Andy & Ari On3 - Methinks Coach Prime doth protest too much? | Camp intel from Georgia and Ohio State

Episode Date: August 12, 2024

Thank you to Gametime for sponsoring today's episode! Planning your college football travel for this season? Gametime has tickets to every game. (And every concert and comedy show.) Download the Gametime App and enter code: STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply. Last Minute Tickets, Lowest Prices, Guaranteed.We’ve got a weird Deion Sanders press conference and scrimmage intel from Georgia and Ohio State, but first some news.(0:00-2:14) Intro: Previewing the show(2:15-4:58) Texas A&M RB Rueben Owens out for the season(4:59-8:16) Iowa's QB Status(8:17-10:06) AD(10:07-32:31) Deion Sanders Celebrates Media Day(32:32-57:10) Deep Dive into Georgia's Fall Camp(57:11-1:17:20) Spencer Holbrook joins to update us on Ohio State(1:17:21-1:18:22) Conclusion, see you tomorrow!Bad news out of College Station. Texas A&M tailback Rueben Owens will miss the entire 2024 season after suffering an injury during the weekend. Meanwhile, there might be a quarterback controversy at Iowa. Northwestern transfer Brendan Sullivan might challenge Cade McNamara for the starting job.Colorado coach Deion Sanders held a bizarre press conference Friday that included shutting out the local CBS affiliate for, um, reasons and a random question about Aflac that felt like a plant. Sanders doesn’t sound ultra confident after a week of practice, but Andy explains why he wants unhinged press conferences the rest of the way from Coach Prime.Next, Jake Rowe of On3’s Dawgs HQ talks Georgia following the first major scrimmage of the preseason. How is the receiver depth after the dismissal of RaRa Thomas? Which tight end(s) will wind up getting the touches that used to go to Brock Bowers?Later, Spencer Holbrook of On3’s Lettermen Row talks Ohio State after the Buckeyes’ first major preseason scrimmage. Kansas State transfer Will Howard looks like he’s got a grip on QB1. Meanwhile, Ryan Day keeps demurring when asked about freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith. That’s OK, because everyone else is talking about the former No. 1 overall recruit.Subscribe to On3! ⬇️ youtube.com/on3sports/?sub_confirmati...Welcome to On3 | The best of college football and recruiting https://www.on3.com/Listen to Andy Staples On3 on podcast!Spotify 🎧 : https://open.spotify.com/show/5AhQ4d2m5TQu5Q2vkwtxjt?si=d9016221aa2a4427Apple🍎:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/andy-staples-on3/id1695325427Follow Andy Staples on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Andy_StaplesFollow Andy Staples on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andy_staplesFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/on3sportsFollow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/on3/Like/Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/On3Sports/Host: Andy StaplesGuests: Jake Rowe, Spencer HolbrookProducer: River Bailey

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. Happy Monday. We got actual football product coming your way because there were big scrimmages over the weekend. Stuff is happening. We're that far away now because think about this. We are less than two weeks away from actual football that counts. Florida State and Georgia Tech in Dublin, August 24th. We're almost there, everybody.

12 days away. Almost there. And we're getting some movement now in the scrimmages. We're going to talk to Jake Rowe from Dogs HQ about Georgia, about what the Bulldogs have going on as they attempt to win a national title. I mean, there's no other way to say it. They're the preseason number one in the coaches poll. Everybody's expecting them to go deep in this 12-team playoff.

But we do have some questions because there was a reason they didn't make the playoff last year. There's a reason they lost in the SEC championship game to Alabama. These are things they've got to deal with. So we'll talk to Jake Rowe about their receiver depth about how do you replace Brock Bowers if that's even possible and about the situation behind Carson Beck later Spencer Holbrook of Letterman Row on three's Ohio State site. He'll join us. We'll talk about Buckeyes scrimmage. Will Howard now kind of asserting himself at quarterback. Jeremiah Smith still fulfilling all the hype so much so that Ryan Day's just not even talking about him. He's just like,

I'm not going to talk about him. You're going to see. We'll talk to Spencer Holbrook about the Buckeyes later in the show. Also, going to talk about Deion Sanders. I know what you're thinking. Andy, you're talking about Deion Sanders. What a shock. Well, he had a press conference on Friday after we went off the air. That was spectacular. It was amazing.

I realize a lot of people criticize him for it. I criticize him a little bit, but I want more of these. Selfishly, I love these. We'll talk about that. But first, we got a little news to talk about. We'll get the bad news out of the way first. And again, these are the ones that stink in preseason practice.

We've seen a few of these already. We're going to see more. And unfortunately, this is just part of the game. But Reuben Owens, the Texas A&M tailback, he's out for the season. Injuries suffered in practice on Friday. That was originally reported by Max Olson and Pete Thamel of ESPN.

And just a blow to a Texas A&M's tailback depth. Now, they still have Amari Daniels and Le'Veon Moss. So it's not like they're just out of luck at tailback, but this is a situation like we were talking about with Joe Cook from Inside Texas last week after CJ Baxter went down for the Longhorns. You need three, four deep at that position just because of the way it's played now.

Like you are just getting mauled by these monsters every play, especially in that league. So good luck Ruben Owens on his rehab. It sucks. But another thing, looking up the stats on Ruben Owens and Amari Daniels and Le'Veon Moss, you realize how badly Texas A&M ran the ball last year and how little seemingly they ran the ball.

This is an area where they can improve dramatically if their offensive line is better, if they get more production out of Connor Wegman, because I do think if the passing game is more potent, it does open up the run game too. We'll see if Connor Wegman can stay healthy. He was not completely healthy in the spring. If he is now and you get a healthy Conor Wegman for a long time, again, this is a team that could surprise some people. It's weird. The Vegas win total on them is eight and a half. It's not an easy schedule.

It's very strange seeing this, but I think it's because they feel like the talent on defense is there, the D-line especially, but they're going to have to run the ball to win games against this schedule. Now, Notre Dame, that defense is going to be elite. That's going to be one of the toughest defenses they play right out of the gate. Florida, the environment will be crazy. We will see how Mike Elko, first-year head coach, handles all that. But the rest of that early season until you get to the Missouri game in game six, pretty manageable. So if you could split Notre Dame and Florida, you're feeling pretty good.

And then you play Missouri and then you see if you can go toe to toe with that team. But that is, that's just not the kind of injury you want right now because, again, that depth can go pretty quickly because that position, they just, they take more punishment than anybody else. And it's a tough blow for Texas A&M. One more piece of news out of the weekend. So Iowa held an open practice. And one of the things that everybody who attended noticed is it's probably a quarterback controversy or maybe at least a quarterback competition. I'm not sure which C word I'm using correctly here, but the assumption is that Cade McNamara is the starting quarterback. Cade McNamara led Michigan to the Big Ten title in 2021. He then lost his job to J.J. McCarthy.

He then transferred to Iowa. He got hurt midseason last year. Actually got hurt preseason. Wasn't really 100% and got knocked out for the season in Game 5 last year. So the idea was he comes back. He's healthy. The offense is going to get better. Now, remember, after spring, they got a transfer from Brendan Sullivan,

who was projected to be Northwestern's starting quarterback. And it seemed a little bit odd, the timing of it all. One Big Ten quarterback going to another Big Ten school where the job didn't appear to be open. But Brennan Sullivan apparently played very well in this open practice that everyone saw and outplayed Cade McNamara in this open practice that everyone saw. Now, everybody hasn't seen all the other practices. So we don't know exactly where they stand, but based on the information available,

this could be an interesting one to watch. This could be something that could come down to the early season. Now, it could be that McNamara starts. If something happens to him, they have a quality backup, whereas last year they didn't, and the offense just completely combusted. But watch this one. Just keep an eye on this one. Because we keep telling you.

Look at Iowa's schedule. Look at Iowa's defense. If the offense is better. And there's not very far to go. There's not really another direction to go but up. If the offense is better. This is a team that can compete for the Big Ten title game, can compete for the playoff. Go Dawgs says, offensive controversy in Iowa.

Let's go. Exactly. Exactly. Remember, new offense coordinator in Tim Lester. And we're going to see. We're going to see because the Iowa fans get mad at me when I say, hey, look, even though Brian Ferencz was the coordinator, it's still Kirk's offense. And they say, no, no, no. Kirk was letting his son Brian do his thing. And now he's going to let Tim Lester do his thing and

it's going to be different. So I will be curious to see it in action because I don't know what the truth is there. We'll find out there I will find out we will find out because if Tim Lester's just rolling then yeah we okay he was letting Brian do his thing Brian wasn't getting it done Tim Lester is getting it done if it looks exactly the same as this look for the last three years then I think we know whose offense it is. So we will find out exactly where Iowa's at. But this is one to pay attention to through the preseason. And of course, we always pay attention to Colorado. But before we talk Coach Prime, I want to tell you about game time.

Let's say you wanted to see Coach Prime's first game this season. Colorado, Northota state on that thursday night thursday night week one we're on we gathered around our you know we're gonna be watching this game but what if we wanted to go to beautiful boulder enjoy some craft beer and watch that game in person we could do it with game time and if you look at the tickets here you see the prime effect you see it the resale on these tickets, they're all over 100 bucks on GameTime. These are hot tickets. They are in demand. But you can save yourself some money if you download the GameTime app, you buy one of those tickets, and you use the code STAPLES for

$20 off your first purchase. Terms apply, of course. But use the code Staples, $20 off your first purchase, and you can get tickets to that game. If you would like to go to Colorado at Nebraska week two, one of the biggest games in Lincoln this year, oh yeah, Game Time's got tickets to that too. So watch at home if you want, but go in person. And any of these games you, but go in person. And any of these games you want to go in person,

any football game, baseball game, basketball game, concert, comedy show, you name it. And if the game time, like we're looking at the Colorado, North Dakota State game on the screen right now, like you see the vantage point you would have from the ticket you are buying on the screen on the GameTime app. It's tremendous. Very easy. Couple taps. Ticket's yours. Use that code staples. 20 bucks off your first purchase. Terms apply. So yeah, let's all go see Colorado play in person. And maybe ask Deion Sanders questions afterward. Because Deion Sanders answering questions, oh boy, it's getting even more fun than it was before.

Deion Sanders had his media day press conference on Friday. It was after we went off the air. Because trust me, if we'd been on the air, we might have streamed this sucker live. Because it was outstanding. And I'm not going to criticize De Dion for his performance in this thing because it's if you watch the whole thing it's not as crazy as it was made out to be in some of the the social media posts and some of the stories about it it starts off fairly calmly you know he's going through his media day notes. They're going to practice in Denver

next week. It's going to be open to the public. He talks about the team GPA. It was the second highest in team history last fall, the highest in team history this past spring. That's a very good thing. But there were a couple of things you can glean from this thing. And yeah, it got contentious at points. It also got very weird at points. And we'll talk about that. But I can tell you one thing definitively from watching this press conference. Deion Sanders loves his defensive line, loves the defensive line transfers they brought in. And he even threw a little aside at Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi because two of them came from Pitt.

Front is unbelievable. The pass rushers that we have is shoot Mr. Hayes and Okunlola. Okunlola. Did I say that right? Yeah. Scared me. I couldn't believe it. in Okunlola. Did I say that right? Scared me. I couldn't believe it. First of all, I want to digress a bit and thank the head coach from Pittsburgh

for really preparing those young men for us. He did a great job. I love those two young men. They're really great players and they're going to be pros. I heard that someone took a shot at one of them verbally. Mr. Hayes just wanted me to make sure I had that in for him. But thank you, Pittsburgh.

I appreciate everything. I think he's being a little sarcastic there, but somewhat genuine because, yes, Dan Hayes and Samuel Okololo are very good. Yes, Coach Prime did say that right. But Pat Narduzzi was critical of Deion's roster building strategy previously. And that's where this comes from. And Deion Hayes, remember, on his way out of Pittsburgh, talked to a columnist at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and said, Pittsburgh's not ready to win now.

That's why I'm leaving. He had questions about the offense. These are legitimate concerns he was bringing up, but he, of course, has been criticized mightily by the folks back in Pittsburgh. So he obviously will have a chip on his shoulder playing for Colorado this year. Deion does like this defensive line a lot, a lot, a lot,

because it kept coming back up. That particular answer was in a question about the cornerbacks. So he was coming back to that one. Now, there's another group on his team that when he got asked about. There was never a direct answer. So we'll start with with this question from Arnie Stapleton of the Associated Press. Hey, Coach Arnie Stapleton of the Associated Press. Hey, Coach. Arnie Stapleton from Associated Press. You've bolstered your offensive line here in this second season. What does bolstered mean?

You beefed it up. Because, I mean, I don't know all that bolstered stuff. I never used that in a sentence in my life. All right. You beefed up your offensive line in the south season. Beefed up. How do you sort of microbe that chemistry? Improved. How about improved? Let's say that

we've improved our offensive line. Okay. How do you, how do you get that? Everybody talks about that. So, you know, the five have to work in unison and the chemistry is such an important thing. What is chemistry? You guys use it all the time. What is it? You guys work together. You don't like each other, most of you. You love each other. No, you don't. You definitely don't love the guy back there. Y'all can't stand him. But you still work together. You get the job done. We generally have a love and an admiration for one another. We really do. Whether you throw the word chemistry out or not, everybody keeps throwing that word out.

Some of you don't even have chemistry at home, but you go there every day. That's the end of that question, I guess. Next guy. So a couple things there. Bolstered means improved. Same thing. He was trying to throw Coach Prime a softball and Coach Prime wouldn't take it.

I don't know what that means about the offensive line, but I'm guessing he didn't want to be particularly complimentary in that moment because he got a softball if he liked his offensive line as much he liked his defensive line they probably wouldn't fairly effusive in his praise now as to the chemistry part he's talking about a room full of reporters who all work for different companies working together they don't work together they're the competition they don't have to have chemistry. They don't care. Your offensive line does have to have chemistry, and he equates it to liking one another, loving one another. That's not it either. The offensive line doesn't

have to love one another. There have been plenty of offensive lines throughout history that loved one another and sucked. They have to work well together. That's it. You don't have to work well together that's it you don't have to love each other it's like one of those bands like simon and garfunkel toward the end they i think they were barely speaking but they go out on stage and they get it done like you can have working chemistry without liking or loving each other and i'm i'm sure the colorado offensive line likes one another just fine. That's not the question. The question is, how well are they going to play together?

Because this team gave up 56 sacks last year. 132 in the nation. There were only 133 teams in the FBS. Welcome Kennesaw State this year. 134 now. But again, nowhere to go but up. I guess there's one or two spots down, but I don't think that's going to happen.

Nowhere to go but up. But Coach Prime is not taking the bait there. It was a softball question designed for him to talk about how much better he made the offensive line. Facts. Coach Prime exposed those fake journalists that tried to get the bad reports. No! A reporter from the Associated Press was asking him a softball question that would allow him to heap praise upon his offensive line if he actually thinks it's better he chose not to now he did say next guy so here's the next question this is where it gets really interesting eric christensen with cbs sports colorado um tyler i'm not doing nothing with cbs next question joe rego my last one is above that i got nothing to do with you i got love for you i appreciate respect you ain't got nothing to do with you. It's above that. I ain't got nothing to do with you. I got love for you.

I appreciate and respect you. I ain't got nothing to do with you. They know what they did. I'm here in Denver, not National. You are who you are. CBS is CBS. All right. Joe Regal, my last words for you.

I ain't got nothing to do with you. I respect you. That's why I told you that. I'm looking at you now as a man. I respect you. I got love for you. But what they did was foul. Now, this is the CBS affiliate in Denver that pays to broadcast Deion Sanders coach's show.

And Deion knows all this. Deion's not dumb. Deion knows the difference between a local affiliate and national CBS. And there have been a lot of theories about why is he mad at them? Is it about because CBS is reporting on Shiloh Sanders bankruptcy? Well, I don't think that's it, because a lot of places are reporting on Shiloh Sanders bankruptcy. For those who don't know, Shiloh is one of De a, I believe an $11.89 million judgment in his favor. And Shiloh now owes that money and is now in bankruptcy court trying to get out of that judgment through bankruptcy. And so that's an ongoing issue. But that's not probably why, because again, CBS, not the only outlet that's reported on that. Pretty much everybody has. What CBS did do, a vote of the CBS sports staff and the 24-7 sports staff, because they're all owned by the same company, ranked Deion 15th out of 16 Big 12 coaches. That's probably where he's mad. That's probably what he's mad that's probably what he's mad at but he's taking it out

on dude from the cbs local affiliate that pays to talk to dion who probably was going to love him another softball probably was going to love him another softball but you got to make it a thing and of course we're going to talk about that. Like, if you just answer his softball, we're not saying a word. We're probably not even having this segment right now. But if you're mad that you're 15th out of 16th in the Big 12, then win games. You went 4-8 last year. Like, that'll raise your rating, sure enough.

And the surest way to lower it is lose more games. These are the same bait questions from last year. If they lose all their points, they will coach said they were good and they would be good. Blah, blah, blah. They're the same questions.

Everybody gets. They're the same questions. Every coach gets like Sam Pittman at Arkansas is getting questions about how will you be good on offense this year because you weren't last year. Everybody gets these questions. Billy Napier at Florida. How will you be good on defense because you weren't last year? Like that's part of the job. You're going to get those questions.

But what's funny is him taking these softballs and getting mad at them because if you don't like the softballs you're really not gonna like it if you start losing games all right next question another softball also aimed probably at the offensive line but watch where he turns it coach uh joe rico my last voice for the final word i'm talking about the trenches you know the trenches are where it starts for me in football i saw a lot of great skill position players out there last year that was the easiest thing to acquire right but but we know that they work together that was the easiest thing to attract in your first year because that's my position so when big fellas see a lack thereof or they see a quarterback that can really spin it,

now they're prompt to come. Now they see a difference in the linebackers in the secondary. Now they're saying, okay, well, shoot, we got the line now. We're going to score some points. So we got to go there to be relentless on the defensive line side of that. That's why we got all the pass rushers because when you sit and interview them and talk to them, you say, well, you're going to be up by 14 in the fourth quarter.

It's going to be a wonderful thing. And you may have some pass rushers coming from a school that was down 14 in the fourth quarter. And why would they want to stay there? Because now they don't get to utilize their gifts. So you got to understand the logic of everything. Everything is right on schedule as we plan. I love it.

I love it. Thank you, sir. And I do believe this year I'm on schedule as we play. I love it. I love it. And I do believe this year I'm on record with eight wins. Only eight? Cool. That guy believes. But you notice, he talked about the D-line. Loves the D-line.

Didn't talk about the O-line at all. CW made in the chat. But Dion doesn't get national criticism for losing big difference sam pippen and billy naker get criticized everywhere they're on every hot seat list known to man this is the part y'all don't get dion gets more attention than everybody else but he's being treated exactly the same as every other coach. Exactly the same.

If he loses, he gets his ass ripped. He lost twice as much as he won last year. Again, ask these dudes in the SEC, when they aren't winning, how comfortable life is, how great the questions are. He's getting softballs, and he's already worried about it. Christopher Jordan, side beard. I like gray beard, Ian. He does look good.

I do like that. And again, I will point out, I have no problem with him doing this in press conferences. You think I'm mad about this. I'm not. I love it. Keep it coming, Coach Prime. Keep it coming because it is great for all of us.

I don't want boring press conference. I think Kirk Ferrett should do this. I think this would be amazing. Now, this one's not on Dion. I think he handled this very well. This is just the most random thing. And I'll take it. Just a question being asked that randomly creates an Aflac ad. Coach Prime, Alex Ramirez, My Life Sports Radio. This is a non-football-related question. I recently had a condition, medical condition, about two months ago, and thank God I had Aflac.

I'm serious. You're an ambassador for them, a spokesman for them. How important is it for everyone to have AFLAC as part of their life? It's amazing, right? It makes it sound like I'm doing a commercial where it covers the gaps that we can't cover. I mean, AFLAC is phenomenal, but not only are they phenomenal to people like you and I, and thank God when I was going through my trials and tribulations, I didn't have those medical expenses that I couldn't afford,

but there's a multitude of people that does. And thank God that they stand in the gap and provide for people like yourself. And I'm thankful to be partnered with them for a multitude of years, and I can't wait to see the new commercial with me and the best coach to ever coach college football and uh coach saban i like and see dion notices what's going on here he's like i okay chance to turn this into a commercial keep the folks at aflac happy let's go i do wonder what would have happened if nick saban had been asked the same thing at one of his Alabama press conferences. Because, you know, again, we're doing this with Dion now because we don't have Nick Saban to do this with anymore.

Because we would take his press conferences and just microscope every single little thing. If someone asked that question of Nick Saban, the other Aflac endorser, I think initially his response would be to blow it up because that's how his initial response to any question that is not a kind of well thought out football question is, let's just blow it up. But then like Dion in the back of his head, wait a second. No, no, no, no. I got to make sure I take care of the folks who pay the bills here. And he would have slipped into it, into a commercial and delivered. But I think Dion delivered it probably a little more aplomb than the Nick Saban would in the press conference setting. So I do appreciate that one. Now, here's the other one I really appreciate from Dion.

Because this one, I think a lot of people in my business got maybe out of sorts with. I think this is a case of two people who know exactly what they're doing, doing the thing they do. They're just doing a dance that they've decided to do. And this is one with Sean Keillor from the Denver Post, the columnist, trying to ask Dion a question, and Dion going at Sean Keillor. We'll just let you watch.

Coach Sean Keillor, the Denver Post. Happy summer, my man. You don't like us, man. Why do you do this to yourself? Come on. You don't like us. Mark likes me, by the way. Mark said he likes me.

No, but you don't. Why do you do this, though? No, no, I'm sorry. Two-parter if I could. No, I'm serious. Why do you do this? Like, you know you don't. Like, why do you do this?

No, no, it's not about that. Football question. Football question. Why do you do this? Like, you know you don't. Like, why do you do this? No, no, no. It's not about that. Football question. Football question. No, no. Why do you do this? Like, it would be hard for me to really engage in someone I don't like or something I don't like. I'm just asking why. Like, why?

Got to pay the bills. What did I do? You didn't do anything. It's not about that. But this is a football question. I'm asking you why. Yeah, you can ask. Okay, answer me.

Because you want me to answer you. Yeah, okay. That's fine. That's fair. Why? Why? Because I have questions. Give me your why. What's, answer me, because you want me to answer you. Yeah, okay, that's fine. That's fair. Why? Why? Because I have questions. Give me your why.

What's your why? What do you want to know? Why are you always on the attack? What do we do? Where am I on attack today? Where am I on attack? I'm not going to give you opportunities to be on attack. But I'm asking you why.

Like, what does it do for you? Like, what happened? It's not about me but what happened to get you like this it's a good question no I'm serious because I want to help

like because no I'm serious I want to help because it's not normal we can talk about that we can talk about that okay can I ask you a football question

seriously no we can talk about that when we talk about that I'll talk about that with you can we ask you a football question when I talk about that we can talk about that we can talk about that. Okay. Can I ask you a football question? No. Seriously. No, we can talk about that. When we talk about that, I'll talk about that with you. Can we ask you a football question, please? When I talk about that, we talk about that. We can talk about that. I have a question over here.

Let's go. Since it's your birthday, what are your birthday plans going to be? Well, I have three kids on campus that probably didn't get me anything. So, I love that Deion goes with the who hurts you sean who hurts you but that look sean keeler he knows what he's doing he's he's taken on the role of the attack dog columnist i was never a newspaper columnist but i i obviously write columns have written them for sports illustrated for the athletic and now at on three like I know how that game is played and Keeler's been very critical of Dion through the through his time at Colorado

and Keeler obviously taking some delight in it as well like that back and forth I'm good with because if you're Dion and somebody has just criticized you relentlessly the entire time, you don't have to answer questions the same way that you would anybody else. Like, it's legitimate to ask that question and get that. I actually would have loved that dialogue. The dialogue that Dion's talking about. I would love an honest dialogue between the two of them. I would have watched that for like an hour.

That would have been fascinating. But we're not getting that. So, you know, if you want to go back, so like the one Sean Keillor comment that I think is really interesting, that if you haven't read it, it's the parallels between Deion Sanders and Ed McCaffrey. When Ed McCaffrey was coaching Northern Colorado, it was the same kind of daddy ball situation where Ed's son was playing quarterback,

where he came in, the team had been bad, they were not particularly great year one, and then it just sort of, it's very similar just on a much lower scale. Happened in front of a lot less people. But that is a very astute observation by Sean Keillor. Dion doesn't like that, of course. There are other times that I think Dion probably feels like he's being treated unfairly or being they're just being targeted that is just negative for the sake of being negative.

And I can understand that, too. Like that's sometimes with the with the newspaper columnist job, like sometimes that is part of the job to poke, poke, poke, poke, poke, poke, poke. At least these two are kind of being honest about what they're doing, about the dance they're doing. I'm good with that. The truth. Christopher Jordan, the Dion Colorado spirit is so freaking interesting to me. It's interesting to everybody.

That's why we keep talking about it. The truth says, geez, dude, not everyone is going to like you. Deion has to be better. Just refuse to talk to Keeler if you don't like him, a.k.a. give him the silent. No, no, this is much more fun. This is more interesting. We assume everybody has to act a certain way at a press conference. I disagree.

Make them as interesting as possible. And Deion is definitely doing that. Jason, Deion has succeeded in making Colorado a spectacle instead of a powerhouse. Yeah, but was anybody going to make up a powerhouse? At least people were buying tickets. And that's the difference. Like, that's the difference with Deion.

Unless they go completely off the rails and they're just completely awful, which I don't think is going to happen, or there's some sort of forecause situation, like, Deion ain't getting fired. Like, Sam Pittman, Billy Napier, those guys, they got to worry. Deion doesn't have to worry. He's selling tickets when nobody could sell tickets before. Yes, if you keep losing, eventually it ends.

But right now, he's got no issues. He's not in the same boat as Sam Pittman or Billy Napier. Colby, are these people actually buying tickets though? Yes, they are. It's sold out. We just showed you the screen grab from the GameTime app where the secondary market is off the charts for these tickets. So yeah, it's working.

Now they got to win. And we'll see. Because again, here's what I took away from that press conference. He loves his D-line. He ain't talking about his O-line. That would be a cause for concern for me if I gave up 56 sacks last year. That would be a cause of concern.

We move now to a program that is not worried about its O-line. Its O-line is very, very, very, very good. Question more about the people catching the passes. But they're feeling pretty good about that, too. Because, well, when you have one of the best rosters in America, you feel pretty good about just about everything. We speak, of course, of the Georgia Bulldogs.

Preseason number one in the coaches poll. We'll see what happens in the AP poll but Georgia goes into this season with big big expectations they had a big scrimmage on Saturday let's talk to Jake Rowe from Dogs HQ about the Bulldogs we welcome Jake Rowe from Dogs HQ and Georgia had a scrimmage on Saturday. The big news, at least if you're a head football coach, not a lot of injuries, nothing more than bumps and bruises, so the Kirby Smart Company very happy about that. But Jake, let's talk about this team and where it's at right now, because obviously huge expectations. They're the preseason number one in the coaches poll.

We'll see what happens in the AP poll. But this is a team that everybody expects to compete for the national title. Does it feel like enough players are stepping forward, you know, that have to be stepping into roles replacing really good players? Yeah, in a lot of ways, Andy, that's almost exactly what it feels like. It feels like that's kind of the story of camp is Georgia was needing someone to kind of step up and help Trevor Etienne there at the running back position, and now Branson Robinson's back, and he looks good, and Nate Frazier has been as advertised. They were looking for kind of depth at outside linebacker,

and there's a couple of guys stepped up there. You look at the secondary and, you know, Dan Jackson has been everything you thought he would be in terms of experience. But K.J. Bolden, his talent is kind of showing through. You know, they've got a really good battle at cornerback. You know, Jonel Aguero and Ja'Cory Thomas are working there, that star position. So all the questions you kind of had about this team coming into this part of the year have kind of been answered.

The only really one setback they've had is kind of a little bit of a longer-term injury to Jordan Hall, a sophomore defensive lineman who, when you looked at Georgia's defensive line, whether they went into the portal or not after the season, a lot was going to depend on Jordan Hall's improvement and Christian Miller's improvement. Well, Jordan Hall is probably going to miss the first month of the season. So that's kind of on the negative side of the development.

But a lot of questions have been answered or are on their way to being answered in a Georgia preseason camp right now. I noticed you almost said Jared Wilson, the center. Yeah, he's been dealing with something too. So what's his situation right now? Well, I'll tell you what, Andy, I don't expect that one to be a long-term deal. I think that's one of those things where he's got like – I think he's got some foot or some ankle soreness going on,

and they're just trying to make sure, hey, listen, we're going to use this time to get Tate Rattledge and Drew Bobo up to speed, you know, as the next man up. But, you know, let's give you about a week, maybe a week and a half, to kind of get that, you know, get that injury in place and kind of get pain free, and then, you know, you'll get back in there. It's kind of the way that that is kind of shaping up to be right now based on everything we're kind of seeing and hearing. So I was reading Dogs HQ, and I saw Glenn Schumann,

the defensive coordinator the other day was talking about the role that michael williams is used in and they're kind of tweaking that they're they're training him at several different places because he's versatile enough to do it but it's interesting because george is one where you have these guys that are potential like top 10 picks that are not huge stat producers necessarily. But like with Mike Hill Williams, how can they use him in different ways to drive an offense nuts? Well, first and foremost, I think a lot of folks are like,

well, Mike Hill's moved to outside linebacker. Yes and no. The thing about Mike Hill is he's going to spend a lot more time in a two-point stance. He's going to put his hand on the ground in a three-point stance. I think Mike Kell Williams' days of playing inside the tackle, you know, that four-eye if you're a football nerd or three technique in some setups, I think those days are kind of – I don't want to say they're over, but I think they're limited.

I think if Georgia got a little banged up or if there was a specific situation where they thought he was the best guy to kind of handle the situation there, I think he would still play. And I think he would do so willingly with everything he's got. But I do think they can put him in situations more where he's playing out on the edge and maybe having some more. I saw them do it against Tennessee. It's kind of hard to explain where they kind of just turn him loose a little bit more. He had an impactful game there. They did it against Florida State.

He had a really impactful game there. And I think that's something you're just going to kind of let him say, hey, listen, we're going to wind you up. We need you to stay in your gap, but we also need you to kind of wreak havoc and make plays. And he has that ability, especially when he's not even able to get to the quarterback, the way he's able to get his hand on passes and affect things that way he's a really good football player like you said he's

probably not going to put up massive numbers that's just that hasn't been the case for anybody except for you know an inside linebacker in georgia but these guys keep getting drafted really high because everybody knows they're really good football players. I'm sure Michael Williams is thrilled about not being in a spot that leads to, you know, sometimes 600 pounds of human being coming at him at once, especially if there's zone blocking, combo blocking to the linebacker, that sort of thing. Not fun to get hit by that. Probably a lot more fun to be one-on-one against an offensive tackle

on the outside. Yeah, or you're drawing the tight end every now and then yeah exactly so speaking of tight end i'm glad you mentioned that because georgia had a pretty good one brock bowers he's a las vegas raider now how do they i don't know well i i think asking how they replace brock bowers is an unfair question because he's a pretty unique talent but how do they account for that loss? Are we going to see more of Oscar Delp or Ben Urosik, the tight end that they brought in from Stanford, or Lawson Lucky was a young guy that they liked a lot last year?

How do they split it up between those guys? Well, I mean, I think it goes without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway. There's no replacing Brock Bowers. I mean, that's something that I hope everybody in that room understood. And Kirby talks like they did. You know, I think Oscar Delp is, I think Oscar Delp was kind of an underrated athlete.

I think he's a very athletic kid. I mean, coming out of high school, man, he was a little freaky. I mean, it was, you know, he was kind of a was kind of a borderline tight end, but played some receiver stuff, had been a flex guy. He's really put on weight and become like a full-fledged tight end. But I really do believe that he's going to be a big factor in this offense. The more I hear about the kind of the camp he's having, the more I kind of go back on –

I did bold predictions for every position unit at Georgia this offseason. I said Ben Urosik would, you know, Oscar Delp would lead the team in snaps, but Ben Urosik would be the most productive in the passing game. I don't know, man. I'm kind of maybe leaning back a little bit towards Delp. Delp was really good last year, just quietly, a couple, two or three plays a game was really good when Brock Bowers was on the shelf last year. He did a really good last year. Just quietly, a couple, two or three plays a game was really good when Brock Bowers was on the shelf last year. He did a really good job. And so I think that, you know,

I think it's his time now. And he's a much different player than he was, you know, a couple of years ago when he kind of struggled with some drops and things like that. But I still think Ben Urasik is going to be a factor. I still think he's going to do some really productive things for Georgia in the past game. I think he's going to give them kind of a downfield threat at that position, somebody they can flex out to maybe try to win one-on-one battles. I don't know that they're going to keep handing it to him like they did with Bowers and Stanford did with Urosic. But I do know they're going to ask him to be a more complete tight end,

and I think they're going to take shots with him. And then Lawson Lucky is kind of in his own way is, is, is probably the most like Bowers. You know, he's probably not quite as freaky athletically, but kind of in that H bag mold, a little bit undersized.

If you're starting to talk about, you know, your, your, you know, your ideal tight end. But he is a factor in the past game, man.

He's a very quick route runner and, and he's going to be a factor. I would also say, listen, when Georgia won it in 2021, they went four deep. It was Darnell Washington. It was Brock Bowers. It was John Fitzpatrick. There was another guy in there. There was at least three or four guys in there,

and they'll go as many as four deep. And when they do, you start looking start looking at you know maybe jayden riddell uh one of the top tight ends in the country from this past year's class probably the best athlete in that room maybe getting an opportunity as well and so it's interesting i'm glad you mentioned that because i think about when bowers was banged up last year i think about when lad mcconkey got banged up last year because i'm kind of lumping the Titans and the receivers together here in terms of passing targets for for Carson Beck but they hit a stretch and I think the SEC Championship game was was a good example where the depth showed like or the lack of depth showed they had to kick Rara Thomas off the team. Between receivers and tight ends, where does that depth

come from? How can that be different this year? I think they did a good job adding in the offseason. I think they did a good job of they went out and added three receivers this offseason. Losing Rara Thomas hurts because it causes some shuffling there that Georgia at split end at that X receiver position, Rara was expected to be the guy. And I'm telling you, there's no shortage of folks inside that Georgia practice facility that would tell you, listen, Rara is a Sunday player. And so that's a loss. That stings.

But now what happens is Dylan Bell kind of flips over and plays that X receiver position. Colby Young, who's still learning the offense, but has a pretty good grasp, but enough of a grasp to have a hellacious spring and a good camp thus far, even though he's a little dinged up. I think he gives him kind of a one-two punch there. You've got Arian Smith and London Humphreys there on the other side. And then you've kind of had Anthony Evans and Sokovi White both emerge this spring and summer as guys who I think can help this offense bring, you know, you've kind of got a little bit of a lightning in a bottle there with Sokovi White, you know, kind of a quicker than

fast, a tough guy to cover. And then with Anthony Evans, you've got another 10-3, 10-200 meter guy who can absolutely fly. So Georgia's got a lot of speed at receiver. They've got a lot of experience at receiver. They've got a core group of guys that played a lot of football. But losing Rah-Rah hurts them, but I do think they have that depth. And one thing I will point to last year is, man, when you take, you point it to that lack of depth, and, you know, you're right 100%, but I think it's a lack of depth that just about every team in America is going to deal with because you lose three of your top five receiving options, and that's going to hurt an offense, and that definitely hurt Georgia's that night, that and the fact that they couldn't

convert third and short. Dominic Lovett, at this point, is he kind of the bell cow receiver there? I would imagine so. I mean, I'll be very surprised if he doesn't leave Georgian catches because he's kind of the, he's the now guy, you know, he's the, Hey, let's get it to him. Quick guy. He's, he's a, you know, slot fade, stretch the field type guy. And then he's also kind of the third down, um, you know, target there as well. And he's another, if you go back and look at the stats and look at the games in which Brock Bowers either didn't play at all or came out of the game altogether with injury, Dominic Lovett had a serious uptick in production in those games. I believe he caught all of his touchdowns in those

games. I want to say he averaged like 18 or 19 yards per reception. It was something pretty crazy like that. And 60, 70 yards receiving a game in those situations as well. So I think that he's a guy, when you start talking about Brock Bowers being gone and kind of how they move into that spot. Well, last year we got a little bit of a glimpse of it and it meant more Dominic Lovett, meant more out ofof-the-slot receiver. So we know all about Carson Beck, and he's firmly entrenched. The news at Georgia was they took Jaden Rashad out of the transfer portal, but it's still Gunnar Stockton as backup QB right now, right? Yeah, I mean, I don't think that that's going to change

or even really has an opportunity to change Andy until probably after at least the first bye week and maybe the second. I think it's just going to take Jaden Rashad some time. I don't care what offense you're running. If you're coming in with a halfway decent quarterback that spent two or three years more in that particular system than you have, you're going to be playing catch up. Just simply because not necessarily that you're playing catch up as a football player. You may be a better football player, but in terms of earning the trust of those coaches and them being able to kind of carry over as much of their offense as they possibly can, the guy who's been around longer is just going to have the leg up.

I mean, I've seen Jaden Rashad throw the football since he's been at Georgia. It comes out of his hand really well. He's a smooth athlete. He moves around really well. But right now, Gunnar Stockton, who is also a really good athlete and has had a pretty good camp, just has a pretty big leg up on him. And I don't think that has a chance of changing within the next month or so. So this is a question I want to pose to all of our guys as they cover camps

because I think this is one of those that we get so firmly entrenched in our off-season narratives and i want to i want to talk to the people who know the team's the best to see how how accurate we are so jake is there a game on the schedule that like most of your subscribers at dogs hq would say this is an automatic W. No chance Georgia loses this game that you look at and go, this one might be tougher than everybody thinks. Yeah, that's a good question, Andy. That is a really good question. I'm going to say that Auburn game, especially if they beat Alabama.

I'm going to say that Auburn game, especially if they beat Alabama. Like if they lose to Alabama, Auburn might, especially if they beat Alabama. If they lose to Alabama, Auburn might be in trouble. Auburn might be in trouble. But if Georgia goes into Tuscaloosa, especially if it's an emotional, hard-fought win, I think that might be one to circle. I say that as somebody who is fully aware that since the year 2007, Auburn has come to Athens to just get absolutely slaughtered. Like it is. I mean, even when they haven't gotten beat bad, they came in with the full expectation of winning,

and they got their hearts ripped out. So, I mean, they haven't won in Athens since 2005, but I think that if Georgia beats Alabama on the road, that Auburn's going to be a little bit of a war. Yeah, and Auburn played them so tough last year, even though Auburn's offense wasn't that great. Right, yeah. They did put up a fight.

They figured out a way to get some chunk plays. Georgia turned it over and helped them out a little bit. I mean, that was absolutely how that thing went. I'll tell you this, Andy. If we get to that Sunday when the lines come out, and there's two ways to look at this. If the number – if you're like, ooh, that's high, they're sucker betting you trying to get you to kind of, you know,

to bet on Auburn. And I think this is one that, you know, looking ahead, Vegas can try to make some money out of that game if Georgia beats Alabama. The thing is, with this schedule, it's another thing to consider. Georgia's toughest three games are on the road. You could say maybe their toughest four if you wanted to have the debate between Kentucky, Tennessee, and maybe even Auburn. maybe their toughest four if you if you wanted to have the debate between Kentucky Tennessee and

maybe even Auburn yeah no I think that I think that's a good point and you make a great point about Auburn the week after Alabama and that that's the thing the the cumulative effect especially in the SEC and this is as I look at some of these schedules obviously we've talked about it a ton with Florida and with Oklahoma because their schedules are just on paper so hard. But just the idea that you've got to play these games, you know, the Florida game is not right after the Texas game. They do have the week in between those. But, you know, like the Tennessee game is a week after they play at Ole Miss.

Like that's tough back to back. Yeah, it is. And the reason I circled the Alabama one more than anything, I think Georgia would be able to go – I think Georgia would – to borrow from Eli Drinkowitz, what did he say? We stand on business. I think Georgia would be able to stand on business after beating Texas with Texas being Texas. There's no history there. I think Georgia would be able to stand on business after beating Texas with Texas being Texas.

There's no history there. I think Georgia will be able to stand on business if they go and beat Ole Miss at Ole Miss and kind of handle the next week, even though Texas they have the bye week. But, man, there's just something about Alabama being Georgia's version, a relative version of a boogeyman. I mean, literally the only team Georgia has lost to since 2020, okay? The only team that Georgia has lost to since that year.

And we'll say every time they've played them outside of Mercedes-Benz in that time, they've beat them. But I just think there will be an emotional, not just with the players. I think there might be a little bit of emotion there with the coaches. As hard as they try, we're all human. And I just looked at that Auburn. I don't necessarily think Georgia will lose it, but I think Auburn's in a good spot on Georgia's schedule. If you're trying to, if you're trying to get a signature win and, and,

and put this, you know, bring this team back down to earth. As I said, if you have to play Georgia between the hedges, that's probably the week you'd want to do it. But, but getting back to the Alabama thing, how much do you think Nick Saban not being there changes the math on that? Yeah, I don't know. I tend to think, I tend to kind of believe certain things that come out of the collective mouth of the University of Georgia athletics. And I

say that, you know, it's kind of like, you know, do I think that they ever made the Alabama game bigger than any other game? Yeah, I totally did. But I don't necessarily think that was because of Nick Saban. I think it was because of the colors and the script on the helmet and just what Alabama was and what it represented. And I still think that's what it means to them. I don't think you can really forget.

And, you know, this is why I've been fascinated by, you know, a couple years ago when Georgia beat Alabama in the SEC championship game, that following season there was talk of a revenge tour all year long. And you haven't really heard anything about Georgia, you know, not being able to win the third one, maybe possibly being a little ticked off and being on a revenge tour of their own. And I think if there's any game where that kind of spills over and becomes the issue, I think it's going to be that Alabama game. And I think that's going to be a very emotionally taxing for Georgia win or lose.

But especially, you know, winning a big one in Tuscaloosa, I think it would be very emotionally taxing. Yeah, I think it's interesting because, like, for everybody else in the SEC, Georgia's become the measuring stick. But for Georgia, Alabama's still the measuring stick. Yeah, yeah, 100%. I mean, they definitely measured themselves by that. And, listen, if I'm an Alabama fan, I'm sitting here saying, well, sorry, you have your championships. You haven't beat us.

You know, we still kind of got you, you know, we've, we've got you by the short hair and, and that's just the way it is. And I just think that that's, you know, it's, it's, it's a tough dynamic for Georgia fans to swallow, but it's just the truth. And that's, that's the multitude. I think that game is so important for Georgia, especially when you start talking about kind of this era. And listen, if you want to take over in the post-Saban era as the dynasty,

as the team, as the absolute unquestioned standard in college football, I don't care what Ohio State does this year, because Georgia's kind of built the past. I think that you've got to win that game in Tuscaloosa in a year in transition, a year where I look at Alabama's team and I think they're going to be really good on offense, but I don't know anybody in the country. I don't think – maybe the Alabama pre-transfer portal of old could have done it, but the amount of phenomenal football players they lost on that side of the ball,

on the defensive side of the ball, it's got to be a little nerve-wracking so here's something that we don't usually get to say and or i guess we'll be able to say it from now on but we haven't been able to say it for a long time we actually know exactly when that game is yeah september 28th 7 30 p.m eastern time yeah on abc like We already know that. That's one of the differences. We don't have to wait and see. Back in the day, we'd assume that's the CBS 3.30 Eastern game, but maybe not.

Maybe something crazy happens and they move. Maybe they throw the doubleheader on it that week like they did back in 2020 when Georgia played there. Yep. We know what it is night game Tuscaloosa in September for goodness sakes Georgia still has to play at Texas and that Ole Miss after that but man I that that game it's it's funny because I don't feel like we've talked about that game a ton this offseason maybe you you guys have it, Dogs HQ. But nationally, Georgia's playing at Alabama, for God's sake.

Yeah. We're going to get to see that. Yeah, and it's so exciting, man. It is. I mean, I would say probably Ohio State-Oregon is the number one. I don't really – I don't know. Obviously, I get excited about covering big Georgia games. Don't get me wrong.

But I really look across the country and, like, what game am I excited to get in front of a TV or set up a second screen in the press box to try and watch that Oregon-Ohio State game. Like I'm fascinated by that. But I'll be honest with you, like I'm going to be tuning into Alabama for the first two or three weeks of the season because I want to see what they look like.

Like, I mean, how different than a Saban coach football team is it going to be? You know what I mean? Like how are they going to be defensively with with new coaching staffs and probably a new scheme and and and all of those things you know how are they gonna you know operate offensively you know what's the receiver situation like how long is it going to take because i think the biggest key for that team is how long is it going to take for jalen milrow and uh and caitlinBoer to really mesh and get on the same page? Because I know they will in due time. He's that good of a coach. And that's going to be dependent on their season. And then with Georgia, you feel like you have more of a known commodity there. You kind of know what it is, but there's that little wedge that's sitting

there between, you know, that's going to divide what you think should happen and what's happened. And what has happened is Alabama's found a way to get Georgia whenever it's been big. And this one will be big. And by the way, Georgia has played Clemson and Kentucky before they play Alabama. So it's not, it's not like Georgia's just throwing up softballs before they get to the season schedule. It's one of those deals where if Georgia's healthy, Georgia's early season schedule has definitely helped it out. If it's healthy, Georgia has, you know, it has paid huge dividends.

If it's not, then you're left to question, well, if we played an easier schedule, would we be more healthy right now? Which, you know, probably not. Players get hurt all the time in less competitive games. All the time. And those maybe even feel worse. Well, we saw Georgia loading up that schedule as this decade began. And that was kind of the hint to me that they were going to expand the

playoff was Georgia looked like they were playing, like they were doing the Tom Izzo thing, just load up and you'll be ready when you make the playoff. And I'll tell you this too, man. I think Kirby Smart is such a football guy. I think he is such a how do we play better, how do we perform better, that I really do believe him when he says one of his reasons for scheduling those marquee season openers is because the whole offseason

is different because you're looking to that game one and you know you've got to be ready. I was told that last year when Georgia kind of had that very soft early season schedule that Kirby really put it to him. Probably the toughest camp Georgia's ever had, as opposed to the year before when they had Oregon in the opener. And they kind of worked up to it. And Kirby didn't feel like he had to challenge the team. He knew that they would be challenged from the get-go, and he knew he didn't have to really push them because what was sitting in front of them would kind of push them.

And I thought that was an interesting take on that. And I really do believe he subscribes to that thought, and it means a lot to him. Well, Georgia, Clemson, August 31st, high noon in Atlanta. Can't wait. Jake Rowe, thank you so much. You got it, buddy. Jake Rowe from Dogs HQ.

That is on 3's Georgia site. If you'd like to join Dogs HQ, $1 for your first month if you use the code ANDY1. If you'd like to join Letterman Rowe, where our next guest, Spencer Holbrook, comes from, $1 for your first month if you use the code ANDY1. If you'd like to join Letterman Row, where our next guest, Spencer Holbrook, comes from, $1 for your first month using ANDY1. If you'd want to join any of our on three team sites, they're all fantastic. $1 for your first month.

Use that code ANDY1. All right, let's talk Buckeyes now with Spencer Holbrook because this is the other team that people are expecting to compete for the national title. There are other teams beyond Georgia and Ohio State, but these are the two that pretty much everybody agrees upon. They're going to be in the mix. Ohio State has loaded up in the transfer portal.

One of the people that got out of there, Will Howard, the quarterback. Let's talk about him with Spencer Holbrook from Letterman Row. We welcome Spencer Holbrook from Letterman Row, Ohio State National Championship, or Bust Buckeyes this season. They had a scrimmage on Saturday. And Spencer, one of the things I noticed

at Letterman Row is when we talked last time i said when are they going to name will howard to start and you're like hey look this is ohio state they've got a bunch of highly recruited quarterbacks if one of them were to beat him out it wouldn't be the end of the world but now it does seem like will Howard is asserting himself. Yeah, he seems like the guy. First of all, he's down 15 pounds. He showed up.

He was, I believe they said 249. He's down to 233, 232 in that range right now. So he looks like a trimmer quarterback than even the people at Kansas State probably know him as. He said that he put on a little bit of portal weight in that month that he was in the transfer portal. So that was a little bit of a funny moment for him. But he's starting to assert himself in the weight room. He's starting to assert himself in the locker room. And then he's taking it. It's all kind of translated to the field.

He is throwing the ball more decisively. He's got more what Ryan Day called command of the huddle because they're doing some huddling here in preseason. He's taking control in the run game as well. I think he looks pretty good and pretty fluid there. day called command of the huddle because they're doing some huddling here uh in preseason he's um taking control um in in the run game as well i think he looks pretty good and pretty fluid there but but that was to be expected um i think the deep ball still needs a little bit of work but he is starting to assert himself by all accounts had a good scrimmage on saturday what we've seen of him through five open practices that we've got to watch as a media contingent, I thought he looked pretty good, and he's really starting to solidify himself as the guy.

Yeah. Interesting that you say they are doing some huddling this preseason because I've heard several coaches say they think the in-helmet communication might actually convince some offenses to huddle more because the OC can call it to the quarterback quarterback can tell the whole team and it might not be as much of a blur and i'm just thinking about that chip kelly has already worked with this stuff as an nfl head coach so he knows it much better probably than most of the college coaches do i do wonder how he's going to implement

that yeah and they've talked a little bit about uh still relaying signs in and signals in because probably than most of the college coaches do. I do wonder how he's going to implement that. Yeah, and they've talked a little bit about still relaying signs in and signals in because it shuts off at 15 seconds left in the play clock. So you still are going to have a little bit of the rainbow of assistant coaches over on the sideline relaying in some signals, but I don't think it's going to be as big. But yeah, having Chip Kelly and Ryan Day, both former NFL coaches who have called plays in the league, that's got to be an upper hand for Ohio State. It's something that we really

haven't talked much about other than like, yes, they are going to huddle. Yes, they are trying to figure out what to do in those last 15 seconds to make those adjustments. But yeah, Chip Kelly certainly has his fingers all over this offense. You can tell in the run game, it looks more diverse. You can tell even in the passing game, because it's a lot more RPO stuff I think than than what we've seen from Ohio State in the past but then also it's just the fact that you know Will Howard's a run threat now and and Chip wants to use him like that and you can kind of tell that he's starting to put that in right now well and that's the the part of Will Howard's game that I think when you look at him coming out of the transfer portal I think people are looking at him as just a pure passer but he does give you a

big threat in the run game especially if it's alongside trevion henderson or quinch on judkins yeah and then you add these receivers in like you know it's really pick your poison i'm not really sure how teams are going to try to defend this team because like you said, are you going to hand it to Travion and Quinchon? We haven't seen two back stuff, but I wouldn't put it past them to do some two back stuff. There's going to be tight ends on the field. Those guys are going to try to get into some seams and get up field because of the running lanes that's going to be open.

I think the offensive line is coming together pretty nicely. And then you add Will Howard, who Chip Kelly said ran 22-mile-an-hour this summer as a quarterback, has 6'4", 237 pounds. I think he was when he ran that. He's now down to 232, 233. So he could be even a little bit quicker than that. So, yeah, it seems like it's all coming together, Andy, and we've kind of beat the dead horse here all offseason about how good this

offense could be if Will Howard takes a step. Now, if you're seeing him take those steps, you seem like you're onto something here. And you guys got to talk to Jeremiah Smith late last week, and this is a freshman that everything I've heard about him, everything you guys have told me about him is living up and possibly exceeding what was already some incredible hype because this is the guy who's the he's the number one recruit in the class of 2024 you know between him and cam coleman you had these two receivers who are just way up there and it seems like smith

has been everything he's been advertised to be. How's he handled all this attention, pressure? Basically, we're talking about him as being a star right away. Is he dealing with that at all, or is that something like, okay, I've been a star all my life. I can handle this. I think it's the latter, Andy, because he knows he was the number one overall prospect in 2024. He knows that he's been compared to every dominant receiver we've seen come through college football,

especially Julio Jones. I think that's the most common one that we hear. But he's a pretty humble guy. He's not going to brag about much. Brian Hartline, Ryan Day have raved about his work ethic, his attention to detail. He's the first freshman to ever be named an Iron Buckeye, which is a Mickey Mirati award that he gives out for, you know, the hardworking guys in the weight room who put in the extra time to do the work to be great.

He's the first freshman to ever earn that honor. And that's a pretty big deal inside the walls of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. So, like, they don't just hand that out. And the fact that he scored that honor kind of shows that he put the recruiting pedigree and the stars to the side once he got here, started working his tail off it and has kind of made the most of year one. And now I think you're going to see him absolutely explode. Like there are guys on this team who are going to be top 50 draft picks that are in the secondary. It's the number one pass defense in the country from last year, which added Caleb Downs and didn't lose a starting corner. They're having trouble defending him in practice because, you know,

he goes up and just gets the football. I asked him when we talked to him on Friday about the 50-50 balls, and he started to smile because then I said, well, they're probably not 50-50 for you. They're more 70-30 or even 90-10 at times. And he kind of walked through how he pinpoints those. But he's going to make a lot more corners look small than otherwise because he's massive and he's got just a ridiculous catch radius.

And I absolutely cannot wait to see him on the field. And Ryan Day said he's not commenting on him until August 31st. So we don't even get to talk to Ryan Day about him really. But on August 31st, I'm sure Ryan will have some pretty good things to say about him. I love that he's just sandbagging. He's like, yeah, you'll see. I don't have to say anything. You'll see. Well, okay, you mentioned that pass defense. This is a defense that a lot of guys really could be in the NFL right now.

They came back. I say it every time that we talk, shades of Michigan last year with those guys coming back. But you add Caleb Downs to the mix, Sonny Stiles slides to linebacker. But interesting, I saw the silver bullet of the day that Jim Knowles puts out the day after the scrimmage. So Jim Knowles is the defense coordinator. The silver bullet of the day was Latham Ransom. And that's a name, like this is one of those guys who's been there forever,

but we hadn't talked about him very much. And it's like, oh, wait, he's still there too. He's one of those guys, Andy, I think that every championship team has, where the whole offseason you talk about the hype and the hype. And there's always a couple of those guys that you just kind of forget about. Like, Latham wasn't on any preseason Big Ten honors. I don't think he was in like the first three preseason all Big Ten teams from like a couple of those magazines that are usually pretty good. But he started games in 2020 as a true freshman.

He started games throughout the entire year in 2021 before breaking his leg in the Rose Bowl. Comes back, starts every game in 22, plays a ton last year in 2023 as one of the starters until he gets hurt up at Wisconsin. And if you look at the Ohio State defense from September and October compared to November, there was a drop-off when Latham Ransom got hurt. He is such a key cog in this machine. Jim Knowles absolutely loves what he brings to the defense. He's a pretty sure tackler. He's good in coverage. He makes plays in a timely manner. The fact that Ohio State didn't have him on the field, if you remember the play in the Michigan game after Zach Zinter got hurt, where Blake Corum slipped through the secondary and scored a touchdown and juked out Sonny Stiles,

well, Sonny was playing in Lathan's spot. And you don't know if the game is going to change based on that, but Lathan wasn't there in if the game is going to change based on that. But, like, Latham wasn't there in that Michigan game to be that last line of defense. He's so important for this defense. And I think it's super noteworthy that the day after the scrimmage, he's the silver bullet of the day because you talk about Caleb Downs and Denzel Burke and all of the defensive linemen that came back. And all of a sudden you just have this fifth-year senior who just kind of seems

like he's lurking in the background, ready to make some plays this year and be a force. And people are forgetting about Latham Ransom, I think, a little too easily heading into the year. Yeah, it's one of those things. I think we're going to do that with this defense quite a bit, where there might be, as the games go on, kind of a new star every week because they're going to be solid everywhere, but they can be spectacular in so many different places that you don't often know where it's going to come from. Yeah, and then another guy who's exactly like that is Ty Hamilton,

another 2020 guy who is a run-stuffer. He's not the slippery defensive tackle who makes the sacks like Tylee Williams does. He's not the the run stopper on the edge like jt2 and willow and jack sawyer can be he's just a really stout nose tackle that you need but he doesn't make any headlines because he doesn't do anything you know sexy for this defense he just kind of does his job it's like you know you've got some of those guys in here it's not all nil brought all these guys back and, and they're all a bunch of should-be-in-the-NFL guys. There's a few scrappy guys in here that can really make a difference for this team.

And like you said, like a different star every week, there could be three corners in this rotation who each have a game of the year for them. There could be three or four defensive ends and defensive tackles in here that could have like a game-of-the-year performance for the team. There's so many different ways the defense can attack you. And I think that's what's so exciting for Jim Knowles. But it's also the challenge of trying to figure it all out in the next couple of weeks. It's another good point, though, that there are veteran guys on this team that, like you said,

they didn't decide to come back from going to the draft. They need to have a good year to show the NFL that they can play in the NFL. And that's quite a motivation too. But it's strange with Ohio State because there are so many guys that we know are going to be high draft picks. But sometimes that person, especially when it's an older person who knows the scheme really well, that can be very helpful. Yeah. I mean, the amount of talent that's assembled is obviously like NFL level, as far as this defense goes. Like I could see all 11 of these guys playing in the NFL, but like, like you said, like, it's not like all of these guys are going

to be first, second and third round picks. Like even in last year's defense was one of the five best defenses in the country. Steel Chambers is having trouble finding a roster spot right now anywhere. Tommy Eikenberg is fighting for a roster spot, you know, at his NFL stop. So like they were good college players, but that doesn't mean they're going to be great NFL players. There's some names on this defense that are not necessarily household names that return as starters that I think will really help this team. If it's a three-point game at Oregon in the fourth quarter, who do you turn to? It's not always that NFL headline guy on your defense. It might be the guy who's a little more underrated like Latham or like Ty Hamilton, who's just been there for so long and has that callous that Ryan Day talks about all offseason.

That's what I think kind of makes this defense so good. It's not just the talent level, but it's kind of the callous that they've built over time. A lot of these guys were on that defense that was horrendous in 2021. Now they get to be on the other end of it, and it's pretty exciting. So I asked Jake Rowe this when we were talking Georgia. When you look at Ohio State's schedule, what's a game that most of your Letterman Row subscribers would say,

oh, that's a definite win, Ohio State's winning that game easily, that you look at and you say, you know what, I don't know if it's going to be as easy as everybody thinks? You know, it's crazy. I really do want to say Nebraska because I just think that that defense is always pretty decent. And then if Dylan Raiola or Raiola hits, then you don't know. But that's right after an off week, and they're either going to be riding the high of beating Oregon

and getting the off week and then playing Nebraska, or they're going to be coming off of a loss to Oregon, and you never want to play Ohio State coming off of a loss, you know, like a couple of weeks later, especially with the off week for that to kind of sit as a bad taste in their mouth. I, there's no other road games that really scare me at all. The Michigan State one, I just don't see it. The Northwestern game will be at Wrigley field. It'd be a cool experience, but I'm going to go Iowa just because the defense is really, really good there. Like, like maybe better than Ohio State's defense as a whole, the collective. And it'll be Will Howard's first real, like, challenge in this Ohio State offense. He's not going to be challenged at Michigan State.

He's not going to be challenged in those three-week non-con games. The first time he's going to have to throw into a defense that can really, really get you is Iowa. And this offensive line is going to have to be cohesive. He's going to have to be good. The running game is going to have to be working because you don't want Will Howard in third and longs all game. So I just think that it's that Iowa game that, you know,

I think some of our subscribers are kind of keen to that. They know that Iowa can be a, you know, a snake biter. But it's just one of those things where there's not a lot on this schedule um i think the other one andy real quick would be the penn state games because ohio state fans are so used to beating james franklin at this point you can't take that for granted because you're going to happy valley but that's a noon i think that's going to be a noon game it's not the wide out so like it does drop a few rungs in there but it is one that the ohio state fans have kind of come to just expect to win,

that you kind of can't do that this year. Yeah, and it's weird because for the longest time, it felt like Penn State played them tough no matter what. It hasn't felt like that the last couple of years. But, yeah, the Iowa game is interesting because this is that look-ahead spot before Oregon. If that game were at Kinnick, I think maybe I'd be a little more worried. And I do think Iowa's offense is going to be better. I just, against Ohio State's defense, I don't know that it's going to look a whole lot better. I think they'll probably look a lot better against most other defenses they play.

It's just this one, I don't know what they do to attack that ohio state defense whereas oregon i can look at the players and say okay this is how they'll try to attack the defense whether that'll work or not it's another question but at least you can say that but i i like the iowa pick the penn state when you're right because you got to go there because they've they've been traditionally tough and nebraska when yeah i i i would love it too just because i think nebraska being good when they play ohio state and actually being able to challenge ohio state is one of those great for college football kind of things but it was it's going to be a tough ask after that open week yeah and then you know the nebraska

game also is the week before Penn State. So you think, okay, maybe you'll have to look ahead. Right after the bye week. So like it kind of takes a little bit of steam off. I think the thing that saves Ohio State against Iowa, the things that I've heard is either probably a 330 or a night game. It could be Ohio State's only premier night game on the entire schedule at home.

And so if the stadium has the proper level of juice, I know they're playing Western Michigan at night in the second game of the year, but that's obviously kind of a juiceless night game. If you get Iowa in the horseshoe at night, if it is that, then I think that you're looking at a game that you probably don't have to worry about as much because the Iowa offense is one thing. The Iowa offense with 105,000 people who have been interrogating all day is maybe even Iowa to the max.

So, you know, we might not have to worry about that one if it is that. But, you know, at the time of – For those who play the video game, those who play the video game, the stadium pulse will be off the charts that night. You're right. Because if that is their one premier night game, then the fans are going to be very juiced up for that no matter what no matter the circumstances they'll be like all right we're here we're not going to get to do this again this season so

let's do it right now yeah i mean that's not set in stone um but based on the things that i've been hearing it could be uh 3 30 it could be at night either way i think that's one that ohio state fans will take advantage of because the home slate i mean the entire slate is just not that great so like even the home games i think the buckeyes will take advantage of that first like marquee team at home because those first three all those weak non-cons the first time that an actual respectable opponent comes to the horseshoe will be iowa and i think think Ohio State fans will respond in kind to that challenge of getting up there for the Iowa game and being ready. So maybe we are talking ourselves out of the Iowa game, but it's got to be Iowa or Nebraska. And I'll take my chances saying that the Tufford matchup will be that Iowa defense. Prediction time. Do you believe Will Howard is

named the starter ahead of week one? Yes. Yeah. Ryan Day speaks Thursday, this upcoming Thursday. I don't know if I'll go as far as to say that it'll happen on Thursday. They could want to see just one more scrimmage. But I think in the next two weeks, you're going to have a starter at Ohio State, whether that's the scarlet smoke coming out of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center where the Ryan Day just kind of puts out a statement or calls a press conference. I think that it'll happen before week one.

But he waited until that 15 to 20 range to call the race when nobody was in the race with Justin Fields. He waited to do it with CJ Stroud until that time. We're still like 10 days away from that sweet spot that Ryan Day's traditionally liked. We also didn like 10 days away from that sweet spot that Ryan Day's traditionally liked. We also didn't love the way he handled the quarterback battle last year in August. So maybe he bumps up that timeline, gets it done a little earlier, especially now that we're starting to really hear and see a little bit

that Will Howard is becoming more and more the guy with each practice that they have. He could just do it like Urban Meyer, you know, out on the field in lane stadium Cardell. It's you. That was, that was one way, but I think you're probably right.

I think we're going to get to see something more official with Will Howard. Spencer. Thank you so much. Thanks. That was truly spectacular in 2015. Like inner Sandman is playing. It's Monday night.

This is the game. Everybody's watching. So you did it. Exit line. And then the fans are jumping up and down and in the Ohio state on the Ohio state sideline. Everyone's like, yeah,

Cardinal go try to figure out Cardinal or JT Barrett Cardinal. Go. trying to figure out Cardell or JT Barrett. Cardell, go! It will be fabulous to get a quarterback decision that's official. But we kind of know where that's going. We don't know where this season's going, though, because it's going to be wild.

It's going to be something we've never seen before. I am here for it. I am excited. We got more camp whip arounds coming tomorrow. We're talking Alabama, talking Nebraska. We're so close, everybody.

Almost there. We'll talk to you soon.