Andy & Ari On3 - Is Alabama’s QB choice the MOST IMPORTANT of the college football offseason?

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

As SEC Spring Meetings continue out of Destin, Andy sat in on multiple press conferences of head coaches in the conference. Out of all the questions, one of the more intriguing ones was geared towards Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer and the QB position. Who will be the Alabama starter headed into the season? Will be the veteran in Ty Simpson or the freshman phenom Keelon Russell? Let us know in the chat! (0:00-2:39) Intro: Andy from Destin(2:40-21:59) What will Alabama do at the QB position?(22:00-23:11) What these spring meetings mean for the future(23:12-30:14) EA Sports College Football 2026 cover release(30:15-38:25) Did EA Sports get it right with the cover?(38:26-53:59) Joe Cook from Inside Texas joins the show(54:00-55:33) Conclusion Next, Andy & Ari go through the EA Sports College Football 2026 video game cover athlete. On the standard edition is Ryan Williams and Jeremiah Smith; whereas a plethora of college football icons are on the deluxe edition. Later on, Joe Cook from Inside Texas joins the show to break down everything Texas Longhorns ahead of the season Want to watch the show instead? Join us on YouTube LIVE, M-F, at 9:30 am et: https://www.youtube.com/@On3sports Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] 

Welcome to Andy and Ari on three. I'm still here in Destin at the SEC spring meetings. Ah, Ari, I think the SEC Homer thing people might screen grab this. Well, listen, if the SEC is going to pay for a backdrop for you and you got to use it. Like, what are we talking? Listen, the decor outside of this room in this hotel is so blah.

It is the most beige hotel in the history of the world. And there's some artwork you'll see later. I recorded a segment with Joe Cook of Inside Texas where we're talking about Sark and Arch Manning and everything. It's a very, very beige hotel. So this is the best looking backdrop right here. And so I understand.

From the ocean. The ocean is probably, well, the pool deck, which overlooks the ocean, as the crow flies is probably 30 feet from me, but I feel like I'm in an underground bunker waiting for either the tornado to pass or the bombs to stop dropping. Because usually your Florida SEC motif is always palm trees or pool or something when

you're in these settings. I wanted to go out there, but it is so freaking hot and humid. So if you wanted to see me just drenched by the end of the show, that would have been the play. Also, there's probably a portion of the audience that would like to see me just drenched by the end of the show, that would have been the play. Also, there's probably a portion of the audience that would like to see that, but we'll talk about that. That's true.

The beach goers probably would not be really thrilled with us yelling at each other about college football. By the way, can we actually have a football conversation today? I realize that it's rules season and they're arguing as we speak about what the college football playoffs going to look like. But anyway, we'll talk about that a little bit Ari, but I feel like we covered it pretty thoroughly on yesterday's show. And I feel like I would like to talk about actual football.

Is that is that wrong? I mean, I was kind of looking forward to re litigating last year's college football playoff discourse, but we can talk about football if you want. Okay, well, let's I'll meet you halfway since the re litigation always seems to involve Alabama and never Ole Miss, which I again, I don't understand. If you're gonna talk about one, why not the other? But you want to know why? Because Ole Miss was the only team that was left out. No one would have gotten as angry. That's why I guess you I guess you're right.

But it's the same deal like just beat Kentucky. Just beat Oklahoma. Yeah, I mean, every bit as part of the discussion. It's just not as popular to talk about because that's not what everybody was angry about. But go ahead. I'm going to meet you halfway and we're going to talk about Alabama because Kaylin the board is obviously here as are all the SEC coaches, and he talked to us today.

And we got an update on the quarterback situation, but also Kalen DeBoer talking about Jalen Milrow as a quarterback, which I thought was very interesting because, as you know, and I think a lot of the folks who watch the show know this, the Kalen DeBoer-Jaylen-Millrow dynamic, that whole situation absolutely fascinates me because if Jaylen-Millrow had come out of the bowl game, the ReliahQuest bowl lost to Michigan and said, they've been a revolt. The fan base would have revolted. But it's not like Alabama went into the portal to go get more QBs. They've got Ty Simpson and Austin Mack who were there last year who could have theoretically played over Jalen Roe but didn't. And then they've got a freshman named Keelan Russell who's there. The Alabama QB situation to me Ari is one of the stories of the offseason because the roster around the QB is awesome. So now if you pick the right one, you can win the national title.

If you pick the wrong one, you miss the playoff again. the wrong one, you miss the playoff again. It is such a fascinating discourse too, because the reason why Kaelin DeBoer is Alabama's head coach to begin with is because of the offensive mastermind that he was at Washington and like what he's done, you know, offensively every step of the way. Yeah, the flawless development of Michael Pinnix Jr. who went from a fairly, I'm using the word flaw and flawless a lot, but a fairly flawed quarterback at Indiana

to a guy who was just throwing darts at Washington. And then you go back to Fresno State and you look at what he did with Jake Hayner at Fresno State, like yeah, Kaelin DeBoer's bona fides are pretty proven and he's a very good quarterback coach. Now, I would argue at Washington and at Fresno State, he had Ryan Grubb with him.

He did not have Ryan Grubb, the offensive coordinator with him last year. Grubb stayed in Seattle and worked for the Seahawks. Then he got fired as OC of the Seahawks and now he's the OC at Alabama. So that's another layer to this. But Ari, I really do think if we're going to rank off season decisions, choosing the quarterback at Alabama is top

two or three in the whole country this off season. Yeah, I mean, especially when it comes to personnel because with Alabama, I think both of us kind of ran into this. We were doing projected, you know, college football playoff brackets and top 25s of Alabama being the hardest team to actually rank. Because on one hand, you want to just put them in the top three because their rosters stacked, but on the other hand, it's like, are we sure we like the situation? They're at a quarterback.

But then the third tentacle is whole discussion is that well, if the poor and Ryan Grubb, the quarterback whisperers that, you know, their last two starting quarterbacks are in the NFL right now, don't go out and get a person on the portal. That means they feel pretty comfortable. So do you trust that decision? But at the same time, Jalen Milrow,

apparently is the reason why Alabama didn't make the playoff last year and he didn't get much better under their leadership. And you don't know, it's like you can put yourself in a pretzel. Yeah, and that's where I'm at. That's where I'm at Ari because I saw the issues with Milro. I understand where the fans are coming from that I definitely saw him take sacks

he should have taken for a guy who is so electrifying with his legs. There were times when he didn't seem to have the pocket awareness to know when to leave the pocket and I get it. I get it. But what I don't get is why, in that case, if you had the guy who's going to be your starter on the roster last year, and we're talking about Ty Simpson, why didn't you just try it? Or was it the way the schedule worked out? Because because I think that's the part. Or was it the way the schedule worked out? Because I think that's the part. Or is the entire Oklahoma game completely overblown?

Right. And we don't know. I don't think we'll know until we see them this year. But I do wonder, like, did the Oklahoma game just sneak up on them? And they thought, OK, we're going to make the playoff. Yeah, we slipped against Vandy. You know, we lost to Tennessee, but we're still fine. So let's not change anything, cuz all we gotta do is beat a fairly weakened

Oklahoma team that at that point you'd watched Oklahoma just get drilled by Texas and drilled by South Carolina. And you thought, okay, you just get through this. And then that game happens and it's like crap, we just lost the whole season. Yeah, and I mean, I wonder, even privately from Alabama's perspective, if they believe that their season didn't go the way it planned just because the quarterback play wasn't up to snuff, because I don't know that that would probably be the viewpoint internally. I think that's the scapegoat of the season, but you know, I don't know that I watched that Vandy

game and thought, wow, Milro's killing them. Like, did you? I don't know. I, I, uh, I don't think that that was the case. And I think it's really no, no. He took the strip sack. He took right when Alabama looked like they were going to get back into it and then take over the strip sack. He took was unforgivable. So like it's I'm actually really getting it again. I get it. fans I get it, but I but the part that I struggle with is why didn't If it was that bad, why didn't they change anything? I think Alabama has gone much further in the past with quarterbacks that weren't as good Yeah, so but but Alabama's roster if we're talking about And obviously the quarterback matters so much so I'm gonna I'm about to say something stupid, but I'm doing it to prove a larger point.

You take the quarterback out of the equation. Where do you put Alabama's roster? Those other 21 positions, where do you rank them? I'd say they rank one, two or three probably somewhere depending on where you want to put them. Yeah, I mean mean definitely top five. So like I mean this is a team that theoretically could go out and win the national title this year. So yes we're not talking about a team that you know is in a transition and it's gonna take

another two or three years for them to get good. It's just like I feel like the quarterback decision is interesting because you don't know who's gonna win the job. Although you might you know feel like Ty Simpson is leading right now. We're not a hundred percent certain who's goin you might feel like Ty Sim now, we're not 100% certi feel like making that cor regard could be the diffi successful season and uh Alabama standard, which i

the playoff or being a t barely gets in and loses field. So yeah, I'm with you on that when it comes to offseason personnel discussions. It is fascinating to me too that like Alabama is in this position while there are so many other quarterbacks that are sure things, not only in their conference, but across the country. Like they are one of the few teams that doesn't have a proven asset yet that is in that position and at the same time if Ty Simpson's that dude or Keelan Russell is ready to go or however it plays out Austin Mack I know somebody

they're excited about if one of them comes out and plays really well they'll be right in the center of that discussion but as of as of right now on May 28th as we're talking about this they aren't in that discussion of like elite level quarterback play. Yeah. And so, Kaelan DeBoer got asked here in Destin about coaching Jalen Milrow and, and what that, what that entailed and how different it was than, than some of the other quarterbacks that he's coached. And here's his answer. What's the, how challenging is it to go from coaching quarterback with Jalen Milrow's skill set versus another quarterback with a different skill set?

Yeah, I think with Jalen, he just had another, he had added elements to his game, right? So, I mean, he could throw the ball, but you had to make sure you were utilizing to benefit your team, the things he could do with his legs. And I think that making sure you're incorporating more offense where he can take advantage of that and we can take advantage of that, then forces you to have to figure out where are you taking away? Because there's still only so many snaps you play in a game

or a season, who's touching the ball, and it's gonna take away from someone else and you trying to figure out that balancing act a lot of it has to depend on the other personnel you have around him. And that will continue to be the case as we move forward this year we do have probably more with three guys that are more alike. than different because Jalen was certainly different just in I mean that in a positive way. I mean that with the utmost respect for what Jalen's game is all about because I mean he's got some special elements to his game when it comes to running that really I just had never had never been able to coach or you know very few have seen. So Kaelin Dabour is not going to say anything mean. I can tell you that right now. This is not a guy who's going to do that. He's not throwing anybody under the bus. But it's interesting talking about that it's going to be different with these three. Now, I don't

think people understand like it. Ty Simpson, Keylen Russell, both very athletic guys, awesome act too, but Jalen Milrow is wide receiver fast. And I think that that adds a different dynamic. Ty Simpson and Keelan Russell, both very good athletes who could move around really well. So I don't think Alabama Ari is going to suddenly go from having a quarterback who could gain you yards on the ground, who could get out of trouble and keep drives alive. I think the guys they're considering can do that too but the question is what does the offense look like when maybe you put more of the run game on the backs and less on the quarterback. Yeah. You know, I think too that the biggest problem with Ty Simpson is, is that he's played and when he has played, it

didn't get them out of a jam, right? But has he? OK, I don't think it's, I don't think he's, he's played in the spring game and in springs because obviously he was involved in the competition that Milro won initially when Nick Saban was still the coach. He then, you know, I'm not sure there was a real competition last year. The one time he got in is the USF game. A couple of years ago, Nick Saban's last year. It was raining. Well, remember Ty Simpson didn't start that game.

He didn't get the number one reps that week. Tyler Buckner did. And I felt like that was Nick Saban saying, you want to see the transfer from Notre Dame? Okay, here he is. And this is why we're starting Jalen Milrow. And then Simpson, by the time he got in the game, it wasn't, it wasn't impressive, obviously, but I don't know that that's a fair assessment of the guy. I'm just telling you that people have in their heads still whether it's fair or not. Yeah, like that like people look back and go tie Simpson had a chance to get them out of a jam and didn't do it.

But I think that like you could, you know, make a case that you're making, which is it was no first team reps, second guy into a game. If I remember correctly, it was either that game or two games or the game last year that had terrible weather. Um, and it just kind of, it did have terrible weather. So, uh, yeah, I just, I'm, I'm not going to judge him on that. I think Alabama is in an interesting situation at quarterback. Cause I do think that you have two examples from fairly recent Alabama history that show it

could go one of two different ways. And either way actually works out great for Alabama if it works out that way. So you can go back to 2016, which was Jalen Hurts freshman year, where Jake Coker had led Alabama to a national title the year before. They're going into the USC game in Dallas. They start Blake Barnett, who'd been in the program. You had Cooper Bateman in the program still. And they play Blake Barnett for about a quarter.

They put in Jalen Hertz. And it's very clear at that point, Jalen Hertz is the best quarterback on the roster. And he never gets taken out again until halftime of the national title game. The next season. So that is one potential outcome. And that could be the Keel and Russell situation.

Where if they decide Keel and Russell is truly special, you start the older guy. You then bring in Keel and Russell to see what happens. And if he is the guy, then he just takes it and runs with it. The other potential situation from recent Alabama history that probably worked out even better is you had Mack Jones, who was beaten out by Jalen Hurts, who was beaten out by Tua Tonga Wailoa, who waited his turn. And then when it was his turn, he balled out and won him a national title. And he came a first round draft pick. And that would be the Ty Simpson scenario

who under most circumstances in this day and age would have left by now. Ty Simpson would have left. And he stuck around. Makes you feel good about it a little bit, right? Like you feel like somebody who sticks around, who has been in the system system has been through some changes, has been out Alabama for the long haul, should be the rightful heir and maybe, you know, a lesson I'm sure coaches

are probably rooting for him to be good, right? Like a lesson of what being patient and persevering actually turns into. You know, and it just like in this specific scenario, he's also competing against a freak of nature freshman who is going to be awesome eventually, whether that's this year or not. I mean, like, I don't I just like the world might not be up to speed with who Keelan Russell is but like I promise you will be talking about him on the show for years to come. So I don't know how long it's going to take for him to be ready. Maybe it'll take another year but when he's ready it's going to be a show and I'm excited to see ready. Um, maybe it'll take another year, but when he's ready, it's going to be a show. And I'm excited to see it. So, um, either way, you know, you would think that with Ryan Williams and some of the dudes that they have coming back on offense, that no matter who the quarterback is, they'll be able to operate well and, and, you know, get the ball out and, you know,

use that talent. Ryan Williams and Jeremy Bernard, they're going to make a quarterback's job easier. Also, we'll be talking quite a bit about Ryan Williams here in a few minutes because yeah, he's on the cover of the EA Sports College football game. But, R, you're right. They have so much around whoever wins this job. I asked Kaelin DeBoer, how do you continue the evaluation process? Because I know there's some people who think it's already Ty Simpson's job. I don't think Kaelin DeBoer is ready to go that far yet. I think he's still looking to try to figure out how this is going to work. And there's one particular piece of his answer that tells me that here's what

Kaylin DeBoer said. Do you handle the evaluation of quarterbacks in this period of time and you're not practicing yet, but I imagine there are some things you've been watched leadership and tentacles. How do you handle that in June? Yeah in June I mean we get more opportunities now than you used to a few years back to be around them whether it's in the classroom or on the field and so yeah there's the leadership I mean these guys all were doing things through the month of May on their own and as much as you just they don't have to let us know what they're all doing.

You do know because position coaches are keeping track of all their guys and understanding the workload that they're they're taking on and where they're at. And these guys did a great job, all three of them of really doing some of those leadership things and going places and bringing guys together. And the best part about it was they all it wasn't like one quarterback took three guys and another quarterback took these four. They all did it together and that's what I guess I appreciate about this group of guys and it is a competition.

It's I've referred to it as a healthy one just because I think they all respect each other. They're all going as hard as they can. You know, they're going to step on each other's toes at times in that leadership role and things like that, but so be it. And again, I appreciate the way they've gone after it. June will be a big month for the next step. In the end, we're tracking everything when we get into August just like we did in the spring.

And it doesn't always come down to who had the highest completion percentage because sometimes it's so close. It's it's a lot of times a mixture of you know, who's moving the ball down the field the most. I mean, that's what's most important, right is putting points on the board. And so, you know, who's keeping the ball who's making who's making a least amount of mistakes big mistakes in particular and you're also just trying to give them all a chance because they're at different points in their career where they're all Their growth is happening in different ways

No one has significant amount of playing time reps in a game but obviously they are at different levels and I'll have Different things that they're they've shown us that they can do at a high level already this spring shown us that they can do at a high level already this spring. He he said, you know, obviously that they're all at different levels and they have to be evaluated at their different levels. He doesn't have to say that now Ari transfer portals closed. Nobody can leave right now. So I think this is still open.

It just reminds me of how much I don't miss being a beat writer. Oh, yeah. We can we can dip it on this. But this is like, you know, the Alabama beat guys, this is their day every day. And yeah, yeah, I know. And it just like trying to cipher like, what did he say? What did he need to say? How did he say it? Who did he talk about first and like trying to like figure out like, tea

leaves of these answers. And it's just kind of like, yeah, okay, great. We'll see who wins the job. But it it doesn't seem over. You're right. It doesn't seem over. And I think that that makes it interesting. And, you know, the thing that I think is always interesting about these quarterback battles, too, is, you know, and I really liked what Fran Brown at Syracuse did in terms of just naming a starter and cutting the crap. Because I've been around some pretty high profile quarterback battles that go for he didn't took a transfer. So no, I know. But what I'm saying is, is, yeah, it is kind of interesting. I wonder how that's going to play out. But my, the point I'm trying to make is that I think that if you let it bleed too close to the games, you're also doing yourself in the service too. Like there is a over analysis piece of this. There is a uh you know a timing factor and I think that the sooner

you can land on your guy the better for your team and whoever wins the job. Yeah I I'm I'm just gonna be fascinated by this. I don't know when we're gonna get an answer. It may be in camp. It may be not till the first game but they play Florida State right out of the gate. I I don't know what that's gonna be. I think Florida State has to be better than they were last year cuz they can't get much worse. But I really don't know how Alabama is looking at that game. And if you're Kaylin Dupour, I'm not sure you know what you're looking at with

Florida State's team because it's gonna be so different from last year's as well with two new coordinators and basically a whole new roster. So this is this is utterly fascinating and Ari thank you for indulging me. I have truly enjoyed this football conversation because I like football. I know people think I like talking about rules. I really don't. So this is this is so much better. The funniest thing about our jobs is that we So this is so much better. The funniest thing about our jobs is that we got into this to talk about football and to go to football games and to be around football. And as the years go on,

it's becoming less and less about it. There were times when I was on the Ohio State beat Andy where it's like, I didn't want to be a court reporter. You know what I mean? There were things that were going, I didn't want to be, like there were days where I would just be at the courthouse trying to get documents. And I'd just be like, what the hell am I doing here? Like, I don't want to be here. And maybe where I would just be at the courthouse trying to get documents and I just be like what the hell am I doing here like I don't want to be here and I maybe that

makes me a bad reporter but like it just like I like going to the games and talking about the games and the playoff I don't like talking about rule changes and why the PAC-12 doesn't exist anymore in television revenue like I you know but you know it's an important part too because you know this is rule season Andy on the calendar and it is every year but at the same time too the rules that are being put into place right now have a major influence on the future of the sport and I understand that we have a pretty big responsibility to to take that seriously because the sport is hanging in the balance and we don't know what it's gonna look like in five years let alone this coming year right well we do now this coming year

but we do we do for this coming year, but we do we do for this coming year exactly But we don't know for this coming year Quite yet is exactly What the EA Sports College football video game will look like we have an idea though because now we have a cover actually two covers you have your regular cover with the two best Wide receivers returning in college football who both were fresh last year who are gonna be awesome as sophomores this year

we were just talking about Ryan Williams from Alabama also Jeremiah Smith from Ohio State so they are the standard cover the deluxe cover is that one we saw that big group shot with that got leaked where remember last year when Lane Kiffin said I'd love to be in the game, but they didn't put any coaches in the game. He's in the game and he's on the deluxe cover. Kirby smart on the deluxe. I like, I, I want to go now. What, what is it? What is the lane Kiffin illustration going to look like in the, like the lane Kiffin character in the game? What's he going to look like?

Uh, I'm sure he'll look like somebody who just left the beach because he always does. He looks like somebody who, who just got done doing yoga on the beach. That's what lane kiffin looks like to me. Like he does. Does he flip the visor up like, or flip the play sheet up when he knows the, the, the play is open and the receivers, you know, streaking open and it's going to be a touchdown if the quarterback sees it. Like that's my favorite Lane Kiffin move is when the ball is snapped, Lane can see what the defense is doing and immediately throws the play sheet in the air and then the quarterback hits the receiver deep for a touchdown. Yeah. And it was caught on the camera that was in the second deck. Yeah, you can see the play sheet.

Yeah, I'm sure that they'll have some good animations for them. I'm super excited for the game. I play this year's game often. So I'm looking forward to what changes and new animations they have in it. The question that I have for you is, do you like the picture? And do you like who's on it? The Ryan Williams, Jeremiah Smith picture, I love that they chose those two.

I love that they chose those two. I hope there's no curse. We always talk to the Madden curse, the SI jinx, all that. I hope there's no curse because I want those two. We're only going to get three years of those two in college. I want to see three full years because they're spectacular. I'm so glad that EA recognized how special a moment it is for receivers right now,

how absurdly good that class was at the top. You and I have talked about the Cam Coleman and Ryan Wingo may ultimately etch their names right next to those two guys. But those two guys did it as freshmen and Jeremiah Smith is just, I mean, he's an alien. I think it's interesting that there are so many namesakes at quarterback this year and there's no quarterback on the cover. That said, I think they got the right athletes because these are the two most

sure things that in terms of visibility that you could probably find in the sport. A lot of times, you know, you have quarterbacks that you could, you know, you know, arch manning to me seems like the most layup person that you could put on the cover, but at the same time hasn't played much. And you don't want to put people on the cover that are speculative, even if it seems to be a pretty clear and an obvious route to success, you want those covers to withstand time. And they put Donovan Edwards on it last year, and he didn't have a very good year. So going with the two people that you think are just no shot

are going to be awesome, that's great. I think the picture sucks. I think they could have done better with the picture. Yeah. What is that? Squatting is never a great look. I mean, when you think about like some of the most iconic, I mean, you could have had two action shots blended together.

That would have been, I don't know. Like I get this photo shoot. I think they got the right players. I'm not sure I love the animation. And that's it. I don't really care. Here's my thing about the covers. And this is where I'm going to go again.

I'm going to play against type because I'm usually the cranky old man yelling at a cloud. But it's the year of our Lord 2025. Who's going out and buying a disc? Well, it's still the stream. I'm going to download the game and it'll be on my PlayStation and that's going to be that. Yeah, I mean, yeah, we had this argument last year.

It's like, yeah, no one goes to EB games anymore. Remember EB games? I used to go there. Oh, yeah. Electronics boutique. That's what the EB stands anymore. Remember EB games? I used to go there. Oh, yeah electronics boutique That's what the yeah And stand in line at midnight and get the game like everyone else, but it's still like the it's still the cover I mean it I like that it like means something and I love that see but you're talking to somebody used to work for sports

Illustrated where the cover used to mean everything and now there's no There's no magazine for there to be a cover of. What's the deal with the they switched to monthly? The swimsuit issue. Do they still print that? I believe so. Because every year I see the here are the 20 people who are on the swimsuit edition and all the people were drooling over Livy Dunn this year and it's like okay uh do they even print that as a magazine or do they just put it online now? Like I don't even know. I believe it's still printed because I think it's still a big money maker. Even when I was there was a huge money maker. I was a large portion of the revenue for the year. Yeah, no, I'm assuming it is,

but I just like I haven't bought a physical magazine in 10 years. So, um, and that's the thing I we were having the discussion here after one of the press conferences. I said, I said, who's buying the disc? And one of the people said, well, I wish I'd bought the disc last year. And I'm like, so it could take up space in your house, like, cause you're not playing with it. You might scratch it. Well, it is kind of funny Andy, because like I, as you know, have an older car

now, um, but I drive on the weekends and it has a CD player and you would not believe how expensive like getting a CD is now. I was like I wish I would have collected all my CD collections and my mixes because I'm buying CDs on eBay for like 30 bucks right now. What CD did you buy? I bought a bunch of like hip-hop CDs but I bought like a Tupac CD. I bought a Yacht Rock Mix CD because you know that's kind of how I like them. So you're going between like Dan Fogelberg and and two apocalypse now, which is it's perfect. You know, there's six.

I honestly don't know how we did it back in the day. And it's so funny if you've seen those memes of like distracted drivers of like people looking at their cell phones while they're driving and then like you like look back to 2003 and it was just me driving a car 50 miles an hour with a binder the size of like my entire torso. Taking the CD out. Judging by your purchases you were looking for your Robbie Dupree CD so you could play Steal Away. Yeah like Yacht Rock is a really really great great but like you want to have different types of music in the changer because you're not always in the mood for something. Great. But like you want to have different types of music in the changer because you're not always in the mood for something. But

I was like, I play like some of the two POC CDs that are on eBay right now, if they're like new and sealed, or if they're they're used, and they still have all the book looks that came with this are like 100 bucks, 200 bucks. So like if you kept on to your CD collection, you should sell some of those. If you have an all eyes on me CD, and it's in your house with the two discs and like the booklet, like you could sell it for $100. I found this out recently.

Okay, so maybe I should go out when the game comes out and buy a physical copy, because maybe it will be a collector's item someday when Jeremiah Smith's going into the Hall of Fame or, you know. Spend 60 bucks on the game, then you and then Jeremiah Smith goes to the Hall of Fame in the NFL in 2040 and you have that disk you might be able to sell it for 250 bucks and the return on that still isn't probably better than just buying an ETF and putting the money in the S&P. But like I'm just saying like

people throw stuff out and the more people throw stuff out the more valuable that stuff becomes and like I am a person who and the more people throw valuable that stuff become a person who has sports c So like I like physical c understand why you want t also too, when you turn t the first screen. So even actual CD, it's the first

when you turn the game on that like pop culture is football and honoring that pop culture and honoring the people who make the sport better in any possible way is a good thing and like you know how important this game is to college football pop culture more people talking about college football last summer than maybe ever before as a result of this and i also think the cover because you couldn't have current athletes on the cover for so long, it's going to be meaningful, at least for the first five or six years of this game being back out. Just because for the longest time, the most popular player in the sport couldn't be on the cover. It was always some guy who played last year and who's in the NFL now.

So that's the part I think it's amazing. In my opinion, they have to get back. And I understand like this deluxe, it's basically everybody that's worth anything in the game, you know, like they're on the cover, I like it. But I feel like that's appropriate for the return of it. I hope they get back eventually to putting one person on it. The person who who earned it the most or the person that's most appropriate being the guy being the college football, EA sports video game cover athlete as a thing that your school can promote that you can feel

good about like I think that the isolated person is always better. Would you have been so would you have been okay with just Jeremiah would that have been preferable to you or just Ryan? Well you think yeah or or just anyone Arch whoever they decided they wanted to put on the game. Like, I don't know, I guess, like, if you look at it, like, it's like a trophy, you probably want to put people on it that have earned it. And I think, well, I mean, I go back to last year, because they had multiple players on the on the cover. If it had just been Travis Hunter, that might have that might have

been appropriate. Yeah, but like, if you you know, who's we know in the season, like the top 10 players in college football pick one and maybe you go with the one that was most accomplished or the most iconic or one who plays for a big school. I don't know what the mark. I mean, I'm sure there's a tremendous amount of marketing. Would you be okay with them rotating? Like, and I imagine I don't know how the deals are written. So it might be that the deals written where if you're, if're on the cover if you're the cover athlete or one of the two

cover athletes like the the home screen of the game is going to be your picture, but You could work it in a way that now because you can fly in updates like as the season goes on You just have a new cover like let say, Lenora Sellers blows up week one and has a historic game. Then every time you turn the game on, I mean, that would be cool, but I think they should make one permanent cover for the physical discs that goes with the game. Yes. That's what I'm saying. Keep that that and that is that is the goal everybody's trying to reach. That's what everybody's playing for.

But then during the week like or let's say Garrett Nussmeyer has a just an amazing game. LSU beats Clemson week one like Garrett Nussmeyer is your cover for that next week. And then the games of that Saturday happened and then you go to a next person. I'm sure it's a tremendous amount of work but I think that also too, you know, we talked about Jalen Milrow for 10 minutes

on the show today but it's like Jalen Milrow in this year's game is like Michael Vick and Joe Montana, come on. Like, and it's like, I wish they would update how good players are too to coincide with, uh, you know, what they've been doing on the field because like Jeremiah Smith has not represented in his talent in the game. Oh glory. Yeah.

Like, so like I think that would be, I'd be more, you know, on board with them updating the players. Can they set Diego Pavia up that, that like once every three games, he's just unstoppable. Like that would be tremendous that would be realistic. I actually like the thing about it though too and I've said this before Andy is somebody who grew up playing this game because this was my childhood in college everything like this was what we did. I think EA Sports and the people who made it did a tremendous job with this first edition like you would think the guy for a 10 year layoff, um, with all the

advancements and technology and all the different things they could have done, like they made this game feel modern while not bastardizing Madden while also honoring what the game was. Cause it does feel like you're playing the game that you used to play. Uh, and I think they, they really nailed it. Now there are things that, you know, they'll tell you that they could fix and they will, um, but I do think that every year, the, the buildup to who the covered athlete for the sport, the video game is good for the sport. And I like that. So, um, and I can tell you from like being around the actual target audience, because

I've got a 15 year old kid, like they, that group, those boys, his, he and his friends, they are so excited about this game. Because they were kind of excited last year, but they didn't really know. Because they didn't know what they didn't know. Like my son was five when the game went away and like I wasn't playing video games when I had a five-year-old and a three-year-old. So he never, he never played it. And so he, but he played a lot of video games by age 14 by the time the game came out And I remember right after we downloaded it when it first came out last year He's just texting his friends going. This is the greatest video game ever

This is the most amazing thing ever and I was like So it hit him the same way it hit me when I first played it, which I thought that's a pretty tough needle to thread me when I first played it, which I thought that's a pretty tough needle to thread when you have that much time between technology has changed that much. Like the video games these kids play like Grand Theft Auto, nobody might, when I was 15 could have ever conceived of that. They've been playing that for years. It's game. We all fell in love with this game when we were growing up because of what it stands for. And it still stands for that. So's game. We all fell in love with this game when we were growing up because of what it stands for. And it still stands for that. So young college football fans also fall in love with it,

which is perfect. It's so much better than Madden and it totally like celebrates the spirit of the game. And I'm all for playing it. I think that like the one thing that we didn't do this past year was integrate the game with our audience, but like I will play people. Like, you know, I play the game with our audience. But like I will play people like, you know, I play the game online a lot. So Ari will talk his trash to you online. Don't

you worry. I say some pretty vile, despicable things for that headset. And I actually get angry sometimes too, because it's like, I lost to South Carolina last night and like, I was better than the person and it like the game just screwed me a few times. But you know, I I'm into it. I'm really into it. And I play how many times does a Nick Harbor catch? It was a, it was actually a weird game because there were a lot of turnovers. And I fumbled the ball inside the red zone three different times and I can't stand fumbles

because it's not user. It's random. And I don't like when it happens randomly three times, especially when they're non quarterback hits. But like it, uh, I play the game, brick goes to bed, early some nights I'll go out and I'll play the game. I play the game during the day sometimes. I feel connected to college football playing it. And I love it.

So yeah, but I think they, I just please just get back to doing one person. That's my only request. But for this year, I think that they got the right two players. Ari, maybe that one person next year is Arch Manning. I know he's draft eligible, but all the all the talk is that he plans on being a multi-year starter to Texas. So maybe maybe he's that guy. Next up, I talk to Joe Cook from On3's Inside Texas. We break down what Steve Sarkeesian said about Arch Manning. Here in lovely

Sandestine, Miramar Beach, Florida is your official dateline. In front of some beautiful artwork with Joe Cook of On 3's Inside Texas. So we saw Sarke today. Sarke talked to us. He's in a really good place. Like he's got a team coming back that he knows is going to be pretty good. They made it to the semi finals last year. But it was interesting to me, you know, for a guy who's breaking in a new quarterback, he seems very at ease with that new quarterbacks development. Yeah, it's Arch Manning. If you didn't know, is he famous or something?

Yeah, we'll get it out. Okay. Uh, but no, he is very at ease and a lot of that has to do with the on field stuff. Um, played in 10 games last year was in critical moments, you know, got the Georgia game, both Georgia games played in the A and M game, scored that first touchdown. But he also started games and granted, he started against UTSA and Mississippi state. We know Mississippi state went two and 10, and UTSA had a good year, but G5 team all the same.

But still, that's still a better foundation than a lot of teams who are replacing an NFL drafted quarterback have going into another season. Now, what has it been like locally? Because the Quinn-Uers draft position, at least for us, generated several days of content. Right. And the retroactive, wait, should Arch have been starting last year?

What is the feeling within the program about that? I don't think there was ever a moment for Steve Sarkeesian where he was thinking about making, well, okay, let me take that back. There may have been moments, but I don't think it was like, okay, I'm going to do this. The closest we got was that first Georgia game and that was to to get Quinn right, because he knew he was going to go back to Quinn. So that was something that we saw. And then even when we knew he was banged up, he had a very bad game against Kentucky that the scoreboard, it was one

of the ugliest games of the year. The score is as close as it was because Quinn turned the ball over. But he still stuck with them, still stuck with them. And then you saw him game through it against Texas A&M that run up the sidelines. I was almost a touchdown. You saw him lead Texas back in the Peach Bowl against Arizona State, play a good game against Clemson. I don't think there was really much consideration and if he wanted to do it, he would have done it at that UTSA game.

He would have said, all right, this is where the keys are getting turned over. It's time to go. And for a lot of different reasons, he'll probably points maybe inexperience or just the leadership factor that Quinn Ubers did have. He'll probably point to that and say like, there was never a time when I was seriously considering making that permanent change and starting.

So now we get this whole off season full of arch hype. Yeah, yeah. Let's hear Steve Sarkisian talking archmanning. Can you insulate a player these days and just speaking on arch? I mean, there's been so much publicity and build up now to the role he's going to play. How do you, how do you manage that? Or do you manage that? I know when the bait was Tennessee, I think he had some help with that sort of thing. Yeah. I don't know if you can insulate it. Not, not anymore. You know, I don't know if when Peyton was around, I don't know if there were

cell phones and all those things, right? So it's a little different, a little different time and a little different era, uh, than, than what our guys operate in now. Um, you guys all didn't have Twitter accounts back then either, and you didn't report instantaneously and you didn't just retweet what the next guy wrote about. Cause that's kind of what you guys do now. That's fine. Okay. you didn't just retweet what the next guy wrote about because that's kind of what you guys do now. That's fine. But the idea of that for Arch, part of coming to the University of Texas is building that brand, is getting some of that exposure. And so yes, do we support him as much as we can,

like we do all of our players, but it's also a great platform for our guys. And so, um, it's not all negative. There's a lot of positives to this. Um, but at the end of the day, for, for a guy like Arch in this instance, I want to make sure that he enjoys this experience too, right? Here's lifelong dream, right? Of, of being the starting quarterback at the university of Texas. Now it's his opportunity. I want to make sure that he has great experience. Part of that is the exposure. Part of that is protecting him and putting some guardrails up on that so that he can enjoy the experience. So we know we're arches. We know how happy Steve Sarkisian is with the situation. They open with Ohio State. They are right in the fire. And this is not a team that is just reloading after making the semi-finals.

How many? 13 draft picks? 13. So why are they so confident in the younger guys? Because Stieser-Keithsen talked about this today. He said, you know, there's a lot of people in new roles, but they're not necessarily new faces. Right. And younger may not be the right word. So you asked about the offensive line. I know we'll get to that,

but you look at Texas offensive line last year, you lose four starters, three were drafted, and one is an undrafted free agent in your center who has the most stars in Texas football history. So you're replacing four starters on your offensive line. All those guys who are candidates are either very, very highly talented,, you know, five star guys like Brandon Baker. I know I think you talked to at the on three elite series,

not a modern day, uh, five star per on threes rankings, either that or the third or fourth year players. So these guys aren't young. They're older guys. They're Cole Hudson, who he's not going to be a returning starter in the preview mag sense, but he's got a lot of. Yeah, he had to, he had to jump in last year when there were injuries. He played, he's played at Alabama. He started as a freshman, Trevor Goosby, who stood in for both cam Williams and Kelvin

Banks left tackle went against Michael Williams, went up against the shamars at A&M, Nick Skowerton played really well. So there's a lot of confidence in the offensive line in that not so much that, Oh, it's just going to be fine. We're replacing guys, we're reloading. I don't think there's that level of bravado, but it's like all these guys that we are considering for this offensive line, they've been in our program three or four years. They've been around the way we do things. And then there is DJ Campbell, the only returning starter, right guard, actually higher ranked than Kelvin Banks in the recruiting rankings. Was part of that 2022 recruiting class

that really kind of set the foundation for, I feel like what Texas has become. Correct, it was the class that Arch Manning probably looked at and said, okay, these are the guys who are gonna be blocking for me if I go to Texas. So DJ Campbell, gonna be a big leadership factor, big part of what's probably a move to a little bit more gap stuff as opposed to

zone. Nothing really worked all that great last year. It was a good offensive line, but Georgia, Clemson, Arizona state, Michigan, they, they made run in the ball tough for Texas. And that's going to be a blocking down on monsters. Yeah. Easier than trying to reach block monsters. That's, that's generally how things work. Just know where to go. And it'll help for a lot of younger running backs too, or maybe less experienced guys

because Quintraveon Weissner comes back. But he's not what you would look at and think like, that's a running back one at Texas. No, he's the bruiser. Right. Yeah. Right. But with CJ Baxter, if he's healthy, you'd think that's the guy, right? Him, his health is going pretty well from what we've heard. Uh,

Christian Clark is a freshman who tours Achilles maybe about, uh, six days after CJ Baxter tours. Yeah. A lot of hope in him. Uh, Jared Gibson, uh, someone who from the gamesville area went to IMG. Uh, a lot of these gap schemes are simpler. It's like, hey, you're running right here. And so maybe for some players whose vision is good, but not great. Yeah, less to read for the running back. It's like that hole is going to be there and not you follow that guy's butt and the hole will open on it. Yeah. Yeah. Reading cameras is how in high school is what I was taught about it. So basically there's going to be

a little bit different look on offense and hopefully that helps for Texas, the offensive line, be able to make some holes that they weren't able to last year. Let's get into something Steve Sarkeesian said today. We'll start with his quote because I was fascinated by this and I'm glad he said it because I think it sets up a larger conversation. Now more than ever, you know, the length of the season, you know, last year we played 16 games and that was just to get to the semifinals, we would have been 17, right, to, to, to win a championship. And so the idea, I think we've all got to wrap our brain around. I don't know if we'll ever see an undefeated national champion again.

If we do, that's a really good team, uh, because it's just so difficult. And it's, and it's not so it's difficult. Yes, because of the quality that opponents you play, but it's so difficult to stay healthy that long. I mean, you're going to have teams in years like we had last year where you lose your starting quarterback and how do you respond to your quarterback being down or you lose both your left tackles that happened to us last year or your left tackle, then your right tackle.

Do you have the debt to endure? And so, um, I think you're going to see teams more and more now, two losses, three losses, maybe even four losses that get in not, not very different than. The, the NCAA baseball tournament of what that looks like. I'd looked at Vanderbilt, I think as a number one seed, there was a point in the season they were 11 and 10 and now they're the number one seed in the baseball tournament. Um, and so, uh, I don't know. And we kind of saw it in basketball this year with Florida and then went in the national

level. This idea of somebody's going to go 16 and 0 in college football, man, put a statue up somewhere of that team, because I just don't know if that's going to happen again. And so the idea that I think, you know, every, the, the powers of beer trying to get it right, I think is a good, healthy discussion. So Joe, Sark's the most interesting person to talk about this because he was with those dominant USC teams.

He was an assistant and a coordinator on those dominant Alabama teams. So he's seen the different levels of dynasties, I guess. And I think he's right though. You're not gonna see another undefeated college football team and people are gonna have to get used to that. Like I think people feel like if the team wins the national title and they weren't undefeated college football team. And people are going to have to get used to that. Like I think people feel like if the team was a national title and they weren't undefeated, they stunk.

Right. This is not how it's going to work anymore. I remember when all this 12 team stuff started coming out, I was like, okay, let's do a little research. And even the idea of one loss national champions, I will probably see those a little bit more in number, but that's still maybe a rarity too. And the idea of two loss, it's crazy to think about that. That's why that 2007 season is so like, you know, hallowed in our

memories just because of what all happened, but then, you know, undefeated in regulation, LSU, two losses, all that. And then I think there was like one other team that had like a legit claim to a national championship with two losses, like a Minnesota team in the fifties. Yeah. We're just not used to teams with two or three like this past year having multiple losses and, and that's just going to be something they have to get used to. And I did my projected bracket and I've had Texas as a preseason. Number one, like, I don't think they're going undefeated.

Like, I think they're going to lose to Ohio state potentially, or they could lose at Georgia. I think they're going to be really good. But even I don't think the one seed is going to be undefeated. I thought what Oregon did last year was actually pretty extraordinary. Right. And that's why there's like, I think there's one of those random selectors that UCF uses to claim a national championship that had them like as the national championship. You know, Dan Landon is not going gonna put that on the side. No, he's not putting it on the wall. That's not gonna prevent the logo jokes for Oregon and national championships, but beside the point, but you know,

that Michigan team that had to win the four team playoff and other 14 playoff champions that went undefeated, I don't know, they may be the last one for a while, just because we saw Ohio State, their rival, lose to Michigan, not play for their conference championship, and yet still win the national. And be dominant in the playoff. Right. And finally hit the gear everybody thought they had in them.

And that's what's so interesting to me. And I think Texas is a good team to look at for this year because let's say they could go to Columbus and lose. They could drop an early SEC game, but they could also become the hottest team. New starting quarterback, offensive linemen that have not been starters together before and now, they actually strike me as the kind of team that could get hot late and then, or maybe they start out great. The fact that they're playing Ohio State right out of the gate, I think is absolutely fascinating.

It's going to be a lot of fun. And there are Texas fans talk about going to Columbus in 2005, like veterans talk about war. I'm not trying to like make a joke, but that's the level of like horror Texas fans have about going to Columbus in 05. There are a lot of different factors for that. But yeah, it's one of those things where we're it's kind of great timing that we're entering an era where you don't need to be perfect to win a national championship. And there aren't really

any teams that are perfect. Even Ohio State had some of its whole, I mean, not that quarterback was a whole, but compared to the rest of the team as a weakness and the offensive line was a little bit more of a question after some injuries happened and they had great guys step up, but it wasn't just like quarterback first round. I'm just excited about the Texas defense against the best receiver in the country in Jeremiah Smith. That's gonna be such a good test for Texas to see what, they're not gonna face a better receiver

the entire season than Jeremiah Smith. And what they did in the Cotton Bowl last year was even with the Thorpe award winner, they, they knew how good Jeremiah Smith was. They, they did a good job in trying to take him away. I think two catches, three yards, and they didn't just have Joday Baron shadow him. They put double coverage on him for the most part. That's why Mecca Bucca and Cornell Tate and, you know, Trevion Henderson had that run. That's why they had big games because Smith wasn't having it.

And that's what made the Ohio State team great because they had other guys who could step up and make those plays. I wouldn't be surprised if you see a lot of Malik Muhammad playing corner against Jeremiah Smith. Michael Taft still back there. Second team, all American, former walk on. And they're really excited about Jelani McDonald in the secondary, just an athletic guy, if anybody's seen that interception he made against Kentucky.

Yeah. That's kind of the anticipation of what he might be able to provide. So they think that defense is gonna be really strong again. They attack tackle at the transfer portal, probably more and better. That was the position they hit them the hardest. That was the one you said, okay, they don't feel like the cupboard has what it means so they're gonna go get it and and they did it in a way to where they don't they probably don't have to do that again next year because guys like marad watson levon johnson a few different guys they're multi-year guys colbert travis shaw they're gonna be one year guys just because they're at the end of their run But now you have some multi-year guys and then they bring in like justice Terry as a fresh Mrs. Terry Josiah Sharma

Maran Charles like they have the pipeline looks better and more normal now than it did before I Can't believe we're talking about Texas at Ohio State. I'm I I'm mad that it's three months away, but I am so excited It's coming Joe. Thank you. You ready for a noon kickoff? I'm sorry everybody It don't be the typical sports writer we understand that you would like to party before the game I Understand Joe is a selfish Joe wants to get his story done and then go watch other games. I Feel your pain. We're gonna watch other games after that one's over, right? Because we're gonna be, me and

Ari are gonna be there. Okay. So like, I know they'll be sad, but we're, oh, are we still recording? We'll get Gus and Joel. Oh, yeah. I don't think that, I don't think Gus likes to party, but I don't think that I don't think Gus likes to party but we can try All right, that is Joe cook from inside, Texas that was Steve Sarkeesian talking Arch Manning talking how he'll never see another undefeated College football national champion, which I think is a fairly realistic prophecy from coach Sark. Ari, it's been a pleasure. We got one more day with these coaches here in Destin,

and then they're going to jump on their private jets and be gone. What questions do I need to ask? I don't know. Anything that continues to get people to say things we can write about. I want to personally thank you. I know that you're in Florida

and that you can just drive over there and this is just where you go every year, but I would really like to go next year. Because there are- Oh, we can make this happen. I feel like this is better than Media Day. Oh, it's way better than Media Day. Way better.

Still, it's not what it used to be where you could just kind of chill and people would come talk to you and you could just kind of chill and people would come talk to you and you could have a nice, relaxed conversation. The media environment has changed, but that's the world we live in. But it's still pretty fun. And the coaches, every once in a while, when you ask them about football, their eyes light up because they don't want to talk about rules either.

They'd rather talk about football too. So thanks for indulging and letting us talk about a either. They'd rather talk about football too. So thanks for indulging and letting us talk about a little football today and a little video game and a little arch manning. We'll have a bunch more for you tomorrow.