe Alabama wouldn't win. And maybe it would be Florida State against Michigan maybe it would be Florida State against somebody else because somebody else beat Michigan we don't know that's why you play thank goodness next year you get to see those games on the field and then you figure it out.

We got two questions here. We'll start with ERXN on X. When it comes to this playoff mess, what would you estimate for the greed to stupidity ratio? We're going to let another question answer that question. This question comes from Wizzy Probs on X. How stupid are the colleges in ESPN not to just go to eight teams this year? How much more money did that cost them in lost revenue? 500 million? 1 billion? Well, they could have gone to 12 because they already had a system in place to do it. So how much did it cost them? That is a great question. So the estimates I've seen for what the 12 team playoff will ultimately bring in after it fully goes on the market in 2026.

Remember ESPN has the contract through the end of the 2025 season based on the 14 playoff. And they're kind of tacking in the two years of the 12 team playoff with that. But the estimates I've seen for when it fully goes on the market is about $2 billion a year in TV rights. Now, maybe that's not going to happen because they're trying to sell those earlier rounds for the last two years of this contract. They're not getting the answers they want to hear with the numbers that they're throwing out there. So we don't exactly know what they're going to get, but even if it was 1.5 billion, that is a billion more than they make now, a billion dollars. So ERRXN, if you're asking how much of this is greed and how much of it's stupidity, It's 100% stupidity. That's the funniest part about the whole playoff argument is it hasn't really been greed.

Because when it was the Bulls, the schools could always make more money from the playoff. In fact, the Bulls were stealing from them essentially. Or well, they weren't stealing. The schools were dumb enough to outsource their product and the bulls were happy to take the money. So it wasn't greed at all. This was a hundred percent stupidity. Again, we go back to the alliance. Two conferences get hoodwinked by one that's trying to make more money for itself.

All stupidity, 100%. Zero greed, all stupidity. Our last question comes from Chris. Is this the weakest four-team field of the CFP era? Okay. I look at this very differently from Chris. I don't look at this as the weakest field of the four-team era. I look at this as the first time I have looked at the four teams in the four-team playoff and said, I believe that all four teams can win the national championship. I see a scenario where each one of these teams could win the national championship.

It is the first time I have felt that way since the four-team playoff started. Most years, there is one or two. One that just, like last year, it was Georgia. I did not have a lot of faith in anybody. Now, Ohio State gave Georgia a hell of a game. And again, that's why you play the games. I didn't think Ohio State would play Georgia like that. I didn't think they'd be that good. That's why you play the games. But then you got to the TCU-Georgia game, and Georgia asserted its dominance. And you've seen that in other years. This is the first time where I can see Michigan doing it.

I can see Washington doing it. And I know what you're thinking, Washington? It's funny because Washington's the two seed, but that's the one that I think the most people would go, are you sure that they could win? Yes, I am. I do think they could win the national championship. And I think that the second Oregon game showed you why. Because we were worried,

how does Washington hold up a line of scrimmage against Oregon? You know what? Actually pretty darn well. They got some physical offensive linemen. They got some good edge rushers. They're pretty good up front. And that was the concern is how would they hold up? And I will find out.

I mean, they're going to play against probably the best tandem of interior defensive lineman in the country against Devondre sweat and Byron Murphy at Texas and some pretty good edge rushers and some pretty good offensive lineman, Kelvin banks, potential first round left tackle. They're going to get challenged. But again, I can see a path for Washington to beat Texas.

I can see a path for Washington to beat Michigan. I can see a path for Washington to beat Alabama. And I can say the same thing for Texas and the same thing for Alabama. You know what? I find that very, very exciting. That's what makes me as excited about this playoff as I am, even though I know it would have been so much better as a 12-team version. Because these four all do feel like they have a chance to win. And I think part of the issue with the four-team before

is it didn't feel like that. And you've only got three games. You've got two semis and a final. So you don't get a lot of entertainment out of it if you don't have but one team that can win it or two teams that can win it. It's much more entertaining at the bottom of a playoff where there's one or two teams that can win,

where you do have the teams that actually match up while playing one another with stakes. That's fun. Like wildcard weekend in the NFL is a blast to watch. Maybe those teams aren't going to win the Super Bowl. Some of them do wind up going to the Super Bowl. Some of them wind up winning it. But for the most part, the teams that win the Super Bowl are the ones that had the best record

in the regular season. But they let the other ones in because the games are fun to watch. That's why they're going to do that with more teams next year. We just happened to get one this year where it does feel like all four can win. Now I say that,

and some team may cruise to the national title in two blowouts. I hope that's not what happens, but yeah, that's why you play the games because we don't know. What I know is that you guys ask the best questions in the world. I love the way you think about college football. I love that you love it so much. And I appreciate you coming here every night

and spending an hour with me or every morning and spending an hour with me. It does not go unnoticed and we love you for it. And just want to say thank you again. Thank you for all the great questions. A big show on Thursday. We got a lot to talk about. We're going to do a little Heisman Trophy preview.

We're going to talk about what's going on at K-State. They just lost Colin Klein. What do they do now? They just lost Will Howard. What do they do now? Of course, there will be more Transfer Portal news. We'll talk to you tomorrow.