Andy & Ari On3 - LSU brings Coach O BACK: Ed Orgeron reuniting with Lane Kiffin and the Tigers

Episode Date: May 21, 2026

As the LSU Tigers have had all sorts of reunions lately, the Bayou Bengals add another in Ed Orgeron returning to join Lane Kiffin’s staff in Baton Rouge. Watch here as Andy & Ari react to the 2019 national championship winning coach returning to Tiger Stadium this fall. Do you think this is good news for LSU? Let us know your thoughts!   (0:00) On Today’s Episode (0:51) Presenting Sponsor (2:34) Intro: Ed Orgeron returns (9:44) All the reunions at LSU (21:58) Previewing Clark Brooks - 100 Days Out (22:14) Who Am I? (25:48) Who Am I? - Answer (27:21) Previewing Clark Brooks (28:02) Clark Joins - Indiana (29:48) Ari's Top 10, Clark's Process (32:28) Teams that stood out: Oklahoma (36:13) Dante Moore, Oregon (38:23) Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss (40:42) Sam Leavitt, LSU (43:25) Bryce Underwood, Michigan (45:55) Dylan Stewart, South Carolina (49:00) Duce Robinson, Florida State (51:02) Curt Cignetti's talent at Indiana (54:14) LSU's talent (59:33) The Cal Bears & JKS (1:03:22) Closing out the show - see you tomorrow!   Before Andy & Ari are joined by Clark, it's time for this week's edition of Who Am I? How many guesses did it take you to guess this iconic college football legend?   As the start of the college football season is officially 100 days away, Andy & Ari are joined by On3's stats guru, Clark Brooks. Watch here as Clark gives the fellas a very detailed and intricate rundown of the names that fans of college football should be familiar with this fall. Who will be the breakout players? Which teams have the most talent? Clark Brooks gives his thoughts with Andy & Ari here.   Our show is also presented by BetMGM!   If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works:   1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB. 2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game. 3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sure you use bonus code CFB when you sign up!   Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary.   See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. This promotional offer is not available in DC, Mississippi, New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET (Available in the US) . 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only (if applicable). Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel   Join On3 today! https://www.on3.com/join   Watch our show on YouTube instead! https://youtu.be/X3ulD3eRDUA   Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey   Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's Andy and Ari on three presented by BetMGM. Coacho returns to LSU. That's right. The third fired LSU head coach to be rehired by LSU in the last three months. It's got to be some kind of record. How can coach O'Hillian Kiffin as he navigates season one in Baton Rouge? Plus, our man Clark Brooks on three's advanced stats guru joins us to celebrate a hundred days until college football starts with a conversation about the top 100 impact players in college football, which team has the most? And who of those players are going to have the biggest impacts? We'll talk about it all on today's Andy and R&3 presented by BetMGM.

We are presented by BetMGM. All the lines and totals you see on this show come from BetMGM. And if you're not already signed up, you download the app. you sign up using the code CFB, that CFB is in college football. You can get up to $1,500 in bonus bets for doing that. If you are already signed up, there's a lot going on for you this week. The BetMGM hat trick jackpot is still going on. So every NHL playoff game, you have a chance to win a share of $10,000 in bonus bets

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See betmgm.com for terms 21 plus. Only this promotional offer is not available in DC, Mississippi, New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling, call 1-800-Gambler or 1-800-My-Rest, available in the U.S. 8778-1-369-9-3 in New York, 1-8-0-0-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2-3 in Puerto Rico. First bet offer for new customers only if applicable, subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in seven days. In partnership, with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Welcome to Andy Narion 3 presented by BetMGM and he's coming back, baby. Coach-o back in Baton Rouge. LSU has hired Ed Orgeron as a special assistant recruiting and defense for the LSU football team. That of course would be the Ed Orgeron

who won a national title there in 2019 was unceremoniously fired in 2021. And he's now back. and back together with Lane Kiffin. Andy, how do we get one minute and 49 seconds into this recording without you doing an eddo impression yet? Because I don't do the edo impression. He's not a fan of those.

There was a sideline reporter who did it once, and he took great offense. And look, listen, the man's mom, Miss Coco, has made me gumbo before. So I'm going to respect the accent. I also wrote a column. When Ed Ors-Rone and Dabo Sweeney were about to play for the national title, I wrote a column saying, I love that these two guys with their real accents, Ed Ors-Ran from LaFersh, Parish, Louisiana,

Davos-Sweeney from Pelham, Alabama, sounded like dudes from those places and never lost their accent. Because I got bullied out of my original accent when I moved from Columbia, South Carolina to Key Largo, Florida as an elementary schooler. and I wish I had my accent back. Well, I don't view the Ed Orscheron accent impression as to make fun of his accent more so because of the things that he says with that accent. I think like get on with your cissy blue shirt. Like, come on, these are iconic things that are just said.

It doesn't matter what his accent is. That's funny regardless of how you say it. But I will say the best thing when Coach O became the interim head coach at LSU when Les Miles got fired. And so Coach O starts doing the radio show, the first episode of the radio show that he does. as the head as the interim head coach. Some guy gets up and with a very thick Cajun accent says, it's great that we finally don't have a coach who doesn't have an accent. Yeah.

I will say that that accent also fits obviously LSU like a glove. And it was like badass because they were also kicking the crap out of people at the beginning there. Like, I mean, the way that the way that the Joe Burrow year went from, you know, the start to finish with the cigar, uh, leg crossed picture of Joey, uh, you know, smoking it in the locker room and the borough when he came out for senior day with the borough with the EAU. Yeah. And like, like,

coach, oh, like that was like college football theater. Like that's like a memorable, like that team will be remembered 100 years from now for a lot of the same reasons that we remember them right now. So, um, I will say this. The man is an icon. He has been on our show before. and I believe that it is a net positive for me, you and college football fans,

that this human being is back at LSU. Like, I think today is a good day for college football. I agree with you. And also, I think this is a key difference between the way Brian Kelly took over LSU and the way Lane Kiffin is taking over LSU. Think about this. So we had this story Monday at On 3.

Chris Lowe wrote this great story about Tom. Tommy Moffat, who's the former LSU strength coach, who's now at Texas A&M. One of the first things Brian Kelly did when he got the job was fire Tommy Moffat, who Tommy Moffat was the strength coach for Ed Orgeron, for Les Miles, and for Nick Saban at LSU, for, you know, three different national title coaches. There's a pretty valuable institutional memory in that guy. Gone. Brian Kelly got there and said, I can do better.

I don't need all of you guys who've been here. we're going to do it my way. And he got fired. You know, and guess what? It was Tommy Moffat's team that Tommy Moffat trained that emptied out Tiger Stadium in Brian Kelly's last game. So there was a little poetry in that. And then Lane Kiffin takes over and he brings in Ed Orsran. Now look, they'd work together at multiple stops before they were assistants together at USC.

When Lane got the head coaching job at Tennessee, at Orsron was one of his first hires. Ed Orsron went with him to USC when Lane became the head coach. So they have a deep relationship. But this is Lane saying, I like this guy to help me navigate this place where he has already done the job that I have been hired to do.

And not only has done it, has done it to the fullest extent. Well, that's what I mean? I don't mean Lane Kiffin's been hired to coach the LSU Tigers. Lane Kiffin has been hired to win a national title at all. us you. Ed Ors Run has done that. So, Andy, I think that, you know, culturally speaking, there are certain places in college football where it does behoove you to get it. I know we've had long conversations in the past about where you fit and whether being a alum of the place helps. And like we've kind of, you know,

done the math on that and it doesn't necessarily equate to a higher winning percentage. But I feel like maybe some places where you fit matters more than others. And for whatever reason, my perception, and you correct me if I'm wrong, is that LSU would be in the top 5% of places where culture and fit matter the most. Am I right about that? That's my perception. You are right about that. And also understanding how to navigate the place.

It is a very political place, not just LSU, but Baton Rouge in general, the state of Louisiana in general. and this like everything that's happened at lSU is all about politics Scott woodward the former athletic director there the one who who fired ed ors run who hired brian kelly is a politician by nature like he came through the political side he worked with mark emert when mark emert was the chancellor at lSU he was always a political animal and when his political allies were in charge of the state of Louisiana, he was fine. The second the current governor got elected, he was not fine. Like, basically a political enemy of his was elected governor and everything

changed. And so what you're seeing now is almost, you know, a direct shot at Scott Woodward. So not only have they brought Ed Orsran back who he fired, like the governor, Jeff Landry essentially ordered LSU to fire Scott Woodward last year right after they fired Ryan Kelly. And not only have they brought back at Ors-Rond, they rehired Will Wade as the basketball coach. Scott Woodward fired Will Wade. So that's all of this stuff is, hey, we want these people who get this place. We liked these people. They got this place.

And like LSU is an interesting example of this because you've seen other places where the new coach has come in, wiped everything out, cleaned the slate, and it has helped. It's never helped at LSU. Like there were people that work for Nick Sabin there who work for less miles there. There is a lot of institutional memory in some of these people. And Brian Kelly cast a lot of that aside. It's important to have that because being able to survive at LSU for as long as some of these people, people survived is a skill in and of itself that you probably need to be successful there. You know, I think it's been fun to pile on Brian Kelly and pretend like he sucks at everything

and, you know, no one likes him and all these different things. But the fact of the matter is is that Brian Kelly was a very successful head coach. Right. He just wasn't successful enough for LSU's taste. But he also might not have been a fit there. and I think that that was pretty apparent from the beginning. Like I don't know if that's something that, you know, I'd love to have T. Bob Aber on the show again one day to talk about this because he did. You know, he seemed to at least. He can explain it.

But he also viewed Brian Kelly when we had him on the show in the past while Brian Kelly was still there as hopeful for the future. Whereas, you know, looking back at it now, you know, it's easy to say it was doomed from the beginning. And I don't know that that's true. But Brian Kelly is a above average coach. and I feel like he could find success doing that again somewhere, but the second that he hired him, didn't it just feel like weird? It just felt weird.

Now, and here's another counter, another thing that I wanted to say, if you want to respond to that first, go ahead, but I have a, no, no, go ahead. I wanted to make about something completely different. But it is funny to me,

and this might even be a column, but LSU has maybe the three most, most disliked head coaches in college sports on their staff, right, between Kim Mulkey, Will Wade, and Lane Kiffin. Is that a fair thought? I think it's higher the most likable human being on the face of the earth. Like, does that like change anything for you? Because like, everybody loves coach. Oh, I got text messages from Arizona State fans that were like, coach oh. Like, I mean, like, this is like, is it a balance of the, of the, I think it helps. I don't think it's a PR move. I do think it's a football move because Coach O, one of the best recruiters in

college football history that has borne itself out. History will stand on that. Also, one of the best D-Line coaches in college football. So he's going to help in both ways. And so I think that that is going to help them and just having him there. And Lane Kiff entrusts him. And he sat in the chair. So when Lane Kiffin faces a difficult situation, like, it's interesting because I'm not sure how many people can give Lane an unvarnished opinion and he respects it. I think anything Ed Orgeron says, he probably respects. You know, the thing that people have been saying is that this is a PR hire in this picture

that we have displayed of those two shaking hands? There's no way. It's not a PR hire. I can tell you, like, it is, it is generating good PR. It is not a PR hire. Why can't it just be both? It can be a good hire and a good PR hire. Like that to me is what I see.

That's what good hires tend to be, R. Yeah, yeah. But no, there's something different about this one. It isn't just a good coach. They brought back a human being that breathes life into Louisiana. Like in a way that other people don't. There is a kind of a divide you have to be willing to cross to bring back somebody that you fired. Now, there's also the part for an Orgeron.

to go back in an assistant role at a place where you were once the head coach. We've seen people do that. Mike Riley did it at Oregon State. Vance Joseph did it with the Broncos. Literally happening right now at Virginia Tech the year after. Yeah, Brett Pry is the defensive coordinator for James Franklin, and he was the head coach last year. We've had Ed Orgeron on the show since he was fired.

And like, you know the story he loves to tell. I've seen them telling on other people's shows, too, of like, they're like, you know, we're going to fire you, Ed, and we're going to give you X number of dollars to leave. And he goes, do you want me to go out the front door or the back door? You know, like he was joking about it. But like, I don't, I didn't view Ed Orgeron. Maybe, you know, internally, anytime anyone gets fired,

they probably feel like they were done wrong because it's human nature. But in terms of bad blood between place and coach, it never really felt that way. Maybe that's not. I think once Scott Woodward was gone, that black, the bad blood dissipated. But I just like, maybe it's just Ed Orgeron as a human too. It's just like, it's very hard to dislike the man. So I think. I am always on board.

And I personally, I know that there have been coaches in the past who have won championships, Gene Chiswick comes to mind and have been fired very soon after. And I've never really been a huge fan of that because I always felt like if you could do it once, you could do it again, although Cam Newton probably isn't going to, you know, land down in Auburn again. But I've always felt that LSU could have done it again. I felt like LSU's team was more balanced and more well-recrued. recruited in a way that. And what happened between the 2019 national championship and the 2021 season when he got fired?

COVID. And I think one thing that time has taught us since the COVID year is that nothing that happened during the COVID year makes sense. Yeah. So using that as part of your evidence to fire the guy probably wasn't fair. Yeah. I realize in the moment it doesn't feel that way. In real time, it doesn't feel that way. When he came on the show last year and he said he wanted to take jobs or he was,

he came on the show to get the word out that he wants a job. Yeah, he was going to take a D-Lyin job. And here's the thing. I think if it hadn't been LSU, if Lane Kiffin had picked Florida, he would have gone to Florida. He would have been on staff day one. Like, why didn't he work for Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss? Because there's history and it's bad history between Ed Oratoron and Old Miss,

because Ed Oron was the head coach there too. So. There's a great Hummer commercial. They'll play the Hummer commercial, please. Hey, I'm Coach, Joe. I just love my Hummer. I believe the Hummer is the best vehicle on the road. Big, tough, aggressive,

and it represents everything that we want at Ole Miss. I have my Hummer. You need a Hummer. Tell them about it, Jojo. Mississippi, they are here. The new Rogers-Dab's Ace 3 Hummers are here. The folks of Roger Dab Hummer, a first team player.

Come see him. Hummer like nothing else. New Age 3 starting at just 32,000. Love it. If you were ever to give a seminar on college football, would that commercial be in the seminar? Well, and I also tell the story of what happened to that Hummer. He gave it to his mom. I mentioned Miss Coco earlier. Miss Coco's awesome. She's one of the coolest people you'll ever meet. Just imagine Miss Coco rolling around Louisiana with that. with the grandkids in the back. Yeah.

Hummer made an electric one. That's pretty cool. The brand has died a little bit. The crab walk. They do the crab walk. Yeah, but it's pretty cool. $32,000. They can go get you one now.

Yeah. Yeah, it's funny too. It's a nice reminder of inflation. But, you know, hey, I don't really have a bad thing to say. I think I think this is fascinating, though, because I mentioned this in the preview of the show. Ed Orjran, now the third former LSU head coach who has been rehab. hired by LSU in the past three months. So you got Ed Ors-Ron, working with the football team.

Will Wade brought back as the head basketball coach. Very famously fired, strong-ass offer and whatnot. And then goes to McNeese and then goes to NC State, comes back. And he hired Johnny Jones, who was his predecessor at LSU, who got fired. He hired him as an assistant. So Johnny Jones is an assistant. Also, Rick Stansbury, the longtime former Mississippi State head coach, is an assistant. assistant on that staff. So, like, it's wild. And I don't know if you've been following the college

basketball recruiting news. Like, Will Wade is just recruiting straight up 25-year-old former European pros. I got asked about on the radio show this morning, and I was unaware of it, but then I started reading about it after the show. And yeah, like, it's okay if villain is LSU and LSU is villain, right? Like, it's okay. But I feel like you're very, I mean, it's much harder to hate LSU this morning than it was yesterday. Correct, correct. And so Ross Dellinger, my co-host on the college football inquire on Yahoo, he told me a story about when he was visiting LSU. I think he was still living in Baton Rouge at the time because Ross covered LSU for a long time as a beatwriter. But he was working for Sports Illustrated at the time. He's visiting LSU's campus. He gets on an elevator because he's going to see somebody upstairs. Kim Mulkey and Ed Orchran get on the elevator with him. What a ride that must be. That's an interesting elevator, right? Because Ross is interesting, too.

Yeah, but the kind of, like, I just want to, actually, LSU, if you want to, if you want a video that's going to go viral, I want, Ed Orgeron interviews all the head coaches. Like, give me a sit down with Ed Orgeron and Lane Kiffin, a sit down with Ed Orgeron and Kim Mulkey, and a sit down with Ed Orzran and Will Wade. I will watch the hell out of it. You could make it a hot ones episode. Like, have them meet gumbo together. Like, I don't care how you do it. Yeah.

I want those conversations. This job, special assistant to recruiting in defense, is not an on-the-field job, though. Oh, I think there will be an on-the-field element, because if you have Ed Orsron in your program and you are practicing and there are defensive linemen practicing, he's going to gravitate. Like, there will be a gravitational pull for him. Yeah. But the recruiting element of it is the best part, I think, because you want that person on your staff. So Ed Orsran had consigliaries when he was LSU's coach. He brought in Pete Jenkins, who was the legendary defensive line coach. He brought in John Robinson, the former USC coach. So he had people that he used as sounding boards and people who gave him advice who were older than him and wiser than him. And I think that is what he will be for Lane Kiffin.

I think that's the idea here. Yeah. And maybe it's kind of like the 8th's Rothstein casino where he was like in charge of like food and beverage, but actually he was like running the casino. Not that Lane Kiffin won't be running it. His title, he's probably going to do a lot more than his title would indicate. But Lane Kiffin trusts Ed Ors Ron with a lot of these things. Like you go back to Tennessee, Lane hired Ed Orsron in this role essentially already.

like this is not new. He served this role for Lane Kiffen at two different stops. So yeah, I'm fascinated to see how this goes. Nothing, like everything about LSU is fascinating. And I get some people like, why you keep talking about this? Because it's interesting, because they're always interesting. This is the most interesting program of the offseason and the 2026 season, whether you like it or not.

And if you thought that we weren't going to talk about this, you're insane. Like this was like, I saw what we got a show tomorrow. But we do have a pretty full show, Andy, of more to do, including who am I. Yes, it's 100 days until college football begins. And we will celebrate by having Clark Brooks, our advanced stats guru from on three on to break down the list of the top 100 impact players. But before that, we got to play a little round of who am I. And it is Ari's turn to ask the questions, which means I am extremely nervous.

I don't want to screw this up. But we've each managed to, nobody's been stumped yet. Nobody's been stumped yet. And Ari did a great job with Brock Purdy last week because you got it, I think, sooner than I thought you would. And I'm nervous. I don't want to be the first one to get stumped. You won't get stumped. You're very good at trivia.

And, you know, the point of it is here is if you don't get it by 10, then it's shocking. So with you, it's very difficult because I think I make yours harder because I have so much respect for your institutional knowledge of college. You just think some random fact is going to trigger with me. Like, oh, that guy played catcher in Little League. So it's Tom Brady. Well, I mean, to be honest, the random fact that triggered me with Brock Purdy had nothing to do with your clues.

So, like, we also know each other. So we have to be very, like, I got Brock Purdy for reasons the person watching. I think the clue you got it on was I took over as the starter in the fifth game in my freshman season, which, like, you would remember Kyle Ken. to getting hurt and Brock Purdy coming in. And I don't know that everybody remembers that. All right. Let's get after it.

All right. You ready? Lock in. Who am I? Number one. I am a two-time Heisman finalist. Ooh. Two-time finalist, but we don't know if he won.

But I'm assuming you, because you asked it this way, that he didn't win. Okay, go ahead. I finished my collegiate career with an astonishing thing. 38 and 2 record, which is, Nope, good guess. Which is still best, which is still the best record for a quarterback in school history. Okay. So he's a quarterback. Yeah.

38 and two. Yeah. It's a good record, isn't it? Yeah. Played in the, this is number three, played in the NFL for two different franchises from 2003 to 2005. Tell them more. Nope. He's heard good guess. Listen to the years. Shoot, I'm sorry. You're getting excited. These are good guesses. Number four, he was traded to the Cleveland Browns in the 2006 offseason.

Poor guy. Still don't have it. Number five, I was selected in the seventh round of the 2003 NFL draft. 2003, two-time Heisman finalist. I'm dying here. No, I don't have it yet. Yeah, really good record was drafted in 2003, two-time Heisman finalist. Okay, I thought you might have gotten it by now.

Number six, I was Cam Newton's quarterback coach for the Carolina Panthers in 2013. I still don't have it. You're going to hate yourself. Number seven, I played on what most people consider to be the greatest college football team of all time. Okay, Ken Dorsey. Yep, nailed it. Number seven. That's right.

That's, that's, that's right. Ken Dorsey's still a coach. Like, I should have, I should have. I should have gotten the Carolina Panthers assistant part I should have gotten it. Yeah, I'll do the rest of the clues here for those watching. Number eight, currently the past game specialist for the Dallas Cowboys. Number nine, I played for the Miami Hurricanes. And number 10, I led Miami to the 2001 national championship.

But the reason why we went with Ken Dorsey, and this was Rivers idea, it was a good idea, is that we will be drafting the greatest quarterbacks of all time, or since 2000 on Friday. and we wanted to choose somebody that might be considered from that list but might not get drafted. Absolutely should be considered, yes. Yeah. And so I was right when you said two-time finalist and didn't win. That's what the way you asked it, I assumed he didn't win, but I was. When you came out with Kellynmore, I thought you had it when you went, I was like, God damn it.

And then you got it. No, the Kellyn Moore one, yeah, that's my fault. And I do this when I watch Jeopardy, too, where I'll start answering the question before. I listened to the whole clue. And obviously the year is telling me it's not Kellen Moore. And Kellen Moore, I think, played more games as a starter. I think he got close to 50 as a starter. And I also don't think he was a two-time Heisman finalist.

No, I don't think he was either. But these were good guesses, and Vince Young would have been a good one, too. But 38 and two record and drafted in 2003, I thought would have given it away. But now I didn't know if he was drafted in 2003 yet when I said the Vince Young thing. Yeah, that's true. But you did good. You did good. These are hard clues. Honestly, if you started with, you know, certain clues at the top, but we designed this to be a little bit more difficult and I thought you did a good job. Yeah. All right. Well, haven't been stumped yet. Happy about that. Going to be very embarrassed when I get stumped eventually because it will happen.

Guy you can never stump though. Clark Brooks. This is the man who crunches the numbers for all all the players add on three. And it is fascinating to hear him talk about who has an impact, why they have an impact. Check the QR code on the screen for the 100 days to kick off top 100 players in college football for 2026 from Clark Brooks. You can read that on three now. And Ari and I are going to break down that list with Clark Brooks. See where Ari and his top tens match. And also why certain guys are ranked.

so high. Here's Clark Brooks. We are 100 days away from college football, and what better way to celebrate than by analyzing the top 100 impact players, Clark Brooks, on three's advanced stats guru, Clark, we did this last year, and you taught me something very important. And that's it I had massively screwed up and underestimated Indiana. And so I appreciate you helping me get out on the ground floor of understanding how good

Indiana was going to be last year, even if I didn't quite understand how good? I mean, overlooking the state of Indiana football, how dare you, Andy? How could you have been just so disrespectful to Kurt Signati and them boys? But yeah, I mean, they just had a lot of talent at a lot of impact positions that not people want to talk about, like Isaiah Jones, linebacker, of course, Charlie Becker comes out of nowhere halfway through the season to be one of the most dynamic downfield threats. I mean, even someone like Pat Coogan coming from Notre Dame, who a lot of people had run at, but he just comes on being an immensely impactful interior offensive lineman, of course,

Fernando Mendoza, the former Yale commit coming in and winning the Heisman Trophy, being one of the most efficient quarterbacks last season, being a true dog, one of the most efficient and masterfully executing type of modus operandi in the last two minutes of drives. at Michigan State game, fantastic. I mean, I still listen to that Gus Johnson call just for, you know, to crack myself up. But certainly this time of year when you're looking for all the feel good stuff, Indiana, it's really hard to get off of them one year later after effect as well. Hey, Clark, we were talking about you on a previous show this week about how your talent list

or your top 100 could save us from ourselves. I don't know. You did go out of your way and have eight of my top 10 and your top 10. So you really went on a limb there, you know, pick up some of these themes that no one else was talking about. And you might be shocked to hear this, Clark, but you must be an idiot. How dare I exclude person or have Dejohn Lee at CB20 right now? How dare I disrespect every single person on everyone's favorite team?

But it does come to the territory with lists. You only have one slot for one player. I do agree with it. It can be a real, you know, engagement friendly. But same time, yeah, it does. it just creates that engagement, that advice of this, that embrace the big culture that, of course, just fuels us the entire offseason until the stuff. Now, Clark, we are much more vibes-based when we're making these lists.

You are much more data-based. And I am curious, you know, if you could kind of peel back curtain on how you put this together, and like I'm lucky because I'm looking at your master spreadsheet, so I've got your position-by-position list as well. You know, how do you determine how positional value fits and in the, in the, in the, master rankings. Well, yeah, of course, quarterbacks, receivers, edge rushers, corners, these impact positions, unfortunately, just by the nature of the sport, are just a little bit more high priority than guards, then offball linebackers, then safeties, even though, of course, we're just seeing where we're coming off a draft where some of the most impactful, the most

talented players in the draft where those, quote-unquote, non-impactful positions. But I'm just really excited to turn the page because this is going to be here with a lot of quarterbacks. going to be a year with a lot of pass rush. It's going to be a year with Leonard Moore being quarterback one. He's finally draft eligible. And he's been arguably the best coverage men the last two years as an underplastin for Notre Dame. And of course, Notre Dame, they themselves, they think they're going to be ready to, you know, finally break through, get to that title game and get Marcus Freeman some hardware that, you know, I have not been alive. I don't think last time they've won a national championship. So for me, being a historian of the sport, I would love to see

something like that with my own two eyes. I just really would. Right. Of course, yeah, there's a lot of stuff that goes into this. Metrics that matter, traits that translate. Of course, it's apples and oranges against all the different positions. But of course, it's just the nature of sport. Some are just more impactful than others. And I do like to start with quarterbacks. Of course, I just finished my quarterback impact study where I'm charting the top 44 returning high volume quarterbacks against their hardest opponents. So we don't have these poop states skewing how these stats and these profile and look and give us a little bit of a different perception of how these guys can operate. So it's good on good. And of course, I have a ball doing it as you know, Andy.

Hey, Kyle, if you were going through, because I like, we have a lot to talk to you about, but I just want to cut through the, through the fat here a little bit. When you were going through all these different position groups and doing your top 100, is there a team that kept popping up that no one's talking about enough? Well, in the top 300, I would, say Oklahoma sneakily has a lot of teams compared to some other SEC. And of course, if John Mateer, if his hand actually does heal up, it's going to be a completely different situation for that offense. Of course, when he couldn't throw downfield, it was very apparent on tape.

It was very apparent on the stat sheet. It was very apparent on how opponents tried to defend them. Of course, they couldn't run the ball. They had an explosivity, potency issue, so they had to be more ball control as the year went along, but that defense kept them in ball games. I do expect that defense to be good with Owen Heineke back, with Kip Lewis back, with Taylor Heinbeck. They got some dogs on that box in that defensive box to where they can absolutely

win some slug vests. Can they capture enough explosive play? So Isaiah Sintangas back. You know, they're going to have some offensive line continuity year over year, which is something that kind of have not had the last several years. Of course, they've been kind of these kosher children for kind of slapping offensive line together with some. portal players, you know, not a lot of carryover, but this is going to change this year.

And like I mentioned, this can be the third year with Ben Arbuckle and John Matier working together this year where it all comes together. And I think they are definitely going to be one of these sleeper teams, not only in the SEC, but in the national-up kind of discussion. Andy, it's time for you to put your first fat massive bet in. We have enough returns. Andy, we were doing a over-under's segment like a month ago about teams that were and Andy, I think Oklahoma was seven and a half, right, Andy?

you're like over, over, over. And every single person that we've had on the show in the time since. Yeah, our friend Steve Palisolo came in who has a, he's designed a product to examine roster talent and determine how to optimize roster talent because he worked for PFF for a long time. And he test drove it last year before the season and was surprised at the results he got because he had Indiana and Miami and Ole Miss ranked very high. And this before the season starts, he's like, I don't know about this. And then they turned out to be good.

So now he's test driving it again this season. Oklahoma was the one he gave us that not a lot of people are talking about. And it's for very much the same reasons you're talking about. And, you know, this is the kind of study that you're going to find that if we're trying to figure out who's deep, who has some very impactful players sprinkled throughout the roster, this is the conversation we need to have. And so I'm very intrigued that Oklahoma has popped up almost every time. we've had a discussion like this.

It's crazy when you hire the former director of the senior bowl to be your main talent evaluator, isn't it? But yeah, Jim Nagy. He seriously crushed the last two years. Of course, you know, we know how precarious things for getting down there in Norman. They needed to see some proof of concept. They needed to get some wins. Well, they have the talent now, and I think the proof of concept is there.

And, of course, it really has been a night and day type of operation the last couple years with that personnel department. So big kudos to them, like I mentioned, a lot of these names just kept popping up when I was doing the top 300. Oh, Oklahoma. Oh, Oklahoma. And of course, you know, they were a playoff team last year.

They did beat Alabama. This is a team that was very, very close. But we all saw it. This was a flawed team, a talented team, but a flawed team. But now, with another year to gel, I mean, this is seriously a very sexy under the radar pick from where I sit.

So, Clark, let's talk quarterbacks because I'd love to. You've got Dante Moore at number two. Jeremiah Smith is the number one impact player, probably on everybody's list, be it vibes based or data based. But you've got Dante Moore as the number two overall and the first quarterback. What was it about Dante's season last year that gave you the confidence to put him here? Smooth processor, high floor, really good within structure.

You know, he's got the length to see over the line. He's got the arm town to drive at all areas of the field. But there are still some concerns. this game. He's got to be more creative. He's got to be more of a dynamic playmaker when things break down. Of course, we all saw at the tail end of the year when that degree of difficulty did increase wasn't the soundest or most trustworthy passer under pressure. And of course, we all saw that at UCLA. His freshman year, that was a big, big bug. But would he press that issue, particularly when things broke down? So he's got to prove he can overcome that adversity

because within structure, there's not really a whole lot of concerns there. It's just the other stuff there. But of course, I mentioned that pass floor. Why is it the floor as opposed to anything else? Because, and sorry to throw some statistical jargon your way, guys, but it's the highest plurality of a player's snap. It's around 45 to 55% of the snaps, you know, outside the pocket, a little low. Pressure passing is usually between 20 to 30. So while sizable, not as much. So on a down-to-down basis, when you're trying to gauge someone's trajectory, their baseline expectation, looking at these situations where there's no, not a lot of variables. You're inside the pocket. You're not pressured. You're not using play action that can distort the defense. You're using schemes that

distort the defense. You're just asked to go out there and distribute. And he's very, very sound at that at this point in time. So if you can offer in that explosive and be a little bit more, let's just say, consistent on a down-to-down basis overall with the pressures and the play action and the schemes that's all involved, I really like the high end upside that he can provide long term. Mark, since you and I seem to have agreed so much on our top 10, there is something that is interesting with the quarterbacks. I see here that the person that I got raked over the coals for the past five days,

Trinidad Chambliss, the Ole Miss quarterback is number eight, I believe, on your quarterback list. What do you see from it? And that doesn't mean he's not great. He's 96th grade. But, you know, you have Sam Levitt, Julian Say and Dante Moore, Archmanning, Lenore, sellers, Jaden Mayava, Darian Mensa, all ranked ahead of him. Break down what you see out of Trinidad and why he might be a little bit lower than some people would expect after what we saw out of him in the playoff.

As with anyone who plays with Langkiff, and you need to really pay attention to what they're asked to do. So historically, what do I mean by that? This is a scheme that loves RPO's screens, play action. Scheme really does a lot of the heavy lifting. They have a select list of plays. I wouldn't say it's as lean as Mike Leach's. call sheet, but it's pretty dang lean. There's only about six to ten plays and they basically

rotate different setups, different tags for them. So there's a lot of comfortability executing these looks, game in, game out. Even though again, they do window dress it. So it's not completely the exact same every type of week. But it's something where they're basically letting the scheme do a lot of the heavy lifting without, you know, trashing him too much. Because we did see when he's outside of structure, when he's under the gun, when he has to lead a clutch drive, very much checking boxes. But to the inverse of Dante Moore, when you're seeing him isolated in the pocket, you have to make him stay within structure and distribute. You see some of the accuracy concerns, dip. You see some of the ball verticality not be as strong and lose some steam and have some sour ball placement. So even though he very much is a very dangerous thrower downfield in rhythm, it's just putting it all together. I think there's just some other guys that have more skill sets that I'm a little bit more confident in a bad. him at this point in his environment with some key supporting cast people coming back, not to mention one of the best running backs in college football and Kwan Lacey that demands

attention and demands eyeballs and creates gravity to open up things for his own personal carries or that play action game. I'm just no certain that his arm itself is as strong as as first rate as some of these other signal college coming back for this year. So we did this last year, you really love Sam Levitt. And you gave us a very impassioned case for Sam Levitt. Now we just got done talking about playing quarterback for Lane Kiffin. Sam Levitt will be playing quarterback for Lane Kiffin.

Yeah, man. So seeing him basically have to operate with a not the strongest offensive line, not the strongest receiver unit in terms of separating, which is weird because they had a first round tackle and a first round wide receiver. So you would like to think with that that the supporting cast would be fairly strong. But here's the thing. 20 erased sacks in his six-game sample last year. That was fourth most of any quarterback in my impact sample.

His depth-adjusted accuracy crossed 59% for this second straight impact steady. The only other pass to do that in recent memory was Cam Ward at 6-2, which happens to be Sam Levitt's height. So yes, you can have some concerns with how his anticipate. is how he sees the field, how he needs to have a deeper drop into pocket to potentially buy himself an extra beat and scan the field a little bit more optimally. But in terms of throwing downfield, making big time throws, and being a dynamic open field athlete that can help raise your offensive ceiling, there's not a whole lot of guys like Sam Levitt. And again, this is not just one year doing this. This is two years doing this. So even though it's two

years removed. Just think about how much of the heavy lifting he had to do in that playoff loss. I believe it was Texas. Texas, yeah. Texas Clems, Texas Clems won the two. But yeah, like the first series of the game, he's erasing two sacks running around and doing all this backyard ball stuff. And when you're looking at Texas Tech last year, the best team in the Big 12, he's basically shedding guys and getting explosive touchdowns off of it. So he has innate ability to really, really elevate his surroundings that I don't think is getting enough. service of course you're looking at some of these mock drafts. His name, not really on it.

So I think if Jackson Dart can mold himself into doing this, I proceed Levitt to have better skills across the board than Jackson Dart. And of course, Jackson Dart, very good as senior year, or his junior junior junior year, and very good at getting a first round pick and a pretty good debut for the Giants. So I think there's enough comparable skill sets, a comparable background between the two quarterbacks to just to think and to buy the notion that this guy is a first round talent and one of the most. impactful players in all the college football. Don't ask about, don't ask about Arch, don't ask about Arch, don't ask about Arch.

Okay, I'm not going to ask about Arch. Okay. You know, really low on your list? It doesn't mean it's bad, but I was surprised to see. Maybe not so surprised, but was Bryce Underwood. This is a guy that came in last year. He's number 22. And again, of all the court.

Among the quarterbacks. Not among the quarterbacks. Yeah, among the quarterbacks. Yes. And being a top 25 quarterback in the country is still a pretty good rank. but I think people view this as a transcend, him as a transcendent talent, that move as a transcendent, you know, commitment for Michigan to be great at foot. What do you see out of him?

And obviously, you're looking at tape from last year. How much of your numbers project forward? And do you think that he has the physical traits and the ability from what you've seen on film to, to outplay his ranking in your quarterback list? Trates, absolutely. He's a big old boy, and he can throw the downfield with ease. It's just getting rid of some of that raw on us, getting more reps, becoming more comfortable. Because right now, as is, the biggest thing that pops off the screen for him is his designed rushing splits.

He was the across the board in terms of all the statistics, if you want to glom them into one figure, in my opinion, he had the best rushing profile of any of these impact quarterbacks against heightened competition. So he's averaging over eight yards per carry. His rushing success rate was in the mid-60s, so almost two out of three work situationally. That's very good. and he did not have a high usage of quarterback sneaks, which, of course, it's easier to get one yard on fourth and one, as opposed to getting 10 yards on third and eight or so.

So, yes, that is one thing that really excites me, because what did his former offensive coordinator do with Devin Dampier? He unloaded and completely unleashed the Q run game. So a lot of counter stuff, a lot of gaps team down the hill stuff, where you don't have to get around the end. You just have to go north and south, fall your blockers, and use your big, burly, frame to maximize itself. So even though he has the tools there, yeah, I need to see a little bit

more quicker decision making. I need to see a little bit more of a downfield oriented. I need to see a little bit more potency. But again, he has the traits all there. And if you're going to get those safeties peeking up because of your ability to run the ball and keep them honest, he absolutely has the ability to throw it over their heads. It just how consistent can he be and how impactful can he be immediately? Because Michigan, obviously, they want to hit the ground running with Kyle Winningham. They did not hire him to go eight and four. They hired him to immediately get back in the playoff discussion.

And it is all possible, but it's not going to happen until that ball place but just becomes a little bit more consistent down to down. I want to talk about a guy who appeared on both your list and Ari's list in the top 10. And that is South Carolina Edge Dylan Stewart. So this is a guy. We use the A word alien quite a bit with him. But this feels like a traits versus production situation. where he was not a super producer last year, four and a half sacks.

But I'm curious in your study, is he affecting offenses more than we see necessarily on the stat sheet? Yes, because, I mean, he's a 6-6-255-pound defensive end. This is not a 6-3-220 off-ball linebacker hybrid type of guy. This is a true hand-in-the-dirt, Javon-Curse type of mold nine technique. So he gets upfield very, very nicely. Of course, a lot of people in my industry like to use the term get off. But I feel uncomfortable talking about young men getting off.

I prefer the term launch. Because this is football. This is Edmund, monster. This is aggressive, worded type of sport. And launch, dang right. He's like a rocket getting out of his stance. Of course, the Texas A&M game, he basically took over that first half. That is really hard to ignore.

But you hit it right on the nose there, Andy. This is definitely a traits over a production conference. conversation right now because let's say in 10 months we're not going to have the discussion about his arm length being a little short he's six six he's got that length he's going to be able to win that boxing match you know land that first punch well like a lot of line coaches like to say you get punched the mouth you hit the first punch odds of you winning that fight are dramatically better if you have to recoil and fight off of that so you don't have to worry about that type of stuff again we have the explosiveness we have seen that on tape and we've seen that in some of the

the measurable combine stuff that he has performed. But yes, there are some things where you absolutely have to be more productive on the day and game basis to solidify as a sure-fire best defensive lineman in the class, especially when you have someone like Colin Simmons, who is on the other side of that conversation, right? So he's a little, not that he's small by any means, but he's 6-3, so he might be right on that wingspan barrier at 32 and a half to say, okay, he's going to be more of an off-ball,

situational pass-stressure or a true every down. and we can expect him to get after and impact things in the box. But in terms of production, the last two years is underclassman. Yes, not even close. Colin Simmons has him. He has one of the top returning impact rates among all defenders. Now, what is that, guys? Did you do your homework?

No. Okay. Impact rate is on a per play basis. How often are you getting havoc plays plus defensive stops? So havoc plays are all the things that can potentially go wrong for an offense. That goes for a loss, batted balls, interceptions, sacks, stuff like that. Of course, stopped are tackles where the offense does not have a successful game. So you put all that stuff together. That is exactly what you want to see from an impactful

defensive lineman. As far as Dylan Stewart has to go, he's got to get a little bit more consistent of doing all that. But in terms of tools, in terms of trace that translate, you're not going to find a better defensive lineman in this class that checks all those boxes, in my opinion. Let's throw Florida state of bone here. Somebody that I've been particularly obsessed with since his recruitment and I think would qualify probably under the alien category would be Deuce Robinson. I see that he is number seven on your impact receiver list. Take us into how he's progressed in his career. And is this somebody that has breakout potential for a Florida State team that certainly needs something to happen like that?

Right. If I remember, I remember you dropping the W word and calling him a weapon, Ari. I mean, that doesn't go around, you know, willy-nilly like that. And he is absolutely a weapon. not at the six, seven. Last time I checked his measurable was yet, but he went from a situational kind of a power slot, matchup-creating type of guy to the number one receiver and one of the most prolific past catchers in the entire college football landscape.

Of course, the quarterback situation at the floor state has not been great. So that should just show you how impactful he has been helping them stay ahead of the change, getting explosive gains, and really opening up other areas for that attack. But yeah, for me right now, even though receiver is a little bit of a wide open position for me right now, to be honest, because, you know, we have people like Ryan Coleman Williams losing steam. We have people like Cam Coleman getting firmly, forgive me, a little porky pig right there,

couldn't figure out the word I want to say, firmly into that five-star range. And he's right on the cusp, again, because of the production, the size, how he's able to do things. Other people just cannot one-on-one. And again, dictating that offensive math. So I am with you. It's just how easy can defense is taking away? There's not going to be any other dog on that offense. That's kind of similar conversation we had with Kim Coleman last year, right?

Loved him as a player, did not love his environment, did not love his quarterback, did not love his offensive line or his play caller. So they're going to run a different type of scheme. How exactly is he going to be utilized? So there's a little bit trepidation there. But in terms of an in a vacuum type of talent with his size and his offerings, yeah, I'm with you. He is a capital W weapon.

So let's talk about the teams, because I look at your top 100, and I keep seeing some things pop up over. Is Kurtz Ignat going to do this again? Clark, that's really what I'm saying. Is he going to do this again? He might. I'm not going to say he won't, and I'm not going to say, hell no. I think they legitimately have a top five chance to a top three chance.

I mean, between them, Oregon, Notre Dame. I mean, it's really tough to find a more top-to-bottom talented roster, even for like non-impactful positions. Again, like last year, they're going to have a number of these guys. But look at some Transfer Portal additions that are absolutely going to keep them in ball games this year. First of all, let's start with Nick Marsh. Nick Marsh, he had a 48% missed tackles forced rate last year. So on average for receivers, that's around 16%.

Wow. He's in a class of his own. about, again, dictating and changing the math and making your opponents, allocate resources and open up other areas of opportunity for other people, he's absolutely someone who can do that. Now, he's just a pure ex-receiver prototypical build, of course, stat sheet, the inefficiency because of the Michigan State's quarterback situation, not necessarily the cream of the crop, so it didn't necessarily jump off the page. But in terms of traits, in terms of that type of stuff, really going to be hard to ignore,

especially if Josh Hoover stops being a heat seeker, and he returns to being a poor man's version of Drew Bree. So in these quarterback impact studies for each of the previous two seasons, so not this past season, but the private two, he just consistently impressed me with how we threw the ball, tight, refined manner, particularly sound attacking the mid-range areas of the field, the teeth of the defense. Of course, this past season, that kind of bit him in the ass.

And as a lot of people have liked to point out, those interceptible passes, oh my gosh, it's a giant, giant red flag. And, of course, that was immensely exacerbated when facing his hardest opponents. In our quarterback impact study, his interceptible pass rate, yes, as you can guess, one of the worst. But again, there are several linings there. Like I keep saying, his downfield accuracy does shine. Deep accuracy does shine. His rhythm throws are very nice.

Very rarely does this thing get off kilter, die inside, or not give his wide receiver any chance to come down with it. So when you have a Charlie Becker, when you have a Nick Marsh out wide, and when you're reloading with some transferred running backs and bringing back the best laugh tackling football and Carter Smith, yeah, they got a lot of ammunition for Kirk State United to keep smoking those sigs and making a lot of smoke in college football. Yeah, it is kind of interesting to hear you echo Sunny Dykes's interception stuff because that's the one thing that Indiana didn't do a year ago.

They didn't make crippling mistakes that hurt their team's chances of winning, and I'm interested to see if he can overcome that. Fernando also threw more interceptions for Cal than he did for Indiana. Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm very curious to see how that goes if that's a trend. And obviously, I would not be keen to wanting to throw an interception if that animal of Kurt. Signetti was on the sideline waiting for me after a plays over. Hey, here's one. Can we go back to aliens?

And then, Andy, I want you to do teams because I like teams. What are the aggregate? Yeah, yeah, but like Trades Green. That's the question. Titan one without question. I don't think I have another Titan in the top 100. He is in a class of his own. He is truly a monster.

A mismatch monster. Of course, you shined a lot in the red zone this past season, but I'm really curious to see him being utilized all over the field under the Charlie Weiss Lane Kippen scheme. So year in, year out, they've been fairly versatile with how they utilized their tight ends. Of course, you go back to Kenny Yibwa. He led the SEC in yards per target and explosive target rate when he was there. You have Dayquan Wright this past season.

He's a lot more in motion. You have, oh, what's the way? are lane kiff and tight ends at old miss a kinnegoe okay got a lot of different ways even using someone like wingo who is a wide receiver but in a power slot blocking role they have done it all the past two years but while i mentioned there is a select group of plays they do window dress it in a number of different areas to keep defenses off their sense and when you have a mismatch someone who can move at six seven 250 pounds not lose much steam sideline to sideline as well as endone the end zone it really does open up a lot of what you can do offensively, whether it is run game, RPO game, play action game,

you know, shoot play action game where you're using that motioner to stay in and block and set up a heavyset play action stuff. It's all on the table because of what he can offer. And last time I checked, there's not too many six, five defenders in the SEC that can, you know, cover him stride for stride. So he's absolutely going to find himself open a quiet, quite often this fall. It's just a matter of can he stay healthy?

And is there enough? there's only one ball and they have a lot of playmakers. Is he going to get enough touch just to be one of these more prolific tight ends? Or if he's going to just be a titan of a traits type of guy. But on paper, yeah. No question, no debate with me. He is unequivocally the top tied-in mismatched creator in college football right now. LSU seems inevitable to me.

I don't know. Well, all right. But that's what I want to talk about. We have talked about Sam Levitt. We've talked about Trades Green. I imagine we can talk about Jordan Seton a little bit. But where does LSU fall in terms of it? Like we talked about Oklahoma in terms of the top 300 impact players.

How's LSU in terms of sprinkling impact players throughout the two deep? I think they're top heavy. I really do. I mean, when you have someone like Leavitt, obviously, he's the five start. Seton's on that fringe. If he was a more sound run blocker today, I would feel a lot more comfortable to slapping a five star on him. Because he does move so, so well. but he's just so sloppy with his hands and his feet.

But pass blocking, hey, if you're going to try and keep Sam Levitt upright and keep him healthy, you can't really find too many better left tackle options out there. So you have that. Then you have Princeville, you, May Allen Allen. He's another fringe five-star guy. You know, oh my gosh, I was really high on his brother. He was an impact five-star for me a couple seasons ago. And I mean, he's, I'm not kidding.

He's player 33 right now. So he's literally on that five-star rank. If I change my opinion on him over the summer, he's right there. But he's one of the best pass rushers around. It's just a little bit more of the length conversation. I need to confirm his arms are fine. He has the height. It's just the length and the explosiveness is there.

Again, right on that fringe. One of the most efficient pass rushes returning. I get true pass set. So these are true situations where it takes over two seconds that are not screens. They're not RPO's and they're just true drawback pass plays. His clean rate or his ability to disrupt and get after offensive linemen, one of the best among returning edges. And, of course, when you're trying to find traits that translate,

when you're attacking people with not a whole lot of variables, there's a lot of carryover, particularly with some of these past transfer portal ends that have met that benchmark, and he's the next one. So very, very high on him. Of course, there's DJ Pickett, who is right there for defensive player of the year for our freshman last year on three. We end up giving it to Brandon Finley at Oregon. But again, that's an immensely fun conversation to have an immensely fun debate because both of those dudes are really deep secondary.

It's just I'm not so certain how the depth is behind these guys. Defensive tackle is pretty wide open. They are very bullish on some of these young kids they have coming in. But for me right now, it's a fairly top heavy roster. And I do think they are into the conversation for a 9, 10, 11 win season. but how things are going to happen when they get punched the nose? How are things going to happen if somebody gets hurt? How are things going to happen if they start hitting some adversity?

So while I am still very, very high on the roster at large, it's just the depth I'm not as sold of right now. It's going to be fun to watch. I love this because I'm ready. I'm ready for the season start. I'm ready for games. I want to see Clems and LSU right now. Let's do it. I do one more.

And then we'll let him go one more. Andy and I were joking earlier in the week about doing a top. 25 together or separate or whatever. And we were having a hard time feeling like, well, who's the team that's going to pop out of nowhere and just, you know, hit us in the chin or somebody that we would overlook. Is there something that stood out to you? And I asked you a similar question to start it, but I want to end it. Is there somebody that is atypical, a program or a team out there that has players that

would be shocking to hear? And I don't even mean going into winning the national championship, but a team that you think is going to be better than people think. this year. Let's go with the Cal Bears. J.K.S. He's a big ass arm, folks. In my quarterback impact steady, oh my gosh, especially targeting tight windows. You know, his best receiver was 5-7.

It's really hard to throw to someone who's like your sister's size when you're, you know, a 6'3 professionally built quarterback against a power four seconders. This is a really tough thing to do. But he was consistently accurate. He was consistently really, really good throwing down. And last time I checked, they're bringing in two six four receivers from the portal and Ian Strong from Rutgers and Chase Hendricks from Ohio. Both of them are in the top 100 transfers. And there's also Dorian Thomas from New Mexico who's in the top 150 at Tide End. So they are just reloading and they already bring back Mason Mini.

So they're going to have a lot of weapons for him to deal with. Obviously, the Office of Blind is going to have a lot of say in this. But in terms of having a better supporting cast, obviously there's going to be a lot more buzz with the new staff. town. I think the cow bears in a pretty open ACC could be like a Virginia of last year, a James Madison of last year, you know, really squeak into the back end of these rankings into the playoffs and potentially make some noise come playoff time because I really do like betting on young quarterbacks. And in terms of the sophomores, the lefty had it going for me, man. I just really like the juice that he provides and just how he can elevate the players around him.

because he looks to be at one of these special talents. He really, really does. He's living up to the five-star outlier, five-star status that he was given out of his class. So Cal Paris would be my art. I love it. Because that's one thing I've said about the ACC is, like, do you play Cal and when and where do you play Cal?

That's my. The West Coast trip. That's like for the ACC this season. Nailed it. Yes, yes. I mean, obviously the hidden travel distances going coast to coast, certainly is something you have to look at, not only if you are in our business,

but if you are a degenerate, that is a, I would say a hidden two and a half points. Forget about the home field advantage. I think that's that travel for college kids on a short week. Yeah, I think that's going to be a lot more of an influencing factor for someone's schedule than people would give credit for. But I just really like that talent on offense because we know the new staff, Oregon's former defensive coordinator.

I think that side of the ball is going to be their primary focus. So just giving, you know, more autonomy to the offensive staff to just go, hey, you've got all these tools, go make you work. And I'm really, really confident they're going to be able to make some noise and be an underrated of their team that not a whole lot of people are talking about at this point in time. I love it. Clark, thank you so much. And 100 days out, top 100, top 300.

Listen, you could go to the top 3,000. I wouldn't mind it. I would because I like to have a life. But who am I probably have a blast filling that out, as I always do. And of course, you know, guys, if speaking to the audience, here. Guys, gals, if you want to see more than the top 300, keep clicking load more. Because guess what? Our on three impact rankings have the top 75 players at each position. So that's quarterback, running back, tight end receiver, tight end, offensive tackle, interior, office of line, edge, interior, defensive blind,

linebacker, corners, and safety. So about 12 positions, they'll get us about 800 to 900 and players. So if you have some free time in the summer, you want to look some for new and up-and-coming names. you got 75 or more just waiting for you. I ought to click on a button. We're a bad at math podcast, but not when you're on, Clark. Thank you so much. Appreciate you all. Hope you all have a good one.

That is Clark Brooks, and I wish I could bring that energy to everything I do. He's a national treasure. I do feel good. He has a high motor, as our friend Cody Belair would say. We both work it on three, and we both had similar lists when I tried this last week, and I did not use his information when I made my list, so I kind of feel smart today a little bit. You've vindicated.

You know, I feel like it. But, you know, you can just tell by listening to him that he's in the weeds. He's watching the tape. He knows the stats. His list is obviously more valuable than mine. I would listen to what he has to say, and I was really happy he came on the show today. Yeah. So, yeah, and congratulations, Dante Moore.

I'm being the highest rate quarterback on that list. Which was a differing opinion from some of the people that we have. And that's what I like about the show. We have a lot of different people on who share different opinions. And, you know, it really does a good job of, like, if you're a listener and you, like, listen to all these things, you can form your own opinion. And I feel like you're a more well-rounded individual knowledge-wise by listening to these people. I feel like I'm learning a lot every time we have to get on like that.

Speaking of ball knowledge, you know, tons of ball knowledge are listeners and viewers. So when we talked on Monday about some of the hidden stakes of games, in college football history. And I brought up the 1979 LSU Florida State game where Bobby Bowden, unbeknownst to everyone, but Ann Bowden was going to leave Florida State if LSU won that game and go to LSU. We had some viewers and listeners right in with their ideas

for games we need to talk about that had hidden stakes where some different things could have happened, had things gone differently, Coaches might have moved different places, players might have moved different places, and college football history might have been changed forever. It's a themed, Dear Andy and Dear Ari, on Friday, the Hidden Stakes games. You're going to love these. I'm telling you right now, you're going to love this.

So we will talk to you tomorrow.