Andy & Ari On3 - Realignment Autopsy: Washington, Oregon, Arizona State officials speak | Plus Gators, Crimson Tide

Episode Date: August 7, 2023

Thanks for checking out today's show!Want to watch us on YouTube instead? Click below and don't forget to subscribe!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6bx4rPFaxYSome of the people who moved their schools to new conferences stepped to the mics this weekend to explain why they moved. The presidents and athletic directors of Arizona State, Oregon and Washington offered a glimpse of how the Pac-12 fell apart and their schools wound up in the Big 12 and Big Ten. (0:00-19:35)Plus, Bobby Petrino speaks at Texas A&M's media days and we figure out who is calling the plays in College Station. (19:36-22:10)Later, Nick De La Torre of Gators Online joins to discuss Florida's open practice. Which freshmen and transfers can contribute quickly? (22:10-37:43)Meanwhile, Florida State landed the top-ranked safety in the class of 2024 on Saturday. How has the Seminoles' recent on-field progress helped high school recruiting? (37:44-41:45)Then Tim Watts of Bama Online joins to break down comments from new Alabama offensive coordinator Tommy Rees and new defensive coordinator Kevin Steele. Plus, Nick Saban updates the QB competition. (42:10-1:08:47)The Extra Point tonight heads back to College Station where Offensive Coordinator Bobby Petrino was giving some wonderful insight on his relationship with head coach Jimbo Fisher (1:08:48-1:11:31)

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. The world remade itself on our day off, so we didn't take a day off. We did an emergency pod on Friday, but when we did it, we were in the moment. We still hadn't heard from the people who made all the decisions who decided that Oregon and Washington would go to the Big Ten who decided that Arizona Arizona State and Utah would go to the Big 12 who decided that the Pac-12 would effectively no longer exist as a power conference so now we have a chance to hear from some of those people to see. There were interviews on Friday.

Some talked on Saturday. And a little clearer picture forms of everything that happened and how things ended up this way. And it's about what we thought that the deal that George Klyavkov got for the Pac-12 members was not considered good enough. Everybody started looking around. Arizona was looking around, but Arizona was tied to Arizona State, according to Arizona State President Michael Crowe, that they were not going to leave without both of them leaving. So that could have been a very interesting situation

because it looked like Arizona was already gone, but apparently the holdup and why you didn't see the Arizona State and the Utah piece of that come together was Arizona State was holding out to the very, very end. And then also, apparently, there was a meeting scheduled the morning on Friday with the PAC-12 members where they were supposed to sign a grant of rights. And according to Michael Crow, Oregon and Washington didn't show up.

And now there are a lot of other sides of this. And one other side is from Anna Maria Cossé, who is Washington's president. And she talked about why they made the decision they made and what their situation was going into Friday. Yeah, for President Cossé, you mentioned that for more than a year, you've been working to keep this conference together. And Commissioner Clay Afcoff was very confident at media days that a deal would be done. Obviously, there have been a lot of meetings in the last couple of days. When was it clear to you that the Big Ten was where Washington needed to be? I have to say that this was heart-wrenching.

It was backwards and forwards. And there were moments when I thought it was going in one direction and then in another. Like I say, at the end, we looked at the deal that we had, the only deal that we had. And it was clear that it was not giving us what we thought. It was not the deal that we had been discussing just days before. And it was not going to secure. You know, when you have a deal where people are saying that one of the best aspects of it is that you can get out of it in two years, that tells you a lot. And we really needed to have the stability for our players, for our coaches, for our teams. And like I say, there is no question that the Big Ten is a leading conference and that we can play together with our colleagues there a really important role in shaping a future.

There's a lot to unpack there. saying is that that apple deal with the pac-12 as of friday or as of thursday probably was not the deal that they'd been presented earlier in the week that something had had changed or and then also that the primary aspect of it that was being sold was you could get out of it in two years now i'm i suspect washington and oregon demanded something like that so I don't I don't necessarily think casting shade on that is works for her because she probably was one of the people who wanted that just in case the big 10 came calling so but now that helps clear up the picture a little bit about why the timing worked the way it did. And here's a little more from Anna Marie Cossé about that decision-making process. We had expected to have a couple of deals to look at. It didn't turn out that way.

Like I say, I want to be clear. I don't want to point fingers at anybody. This was a really, really difficult situation that the commissioner found himself all year. He worked really hard. I have every reason to believe that offers fell apart because of other, you know, factors beyond his control. But at the end, I do think that at least some level of linear TB mattered. We have a history with the PAC-12 networks that wasn't a good one. Again, it's not, you know, that I think that there weren't long-term possibilities, but there was enough. The fact that there was enough uncertainty that a plus was the fact that we could opt out tells you something. We had been living in uncertainty for too long to continue in that level. It makes it very, very hard to build. so what she's saying is they'd been led to believe during this year-long process of trying to do a media rights deal in the pac-12 that there would be some sort of linear aspect to it so a cable

network or a broadcast network an espn a fox an nbc a cbs something like that and when that didn't materialize that was a a giant red flag and. And so she says she's not pointing fingers, not blaming George Kliapka. Sounds like she's blaming Larry Scott, the previous commissioner. And there are some factors that neither one of them probably could have predicted. And that was the cable bundle falling apart faster than expected and networks just not having the kind of cash on hand to pay a bunch of different conferences. Basically, once the Big 12 made its deal, that was kind of it with Fox and ESPN. And if they were going to show up, it was going to be for pennies on the dollar. And that's instead, Big 10 basically got Oregon and Washington for pennies on the dollar.

Jen Cohen, the athletic director at Washington, said she wasn't going to get the specifics of the revenue share that they're going to get from the Big Ten, but obviously it's going to be lower than what the other members get, the older members. Now, why you still do it is you're going to be a full share member at some point, and that's still going to be a lot of money. And in the meantime, you're still making more than you would have had you stayed in the Pac-12. Let's go to the other side of it. Let's go to the school that went to the Big 12. But judging by the quotes from the president, they went kicking and screaming. This is Michael Crowe, who he's Arizona State's president. He was with Ray Anderson, who's Arizona State's AD. And they talked

during Arizona State's football practice on Saturday. So you hear that music thumping in the background. That's because the pads are popping. Can you walk us through, Dr. Crowe, the last several days from your vantage point, what happened Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday? Lots of energy drinks. So what's been going on is that a number of us, including me as some of you report, have been strongly committed to the maintenance of the PAC-12 conference as a thing. A West Coast conference of schools that have been around for over 100 years playing together in a regional environment committed to similar objectives about student-athlete success and so forth and so on. And so along the way, what has happened the last few days is that we were offered a media contract by the Apple Corporation, which was a technological 23rd century Star Trek thing, a really unbelievable

capability that we were very interested in, ASU was very interested in. Digitization of all ASU football games, all men's basketball games, and all women's basketball games instantly, available anywhere in the world at a touch of the button from any device anywhere, digitally then manipulable by the watcher, both during the game and between games and between multiple games at the same time, as well as usable by athletes for recruitment and so forth and so on after the games as an archived thing. And so we thought that there was some risk, but huge opportunity. So several of the schools were committed to that, but it created another destabilizing moment of sort of tradition versus this modern thing. Michael Crow, do not try to put lipstick on that pig.

We've all seen Ted Lasso. We know how Apple TV Plus works. Maybe you don't. Maybe you don't because you called it a 23rd century Star Trek deal where most people could just call up Silo or Hijack on their phone. Like they understand how that works.

And by the way, all the Star Trek shows are on Paramount Plus, which just shows, again, you don't know how your apps work, but that's, it was not a good deal. But Michael Crow, true believer, the guy who kept Larry Scott employed in the Pac-12 wanted to make sure that everybody knew it's not his fault. The Pac-12 fell apart. He, to the detriment of his athletic program, tried and tried and tried to keep it in there. So let's hear a little more from Michael Crow and also from Ray Anderson as they discuss how this all went down

from their point of view. So was the Washington and Oregon departures the kind of the final straw? Yesterday morning at 7 a.m. was another call meeting of the PAC-12 presidents and some schools didn't show up so you might know that and therefore the conference is no longer viable. Can you say how many didn't show up?

Two. How much responsibility do you feel towards the destruction of the PAC-12 or do you feel like it was ripped from you by other people? Well that's an interesting question and so how do we feel about the was ripped from you by other people? Well, that's an interesting question. So how do we feel about the destruction of the Pac-12? And what do we feel about our responsibility for that? We were the stalwarts fighting for the Pac-12 until the last ditch.

I'm telling you. I can reiterate that. The destruction of the Pac-12 is a very bad description. We had nothing to do with it. We were trying to save it and stayed in the trenches as long as we could until it became clear that it was no longer in our control. So I take offense, very frankly, to the question, but I hope you get your answer.

We were there to the last moment when it became clear that in the best interest of ASU and our student-athletes, it was time to make a decision affirmatively and move. So at that moment, just to be clear, so there was no media option at that point. So the media option, which we preferred, was to go on a new technological trajectory where individual athletes and recruits and families could engage and fans could engage anywhere, anytime, especially younger people coming up. It's a whole new world about television.

Cable television is going in different kinds of directions. And so, you know, you have two teams not present and no media contract. You got to act. Again, Michael Crow, we watch NFL games on Thursdays on Amazon, like 12 million people a week watch those. We know how all that stuff works. It's not that futuristic. It's not any sort of Jetson stuff. But yeah, Ray Anderson said he's not going to Morgantown. Real classy. The holding the nose up at the Big 12, by the way, the clearly holding the nose at the Big 12. If I'm TCU, if I'm Baylor, if I'm all of the teams that are welcoming you with open arms in the league, I would like to welcome you by kicking the crap out of your football team if you're going to act this way. So there's a good chance they might do that. But it is amazing

how that works. One other thing I want to bring up, and this is something that we talked about a little bit on Friday, the idea of continuing rivalries now that teams are no longer in the same conference. And I went to the University of Florida, guys. Florida and Florida State play at the end of the regular season every year, and they're not in the same conference, and the world doesn't end. They figure it out. Georgia and Georgia Tech used to be in the SEC together. Then Georgia Tech left. They kept playing. They play every November. Clemson and South Carolina used to be in the ACC together. They don't play in the same conference anymore. South Carolina went independent and then went to the SEC.

They still play every November. It's not rocket science. You can figure it out. Good news is it sounds like the people involved want to figure it out. Here's Washington AD Jen Cohen talking about continuing the Apple Cup. I've had a chance to talk to Pat Chen yesterday. I think many of you know he's a dear friend of mine, and we're both really committed to this series

and committed to the state and all of our fans, not just for football, but for all of our sports. We are still working on the complexities of our football schedule in general for the future years. So Pat and I will continue to work on the best plan to play the Apple Cup every year. All right. I take it your word, Jen Cohen. Just do it.

And go to Pullman every other year. And they come to Seattle every other year. Play the game. Tell the Big Ten you want to play that game in November. You know what the Big Ten is going to say? Awesome. Because we can then take one of your other games and play a conference game for you in September

because everybody likes that on TV when we mix it up instead of our teams play three MAAC teams in September and then we move on to the conference schedule. So good, very good. Elsewhere in the new Big Ten, Rob Mullins, the Oregon AD, was asked about continuing the game against Oregon State. Would you commit to playing a home and home in football with with Oregon State into perpetuity? First part of the question, when when you're in these kind of discussions about media rights, as with anything in the league, you're having you're having constant communication with all of your colleagues.

So absolutely, there is continuous communication with all of them. But, you know, obviously our focus is, you know, we focused on the Pac-12 and then having the conversations as well with the Big Ten the last couple of days. As I said earlier, our goal would be to schedule Oregon State in every sport that's possible. Football scheduling can be complicated. So that is Rob Mullins talking about scheduling Oregon State. Yes, you've got to do that. Your schools are 41 miles apart.

You've been playing forever. You're in-state rivals. Just do it. That's all I ask. Just do it. So hopefully that'll get done. But another interesting piece of this is what happens with Oregon State, Washington State, Cal, Stanford. And I think the assumption is that they'll stay as a conference and grab all the Mountain West teams, but they're not in a position of strength. They're not in a position where they can actually do that. And so Tom Berman went on Ryan Thorburn's podcast. Tom Berman is the AD at Wyoming, and Ryan covers Wyoming for the paper out there. And it's the Pokescast is the nameburn's podcast. Tom Berman is the AD at Wyoming, and Ryan covers Wyoming for the paper out there.

And it's the Pokescast is the name of the podcast. Really interesting interview. And this is the most interesting part with Tom Berman talking about what he thinks might happen, which is not necessarily the remnants of the Pac-12, the new Pac-4, consuming something else, maybe getting consumed by the Mountain West. Is there any concern that the Pac-4

will be attracted to what they see as brands, Boise State, San Diego State, and try to pick off their top four list and create a problem that way? Or do you think the Mountain West would be better off, you know, is more galvanized to add them instead of them adding Mountain West teams? Well, I can guarantee you the first thing that those four schools are going to do is do everything within their power to try to find a, a big 12 ACC,

big 10 doesn't matter. They're going to try to find something better, but that is going to be very, very difficult. I'm not sure any can do that, but there's a few that I, I think probably cannot do that. And I feel terrible for them.

They have enormous financial problems going forward. And that's going to cost people jobs. It's just sad. It's not a good situation to be in. But they will figure it out. They're big universities with great states behind them. And my guess is they can figure out a way to finance this to get themselves back together and and and see where the next 10 years goes but i do worry that um there could be a group that tries to um pull whole institutions from the mountain west into a new fabricated pack eight nine ten whatever league um that's going to be very, very costly because there's a large exit fee for those schools to leave. And, you know, we were unwilling to give any flexibility to San Diego State

when they were talking about it. So I'm assuming we're going to be consistent and do the same going forward um and i think it's important for people to realize the pack four is not the pack 12 and it's not going to be an autonomous five league because there's not going to be five when this all when the dust settles in the next year or two i served three years on the college football playoff and I will be shocked if the current structure for access to the new 12-team playoff is not altered because six conference champions, some are going to say, is irrelevant in the current. There's going to be change in how it all unfolds,

but I think you got to look at it through a future lens, not the lens that is today, because the lens today is going to be changed. So we got this question earlier from Jeff Fuller. Do you think the third edition of the 12-team college football playoff will drop an auto bid and add an at-large, or could the mid-level conferences fight to keep the currently planned 6-6 split well you just heard a group of 5 ad talking about that and

he doesn't sound real confident that they're gonna have six at-large bids once all the dust settles on this thing speaking of the dust settling we've we've covered realignment almost to death and i think it's time to talk about some more actual football. To do that, we bring on Nick Delatore from Gators Online. Nick, I'm going to ask you Gators questions, but I have some video to show you from elsewhere in the SEC that happened today. And I think we need to celebrate it.

It's something every one of us has talked about, whether we cover this school or not. And we have a definitive answer. You ready? You ready? You know what it is? I don't. Bobby Petrino is calling plays at Texas A&M.

He admitted it. I know it's a collective effort, but will you serve as the primary play caller? Yeah, I mean, it is a collective effort. I've been calling the plays out at practice and I will do that. But a lot of times the plays are called throughout the week. So as you game plan and you're in there, you put down your third and shorts and you know what you wanna do run wise, you know what you wanna do pass wise. Then you practice them, then you go back and rank them.

And a lot of times it's like, okay, we get third and one, ball's on the right hash, the call's already made. You know what I'm saying? So you just have to be able to be disciplined to do what you did in practice. I think that's when I've always self-scouted myself. I didn't do it as much based on what the defense was looking at and what they were doing, but I always did it based on did we call what we did in practice and did we execute what we executed in practice?

And if we didn't, why not? What's the issue there? So I want to make sure that we spend time preparing our players and they understand situations and they can rely that they're going to get the play calls that they worked on and practiced on and got better on during the week. Our long national nightmare is over. We know who's calling plays at Texas A&M this season. I'll believe it when Jimbo doesn't have that Waffle House menu and a headset

on that. That's when I'll believe it. You know, that's a cheese cake factory menu, man. With the pages. Yeah. Yeah. keep the calories off of it listen if i'm at cheesecake factory i know i'm not making a great choice don't show me that exactly now the waffle house menu is actually very efficient it all fits into one page uh what he has is 10 waffle house menus so uh yeah we'll we'll see how that goes i you're right need to see it maybe for the season opener but i want to see it when they go to miami like are you are you really chilling out or or the reading glasses on and the you're looking for the orange chicken but you're stuck on the salads that have 2500 calories500 calories. Orange chicken's page seven, Andy. I know.

The brunch menu in the back is the best one. So, Nick, you actually got to watch Florida practice for once. And that doesn't happen very often. This is a team I feel like they have tried very hard to not let us see a whole lot. But I've gotten a sense from when I've talked to people, we saw Billy Napier at SEC media days, that there's a little bit of quiet confidence that is not reflected in the Vegas win total.

Yeah. I think the big talking line, big talking point has been that it's not just the players that are in year two of the system. It's the coaches and the staff. And you've been out at practice. You've seen the absolute gigantic army of a staff that they have. Those people also know how to go.

So I think from an efficiency standpoint, they're really excited about how quickly they're able to run through things. They're not teaching not only the players, but also teaching assistant coaches and trainers how Billy wants things run. And then from a standpoint of the portal, the guys who wanted to leave, the guys who didn't buy in, that didn't want to be a part of this, they're gone. And you got guys who wanted to be in, who bought into the program.

So when Derek Wingo and other players say things like, this is the closest team I've ever been on, I'm like, yeah, well, it's August. You haven't lost a game yet. We hear that every year. Right. Every team in August is the closest team I've ever been on. I'm like, yeah, well, it's August. You haven't lost a game yet. We hear that every year. Right. Every team in August is the closest they've ever been. But I think there is a little bit of credence to that just in that the guys who didn't want to buy in,

who wanted to jump ship, they had their opportunity and they did. And the guys that are here want to be here. Now, do you still want to be here if the team has four losses in October and you're not getting reps and you're not getting snaps that that remains to be seen but right now there is quiet confidence in that building so I think probably that what everybody wanted to see was one what do some of these transfers look like and two are there true freshmen who can come in and play right away and there were early enrollees We got to see Kelby Collins in the spring, got to see Andy Jean in the spring.

One's an edge rusher. One's a receiver. The one I'm curious about is a receiver, Eugene Wilson, who did not come in the spring, but all the people who follow recruiting told me that he's from Tampa potentially could be a real threat joining Ricky Pearsall early. This is a kid who I think if Ricky Pearsall would have chosen to go to the NFL would be

your starting slot receiver. And that's how highly I think of him. He came to campus, he's benching over 300 pounds, he's squatting over 400, and he's 5'10", a buck 80. He's back in my playing weight, maybe in your middle school weight, but putting up college Andy reps in the weight room. So this is a kid who can make moves in a phone booth, make you miss in a phone booth. I think he'll get some chances on punt return as well. But Ricky Pearsall has also played some outside receiver. And as Florida looks for guys to replace some of the guys they had outside, if Pearsall can do played some outside receiver. And as Florida looks for guys to replace some of the guys they had outside, if Pearsall can do that, that helps his NFL stock,

showing that he's not just a slot receiver. But if you can get Trey Wilson, which is what they call him, Eugene Wilson III, if you can get Trey in, that allows Ricky to go outside. And then I think you have a couple guys with Caleb Douglas, Eugene Wilson, and Ricky Pearsall, that can give you a nice threat in the passing game for Graham Mertz. Yeah. Well, speaking of Graham Mertz, that's another guy. Everybody wants to know, I did not look good in the spring game. Looked like the defense was

manhandling the offensive line. Where is he in this offense? I think Graham's getting much better. And, uh, I was very skeptical because all the, all the teammates were saying he's the first in, last out. And I was like, well, this is a kid who spent three years in an offense and now has what he would probably like one more year before going to the NFL to learn a new scheme. He needs to be the first in and the last out. But I think his work ethic has made an impact on the coaching staff and the team. And I think you're seeing Graham's more comfortable now. In the spring, especially the spring game, I think Austin Armstrong was out to show something with some of the defense he was calling,

which maybe didn't play into Graham's favor. But I think he looks like he can be a game manager. They're not going to ask Graham Mertz to be Kyle Trask. They're not going to ask him to be Danny Warfel. You've got three unbelievably talented running backs and offensive line, which if can stay healthy, should be able to block for you. And Graham just needs to make those short intermediate passes

to keep defenses honest. If Florida's running the ball the way I think they have the capability to, you're going to get defenses sinking in, and then you can hit something up the seam and get them to back off. Well, one of the most interesting things I saw you guys report out of that practice was that Micah Mazzucco, the Baylor transfer who had shoulder surgery in the spring, was doing full contact. And that was a big question when he had surgery about would he be ready for the start of the season or how long would that recovery take? Having shoulder surgery for me, especially with an offensive line, I had a labrum tear in high school and you can't do any pushing. And then on Saturday, everything you're going to be asked to do the entire time you're on the field as an offensive lineman is pushing another 300 pound human being.

So to me, my biggest issue was I think he'll be ready for August 31st against Utah. But what has he been able to do in the weight room? What's his football shape going to be? So I think getting him on the field for fall camp, even though he's in non-contact, but getting him going through some of those reps, through some of those motions, I think is huge. There has been a good update there with Najee Harris,

the freshman from IMG, who's getting first team reps with Mike and Mazzuca not starting or not being able to play as much. So you're getting some depth, but I do believe it's a great sign to see Mike Mazzucca on the field in contact. So you mentioned we were texting earlier that you now, I mean, it's everybody knows Graham works starting quarterback, even if they haven't actually announced it yet. What's the backup situation now yeah that's interesting I think if you go out to practice and we're finally able to get a full practice there's a clear one two three it's Mertz Miller and then Max Brown but to me what does the

backup situation look like if Graham Mertz goes down in the first quarter against Utah and breaks his ankle and he's going to be gone for a long time. I think you turn to Jack Miller and have some packages for Max Brown because Max Brown has a running ability that's not Anthony Richardson, but it's more than Brown and Mertz. And I think he can give you something else there. If Florida's offense is just stalling, I think Max Brown's the guy you'd go to, not Jack Miller, to try to inject some life or some enthusiasm into it. So even though I think there is a clear one, two, three, Max Brown's athleticism

and what he can bring to the table with his legs is vastly different than the other two options. I think that's something that we maybe see towards the end of the year. So Nick Elias Gray asks, he said he really likes Floridaora's back but the big question is the defense can can they avoid being forced into passing and uh that is the question this is a a defense that really the final couple years of the dan mullen era and last year was was not up to snuff didn't feel like there was a lot special on the d line other than jervon dexter who i i felt like had to play too much and was getting gas most games. What have they done to shore up that defensive line and, and, you know, make it where the offense doesn't have to outscore everybody.

You hit the transfer portal. You, you add banks and, and, and Cam Jackson, uh, from Louisville and from Memphis. And those are two guys who I think could start, um, Des Watson last year at 420 pounds played 386 snaps. That's how little depth Florida's defensive line had. You had Gervon Dexter basically playing every snap on defense as a defensive tackle. So I think the biggest thing for Florida is that they've added more depth with Chris McClellan, Banks and Jackson.

And you've got guys now Tyreek saps one that I don't bring up enough. A little bit of an undersized defensive tackle, but a guy who's going to play a ton for them this year, just being able to rotate guys. I think Chris Rumpf said it to me one time when he was coaching at Florida. I learned that at Alabama, that those big guys have one gas tank and there's no refilling at halftime when those big guys are one gas tank and there's no refilling at halftime when those

big guys are tired they're done and I think you saw that as Florida kind of wore down some latent games you should be able to have a much healthier and fresher defensive line throughout games and throughout the season I think that'll be a huge key because you know if you can blame the cornerbacks but if the quarterback had seven seconds to throw that's it's hard to cover somebody for that long so defense uh starts up front and and uh i think ford would be but will be better up front yeah i think people get so used to watching georgia just roll those guys in and out that that's not how most teams are built up that they don't have that that's what florida's trying to build too but it's not that easy. So when you see this team play now, does it look more polished than it did the last time we saw it?

Yeah, I think so. I don't know if I've moved off of. I think Florida's schedule is really tough. I think you need to get some wins up front because that back schedule after Georgia with Arkansas and LSU and a sneaky 11 a.m., which I'm guessing kickoff in Columbia local time late in November. I think there's some some losses on the back end of the schedule.

So I think Florida, when we talked about at the beginning of this segment, Andy, believing in themselves, get a win at Utah, beat Tennessee at home, start feeling good about yourself early on in the season. So you have some confidence for when things you know, when you have to go to LSU, when you have to go to Jacksonville to play Georgia. I'm more excited about the team now after seeing them. I think Caleb Douglas is a guy, another, another freshman Dijon Johnson in the secondary that I like a lot. So I'm seeing more guys that I think we will be able to run in and get some reps. I do still think this is probably a seven win Florida team this year. I think people would take seven wins,

seven wins on how they're constituted and who's playing well. Yeah. You don't need, you don't need five blowouts and seven squeakers to, you know, seven squeaking wins. So it'll be interesting. And to me, it, the recruiting class is so good, and it's kind of the scales of justice. How bad can the season be? How good does the recruiting class need to be to kind of level it out? And I think where they are right now with 21 guys, they're set. And now you're kind of trying to cherry pick

and add a cherry on top of the sundae and grab a high four-star or a five-star. But I think the vision with the recruiting class that they have in 24 is going to sell fans enough as long as you don't look terrible in the field this season. See, I think both of those things go together. I think to make sure all those players sign with you in December, you've got to play somewhat well. If it's a disaster, you about where florida is right now we'll

actually would next segment we're going to talk about the on three industry team rankings of course they're at number three right now you know if they are not playing well if it is a disaster if i am georgia alabama auburn you know oklahoma texas all the people who are going to be recruiting against florida i'm just hammering away on these players you sure you want to do that you sure did it but if Florida looks good if they're winning games if when they play a more talented team they're playing tough those guys are going to sign it's the it's the age old well these aren't these aren't our guys and despite that I think by my count, there's 70 guys, whether they're walk-on or transfer portal or recruiting class,

that Billy Napier did have a hand in recruiting on Florida's roster right now. The recruiting tactic of these aren't my guys. We need you here. We couldn't run the ball, star, five-star left tackle. Look, we gave up seven sacks to Georgia. We need you playing left tackle. So there, there is some of that that you can, that you can play, but also, you know, is Brian Kelly sending, uh, DMS to, to a high four-star five-star guy.

If LSU beats Florida by 30 in that route, a hundred percent, he probably, yeah. So you can't, you can't get, you know, you can't get kicked in the teeth all year and expect it to keep the class. Trojan in Hawaii says, be careful counting on a victory against Utah. No one's counting on that. Florida's going to be a touchdown underdog at Utah. Everyone was surprised when Florida beat Utah last year.

It took a Superman effort from Anthony Richardson to beat Utah at home last year. Yeah, that was one of the more stunning wins that I saw last year. I figured Utah would come in. And if you watch Florida play the rest of the season, it made it more surprising because Utah, very good team, won the Pac-12, beat USC twice. So, yeah, I'm not expecting them to go to Rice-Eccles Stadium and win,

but I'm excited that you get to go watch a game at Rice-Eckel Stadium, Nick, because it is a night game there is awesome. I'm looking forward to it. I've never been to Utah. I thought my first time to Utah would be to ski, but I guess I'm not expecting snow. Hopefully no snow later this month there. But going to get up to Yellowstone and get some great sightseeing

while I'm out west. But the biggest thing for me there is what is Cam rising? And even if he's playing, what is his health? And if Cam rising is not 100%, if he can't run like he did last year and extend plays, then Florida has a better chance. Because I think Austin Armstrong is almost looking forward to a guy seven months off of ACL surgery, taking the first snap and how many guys can I blitz and how much pressure can I bring?

Well, and, and Kyle Whittingham, I think kind of try to manage expectations at Pac-12 media day where he said, Hey, it's going to come right down to the wire. Yeah. As to whether he can start or not. So that, yeah, that's, it's going to be fun. Now I have two words for your time in Utah. High West.

That is the distillery based in Park City. The Rendezvous Rye is awesome. The American Prairie Bourbon is awesome. And then they have one called Campfire that is a blend of the rye and the bourbon, which sounds weird, but i promise it's spectacular see you got everyone listening andy and i have known each other for a while he knows the way to my heart he knows how to book travel for me where's the rye where's the bourbon knows

exactly where i need to go and we won't waste i don't think i will waste time i i really think you should land in salt lake you, if you're coming on Wednesday, just drive over to Park City, park your ass at the High West Distillery. Actually, don't drive over to Park City. Uber over to Park City. Uber. Yeah. Park your ass at the High West Distillery, close it down, and then Uber back. Beautiful. Listen, I could be a travel agent. I i'll help you plan you are you are the high cholesterol travel agent of the south exactly in the midwest high alcohol content too so all right nick de la tory from gators online thank you so much for joining us

thanks andy when we come back we will have a recruiting update. You know, the Gators, as I mentioned to Nick, having a pretty good year in the 2024 cycle. Well, their in-state rivals creeping up, especially after a big, big commit this past weekend. We'll be right back. And we're back. So we're talking a little recruiting now.

And listen, I'm working for on three. We're going to talk recruiting more. That's how this works. But there were some really interesting developments in the recruiting world this past weekend. And I mentioned Florida State right before the break. Florida State got a commitment from five-star safety KJ Bolden from Beaufort, Georgia on Saturday. Bolden is the number one safety prospect in the class of 2024.

He was looking at Auburn. He was looking at Georgia. He was looking at Alabama. The Noles got him. And this is something I've been wondering is at what point would the improvement on the field from Florida State, which has been achieved largely through the transfer portal, result in better high school players coming to Tallahassee? I think we're seeing that now. And you can scream, oh, it's NIL.

I don't care if it's NIL. The battle's in. The collective that services Florida State has done a remarkable job managing that situation, making sure that people like Jared Burse and Jordan Travis stay. But listen, if it helps you get players, and look, I know you're not supposed to induce them. They're all inducing them. It doesn't matter. You've got players looking at Florida State who were not looking at them before. It was a long time. They had Travis Hunter. They lost Travis Hunter to Deion. But now they're sitting at number four in the on

three industry team recruiting rankings, sitting ahead of Alabama, just behind Florida. This is a good spot for the Noles right now. And we'll see how they how they close this class out. But it's this is what they've been building toward. And the fact that you see Florida and Florida State together in the top five, if they can have that be the case in December when this class actually signs, I think that's a great sign for football in the state and just a rivalry that hasn't been what it needs to be. So we'll, we'll see what happens with that. Another one from the weekend, five-star running

back, Nathaniel Frazier, the number one running back in on threes rankings. He's from modern day out in orange County in California. He committed to a, you're never going to guess. Oh yeah. He's going to Georgia. So they've got the number one quarterback, number one running back. I believe they have the number one linebacker. Yes, yes. I mean, another one of those classes for Georgia. As you just saw, Georgia number one on the on three team industry recruiting rankings. Now, the next team I'm going to mention, not on the top 10 of the team recruiting rankings,

will probably never be in the top 10 of the recruiting rankings, but they got their highest rated commitment in history over the weekend. Four-star receiver Gatlin Bear, top 100 player, becomes the first top 100 player to ever commit to Boise State. Now, part of the reason that Boise State doesn't get any top 100 players is they don't get a lot of local top 100 players. Georgia has top 100 players in the state of Georgia every year. Florida Florida State, top 100 guys in the state of Florida every year. Gatlin Bears from Burley, Idaho. They do not have top 100 guys in Idaho very often. But the home state school got him.

So he's going to go play on the blue turf. One of the fastest players in America. One of the fastest players in this class. He was looking at Michigan also. But ends up committing to Ohio State. We shall see if the hometown guy winds up there in December, as we'll always tell you with all of these commitments. They are non-binding until they sign a national 1110.

So we'll wait and find out. But good news for all those schools over the weekend. When we come back, a school that almost always gets good news on the recruiting trail, Alabama. We'll talk to Tim Watts from Bama Online. So Bama had its media day, which means it's the only chance you get all season to talk to defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, offensive coordinator Tommy Reese. Tim Watts and I will break down what they said, along with what Nick Saban said about his quarterback situation. We come back.

We are joined now by the great Tim Watts from Bama online. Tim, it's a big day in Tuscaloosa because it's the day that the coordinators actually talk to the media. We only get one of those until the, the playoff, if they make it to the media. We only get one of those until the playoff, if they make it to the playoff. So savor the

Tommy Reese and the Kevin Steele quotes. Yeah, they'll look totally different the next time we see them. They'll have 10 pounds or a layer of muscle or a full-grown beard, so it's going to be a minute. But everybody waits to hear them talk, because you don't hear from them. Now, still, they probably heard.

You hear Kevin Steele talk he sounds like basically the you know a guy that could win any karaoke concert he's got that deep voice so you know who he is but seeing Tommy Reese for the first time was interesting we've had a lot of comments um how young he looked like he obviously is a young guy but he looks like he almost could be a player he's a a baby. I mean, he was playing for Notre Dame not that long ago. It really wasn't that long ago. No, it's crazy, yeah. So that's the thing with these two that fascinates me because it's two different situations completely,

and one of them is very familiar to Alabama and one of them is not. The Kevin Steele situation is very familiar. It is Nick Saban going out and finding someone who has done, who's worked with him before, who's been either with him somewhere else or with him at Alabama, speaks his language, does everything that he likes to do, knows exactly what he wants. Then you've got Tommy Reese completely outside the family, the product of a nationwide search.

I mean, he talked to the guy at Washington. He talked to Tommy. He talked to people all over the country. And he's adjusting to this new working environment that is a little bit different than everywhere else. Yeah. You know, what's interesting to me is how the flip-flop went. So last year you had a defensive coordinator that Saban knew from when he was basically a baby. He was as young almost as Reese was when he showed up.

But then you had Bill O'Brien, former NFL head coach, probably didn't need a lot of work, you know. So you flip-flop him. You bring in Kevin Steele, you know, a guy that Nick Saban obviously trusts. He's been around the program. He's been around everywhere if you think about it. Kevin still has a long, long Wikipedia page. So he doesn't have to really worry about the defense, which has probably been the biggest concern the last couple of years.

You bring in Tom, you got an offensive guy, they can work together. And I think it's going to like, you know, the guys that come in and think different really help Saban take that offense to a next level with the new wr some new wrinkles and new twists what's interesting about the the new wrinkles and twists though is that it's not really a new offense it is with the offense that they run and Tommy Reese actually got asked about that because you know a lot of times when a coordinator comes in they bring their scheme with them everybody else players and coaches have to learn it when Alabama brings in a new coordinator you learn Alabama's scheme the coordinator learns the language and they call

it that way let's let's hear Tommy Reese talking about that coach in the past rather offensive coordinators that have been here like Brian Dayball Mike Loxley obviously Bill O'Brien they say coach Saban wants you to learn the offense as opposed to bringing in your own system. Is it almost like going back in time and learning a whole new offense, and how steep has that learning curve been for you? Yeah, first of all, I think it's the right way to do it. You know, there's been a system in place here for however many years, and you have players here that are familiar with terminology, with what you're trying to accomplish, and so to say one guy's going to come in here and

change everything would be the wrong way to approach it. You know, I full heartily agree with that. You know, the learning curve is what it is. I don't find it to be too steep at all. You know, I think when you have a general base knowledge of the game, there's only so many run plays you can run, only so many pass concepts you can have. It's just training your brain to switch how you call it. So really it's not, wasn't a steep learning curve at all. This offense obviously has been prolific over the last decade and to come in here and say,

we're going to change all these things will be foolish. There are certain things that we want to do or alter, look at to enhance it, but a wholesale change would never make sense. And so, there are still times where, you at to enhance it, but a wholesale change would never make sense. And so, you know, there are still times where, you know, you got to remind yourself, hey, this is, you know, we're calling it this. And again, we have a great staff, great support staff with our analysts and GAs that help us, you know, with all those issues and all those little things. But our players have really bought into what we're asking them to do. And, you know, for me to come in and

learn the system was really a smoother transition than maybe, you know, for me to come in and learn the system was, was really a smooth, smoother transition than maybe, you know, I anticipated. So Tim, what do you, what do you think this will look like ultimately? Cause you know, we did see Notre Dame is, it was very run heavy, throw to the tight end, a lot Alabama, probably more talented across the board, similar, probably talent leveled offensive line and running back. But what do you think the Tommy Reese version of the Alabama offense looks like? Yeah, I think the skill players at Alabama are going to be different. I know the speed will. Alabama's found a lot of guys at the wide receiver position that can absolutely fly,

probably not as polished of wide receivers as you're used to seeing with the guys we call right outs with Judy, Ruggs, Waddle and Smitty, you know, but you know, it's, that's the comparison for Alabama fans, but there is no comparison to those four really the greatest group I expect we'll ever see. But he's got speed guys at the receiver. They bring in the big tight end CJ to pray from Maryland. They've got Amari not black. They've got Robbie. They've got tight ends and he'sack. They've got Robbie Uch. They've got

tight ends, and he's always had a tight end heavy offense, so I think they'll make, you know, that's a joke with Alabama fans, too, by the way. You know, everybody that commits baseball, basketball, football, ice hockey, they want to know, can he play tight end, and they always ask the same question, so now they actually can play tight end. They got a big time one committed also, Caleb Odom in this class. So I think we'll see more of the tight end. But also I think they can stretch the field with those receivers and the speed.

OJ Howard's like, man, I was born like 10 years too early. He's a monster, yeah. It's amazing. I was looking him up. He made a ton of money. Never really made a ton of plays. And he was such a phenomenal looking athlete. I mean, he just is unbelievable.

Clemson left him wide open a couple times, and it worked out for him. Yeah, he got paid off. Yeah, he got paid off of that. So I think the offense can be opened up. I mean, they've got a good offensive line. Wilford's doing a good job of getting that sort of nasty. And like you said, Notre Dame sort of had that physical gun game. Oh, yeah, they've got great offensive linemen. Alabama's preaching that more than ever. Alabama like you said, Notre Dame sort of had that physical. Oh, yeah, great offensive lineman.

Alabama's preaching that more than ever. Alabama's had talented offensive linemen, but it's been a little bit more finessed than they're used to. You know, you go back to, I guess, Barrett Jones is a classic example. You know, a guy beating up A.J. McCarron when they're up 40 at Notre Dame in the national championship game. You're used to that mindset, you know, those guys that would fight you. I think you're getting a little bit that more. I know the valuations are heading that way, the players

that way, and the competition's really thick there. So that's going to help. Well, and I would imagine that makes Alabama fans, especially the older Alabama fans, pretty happy because they, I'm sure they've enjoyed the past happy Alabama, but at some point they want to be able to run the damn ball. And this does seem like just from a personnel standpoint, because the backs are so deep and, you know, I'm really excited for Justice Haynes, but, you know, it feels like they can be a pretty run heavy team. Yeah. You know, that's the thing, Alabama fans, they wanted to score 50.

They didn't, they were tired of winning 19 to 11, you know, well, they scored 50. Well, the other team started scoring 40, 38, you know, that's the thing. Alabama fans, they wanted to score 50. They retired a win in 19 to 11, you know. Well, they scored 50. Well, the other team started scoring 40, 38, you know. So it's kind of been a love. You know, Alabama fans want to score 50 and give up nothing, which is, you know, obviously impossible. But, yeah, they've got the running backs back there. You know, we talk about Justice, those guys,

but a guy like Jamarian Miller, highly recruited guy, he's shown small flashes of what he can do. Obviously, Jace is an older guy. Roy Dell, you know, you've got guys on campus. Richard Young's another freshman. So they've got some backs that can do some damage and the big guys. But I think last year when you look, one of the problems with that team was they couldn't really – they couldn't get that third and one, that fourth and one.

Like it was a given for many years. You know, just that third and one was nothing. and one. Like it was a given for many years. You know, just that third and one was nothing. I mean, you knew they were coming right at you. They could have told you to play and got it. But last year you saw it, even in the Texas game, you saw fourth and one, couldn't seal the game away by getting that yard, had a slip in the back belt with Roydale Williams. So I think you're going to see a little bit more of that physical.

And all these quarterbacks, the main guys competing, are guys that can tuck it in run. So there's an added element. I mean, everybody talks about Jalen Milrow and what a great athlete he is. And he is, but you know, you know,

Simpson and Buckner, they're not anything that, you know, to, to, to shy away from if they wanted to get them out there in the open and bootleg. Well,

I remember Buckner when, when he was starting at Notre Dame against Ohio state and season opener last year, before he got hurt. You're like, okay, this guy can move a little bit. This is – because Ian Book could move a little bit and people didn't realize it. And that helped Notre Dame's offense quite a bit over the years.

And so it was clear that they liked that mobility there. And they had to completely retool their offense when Tyler got hurt because Tim Kline was not that mobile. But, yeah, I think you're right. I think the mobility of the quarterback is going to matter. Now, I'm curious about the receivers, Tim. You mentioned you're probably never going to see a collection of talent like they had 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020.

But who among these guys might be the next high round NFL draft pick at receiver? You know, I think Jigori Brooks, I don't know how high of a pick he'll be. I don't know what his 40 times going to be. Certainly again, the first round you got it. You got to have that 40 time down, but I think he's going to be a guy. You can look to, to stretch the field. The one I keep waiting for is Isaiah bond because he has first round speed.

He's got top 10 speed, world first round speed. He's got top 10 speed, world-class speed. He's still a little bit of a work in progress. You got a legitimate track guy who's getting out on the football field. Also Benson, the junior college player, he's a guy, and you watch those guys, you see them in JUCO, and they don't always have the best quarterback, but he's a guy I got high hopes for. He's another one that's got the Jets. And, you know, that's the thing about the NFL when you start talking about draft picks. If you can run, that's the key because we've seen guys that if they can fly,

you know, they think they can teach you to do the rest. So, they've got a lot of young guys. Jalen Hale's a guy that they signed from Texas last year. I'm still looking to see when he takes that next step. He's got that – you know, Texas has that polished wide receiver. They play like a million seven-on-seven games. They run a million routes in Texas. They're throwing the football in, you know, six –

you know, in Alabama we're still running the Rui Winti at six years old. You know, the quarterback's out of shotguns. So, they've got guys that can step up. And Kobe Prentice is another one they found from clear that Mike Loxley had committed early on. So, they've got some speed guys that can step up. And Kobe Prentice is another one they found from clear that Mike Loxley had committed early on. So they've got some speed guys that can run around out there. So you mentioned the quarterbacks. It's a three-man race right now, Milrow, Simpson, Buckner.

Nick Saban got asked about those guys today. And interesting, some historical perspective he gave us that I was pretty interested in. What does it say about the competitiveness of the guys in the quarterback room that you already had that when you brought a transfer in in the spring that they all decided to stay and compete for the job? Well, I think they all have an opportunity to compete for the job. But this job that you all talk about at quarterback, I've told our quarterbacks, this is not, fall camp is not the beginning of the end.

You've got an opportunity to separate yourself, to show that you can play with consistency and play winning football at the position. But that competition goes on and on and on, and we need all of the quarterbacks to continue to improve and to continue to compete even far beyond the time that we name a starter. I mean, we've had circumstances around here where quarterbacks have changed during the course of the year.

You know what they are. You understand the history of what's happened at this place. And so that's going to be the way this situation is. Somebody needs to separate themselves. And then I want all the players to continue to compete so that they can improve. So if they do get an opportunity to play, they're going to be ready to play and play well. I love that his answer to that is essentially it doesn't matter who we pick as the day one starter because I will replace my starting quarterback at halftime of the national championship game if I need to. Yeah, when you have that reputation, you remember the year they

started out with Blake Barnett was a starter. Jalen Hurts took over and didn't turn it over until halftime of that national championship game. So you know that he will roll the dice out there a little bit. I think quarterback's so interesting for Alabama because they went like however many years it's been just to, you know, spoil before guys are going to be starters in the NFL back to back to back to back. It's crazy. Let's go to the list because you mentioned Blake Barnett.

So Blake Barnett starts game one in 2016. That's that USC game in Jerry. Jalen comes in. I can't remember if it's the end of the first quarter, beginning of the second. Never gives it up. He's the starter throughout that season into the next season. And then Tua takes over. So you got Jalen Hurts, who, you know, one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL right now took his team to the Superbowl last year to a tongue of my love first round draft pick. We'll see what happens with the concussions but there's no doubt about his ability in the nfl mac jones i mean just first round draft pick easy bryce young heisman trophy winner number one overall pick you we talked about those receivers but this is

a level of spoiled that i don't know that many programs have ever had. I mean, four in a row starting in the NFL. I mean, maybe USD had that run a while back, but even, you know, even though Matt Beiner never really took the reins, you know, in the NFL with the Cardinals, but yeah, I mean, you have all that. And that's why when there's uncertainty with the position and there's definitely uncertainty, but all, all of all the uncertainty is not bad. You know what I mean? You have guys pushing.

I love the competition edge. I love, I love a little bit of, you know, I go back and forth. If you ask me tomorrow, what I think, I'll probably tell you a different quarterback than I would today, but I love the fact they're battling. And like you said, this isn't going to end, you know, you, just cause you lose the starting job, the first game, doesn't mean you're even going to not finish the game out. So heavy competition. You know, it's funny. I had several people that think Dylan Lonergan might be the best of the bunch, which is you. I mean, like recently, like they're still, you know, Travis Ryder, who works with me on B.O.L., loves Dylan. He doesn't matter. He loves Dylan, but I've heard this repeatedly that people watch and think Dylan has the

biggest upside, which would be an amazing story. So backstory on this, Tim, on, on my old show, I, and I prefaced it every time by saying, I realize I am overreacting to a couple series in the spring game, but after the spring game i was like dylan lonergan's the guy just wait you'll see it'll happen but here's obviously you know that coaches can stage manage spring games to to get you what you want sometimes the quarterback will be challenged more by the defense sometimes he won't but i will say watching everybody play watching

those the four that played because holstein played in the spring game as well you know you're watching milrow and you're watching simpson and and you can see kind of see the gears turning as they're trying to work through the offense and deal with the pass rush and everything lonergan and maybe it's because he plays baseball at a high level and i'm not sure where it comes from. But he just comes out there and he's like, just licking his fingers, like, oh, all right, let's go. And you saw, like, he jumped off the screen.

He obviously wasn't going against the ones, but he also wasn't with the ones. So, I mean, he looked the part of a quarterback. You know what I mean? Like, if there was a movie and they were auditioning somebody, Dylan would have got that role. You know what I mean? So, he looked the part. He rolled you know what I mean like if there was a movie and they were auditioning somebody Dylan would have got that role you know what I mean so yeah he looked the part he rolled out he's comfortable um that'd be the best story ever because he was kind of an afterthought in the class you know everybody focused on Eli Holstein and some other guys and then Dylan came on late uh Dylan got crystal ball to South Carolina for a long time yeah they thought yeah they thought

heavily and then bad because I was really thought Bama was done. And then all of a sudden it's like, well, we kind of like this Dylan guy. And I was like, well, that's interesting. And you know, they've had a history of doing stuff like that before signing two quarterbacks. I mean, Matt, Matt signed with Tua, you know what I mean? So, um, this is a guy that signed four running backs in the class. So there's nothing really off the table with Nick Saban. So that would be the best story ever. Now I think the true freshman he's not where you know knowing the

offense and all that he's not where you want to be but the fact I've even heard that from different people that don't know each other has always been like oh man oh man wow you know yeah it's it's very interesting but it does sound like it's it's Buckner, Milrow, or Simpson probably at the first and the Buckner thing you know, or Simpson probably. Sure. And the Buckner thing, you know, I think people assume because he's the transfer that he just handed the job because he worked with Tommy Reese. He didn't leave a starting job at Notre Dame. He wasn't promised squat. So this is a real competition.

Oh, absolutely. And it's not like, you know, Tommy Reese is going to make the final decision alone. You know, there's not going to be one guy to stand up and name the quarter. I mean, they're going to have a lot of people with an opinion in there. I think it does help. You know, I'm mixed on it because he knows Tommy Reese, but he doesn't really know Nick Saban's system. And it is a new system.

But I do think there's a trust factor there with, you know, Tommy bringing him and having coached him and all that kind of stuff. But, you know, when it comes to the sexy, he's probably the least sexy of the three. I mean, obviously Jalen, you know, he's a next. I mean, he looks like Adrian Peterson to me. Like when he runs, I've never, I mean, he looks like a professional bodybuilder that's running in the four fours,

which is what Adrian looked like. Ty Simpson's got that smoothness. His dad was a college football player. Buckner you don't really hear as much about, but I've seen those guys. I think a lot of people would say Greg McElroy wasn't a sexy choice at quarterbacking. You saw him play some games. McElroy was the backup for Tebow.

They didn't even offer him to the night Tim Tebow committed to Florida, so he was committed to Texas Tech. So, yeah, overall, I love the competition. I love that we're talking about the quarterback position because it seems like a long time since we've been doing that. Well, yeah, because they've had somebody else just ready to jump in. Speaking of somebody else ready to jump in, let's talk about Kevin Steele coming to run that defense.

This is a man who looked very comfortable talking about running Nick Saban's defense and he even said he just hey look it's Nick Saban's defense but I've been running it for years so the thing I always admired about Kevin Steele is what happened after Clemson because when he got fired at Clemson it was a very embarrassing situation they had been torched by West Virginia in the Orange Bowl it looked like he was had fallen behind in terms of dealing with what what the newest offenses were going to do and then he he has the the time as an analyst at Alabama re-emerges at LSU and suddenly he's one of the best at stopping those up-tempo offenses and and was really good at it at Auburn too

so it obviously things didn't work at Miami last year, but. You know what? I'm not, Miami's just a tough job. You know what I mean? I wouldn't blame anybody, but I thought he did a good job at Auburn. I mean, the only one to even come remotely close to slowing down that. I mean, seriously, like people acting like that's just one game. Well, that's one big game. He gave him a chance to win. The offense didn't, their offense didn't do it, but they had a chance.

Also Auburn's defense was a nasty defense under him. I mean, the thing that you like is you, you know, Auburn has a tendency to put a lot of guys in the NFL and you don't really talk about them a lot. You don't hear a lot of them when they're being recruited and, you know, lower ranked guys, it's not the big name guys, but you look up, they're all Americans. They're all sec. They're going high in the draft. Kevin still had, you know, did a good job with that of evaluating.

I think that carries over to Alabama where you're also, if you're Alabama, you're pulling from the national pool when you recruit. So I think there's a lot to like, and also against, you know, when it comes to Kevin still seen so much, you can't replace that experience. And like you said, he walked up to that podium. There was, you know, when it comes to Kevin Steele's seen so much, you can't replace that experience. And like you said, he walked up to that podium. There was, you know, shot you as straight as you could get, right? Struck, hey, this is his, you know, calls him coach and it's his scheme, but I'm comfortable doing it.

He said everything right in that press conference. So one of the reporters asked Kevin Steele about returning to the Alabama standard, which is clearly a term that maybe the players have been fed for their interviews and has been using the media, but it's not used internally. Here's Kevin Steele's response. Excuse me now, bringing back what? The Alabama standard to the defense. Well, that's kind of a loaded question in some regards in that this process is built, and it started in 07. I was here.

So it hasn't gone anywhere. It really hasn't. Obviously, offensive football has changed. It's harder on defense right now at this present time than maybe it's been in a long, long time. But the process is the process, and that's the things I talked about earlier in terms of physical mental toughness, relentless effort, dominate your opponent and do your job. It's just as simple principles. Obviously, schematically, we have a defense that that can put pressure on offense. I mean, it's built that way. We have a lot of moving parts in that regard.

And it's just knowing your job and doing your job. Yes, Coach. You've been here before, and so obviously you are very familiar with this. I'm curious about if when Coach Saban brought you back, if he had something like he had with Lane Kiffin where he said we've got to do something to change whatever's going on. And I wonder if he had any directive like that, a specific directive to you when you came back.

Well, obviously part of that question is a question for the head coach, why he did what he did. But coach always has directives for whatever's going on in this building, any point in time. So, yes, this is what I want and this is how I want it. Was it different than what it was before I got here? I don't know. I wasn't here.

It wasn't any different than it was the other two times I was here. They tried really hard to get him to throw Pete Golden under the bus. Yeah, that's not going to happen. I mean, again, he's a pro's pro. He's dealt with so much. He's been to SEC several times. He's been at Alabama several times. I think he gets it.

And also, he's the ultimate professional. I don't see him calling out another coach in any circumstance, especially when he doesn't – he wasn't here. He said that. He said you have to ask Coach Saban what his motives were. He wasn't here for it. So I think you're seeing a pro's pro, and that's probably what that staff needs. And, you know, Pete related well to the players.

This is my theory. Pete related really well to the players, was almost like a big brother or an uncle. So it's hard for Pete. Who's very young to, to, to really come down on hard on the guys. You know, I know a lot of them like Pete, I think Kevin still is going to be the type to be very strictly business, handle it, pat you on the head, you know, tell you what he,

what he thinks about what happened and then walk away, which, you know, you know, I'm old, I got kids.'s what i do i yell at him and i walk away you know i'm hanging out with them yeah you're not you're not there to be the best buddy you're you're they got their own friends i got some order absolutely but it was interesting the press conferences went good i thought yeah i was i was very impressed with with Reese he handled himself very well and then I kind of you know you know what you're going to get from Kevin Steele so yeah I'm again I keep turning back to Alabama the more I learn about this team I feel like and because initially I thought okay maybe LSU is taking that step maybe LSU should be favored in the West. I flipped on that before SEC media days. I still think it, you know,

I still think it's Georgia and the SEC, but sure. The more I learn the better I like Alabama. Yeah. With Alabama, it's just hard. I get that. I get the questions. I mean, I've never spent a long time since I remember this questions, you know, this many questions, two new coordinators, a new quarterback, that alone makes it as rare. I mean, how many people in the country have that situation? Two new coordinators and a starting quarterback.

So just a lot going on. But, again, change doesn't mean bad things. It's been changed before. And, you know, the offense changed and mixed up some stuff. But I do think we're going to see more balanced. I mean, I don't think we're ever going back to three yards in a cloud of dust. I don't think we're ever going back to three, three hand, three yards in a cloud of dust. I don't think they're ever going back to that. If you do, you're going to be, get the, get the break speed off of you. But,

I think we'll see a little bit more balanced because Alabama at some point offensively was almost like a seven on seven team. It was like a pickup game. They were just scoring so easily. So I think you're going to, you know, and of course the offense controlling the ball is going to help the defense as well. You know, I can't imagine being on defense. They score, you go out there, then, you know, you sit down and then boom, you hear two has dropped a touchdown pass into Judy's lap and you're like,

crap, I'm back out there. So yeah, maybe the office can help. Yeah. Help them out a little bit. So for your Bama online merch store, just a suggestion. All right. T-shirt. Crimson T-shirt, white writing. Front of the T-shirt, run the damn ball. Back of the T-shirt, make his ass quit.

It's going to sell like hotcakes. Absolutely. Absolutely it would. I'm going to give you a quarter every time I sell one. Love it. Love a royalty. Tim Watts, thank you so much. Appreciate it, man.

Thank you to tim watts the originator of the team site basically one of the first to ever create one with bama online and a lot of good intel on the tide i've been waiting to see what's going to happen who's the receiver that's going to emerge because that that's that was one of the things they were missing but his point about them being able to pick up short yards on the ground when they need to kind of being a lost art there if they can get that back it does change things a bit but my extra point going somewhere else in the sec west and we talked about a little earlier in the show and i can't stress this enough we finally know who's calling the plays at Texas A&M okay we always knew it was going to be a Bobby Petrino Jimbo Fisher just didn't want to say it out loud but Bobby Petrino admitted on Sunday he's the one calling the plays he also explained the dynamics between himself and Jimbo Fisher let's hear that. You know, I've, I've read or heard, or I've had people send me

things about, you know, you and coach Fisher getting along. That's not really how it works. Okay. Coach is the boss. All right. I'm, my job is to try to keep him happy and make sure that everything works, you know, the way he wants it to work. I understand that more than probably anybody because of the number of years that I've been the head coach. But it's been a lot of fun, you know. Coach is a ball coach, and the ability to go in the meeting room and watch video and listen to his philosophies and his techniques and fundamentals, I've improved a lot as a coach and my knowledge has improved a lot as a coach

just in the short time that I've been here. Has it really been fun? I want to know. Are we just saying this? Are they really having fun? We're going to find out. Because the greatest part about the Bobbyby petrino experiment in college station is there is no middle ground it will be spectacular or it will be a spectacular disaster

either way that's spectacular we will talk to you tomorrow dear andy episode get your questions in email them to me on video if you want. I'll send out the links or just hit me up on social. Andy underscore staples on X or on Instagram. Talk to you tomorrow.