Andy & Ari On3 - Projecting college football’s TOP quarterbacks in 2026

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

As the offseason is well underway, J.D. PicKell joins the show to discuss his top quarterbacks ahead of the 2026 season. Is Arch Manning destined to make a year 2 jump? Did Dante Moore make the right decision to stay at Oregon? What about the Buckeyes with Julian Sayin? Did your favorite quarterback make his list? Watch here and let us know who was left out. (0:00) On Today’s Episode(1:02) Presenting Sponsor(3:30) Intro: J.D. PicKell joins(5:10) J.D.’s Top QBs ahead of 2026(9:07) Arch Manning, Texas(19:09) Josh Hoover, Indiana(23:55) Dante Moore, Oregon(35:14) Julian Sayin, Ohio State(48:51) What if Trinidad Chambliss Returns?(54:24) Closing out with J.D.(55:42) Charles Bediako DENIED After discussing the top quarterbacks with J.D., Andy & Ari dive into more eligibility talk with the news of Charles Bediako being denied a preliminary injunction. Watch here as Andy & Ari discuss the former G-League player being denied to play for Alabama. For Dear Andy & Ari, send in your questions here:[e-mail]@on3.com Our show is also presented by BetMGM! If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code ON3 and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works: 1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code ON3.2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game.3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sureyou use bonus code ON3 when you sign up! Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary. See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Join On3 today! https://www.on3.com/join Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/_v0EdBHXJj0 Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's Andy and Ari on three presented by BetMGM, the great J.D. Pekyll, our teammate at On three, joins us to help us get back into the world of ranking quarterbacks. As you probably remember, Ari and I did it last year and it went very poorly. We need J.D.'s help. So J.D. is going to help us get the conversation started about quarterbacks in 2026 to see if we are willing to put ourselves out there and rank them again. J.D.'s already got to top 10 out there. We're going to talk about the guys in this top 10. We're talking about Oregon's Dante Moore, Archmanning from Texas, Julian Sane from Ohio State. Josh Hoover headed to Indiana. Can he do what Fernando Mendoza did in his one year at Indiana? We'll talk about

it all. Plus a huge victory in court for the NCAA in the Charles Betiaco case. We discussed it all on today's Andy and Ari on 3. presented by BedMGM. We are presented by BedMGM. We use BetMGM lines, totals and futures on this year show. And if you're not signed up for BetMGM, now is the time because if you sign up using a bonus code on 3, you can get up to a $1,500 new player offer plus 50% off an annual subscription to the On3 College Sports Network. Here's how that works.

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Don't forget, if you haven't signed up for bed MGM yet, use the bonus code CFB and get your $1,500 first bet offer today. Welcome to Annie and Ari on 3 presented by BetMGM. And it's a very special day here in Andy and Ari land because we are joined by our on three teammate. The host of the hard count with J.D. Pekyll. One of the greatest former Ivy League football players to ever enter the sports media. His hair is magnificent. His smile is magnificent.

His takes are magnificent. magnificent. J.D. Pekyll. Ladies and gentlemen. God, that, that, that I mean, I think that that probably should do it for the show right there. But that was great. I appreciate you have me on. Looking forward to doing it again here soon, guys. That was awesome. I'm ready to cut it there. No mention of his bicep. His biceps are tremendous, too. Massive biceps, guys. Gosh. And quadriceps, too. The man doesn't skip leg day. Just to get gassed up. I'm going to start inviting myself on to the show here. This is great.

All right. Listen, that's what we do here. When we treat the guests special, all U.S. IDs out there, sports. information directors when I when I say can your coach come on this is how special you get treated yeah i mean jadie's just one of our co-workers imagine imagine if it's somebody who we really really really really really right yeah but if he says anything on the show that i disagree with we're going to bring them back down to earth pretty quick yeah so i'm super excited about like whatever banser we have going on because andy it's your favorite topic we're getting into today well this is why i brought jd on because i think jd crack the code on something that I have some serious PTSD about. J.D. had a video that he put out earlier this month. Projecting the top 10 quarterbacks in college football for

2006. So, J.D., let's talk about this because we did our top 10 quarterback lists last year. Ari and I did. It was an abject disaster. We chose very poorly. How did you decide to couch this so that sometime in October, November, it is not thrown back in your face? Well, first I want to start with last year was a weird year in general. I don't think anybody had on their bingo card, Drew Aller and Kate Klubnick, like, Garrett Nussmire, like falling off the face of the earth. If it makes y'all feel any better, like, I had Lenora Sellers, my number one guy going into last year. So there's no, there's no higher ground I'm coming from here by any stretch the imagination. I do think, though, with like,

this group of quarterbacks, there's just a lot more production to go off of. Like DJ Lagway last year, we saw tremendous flashes, but it was a limited sample size. Even Lenora Sellers, we saw him play his best ball at the end of the year and really become a different player that got me all hot and bothered about what he was going to be in 2025. So I think with this group, like we've seen Dante Moore now for a full season, seeing Julian saying for a full season. We've seen Sam Levitt, even though he was dinged up last year, we've seen him for a full season at ASU. So I think there's a lot more steady ground to stand on here at the top especially.

And that just gives me a lot more confidence when we project this group. So it's anytime we make a list, y'all know this better than anybody. Like in this game, if we make a list, we're already wrong. I mean, put 10 topics together in any order. Someone's going to disagree and some of it's not going to be 100% correct. But feel like we have reasonable ground to stand on here with this group. You know what? Last year, we got a little bit carried away.

with measurables and projections. It felt like we were NFL draft analysts. I've had DJ Lagway number one. I believe, Andy, you did too. And we had to live through that for the entire fall. But you know what? Like, I'm kind of disappointed in you're, and you being shy about this, Andy.

Like, this is, this is the game, baby. It's the off season. Get back out there. What are you like? If you get broken up with them wrong out again? In my life. My wife will attest that I am frequently wrong about everything. I don't know that I've ever.

been as wrong in my life as I was about that quarterback ranking. I'm scared to ever do it again. There are two types of people here, Andy. There are the guy who gets broken up with his girlfriend and then salks in his bedroom for eight months and crying about it. And there's the other person who gets broken up with his girlfriend, watch us for getting Sarah Marshall and gets back out there a week later. I'm number two. I'm number one.

No question. Well, good thing. met your wife so early in life because you would have had a rough 20s if you didn't. But like, yeah, you know, this is the game. We understand that we, you know, like, listen, like I picked terribly all year against the spread. I had one of the worst gambling years of my life this past year. I was terrible at it.

Am I not going to pick games with you next year? No, you get back out on the horse and you give yourself a chance to be right next year. And you know what? I'm going to have a list and I've got news for you guys. I'm going to put it out there right now. I haven't written it yet, but this is, Archmanning's my number one going into the office, and I, you know, I'm ready to get hurt again. I already have this five-mile bet.

I already had this five-mile run bet with Andy about how if he doesn't make it to the New York for the Heisman ceremony, I'm going to run five miles. Did you know that, J-D? I'm out there. I'm putting myself out there, no one. J-D's laughing. J-D's like I could go around 10 miles right now. No problem.

Yeah, absolutely. River and I walked three and a half miles on Miami. I almost passed out. So I've got my work cut out for me. But you know what? If Arch comes out in week one and throws a few picks, I might start like training. Well,

let's talk about Arch Manning because he's a fascinating case because he was just avalanche of hype last off season. The Ohio State game happens. There's the headline like, is Arch actually terrible? I believe the athletic, Chris and him college football's first bust, which ignored.

all of college football history. It was worse than that. Oh. They said the Manning name is now synonymous with failure. That's right. I guess, yeah, I shouldn't feel as bad about being a prisoner of the moment because that happened. But Arch Manning just got piled on for the first half of the season.

I think probably in the Oklahoma game is where it started to turn for him. And you started to say, okay, you know what? His offensive line wasn't very good. but I see some stuff here. And if he keeps getting better, he could be pretty good. By the end of the season, he's a pretty capable quarterback, JD. Yeah, and I think to your point there, Andy, like the start of the year, like we can be honest about this. If Arch had gone out and thrown for 200 yards against Ohio State, a touchdown and a pick,

there would have still been people saying like, ah, overhyped, ah, is not that good. Ah, this guy's supposed to be that I'm an overall pick next year, this, that, and the other. like, Arch was kind of dune from the start in September, short of him going for like 300 yards every single game. So like that part of the equation, I think a lot of us on like the reasonable side of things, we all sort of took with a grain of salt and said, okay, like it might take him a second. But I think what was so impressive to me about Arch last year was what you just said, offensive line wasn't nearly what the offensive line has been in Austin the last couple of years. On top of that, like to be booed by your home crowd after everyone's

telling you how great you are all off season. And then to get off the ropes mentally and finish the year of the way he did, like Arch finished top five in the SEC and total touchdowns last season. He actually had a really strong year and kind of capitalized on that in the cheese citrus bowl. So I think the mental fortitude to be able to dig himself out of that ditch is why I feel so comfortable buying stock again and Arch Manning this upcoming season. On top of everything else with, I think Texas is better around him, I think

Sark's a great play caller, all those things that. we felt good about last year. I think they're real now, plus you have experienced and mentally tough archmanning. Andy, what do you say? You say you like people who, at the quarterback position, who exist and produced despite having a poor offensive line. And I think that as the year went on, the offensive line improved, and he improved with it. But I actually agree with J.D. in that maybe getting his head beat in for the first half of the year was exactly what he needed to learn the game, the speed, to feel the bumps, to get all the hype out of his system

and then to start producing. And JD, what's really funny about what you said about the Ohio State game last year is if he would have thrown for 200 yards and a pick and a touchdown, people would have, that's what he did. He threw for 170 yards. Yeah, he had up tempo. He actually was moving the ball on them.

Yeah, the ball down by seven in the fourth quarter. So, like, it wasn't like a terrible game. What I think was bad was he wasn't productive at times against overmatched opponents in the subsequent weeks, which I think is what made people really start to go, oh, God. But like, it could have been a disaster. Last year started off disastrous for Texas and Arch Manning. And if you go back and watch the Cheez-It Bowl,

he looked like a highly functional, lethal quarterback. And now you're adding Cam Coleman. You got new running backs coming in. Like, they have a lot of pieces to be really good. So, like, if you are one of these people who is like, oh, no, the Arch Manning hype train got went off the rails a little bit. maybe it's true, but it's not like it's not on the tracks anymore. Like it's going to be here all summer.

And like, you know, again, I'm fairly certain that he's going to have a really productive year. And I'm going to say stupid things. Like there's no way he's not going to the, to the Heisman ceremony like I did a year ago at this time. It's great. And I think going back to that point, too, R you made about the Ohio State game. Like, I think what threw us all off so much is he's out here like bouncing curl routes. Like he's out, he's out here just dirting out routes on the run. And we're all like, hang on.

If you can't make that throw, like not only. or you're not going to mean that I'm an overall pick. Like, dude, you shouldn't be at Texas, which I think got everyone all worked up. Like, people were holding the stock of he's only his last name and they couldn't wait to cash it in. And in that first quarter against Ohio State, they're like, C, told you, this is why, you know, the manning last name. He's overhyped, this, that, and the other. And then he obviously finished the game strong and had, like, you know, some respect. There's a couple throws in that game where I was like, everybody else seeing this?

Like, Texas darn near found a way to get back into that game and win that game with not get back into that wrong way to say it was a close game the whole time, but found a way to make a way to make a way to make. to make that thing a situation where Texas could have won it in Columbus. But that dart at the end though, the Livingston, that 32 yard, that was a strike though. You know, so I think all year the thing that was most frustrating with Manning was he did have those turf, you know, shots and he didn't miss guys. But then all of a sudden, you would see flashes of brilliance. And I think what happened as the season went on is the inexplicable, how did you not make

that throw that we saw? and R. you mentioned it in those like games two and three against overmatched opponents where there's no excuse for it. Like you should be able to connect on those throws against air and you wouldn't have made that throw against air.

That was gone by the end of the season. We didn't see that anymore. You know, playing as Georgia, playing against a good defense. He was not great. But playing as Texas A&M, I thought he was highly competent, highly capable. And so I think we're going to go into this offseason with a little more tempered view of Arch Manning.

It's not going to be this runaway train of how can he fail. We know how he can fail. We also know how he can succeed now. And you mentioned Cam Coleman. You add him to Ryan Wingo, lock it. They've got some receivers that they should be very excited about bringing Hollywood smothers. You're bringing Relic Brown. Like they're going to have good backs.

I do think this offense could be very capable. And, you know, I go back to the Oklahoma game guys. Ari and I were there. The offensive line had not worked out its kinks yet, especially the first half of that game. And you saw Arch do some things where, oh, okay, so he can escape. He can make some things happen.

And it's not just this guy's overwhelmed. This guy can't handle pressure. So I think that we kind of forgot probably because we're waiting so long for him to play. His name is Manning that not everybody is just instant great. Some quarterbacks take time to develop. And he took some of it. I'm curious how you feel about this, J.D. I think another part of our criticism of Arch last year was that they could have still had Quinn Ewers.

If they told Quinn Ewers, you can come back and be the starter. doubt he would have gone to the draft and been a seventh round pick. I think he would have come back. They told Quinn Ewers, thank you for your service, goodbye. Quin Ewers would have been a probably more productive QB for them early in the season. And I think that's another piece of the criticism Arch was dealing with. Yeah. And also having made the semis each of the last two years with that quarterback. And like it was it was so funny because remember what we were all saying during that running 24 where Quinn doesn't really look like himself comes out later he's got an open league that's torn in half but he's like not really playing so well and so we're all like hang on

if Arch is supposed to be who he's supposed to be why is he not in the game like how bad is it really behind closed doors with Arch to where you are so loyal to Quinn like just a bunch of a bunch of dynamics in play and then like you just said this past season a lot of people in our comment section on different Texas videos are like hey we owe Quinn you was an apology hey Quinn Quinn maybe wasn't as bad as we were making it out to be. So it's so funny how with college football, week in and week out, we're just so prisoner to every single most recent narrative.

Like for the first month of the season, like we just talked about, Arch was this bust. And then in November, is Arch going to be a guy to go be a top 10 quarterback? It just, it changes so frequently because we only have, I mean, 12 data points to go off of

and seven days to talk about each data point. So it's just, it's tricky. I think that he is the quintessential number one overall pick. And I don't know if like I'm just eager to put him in that hole or if he, I just like, I have a hard time when I'm looking at what they have on the team. If they fix their offensive line, like a scenario where he's not the number one overall pick in next year's draft. Like I'm just going to say that.

Like I really do think. Let's get a bet up for that one too because. the guy who's going to be the number one overall pick in this year's draft, we were not mentioning him at all. Yeah. This time last year. Yeah. So, and we, J.D., help us come up with a bet because Ari's going to bet that that Arch is going to be the number one overall pick in the 27 draft.

And I'm going to laugh when Arch is back in college football in 27. Andy, here's the thing that's kind of interesting about this whole bet, though, is if I'm right and I don't have to run the five miles. Like, and he does go to New York. then he will be the number of overall pick. Like I kind of feel like they're the same thing. There's probably a good chance of that. Now, there's some other talented QBs that we haven't really got to talk about yet.

Like we can talk about redemption arcs. We can talk about, because like Lenora Sellers has a chance to have a very different year. Some of these other quarterbacks that we hyped up last year that didn't have great years might come back and have good years. Also, you've got guys moving around.

I want to give you guys a little blind resume. You ready? Ready. I'm scared. So, QB, completion percentage 65.9, yards per attempt, 8.4, 29 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. QB2, completion percentage 68.7, yards per attempt, 7.8, 16 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions. Do we have any idea who either of these guys are?

Oh, man. I mean, like completion percentage is kind of an obscure. It is not obscure at all. If you are evaluating quarterbacks, it's one of the most important stats. Wait, wait. So we're talking about from last year because, like, didn't Fernando Mendoza have 16? I didn't say that.

I'm glad you asked. It's not necessarily from the same year, but these two gentlemen will have held the same job. Okay. So if that makes sense. QB1 is Hoover. QB2 is Mendoza. Yeah.

B1 is Josh Hoover from 2025 at TCU. QB2 is Fernando Mendoza from 2024 at Cal. There we go. And what I'm trying to demonstrate here is Josh Hoover, comparable, if not better numbers before he went to Indiana than Fernando Mendoza before he went to Indiana. I am very excited to see what Josh Hoover does in this offense.

I mean, I don't know about y'all, but before we got some of this news about Sorsby's in there and Levin had jumped in there officially and all those things, like, I was looking at Josh Hoover and I'm saying, okay, I get proven production, which seems to be a thing if we're tracking the Mendoza arc from what he was at Cal to what he did at Indiana. I get a guy who's played multiple years in college football. Same thing with Mendoz. I mean, he was each of the last two years top two in the Big 12 in passing. the only guy who's behind was Chodor Sanders in 24, I believe it was,

and in 25 is behind Sawyer Robertson and Baylor threw the football ever through their play because they had to. So I'm looking at Josh Hoover, and if we get a little Signetti sprinkle on there, they should be fired up if you're an Indiana fan. I see no reason why they should take a step back if we're taking Rourke and Mendoza to go have some of their best football of their career. You know, it is kind of interesting to think

because Josh Hoover, like eight months before he went to Indiana, I would have been like the most coveted quarterback possible. Like I think Tennessee would have cut off a limb to have him last March. Maybe the actual thing to do with quarterbacks in the portal is to go get guys who have had multiple years of production at a high level at a place that doesn't, you know, and most of the time, people like Hoover are the stars of the portal. But for whatever reason, he kind of flew under the radar a little bit, didn't he? Like he didn't, he wasn't in the same conversation with the Levits of the world. Well, I think because he, he had the chance to make this move last year and didn't.

He turned down more money to stay at TCU. We had Sonny Dykes on the show. It was very open about the fact that Josh Hoover had a chance to move to a couple of different places. Tennessee was the headliner of those. After Nico left, Tennessee was, was prepared to drop a bag on Josh Hoover. And he decided to stay. So I think maybe we were thinking. and, well, is he not going to make a move this year?

But, you know, the fact, and the fact that Indiana decided he's their guy, I think Mike Shanahan and Kurt Signetti, we probably should trust them because they've done this now, Curtis Rourke, then Fernando Mendoza, and now Josh Hoover,

I feel like their evaluations are pretty consistently good. And all three of these guys, though we haven't seen Hoover play at Indiana yet, come into the starting spot, at Indiana with a year or two of starting experience in college, maybe at lower level. Curtis Rourke 3 in his case, yeah. So, and Curtis Rourke is in the NFL guys.

Like, I know that, like, they didn't like go all the way. But, you know, he was an NFL guy. And I still, isn't he on the 49ers roster still? So, you know, it's, it's really, like, if you wanted to make a case for top three for Hoover just based on speculation, I think I could get behind that because you know how feel about feelings and like the the thought of what can be. But what makes this year's list easier and what makes it harder to rank Hoover in the top three is because there's a bunch of players unlike last year that are coming into the season with proven production value. Yeah. And I want to

talk about the guy who finished number one on JD's list. I believe he was number one when Kirk Herb Street joined our friends at Crane and Cohn as well. Dante Moore from Oregon. This is a guy who if he had gone into the NFL draft, I talked to a scout about this at the senior bowl. The general consensus is Dante Moore would have been a top 10 pick this year. He might have been the number two overall pick in the draft had he left. It didn't end well for Dante Moore in the Peach Bowl. That was a tough way to go out, throwing a pick six on the first play. And I think it's interesting because Dante Moore, his career has been kind of some interesting choices where he's going to go to Oregon. He flips to UCLA probably for more playing time.

early, gets that early playing time, and then goes into the portal and says, you know what? I don't know that I need to be a starter right now. I probably need to learn some stuff, sits behind Dylan Gabriel for a year, emerges as a very effective starter, but,

and maybe he's just avoiding New York Jets, decides to come back to Oregon for another year. I am excited to see how he grows in another year of that starting job. And J.D., I mean, think about the talent around him right now. It's ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous. And also, I know everyone's talking about how, you know, you lose Will Stein, but I mean,

Dan Lennon is just promoting internally, going to be relatively the same system. Like, I don't think Dante Moore is going to be having to learn a whole new playbook necessarily in Eugene with that being the move. And I can't imagine that was coincidental by Dan Laining. I just like what you said, Andy, of the decisions he's made throughout his career being so counter to every other move we see in college football right now of taking, like, the delayed gratification route. And the interesting part about his decision to leave UCLA and go to Oregon and sit,

and essentially him saying, like, hey, I'm not ready. I can still get better. He was right. Like, he did need that year. And he did reap the rewards from that. And so if he was right on that move, my gut is him making this decision to come back for another year to Oregon is he's kind of saying a similar thing outside of the whole New York Jets part of this equation.

He's saying, hey, I think I can still get better. And it's like, okay, well, people think you're a top two pick right now, Dante. and if you had a year that you had last year, we threw like 30 touchdowns, and you think you can get better, and you were right the first time you said that. If he's getting better from what he was last year to next year, like, I'm good on that.

Like, I'm signed still delivered on Dante Moore, which isn't the most like controversial take in the world. It doesn't really generate the most buzz, but I think it's hard to pick somebody besides Dante Moore with all we know about him right now. Yeah. I do like the patience aspect of this. I do think that as we continue to evaluate quarterbacks at the NFL level, one of the most

telling stats that has proven production, you know, guys, is multiple years or passes thrown or starts made in college. So he will have that year at UCLA. He will have a third year coming up. And I think that that's a really good thing for him. Now, I don't know if I think he's nuts for coming back because at a certain point, you do, you know, need to go take that leap to the NFL. but at the same time, guys, I don't know if I'd want to play for the Jets. That said, guess who's going to be waiting right for him next year? Probably Jets again, but they're probably going to take a QB this year.

So, like, they may be, they may be Ty Simpson's problem. And Dante Moore gets to go somewhere else that may be a better situation. And I think that's, I think that's smart. And it's one of those things you can do now in college football. I think there probably was a time, and it wasn't that long ago, that you would have looked at this situation. My OC's leaving. I can be the number two picking the draft.

I have to go, even if it is the Jets. But now you can make a significant amount of money in college, probably something similar to what you'd made year one in the NFL. Now I realize you get a signing bonus in the NFL, so there's a little more money up front in the NFL. But you're really not pushing your clock back that much. you're not hurting yourself financially that much. Even if there's like a Matt Barkley type tumble by staying in school,

you've still got a chance to go prove yourself in the NFL. And I think if we're talking about former Oregon quarterbacks, I think Bo Nix is a great example of somebody who got in the NFL and was better in the NFL because they had started a bunch of games in college. I think Sean Payton has said that. Like Bo Nix is better because he started a bunch of games in college, knew how to manage a game, knew how to handle various situations. situations that he didn't have to be coached to do that in the NFL.

And the thing is, like, if you can't do that by the time to get to the NFL, they ain't going to wait for you. They're just going to let you get, you know, beat up and discard you. So you have to know how to do that when you get there. Yeah. And I think you look at Oregon and what they bring back. I mean, his top two receivers are Evan Stewart and DeCorean Moore, which is a pretty nice situation.

It's pretty amazing. They have a lot of their defense back. Mateo Uiolole is back. right? Like this, maybe he looks at this too, and I don't know if this is part of the equation. Because, you know, all kidding aside, I don't think that quarterback prospects

or people who reach this level of athletic ability, like consider, I don't want to play for the Jets. I think everybody at that level views that they're the difference maker. Like, I don't think people ever think like that. I think we think like that, which is why I have to go on a long walk today to keep my weight down and I'm behind a microphone. But what, how much is,

is like the Fernando Mendoza path of being the first to do something at a place. Like if they win a national championship, which, you know, Oregon, again, will be a top five team in the, you know, BetMGM futures for national champion. How much does that mean to your future as being a fixture in the Oregon community? Like, do you give yourself a chance to do something that no one else has done at Oregon while also making a ton of money? Like, it's still like you're not costing yourself financial. gain. If he wins the first national championship at Oregon, like his life is different regardless of what happens in the NFL while also, you know, having that development, having that income.

Like I think that like if you look at his career moves, you might make a case that he should, he's the standard of what people should be doing in thinking. Maybe the lay gratification and development and all these things that he's doing are the actual correct path to not only, you know, carving out a legacy in college, but putting yourself in the best position to succeed in the pros. It's kind of similar to the arch conversation we had in the preseason because everyone was saying, oh, Arch, you know, batting a hundred to be the number overall pick and this, that, and the other with what Vegas is saying. But like if it's me and I have like mature people around me, giving me good advice, I'm saying, hey, you're good enough to be a first round pick, whether you're the first guy off the board or whether you're there at number 18.

Like your goodness would be a first ground pick. But don't you want to get that real money in the second NFL contract? Like it'd be nice to have a fun draft day party and celebrate you being the. the first guy off the board, but like, dude, the real excitement would be when you stay in the pro. So, like, draft day is great, but, like, if you're going to last in the league, you've got to get close to that Bill Parcell's number of 25 starts, and Dante Moore had his 20th start against Indiana. So, like, he's going to pass that threshold of what we have unofficially deemed as ready for the NFL for quarterbacks, and, like, we see it across

the league. Like, I know Jan Daniels was dinged up this year, but his season, he played a lot of college football. Bo Nicks and what he did, like Drake May played a lot of college football. and had a great first year in the NFL and just played for a Super Bowl. So like there's all those pieces to it to where if I'm giving Dante Moore advice and I'm taking advice of them, Dante Moore, it's cool to be a first round pick. But what we just said, I'd much rather last in the league and have that honest self-assessment of I can go play a long time in this league if I play a little bit longer in college.

Yeah, and they have a chance to do something special this year. They will be one of the most talented teams in the country. If we look at their schedule, it's not something they can't manage. You know, they play Ohio State in Michigan back to back, which is tough. They play USC on the road early in the Big Ten schedule. But this is a team that given what they have, I think it's a realistic expectation. They should be back in the playoff. They have advanced, you know, another round each year.

They started in the quarterfinals last year, got blown out by eventual national champ Ohio State. They make it to the semis, get blown out by eventual national champ Indiana. you know, maybe if they keep, stop meeting the eventual national champ, or maybe they go one more step and they make it to the national title game and lose to the eventual national champ. But I do think this whole situation with Oregon is like, Ari and I talk about this a lot with Georgia back in the day before they broke through. Like if you keep getting to the doorstep, you eventually get to go inside.

And I think Oregon is, that's that program. That's what they're doing. Every year they're doing the things you're supposed to do. and eventually you make it through. Don't you get that feeling it's sort of a matter of time for Dan Laning? I know the playoff losses are atrocious and you can't excuse those,

but don't you get that same feeling you had about Kirby of like eventually he'll get one? Ryan Day, like, hey, eventually he's going to get one. I know the moment sucks. I know losing the Peach Bowl and being embarrassed and having the entire Bloomington, Georgia, going crazy in that place. I know that's a tough feeling,

but when the dust settles, just what you said, Andy, he's only lost to teams that have either won or played for a national title. Even going back to the losses to Washington when DeBoer was there, like the team that he lost you twice in Seattle, one time being in the Pac-12 title game, like that team went and played Michigan for a national championship. So it just doesn't it feel very matter of timeish for Dan Laning? Am I on an island there?

No, I think you're exactly right. And I also think the fact that Dante Moore now is very experienced, has been through some of this. I think that helps. You know, when you have a leader on your team like that, who can say, hey, look, I know how it feels to get beat by the team that wins the national title title. I know what that looks like. I know what a national title team looks like up close and personal. Here's how we get to look like that.

I think that's the important thing. Yeah. If you go through and look at, and I know that the playoff is not that long in terms of data points. But if you actually think about, like, guys who are. continually on that stage, everybody eventually breaks through. But how many people have knocked on the door for five plus years and failed to eventually get through? I can't think of any. Was Mark Rick one of them? Like, I don't know. Like, Mark Rick never really got to knock on the door, though. And I think his best teams were,

were kind of eliminated by the system. Like the 07 Georgia team, had there been a 4 team or, I don't even know if they were to made a 4 team. But let's say there been a 12-team playoff in 2007, And I don't know that anybody could have beaten that team at the end of the season. So I do think in most cases they've gotten through when that's happened. So we'll see. But I think Dante Moore probably made the right choice avoiding New York Chats. And now he gets a chance to cash it in with the ducks. I want to stay in the Big Ten guys because

Ari and I were texting back and forth earlier about our friend Dane Brugler's top 100 list on the athletic. And it's for the NFL draft in 26. And Dane's probably the best draft analyst out there. And we were marveling at the number of Ohio State players very high up on this list. And I texted Ari. I said, these guys must be sick that they got knocked out in the quarters with that team. And Ari said, what did you say, Ari? Said it's amazing what not being able to block good ends does to a team.

Yes. And so that brings us to Julian Sayan, the Ohio State quarterback. And I was like, let's look at Julian Sayan against Miami. Like did Julian Sayan just, you know, have a horrific game. Did he just throw up all over himself against Miami? No, he did not. 63% completion percentage, 287 yards, 8.2 yards per attempt. He had a touchdown in two picks.

He didn't play a terrible game against Miami. Julian San was a good quarter. quarterback all year in his first year as a starter. They weren't particularly great at running the ball. And I think that's what got them when they had to play against Miami. They were just not balanced enough as an offense to play against a defense of that level. But do we think that with a little offensive line improvement, Julian Sayan can do very special things at Ohio State?

Absolutely. I mean, absolutely. I mean, going back to what you just mentioned about is Miami game, Andy, like even one of those picks, it's hard to 100% put on Julian saying because it was essentially a quick throw to the perimeter where someone misses a block and Keante Scott just cribs it. So like even that, you're saying that could have been even a better stat line where you got one touchdown, one pick, and darn near 300 yards.

So the thing with me with Julian saying is I think he just needs some exposure therapy to the big game. I don't know if you all ever saw that that Netflix special with Alex Holland, the free solo guy who's out there climbing Taipei 101,

whatever it was, like that crazy building. And he got asked about, like, hey, why don't you get scared when you climb these buildings? He's like,

because I've done it so much. Like, my brain isn't scared about heights the way that other people are. Like, I just need Julian saying to get that same exposure therapy

that Alex Honnold has to climbing tall buildings to some of these big games because what you mentioned, the Miami game, it's like, didn't play bad by any stretch of the imagination.

It wasn't the reason they would have won the game, but you need more from them there. The Indiana game, same deal. Didn't have a bad game by any stretch, but maybe you get more from him in the Big Ten title game and you get a different draw as the first overall seed in the college football playoff. So I think that pair is what you said. If you can get some more support behind him running the football, like we're going to be cooking here. 77% completion. Like that's tough to do in Routes on air.

And he was doing it during 11-11 D1 college football games. You know, I might be that guy. Okay. Julian Sands insanely accurate. He throws a beautiful ball and is certainly good enough to win a national championship at Ohio State. The one thing that I would neg him on, and maybe I'm being overly nitpicky here, so save me from that if I am. all the spectacular plays that Ohio State made this year, I felt like were more because the receiver was awesome than it was because of who was delivering it.

I don't know if I felt like Julian Sayan was the quarterback that was putting Ohio State on his back and moving and willing that team down the field. I thought that the people that were around him were more of the driving force or the inertia that Ohio State possessed than it was him. I don't know if I view him as the guy that's going to win you a game yet. And maybe part of the reason for that is because they played a terrible schedule and all the hard games they played, they lost. And maybe that's not fair. But who is going to will Ohio State to a victory?

Do we ever say it was going to be him? Or was it, how is Jeremiah Smith going to break this game open? How is Caleb Downs going to break this game open? How is Arvel Reese going to break this game open? I never got the sense that he was the truck in the trailer-vers truck discussion that other quarterbacks on this list might be. And that doesn't mean that he wouldn't be in my top five. He certainly would be.

But when you talk about exposure therapy, I think that's a very keen point. But I also want to see him excel in those moments. And frankly speaking, he didn't last year. So, you know, you think you ask coaches, though, what do you want in a quarterback? Get the ball out on time. Be accurate.

He does that, yeah. He gets the ball out of time and he's insanely accurate. And you said there weren't moments where you said, wow, that was amazing by Julian St. There were moments like that. There were throws that landed in the hands of Jeremiah Smith or Colonel Tate that they didn't have to do anything special. The ball found them because Julia is saying made a great throw.

And so I do think there were moments like that. Were there enough moments like that for you to believe that, oh, this is a person who carry a team to a national title. I don't know about that, but it also was his first year as a start. Yeah, we've talked about multiple times on this very episode, how much experience matters and how much being there, having done it matters. And Ari, and I want to get JD's opinion on this too,

because we had a segment on our show a couple weeks ago where you said, Ohio State is really going to get tested. by this schedule this year. The Big Ten truly tested Ohio State this year. And obviously they're going to Texas by choice. That's test enough. But Illinois, at Iowa, at Indiana, at USC, Oregon, at Nebraska, November, Michigan at the end of the year,

they are going to be challenged again and again and again in Big Ten play. So I do think we're going to get that answer, even though he's still throwing to Jeremiah Smith. I think we're going to get that answer, JD, on is Julian saying that guy? And I think my question to the question is, if you're Ryan Day, how much are you trying to put on Julian's saying, knowing you got the defense that you have? Because I think if it's me, I'm trying to make that first year starting quarterback as comfortable as possible, as little on his plate as possible.

And it sounds like the wrong way to say it. But I don't want Julian saying to be the reason that we, win or lose a game. I want him to make all the throws we asked him to make, but like, if it comes down to Julian saying, that means the defense wasn't holding there into the bargain, or it means pieces around him weren't good enough at different points in time to take the pressure off of him. So kind of a cop-out way to say it, but the thing I would say going into his second year as the starter is like, okay, now we no longer are in permit mode, with Julian's saying. Like, Andy, I'm sure you could attested this with your young son. Like, there's going to be a point in time

where he can only drive with you in the car. Like Julian's saying you can only drive last year with the defense and Ryan Day in the car. Now it's like, all right, here the keys. Don't cut anybody off and go the speed limit. Here we go, Julian. Like it's going to be on him this year. Oh, we had that moment. His 16th birthday was that moment.

I took him to get his driver's license in the morning. And he had football practice that afternoon. And my wife and I were like, wait a second. Are we actually going to throw him the keys and let him do this himself? And you have like, there is a moment where you just. just go, okay, I've done everything I can. We taught you as best we can. We're going to let you rise or fall here.

And I think you're right. I think that is what Ryan Day and new offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith, are going to have to do with Julian Sayan at some point this year in some of these games. Because to Ari's point about schedule, there are going to be more competitive games than they had to play in last year. and you're going to have to see, can he do this? Now, I will point out Arthur Smith, the new offensive coordinator, coming from the NFL, he's been with the Steelers. That offense was not exactly dynamic,

but I don't know that they had the pieces to be dynamic. When Arthur Smith has been at his best as an OC was with the Titans, when they had Derek Henry, they had A.J. Brown. They had Ryan Tannhill was a capable quarterback at the time. They don't have a Derek Henry. I thought Bo Jackson was a pretty good freshman back, but they don't have the, the guy who will just take over a game in the backfield.

So it is going to probably need to be saying and Jeremiah and the receivers. Yeah. And you know, there's Derek Henry that way. Just say, Jeremiah, outside zone, baby, here we go. You know, as you were talking about the analogy with your son, driving away on his birthday to football practice, you weren't in the car.

But, you know, if Jeremiah Smith were in the back seat, you'd probably felt a little bit better about that drive. I had life 360. I'm watching it the whole. way. Yeah, Jeremiah Smith is like 360 in this case. We're like, okay, all right, he's past that stop sign. Here comes the four-way stop. Can he handle that? Yeah. Jeremiah Smith is the ultimate safety blanket, security blanket. And now we'll see if the running game improves, does the offensive line improve? Because honestly, if they're averaging five and a half yards of carry,

suddenly Julian Sane's job gets so much easier. Yeah, and it's not his fault that Rubin Bain and Akeem Messador were, you know, building a fort in the backfield. So, you know, it's, and those are the wrong two people you want to have to face, you know, 10, 15. But the problem is throw that schedule up there again. Like, you're going to have to face that. Yeah.

Multiple times against this schedule. Like, Mateo O'iungalai. is on your schedule. Colin Simmons is on your schedule. Iowa is going to have dudes coming off the edge. Mikhail Kamara is on your schedule. Like, Michigan is going to have dudes. You got to deal with that.

John Henry Daly's in Michigan now. Yeah, I know I'm a psychopath, but bear with me. Was he Drake May this year where Drake May had a semi-easy schedule, you know, was really impressive in the moments that he had to be impressive in? then finally got to a really good team with an amazing defensive line and then got his ass kicked. And then you go into the off season trying to figure out, well, just how good is that person?

Like, is it the same? He was better than Drake May in the Super Bowl. For sure, but Drake May felt like he didn't have a chance in the Super Bowl. But Drake May also got 23 MVP votes. Julian Sayne was a Heisman finalist. It's the same exact thing. So I will say this. I don't watch nearly enough NFL to be able to contribute to that conversation.

unfortunately. I saw the Super Bowl. Super Bowl was bad for my guy, Drizzie Mae. The question I would have in tandem with this thought is like, would Ohio State have been in a better spot against Miami if they played Indiana during the regular season last year? Or if they played anyone with a defensive line that was like at all resembling anything Miami had? Because it feels like that schedule. That'd be excited for the playoff for Julian. If they played, now they did play Texas, which had a good defensive line, but probably not as good as Miami's was. you know, some of those DTs that Texas lost over the last two years, if you had them on the defensive line still would have been fairly comparable.

But, yeah, that would have been if they could have played Oregon and had to have dealt with that, if they could have played somebody else who could somewhat replicate that. Because by that time, you've only seen it really against Texas early, but you built the game plan to protect Julian saying against Texas. By the end of the season against Indiana, it was a different deal. But yeah, basically he had seen it against Indiana, and that was it. Well, their entire – The Indiana one wasn't the same thing either.

Their entire offensive philosophy throughout the regular season was a departure of how they wanted to play in the playoff, and they weren't able to out-click it. I mean, you remember they were one of the slowest playing teams in college football this year because they were trying to save snaps to mitigate risk for injury, and then they don't play anybody that could ever beat them, so why do they have to worry about ramping it up? Then Indiana gave Miami the blueprint to how to beat them,

and then Miami executed that blueprint. And it would have been cool and probably better for Ohio State to face Miami and week five get exposed the way they were in the semifinals. They could spend the rest of the year of game planning around what happens when you play defensive ends that can eat your face. And then, you know, team around that. Because like I do think that like, you know, for as much credit as we give in the- Is it because they live in South Florida that you default to eat your face? Because that one guy got on bath salts and tried to eat people's faces. Remember that.

That didn't occur to me, but yeah, I'll take credit for it. South Florida slander. All right. I'm excited for Julian saying because I think all of these questions get answered by the challenge of the schedule. And it forces us to find out what he is. And he's very good. Yeah. Don't mistake my criticism as me saying he stinks.

Please. I think he's very good. Oh, the internet will believe that. It's the second time. I made that mistake. I got one more quarterback for you guys before we go. And this one's not on JD's list. But there's a reason he's not on J.D.'s list.

We don't know if he's going to play in college football in 2026. If Trinidad Shambliss is back in 2026, how good's Ole Miss? I mean, they're definitely challenging for Atlanta. Without having their schedule in front of me, would like to think they're in contention for, like, the thing with Trinidad last year in the playoff game is like, he just took over that game against Georgia. Like, it was, we have Trinidad Chamblis.

you don't therefore we're going to win. So how repeatable is that? With Kiwan Lacey in the backfield, you'd like to think that's also going to help them a good amount during the regular season, not have to have a bunch of like Trinidad Chambliss and only Trinidad Chamblis kind of games. I'll say this.

If he's playing college football next year, he's top five if not top three on this list. I think what we saw from that playoff run opened a lot of our eyes to how good that cat truly is. And having another year and playing at that level of college football. I think all bets are off. They are the wild card of college football and absolutely the SEC.

I would agree on that. Now, here's their schedule. So here's their these are their SEC home games. LSU, Missouri, Auburn, Georgia, Mississippi State. On the road, Florida, Vanderbilt, Texas, Oklahoma. That is

about as challenging as you're going to find. Plus, they play Louisville to open the season. So it's so funny that they have to open their SEC schedule at home. against lane too. Yeah. It sounds like they did that on purpose. It is.

It's poetry. But to your point, J.D., he's so magical at times. Like, I go back to the play in the sugar bowl where he's just running backward. And you're like, this is going to be a disaster. You can't do this against Georgia. Nobody does this against Georgia. and he somehow gets out of it and completes the baths. Like he just, he does things that I don't know that anybody else can do.

It's instinctual. And so I am fascinated if he gets back into college football with another year having played, like having played, because remember, he'd played a division two. And he'd only been the starter for, you know, a year and change in division two. He wasn't, I don't think he was the full-time starting in 23. at Ferris State. So 24 was his first like full starting year in Division 2. And then you had 25.

So how much better can the guy be? Like that that's kind of the only way you get through that schedule and make the playoff. And the other thing too that I think I just want to have set out loud for this conversation is like I what I just said about Trinidad Chambliss and how magical he was and how much he could take. over a game and all those things. Like I sat in this same building a year ago and was like Lenore Sellers can carry South Carolina to nine wins again. He can put the team on his back and then last year happened how it happened. So like am I am I off base in that same assessment of Trinidad Chambliss and falling too much in love with the playoff when talking about him and Old Miss and what they could be? We've seen it actually more with Trinidad Chambliss than we did

with Sellers. Because what was Sellers was a couple like it was the first half of the L. LSU game in 24. It was a game against Alabama that they didn't ultimately win. And now are we sure that Alabama was all that good? You know, the Clemson game, obviously, but was Clemson all that good? So with Sellers, I think we can retroactively ask those questions. With Shambliss, I think we can agree that he went and beat some really good teams. He beat Oklahoma on the road.

He beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. You know, he was dynamite. You know, he beat that. I don't know how good the LSU team was he beat, but he beat them. Like, he beat some good, talented teams down the stretch. So I feel like, I feel more confident in saying he can repeat that. And we also saw him do it with Lane Kiffin and without Lane Kiffin. Yeah, absolutely.

And against that Miami team, too, that we just talked about that gave Julian Say and Fitz, like Trinidad Chambliss had that thing within, like, it wasn't even a Hail Mary. it was like a far pass away from them finding a way to go win that football game in the semis with the battle with them in Miami. So I think that point makes me sleep better at night with what I just said about Trinidad Chambliss. Yeah, it's going to, I hope he gets this purely as a college football fan. I know there's legal stuff going on that is over my head and that's when you and I can talk about that stuff, Andy, and you kind of break it down for me like I'm a small child.

That kind of stuff. I hope he plays college football purely for this conversation we're having right now. Well, we're going to find out about that. He's got a hearing in court in Lafayette County, Mississippi. Scheduled for Thursday. We'll probably get an answer, you know, maybe later this week, maybe after the weekend, early next week. We should know one way or the other on Trinidad Chamble. And I'm glad you brought that up, J.D.

And I want to thank you, J.D. for joining us. And I think you've given me the confidence to try to. find joy again in my quarterback list. I'm going to let Ari put his out. And then I'm going to make fun of his while intentionally going very opposite directions from him so that if he's wrong, I look more right. Understanding that I could be more wrong. We both can't have Flagway number one again. Like one of us has to be right, right? I think it's safe to say that neither us will have Lagway anywhere on

or unless this year. So that's probably good. I throw him in there number 10. He was a five star. Never, never let go. It's not out of question that he's good this year, right? Like, do you want to have a 10 minute lagway does come? No,

I don't. On the court of Syracuse. It's a long off season, guys. We have, we have plenty of time for that DJ Lagway discussion. But we do need to talk about eligibility and those court cases. So next up, Ari and I break down the Charles Bettyaco decision that affects basketball most directly, what could have affected football hadn't gone a different way.

Here's me and Ari on the biggest courtroom win for the NCAA in years. Alabama Circuit Judge Daniel Pruitt has denied Alabama basketball player Charles Bettyaco's request. for an injunction that would allow him to keep playing, despite the fact that he has played in the G League before. And Ari, I think there's a lot of champagne corks popping at NCAA headquarters and probably among a lot of the coaches and ADs who did not want to have a situation where basically anybody who's gone pro from college could decide to come back and play in college. Judge Daniel Pruitt, in Tuscal,

Lucid County Court. Now, the thought was, this is a home court advantage for the University of Alabama. He's just going to do what Alabama wants. That's not what happened. He basically swatted down all of these arguments like DeKimbe Matumbo in his prime, or kind of like Charles Betiaco, who's a bit of a rim protector himself. Andy, you always tell me I'm terrible at rooting for what's best for us. Champaign corked in my house, too. And I know that maybe a summer filled of lawsuits and discussing whether or not eligibility can be retained or regained after a person leaves might have been good for the show. But like I am happy because it feels like sanity has kind of prevailed tonight. And, you know, I am all for everybody having a chance to make money to put food on their

table, to earn generational wealth based on their talents. But like college sports in general has to, you know, have some guardrails and, you know, having former players who have gone pro come. It's just a nightmare. and I'm happy it's not happening for now. So basically what Bedriaco was seeking as an injunction that would allow him to keep playing while his case went to trial, we don't know if they'll keep pursuing this case or not.

But what the judge said is it didn't meet the requirements for granting the injunction. Basically, Bediaco could not prove that he would suffer irreparable harm if he didn't get the injunction. The judge wrote very clearly in the order basically said, he can calculate exactly how many dollars he will not get if he doesn't get to play for the University of Alabama. And he's welcome to sue for that. He's welcome to say your rule is unjust. Your rule violates this law, this law, this law.

And if I win the case, you owe me this amount of money. So that's one thing the judge said. Another thing the judge said, it was very clear the judge did not want to be the one responsible for rushing to the courthouse in various jurisdictions so that some guy who, you know, had gone to the NBA or some guy who'd gone to the NFL and decided, hey, I still have some years left on my college eligibility clock. I'm going to try to go back and play college. So I'm just going to do that. And this judge will grant me an injunction because this other judge in Alabama granted an injunction. That judge did not want to do that, did not want to be the one

who set that precedent. So that is where it's at right now. So Charles Betiaco can no longer play for Alabama. He played in four games. Alabama was two and two. They beat Missouri and Auburn. They lost to Florida and Tennessee, I believe. And he now, I guess, can go resume his pro career. And that's another thing the judge said is basically, you know, you can go make money playing basketball. This is not keeping you from making money playing basketball.

The reason Charles Mediacos was fighting right now is that he can make more right now playing for Alabama, then he could make playing in the G League. And I guess he's probably not going to be playing in the NBA. And obviously there are other pro leagues in Europe. He could play him. My mistake, five games. He played in five games. So they did beat Texas A&M also.

So three and two in five games. So Andy, you speak like a lawyer. You talk like a lawyer and you're probably as smart as a good lawyer. I am not a lawyer. And it's not even. Can I play the role for the show for the sake of the show? I'm the dumb layman. So for me, I always thought that at a certain point, somebody would challenge the NCAA's rules, regardless of what they are, eligibility, time, you know, removed from college, all these different things that stop people like Bettyaco from coming back to make money because they would fight in court.

You have no right based on these rules without a collective bargaining agreement to stop me for making a living. And what I think is interesting about this case specifically is that it's not that that's completely over with. He did not get granted the injunction. So in order for him to actually challenge the NCAA rules, my understanding based on talking to you, is that he would have to sue for that dollar figure to say the NCAA cost me X number of dollars, he would have to win that suit to show that that rule. Right. And that would invalidate.

the rule if that happened, probably. I mean, you sued in state court, it would invalidate it in that state, but more than likely, it's probably invalid. Everybody would do the NCAA for loss of income, and it wouldn't have been, it wouldn't be a tenable thing to fight anymore. So we don't know for sure whether Betty Akko is going to see that through all the way. What we do know right now in the immediate decision of this is that he can no longer play for Alabama.

What he does moving forward and what other people do moving forward. other places, other, you know, because like I, here's the actual question. There's a countless amount of people in the NFL right now that could probably make more money with a big one year NIL deal than they're making in the pros. Is that a fair statement? Well, and here's the here's the thing everybody was worried about. The football coaches were worried about this. The ADs were worried about this.

Because if this injunction got granted, it would have opened the floodgates. Lots of people would have gone to whatever local jurisdiction they could go to. where they could find a sympathetic judge. And basically on the first cut down day in the NFL, a bunch of guys would have been like, hey, hey, I just got caught. But I'm a pretty damn good college player. I got a year left. Let's make a deal.

Yeah. And then that also is the gateway drug to why do I only have a year left? Then it turns into why are these rules that I can't come back, turn into why are these rules to begin with? And then that opens up the whole other discussion, right? that we can talk about that and we talk about Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar trying to get an extra year. That's the thing. We lump these together because everybody's trying to get an injunction.

Charles Betiaco, the Alabama basketball player, Trinidad Chamblis, the Ole Miss quarterback, Joey Aguilar, the Tennessee quarterback. They all won an injunction, but they all are actually using different reasons to get the court to give them the injunction. and Bettyaco, it was saying the NCAA was applying its eligibility rules about have you better pro uneasily, which the judge, by the way, said they didn't apply this unevenly. You've heard Nate Oates, the Alabama basketball coach, say, oh, but all the guys who have the players who used to be in Europe, well, that's different. And they're hypocrites because those guys were pros in Europe.

The difference is they never came over and played college basketball in America first. They didn't play NCAA basketball first, then go pro, then try to come back. What the judge said is that rule where you can't play in the NCAA and then go pro and then try to come back, that rule has been applied evenly over time by the NCAA. So that's another piece of this. And we'll see what happens with Shamblis and with Aguilar, because again, those are different cases. They're also in local jurisdictions. So the Shambliss case is in Lafayette County, Mississippi.

Aguilar cases in Knox County, Tennessee. But they're talking about different issues, if that makes sense. Precedent is a word that's thrown around in law. If one state judge rules one thing, that doesn't count as precedent, right? Because it's its own individual state. This wouldn't have helped Trinidad Shamblis. If Betty Akko had gotten the injunction, it would not have helped Trinidad Shamblis. If Trinidad Shamblis gets the injunction, it will not necessarily help Joey Aguilar.

They're arguing over different things. But somebody had shamless, they're arguing over like a pretty basic NCAA medical hardship waiver decision. And they're saying the NCAA has applied those rules inconsistently. And they probably have a pretty good chance of winning that. I would say of these two left, that they probably have the better chance of getting the injunction. But my point is that if somebody in the G League who played at Texas decided they wanted to sue in state court in Texas, they could do that, and that doesn't necessarily guarantee that the ruling there would be the same as this. But that judge in Texas may say the same thing that Daniel Pruitt said in Alabama.

By using it. Judge in Texas, he or she may not want to have any part of being the one who opens the floodgates. And Daniel Pruitt's reasoning seemed pretty sound for that. Question, does Alabama, our producer River, ask really good questions. Does Alabama face any repercussions for playing an ineligible player? I do not think so. So here's the thing. Bettyaco was playing because the judge had granted a temporary restraining order.

Actually, it was a different judge before Pruitt came on in the case. The first judge recused himself. But he was playing on it a temporary restraining order. The language of the restraining order says that you can't retaliate against somebody for obeying the restraining order. And so I don't think that the NCAA would say, oh, these wins are invalid. The three games you won with them, those are,

we're striking them from the record. We're going to give you, we're going to make you forfeit those. We're going to say you were 0 and 5 with him. We're going to count those as losses when we decide if you're going to make the NCAA tournament. I don't think they'll do that. I think that you can,

because you risk violating that temporary restraining or even though that is gone now, But it basically says very clearly you can't retaliate because somebody obeyed it. I'm more of a feelings guy myself and I try to picture, you know, and this is a college basketball scenario, but I try to picture something similar happening in college. I'm trying to think like if Florida brought back, you know, somebody that went to the pros.

Well, you're talking about in football, John Summerall joked about trying to get Tim Tebow back. But somebody left hyperbolic, like somebody that left for the pro. I'll give you one, Caleb Banks. Let's say Caleb Banks, who by the way is probably going to first or second round draft pick, like he's not coming back. But let's say he was disappointed in his draft position because I think he has one more year. Like if he came back. And if somebody said, we'll pay you more than your rookie deal to come back for one year and he decided to challenge it. He played three games for Florida while fighting it during, you know, his legal battle.

Then it was the injunction was denied. And then he left Florida. like how college football culture would embrace the University of Florida moving forward. They would torture them over this. And they have, I would say that college basketball culture has tortured Alabama over this. I think Alabama has been pretty vilified over this and Nate Oates has been vilified. Isn't it kind of embarrassing? Like, and the thing that I really don't understand.

And listen, I'm no basketball nut. But what I do know is, is that they were three and two when he was there. It's not like they brought back LeBron in his prime. Like, the players not even. What they brought back was a quality big man, and they thought that would make that that might be the missing piece they needed. It turns out it wasn't. Yeah.

So it's like all that, like I just feel like too, like the court of public opinion and people pointing at you. Like if you're going to go put yourself through that, it should be worth it. And I'm not sure that this was. Not that, you know, maybe Nate Oates felt like he was doing right by the young man. You know, coaches will, you know, go out of their way to do right. by the young man if it helps their team good. The other coaches were not in support. Because a lot of the other coaches didn't want to deal with this.

Not just they don't want to play against those players. They don't want to deal with their former guys. Their own players coming back. Yeah. Do you imagine like some like third rate NBA guy that you were glad to see leave your program came knocking back at your door like or five of them. It did. Oh, it's happening.

There were so several players who had left for the NBA. There was one who had actually played in 10. NBA games. It was like, hey, I'm going to try to go to college next year. Yeah. So I imagine this will slow the flood of those people. Now, but maybe it'll stop people from leaving to go pro as easily. Well, they're stopping now. I mean, we've seen it in football. We've seen it with the quarterback class in this year's NFL draft. In basketball, we're definitely seeing it because you, if you're not a lottery pick, you are insane if you leave college basketball to go to the NBA.

Yeah. And maybe this is a net positive for maybe like this is a net positive. What I will be interested in Andy is if somebody who goes to the pros is undrafted or gets hurt and I don't know, whatever reason their NFL career doesn't go out the way that they, you know, implanted or even in the NBA, they try to sue in state court. Their injunction is denied and then they see it through and go all the way to here's how many dollars you would have cost me and they really shake the system. Like this is a step one of like, of how far. this can go and it's a pretty important.

And I think that's the question is, is the NCAA has actually had some success in these eligibility cases in federal court, which they had no success when it came to like paying the players. They got crushed in every case in those. But in this situation, in these eligibility cases, they've had success. That's why everybody's trying to do them in state court now, because they weren't succeeding in federal court. If they can't succeed in state court, they'll probably just stop.

But the attorneys will stop. Let's also remember that if a person wants to come back to school after testing the pro waters, that means they're probably not going to be an all-star in the pros. Exactly. Which means that they're more. And it's interesting because like one of the arguments that Daniel Pruitt attacked in his ruling was the, well, he can't go to, he couldn't go to college otherwise. And Daniel Pruitt was like, he's got some money.

He can go to, he can finish college if he wants to. Yeah. He's stopping him. But here's the deal, though. If you're not going to be a pro, a really good pro, and you need to go back to college and try to squeeze out whatever NIL dollars you can get left for your future, that's a sum of money that for a normal person like me or you would be worth fighting for. So I'm assuming that at some point, somebody may fight for it. Now, the number of people, I think, who would be willing to fight for it is dwindling. It's probably limited to people who were playing in the dawn of the NIL era.

because again, now you would be insane to leave. And I think the number of people who leave mistakenly or who overestimate how high they'll be drafted or how well they'll do in the pros, I think the number of those people is going to go down because staying in college money-wise is so much more of a sure thing. But forgive me and save me from being stupid, but this is the last question that I'll let you all shut up.

If you are forced to leave because you are out of eligibility, year-wise. Then you go to the pros. It doesn't work out for you in the pros. You come back. It's a different suit because Bettyaco had eligibility, but it's still different lawsuit. It's a different lawsuit about whether the eligibility rules can be enforced because you're limiting income and then you sue the NCAA for their stupid eligibility rules in your mind. And then you win loss of income cases. Then the entire system comes crashing down. And someone's going to do that. Correct. But like I said, they've been trying these suits and they're not necessarily having a lot of success.

The Diego Pavia thing was a very specific thing about junior college players being treated differently who played in 2020 than guys who played in the incidentally in 2020. Very specific. Made sense, the ruler. The general rules of you get five to play four and once you leave for the pros

from college sports after playing college sports, You can't come back. Those have pretty much held up so far. So I don't know if they will continue to hold up, but they've held up so far. And right now, I imagine there's coaches, ADs, administrators, conference officials, that sort of thing, saying, okay, they're holding up some more.

And we think they're going to hold up a little longer. Yeah. So we'll see. Again, we will be talking again about injunctions and court cases and local courtrooms and local courthouses with Trinidad Shambliss on Thursday with Joey Aguilar on Friday. So stay tuned on three, which is now your source for legal news.