Andy & Ari On3 - Lane Kiffin Livens up SEC Media Days | Tennessee's Josh Heupel & Sexy Offense | ESPN's Joe Tessitore Joins

Episode Date: July 21, 2023

0:00-10:20 Andy and Jesse discuss how Lane Kiffin livens up SEC Media Days with some outstanding quotes and a doppelgänger in the crowd10:20-19:45 Andy and Jesse discuss Tennessee's outlook on the 2023 season to see if the Volunteers can continue their momentum after a strong campaign in 202221:39-27:04 Tennessee's Head Coach Josh Heupel joins the show to discuss his "sexy" offense with his athletic offensive linemen and standout quarterback, Joe Milton -- Can the Vols build on their success from the 2022 season?27:04-33:15 The first step in the US Government has taken place in order to regulate the NIL rules -- Jesse and Andy discuss33:15-35:40 The situation at Northwestern continues to unravel with more than just its football program involved35:40-37:48 As the summer continues to roll on, The PAC-12 has yet to reach a media rights deal37:48-43:12 South Carolina Quarterback Spencer Rattler joins the show to discuss continued success in the 2023 season and a new name that should be on everyone's radar for the near future43:13-1:00:11 ESPN's Joe Tessitore joins the show to discuss LSU, Texas A&M and their hiring of Bobby Petrino, and everything else in between going on in the SEC1:00:14-1:14:56 - In honor of wrapping up SEC Media Days, Andy brings on Clark to discuss his Top 5 SEC Freaks

Welcome to Andy Staples on three day four at SEC Media Days, the final day of SEC Media Days. The conference will finally relinquish its grip on the nation's college football media. Jesse Simonton on three national writer joining me. Jesse, we've been waiting for an SEC coach to get on the podium, get on the mic, and say something interesting. That finally happened Thursday. Lane Kiffin brought his bars. The man had singers. The man had one-liners.

He had jokes. And he also obviously came armed with some, you know, pointed criticism, whether it be NIL, transfer portal, what have you. Well, I'm laughing because I just got an ESPN news alert about Lane Kiffin ripping NIL and calling it a disaster. That's not the story, guys. The story was Lane Kiffin was funny as hell. And kind of taking a cue from the late, great Mike Leach, you notice.

No tie. All of the things we're talking about. Did he talk about his quarterback situation? Did he talk about all the transfers that he's brought in and where they fit? He did talk Pete Golding a little. A little? Did he talk about how they match up against, say, Arkansas or Mississippi State or Texas A&M?

Or how they lost, I think, 5 of 7 down the stretch. He did mention that a little bit. But it is – listen, let's prioritize here. It's talking season, so let's celebrate when a coach is good at talking. And the best part is is that you don't always know if you're going to get that from Lane. Yeah. But we got it in spades.

Oh, absolutely. The man was delivering 98 heat today. Well, let's start with Lane Kiffin agrees with us. I think that's a good place to start. Yeah. Yesterday's show, we talked quite a bit about how a motivated Nick Saban with a problem to solve is a dangerous Nick Saban. And Lane Kiffin, happy to point out how the SEC media machine works

and helps motivate Nick Saban. So here is Lane Kiffin firing astray at Paul Feinbaum and motivating Nick Saban even more. That's why we have Feinbaum, so he can motivate him every other year and say, oh, his dynasty is over and this is the end of Saban. And then we're like, hey, thanks a lot for pissing him off. And Paul's always wrong on this subject. And he just did it again the other day.

If he doesn't make the playoffs, he's not any good as a coach. So thanks, Paul. He's not wrong no i mean and the best part is is that he's like paul you are always wrong you're wrong every time now fine bomb called kiffin a hypocrite i know it was funny these i get a sense that there's a frenemy thing going on here. I think so, yeah. But it is pretty good. This was – and he's right about this because the hyperbole over the downfall of Alabama. I'm going to put downfall in air quotes. That the dynasty is always there. That if you don't make the playoff, you're a terrible coach. That's what Lane said.

They lost two games by a combined four points. Thank you, Lane Kiffin, for being the voice of reason. Something I thought I'd never say. Something that he, honestly, though, he's been refreshing more times, you know, lately, I think in the last couple years, whether it was with NIL or obviously talking Bama. Well, that's the thing. His big room interview was a lot about NIL

because he's the type of guy who will talk about it. Everybody else just ignores it and says, I'm not qualified to talk about it. You could ask my AD, ask my president, blah, blah, blah. He'll talk about it, and he'll say what's on everybody's mind. The truth of the matter is, NIL, they said it was to allow players to cash in on their marketability. The truth of the matter is, and if you read my column in 2011 in SI.com when I said this was going to happen and this needed to happen, they're going to pay him for their ability as football players.

That's what they do. Lane happens to point that out every time he can. It's okay. Doesn't bother me. I will say this was not a Lane intended joke, but another one of his jokes today was when he's like, LeBron James, what if he signed a one-year contract every year? What if Tom Brady signed a one-year contract?

I think there's probably some Tampa Bay Bucs fans that are like, I think he kind of did that with us. That's basically what he did. That's basically what he did. So, yeah, it is very interesting how Lane's filter just, it's different than everybody else's filter. Unfiltered. Yeah.

Now, not always, though. True. Sometimes he doesn't answer the question. And there's one question he got today that I so wish he had answered. Let's watch that one. Coach will go right in front of you, third row. Kirk. he got today that I so wish he had answered. Let's watch that one. Coach, we'll go right in front of you, third row. Kirk.

Kirk Bowles from the Austin American-Statesman. You mentioned boosters and the most aggressive and richest boosters that will get the players. Where does Ole Miss boosters rank, relatively speaking, in the SEC? And could you name two or three of your most impactful transfers you got? Well, I'm not about to start putting rankings out on boosters from top to bottom in the conference. God, I want to so bad, though. The commissioner said, remember, we've grown a lot,

and you don't have to respond to every question you know to show everybody you have the answer so i'm gonna i'm gonna do that on this situation how much would you give to get a lane kiffin ranking of team boosters throughout the country i would i would i mean i i don't have Quinshawn Judkins' NIL package, but I would give that up if I did to hear his rankings. Just completely unfiltered. I mean. Rank them.

Can we agree that this is RIP, but it's Pat Dye's cabin would be number one? Oh, wow. The things that happened in Pat Dye's cabin have to be number one for the boosters. Lane and Steve Sarkeesian are good friends and work together at USC. I'm sure Lane's calling Sark like, hey, what's it like having all those billionaires at your disposal? I mean, yeah, I rank them 1 through 3, 1 through 10, 1 through 14. I think Lane would be, because, you know, the question was around the SEC. Right.

I think you could probably get him to go around the country, too. I think I'd love to hear his take on Notre Dame and Ohio State and Michigan and Penn State, too. Well, and some of those fan bases would be like, we don't think our boosters are doing enough compared to what's going on down in the South. But I think I'd listen to Lane. I think he's got his ear to the ground,

his finger on the pulse of that stuff. So that one's great. But perhaps the most hilarious exchange involving Lane Kiffin, there's a TV reporter named Nick Brooks who I guess thinks he looks like Lane Kiffin. We're going to show a picture in the video version of this show,

and you can tell for yourself and decide for yourself thinks he looks like Lane Kiffin. We're going to show a picture in the video version of this show, and you can tell for yourself and decide for yourself if he actually looks like Lane Kiffin. The key point being he thinks he looks like Lane Kiffin. And that sets up just a magical exchange at SEC Media Days, the kind of thing you only get when Lane Kiffin's on the mic. I actually get mistaken for you a lot. I go to high school football games a lot, and they'll actually call when lane kiffin's on the mic i actually get uh mistaken for you a lot i go to high school football games a lot and they'll actually call me lane kiffin i just want to know what your thought is if you think i actually look like you or they're just they're

just uh seeing things okay that was the longest question that's the strangest question now i don't even remember the first question because this is the last do you get called Daniel Tosh, too? Yes. I had a picture of you and Daniel Tosh. Okay. I get that, actually, too. Like, I'll be walking through somewhere and somebody will be like, are you Lane Kiffin?

I'll be like, no, I hate that dude. He sucks. It's really cool because the conversation is, like, over and you can keep moving. And it's run down to my daughter. She does it now. She's like, I don't like all the attention because of the last name. So people will be like, oh, are you Landry Kiffin? And she's like, nope.

I heard bad things about her. So she's kind of learned that same trick too. So I'm sorry that you get paired in with me so but I would embrace it I would just go with it. because I sent that to my mom and she was like, is that you? Like she did not know that they had a mom. Hmm. What's your mom's name? I gotta ask my dad some questions now. I would just embrace it and be like,

you probably get free drinks at places and stuff, just depending on what state in the SEC you go to. So, next question. Okay, I think we're done. Thanks, Bill. That's a good one to end on. Can you imagine Josh Heupel doing that? Daniel Tosh does look like Lane Kiffin and Lane Kiffin does look like Daniel Tosh. And that has been pointed out millions of times. So

wow. But no, the, the only, the funniest thing involving Josh Heupel, who was here today too, and we got to talk a little bit of balls. Okay. Is our colleague Clark Brooks, the SEC stat cat, who you will hear later in this show. The man's got a bass full of energy. Asking an electrifying question about the sexiest part of Josh Heupel's offense. And as soon as the word sexiest came out of Clark's mouth, the look on Josh Heupel's face, he's just like, huh? People think my offense is sexy? I mean, Josh Heupel's offense is He's just like, huh? People think my offense is sexy? I mean,

Josh Heupel's offense is sexy. This is an offense that... It is. It's just when you hear Josh Heupel talk, you don't think sexy, even if yes, those past concepts coming off that run game is sexy. They may not be sexy to the NFL, but

they may not be sexy for NFL scouts, but they sure are for college football players. We've talked about it already. That offense is proliferating everywhere. This was the Art Bryles-Baylor offense. Three now in the SEC.

Beer and shoot, whatever you're going to call it. But Phillip Montgomery is now at Auburn. He's out of that group, and they've been running it at Tennessee. Lane runs it at Ole Miss. Oklahoma runs it with Jeff Lebby, so another one's coming into the league. That was another question that made him a little uncomfortable today. What do you think about Oklahoma?

Without saying as many words, he never wants to hear Bob Stoops' name ushered alongside his name ever again. I know that had to be incredibly painful. And for those who don't remember the history, Josh Heupel, quarterback at Oklahoma, led them to a national title. He's the offensive coordinator for quite some time under Bob Stoops. At the end of the 2014 season, Bob Stoops fired him and then hired Lincoln Riley to run the offense. Obviously, the pain of that firing has not gone away.

It runs really deep. And I wish those two parties could patch things up, but it may never happen. Yeah, and I think that was a huge reason why a year ago when Lincoln Riley left for USC, or two years ago now, you know, Heupel had no interest in that job. He was not, like, he... It was not even a thought, really, by either party, it doesn't sound like. But it's disappointing because that is his alma mater,

and leading him to that national championship in his first season there, the Heisman Trophy, the fact that it is so sour between the two sides is disappointing. Tennessee fans glad they have him, though. For sure. Let's talk about the Vols this year because I thought they overachieved the first year under Heupel. I thought they overachieved last year. Expectations are now going to be sky high every season.

Can they keep this up? That's the big question. I have a column, you know, coming out later on on three just about, you know, the transition that this program has made under Hypo basically from hoping to win to wanting to win. And every program that's become good has these moments. And for Tennessee, it seemed to happen a little bit in year one but then the fairy dust was all over the floor in year two because you beat Pitt top 25 win oh you get a little cachet

you finally get the monkey off your back against Florida huge win suddenly you're rolling into LSU and you you got nothing to lose yep and they whipped them. Molly whopped them. And that is the SEC West champ as we come to find out later. Now, the Alabama game was the complete proof of concept that this can happen. The Georgia game was back to reality. And the South Carolina game was, oh, we're not quite at the level we think we are yet. Or maybe we're kind of, you know, drinking our own Kool-Aid a little bit too much because you're looking ahead. So I think the big thing for Tennessee this year of, you know, drinking our own Kool-Aid a little bit too much because you're looking ahead. So I think the big thing for Tennessee this year is, you know,

we talked about this earlier in the week, are they closer to the pack in terms of the rest of the SEC East or have they really separated themselves as that number two program? A lot of offense, and I get it, they want that revenge. They had that November 18th game against Georgia Circle. That's the date that they've really blown up on the calendar. To me, it's week three in Gainesville. Exactly.

If you're as good as you think you are right now as a program, if you are ascending, if you are going to be the number two team. You need to roll into Gainesville and beat a team that you're going to be favored against. You need to end 20 years of misery because you haven't done anything down in the swamp in almost 20 years, and you've been the better team multiple times. Yeah, and let's go back to a couple years ago now.

It's a little bit of a different situation because that was Penn and Hooker's first start at Tennessee two years ago in the swamp. But that was the Dan Mullen team that got Dan Mullen fired. Yes. That went four and eight. And they handled Tennessee pretty easily. Yeah.

I was down there when I was covering the Vols when Butch Jones rolled in there multiple times with better teams. Felipe Franks hits a Hail Mary in the time. Tyree Cleveland. Yeah. And one of the worst games you've ever seen from start to finish until the last play where they had a crazy one. Both teams were just not where they needed to be.

And that's been the thing with that rivalry is one will be good, one will be down. Okay, this is a year where Florida is supposed to be either down or middling, and Tennessee is supposed to be really good. So Tennessee needs to go in there and win that game. Florida's supposed to be either down or middling, and Tennessee's supposed to be really good. So Tennessee needs to go in there and win that game. If they can't, it's going to change perception of both of those programs by their fan base. It really will.

And obviously Tennessee fans right now have a lot of optimism. They just landed a five-star receiver yesterday. Mike Matthews announced on our platform, on, on three. So they're recruiting well, but Florida's also recruiting well. So it's a constant measuring stick between these two programs. Somebody who works at Tennessee pointed this out to me today, and I had not thought about this, but let's say they do beat Florida. There's a tricky one.

Texas A&M. No. Oh. UTSA. Wrong Texas school. Okay. Frank Harris. They get UTSA between the trip to Gainesville and South Carolina coming to Knoxville.

Because South Carolina coming to Knoxville, given what happened last year at Williams-Brice Stadium, is a monumental game. I think there's some bad blood there, too. That's a monkey off the back thing. Like, if you're Tennessee, you want to annihilate South Carolina. And in talking to someone today here in Nashville, I think that may be a game they have circled big time. But that's where that UTSA thing looms large,

because let's say you go to Gainesville, you do get that monkey off your back. Now comes UTSA with Frank Harris, who's his ninth-year senior quarterback. Jeff Traylor, one of the best young coaches in America. Zachary Franklin, their best receiver now at Ole Miss. A little bit of a ding, but yeah. Jeff Traylor's going to be a Power 5 football coach here soon. Very soon.

Very soon. You did mention they play A&M in Knoxville right after South Carolina. It doesn't stop. Like, this is going to be a tough schedule for Tennessee, and they're going to have to prove it over and over and over again. Yeah, and, you know, our own Grant Firking, you know, at On3, he and I were chatting earlier today,

and he kind of made the point that, you know, Hypel now with the season that they had a year ago, coming so close to the college football playoff, look, Tennessee fans, they don't have to be told that they're as rowdy and raucous as anybody. The expectations have been raised. What does Grant know? He only played for three different head coaches in Tennessee.

You know what? I was there covering two of them. I got to tell you, though, as someone who covered Tennessee as a beat writer as well, in the Fulmer era when they were still pretty darn good, seeing them now feels like that. It feels like they should be good consistently. It feels like they have a steady hand on the tail with Josh Heupel. So my thing is, even if this season does not work out completely as expected

or as hoped, I don't think we're going to see a giant drop-off in Tennessee. I think we're going to see them be consistently good. The support's there. The backing both from an institutional perspective but also just obviously a fan's perspective. They just needed someone to desperately direct them out of the wilderness. They were wandering aimlessly for 20 years, it seemed like. That's the thing I keep coming back to is remember when Josh got the job

and everybody in the world is jumping into the portal, and we're thinking, this is going to be an epic disaster. This guy's going to need two years to even get them back to level ground. None of that happened. They were good. I mean, they were adequate right off the bat and good last year. They were. They were.

And I will say, you know, Tennessee's obviously been in the news a lot lately because of all the, you know, the NCAA and the outcome of the Jeremy Pruitt era. A lot of those McDonald's bags did end up landing them a decent amount of good players that Heupel then coached up. Let's not forget the brunches and the mani-pedis. That's true. That is true. All of the nice inducements combined. I mean, there was a lot of really good Jeremy Pruitt players that contributed a year ago.

Yeah, and that's the thing. Offensively and defensively. Can they, as those players filter out, replace them? I think the announcement you watched yesterday on our platform would suggest that that's possible. Would suggest that that is certainly trending in the right direction. Well, we're going to hear a little more about Tennessee because right after this message from Bird Dogs,

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You don't have to waste time buying underwear or washing underwear anymore. If all of your pants and all of your shorts come from Bird Dogs, you are living the most efficient life. So go to birddogs.com slash Andy and use the code Andy right now. We are back with Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel. Josh got a taste of our colleague Clark Brooks, the SEC stat cat earlier, who asked about the sexiest part of your offense. I love the energy, man. The variety in the run game.

I will ask you about that, because when I was in Knoxville last year, I was talking to some of your players and some of your coaches, and one thing that jumped out to me was the athleticism of the offensive lineman you had allowed you to expand the run game. How much did that change everything you could do?

Well, we constantly evolve from year to year. A lot of that's defensive structures that you've seen and anticipate seeing the following year. But your athleticism at the guard and the tackle position gives you the ability to pull and create angles and create another gap. It's a huge part of what we do. Damn, that's sexy. All right.

So, well, let's talk about you lose a first-round tackle in Darnell Wright, and on the line of scrimmage is where things happen in this league. How comfortable do you feel about the group you have coming back? We do have experience coming back you know for us Gerald Mincy and J.J. Crawford both have played a ton of football at the left tackle position a year ago those guys primarily here as we start out will probably be on the right side anticipate you know those guys playing at a really high level and you know I feel really good about what we've done up front continue to add depth when we took over the program as one of the positions that we were probably a little

bit deficient as far as numbers continue to add depth uh love where we're at jj is the guy who lost his lunch in the alabama game it was man no is that one of those when he comes back to sideline are you like good job don't touch me didn't see it until the next day when bill showed it to me uh it's one of the like alltime great clips, in particular for an offensive lineman. I can't even remember which defensive lineman it was, but the one who looks up and just steps back and he's like, no, no. I mean, that's the most intimidating thing an offensive lineman can do. Intimidating and disgusting, but yeah, we'll let it all roll.

This is the longest anybody's ever gone on an interview with you. We've only been asked about the offensive line, right? Absolutely love it. It's the mainstay of what we do offensively. We talked to Georgia Center Cedric Van Praan the other day. We said we're going to be an offensive line friendly show. We're going to be the offensive line safe space on this show, so

that's what you're going to get, but I know you're a quarterback. We've probably got to talk about your quarterback. We don't need to. We can go over this deeply. Oh, we definitely need to. No. Joe Milton's been walking around here, and every time he walks by somebody who hasn't seen him in person, it's like, whoa, that dude's huge.

And I've seen him throw. It's a thing of beauty, but it's been an evolution for him. Absolutely, as it is for all guys. But I love what he's done over the last couple of years inside of our program. Really confident and comfortable who he is, consistent in his work and what he's trying to accomplish every day. Man, he's come in and really affected his teammates. He's grown in his ability to understand the game, which allows him to get his body in position, continue to grow in accuracy, really excited about what he finished last year like,

what he did this spring, and where we're going to be this fall. One of the things that I know impressed you guys about Hendon Hooker was the way he handled the situation when Joe won the starting job going into the 21 season. How did Joe handle the situation of Hendon taking that job? Yeah, in a rare turn of events and really in a unique way, if you look at the landscape of college football where guys are, you know, hitting the portal, looking for immediate gratification, you know,

Joe looked at it and said, you know what, I'm going to be a great teammate. But I know I need to grow. I know I got coaches and a system that are going to allow me to grow. When ready, I'm going to play at a high level. I'm going to compete every day to be the guy, but do it in a really positive way. That's why he took advantage of his opportunity late last year. It's really how he played every time he got an opportunity to get in the game. Well, and that's the thing.

That game against Clemson, which is against a very good defense, he looked like the guy that you kind of thought as a recruit at Michigan in practice. If you ever put it all together, that's what it would be. How do you get that guy week to week? Well, I think, you know, for him, he's had consistency at the quarterback coaching position. You know, same voices with Coach Halsley and me being in there on a consistent basis.

He's grown in his understanding of what we do, understanding the game. All of that's parlayed itself into him being really consistent. He will. So you come in this season, after having such a great year last year, with sky-high expectations. I know you dealt with that when you got to UCF, where they were coming off an undefeated season and had everybody coming back.

But how do you talk about that with your team in terms of just putting in the same amount of work it takes to get where you were last year? Well, when we first got there, you're trying to make up yards. Now you're trying to make up inches. Inches are harder to make up than the yards. Be real and transparent with them. What are the steps that we need to take individually and collectively to get where we want to go? A lot of great moments from last year.

We didn't reach a lot of our goals. There's a lot left out for us. This group's been great in the offseason, been very purposeful in the way that they worked. Love what we've done in the first three parts of our offseason. Got to have a great training camp, but looking forward to hitting the grass with these guys. I am looking forward to seeing you guys out there.

Josh Heupel, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Welcome back. We're here at SEC Media Days, but that doesn't mean the news has stopped everywhere else. Jesse, we got to talk about the proposed NIL bill, bipartisan effort. This is the one Greg Sankey was hinting at. Waiting for. On Monday. So basically, the Texas bill, and it is supported by people on both sides of the aisle coming out of the Senate, it would essentially create a government arm of the NCAA, the Collegiate Athletics Corporation, that would have subpoena power and be able to investigate things.

And basically it would require any athlete with an NIL deal that's worth more than $1,000 to submit all the financial information to their school. It would regulate the agents. It would certify agents, which is something that the NFL PA does for NFL players or the NBA PA does for NBA players. So it would act in that capacity. But a government arm of the NCAA does not sound great to me, given their history. That sounds like a terrible idea.

The idea that agents need to be registered and, you know... I like that. That's good. The idea that if you don't get drafted, you could come back to school. That's pretty cool, too. The medical coverage stuff in there, the lifetime medical... There are little individual, I think, nuggets that seem

to be a good idea, but it continues to be so absurd. And I know it's easy to complain and pine about the problems with NIL, but the folks that want to be like, we need this transparency because we don't know what one deal is versus the other. Well, we don't know what one coach is making for a Mercedes commercial versus what... And every private business in America has to figure out...

What is Nick Saban making? What the employment market is in their marketplace. The people we work for know what sports writers make generally because it's their job to know. Nobody tells them that. There's no database that says, this is what somebody makes at's no database that says this is what somebody makes at the athletic and this is what somebody makes it 24-7. It doesn't work that way. No, and it doesn't.

We don't know what Nick Saban makes for doing the Aflac commercials. Right. But I'm pretty sure it's a nice penny. And they know, all right, Deion Sanders says, well, I want a similar deal to what Nick Saban's getting. Yeah. But it doesn't know it down to the penny. What they ultimately want is for schools not to pay players for their value as football players

or for their value as basketball players or their value as softball players. That is never going to stop. You can do this. It will not stop that. They will find ways around it. And I'll tell you right now, here's what I'd do. I'd sign a guy to a bunch of $999 deals. Yeah.

If they wanted to do it like that, do you know how many $999 deals there will be? All of them. Yes. All of them. Yes. All of them. So it's not going to stop anything.

Especially because this bill also does not address the employee status at all, purposely so. Which is another thing that's going to come along through the government in a different place. It's the National Labor Relations Board. All of that's going to get settled too. And if that's settled in a different way, none of this actually matters because they might actually have to make them employees. Now, the interesting thing is coming out of this, it seems like there's actually legitimate optimism they can get 60 votes. Now, the session ends at the end of next week. I'm not even worried about them getting 60 votes. I'm worried about them getting a vote.

Will it even come to the floor? Will they actually write a bill? But there seem to be some of these reporters out there that are following this stuff with regularity, seem to have some confidence. They know way more about it than I do. It was interesting, though. Nicole Auerbach from The Athletic talked to Tom McMillan from Lead One. He's been the lead lobbyist for these folks.

I think she was one of the ones that said optimistic about the 60 votes. But Tom wasn't all that optimistic. He said maybe there's interest in it, maybe not, which coming from him is a little surprising because he's been one that has, you know, his job is to lobby them and make sure that it does come to a vote. And notably, this is just a discussion draft. We should be clear about this. So it hasn't even been a bill that's been written yet.

And, you know, we're not going to get political on this show. This is not something we do. But we can generally say, and I're not going to get political on this show. This is not something we do. But we can generally say, and I think everybody knows this, if you watch your schoolhouse rock, when you go from this, where they are now, to a bill that is up for a vote in the Senate, and then if it passes, there goes the House, people may try to add some stuff on, pull some stuff out.

So it may not quite look like that if it actually does come to a vote. So that's the other part of it. We've all seen the little commercial of how to build gets made. Schoolhouse Rock. It's amazing. But we'll see what happens there. I didn't know it had a name. See, there you go.

I'm learning history on the show in real time. I don't even know if you were born yet when Schoolhouse Rock was coming out. No, but I did at least see it in grade school. Yeah, so here's the deal. We don't know what's going to happen with this. I don't think they know what's going to happen with this. They're going to keep trying, but I think you should listen. Temper your expectations.

Athletic directors like Joe Castiglione at Oklahoma, one of the most respected guys in the business, he came out and said the other day. Oh, lover of cake. That's right. He participated in our cake rankings yesterday. But he said the other day, it's time for them to start making a plan B and plan C and plan D. And that means there's some people who are very influential in this business who

think Congress is not going to pull your butts out of the fire here. You're going to have to figure it out yourselves, which, by the way, is what you should do. Because what business wants the federal government to tell them how to run their business? Exactly. I mean, yeah. And these Plan B, Cs, and Ds should have been planned. They should have had these in the chamber, so to speak, well past where we are right now. Okay, so this is not the only thing going on.

Plenty of other news out there. More Northwestern. And I get a feeling this is just going to be a drips and drabs and drips and drabs. The faucet's leaking. Yeah, a couple things. There's a third lawsuit. Multiple reports confirmed. Notably not with the guys that we talked about yesterday that went on the record

with the Chicago Tribune and other reporters. And then another lawsuit that has brought the softball and volleyball teams into it, and let's not forget Northwestern, in addition to football, has also had issues with cheerleading and baseball. So this is going to rope in the administration. This is going to rope in the president, Jim Phillips, who's the current commissioner of the ACC. He's the former athletic director there.

Morty Shapiro, the former president. All of these people are going to have to deal with this in one way, shape, or form. And I don't think it's stopping anytime soon. It seems to be a snowball rolling downhill. Really interesting story by Kalen Kaler in The Athletic that talked to players at Northwestern from the 90s through more recently about how this stuff came to be. They would go to camp at Wisconsin Parkside,

and apparently it started with naked pull-ups, and then it just sort of devolved. Escalated from there, or devolved. Yeah. Devolved is a better word than escalated. The people who started it wouldn't recognize what it became was the gist of the story. It started off as a bunch of guys that are stuck out in the middle of nowhere in Wisconsin doing football practice, doing goofy stuff, and then it changed over the years.

And then what is most evident is that it was systemic throughout the entire athletic department this is it's not it's a football story in terms of and different sports had different issues different so it that's the thing that is going to make this last so long and and reach so far is we're talking about the entire department. We're not just talking about one team. This is not just a Pat Fitzgerald story anymore. No, but he will forever be at the center of it because he's the most famous football player and famous coach they've ever had. And again, his attorney released a statement yesterday saying, hey, nothing specific's been leveled against him.

We plan on defending him vigorously, so we'll see what he comes out with as well throughout this process. But that's going to keep going. Another process that is seemingly never-ending, but it does, maybe there is an end in sight. The PAC 12 TV deal. So Colorado Chancellor Philip DiStefano told the Denver Post on Wednesday that he expects during the meeting on Thursday with presidents and George Kliapkov, the commissioner of the league, to get a more firm update on where they're at. And DiStefano sounded very optimistic about Colorado staying in the Pac-12.

It's what we've heard. That was of the most interest to me that he was optimistic. Because I've got to say, I feel like we've been like Charlie Brown with the football here with this Pac-12 media rights deal. It seems like every time they're saying, it's coming, it's coming, Lucy takes the football away. But Colorado staying in the league, I think, is interesting. Or the optimism that they've been doing. And that level of statement, when he didn't have to say anything,

I think does give you some optimism that maybe they can. So we will see what happens with that. The league has been very good at pointing out this week hey there's not going to be an announcement about a media rights deal so this update that he plans to give the presidents maybe they're not across the finish line but maybe it's close enough that the presidents can start maybe they have some specific tv partners feeling good about it right and maybe they actually have some specific TV partners, you know, with a contract that's at least being formulated.

Yeah, and remember San Diego State has said staying in the Mountain West, and that probably means for about two more years. And they're actually getting the $6 million check. It was put in the side bank for a little while, but they got the little penalty and now they're going to get it. So lots of news in the world of college football. It never stops, but we got lots of fun stuff going on here at SEC Media Days. When we come back, South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler,

and he's going to give you a preview of a freshman that everybody who follows recruiting has been really excited about. Well, he's been throwing to this guy. You're going to hear about him when we come back. We are joined now by South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler. And, Spencer, how did last year change for you after that Tennessee game? I've talked to Shane Beamer about this. He said, I saw all those throws every day in practice,

and then we saw them in the game. Did it feel different for you? I think everything just clicked, not just for me, but a group as a whole. You know, we cut some things down, not making it easier, but just doing what we're good at, you know, playing to our strengths, getting the ball in our best players' hands, and just throwing the ball around, running around. Everything was clicking that night.

So before we started recording, you and I were talking about you were part of a Netflix show, the QB. Well, QB1, I believe. The QB is the Patrick Mahomes one, so you're working your way toward that one now. But you've been in the spotlight since sophomore, junior year of high school. How much have you grown and changed in that period? I mean, obviously a ton. I was 16 years old, you know, back then. Now I'm 22. That was a long time ago. Obviously enjoyed the process from then till now. It's been nothing but a blessing. You know,

God has blessed me with a lot and I don't take it for granted. So you come into college and really you've seen all the changes like NIL starts while you're in college. The transfer rules change while you're in college. How different do you think your experience would have been if you'd been born five years earlier? I mean I think a lot different. I mean every the whole landscape has changed you know and I've been lucky enough to see it all change and go through it. I'm one of those guys, along with others, that have got to see everything, like you said. I was going to say, do you feel like you've aged 10 years?

That's a lot of stuff to get thrown at you at once when nobody else knows how to deal with it either. Yeah, I still feel like I'm a young guy. I'm 22, still pretty young. I'm actually young, so I've got a lot 22, still pretty young. I'm actually, yeah, I'm young. So I got a lot more life ahead of me and just been enjoying it. So this team, you know, you have the confidence boost at the end of last season of beating Tennessee, beating Clemson. How much did that help you going into the offseason just to know, hey, we're capable of playing with anybody? Yeah, I think those last few games, I'd say from November on.

Okay. From November on, everything started to click. We got our full confidence. And there is no such thing as momentum. But I mean, I think we all know if you ride that momentum and continue to work and stay consistent, you can't expect everything to happen, but you got to work towards it. And, you know, we're just stacking on these days. New offensive coordinator in Dow Logans. How does that change what you do? How does that change the offense? I've loved every part of it. Coach Dow, he's a great guy, a great coach.

Obviously, coached quarterbacks in the NFL for a long time, so he's got a great mind for the game. He's helped our whole quarterback room improve, our whole offense improve. How many questions do you ask him about how NFL quarterbacks work because I think that would be the thing I'd be the most curious about is what what does this guy do how does this guy handle Tuesday how's this guy handle Wednesday yeah he has so many stories and so much experience at that next level um that that helps us from an everyday basis from practice to game prep to everything so we try to ask him every little thing. So give me a couple younger guys that maybe we don't know yet

who may be household names come October or November. Let's see. On the offensive side? Yeah, on the offensive side. The guys you might be throwing to, handing to? Younger guys, I would say Elijah Caldwell. Watch out for him. He's been a guy that has came in, really been focused, great player.

You know, other younger guys i feel like we're a pretty older group on the offensive end yeah um but anybody on defense defense we got some dbs um that will be great and but yeah y'all just had to see well okay let me speaking of that the guy last year nick emmon worry could you guys tell when he showed up this dude's's going to be special? Yeah, Nick is one of the freakiest athletes I've seen, and you just reminded me, Nick Harbour. Obviously another young guy that's going to be great for us. Yeah, we haven't done much on him.

He's only a little five-star. A little five-star. Track star. Really fast. 235 pounds. Okay, is he really that big and that fast? I've seen the videos, but what's it like in person? He's freakish, let's say that.

I mean, probably every inch of 6'5", you know, fast as ever. We're just trying to tighten down everything else, get his fundamentals right, and obviously learn the offense. That's what, when I talked to Shane Beamer, he mentioned that, you know, the initial thought that when they're recruiting him is maybe he's a defensive end, then a tight end, now moving him even further out as a receiver. What corner is supposed to be able to deal with that? Hey, I hope nobody can deal with him, you know, and not just him.

Obviously, we've got so many other guys that they have to focus on. So that's a positive for me for sure. All right, we've got to talk about this charm here, the Rattler charm. When did you get that made? This was made in 2020. I've had this for a few years now. Just a cool little piece. Absolutely.

With a name like Rattler, you have to have a cool logo. You have to have fangs somewhere. Somewhere. You know, sharp tail, sharp whatever you call that. Rattle. Yeah, exactly right. Now, the pit vipers are an amazing group of snakes. They got the fangs.

They come out. The boom. They're very scary. You want to stay away from them. You see a lot of them on Arizona golf courses for sure. That's exactly right. They strike fast, just like your offense. Spencer, thank you so much.

Yes, sir. Thank you. Joined now by a very, very special guest. I don't know how special, Andy. The man who created a night of dining that ended with Brock Huard downing short ribs, looking at me going, what, you're not hungry anymore? That is a more significant and recalled moment. By the way, I'm Joe Tessitore.

This is Joe Tessitore. This is how bad I'm at this. I forgot to introduce Joe Tessitore. But this is, I will say this. So we had an all-time, many years ago, some of my closest college football friends, I invited. So we had an all-time, many years ago, some of my closest college football friends, I invited everybody to Connecticut for an all-time, we're going to have an Italian feast.

And that moment, I feel, in your career, both as an athlete that you were and as a media professional, stands out more in defeat than anything that happened when you were getting your ass kicked as a walk-on offensive lineman at Florida listen and anything that happened in your professional career that would that defeat to Brock Huard yeah well first of all there's a couple you were number two in the entire thing couple things you need to know that the people need to understand about human beings and athletes it's not the bigger guys who can eat the most. Oh, I know that. Oh, yeah. It is the 6'5", lanky, raw bone quarterback. That is the guy who has a hollow leg.

He does. And he burns the fuel quickly. But the strategy was off on my part. You went heavy on the arancini. The arancini. But it is the sauce that your brother-in-law puts on the arancini. Dalton Velez, Lou Dahl's Restaurant, North Haven, Connecticut. Man, I still have dreams about that.

It's good now. Unbelievable. It's good. He's excellent. I know you dream of coming to SEC Media Days and talking to the glitterati of the SEC. You know, it's so funny because you and I have been doing this for way too many years. Yes. When our restaurant choices were the perimeter of a mall parking lot in Hoover, Alabama.

Welcome media fans. Exactly. So what I like about SEC media days is the whole thing, and it's the overused moniker, it's the unofficial start. But it really is because what it is is it's all college football fans pausing and saying, oh, I can see it. I can see the starting gate. So if we can see the starting gate, we're allowed, and now it's on,

and we can just start. And we can talk. And here we go. It's hard for me, Joe, because we get in full gear here. Totally. We are all in. Starting Monday, I work now through January 9th. But we still have to get through camp. The games

really aren't for another six weeks. I know, but it's like I'm all the way in now. There's no turning back now. So of the folks, we're three days in, so you haven't gotten to see everybody yet, but of the folks you've talked to here at SEC, who are you most impressed by? So I always think there are winners, and I don't want to say losers, of SEC media days, but there are winners of SEC media days. And when I sit back, I think I think that

Coach Saban and spending some time with him, we both had a bit of a private time with him this morning, and I think he likes the fact that it's Kirby and Georgia. Where the rat poison isn't. He's not Kirby rat poison, all swaging hype.

I think he's so much more comfortable in that role than he is in what would be the curve. I said this on the show previously, Nick Saban with a problem to solve is the most dangerous Nick Saban. Yes. So he's very comfortable. Um, I think there are programs that have clear momentum and like where things are headed. Um, I, I know what happened last year with Texas A&M and all the hype because of the signing class. Listen, take away some of the doubts about, well, what happened last year and the stuff with the play calling.

Just start looking through the roster. There are few rosters you're trading. There are few you're trading for outside that roster. That's the thing that comes back to me with A&M because I do feel under Alabama and LSU that there's a big group of that that group of five other SEC West teams all their games feel like coin flips only because A&M hasn't proven that it can win the games it should right but of those five A&M's the only one where I'd say I can see them beating Alabama I can see them beating LSU I can see them giving Georgia

even with all the chaos and issues of last year, they were still two yards away. Absolutely. But just look at every... I always look at levels, right? Go through position groups and look at different levels and you tell me where you see the weakness. Because I love Wigman. If they have some offensive line injuries, I think that's what happened last year.

They are seemingly going in healthy and they have more depth and now you get another year and Steve is in there who obviously you're familiar with right for it and i'm familiar with because he coached my son adazio looking for dudes he's he's a phenomenal offensive line yes in terms of development of an individual play he's a phenomenal offensive line coach the fact it's adazio patrino jimbo as your three people handling an offense I'll take that that's well and that's the thing Jimbo I think it's just a Jimbo quirk that he doesn't want to just say Bobby Petrino is calling the plays because he is right because he is but whatever you think of Bobby Petrino

there's not a single person in the world who won't say that guy's a great plate caller. Please, yeah. Not even a question. Listen, they may not have a record that you sit there and say, oh, was that that great of a year? They're going to be a very good football team. Right, and that's what I keep coming back to. They're going to be a very good football team. They probably should have beaten Alabama last year, did beat LSU last year.

When LSU was LSU. And we're thinking this is going to be a disaster because, yes, we saw the other games too. But, no, I think they have the chance to outperform their expectations probably more than anybody else in the league. Absolutely they do. And the hype that was placed on them last year should actually have been on layaway for one year.

The other thing I'm excited to see is Hugh Freeze at Auburn. Oh, I trust him. Right. We've seen him do this at Mississippi State where he took a roster, I think, that was probably worse than what he's inheriting this year. At Ole Miss. Right, at Ole Miss. And there's no transfer portal back then.

Right. He just had to, you know, he got Bo Wallace. So now you get a quicker turnaround because of the transfer portal. Right, so quicker turnaround on the roster. And it was scaring people his first year there and then started beating people. That's right. Yes. And I like, listen, I think if it's the Peyton Thorne that he expects to have.

Yeah. And they've got big bodies now at receiver and at tight end, the kid from FIU coming in. You know what they have at running back. They're going to patchwork the offensive line together. So there's going to be some continuity stuff. The roster is instantly better. Montgomery is a very good offensive coordinator. So I like what they're going to be on offense.

We'll see how they develop on defense. They'll get somebody. And listen, Joe, you go everywhere, so let's not limit this to the SEC. Whatever you want, man. What players are you most excited to see again in person this year? Well, I know you don't want to talk about the SEC, but the first player that comes to mind is Mason Smith at LSU. Oh, absolutely.

I think Mason Smith was set to be the breakout player in the SEC last year. Defensive tackle, LSU, 6'6", 315 pounds. Hurt in the Florida State game. I was calling the game. Fifth play of the game. I'm calling the game and he's out for the year now. If you told me they would go on to win the SEC West after that, would you be crazy? Right. I think he could be a guy that by

the end of the year we're saying they got the most destructive interior defensive. I forgot you had a run of LSU games last season. Greg McIlroy and I did LSU last year every other week. Yeah, you basically saw the evolution of LSU. Six times. Yeah.

We broadcast them every other week. From the Florida State high drama loss through the A&M, the high watermark of the game at Florida, which was Jaden Daniels' real breakout. Now, okay, wow, he's the sixth touchdown game. We had the near loss at Arkansas where Harold Perkins single-handedly won the game. That's what I was about to say. Single-handedly.

Because Harold Perkins might be the guy I'm most excited to watch play this year. Okay, so Harold Perkins last year was seaball run to ball. Right. Just go out in the field and be an athlete and just be athletically superior to everybody. Now he's going to play within the constraints of the Madhouse defense. I think his stats will actually not be as good this year, but he'll be a better football player. I'm just wondering if he can be.

Think back to 2011. Tyron Matthew, obviously a different position, different type of player, but a bigger version of that kind of stat stuffing. Not necessarily a giant tackle stat number or tackles for loss, but one of those guys who maybe he's got six tackles, a tackle for loss, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery. But last year, like, the four-sack, three-force fumble. Like, that's all the stuff where it's just he's off the edge, he's in space,

and he's going to get wherever the ball is. So here's the evolution that he reminds me of. When Boston College had, and, you know know I play a mentorship role at that program and I'm on the board of Regents. They've had a couple good linebackers, I've heard. Well, there was a year where we had Mark Herzlick, who was going to be a top 10 pick, and then we had a freshman by the name of Luke Kuechly, who was pretty good. Well, that was the year that Herzlick, unfortunately, was dealing with Ewing sarcoma

and had cancer. And I remember, so my wife and I were spending time with Mark off on the side. And I remember Mark saying, hey, Tess, he goes, when this kid, this little pup from Ohio, learns how to actually play the position, he's going to be really good. It was just seaball run to ball that freshman year. Right. Then it's okay, we're going to put him into the scheme of the defense. And oh, by the way, it was like 150 tackles a year later.

Oh, yeah, he's really, really good. That's Harold Perkins to me. It's the Luke Heakley evolution. Wow. Because that's the same thing you'd say about Harold Perkins. Now, they're different in terms of ranginess and body type, but he didn't even know what he was doing last year. Right.

Heakley didn't know what he was doing his freshman year. And they didn't know, LSU, I'm talking about, didn't really know all that they could lsu i'm talking about didn't really know all that they could do with him and that's that's like so why try to do more with him just let him be that's what they were doing with luke keekly that year yeah it's like we have the fastest rangiest linebacker in the nation just let him just you know i i cannot wait so do are you and greg lobbying for a little more variety strangely i do this year? Strangely, I do like doing a lot of shooting. Well, who doesn't?

You gain a lot of weight doing a lot of shooting. Yeah, you're going to eat really well. I mean, you eat really well wherever you go in the SEC. That's true. That's true. Yeah, I'm excited about this year. And it's weird because I feel like this entire offseason has been a let's get to 2024.

Let's talk about USC and UCLA in the Big Ten. Let's talk about Texas and OU in the SEC. Let's talk about the 12-team playoff. But no, no, no. There are going to be games this year. I know. I want to cherish these first. I know.

This is the last year of what we've known college football to be for so long now. This is the last year like this. But everybody, all the conversations are about fast-forwarding to the new era, the new college football player, the divisionless college football, all of that. Thank God the other, I know everybody's losing divisions, but thank God the other conferences have lost their divisions. Yes.

Yeah, I don't need any more ACC Coastal games. I'm not going to miss the Big Ten West when it goes away. But I will miss the SEC West. I was looking at the SEC. Yeah, but there was an era because you lived through it and played in it where the SEC East was the dominant one. When Florida and Tennessee were Florida and Tennessee. But I was looking at a schedule, and I was looking at Auburn's schedule

the other day and just going, we're never going to see this again. This is just meat grinder division. It doesn't. You're playing the West plus Georgia. There will be very difficult SEC schedules going forward as everybody rotates through. You know what the rule being, Andy? Yeah. And I was having this conversation because a lot of people ask me, like, hey, you're

one of the few in the room that's, you've broadcast at the top level of the NFL and you broadcast at the top level. So, you know, they're asking me a lot of comparison questions of doing NFL playoff games on Monday Night Football and compared to doing SEC on ESPN. And I said, you know, if you really size up the NFL and the SEC, there are a lot of similarities, a lot of differences. But the one thing is when you're programming the NFL or you look at TV schedules in the NFL,

you think of these big, bold, legacy brands that no matter records, circumstances, that helmet matters on a TV schedule. The Cowboys and the Giants. Packers, Cowboys, Giants, Steelers. Stay in those fours. Some Bears typically, Patriots more recently, whatever. But there's definitely like four of those iconic brands and a few on the perimeter. You add Texas and Oklahoma into the SEC, the SEC legitimately has more of those iconic brands and a few on the perimeter. You add Texas and Oklahoma into the SEC,

the SEC legitimately has more of those brands than the NFL does. They legitimately, like we're talking about like eight of those brands that no matter what the TV program schedule says, it's those two helmets. The helmet schedule that my mom used to magnet up to the fridge is going to look incredible. Any Texas combination, it's crazy. It's going to look incredible. Any Texas combination, it's crazy. It's very exciting.

Amazing. But got one more year before they show up. All right, as we're recording this, we have not seen the results of the media poll. I think LSU is going to get picked to win the West. Do you really? I picked Alabama. You believe in the media here. I think the media here will pick LSU.

What are you, going around doing straw polls? What are you doing? It's a mind meld. See, I think it'll be. I'm listening to everybody. I'm not telling you what I'm picking, but I think it'll be Alabama will get the pick. Okay. I think it'll be Bama 1, LSU 2, A&M 3 will be the pick.

The A&M 3, I agree with you on. Yeah. I think people are going to pick LSU, and I think Nick Saban is just going to tent his hands and say, good, good. He will love that. He will absolutely love that. All the rat poison going to Baton Rouge. Yeah. Joe Tessitore is going to Baton Rouge.

Hey, they're a better team this year than the team that won the SEC East last year. That's exactly right. Joe Tessitore will be in Baton Rouge. He'll be eating well. He'll probably be there every other week. Hopefully I'll be there too. Hot rains. That's right. Yeah, that's exactly west that's exactly right joe tessitore will be in baton rouge he'll be eating well there every other week hopefully i'll be there too hot rains that's right yeah that's my lunch spot that's i i got i got too many spots that's the problem that's so good the rufino's when they have these i struggle i struggle with any form of italian i know you know i i understand so i stay away well and, and look. And nothing against them. You are in Louisiana.

It's 120-year-old Sicilian immigration, though. You know me. I'm a little more current with that. I understand. I understand. Anybody who will put a 64-ounce steak in front of me, I'm a fan of. What I love about you is that you still eat great and big, but you're like in prime shape.

Like I'm ready to bring you on the road to face Tyson Fury. I'm trying. It's either Wilder or Fury for your next fight. We have a club now. Cole Kublik and I are texting each other trying to be a support. Cole, how many calories are in this two teaspoons of peanut butter again? You're not going that far. Stop that.

Just put the good fuel in and keep working out the way you are. I've been counting calories since September 2021. Is that the key for what? I'm never cheating. You look great. I'm very proud of you i appreciate it yeah yeah so that's yeah because i've heard some of your advertisements on some of your media work i've known yeah yeah so we're gonna keep we're gonna keep that up but

that's why i can still have those good meals every once in a while you come anytime you want we'll carb you up i will be brutally honest if i if i'm at your brother-in-law's place again i'll say cheat meal 15 000,000 calories. That's it. Your number one meal in the SEC is? Okay. In the footprint? Does it have to be in the upper tier?

Are we talking the college towns themselves or in the footprint? Yes, college towns themselves. A rack of Archibald's ribs, Northport, Alabama, suburban Tuscaloosa is very hard to beat. I'm on board. Breakfast at Mama's Boy in Athens, Georgia. Although, I will tell you, one thing I learned from the Tennessee NCAA investigation, I learned about a lot of good brunch places in Knoxville.

That's good. Because they took those recruits there. See, there's some good that comes of it. So, Scrambled Jake's. Next time you're in Knoxville, brunch at Scrambled Jake's. See, I'm usually a dead-end barbecue guy. Dead-end barbecue is amazing. With Big George. George makes me some dead-end. My picture's on the a dead-end barbecue guy. Dead-end barbecue is amazing. With Big George.

George makes me some dead-end. My picture's on the wall there. There's how much I've worked in the SEC. Yeah. I've had so many meals at dead-end barbecue that George, who owns it and is the cook there, has come to have a great Italian meal. He's traveled with his family to Connecticut to eat with me. So my picture is on the wall at dead-end barbecue because first year of the SEC Network,

when you were hosting SEC Nation and you guys were nice enough to let me do some restaurant segments, I featured the pulled pork and mac and cheese sandwich at Dead End Barbecue. He does a nice job with his smoked wings as well. Smoked wings are better than fried wings.

Agreed and highly underrated just as a form of protein, barbecue. I'll give you one. We're not at SEC Media Days in Birmingham. We're in Nashville. It's funny because I said, oh, I'm at SEC Media Days. I got a spot for you now.

And Saw's Soul Kitchen in downtown Birmingham does amazing smoked wings, and then I realized we're in Nashville. This is of no use to you. Yeah, we'll have to go to Birmingham. But I'm sure you'll be in Birmingham. I'm there often. Joe Tessitore, thank you so much. Thank you, Andy.

Always good to visit with you. For today's Extra Point, our colleague Clark Brooks, the SEC Stat Cat, is going to join us to give us his five biggest SEC freaks. We are here with Clark Brooks of On3, SEC Stat Cat on Twitter. Clark, you are here to debut something very important. Very important. The SEC Freaks list. Yes.

Top five SEC Freaks. I'm looking at your handwritten notes. My chicken scratches here, yes. I can sort of read your handwriting. I actually have stopped using pens and pencils because I can't even read my own handwriting anymore. I'm impressed that yours is semi-legible. But we're going to show the folks your homework here

so they'll know that you did the work here. But let's go. Top five SEC freaks. So you might be thinking, what the heck is a freak, Andy? Well, to boil it down guys that do things that other people simply cannot so the list starts off with a very obvious let me let me uh back you up on this so i was a walk-on offensive lineman at the university of florida my first practice i walked through the practice field gate past Coach Jones, and I looked to my right, and there is one Javon Curse.

The freak himself. Standing with his shirt off. I grew up a Titans fan. You don't have to give me any rules about him. Believe me, you don't have to tell me what a freak is because I have physically collided with the original. He is the original GOAT, right? I mean, we were just talking about how someone like William Perry,

the fridge in the 80s, was considered a behemoth. Well, by today's standards, he's a slight little guy, and we're going to be talking about some guys who just are literally dwarfing him at the same position. Yes. Yeah. Obvious place where we're going to start, Mr. Brock Bowers, and I want to say he is a do-it-all tight end.

I mean, he does it all. We're talking about blocking, catching, running. In terms of blocking, can he do pass throw? Yes, he can. He can be the end man on the line. He can be that offset guy. He can do the split zone fake stuff. He can fake power play action.

This is what I like about Brock Bowers. And you're going to see, we interviewed Brock Bowers here at SEC Media Day, so he'll be on the show in the coming days talking about this because Brock Bowers is 6'4", 230, which is actually fairly slight for the stuff he's asked to do in the run game. He will stick his nose in there and looks just as effective as the 250, 260-pound guys that you're used to seeing as your quote-unquote blocking tight end.

100%. One of my favorite off-season projects is to go back and look at what schemes guys are doing. And when you're pulling the clips, yeah, he's getting his nose dirty. He's not only being like the wrapper setting that edge, or the trapper setting that edge, he's also wrapping through the line of scrimmage and being that lead blocker. It's hard not to think of the touchdown near the end of the third quarter against Florida.

If he does not get his landmark hitting that linebacker, that is not an explosive touchdown. And of course, the other part, the big part, catching. So one of my statistics that I like to keep up with at SEC Stat Cat is created catches. These are things where the target goes above and beyond to make that opportunity for itself. A normal human's not catching it. No. They make it happen. He has 10 career-created exceptions, seven last year.

If he has five more this upcoming season, he'll have more than any other SEC pass catcher since 2018, since I've been charting, guys. The other guys in line, George Pickens, who we know is very sticky-fingered, and then the Heisman, Devontae Smith with 15. So that is great company for a tight end to be in with those two types of guys. And then it's the running, the yak. What tight end is used on jet sweeps, screens, Utah passes,

and one of the biggest aspects of George's offense, the wheelie switch, where he is that guy on the inside. He's running like he's going to pretend a little flat route, and then he's going to cut the sideline. And, of course, he has a couple of creative receptions in that as well. So he's just a true do-it-all guy. He averages over eight yards after the catch. I don't think there's any other tight end in the country used that

in that type of way. So 100% he is the number one freak. And I hate to say this, but I do respect Nate Tice, Ben Finnell, Dan Orlovsky. I saw even this morning, he was being compared to Shannon Sharp, a Hall of Famer. Oh, some George Kittle comparisons just because of how good he is. I mean, again, that's a little irresponsible, but gosh. Well, George Kittle was not allowed to do that stuff at Iowa. And I think that's, like, we just don't know.

It's interesting because, like, I wish we could have asked Brian Kelly about this when he was here. He had Travis Kelsey playing Wildcat quarterback as a freshman because they had promised him they'd let him play quarterback. But a lot of these guys, we're just now scratching the surface on what these super freak athletic tight ends can do. Yes. And this is one where the NFL game might be a little ahead of college football in that. I think so. I mean, you see this in the NBA where they're going to more positionless types of things. But now it's just like playmakers.

I'm so glad because I know there's a guy lower down on your list. We're going to have a lot to talk about with him on this front. So who's next? Next, it's Harold Perkins. Now, earlier this spring, I likened him to Micah Parsons. Of course, he's a little smaller than Micah Parsons, but he's just as disruptive. He has a massive motor, and he is active.

There's a reason why he was a freshman All-American. So the concern is with him, he's going to be a little bit more off-ball because of that size. You don't want him as that in-man on the line and invite the run, I would say. You want a little bit more stout person. But still, he had 59% of his snaps off the ball last year, whether he was in the flank or true inside the tackle, not as that edge position. That's what I'm thinking.

There's more of a where's Waldo game going on with him where you're forcing the center and the quarterback to find him every play, which is going to mess up their pre-snap stuff or at least delay them a little bit and and give them something more to think about i i don't think it's just we want him to play in the in the flow of the defense it's we want him to be disruptive dictate and you're more disruptive if they don't know where you are every play correct yes so um when you're moving inside and out and where you are every play. Correct, yes. So when you're moving inside and out and where you're trying to maximize, optimize those matchups, Brian Kelly spoke this week. He wants to keep him inside because he thinks he can be a huge presence,

quote-unquote, and dominate inside. Well, you're going to hear Joe Tessitore elsewhere in this show who did six LSU games last year. Joe's a BC guy. His son played at BC, knows that program really well. Joe's going to make some Luke Keekly comparisons, which is interesting because Keekly could do it all, but it was more as he got in the flow of the defense.

That's when the volume tackling happened. Before, it was just kind of go get the ball. So this will be interesting to see what Harold Perkins evolves into. And, you know, it's not just, like, the trait stuff. Like, the stats also jump off. So thinking about, like, the F stuff up metric, Havoc rate. Yep. He was the only college linebacker over 7% last year,

and he was just under 10% in Havoc rate. Can we change Havoc rate to F stuff up rate? I think we can. That's a better name. I mean, yeah. Okay. I think we get Sankey on board. All right.

He certainly seems like the type all right who we got now the strongest arm arguably on planet earth joe milton so not that will rogers is the best judge for arm talent but um he had some quotes coming out of the passing manning academy basically saying he has an arm stronger than some people in the professional rank so that is a little hyperbolic some no no stronger than some people in the professional ranks. So that is a little hyperbolic. No, no, no. Stronger than some people? Most. He has a stronger arm than probably 90% of the quarterbacks in the NFL.

I mean, probably that's how many you could probably think of that you could maybe argue could make 60-yard throws on the move with a little flicker. I've stood behind Joe Milton at practice coming out of the end zone with an offense lined up on its own 10, coming out of the end zone against their own defense and watched him uncork. It's incredible.

He's not quite the athlete Anthony Richardson was, but still a very good athlete. Yeah, he's not a statue. But Anthony had kind of the elongated throwing motion. Joe's is very compact. It is scary when you see him release that ball now it's also scary for your own team when occasionally it sails over the receiver's head and that's the question yes has he reined that in because if he can we're talking about an incredibly special skill set special yeah that that's the word like I mean there's to be a lot of dudes in this class that get that word, whether it is Brock Bowers, whether it is Marvin Harrison Jr., Caleb Williams.

Those are guys that are getting some really lofty comps. But, look, Joe Milton, just how he can just elevate an already aggressive scheme, it's just you cannot deny his ceiling is one of the highest in the country because of that. I mean, I don't want to besmirch Hendon Hooker, but when he was at Virginia Tech, he operated a lot like Tyrod Taylor. He was taking what was there. He didn't really want to press downfield, but obviously the super spread,

the veer and shoot, whatever you want to call it, Tennessee scheme, amplified that. But Joe Milton, you don't have to worry about natural aggressiveness and putting that arm on tape, to quote Chad Powers. Right, but here's the thing. They had both players. They initially made Joe Milton the starter. Hinden Hooker became the start.

Joe has to show that he can do it within the flow of the offense. Consistency, lower body mechanics, and not taking sacks, because that's one thing his predecessor did. He could scramble the space, but just taking those broken plays and not making anything out of them is also a big area opportunity. And Joe can be a better runner than Hendon. You would like to think so with a 6'5", 235 frame. That's exactly right.

Who we got next? Let's talk about frame. I love this one. One of the biggest guys in the country. Love this one. So relative athletic scores, it's getting a little bit more, I guess, momentum. But just using their database, I wanted to type in Deion Walker, freshman All-American defensive lineman

from the University of Kentucky, typing in his 6'6", 345 frame into their database. He finished in the 98th percentile of all NFL draft prospects at that position. It's safe to say he is a hoss and he is a boss because not only is he an interior that obviously can Occupy space but what UK did last year they started to use him at edge in pure passing situations So if you're trying to use your little tight end to try and occupy him It's probably not gonna go so well against that ball rust And of course he is 6'6 that really does disrupt passing well and in that situation

He's almost acting like an offensive lineman. Yes clearing out two guys to let a faster guy come through very much yeah because if you're running that mint front where you only have three downs you need one of those guys to draw that double team because odds are you're going to bring somebody else from either a corner nickelback or a linebacker position to perform some type of stunt. And one great example that I think just really jumps off the screen in terms of selling his upside, you might not see him log a statistic here because we're talking about it's a space occupying type of operation was the Mississippi State game last year. Now, by volume, they were the conference's best at preventing pressure. And yet you watch those third downs and Will Rogers was consistently disrupted especially in the second half no thanks to Walker's disruption skills pushing

the fun nobody else has that guy no one does in the SEC I mean we're just talking about how the fridge you know who was six to 235 in the 80s we considered a big guy well this guy is as big as Jordan Davis 66 335 and he can absolutely do it all and of course I mean, it's not like he didn't produce either. He has 21 defensive stops last year. That would have been top five or top ten, excuse me, amongst the interns this year. And remember, he's not playing a ton of snaps.

No, no. I mean, he was a situational guy. Again, he had to earn some playing time away from Octavian Oxendine, all-name team type of person. So, like, he wasn't just given the job. He had to come in and earn it, and it's really easy to see why. Who else we got? Okay, now this is our guy, number five.

So we heard about this guy already in this show. Spencer Rattler joined us. I asked him about young guys that we should blow about, and he mentioned Nick Harbour, five-star recruit from the DMV area, legit, like, has Team USA track aspirations and might actually be able to do it. So that's a 10-3-8, 100-yard dash that is a little bit faster than me, I think.

A little bit. I think it'll do. But yeah, just how we were talking about playmakers and how you can add a little bit more potency. Well, if there's any offense that needs a little bit more juice, down-to-down, I would say it would be South Carolina. Whether it is avoiding those bubble screens, get a little bit more down-to if there's any offense that needs a little bit more juice down to down i would say it would be south carolina's whether it is avoiding those bubble screens get a little bit more down the field threat but still because of how he is just big long and explosive you know the name i tossed out to you was dk mcaf you know that's too small

exactly that should just tell you dk mcaf of course one of the biggest or most impactful north south big receivers in the professional ranks. So we already mentioned people who were on South Carolina, like Jaheim Bell. The only name that really, well, because remember, he's 6'5", 235, 240. There's only one name that actually compares, but it's unfair to compare him to this human because nobody else has been able to do this. It's Megatron. That's the only other person who physically compares. But we can't say that because this guy's never even taken a college snap.

Correct, correct. So it's a lot of wait and see. Of course, there's a lot of wait and see around that offense, Mr. Rattler in particular. Will that verticality that we saw at the last half of the season carry over? You know, he had 26 deep pass attempts the last three games. He had 29 the entire season before that. Just incredible. So if he can help provide a little bit more stress

and open up things for the run game, because that's also very important because South Carolina, dead last in the SEC last year in rush yards before contact, they need to get some verticality. They need to create space both sideline to sideline and end zone to end zone any way they can. I absolutely think he is that type of freak that can do that for this offense. The only true freshman on Clark's list.

But people have been buzzing about this dude for two years, so I can't wait to see him on the field. Clark, we're going to have so much to talk about this season. Cannot wait to have you back. Same. Appreciate it, Andy. That's it from SEC Media Days, and that's it for our first week as a show. Thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate you telling your friends, subscribing, rating, reviewing.

We're not going to be here without you. We're going to do this for you, and we're going to have as much fun as humanly possible. So please let everybody know who loves college football that there's a new show out there called Andy Staples on three. They can watch it on video. They can get it in podcast form and hopefully you've seen what we can do. It's only going to get better from here. Thanks so much. We'll talk to you next week.