Andy & Ari On3 - Lane Kiffin fights the RAT POISON | Can LSU's defense improve?

Episode Date: July 16, 2024

Andy is at SEC Media Days in Dallas, and Ole Miss and LSU dominated the conversation on Monday.(0:00-6:05) Intro with J.D. PicKell(6:06-10:27) Missouri Tigers Outlook(10:28-14:54) CFP's Format Ahead(14:55-28:32) Ole Miss Outlook(28:33-35:04) LSU Tigers Outlook(35:05-54:55) T-Bob Hebert Joins to discuss LSU(54:56-58:08) Conclusion, Georgia and Tennessee DiscussionAndy and On3's J.D. PicKell break down what Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said as the Rebels prepare for perhaps the most-hyped season in program history. Ole Miss went 11-2 last season and then seriously upgraded the roster in the transfer portal. Will that be good enough to make the College Football Playoff and/or compete for the SEC title? New ESPN commentator Nick Saban seems to think so, but Kiffin thinks all this offseason praise is -- to use a Sabanism -- at poison.Andy and J.D. also discuss J.D.'s interview with LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier. Is it finally time for J.D. to put the Gumbo Gunslinger nickname to rest, or does Nussmeier like it?Next, former LSU center and current Baton Rouge radio host T-Bob Hebert joins Andy to talk Tigers. How will LSU use linebacker Harold Perkins Jr.? And can the Tigers get better on defense after completely retooling the coaching staff on that side of the ball?Host: Andy StaplesGuest: JD PicKellProducers: River Bailey, Trey Yanity

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. Greetings from SEC Media Days in Dallas. Here with JD Piquel. We're at the lovely, lovely Omni Hotel where the sun, well, the sun's right there. Yep, Texas-sized sun. It is a big ball in the sky. Did you have a coach growing up, JD, at any level where they kind of worship the sun? Did they talk about the big red ball

not so much sun worship there was a lot of sun propaganda though one of the things was don't let something without a heart beat you which was sort of subtweeting the sun which i appreciate the sun does not have a heart true true story but it is very hot very hot and uh some days it did beat me but you know i think we won our first year. That is, I believe, what they were trying to beat into my son. Heat is a mentality. Heat is a construct. It's like the Matrix. We had Dwayne Dixon at the University of Florida, the wide receivers coach,

and he would talk about the big red ball. I love that. The big red ball is coming up. Another day dawning at SEC Media Days. This is a big one because it's interesting how they decide which teams they bring. I don't know how random it is. I think it probably has to do with when certain coaches can be here and when they can't. But this is Tennessee, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Missouri.

Four potential playoff teams here today. Nice little slate we got coming. I mean, a lot of teams, like you mentioned, that could be in playoff contention. And I'm excited to hear from Carson Beck, excited to hear from sophomore quarterback Jackson Arnold will be here today. I mean, it'll be fun.

Oklahoma didn't get the memo that you're not supposed to bring all the players people actually want to talk to, which I was thrilled when I saw it. They are bringing Jackson Arnold, the quarterback, who he started two games. He had to start one game for Gabriel because of injury and then the bowl game. And then they're bringing Danny Stutzman, who's a quote machine,

and Billy Bowman, who's also a quote machine, another key piece of that defense. I don't think they understand. You're not supposed to bring the guys everybody wants to talk to. Nobody else does that. This coming on the heels of Brent Venables letting the freshmen speak during spring football. Oh, that was by design. Huge.

That was by design. That was because Brent Venables is saying to those freshmen, hey, we are going to promote your brand here at Oklahoma. We want you to get out there amongst the people and want the people to fall in love with you so that if some NIL deals come along, you get them. So be it. I love that. Yeah, it's gonna be a fun day. I can't wait. It's gonna be great. And Oklahoma's gonna get the are you scared of the SEC questions. Danny Stutzman, I don't think he's gonna be able to take more than about two or three of those. Yeah's going to be we need to find the over under on that on what that number

looks like in Vegas because I'm with you I'm taking the under and feeling pretty good I just remember again I've said this a couple times on the show 2012 is back in Hoover Texas A&M's going through Missouri didn't get it as bad I feel like Garyary pinkel just sort of radiated this don't bother me with this you know kind of stuff sure but kevin someone got it and his players got it over and over now at that time only they knew what johnny manziel was about to become yep we didn't know that we didn't know about mike evans yet and so they're just laughing at us as we're asking are you how scared are you of this sec schedule and they're like whatever somebody actually feels like hazing right like you have to kind of go through the car wash you got to go through this whole narrative deal throughout your first however many days in the sec especially

media days uh but yeah they're gonna get it today there's no doubt yeah we had lsu old miss south carolina vandy on monday uh we talked to guys from Monday. We talked to guys from Ole Miss. We talked to guys from LSU. We're going to talk about that. But before we get to that, another very important thing happened on Monday, and that is EA Sports College Football 25 dropped for the public, for everyone at 4 p.m. Eastern time. There was actually a monitor across from where I'm looking right now. They had it hooked up. Somebody had a PlayStation hooked up to that monitor and i was watching the countdown

clock and i just at the as it hit zero i just tweeted good luck everybody please don't get divorced that was that blew up too i saw that was awesome my uh my heart swelled with admiration for my colleagues as radio row at 4 p.m. became drastically more thin conveniently. And it was like, where did everybody go? Oh, they're going to go play the game. Good to see these people have their priorities in order. Also, shouts to a lot of people in the media that I've talked to that said, hey, out of pure self-discipline and self-control, I didn't bring my system to make sure that I actually got work done this week. So, you know, both approaches. Well, I do want to thank the folks at EA Sports for giving me that code because it would have been a struggle if I hadn't gotten a chance to play.

If you want to get a little more in-depth, I have a couple of videos out. I did one where I just put games together that I want to see this season. So you can get the first look at Ohio State, Oregon. You can get the first look at Texas at Texas A&M. You get the first look at Colorado, Nebraska, about what that's going to look like. Because honestly, it looks pretty close to the real thing. I also, just to see how good certain players were.

Sure. Like I did, I made an Oklahoma State at Tennessee game to see James Pierce on Tennessee side and see Ollie Gordon. So I was playing as Tennessee. The first time I had to tackle Ollie Gordon, it was ugly. It would, they make the good players really good in this game. I, you had some experience that last night too. So I got on the sticks last night and did three randoms in the sec.

For those y'all familiar with, you take three randoms, you pick one of those three teams and that's how you go. You can pick your three randoms within a conference whereas it used to be three random across college football so your buddy gets alabama and you're stuck with miami of ohio no shade to the uh the redhawks but i got missouri i got luther burden and i was like i wonder how good he is uh four touchdowns in the first half i was like oh he's pretty good so it's uh he's a cheat code and in my opinion uh if i get missouri ever again i'm rolling with them well the tigers are here today yeah we're gonna sit down let's talk about the tigers let's talk about them because this is a team that i

think surprised people last year they were coming off of basically a 500 season and they win 11 games they probably should have beaten lsu you know if they if they beat lsu we might be having an even different conversation although they still you know east west thing they still had the georgia the georgia problem sure but they played georgia tougher than just about anybody till alabama beat georgia so i i feel like with this team can they replenish the defense because that is the key the The offense, I am not worried about. I think, so I go back and forth on Missouri because I think what you just said is on the money. Brady Cook is a stud. Luther Byrne, we've established, is the best receiver in college

football. Theo East Jr. is one of the more underrated weapons in college football. You lose Cody Schrader, but I think you still feel pretty good about what you have in that backfield. Well, like Marcus Carroll from Georgia State. Yeah, they're going to be solid. Their backs are going to be good. They'll be solid. My question is they won four games last year by one score. And so as much as maybe they should have beaten LSU,

probably would have, should have, could have lost to Florida. Could have. Oh, well. Yeah, that was almost a miracle. It was, yeah, fourth and 17. We'll talk about it for a long time out there in Columbia. So I love magic. I love Harry Potter.

I love, you know, I guess Hunger Games isn't magic, but I love, you know, anything mythical and magical. That's all fun. I don't know if you can bottle that up season in and season out and win four games like that. And I just think when you lose Darius Robinson, Tyron Hopper, Ennis Raikstra, Chris Abrams-Drain, these are NFL players.

Plus your DC. Yeah, and Blake Baker and Kevin Peoples, who is one of the more important assistants. and a strike straw chris abrams drain these are nfl players plus your dc yeah and and blake baker and kevin peoples who's one of the more important assistants and that's a hard thing to replace that's a hard thing to bottle up but i will say missouri got a nice draw this year like and this is a conversation i feel like we're having this more and more this week about the draw who got a good draw who got a bad draw you know Georgia Florida they seem to have the toughest ones Missouri Ole Miss Tennessee those feel pretty manageable yeah and I think for Missouri like if you're in that situation you're staring down that schedule

it's like okay are you who people think you are because this schedule with how you know navigable it is like just don't slip up you know because you go 10 and two, like you're probably in good shape. My question is if they do go 10 and two, which kind of seems to be like that number we're all talking about. If you get in the dance, how much does it come back to? I test, is there a 10 and two big 10 team? Is there another 10 and two sec team? And when you go to eye test, is there enough meat on the bone on that schedule to make a difference? That's what I'm wondering. Okay, this is a good question because we don't know this. We have not seen this play out yet. The SEC and Big Ten schedules have really gotten harder, I would say.

Yeah. The Big 12 schedule, because the teams are so evenly matched, harder. The ACC teams feel like they're the ones that have the advantage to have the best record. But are there going to be that many 10-2 teams? Yeah. I just don't like it because last year, yeah, you could have gotten down. I think there would have been one 10-2 team left out.

Sure. It would have been Oklahoma, I believe, in the final rankings because I think Oklahoma finished 12th, and so they would have been knocked out by the highest-ranked group of five champ. But I just don't know. That was last year. There might not be't know. Like that was last year. There might not be that many 10 and two teams this year. It might,

we might be arguing over a couple of nine and three teams sitting there at number 11 and number 12. And here's the grenade to you thrown into that whole situation. What about a 10 and three runner up? If you're a 10 and three runner up in the ACC, but your loss is to Florida. If you're Miami, I got,

I saw wonder how that's all going to shake out. Does it hurt you to play the conference title game? Well, that that's the big question for me. And I think that's the thing they've got to figure out. The committee has to figure out, and I don't know how they're gonna handle this because, well,

they're also maybe like a head to head matchup that, that contradicts something. Yeah. But theoretically you would hope that let's say the loser of the SEC championship game, because you're going to be pretty damn good to get in the SEC title. Oh, yeah. So let's say the loser of the SEC championship game.

You don't want that team to have to fall behind the third-place team in the SEC. Yeah. But the third-place team in the SEC is probably only going to be one game different. And depending on how the SEC championship game goes, like if that team does lose by two touchdowns or three touchdowns in it, like what do they do? Because could you wind up losing the SEC championship game and having to go on the road?

Or, I mean, if we were really talking about it, it's possible. You could lose the SEC or Big Ten championship game, get dropped behind the third place team, and then have to go play the third place team at their place. That's like doing the extra credit assignment, failing on the extra credit and being dropped to a B. Exactly.

It's like, wait, I had an A in this class and now I'm fighting just to get back to my A grade because I failed the extra credit. It's like, whoa, whoa. And I feel like that's something they need to take into consideration. And I assume they will. But I don't know when

you get in that room and and because you've just like they get they sit together and watch all those championship weekend games yeah and they go they go oh i don't know that team looked pretty bad yesterday like i don't want i i really hope they don't do that because if you do penalize a team for playing in the conference championship game you are essentially saying you don't need these things anymore right and then it becomes a matter of well then how much do you rest guys in the championship i mean is that a thing that we could see long which would be surprising to me right now the prize is too big yes absolutely having the buy now again we will talk about this a lot more as we get closer when the casuals come in there right at the end sure like they're going to be stunned by this like it's incredibly stupid to

have the quarterfinals and bowl games yeah like it should be on campus the prize of having a home game and a bye i think keeps the the conference championship game relevant. But if you've got to go – like, Ohio State, if they win, they have to go to the Rose Bowl. Right. Is it that big of a prize? We're just not playing. Congratulations. You're going to Pasadena.

Yeah. Okay, well, it's pretty far from home. It's a pretty big time change. That's a lot of travel on our guys. How's this? Would you rather play Oregon or Penn State or Michigan again in Indianapolis or not play that week and then get probably an easier opponent at the horseshoe yeah in the shoe with a fired up

crowd that's all the way engaged like i think that will be number five yeah yeah we'll take that we'll take that and then we'll play after that we'll go play i don't know the big 12 champ after that game potentially or an ACC champ after that game? You're going to play the winner of you're going to play the four seed. Probably. Right, which is going to be the lowest seeded power conference champ. It's a better draw than that 10-2 SEC team

we're talking about, in my opinion at least, or having to play, I mean, another thing too, like you mentioned playing an opponent that you've already played during the season and having to beat another team or having to beat that same team multiple times. Like, that's another thing in itself. I don't think you're going to let anybody opt out of this. You better not.

I mean, the trend worries me is my only thing. I don't think it will happen anytime soon, but the more we get towards the conference championship games, quote-unquote, not mattering to some people, I'm like, it's a dangerous path to go down. It is, and they'll have to figure it out. And, look, I don't care because if I'm getting more high-stakes games, I'm fine with it.

As long as we have more high-stakes games, I don't really care how you arrange them. So the conference championship game can matter or not. That won't matter to me as long as we're getting those games. But don't damage teams for playing in them. Find a way to make it. The prize has to be big enough that you have to be willing to take that risk. And then also, like, maybe you lock it where if a team finished second in a league

and another team finished third in a league, you're not putting the second-place team above the third-place team. That would do numbers for the eye test crowd. Like, they would be in a blender and say, well, wait, our team looked better than that team. It's like, well, hey, sorry, you finished third. They finished second. It could make things neater,

but it could also make things more chaotic for some folks. But that's what they want. This is the feature, not the bug. They want us arguing about this, JD. I love it. This is what they want. We're falling right into their trap. It's a nice trap to be in.

It feels very cozy right now. It is. And look, it's a trap. Well, speaking of traps, let's talk about Lane Kiffin. Let's talk about Ole Miss. I love it. Because they were here on Monday, and this is the most anticipated season, I think,

in Ole Miss football history. Yeah. They've had good years before. They've come off good years. But I don't think they ever went into a season with these level of expectations you had nick saban here working for espn in his new role crazy by the way yeah very weird oh i know him on fine bomb as as co-workers very cool so i cut you off go ahead oh so he's talking about old miss and and and basically came out and said you know georgia alabama those were their problems They couldn't match up physically.

He says he thinks they can match up physically now. And we saw Nick Saban on the draft. He's not mailing this TV gig in. If he thinks that the additions they've made, the Walter Nolans, the Prince Liam and me, Trey Amos, he coached, so he knows all about him. If he thinks the additions they've made have made them closer to the level of an alabama or georgia roster wise should we not believe him and that's the scary part too that's

the defense the obvious ones the walter nolan's the prince lehman me ellens that's the thing that's jumping off the page that's kind of putting them over the top in a lot of our minds but at the exact same time even if they didn't have a returning starting quarterback which feel pretty good about elaine kiffin offense but they do have returning starting quarterback, which feel pretty good about a Lane Kiffin offense, but they do have a returning starting quarterback. They do have Trey Harris. They do have Juice Wells now added into the fold. And so it's kind of shaping up to where you mentioned expectations. Ole Miss, to make the college football playoff,

has better odds going into the season than Alabama. If you told us that last year, we'd be like, wait, what? What happened? What happened to Nick Saban? What happened to that team? It's schedule-based because Ole Miss' schedule is a little bit better than Alabama's in terms of ease. You told us that last year. We'd be like, wait, what? What happened? What happened to Nick Saban? What happened to that team? And that's probably schedule-based because Ole Miss' schedule is a little bit better than Alabama's in terms of ease. But it's still crazy to think about.

Wild. But Lane just addressed that head-on and used the Sabanism to talk about it. You know, this really has been an exciting time at Ole Miss. And going back to the New Year's Six Bowl and the Peach Bowl and that win, and so many players deciding to stay after that to come back for another season. And then the addition,

a lot of credit to those players and staff, obviously, but those players have additions through the portal of other players, free agency, and, you know, it's set up for a chance to have a good team. But there's a lot of work in that. There's plenty of, you know, noise out there that means nothing, and plenty of teams over years in all sports have been ranked high

and haven't played well and been ranked low and played really well. So none of that means anything. I'm just very appreciative to Coach Saban who called the other day and then just stopped me and talked to me there. So kind of in respects to Coach Saban's terms, this is really, as he said, this is a rat poison situation here. Rat poison. Got to love it. It's rat poison. I. Rat poison. Gotta love it.

It's rat poison. I feel like they're, they're handling that well. Yeah. I think it's, it's interesting to see. Cause I mean, Ole Miss hasn't had,

you mentioned before, like they haven't had this kind of pressure on them before. Like this is, this is brand new and we've seen teams that have won the national championship really the last two to three years have had that experience gene and kind of had that mental toughness. Seems like Lane Kiffin is approaching the season in that sense. Yeah, and the other thing is the question I get a lot about them,

and it's a question I've had in my own mind too, when you have this many transfers, when there's this much churn in the roster, how do you keep the chemistry right? Because it does feel like the Ole Miss Kiffin teams have had similar chemistry they've played together similarly like they seem to have a similar personality and it's like okay how do you do that bringing all those transfers well we talked to Jared Ivey about that when he was on the show a few months ago and he's one he now he's been there a while yeah but he transferred in there and he said it just feels like when you get there, the people who were there

show you the ropes, and you just keep going. And basically, they just don't stop for you. Yeah. Like, you got to start swimming. There's a part of me, too, that, you know, we talk about chemistry and culture, and, like, that is something that I am a huge fan of in college football. It's one of the reasons why I love the sport.

There's a part of me that looks at the way that Ole Miss does things, and they're having success, and I wonder if they're almost like, yeah, we want to have good chemistry. reasons why I love the sport. There's a part of me that looks at the way that Ole Miss does things and they're having success. And I wonder if they're almost like, yeah, we want to have good chemistry. We want to have the necessary requirements there. But before that, we're going to have really freaking good players and put them in position. And we'll worry about chemistry later and we'll figure that out.

And it seems like it's working for them. It definitely does. And I'm just, I'm surprised that it's worked over and over again because you feel like every so often you're going to have a clunker where the group just doesn't mesh. You think we see that more in basketball where the rosters turn over more, but it hasn't happened yet. And this team seems to be ready.

And there is so many, you know, Kiffin talked about the guys coming back from last year. There is so much veteran leadership coming back that I don't necessarily worry about that. It's really just can you play the best teams on your schedule? How do you handle that? They get Georgia, but they don't play Alabama. They don't play Texas. The at-LSU game is critical for them

because Baton Rouge has been a house of horrors for them. But the players up front will decide. Because if you can beat Georgia, great. I don't think they have to beat Georgia to make the playoff or make the SEC championship game, but if you make the SEC championship game or the playoff, you're going to have to beat somebody like that. Without question. That's kind of another little layer you throw into the Ole Miss pressure cooker

is like, oh, by the way, you don't have to win the SEC to make the playoff. You don't have to be Saban this year. You don't have to be Kirby this year, even though you got him on the schedule, which is wild. Which makes it even worse if you don't make it. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, let's hear Lane talking about the roster upgrades that they made

because this was pretty straightforward. Most coaches aren't going to say it this way. You know, I think that, I guess I said it after the game, you know, we've got to recruit better. And that was not a shot towards our players because I hate that when it's, well, the coach is saying, I said, we've got to coach better, but we as coaches have got to recruit better even in our thinking of evaluations and so forth.

And one of the big things was I just thought, which had happened in a few games here over our time here, really with Alabama and Georgia, was there was a length and size issue, you know, both Kirby and Coach Saban. I mean, you learn from Coach Saban, like there's an exact profile they recruit to of size. You know, that's not always

easy to do everywhere everybody would love to have every player you know 6'5 but I do think that we addressed that and I do think that game and that was glaring and again we got to perform really well we got to practice really well and coach really well

but we're going gonna look better coming off the bus i guess so uh we'll have more length and size all right so we had some comments in the chat that we put up that let's discuss as h down creole as lane was talking old miss went and got a bunch of mercenaries for one year that's me first players i love how he comments like you expect an lsu fan to talk yeah that was that was a nice little uh little touch there for my guy h town creole but i think what's what's worth noting is the uh the kind of guys that that haven't left old miss right like jackson dart stay trey harris i believe had like a top three round

grader he could have he could have been drafted last year could have could have gone he's got like nine kids he's been married for like 20 years that's that's that's the thing like guys that stay and also guys that they attract to Ole Miss like you wouldn't go to Ole Miss if you weren't seeing the blueprint for success and also players talk like if guys were saying hey don't come here we don't like our staff we don't like our system we don't like what happens here like that would get out and you wouldn't land a juice wells you wouldn't land a Walter Nolan Prince Lee a man me Ellen right and that's the thing are they me first or are they trying to put themselves in the best position to succeed because you know Walter Nolan

and Prince Lee and man me Ellen are in kind of similar cases they both played on teams that that underachieved Walter Nolan's team fired his coach Texas A&M fired Jimbo Fisher Florida didn't make a bowl game last year princely was the best pass rusher on the team so they probably feel like okay i need to play on a better team to make my position better for the draft and look i don't i don't necessarily expect them to stay if they have good years i expect them to leave i expect them to go to the nfl 100 and i think it's also worth noting too too. And Prince Lee's a fourth-year player, so I don't think he has a choice. Sure, yeah. He's gone no matter what.

But the kind of strategy Ole Miss has with, hey, we're going to be portal heavy, I don't think the staff at Ole Miss is stupid and just going to say, we'll take anybody and everybody. Cancer's in the locker room. Welcome. You have a way of doing things. And if you don't meet their standards, I'm sure there's a price to be paid. I also

think the level of player they've been able to get has risen i think you look at through the years now their strategies changed and i talked to lane kiffin about this a few months ago because initially the strategy was when you had to sit out a year after the second transfer they would take a bunch of transfers who had three or four years remaining and they're stuck there like then it's back to the old system yeah and because somebody can say well i'm not playing i want to transfer and they go well you you're gonna have to sit out a year so you can you can either go sit out a year or deal with the situation here and it probably will be better for you in a year yeah and and

you get people to stay that way and that's you know like when jackson dart came he essentially had a full college career ahead of him even though he'd already been at usc now it's not like that yeah now you can just leave again and lane said he's got to figure out what what he's going to do about that he's going to figure out how how that changes and maybe it's take guys who are just trying to better their nfl draft stock yeah and have a great one to two year run with those guys and have success. And then honestly, I mean, it's kind of like chicken to the egg situation. When you see that happen for Juice Wells or for a Prince Leoman Miellon, that sends the message to all the other guys in the portal.

Like, OK, where have I had success or where can I have success? Where have transfers had success? Florida State, Ole Miss, fill in the blank. Yeah, and this is it's become a self-fulfilling prophecy now because everybody just assumes when the portal opens all this is gonna and and all this has been smart about this they've been very smart nil wise because they have had money to go get those guys that they also had money to make sure the guys they need stay now one guy didn't stay yep lane got asked about him yesterday quinch on judkins i okay i think quinch on judkins is going to have a huge year at ohio state i think

he's going to be great i also think for the same reason that nfl running backs don't get paid i don't know that you needed to pay up to keep him yeah we're all miss yeah i think it's one of those situations too where if if one side isn't happy neither sides are going to be happy and if neither sides are happy it's not good for your football team we talk about culture and and standards and locker room and all those things and like if if that's something that's going to carry on into the season it doesn't matter you know what almost wants to accomplish long term like quinshawn judson's is hurting that long term right and the thing about that position especially in that offense you can you can find someone else

who can give you as much or almost as much you might not be quite that good but ulysses bentley the fourth had a better per carry average last year the stud and so i i do think and i i've said this and i we we had a mailbag question about this, actually from our guy Clark Brooks. He's saying they should throw more on first down, which I tend to agree with. But if you have Trey Harrison, Juice Wells, and Jackson Dart, who, by the way, is also a running threat, in that offense, there are so many opportunities where you're going to be running into a light box

that you don't need the greatest back end. Like, you don't need Ollie Gordon. You just need a pretty good back, a couple of pretty good backs, and you're going to gain yards on the ground. As long as you have some depth there, you don't have to have, I don't think, as much star power. Like, we've seen, as good as Blake Corum was, him and Donovan Edwards last year, like, that was what carried Michigan previously with Georgia deep backfield.

Like that kind of seems to be the flavor right now. Modern college football. Yeah. And it's the flavor of football period because that's just, and I think the way the NFL pays players has very quickly seeped into college football. You know, somebody's going to,

there's always going to be a Jerry Jones who's going to extend Zeke. Yep. Until he did. Sure. But there's always going to be somebody who's willing to pay it back. But there are going to be a lot of other teams that are like, eh, because that's just how it goes now. And if I'm a running back, I'm like, okay, I want to go somewhere

where I don't have to take 30 carries a game. I want to be the Penny Boone and R.J. Harvey. I want to be the Quinn, Sean Judkins, and Travian Henderson. I want to have somebody else that can save my legs a little bit. I don't know that that was Penny Boone's plan to be backing up R.J. Harvey. Sure, sure. I think the point stands, though, if you can save some tread on your tires for the NFL, that's a good thing for you, in a selfish perspective at least.

Yeah, and it's crazy to think that because I remember when I started uh this is doing this my first job was covering university of tennessee and there was this mini recruiting controversy where the dad of a player got upset and he uh he released all these things that that philip fulmer these postcards that philip fulmer had sent to his son during his recruitment and it's like i promise you 25 carries a game that you had to do that to get running backs back then. Wow. Wow. Those days are long gone, huh? Yeah. Can you imagine doing that now? Can you imagine being like, I promise you 25 carries a game. Coach, there's no chance I'm going to your school. I promise you, you will get less than 25 carries a game. I promise you, you'll get less than 200 carries a year and we will hand you off

to the NFL with lots of tread on the tire. Yes, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Times have changed. It is truly amazing, but all right. LSU was here. Yep. The Tigers, we're going to talk about them because a lot of changes, uh, they bring in Blake Baker. We talked about Missouri losing Blake Baker. Now Blake Baker comes to LSU as the defensive coordinator. And really, this defense did not change much personnel-wise. No. It is more Blake Baker, Kevin Peoples, Bo Davis, the new D-line coach, the new staff. How did they put the pieces in place to make this better

than what it was last year when it was one of the worst defenses in the country and probably the worst defense LSU has had in school history, which was especially painful because LSU had a Heisman Trophy winner quarterback, two first round receivers and an offense that couldn't be stopped. And if you're hearing this on podcast and saying, wait, the personnel didn't change very much. Is that a bad thing? It's like, yeah, we'll see. We'll see how much it's a bad thing. But you still have a Harold Perkins. There's still some players with ability on that roster.

It's okay, was it scheme or was it personnel, and what's the tradeoff there in terms of success you can have in 2024? Well, and let's talk about Harold Perkins a little bit because how he gets used was the big question last year, and Brian Kelly got asked about it and said, I hope that we fed him more and that they should have let him get a little bigger last season. And they did let him get bigger.

And I saw him yesterday. He looks fantastic. But our guy Jesse Simonson asked a great question of Harold Perkins. This is the way you get at the answer you're looking for, but Harold Perkins didn't bite. But Harold Perkins' answer was funny anyway when you play the new ea game you're gonna find yourself on the all-in-all linebacker or antrush or ant where are you how are you gonna use harold perkins i'm gonna mix i'm gonna mix it around he's gonna be all over from the d-line i'll probably even move him that's

safe what's the identity been under blake baker um so harold perkins does not does not bite the hook but actually in the game i i wouldn't mind throwing harold perkins at safety just to see what happens not at all not at all wonderful sparring between him and jesse simonton i mean yes it was like a it was a beautiful dance well here's my question remember how florida state used derwin james yeah is that possible i think it is i guess my question is what is like the what is the straight line speed on a harold perkins to run with a yeah the slot wide coverage thing is the is the thing that you don't maybe use him exactly like james james was a freak of nature They could line him up on the edge, and he could go at an offensive tackle and be okay.

And he's smaller than Harold Perkins is. Sure. But it's very interesting because I do think there's a lot of things they can do with him, and that's a weapon that can change games. We've seen him do it. Part of me is like, let's just stick with what he's best at. If we can get anything else out of him, phenomenal. But when we try and move him around and put him at you know inside linebacker and try and put him at safety or try and put him wherever you know if you're gonna move him around

like you are sacrificing snaps where he is hunting the quarterback right and even if he's just lined up to hunt the quarterback offenses will have to prepare for that week in and week out and so I'm like let's let him do what he does and whatever else we can get out of him, great. I think the fear is that somebody's just going to run straight at him. Sure. And if that's what happens, move him. Yeah. If it's a problem, if he's not able to handle that particular part of it,

move him. Yeah. Because I do think the mystery of where is Harrell going to be does stress the offense or should stress the offense some without a doubt it didn't stress offenses at all last year so that's that's the issue now I think as LSU's offense is still going to stress defenses though I think so I think so even with three first round picks gone to the league even with their OC gone to Notre Dame yeah I still feel pretty good about the Tigers yeah we talked this time last year about man man, can Jaden Daniels,

will he throw it deep? Does he have the willingness to throw it deep? Nobody's asking that question with Garrett Nussmeyer. Nobody's wondering if he wants to throw it deep or not. Yeah, the guy likes throwing the ball down. That'll be fun. So you sat down with Garrett Nussmeyer, a topic you and I have discussed. I warned against this, but you went to the source to decide on the garrett nussmeyer nickname

i believe it's been settled now here we go this is a nickname i've been trying to get some traction and i want to hear your opinion because i get on the message boards and they say that nickname sucks and i'm like i think that's fair with this just let's give me a letter grade on gumbo gunslinger are we buying that are we Are we selling that? I like it. Because you're the authoritative source on it. Here's the deal. I love it. I think it's fire, but it's up to the people.

You know what I'm saying? If they don't like it, then we got to just, I don't know. The Nussbuss is kind of already stuck from what I'm seeing. So I like that. I've always kind of called myself Nussbuss, just like messing around. So like when it kind of took off, I was like, all right, it's understanding a little bit. And people used to like make fun of me in high school and call me the Nussbuss just like messing around so like when it kind of took off i was like all right it's understanding a little bit um and people used to like make fun of me in high school and call me the nussbuss so like no i get that one but i like the gumbo gunslinger too i mean but like i said

that's not up to me so do you like gumbo that's probably a good question okay mom cooks chicken and sausage and my and my grandma cooks a seafood gumbo so both of theirs that's the best type of gumbo i could ever have okay so at least it fits in that regard. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, good. That's all. Okay, so we'll leave it up to the people. But I'm glad to hear that we have, at least on the depth chart,

it's like maybe second. Yeah, yeah, it's up there for sure. Cool, we'll take it. So I think he's being a little diplomatic there. Sure. Since he uses Nussbuss himself. Yep. But, you know, the NIL person in me is thinking that you you could make some gumbo gunslinger

shirts i think that would work feels like it would sell like the in asking that there were two worst case scenarios one was he says yeah that's cheesy that sucks i hate that oh no he wasn't he was not gonna say that sure to your face right right yeah so that after i forgot off the air he might have said that uh the other worst case scenario was he says i don't like gumbo so neither of those things happened and i was like not only that we can live with that that's a multiple relatives who each specialize in a different form of gumbo yeah versatile impressive versatile depth they got a good uh good gumbo operation what i want that's what i want in my lsu quarterback absolutely jd thank you so much been a pleasure we're gonna talk a little more about lsu about brian kelly you may have seen him on the mechanical bull and about football in the sec with a dude

who played in the trenches in the sec former lsu center t T-Bob Hebert joins us next. Now I'm in with much better chest hair than me, T-Bob Hebert. Let me go ahead. Oh, yeah. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Sex sells. Sorry. ESPN Radio Baton Rouge. Also, Snaps. Yes. Host of the Snap Podcast. Incredible podcast with Aaron Murray. Check it out. Me and Aaron Murray. youtube.com slash at Snap CFB.

There you go. Underscore. Love the plug. A bit unwieldy. Google Snap CFB. NASCAR driver level plug there. Look, bro. I get, look.

I'm impressed. Like I told you, I talked to you about it. We're going independent with it now. So I'm going to whore myself up at every possible turn. Listen, I am the same way. I'm walking down radio row like let me tell you about on three but you're a Bengal tiger subscriber so you're getting your LSU stuff from on three you do not have to tell me about on three yeah I love on

three I always thought about it as just a recruiting website but what I found to be very interesting ever since I subscribed and to be clear I host like a daily radio show right so I the recruiting stuff because I don't want to do the legwork it's awesome for that because I can it's great for my audience and whatnot but what I love is just it's just all it's the coverage yeah it's just all the coverage of the college game and being able to dive into whatever team that I'm interested in and getting insight that I wouldn't otherwise.

And from the national guys, little guys, no. I mean, look, we all know Shannon's got quite the ability to create these things. It seems like y'all have done it again and even better. We are having a lot of fun because we are trying to kind of capture the entire country. Yes. And for the college football sicko, for these people who, like us, like our big question, and you've been answering this, I imagine, on your show over and over and over again. Like, my big thing today was, oh, LSU's here.

I want to know how they're going to use Harold Perkins. Tell me how they're going to. And I guarantee there's a bunch of people in our audience that's like, that's all they want to know about. Well, you know what's crazy? So here's a sign of how good Harold Perkins is. Last year, he had 15 TFLs in like five and a half sacks. Yeah.

Which is a decent season. I mean, look, the D end from Ole Miss that's here today, I'm blanking on his name. He had like five and a half sacks and like 11 team medals, right? It's a great year. But he was such a phenom freshman year. Yeah. And he literally won games.

We saw him win you multiple games. The Arkansas one was unreal, right? And so last year it's like – so I do this all to say, to give you an idea of the potential, that we all thought last year sucked and he was invisible and he put up numbers that most people would actually be very excited about. So then you're like, okay, well, what's he going to do this year? The guy that is the key to making all of this work,

and we actually have data here that we can point to, is new defensive coordinator Blake Baker. Yeah. When he was originally, he came to LSU in 2021. That was after that disastrous COVID year. LSU goes 5-5. Yep. Bo Pelini's a D coordinator.

Damone Clark was middle linebacker. Damone Clark, I think I called multiple times that year, like this is the worst linebacker play I've ever seen. Like, watching film, breaking down, it was mind-boggling how bad it was. Blake Baker shows up, the next year, Damone Clark had

130 tackles, 16 and a half TFLs, six sacks, like four forced fumbles or something. It wasn't just good. He went super saiyan in a single offseason. So, we know the potential of Harold Perkins. We've established it.

We give him a D coordinator that we have seen prove it on that level before. Look what he did with Tyron Hopper last year at Missouri. Exactly. Made him as well, right? And so, there's a lot of evidence that would make an LSU fan very excited about Harold Perkins getting back to being a superstar. And I talked to Baker the other day, and I brought up Clark just to kind of butter him up and give him his roses. That was a crazy transformation. And unbidden, he made the connection to Per.

And look, what I saw to Clark in the spring when I got to know him, and I started to be like, this is actually how we're going to dok. He was like, and look, what I saw to Clark in the spring when I got to know him and I started to be like, this is actually how we're going to do things. He said he feels like he's seen the same returns from Perkins. And so it's like Brian Kelly said, man, this whole event is a great opportunity for the world to get to know Harold Perkins because we don't really know him beyond just what we've seen him do on the field. 08.30 S1 18.30 S1 18.30 S1 18.30 S1 18.30 S1 18.30 S1 18.30 S1 18.30 S1 18.30 S1 18.30 S1 18.30 S1 18.30 S1 18.30 S1 18.30 S1 18.30 S1 18.30 S1 18.30 S1 18.30 S1 18.30 S's tremendous. Bro, I get over it. Very shiny. Silver all the way.

Bro, I brought my daughters to, they're six and four, and they love LSU Gymnastics. We love going to the meets. Electric, by the way. Like 15K in that building. It's awesome. 100%. I brought them to gymnastics practice the other day. Bro, the cars in these parking lots now, are you shitting me?

Everybody used to have, like, you know, your dad's Tacoma from back in the day or, I don't know, an Hilario. T-Bob played for LSU. 07 to 11. 07 to 11. And there were a couple chargers. There were maybe a couple chargers mixed in the bunch. But they were stock chargers that somebody bought off a rental.

A rental car company got done with them, and you bought the stock charger for like $18,000. Now it's like that car's – and I'm not a car guy, but I mean, I have some knowledge. Like that's $100,000. My brother-in-law is obsessed with cars. He showed me one. He's like, that's a $300,000 car.

I'm like, what? I didn't even know who was getting out of it. He's like, are you on the basketball team? I don't even know who you are. of it. I was like, are you on the basketball team? I don't even know who you are. Do you feel like you missed the opportunity? I feel like you would have done incredibly well in the NIL era, even as the center. I love, I want to be clear about this. I love everybody being paid.

It is way past due. Labor, I'm always gonna side with labor. So hell yes, it is awesome. The product is better. I love everybody being paid. I am jealous that, yes, I am jealous that we were not given the same opportunities, because I would be making easily more than I'll ever make in my adult life.

Well, as I asked you, T-Bob and I were hanging out by the pool when we got here, here because you know that's guys like that leave let their bellies hang yeah yeah and look SEC media days bunch of reporters that's where you want to go to the pool yeah oh absolutely it's a lot a lot I mean the finest the finest athletes in America the you know some of the print guys you know it's also nice to compare yourself to but like the uh no but seriously the um but i asked you were you in a boosty video and you could have been in a boosty video and they could have paid you for it but you know although i don't know if

busi ever paid anybody so uh you remember jordan jefferson oh yeah yeah yeah yeah he um so he he manages uh a bunch of these these young cats he kind of. I don't know if he's a technical titles agent, but he puts together a lot of NIL deals. We were at Stephen Ridley's wedding a little while ago. Congrats, Rid. And we're talking. And I don't know if he's just blowing smoke, but he was like, bro, you'd have been making $800 to $1 million a year. A year. And again, I will never snip that.

So there's a bit of like, but I want to be clear, it is vastly outweighed by I am happy for these guys. Yeah, turns out it makes sense. You should be able to get paid for the fruits of your labor, to make money off of your talent. Crazy. If 80,000 people are one, in the case of LSU, 100,000 people show up to watch you. There's some demand there. All right, speaking of people who make a lot of money, let's talk Brian Kelly.

Yes. Because he's done well at LSU so far. Yeah. But what is the view of Brian Kelly locally? Because last year was so strange. The offense is so great. You've got a Heisman Trophy winner. You've got two first-round receivers. And the defense is maybe as bad as we've ever seen in LSU

defense but they're still a double-digit win team at the end of the day so yeah I mean look I I'm a firm believer that maybe unless you're like in Alabama or Georgia 10 wins is just a magic number yeah right so if you go nine and three regular season you better get to ten with that bowl game I know we act like two bowl games don't matter but nine and four and ten and three feels Massive in terms of setting the tenor of the offseason So I think Brian Kelly's been really good through those first two years. There's been there's definitely your downsides, right? The game one debacle against Florida State where like special teams extra point by all that stuff last year in hindsight, not too much shame in losing that Florida State game at all.

That was an awesome team, deserved to be in the playoff. But I guess the overall point of it is I feel like nationally there's an idea that like, are people upset? Shouldn't he be knocking them over a championship? Blah blah. I feel like locally people are pretty satisfied. Obviously this is year three. It's going to be massive and it's going to come down to what do you do this year?

I would say this season nine and three would be okay with the majority of people. You're definitely still going to have some people up in arms, naysayers and whatnot. And that may or may not get them into the playoff. It just depends on what everybody else does.

I don't think 9-3 is going to be. I think you've got to be 10-2. I think 10-2 has got to be. That's the magic number. And if you achieve that, well then, that's a bona fide success. And what's weird is, had LSU won either season over the last two years, they would have been 10-2. Generally, in this era of LSU football, if you've years, they would have been 10-2. Yeah. Like, generally, in this era of LSU football,

if you've done that, you end up 10-2. Yeah. And so if you beat USC, then I think there's actually not a bad chance that you find your way to 10-2. I was talking to our friend Braden Gall about that, and he said, he's like, that feels like a game that we'll take the wrong message from.

In what way? That one of the defenses is better and one of them is not. And you're like, oh, everything's fixed. It's going to be great, whoever it is. It's a lot. I would say, like you said, narratively, that matchup is so fascinating because Brian Kelly and Lincoln Riley have been inexorably linked since the coaching search.

Happened on the same day and they have the same agent. Also, Lincoln used LSU as a smokescreen, saying, I am not going to be the LSU coach. Didn't say anything about USC. We talked about that on the show a few weeks ago. It was genius. And then LSU used Lincoln. Right.

Because that's whatever they thought they were going after, and they were secretly working the Kelly deal the entire time. So from day one, they've been linked in a weird way. Now they're both entering year three. They both lost their highs and tripped winning quarterbacks. They both had these horrendous defenses, spent millions of dollars remaking the defensive staff. So there's so many similarities.

The only thing is I do think objectively LSU's in a much better spot, which is why I think this is the most important game of Brian Kelly's time at LSU, and it's not even close. Not even close. Not even the SEC championship, nothing, because he has to prove, first off, to win an opener, but beyond that, USC was not good last year. You still were 10-3 team. Right, exactly.

Like, you should... Miller-Moss, I don't think is Garrett Nussmeier. I'm kind of a Miller-Moss naysayer. I didn't think the bowl game statistically impressive. I didn't think the film was that impressive. Like, LSU has to win this game. If they don't, that's a bit of a disaster. And the thing is, for people who assume, oh, they lost the Heisman Trophy winner,

they lost Malik Neighbors and Brian Thomas Jr., I don't worry about this offense very much. I feel like Garrett Nussmeier, it's the old school succession plan that used to be what every school did, and now nobody can do it anymore. And, Andy, we both know this. Where does it all start? It all starts up front. And LSU has the best O-line I've ever seen. You're not saying that.

It's not hyperbole. No, no, no. Like, now, granted, if you want to narrow it to, like, probably for me to accurately say, like, the best O-line I've ever seen at LSU as a fan or covering it. Yeah. Or as a player, too. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah, no, no, no. Definitely as a player. Like, even, like, you know, I was a part of an O-line where we went undefeated and everything, but, like, definitely as a player. Like, even, like, you know, I was a part of an O-line where we went undefeated and everything, but, like, nobody made the NFL. Right. So we were just a good, blue-collar college group of O-linemen. Yeah, they're sitting there with four or five starters who will make it to the NFL.

Will Campbell will not. I'm pretty sure. We've got to look at his birthday. I know he's 20 right now. Yeah. But I don't think he turns 21 until after the season, and he's number one on the athletics uh yeah big board yeah he's a top five pick i've never seen an offensive lineman come in go three years no redshirt three years and before he's even 21 we're viewing him as the number one draft prospect well i'll tell

you i was at tennessee in the spring so i got my first look at lance hurd yeah oh god he's a monster and i'm watching him move and i I'm like, oh, my God. He's unbelievable. And Will Campbell and Emory Jones are better than him. Yes. Yes. That tells you what you're dealing with at LSU. I mean, I'm so bummed because Lance Hurd was, it felt like he was just,

you just weren't going to miss a beat. But, again, it was just like. He's stuck behind him. What's he going to do? He can't because Emory Jones is also awesome. And then it's like Lance, like, you know, if somebody's – and this is where the economics of college are fascinating nowadays, and this ties into Kelly as well because he had the quotes about basically saying,

like, it's not that we don't have the money. It's about, like, can I justify? Is it a smart use of resources? They couldn't pay Lance Hurd more than they're paying Will Campbell. Right, and they couldn't pay Dominic Williams or any of those defensive tackles. And so I got on Kelly about that because I thought the we don't buy players thing was disingenuous. Yes, yes. That was not. What he said after that in that same interview, which was we didn't like the price tag on these particular players, was the truth.

That's the actual takeaway there. And that's funny to watch coaches have to navigate that because yeah, it's like, it sucks. You want to keep a guy like Lance Hurd, but if Tennessee's going to pay him more than you, you just got to let him go because you cannot pay the backup more than the starter. You just can't do it. And, and that's, but that's also how talent gets distributed more equitably, which is in your era, you guys were stockpiling. The defense that was opposite you guys your senior year is probably the most talented defense we've ever seen. I mean, we had Benny Logan running scout team.

I think it's like a sophomore, and then he ended up being a top three-round pick or something like a year or two later. Same thing with Michael Brockers. So that's what I love about this era is I was so wrong and you never know in life When something seismic happens what the ripple effects will be. Yeah, and I was so wrong I thought that this was all gonna lead to a further concept concentration at the top Yeah, I thought the halves would get stronger. I have not to write everybody just go to Alabama Yes the money and just sit on the bench. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Yeah, the have-nots would get poorer. Right, everybody would just go to Alabama, take the money, and just sit on the bench. And nothing could have been further from the truth.

Yeah. We have had this incredible smushing where, like you said, the top teams can no longer stockpile. So those guys filter out around like a triangle going like this. And then now you have from below the group of five and all these other guys that prove themselves, they now get to spread out on these teams. And you're not doomed because you messed up one recruiting class at this position one year. And so it's actually leading to such a better product overall and a way more democratized

college football, which I would have never thought. So in the SEC, though, are Georgia and Alabama still kind of separate from everybody else? To me, they are. I know I'm higher in Alabama than most, though. I am very high in Alabama. I think we're in the same place on them. I don't see how you could have been. Kalen DeBoer did more with less than anybody in the country consistently,

and now he has more than everybody in the country. And tell me this. Find me a quarterback, one of the top quarterbacks, that is more poised to take a massive leap than Jalen Milrow. There's not one. Yeah, he's very raw going into last year. Bro, it's only one year starting. Look at the improvement from the beginning to the end.

Understand that now he enters this year with, I mean, you know this, no bigger difference I've found than your first year starting to your second in terms of the game slowing down, confidence, all that. We all thought Tommy Reese was some kind of Wunderkind golden boy. Nobody even thinks about him anymore. I mean, you look at what Kalen DeBoer did, not just with Michael Penix Jr., but with Jake Hayner. That's what I'm saying.

With Indiana version of Michael Penix Jr. That's what I'm saying. So, like, we kind of now know that maybe Reese was a bit trumped up and maybe not actually this extra-normal talent. We know DeBoer is. Yeah. So you give him second year starting, way more stable environment. Incredible offensive line.

Now, he had a good one last year. Where he sits on the depth chart. Great offensive line. An offensive genius who is more proven than anybody at consistently winning with less, and you give him clear areas to improve, which

is in the short to intermediate game. And it all lines up to Jalen Milrow should take a massive lead. Now, the weapons are a problem on the outside, right? And so we have to see if he can overcome those. But I hate it. And again, guys, I hate Alabama down, I mean, in my soul, right?

Like down in my nuts, my toes, wherever. Like my RNA hates Alabama. So I say this all very begrudgingly, but just that's my read on it is that they're not going to miss a beat and Texas and Ole Miss still have to prove to me that they belong to be in that Georgia, Alabama conversation. And we will find out. And, uh, we get some of the new blood, got Oklahoma coming, got Georgia coming. Oof. Oklahoma's fascinating, bro. Got Tennessee coming. Got Missouri coming.

So in this lineup on Tuesday, four potential playoff teams. I know. And you know what's crazy about Oklahoma? First off, I think they had the most confusing year ever last year where they went 10 games. They beat Texas. But they also blew it to the point where they allowed Texas they they didn't just blow it for them personally

but in blowing their own chance at a Big 12 championship they put their arch rival back in put him over into the playoff like it could not have been a more disastrous 10-win season yes 10-win regular season then what preventable is it last year but here's the thing, and this is what I keep coming back to. They beat Texas last year. Yeah. They can beat Texas this year too. Oh, 100%. Well, this is where Oklahoma gets fascinating to me.

So, Tennessee, Ole Miss, LSU, Mizzou. All teams that I think are either going to be 9-3 and not make the playoff or 10-2 and make it. Who gets over the hump? They all play Oklahoma. Every one of them play. So Oklahoma to me... And Auburn fans are all like, hey, we also play them.

Yeah, but I don't think Auburn factors it in this conversation. No faith in Hugh Freeze here. But I'll say, I like Hugh. I like Hugh long term. I think Hugh Freeze is going to beat somebody and ruin their year this year. He will punch up, absolutely. But I guess the point is, I view Oklahoma as the playoff gatekeeper. Because whoever wins that game likely finds a way to get it too.

So Oklahoma is Gandalf on the bridge? They are, yes. You shall not or you shall. You have to find a way what the Balrog could not do. You have to find a way to get through Oklahoma. You knew I had T-Bob on when was going to give you a heads up. Star Wars Lord of the Rings. We made it to Lord of the Rings first. T-Bob, thank you so much. Andy, thank you so much, brother. Take it easy, man.

That is T-Bob Hebert. I am standing up now because that sun is incredible. It is blazing. So we'll give you a little better view of SEC media days here. Over there is the big room. That's where the coaches talk. That's where Greg Sankey gave his state of the league address. More radio row down here.

Our guys T-Bob Hebert, Jacob Hester, they're doing their show. So it just occurred to me, we spent all that time with JD talking about Missouri coming today, talking about Oklahoma coming today. Tennessee and Georgia are also coming today. Tennessee is a team that I think there's a massive amount of excitement for locally. I'm not sure nationally if people are quite as high on the balls as I think they should be. I have Tennessee in my top 10 preseason,

and you look at the depth on the defensive line, you look at how good James Pierce is off the edge, but putting in Niko Iamaliabic quarterback changes the math for Tennessee. They were very limited with Joe Milton last year. There's a lot more they can do. I don't think you're going to hear a lot of guys saying that outright, but that's the truth. And so that's why they're so excited.

They feel like offensively they're going to be a lot more multiple. They're more open. They'll be able to do more things this year. They just were very limited. The middle of the field is essentially off limits to them on offense last year. So Tennessee's very excited. And then of course you've got Georgia winner of two of the last three national titles, a team that lost the SEC championship game last year. But if there'd been a 12 team playoff, who's to say that Georgia would not have won the national championship. You put them in a, in a 12 team tournament last year, there's a really good chance they not have won the national championship? You put them in a 12-team tournament last year, there's a really good chance they wind up winning the national title.

I'm very excited to hear what Kirby Smart says as the hunter again. He spent two years as the hunted. Now they're the hunter again. And I don't think Georgia's lost much. I don't think they've lost a step. And you add pieces like Trevor Etienne, and then obviously another great recruiting class, and there's young guys who haven't played yet

who are now going to move into bigger roles. This is going to be a very exciting year. This is going to be a very exciting day. I don't remember a day at a conference media day where there was this much star power coming in in one day and this is only a quarter of the league that's the crazy part Texas still hasn't come Alabama still hasn't been here this is going to be a very very fun year in the SEC and just the amount of interesting people, interesting storylines here on just this one day at SEC media days is,

is kind of emblematic of that. So cannot wait. And we'll talk to you tomorrow. After we talk to the bulldogs, the tigers, the balls, and the Sooners.