Andy & Ari On3 - The Arch Manning hype TAKES OVER the Heisman Trophy odds | Notre Dame Quarterback competition

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

As Week 1 of College Football inches closer and closer, the Heisman Trophy odds continue to show favor towards Arch Manning's way. Could the Texas Longhorns QB REALLY be the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy? What are real and honest expectations for the wildly popular quarterback in Austin? Andy & Ari break down this and much more. (0:00-3:30) Intro: Taylor Swift on New Heights(3:31-18:52) Arch Manning Mania & Heisman Odds(18:53-30:24) Does Arch represent what people LOVE about CFB?(30:25-37:24) Ty Simpson on being named QB1(37:25-46:17) Notre Dame QB Battle(46:18-51:23) LSU at Clemson Preview(51:24-53:40) Conclusion: Dear Andy & Ari Q's Afterwards, Andy & Ari dive into if more quarterbacks will follow suit with Arch Manning's path. Will more quarterbacks stay at the same school, or will quarterbacks transfer at a high rate in college football? Ari's column here: https://www.on3.com/news/will-arch-mannings-atypical-career-path-be-the-new-blueprint-for-future-young-quarterback-stars/ Next, the fellas head down to Tuscaloosa to hear from newly-announced starting quarterback in Ty Simpson. Can the veteran QB lead Kalen Deboer's offense to new heights in Tuscaloosa? Later, Andy & Ari head up to dive into the Fighting Irish's quarterback battle. Is this the biggest QB battle in the country? Will it be CJ Carr or Kenny Minchey? To close, Andy & Ari announce that they are planning to be in Clemson, South Carolina, for week one. Ari voices his excitement for visiting Clemson for the very first time. 

Welcome to Andy and Ari on three. Happy Wednesday. I appreciate you all being here. I do. Ari, we need to thank the folks because they can listen to a lot of podcasts. And specifically, I think the world is going to listen to one particular podcast today. And I'm glad there are people here listening to this one because I have a feeling if you can only pick one, it might not be us today. Are you what am I missing? No. You haven't heard? No. Taylor Swift is going to be on the Kelsey Brothers show. Just so you know, Andy. I know you guys know that I've lost a phone and I'm kind of in the mountains and the nearest Apple store is two hours away from me.

That's not something that I would have known if I were fully plugged in into Dallas. You know that right. Well, maybe because it's the Kelsey Brothers. But like, I cannot. It is football adjacent at least. It is, but like the Taylor Swift mania to me, as you know, could not have been more like mind-boggling. Like, and I think I, here, I'm going to say something. Your daughter's not old enough.

So she's not a Swifty. And like, mine's right in the target range. And so I've now listened to the entire discography. Can I ask you? Yeah. Okay. So you have a teenage daughter. Obviously, that's going to connect.

I'm going to have a teenage daughter in a few. few years. Hopefully, you know, it doesn't go by fast. But you as a person who likes music and listens to it, do you think this woman's talent in discography warrants her being the most famous artist on the face of the planet? Yeah. Really? She's very talented, lyrically, very talented. Musically, you know, she works with some very good producers. Like, Jack Ansonoff is fantastic. He's just, he's one of those people who knows how to write catchy songs. Because that's the thing.

She's catchy and like there's certain things that I've heard that I've liked. I cannot understand how her music is like the most famous music on the face of the planet. Because everything else that's being put out in general right now is utter crap. That's why I drove here. We'll find a band that actually plays instruments right now. It's very difficult that is getting a lot of airplay or getting tons of of plays on Spotify.

Like, you're not going to find one. I drove here from Dallas, and I tried to be young and hip and to listen to new music and try to, like, discover new stuff, and it did not pan out well for me. I went back to the podcast really quickly. It's just not my 16-year-old son listens to 90s rock,

if that tells you. Like, that's his genre. But, yeah, he doesn't even like new music. Going back to the way that you open the show, Andy, I 100% understand what you mean. now even though I did not see the news. Thank you for being here and hopefully the people who listen to our show agree with me more

than they agree with you. But anyway, if you'll ever, that's, you know, everybody has their own title to it. I did that to kind of connect to what I want to talk about today in the world of college football because Taylor Swift mania kind of dwarfs anything in college football just because it's a global star and everything. But I do think we are headed toward something. similar in our little part of the of the world. Arch mania is coming.

We got a really interesting email from our friends at BedMGM. So they send us these betting insights and very interesting Heisman odds information that they sent because, you know, look, we expect quarterbacks that are on good teams that are on potential national title contenders to get a lot of action when it comes to the Heism Trophy. We expect the best players on teams that are potentially going to win the national title, whether they play quarterback or not, at least if they're a receiver or running back.

We expect them to get attention. But Arch Manning is now the favorite. He was the favorite before, but his odds have dropped even lower as more people have bet on him. So he was plus 900. He's now plus 600. And Jeremiah Smith was plus 1,300. He's now plus 1,000. Arch Manning has started two games.

We have no idea how good he's going to be. But it's not just that the odds have dropped. The most tickets are on Archmanning, cornerbed MGM. 16.9% of the tickets of people who bet on a Heisman future, Arch Manning. most handle, 22.8%, more than twice as much as anyone else, more than a fifth of the money that has been bet on Heisman Trophy Futures at BedMGM has been bet on Arch Manning. He's, of course, the biggest liability for the book, if he wins, because the most people have bet on him. This is the public doing this now. He has not played Ohio State yet.

If he balls out against Ohio State, we are due for a full-on frenzy. And if he has a bad game against Ohio State, it will be like the world is ending. It's going to be utterly fascinating. I covered Tim Tebow as a beat writer and remember watching that. But that was 2006 as a freshman, 2007, his first year as a starter. Social media did not exist in the way it does now. This is a completely different animal here. Andy, I've shared this on the show, this take.

and I'll say it again, Tim Tebow, Arch Manning is a lock to go to New York. Like, there's no way he's not going to New York, period. But if he's bad, the only way, the only way that he doesn't is if he gets hurt. He's going to New York.

What if he's bad? It's just, it's not even a possibility, dude. It's just not. You don't think it's possible. Okay, not even bad. Average. You don't think it's possible that he could be average.

I think that if he is average in that offense, that he will put up good enough numbers to warrant the mania. I think that he will insist upon himself. I think that what's the last time we saw, and I don't know this off the top of my head because, you know, we vote for the Heisman and we're not supposed to gamble on it. But I don't recall anybody in the last 10 years ever being a six to one favorite to win the Heisman before the season started. And you're talking about during a year in which there are starting quarterbacks everywhere that have the potential in the story to get them there. You know, the funniest thing about the Heisman trophy, Andy, to me, and it's always true, is that the Heisman is very often won by people who aren't on these lists in August, right? And if there were ever a year for a player who's not on these lists in the Bet MGM, insights that are sent to us the top five the top ten most likely this is the year that

somebody will fall out of the sky and yet still archmanning is six to one like it's like the fun of betting on the heisman is trying to find the long shot that's awesome in the right situation that's going to get there six to one like you can get six to one on a on a baseball team losing by two runs in the eighth inning like that's not like a huge line then it's actually trying to find what he's going to find another instance of that in the preseason and i found i i knew what year it was going to be what year did you go to 2014 because the last time we had kind of a wire to wire he wasn't the favorite but marcus mariotta was six to one preseason for the highs in 2014 james winston was nine to two wow really no and then the

next the next one was brachston miller at 15 to two and because remember this is pre-injury you uh have been hitting me with some info this week that's kind of knocked me back a little bit uh with the with the information there huh um because like i i don't recall marquis mariotta being anywhere near as famous going into that year is is our oh yeah no he had a huge 2013 i i think he may have been a finalist in 2013 so that that one was big but most years it is not this it doesn't feel like there's there's somebody this popular and what's strange about this year is it's wide open there are so many other quarterbacks in archmanning situation like if you're just doing it with your head and not thinking about the manning of it all

who's to say like dante more same same situation gunner stockton same situation we don't julian saying maybe not because you don't he hasn't been named the starter yet obviously your name has a name with same situation it's it's it's soon as they name a starter or tie simpson's a good a good example like tie simpson has been named the starter at alabama now they're loaded roster wise like you probably should view him in the same vein if he puts up halfway decent numbers they're going to be good number they're going to wind up being really good numbers because he has good teammates because i think that his last name will carry the the load in archmanning's case like i think that you can't break those two things uh like

situation circumstantial circumstantially sure like those those guys are all in the same position if you take the nameplate off the back of their jerseys but you can't duplicate what arch manning brings to the table and like the thing that we always talk about when it comes to the heisman voters and i think last year proved that they're probably becoming a little bit more nuanced andy than they have been in the past and i think that's an important thing because a lot of times it's always been like quarterback with best stats on best team and i can't stand the way that a lot of people vote even though you can't stand the way that i vote Arch Manning is going to be a layup vote for people who are lazy, too. And I think that we underestimate how many lazy Heisman voters there are. That's true. Because I think that Texas is going to be in the SEC championship game, or at least in the playoff picture. You know, like the idea of him being bad seems impossible to me. And even average will look more fun than Quinn Ewers.

Was Quinn Ewers average last year, would you say average? A slightly above average If Arch Manning duplicates that level of play It'll look sexier too Like I think that it's do you agree with that part of it at least Like Quinn Ewers like I don't know He had a few nice moments in you know big games And he has a beautiful deep ball

I've seen Quinn Ewers throw NFL throws in person before That'll make your you know backside puck Yeah they'll make your job drop yeah You know it's a Arch Manning's going to do it different I think. Like, there's a reason it's six to one. And if I were to place a bet that's six to one right now, I would feel pretty good about at least having an opportunity to, you know, hear his name called in New York. But like guys like DJ Lagway and Lenora Sellers and Julian San and Ty Simpson, Ty Simpson is, you know,

when we went on Kings of the North was a guy that somebody drafted for value because he was like 25 or 35 to 1 or something. He's still 20 to 1. He's 20 to 1 today after being. name the starter. If you want to have fun and you want to like attach yourself to somebody who has a chance to do it, then that's certainly, you know, that's certainly a nice horse to pick, you know, Alabama's quarterback, right? But like Andy, Andy, Annie, Manning, Manning. I know. It's going to matter. It's going to matter. Let's not forget the history of it. You were a mere babe when this happened. But Peyton didn't win the Heisman. Charles Woodson won the Heism in 97. Yeah. Producer River just said, just did a, yeah, and he's mad. He wasn't even born. Producer River was 10 months away from being born when Charles Woodson beat out Peyton Manning

for the Hyzen. That's actually crazy. He's still mad because he's of all for life. Yeah, I don't know. I think that Peyton Manning, not winning the Heisman is not the same thing because Peyton Manning didn't exist before Peyton Manning. like if this is the next manning right and and because eli hadn't come to college yet at that point so the height archie manning existed for Peyton Manning which like you don't you probably don't

remember because you were too young but when Peyton Manning was a freshman at Tennessee it was a massive thing him showing up he was the first person I can remember getting massive coverage as a true freshman for showing up at at his new school yeah Yeah. How much of the Heisman do you think is just hype? Just boiling it down to hype. What wasn't hype last year with Travis Hunter, I don't think, because... Travis Hunter had a lot of hype around him. He did. But he also was doing something that we hadn't seen in 70 years. Being a good quarterback on a good team is something we've seen. So, unless you are Cam Newton good, I don't know that it's going to be that different.

I like to play these games in trying to, like, get into the psyche of the average non-Andi and R.E. listener, college football fan. How many of those people do you think know who Dallas Wilson is? How many of those people do you think know? I'm trying to think of, like, who Casey. Ryan Williams. Ryan Williams played really well as a freshman in college football. I think some of those people know who Ryan Williams is. Do you think people know who Casey Concepcion is?

the average fan the average fan does not doesn't know he played at nc state does not know that he now plays at texas a and the thing that you have to acknowledge about travis hunter is that everybody knew who that was last year right i even even when he played at jackson state everybody knew who he was because of the story yeah and i think that everybody knows who you are is a huge huge advantage in this race right so Garrett Nussmeier, Kade Klubnick, Drew Aller, college football people know who those guys are. I think more people knew who Travis Hunter was last year than people know who Drew Aller is now. And Jeremiah Smith, I think everybody knows.

I think more people know who Jeremiah Smith is than I think know who Kate Klubnick is. That's probably true. Ohio State has a bigger fan base. They won the national title and Jeremiah Smith. like NFL people, NFL fans who are just trying to wish cast for their team are already wishing for Jeremiah Smith.

If I were to bet the future on the Heisman in August, and this is for August 13th, I would bet on the people that everybody knows who they are. Because when they do something, everybody sees it. When they are a part of something, everybody knows it's happening. Social media sensations that get,

you know, and I think that a lot of people believe that Travis Hunter won the Heisman last year because of that. He didn't, he won it, because he backed up the hype and because he was the best overall player in the entire country last year, but you remember the discourse about him. Yeah. Everybody knew who he was, so half the country was resentful because they thought he won because everybody knows who he is.

But I think that that's all part of it. And everybody knows who Arch Manning is, everyone. People knew who Arch Manning was when he was in high school. He's the most high school recruit of all time and nobody will ever be more hyped. It can never happen again because unless Tom Brady's kid comes in and is a five-star quarterback, one day like it's not going to happen i was going to say that that would probably do the trick you have a son i don't even know so you can google that i have no it's interesting i i'm not a big celebrity's children kind of person yeah me neither so i actually feel weird googling it now but yeah

he he has uh let's see two with giselle bunchin including a son and he has a son with with bridget morning hand so i didn't know that he had to uh two uh two sons Once. Okay. Yeah. Well, Bridget's tall, right? Bridget and Jezell are very tall. Oh, yeah. I meant to say Jazeel. I don't know who Bridget is. I don't know who the other one. He has an actress and also tall, I believe. Never heard of that human. I'm sure she's pretty, though. So you're right. Barring Tom Brady's kid being a five-star recruit, this will be the most hyped. And I know it makes a lot of people mad and people are sick of it. And they're like, why do you talk about this guy? never played. We talk about him because he's interesting. And I think this is going to be an interesting test for people because if he goes into Ohio State and plays really well, but this course on Arch is going to be nonstop. The thing that I think is so funny about Arch, Andy, is that the man

has done absolutely nothing to draw attention to himself. Like when you think about his recruitment, when you think about him at Texas. He creates a Twitter feed to post, hey, I'm going to Texas. And that was it. Like, he's done nothing for people to resent.

So the fact that people resent him is also a good telling thing for the Heisman trophy because if you resent somebody, there's a powerful feeling towards that person. And whatever that person does, you're going to be actively paying attention to hate. Are you going to be actively paying attention to root? And I don't know if this is a good segue to what I wrote about on Tuesday, but it is.

This is somebody who I believe we should all be rooting for. Want me to keep telling you why? I don't know if you read the column yet. I did. It was interesting. This idea that people want Archmanning to fail is interesting because I think the people who want Archmanning to fail are the same people who are resentful of how much people transfer, right?

I would say the Venn diagram of those two groups is one circle. Almost, if not a full circle, but a circle. Yeah. Yeah. And Arch Manning actually represents what people loved about college football. The hyped recruit who didn't draw attention to himself, put the team and the situation before him, went to a place knowing he wasn't going to play for two years, sat behind somebody else despite the fact that there was some argument. or at least a case to be made that will be certainly talked about on this podcast in November about whether he should have played last year, kept his mouth shut, has never said anything

remotely controversial, has stayed committed to learning the playbook, developing his body, being a, you know, immaculate teammate, and sticking through what wouldn't be an easy situation, waiting his turn, and staying loyal to the program. Isn't that what everybody wants? don't you want this person who has done it the old fashioned way or the old school way or the way that you used to remember it in 2015 and before like why would you root against that person like that that's the person that's supposed to like show everybody like that doing it the old fashioned way is still a good way and I wrote a a pipe dream of a column about wondering if he is successful and he has a great year he wins a Heisman or he does

He is Archmanning living up to the hype, whatever that looks like. And then he is eventually a top five pick and find success in the NFL, which I think. Not a top five pick in the 2006 draft in the 2007 draft. Everything that in his career, thank you for reminding me, Andy, about how atypical everything about this guy is. He is already expected to, whether that's rational or not, to come back for another year after this year, despite the fact he's six to one. one to win the Heisman right now. He's coming back. We think he's coming back.

We don't know for sure, but we think he's coming back. I want to remind you that Spencer Rattler was a Heisman favorite in one preseason. So let's just not. Is he six to one? Go crazy. Let's go. I'll find out. You talk.

You keep talking about Arch. But what if he does all these things? He even comes back for a second year after winning the Heisman, turns his back on the NFL when he would be the surefire number one overall pick, which, by the way, Andy, I've got a terrible. I've got a terrible memory. You're a, you're a... Harry, hold on. Hold on. Who do you think going into the season had lower Heisman odds?

Arch Manning in 2025 or Spencer Rattler? Are you kidding me? 2021. Are you kidding me? Spencer Rattler was 11 to 2 on August. This 24th, 2021 for the Heisman freaky trophy. Well, that wasn't about Rattler. He was at Oklahoma, and he was like the next in line after the Kyler Baker program.

You said nobody can do this. Yes. You're right. You got me. Spencer Rattler. Hey, Andy, Walter Whitehands, you got me. Okay. Wait, wait, wait.

This gets better, by the way. Okay. Do you want to know who is seven to one on the same day? Who? Clemson quarterback DJ O'Iunga Lole. Who, by the way, threw a dime in the preseason game. Did you see all the Florida State fans? It was the Doc Rivers, the Doc Rivers Giff of like, like watching that.

Like, where was the, that was hilarious. It was, but yes, DJ, remember DJ at that point is the first year starter. He had played the one game against Notre Dame when Trevor Lawrence had COVID. 7 to 1. Andy. 7 to 1! You got me on the Heisman stuff. When the last time, though, let's get back to the arch thing because this is interesting.

J.C. Daniels was 12 to 1. That's crazy. I'll stop, I swear. You almost with the 12 schools. When's the last time a person would have been the number one overall pick in the draft and came back to school? Matt Leinert. Okay, it's been 15, 20 years. It has been a long time.

Yeah. I think it, and I don't know if Matt Leiner would have been the number one pick in the draft. because that would have been the 2005 drafts. That's when Alex Smith went number one. He grows for 3,500 yards, and Texas makes the playoff. He's the number of overall picking the draft, right? No question about it. I mean, I don't know.

There's a lot of really talented players out there. But next year's draft, yeah. See, actually the one we think he's going to enter has Jeremiah Smith in it. Yeah. You know how the NFL is with quarterbacks. Yeah. But anyway, getting back to the rant I was on. It's terrible for River.

He's going to have to figure out way to clip this because it's a good, it's a good rant. If he wins the Heisman or gets to the playoff and turns his back on being the number one overall pick, after doing everything you want, you know, him to do as a high school recruit, after staying quiet, after remaining loyal, after focusing on football, after doing everything the quote-unquote right way, how do other people who miss the old days of football root against that human? Is it because they're mad because he has a famous last name? And he's mad because he's already rich. That's, that's it. Like no one else in California falls rich. I don't think DJ Lagway's rich. He is.

He drives a Lamborghini. Does he? Yes. The car or the truck? It's not a truck. You mean the, the SUV, the like mom SUV? It might actually be the mom SUV. Because I know how much you hate that.

I think it's funny. I do. The Lamborghini urologist. You're aologist. It also sounds like a Yaris, which is like a crappy Toyota. I don't know if you know that. it is called a uris yeah there is sound like a yaris or something to do with your peeing i don't know what river's eating right now but he should google yaris and put uh and put the picture of the toyote

yaris on our screen right now but i agree with you that the people who want the old school version of college football back should want arch to succeed should want him to set that example now it's interesting because i told you and i was joking with you as you were conceiving of this I said, yeah, he's going to be the example for every five-star recruit whose uncles were NFL Hall of Famers. It's going to be a whole trend. But here's the thing. I've actually thought about this a little more. And I wrote it in the column what you thought about, the fact that they're already rich when they get to college.

Go ahead. Yeah. So I don't think this will change the amount of movement for quarterbacks before they play. I think there will always be a bunch of quarterbacks who will go to a place they don't play immediately and they move and I'll tell you why it's not necessarily them in a lot of cases it's their parents

to understand you have to understand the quarterback industrial complex which the mannings do not have to take part in and so Arch could kind of be above all that but most quarterbacks who want to play in college do have to go to all the camps they have to have the private trainers and obviously Arch did this too

too. But there is so much money sunk into a quarterback by the time you get him to that first college that mom and dad or whoever paid all that money are going, I am going to get some R.O.I here. If he doesn't play, why did I spend all this money? They will be getting R.O.I. when he gets to this senior year of high school. The Mannings understand that. the mannings understand that because they've already done it they've already been successful college quarterbacks they've already been successful NFL quarterbacks there are two types of recruiting parents

and you and I have both spoken to a lot of them over the years yeah there are one which is shady as hell and doing everything they can to connive a situation to make the most money off of their kids name which I think are the worst type of people I could not imagine I've got my daughter sleeping in this room over here And I could never imagine taking advantage of her in any way for financial gain. Right.

It happens all the time. Okay. And then there's also the parents, too, that think they know everything when they don't, but also mean well and want to follow a model that they think will put their kids in the best situation to succeed. And like I said, I don't think it's the players in most these cases. But I wonder if Archmanning influence will influence the second parent I just described, which is. they know everything, they know the model. Why wouldn't they want to do what the mannings do? Especially considering the fact that the ROI that you're looking for

and all the college training that you're doing throughout your high school career will be paid back in full tenfold in most cases if you ever get to a point where you need to follow the Archmanning immediately. Right. Nico would have gotten all the money back. Here's the other part of it though. And this is where I think you actually may see it. So you and I had this discussion last week and you mentioned it again today.

with arch and what archie said archie his grandfather told texas monthly that he doesn't think arch is going to enter the draft next year even though he's going to be eligible he thinks he'll come back for 2006 i do think you're going to see more quarterbacks doing that not necessarily because of arch manning but because the numbers do say you tend to have a better NFL career the more college games you start so there's that piece of it the other piece of it is you get paid pretty well as a successful power conference quarterback right now. And I know what everybody says, oh, but the NFL money is still bigger and the second contract in the NFL is so big.

But think about how few quarterbacks, when I'm not talking about any other position, how few quarterbacks actually get the massive second contract. That number is so low that it is probably well worth staying for whatever you're going to get as a successful power conference quarterback for one more year, if it gives you that much better chance of getting that second contract. And you saw like when you were just go six for 18 or whatever he did in his preseason game the other day and everybody saying he'd be making more money in college right now. Right.

So like I, but I just, I think that if Archmanning continues to this trajectory and they turn out to be right, especially considering the fact there's no sunken cost by passing on the NFL, but I wonder if people will be less, trigger happy when it comes to transferring. And maybe they won't because people want bags and parents want bags. And I don't think you're ever going to see anything that stops anybody who's chasing a bag from chasing the bag. But if you are actually truthful in what you say, which is you are going to continue to do everything you can to pursue that second NFL contract,

Arch Manning has an opportunity here to prove to everybody who's going through this moving forward that being prudent to your craft, staying in your place, waiting your turn, developing, growing your body, becoming physically mature, and staying loyal goes a long way in what NFL people are looking for in a quarterback, and that puts you in a better chance to do that. It won't be across the board, but I think maybe if you do hate this transfer-happy world,

I think that you should be rooting for Arch Manning. I think you're right. I think there's actually another quarterback you should be rooting for, too. It takes it a remarkable amount of self-confidence to go to a place not play and then not pull the rip cord and say, you know what, I'm going to stick this out, and my time's going to come. Ty Simpson at Alabama, that guy, fourth year, fourth year at Alabama. He's been involved in multiple quarterback competitions, and he won this one.

He could have easily left when he didn't win the competition in 2023. he stayed and he talked to the media after being named the starter and so we got this clip from badmah online and i i really like this i just hearing him talk about this it is so mature and it is something that i don't think i would have in my fourth year of college been this mature but i think having gone through what he's done probably got him here and also having worked with one of the best coaches of all time because he talks about the advice that Nick Saban gave him that helped him get to this point. You know, I've talked to Coach Saban a lot. You know, he always would tell me, you know, don't worry about the outside noise. Don't worry about external factors.

Don't worry about anybody else. Just be the best you can be. And I really didn't understand that when I was a young guy. You know, I would always be worried about, you know, somebody else or somebody at, you know, a different type of school or whatever or be looking somewhere else and, you know, be like, man, I could have played there or whatever. But, you know, he always kept saying, just focus on yourself, focus on the best you can be. And then, you know, when Coach the board came, he talked about going one and O and, you know, winners win because that's what the winners do.

And I had to sit back and, you know, pray about it and just think about myself like, man, like, I got to do something. I can't keep going down this road of just, you know, worry, worrying, and have anxiety or whatever. So, you know, I sat back in my room one night, and I was like, man, I just, you know, I'm going to pray, I'm going to give, you know, give everything I got to the Lord

and just make sure I understand it, like, hey, that, you know, I'm just going to be the best player, best high sense than I can be. And I think, you know, these last couple of years, that's what I've really tried to do. Just make sure, like, hey, don't do anything fancy, man. Like, you know, even though it's the University of Alabama, just play football, and just be the best version of yourself you can be. He talked about a scrimmage a couple years ago where he didn't play very much,

and it was a spring scrimmage, and he comes home and he just starts crying. And he's like, what should I do? What should I do? And his dad told him, you know, told him to check in on your faith. Like, are you walking your faith? But I think the part he talked about with Nick Saban, where Nick Saban was always a person who said, don't worry about the opponent, don't worry about the scoreboard, worry about just dominating the next play, the next moment. And it really is a better way to live, but it's very hard when you're young to understand that. It's very hard to understand that the process is more important than the outcome, and that if the process is right, the outcome usually works out. but what you what you saw there is a fully formed adult who has gone through this stuff

and learned this and this is not me saying you shouldn't transfer if the situation is better for you this is just tie simpson learned a very valuable life lesson here that i don't know that everybody's quite getting and now he does get to be the starting quarterback at Alabama. The problem is sometimes it sucks and you don't win the job. But he did win the job. And now he's getting to play with a loaded roster and it's going to be fun to watch. There's a piece of this that I think is the most overlooked.

Okay. And I think I might have perpetuated it myself on this show tonight. Well, today is recording this. Andy, sometimes staying isn't the right decision because sometimes you're not good enough. And I think leaving, sometimes somebody's so much better than you. Remember, Jalen Hertz had to leave Alabama. So I think that like a lot of times, too, when you talk about the virtues of staying and being loyal in the things in the Thai Simpson path and the Kate Klubnick path and hell, the Mack Jones path at Alabama that played out quite well for him. I think at times you can be loyal to a fault and stay at a place that you're not good enough to be at.

And you have to be mature and the coaches have to be real to tell people. when they're not good enough. I think that if you leave because you're impatient for playing time or you don't like the way you were coached in a practice or whatever of the other thousand reasons people leave when they're good enough are, I think that leaving when you're bad, like not bad, when you're not good enough or when there's somebody better than you in the same situation is actually prudent. So like I think that like deciphering whether or not you're actually good enough is probably

the hardest test of all, right? Looking in the mirror and deciding, hey, am I good enough to be here? am I good enough to start? If I wait two, three years, am I Alabama good? Am I Georgia good? Am I Ohio State good? Or am I wherever you are, random you good? Or am I being a wuss?

Or am I being selfish? Or am I being short-sighted or impatient or whatever other word you want to use? Deciphering that is a personal journey that everybody has to get to. But it's also like if you stay at a place that you're not good enough to play at because you want to be loyal to the place and then your career one ends up without you playing then you were right you didn't so like didn't maximize your value which is it like another Nick Sabanism you're supposed to maximize your value and so Andy like what like I could want I could want to bench 500 pounds okay and I could be loyal to that idea and it's going to

happen exactly and there are certain things in life too and I think that it's as much as you want to hear the message of everybody can do anything and you know chase your dreams and never say I can't there are certain things that people physically can't do at places like this and I'm happy that this worked out for Ty Simpson and I'm happy it worked out for Mac Jones and the countless other people that lived in this example and I'm excited to see how it plays out yeah but like the Arch Manning model is only good for people who are as good as Arch Manning like it doesn't work for everybody it only works if Ty Simpson is that good or is good enough to lead Alabama to a national title it worked out yeah it worked out

It would have been good enough for Devin Brown, who had to leave Ohio State because he was, like, yes. You know, and does that mean he's a coward or he didn't know? It's just he understood where he was on the food chain and where he could be on that food chain if he ate all the guppies at the bottom, and it still wouldn't be the biggest fish on that food chain. And it's okay. It doesn't mean he can't go be a good starting quarterback somewhere else, and he's going to try that this year. But that, there's a distinction there that you have to make. I realize we're very quarterback heavy today and we're yesterday as well, but that I, oh, no.

It's fascinating. It's the most interesting position in sports. And let's shift to another quarterback situation, another team that we think can compete for the national title, a team that played in the national title game last year and has a quarterback competition. I realize both teams that played the national title game last year had a quarterback competition.

But the one that feels the hottest right now, that feels like we know the least, is Notre Dame. C.J. Carr presumed for most of the off-season to be the guy. Kenny Menci flashed in the spring game a little bit. Steve Angelli leaves. You're thinking, okay, what does this mean for Kenny Menchie? Now it looks like it's a very close competition.

They have a scrimmage this weekend. I don't know if Marcus Freeman has any plans to name anybody, but Marcus Freeman does not strike me as the kind of guy who's going to just fart around and not name somebody or send somebody out to take all the first team reps for two weeks of practice and expect it not to get out. So I think we're probably going to hear something sooner rather than later.

And I am very intrigued to see where this winds up. You know, you've been blown my mind all week with things that I forgot, so let's try it again. When's the last time we spent an entire offseason, presuming the starter will be somebody and then that person lost a quarterback battle in the fall

that's a good question so you covered the 2015 Ohio State QB situation which was not this that was a completely different situation because you had a guy who had there was no presumption at all yeah yeah there was no presumption

nobody knew if it was going to be J.T. Barrett or Cardell Jones I am trying to remember I think there have been some cases where some freshman wound up winning the job but not like that not not where there was all this hype and and and this presumption because remember minchi actually won the job that would be amongst some of the most shocking quarterback position battle results i i can remember no i guess it's interesting because i we're so weird about this you know because it feels like And I guess the same thing with Julian Sane and Lincoln Keenholz at Ohio State.

Like we just discount the older guy. We're like, well, if he was that good, they would have already started him. Not these guys were all big time recruits. Like everybody were talking about was a big time recruit. It's not like they weren't good quarterbacks coming out of high school or their play. You know, Stetson Bennett was the, you know, the odd situation. Now, he didn't win an opening day starting job. In fact, he had to just keep winning.

it after not starting opening day. Yeah. And it's really, really hard to remember who we presumed would be the starter in the past. And like, we got a lot of emails, Andy, when we asked for a crazy game ending emails that we forgot. We're copied on a lot of the same emails

and they're all really good suggestions. I wonder if somebody could be like, yeah, I remember that time. Like Oklahoma thought the guy, this guy was going to scar all off. It'd be like if like, yeah, I mean, like, well, I mean, we talked about this with, with George Stoyer yesterday, but the Rhett-Bomar situation. Obviously, Rhett-Bomar was going to be Oklahoma starting quarterback.

Now, he got kicked off the team. So that was a different, a different situation. But that threw the whole thing into chaos right before the season started. So I can't remember one because, like, it would, it would have been, to call back to Spencer Rattler, it would have been like if Lincoln Riley had decided Caleb Williams was going to start over Spencer Rattler. Yeah. But even then, that would have been a five-stop.

Tyler had finished the previous season as the starter. So it wasn't, this, this job's open. Like Riley Leonard was the guy. He graduated and now it's open. But this isn't even just like, you know, people lose their jobs in the season all the time. It's the battle in their own camp before they play games that always is kind of dicey to me. Because it's like I always believe this.

And a reporter told me this when I was first starting my career and it just is always stud with me. He said, what the coaches do more than what they say. I think it's true. 100%. And what Notre Dame did, did not, this wasn't a Kenny Menchy plan.

So like, and that doesn't mean he might not be the best. Maybe he's the best. I don't know. We'll find out, but it would be weird. Did we feel that way? Do we think Alex Orgy was going to win the job last year at Michigan and then Davis Warren won it? I'm trying to, I'm thinking of, I'm thinking more of like,

highly rated recruit, incumbent, waited his turn. They don't go out and get a transfer, like the table is set. Like, Orgy was just like there because they didn't have anyone else. But in this case, in Notre Dame's case, Minchie's the older guy. He's been there longer than CJ Carr, one year longer, but one year longer. Yeah. And did not come into the game last year. Neither one did.

Yeah. Steve Angelly did, and he's now at Syracuse waiting to see if Brian Brown's going to name him the starter. Yeah. That would suck, by the way, for Angelly. I hope he wins the job. But the thing is, if Kenny Minchie wins the Notre Dame job, it means he was already over Angelly on the depth chart when Angelly left.

But, I mean, Angelie would rather probably be a backup at Notre Dame and Syracuse is what I'm saying. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. You know, yeah. But like, these, this is an interesting one. because the intel here is making it feel like it's a real battle. And I know the intel at Ohio State is kind of in the same thing, but it doesn't feel that that one's not a real competition.

You've seen reports out of Ohio State that saying was starting to distance himself. Yeah. But I don't know. I mean, they still haven't said anything definitive in the job. This is the same exact level of surprise to me. I would agree. And you mentioning isn't good enough. This is a, a coach had a plan.

a succession plan in order and then veered off that succession plan because somebody else in camp that we didn't talk about it all in the offseason beat the incumbent in a fair and square battle in their own practice. Like I'm probably forgetting one, but like this doesn't, that doesn't happen. Oh, there's the Kimi-Mitchie backflip from the spring game. That's why I'm like, I think that car's going to start. That's why I think that San's going to start because what did the coaches do? What did they do?

Well, and also like with Notre Dame, we can go back to Deuce Knight, who's now a freshman in Auburn, but he was committed to Notre Dame for a long time. It felt like he decommitted at about the same time this succession plan that we thought was in place, was put in place, but maybe it wasn't. Yeah. Yeah. But hey, I'm all for August quarterback battle drama. I mean, I'm happy that we'll be tracking this, but like, I don't think that Menchie's

going to win the job just based on Marcus Freeman's route and Avenue. I don't know. I think there's a chance. and there's enough smoke now that it feels like there's a real chance that Munchy wins it. We may have an answer by the time we do Monday show. That's what's so interesting to me, Ari,

is we may get the answer to this thing. Yeah. I don't think this is going to be a week before situation. So, you know, I don't think that that's the way to do it. As I voice on Tuesday, I don't anticipate that that's what's going to happen here either. My thing is, once you've turned the page to prep for your opening day opponent once you've stopped working on yourself and you've started

working on the game plan you better know who's who's your your QB1 also um just a random aside that's about football believe it or not like why wouldn't LSU spend the entire fall camp preparing for Clemson it's such a big game like why don't you spend I I never understood the wait till the week before thing like just I would install to make sure that everybody knows what they are supposed to do I know I know I know in their offense and their defense. And we got to know every, I get it. I get it.

Yeah, that's, that's all it is. It's, it's, it's making sure that everybody learned the offense, if they're playing offense, and everybody learned the defense if they're playing defense, before you then turn it to the scout teamers running the other team's plays.

Yeah. That's really it. It's knowing, as like it as an offensive lineman, knowing all your rules. Yeah. But I guess maybe that's the, the idea of like having a veteran team,

maybe you can, you don't have to do that as much because you have more players that know what they're doing correct and Notre Dame in that situation with the exception of the QB has a lot of veterans on that I'm just saying LSU better be ready that's all that's all I'm saying well yeah that Clemson that Clemson D line is going to be nasty and that is a that is an LSU offensive line where the guys are going to be in new roles and learning on the job and that's a tough group to learn on the job against but Ari I think we I sent their credential request in And so I think we can say it.

This is the game we're planning to go to week one. LSU and Clemson. How excited are you? You put mine in, right? Because I didn't know. Just me. Okay. Well, then I'll just hang out in Atlanta and go to the, what's the strip club with the wings?

Magic City. I have no interest in the women. I just have a lot of interest in the wings because apparently they're really good. I've never had it. Yeah, Lou Williams has his own style of wings. Have you, have you had them? I have not. You strike me as a person that would eat it.

A strip club guy. I'm a wing guy, though, so probably should go anyway. That's what I'm saying. I've got no interest in the girls. I've got all interest in the buffalo wings. Like, I don't care about the girls. Yeah, I, maybe that's what, maybe we do, we do a field trip and get some lemon pepper wings at Magic City the next time.

It happens to go in the window. And you can get it on Uber Eats, too. I don't know if you know that. I know these things. I didn't know that. But yes, this was my number one game. And I do have some remorse about the Arch Manning mania that we're not going to be, but we're going to be, we'll be watching it with everybody else.

You know, we don't have to be in the building to see it. This to me is the most, this is the juiciest game of the first week. Too many storylines. You've got coaches' storylines. You've got quarterback storylines. You've got all sorts of things to look forward to no matter what the result is. People are going to freak out. Nobody's going to freak out at the result of the Texas Ohio's Day game.

And this is why we picked Florida Miami last year. Yes. That's exactly why I picked Florida Miami last year, and it didn't disappoint. Because we don't want to argue in the press box about who gets to write a good column. We both get it, no matter what. You get a good one no matter what, exactly. Nobody uses. But yeah, I'm excited.

I've actually never been to a game at Clemson. So then I've been to 100,000 at Ohio State. So this is great. I'm excited. It's a very cool experience. I've never been to Clemson in general. I've only driven through South Carolina on the way to a road trip to see my now wife. I drove from Columbus to Fort Lauderdale to Zier once.

Clemson is a beautiful town. I think I was on Dateline NBC or something. What was that show? Do you like the astronaut who were the depends? Yeah. To drive to see the man who wasn't her husband but had a wife? There is no distance that a desperate man will not drive for a woman.

Trust me, I've done this multiple time. I know. My wife and I were eight hours apart for the first year we were together, and I lived in Knoxville, and she lived in Gainesville. You actually don't have to get off I-75. It's the whole way. And I can tell you every exit in Georgia on I-75 on I-75 on I-75 in Georgia is. I can name the exits. Andy found a website that tells you, like, the best food stops for road trips. And I have a, sad confession i've ever used it like i kind of just do the the exciting because i like to get excited every time i'm on the highway it's like oh there's a sign for food what's it's it going to be i don't you never know what it's going to be although there's 12 see that's the thing if i'm driving on i 75 in georgia i know exactly what it's going to be like exit 62 and tifton is the best exit in south georgia yeah there are certain god exits that have every restaurant imaginable yeah and they're in the middle of nowhere and it's like there's you want rbys or buffalo wildwings

or anything in between. And it's great. Actually, I-95, the stretch that goes through Georgia, exit 104 is that exit, if you'd like, if you're curious. You know what I'm thinking a lot about? Cooler, Georgia. How good the food was at that gas station that you and I stopped at in Wisconsin on the way to the draft.

Oh, my God. Yes. And I don't remember. It's quick trip, but they spell it differently. So it's not the quick trip that is the large chain that you see. in Atlanta and Kansas City and Dallas. It's Q-W-I-K trip. Beautiful station.

Incredible food. What was the sample we got? We got red sticks with cheese with melted cheese in them. No, it was like high quality stuff. Chicken tenders. They were so good that we thought about Uber-Eatsing them to the house after the draft. From the gas station. Have you ever ordered Uber Eats from gas station?

I haven't. I haven't either, but I was sorely tempted that day. Sorely tempted. Yeah. As you. Now I'm all right. Yeah. So do we have another topic or is that it? I kind of like I can't remember. I blacked out. I'm too hungry to think now. No, we we don't. But I think the quarterbacks are going to continue to be a topic. I do want to tell everybody for Friday's show, dear Andy, dear Ari, we do want to hear from you. You've already been sending in a bunch of good questions. But in case you do have a question for us, anything we've said during the week that has touched a nerve, if you can think of a quarterback situation where we assumed one guy was going to win all summer and then lo and behold, somebody else won, by all means, remind us.

Andy Stapleson3 at gmail.com. Ari.wasterman at on3.com. Send us your emails. We love them. it is our our listeners viewers readers so smart love this sport so much and i just get a kick every time like some of these crazy ending emails that you've sent have been so much fun to go down memory lane like you know you've got your michigan state fans sending the trouble with the snap ones just to just to poke the Michigan fans it's there there are so many uh one one person the other day sent the cock block which is Jarvis Moss blocking Ryan suckups kick at the end of the 2006 Florida South Carolina game so I was on the field when that happened and on the sideline waiting to interview people after the game it's the loudest I've ever heard of stadium yeah and

we actually we actually have a lot backed up too like if we don't respond to your email don't take it as us not reading it. We read all of them and there's a lot of really good questions and if we don't get to you or your question this week then we'll get to it next or whatever but keep trying too.

Like if we don't answer it. Yeah, a lot of times it might not fit into what we're talking about that week but it's sending us because I just, I love hearing from you guys and I love the way you guys think and we are so close now. So Ari, this is Wednesday.

We got two more shows this week. A week from Saturday, we got Farmageddon in Ireland. We get Kansas-Fresno State after that. Electricity. I can't wait. It's going to be amazing. I can't wait. Can't wait to get back into the season, man. We're right around the corner. All right. Send us those emails. We'll talk to you on Thursday.