Andy & Ari On3 - Penn State's Julian Fleming stars in the BEST NIL ad of the year | Can Dabo bring Clemson back?

Episode Date: January 24, 2024

Today's show is brought to you by PrizePicks, the easiest way to play daily fantasy. All first time users that deposit and use the promo code ANDY will receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100.... If you deposit $100, PrizePicks will give you $100. If you deposit $50, PrizePicks will give you $50.Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/ANDY(0:00-2:04) Intro - Harbaugh Watch Update(2:05-15:45) Julian Fleming's New NIL Deal(15:46-37:01) Grace Raynor Joins to Discuss Clemson, Dabo(37:02-1:02:19) BamaOnline's Tim Watts Joins(1:02:20-1:04:53) Conclusion - Dear Andy tomorrow! Email Questions to andystapleson3@gmail.comHarbaugh Watch continues. Will it turn into HARBAUGHGEDDON? While Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers (reportedly) discuss a job offer, we wait. Until we get clarity about whether Harbaugh will leave for the NFL, let’s talk college football and car commercials.Julian Fleming, the receiver who just transferred to Penn State from Ohio State, stars in a classic car dealer commercial that is the best NIL deal ad of the year (so far). Next, Grace Raynor of The Athletic to discuss her story examining the current state of Clemson under Dabo Swinney. The Tigers went 9-4 last season and continue to avoid using the transfer portal in the manner their opponents do. Can Clemson rebound and turn into a national title contender again? Or is this a slide that will continue as long as Swinney remains stubborn?Tim Watts of On3’s Bama Online joins later to provide a more clear-eyed view of where Alabama stands 13 days after Nick Saban retired. The shock has worn off, and it’s time for a more sober accounting. Were some of the transfer portal losses bad? Yes? Is Alabama falling off a cliff? Absolutely not. Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/ULij_CKuu4U

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to Andy Staples on three. Harbaugh watch continues. Potential Harbaugh getting maybe. Reportedly, he's talking to the Chargers again. Reportedly, they might be trying to make a deal. Reportedly, reportedly, we'll see when it happens. Again, that's how it works with Jim Harbaugh he is forever the wild card texted with our guy Chris Ballas from the Wolverine earlier today he's like listen he'll
Starting point is 00:00:35 agree or he won't who knows it's Jim Harbaugh and I think that's probably exactly right and I've been been cruising the Wolverines message boards, and it's been fun. Because there is a gamut of emotions going on with these folks. And I don't blame them because it's a strange situation. They're so happy because they just won the national title. But then some of them are like, hey, wait a second. Okay, he's not on the road recruiting right now. Not really capitalizing on the national title if he does come back.
Starting point is 00:01:07 This is a thing. This is a potential issue. Now, I still think he's going to be Sharon Moore if he leaves. So if that happens, boom, the machinery starts to turn again. The recruiting changes. But I'm not sure what you can do from a recruiting standpoint right now if you're Jim Harbaugh or if you're Michigan because you have to be pretty transparent
Starting point is 00:01:30 and the players know what's going on. They know you're looking at the NFL. So I'm not sure him being on the road would be very helpful right now. So we will just have to wait and see what happens. Obviously, if it happens tonight, if it happens tomorrow, we're going to pop right on. Emergency podcast, emergency show. You know how it works.
Starting point is 00:01:55 But while we wait, we can talk about college football. There's all kinds of stuff going on, including elsewhere in the Big Ten, the best NIL deal of the year so far. So Julian Fleming, you know him, you love him. He's been playing at Ohio State. He's just transferred back to his home state of Pennsylvania. He's going to be a Penn State Nittany Lion this year. And potentially, at least Penn State folks hope, the dynamic receiver that they've been missing.
Starting point is 00:02:27 Now, Julian Fleming at Ohio State kind of covered up by some freakishly talented people. And with Jeremiah Smith and company coming in, it looked like if he wanted to be wide receiver one, he might have to do that somewhere else. So he's at Penn State now. And, oh, man, do I want to buy a jeep from Julian Fleming so Julian Fleming has debuted a car commercial and this is what I believe everybody thought NIL was going to be when it came into existence now I told you it wasn't because anybody with a functioning brain knew that they were going to start paying players for their abilities, football players. But the benefit of this is we do get commercials with players in them.
Starting point is 00:03:14 So you get like the coldest Crawford HVAC ad when he was playing at Nebraska. But there need to be more of these. Like the fact that we don't have as many like we had the the cat hands one out at kansas state with our friend cooper bb where they they had the the the it was basically a porta potties but i i don't think you say porta potties that's a brand so this is a brand of portable toilets that you would use at a construction site or whatever. And they had some incredible commercials. They had one with Deuce Vaughn in 2022.
Starting point is 00:03:53 They had one with Cooper Beebe this year. So far, oh, yeah, we can't forget the Iowa pork producers. So with Iowa State, when they had eat more ham and bacon with players whose last names, if you should lined up the players spelled out, eat more ham and bacon. That was tremendous. But the best one so far in 2024, and it sets a very high bar, is Julian Fleming. Hawk and Jeeps. Everybody watch this.
Starting point is 00:04:44 Tired of being hammered on the lowest prices. Guaranteed. Come to Blaze Alexander Chrysler Dodge Jeep and Ram a $25 gift card. If you come in and test drive a plug-in hybrid 4xe, we have the largest selection at the lowest prices, guaranteed. Come to Blaze Alexander Chrysler Dodge Jeep and Ram, and we're crushing the competition. Where we're taking the deals, the other guys won't. Now, I want to believe, I don't know if this is true, we have put in a request with Penn State to get Julian on the show to talk about this, but I want to believe that Julian was the creative force behind this. I want to believe that when the Blaze Alexander Chrysler Jeep Dodge folks came to him, that he said, absolutely, I will do your ad,
Starting point is 00:05:19 but on several conditions. One, we are going to have to find a gently used Toyota Camry and destroy it. And here is how I want to destroy it. I want to hit it with a sledgehammer. I want to pretend I'm flipping it. Or maybe he actually flipped it. I do like the sound effect.
Starting point is 00:05:37 The as the car is being flipped over. And then the coup d'etat. I need to drive over this Toyota Camry in a Jeep that I will then try to sell people. That is how you make an NIL ad. That is how you get everybody in the country retweeting your NIL ad. That is how, I don't know if I'm in the market for a Wrangler. Maybe I'm calling those guys because that is a memorable commercial. And honestly, every car commercial should be like that. Like we've entered this age of just awful car commercials.
Starting point is 00:06:23 Like you had John Hamm waxing eloquent about Mercedes, but he wasn't soothing enough. So they had to hire the guy who played Tom Wamsgans on Succession, who actually is from England. And when Matthew McFadden talks in his real accent, it's very elegant. We don't need that in our car commercials.
Starting point is 00:06:44 We need more sledgehammers. We need more people driving over used Camrys. That's what we need. Those are the ones you remember. Or, you know, young relatives of the people who work at the car lot, guest starring. Where I live in North Central Florida, there's a small town called Chiefland. There is a dealership in Chiefland. I cannot remember what brand of car it is for, but I do remember the commercials because the daughter of someone, I'm assuming the owner, but possibly one of the employees, years ago was filmed in a commercial this woman is probably 27 years old now and probably this has followed her entire life she might have had to move
Starting point is 00:07:32 but all i know is that if you want to buy a car it's chaper and chaflin and i will remember that for the rest of my life. Just like if I want tires and I'm in Orlando, I know tires ain't pretty, and I go to Allied Discount Tire. Now, the folks who are from Orlando know exactly what I'm talking about. Anybody who spent any time in Orlando in the 90s knows exactly what I'm talking about. Anybody who spent any time in Orlando in the 90s knows exactly what I'm talking about with that commercial, which was the guy, his name was Sam.
Starting point is 00:08:10 He was just a character who, he had a shoe store. Like he was the guy you went to if you had a size 16 foot before there was an internet. And I don't know how they figured out that this guy was just great at commercials but he wound up doing tire commercials so this is how you do it like first of all julian fleming is a natural for this like he looks so comfortable in this commercial the car salesmen are trying to keep up with julian fleming in terms of acting like he's he's baker Mayfield levels of acting in this commercial. And I'm telling you,
Starting point is 00:08:51 like if this dude helps revolutionize Penn State's offense, and I realize Andy Kotelnicki, the new offensive coordinator they got from Kansas, he's drawn up some big plays for him. Drew Allard waiting to get unlocked. Like if this guy, if Julian Fleming's the one
Starting point is 00:09:08 who teaches them how to stretch the field, and suddenly they're a scary offense, I can't wait for the sequel. Because imagine the budget for the next one if he's one of the best receivers in the country. Like, you can move from that 2004 Camry that you're destroying probably up to a 2013 Camry, or maybe even a Accord. I can't wait for the sequel.
Starting point is 00:09:38 Do they rent Bigfoot and let him drive over something? Because the Jeep, if you watch the commercial, first of all, it looks somewhat unsafe driving that Jeep up that Toyota Camry. I don't know if that Jeep is really designed to crush a Camry. So, again, this is why I think Julian Fleming probably was part of the creative process here, because he's like, you know what would be cool, guys?
Starting point is 00:10:04 I could drive this Jeep on this Camry. And I'm, I'm betting during the filming process, there was some doubt about whether he'd get up there or about whether he destroyed the Jeep in the process. So I just thank you, Julian Fleming. Thank you to the blaze Alexander family of dealerships.
Starting point is 00:10:23 I am all in. I am all in. I am all in. Whatever you have coming your way next, whatever your next commercial is, do you have a Drew Aller commercial? Do you have an Abdul Carter commercial? Because I'm in. I want to see these.
Starting point is 00:10:42 So again, if you're going to sign these guys up for NIL deals, you're paying them to be good football players. We understand that. But put them to work, too. Like, let's get some entertaining commercials out of this deal. I am very happy with this. I hope this inspires some players at some other locations like maybe julian calls some of his ohio state teammates from back in the day and he's like hey guys so you're not gonna believe
Starting point is 00:11:12 what they let me do uh i know some dealerships in columbus we could we give you a call give give you a hookup and uh you could be driving your trucks over gently used sedans. Because that's, honestly, it's what I want to see. So very happy that this is happening. Very happy that the players are in the commercials. Let's have some more of this. Keep it up, keep it up. And also I'm happy about
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Starting point is 00:13:31 No PrizePix squares for the college football season in 2024 yet, but we are definitely talking about what happens next. And one program that we have not discussed much this offseason, because not much has changed in the way of the roster, in the way that the other programs have changed their rosters. Yeah, I'm talking about Clemson. Clemson has avoided using the transfer portal in the ways that most of its opponents have used the transfer portal. And we've talked about it quite a bit on the show, where Dabo Sweeney fits into this thing. We talked about it when the Alabama job opened up
Starting point is 00:14:13 and people said, okay, what about Dabo? And you say, he's not using the portal. I don't even think Alabama would consider him because you have to do that to be competitive in this day and age, don't you? Well, Grace Rayner from The Athletic, who covered Clemson for a long, long time, now she's in a little more national role, but she went back to her old stomping grounds
Starting point is 00:14:37 and did a really great deep dive on where Clemson is right now and what happens as Dabo either adjusts or doesn't to the changes in college football. You saw it last year. They started four and four. They won their last five games. They finished very strong. Dabo says, buy stock in Clemson. The question is, should you? Are they going to come back? Is it possible to come back and be national title contenders again without doing any of the same things that everybody else is doing, without building your roster the same way that 99% of the other teams are building their roster? It's a fascinating question. And you got a guy who's won two national titles since 2016. He made some staff changes this offseason that I do think could be helpful. But is it enough?
Starting point is 00:15:34 Does he have to stop being so stubborn to get back to where they were? We talked about it with Grace. We are joined by the great Grace Rainer of The Athletic, who wrote a story that could not have been better timed because of the question I got yesterday that blew my mind. So Grace had a story in The Athletic on Tuesday about Dabo Sweeney and is he going to change with the times? Is it ever going to happen?
Starting point is 00:16:07 And Grace, I will pose the question to you that someone posed to me on social media earlier this week. If I had told you five years ago that Alabama would open in 2024 and Dabo Sweeney wouldn't even be considered for it, what would you say? There is no way I would have believed it.
Starting point is 00:16:30 He would have had to have been out of college football for me to even fathom him not being a candidate five years ago. Right. If he had just said, I'm, I'm leaving, I'm, I'm going to become a minister or I've,
Starting point is 00:16:43 I've decided I'm done with this. I'm going on vacation forever. That's the only thing that would have made sense because five years ago, they were coming off crushing Alabama in the national title game. That was January 2019. It's amazing because you covered Clemson as a beat writer for a while, and now you have a broader role at the athletics. You deal with a lot of other programs.
Starting point is 00:17:06 I'm curious, from your standpoint, what's it been like to watch Clemson kind of be kind of the same as everything else is evolving around it? It's been a little bit surreal, honestly, to see them go from the very top of the top of the sport to where they are now. And look, I think a lot of teams would feel really lucky if they had the past couple of seasons that Clemson has had. I don't want to diminish that, but it's just kind of crazy to see it switch so fast. And so I do think that Dabo is going to start evolving. But obviously we've, we've seen that it's just been slower. And now we're kind of seeing he has to if he's going to be able to keep up. Yeah, it's
Starting point is 00:17:50 crazy. Because we you know, kind of blanket statement Dabo doesn't use the transfer portal when we talk about it on the show. That's not entirely true. Like they had transfers on their roster last year, I think that four and he has gone after people in the portal this year. But like, when when somebody from shorter college, which produced current Florida State tight end last year i think that four and he has gone after people in the portal this year but like when when somebody from shorter college which produced current florida state's high-end column warlock by the way but when when somebody from shorter college in d2 says no thanks to your offer i'm gonna go i think he went to he was gonna go to penn state and then wound up in maryland but is going to maryland instead of going to Clemson, like it feels like it's something's off.
Starting point is 00:18:27 Yeah, that was, I think that's what's stunning is when you look at sort of who they've lost to in the portal lately, Maryland being one of them, I guess Penn State had him first, but then he flipped to Maryland, Georgia Tech, Arkansas. Like these are programs that Clemson has had no problem crushing in the high school ranks and the high school recruiting. And so you look at the disconnect about, okay, well,
Starting point is 00:18:48 why can't they seem to land these guys in a portal that they are landing out of the high school ranks? And yeah, it's, it's surreal for sure. Well, so you go back to last season, they started out four and four and then really great run at the end of the year, like not to take away anything from how they finished last season, because it was outstanding. They beat Notre Dame. You know, they beat South Carolina. Beat your rival.
Starting point is 00:19:12 Win your bowl game. And Davo's talking about, okay, buy stock in Clemson now. But I keep wondering, like, should we be buying stock in Clemson, or should we be buying stock in, like, more Florida State stock or some Miami stock right now? Yeah, it's so hard because you look at Clemson and there are definitely reasons to believe they're going to be better. Right. Like Klubnick is going to be more experienced in year two. I think that receivers, the way they recruited that position was much needed this offseason. They've got a couple of stud freshmen coming in.
Starting point is 00:19:46 They're not losing many pieces on offense outside of Will Shipley. So there's a lot of reasons for optimism. But then you do look at how other programs have sort of plugged in their holes with these portal guys. And you look at how Florida State completely transformed their whole team with the portal just getting a couple of key pieces. And that's where I think Clemson's really fascinating is that yes their players are going to be better but are they going to be able to compete with the 22 23 24 year olds who are ready to come in and be studs immediately on teams that
Starting point is 00:20:15 they're playing against that's what i thought was really interesting i think it was eric mclean that said that the former clemson offensive lineman who works for the acc network where it was a great point where so clemson is still trying to develop all these guys out of high school. In a lot of cases, the younger guys are having to play pretty key roles. And so the schools that they're playing against who are using the portal more are sometimes throwing a 22-year-old at those people.
Starting point is 00:20:38 And it's a different type of human being at that point. Yeah, it is. I thought Eric made a really good analogy when he was like, you know, not using the portal would be like an NBA team, not relying on free agency and just building solely through the draft. And I thought it was really fascinating that, you know, obviously he played for Dabo. He's very familiar with this program. And he said, you know, Dabo is such a competitive person, which I think some people don't realize
Starting point is 00:21:03 how truly competitive Dabo is. But you would think that as competitive as he is this is what eric was saying like you would think he'd want to go dominate the portal and just show people like i can come in here and still do it my way and still dominate the portal in the way that makes sense i mean he just hasn't done it yet and so um they've tried but we'll see if they make any sort of meaningful impact coming up yeah it's interesting because all of his contemporaries, well, Saban before he retired, Kirby Smart, Ryan Day, all of those guys are willing to go try to get the big fish out of the portal or take somebody who was a starter on a team that maybe is considered lower in the college football hierarchy than them if they needed to fill a spot. But I go back to the florida state game last year which was a great game clemson
Starting point is 00:21:48 had you know took him to overtime and the clemson fans got really mad at me for saying this after after the game but like if you put keon coleman on clemson instead of florida state that one player yeah clemson wins. Yeah, and that's the thing that I think is a disconnect. It's like Clemson doesn't need to overhaul their roster on the portal. They don't need to go get 20 or 30 guys. They need two pieces, three pieces. You talk to people around Clemson, and they need an offensive lineman,
Starting point is 00:22:21 and they need a wide receiver. And that's it. Maybe a DB in years past, but it's no more than three or four people and they need a wide receiver and i and that's it maybe a db in years past but it's not it's no more than than three or four people that they need yeah and that's that's the interesting thing now what what one thing i thought last year was going to start this evolution and it didn't feel like it did was when dabbo he fired brandon streeter who is a homegrown coordinator and he hires Garrett Riley. And I thought, okay, there's a chance that things are going to change. It didn't feel like it did, but I do wonder, like I'm looking at two hires this year
Starting point is 00:22:52 where it feels like maybe that's coming because Garrett Riley is a young guy. Don't know how much he can push back on all-time great coach Dabo Sweeney. But he brings in Matt Luke to coach the offensive line and Chris Rumpf to coach the defensive line. Matt Luke was the head coach at Ole Miss. He's worked with Kirby Smart at Georgia. Chris Rumpf has worked all over the SEC. He's worked in the NFL. He's a South Carolina Gamecock working at Clemson now.
Starting point is 00:23:17 I imagine they respect the hell out of Dabo Sweeney, but I'm sure they'll probably speak their minds. For sure. And I think those were two really smart hires for him in that regard. And that was something that McLean was also talking about is, hey, when you fill out your staff, because Dabo's been very loyal, right? He's hired a lot of former players, a lot of former assistants. But when you fill out your staff with people who only know one way, it doesn't create any sort of discussion or opportunity for something different when you're in the room. And that's where I think you bring in these two guys.
Starting point is 00:23:48 Like you said, they're veterans. They can push back. And also, they've just experienced other things. They've seen different things at different places. And I think that gives them a little bit more clout in the room. Well, and the other thing that I find interesting, and I had not really thought about this until, I guess, last year when things were going,
Starting point is 00:24:06 going south in the early part of the season. How much did Brent Venables really mean to this program? Because, you know, you think about a coordinator leaves, it's like, okay, you can keep it going. But it didn't start rolling really until venables got there in 2012. like he taught them how to play dominant defense opposite of an up-tempo offense so like we always we always point to the higher of chad morris and the higher brent venables is what what kind of was the the launching pad for for clemson to get where they were. But I do wonder if Venables was maybe the more key person in all of that.
Starting point is 00:24:51 I thought when Venables left that he was the most important and critical hire that Dabo had ever made. I mean, just completely transformed that unit that had given up 70 points in the Orange Bowl and just looked like a totally different unit and and then i think too the thing about venables is he had some experience elsewhere you know you talk to people around the program and he's a guy who was also going to be able to push back on dabble a little bit and say hey maybe we modify this with the portal a little
Starting point is 00:25:20 bit we see how he's attacked that at oklahoma um so and just his mindset i think was was so crucial i will say their defense has been very good under west goodwin i think they were number eight this year um so the product on the field has still been very good but yeah that's just a veteran voice in the room that you're looking another quote that really jumped out at me from that story you wrote is from from ben bulwer so for those who don't remember ben bulwer was a starting linebacker uh in 2015 2016 on that that national championship team in 16. Ben will be the first to tell you that he was not the most gifted athlete on that defense. But he also played with some incredible players.
Starting point is 00:25:57 And he said in your story, it feels like the talent is not where it was back then. Yeah, that one, that really because you we look at it from the outside looking in and i think that's something that we've all seen but to hear a player a former player also say hey this this talent is just not where it is um or where it used to be and he sort of walked through every position um and that that is part of it i mean you're recruiting they're recruiting at a very high level. And so it's kind of the chicken or the egg. Is it a recruiting issue or a development issue? But you just look at the results, and these wide receivers are not T. Higgins.
Starting point is 00:26:34 Klubnick is not Trevor Lawrence. You know, it's just that's the other part of it is that Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence and T. Higgins and Travis Etienne, I think in hindsight, might have masked more issues than maybe we thought. Well, and that's the thing. Quarterback is the obvious one because it goes to Sean Watson, Trevor Lawrence, and they have not been able to recapture that magic. But how many programs have had a Deshaun Watson or a Trevor Lawrence
Starting point is 00:27:00 in the time since? There aren't that many people like that. But then receiver and D-line are the two and they've had good D-lines but not loaded with first rounders D-lines and the receiver position is amazing to me like you just mentioned some of the like T Higgins but you think about New Hopkins Sammy Watkins, Mike Williams, early career Justin Ross before the injury, Artevis Scott. Even guys like Amari Rodgers and Artevis Scott, who we don't even talk about,
Starting point is 00:27:34 but were great players in college. Yeah, that's a position to me that I think is the most glaring. I mean, Clemson hasn't had a wide receiver drafted since 2021, which is kind of crazy when you think about it. And that's Amari Rogers and Cornell Powell. And yeah, that's the one position I just, I haven't been able to wrap my head around. Okay, is it development?
Starting point is 00:27:59 Have they missed? I think you could make arguments for both. That position to me just has a lot of question marks that I'm curious to see if they can figure it out next season. Well, and that's the most interesting part. I didn't even mention Hunter Renfro just now. Renfro, yes. Probably one of the more successful NFL players, too,
Starting point is 00:28:20 coming out of that, who was also great in college. But that's the thing like and and the receiver position is actually kind of emblematic of the dabbo sweeney area eric clemson because i always thought when they were at their best they mixed these high five star guys the the christian wilkins and the trevor lawrence with the guys that they that they kind of unearthed. Like Nolan Turner, Dabo obviously played with his dad and knew him really well. But those were the kind of guys that they would unearth. Isaiah Simmons, Hunter Renfro.
Starting point is 00:28:54 But the receiver position is the best example of that because you've got the Hunter Renfro, Adam Humphreys, who under-recruited that they developed. And then you've also got Sammy Watkins, Mike Williams, Justin Ross, who everybody in the world wanted and were good immediately. Yeah, yeah. I think it was Roddy Jones I was talking to about this. And I thought he made it such a good point and summed it up so well.
Starting point is 00:29:21 He was like, you could take the number three receiver on Clemson's playoff teams and put them on this current team that we saw this past season and they'd be the top receiver. Like that's just how stacked they were and how loaded they were. And to your point, it was a great mix and they developed so well. And I still think that Clemson has that evaluation piece and that developmental piece. But it was, it was just perfect harmony because for every hunter and pro they had a d-hop yeah uh yeah artavis scott would be putting up massive numbers right yes as wide receiver one right now yes totally totally yeah it's that and i do think that's that's a piece of it that needs to be figured out so do you you think that Dabo can turn this around?
Starting point is 00:30:08 Do you think that he can make them a national title contender again in the age of the 12-team playoff? Or do you think he's going to let this pass him by? I will say every single person that I talked to for this story, even the ones that pushed back on some of his philosophies were very adamant that like Dabo Sweeney is not done and that there is every reason to believe they can get back there. I think obviously the 12 team playoff is going to help him.
Starting point is 00:30:34 He is slowly coming around with these portal offers and maybe they'll land one or two here in a little bit. We'll see. But I think the thing about Dabo is that yes, he is stubborn and yes, he can be a little bit we'll see um but i think the thing about dabbo is that yes he is stubborn and yes he can be a little slow to change but he is so competitive and this is his legacy and his program and his name on the line that i don't think he would be content with just letting it ride off into the sunset well and getting back to to how we started this thing like i never thought even if alabama had had gone after him
Starting point is 00:31:05 hardcore that he would even go because he does want to this is his legacy at clemson and yeah he is clemson yeah and and it's interesting the competitive part like sean alexander who had dabba as a position coach in college i i'm gonna try not to mess up the quote here but it basically this encapsulates Davo. Cause Sean basically says, Oh, he'll smile at you, but he's got that goofy thing,
Starting point is 00:31:31 but he'll slit your throat if he has to. And like, that is who he is. He is that you're right. He is that competitive, but it is amazing to see there's this thing that everybody else is using and it's working and he just just won't do it i don't know if it was wanted to try it his own way first and then come around a little slower or you know obviously you look at the portal and you look at nil and i think that's part of it and
Starting point is 00:32:02 clemson is not a huge alumni base it's not a huge doesn't have a big huge donors i think that's part of it and clemson is not a huge alumni base it's not a huge doesn't have a big huge donors i think that's that's part of it um it's i pay 10 a year not i pay thousands a year exactly exactly yeah if today is very grassroots organization as one person that i talked to said but yeah it's interesting and um i think if he had gotten there in his own way um it would have really changed the way we think about college football. But because he is going to have to evolve, I think we're going to see him sort of slowly start to move in that direction. Well, it's going to be very interesting
Starting point is 00:32:34 because I do really like the hires he made this offseason. And so every time I'm about to be out and think, uh-oh, it's passing by. He makes you come back in. Yeah, he does something that sucks to be back in. So I am, I am very excited to see what this looks like. You know,
Starting point is 00:32:50 our friend, our mutual friend, Ari Wasserman says, no, no, they're on the decline, been on the decline. They're going down.
Starting point is 00:32:56 I'm not ready to believe it yet. I'm not ready yet. I'm not there yet. Not in the 12 team playoff era and not with these two wide receivers. They have coming in from the high school ranks maybe in three or four years if it's still the same maybe but i'm i'm not there yet either well not and not just through like sammy brown the linebacker from georgia like yeah that's a that's a guy that's a dabbo sweeney five star right there like everybody in the world
Starting point is 00:33:21 wants him but he wants to go play for dabbo like that's that was christian wilkins back in the world wants him, but he wants to go play for Dabo. That was Christian Wilkins back in the day. Those were the kind of players that they would get. Yeah, totally, totally. Will Shipley was that kind of player. Now, I don't know if they had – Tristan Lee was a five-star, yeah. Barrett Carter, you just go down the list. They're still recruiting very well.
Starting point is 00:33:42 I think they're at 12 right now, which is – they were in the teens when they won their national championships. Like they're still recruiting very well. I think they're 12 right now, which is they were in the teens when they won their national championships. So he's got his formula. Yeah, that formula for the national championships did include generational quarterback though. So that may be- It did.
Starting point is 00:33:55 That is the thing. Maybe the stumbling block right there. Yeah, exactly. Trevor Lawrence was a huge part of that formula. That's right. Grace Rayner, thank you so much. Thanks so much for having me andy what up today that prize picks ad we had earlier i uh i neglected to mention there's a free
Starting point is 00:34:20 square for the nfc championship game christianaffrey, well, essentially free. He does have to gain one rushing yard to hit. But they did a thing on Monday night where if they got enough retweets, they would reduce Christian McCaffrey's rushing yardage number, and they kept reducing it, and it is now at.5. So it is essentially a free square so remember prize picks you start with two squares so it's it's a good place to start for the nfc championship game afc championship game if you want to do something on sunday that would be the place to start so prize picks use the code andy and they'll match up to 100 bucks all right the great
Starting point is 00:35:02 conversation with grace rainer the clemson thing fascinates me because I just don't understand why Dabo won't play the game. And I know people say, well, he has his principles, but it's not about your principles. This is within the rules. Nobody. Nobody's going to criticize you for playing the same game as everybody else. That is generally accepted, widely accepted. And it's not like, like Gray said, they do not have to overhaul the roster.
Starting point is 00:35:34 If they could selectively, like if they would recruit in the portal, the way Michigan has recruited in the portal the last two years, I think it's a two or three win difference. It's the difference between maybe beating Florida State or not beating Florida State last year. It's incredible. Chris in the chat, just look at Georgia. They bring in multiple transfer portal wide receivers every year. Dabo could at least do that. Yes. If you're not going to recruit receivers or develop receivers at the level that you used to,
Starting point is 00:36:10 and let's be real, you're not, that stat they graced throughout with no receivers drafted since 2021, mind-blowing but true, if you're not going to do that, then bring in some that are already good. It will help your offense. But the transfer portal giveth and taketh away as we know and we've talked about it take a thing away a lot at alabama of late because the names leaving through the portal were very very big but now that the dust has settled on this a little bit i think it's time to have a more clear-eyed conversation about alabama so let's bring in tim watts from bam online let's time to have a more clear-eyed conversation about Alabama. So let's bring in Tim Watts from Bama Online. Let's talk to him about where the Crimson Sides stand.
Starting point is 00:36:53 We're not quite, tomorrow will be two weeks since Nick Saban retired. Let's talk about where Alabama actually is right now. Now with the great Tim Watts of Bama Online. And Tim, it's time to calm everybody down. Last time we talked to you, the world was going to hell in a handbasket. Nick Saban had retired. Seemingly every Alabama player was entering the portal. All hell was breaking loose.
Starting point is 00:37:22 But now that we're a couple weeks removed from Nick Saban retiring, Kalen DeBoer has been on the job a week and a half. How's everybody feeling in Tuscaloosa? You know, I think the Caden Proctor and Caleb Downs hitting the portal was kind of like the point where they said, all right, you know, it is what it is. Both of them went into the portal. Their worst nightmares were kind of coming to realization. They thought Caleb Downs was going to
Starting point is 00:37:51 Georgia. Alabama had their defensive back coach, T-Rob, go there. So there's a lot of conspiracies connecting them. Caden Proctor, who we had said many times was homesick, even during the season, they thought he was going to be an NIL guy. We heard a lot of Ohio State talk. So I think that when those kids made their decision, when Caleb went to Ohio State, Proctor went back home to Iowa, I think it alleviated a little bit because, you know, it's not good you lose those players, but it's also not the conspiracy that you're seeing.
Starting point is 00:38:20 Also, it's slowed down since then. Alabama got a quarterback Austin Mack which really set off another you know Alabama fans have just been on a roller coaster where you get Austin Mack they don't know really know who he is and we took time we took a lot of time digging to help figure out who he is he's a very promising prospect by all accounts well he was the guy Kalen DeBoer signed at Washington who was with them at Washington last year. And that's the part with the Julian Sayen thing, that when Julian Sayen enters the portal, it was not a coincidence. It was the morning after Austin Mack committed to Alabama.
Starting point is 00:38:58 Yeah, I would think that Alabama told them the night before what was going to happen. And Austin Mack, again, we've said this, he's 17 years old right now he's going to be 18 in June it's absurd he could be a high school senior that's not unheard of for a high school senior to spend his senior year at 18 years old but he's going to be into his second year of college by then but yeah that was a domino Austin Mack they've got a lot of faith in him they like him and if you watch him if you just watch him and learn about him he's a very I mean dude you see him him on the recruiting visit this weekend. They had six official visitors. He was one of them, even though he was committed. Dude, he is a foot taller than
Starting point is 00:39:33 seemingly everybody. And I mean, we're talking about some pretty nice size kids. Jalen Milrow, 6'2", Ty Simpson, 6'1", are in that range. This guy looks humongous. Almost looks like the movie Twins with Arnold Schwarzenegger, stated by Danny DeVito. He is a good four or five inches taller, and he's big. He's got big features, so they got that commitment. Once you got him settled down and knew what they were getting, their worst fear when you took it, though, was exactly Julian saying leaving. So, Friday morning when he left, I think that kind of kicked it off, and then you have to walk and talk yourself through it. Big visitor weekend. He's starting to answer. At one point, there's a lot more questions than answers. So we're slowly but surely seeing those answers. So it's easier to understand. And I think
Starting point is 00:40:14 that's been a big part of common Alabama fans nerves. Yeah. And the downs and the Proctor things were also you kind of if you address them individually i i think you're right if downs had gone to georgia then it really plays into everybody's fear okay they hire travers robinson away he's he he might be grabbing all these guys that he helped bring to alabama but downs ends up going to ohio state which actually finished second the first time around and the the factor that sent downs to tuscaloosa initially was nick saban so that made sense proctor going home makes sense because it's obviously not usually the offense you're going to pick if it's nil based or it's nfl based uh though iowa has produced some good offensive linemen but given where they are now, it's a little bit tough.
Starting point is 00:41:05 So that does all make more sense. Let's talk about that visit weekend because some guys that are in this class, Ryan Williams, basically last unsigned five-star. It's a big one. Yeah, it's a big one. And, you know, he's committed to Alabama for a long time. Auburn, you know, his name is school. There's nowhere in the country Ryan couldn't go to college. Shows up at Alabama. I'll tell you what, preceding him on his official
Starting point is 00:41:29 visit, because he decommitted right away, he had an out to eliminate Alabama. He had the out. Nick Saban's gone. A lot of the staff is gone. Traveris Robinson's gone. Hallman Wiggins is gone. Tommy Reese is gone. A lot of the guys that he dealt with there. So he had an out if he wanted to take an out. But instead, on Monday, Ryan shows up in Tuscaloosa to hang out. You know, we, we broke that news on the round table and on BOL. And then we look up and he is hanging out with Jalen M. Bocquway, who's one of his best friends, the five-star signee from Clay Chalkville. Middle of the week, the Alabama staff goes down and sees him again. And then he comes for an official visit, brought a lot of people close to him. So he got a full week's worth of getting to know this staff.
Starting point is 00:42:09 He did an interview with AL.com. I think Alabama is very much in this. It's always seemed like that was a special place to him. He's always wearing Alabama gear. Even in his pictures that he showed from his visit, it showed a picture of him with an autographed ball when he was a kid. So obviously a humongous target for 50 reasons, five-star in-state, but also the dude is extremely talented. And you're looking at a guy that, you know, and Kalen DeBoer and Grubb who love the route running, Shep, Jamarcus Shepard's known for his route running ability. And there's nothing on that route tree that Ryan Williams can't run. So it's more than just the visual,
Starting point is 00:42:48 but that plays in because the kid's extremely talented. Well, and I would imagine that DeBoer and Grubb can show a receiver prospect like Ryan Williams, hey, here's Roma Dunzey, here's Jalen Polk, here's Jalen McMillan, here's what we do with really good receivers. Here's Jalen Polk. Here's Jalen McMillan. Here's what we do with really good receivers. Here's how that looks. And that, because everybody's, everybody's saying, oh, these guys don't know, you know, they don't know the area. They don't know. But what they put on film in the last two years, especially with quarterbacks and receivers, would probably be fairly enticing.
Starting point is 00:43:21 And they also brought in Jeremy Bernard, who was the number four wide receiver on that Washington team behind three extremely talented wide receivers. Still a guy that you know, you can see his clips, very talented. He's able to come in and also explain what they're going to do. He committed while he was on his visit. He was one of the six official visitors. So yeah, you put that on tape, you show them what you can do. And also the thing that really helped Alabama and the South is that Washington, if they aren't in the playoffs, I'm not sure a lot of these Southern kids have actually seen them. Different schedule, late night games and all that.
Starting point is 00:43:53 But they saw them in those two games against Texas and they saw them against Michigan. So they've got some kind of feel for exactly what they can do and everything else. So it's not like they were going in blind to them like they probably would have been had they not been in the playoffs. Yeah, and that's the thing. Once they beat Texas and lots of people watch that game, but also then you get wall-to-wall Washington offensive highlights for a week going into the national championship game. So if you hadn't been exposed to them, all you had to do flick flick on espn and you were going to see them over and over again so that that probably does help at least you know give give those guys an idea of what they're looking at but also i thought was interesting i was looking at at bam online and on your message boards you guys have the the updated scholarship chart that you
Starting point is 00:44:40 keep you know consistently updating every time something changes. And when you look at it, just all the names, it feels a lot more calmed down than maybe it seems because I don't know that there are many other programs that have that level of talent still on the roster. Yeah, I think there are a lot of people really excited to see Alabama lose everybody and lose all their talent. That hasn't been the case. I think nine guys have hit the portal since Nick Saban retired. Everybody else is pretty much expected during the first go around. I don't think there was a lot of surprise. And to be honest,
Starting point is 00:45:18 Alabama had to lose guys in the first portal window because they had to clear room to, you know, clear room for guys that wanted to play elsewhere so they could be at, you know, on the number 85 and get down to that scholarship number. So they have a really good team if you look at it. I mean, we've discussed this before, and I think it's a debatable point, but how many teams would not swap their roster for Alabama's where it sits right now? Not even count possible getting Ryan Williams or Jabbar Muhammad, who's looking at Alabama, Oregon, and Texas, just where it sits now. How many teams have an A to Z better roster?
Starting point is 00:45:52 There's certainly guys like Texas, Ohio State did a good job, Georgia. Those guys have got really good staff. That's probably it, though, the three you just named. I think that's the only ones that would say we'll keep ours. If you offered to trade, those are the only that would say, we'll keep ours. If you offered to trade, those are the only three that'll say, we'll keep ours. Yeah, they've had really good recruiting classes the last three or four years, have a lot of talent, had another one this year. All three of those did well. Texas hit the portal, did a good job on the portal, and Georgia got the
Starting point is 00:46:20 running back from Florida. So they've all got talent. Ohio State closed out well with their portal run and, you know, everything they did and, you know, with the transfer. So, yeah, those are three. Others might argue, but I think you could argue right back that Alabama's roster is better than them. And that's not even counting if you could get a Ryan Williams and a Jabbar Muhammad. Again, that makes the roster much better right out of the gate.
Starting point is 00:46:43 And then you've got that spring portal period. So it's not out of the realm of possibility that Alabama, again, has a 1-2-3-4 top five roster when you come out of April and that portal window closes again. Well, that was interesting. Hearing Tyler Booker, the offensive lineman, he went on the next round live with our friends Ryan and Jim and Lance and was pretty unequivocal about it. Like, hey, don't even be calling me if you're coaching another team. And it's funny because, obviously, we're in the man bites dog business. Like, we talk about the things that are unusual, but the dog bites man situation, like, there's a lot more dog bites man
Starting point is 00:47:23 going on on that roster than man bites dog like most of those guys are staying yeah i think that yeah i think that was big for him obviously i think when you saw the initial flood of guys that went in amari nye black isaiah bond uh those were guys that had they were halfway out the door to begin with i mean i know there were some heavy discussions with nil the first portal go which is odd, cause they were never in the portal to have all these heated comments. You need to go back to that Proctor. Proctor just went, some poor guy interviewed Proctor and he just said, yeah,
Starting point is 00:47:53 I was in contact with me the whole year. I'm not sure what's going to become of that. So I think we've got some obvious tampering going on because Booker said it too. He had coaches reaching out to him and contacting him. So what's eventually going to happen is some school is going to send you know screenshot a text and send it somewhere out in the public and you know you got to be quite the the dip dill rod to uh text a be a coach and text these players but i know it is happening oh it's it was happening
Starting point is 00:48:21 before the transfer rules changed that's more got to be smart. I mean, you cannot be directly contacting. You got to be the dumbest human being on earth to just think that's a safe move. The next time they actually punish somebody for the tampering will be the first. Yeah, that's true. As my friend Max Olson at The Athletic always puts it, they don't want to enforce the tampering rules because coaches would all like to reserve the right to tamper. Yeah, no doubt. No doubt. I mean,
Starting point is 00:48:47 you got Michigan possibly opening up here another 30 day portal window. I don't know about you, but the 30 days is absurd to me. 30 days is one 12th of the year. That's, you know, I told Travis Reier on our BOL podcast. I said, that's like a, you get 30 days for your third shoplifting. You know, you're like, you go to that's a, that's go to, that's a short time in the county jail. So, you know, I think that's too long. And then Bama's still in that 16, 17 day window. Michigan's opens up. We're going to go through
Starting point is 00:49:15 another 30 days. So, just a lot happening with the way they've got this calendar set up. It will be interesting to me, Tim, to see if Michigan's different because they're deeper into their class schedule than Alabama was. Oh, for sure. Because I'm not sure how easy it is going to be to go somewhere right now. Like Alabama, even though you had 30 days, you really had to get in there in the first couple days
Starting point is 00:49:45 if you wanted to go to another school and be there for spring practice. If Michigan opens, I don't know how that works. How would they? The talk is that they're handing it to the offensive coordinator, right? Sharon Moore is probably the guy getting it if Harbaugh leaves. I imagine that calms it down too. Well, that would be the move because surely he's been working these guys. First of all, they're familiar with them.
Starting point is 00:50:12 And that's kind of what happened with the Alabama. When you had the whole coaching staff, basically, you don't know if they're being retained. So in essence, they're in limbo. You have them not knowing. So these kids that were recruited, you look at Caleb Downs, I tell people, and I'm not going to be harsh on anybody that wants to hit the portal or do whatever they need to do, but Caleb Downs lost Charles Kelly. Pete Golding was in the recruiting process at one time for him. He lost Charles Kelly, lost T-Rob, he lost Kevin Steele,
Starting point is 00:50:39 and he lost Nick Saban. I mean, basically everybody kind of associated with Caleb, you know, was gone. So I can kind of see his angle that, you know, that maybe he wanted to try somewhere else and get out of the South. I did find it interesting. Georgia was so prevalent to be the leader when, like you said, they finished second. Ohio State finished second. We don't even know Georgia finished third because the question was who did Alabama beat? And he said they beat Ohio State finished second. We don't even know Georgia finished third because the question was, who did Alabama beat? And he said they beat Ohio State. So we knew the one, two. We don't even know where that's at.
Starting point is 00:51:09 But, yeah, I mean, just, you know, tough decisions for kids, having to make them quick. So all of it's very interesting. Yeah, and so now you get to see as the first, you know, 2025 offers go out from the Alabama staff, how the staff is going to work. Is there any noticeable difference yet, or do we have to wait and see how this process shakes out between now and say June and July when they start taking a lot of commitments? Yeah, I think you're still in almost the honeymoon phase. I mean, you're still figuring out who to offer. They were in state and went down and saw Micah DuBose,
Starting point is 00:51:47 a big-time 25 offensive lineman. They offered some wide-risk quarterbacks. They offered Juju Lewis, the big-time guy from Georgia that's committed to USC. They offered the Deuce kid, McKnight, who's committed to Notre Dame. So they got some quarterback offers out pretty quick. Casey Lacey, the Sutherland quarterback, came down for an unofficial visit while Ryden was on campus. So I think they let it be known early on to the quarterbacks they got to type and what they want to look at.
Starting point is 00:52:15 But I still think they're in the evaluation process, right? I mean, they're having to get on the road and they're going to be on the road from the morning to the night. We've seen Kalen DeBoer has been very active, but they're going to be on the road morning to night. So at some point, they're going to have to evaluate and break down the film because they won't necessarily like the same players that Nick Saban and his staff like. There could be different guys. And that goes down to the guys that decommitted. The underclassmen who were committed, everybody was kind of like, they haven't contacted them yet, but they weren't very familiar with them. That's for one thing.
Starting point is 00:52:46 It's not for sure. It'd be rare that the new staff would like everybody the old staff liked. That would be a rarity. It would be, but it does seem like with the quarterbacks, you have to get out there quick. Oh, for sure. Quarterback recruiting is also nationwide anyway, so I'm guessing Kalen DeBoer already had a fairly broad 2025 quarterback board,
Starting point is 00:53:09 even at Washington. Yeah, but you know the top guys are all committed. You start looking at the commitment list. You've got Underwood to LSU, Judo to USC, George McIntyre committed. Monday, taking a quick glance, the top six guys are already committed, along with number eight and number 10. So eight of the top 10 quarterbacks are already committed. Now it's not locked in stone, but quarterbacks usually the position that we've seen hold on the strongest to their commitments, even though Dylan Rayola did flip from Georgia to Nebraska. But for the most part, most of them
Starting point is 00:53:39 kind of hold the course, but man, it's early and dominoes are moving around and, you know, you know you know musical chairs are being played so but yeah you want to get out let them see you're on the radar and just kind of push and you know let them know what you're about well it'll it's going to be a very interesting next few months caitlin the board does not strike me as the kind of guy who's going to do anything rash or or wild in those first few months but it it does feel like things have settled somewhat now the portal window is open for another it's a lot I'm bad at math but for 13 days now or so it's probably like 16 or 17. oh that's right that's right because yeah again it's Wednesday it's
Starting point is 00:54:20 wins two Wednesdays ago that this happens so tomorrow yep it was open until two weeks from friday yeah well it would go from wednesday when saban retired right yeah so it'd be or no it's the next day so it'd be it'd be two weeks from saturday is when it'll close well he retired wednesday and devore was hired friday yeah i'm telling hey hey we've had days so wrong i can't even keep up with them. I thought Saturday was Sunday because the NFL had games on. Well, especially because your head's just been spinning since Nick Saban retired. That's how you said we think it's slowed down.
Starting point is 00:54:57 I can tell you 100% it's slowed down because I've slept normal, and I've actually seen the kids, wife and kids, all the guys on BOL can tell you the same thing, hectic and just, you know, a million questions. I don't blame the Alabama fans. We've never seen this before. You've never seen the greatest of all time retire in an era where, you know, there's social media like there is and message boards and everything else.
Starting point is 00:55:19 So, but yeah, it was a continuous effort. And I'll tell you what I don't miss is that the good news was followed quickly by the bad news. Every time you got something, it was something bad coming on the heels of it. But you got the staff in place. They got the coaches they want. It seems to be an upgrade. It's going to be it seems to be a good staff. But also you got them out on the road because, you know, there was that weird thing to make it even more difficult is that the Washington coaches were hired or going to be on the job, but they had to sit out a little bit
Starting point is 00:55:49 longer, apparently because of something going on with their contract with Washington. So that kind of, you know, kind of kept it in the loop, but they did have, I found it interesting. It was pretty good for the Bama fans to see. You knew that they had Freddie Roach on the staff along with Robert Gillespie. So you knew what was going to happen there but also you got to see haha clinton dicks josh chapman denzel duvall old guy you know old-time uh guys that are you know working in that back office get out in the streets and and meet people and hey believe it you know it's not hard to believe but those guys are pretty popular on that campus oh i bet and and and i bet with recru recruits, they got quite a testimony. Yeah, absolutely. And so you don't really see them because when we talk recruits, we talk about the area position and the head coach.
Starting point is 00:56:36 But those guys all do. That support staff, Ashley Kimball, they all do a great job. Bob Welton was retained on this staff. So there's a lot of connections that you don't see visible with the coaches. But they'll be able to point them in the right direction. At the end of the day, recruiting is relationships. If you build them, you can recruit. Yep. And the question is, you know, is the head coach going to be as aggressive a recruiter as the previous head coach? Not many in the whole world are. So I've never, yeah, I just think, yeah, that's a bar. I don't know of any, Kirby's, you know, cut out that same cloth, but I just don't know. I don't think anybody, including Kirby, enjoyed the recruiting process.
Starting point is 00:57:09 I think he liked recruiting more than he liked coaching, honestly. I think he loved the relationships and the visiting and them coming and the dancing and getting to know people. I think he – and his wife, you know, she loved it. She was very – she was actually a huge valuable point. So nobody's ever going to do it like Nick Saban. Nobody's going to recruit like he did yes it's funny because people see nick saban press conferences and assume that that he didn't like talking to people yeah he loves talking to football
Starting point is 00:57:35 players yeah he does yeah you know for years we would hear stories and they would basically freeze them out they tell the kids don't put up the video or don't tell the stories we heard stories about saving dancing saving at the lake all the go-kart stuff little go-kart Dennis driver we heard these stories about the basketball they literally was like on pain of death don't report them and the kids wouldn't do it but once these phones plus these phones got as good videos they do it was kind over. We've seen so much of it. He's always been a guy behind the scenes people love because what people wanted to see, and he wanted people to think that publicly was the guy spanking AJ McCarron or cussing
Starting point is 00:58:16 because he got hit in the head with a water cooler. He wanted that intense business life, but it was a much different animal with the recruits. I actually think two of the better recruiting things that came out of alabama in the last you know eight nine years since the smartphone social media era began the electric slide yeah and that zoom call that zoom call and i can't remember who the player was but that's me out i remember that it was the best advertisement for nick saban's program that you could possibly put out there because it was just his recruiting pitch and he wasn't talking down about any other school he wasn't all he wasn't making any outlandish promises
Starting point is 00:58:58 he was just saying we're gonna give you a chance to be really good and if you take advantage of that then it'll be good for you yeah i had a third one in his late days those are really popular video him dragging guys around and them slinging off floats and that stuff and wearing his yankee yankee shirt you know you never expect you know you can if you didn't you never would have known that was behind the scenes but even back in the day we'd hear stories of they'd go to nick saban's house on sunday to have brunch and ride gators on the in the woods he was doing fun stuff with these recruits the whole time he just didn't want anybody to know it well then he realized it became a tool a recruiting tool yeah and he's like oh a little
Starting point is 00:59:40 couple things slip out he's called the first video of himself dancing and realized, I'm not that bad, so I'm okay with him knowing because he knew what he was doing. So now he's a Division I DB. Of course he can do the electric slide. Let's be real about this. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he loved it, so that was fun. But, yeah, I think, you know, Kalen DeBoer has been – this has been really good.
Starting point is 01:00:00 I mean, we're not – I don't even know how long it's been. We're rolling up on, you know, a couple of weeks of this, this hiring and everything that's went on. And, you know, Alabama's coaching search lasted 41 hours. Basically it might've been done before that, but we know around 41 hour mark, he was in Tuscaloosa in like 52 hours, 52 and a half hours from Nick Saban retiring to him landing in Tuscaloosa, which is absurd. I mean, you didn't expect that. And, you know, coaching searches are usually so crazy. You see what's going on. You know, Alabama's last coaching search was Nick Saban making you wait.
Starting point is 01:00:33 Protracted, yeah. Nick Saban made you wait longer than the portal window is right now. That's how long it was that he had to wait. So it had to be done so quick. And then coaches on the road and staff named and he's got a couple of commitments. They got, you know, Parker Brailsford. They got a center, a good center freshman,
Starting point is 01:00:52 second team all Pac-12. I mean, he's a guy they were excited about. They got a wide receiver. They got a quarterback, monster, big old kid, six foot six. Look, we look. He was listed at six, eight in our database. So I went and dug it up, got some sources at Washington. He was 6'6 and 1'8 is what he was to start the season. Those photos don't look like he's just 6'6. He does not. He's so much bigger. Yeah, he is so much taller than
Starting point is 01:01:21 everybody else, but big hands, everything, you know, and again, a young guy. So they've got some positive things going in their direction. Still need a few more things to follow their way. They've got Noah Carter, 24 edge, rusher, linebacker type, Jack linebacker type, and he's looking at Alabama really hard, came on official visits. So Jabbar, you know, again, Jabbar Muhammad, cornerback at a neat position there in the running for him.
Starting point is 01:01:44 So he has a few more things. Fall right, maybe Ryan Williams on the ninth. I think there will be a lot more positive going into the spring. And, hey, who is not going to be excited to see the spring game? Nope. It's going to be another sellout crowd. So all Kalen DeBoer needs to work on right now is Cupid Shuffle, Electric Slide. Make sure you got that down and you're good.
Starting point is 01:02:11 Tim Watts, where the world is not ending. Not yet. In Alabama. I'll talk to you soon. All right, man. Anytime. I do want to see Kalen DeBoer Electric Slide videos. I mean, as soon as those are available, let's get them out there.
Starting point is 01:02:28 A couple of congratulations in order before we sign off tonight. Congratulations to South Carolina basketball coach Lamont Harris. His first win over top 25 team, the Gamecocks just upset Kentucky. There was a court storming. Did not look like anybody ran into a Kentucky player, so that's good. I did see a lot of phones up in the air, anybody ran into a Kentucky player, so that's good. I did see a lot of phones up in the air, so nobody followed my advice after the Caitlin Clark thing.
Starting point is 01:02:53 Everybody's still trying to film themselves or film what's going on while they're running onto the court. Don't do that. Just enjoy it. Now they look like they're having a good time on the court. Also, congratulations are in order to former University of Tennessee quarterback Todd Helton, elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. That's right, Todd Helton, former Rockies great, for those who don't remember,
Starting point is 01:03:14 was a quarterback at Tennessee, actually was the second QB in, in that 1994 season opener against UCLA, after Jerry Cole quit, I believe he tore his ACL. The third QB who came into that game was a freshman named Peyton Manning. He did okay, too. So two Hall of Famers from that Vols team. Not too shabby at all. So, Tuesday's over. We don't have any Jim Harbaugh news
Starting point is 01:03:46 just yet. We might have some tomorrow. We might have some later this week. We might have some later tonight. Who knows? But what we do know is Wednesday, unless Jim Harbaugh takes an NFL job, is a
Starting point is 01:04:02 Dear Andy show. So I want to hear your questions. You can hit me up on Twitter, Andy underscore Staples, Instagram, Andy underscore Staples, andystapleson3 at gmail.com. If you have a long question that doesn't fit into a post, you can email it to me.
Starting point is 01:04:18 We will answer them on the show tomorrow night, unless there's massive news, and then we will still answer it at some point. But please send me your questions. I love hearing them, love helping direct the show through the folks that are watching and listening. So Andy underscore Staples, Twitter and Instagram, andystapleson3 at gmail.com.
Starting point is 01:04:44 Get those questions in. Cannot wait to talk to you tomorrow night.

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