Andy & Ari On3 - NIL CONFIDENTIAL from top class of 2025 recruits | After QB Keelon Russell, who is the next to flip?

Episode Date: June 5, 2024

This show is sponsored by Rhoback, the makers of the world’s most comfortable hoodies, polos and shorts. Use the code “ANDY” on Rhoback.com for 20 percent off for all new customers through the end of this week.(0:00-1:26) Intro(1:27-7:04) Pete Nakos joins to talk NIL Survey(7:05-10:56) Real NIL vs Roster Value(10:57-24:23) Future of College Football(24:24-26:10) Wrapping up with Pete(26:11-34:36) Steve Wiltfong from the WIltfong Whiparound joins(34:37-43:50) Julian Lewis(43:51-46:20) A look at Michigan(46:21-49:31) Names to watch(49:32-53:37) Nebraska(53:38-54:17) Michael Fasusi and Texas?(54:18-58:48) Missouri's Recruiting(58:49-1:01:15) Clemson and Dabo(1:01:16-1:06:33) Ohio State(1:06:34-1:10:09) Wrapping up with Steve(1:10:10-1:13:50) Conclusion - Dear Andy TomorrowSend your Dear Andy questions to [e-mail]3’s Pete Nakos joins Andy to discuss some very interesting information that came out of the On3 Elite Series last week. Players anonymously answered a survey about NIL and how it is affecting their recruitment, and the results were surprising.Plus, Florida is the latest state to allow NIL for high-schoolers. Two players who attended the Elite Series, receiver Jamie Ffrench and DB Vernell Brown III, have already struck deals with American Eagle.We move from Nakosifications to Fong Bombs as On3’s Steve Wiltfong joins to break down a news-heavy week for the recruiting class of 2025. QB Keelon Russell (Duncanville, Texas) flipped his commitment from SMU to Alabama on Tuesday. Who might be the next to flip? Also, which schools gained ground with top recruits during the first big official visit weekend of the cycle?Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube and join us LIVE, M-F, at 8 am et! https://youtube.com/live/UtzKYOzBqNgHost: Andy StaplesGuests: Pete Nakos, Steve WiltfongProducer: River Bailey

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. Happy Wednesday. It is the middle of the offseason, but there's never really an offseason here because we've got some very interesting numbers for you that came out of the on three elite series last week. Remember, we had a bunch of the best recruits in the class of 2025 joined us in Nashville. We talked to them about all kinds of things. They talked to us about all kinds of things. And then we had some, some experts talk to them about the journey they're about to go on. One of the things that each did in addition to, to getting measured, and you can go look at the actual measurements of these guys, which is great

because, you know, we, we had Cody Blair and Charles power doing combine style measurements. So we're not gatekeeping that stuff. It's all available for you. You can see just how big these guys are, which is, there's some big dudes, but we also had each player had the opportunity to fill out an NIL survey and it asked them multiple questions. You questions. What NIL deal are you looking for? What sort of NIL money would you take? Who has given you the biggest offer? Who's been the most aggressive in recruiting you? And most of them filled it out. And it was very, very interesting. The results were pretty eye-opening and so we're joined now by pete nakos who wrote the story as we analyze this data and pete what was the

biggest takeaway you had from what these guys and these are the the best of the best in the class of 25 what was your biggest takeaway from what they said about their experience with NIL so far? So we can get into the data in a minute, but we also posed this question at these top recruits and, um, believe 25 stars were offered the survey and continually, um, we asked them what their biggest concern was when it came to NIL. And we had, uh, it was a repeating pattern.

We had athletes saying they're nervous about broken promises, about being lied to, about being scammed. We even had an athlete just write Jaden Rashada. Yeah. Obviously referencing that Florida situation. That was, honestly, that was probably one of my bigger takeaways, just because of how we continue to talk and write about jayden rashad and other other situations in the nil space and it obviously it's down enough where athletes haven't on their radar oh yeah they

definitely do we had a panel where mitt winner who's an attorney who deals with nil issues was talking to the athletes and i was hosting the panel and I asked everybody in the room, I said, who knows who Jaden Rashada is? And every, this is athletes, their parents, every hand went up. And I said, okay, how many of you know him because of the quarterback stuff? And how many of you know him because of the other stuff? And a few of them were like, yeah, we know he's a quarterback, but like you could tell that story has resonated with a lot of people. And yeah, there's a concern that is this money real? But I, the part that was interesting to me, and I think, I feel like you can see this

based on who commits where and how this works. Cause I think there's an assumption out there that everybody's just out for the biggest bag that everybody just wants the most money and they're going to take the highest offer. Very clearly in the survey, that is not what's going on. Now, there are some who absolutely are definitely going to take the highest offer, but just like the rest of us when we're looking for jobs, money's not always the primary driver. Now, sometimes it is, but it's not always. And quite a few said, here's what I'm looking for.

And it was less than their biggest offer. Yeah. Yeah, it was really interesting. So we had offered the survey to 41 athletes and 36 opted in. And then from there, we had 22 of the top athletes in the country provide their desired amount of money and also their highest offer. And that's kind of where we got that from. And it was just super interesting just how athletes, you know, I mean, you talk to a

lot of these guys, talk to Keelan Russell last week, the new Alabama quarterback commit. And continually says to me he's like hey man I think I can win a Heisman trophy he's like and you know what I know when I won a Heisman trophy that brand deals are going to come so I really could care less who's going to give me the most front end money right now and I think that's what that that survey really proved which is interesting because Keelan Russell just decommitted from SMU and committed to Alabama and I know people would say oh well you know Alabama clearly you know their collective probably has way more money than SMU's it probably does on the whole but they're probably spending it on current Alabama players yeah mostly large people on the line like the like smu is the type of place that would probably need to overpay for a quarterback whereas alabama isn't and that stuff all still matters yeah totally and

um you know i i don't want to call alabama a dream school for keelan russell or anything but i think that he saw the path forward and i think he also um kind of realized the the brand and the the platform that he gets with Alabama and he was joking around with me how he wants to model like Caleb Williams I was like so Gucci Valencia he's ah no man just give me a pair of socks so um he's yeah he's he's gonna be special he's a great kid. Listen, Pete, Alabama's quarterback, Jalen Milrow, is rocking the rowback. I know. Keelan Russell could be the next rowback guy. And by the way, while we're talking about rowback,

RHOBACK.com, use the code Andy for 20% off your first purchase. I swear I didn't plan this, but we just walked into a rowback ad. Performance hoodies, polos, quarter zips, you name it. Shorts, joggers, the most comfortable clothing any season. You're saying, Andy, why don't I need a hoodie in the summer? These hoodies are so lightweight and so perfect. They fit anytime. I wear them when I go fishing in Florida. So you can wear them anywhere. If you are one of those people who gets cold in restaurants, you bring your rowback hoodie, it will be perfect. Everything will be perfect.

And again, they do increase your performance. I am a very marginal athlete. I caught a pass in an SEC football game while wearing a rowback hoodie. I don't think that would have happened without it. I mean, we don't have any evidence to the contrary, but yes, Haynes King, when he played for Texas A&M through a pass over the sideline, I caught it one handed. I got it on video.

I was wearing a rowback hoodie. I'm pretty sure that's why. So R-H-O-B-A-C-K use the code Andy for 20% off your first purchase. Pete, thank you for letting us get that little bit of commerce in before we got too long into the show. Great ad read. That was awesome.

I appreciate it. We love it when it's organic. But no, that's the thing. It's interesting to hear a quarterback in high school talk about the real NIL versus the roster value NIL, which is something we talk about a lot here. Like real NIL is endorsement deals and and that sort of thing roster value nil is we they call it nil because they can't call it paying the players for being football players but that's what it is yeah yeah so the other few interesting takeaways right we had five athletes um share deals over a million dollars and And then the most being we had an athlete right that they could.

The, the, the largest offer was one over 1.5 million and it can max out at just under $3 million. So just per year, per year, just another inside look on, on how some of these contracts are being set up and some of the opportunities

out there for, for high endend guys. And Andy and I worked on this story together. Don't want to take all the credit here, but we made sure to mention that we think that those high-level deals mainly came from quarterbacks, offensive tackles, and defensive linemen. Yeah, and we can't tell it's anonymous, but I think that's the fact that it mirrors the nfl draft really kind of

because that's what in the nfl draft it's going to be quarterbacks edge rushers offensive tackles corners like it it all goes in a very predictable pattern and yeah i the but it's interesting because none of those numbers like we've seen the the jayden rashada deal like none of those numbers, like we've seen the, the Jane Rashada deal, like none of the numbers approached that. No, the, the deal that we believe, you know, was Nico. Yeah. Maliaba that we thought that was his deal that was reported on by the athletic a few years ago. That's probably higher than anything that we've seen here.

I do wonder, does that, does that indicate that what people are willing to kind of gamble on freshmen has dropped relative to what they're willing to spend on retention? I mean, I think so. I think you talk to a lot of these collectives now, and they continue to tell you how much money they're spending on talent retention. And, you know, I cover this transfer portal, and some people sometimes are like, man, that team did a really good job of keeping their roster together.

It's like their collective did a really good job of keeping that roster together. The other big thing that these collectives are spending a lot of dollars on now is they're more willing to take big risks on the transfer portal, right? Proven talent, experienced starters, impact players. Those guys tend to maybe get a little bit more, you know, aggressive when it comes to spending dollars there.

If it turns into a bidding war with a portal athlete and recruits are, you know, I mean, recruits have a lot of upside, but at the same time they're completely unproven commodities. Yeah. And that's the thing that the bust rate is high on freshmen and especially freshman quarterbacks. The bust rate is actually higher on quarterbacks than just about anybody. So that's where you've got to be a little bit careful. But this is this is fascinating. One of the other things, if we could put those numbers back up that I thought was interesting, the median ask and the median largest package offered did not feel like they were that far

apart, Pete. It feels like the market's kind of figuring itself out. Yeah. I think we've seen the market figure itself out over the last year, but we're definitely there now. And yeah, so the majority of desired financial packages was 400. I think the offer was about 450, a median. So yeah, really similar. And Andy, we can dive into this some more, but I think it really just gets back to the point too, where collectives are

really standardized now, really professionalized. And that's not every collective. I don't want to say that, but I think a lot of those SEC, Big Ten, big 12, I mean, a lot of those collectives are professionalized and we'll get into it some more, but they're going to be really imperative in creating competitive advantages whenever revenue sharing begins. Yes. Yeah. And that's the other thing about this is it's not, that's part's not going to change. And you've been writing about this quite a bit, Pete, because the collectives actually it's funny. We keep talking about the schools going to Washington, D.C. to to lobby on behalf of what they want, which is essentially a get out of jail free card to get back to the old system. Now the collectives are going to Washington, D.C. to tell their side of the story.

So it feels like now you've got competing entities, but it's kind of weird to me because the collectives do work with the schools, but they are basically on opposite sides of this when they're talking to, say, Cory Booker or Ted Cruz. Right, right. And they try to paint an interesting path to where they are not a players association, but collectives will tell you that they believe they're the voice of athletes. I don't I'm not.

I take it with a grain of salt when they tell me that, but at the same time, right, they are. They are affiliated with the schools, right? And they're obviously doing everything in their best interest. At the same time, they do have more contact with athletes than, I mean, even some schools do in some cases. So we'll be interested to see what they can get done there. Wrote a story about it yesterday on 3.com, and the leader of the NIL collectives said, we are going to Congress to set the record straight that the NCAA doesn't

really care about athletes. It's the same narrative we've heard over and over again. So we'll see how that goes. Yeah, it's amazing. And you've got a marketing company that's going to work with the schools now to set up stuff inside the athletic department as this revenue sharing starts and uh the the march of the middlemen continues in college sports yeah yeah two circle uh the missouri nil collective leader nick garner's leaving every true tiger collective and joining um the international sports marketing agency two circles and they're going to start investing in NIL and trying to set up these marketing agencies on campuses, which for some people, they think that's the future of collectives. So don't be surprised if you see collectives take over those marketing agencies.

It is going to be fascinating. Missouri Collective has done a really good job. If you look at the quality of Missouri's roster over the last few years, they have – we talk about – I think we talked about Ole Miss a lot. We've talked about what Texas has done. We've talked about Oregon, but I think Missouri is one of those schools that, that really has upgraded itself by taking advantage of what the new rules are. Yeah. And, and, and you look at the college football landscape, Andy,

I mean, I'm not saying this would have happened, but like Luther Burden is a huge talent that has continued to stay home in Missouri, right? You look across the country, a Luther Burden type of player may have hopped in the portal. One of these openings that he had in the last two years, but obviously he feels good about the NIL is getting obviously he feels good about the NIL he's getting. He feels good about the situation in Missouri where that really isn't on the table for him.

Same goes for Brady Cook. And we'll be really interested to see where Eli Jankowicz and the Tigers can go this year. Obviously beat Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. Is that the launching platform to a really big start to the season? Time will tell, but should be really interesting things in Columbia this fall. And we had Matt Zollers on the show last week. Matt is the quarterback from Pennsylvania who's committed to Missouri for the class of 2025.

He was one of the earlier quarterback dominoes in this class. And listen, that dude can sling it and is a great athlete. So, I mean, he's from philly like that's not the normal progression normally that they're working missouri's working around its own geographic area but they're going nationwide to get who they need so i i think that's that's one to watch and and you know pete the the schools that have been willing to work within the rules to see okay what can we do now how can we do it differently those are the ones that seem to be taking advantage here yeah totally and and that's how it's going to continue to be um

i think there's still a lot of i continue to have these conversations with administrators and there's just so many conversations about about how many questions there still are and and does um the judge in the northern district of california ratify the settlement um when does revenue sharing start um all these college football programs want data to try to figure out how to split up revenue um these are the questions that we don't have answers to right now on June 5th, but I think we'll really define the college football landscape in the next six months outside of the games that are being played.

Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. The games are going to come. This will be secondary once the games start because everybody's going to be excited. It's going to be a whole bunch of new stuff. But yeah, this is all still going to be going on behind the scenes. Something else that came out this morning that I thought was really interesting. There's an op-ed in the Indianapolis Star, which happens to be the hometown paper of the NCAA.

So it's written by Joe Moglia. And if you don't know who Joe Moglia is, he is the former CEO of Ameritrade. He volunteered as a coach with Bo Pelini at Nebraska. He wound up becoming the head coach at Coastal Carolina. He was the head coach at Coastal before Jamie Chadwell was and actually helped Coastal Carolina move into the FBS. He's a very interesting guy who has a lot of experience with this particular corner of the world, but he's also very experienced in the business world.

And so the way he thinks about things is a little different. So his op-ed is basically the house settlement was essentially kicking the can down the road, was not necessarily a good thing for anybody, and that the NCAA needs to essentially go away and they need to have a professional collegiate athletes division and an amateur collegiate athletes division that splits the revenue sports and the non-revenue sports. He said that the TV rights should be sold as one, which I find very interesting because all of this started essentially because Georgia and Oklahoma sued in the eighties over the NCAA's control of football television. Now, in that case, they were suing

because the NCAA was constricting supply because of the notion that has since been debunked that if you put the game on TV, nobody will buy tickets. And what Mowgli is suggesting is something more like the NFL, where because they are a single seller, the NFL makes way more money per eyeball than college football does. But seeing this particular guy who's made a lot of money in,

in the business world, who's also been a head football coach at the FBS level, just say, Hey, blow it all up. I find that very interesting. He got into some details too, about how he foresees this PCA,

the professional college athletes organization. So it'd be for men's basketball and football revenue sports. He wants binding contracts. He wants revenue sharing and what does bargaining collective bargaining. And with those binding contracts, you also get more regulation on player movement, which is really interesting. And then everything else would fall into the amateur college athletes

association. I believe from what I read, correct me yeah and as and this again this is his sort of blue sky thinking but this is somebody whose opinion we probably shouldn't take lightly because he has seen a couple sizes and he compared this to the after the financial bailout of 2008, the Dodd-Frank Act basically came in to reform the banking system. And he's saying, like, this needs a radical reformation, and this is not it. But here's the most interesting part down near the bottom that I, you know, just my antenna shot up on this one. The NCAA has been dismissive toward any potential spinoff, including a super relief proposal for power five football. Indeed, that concept reportedly struggled to gain traction among the power five,

largely because TV rights have been sold years in advance. However, all the deals will have expired by 2034. That's not true. The ACC won't, but well, maybe if ESPN doesn't opt in the same year, the NCAA settlement agreement runs out.

Coincidence? Maybe. The SEC's does expire in 2034. Yeah. The Big Ten does before that, though, from my understanding. 2030. But if the Big Ten does a four-year deal after that, then we know the fix is in.

You know, the other really interesting uh thing that joe mogulia brought up at the beginning of his article which i thought was really fascinating and we've toyed with well not we haven't talked but we've heard people toy with is what if the ncaa goes completely bankrupt right what if the plaintiffs and the house settlement don't accept the settlement negotiations and and they just choose to make the NCAA go bankrupt. That obviously didn't happen, but at the same time, it really makes you wonder,

okay, would it have really just sped up the real future of college sports? Because right now we feel it kind of feels like we're at the halfway mark, right? Like they kind of made some concessions, but there's a lot that still needs to happen. Well, and right and and so

what joe mogul is saying and he's right the fear of bankruptcy is real for the people who work in those organizations because it means your organization is going to go away or or at least change into something else but fox and espn are set to pay billions to these leagues that they still want the games they don't stop wanting the games they don't stop set to pay billions to these leagues. They still want the games. They don't stop wanting the games. They don't stop wanting to pay for the games. So there's, as I always say, there's always money in the banana stand. And there is a lot of money in this particular banana stand.

How it's organized is up for grabs. Right. At least it will be. Yeah. is is up for grabs right at least it will be yeah and uh joe mowgli went on to write about how he thinks like if the ncaa chose to go bankrupt right it might be a rough few seasons as as andy just mentioned but the the dollars are going to be there man and uh there's nothing better than college football not saturdays for esp and fox and cbs yeah yeah they're gonna pay for it so this is this is going to be an

interesting next few years pete but yeah let's get back to what we're talking about the collectives because yeah i do think the collectives really have their power i thought was going to be diminished but the more i and this is i mean the settlement is like two and a half weeks ago. And I've very quickly seen how they are asserting themselves and like, okay, we are still going to be the ones who make sure you get your players or you keep your players. Right. And that's some interesting conversations over the weekend with some of these collectives, right? We keep hearing about like school finance marketing agencies and how collect, well, at the end of the day, even if these collectives go in-house,

there's still going to really be collectives at their core. Donors could still contribute dollars to some of these marketing agencies. But, you know, and it gets back to the one thing we talked about like a year ago that can now actually happen is donors can make and make donations and get priority points and become like the foundation. And all those things the NCAA was really worried about is now not really like a priority anymore because they settled this house lawsuit and they're getting ready to completely reshape the enforcement arm of college sports so really interesting yeah that is it is very interesting and but the donor fatigue we always talk about yeah the fatigue lightens up if the donations get you better seats like that's

yeah if you get tax deduction deductions like for sure now and you don't have to worry about that either yeah it's uh and and and if you're giving your money to the athletic department and it's okay if someone's saying let's allocate your dollars to the collective this year instead of the new facility that we all know across the country those projects are gonna probably get unpaused just because of just because of, you know, budget cuts right now. Yeah. Yeah. I think the new stadium, like unless you're doing what Kansas is doing, where you're building hotels and you're building basically a retail district around it. It's something that can make money 24, 7, 365, as opposed to seven Saturdays a year. You're probably not going to be able to rebuild your stadium. But look, Pete, we haven't really come out with any merch from this show yet.

We're going to have to start doing that because every show has merch. Like one of, I think my saying that we should put on a t-shirt is the only way to build a better stadium is put better players in it. Like that's, that's the easiest one. is the only way to build a better stadium is put better players in it. That's the easiest one. I think that's what we've learned from all this. I think we could also make a case for there's always money in the banana stand.

I think the makers of Arrested Development might sue for that. I think they have logos on the, I don't know but yeah i get that like theirs with an sec logo always money in big 10 logo the banana sand yeah i i think we might we might be able to pull that off but yeah no it it is it is amazing to me how so much changes but then everything stays the same because like i was just saying two weeks ago where you and i are talking about that settlement and already we have all the people who run these collectives figuring out how they're going to stay as influential as they are now which does lead me to believe at some point we're going to have because i said okay well now maybe we won't have this but i do think at some point we're going to get the de facto GM gets

crosswise with the coach in college. Like it happens in the NFL. Yeah. And you're going to see the fireworks. Like I, that, that, I guess we've seen that at Auburn multiple times,

but yeah. Yeah. More formalized, much more formalized, much more formalized as an assistant GM. That's what we're waiting for yes yes yes we're it it will be uh it will be fascinating pete thank you so much thank we love you and you walk me right into the rowback ad which i appreciate because sometimes i'll go a

whole segment i'm like wait we were supposed to do an ad shoot what do i do now? That was perfect. Have fun with your next guest. Thank you, Pete. That next guest, by the way, he's big time. You just had Nekosifications. Now you're getting Fong Moms. Steve Wilfong. You can watch the Wilfong Whip Around on On3Recruits every Monday and Thursday, Steve, you, you must have whiplash from the whipping around right now, because this is, this is big, big season for you. You've got

all these official visit weekends. Uh, I keep seeing interviews with people who say, you know, I've got six visits lined up and there's, there's only like four weekends in this period before the things go dead. How intense is the competition for these top recruits right now, whether they are uncommitted or committed and looking around? Well, it's closing time because a lot of these young men want to make their final decisions before the start of their senior seasons. And then even more importantly, the college coaches are the ones that control the tempo here, and they want as many commits in the fold before they get to fall camp and they can turn their focus to the season.

Now, certainly, spatula season will come again in the fall leading up to that early signing period on December 4th. But right now, kids are on the road taking their official visits each weekend here in June. Some are taking some midweek June visits to squeeze them all in. They're going to make their decisions in late June and early July. They'll focus on their senior seasons. College coaches will then pivot their focus to trying to win their conferences and beyond. Yeah, and that's why there was discussion about maybe moving that first signing day into June. And I know the high school coaches didn't like that at all.

But when you look at how the recruiting calendar has naturally evolved, that's where that date came from. Well, if they keep moving that signing period up, then they're going to keep moving the official visit dates up. And I just think that these kids, their personalities, they're evolving and learning. They're changing monthly at this point. I don't think they need to keep pushing it up. I was always a believer that the one date was just fine. Now, certainly from a workload standpoint, I'm happy that there's two dates. But really, even that date is now turned into the December date.

So I just think there needs, I think it always benefited the athlete for them to know there was one date where all the cards were going to be on the table. Do I have a spot? Can I commit here? You keep pushing up these dates. It favors the coaches, but it definitely doesn't favor the athlete. Well, and also if you just had one in February, athletes can still enroll in January. And so many guys want to do that. And you can kind of force schools to put their cards on the table with the early enrollment piece of it, because if there's no spot for you, they're not going to send you all the paperwork you need to get filled out and get your dorm room and all that. But also now with this new piece of it, with the collectives, you kind of know what your deal is already. Well, you're talking about for the blue chippers,

but there's so many other kids that are just going there for the scholarship and the $30,000 that each player on the scholarship roster gets. Yeah. Well, and that's the ones that need to make sure they have a spot. But you're right. It is the laying the cards on the table situation that, you know, like you said, the coaches kind of had all the advantage there.

Let's talk about some of these guys that are looking around. We had a flip yesterday. Keelan Russell, the quarterback from Duncanville, Texas, flips from SMU to Alabama. You guys definitely saw that coming. How did that process evolve? Well, Alabama, they hit the ground running that new coaching staff. They got their quarterback from Washington to transfer Austin Mack. And then I think they took their time with the 2025 recruiting cycle. They knew after spring ball,

they were going to be able to get out on the road and evaluate quarterbacks. And one of the first ones they went and saw was Keelan Russell down at Duncanville High. And they fell in love with him and prioritized him. He moved to QB1 on the board. They had regular communication from Kalen DeBoer to Nick Sheridan, a lot of film study and X and O talk over the phone. Then they got him to campus this past weekend and they loved the standard in the brotherhood on campus, in addition to the track record of winning under Kalen DeBoer, the development at the position with guys like Michael Penix in the offense, and then just everything Alabama brings to the table. Skip plays for one of the best high school football programs in the country.

He likes that big stage, and no bigger stage than Alabama football. That's another thing he was looking for, So he is now in the fold for Alabama. So let's talk about USC because this was probably so far the most star-studded class that Lincoln Riley has been putting together at USC. And it's interesting because we talk about what they bring in on defense the the way they played defensively and i think we've done all the analysis of how few top 100 defenders lincoln rally has been able to sign in his time as a head coach but it certainly seems like they are much more attuned to that this year. And you look at that class,

but it also seems like everybody is picking at that class. And so Isaiah Gibson is an edge rusher from Georgia who is committed to USC. But he talked to Josh Newberg last week at the elite series. And here's what he said. And after we hear from him, I want to hear from you about how things went for his visit to Georgia this week. I'm still strong on my commitment. I don't plan on – everybody says I'm going to decommit.

Everybody says I'm going to – You hear it, huh? I hear it every day, but I don't plan on doing that anytime soon. You think people just look at the distance and think there's no way he's going to stick? Yeah. They've done it. There's been players go from Georgia to USC before. Yeah.

All right. Well, we're going to see. What does Lincoln Riley say to you? How often do you guys talk? Actually, I've been – it's kind of on me because I've been missing out on some of his calls. But I'm going to try to get on the phone with him today. I talked to Coach Haney before I got on the – me and my mom talked to him before we got on our flight here today. So I got to get back over to Coach Riley for sure.

All right. Now you're about to embark on how many official visits in june six there's not six weekends in june but you're gonna take six official visits so you're gonna take a couple midweek uh what's up first for you oh like the first visit yeah oh i got uga the first week the second week south carolina then i have a midweek to auburn and then that weekend I go to Tennessee. I changed it from Florida. And then after that, the 18th through the 20th, I have Ohio State. And then the last weekend I have Oklahoma.

A lot of fans, I should say, are looking at that Georgia visit and thinking, man, is he going to come out of that Georgia visit committed to the dog? It's a big one. What are you looking for in that? Honestly. Okay. So he's had the Georgia visit now, Steve. How'd it go? I think it went well. Talking to folks that spent time with Isaiah Gibson at Georgia, I think he continues to see a track record for outstanding player development

at a place that's close to home where the players there are achieving everything they set out to do as football players. Some buzz behind the scenes is that Georgia's very strongly positioned with Isaiah Gibson. So I think ultimately they're going to be hard to beat when it's time to put pen to paper for this 2025 recruiting class. So another USC commit who was at the Elite Series last week is Juju Lewis, the quarterback from Carrollton, Georgia. And he's made it clear he's looking at a few other schools as well. He was actually at Indiana on an official visit.

And we talked about the plan to visit there. We mentioned on the show, Tino Senseri is the relationship there on Indiana staff that goes back to, I think Tino was a GA at Florida State. Juju was a camper down there. We got photos of him from eight years old talking to him. But how did that go? Does Indiana have a serious shot at flipping him? He plans on coming back to Indiana for the Maryland game. So they're tracking for a third visit here this calendar year.

I think that with Julian Lewis, when he looks at his recruitment, he's trying to make the right decision for him. He is verbally committed to USC. He understands what that means. If you start for Lincoln Riley, you're going to be the first pick in the NFL draft. You're going to win a Heisman trophy. It's about as big a guarantee as you can get under center. But I think that Julian Lewis and his family are continuing to monitor how they recruit around him, specifically defense, to go back to your original point. In USC, they've made some tremendous hires on the defensive side of the ball. Coach Deontan Lynn to run that defense. Coach Eric Henderson has quickly asserted himself

as one of the best recruiters in the country. And certainly what he's done as a defensive line coach in the NFL is resonating with top prospects. But I think they want to see how these summer visits go with some of these guys that are currently committed to USC and where USC stands with those guys on the other side. And is it a defense that can be championship caliber? And in the meantime, you have Auburn that's in the middle of this one for Julian Lewis.

And then Colorado, he's going to take a visit to Colorado at the end of the month. He has his official visit to USC this weekend. But I think that Indiana is more than just a throw in. I think that their school that he is looking at right now is a place where he can come in on the ground floor and help build it up with some coaches that he believes in. I mean, Kurt Cignetti's got a lot of swag to him. He's from the Nick Saban. He's a Nick Saban coaching disciple that's been very successful. He's got a big challenge. It's the biggest challenge of his career at Indiana, a place where nobody has won consistently since Coach Mallory did a few decades ago.

But Julian Lewis got around that staff. The players on the team are pointing to a brand-new culture change. They can just feel a difference in their football facility compared to what it was before. And Julian Lewis with the relationship with Coach Sincere, what he saw from the offenses at James Madison, and then he even pointed to a favorable schedule at Indiana the first couple of years. They're in the minutia of Indiana right now.

Now, before people get carried away, I'm not predicting that he's going to flip to the Hoosiers, but I think that there is a lot for him to be excited about. And I think he's going to take his decision into the fall. There was some talk a couple months ago about him making a final decision for his senior season. I think now it's, well, let me watch some of these teams play this fall because this whole thing could change again when the teams start playing games. So I think that how teams start out early in the year, Auburn, Colorado, USC, and Indiana, how teams continue to recruit.

Those are all factors that are going to be thought upon when Julian Lewis goes to make his final decision. Well, and also if let's say Indiana doesn't get Julian Lewis, let's say he stays at USC or he winds up at Colorado or Auburn, but what value, how much value is it for them even having him on an official visit weekend in terms of some of your other targets? I don't know if I buy into the, all right, we had a five-star on campus, so that's going to resonate with other people to come visit. I think this is one where they have a unique set of circumstances where they are ingrained in this recruitment and have a chance to take a swing

and see what happens. And then in today's landscape of college football, maybe you don't win the first one, but you could win the second one. So there's still value to get a young man to campus because when they go on the portal, sometimes things happen very quickly. So there's foundational knowledge there to bring a prospect in. I think for Indiana, it's always going to be a program that's a developmental program, right? Of getting guys that are high upside players that fit your scheme, fit your culture, then you as football coaches get the best out of them. Now you're in a landscape where maybe you get the best out of them, their freshman and sophomore years, and then schools, you know, the power programs can then call them up and say, hey,

we'll offer you $800,000 to come play here for your junior season. So it's a different landscape of college football, but Indiana is still one of those developmental programs where they're going to have to find these high up. There's a lot of good football players out there, Andy. You know that. A lot of kids with size, a lot of kids with length, a lot of kids that can run. As James Franklin always says, recruiting is about who you get, not who you don't get, and then maximizing their potential once you have them within your program.

Well, let's talk about where Julian Lewis is committed and where he's headed this weekend, because I am fascinated by this USC class, which is currently ranked number three in the on three industry rankings. We will see. We just talked about Isaiah Gibson, but Justice Boone, who's a D-lineman from Georgia. We mentioned Julian Lewis, who's from Carrollton, Georgia. Isaiah is from Georgia. Hilton Stubbs is from Jacksonville, Florida. It seems like the top of that class, they are going against the beasts of the sec to get that.

It kind of reminds me of the peak Carol era more where they were fine to go wherever they needed to go. You know, Nickel Roby's from Frost Proof, Florida. Leonard Williams is from Daytona Beach. Mike Williams is from Tampa. They were not scared to go all the way across the country to go get somebody if they thought they would help. They're going to recruit nationally.

Lincoln Riley is a national name and a national brand. He took Oklahoma to three college football playoffs. He's one of the best in the country at what he does. Heisman Trophy winners, Bolitnikoff winners. He's coached some of the best players three college football playoffs. He's one of the best in the country at what he does. Heisman Trophy winners, Bolitnikoff winners. He's coached some of the best players in college football. And then USC, the excitement around the program, the investment in the program, being in LA, what they can do from an NIL standpoint, it's all attractive.

But what's all said and done, you're being judged on what you've done most recently. And it's a prove-it year for USC. And if they can go out there with these new hires on defense, Coach Ling, Coach Henderson and company, Coach Belk is in the building. Those are guys that have great resumes, great track records. If USC can turn the national opinion on how they play defense in their favor. I think that you could see USC, these kids that we're talking about being potential flip watches, there'll be a lot less of that. I think that people are excited.

They see the vision. But I think you're halfway in right now. You go out and you have a great fall. We'll see USC close a lot of these recruitments, get back in on some others, because this is a program that's certainly primed to be one of the best in college football year in and year out. That's what they brought Lincoln Riley in there for. And I think he's excited about it too. When you talk about what they like about their program internally, I think they love the offensive line class they signed a couple of years ago as they try and change a culture. Look, Andy, this is a program that was kind of soft around the line of scrimmage. They would typically

get pushed around by Notre Dame in the trenches and programs like that. If you're going to win a title, if you're going to be competitive in the Big Ten, you're going to be tough around the line of scrimmage. And I think that Lincoln Riley and the staff are slowly changing the narrative. And even within that, still that first year, they almost made the college football playoff. They were a Pac-12 title game appearance against Utah where Caleb Williams gets banged up. They still could have got in. Now, it would have been probably a tough road for them.

And once they got in, but they would have been in. And so I'm excited about USC's future. But I think from a recruiting standpoint, I think that they want to see what that looks like early in the season. And if there's a change in kind of the way they're perceived, particularly on defense, they got a chance to really close strong and keep some of these guys. And then moving forward, you won't bat an eye when they're in the mix for everybody. And,

and you'll, you'll feel even stronger that they can hold them. Well, that definitely has a little spice that USC LSU season opener in Vegas, because that's one I'm, I'm sure a lot of these guys are going to be watching. I think I said justice Boone when I met justice Terry, by the way,

Florida baby J U S T U S. But yes, just as soon as. Yep, Florida, baby. J-U-S-T-U-S. But yes, Justice Boone is a director at Florida. Justice Terry is the Georgia player committed to USC. Speaking of that opener, LSU versus USC in Las Vegas, Jakeem Stewart, the number one player in the on three player rankings in the 2026 class, he's going to be at that game. He's a Louisiana native that's already been out to USC three times. USC very high on his list. Those are pivotal games for USC to say, hey, look, we are playing with the best of the best programs in the country in this new era of USC football.

And Jakeem Stewart being at that game is big because I think USC is an excellent position for him. And that's another opportunity for them to show Jakeem, hey, this is your potential at USC. So let's talk about Michigan a little bit because I've noticed a little more chatter about who Michigan might be about to get. They had a big official visit weekend this weekend, but this is Sharon Moore's first recruiting cycle here. And unlike most new coaches who get, you know, get in there and have to sign a class in a couple of days, he didn't get this job until after Jim Harbaugh left, they'd already signed a full class essentially. So this is his, his usually what is a coach's second year is his first, but how is that new staff doing on the recruiting trail are they going to have you know a bunch of commits here in the next few weeks as

guys get to come see them for the first time and get to interact with them well right now they have the number 18 class in the country per on three the jewel of the class right now is nate marshall defensive lineman from chicagoland that jumped in the fold kind of quickly. I think it surprised some of his other top contenders, Alabama, Auburn, and Miami, to name a few. They thought he was going to take his visits this summer, but Michigan was able to shut it down, kind of the first big recruiting win of the Sharon Moore era.

So I think that shows the kind of chops that they have and the kind of potential they have on the trail. And look, Michigan's never been a program that's recruited consistent top 10 classes, but what they had under Jim Harbaugh was arguably the best strength coach in the country, arguably the best coordinators in the country, arguably the best head coach in the country.

And then they recruited hard-nosed, tough, physical kids that had high upside, and they got the best out of them, kind of similar to what we said about developmental programs like Indiana. Well, Michigan was a developmental program on the biggest stage with the biggest potential, and they're taking it slow this cycle, Andy, and they're bringing in guys. They want to make sure that the right culture fits

and the right personality fits for them. And they'll take it into the fall, and they'll evaluate senior film and take guys that are having great senior season. So it's kind of an old school approach, but they'll have some guys on campus this summer, just like everybody else. They'll bring in a big wave of visits capped off by June 21st when they'll have close to 20 of their top targets on campus. And, you know, I think they'll have a good chance to land a lot of these guys. And then they'll go into the fall and evaluate senior film and look for about five, six more guys. So you mentioned USC this weekend has a big one.

Who else has a big weekend this weekend? Who should we be watching coming out of the weekend in terms of commits and flips? Well, Georgia is a program that immediately comes to mind here as Kirby Smart and his staff push for another number one ranked recruiting class. Five-star offensive tackle David Sanders Jr. is on his official visit to Georgia this weekend. There's been a lot of buzz around Ohio State and Tennessee in the spring for David Sanders, but George is a program that's always been at or near the top of his list as well from a player development standpoint, and what George has been able to do with five-star offensive tackles, maximizing their potential and getting the best out of them. They're bringing in two of their top linebacker

targets, and Tavian Wallace and Ty Jackson, guys that, you know, first-round NFL draft picks at the linebacker position have been fewer and far between, but Georgia has as much to point to in that arena as anybody in the country, and so that's attractive to players of that caliber. So big recruiting weekend at Georgia this weekend. They're all over the country. LSU's hosting DeCorean Moore, the number one receiver in America. He was a longtime commit to them that recently reopened. And they're all over the country. LSU's hosting DeCorean Moore, the number one receiver in America. He was a longtime commit to them that recently reopened.

His process was at Ohio State last week, has future trips coming up to Texas and Oregon. A lot of Texas buzz there, but LSU looking to bring that back their way. LSU had a five-star recruiting weekend last week in Andy, where I thought they moved the needle with a lot of recruits. They have the number two class in the country, but they got a good chance to finish number one there in Baton Rouge. Wow. You mentioned David Sanders Jr. We met him at the Elite Series last week.

This guy is, I mean, he looks like a plug-and-play left tackle. You just saw the highlights on the screen. This is a guy that everybody in the country wants. What do you think his recruitment comes down to? Well, in addition to just the physical attributes that you talked about, he's also super high IQ, smart young man that'll be able to jump into any system and understand what he's supposed to do schematically, which also gives them an advantage to play early. His recruitment, you know, early on, I thought Georgia was the team to beat. They got him to campus a couple times, got around that staff and environment,

loved the game day experience. But as things have gone on, certainly Ohio State and Tennessee have put themselves firmly in the mix to land David Sanders. Alabama, he's keeping warm. He'll visit there. Clemson, he was there this past weekend, pre-NIL era, pre-everything. Maybe we're leaning Clemson here strong. I grew up a Clemson fan, but there's a lot of factors going into recruitments right now. And Nebraska, he took

an official visit to Nebraska over Mother's Day weekend. He's like Dylan Rayola went there. He said that was one of the reasons why he went out there and took that visit. So we'll see if the interest in the Huskers, how real that is. So there's still quite a few players in the mix. But if you're asking me the programs that I'm looking at the hardest right now, I would say Georgia, Ohio State and Tennessee. Yeah, interesting. Tennessee hasn't had a five-star offensive line signing since Darnell Wright.

So that would be an interesting one because – Yeah, exactly right. And so that – because that's always been with the hypo offense. They're like, oh, okay. They don't really have to go get the big five-star lineman. But if you talk to the coaching staff there, no, no, they want that because it just opens up what they can do offensively. But you mentioned he took a visit to Nebraska and our friend Nathan says, ask about Nebraska. So I will ask you, how are Matt Rule and company doing now that Dylan Ryle

is in the fold? Looks like he's going to be the starting quarterback come this fall. How are they doing in terms of class of 2025? Well, they've been getting a lot of prospects to campus. They went out there and they landed their number one quarterback target, TJ Lateef, which it was going to be hard for them to recruit that quarterback position with the two guys that they signed last year in Dylan Rayola and Daniel Kalen, but TJ Lateef, a four-star passer from Orange, California, gives them someone that could come in there and push that room. Nebraska finished with a top 25 recruiting class last cycle. And I think that with the guys that they have still out there, guys that are taking visits, big in-state targets like Christian Jones and Chase Lofton, they have a chance to finish in that top 25 again.

Douglas Utu is a major target from Bishop Gorman. They seem to be in on a lot of guys. They're bringing in a lot of their top targets at the end of the month as well, kind of similar to Michigan, like we talked about. And I think that they have a good chance to land a lot of those players that are coming here in June. So Nebraska, this is an ultimate,

like Matt Rule is the ultimate development coach, like finding guys with traits. They're not afraid to offer players first. They're not. They like to mine for talent. They're not. They're not about, well, how many other schools have offered or who else has offered this kid? If they think you're good, if you're good enough, they'll offer you a scholarship. And they're also good at projecting. Maybe you play only receiver on the high school level, but they're like that kid will be a hell of a DB. Or maybe you just played defensive line on the high school level. And they're like,

we see this young man being a difference maker on the offensive line. We've seen Matt rule do that at temple and Baylor. And that's the recipe at Nebraska. The one thing they got to fix at Nebraska, Andy is changing a culture of losing every single close game. Have you ever seen a program? I mean, I don't know,

like zero, how many, it's insane. It's like, well, they have to go back to that. Any buttons go their way in the Minnesota game. And the Minnesota game this year was a reminder of like,

they got to fix that. Like it's a complete internal culture thing. Like Texas and USC, they were not tough. They were kind of, they kind of turned into powder puff programs. Steve Sarkeesian fixed that. They're tough around the line of scrimmage. They're hard-nosed.

They're ready to come into the SEC. USC getting there. Nebraska, they cannot win a close game if their lives depended on it. They lose them all, every single one of them. Yeah, and that is Matt Rule, and he's been on the show talking about trying to fix that. That's the part they can't seem to get straight. But you go back to the next to last year of Scott Frost

when they had a plus one point differential in Big Ten play and went one and eight. So it's crazy. But it will be interesting to see if they do start winning because we look at their schedule and it looks pretty favorable if they can beat colorado listen seven and oh start is not out of the question at that point going into the ohio state game does that change how recruits view nebraska well if they are now winning on the field? I think so because I also think Nebraska is one of the programs that has all their infrastructure aligned to help them recruit at a high level.

Yeah, I think you may be right. And the thing is, from the NIL standpoint, a place like Nebraska, similar to to tennessee the passion is there the success has not been there tennessee now has some of the success you're starting to see that pay dividends and and they had the alignment all along so um jareth had a question since we're on the topic of offensive tackles how is the buzz around michael fasusi and Texas? Well, I think that we feel like Texas is the program that we would make the odds-on favorite to land Michael Fasusi, but there's a lot of contenders in there. He was at Missouri this past weekend. Oklahoma has been a mainstay in that recruitment.

Oregon, Colorado. There's a lot of schools that Texas A&M got several visits in the spring. So I think even though I point to Texas, if you're like, where do you think he lands today? I would say Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Missouri, Oregon, some of the other programs that are definitely heavy in there. So you mentioned that you went and saw Missouri and Pete Nakos and I were talking about this earlier.

It feels like Missouri is one of the schools that has used the changes of the rules to really take advantage, to, to change its fortunes. You know, they get Luther burden. They keep Luther burden Williams and where he signs this, this past season. He's, he's kind of coming as a freshman now. How, and we met Matt Zollers last week who he's from Philly. Like that's not normally the type of place Missouri goes to get somebody,

but he certainly seems to fit what they want as a quarterback. How much better are they at even getting guys to take a look now? Well, Matt Zollers was a pure evaluation recruiting win for Missouri. They unearthed him first, invested a lot of time in him first, and I think in the end, that's what did it. He took those last visits to Georgia, Penn State. But being around Coach Drinkwitz and that program and just the trust that they had in him and the early investment

and the relationship he built with them, in addition to them finishing in the top 10 last year and recruiting at a high level, all of that came together. But Missouri does not land Zollers if they don't find him first and get a head start from that relationship standpoint. Then they were able to point towards all the exciting things that are going on around the program. But yes, Missouri is very tough to beat for top targets in the region.

They're in the mix for some of the best players at the point of attack in the country, and some of those guys are regionally based. Andrew Babalola, I know I gave an RPM to Stanford yesterday, but he was at Missouri this past weekend. He had a great visit, and my predictions have been wrong before, and Missouri could certainly make me be wrong on Andrew Babalola, so could Oklahoma. Yosei Epinesa is a defensive line recruit from

Edwardsville High in Illinois, who is a major Iowa legacy. His dad played at Iowa. His brother, AJ played there. His older brother's a preferred walk-on at Iowa. But listen, Coach Drinkwitz brings as much energy from the head coach position as any coach in America. He went to Epinesa's basketball game in the winter and was sitting with the Epinesa family and Epinesa gets a rebound. Epinesa makes a pass. Epinesa makes a bucket. You would have thought he was watching his son. I mean, he was over the top with the way he was rooting for Epinesa and the family was feeling it. And he just brings a lot of juice and it's genuine over the top like that wasn't fake or anything like he was there to root for eponess he was into it he was into that moment uh of being there and

supporting eponess at his basketball game and that's the kind of stuff that resonates on the trail when you remember when rake Straw picked Missouri there at the end? Mizzou knew. He had told Mizzou that he was coming before he went up to the mic and announced it. But these coaches have all been burned. Yes. So when he finally – so when he said it publicly,

that reaction was not for the cameras. That reaction was we just landed a great player that we love. And it turned out he ended up being a difference maker for them, obviously, as they built this program up. So Coach Drink, one of the most genuine coaches in the country, they have their infrastructure in order to go out there and recruit some of these best players in the country to keep the best players home. They're going to land one of these elite offensive linemen. The one I'm pointing to for them right now is Lamont Rogers from Mesquite Horn in Texas, but maybe they land more than one, you know, so it'll be interesting. But Missouri

coming off a heck of a season with a coaching staff that loves recruiting and the way that they work together kind of reminds me of Kalen DeBoer's staff, just how much they enjoy being around each other. I think that at Missouri, Coach Drinkwich has created an environment that the guys like working together. So when recruits come on campus or when players are around, they all feel it, and it's resonating. And then certainly the results come on the field. I feel like that's definitely a vibe that you can, you can see,

you can see it even when you're not a recruit, if you're just around a coaching staff and you can tell if they like each other or not. And I definitely like as a player would certainly want that. I would want my coaches to get along, to enjoy working together. It is not as common as people might think. One more question. I'm sorry I'm peppering you with these, Steve, but this is fantastic. Intelligent Savage 629, do the Clemson Tigers have any Deshaun Watson-style QBs on the radar

in the upcoming recruiting class or beyond that you guys know of? So where is Clemson in the quarterback recruiting 2025, 2026? Where are they at right now? Well, Clemson, they have a top five recruiting class right now in the 2025 cycle. Blake Hebert from Massachusetts, 6'2.5", 215-pound signal caller. He committed to Clemson very early, June of 2023. He picked the Tigers over Notre Dame and some others, so they got on him early, got him in the fold. Look, obviously, when you talk about some of the runs that Clemson had and went into the national championship, they had Deshaun Watson and they had Trevor Lawrence,

two of the best college quarterbacks and guys that have went on to be difference makers at the pro level. We thought maybe Cade Klubnick could be of that caliber and maybe he still will. He's still writing his own story. They have not offered a quarterback in 2026 just yet. They don't just throw out offers. You know, there's quite a few. You got to go to multiple camps before you get an offer.

Right. So I don't know who they love in 2026 just yet at the position. But certainly for them, they've been at their best when they've been able to say that we've had the best quarterback in the country under center. So I can empathize with the question, man. I just don't have the answer for you right now yeah that's I I kind of figured that's what the answer was but this is one of those you know when when you're on the on three recruits channel you're getting the questions from the folks who are deep deep in this let's go a lot of folks here they want to know you know they're not following it as closely they want to know know, you know, okay, is, is there another Trevor Lawrence coming? But it's, they're not that easy to get. They're, they're few and far between.

There are guys that are developed, you know, it's not like people thought Kenny Pickett was the first round draft pick when he came out, you know? And so, uh, and people are like, Kenny Pickett, well, he's not great with the Steelers. Well, he would have been great with Alabama or Georgia or South, you know. Yeah, no, it's fantastic. All right, one more before I let you go. This is just for my own personal curiosity. Ohio State got a commit from Bo Jackson. Lamar Bo Jackson.

Yes, not Vincent Edward Bo Jackson. But if you're going to go by now, he's he, we list him as an athlete. What position is he going to play in college? He's going to play running back for Ohio. It's a big, it's a big position to need for them this cycle because you look at Travion Henderson and you look at Quinson Judkins. There's not a better backfield in America. Those guys are healthy out there playing. I know Penn State would say otherwise with the two that they boast, but Ohio State, they're going to probably lose those two guys at the end of the season. They got some young guys in the fold, but they need three to come in and push that room. I like where they stand with Isaiah West, who we recently decommitted from Kentucky, a four-star back from out east.

And then I think that they're the ones to beat still for Jordan Davison, one of the most sought-after running backs in the country from California. Now Michigan is trying to change that. Jordan Davison was just at Alabama this past weekend. Oregon is in there. But I like Ohio State for Jordan Davison as well. The Buckeyes looking to sign three running backs. Them getting Bo Jackson in the fold first was big from in-state

because he was also looking hard at Georgia and Alabama. So protecting the state, putting a wall around the border, as they used to say, and he's a really good football player, and Ohio State trending for two more backs after him. That is bold. Bold. If your last name is Jackson and you're going to go by Bo and play running back. That's a lot of confidence there. You know, and Bo Jackson is one of the athletes that the young players have heard of still.

You know, you'd be surprised who they don't know. Like if you were to walk up to one of these one of these uh high school players and say do you know who rocket ishmael is they don't you know oh well if they if they want to know who rocket ishmael is just look at the the video that was circulating because uh you know so charlie ward they don't yeah that hurts my heart that hurts my heart heisman trophy winning quarterback who played 10 years in the nba what kind of athlete are we talking about but if you watch the video of larry allen bench pressing 700 pounds rest in peace larry allen uh the teammate the Cowboys teammate who jumps across his chest right after he finishes

bench pressing 700 pounds is Rocket Ishmael, who of course was electrifying at Notre Dame. In today's media landscape, how fascinating of a story would it be that Rocket Ishmael chose the Canadian Football League for a humongous check because the Canadian Football League was trying to build up their brand. Remember? So he goes to Toronto Argonauts. Do you remember those cards? Then they created Canadian Football League cards,

and there were like five Rocket cards. Well, it's like when you and I were kids, and we were too young to notice this, but like Herschel Walker going to the USFL and, you know, all the Doug Flutie, all these, all these guys who played in the USFL first.

And yeah, it's, it is amazing to me, but Bo Jackson, yeah, probably. And we'll, you know,

we'll have next time I talk to Dukes, we're going to have to talk about this because Philip Dukes obviously went to Auburn, but he's a sneaker head. Like a lot of these kids are like I am. Next time I talk to Dukes, we're going to have to talk about this because Philip Dukes obviously went to Auburn. But he's a sneakerhead like a lot of these kids are, like I am. And the Air Trainer SC, which is known as the Bo Jackson, is one of the more popular shoes among the kids right now. So that's why Kevin Chavis. Bo Jackson is even more popular than Herschel Walker. And Walker was arguably the greatest running back.

I think everybody's parents, all these players' parents now remember Bo Jackson is even more popular than Herschel Walker, and Walker was arguably the greatest running back in college. I think everybody's parents, all these players' parents now remember Bo Jackson. I mean, like, you remember the poster with him in the shoulder pads with bat across his – I had that in my room. Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, they were in that cartoon together. Yes. There was a cartoon. It was called, like, Sport Stars in that cartoon together. And Michael Jordan, right? There was a cartoon. It was called like Sports Stars or something like that.

I don't remember, but I don't remember what it was called, but they would have like, they would complete missions or whatever. It was great. Speaking of former Auburn running backs, did you spend much time with Ronnie Brown at the on three elite series? Yes. Ronnie Brown was fun. What a good dude.

I mean, former number two pick, former Mr. Wildcat, amazing college player, amazing pro player. He brought a lot of value, in my opinion, him and Hopkins, to the players that were on the three elite series with kind of their stories and really just showing those young men, hey, we played in the NFL and DeHop still plays in the NFL, but we're setting ourselves up. It's still a short window. I mean, Ronnie Brown's in financial planning now.

Yeah. Well, I thought Will Compton was great talking to the kids because Will was a big-time recruit. Will was a four-star recruit. Lots of people wanted him. And then he winds up going undrafted. And I think all of these guys who are, who are there, who are, you know, top 50 type recruits are just assuming they're going to be first round draft picks. That's not always how the world works. And so you have to have a plan. And so listening to Will Compton explain how he managed that,

how basically for the first multiple years he was in the NFL, he assumed it would be his last year in the NFL, so he started making plans for the future. It was fascinating to me hearing these guys who've been through it talk about it. No question. It was a fantastic event. Already looking forward to next year. You just know the speakers are going to get better or more oh yeah oh yeah well hopefully that you know they may have better moderators um they'll kick me off let some professionals take over so uh but i i can't wait i i am i'm excited

about that because i learned a lot meeting those players meeting their parents uh i'm just gonna throw this one out there i'm very excited about bryce baker the quarterback who's going to uh to north carolina from greensboro uh did not know much about him but got to spend some time with him and his parents and really enjoyed when i was moderating those panels watching them in the front row taking taking copious notes. This is Bryce and his parents. And then asking really good questions. I think Matt Brown may have hit on another one in state behind Sam Hall and Drake May. And he doesn't miss his workouts, does he? He was one of the more physically impressive young men in the building. So he worked hard. His dad told me that he's like, yeah, he made me find a park so we could go throw.

I believe he was the only quarterback who found a place to go throw. Look, Jonah Williams was there, our number one ranked safety in the country. He's also the number one baseball target on a lot of boards, certainly for Texas A&M. Him and his dad, he brought his glove. They were looking for a place to go hit. And there wasn't very many windows for for opportunity but these kids are dedicated to yeah craft and and what they do and i'm sure some of them hit the weight room there um while they were in town as well that's well the and some of their dads did because i know i was working out in the in the gym in the hotel

watching some of their day some of their their dads who might've played in the, many of them played in the NFL, still getting after it pretty hard in the gym. So Steve Wilpong, thank you so much. This was a lot of fun. We're going to have to do this again. I say,

we just make a date to do this again next week, because there's a lot of visits that we're going to need to review from this weekend and preview for next weekend. Yeah. Whenever I'd love to come back on and pro stars the 1991 tv show that's it pro stars with bo jackson wayne gretzky michael jordan uh was it just those three i they i'm sure they had guest stars i will say michael jordan bo jackson I don't think there was another one. I think Bo, Bo was your representative for football and baseball.

So yeah, it makes sense. And then, and then now that cartoon was modeled after the WWF cartoon, which I watched religiously. So if you go to YouTube and watch pro stars, but then just Google WWF cartoon, you're going to be down the rabbit hole all day. I'm just warning you.

All that WWF stuff on there from, Oh, yes. Little big 10 football, little WWF. Nothing wrong with that. Steve Wilfong. Thank you so much.

Absolutely. Take care. That is Steve Wilfong, thank you so much. Absolutely. Take care. That is Steve Wilfong. Catch him on the Wilfong Whiparound. New episodes every Monday and Thursday on the On3Recruits channel. You also can catch our guy, Phillip Dukes with the 5-star flex on the On3Recruits channel. Josh Newberg.

If you're not subscribed to that one as well as this one, what are we even doing? Click that subscribe button for the On3 sports and the on three recruits channels. We have a lot to discuss all summer long, especially with that on three recruits channel, because this is when they get very hot and heavy. The way their calendars evolved, like there's going to be a lot of action between now and the beginning of July. So just be ready for that.

And thank you so much for all your questions for Steve, because I do. One thing I love about this job and this new job for me is I've always followed recruiting. I loved covering recruiting. I love doing kind of general big picture recruiting stories when I was in at Sports Illustrated. And I actually, my first role at Sports Illustrated. And actually my first role at Sports Illustrated was covering recruiting and it kind of evolved quickly into just covering college sports. But I always felt like roster construction was incredibly important. And so stayed on that beat

a little bit and tried to make sure I was always up on what was going on. But I think now people are realizing just how important roster construction is. You hear me and Pete talking about the transfer portal and we can on this show, I think take a more general approach and talk about the players that you might be because look, you're going to want to know who these impact freshmen are like. I guarantee you everybody who watches this show, listens to this show is going into the football season knowing who Cam Coleman is. Cam Coleman, freshman receiver at Auburn. They haven't been this excited about a receiver in forever. So we want to make sure that when you get into a season, you know who the potential impact freshmen are and that we've kind of explained and told their stories along the way.

Because that's one of the beauties of being at On3 is we have this incredible resource with people like Steve Wiltfong and Josh Newberg and Phillip Dukes who can tell us these recruit stories long before they even make their college decisions. So it's very exciting. I geek out about this stuff. I can't believe I get to work with Steve Wilfong. I mean, seriously, he's a freaking legend in this business, a legend. So that was a lot of fun. We'll have him back on next week. Tomorrow though, it's a Dear Andy show. You know what that means. Your questions answered by me, hopefully correctly, maybe not. Hit me up on X on Instagram, Andy underscore Staples. AndyStaplesOn3 at gmail.com if you have a longer question

or if you'd like to send your question in a video, which we know you know we love those. Our friends Nathan and Willie, they send them in all the time. They're awesome. They always ask such great questions too. So that's stuff like, I can't believe, why haven't I thought of that before? But that's one of the reasons why I do this. One of the reasons why I have a Dear Andy episode every week is because I want to know what you guys are thinking about. And sometimes you guys are thinking about the sport in a completely different way than I am, which I appreciate

because I like having different perspectives and trying to look at things from a different perspective. So by all means, hit me up, Andy underscore Staples on X on Instagram, Andy Staples on three at gmail.com. We love your questions. And tomorrow we will attempt to answer them.

We'll talk to you tomorrow.