Andy & Ari On3 - Nico Watch CONTINUES as the transfer portal prepares to open

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

We’re excited to announce we’ll be hosting Andy & Ari On3 LIVE from the Draft in Green Bay on Thursday, April 24 and Friday, April 25! We’ll be set up right outside the famous Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field at the Culver’s Great Wisconsin Tailgate. Born in Wisconsin, Culver’s is the home of the legendary ButterBurger, Fresh Frozen Custard and Wisconsin Cheese Curds—there’s no better representation of America’s Dairyland than that. We’ll have some very special guests throughout the Draft that you won’t want to miss, so stay tuned for more details and get ready for a weekend of fun, made fresh with our friends at Culver’s: https://go.culvers.com/culvers/sAkHC(0:00-3:29) Intro with Pete Nakos(3:30-10:44) Detailing the entire Nico situation(10:45-15:34) What does Tennessee do next?(15:35-16:44) Ari and Disney movies(16:45-17:23) Continuing the Tennessee discussion(17:24-18:24) Culver's(18:25-24:44) Jaydn Ott to Oklahoma?(24:45-26:21) Final Preview of Portal, Wrapping up with Pete(26:22-29:54) Reflecting on Pete's conversation(29:55-33:57) Florida State?(33:58-51:41) In-depth discussion on Nico(51:42-57:39) JD Vance and the CFP Trophy(57:40-1:04:16) Where does Nico go?(1:04:17-1:07:22) Conclusion: Spring Portal opens tomorrow The spring transfer portal opens Wednesday, but the names are already starting to trickle in. The biggest name, of course, is former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava. It’s still unclear where he will land, but it’s becoming increasingly likely that he won’t be making a parallel move. On Monday night, Cal tailback Jaydn Ott entered the portal. Meanwhile, a trio of Division II offensive linemen from the same team are picking up interest. On3’s Pete Nakos joins Andy and Ari to break it all down. Watch us LIVE on YouTube, M-F, at 9:30 am et! https://youtube.com/live/j57ak3vhgP8 Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Want to partner with the show? E-mail [e-mail]

Welcome to Andy and Ari on this presented by Culver's Niko Watch 2025 continues and Ari, I think we should bring in an expert to help us contextualize Niko Watch and help us narrow things down and help us figure out just exactly what the heck's going on right now. Should we bring in our favorite Bi7CH? Yes, that's right. You know, the community note on Nico's dad said that Pete Nacos is report was actually correct. But it did not correct the bi 7 CH part. So I didn't know like where we're at with that. But like no

Pete, Pete's at least a bi 9 CH. Yeah, we got a what's up, guys? What number would you put in there? I? Seven's fine. I've gotten multiple phone calls from friends in the last like four days who like my new Contact name on their phone is now bitch naked With a seven right I think they just did the T, but yeah. So you gotta do the seven. That's the key piece right there. So was the seven intentional

or was the seven near the T on the keyboard? No, I think the seven was intentional so he didn't actually spell it out. That just might be bad though. Yeah, some people think if they cuss on Twitter, it causes bad things to happen. I don't think they've actually read Twitter very much. You can put whatever you want in there.

Nobody cares. Yeah. I mean, in response to that, we got a lot of really bad things tweeted at both of our directions that had the full words in them. So, but Pete, I hope that you're exhausted from all the victory laps you've been taking. You've been killing it, man. We're so happy that you're here.

Keep your head up. What you do is incredibly hard and there are going to be days like that, but as long as you keep doing your thing, you're going to come out on top. So congratulations on the story and thanks so much for supporting us all while we were doing, we were talking about this. You made a lot of hay for this website this week. Well, I, as your agent, have already spoken to Shannon Terry, so hopefully my demands will be met.

I think I'm a better negotiator than Big Nick in Malayava, but we'll find out. We'll find out. Andy found out that I am not yesterday. So, go with it. Oh my God. Pete, can I run this by you? I just want some independent confirmation

that I'm not crazy. So Ari's thought was that Jake Merklinger and or George McIntyre, whoever Tennessee decides is QB1, assuming they don't take somebody out of the portal. Should attempt to hold out in preseason camp. Ari, no, Ari, no. Once the portal is closed, ten tend to be reliant on you. If you're not made whole,

if you hold out, they have no choice. They need a quarterback. What are they going to do? No, they're not going to do. That's terrible advice. Now, Ari, I do want to put a feather in your cap on this one. Andy hasn't told me what the demands are to Shannon, so I don't know how great of an agent he is either. Yeah, that's true.

He actually... I said $5 million how great of an agent he is either. Yeah, that's true. He actually $5 million a year in unlimited use of the company. Big green egg. I don't think I have time to grill. Well, with $5 million you can pay somebody to grill for you. Sure, actually what Andy did was he negotiated a contract that pays you 17% less than what you're currently making. I think that's what Niko's dad did. All right, let's get to that. Let's get to that because

I'm fascinated by this. We threw, it feels like our thought process on where Niko's headed has evolved considerably since Thursday when your story first broke. Because we were throwing big name schools out there first. And it feels like the level of school. That's a potential landing spot has dropped every day. Yeah. So when that new, when we, we put that story out on Thursday, the initial schools, I continue to hear a lot about were like a USC, a UCLA, a Notre Dame. At this point, it's super fair to roll out USC and Notre Dame just from talking to people

across the country. And then, you know, another school, a lot of people wanted to tie to NECA that really never like was going to be a thing. And I put it in the initial story Saturday is Texas Tech. I mean, tech has so much money right now with what Cody Campbell's done and the rest of that booster group, but they're locked in on Baron Morton that, that, that he won from everything I've heard. And yeah, I mean, while it could make a lot of sense on paper,

it's just not something that, that Joey McGuire and Co kind of want to go down that road with. Are there any other schools that you think could get into the mix besides the few that you put into the story yesterday? Yeah. So UCLA is still very much like a viable option. I mean, I got a phone call last night that UCLA feels like they're still in the mix on this.

I put two lane out there yesterday, and I think a lot of people are like, Oh, it's a top school. Like, no, I had conversations and wrote in the story that that two lane is quarterback 100% be open and Nico, but I think a lot of things that have to shake out and they're not definitely not gonna hit that Market value that that Nikos camp is looking for And then North Carolina super interesting. They are a buyer in the spring quarterback market But we broke the news yesterday that that the South Alabama quarterback Geo Lopez is hitting the portal And North Carolina is viewed as the favorite taking the tar heels out of the mix for Nico

Yeah, and it sounds like because I saw the Michael Lombardi tweet from two days earlier I was on Saturday with good news coming soon for the Tar Heels, or something like that. And it seems like that was targeted at the Gio Lopez news that was eventually gonna come out. And we joked about it yesterday, the idea of a Bill Belichick-Team Niko negotiation, but let's be real here, that's not bill Belichick style.

Like we go back to him at the Patriots. He's more of a, I'll take distressed assets for a lot for very low money. Like if you're known to be a problem or known to have issues, he'll take you for a rock bottom price, but he ain't paying for you. Yeah. And I think One thing that we saw yesterday is bill Belichick kind of show off how he's going through College football in relation to the NFL, you know

He was all about finding like the the diamonds in the rough per se in the NFL And I think he's kind of doing that with Gio Lopez, right? Someone who really showed out at South Alabama this last year. Now. Yeah. I, I don't, I reported this yesterday. I do not think North Carolina was going to pay when Nico was asking for unless Nico wanted to come down on price. And you know, the other thing too, and Andy and Ari, you've spoken about this so much, we always keep saying, Nico, there's a lot of more to team Nico.

I like to say team Nico, because I think that better describes it because it's not. Yeah, it's not him. But I like I wrote in this column that just came out on three where I was explaining how the secret to avoiding this these kinds of messes is hidden in Kirby smarts rant from a couple weeks ago. For your for the purposes of a coach and really for the purposes of the fan base, you can't separate Nico from team Nico because if team Nico is going to lead Nico around and ha and make Nico make all his decisions, it's the same thing. They're the same person, same entity at that point.

Yeah. I agree with that. Uh, Pete, so I'm trying to read your story and I'm reading the internet and I'm reading our chat and it sounds like North Carolina is out. Tulane is probably the last place that he could end up because, uh, of money issues, UCLA feels like a viable decision. So like, is this UCLA or bus? Like, I think that there's a lot of excitement about where he's going to end up. And I think the reality, once you said

that North Carolina is off the table last night, is that his situation is not going to be as good program wise as Tennessee and certainly not financially what he was probably going to make. But like, are there other teams out there that could fall out of the sky? Or is this like UCLA or he's screwed? I'm not going to rule out other schools falling out of the sky just yet. Uh, just because of he is Nico I'm a Lava and he, he did show at times last year at Tennessee that he was one of the better quarterbacks in the sec. It does feel like all eyes though are on UCLA right now.

And, and can that deal get done and can UCLA, uh, pay up for what they're looking for and things like that. The other thing I will say too, is I think we could be having a different conversation right now. If this was December and he could still go in the SEC. I think the timing of all this has made a huge impact on the school selection. Because the thing that I think is interesting here, Andy, not to cut you off. Excuse me, is that if UCLA is, if it is all eyes on UCLA, then what's to stop UCLA from putting the screws to them financially?

Because if they're in a position where they're the only viable option, then they'll say, hey, listen, buddy, you can come here for 700 grand or you can go find somewhere else. And that other place, like, I mean, like this doesn't have to be a, I mean, the leverage is on the other side of the table now. Yeah. And the leverage, I don't have it anymore. And the flip side to all this too is the reason why I'm not saying like I'm not rolling out certain schools right now is because Tennessee still needs a quarterback and until Tennessee gets a quarterback, it's going to have another domino effect too, depending on who Tennessee gets and where they go and yeah, could Niko slide into the school that loses a quarterback to Tennessee like and I'm not saying it's all going to blend together just like that, but I think we're still going

to see some doors open for Niko this spring. Yeah, so before this brings up a very interesting new avenue to take this conversation down, before we do that, if you're watching on Twitter right now, we're moving all of you to YouTube. So you're watching on Twitter, the link just below where you're watching, YouTube link's right there.

Go ahead and hit that. Come join us on YouTube. The chat is much more robust, much more lively. You can really get in our heads, which I appreciate. You can call Pete whatever name you wanna call him. Let's do it. You can put whatever number in the middle of the word you want.

But, all right Pete, that is, so you just talked about the thing I wanna know about. Yeah. Are we sure Tennessee's gonna take somebody out of the portal to BQB1 in 2025, or could it be one of the guys that's already on the roster? Yeah, so I'm not sure yet if they're gonna take someone out of the portal to BQB1, but if they do do that,

I think it's gonna open a new selection of opportunities for Niko. If they don't do that, I think they're making a decision for the long haul and trying to put all their chips in on George McIntyre and Jacob Erklinger and saying like, hey, we're going to build for the future. You know, I brought this up on the Volquest message board yesterday and he's not in the portal yet and we typically don't do this but because of the way college of Paul is at right now like so Gio Lopez is going

to North Carolina and all like that is the favorite that's where it seems right going what does Max Johnson now do right the former Texas A&M transfer who and LSU and yeah yeah but he so he had a season ending injury against Minnesota last year. Yep. He has one year left. Do you bring, like, is he gonna be someone on the market that someone could look at to like just bring in a body? It's a good question.

It's a very good question. And I think everybody assumes that because Nico was making this amount of money, this is what, like, Tennessee's not gonna pay anywhere near that unless they're swiping somebody's starter They're not they're not going to do that if it's if it's somebody who was going to be a backup somewhere else. And also, like you just mentioned Pete, they might bring in somebody but to compete with Jake Merkley and George McIntyre not to guarantee them the starting job like there are varying degrees to this depending

on what's available. Pia, are there any top sell? Are there quarterbacks that are currently starter worthy quarterbacks in the SEC that are currently participating in spring ball that, you know, you don't have to name names, but it's possible that starters go into the portal for Tennessee, right? Not in the SEC. It's possible, but just not in the SEC. I mean, I just like SEC quality, meaning that they would be a

yeah, not for, yeah, I think there's some out there and I, I know for effect, Tennessee started to kick some tires on some of those names, but you know, Ari, I think the one thing that's going to play out here is one quarterbacks are going to have a lot more leverage, right? It's like, Hey, Tennessee called or something like that. But the other thing too is like, it is such an awkward timing. Like if you are a seasoned veteran starter

at another power four school outside the SEC, why do you wanna go leave your guys right now at this point? Like that's gonna be a really tough sell. It's also a giant red flag for you as a leader in a quarterback. Like I think if this is another position, it's not as big of a deal. But since the quarterback is presumed to be the leader

of the team, like I'm sure all of these guys, the ones we're talking about who are at schools right now, who are the QB1 at their school, they've been giving these speeches to their teammates all off season, like, hey, we're in it together. We're gonna do it this year. And if they suddenly peace out, bad come in my way, like I don't think that bodes well for anybody in that situation. Oh, man. I don't know if I buy this. I don't buy this.

Buy what? What Andy's saying. If you have two commas coming your way and you only have one right now. What if you already have seven figures? Cause there's a lot of guys that Tennessee would like to get who are already making over a million. Yeah.

What's the difference between a million and two million? What if the first digit is more, is one digit higher? Million. That's a lot of money. Yeah, no, yeah. And I'd love $2 million, but I'm just saying like, it's a tough decision to make in a short period of time. Yeah, I just don't know that if you go and increase your income, whether there's an extra

comma or not from, you know, if you 40% that you're an asshole, like I just don't buy that. So like, especially at this time of the year, I think that like, the way Nico might have gone about this is wrong. And I think that he got terrible advice. It's been, you know, we don't need to re-litigate the terrible advice aspect of this. But the fact of the matter is, is I still believe that he in this position and the players in this position have the right to try to use their leverage in a smart way to make more money. Like, I think that while the system is set up this way, it's not a, it doesn't make you a bad human to try to maximize your income.

So, And I don't disagree with you there Ari. And actually I want to ask Pete this because is it possible that Nico gets like 10 people raises and has to take a pay cut himself? Yes. Yeah, yeah, it's definitely possible. Maybe he's Peter Pan. You never thought about it that way.

Robin Hood is what he is. Robin Hood. Yeah. We're watching Rapunzel right now in the Wasserman household. I'm catching up on that one. By the way, on a quick aside, these Disney movies of children are very disturbing. Like, do you know what Rapunzel is about? Like, have you seen this recently? it yes what happens in the first.

In the first scene when writer does something is forces the best character in the book in the movie a baby infant. redundant, but I want to emphasize it's an infant gets robbed out of her crib from a witch and I'm sitting there with a three year old looking at me and she goes, daddy, what happened? Am I supposed to tell her who sleeps across the hallway that she got stolen from her family? Like what is going on in these movies? Ari is a very disturbing movie. Ari, don't show her Bambi. That's all I gotta say. You won't you won't be able to handle those questions.

Disney movies are disturbing, okay? That's all I'm gonna say. Willie asks, would Ari take a pay cut to get Andy and Pete a pay raise? No. I don't think so. Ari's looking out for Ari. Yeah. But I don't think I would hold out and hurt my teammates either. Right. I think this is the part I'm interested in, Pete.

I think you're going to see some guys get some raises. I'm not so sure we're going to see a starting QB1 from a power conference be willing to go to Tennessee here. Yeah. It's a very interesting decision in market right now. It's also like, are you being promised a starting job? Are you told you can compete for the starting job? I don't know.

I think Tennessee is kind of going through the motions of that right now. Let's move on to the, actually before we move on to the rest of the transfer portal, I got to tell you about our friends at Culver's because they are bringing us next week to Green Bay for the draft. That's right. We are going to the great Wisconsin tailgate outside the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. And of course, you know Culver's was born in Wisconsin. It is home of the legendary Butterburger, the fresh frozen custard and those Wisconsin cheese curds,

and they're bringing that to the rest of the country. So the rest of the country can see how the folks in America's Dairyland live and they live very, very well. So we'll be there at the draft. We'll be talking to some players who just got drafted. We doing shows on Thursday and Friday. It's gonna be a lot of fun. I cannot wait.

The NFL draft is my favorite days, or well, three day periods, but that first round on Thursday night, one of my favorite sports days of the year. I love it. And I cannot wait to be there with Culver's. Thank you so much and we will see you soon. All right, Pete, let us move away from Nico

because I'm sure that is going to start resolving itself the closer we get to the actual transfer portal opening. Because remember Nico's not actually in the portal until tomorrow. But Jayden Ott was the big news on Monday. The cow running back who had a great career, hurt his ankle last year, did not have the best year, but he entered the portal and threw this up on his Instagram story just before the news broke that he was entering the portal. No loyalty to stagnation,

which is exactly what I expect a Cal player to say. That's the level of syllables I want in my Cal player cryptic messages. But what, what do we think is going to happen with Jade? Not, uh, I reported last night that the early school to watch in this recruitment is Oklahoma, I think the seniors are well positioned where it is right now. Uh, not a done deal, nothing like that. But I think Oklahoma where they are in the best position or land Jade not at this moment.

Do Oklahoma's going to mess around and be good next year. Yeah, they are. Yep. I don't know. We like, we like John mature. I don't like the Giovanni Gibson injury news. Wasn't a fan of that. Not no, I'm worried about a little snake bit, but Jade, not healthy.

Jade not is fabulous. Like he's awesome yeah i am uh so there's a few interesting things here about jade not that i gotta make mention of um one cow was prepared to make him the highest paid player on the team and two where it stands right now from everything i've been told j Jane does not have an agent, which is gonna make for an interesting twist in this modern transfer portal landscape. Well, and that's one thing. So I got into this a lot with the NECO stuff. Yeah.

It feels like there's so many people with different situations. 100%. That you get some weird outcomes. Things are more standard in the NFL, obviously, because they have a CBA and everything, but also because it's the same kind of agencies representing most of the players. Everybody has to register with the NFLPA if they want to rep a player. There's not that requirement here.

And it seems like there's a pretty wide gulf between you. You've got some big time college players who are repped by like athletes first or CAA. But then you've also got a situation where maybe Jay not might be acting has his own agent and we've discussed the Nico thing pretty thoroughly. But how strange does that make these negotiations? It makes it for the best way to explain it is like, it doesn't end up being the straightest line from entering the portal to commitment. And that's, that just kind of is what it is.

And, and I'm sure we'll get done. And, and for all I know in the next 24 hours, Jayden might hire an agent, but at this moment from what I know, it doesn't have one. Yeah. And it feels like the agents kind of set everything like every step of the way up, the ones that are more experienced. So it by the like, we'll peel back the curtain a little bit.

A lot of times by the time you get the call before you put the news out that so and so is in the transfer portal, that agent has probably made the plan of this is when we're going to announce he's in the portal. This is when he goes in the portal. We've already pretty much lined up the destination or maybe it's a couple that we're going to look at, but that, that is already set up. Or even we have two contracts ready yet to decide between these two schools. Like it can be as simple as that too.

Um, you know, the thing that I think is interesting too, um, and not to bring it back to something else that we were talking about but like you said that Jade To like follicles are strong as hell um Cal is prepared to make Jay not the highest paid player on the team sounds really nice But I don't know if the highest paid player on Cal's team is the 17th highest player on Oklahoma's team, right? Like so like there's context that needs to be, uh, involved, like, you know, broken down there. And then secondly, um, if Jayden Ott is not loyal to stagnation at Cal and is leaving his team as one of the best players on the Cal roster, um, right now

in the middle of, you know, spring April, then why would that be any different from a quarterback doing the same thing in terms of whether or not he's a takeable asset? Is it different for quarterbacks because they're the face of the team? Yes. Yeah, I'd say yes. I also, I think every situation's different.

I think Tennessee feels like they can be in the mix for the college football playoff next year, and I think that. They're looking at a. Group of quarterbacks that they feel. Might be in a position now where they're going to. Be helping their team getting the CFP and they want to look at if that's who they're going to bring in, or they're going to bring someone else just to push Jake and George. My point is that

if the third best quarterback in the ACC decides he wants to go to Tennessee, he's not a scumbag the way the Jay not isn't. That's all like that. I think that like if Tennessee has an opportunity to get a starting quarterback in there that they think can help them get to the playoff. People can feel however they want to feel about this. Like, yeah, that's true. You keep you keep saying this is like it's a definitive absolute. You don't have to think Nico is bad. You don't have to think anybody like you can think whatever you want. And I think there's a lot of people who think a guy who's a starting quarterback somewhere who had a deal, if they bail on their team now, they're going to feel a certain kind of way about it. Can acknowledge to that being a quarterback comes with a responsibility that other positions don't carry.

Yeah, yeah, but the one thing on that though, I'll just say is that Jade Nott was like one of the top three best players on that team. And Fernando Mendoza also made the decision in December to enter the transfer portal. So I think that might be, you know, Cal has had a lot of roster turnover in the last few months. Yeah, they and they just had a lot of roster turnover in the last few months. Yeah, they and they they just had a tight end into the portal. They their offensive staff is completely different. They brought in Brian Harson is the OC Nick Rolovich, the

former Washington State coaches there too. So they they're there have been a lot of changes. And maybe one of those things where you go through spring and it's like, okay, maybe I don't want to do this here. So we'll see. But Pete, the portal opens tomorrow. Yep. When are we start? Uh, we're already started seeing names already, but what, what

else should we expect? Because, you know, usually it's guys who just didn't win jobs in the spring, but isn't it one of those things where we're watching Tennessee to see what they do because they're dominoes there? Yeah, you know, I'm not going to come out and say it's going to be like the deepest transfer portal window we've ever seen or anything like that, but I think that from everything I've heard and because there's so many quarterback dominoes at play, it's definitely going to be one of the more intriguing ones just to see where does Nico land? It's

Jay Nott. What does Tennessee do? Like Those are like big time names and big time schools. And I think we're going to see a lot more movement, especially at the quarterback position because Tennessee is going to have to get someone. So yeah, the spring portal is going to be really fascinating to see it kind of play out. And it also goes up against when this house settlement is supposed to be put through. And because the settlement isn't done yet, a lot of schools are going to still frontload these contracts. So a player who commits maybe in the first week of the spring transfer portal could stand to make more money than they would if the portal was in July after the settlements approved.

Pete Dakos, you're the best. Get back to work. And I know you're going'll be very busy tomorrow morning. We're gonna bring you back on Thursday to recap day one of QuartleMania. If it is, we don't even know. It could be calm, but like you said, if the dominoes start falling then it gets pretty interesting. So thank you Pete. Appreciate it. Appreciate you Pete. Thanks for being here, man. Thanks guys. That is the great Pete Nacos. B.I.1 CH in my heart. So, yeah.

He's got to lean into that. He's got to completely lean into that. Yeah. The community knows the best. Yeah. He's he's one of the best reporters, one of the best young reporters in the sport. And I took it personally, you know, like that, that, uh, that Michael Jordan thing. He said that and I took that personally and I injected myself into it. Not enjoy people coming after our guy, Pete, because I, like, I see how

hard he works behind the scenes and it, I knew, I knew he had the story right too. So it was sort of those things where I, I was actually pretty measured on Friday compared to what, if you heard me behind the scenes Thursday night or early Friday morning as people were coming after Pete. But it's, you do sort of try to take that personally and also you want to make sure Pete handles it because in Pete's role, like we give opinions for a living. Pete is more straight news. So he's, he's trying to walk that line and make sure he's not burning

sources, make sure he's not just outright insulting anybody. And it's hard. It's hard when people are telling you that you're full of crap and you know you're not. So I just, I thought that was really interesting the way all that unfolded. Now, Elias said something in the chat that I found intriguing. He said, we predicted chaos last year in the spring portal and we're disappointed.

We did not. If you watched our show, we were like, this is gonna be kind of boring. There were other shows that said, oh, I don't know, your team's gonna get decimated in the spring. It was it was pretty hyperbolic. It was not very interesting. This one might not be either. Well, I don't know.

What Pete said is true, though, that might like because like I think that people conflate volume with interesting. And I don't know that the volume will be there. Like there's not going to be 1000. Oh, yeah. I think that the volume will be there. Like there's not gonna be a thousand names. I think that the storylines that are presented right now are as fascinating as anything that we saw in the winter, which is great, you know, because you get to enjoy the, but I almost feel like the winter is overwhelming.

Like there's so many roster changing, important impactful changes that are happening all at once that we don't even get to spend enough time on each individual change to, like, I mean, people, like, lose track of where people go because it's so, so rampant. Now, like, we're going to see some changes here that are going to impact teams immediately that we can really, like, sink our teeth into and really see and like the thing too that that Pete said that is interesting is the quarterback position with Tennessee and Nico is going to create a domino effect and all it takes is one person who's a starting quarterback somewhere to enter the portal and go to Tennessee to maybe start a line of portal entries that is going to turn into a domino effect that will be fascinating to watch. So maybe that won't happen at all. But the the Jade Knot, you know, that is a interesting storyline in and of itself. But what Nico has done and how it will impact maybe three or four or five different programs after as a ripple effect is a fascinating storyline that can really get behind. So,

super excited to see how it plays out. And, you know, any portal window here is, is a good day for us. So I'm excited to be a part of it. So Jacob in the chat, do you think Nico goes to FSU? I don't. It sounds like they're happy with Thomas Castellanos from Boston College. So he can play dude. Thomas can play. Like I know that like it didn't go well, but there were moments last year where like, wow, this kid can play. Yeah, he's very interesting. He and well, Florida State found out the hard way because he was the starting quarterback when Boston College came down and they're one on Labor Day. So yeah, it is. Yeah, it is a. It's interesting because Casalano's played for Gus Malzahn at UCF. So has been in that offense before. So we'll see what happens, but, and it's also, he's coming closer to home.

We're looking at the nine one two tattoo on his bicep. He's from South Georgia. So this is, this is an interesting match and we haven't talked much about Florida state already this off season. We, we probably need to have one of the WarChant guys on to talk Seminoles because it was such a precipitous fall for them. Like they, they got so bad, so fast. And I think our operating assumption is they can't possibly be as bad as they were last year. But I really have no read on it, what this team's gonna be. What I think is interesting is like last year,

a lot of us, I think me included, went into autopilot mode and thought, well, Florida State was an undefeated team that got jobbed out of a playoff berth the year before, they're still probably gonna be a nine, 10 win team who competes to win the ACC. Or ACC, excuse me. And like the analysis, I think of losing all those impactful transfers all at once, um, got ignored for some reason.

Um, so, but the thing I don't want to do is make the same mistake in the negative where it was. Right. Were you assume they stink again? I, I, I don't think Mike Norvell suddenly became a terrible coach. It was like, what if Florida state is a nine-win team next year? If Florida State is a nine-win team next year, then that changes a lot of schedules for a lot of people. I mean, you know, Florida in there, I mean, throw up their schedule again. Will they play?

They got Clemson. They got Florida. They got Miami. What if they're a really solid team and they're playing Alabama at home and that's a game that we're not anticipating is going to be a game right now. But like this is a team that, you know, they play Florida, Clemson, Miami and Alabama. Florida State appears on four schedules of teams that have big seasons coming up. And I think that it would be a disservice to Florida State to just assume that they're going to stink. Um, and here's the other thing too. I think that, um, in my opinion, Thomas Costellanos is a major upgrade at the quarterback position from what they've had. I'm not saying that he's Joe Montana, but I think that's a major quarterback problem. Can I, I have seen several comparisons with DJU and Nico. Let's stop those right now. There is no comparison between those two situations like DJ you left Clemson because he got beat by K club Nick.

He lost his job. He went to Oregon State. He didn't go to Oregon State for more money like he lost his job and went to Oregon State because that's where he thought he'd be able to play. He then goes to Florida State and it got way worse. But yeah, it's a very different situations. DJU probably was at the right level of competition when he was at Oregon State and he had a pretty good year for them. Right. And then it was weird because Jonathan Smith was leaving. If Jonathan Smith had stayed, Aiden Childs would have stayed

and Aiden Childs would have been the starter at Oregon State the following year. So it was a very strange situation. And here's the thing too, like I think that DJU is the poster child for measurables versus good at football. Like, cause his measurables jump off the page. He's a big kid, he was a five-star, you know,

you get excited about like what he might be able to do if it clicks and it just never clicked. I think that we are way too soon on the NECO career arc to say that his skill set can't click. Right. Yeah, DJ, you had a lot of different chances to show us. Now, Andrew in the chat says, Any of the Texas Big 12 schools and all but Clemson in the ACC should be interested in Nico. It's crazy how many people think he's average. He is not. That's the debate right now.

The debate right now is can Nico put it all together and live up to the recruiting hype? Because he certainly has the physical tools. He has the height, he has the size. He has the arm. He has the running ability. Like he has all of those things. But if you go back and watch Tennessee's games last year, you never saw like a complete Nico game. I'd say the best one was Vanderbilt. The vanity game. He was really sharp. He was hitting receivers in stride. It looked like he belonged in that offense,

and that part of the thing that I'm. You know, frustrated with in this situation is OK, you know how you had the Ohio State game next. It was bad, but that was more of a they had no receivers open. Ohio State's defense was just considerably better than Tennessee's other skill players. I was kind of excited to see what Niko would do. Because we kind of saw it clicking as the season went on

last year. Now he's got to learn a whole new offense. I thought he played pretty well in that game considering the circumstances, you know, nobody I thought I thought he did try to give them a chance with his legs like there was no one open at all Yeah, yeah, no, I here's what I wrote Here's a paragraph in the column that I wrote for on three yesterday and had tip to river for helping me with the lead

Cuz you know anytime you have a vol Helping guide you you know maybe that's the reason why I got ball Twitter on my side by the way They can make a superhero movie of like a guy whose only superpower is Vol Twitter at their fingertips. So I said, I've got Vol Twitter behind me and the the feelings intoxicating and like a few people responded, who are your enemies? We got you. So funny. Until you say something critical of Tennessee because I turn on you to heartbeat. Yeah, I don't think that I have them

permanently. I have them now. Ball Twitter is a very fickle friend. Yeah. Cause I'm going to, I'm only always on it, uh, unapologetically be honest. So if something happens with Tennessee that isn't so good, I'm going to say it. And we'll see how that goes, but I hope they know that my heart's not in a bad place. But here's what I wrote. You can't argue, uh, Nico is a talented player with a high ceiling. We can't rewrite history and pretend he isn't good at football.

We can't pretend that isn't a loss for Hypol and the volunteers. That would be a bad faith argument. But I am my Elava. How come I can't say I always say it wrong 50% of the time and then buzz it the other 50% of the time and I don't know why it's a mental block. But Niko 19 touchdowns or not, didn't do what was required of him, which was he wasn't a vol, which I think is an interesting thought process because if you're not a vol, which we talked about so much yesterday, then people's opinions of your actual

game change and that's a disservice to what we actually saw, which is a quarterback that wasn't highly productive in his first full year as a starter, but I thought showed flashes at times of brilliant play. So like that, that to me is there's, this is a very tough situation because I think that whoever is getting him probably is going into this deal, knowing they have him for one year, right? They're asking an absurd amount of money. They just left a team high and dry in the middle of the spring. and like, there's no guarantee that he's going to unlock that potential. So I think that there is a risk involved. Now, if a team wants to take that risk and he unlocks his potential, they will come up, come away with bargain. But I don't know how much of an appetite there is to roll the dice on an expensive quarterback who may or may not be elite. But like, to take the, like, Nico is a much more exciting physical football playing prospect

than DJ U was a year ago. Like, it's not even- Right, there was so much tape on DJ U at that point. You're like, this guy is what he is. I don't think Nico is what he is yet. Now, whether or not- Another year of the same? And I think you're in he's what he is territory. Like if Nico played 25% better than he played last year, I think the entire discourse around this entire thing.

If Nico played 25% better than he played last year, there's there's not even a discussion. We're not talking about this because Tennessee gave him a raise in December and this is not even a discussion. We're not talking about this because Tennessee gave him a raise in December and this is not even a discussion. Yeah. But if he was 25% better and it did happen to go off the rails because then they wanted 13 million instead of four, you don't know what these people-

You can't do anything about that. That's true. Yeah. But if he were on the open market right now and he was a guaranteed asset, not a speculative one, if he was Coca-Cola and not Nvidia, well Nvidia's actually through the roof, but you get what I'm saying. If he wasn't a brand new tech stock with a new technology

and he was Coke, I think that people would be paying money and there would be teams involved here that aren't involved. I think Team Niko's burners are doing some work in the chat. Either Forework is being sarcastic, or Niko is like 10 times better than Milro. He was easily the best QB in the SEC by a mile. Garrett Nussmeyer and Lenora Sellers and DJ Lagway and Diego Pavia.

And there are a lot of people who might have some issues with that. If that statement was true, he would have a home right now. Yeah, exactly. This wouldn't even be a question of like, don't dad's a pain in the ass? Oh, that's okay. We'll pay whatever it takes.

And by the way, I got news for you guys. I know that we're piling it on Nico's dad right now. Nico's dad is not the only pain in the ass in college football in terms of parents and hovering parents. Right. In Ohio State, there were parents that were on the sideline every practice, uh, you know, during that time.

And there are some parents of some really good players who were a complete pain and the coaches just had to deal with it because the players were really, really, really good. Yeah. And the juice has worked the squeeze, but when it becomes contentious is when the player isn't very good and you got to deal with it. And then the, and then the parent thinks they're Joe Montana. And then there's a whole struggle of is he playing well enough?

Is the coach's fault? He's not playing well enough. Whatever. Blah, blah, blah. You know, you get it. It's a tough situation. But yeah, I wonder also too, Andy, if Nico was saying behind the scenes that he was a two-year player. Like if he came out and said you get me for two if that would make him a more attractive.

That would be very interesting. I would assume their camp has always been of the mind that after three years he's going to the NFL. That was I do wonder if that gets revised now to Zach in the chat. This is a good we need to reset this. We shouldn't assume everybody knows this is Nico allowed to Zach in the chat. This is a good we need to reset this. We shouldn't assume everybody knows this is Nico allowed to transfer in the SEC, not if he wants to play this season. You have to declare your intention to transfer by February 1st to transfer from one SEC school to another and play right away. Now I want to address that a little bit already because people have asked people a lot of have asked me a lot about this. They're like, could this be challenged in court? It could be challenged in court.

I've talked to people within the SEC about this because they actually they did it for a year and then they brought up repealing it with their coaches in Destin in their spring meetings a couple of years ago. And the coaches and the ADs all said, you know what, let's keep the the rule because we like it it makes our lives a hell of a lot easier because the reason the spring transfer portal isn't as wild as it could be is because you can't transfer within the SEC and play right away now. I think it actually could survive a court challenge and i'll tell you why as long as nobody else does it as long as the big 10 doesn't make a similar rule as long long as the big 10 doesn't make a similar rule, as long as the the big 12 doesn't make a similar rule the ACC, who's colluding here? And here's the argument in court, Annie, from the architect here in the chat. If you guys may want to look into the exception, he was released by Tennessee, therefore he isn't technically transferring. The architect does not know what words mean. He's transferring because he's going from one

school to another. That's what you do. In court, if you hired a good lawyer, you could say, hey, they were in the middle of negotiations. They told him to kick rock. It wasn't his decision to transfer. He was told to transfer. You shouldn't be able to limit where he's going in those. I think that you could hire a talented lawyer that could make that murky. You're not limiting where he's going. That's what they can't limit where he's going. That's the whole issue here. Like if the schools would just admit these guys are employees and pay them for playing football, you could insert in the contract that you can't go to another school without paying a buyout or somehow satisfying this

contract. Like they can't do that because they're not employees and you can't hold a non employee to a non compete. So you cannot stop him from going anywhere. Let me throw another curveball at you. I'm going to wind up here. Okay. Nico goes through the negotiations. UCLA wants to pay him 550. There's no other power for program interested. Tulane is interested. UCLA is interested for one fifth of what he was going to make at Tennessee. Arkansas becomes interested and says, Hey, we'll give you two. Well, Arkansas is where his little brother plays. Let's Madney Amaliava breaks out at Arkansas.

That's what sailor Joe asked. Okay. I picked that with intention. Okay. We'll give you two mil. Mm hmm. Come intention. Okay. They say, we'll give you two mil. Mm hmm. Come here. Yep.

But you have to revise your NFL, which obviously it would because you wouldn't play next year. Does that become the best business move that Nico can make to salvage a terrible decision? It would be a great move because you paid to do nothing for this year. I don't, I mean, obviously because of Taylor and Green, that's not going to happen because what how different do we think Taylor and Green and Nico are based on their performances last year? But what years Taylor and Green off the top of your head, do you know? I believe he's he's in his fourth year in college.

I believe he was a freshman at Boise State and then a sophomore last sophomore last year. Niko lands at an SEC school knowing that he's not playing this year to try to recoup some of the money that he's going to end up losing develops behind the scenes for another year then comes back. Yeah okay I'm not hiring you as my agent I'm also not hiring you as my GM because you just wasted my money at Arkansas. Like there's no I'm not paying two million dollars for a quarterback not playing this year. Yeah, well, unless unless you feel like you want to have your guy locked in for the following year. But that's what Matt is supposed to be. He's supposed to be your guy for the following year. Yeah.

So, yeah, I'm trying to think of like, if there's a place that is a middle tier SEC school that couldn't get a player to come there for under any other circumstance, if they'd be willing to take that pay and put it out there now to lock up an app. I think they all could because they all have money and especially with the rev share coming in, they all have that level of money

to spend if they want to on a quarterback, especially this year. So- I'm a bad GM and a bad lawyer, which is crazy because you would think, you know, I was, but I'm just trying to like float out theories here so that he's not ultimately screwed. It's really hard to imagine that it went from last week, as long as he stays status quo, he makes two, you know, 2.4 million to play at Tennessee to he's probably going to make less than that. And possibly considerably less than that. Is it possible he makes less than a million?

What the schools are talking about that that's probably what they can afford. Right. I don't know. I don't know if you see the question is how hard of a line do his people draw? Because I think you got to play like you can't sit. You got to play because the real money still in the NFL and you got to play and show you belong in the NFL. So you're going to have, if this does not materialize and you know, we always talk about it, it just takes two bitters. I'm not sure there are going to be two bitters at the level of. Can pay what he was making at Tennessee even. I mean, UCLA might be looking their chops right now feeling like, Hey,

we're back home, this is what we've got, this is your best option, you take it or leave it. And they might be. Yeah, and if I'm them and I really want him, I am just, I am doing my due diligence, seeing who else is in the market, to see if there's any competition from like a big 10 school,

any other big 10 schools, any ACC schools, any big 12 schools, just to see, any big 12 schools just to see what am I dealing with here? Because. If USC is not interested, we're just saying there are Notre Dame's not interested, doesn't seem there are. Texas Tech not interested like North Carolina is not interested.

Like if these schools are not interested. You don't have to pay that much. Right? And I also was wondering too, if you think that Arkansas has to rethink whatever situation they have with Madden at the point. Because you just you you view that independently and that see how that works out. You have tailing green if you're Arkansas right now. So if that becomes an issue or, you know, because Madden was was actually committed to UCLA right up until signing day and flipped on signing day.

So if Nico ends up at UCLA and has a good experience, I wouldn't be shocked if bro went to the portal. And and went where he was originally going to go after this season. But if you look if you're Arkansas and this is this is not a Nico discussion or Arkansas discussion or anything else. This is why you sign a quarterback every year. You keep stacking quarterbacks on the roster because stuff's going to happen. William, the chat, it's like,

it's like a Craigslist ad Nico for 1 million or best offer. Oh my gosh. I didn't think we're going to spend the whole show talking about this today, but I got to say it's so freaking interesting. All the tentacles of this. The thing about it, too, is that even if you're not interested in Nico specifically or Nico where he ends up, it's still a fascinating discourse, because it applies to everybody. It might be a different person a week from now or a year from now. But this is all very important stuff in terms of, you know, get an agent, how do you negotiate? When do you negotiate? When

is it advantageous to do so? What do schools are going to do? Because like I saw, you know, a column yesterday to wondering if this is like the first time a school Says no to a player when the player has all the leverage and whether or not that's gonna change the power dynamic between player And program moving forward to it didn't but it didn't the player didn't have all the leverage Because yeah, Tennessee's coaches are fairly good evaluators of talent too. Well, the question I think is because Tennessee didn't just acquiesce and pay to keep their quarterback, if players in the future will rethink the leverage that they do have or if programs will be more certain. They'll take a better, like what should come out of this and probably won't from the

NECO camp perspective, but probably again, like I said, if you're being repped by a big agency that does this with a lot of clients and has a lot of NFL clients, like they are going to advise their clients to take a hard look in the mirror before they do anything rash. Like, are you sure you're worth this? And that's a question everybody has to ask. Like we always joke about if we went into our boss, Shannon Terry, and said, I quit unless you give me five million

a year. Well, he's just going to laugh at us and tell us to leave. Like you have to have some idea of what you're actually worth. Like that's it. Whether you play football, or you're a podcaster, or you're a, you know, plumber, like, you got to figure out how to set your rates. Yeah, you have to have an understanding of the market. And I wonder too, like if they just asked for a little bit more

than Carson Beck, if that would be OK. I think they did. And it was, but they should have asked before Carson Beck got it. That's the thing they didn't, they missed out on. Is the second you knew Miami needed somebody. Because what do we know about Miami in the transfer portal era? They're not afraid to go get a quarterback. They're not afraid to spend on transfers that they think they need. So the day, you know, Miami needs somebody. That's when you put the screws to Tennessee. Yep.

Because Tennessee might say, you know what? We don't want to give you all this that you asked for. We might be able to meet in the middle here. And we also knew it months before too. Like we were talking about Miami's quarterback situation a long time before Beck went there. Like it wasn't like a two day thing. They had plenty of people.

Well it was December 28th was the day of the Pop Tarts Bowl. It was when Emory Williams came in the second half of the Pop Tarts Bowl and you watched a half of that and you're like, they're probably gonna go get somebody. Didn't I write a column that day about this? Like, I think we both did. We both did. I thought, yeah, off the game, I wrote something.

But yes. Yeah, yeah, it's an incredible situation. All right, we do have to talk about one more thing, though. One more thing. Is it Jayne Van dropping? Yeah, well, Ohio State went to talk about one more thing though. One more thing. Is it Jayden's man dropping? Yeah, well Ohio State went to the White House yesterday. And Vice President JD Vance, who grew up in Ohio,

is a big fan, broke the national championship trophy. Although I'm not sure, like I'm watching the video here. Did he break it or? Okay. That's the way the trophy is. The trophy's a two piece trophy. It always happens. It is two pieces. Okay, that's the way the trophy is. The trophies are two piece trophy. It always has two pieces. OK, so I didn't know that either. I would have done the same thing he did.

I had no idea it was in two pieces. They take the gold part out and hold it up. You don't hold it from the base. They don't grab the base. OK, I would not have known that if I were busy vice presidenting. I probably would not have realized that. Yeah, but he's been a lifelong Ohio State fan and they've held one up before so you know.

I think you've seen it now I did think he's played it off very urban Meyer holding that trophy is him holding the gold part. That's true. I did think he played it off very well tweeting I didn't want anyone after Ohio State to get the trophy so I decided to break it. well tweeting, I didn't want anyone after Ohio State to get the trophy. So I decided to break it. That is how you play that situation. Probably would I like, I, I'm a very clumsy person. Are you know me? I definitely would have done the same thing.

And you know what this reminded me of? Cause like that trophy we've been next to it. It's pretty durable. Even if he'd actually just dropped the whole thing. I don't think it would have broken. No, it's fine. Yeah. But do you remember back in the earth in the in the odds when Orson Charles tight end recruit from Tampa plant high school? He wound up playing at Georgia. He was on a visit to Florida and he accidentally backed into one of the BCS trophies, the, you know, Waterford Crystal football and broke one. Can you imagine?

Yeah. Because that actually came apart too, right? You took the crystal off the stand and held the right. But this is, I don't think this is a case where he was picking it up. I think he just didn't realize how close he was to it and accidentally backed into it. Which is something I would definitely do. I would do it.

Fuck away. My wife's number one criticism of me is that I'm very clumsy. And then I found out my mom is very clumsy and that's kind of, it's hereditary. Like I bump into walls and stub my toe and drop things at a rate, as you know. Well, we're two piece in a pod, because I am known for-

And you know, Andy. Oh yeah, there it is. There's the handle of the camera. I had her the first time I ever touched it. But yes, that was funny. And I don't know if you watched this. I know that maybe this isn't the right topic here, but... But our pitch is mad because we didn't answer his super chat. Who leaked it to Pete, if not Big Nick or Tennessee?

Pete's not going to divulge his sources, and we're not going to divulge Pete's sources either. And we do usually. Yeah divulge Pete's sources either. And we do usually. Yeah. We answer the good questions. Yeah. She just wasted $2 and I'm sorry about that Arpit. No, we didn't.

We put it up. We did put it up, but we're not going to give you the answer to that question. Yeah. You know who told Pete that? You know who his super secret source was? Yeah, we're not doing that. Here's the address is super secret source was. Yeah, phone number. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You want to call him?

Alright, so I think we what have we learned here? Uh, you know, by the way, that's part of it. Like when you have a source, Andy, I don't know. Like, I don't know who told him that. Mm hmm. I don't know who told them that. Mm hmm.

Yeah, we're not going to tell the audience even if we did know. Yeah, so here's the thing. We learned today that you don't let JD Vance or me or Ari handle the National Championship trophy. That's what we learned. Yeah, we did not learn where Nico Iamaliava is going to play next year. We think. All right.

All right. We're going to learn that. It's so funny. Every time the base dropped all the way to the floor and it didn't break. So the base is the base looks like it is very sturdily built. We stood next to that trophy. The national title game. Like it's made right.

Yeah. Also too, like Trey Henderson catching it, showing off his hands for the scouts. And then Ryan Day like rushing over to the vice president to try to help like pick it up is very funny. And I'm sure there's political jokes in there somewhere, but I'll let the chat make those. Scott, this is so Scott watches very closely every day. I know this, but you were missing the important part.

Ari knew a random fact that Andy did not you absolutely did. I didn't know that and it's not even a random fact like we cover college football. That's something I should know. It's so funny. Like Andy can tell you like what an elements symbol is on the elemental chart, but then doesn't know the national.

The periodic table? Periodic table. I call it the elemental chart. Hey, whatever, I know what you're talking about. Yeah, yeah. The whole entire point of words is communication and I properly communicated what I was trying to say, but. Now Arpit asks a really good question. Yeah. Not a super chat, but I want to I want to I want to follow up on this

I'm not saying someone specific, but which side is to blame I'm not gonna give away anything. I don't think I'm speaking out of school here Sometimes in these situations. It's not a party on either side That gives you the initial tip. Now you have to confirm it through the sides. Everybody thinks it's like one person who tells you. Sometimes you find something out somewhere and you make 30 more phone calls. Yes and I think and find out other things that people have to know too is that a lot of times we find out things that we're unable to confirm.

Correct. And then they can't happen. But it doesn't mean that we didn't know. Like you have to be. So like, that's the reason why I got so bent out of shape when people were attacking Pete is that it wasn't just like, somebody picked the phone and called them 10 minutes earlier, and then he just tweeted it. Like, there's a tremendous amount of work that goes into putting this stuff on the internet that you don't see. work that goes into putting this stuff on the Internet that you don't see. And a lot of times it comes out of places. Somebody randomly heard something. There may be other people who tangentially, like they've got an angle that they're working. It's hard with this stuff because you have to figure out what everybody's angle is on it, too.

Think about how many people are involved with this. Yeah. I mean, when you think about what the actual initial report was, negotiations are ongoing. There are 100 people that could have been. Yeah, sometimes the news does break where a side picks up the phone and calls like Adam Schefter or somebody like that, and it just goes out there like that. That's not how all of them happen though.

So this was a very interesting case. Like if we did the Harvard Business School case study on this in 12 years, it'd be fascinating. The story's not over yet. How long do you think it's gonna take? Like, do you think we're going to know where Nico is going to play within the next week? I thought we did, but then when Pete said, well, you know how fast things happen. So like once tomorrow happens, if a portal drops out of the portal quarterback happens, then we'll have more context. But what I think is interesting is, is I wonder if Nico will take the UCLA thing, or if he'll wait to see if Tennessee creates a ripple effect that opens up a spot for him that's better than UCLA.

We haven't seen this exact scenario before. And also we know that. Someone's not acting in an expected way like. If again and I keep bringing back this back up, but if Nico had somebody represents bunch of NFL players and a bunch of big time college players. We could probably more easily predict what will happen because those people move in more predictable ways. Team Nico is not, does not move in a predictable way.

Yeah. Also too, like Tennessee, uh, by declining to go get a quarterback in the portal could like take the screws to Nico too, because what, what Tennessee does. Could, you know, end up being his landing spot. And if Tennessee stands Pat, not that there aren't other quarterbacks. Again, because this isn't moving in a predictable way and team Nico is not a predictable actor. Pete brought that up. You brought that up.

It makes sense. Like if they took somebody starting quarterback and then. That spot opened up, but who are we sure that team Nico can handle. Be in the leftovers, like going to the place where the guy left for Tennessee. I think that team Nico probably, would you imagine that like the Niko Camp headquarters looks like the This is Fine meme? Oh yeah, 100%. So I think that if you're in the This is Fine meme, that you need to swallow your pride

and put yourself in a position to make as much money and go to the best possible place. And I also wonder too, from an optics standpoint, if he ends up at a second tier program or a third tier program for less money. Like I think that like landing somewhere that's respectable probably should be important to them too. I don't know. Like. I don't know. I don't know. But again, like I have one of my best friends as a medical malpractice attorney, And I was talking to him yesterday, he's a sports guy too, and he said, the number

one thing that frightens me in law at my job is negotiating with or dealing with an unhinged person, whether it be a client of mine, or the other attorney that I'm dealing with, or the clients of the attorney that I'm dealing with. Because when you're dealing with unhinged people, reason and rationality go out the window. And logic, exactly. And it's the same thing at a poker table. That's what I think, too. It's like, I feel like I'm a pretty good poker player. I play quite a bit. When I'm sitting at a table with someone who doesn't know how to play, it's harder to operate. Yeah. It's why if you are, I mean, even Blackjack, like, if you are playing at a blackjack table, and there's somebody who isn't playing basic strategy, you're you get mad at them.

Because then everything becomes less predictable for you. I've never been in a fight before, believe it or not, even though I've got a really big mouth. Three instances, in which I almost got punched in the face. One, I can't tell you on the show. One was at a blackjack table in Las Vegas because somebody was staying on 16 against a 10 and was killing us. And I popped off and I almost got my job knocked off. But thankfully, I've always had friends who had my back, but that is my number one pet peeve in life. Rule for life, hit your 16 against a 10 every time. 16 is not a winning hand. You might win two out of 10 by staying against a 10,

but would you rather go down swinging or would you rather going down with your measly 16 when the dealer pops over in 18 19 or 20 16 and the chat points out the other time you should have been punches when you stole somebody's pizza in college and ate it but that guy was so shocked that he didn't even know what to do oh he should he should have knocked your block off but you're right uh it's probably been a while like because i don't think fights in football practice count no No, cuz you're all patted up. I'm being the face Now is like elementary school

Okay, I've never punched somebody in the face or been punched in the face before Yeah, it's just a little little kid stuff. Not not anything as an adult like yeah, I'm not I'm not going around looking for bar fights I'm not Patrick Swayze well, actually Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse not looking for a fight because He tells you to be nice till it's time to not be nice. So yes, Ari, I like your rule for for life. Never stay on a 16 against a 10. River, add it to the list. It's cowardly. Tomorrow the transfer portal will be open. So we will give you updates on what names are going in in the morning and we will probably have further discussion about this situation. I'm looking at the numbers. Everybody seems very interested in it. Still, I keep wondering.

When the interest in the NICO situation will kind of Peter out, because every you know everything has its own kind of half life. Not just the need, but I gotta tell you it's the college football situation. Yep yeah this is this is unique and different and it's like like your attorney friend said it's the wild it's the wild card aspect of it that I think makes it so interesting. Yeah um and compelling too because listen everything in entertainment, and whether

Nico and his camp like it or not, they're fixtures of entertainment for people, right? And anytime somebody has stakes, it's the same reason why the Masters was like the most watched Masters in 10 or 15 years, because there's personal stakes involved. And it's not just, well, Nico left Tennessee, it's now people are kind of on the edge of their seat to see whether or not they played themselves because of the stakes of that decision. You know, and I'm gonna say this right now. I'm not in the room. I don't know what occurred or how this all went down,

but like I have found myself in the last 24 hours feeling quite sympathetic toward Nico. The person, not team Nico, but the person Nico. I'm with you on that Yeah, I think a lot of people are enjoying in the in the misery here and I can't imagine He's probably not a very happy person right now. So my hope for him is that you know, he That he personally finds happiness because this sucks I mean, it's not it's like easy to jab at and laugh at. There's a lot of fun tweets out there that we've been, you know, laughing at. Yeah, and you can say, Oh, he got paid, blah, blah, blah. None of the, all the money in the world doesn't help you when everybody hates you.

Yeah. Or if you feel like you're fumbling a once in a lifetime opportunity, which is putting yourself in a position to make it to the NFL. So we'll see how it pans out, but there's an inherent trend thing here. There's a personal interest thing here. And of course there's big time programs and big time names all involved here. And then of course the anticipation of what other programs are gonna be in the mix. So you've got quite the cocktail of interest there, Andy. As you-

And we're gonna see, do any quarterbacks that we think could be Tennessee targets go into the portal? We'll probably get some more names as the day goes on today. And then we'll hear a lot more tomorrow because I think the people who would be apt to move who might be a candidate to go to Tennessee, their agents themselves, they're not broadcasting this. They will show up in the portal.

They'll tell other teams that they're interested in, but they're not going to advertise it. So you, it might just be their name pops in the portal in the morning. Yeah. We'll be here. Can't wait. We will be here and we'll talk to you tomorrow when the portal will be open.