Andy & Ari On3 - Tennessee’s offense is so fast you’ll puke | Caleb Williams is QB1; Who is QB2?

Episode Date: March 28, 2024

Need to sneak in those tournament games while at work? Prime Video has you covered. Watch every game live, on your phone, on your laptop, or relax and watch at home on Prime Video, with a subscription. Prime Video gives you choices to add on channels like Paramount Plus and Max, both featuring March Madness tournament games, all in one place. It’s March, it’s Madness, stream it all on Prime Video.Learn more now…https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/storefront/ref=atv_hm_spo_c_rEmqNT_6_2?contentType=tournament&contentId=amzn1.dv.icid.64a44c0e-3ac7-4b14-ad4d-c2a438001f2c&jic=8%7CEgNhbGw%3DThis show also is sponsored by FanDuel. Go to fanduel.com/Staples to sign up and receive $200 in bonus bets with a $5 bet.(0:00-2:23) Intro - Sweet 16 Starts tonight!(2:24-7:28) NCAA Banning Prop Bets?(7:29-14:55) Who is WR1 in NFL Draft?(14:56-34:14) Tennessee Center Cooper Mays Joins(34:15-37:59) Dear Andy Begins - Covering Spring Games(38:00-50:36) NFL QB Draft Class - 1983 or 1999?(50:37-55:55) Best College Basketball Job(55:56-1:01:54) Top offenses in 2024(1:01:55-1:05:39) Princely Umanmielen's Comments and Ole Miss Recruiting?(1:05:40-1:13:06) Florida State and ACC Realignment(1:13:07-1:15:10) Robert Downey Jr., the best Nick Saban?(1:15:11-1:16:02) Conclusion - March Madness is Upon us.... again!It’s a Dear Andy show, but first we’ve got some news and a very special guest.NCAA president Charlie Baker wants sportsbooks to stop taking prop bets involving college athletes.LSU receiver Malik Nabors ran a blazing 40-yard dash at the Tigers’ pro day. Could he be the first receiver off the board, or will it be Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr.?Next, Tennessee center Cooper Mays joins Andy to talk manning the middle of one of the fastest offenses in college football. How different might the Volunteers look with Nico Iamaleava at quarterback? Mays also explains what it’s like to snap and then try to block a 330-pound future first-rounder.Next, it’s time for Andy to answer your questions…Is this quarterback draft class closer to 1983 or 1999?If Kentucky is the best job in college football, what is the best job in college basketball?Which college football offenses will be the most improved in 2024?And more…Want to watch the show instead? Join us on YouTube, M-F, 8 am et!Must be 21+ and present in select states. FanDuel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas StarCasino, LLC. First online real money wager only. $5 pregame moneyline wager required. First online real money wager only. $10 firstdeposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com.Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania,Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona, 1-888-789-7777 or visitccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, 1-800-9-WITH-IT in Indiana, 1-800-522-4700 or visit ksgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 1-877-770-STOP inLouisiana, visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland, visit 1800gambler.net in West Virginia, or call 1-800-522-4700 in Wyoming. Hope ishere. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call [phone] for 24/7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or textHOPENY in New York

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. Happy Thursday. Happy sweet 16. Goodness me. We got some games tonight. Clemson, Arizona, San Diego State, UConn, and the two nightcaps are absolute monsters. Alabama, North Carolina, Illinois, Iowa State. This is the matchup and interesting story at on three by Eric Prisble yesterday,

where he talked about how the transfer portal has created this environment where you have these teams that feel pretty even. I mean, if you look at the Sweet 16, Clemson and San Diego State, of the teams in the Sweet 16 right now, including the ones that are going to play on Friday, they're the only ones that feel maybe even a little bit out of place. But really, San Diego State played for the national title last year. In fact, UConn-San Diego State is a rematch of the national title game.

I was doing some football stuff yesterday, and we were talking about how the new playoff is going to affect who can win the national title. And it should reward the teams that have the better depth. But in a single elimination situation where you have to win multiple games in a row, like the NCAA basketball tournament, you can still have a bad depth game that can knock you out. And I just don't think anybody in the transfer portal era can stockpile in such a way that you can be absolutely dominant. I don't think it's going to happen. I think the market, as weird as it is now, moves so much more efficiently in terms of getting players who are good to places where they can be good and shine that it's going to be like this, where it's going

to be more even. There will be teams every once in a while that are just monsters that just destroy everybody. And look, we've watched UConn in this tournament. They look like UConn in last year's tournament. They might do the same thing again. They might just roll through this thing. But you look at these games, Arizona, you can see them winning the national title, Alabama, North Carolina, Illinois, Iowa State, all of those teams, you can see winning national title. And again, San Diego State played for it last year. It's amazing. It's going to be a fascinating game. Now, one thing you'll be able to do depending on the state you live in during those games is make prop bets based on what the players do. That is something that the NCAA president, Charlie Baker is trying to get out

of the situation. He's trying to get it banned in multiple states because he's worried. And I don't think he's being unreasonable here that in a lot of cases, these guys are not making a ton of money. Yes, there are college athletes that are making big money through NIL. They have a lot to lose, much like any pro athlete would have a lot to lose. The pro athlete salaries are so high. Even the smallest pro athlete salary is a massive to lose. The pro athlete salaries are so high. Even the smallest pro athlete salary is a massive salary to a normal person. So they have a lot to lose. They might be much less likely to mess with a prop. And for those who don't know what prop bet is, when you say, I think this person is going to score more than four and a half points or have more than six and a half rebounds or less than six

and a half rebounds. And with the college athletes, especially they are not as insulated from the general public as professional athletes and professional athletes get it too. But the college athletes more likely to run into somebody at a bar who's like, listen, you cost me a ton of money because you didn't grab that last rebound. And that's a tough one. It is a tough one because I don't know how much you can restrict this stuff. It is going to be legal in every state sooner rather than later. It's one of those things that you can try to keep it down, but there'll be an underground market for it. The thing is, if people have the outlet for it, I think you can have some reasonable restrictions on it because there are States where you can't bet on the,

the money line or the spread for a college team that is from the state. So, and it may be state by state, but I don't think it's unreasonable to ask that the college folks be out of that because they are kind of more at risk. And, and it's interesting because this is the same week that the Jonte Porter stuff comes out. Jonte Porter plays in the NBA. They're investigating whether he's involved in throwing prop bets. Because there were a couple times where he took himself out of a game and then prop bets involving him were the largest payouts for prop bets involving an individual player of that night. And that's, that's a little suspicious. It's a lot suspicious. And so with college students, you know, you think about maybe

you've got somebody at the end of their career, you've got somebody playing in the NIT as a senior or playing in the NCAA tournament, even as a senior, and they're about done. They've already got their degree. They don't really have anything to lose on this thing. They might do that. And you got to be careful because the integrity of the game piece of it is still the most important piece of it. Leagues are taking money from sports gambling. We are taking money from sports. We're like, we're going to have, I'm going to do a FanDuel ad very soon here.

So I get it. And I think it's a part of the ecosystem. And I think it's fine that it's legal and that people can do it if they want, because I think they were going to do it anyway, illegally. So may as well make it legal, may as well have the states regulate it. But this one doesn't seem like an unreasonable request. So I'll be curious to see what states do with this. So I just, watch this one, watch this one. This is, you know, Charlie Baker inherited a lot of impossible tasks as an NCAA president. And I don't know that he's going to get a ton done during his administration as NCAA president. But this is something that it's not a

terrible idea. It's worth talking about. It's worth having discussion with the various states, see if they'd be amenable to it. Even if you just take it out in the states where those players are so that they're not exposed to the people in their own town saying, you lost me a ton of money. I think there's something to that because you still have the pro sport prop bets. You'd still be able to probably bet the money line and the spread for the team, but not that individual person. And I think that might be the most reasonable way to do it. Maybe in the state where you are, no prop bets involving college athletes from teams in your state. I think that would be a useful compromise where you don't infringe on people's freedom to do what they want to do, but you also offer a little bit

of protection to those guys. So we'll see what happens, but it is a very interesting story to follow. Another one from Wednesday, Malik Neighbors at LSU ran a blazing 44.35. And there is a legitimate debate now. I think we went into draft season going, okay, Marvin Harrison jr. From Ohio state. He is the number one receiver. He will be the first receiver off the board. There is no question about this.

I think maybe there's a question. I think maybe this is not as cut and dried. And I'm not just trying to stir up debate. I'm not trying to embrace debate. We're going to talk about the quarterbacks later in the Dear Andy segment. We've got a great question about the quarterback situation in the NFL draft. We can debate that all we want. And quarterback debates get more attention, draw more eyeballs,

draw more engagement than receiver debates. This is a legitimate question. And here's the thing. They're both really good. Marvin Harrison, Jr., Malik neighbors, both really good. So if you look at the draft order, unless the Cardinals trade the fourth pick to somebody who's desperate for a quarterback and the quarterbacks go one, two, three, four, which I just don't think that's going to happen. I would imagine both of them are gone before the seventh pick, like both of them gone within the first six picks. And if that's the case, it's not like anybody's making a massive value judgment about one or the other. It's it's I like this flavor of ice cream over this flavor of ice cream. That's pretty much it. But Malik neighbors,

his numbers undeniable last year, 89 catches, 1,569 yards, 14 TDs. Now he was playing with the Heisman winner, Jaden Daniels. So did he, did him having a better quarterback last year, help him over Marvin Harrison jr. Who had a pretty good quarterback and CJ Stroud, sorry, in Tom Accord, but did not have CJ Stroud from the year before, which obviously made life a lot easier for him. So we're going to find out, but I'm very excited to see how this goes because Malik Neighbors is awesome. And I think it's a case where if there's a receiver needy team out there, they just have to decide what they want, who fits best in their offense. But Malik neighbors has solidified himself as a likely top six pick now.

Because, again, unless the Cardinals trade that pick to somebody who is absolutely desperate, who feels like they must get up to number four to draft the quarterback they want. I don't think these guys are going to be around. You know, there's going to be Somebody's going to take Joe Alt, the tackle from Notre Dame, but these two are so good that it's going to be really hard to leave either one on the board, even if you have needs in another position. Because finding that wide receiver one, that guy who's completely dominant, is such a challenge, such a challenge in the NFL. And so I think either one of these two guys is going to make somebody really happy. And you know, the Marvin Harrison

Jr. thing's interesting because he's, he's been told and, and he's, his campus said that we're not, we're not training for track. We're not worried about the 40 yard dash. We're just doing football work and who's advising Marvin Harrison Jr.? Marvin Harrison Sr., Hall of Fame wide receiver. So I think he's getting good advice. And the thing is, if it drops him one or two spots in the draft, we're talking about a little bit of money that you can make back in endorsements. If that causes a team to drop Marvin Harrison Jr., that he only wants to work on the actual sport he's going to play for you, that you're going to pay him to play,

then you don't really want to play for that team. Like if that's the thing that causes them to take somebody else instead of you, they have helped you dodge a bullet. So I don't think that has anything to do with this. I think it's all silly season stuff. I really do think it's a choice. Do you think Malik neighbors fits your offense better? Do you think Marvin Harrison Jr. fits your offense better?

And guess what? They're both really good. They're both going to help you out a lot. All right. We were talking about those NCAA tournament games. They are off the charts. Awesome. Tonight. I can, I went Clemson, one of the best teams in the first weekend of the tournament. And we had buried them going into the tournament. We had buried them. We had said, okay, you lost your first game in the ACC tournament. We don't need to see any

more from you. You're going to be another one of those six seeds that gets beat. They were the only six seed that won and they look great. They look great against Baylor in the, in the round of 32. So Clemson, Arizona, fun game, rematch of the national title game, Yukon, San Diego state. And then the two at night, yeah, we're all staying up late. Like when you see me and James Fletcher on Friday morning, we're going to be bleary eyed. Like we are going to have been up late because Illinois, Iowa State, North Carolina, Alabama might be the games of the tournament. Those things are going to be awesome. Like, I don't know.

Well, I say that Illinois, Iowa State sets up probably they played the Yukon San Diego State winner. Maybe that's the game of the tournament in the elite eight, just so much, so much to digest. How do you watch those games? Prime video, watch every game live on your phone or on your laptop or on your TV with a subscription to prime video.

You can add on max. You can add on paramount Plus. That gets you all of the games within Prime Video, within the same app, one password. You don't have to worry about, oh no, now I've got to go get the code off my TV to get this thing activated. No, no, you've already got it activated. You've already logged into Prime. You are good to go. That's how you do it. Click the link in the show description. If you're watching on YouTube, if you're listening on a podcast platform, the link is in the show description. You click that link, they will get you started and you can be watching Prime Video. Oh, by the way,

New Roadhouse. I downloaded it. I had a flight, downloaded it, did not end up watching it on the flight because I feel like my wife is going to get mad at me if I don't watch it with because who didn't love the original Roadhouse and look I'm not that precious I could handle more Roadhouse so you want the games you want Roadhouse Amazon Prime click that link this show is also sponsored by FanDuel we We were talking about all of this stuff, how all of this works just now. Well, you can go to FanDuel.com slash Staples to sign up and receive $200 in bonus bets with a $5 bet. That's right. FanDuel.com slash Staples. And you've got the NCAA tournament, men's and women's.

You've got the NBA going on right now. MLB is getting started. All kinds of ways to add action to these games with FanDuel. And yeah, I said what I said earlier in the show, that doesn't change that you're going to be able to do this and you're going to be able to have fun with FanDuel. So go to FanDuel.com slash staples, $200 in bonus bets with a $5 bet. It's that easy. Get signed up and you can put some action on whatever you want to put some action on. All right.

Before we get to De'Ariani, we have a very special interview. One of my favorite offensive linemen in the whole country. He comes from a line of offensive linemen. His older brother, Cade, played at Georgia, then played at Tennessee. Dad played at Tennessee. played at Tennessee Cooper Mays the Tennessee center he's in his last year this is the last ride and he is very very excited about what the balls can be here's Cooper Mays we are joined by Cooper Mays this is this has been one of those interviews I've been trying to land for a while because we do love our offensive linemen here on this show. And this is

the center of Tennessee's offensive line. And you've been doing this for quite some time. So two years ago I came and it was you and Devontae Spragans who are still here. Darnell Wright was here at the time. It feels like you guys you had some time to really gel as a unit here. For sure. You know, I think I've kind of been reflecting on it. It's my last year here at Tennessee.

So I've kind of been reflecting on it, man. I've been here for a long time. You know, I've been getting my little, or my older brother has been getting recruited here since like eighth grade. So back when he's two years older than me. So I've been here since like sixth grade every year, year he, he's two years older than me. So I've been here since like six or eight every, every year, year in,

year out. and you're local too. So, I mean, everything has, has been, and there was the time when Cade was at Georgia, but you both,

you both wound up here and helped Tennessee get back to a place that I think, you know, maybe you guys never saw as kids. I'm trying to think when you were born, like you, you did not see any of the glory years. I grew up. So I was born in 2001. So I haven't seen, I haven't seen many high points.

Casey Clawson was the starting quarterback when you were born. That's yeah. Wow. Iceman. The Iceman. That's right. Well, it's interesting because your family, I was thinking about this. So I heard some folks talking about your youngest brother, Camp.

So for those who don't know, Cade Mays, older brother of Cooper, played at Georgia, then played here, now plays in the NFL, now is apparently trying to kill a turkey in every state. Every state. Okay. That's a good goal. If you guys got land, hit them up. Cade Mays.

If you got land and turkeys. Yeah, land and turkeys, I would be in match made in heaven. So then Cooper comes. Now you've got Camp Mays, who is the largest 8-year-old in Knox County, correct? Correct. Okay. Who's kind of the best of the both of you together. I hope so.

The perfect offensive lineman. That's the plan. So when Casey was the starting – I covered the team for the Chattanooga paper when Casey was the starting quarterback here. And Casey's brother, Rick, was a good quarterback. He wound up playing at LSU. Actually, I think he transferred here too. But then they had a 12-year-old younger brother, Jimmy.

And even then, everyone was like, that's the guy. That's the one. And Jimmy wound up playing for Notre Dame and was a first-round draft pick. So it's very similar situations here. Yeah, I definitely – I mean, I talk about it. I don't tell it much to him. I don't want to put pressure on him, but I tell people. As an 8-year-old.

Right, no pressure. But he's definitely got the red carpet for genetics. That's for sure. And, okay, so I was told what the pictures look like of Camp versus his classmates. Like, what are we talking about in terms of size difference here um i mean he's eight and he's he's about five three one fifty wow so it's it's like you know the same head and shoulders he's got head and shoulders above everybody and so i mean that's

the like the evolution of the maze offensive line like what did you take from cade and then what have you developed while you're here that you can now pass on to camp my my biggest thing I learned from Cade Cade's super aggressive dude especially back in the day you know when he was you know in college he was he was always fired up and ready to go kill somebody so you know I I definitely took that from him having that intensity and everything but you know what I've learned through've learned through college is you've got to stay really grounded and you've got to be really even keel. You know, there's a lot of ups and downs, highs and lows,

but the more you can stay towards the middle and stay focused on what's important in life, that's the better you'll be. Especially as a center, I would imagine, because of what you have to do every play, making sure everybody's where they need to be, making sure you don't see something, you know, in the defense that maybe you didn't see, where they move into something, where you got to communicate. How much do you have to control your emotions, play to play, to make sure you can communicate properly?

It's definitely huge for any center, but especially in our offense here at Tennessee, you know, I mean, I played in a, in a slower speed offense my freshman year, I started a couple of games and then, you know, moved into the role here with this new offensive scheme. You don't have any time to focus on anything else, but the job at hand. So, you know, if you want to talk trash, if you want to get, you know, sidetracked, that that's not going to bode well for you. Well, I just, you move so fast and, you know, I, I know that they've got the helmet radio with the quarterback this year. I imagine that doesn't change much for you.

It changes it for Nico, obviously, but it probably doesn't change anything for you. No, it doesn't, doesn't change much for us. You know, the biggest thing our coaches preach to us is that, you know, we are fast. It's, we are fast, but the biggest thing is we're efficient. So, you know, we've kind of got it down to a science and we all do our job at a high level and it works out so i think the best example and i remember talking to you guys about when coach hypo got here and you guys learning how fast you had to go and that was a kind of a rough rough patch but then you you you figure it out and there's one play,

and everybody's seen it, that exposed the world to how fast the Tennessee offense runs and can tax even the players themselves. Your current right tackle, I believe he was playing left tackle in the Alabama game a couple years ago. We're talking about Jeremiah Crawford. Oh, yeah. Yes.

He barfed on the field uh right before play just right there got it all up out of him for sure you you're did you actually see that or just hear it uh no i saw it if you if you watch the clip i'm i'm you know facing right towards him i i didn't react it's not because i didn't see it. It's just because I wasn't really surprised. And we've all kind of been there. I mean, there were days, literally, I remember back in the day, it was so bad transition to the offense, I had thrown up on the ball one play and had to snap it back to Hendo. Hendo, you know, being the pro he is, he didn't skip a beat.

So he had a great ball in his play. Does he say something after that? No. Well, maybe he did. I don't know. It's been a while. Well, he threw it to somebody, too. Oh, yeah no well maybe he did i don't know it's been it's been a while but he threw it to somebody too oh yeah yeah well they didn't know so you you you got this offense down now you you're running this offense with a new quarterback what what is it like with nico in there how how differently does it move i mean you you what you go hen hooker joe

milton now nico what's it like well i mean the you go Hinton Hooker, Joe Milton, now Nico. What's it like? Well, I mean, the biggest difference is trying to get him dialed in. And I was kind of telling today, we had our scrimmage today. And, you know, everybody wants the splash plays. Everybody sees the big-time plays. But it's really, you know, the efficient work that we do, moving the chains, getting the first-first down, and getting a rhythm established.

That's the biggest thing. So working on that with him. Well, and that's the thing about this offense it seems like everybody remembers the big plays but when it's really working it's the the four and five yard gains on the ground the the you know bubbles that that's the guy who's open you're making a positive play instead of having to deal with the the of a negative play. And it seems like, you know, going back to the bowl game, that that's, that's something Nico's pretty good at. No doubt. And it's, it's gotta be something we are good at, you know, as a, as a team. And that's where we found success in the past is when you can kind of, I know offensive coordinators talk

about, you know, play the run off the pass or pass off the run, you know, whatever it is, but, you know, that's when we get our big chunk plays is when we're being efficient, you know, being able to run the football, getting the ball on the perimeter, maybe six yards, and then it'll bust open. Yeah. All right. Let's talk about last season for you because it had to be frustrating. You have a hernia surgery in the preseason. You've missed some games. You come back, you're playing in pain. What was that like for you? You know, it was tough. You know, I'm not going to. What was that like for you? Uh, you know, what, it was tough, you know, I'm not going to sit here and act like it wasn't tough, but

it wasn't something that, that I wasn't used to. You know, I, I think I've always kind of been in a role where I've had to kind of claw my way up and, and kind of fight through adversity and different stuff to, to figure out a way to win. And I think, you know, that was kind of right on par with it. So what was that like when you're out? Cause I imagine that you are pretty maniacal watching when you can't be there. Yeah, it's, it, it was rough as well. That was probably the hardest part of it. You know, the pain is one thing and then going through rehab and stuff, that's, that's something, but knowing that you could be helping and then going through rehab and stuff that's that's something but knowing that you could be helping and then you not being able to that's the biggest thing that eats away at you

and when you came back it felt like the offense did move more efficiently and and which has got to feel good for you but also you're just you're just frustrated at that point too yeah yeah you're frustrated but but you know it's always great when you finally get back out there with your guys and and can enjoy the game you know it's a beautiful game and you finally get back out there with your guys and can enjoy the game. You know, it's a beautiful game and we're lucky to play it. Well, Aiden, you were talking earlier about this being your last year and doing some reflecting. And what was the decision-making process for this to be your last year at Tennessee? Because as we're recording this, Pro Day is going on.

You could have been working out at Pro Day right now. Yeah, no doubt. There were a lot of factors that that went into it but kind of what we were talking about my injury and everything that that i didn't want to end on that kind of note and then you know as well as i do that you know scouts love seeing a full healthy season and everything so that that was kind of what i was striving to end on yeah especially with o-lineman like they they want to see the body as as the college coaches will tell you i don't ever want to see an O'Lyman's highlight tape. Like it's useless. Give me a full game, full season for the NFL.

They need the full, full season. Yeah, you need the full season. I think I think a big thing that that everybody wants out of life, no matter what path you're in, is consistency out of there. The people that they're working with. So you got to be consistent. You got to be there. Well, and having a brother playing in the NFL, how much did Cade help you as you figure out that decision, having been through the draft process and now having played? Big time. You know, I take my family's advice, you know, even more than my own sometimes because a lot of the people

that are making decisions, like you said, they've been there, done that. So I looked into it a lot, and, you know and my faith played a big part in that as well, kind of figuring that out, and I think I'm at the right spot now. How much fun is this now? When you're with guys that you've played with for a while, now you have some new folks, but you're in an offense that you've played in for a while.

What is it like fully understanding everything now? It's big for me. You know, I've done a lot of things well over my time here, but I think the biggest thing that I've done well is kind of played my role in a certain way. You know, centers, that's got to be the biggest thing that you figure out is where to kind of get in where you fit in and just help people.

You know, you know as well as I do the center, you know, you're on a combination every time trying to help people out. So I've been trying to play my role as best as possible and figure out ways to help the team. Well, and the other thing you can do is help these young guys. And Lance Hurd's a great example. He comes in from LSU. Interesting situation because I think Lance,

given his athletic ability in most places, would already be starting there by now. He wouldn't have transferred, but they've got two really good offensive tackles who happen to be third year juniors. Like that's just how it breaks down. And he comes. He's not gotten a chance to really play much, but he's going to be thrust into a pretty big role. How do you help him with that? I think just just guiding him and then and using my eyes as a way to kind of meet him in the middle and figure out where he needs help, what he needs help with. I'm an older guy, and like you said, he's young,

and he's got a lot of stuff to figure out and learn, just like all of us did when we were young. So I think I can help him in a lot of ways. But he's a really humble guy, a good kid, and he kind of understands. He's a freak. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so, I mean, it's easy to work with a guy like that. Yeah. And then you played with a first rounder in Darnell Wright. You know, what's it like when, when you know that this guy you're playing with

has all of the athletic tools and he's just got to put it together. You know, I think it all depends on how the kid is, you know, how he is as a person. Cause you know, there's so many people that have God given ability and they just don't put it to the right, put it to the right use. And those are two examples of guys that are, that are a humble and, and be trusting of people to help them and help cultivate growth. Like Darnell, he went from, you know, being maybe a mid round to late round draft pick in one year, flipping sides, and then went first round, which we always all saw that in Darnell. So you knew he was a better right tackle or that he was capable of being what he was,

but that's all I've wondered with him. Could you guys tell? He's just more comfortable on the right side? I think the big thing was he actually likes, at that point, he liked left better. Really? So my older brother played right tackle, and he was no question probably better at right tackle than left tackle. Darnell could flip either way.

So Darnell was fine with going to left. But you can probably find a sound bite for me, maybe in 2021. I said that he could be a top 15 pick. No doubt. We got a draft evaluator. I could be. Of course you could.'ll see well i mean you basically have to do that as you as you scout your opponents every week i mean you've got the the raw materials already right yeah uh i feel like i feel like i can help some

people do you have do you enjoy like the pre-draft season like especially now that you've played against a lot of these guys is it fun to watch like where they're getting kind of slotted it's definitely cool to that part yes you see it competition wise you know seeing where you stack up against everybody that you know the the scouts and everything see you know you see first round picks that you play against and you did pretty well against so it kind of gives you a little bit of validation and then on the flip side of that you see people that you know and you like and love that are going through the same process that are friends for life and you see them succeeding too. So who of the guys in that are going out in this year's draft that you've played against, who, who was the one that you were like, Ooh, man, I'm glad I don't have to play that,

play that guy this year. Oh man. From a different team, different team. Yeah. Oh man. That's a good good question i've never thought about that shoot you really got me there that's all right we got the the kid i didn't really play against them personally the the four eye that played to the field um number six from mizzou oh yeah marcus robinson yeah yeah there is or yeah is it I don't know Robinson yes Robinson yes he's uh he's gonna be a very high draft pick yeah they should they should draft him pretty high he's and he's one that uh he could have gone out after last year and decided to come back and and he said I know I can be better and he definitely was yeah he definitely

yeah that guy was was absolutely amazing so that's that's the amazing part for i i can't imagine like watching the nfl draft or watching you know nfl games and seeing all these guys that that you played against but it is nice to to let you know okay the future i can handle this oh yeah yeah i mean i think the biggest thing so i played georgia in 2021 when they had think the biggest thing, so I played Georgia in 2021 when they had, like, the best defense or whatever of all time in college football. I had one of my better games against them, probably the best game I played all year.

That game does huge works for your confidence. There's nothing better than playing against good competition. Well, there were only four first-rounders that I beat. Oh, man. Including the number one overall pick. It was brutal, man. Including the number one overall pick. It was brutal, man. It was a gauntlet. Well, that's what, I mean, some of those dudes, because in the middle,

I mean, a lot of times it's the guys on the edge, but that was first-rounders up the middle. Yeah, they had Jalen Carter. Devontae Wyatt. Devontae Wyatt was like the first pick of the second round or something, and then Jordan Davis. And then, I mean, you got, I mean, we haven't even talked about all the guys, linebackers, and DNs alike that'll go first round as well from that team.

What does it feel like when Jordan Davis hits you? Oh, he's strong, man. He's strong. Luckily, we were, that was like the first year of tempo for us. And nobody in the SEC had played against us. And I think we kind of tired them out a little bit. That was like the first year of tempo for us, and nobody in the SEC had played against us, and I think we kind of tired them out a little bit. I had a pretty decent game, but he's a strong dude.

Yeah. I can't even imagine when you get that first rep when he's fresh. Oh, it's not going to go well for you. You got to try to make it the duration. Try to get to the long run. Die slowly? Yes. That's why I kind of like playing against the super big boos because you can tire them out. You know, you might give me the first one or the third play, but I'm going to get you down the stretch. I feel like that's as a center

where sometimes you can't be too proud because if you've got a snap and you've got a 330 pound guy who's quick as a cat, like you need some help from the guard every once in a while. For sure. I'll never turn down help. Trust me. I wish I had more. The snapping piece of it, as you switch from quarterback to quarterback, it's interesting because everybody still, I think, people my

age still think in an under-center world. The relationship between quarterbacks and centers used to be just much more intimate than it is now. But the shotgun snap, do different quarterbacks prefer it in a different spot? Do you have to kind of adjust how you do it? I've never really had to adjust. I, you know, luckily for me, we've had some pretty tall quarterbacks that have long arms.

Big target. Yeah, you got a big target. It's pretty hard to miss. So that's been easy for me. But I'm sure down the road there will be something like that. So you guys come into this season probably expecting some very big things, especially I'd imagine on the offensive line, and getting to play against this defensive line that you have every day that's as deep as it is, that's as talented as it is.

How good can you guys be on both lines of scrimmage this year? I think really good. You know, I think, you know, probably the teams that you played on, the best O-line and D-lines y'all had were when y'all could both compete at a really high level in practice. So I think that's been huge for us

as being able to look at, you know, one of the premier units in college football. It's only going to make us better. Well, that's what I was thinking about. Even your twos are getting to play against guys who played in the SEC on the D line. Like that is pretty invaluable experience in practice. Yeah, no doubt. And then you, you, you add in the fact that there's young guys that are early enrolling and, and getting in here early and, and getting opportunities to go against people like that. I mean, there's nothing better than

getting thrown in the fire a little bit. Yeah. Well, and then they've got Coach Garner over there. He's got the cane. He's not slowed down one bit. It's funny because I always remember at practices, the O-line coach and the D-line coach would get after each other as much as the O-lineman and the D-lineman would. Did Coach Ellerby and Coach Garner ever get after it? No, they're actually pretty close, I would think.

Really? In practice, you don't really see them have any crosswords with each other. But I think they've known each other for a long time, if I'm not mistaken. I don't know. I think Coach G and him have coached together before. Okay. Like back down the line. So they're just working together to just make things tough on you guys.

I think they understand the goal here. And the goal here is? Man, be the best we can be. Thank you. No doubt. Thank you. Welcome back. And it is now time for my favorite part of every week. Dear Andy, where you drive the show, your questions, tell us where we're going.

We got one from David in the chat that is an interesting one because it is one of those peek behind the curtain ones. So we'll start we'll start with that one. He said, I think we got a little we got a little autocorrect situation here. Dear Andy, how will you cover sporting games? Are there any you want to go to? What do you want to look at? I read this originally in a British accent because he said sporting games, but then very quickly corrected that to spring games. How do you decide if you're going to cover spring games?

And I think that's, trust me, autocorrect gets me every time too, David. So I don't necessarily seek out spring games to cover because they tend to be kind of stage managed and you don't necessarily see a bunch. You can watch most of them on TV now for the big schools. So I like to record them and kind of watch them at my leisure. So I'm not trying to squeeze everything in. I like to go when it's a little bit quieter. Maybe you go talk to some guys like that.

That conversation with Cooper Mays was a lot of fun. That's the, you know, that was on a day where he had some time that you're not going to do that. If you're going to the spring game, you're not going to get that amount of time with a player. And so that's where I would rather go. I think on a kind of a regular spring practice day, more than a spring game day. Uh, because I just, I would rather watch that spring game on TV and I'm going to see what, remember at the spring game day. Because I just, I would rather watch that spring game on TV and I'm going to see what, remember at the spring game, you're seeing exactly what those coaches want you to see. That's the face they want to send to the world.

And I remember Steve Spurrier would always just light it up in the spring game. He'd be chucking it deep the whole time, whether or not he thought his offense was going to be great, whether or not he thought his defense was going to be great. He just made sure it was handicapped in a way that they'd be able to throw deep a bunch. The fans would be happy and they would not be complaining for six months until the game started. So I think that's the, that's the thing you got to worry about with spring games. So yeah, I like to go more on a normal spring practice day because I feel like you, you learn a little more and you just, you know, people are just a little more

relaxed and kind of chill and you get a little better idea of what's going on. And I'm visiting some places this week. You'll, you'll see, uh, we've got a big interview on Monday that you'll see that I'm recording late this week, trying to plan another trip part part of it david is just logistically i've got to figure out how to make it work as a dad who's got kids that are in a bunch of stuff and this is one of their busier times so i've got one kid who's got a season about to end so that when that season ends i can probably hit the road a little more. And that, that helps too. Cause you, at this point, when you go, isn't as big of a deal because the players are on campus a lot of the time. Now they're going to get a little break, but they're on campus generally most of the time.

And so you work it out with the folks at the school and the coaching staff, they're going to be there. And as long as you're not trying to show up on a day when they're ridiculously busy or they're hosting 10 recruits, like they're going to give you a few minutes and, and give you a window into the program. So that's, that's generally how I decide how that works. All right. We got a really good question from Sean and it is an NFL draft question. It's something I think we're going to have to hit on here in the next month quite a bit more because I like talking about the draft. I love seeing where all of our favorite college football players are going to go. I love getting one or two more arguments in about who's better than who. And I just think we're going to have a lot of fun this next month with this one. So Sean's questions about the

quarterbacks. So the 2024 quarterback draft closer to 1983 or 1999. And as soon as I saw those years, I was like, Oh boy, there's a big difference between those two years. So here's the 1983 class. I'm going to read them in the order. They were selected in the first round, John Elway, Todd Blackledge, Jim Kelly, Tony Eason, Ken O'Brien, Dan Marino. So even the ones who were not particularly, not as successful as the most successful in that first round, we're still pretty good. Like Ken O'Brien and Tony Eason were good NFL starting quarterbacks for a significant amount of time. Meanwhile, John Elway, Jim Kelly,

and Dan Marino were Hall of Famers. Some of the best to ever do it. I don't think this class is like that. I don't think any class is like that. I think we're going to struggle to find quarterback classes like that. Maybe there'll be one sometime in the next 20, 30 years. But that was a, that was a lightning in a bottle situation for sure. Now the 1999 class, it was interesting because when I saw the year, I was like, Oh yeah, that was not a particularly great class. Those guys did not really amount to a lot in the NFL, but then I looked at it again. So it's Tim couch from Kentucky, Donovan McNabb. Remember Achille Smith blew up from Oregon in the, in the pre-draft process and got drafted number three. This is, uh, the, the first three quarterbacks went one, two, three in this draft, Dante Culpepper

to the Vikings and then Cade McNown. This is not as bad as I remembered because Donovan McNabb and Dante Culpepper were really good NFL quarterbacks. They were awesome. So I think this was, I think, Sean's example of a class of a bunch of busts. But I actually think this is probably where this 2024 class is going to fall. Like with two guys who are pretty good to to very good and we'll get to it but i'm not sure which two and then some others that don't work out because the the bust rate the nfl is very high i i think uh since 2000 i want to say there have been 68 first round quarterbacks and i think 36 of, you could just label pure bus,

which is more than 50%. It is a complete crapshoot, complete crapshoot. And you try to pick the person who has the best chance of success. And sometimes you have that guy in a draft, like Andrew Luck, you had that. Now, Andrew Luck retiring early was not something anybody banked on, but he was very good when he played. Trevor Lawrence, we'll see. But them getting in the playoffs a couple of years ago, the comeback against the Chargers, playing well against the Chiefs at Arrowhead in the playoffs,

it feels like Trevor and the Jaguars could have a nice career together still, even though last season did not end the way they wanted it to. I think I'm not out on him yet, even though the rest of that class has not been very good. Caleb Williams in this class is the surest thing. He's the closest thing to a sure thing. There's a reason the bears are taking him and it's not really a debate. Nobody's even trying to hide it anymore. You see Ryan polls and interviews, the GM of the bears, and he sounds like, okay, yep. Take a tail Williams. Uh, they're, they're not supposed to say that the NFL doesn't like that when they don't,

when they let the cat out of the bag. But I think we know that's what's going to happen. The more interesting debate is QB two and are the, the commander is going to take a quarterback there. Uh, the Patriots are probably going to take a quarterback at three. So is it going to go one, two, three, like in the 99 draft. And then if it does, who's two and who's three, I really do think too, we're hearing all this smoke about JJ McCarthy. Jim Harbaugh said it was the best pro day he's ever seen. But of course, Jim Harbaugh is going to say that he recruited JJ McCarthy. He coached him in college to a national title.

He loves the guy. You know what he's also not doing? He's not drafting him. He's got Justin Herbert. Jim Harbaugh is deciding whether he wants to take Joe Alt or one of the two big receivers we talked about Malik neighbors or Marvin Harrison Jr. like that's that's the decision that the Chargers have to make so the question is where do you slot these guys because I think that the quarterbacks that we have been talking about in the first round and I don't know that there's going to be four or five quarterbacks

in the first round I think that's we get kind of over our skis talking about it because we think these these teams are going to get desperate and maybe go outside where they think the quarterbacks actually fall on their board because I don't know that they have first round grades on all these guys but Caleb Williams absolutely everybody does he's going to go first to the Bears. The question at number two, Drake May or Jaden Daniels. And Drake May has all of the physical attributes you want. He's tall. He's strong. He's fast. He has a huge arm. He can make every throw. He's smart. He comes from a very competitive family of all very good athletes. Given the opportunity to leave North Carolina for massive NIL money, he didn't even bother. So he's not driven by money or anything like that.

That said, couldn't beat Virginia and Georgia Tech last year. That is a red flag. I'm sorry. If you are the number two pick in the draft and you have a reasonably good team around you, you should be able to win those games. That's a problem. Jayden Daniels, LSU quarterback, Heisman Trophy winner. He's the other one. Now, we talked about Mal Malik neighbors earlier. Did having Malik neighbors and Brian Thomas makes life easier for Jaden Daniels? Did that make him look better? I don't think having Brian Thomas and Malik neighbors helped Jaden Daniels run the way he ran. Maybe it did. Maybe they cleared everybody out because the defense was afraid of them going over the top. And so there was more room for Jaden Daniels to run. But Jaden Daniels was a very effective quarterback. Now he can't run the way he ran at LSU in the NFL, but I'm not sure he's going to have to. Now he had pretty good offensive line

too. That's the other thing to consider. Drake May did not have a good offensive line. Jaden Daniels had Will Campbell and Emory Jones as his two tackles. Those guys are NFL players. They're going to be drafted very high in 2025. They're both true juniors this year. Presumably they're both coming out next year, but they're both good. And so Jaden Daniels had more advantages than Drake May in college. And I think that's one thing that that teams have to consider they all have to consider the offenses they ran how those players in particular fit into the offenses that they want to run uh the commanders of cliff kingsbury

he's going to be able to work with like drake may he had Phil Longo as his offensive coordinator up until last season. And then it was Chip Long. Or excuse me, Chip Lindsey. So they're going to speak a similar language. Like Cliff Kingsbury and Drake May will speak a similar language. Jaden Daniels, he was working with Mike Denbrock. I don't think he would have a problem picking up that offense either. So it really depends.

Like I said, with Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabors, what flavor of ice cream you want. But Jaden Daniels seemed to lead his team to more success, and I realized he had a better team around him than Drake May did. Some of the games that Drake May didn't win give you pause, because there were games that North Carolina absolutely should have won if they've got one of the two best quarterbacks in the NFL draft. That's the part I worry about right there. Now, JJ McCarthy is a totally different case. JJ McCarthy is one of those guys that there will be a debate until we see him play in the NFL and he answers the questions for us because we can't answer them. We cannot answer them because you can say, well, Michigan didn't

have him do this stuff. And you can go, well, was it because he couldn't do it or was it because they didn't need him to do it? They went 15 and 0 and won the national title. You can't really argue with the play calling. Like they did what they had to do to win the national title. And there were moments where J.J. McCarthy made wow plays. I go back to the fourth quarter against Alabama when it looks like all is lost, third and long. And then J.J. McCarthy engineers a touchdown drive to force overtime. He's got those moments. There just aren't as many of them. There's not nearly as

many wow moments as Jaden Daniels had this year. But Jaden Daniels had to have those wow moments because that defense at LSU stunk and they had to keep going. My producer River reminding the one-handed catch from JJ McCarthy on the trick play. Yeah, that was pretty damn good too. He's a good athlete. He's a phenomenal thrower. But we don't know how he is throw to throw when asked to throw a ton because he never was asked to throw a ton. I do go back like Ohio State in 2022. I felt like that was a game where JJ McCarthy said, okay, we are not running the ball the way we want to run the ball. And Jim Harbaugh said, we got to do something.

And you saw JJ McCarthy with his arm, keep them in that game until the running game came around. So you've seen moments of that, but I think the hardest part is you didn't see it all the time because they just didn't need it. And I don't know that we can answer those questions until we see him in the NFL. Obviously, he's going to have a staunch advocate in Jim Harbaugh. The fact that he succeeded in that offense, which Jim Harbaugh is going to port a lot of that offense to the Chargers, and you're going to see Justin Herbert running it, I think probably suggests that he can pick up an NFL offense pretty well. But does that mean he's a top five, top ten type pick? I don't know. I still think if you feel like he's a pretty good quarterback, but you don't feel like you have to mortgage the whole franchise on him or trade up to get him,

don't. Just see what happens. Because sometimes these guys fall. I go back to the Aaron Rodgers draft. Alex Smith gets picked first. A bunch of teams didn't need quarterbacks. And the Packers picked up Aaron Rodgers late. Because they either didn't need quarterbacks or didn't feel like it was worth the risk. So because Caleb Williams is the only one that feels like a super sure thing, there may be more teams than you realize that just say, maybe it's not worth the risk. So I think J.J JJ McCarthy could be down there. The other one who could just pop into this that I think is an interesting wild card is Spencer Rattler. Spencer Rattler's arm is awesome. When you watch him throw the ball, it is alive. You

are, you're thinking, I know exactly why this guy was the number one quarterback recruit. I know why there was so much hype around him, but then you look at the production. Now, if you're comparing Spencer Rattler and Caleb Williams, there's no comparison. They played on the same team. It was very clear that Caleb Williams was a better quarterback. But that doesn't mean Spencer Rattler can't evolve into a very good quarterback himself. And you saw moments at South Carolina where he was, but like Drake may, he didn't have a very good offensive line in front of him. And so a lot of times Spencer Rattler was just running for his life. So this is going to be a very interesting quarterback class. If it's going to, if you're asking Sean closer to 83 or 99, definitely 99, like 99. If two of these guys

end up with Donovan McNabbab and dante culpepper type careers that's great that's fantastic like let's just roll with that all right next question comes from trevor this was a fun one you are on record as saying mark stoops has the best college football coaching job in the country and i couldn't agree more not to downplay the the turnaround Stoops made from the Joker Phillips era, which was incredible, but getting $9 million to simply go to a bowl game every year and once every few years gets nine to 10 wins is pretty nice. I want to know if there's an equivalent college basketball job. I would offer the Ohio State basketball job. Historically, Ohio State basketball has had more success than UK football, but Ohio State football has been and always will be king in Ohio. Just like Kentucky basketball is in Kentucky. As long as you make the NCAA

tournament consistently, you don't have to worry much about that. And you make an insane amount of money while Thad Mata had much more success early than merely making the tournament early in his career. He didn't lose his job until he stopped making the tournament. Similarly, despite not having the success of Mata, Chris Holtman was in no danger of losing his job until the last year and a half when he missed the tournament was going to miss another. Granted, I grew up in Ohio and attended Ohio State and I live in Lexington, Kentucky. So I may be missing a better college basketball job and interested in hearing your thoughts. Okay. I, when I saw Ohio State here, I was like, they just fired Chris Holtman. So I don't think it's that. But I do agree with Trevor's sentiment that if you're making the tourney every few years at Ohio State, you're in okay shape.

Thad Mata, I felt like he had enough success. I think the way they fired Thad Mata suggested that their triggers a little quicker. And I think generally triggers are quicker in basketball, usually because the salaries are lower than football. You can churn it more quickly. You can churn your roster very quickly. You can always turn your roster over. So I don't think it's as easy to find one that is analogous to Kentucky football. And Mark Stoops let's be

clear the best job in college football like all this talk we've had about John Calipari in the last week and studying his contract while I was studying his contract I grabbed Mark Stoops's contract for comparison's sake for you know trying to see a lot of different things but Mark Stoops has an incredible deal and And we don't even know if they've done anything more. I assume they have and are going to announce that since he almost got the Texas A&M job. If he goes even higher or gets even more guarantee or gets more years on his deal, he signed through 2031. They would owe him a fortune if they were to move on from him. He's not going anywhere.

And I don't think they feel like he's got to win 10 games a year. So it is, it is a phenomenal job. Is there a basketball analog? I don't think it's Ohio state, but I do think you're in the right neighborhood. It's gotta be a big 10 or sec school. The sec schools in basketball, I feel like all of them have a little too much of a hair trigger. Georgia seems more patient than others with letting you get away with not making the tournament. But we're talking about a job where

if you made the tournament every year or maybe two out of every three or three out of every four years, you could keep it forever. And they keep giving you raises to keep you from going somewhere else. I don't think Georgia's that job. I think if Georgia started consistently making the NCAA tournament, they would then demand go deeper in the NCAA tournament. I think most SEC programs are like that. So they're going to have a little more of a hair trigger. I was thinking maybe Penn State, but then you had, you know, Micah Shrewsbury left for Notre Dame. I think, I don't know that they're willing to pay to keep. So here's the job I'm thinking, and we'll see how it, we'll see how it shakes out because this is the first time this guy's made the tournament at this school. Fred Hoiberg at Nebraska just made the NCAA tournament. They did not win. They lost to Texas A&M in the first round.

But this was year four. I suspect if you could make the NCAA tournament in Nebraska, two out of every three, three out of every four years, and then maybe one of those three out of every four, you win a game or two in the tournament. I think you could coach there forever. So Fred Hoiberg is making $3.25 million. He actually got a pay cut after his first three seasons

and then earned it back after season, I believe, or after first two seasons, earned it back after season three, I believe. And I think that if he, let's say he goes to the tournament again next year and this time they win a game, they're going to give him a nice raise. Goes to the tournament the next year, losing the first round. It's okay. He has the first,

that first tournament win will be the first tournament win in school history. So I think he could keep getting paid if he wants to. Now, it's one of those things, if you're really good at Nebraska, some people are going to throw a bunch of money at you to try to go somewhere else. Fred Hoiberg is an interesting case because obviously played in the NBA for a long time. He's got money.

He's been an NBA head coach. He's got money. that's one of those jobs that you could have a Mark Stoops at Kentucky type career and be very happy, very stable, very well-paid. I think it's Nebraska. I'm pretty sure from Joe dearest anthola mule. I hope this X finds you. Well, I'm refining my 2024 and Odominy projections for the coming autumn. I would be delighted to hear your inner monologue on which offensive units have had the most improved... Sorry. I'm trying to read this in the accent that I think he wants me to read it in and I'm messing it up.

I would be delighted to hear your inner monologue on which offensive units have most improved the most from when we saw them last. The two most is killing me there all right these are not sure things but i have a couple of good guesses here that i think these these are i'm gonna give you two offenses that i think are going to be significantly better in 2024 than they were in 2023. And one that I'm hopeful for, and I know the fan base is very hopeful, but I can't guarantee anything yet. So the two I feel really good about one is Auburn. Now I realize Auburn, we don't know the quarterback situation. Are they going to take somebody out of the portal? Do they roll with Peyton Thorne? Does Walker White, the freshman, wind up having a chance to win the job? I don't know. I do know that of all the recruits in the class of 2025, Jeremiah Smith, the receiver at Ohio State,

probably the one people are most excited about. Cam Coleman, the receiver coming to Auburn, probably a close second. And Ohio State, they're used to having incredible receivers all the time. Auburn, when's the last time Auburn had a truly dominant receiver? It's been a long time. And the last time Auburn had receivers that kind of scares you, you're talking Duke Williams and Sammy Coates. That's like 2013, 2014. That's a long time ago. So this is a guy that should scare everybody. And the other thing that should scare people about Auburn is Hugh Freeze's calling plays again. And you've got the helmet radio now. Now, if you go through Hugh Freeze's history, he's good at creating very simple offenses where they can adjust on the fly.

They can call it on the field. They can do those check with me plays. A check with me play is where the offense gets to the line of scrimmage and you see everybody kind of look back at the sideline like, oh, oh, okay. We're changing the play. Okay. Got it. Got it.

So now if he can just yell into the radio, throw it to number 84, he's open. Like they're going to be more effective. Now there are other offenses where I think this is going to help. Like I think Ole Miss, like Lane Kiffin, he said, it's going to be a cheat code for his offense. He's right. But they were really good on offense last year. So I think they might be better this year, but in terms of vast improvement, not they were already really good. Florida state, same thing, Mike Norvell. This is a cheat code for him, but they were already really good on offense. So it's a different offense with DJU running it versus Jordan Travis, but they'll probably still be really good. So we're, we're focusing on the ones that can improve.

So I do think no matter who winds up playing quarterback for Auburn, the Hugh Freeze calling plays of it all, having a dynamic receiver who scares people, and Hugh Freeze being able to directly communicate with the quarterback without signalers is a massive jump waiting to happen. The other one, Utah. And this is very simple. Cam Rising is back.

Utah was in a weird situation last year where Cam Rising got hurt in the Rose Bowl. The knee injury was serious. They knew how serious it was in the spring, in the summer. But there was still this possibility that maybe he comes back and it didn't get shut down until, you know, as the season had started. Now they've got him back. Also, Brent Keithy coming back as well, which is a big target for him. But I think having Cam rising as they go into the Big 12 will make that offense much more dynamic than it was. And it's Utah. So, you know, they're going to be good on both lines of scrimmage because Kyle Whittingham makes sure they are always good on both lines of scrimmage.

So I think that's another one that has a chance to have a massive, massive improvement. And the one that everybody in the fan base would love to see make a massive improvement, but I need to see it on the field, is Penn State. James Franklin brings in Andy Kotelnicki from Kansas, One of the more creative offensive minds you will ever see, uh, drew Aller still there. They bring in Julian Fleming, the receiver transfer from Ohio state coming home, who was a big time prospect, but kind of, you know, was not as dynamic as some of the other guys that Ohio state had, you know. He's playing with Marvin Harrison Jr. Carnell Tate looked like he was going to be a bigger prospect. Obviously, J.J. Smith is coming

in. So can Penn State be a dynamic offense? The only time in the Franklin era that they've been a really dynamic offense is when they had Joe Moorhead as the OC and he had his muse, Trace McSorley, and also Saquon Barkley. Let's not forget Saquon Barkley, but McSorley allowed that RPO game to flourish. Morehead and Franklin trusted one another. Franklin, you know, it seems like Franklin wants to be pretty conservative most of the time. When Morehead was there, they seemed to let it rip a little more. He seemed to trust him to let it rip. If he trusts Kotelnicki to let it rip, I do to let it rip a little more. He seemed to trust him to let it rip. If he trusts Kotelnicki to let it rip, I do think they can be a better offense. They can be way more dynamic than they were last year,

which they weren't very dynamic at all when they were playing good defenses. So that's one you're hopeful that they wind up having a big jump. But again, I need to see that on the field because, again, I've only seen it with the Moorhead McSorley Saquon combination. I need to see if it can be done with other people. Next question from Mikey. What's up, my guy? Big fan of your content. I'm an Ole Miss rebel till I die. And my question is, do you think Prince Liam Miellon's comments about how he is actually being developed at Ole Miss can help in recruiting? It was baffling to hear that

about an SEC program, to say the least. If he's truly been underserved from a coaching standpoint, it says a lot about how truly talented he is. Hopefully he'll have his best season yet and raise his draft stock considerably. So for those who don't know, Prince Liam and Miellon transferred to Ole Miss from Florida this off season. He was Florida's leading tackles for Alaska. He had 11 and a half last year. He talked to the media in Oxford this week, and he said that he felt like he's being developed better Ole Miss than he was

at Florida and that, that Florida, he was not coached very well. I mean, that's the long and the short of it. We played the clip on the show on Wednesday. I don't think I'm mincing words there. That's basically what he said. And yeah, it seemed like initially he was just trying to praise the Ole Miss defensive staff, but then he just kept talking and threw the Florida coaches under the bus. Now, here's the thing. I can't answer Mikey's question. The only person

who can answer Mikey's question is Prince Liam Amniela, and I guess the Ole Miss defensive staff, because if he has a better year than he had last year, and I don't just mean that the stats are better. I mean, because he's arguably playing with significantly more talent at Ole Miss than he was playing with at Florida last year. It may not be the stats. It may just be the film. But whether it's the stats or the film, if he's better at Ole Miss, then he's right. If he's not better at Ole Miss, then he's wrong. So we have to see what he does. But I know they're excited about him at Ole Miss. And look,

we had Jared Ivey on the show a few weeks ago. They love that defensive line. They love what they can do. They brought in Walter Nolan from Texas A&M, and that was a situation where that was a spot they really needed to improve upon. They didn't have a lot of other places that they needed to get a lot better. Yet they managed to do that anyway. Like they were already really good at receiver and juice wells. So I will, I will reserve judgment on what Prince Lee said. Cause again, he's been through a few spring practices. He sees what he's, what he's being asked to do.

He sees the instruction he's getting. So's being asked to do. He sees the instruction he's getting. So I'm going to take him in his word for now, but then we're going to get a full season worth to see if he's right or not. And I think, you know, the, the Florida situation that will take care of itself too. They will either win more games and everybody will be okay, or they will have the same season they had last year and there will probably be no coaching staff that's all going to take care of itself but it is interesting to hear him say that because I thought him leaving Florida was one of the bigger blows like losing Trevor Etienne was bad but they still have Montrell Johnson they can still have a very a very good running game losing Prince Liam and M, who was one of the guys that they had brought along

who had made an impact on a defense that wasn't very good, I thought it was important to have him back. So losing him was a massive loss. We'll see if he winds up being better at Ole Miss, but he definitely thinks he's going to be. And if that's the case, if he really is better than he was last year at Florida, that's a scary thought for the teams that have to play Ole Miss, which also includes Florida. All right.

Next question from Chris in Charlotte. As a Florida State fan, I've been following the ACC lawsuit situation, but I've also been following the conference realignment conversation even more closely. More often than not, the experts and the quote-unquote experts seem to think that FSU is Big Ten bound, citing the conference's desire to expand its footprint into the Southeast and especially into the state of Florida. That makes sense, but it's a bummer as someone who loves the regionality of college football. While I find the SEC superiority complex a little annoying, there's something that just makes sense given culture and geography and Florida State playing Auburn, Mississippi

State and LSU versus flying to Minnesota, New Jersey and Pennsylvania for in-conference games. So here's my question. How much to the prospect of one 48 plus team Super League conference impact the decisions being made today about the conference realignment and expansion. Would the SEC be more likely to begrudgingly admit another floor to school because the world is moving toward a single power conference? Or would FSU be more likely to take its plan B, this is a guess, and move to the Big Ten because it might be seen as temporary? Or does FSU and Clemson become independent and ride out the current chaos?

What's the latest you're hearing on Clemson USC and their own realignment stages? It's, this is a tough one, Chris, because nobody knows how this is going to end. I was talking to a college football or college sports administrator yesterday, and we were talking about what, what may happen. And so watch this house versus the NCAA case, because this is going to have a big effect on what comes happen. And so watch this house versus the NCAA case, because this is going to have a big effect on what comes next. They've got to figure out how to collectively bargain with the athletes. They've got to figure out how to make the athletes employees, whether they want to or not. You heard that from Troy Dan and the new Nebraska athletic director the other day. They have to figure this out because they're just going to keep getting sued. This administrator

made a great point. Like there is nothing in their rule book that they can't get sued over right now, including rules where you can actually get sued both ways. I had never even thought of this, but this person brought this up. The 20-hour rule for football, the rule that limits how many hours you can practice a week. Somebody could sue the NCAA and say, that 20-hour rule is too strict. I was forced to practice when I didn't want to and when I needed to study. Somebody else could then sue and say, I was denied the ability to practice more, and that's why I didn't get drafted as high as I should have. That's the situation they're in. They can literally be sued from both sides of the rules. So they have to figure this out. And that's what

I've got to, the people I've talked to, everybody seems to agree that if they do become employees, the best way to handle it is employees of either the conference or a new organization that runs college football or college basketball, whatever it is. And the question is, what does that organization look like? The easiest thing, the thing that would keep the most stuff intact, you'd love to see this happen. I just can't see it happening, unfortunately, but I would love it if it did, is they take the SEC, the Big Ten, the ACC, and the Big 12,

and say, we are the organization. These are the teams. And they make it where more money flows to the ACC and the Big 12. Everybody makes more money. And that's what I asked this person. I said, but the Big Ten and the SEC would want to share equally with those leagues. And they're like, no, probably not. But the value proposition you make is everybody would ultimately make more money because the TV deals, once the current ones expire would be massive because that would be the only place you could get big time college football. One would hope that's what they did. I don't think that's what they're going to do. And that the big, the big question then becomes, do the big 10 and the sec just keep

adding until they get to a larger number or whatever that, that final number is, or do they work with these other leagues? If they don't work with these other leagues, then there will be a separation. More schools from those leagues are going to get sucked into the Big Ten and the SEC until they decide they're at the whatever that critical mass is, whether it's 48, 50, 54, 60, whatever that is. And so that's the question. So with Florida State, it's a little tricky and Clemson as well and North Carolina. So what do you do? Because let's say if the ACC got invited along to this thing, being the ACC might not be so bad because the money might be coming. But if they don't get invited along, and that seems to be where the tea leaves are headed,

then yeah, you got to go somewhere else. And I don't know how it would go if the Big Ten, I think Big Ten interest in moving into the South is the thing that could drive Florida State and Clemson into either the Big Ten or the SEC. Because if the Big Ten wants to move into the South, and if I'm Fox, I'm looking at the Big Ten offering, the Big Ten schedule, and I'm saying, this is still not as good a product as the 16 team SEC. It's just not. Like you look at the games, the SEC's games are better. If you sprinkled Florida State and Clemson through the Big Ten schedule, suddenly the product becomes much closer. But if you're

the SEC, you go, huh, we could then make our product that much better than the Big Ten and they don't encroach on our footprint. So that's the question. Does the SEC feel the need to defend its borders? And we don't know the answer to that. I feel like Florida State and Clemson would be much more natural fits in the SEC than they would in the Big Ten. I think the Big Ten would like to have, well, maybe not the Big Ten presidents so much, but the Fox executives that really run the Big Ten would probably love to have those particular schools, like have that tiger paw, have that spear as a logo opposite that O or that M. I think that would be pretty good games. So that's what has to shake out. That house case is going to shake out here in the next year or so.

We'll have a little better idea what's going to happen next after that. We'll have a little more clarity. But right now, we just don't. And it is frustrating for everybody and really tough for the schools in the ACC, schools in the Big 12, just what is going to happen next? Like I did that 48-team Super League thing, and I've had people from various schools. How could you leave us out?

What do we need to do to get in? And the answer is, I don't know. It kind of depends on how many they take. It also depends on, would it be possible that the biggest brands dipped out of their conferences and reformed as a a new thing i don't think so i don't think you'd see ohio state and alabama and tennessee doing that but maybe because that would be an opportunity to shed the ones at the bottom but i don't think they'll ever shed the ones at the bottom if they stay in their current

conference alignment like if the big 10 and the sec continue to be things, which I think they will, they're not kicking schools out. I just don't think they're going to do that. Maybe I'm wrong on that, but I don't think they're going to. One more question. This one comes from Adam and actually came through in February and I missed it. I missed it when this came through originally, but it's a great question. And it's got a photo of Robert Downey Jr. playing Louis Strauss in Oppenheimer. And so they have him aged up. And Adam's question is, call me crazy, but will Robert Downey Jr. not make a perfect Nick Saban in a biopic?

Oh my God. He would be amazing because I guarantee you Robert Downey Jr. could get the voice because he has a deep voice, has that timbre already. And like Nick Saban, he's a smaller guy with a big booming voice. So that would be like, I just want to go to Robert Downey Jr. right now and write one word on a piece of paper, slide him the piece of paper and just say, please say this word. I'm going to film it. And we're going to decide if you are going to be Nick Saban in the movie of Nick Saban's life, which ultimately will get made at some point. That word. What's spelled A-I-G-H-T. Aight.

Aight. I can't do the Nick Saban aight. I guarantee you Robert Downey Jr. could do the Nick Saban. He'd get that West Virginia perfect. He'd get that accent just right. Facially, he's already close. I don't think they have to do much with Robert Downey Jr. He's younger than Nick Saban, but they don't have to do much makeup on him. And also, you know, you could kind of de-age him a

little bit and then you could age him a little bit, depending on what era of his career you've got Nick Saban working in. This is a brilliant idea. Brilliant. And listen, Robert Downey Jr. spent all those years as Iron Man. He's looking for more character work. Adam, you're a genius. I cannot wait to see you hired as a Hollywood casting director. That is a tremendous idea. What is a tremendous idea for tonight? Watch the NCAA tournament. These games are going to be incredible.

So watch those games. Come back tomorrow. James Fletcher III and I from Mon 3. We're going to break them all down. This is going to be so much fun. Watch the games. We'll break them down. Get you ready for Friday's games.

It's the most wonderful time of the year, everybody. We got spring football going on. We got Tennessee centers talking about puking on the ball and the ball getting thrown anyway. We got great questions from you. I know Jim Harbaugh's not in college football anymore but i really do feel like who's got it better than us nobody