Andy & Ari On3 - Ohio State is getting SERIOUS in the transfer portal | Florida is under NCAA investigation

Episode Date: January 22, 2024

On this episode of Andy Staples On3, Andy takes a look at multiple topics whether it's Caitlin Clark, Florida's NCAA Investigation, and the transfer portal over the weekend.(0:00-7:58) Intro - Ohio State in the Portal, Lane Kiffin Tweets(7:59-12:02) Andy's Column relating Alabama's Current Position to Michigan(12:03-16:44) Caitlin Clark and a Court Rush(16:45-37:53) Pete Nakos Joins(37:54-40:48) Early Top Games of 2024(40:49-1:01:13) Nick De La Torre on Florida's NCAA Investigation(1:01:14-1:02:41) Conclusion - Tennessee in the portalThe transfer portal doesn't take weekends off, and neither does On3's Pete Nakos. He joins Andy to discuss former Alabama quarterback signee Julian Sayin committing to Ohio State on Sunday. Sayin joins former Alabama safety Caleb Downs, a freshman All-America selection who committed to the Buckeyes on Friday. The Buckeyes, who also just hired Bill O'Brien to run the offense, are not playing around in 2024.Andy and Pete also talk about whether what has happened at Alabama should inform what Michigan does if Jim Harbaugh winds up leaving for the NFL. Is promoting offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore an even smarter move if an outside search means the roster could get picked apart?Before Pete joins, Andy points out that what happened to Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark during Sunday's court-storming after Ohio State upset the Hawkeyes is exactly why some leagues have been trying to make rules to curb court/field storming. Andy isn't necessarily in favor of those rule, but he is in favor of some common sense.Later, Nick De La Torre of On3's Gators Online joins to discuss the NCAA investigation at Florida, which has been going on since last summer. The NCAA is looking into the situation involving former Florida quarterback signee Jaden Rashada. What does this mean going forward for the Gators and for coach Billy Napier?Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube!https://youtube.com/live/ZR9ZdhOiLTY

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. We're live on these internets. Just in time for halftime of the Bills Chiefs game. So if you can tear yourself away from Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey and Josh Allen and the meme we're going to see over and over again if the Bills win this game of Taylor looking back at Josh as he walks past and Travis is like huh we know you know what I mean we're talking about but we got big college football news because apparently we're not going to have an off season where there is not a day or set of days without big college football news and the

transfer portal does not take weekends off so since the last time we've had a show, much has happened in the transfer portal. We'll be talking to Pete Nacos of On3 about that very shortly. But short answer to that one, Ohio State is getting very, very serious about winning in the transfer portal, about building an even better roster than they usually build through their very good recruiting. And also since the last time I had a show, Ohio State has hired an offensive coordinator, Bill O'Brien, back to college football. And his arrival actually coincides with some of the news from today. So Julian Sayen, the Alabama signee who had enrolled at Alabama, but then entered the portal after Nick Saban retired after Kalen DeBoer was hired also after a former Washington quarterback named Austin Mack

committed to Alabama following Kalen DeBoer there well Julian Sane has committed to Ohio State he did that on Sunday point out that for the most of the time that Julian saying was being recruited by Alabama Bill O'Brien was Alabama's offensive coordinator so there is a relationship there and it's it's interesting because O'Brien was with the Patriots this past year but I think probably Julian saying when he committed thought he might wind up playing for Bill O'Brien and now he's gonna probably play with Bill O'Brien but uh we we's going to probably play with Bill O'Brien. But we shall see. Will Howard, obviously, the Kansas State transfer, probably Ohio State's starter this year. But Julian Sane now in the boat with the Buckeyes, joining Caleb Downs,

the All-America safety from Alabama, who also has committed to Ohio State. So we're going to talk to Pete about all that because they are definitely serious in Columbus. And look, if you've lost three in a row to Michigan, if you want to take back the Big Ten, if you want to play for national titles, this is how you got to do it. This is how you got to do it. In fact, Ohio State's action in the portal lately, and like I'll point out, Caleb Downs, his announcement, the collective announced it first. They had signed Caleb Downs. And so this has even caught the attention of Lane Kiffin, himself quite, quite good in the transfer portal, the Ole Miss coach.

He tweeted on Sunday, a story that kind of aggregates a random Twitter account. You click on the link, you realize this is comingates a random Twitter account. You click on the link, you realize this is coming from a random Twitter account, but it says Ohio State Buckeyes spent 13 million and counting in NIL money in an attempt to field a elite roster. That is actually the amount that Ryan Day said two years ago

is how much it would cost to compete. If you think about it logically, it's actually probably still a little light. It's basically one franchise tag safety in the NFL. I don't even think it'll get you that anymore. Or if we want to put it in other terms, it will get you one Lane Kiffin and both his coordinators. So if you can get a whole ass team that can actually compete for stuff for the cost of

one head coach and two coordinators, you're doing all right. You are doing all right. Because I guarantee you there's no team in the NFL that could have a payroll that equaled the salaries of their head coach and two coordinators that would be competitive. So if that's all it takes, because I get it, 13 million sounds like a lot,

but when we put it in perspective, like Lane Kiffin makes $9 million a year. So Lane Kiffin is more than half of the cost of the roster. So it's really not that expensive, especially when you consider all of the fringe benefits you get out of actually competing for the national title. Ace in the chat says, you do it, but do it legally, man. Come on, Andy. Then again, all this falls on the NCAA.

No, this is fine. Again, I don't care if they're getting paid or how much. It's all market value. If you're going to pay coaches $10 million a year, $11 million a year, I don't really care how much you pay the players. It doesn't matter. It's not my money. You spend it however you want. And I think we need to have a regular segment on this show of just stalking Lane Kiffin through Twitter, since he's nice enough to tweet about

where he is. Lane Kiffin apparently visited his first Buc-ee's today. If you've been listening to the show for a while and watching the show for a while, you know how I feel about Buc-ee's. Just one of the greatest places in America. One of the greatest chains in America. Beaver, I can't remember his name. His nickname is Beaver, but he's the guy in Texas who invented Buc-ee's. He's like, I know we'll have a gas station the size of a Walmart. That would be awesome. Yes. Love you. Love you. Love you, Beaver. And so Lane Kiffin got to experience a Buc-ee's for the first time today. He said it was life-changing. I agree. Now, this picture of this Buc-ee's, eagle-eyed viewers,

you tell me where Lane Kiffin is because I'm not sure. And Buc-ee's is expanded so much beyond Texas that we really, it's hard to narrow down. There's nothing architecturally different about this particular photo. It looks like most Buc-ee's. He's near the fudge area. You can see the barbecue area over there. So not entirely sure where Lane Kiffin is in this Buc-ee's, But if you know, if you see anything that screams, this is the Buc-ee's near Daytona Beach on I-95, or this is the Buc-ee's near Mobile on I-10, or this is the Buc-ee's in Warner Robins, Georgia on I-75, you drop a shout in the chat.

I'd love to know. Love to know. But yes, Lane Kiffin pointing out that Ohio State is being very aggressive with the NIL, which, as they should be. They're one of the best teams in America. I would think they would like to stay that way. Yo-Yo in the chat. If Ohio State doesn't beat us next year, I'm assuming Yo-Yo's a Michigan fan,

then Ryan Day might be out of a job. Mike, Buckeyes don't beat everyone next year. He might not have a job. Yes. Yes, this is true. All of this does put more pressure on Ryan Day. Absolutely puts more pressure on Ryan Day, but that's okay. The Ohio State job is pressure. Your job, and I know you hear me say this and you laugh at me when I say this about Alabama or when I say this about Tennessee or LSU or Auburn or everywhere it's like this. Your job is to win the national championship. That is your job.

So if you are, oh, Jared in the chat says, smells like fear in here. And Jared's an Ohio State fan. I don't think anybody's afraid yet, Jared. But I do think they're looking at this and going, hmm, this does feel a bit different. This does feel like Ohio State is taking this very seriously. Now, we're also going to talk with Pete Nacos about Ohio State's rival, Michigan.

And I want to talk to you about this too. So I have a column coming out on On3 on Monday morning. So if you're watching live right now, just remember, you'll have a column to read in the morning if you want to goof off at work. If you're listening in podcast form, you can already read it. So here's the deal. Given what we've seen from Alabama with the players leaving, entering the transfer portal once Kalen DeBoer was hired, does it not make Michigan's decision if Jim Harbaugh leaves incredibly easy?

Does it not make it a no-brainer? Which it may have already been a no-brainer but you know i talked to these agents and and you know try to stay ahead of the curve on things and i've talked to a few that say that they think if harbaugh were to go to the nfl that michigan might actually have a coaching search now if that happens it it would surprise me because i feel like sharon moore is the slam dunk choice, and he's right there on the staff. But this could be agents trying to wish this into existence, or it could be something that they might actually consider. But if you watched Alabama in the last

week, you watched the situation there and watched who's gone into the portal because they wanted to play for Nick Saban and not Nick Saban, do you not say the Sharon Moore decision is the easiest decision in the world? Because that allows you to keep things as continuous as possible. It allows you to keep the players as comfortable as possible. Because again, if Harbaugh decides to go to the NFL, it's sort of, it's very similar toan, where it is an all-time great coach choosing to leave of his own accord, but it still opens the transfer portal for 30 days. The difference here is Alabama didn't have somebody

on the staff who felt like the obvious successor. Sharon Moore does feel like the obvious successor, and we've seen him do the job. So I just think it makes this decision so easy for the Michigan brass, especially if you can keep Ben Herbert, the strength coach. I think that matters a lot. Now, Harbaugh might want to take him with, but again, NFL teams don't value strength coaches the way college teams do,

so I don't know if that would necessarily happen. But if you could keep all those guys together or most of those guys together, I don't know if they could keep Jesse Mentor, the defensive coordinator. He might want to go be an NFL defensive coordinator. But if you can keep most of the infrastructure together, most of the coaching staff together, I do think it might keep them from getting picked apart in the portal. I do think it would keep those guys from all entering the portal.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong because it is very difficult to determine what's going to happen with this is also new. Because from an economic standpoint, yes, it makes the most sense in the world if you're a really good player to go into the portal and at least see, or at least threaten to go in the portal and see if you can get a better deal where you are. Jacob in the chat says, that roster would be torn to shreds. I don't know if it would. If Sharon Moore gets elevated to head coach, I don't know if it would it'll be a great question I don't know if it's going to happen we may not have to answer that question because Jim Harbaugh may come back to Michigan but we're going to find out eventually what the answer to that is Jim

Harbaugh was at it was at an NFL game this weekend but it was the Ravens game he was supporting his brother John as the Ravens moved on to the AFC championship by beating the Texans. So it is a great question to ask, but I just think after seeing this, your best shot, especially because you already have a guy who looks like he's the best choice anyway,

that you don't need to do all this. And look, I know when Urban Meyer handed off to Ryan Day, Gene Smith did look around, vet other candidates, but felt comfortable with Ryan Day being the guy. need to do all this and look i know when when urban meyer handed off to ryan day gene smith did look around vet other candidates but felt comfortable with ryan day being the guy i guess we'll find out if that's if that was a good move or not this this season with this this mega roster that ohio state's assembly kyle in the chat uh trying to be funny andy aren't you a basketball guy hey we are going to do some basketball here and in fact let's talk about some basketball right Kyle in the chat trying to be funny. Andy, aren't you a basketball guy? Hey, we are going to do some basketball here.

And in fact, let's talk about some basketball right now. Because if you're watching on Sunday, especially if you were tuning in to watch the Bucs-Lions game on NBC, the thing that happened before the Bucs-Lions game was really interesting. It was an Iowa-Ohio State women's basketball game from columbus and very close game tight wire wire ohio state ends up winning in overtime after the game court storming caitlin clark who scored 45 points in the game is trying to run off the court she slams into a fan who's trying to run onto the court, holding up the cell phone,

trying to film themselves running onto the court. And so this is why you have like the SEC constantly saying, we have to stiffen the penalties for court and field storms because we can't have something happen. Now, fortunately, Caitlin Clark was okay, but you guys gotta be careful when you're storming courts or storming fields, or they're going to do something about it, or they're going to ban it. Because I'm not the

fun police. I would like you to be able to do this. I think it's awesome. The visual's cool. I've been on the field a bunch of times when the field's been stormed. Most people are just trying to have a good time. But I will tell you that the best thing to do if you are doing that is stay away from any players, whether they're your team's players or the other team's players, but especially the other team's players. And pay attention. You don't need to be filming this on your phone as you're running out onto the court or onto the field because you can remember it. Just remember it. I know that's hard for that generation to understand, but there are times when you can just remember the thing and you don't have to have a video of it on your phone. And you can tell the story and the story will be great. Because this person was really lucky that they didn't injure Kaitlyn Clark.

Because Kaitlyn Clark was helping out Ohio State today. The reason the arena was packed at Ohio State was because Kaitlyn Clark was there. She's selling out every arena in the Big Ten. She's making money for every arena in the Big Ten. She's making money for every school in the Big Ten. It's bad for business if you injure Caitlin Clark. So just remember that. And also remember, if you do it in a football game and you hit the wrong football player, you're going to get seriously injured and no one is going to care. So when you go on the field of the court, remember that's their territory.

Leave them alone. Do not touch them. Stay away from them. And you do not need to record it with your phone. Just run, cheer, have fun with your friends, and remember it. Because if you're holding up your phone, you're going to run into somebody you're not supposed to run into. You could hurt yourself or you could hurt the other person. Or again, if it's a football game

and it's the wrong football player, yeah, it ain't going to go well for you. So follow these simple rules and none of this will get banned. But yeah, somebody running into caitlin clark i guarantee you like greg sankey the sec commissioner who has been trying to curb court and field stormings in his league for years is going to look at this and go see now we got to make the penalties stiffer now we got to do do more we got to keep people from doing this. So that's why you got to be careful here or something that's fun

and something we love seeing might get taken away from you. But that is neither here nor there. Glad Caitlin Clark's okay. Glad whoever ran into her didn't get seriously hurt either. Just be careful. And again, remember it. You don't need it on your phone. Keep it up here. Keep it up here. All right, now it is time to dive deep into the transfer portal because again,

it does not sleep. It does not take weekends off. And apparently neither is Ohio State because the Buckeyes did some work these last few days seriously trying to upgrade their roster. We talked about that. We talked about Caden Proctor. We talked about the Michigan situation with on three's Pete Nacos.

We welcome Pete Nacos, who is a very, very, very busy man. It's Sunday. Ohio State has a new quarterback. He was an Alabama quarterback not long ago. He was a high school quarterback not long ago. Julian Sayen, the crown jewel of Alabama's 2024 recruiting class now in Ohio State Buckeye? Yeah, yeah.

He has just announced his commitment, and the fireworks continue to go off in Columbus, right? Caleb Downs, Julian Zane, Will Howard, Quinshot Junkins. It has been an eventful three weeks in Columbus. Well, and the Caleb Downs one is really interesting. Caleb Downs, freshman All-America safety from Alabama. When he hit the portal, we all assumed he's from Atlanta. Traveris Robinson, the assistant who recruited him to Alabama, is going to Georgia.

Georgia's collective's obviously very interested in Georgia, getting one of the best safeties in America. We all assumed Georgia. And then on Friday, Caleb Downs and the first announcement was actually from the collective itself saying we've signed Caleb Downs. Yeah, it Welcome to 2024 in college football. But yeah, I mean, man, if you told me Caleb Downs was gonna go to Ohio State

when he even like the murmurs before he actually won in the portal, you would have stunned me. And that's not a shout out to Ohio State. It's just how many people thought and even how many sources thought it was like a walk to Georgia. And yeah, Travers Robinson at Georgia was supposed to give the Bulldogs the Trump card, and it just didn't happen. And now Caleb Downs is going to be a Buckeye and going through spring ball.

I mean, we could talk about this all offseason, but I'll just put it out there now. I mean, the standard, the expectations at Ohio State in 2024 are going to be sky high. They are. I mean, it's feeling like national championship or bust, which I think it's kind of like that at Ohio State every year, but especially now with the three consecutive losses to Michigan, they're just they're not playing around. And, you know, at this point where we don't yet know what's going to happen with Jim Harbaugh, we will find out sooner rather than later.

But the quarterback thing is interesting because Julian saying on on three industry number one quarterback in the country number five overall recruit in the country and he's it's an interesting one because we're not entirely sure that he just said i don't want to play for kaylin deborah because his entry to the portal came right after austin mack who has been at washington for a year with the bore committed to alabama yeah i mean just i had heard murmurs about julian saying let's say like 48 hours before he actually went in but at that point everyone was like okay we expect him to go through spring ball and then go in the portal right after a day in april um and that's obviously obvious obviously ultimately what he decided not to do i heard that quite a few

things and and some things like maybe he wasn't the right fit for kaylin divorce system obviously adding austin mack was not the best signal for for saying in his. But yeah, the minute he went in, it was very clear that he wanted to go to Ohio State. And the conversation the last 48, 72 hours has more been at Ohio State about what they wanted to do and if they wanted to take him and less of trying to convince Julian Z and be a Buckeye. Well, and one of the strangest things about all of this

is Ohio State just hired Bill O'Brien as his offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien was Alabama's offensive coordinator during a lot of Julian Sands recruitment to Alabama yeah yeah I mean I wrote about it the last couple days but yeah I think I think there's part of it where Julian Sand right wants to be developed under Ryan Day but I think there's a large chunk of it that knows, like, hey, I can trust Bill O'Brien. I know how Bill O'Brien is going to go about his business. That's what I'm all about.

I want to go be a Buckeye with Bill O'Brien. Yeah. Now, what does this mean for Aaron Noland, who was a top flight recruit in the class of 24? He signed with the Buckeyes. He's from the state of Georgia. I noticed on Sunday afternoon he's from the state of georgia i noticed on sunday afternoon he tweeted out a picture of himself at the ohio state upset of iowa in women's basketball

and he's standing behind brutus buckeye and smiling big and says go you know hashtag go buck so seems like he's he's in for the competition for now you know um i had the chance to speak to aaron nolan super quick at the 11 finals this summer, and he strikes me as the kind of kid who's not going to run for the hills. He's going to kind of embrace competition. Him and Julian Sane have a very similar game. They were two of the better competitors that I saw at the Elite 11 this past summer, and I think, I mean, Andy, like, Will Howard's going to start this year. Like, we all know that.

So I think that this now turns into more of, Andy, like Will Howard's going to start this year. Like we all know that. So I think, I think that this now turns into more of, okay, now maybe the table's set for a competition next year. But I definitely think Aaron Nolan strikes me as the kind of guy who's going to stay in Columbus and fight for that job next to Julian saying, and we'll see how everything kind of falls after that. The other big, and I am, I'm using the term literally and figuratively domino from the, of Kalen DeBoer, the retirement of Nick Saban, Caden Proctor, the offensive tackle,

who was the number one offensive line prospect in 2023, comes to Alabama, starts 14 games at left tackle. He is headed home to Iowa, where he initially committed and then flipped to Alabama late in the process. Yeah, that was one where people, a weren't surprised he went in and be everybody expected him to go to Iowa. Like there was like some people at Florida state who were like, Ooh, that could be interesting.

Ohio state at like a few others. But I mean, at the end of the day, everybody knew he was going to go to Iowa. Obviously there's the funny video going around now where people think Iowa tampered. We don't have to get into that. Basically, they said, keep your head up when he was having some bad times in the middle of the year.

Yeah, we don't have to fully dive into that. But what I'm trying to say is, yeah, it was always going to be the Hawkeyes here. Yeah. And I thought it was. And so Scott Dockerman, who I used to work with at the Athletic, had a really interesting column with a good point. And I've talked to coaches about this, too. who I used to work with at the athletic had a really interesting column with a good point and I've talked to coaches about this too most coaches even before all these rule changes always felt like hey you don't burn a kid when he says no to you or when he flips on you you stay

nice you stay pleasant and and be respectful because you never know you might wind up coaching them in another school you might wind up dealing with them in the never know you might wind up coaching them in another school you might wind up dealing with them in the nfl like you might wind up dealing with this person again and in now it's even bigger because if they decide they don't want to be where they were initially yeah i'd be coming right back to you i mean i mean obviously kate and brockter but obviously caleb downs to both both young talented talented freshmen who both schools kept tabs on them. I think it goes a little bit deeper, too, with Caden Proctor, obviously. He's from Iowa.

And that flipped to Alabama. I mean, it happened at the final hour. It was not something that happened three months before National Signing Day. And you heard the homesickness rumors too right throughout spring practice throughout the summer so it makes sense yeah no 100 and i think the other thing too is right like like oregon was in the like a lot of big schools wanted caden proctor and they decided and he decided to stick with Iowa until it was Alabama. Yeah.

And also, you don't go to Iowa because you want to play in a great offense because you're not going to. Like, I think we figured that out over the last few years. Now, they've produced some good offensive linemen, but right now they're not running a very dynamic offense. But this will be just a case study what has happened that the domino effect because you know like you've got an arizona quarterback following jed fish to washington now you you know you you had we mentioned austin mack a washington quarterback following kaylin deborah to alabama you know how much of this following are we going to see

uh down the line yeah i mean i think I think it's going to continue to cascade. And obviously we have to see about Michigan, and that's completely separate. But like Buffalo just found its new head coach today because their head coach wants to be an assistant at Alabama. I guess the other thing that I think about too is like, you think about Lincoln Riley and Ryan Day, and like Bob Stoops and Urban Meyer wanted to hand it off.

And I guess maybe it's the youngin in me where I was kind of like, oh, yeah, I guess that's a smart idea. But now covering it all, I'm like, wow, that was genius. Like, I would never want to be an athletic director and know that my 72 or whatever year old head coach is going to retire. And he built this program and like seeing what's going to happen now well i'll bring this up because i have a column running on monday at on three about this very situation is if you were ward manual and the people making decisions at michigan i feel like this makes your decision for you like you you have if jim harbaugh takes an nfl job right you kind of have to promote Sharon more I yeah I maybe I'm wrong on this but I feel like that gives you your best chance of

keeping that roster together I would feel like you have to take Sharon and not just because of I mean how great of a job he did and everything um but I think with, with seeing the roster Exodus at, at Alabama last week, I mean, you have to do sure. And, and the other thing too, is this is all gonna like fall apart. I could say whatever, uh, if, if Harbaugh leaves in like February 1st, give or take, right. It's 21st right now, like terrible timing. Like you can't go at anybody in the portal at that point and then you're gonna

have to build an entire roster in april which is right wow which is which is another piece of this also is like with alabama they are going to be serious buyers in the portal market post spring and so be terrified if you've got some good players who are still on your roster and you're a non-sec team because that what if the sec doesn't change their rule the only shopping alabama can do is outside the sec the only you know washington can shop anywhere and they need to but alabama can only shop outside the sec and they got time to figure out how the heck they're going to pull it off too, right? It's April. It's like you got two, three months.

I mean, you got plenty of time to try to figure out how to piece this thing together now and how you're going to go about the portal. And man, who knew in November even that we were going to be sitting here, though, talking about Kalen Nabor having to rebuild the roster at Alabama. It is wild but now here's where I think the Alabama and Michigan situations are a little bit different there wasn't anybody on Alabama's staff that you said okay that's the logical successor to Nick Saban where you say okay easy to hand it over continuities protected like with Urban Meyer

handing off to Ryan Day they actually had the the trial period where Ryan Day was the acting head coach for three games. It felt like that was set up. Bob Stoops handing off to Lincoln Riley. Same thing. They had time with Lincoln, two years of Lincoln Riley's offensive coordinator to know this is the guy. We could put him in here.

And the Stoops one was right before the season too, which also that one is, it was in June. And I think, yeah. So, but in this case, Michigan has a guy who is actually done the job.

Yeah. And you would think would be respected enough by the players to keep it together. And I still think whether they can keep Ben Herbert, the strength coach has a lot to do with with how the roster stays together if it happens but you're right and and the other part of it is like from an economic standpoint if you're those players there's going to be a period where you're the only people who could go in the portal like once the bama and washington and arizona

windows close that makes you more valuable. Oh my gosh. It makes you so much more. But if you're the only quarterback in the transfer portal for a minute and you think about like everywhere, that's still a shopping for a quarterback. I mean, who cares what your stats are or what your,

your star ranking is. You're definitely going to at least go on a visit. If not probably get an offer. So yeah, it's yeah it's if if anyone thinks the off season is like even close to done now that like some alabama pieces fell like you haven't seen anything until jim harbaugh retires i'm not retired jeez i'm losing my mind no no it's no hey listen if he leaves for the end we don't cover the nfl so yeah to us he's gone but yeah no i and we don't know what's going to happen. I'm going to put the disclaimer out there for the Michigan fans. We do not know if he's leaving for the like you have to know and i i do wonder pete if if they were even considering going outside which i don't know if they were or not

but does the last week and a half just tell you don't do that right right i would think it has to right like even if you thought it wasn't going to be bad and then right thursday friday wednesday thursday friday happened you have caleb downs and king proctor and then julian sane i'll go in like if i'm sitting at michigan right now i'm like okay like i know donovan edwards is coming back like that is someone that we definitely cannot lose in 2024. and i'm not suggesting he would go into the portal but if i'm a team that wants to tamper, that's who I'm tampering with. More than anyone. But also, Will Johnson, I would tamper with him.

With both Moors on their starting defense, I would tamper with both of them. And that's the thing. They've got to play some serious defense if Harbaugh leaves, regardless of whether they promote Sharonaron moore or hire somebody else i would say ward manuals two biggest things right now are one retain sharon moore's head coach and then two put together the most uh appealing deal for jesse mentor to stay put for another year yeah and and that's the one i'd worried about because if harbaugh goes to the nfl jesse mentor's probably his yeah and and that's the one i'd worried about because if harbaugh goes to the nfl jesse mentor is probably his dc and that's but again i keep saying this and i don't know if

this is if this is true or not but i feel like if harbaugh is the nfl on great terms with michigan that not only does the john harbaugh defensive coordinator internships program stay open a jim harbaugh defensive coordinator internship program opens as a Jim Harbaugh defensive coordinator internship program opens as well so they would just be funneling their hottest young prospects into the Michigan defensive coaching staff yeah yeah maybe you could even get an offensive pipeline going too yeah exactly exactly yeah you know you you can turn this into something that can help you for years and years, or you can say, we're going to hire outside and just blow it all up. It's, it's crazy, but I will like going back to Alabama. I keep thinking about this, Pete, and I'm curious to get your

thoughts on it. This is, this looks terrible right now. I feel like in a year when Kalen DeBoer and his staff have been there, have had a full cycle to recruit, that we're going to look back on this and be like, ah, maybe it wasn't that. Because it's not all of Alabama's players. A lot of Alabama's returning starters are still there. They still have more four- and five-star talent on their roster

than almost anybody else. It's not the disaster we're painting it as because we're prisoners of the moment you know i'm not gonna disagree with you i think that's a great point i think though next december and january is gonna be very telling of how people are killing the board you're gonna have he's gonna have time to go in the portal and rebuild you're right that not everyone has left. He'll also have a full recruiting cycle. I mean, I just think next, like, early offseason, like December, January, I think we'll either be praising Kalen DeBoer because Alabama will be

in the 12-team playoff or very close to it, or there's going to be a lot of naysayers out there who are questioning National Signing Day, losing a lot of talent. I mean, the next eight months or so are going to be very telling of how this is all going to go, in my opinion. Yeah, and how they play is going to determine a lot of it, too. If they're kicking everybody's butt, then I think everybody just gets on the train. It's good.

But, yeah, it is going to be a fascinating next few months and uh as you pointed out this off season ain't over yet like the there may be a brief lull like if hardball comes back there's probably a lull probably through spring practice but then once that spring window opens it's katie bar the door again yeah i mean those two weeks in april i've talked about on twitter you and i maybe even talked about it but like i i am expecting full-blown chaos in april you have time for your boosters and donors to funnel some more money to the collectives you have time for scouting departments to evaluate tape and try to figure out who might go in and maybe who's even worth

tampering with and you have time to figure out what the positional needs are do we need a quarterback do we need alignment i mean april is the time to really nitpick and take your roster from good to we're going to compete for a big 10 title or an nct title well and michigan's a prime example of that is it uh ladarius henderson was a post-spring pickup last year that was another that was a very key pickup they're starting left tackle so yeah this is this is not slowing down anytime soon who you got your eye on in the portal right now who there's some guys that it seems like have popped up the last few days that that a lot of people are interested in.

There's a lot of old linemen from Washington still kind of on the board. And it does Alabama line them. I'm not so sure that'll be interesting to watch. Obviously know if a feed on LCS staying in Arizona, that that's a really big one. And then Jonah Coleman, the Arizona running back running back i mean some people pegs him immediately going to washington um he's in the portal right now but he he strikes me as someone who might have second thoughts about leaving tucson yeah nate coleppo starting

left guard from washington visited miami last week uh rzack barry at om spirit reporting that he's looking at old miss now uh that's gonna be because those guys don't don't grow on trees and yeah you know it's not always a caden proctor story where it's just going home so yeah uh this one will be interesting because that's that's a major value that can be picked up in the portal yeah that you normally can't so the one other thing i'll mention, is like this weekend was eerily quiet, like not a lot. Like, so I'm like waiting one of these schools to just like unload like five

people going in the portal. Never stops. Never stops. Pete Nacos. Thank you so much. You bet. Thanks so much, Andy.

That is Pete Nacos. And he is going to, he's going to be business this week kyle in the chat asks is there a weird chance that that jesse mentor is named the head coach over sharon more if jim harbaugh leaves i don't think so i i think mentor more likely defensive coordinator with harbaugh wherever he goes or you know maybe he stays stays at Michigan with a really nice deal, but Moore would be the guy to come up. Kyle's been saying Michigan's not doing anything in the portal.

No, Michigan hasn't got anybody in the portal this cycle yet, but as we've seen over the past two years, Michigan's been better than almost anyone at spot recruiting out of the portal to fill little gaps. Olu Olu timmy on the 2022 team well darius henderson as i mentioned drake nugent as the center josiah stewart the edge rusher from coastal carolina very good portal recruiting in fact i would argue that so far michigan has been as good as anybody

except maybe Florida State and Ole Miss in the portal. Michigan just hasn't had to transform anything. They've needed to plug a few holes, and they've been really good at that. So I'm not worried about Michigan in the transfer portal unless they decide to blow it up if Jim Harbaugh leaves. Then whatever happens, happens. But if it is Harbaugh staying or if it's more getting promoted, that would be my guess.

Speaking of Michigan and everybody else in Alabama, put up a little poll on Sunday, and I'm curious to see how you guys feel about this. So I was going through game time just to see what some of the hotter tickets for early next season are. And so I put up a poll and said, what, which of these games,

which game time has tickets for all of them. Use code staples for $20 off your first purchase. Which of these games LSU USC in Vegas week one, Notre Dame at Texas A&M, Texas at Michigan, Georgia at Alabama. Which of those would you most want tickets to? And so that is a hell of a foursome. Michigan, Texas is winning the Twitter poll right now.

But some games that people sent me that said, none of these. You left off the one I want to go to. Ohio State at Oregon is another great one. Michigan-Washington, the rematch from the national title game in Seattle is a good one. And another Alabama one, Alabama at Wisconsin. Those are going to be amazing. I cannot wait.

It's January. We have a long time, but it is going to be an epic, epic college football season in 2024. And again, we're going to be talking about how these rosters get constructed for quite some time. So we shall see. But look at these games.

Just look at them. This is going to be incredible. LSU, USC, and Vegas could be fun. I don't know how good USC is going to be, though. That's one of the big questions of the offseason. As DeAntolin gets hired as the defensive coordinator, will USC finally be serious about defense? I don't know.

Notice I did not put any Florida games on there, though the last half of Florida's schedule, if you showed it to someone in the 90s, they would have gone, oh my God, this is the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. Florida's going to play all these teams? They're not thinking that way right now because Florida coming off 5-7,

not in a great place, and now also getting investigated by the NCAA. Now, have been for a while, and I've seen some comments. Oh, it's just the Jaden Rashada stuff. It's no big deal. It's old news. It's not because the NCAA is slow. The Jaden Rashada situation is one of the dumbest things that I have ever covered. So there's no telling what

sort of loose ends there are to be grabbed onto. But Nick Del Toro from Gators Online joined to help sort out what all of it means, the NCAA investigating Florida, what it means for Billy Napier, and also what might come next with Billy Napier and his coaching staff, because the AD kind of hinted that there might be some more stuff going on. Here's Nick. We are joined now by Nick Delatore of Gators Online, part of the On3 Network. Never a dull moment on the Gators beat, even when they're 5-7,

even when they haven't changed coaches, and none of the major, major changes have happened, but we do find out this past week and Nick, you and I knew a little bit about this before, but the, that they are under NCAA investigation. You got a copy of the letter of inquiry that came last June. What does this mean?

Where are they at in terms of that, that investigation? Yeah, this all stems back to the Jaden Rashada $13.85 million offer that was real then not real and caused headlines a year ago this month. So I think the NCAA was going to always look into this as well as some other high profile NIL deals, reported dealings. And they were poking around in the summer. And we had talked to people at Florida about what they were doing. And we're told, hey, this is all the NCAA is just looking into any big reported deal, nothing to see from this. And I think what we're finding out now is that maybe there is something more to this. And that's what the NCAA told Ben Sass back in June.

Well, and you look at what happened with Florida State, where Alex Atkins, their offensive coordinator, gets suspended three games for driving a player to meet with a collective like that's a pretty serious punishment for something that's kind of whatever and actually something ncw president currently wants to make legal so yeah this which i don't think they would like this is not something that they they want to legalize basically what happened with the rashada contract like i the the one thing in the rashada contract that that stuck out to me when i got a copy of it last year was there was a five hundred thousand dollar payment

due on december 5th which was before national signing day and and before jayden rashada would show up on campus so the rules state pretty clearly, like you can't use NIL as an inducement. Obviously everybody does, but you can't be that dumb about it that you put it in writing. And that is seemingly what happened there, even though the money was never paid. That reminds me of, you know, LifeWallet being tagged in a basketball player's commitment tweet. Yes, exactly. At Miami.

Yeah. It is for X amount of dollars and a car just blatantly, you know, screaming inducement and begging the NCAA to do something about it. I think obviously the, the number, which, you know, it is funny because you and I, after seeing the number and knowing what it was, we're finally able to tell people like, hey, no, it actually is $13 million because people were saying, there's no way you can't do this. I didn't believe it at first.

Like, I was like, that's not possible. And then I saw the contract. Oh, my God. Somebody actually put that in writing. Yeah. So I think what the NCAA will be looking for in this case is, obviously, the Gator Collective is now defunct with the Jane Rashada stuff, but this would be a situation where, okay, well, the Gator Collective can offer these kind of things, but nobody at the university level can. Billy Napier can't know, endorse, promise these numbers. Nobody that works for the University Athletic Association can know, promise, or endorse these numbers. That's what the NCAA is looking for, and that's what could get Florida in trouble. Not just Billy Napier,

but anybody that's getting paid or having a job with the University Athletic Association. Were they part of the negotiations were they part of offering money to jayden rashada that's what the ncaa is looking for and you and i did lots of stories on this situation uh you you in this job me and my old job and the one thing i i couldn't get any definitive proof on was who at Florida knew when they knew what they knew. That I imagine is what the NCAA people are trying to figure out right now, because, you know, I don't think Jaden Rashad is going to have any problem telling them what happened from his side of things. Because he's out of this. He got spurned. He didn't get

the money he was promised. But it would just be a matter of is there a paper trail or some sort of proof of anybody at Florida knowing? Because I think that would probably be where the NCAA could could do something. Yeah, that's that's certainly what they'll be looking for. And I was told by a good source that the NCAA is offering immunity. And I think you can look at the Ameris mims case um which which you kind of say one which you kind of spoke on just earlier um how else would the ncaa know what he was offered by fsu or who drove him to the meeting to find out what he was going to be offered by fsu if not for the ncaa granting immunity and the players speaking to those numbers. So that would be a situation where,

hey, are the Rashad is still angry about what happened and do they have proof that would tie Billy Napier or somebody from the University of Florida Athletic Association to that contract negotiation and dealings. That's where Florida, I think, is worried. Speaking to some people, some people have seemed very worried some people have said no this is not an issue it won't be a problem um we're cooperating and and it'll be fine so uh the other thing too is that like in our in our day and age andy everyone wants something right now this is the ncaa a organization that might move fat uh might move slower than the united states government so who knows right when the end date is.

And like the Florida State one with Amarius Mims, like Amarius Mims, for those who are confused, you're like, that's a Georgia player. Well, he went in the portal, considered going to Florida State, and then he decided to stay at Georgia. And that's where all this stems from is that period he was in the portal.

The Florida stuff, like I remember when we were getting all the details of this stuff it was basically a year ago this week and nobody at florida seemed particularly concerned at least nobody in the administration didn't seem like billion apia was that concerned about their role in the rashada piece of it so i i'll be curious i i am i do wonder though because the the florida state one was buttoned up quickly and they negotiated a basically a settlement that said alex atkins will be suspended here right as mike norvell was saying no i'm not going to alabama i'm staying here it felt like that all happened at once. Like, and also conveniently kept them from losing Alex Atkins as a head coach.

Yeah. Yeah. That's a certain set of circumstances, whether manufactured or, or natural certainly played out for Florida. I think when you look at it, I mean, I go back to that signing day and there's a two and a half, three hour waiting period where we're waiting for Jane Rashada's NLI to come in while the NIL was a mess behind the scenes.

Is there a paper trail from that day? Does Billy Napier become aware of a situation, even if he had been dotting his I's and crossing his T's and staying out of it, if you can prove that Billy Napier knew during that time period, then that would be an NCAA violation. That would be a problem for Florida. Now, I don't think Billy Napier wants to hear this, but we've seen this fairly recently in the SEC. Is there a chance Florida uses this to Jeremy Pruitt, Billy Napier? It certainly smells like it could be a for-cause situation if your actions cause the program to

go on probation. And I'd seen some fans, because I added it to my story, that Florida had run into some NCAA recruiting issues with Dan Mullen, but Florida was not placed on probation. Dan Mullen was placed on probation and had a show cause. So I could be wrong, Andy, but I don't think Florida has been on probation since the 80s. Yeah, and I don't know if this puts them in repeat violence. Honestly, everything with the NCAA and its penalty structure has changed so much, and they're so sort of catch-as-catch can about what they do

i don't know that any precedent even matters like yeah and and that's the thing like with tennessee it and it's so strange because this is i realize we're jumping to different schools but everything kind of matters in this case tennessee had a coach who was not winning enough in Jeremy Pruitt. They caught him with a bunch of NCAA violations, and they fired him for free. And they used it to fire him for free, and it helped them kind of springboard, gave them more money to use when they hired Josh Heupel and his staff. Meanwhile, you have Michigan, where the NCAA thinks they've caught Jim Harbaugh red-handed on the cheeseburger gate thing. We're not even getting into the sign-stealing stuff.

And Michigan defends him. Michigan, you know, they self-impose the suspension, trying to keep it as minimal as possible. But, like, Michigan has said, we've got your back. And if he comes back and he doesn't go to the NFL, they've got his back. And it's just crazy how nakedly obvious it is like when the school is happy with how you're winning they're all they got you but when you're losing you better watch your back like if I'm Billy Napier I'm watching my back right now yeah if Billy Napier were to be fired after or during the 2024 season Florida would owe him $25.67 million if firing him without cause. So that's

a pretty big number, especially if you're looking at firing a coach, then paying somebody else's buyout. Dan Lanning just reportedly told Alabama no thank you and has a $20 million buyout. So these are all money things that you would end up looking into um if you're going to be going down the line of another coaching change all right that's all hypothetical we don't know what's going to happen with the ncaa stuff we don't know how long it's going to take we'll we will keep you updated as that situation develops but nick you talked to scott strickland the florida athletic director last week before all all the notice of inquiry stuff came out and we're talking about

24 hours later andy i think we know what he would have said though he the statement you got from uh from company his associate athletic director probably would have been about the same thing so the the question that that i had and and had all off season okay what is billy naper going to do staff wise and and we've seen a change in db's coach d-line coach strength coach strength coach probably being the biggest one but not as big of an overhaul as maybe kind of thought was going to happen but i i gathered reading your story with Scott Strickland that maybe he was hinting at more. Yeah, he certainly said, you know, we Billy's made some staff changes and maybe there's some that aren't public yet. And I have FOIA Freedom of Information Act for someone who doesn't know the acronym, contracts because Rob Sale, Darnold Stapleton, the co-offensive coordinator who doesn't call plays and co-offensive line coach.

Both offensive line coaches. Who both coach offensive line. Yeah. Yeah. Jabar Jalouk. All three of those offensive coaches are up. Their initial contracts, they are up at the end of this month in 10 days, January 31st. And then you also had Mike Peterson on defense who was on an expiring contract.

The other two coaches who were on expiring contracts. So these are all guys that came in with Billy Napier. Yes, correct. And Mark Hockey was extended previously. The strength coach, his contract would have been expired, but they extended him last year. So he's under contract for another two years. So right now I get asked the question daily, who are they going to hire for offensive coordinator? And I give my own, you know, associate athletic director company line that there is no current open position on the coaching staff.

You would have to make some sort of adjustment to the roles. Is that taking one of the two offensive line coaches into an off the field role? Do either one of them want to leave the field and be in an off the field role? But you would have to create a space on your assistant coaching pool. You can only have 10 assistant coaches that are on the field. You would have to make a space. Would that be, and I don't know how you make it without only having one offensive line coach, which is something Billy Napier thinks is very important. Recruits say that it's important. The players say they love having two offensive line coaches. Personally, my opinion, we're not seeing results recruiting wise that say, yes, this is good enough.

And Florida's offensive line did not play well last year with two coaches. So would it be, is Scott Strickland speaking about, hey, he's going to hire an offensive coordinator, someone to call plays. But then you get into also Andy is like, okay, well are you just promoting Russ Calloway? And is it like an appeasement kind of thing? Or are you going outside of your building to bring somebody in? Well, I try to look at the rebellion apiarist's eyes.

And if everybody's on my back and they're going to try to fire me anyway, I feel like I'm going to go out my own way, which is I'm going to call the plays. I'm not hiring somebody. I'm not going to do something that's totally different than what I've ever done in this season where my job is on the line. That's the way I've thought about it. But you did hear some rumblings that he talked some people

kind of in season, and then that just dried up. So I have no idea what's going to happen, but I find it really interesting, this situation, because he does have them financially strapped over a barrel where they would owe him $25 million if they wanted to fire him. But if you're him, you say, look, if I have a bad year this year, they're probably going to fire me anyway, so I may as well do it the way I do it. So the question for me is, does Billy Napier think his job is on the line? If he looks at the offense last year and the reason why Florida lost games,

he could realistically look at himself in the mirror and say the offense wasn't the issue. The play calling is not the issue. We have a quarterback in our second year, in his second year. I'm going to keep calling plays. We're going to fix the defense. And you've seen the moves that were made were defense, defense, strength coach, not anything on the offense. So if Billy Napier doesn't think his job is on the line, then why change? If Billy Napier does think his job is on the line, are you going to put that fate into somebody else's hands, a different play

caller? So to me, that's where i can look at the situation uh maybe you know like from a 30 000 foot viewpoint and think no they're not going to hire an offensive play caller because one billy napier probably doesn't think the offense was the issue and in most games it wasn't and two if he does think he's going to get fired like you said go out on my own terms not going to put my fate and my job status in somebody else's hands. Well, and the other piece of it in this situation is if you, if you want to hire a, an accomplished play caller, somebody who's got a name already, or is a kind of a rising star, that's expensive because they would be coming in in a hot seat situation. You have to overpay. You also have to guarantee them a certain number of years, which you're going to have to pay as

the university if you fire everybody. So the administration may say um i don't know if we're willing to do that like there's so many different layers to this and none of them seem to point logically toward another person calling plays yeah yeah well you know what you've made gator nation very happy uh today andy as they have seen and listened to that. No, I didn't. I know I didn't, but I get the same questions you do every day. And you and I have both been getting these questions really since September, October. And it's very interesting how this has all unfolded, but it kind of goes back. I really think it goes back to

Billy Napier's contract like they gave this guy pretty much total control uh without any sort of leverage on Florida's end which made no sense because he didn't actually have any leverage when he got the job like he was at Louisiana he turned out Auburn and South Carolina the year before but those weren't on the table then right so who are you bidding against where you gave him essentially gave him the keys you were bidding against the chance that LSU was going to come calling I think that's what you're bidding against right also this there was no search firm. And also, I don't know why schools pay search firms tons of money.

But there was no search firm. Plausible deniability because they can talk to everybody and you can say you haven't talked to them. That's really it in football. It's not like they ever give you a list. That's a big price tag. That's a big price tag for plausible deniability. But Scott Strickland made this with, you know, the Linda Teelers and Steve McClain's and the people who have been around Florida that have helped coaching searches before. But I honestly don't believe that Scott Strickland will hire another football coach. I don't know that you get the chance to hire three.

So I think he'll tell you that. So that was Billy Napier's leverage was, yeah, you're you're hiring me. And if you really want me, here's my list of demands this is what I need in Florida we wrote about it and we talked about it Florida had never given this much money to recruiting to staff to the infrastructure of football I think Dan Mullen was you know uh probably a little sore a little sour when he when you looked at what billy napier was getting and probably we've seen the comments and we'd love to have that yeah yeah and and look dan mullen's justified in saying that will muschamp's justified in saying that jim mcquain's justified in saying

that because they all got told no about the same stuff so so it to me it showed an investment it also you know knowing that or believing that this would would be Scott's last football hire for better or for worse, it made sense. Hey, we're going to give you everything that you're saying you need to be successful because I need you to be successful. And there will be no excuses from a buy in level for me for Billy napier if it doesn't work out florida football gave him every one of his demands uh we wrote 800 stories about every new addition to the army uh and and about how beneficial we were being told that it was going to be well they're under an ncaa investigation for a quarterback who never set foot on campus. One of the dumbest contracts ever committed to paper. Nobody did pay.

So they got that going for them. And they're coming off five and seven with maybe the hardest schedule in the history of the world. That about sum it up? Yeah. Yeah. I think I got another gray hair in my mustache or beard as you were listing that. You really think this team has turned your hair gray? I find that hard to believe. I think it's genetics. You know when you see, if you go to Barack Obama when he was first elected president and then you see in the picture. Every president ages in dog years.

Yes, yes. Covering Florida is similar to being the president in terms of aging like dog years. I see. I was a Florida beat writer for five years. And I feel like, yeah, I probably got younger after I got a different job. So I think you're right. Just one more day to turn brown again. It reverted. Exactly. Nick Del Toratorre he's the president of gator nation

we'll talk to you later one transfer i i meant to mention with pete nakos that that i feel like we need to mention here because we always talk about how offensive linemen are not easy to find in the transfer portal. Lance Hurd transferred from LSU to Tennessee offensive tackle. Hurd's one of those situations where he probably stays at LSU if he's not stuck behind two really good tackles. And Will Campbell and Emory Jones were going to be NFL guys, but they got to spend one more year in college. So Lance Hurd would like to play. And so he's going to see the Vols

and hoping he can play in Knoxville. So that's one more that I wanted to throw there. I am truly enjoying the chat with all the folks just arguing about Michigan and Ohio State, and especially Ohio State with all this new investment into NIL and the transfer. I don't know if it's new investment. are clearly doing some stuff nil wise and i do enjoy the amateur ncaa investigators who somehow think it's like 1997 and oh i'm gonna tell the principal you're paying for players yeah everybody is stuck it up they just finally figured out they're rich so they're buying some players

maybe it'll work out maybe it won't but we're sure as hell gonna talk about it i think we'll talk about it some more tomorrow night talk to you tomorrow