Andy & Ari On3 - Is Arizona QB Noah Fifita a DARK HORSE for the Heisman Trophy? Day 2 of Big 12 Media Days

Episode Date: July 8, 2026

As day two of Big 12 Media Days are underway, Andy & Ari are joined by one of the nation’s most electrifying quarterbacks in all of college football: Arizona’s QB Noah Fifita. Watch here as the prolific QB for the Wildcats joins Andy & Ari to discuss his time in Tucson, playing alongside Tetairoa McMillan, and the legacy he’s leaving behind after this season. Could Fifita end up in New York City at the Heisman Trophy ceremony? Watch here as Andy & Ari are from Frisco, Texas.   (0:00) On Today’s Episode (1:11) Intro: Previewing Fifita at Arizona (8:00) Noah Fifita Joins (12:14) Arizona WRs, playing with Tetairoa McMillan (14:22) Entering Fifita’s last year at Arizona (17:56) Fifita for Heisman? (19:15) Recapping Noah Fifita (20:10) NCAA Inquiry on Cincinnati (28:34) Previewing Joey McGuire (29:18) Joey McGuire joins (48:15) Recapping Joey McGuire (52:45) Conclusion: Thanks for watching!   After Noah Fifita joins the show, Andy & Ari discuss some news in regards to the Brendan Sorsby saga. On Wednesday morning, news broke that the NCAA is inquiring about Sorsby’s time in Cincinnati. Playing for the Bearcats from in 2024 and 2025, could Cincinnati be in any trouble? Andy & Ari discuss.   Following the Cincinnati news, Andy & Ari are joined by the head coach of the most talked about team of the offseason: Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire. With all the craziness the past few months, how will the Red Raiders respond this season? Watch here as McGuire discusses all things Texas Tech entering this season.   Thanks for watching! See you tomorrow!   Send your questions to: [e-mail] [e-mail]   Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/SqDn4KBMyh4   Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey   Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's episode of Andy and Ari on three, Arizona quarterback Noah Fafida joins the show, one of the best QBs in the country, maybe the best QB in the Big 12. We will find out. But he is a fun guy and one of the very, very few really good QBs in America who will finish his career playing every year for the same school. Also, the NCAA wants to know what Cincinnati knew about Brendan Sorsby during his time. at the school. That investigation is just getting underway. We'll talk about that. Plus, Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire, speaking of Brendan Sorsby, sifting through the wreckage of that entire situation. And now Joe McGuire is going to go to coach season. That all is behind Texas Tech,

but obviously there's still a lot to sort through. We discuss quite a bit with Joey McGuire, including what happens next with quarterback Will Hammond. And how to schools vet players in the transfer portal like Brennan Sorsby better because obviously that was an issue for Texas Tech. Talk about it all on today's Andy and Ari on 3. Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3 presented by

BetMGM. We are at Big 12 Media Days, Frisco, Texas, the star. And Ari, we met a star today. Noel Fafita, the quarterback at your alma mater, who you know, I think after he's read redshirt freshman season when when jed fish went to

washington we were like oh you know he's just going to follow into Washington no no he is going to be a career wildcat I always lose track of this how many years have we been doing the show together here and the athletic has it been like five years it's been about five and a half yeah it's the first time Arizona's made the thumbnail is it yeah wow it they were pretty good a few years ago they were pretty good last year so wow that is that's interesting it's like it's like was crazy when I was looking over at producer rivers wonderful work yeah um

I was kind of stunned to see that. But I do think that it's a really interesting topic because, A, he's the most accomplished quarterback in the Big 12. And funny enough, become a unicorn in his own sport where everybody used to be like this. You pick a school and most people stayed there for four or five years, sometimes more. Now if you do it, you're celebrated for it. Yeah. And it just doesn't see, like as you get a sense of this guy's personality and what he's

about the way that we did having him on the show, you got a sense for why that turned out to be the case. Well, listen, you talk about good judges of character. This dude immediately within, I'd say about six seconds of sitting down for the show, realized how important producer River is to our show. And River's not even here. Rivers, Rivers back to home office in Nashville. And Noah immediately picked up on how important River is, how much River matters.

And it's like, wow. Yeah. This is that dude. And then I quote, because I didn't make the interview. I don't think, but he said, River is the truth. And he's right. He is. But yeah, it was funny.

We have some new pre-recording mechanisms that we've been working through. And Noah found out through the screen that River was trying to help Andy out. And he did. So I guess that means you're good at being aware of your surroundings, which is something the wife says I struggle with. You certainly struggle with him. But Noah defeated is not. And I was just, look, you're impressed with the guy with the way he carries himself.

And it's fun to watch him. And look, he was a star as a redshirt freshman under Jedfish. Of the years that he's played in college, by the way, he's never gotten to play in the same offense twice until now. So Seth Dagey's the offensive coordinator who came in with, you know, before last season, and he'll get to play in Seth Degie's offense for a second consecutive year. And I think it's probably going to help quite a bit. But, you know, he had that very tough redshirt sophomore year in 2024. And we were wondering, okay, was it just because of Jed Fish?

Was it? No, this guy can play. And then you saw it last year, you know, Teddera Roman McMillan, who was his high school teammate and was best friends, you know, since high school, goes to the NFL and Noah blows up again. Has an incredible year and now looks like one of the best quarterbacks in the country coming to the season. You know, I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I believe that Arizona is a legitimate national championship contender. but what I will say is that as this sport continues to evolve and we continue to digest the fact that Indiana is the defending national champ, I think every offseason you go into things looking for formulas that can make you successful. Obviously, the talk of this offseason was about age and about what formula did Kurt Signetti figure out last year that can be duplicated by other places.

And I'm not sure that's the way that it works. I think sometimes you just catch lightning in a bottle. Well, right. And Brent Brennan certainly didn't use that formula. He didn't bring a bunch of San Jose State guys to Arizona. He had a horrible first year. And I remember we were here last year saying, are we sure Brenton's okay? Yeah.

And it's funny because Brent Brennan told us last year, he's like, don't worry, I'm okay. Yeah. He was right. Yeah. And here's the thing. If you have a quarterback that has been this productive, who is this bought into the team, who, you know, is loyal to the university. I mean, like, that's a pretty good starting point. Yeah.

I don't know how their lines will, you know, fare on a week-to-week basis. There are probably other instances that on the team that could, you know, hurt them. I don't know. Or maybe they'll win 11 games. Like, who knows, but the fun thing about college football now. And, you know, if you are a college football fan who just wants to talk about Georgia and Michigan every week, we're at the point now where having an Arizona player that, as this accomplished, is worthy of having on the show.

Because you don't know where the, the, cool stories are going to come from. Well, the other thing is, Arizona is, I mean, I would say entering the season, a legitimate Big 12 title consider. Yeah, I saw there in the top five of our power rankings in the, in the Big 12. I realize that like they keep automatically handing everything to Texas Tech, but they have to go win it. Yeah. That's, that's the other, like, they do have a good roster, but they lost Arizona State last year.

You know, Arizona crushed Arizona State last year. I was a different situation. Other things, too, I'm not putting any evil out there. injuries happen things on like unforeseen things happen so you know sometimes I feel like in the offseason we look at things and it's just like well this is what's going to happen obviously and then as we get into November we have what three or four emergency podcasts in the first most of the season the scope of the year is different so you know I think this is a very good team and I want to congratulate Brent Brennan because they was somebody who we weren't sure was

going to be here this year yeah after the way that they started and he seems like a very nice guy too. So, you know, having Noah was on was really cool because it's somebody that we followed for a long time and obviously was a big deal because of the package deal with T-MAC who was one of the most premier But as we've learned, and look, T-MAC is everything advertised. He was

fantastic to Arizona. He's been awesome with the Panthers. But if we're going, you know, at 10 years from now, who had a bigger impact on the University of Arizona, it's probably going to be Noah Fafita. Yeah, out of that especially when you stay longer. So, And we talk a little bit in the interview, and we're going to get to it, I promise.

But we talk about the Jedfish stuff because he can, like when Jedfish took the job, I was like, well, Noah's gone. Like, I mean, that was just like a foregone conclusion of my head. And Noah, you know, realized that he could have a legacy at Arizona. And I think that's something that there are more players who think about that than people realize that. Yeah, obviously a lot of them do enter the transfer portal. But there are some that are thinking long term like that. and you're going to see when you hear from Noah Pfeita, he's definitely one of those.

Here is Noah Fafita. Do we rank you high enough? I think you got to clap again. Oh, no. Oh, clap again? Okay, sorry. I got your river. Save that.

We need that audio clip forever. Hold on. We're going to call River up. River, say hi to Noah. What's up, Noah? River, what up, man. Thank you for that. No worries.

I got you. Hey, I just want you to know the Alamo Bowl, you played a few years ago. go against Oklahoma, that was a hell of a game. That was awesome. Thank you. I appreciate it. That was awesome. I appreciate that. Yeah, man. Glad to have you. So River is like having the best center in the world. It is a calming influence on all of us. No doubt. All right. We are here with Noah Fafita of the Arizona Wildcats. And Noah, last year was a pretty incredible comeback by you. And I remember being here last year and Brent Brennan telling us Noah is about to look. a lot more similar to how he looked his freshman year.

What changed between 2024 and 2025 for you? That's easy. Coach Degey. That's everything you saw on that field for me and from our office is a testament Coach Degey, the work that he puts in, the preparation that he puts in and the mentality he's instilled in us. Watching Arizona's comeback last year was really cool. How much of that do you think was just everything working out?

Is that how football goes sometimes where things fall your once? way or is that something that is a year by year thing? I think to an extent. I think to an extent things fell out way, but I think more so it's a testament to the work that we put in, and it's a testament to Coach Brennan and what he was able to instill. He brought a roster, he brought, I think, 40 or so transfers that came in,

and they all either chose to come or chose to stay for Coach Brennan. So we all believed in his scheme. We all believed in his vision. And then we lived by the standards and the expectations that he built. There's a pretty big one year, two years. turnaround for Coach Brennan, how did he change as a coach in last offseason? And how have you seen him kind of grow into the position in Tucson? I wouldn't say he changed much.

I think he's himself. And I think that's where you're getting so much respect for him because you see the person that he is. I think when you see his genuineness and you see the love that he has for you, it makes you love him and it makes you play for him to an even more extent. So I think this team does believe in him in a very big way. And we believe that he can lead us to every way that we've dream. You've had a what now would be an unusual path.

You know, 10 years ago, this would be the normal path. You got recruited to Arizona. You came to Arizona. You played well. And you stayed at Arizona and continued to play well. But, you know, you had that big breakout year. Coach Fish leaves and goes to Washington. You stayed.

And I always, I found that interesting. I've heard you tell the story of that before. But what, as you look back on that now, that decision to stay at Arizona, what went into it and how glad are you did? Yeah, I think, I think what went to that decision is. saying that it's gone into every decision I've made. And everything I look at is loyalty. And I'm loyal to the people in the building. I'm loyal to Coach Brennan, Coach Deggie, who gave me an opportunity and who believed in me when they could have moved on. After a four and a eight season, you can move on. You could go to the transfer proto try to bring in the quarterback, but they didn't. They believed

in me every step of the way. So you're loyal to that, but you're also loyal to the guys in your locker room who've constantly shown you that they believe in you and that they're going to fight for you every game and in every wave of adversity. So that's who you're loyal to. What did you tell Coach Brennan after that four and eight season? I don't know how much convincing he needed to make sure you were still the guy. But did you have to kind of sell yourself to make sure you were still the guy? I don't think he ever wavered. I don't think his belief in me ever wavered.

And that's for me, that's everything that I need. I need a coach that believes in me. And I'm going to do everything in my power to go prove and bring. So what's the ceiling for this team? You're in the building every day. I've heard you make comments about what you came back for, you know, big time, season. What do you think is realistic for Arizona this year? A big total championship. I think that's extremely realistic. I think the personnel that we have,

I think the coaches that we have and the mentality and the culture that we have in place, I think a big to our championship in a college football player appearance is extremely realistic. Who do we not know about right now that on your team we're going to be talking about a lot on September? G.O. Richardson. Okay. Our slot receiver. He's special. He's special in every way. He's a special player. he's stepping up as a leader and he's a special person. He got a contagious personality. Everybody loves being around him and he's electric with the ball in his hands.

It seems like you got a lot of contagious personalities on your team. No doubt. I love this team. I love our locker room and we just got a team that people love being around each other. Yeah, and I mean, you might know a few things about what an elite level receiver looks like, right? Like playing with Ted McMillan. You have a Ted McMillan story now watching him, you know, was he the rookie of the year offensively in the NFL last year?

And it just was an alien. I got so many stories in Team Mac. There's a lot of stories I could go kind of on and on. I mean, we've lived our whole life together. I was just within the last two days back in California. So that's been my best friend for as long as I can remember. But a lot of our stories, we got to keep. When did y'all meet?

How old were you when you met? 14. Wow. Yes, sir. And you could tell immediately, right, that he was special. For sure. His athleticism and his, yeah, no doubt. So are you a Panthers fan?

Yes, sir. got in the playoffs right off the bat it's pretty good when you go back a few years ago and I know it's kind of ancient history now when coach fish left to Washington you talked about loyalty and you talked about I mean T-Mac also stayed was that a joint conversation that you had to have with him or what was that like you know being a best friend and then also loyalty to coach fish too who you know yeah no doubt

definitely we've been we talked about it for a long time probably talked about it. He left, I think, on the 14th. We talked about it for five days before we made a decision. And we made that decision together. Whatever we were going to do, we're going to do it together. But it wasn't just us to. We made it with the whole team. We had player conversations. We had player run meetings where we just talked about it. But it was, it doesn't seem like a long time ago. Yeah. And also, I think there's something to be said, too, in this world of college football, the transient nature of it, where people are leaving constantly and going to new places with or without their coach, what it means to play your whole career for one place and to be known as an

Arizona player. And that means something to you? For sure. There's a legacy there. There's a legacy and there's kind of a passion that you're playing for the same fan base. And like I said, they've showed me so much love. They showed me so much respect. And the legacy up to this point has been staying.

And people have shown me so much love because I stayed. But I don't want to be known as the guy that stayed, like I've said before. I want to do something that's never been done in there. It is on history. Is it strange to think that this is it? I mean, you've been there since 2020. This is a highly unusual in college football, which I know we keep bringing up and probably, you know,

you're used to this at this point. But this is the year. Like, you've got to do it if you're going to do it this year. No doubt. I think every year you go into the year and you're all in, right? Every year you're, this is the only year that matters. This is the year that's going to change my life. You're going to do everything.

to win. Well, now there is no decision. Now that the decision is made for you. This is the last year. This is the last opportunity I have to finish the business that I started five years ago. So there is no more house money. Like I said, it's all in, whatever it takes to go win. Has it gone fast, slow? It's gone super fast. Yeah. Yes, sir. Yeah. You know, I, I, the listeners know this and I told you before we, I went there too. Tell me, like, what a fun Tucson night out is like for you. Like, what are you like? What are your food spots? What are your entertainment spots? Like, what do you guys do when you go out in Tucson? We hang out with each other, first of all.

I think my food spot in Tucson, Mr. Onts, has my favorite spots on Oracle. We go there every Sunday with the family, but that's definitely my top spot. And I also wanted to ask you about your brother. Your brother's on the team now. What's that been like? They said that you were running late to something,

and you were just in the locker room watching a squat form. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's so cool. We've dreamt about this, and we've prayed about this. We've always, like growing up, been my best friend my whole life. So growing up with him, you kind of, we always play football on the backyard and we imagine scenarios where we're on the same team playing with each other. But I think in the back of your mind, you never thought it was truly possible. So I think it's a

testament to the power of our God that's made this possible because it's the only possible through him. And then now I'm just trying to enjoy every single moment. Like just like that, we're doing Max Day and bent and squat. And I finished, so I just wanted to go watch him. Like that was a big brother moment for me just to go watch him compete and and do his thing we we were talking to some cincinnati guys about the differences in the n i ler and like one of the guys was telling us that one of the first things he did was he he helped his parents uh pay for an addition to their like a renovation to their house that they've been wanting to do for years and i i know that you have started a foundation like you've you've not just said oh okay i'm going to make some money but you're

actually trying to help people with it how important was that to you It's so important because that's how I was brought up. That's what my grandfather showed me. That's what my father showed me. I believe my purpose on this earth is to play football. My purpose on this earth is to spread the gospel and to glorify my God and show him what's possible through him. Show people what's possible through him.

So that's what I'm trying to do. My grandfather was a hero for me. Now I'm trying to inspire the next generation and young kids to get to know who Christ is. And so your grandfather said this is what I want you to do. No, he did it. He kind of live it. He lived. Yeah.

He showed me that through his examples. We pray every night at 8 p.m. When he comes to Tucson, now it carries over to Tucson. We pray every night at 8 p.m. with him. So for us, for me, it's just what I saw. That was a normal. I know he showed me that our purpose on this earth is bigger than any sport, is bigger than any job that we could ever have.

Speaking of jobs, Andy, is this a good time to talk about the resume that we have here? We have an actual one sheet resume, which they taught me at the Ellers College of Business. And my resume was never that good. River put that up. This is how awesome Noah is. Within five seconds, he identified that producer Rivers is the most important person on this show. So it's very impressive. This is how we know that you are that guy. Andy, can you read off some of the qualifications, though, to the people?

Because it's the skills. Well, the nation's active career passing TV leader with 73. Arizona's all-time leader in passing touchdowns, one of five senior quarterbacks in the FBS, who spent their entire career at one school, 2025, first team all-based. Big 10. Oh, our friend Max Olson is a reference. I saw that. If you were doing an all big 12 team,

he used to probably start with Nova Fafita. Anonymous Big 12 coach. Noah Fafita is freaking electric. He's one of the best quarterbacks in the country. Anonymous coach. What's a heck of a resume? I wish I had a resume that had Heisman on the top of it, but it would be really cool to see you accomplish that goal this year.

And it's been really awesome to see you develop it in Tucson. And I know firsthand a lot of people who care a lot about that team. and it's been awesome to see that you've given them hope. Thank you. I appreciate it. Well, have fun and good luck this season. Thank you so much. Appreciate that. Thank you, no.

Appreciate you. Be well. Good luck. We shall see if no Fafita winds up in New York at the end of the season. He can certainly put up some big numbers. I'm looking very close at Arizona's schedule from last year because I'm a terrible fan and really didn't realize this. They had a really good year. You're a terrible alum.

Yes, you are a terrible alum. They were awesome. Nine and three, and they lost to Houston by three on the road. They went to OT with BYU and, had one bad game against Iowa State in the first month of the season. But other than that, you know, winning five consecutive games to end the season, playing SMU pretty close in their bowl game, like, you know, maybe the ingredients are there. So maybe Arizona is a team to watch, but certainly was a pleasure to have no feet on the show.

And now he is Rivers' second favorite quarterback in college football behind whoever starts for Tennessee this year. Exactly. Now, by the way, I was thinking we, you know, we might be. able to get through a day without more news involving a guy who's not going to play this year. But no, we can't do that. Yeah, I mean, unless news does happen, we'll probably move on from this here shortly. But news is probably going to happen. It's still hanging over it. So we're going to have Joey McGuire, the Texas Tech coach on shortly.

You're going to hear from him at wide-ranging conversation about Brennan Sorsby, about Will Hammond, the new quarterback at, well, not new quarterback. He was already there, but the guy who's going to start for Texas Tech this year. But the Soresby situation, there's a long tail to this. So Ross Dellinger from Yahoo reports that Cincinnati is now being inquired upon by the NCAA about what they knew about Brennan Sorsby's situation. And we brought this up on the show yesterday. This is something that obviously the Texas Tech people have wanted to know about Ron Slavin, Brennan Sorsby's agent brought this up in a radio interview a couple of weeks ago.

And it's a legitimate question because obviously here's a guy who played for this program for two years. we now have this this documentation from the NCAA that we've seen with the Soresby legal process where they have all these bets. They found all these bets. Now, again, the NCAA says in its legal filings that they were tipped off by law enforcement about Brennan Sorosby's gambling, not tipped off by Cincinnati. So does that absolve Cincinnati? Not necessarily.

It's a question of what did you know? and were you playing somebody that you knew was doing this? Now, as far as we know, there's no proof of that. But that is what presumably the NCAA is going to try to find out. Yeah. And this is probably an ongoing thing because, you know, investigations have a funny way of getting to the bottom of things. And if somebody knew something, I mean, they'll probably find out.

But I think that, you know, this is an important point that needs to be made. And our buddy at the athletic Ralph Russo made it. And I agree with it is that. let's not lose sight of the fact that Texas Tech was not punished itself. Now, maybe it was punished indirectly by not having the quarterback they paid all this money to available to them, which is, you know, an unfortunate wrinkle. That is a punishment in and of itself. But the university itself isn't facing sanctions or isn't done. In fact, when you hear from Joey McGuire, they're very, the one thing I think that he's most keen on getting across, not trying to change the way that people view him or Texas Tech, but wants to get across is that from his standpoint,

he believes that Texas Tech did everything in their power to support the player and that they never played a game they never stepped over the line now I think they would have played him had this not all wrapped up the way that it did well I also and you asked this question of him and I don't I think there's only so much he can say it on the record publicly and obviously he didn't he didn't say anything off the record that would that would necessarily change my mind about this either but you asked a question that I found very interesting and you and I have talked about this.

Was Texas Tech surprised that he won the case? Because it's one, it's one thing to support your guy and, and say, we support all our players, assuming that he's going to lose. Because if I, even if I work for Texas Tech and wanted him to play for me,

my assumption, knowing the facts going into that NCAA hearing, or the hearing in, in court in Lubbock County, my assumption going in, is that he would not win the campaign. Everybody thought that he was going to lose. And I think that the thing that was interesting from the tech standpoint is because everybody thought he was going to lose,

no one made a big deal about it beforehand, which then made the reaction to him winning so much louder. They didn't cut him loose because I'm thinking they probably didn't think they had to. They probably figured he'd lose and then be like, okay. And Joey didn't answer this. And I don't know if he even knows the answer to the question. But would Texas Tech have proceeded through the lawsuit and all the things beforehand? differently if the noise started before the case was hurt. In Texas Tech's contention on this has always been, well, we didn't sue anybody,

Brendan Sorsby. Okay. But he doesn't do that unless you say you're going to play for us if you win. If you say, sorry, we're done with you, you're not playing for us, then you're out of it. They chose to be in it. Yeah. They decided to be in it. Whether they thought they were going to win or not,

They decided to be in it. Yeah. And we don't know what happened at Cincinnati or who knew and all those different things. So, you know, maybe we'll find out. But what I do know, Andy, is that if you're a Texas tech fan with blood on your fangs, looking for revenge and hopefully, you know, rooting for Cincinnati to be a team that pays the consequences, it's also very possible that Cincinnati had no idea and that they are an innocent bystander in the situation that happened to.

I don't know that you're going to convince a Texas tech person of that, but if they don't find any proof of this, then nothing's going to happen. I'm saying it's possible that that's the case. So, I mean, Cincinnati is viewed as the enemy, but it's possible that they're just not, you know. Well, it's interesting because I wonder now, we talked about that game when Texas Tech goes to Nifford Stadium. I'm sure the Cincinnati fans will be all fired up about it. But I don't even know, like, I think that loses some of the bloodlust there. You know, in Billy Madison when Steve Buscemi.

Steve Buscemi was. The People to Kill List. Yeah, the People to Kill List with the lipstick. Yeah. What would Texas Tech's list be in order right now? Texas, you mean like a Tech fan? Yeah, like who would they? Like, is it the Big 12 number one?

The Big 12. And I think that certain members of the, like, people who very vocally came out. Like I know UCSAD Terry Mojahezer came out pretty strong. Like I think there's certain programs that came out stronger than others. Kansas State's AD Gene Taylor came out very strong. It's more ADs than coaches. Yeah, no coaches. by the way.

But I don't know where Cincinnati would rank in the pantheon. Well, right. And Cincinnati, like, you got to worry more about, you got to worry more about these guys with Cincinnati. So this is the Cincinnati pancake box. I was presented with the pancake mix and specialty syrup because they got a pretty good offensive line coming back. Joe Cotton, Evan Tenghis, all Tarantio. The greatest thing about that is you're not taking that on the plane, right? Oh, I think I can get, let's see.

Can you check that? Well, I need to know. I need to know how big it was coming home with. No, no shot. Oh, man, I thought this might be less than four ounces. So no, Ari's going to get the serve. I'm going to get the whole box. Do you either the whole box comes with me or none of it comes?

So we met Evan and Taryn last night. And Evan, man, he is impressed. 323 pounds, a big 12, potential All-Amaris here. The dude can play. That is something you've got to worry. We also met J.C. French, their new quarterback, the leading pastor in Georgia Southern history. Yes.

Now, Georgia Southern, you know, traditionally an option. team, but since Clay Hilton's been there, they've chucked it around quite a bit. Yeah. So, yeah, very likable group of guys. Yeah. So Cincinnati, you know, I think now the focus with Texas Tech and Cincinnati can turn to the field, they're going to play a game that's a conference game that matters. That's a little bit different situation than just the like blood feud.

You thought it was going to be if Brendan Sorgeby was playing because he had an injunction. You know, I don't get the sense that Cincinnati has thought all that much about tech after this. So no. I'm sure they're thinking about it now. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, news today. Okay.

That said, Texas, take Texas tech out of the equation. It doesn't matter where Brendan Sourge be transferred. When that information came out, it is a logical thing for the NCAA to look into this. Yes. It's completely logical. These are logical questions to ask. So I do not blame them one bit for doing this.

And we'll just see what they find. And then we'll have our answer. But right now, official answer. The only thing we have on record is the NCAA itself saying they learned about it from a law enforcement tip, not they learned about it from anybody else. Exactly. So I guess we'll find out. But it's been weeks of this. Maybe it's been more than a month now, right, since this happened? Yes. Joey McGuire spoke frankly and candidly for the first time about this on the record since it happened. And we have a nice little interview with. Oh, yeah. Yeah. He was pretty expansive interview. We, we

talked about the Sorsby situation. We talked about Will Hammond. I got to ask the question that I've wanted to ask since all this started is how do you vet better? Because let's be real here, they plunk down millions of dollars for a guy who had quite a bit in his closet, a lot of skeletons. And this is not a Texas tech problem. This is a whole college football problem. And I'm not talking about just the gambling thing. I'm talking about when you have that.

little bit of time to decide if you want to take this person and invest all this money in them, can you properly vet them? And so I asked Joey McGuire about that as well. Really good conversation. Here is Texas Tech Coach Joey McGuire. We are joined now by Texas Tech Coach Joey McGuire. And it is that time, the proper time to answer questions because it's media day. So I'm going to ask you questions. Good. I'm in. Listen, we've talked about you guys all summer.

Yeah. And you guys have been probably the hottest topic in college football all summer, probably not in the way that you wanted to be. No. But I feel like this is part of the deal. When you try to elevate your program to the point where you have, you're going to get outside's attention. And then this Brendan Sorsby situation obviously turned it into something else completely. But what has it been like the last few weeks since you found out that Brendan wasn't going to be playing for you guys? And now you move on to actually preparing for a season.

Yeah, it's been, it really, if you just talk about the football, it hasn't been a whole lot of difference. Like from the standpoint of just, if you would have walked in our building, you wouldn't have seen anything different that you see every day, even now. But I do think there has been a turning of the page, like now, you know, Especially me. I'm lucky I have really strong coordinators

because they really handle the football for about a month. You know, in that month, it wasn't a heavy football lift because it was May and they're recruiting and then June. But there is a turn the page moment now, you know, because you know where you're at, you know who your quarterback's gonna be, the quarterback room anyway. And so you can at least turn the page that away.

I, you know, you know, very sympathetic and hated for for Brendan from the standpoint of the NFL supplemental draft. You know, I thought that was a way that we both could turn the page. And I know he will. It's just going to be a really long year for him going through the process. Well, you guys throughout that process, we're talking about how you can help him. How can you help? Like, there's nothing in it for you now.

Yeah. But how can you help him? Well, to be there, you know, number one, I mean, literally he sent me a taxi. And we were talking about it. He said, man, coach, you look good. I like your jacket. So obviously he's watching today. And I talked to him a couple days ago

and said, man, I wish you were going to media day with us. And how we help him now is those doors are open. When he's in Lubbock, he's got a place to come train. He's got a place to come rehab and recovery in our training room. You know, we're, it's 24-7 of how we can help this young man whenever he's in Lubbock. He's training right now in Dallas.

I mean, he's got a, I think he's got a really good plan. And, you know, he has the opportunity to, you know, really take some time to deal with his issues, because they are real. Like, I know there's a lot of people that said this and that about it, but he's dealing with some real issues. And, you know, the worst thing you want to happen is to have any relapses.

So you still got to continue to deal with everything he needs to deal with mentally as he prepares to you know, hopefully compete in like a senior bowl and hopefully at the combine and from then on. Joey, with the way that you guys have been investing in your program the last few years and the strides you've made on the field, you were always going to be a hot button issue. But then today, even in the news conference, you've got questions about integrity and certain things like that. What's it been like as the coach of the program that, you know, wants to get to the end of the road,

but also now might have people viewing it in a number? a way that wasn't just this is a new guy trying to crash the party, but doing it in a different way that people didn't appreciate? Yeah, you know, that, that, I think, you know, and I've said it a lot today from the standpoint, you know, my peers, there are very few, if any, that said anything about this. So like, I got more support, you know, the people that talked about it the most were the conferences and the ADs, you know, and so I hate that President Scuvenec and Kirby whole cut our AD had to deal with that. The one thing, whenever people bring up the integrity, that was interesting of a lot. Some people that said and used the word integrity, and then, you know,

Harry Miller was my principal at Cedar Hill, and he used to say, when you open your mouth, you better make sure your closet's clean when you start pointing to other people. And it was interesting, a couple people that used the word integrity, and I don't think their closets are clean. And so whenever I look at it, I could completely understand what people talk about the integrity of the game and betting on the game and everything like that. And that was something to deal with and really kind of question. But as far as our integrity and how we dealt with everything, that was nothing that Texas Tech ever did other than support our player. You know, we weren't a part of the lawsuit. But we were there to support him through it.

He never played. He was not a player that played a game for Texas Tech that was ineligible. And so whenever I look at that, I just keep going back that we were there to help support the young man, you know, and we tried to do it the best we could. Is this going to change how you vet people in the portal? Because obviously that was a massive investment, and we know the timing of it is inconvenient. Yeah. It's not the NFL draft where you have six months or, well, I mean, they have a year and a half. half essentially to go through everybody's life and figure out what's, but that's something that

was there to be found and everybody missed it. How can you, when you're going to make that kind of investment vet a player better with that limited time? Yeah, you know, we've hit home runs with that. You know, I called Gus Malzahn when we got Lee Hunter, Howard Simpson. I talked to Mack Brown. I definitely think it's speed dating. You said at the speed. And so, I've talked to a couple of people about this, and, you know, the one thing that they have said that's difficult is how fast this happens. You know, you're talking about weeks or less, so this happens, and, you know, would you have found anything? You know, I felt really good. I didn't know Brennan, but I knew his dad, and a couple of my coaches knew his dad because he has done a lot of

stuff with high school coaches and man, Jamie's a great person, great family. You know, I can tell you, he didn't see it coming and everything. So I know there's ways that we got to figure it out, how to do it. But I also think maybe it's on us as the universities. You know, for instance, like if there's a Title IX issue where in a kid gets into the portal, then we know that. That's a red flag. And so if there's a point, you know, that maybe there was something that came up in any red flag of any part of that person's character, maybe that needs to go also with any of the portal, like anything that goes with that.

So you're saying if there's a Title IX issue that's actually flagged in the portal? Like Title IX, like I already know, like because the conference, like you're getting his transcript, you're getting all that stuff. So we're going to know if this young man had a Title IX issue or something like that, we're going to know about it. And it's going to come through the universities. So if you called somebody in and you question them about, you know, anything, maybe that needs to go in the process to help each other out. Yeah. You know, because I think I've talked to a couple guys that are NFL, like ex-NFL investigators, and I think they're getting into that to vet. Yeah.

Some people when they're like, man, it's going to be really tough to find some stuff that it's like is really having to dig in. Yeah, I just don't know how you're going to do it in a. two, three week period. Yeah, but it is kind of interesting that the amount of money invested in these players and such a short amount of time might be the most, it might be the most imbalanced in all of right. It's similar to what NFL teams are investing in their first round draftics. Yeah, yeah. And you know, you look at it like the, for us medically, we have no problem getting all the information that away, you know, and that's part of, you know, if you don't

reveal X, Y, and Z, it's part of you could void your contract. some of that stuff, you know, but I think this is going to have to be, and I, you know, I had thought about it a lot, but other than talking to different people, how you can vet in a better way, but it's also going to have to be on us as the universities, as the institution, is if a young man had X happened to him there, and that's part of the transfer process. Yeah. You know, Andy got a taste of being a big fan this week with USA soccer and, you know, what it would be like to, you know, be against the entire world. I just wanted to know, because you're like one of the nicest human beings ever met in my life.

Like, what's it like to be the bad boy on the block? Yeah, man, you know, it was, it was tough, but it was tough because, man, I hated seeing people that I really care about go through this, you know, like, I mean, I can, like, I can, like, cipher, you know, who's real and who's not through social media, what I look at, what I don't look at, you know, but this was something that really brought everybody together. And it was on, you know, every station, it was on social media, of course, but it was on every podcast. It was on every station. Everybody was talking about it. Everybody kind of, you know, had the opinion, and most of them was the same opinion. And, man, for me, what was tough was seeing some really good

people, you know, that they have phenomenal hearts that in no way did anything wrong have to go through stuff like this. Well, and I just wonder with the conference, like, they're still suing the school. So I get by Brett Yormark, maybe isn't going to say anything when he gets asked about it, but this was a case where it was 15 against one. Do you worry about the school's relationship with the conference, or do you think you guys are okay? You know, I'm going to let President that Scovineck and Kirby handle that. You know, my job is to win football games, you know, and we're gonna try to go undefeated in the conference.

And I think that's the biggest thing, like, you know, just going out and preparing and getting the team ready to go, that's the thing that we can control, you know, being prepared, you know, and being prepared that first week when we, you know, play Houston. It's gonna be a huge game. I think that's the thing that we've got to do. and let the guys that, you know, are going to sit down and talk through all that, you know, do that job.

Let me ask you a football question. You said today that Will Hammond, you could see a world where he plays the opener. Yeah. Have there been breakthroughs in his recovery here? Because, like, we were anticipating maybe it would be three weeks a month into the season game. Yeah, week three, yeah. Well, so what's, here's, if I would have known any of this was happening, I would rephrase my state, but totally different because the question was, when would. will be ready.

And my mindset was, and this is not taken away. First of all, I had Brendan Sorsby at the time I made this statement. You know, and this is at the start of spring. Like that was the press conference starting spring football. So I'm doing it in front of the local media and they ask about Will. And my point, not to take anything away from ACU, who we had to go into overtime with a couple years ago. So definitely don't want to take away from them.

We got to go to Oregon State. That's going to be a really tough game. tough place to play. But where I needed will to be football ready was week three. And so whenever I said week three, it was that. Because if you project, number one, he has had no setbacks. Everything's been going great. He's been throwing seven on seven all summer long, pat and go,

routes on air. He started throwing the football before spring break at the first of March. Nine months is August 21st. So nine months is what, the normal timeline of being fully released. And so that was my point, the way I was saying it. And then because we had the situation we had, that was the easiest clip to take that, hey, he's got to be ready week.

You know, he's going to be ready to. Because literally Will, whenever he heard that clip, he came into our trainer the next day. I haven't told anybody this. But he came to the trainer the next day and he goes, Mike, is there something wrong with me? Coach said I'm not going to be ready until week three, you know. And so his deal was like, hey, is there something going on that you aren't telling me? And that's what it was.

So that's how week three really came about. So that, okay. So this was, you at that point, it's spring practice. Nothing's happened to Brendan yet. You're assuming you have him fully. Okay. That makes more sense. And the whole deal also is like from the standpoint of the point was, you know,

if something happened to Brendan, you know, in the order. Oregon State game or whatever, I needed Will Hammond to be fully ready to go for us to go out and try to beat the University of Houston. And so that's where all that comment came from. And so the only thing that you could go back to whenever you were searching and everybody did their job and searched the right thing was me saying he's going to be ready week three. Well, then at least the silver lining of this whole thing is that now it feels like to everybody that his timeline's been boosted up to be ready. So it actually worked out. Yeah. And you know the thing is like, I mean, you guys know this, but if Will Hammond doesn't get hurt, then

we don't take a quarterback of that level. We take like we did. We take a guy that could be like Kirk, who's a vet, who can, you know, win games for you, you know. And so if Will Hammond doesn't get hurt, then we're not in this situation. So we're in the situation. If I were a Texas Tech fan, I would want to hear that. So that's good. Yeah. Well, and look, we saw well in the Utah game last year. No doubt. We know what he can do. Yeah. But are you excited to get back to just football?

Can you do that now? Yeah, it was, you know, and I think today will be, you know, like a lot of putting a lot of stuff to bed, you know, because you knew that it was going to come up. I mean, that was one reason that I came in the way that I came in and positive and, you know, approaching everything and answering any question because, you know, this is something that's kind of going to be a deal that you can put everything to bed and move on.

man, I'm just fortunate. I'm telling you guys, I'm fortunate to have the team that I have and the coach of staff I have because if you went out there in April and if you went out there in June, there's no different energy-wise than what's going on. But you've had a hell of an off-season because it wasn't just the Brendan stuff, like you were getting clipped by in-state rivals too beforehand. You didn't have any vacation time. Well, you know what's crazy is like there was, there's, you know, Indiana won at all, so you've got to put them up there.

But there's probably very few teams that had the momentum that we had. You had the highest ranked high school class in the history of the school, great momentum. You had another great transfer portal class. We had a great spring, great combine. Like the first day of the combine, all they did was talk about Texas Tech, Lee Hunter, and Jacob Rodriguez's mustache. Like literally, then we have a great pro day. Then we have nine guys drafted and other guys picked up on a team. We had so much momentum.

And then you have that. And then you have different people, you know, talking about the schedule and all that, you know. And that's been kind of funny. And Sark and I have laughed about it, you know, as far as – and I think he's talked about, like, you know, what he was really meaning, which I totally understand, you know. And a lot of times with those deals, two, you're at like the Houston touchdown club or I did the San Antonio touchdown club. Both of those, you're trying to be, but you're also talking to your fan base. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. And so all of a sudden, you know, I made a comment in San Antonio and then I look over in CJ, who I love, I've known him. And he's got really good friends or really my good friends. He writes for Orange Blood. He's in the audience. Oh, yeah. And so then I have to walk over there to him and, you know, we're talking. And CJ's awesome.

He's just, you know, doing his job. But I get a question about Texas and then you got a Texas report. They used to stand up in the middle, you know, before those things and say that. Everybody here's off the record. Yeah. Yeah. There's no such things off the record. No.

Now, I did, you know, we did the Houston Toucho Club and then we did a recum tour. And it was funny, Kirby and I both when we got up to speak, we were okay. Who's not a Red Raider in here? Like, you know, who, because we want to get. you everything. Somebody does this to the, yeah. Don't raise your hand that way. Yeah, but you know what? I don't know if this is, because it was a serious situation, but like, is all publicity, good publicity? Like, even if Texas Tech is viewed a little bit differently now, like, that was still, no team was talked about more of this offseason. Like, do you think that there's a positive in that?

You know, I think if we go out and do what we're supposed to do, then we can, you're, you're in a turn it into a positive, you know. I definitely think if you're looking at how to galvanize a team, adversity does it, you know, so I think we're a closer team because of it going through it. And so that should pay dividends whenever we're going to some really tough times during the season. Well, good luck. And you went, yeah, you went through it. You had the whole country beating on you for a while.

They still will. Guess what? If you win the national title, they'll do it there too. No doubt, no doubt. You know, I get it all. But Andy, I think we're his last interview of the day. Yeah. Are we your- I think you are? So now you can just like exhale a little. Well, I'm going to Cabo tomorrow. My son's getting married on the 11th.

So we're getting married. He's getting married. So I'm going to go relax. So he's where, yeah, you got to get the groom's cake and the rehearsal dinner. Oh, yeah. Somebody else's problem after that. No doubt. Yeah. No doubt. Appreciate it, Joey. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you guys. Appreciate your. Congratulations. No doubt. That is Joey McGuire. And Ari, what was your biggest takeaway from that? You know what the thing about it is?

And I don't know. You've got to save me for myself like you do so often. But like I like Joey. Okay. Who meets Joey? Everybody likes Joey. And my takeaway from it is I believe him that he cares about bringing his team. And I believe that his heart was in the right place.

Now, obviously, I'm not naive enough to know that he has a lot to get having him on the team. But I think Joey McGuire, the coach, not Texas Tech, the human being that is the coach, got wrapped up in a situation that he really had no control. Well, I also don't think a lot of the decisions that were made during that time were made by Joey McGuire. I mean, like that video they made that we just completely crapped all over when they put it out. like that's what the president with the AD if the president's in the video it's happening above the head coach's pay grade yeah i mean my theory on this of what happened is that texas tech was probably upset when this news broke because of the investment that they made in this player but to do the right thing and because joe goire's good guy stood by him through a court case that they thought he had no chance of winning and then once they stood by him during that case but you're stuck at that point you're stuck yeah

He won the case. They were all stunned by it. And then they dealt with the fallout afterward. But if you, like, walk around and look, Texas Tech doesn't seem to be, like, damaged goods now because they don't have their quarterback anymore. Like, they still expect. Yeah, they still expect to win this league. They still expect to play in the playoff.

Joey has said publicly in Frisco this week that they would not have gone into the season with the idea that there was a chance they couldn't play for the Big 12 championship or in the playoff, because that's still what they're, they're aimed at. He also said to us that, and I'm not sure I completely buy it, but I think if Will Hammond doesn't tear his ACL, that they don't, they don't. I was going to ask you, how much do you buy that out of 10? I think after, it's hard to say because Will was already hurt by the time they played the Orange Bowl. But I was at that Orange Bowl, and I got the sense after that Orange Bowl that it was, it was prior, like, you had to do something to make the offense better and be able to. to play better against that level of athlete.

And the quickest way to do that is go out and spend on a quarterback. So maybe it would have been different. If Will had been healthy, and I don't know if Baron Morton would have been starting that game if Will have been healthy. Yeah, if Will had been healthy the entire year, who knows, yeah. So it's probably an unanswerable question. Yeah, mine is six out of ten. I, six out of ten, believe it.

Yeah, yeah, I'm skeptical. I'm skeptical that they wouldn't have gone. at least tried to get a... But I'm also... Here's the other thing that no one has talked about since. And it's a podcast like getting things thrown at me.

Okay. I'm not convinced that if Brendan Sorsby was their quarterback last year, they would have scored. Like, honestly, like, it's a legitimate question. Yeah. That Oregon defense was pretty loaded

and they were not, like, they lacked playmakers on the offensive side of the ball that were commensurate with who they had on the defensive side of the ball. Like, Texas Tech's defensive line and linebackers were elite.

They were elite. They stacked up with what Indiana had, what Ohio State had, what Oregon had. But on offense, they just didn't. And so I don't know if you can solve that as quickly as they needed to solve it. Yeah. But the point is, it's really good to hear from him. And I think that whether you believe his perspective or not, I believe that his heart was in the right place. And they were kind of in a situation that they didn't really foresee.

And I think they were kind of, and in this, maybe it's their fault, but I think they were ignorant to what was going to happen if he didn't win. Because they didn't hear about the noise before. I mean, I'm going to be honest with you. I wouldn't have thought he was going to win. Even if I was Cody Campbell and I'd spend all this. Yeah. And I wanted to, wanted this to all happen.

I would have walked into that hearing being like, look. Good luck, dude. They got him. He's not winning this thing. Yeah. So. And he won. And then all hell broke loose because that is college football.

Ladies and gentlemen, that is how this sport rolls. Ari. We have a great rest of the week for everybody. We do. We've recorded some really fun interviews. So we've got Kenny Dillingham from Arizona State. Great, great time with Kenny. Kalani Sataki from BYU.

Great time with Kalani. Rich Clark, the executive director of the CFP. That one was therapeutic because I was able to download my thoughts onto his brain. I think that makes a difference. He's somewhat sympathetic to you too. Yeah. So next time he's in the room listening to the deliberations, I wonder if he'll hear my annoying, whiny voice. Yeah.

But that'll be fun too because. talking about the playoff is always important. I know a lot of people are interested in that. But like the thing that I'll say, Andy, so far, and we've got more interviews to do today as we're still here, that everybody has been so warm and engaging and interesting. Like sometimes this job's hard when somebody comes on the show and they're just boring or say the coach speak cliches.

I don't think we got that this week. And I'm excited to present it to the listeners. It's going to be a fun year in the Big 12 based on what we've seen here the last two days. Like there's a lot of teams that can compete. There's probably more teams at the top that I, thought about like watching the tc u guys walk around those is a little little you know tease for uh for later in the week but watching the tc u guys walk around here they got more NFL bodies than they've had in a while on that team and and so they might be closer to texas tech roster wise

than maybe we originally thought yeah yeah uh who knows that's the big 12 yeah three and a half points we'll get that three and a half point also uh for Friday. Friday is dear Andy, dear Ari. Get those questions in. You know how to find this. Andy Stapleson3 at gmail.com. Ari. wasterman aton3.com ask away,

and we shall answer. This is such fun. I'm so glad this is all underway. Talking season is one of my favorite times a year. We're Big 12 this week. We won't be there, but the ACC has its media days next week. The SEC, the following week, the Big Ten, the week

after that, it's all happening now. We're so close. We're so close. I'll talk to you tomorrow.