Andy & Ari On3 - Transfer Portal INTEL: RB Jadan Baugh stays at Florida | QB Kenny Minchey flips from Nebraska

Episode Date: January 6, 2026

The action in the Transfer Portal is constant these days, as more and more players find destinations daily. Watch here as Jake Crain from On3’s Crain & Cone joins the show to discuss all of the happenings in the transfer portal, including some news off the top with Florida and its star RB in Jadan Baugh. (0:00) Today’s Episode(1:00) Presenting Sponsor(3:30) Intro: Jake Crain joins(4:55) Jadan Baugh returning to Florida(13:01) Dell(14:25) Kenny Minchey flips commitment to Kentucky(17:22) Where will Nebraska turn to next?(35:47) Byrum Brown to Auburn(45:57) Bryce Underwood returning to Michigan(54:50) LSU worried about Lane Kiffin?(1:00:10) Can Ole Miss re-load next year?(1:03:26) Conclusion: Wrapping up with Jake Keep up with Crain & Cone here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-LeIYApj-NTHYGAzU4cPBQ Over in Nebraska, Matt Rhule and the Huskers are searching for a new quarterback, as Notre Dame transfer QB Kenny Minchey has flipped his commitment to Kentucky. What does this mean for Matt Rhule ahead of his 4th year in Lincoln? As Auburn is expecting big things out of former USF coach Alex Golesh, the newest head coach in Auburn is bringing his quarterback in Byrum Brown with him. Watch here as Jake Crain and Andy break down this move to the plains. Meanwhile, up in Michigan, Kyle Whittingham and the Wolverines have successfully retained star QB Bryce Underwood. How important is this move for the Wolverines? Andy & Jake discuss. As the fellas wrap up with the biggest off-season story, there seems to be some angst as LSU continues to search for its quarterback in the portal. Will Lane Kiffin be successful down in Baton Rouge? Will Sam Leavitt commit to the Tigers? Also, what about Lane’s former job in Ole Miss. Can the Rebels bounce back again with Kewan Lacy returning to Oxford? The Dell XPS proves there’s no need to compromise—style, power, and reliability come together in one expertly crafted machine.Check out the all-new Dell XPS at Dell.com/XPS. Our show is also presented by BetMGM! If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works: 1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB.2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game.3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sureyou use bonus code CFB when you sign up! Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary. See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Join On3 today and get one full year of access to The Athletic included! https://www.on3.com/subscribe/C Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/Ld8KmRc66Gc Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's episode of Andy and Ari on 3, a very special guest, Jake Crane. New addition to the On 3 family. Crane and Cone is a show you need to be watching if you're not already. Jake joins us. We're going to talk a whole lot of transfer portal. As we start recording this episode, Jaden Baugh is headed back to Florida, the running back, who could have been maybe the top back in the portal, not going in the portal. But there is more transfer portal.

drama. Kenny Menci who was going to Nebraska. Well, now he's going to Kentucky, which does that mean Sam Levitt's going to LSU? It certainly means Kentucky thinks they're not getting Sam Levitt. The dominoes keep falling. Plus, another one staying. Bryce Underwood, staying at Michigan. What does that mean? And Byron Brown headed to Auburn following coach Alex Scholesh from USF. What's that mean for the Tigers? We'll talk about that. And more on Today's Andy and Ari on 3 presented by BetMGM. We are presented by BetMGM. We use all BetMGM lines and totals on this year show.

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call 8778 Hope N.Y or text Hope N.Y. 4673369 in New York. Call 1-800 next step in Arizona. Call 1-800-3-2-0-0-0-0-0 in Massachusetts. Call 1-800-off in Iowa or 1-8001-9-802 3 in Puerto Rico. First bet offer for new customers only, subject to eligibility requirements, rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in seven days in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Don't forget, if you haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, use the bonus code CFB and get your $1,500 first bet offer today. Welcome to Annie and Ari on 3 presented by BetMGM. No Ari today. He's got to deal with a little family stuff, but a very special guest, Jake Crane, one of the hosts of Crane and Cone. Welcome to the On3 family. They joined on January 1st. If you're not following Crane and Cone on YouTube, what are you waiting for?

Jake, welcome. First off, Andy, thanks for having me. We're incredibly excited to join on three. We were Cranning Company and then moved over here. We're Crane and Cone. Decided to elevate Cone's name there in the title. He obviously deserved it. And no, I did not kidnap already, even though that's something that may happen within the next year.

It's kind of on the books. We just haven't devised a good plan. But now, man, we're fired up to be here. very honored to be here and love sports. Grateful to be at a sports place. And yeah, man, hitting the ground running. What a time to be alive. Absolutely.

There will be crossover events. You, your brother, Blaine, you mentioned David Cohn, former Michigan quarterback. We actually have a clip from your show, talk about Bryce Underwood that we're going to get to a little bit later. But we do have to start with what is going on now. And it's, I mean, it changes by the second, Jake. But as we were, we had a whole rundown. And we had a show plan.

And as we are about to hit the button, Pete Nacos does what Pete Nacos does, and he drops a bomb. Jadenbaugh, who would have been the top running back in the portal had he chosen to go in the portal, is not going in the portal. He is staying in Gainesville. He will remain a Florida gator, which means the gators have brought back Jadenbaugh and Dallas Wilson and Vernel Brown the third. Jake, it certainly seems like they got the skill talent retained that they wanted to retain. Yeah, Andy, well, obviously, it's big in a lot of facets. Number one, Jaden Ball's an NFL back. He's a guy that can do everything.

You can feed him a lot during a game. He's got a lot of versatility. He's able to carry a heavy load. I think he does things in the past game and the past pro game. They're going to continue to get better, which is going to improve his draft status. So, one, you're getting a great player to come back, but then optically for, John Summerall. You talked about Dallas. You talked about Vernel. Getting these pieces shows optimism with a new regime at Florida. And if that's as important as anything, we know that the propaganda

war in college sports and sports in general is huge. And starting off in year one, John's got to put his best foot forward and you're going to have some continuity with some of your best skill position guys coming back. So it's massive on a lot of different fronts. If the least is that Jay and Ball is just going to run through your face at some point on third and one or fourth and one. So it's it's a big win for John Summerall, and you're putting more money in that bank, and you're already building up equity with that fan base, which we know is also huge, the stage of stage. Yeah, because it's a fan base that tends to freak out as someone who went to that school

and lives in the general vicinity. This was one everybody was on pens and needles for. And Jake, I go back to John Summerall's first day on campus. He was still doing double duty with Tulane, but they're about to do the press conference. They have him meet with the team. he shouts out jaden ball individually in that first meeting like hey we need you and i i think this is the one that that the fan base has been the most nervous about because if you think about if you look at the way jaden ball plays you look at the size of the speed he would help anybody yeah

and i think he would have been the number one back in the portal had he chosen to go that route yeah well and you know this andy like at the end of the day john somerall is real and you know that's something that that i think it's thrown around too much nowadays and not that billy napier was fake or anything like that but john summerall's not here to beat around the bush he's not here to walk old ladies across the street or buy as many Girl Scout cookies as he possibly can his job is to put together a roster that's going to make florida look like forda's supposed to the forda that i grew up watching that when you went down on that swamp you just hope to be able to make it back to the bus after the game so that mindset that

killer mindset is is going to permeate through these players there's talent there but he will call you out in front of everybody he's not going to just put you into his office and make sure nobody else can hear and players respect that you 18 to 24 year old males even though it's 18 to 26 year olds now they respect that more than anything at least you're real i may not like you as much i may love you even more But I respect Real. And if you go through the recruiting process, you go through player retention, the real ones keep the real ones because Real Recognize is real. And that's who John Summerall is. That's why he was my number one coach in the portal.

And that's why when he gets to Florida, it's not going to be give me time. It's I'm going to get there. You don't have to wait. So I just respect the man and the mindset. And that is what's going to fire up his players. There's going to be a different flavor of ice cream on the field with Florida this year. Not going to be a bunch of mope in your heads and, oh, woe is us. And oh, no, it's going to be just please.

please for the love of everything sacred and holy, kick this ball off so I can go take somebody out. And that's who Florida should be. Yeah, it feels like they got in everybody they really wanted. The other one I wanted to mention is Miles Graham at linebacker, who another, like Vernel Brown the 3rd, another legacy, Miles is Ernest Graham's son. But, yeah, they definitely seem like they got what they wanted to keep.

The lagway thing, they made it pretty clear from the get-go that that's not somebody they wanted to retain. and I don't know, the DJ wanted to play for them. It all, it all kind of, you know, worked out. It was a good breakup, right? It's like it just feels like a good luck, Chuck situation. Like, the next one's going to be perfect. So, yeah.

The quarterback situation is clear now because Aaron Philo is coming to Florida, the Georgia Tech transfer who played for Buster Faulkner last year. And you got Tremel Jones staying, which Tremel Jones is one. I have a hard time figuring this out, Jake, and you tell me, because for those who don't know, Jake has actually worked in coaching before. He played baseball at South Alabama and then was on the football staff at South Alabama. Like, you've been in these meetings. So I can't figure out, is this going to be an open competition between Philo and Jones? Or are they bringing Philo in because he knows the offense and he's the guy.

He was going to start at Georgia Tech after Haynes King. it feels like they want them both, they want to see who can play. But I don't know how that works in this era. Yeah, well, we all know money is a huge factor. And just like in the pros, if you're going to spend a lot of money on a player, that player probably is going to get the best chance

to be able to play the most. I just, you want to create competition. I know that's what John wants. You want that in every single room, iron sharpens iron, though whatever cliche you want. out there. But you didn't, I don't think you brought Philo over to just try out. And he does have an advantage. Buster Faulkner, the guy I've known for a long time, got a lot of respect for. He is the perfect prototype to run what Buster wants to do. I think Filo has a chance to be more effective

than Haynes King was when you look at just the athletic potential, the arm strength, and the ability to be a little bit more balanced. Now, he's got to go out there and prove it because Haynes was like, Private Dawes from Hacksaw Ridge. I mean, he just keep going up without a gun, too. He just kept bringing people down and going back up. I would, if I was a betting man, which I am, shout out, bet MGM. I would bet on Philo having the best chance and a very, very high chance of being the guy to take the first snap in the first game next year. I don't think, just like you brought, you didn't bring your wife down to Gainesville to get divorced.

You didn't bring your quarterback down there to sit on the bench. Bro, I found my wife in Gainesville. Shout on the circuit street pub, which no longer resists, $2.00. drafts on ladies night two dollar long islands thanks to those two long islands i feel like you're about to tell me the story from goodwill hunting how you like she didn't see me clearly at the bar because of it so no i know this is i was the wingman okay buddy buddy wants to meet this girl he's he tells me you got to you got to talk to her friends i had $40 in my checking account cover was five bucks i'm like dude i don't have five bucks to spend he's like i got your cover

he did not pay my cover but yeah that you want you always You lost a friend gained the wife. That's the way I see it. Exactly. Exactly. So, yeah, I got us invited to the friend's beach house or the friend's aunt's beach house for Memorial Day weekend that weekend. So I was doing work that night. Beach House is a good way to start. That's a good, that's a good first quarter script to get started off on the right. But it's like nobody cries on a jet ski, right? Like it's just, it's too much fun. Precisely. Precisely. So this will be fun to watch as we go forward with. Florida. It feels like Summerall did what he was supposed to do, mission accomplished there. Now we'll see in spring practice what they look like. But this is the hard part. Like when you're a new coach, you've got to come in and get either get the guys you need to keep or if you're a situation where the roster wasn't particularly talented, you've got to go find guys to fill quickly. And that brings us to our next story. We're going to be talking Kentucky in a second. But first, these words from Dell.

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Check out the all-new DellxPS at Dell.com slash XPS. Ooh, I just love that Dell sound. Yeah, I just keep thinking to the commercials where the guys like, dude, it's Adel now. Dude, you're getting a Dell. No, my son is a Dell. It's 2026, and I can still remember that. Oh, yeah. My son has a Dell laptop, uses it for school, loves it.

Nice. Projects. He photoshops things for me. I've got a, you know, fire edits from my kid who wants to be the next Hayes Fawcett. So it's going to be, it's going to be a good relationship here with the Dell folks. But Jake, we got to talk about new coaches trying to figure out what they're doing and how it affects other programs. Because this, the Kentucky quarterback situation has long tentacles. We're going to end up talking, I think, more about Nebraska than we're going to talk about Kentucky.

But Kentucky went all in trying to get Sam Levitt. he took a visit he winds up visiting Arizona State next as Sam Levitt is on his is I'm sorry visits LSU next he's transferring from Arizona State as Sam Levitt is on his LSU visit Kentucky flips Kenny Menchie the former Notre Dame backup from Nebraska yeah translation we're not getting Sam Levitt but we need a QB now will Stein needs his guy yeah you You don't have to be part of the Mensa Society to feel like, to realize they didn't think they were getting them and they pulled out all the stops to get Minci. Just what a wild world, college football world we're living in where Kentucky just stole the quarterback from Nebraska. And we're talking about football.

Like, and look, Nebraska basketball is balling, right? This is the funny part. Kentucky's terrible in basketball this year with a $27 million roster. Nebraska's top 10 in basketball, but Kentucky's stealing Nebraska's quarterback in the transfer portal. It's literally the upside down that we're in right now. it makes it fun. And this is the world we live in. This isn't the 1950s where even if you hated each other, you stayed married for 40 years. Like, y'all could be together for 30 seconds and the next best opportunity that comes they're going to take. So the fact that Kentucky was

able to do this is impressive, I think, for Kentucky, obviously looks bad on Nebraska when you know the tradition that they have there and what they've done, at least in the past in football. But Will Stein, I mean, he's not coming in, making any friends. He's not supposed to come in and make any friends. And I'm going to be interested to see how Minchie kind of develops there. Levitt, obviously, a better player than Minci. I think most of us can agree on that. But at the end of the day, Kentucky stole Nebraska's quarterback commit, which is, it's just funny to say. It's just like me learned how to speak Korean. It just sounds weird coming out my mouth. Look, we're sitting here with Indiana about to play the national college football

semifinals. And they're the favorite to win the national title right now. So that's the world we're living in. And we have to get used to this sort of thing. Like Will Stein, and I think it was clear that Will Stein was going to be aggressive, that Kentucky was going to be aggressive when we found out Sam Levitt was taking a visit there, that they are clearly willing to commit resources to this. But the second they figure out they're not getting Sam Levitt, they've got to pivot quickly. And that's, that's where you're at. Now, our friend Will Compton, fellow Nashville resident of yours, Nebraska alum was not happy with this. He retweets our on three graphic and says, Kenny Menchi just F Nebraska.

He committed, was supposed to visit agent and had paperwork and said he was signing. Kentucky hit him with a blank check. Lack of honor and spine. Let him to switch before signing the contract. Agent complied. Now, I don't know if it's a lack of spine or a desire for more money.

Those can be the same thing. Yeah. Maybe I don't commit if I think there's a chance I might, not last two days. Maybe I just say, hey, I'm very interested. I'd like to visit. I don't know. I don't fall on this because I do think like when you're the quarterback

commit, especially transfer quarterback commit, the guy who's coming into BQB1, which is clearly what this situation is, like you know you have recruiting responsibilities that you're now going to be the face of that program. I'd be a little careful with the C word there. no way look i'm a firm believer in and two things can be true at once and i don't know the timeline of exactly when minchi may have thought he didn't have any other better options than nebraska and then

all of a sudden you get a text from kentucky that's offering you more money i don't know the money differential i would guess it probably be pretty stark for him this but you're exactly right on one hand you know if you're still fielding offers the word commitment has just gone out of the window people don't know what it means or they just think it's flashy. I disagree. Football coaches are as much to blame as football players. Yeah, 100% for devaluing that word, by the way. 100%.

It goes both ways. But Will has a right to be upset. I get if you're a fan of a team and you just got left at the dance and they went for another person, I get being upset. The lack of spine thing, here's my question I would ask, Will. If you got offered right, and if you're making what you're making, right now and then you got offered a substantial amount of money more, even though you have made prior announcements and commitments to this place. Is it a lack of spine if you decide to go or a lack of

brain if you decide to stay? Like at the end of the day, my job as a father and a husband, and I know Minci may not be this far in life yet, is to try and provide my family with as much resources and money and stuff as possible to give them the best life possible. So I look at at it through that prism. I get being upset, especially when you know the way this stuff works out. Like this is, who does this really? I think it, in Will's case, if he tried to flip on bussing with the boys, Taylor LeWan might kick his ass. So, I mean, he might, he might, but I'm still going to get that. I don't know. That's a pretty fair fight. So we'll see. I don't know. I think Taylor's huge ass at the end of the day. I'm, I'm a physics guy. But like, I can, I can

understand. Again, that's why I'd love to see the numbers. I would love to say, like, if you left for an extra of 50,000. That's obviously a lot different than leaving for an extra 500,000. So I would expect that this was a significant number. It had to be, right? If you were in the mix for Sam Levitt, you had a significant budget. Without, and I would be willing to guess they probably didn't pay Minci as much as they were going to pay Levitt. No, which means what you told Menchie is, we're going to give you this, which is significantly more than Nebraska is, and oh, by the way, we just saved what we were planning on spending a little bit. And so we're going to use that to get you somebody else, some playmakers. And we'll see how it goes. But Will Stein, very aggressive so

far. But this reminded me of a quote from last year. And I remember the money part of the quote, but actually we went and found the clip. Producer River found the clip. And it is even more interesting. So this is a quote from Matt Rule. And he's actually talking about high school recruiting, but it applies to portal recruiting as well. This is last April, Matt Rule being very repression. I just have to be sure that they're good enough. And I don't think asking guys to come to camp is a, I don't think I, the whole thing like, hey, you should be the first offer at Nebraska. You know, you know, desperate teams always set the market. Let me say that one more time. And Rev. Share and all this, desperate teams set the market. So if they know that, hey,

straight up, we can't beat a big 10 team or we can't beat Nebraska, then we better offer them a year earlier and say Nebraska doesn't care about you. We care about you. We just, we got to make sure that you're, you're going to help us beat House State. So that's, um, That's my job is to be really focused on, you know, serving that one master, which is college ball playoff, Big Ten championships, national championships. That's all anybody wants. So I better do that. If you're not doing that, then people say why, why, why, why, why?

But that is a lot to unpack because, again, he was talking about high school recruiting when he's talking about it, you know, offer a year earlier, show the love. But the desperate team set the market. applies to everything. And Kentucky is desperate. Kentucky just committed $38 million to buying out Mark Stoops. Now, he was nice enough to let them do an installment plan instead of the lump sum that his contract called for.

But Kentucky has committed a lot of money to regime change in football. If they do not do this right, if they don't set up Will Stein correctly, then what did you spend all that money to get rid of Mark Stoops for? So they have to do this. they're the desperate team, and now they've made Nebraska the desperate team. Yeah, I mean, you know, sorry, Matt, you better start learning to speak desperate because it feels like the shoes a little bit on the other foot here. To your point about Will Stein and Kentucky, you're exactly right, Andy.

They are going all in on football. You heard that right. Kentucky is going all in on football and good for them. I don't think Will would have taken the job if he didn't. But it does feel like at a place like Kentucky that is still a basketball school, you really get one shot at this. I would compare it to maybe telling your parents that you don't want to be a lawyer, you want to be an artist.

Okay, well, you better sell a lot of paintings, bud, because this is your first and only opportunity to go prove this to us before we make you do the other thing, which I'm happy for Kentucky, but you're exactly right, Andy, and I know Will knows this. I'm not saying next year they've got to go win the national championship, but you better show legitimate progress. And this is what happens as well. there's a good side and a bad side of this.

The good side of some of these non-football schools that are now going all in on football, if you're a coach that takes that job, you're like, great, that's awesome. And Dion, what he did at Colorado early, kind of showed fan bases that, hey, this can happen. Look at what Indiana is doing. Look at what Vanderbilt is doing.

So now it's been proven that it can work. So if you go in there as Will Stein, and they put all this money toward it and it doesn't work, then it makes you look like the fool when it's worked at another basketball school like Indiana and a baseball school in Vanderbilt. So there's two different ways to look at it, but I do think this is a,

you have three years to show me that you're a great painter. If you're not a great painter, guess what? We're studying to take the bar again. Yeah, I think it's two years, three years. And that's, it's interesting because that's where Matt Rule is at at the end of year two. And, excuse me, at the end of year three,

sorry, at the end of year three, he's he's not had the year three at Nebraska that he had at Temple or at Baylor. So the question is, where are they in relation to this? Because I'm with you, in this era, you don't really get four or five years. No. You're going to get two or three now. Now, Matt Rule got hired earlier than that. But I think, like, there's a reason Michigan hired a 66-year-old coach because they're not worried about him building for four years.

years from now. They're worried about Coe Winningham winning now. And Matt Rule has to find a way to win now. Now, they've got to go find a quarterback. And so who might that be is another question. The names that are out there, Anthony Calandria, who was at UNLV this past season, went to play for Dan Mullen after playing at Virginia. Bo Perbula, who was Missouri starter last season, he had looked at maybe going to rejoin James Franklin at Virginia Tech, but Ethan Grunkemeyer is rejoining James Franklin at Virginia Tech. Aidan Childs, who was at Michigan State and Oregon State before that, went with Jonathan Smith, the Michigan State, and DJ Lagway, who visited Florida State, but then Florida

State went with Ashton Daniels, so DJ Lagway, former Florida quarterback, still in the market. So the first thing just with Matt Rule, you know, the M.O. on Matt Rule was that he's a builder. like he's he went to places that have less resources you go back you look at temple we can go through it and he started building those programs up and then he would go to a higher level well when you go to a place like nebraska i know everybody makes fun in nebraska being bad now and that you guys were only good way back when with tommy fraser and all this other stuff Nebraska still is this passionate about football as they've ever been they are still as willing to spend as much as they've ever spent. And if you're a Nebraska fan right now, you just got to almost feel like you're in

purgatory. Now I think after this year, the doubt has really crept in. I think there was some worry that maybe Matt Rule isn't as elite as what we thought in giving him all these resources at a place like Nebraska. Maybe he isn't that guy. Maybe he's just good at turning small gas stations into a little bit bigger gas stations. They'll never be a Buckees. Like I just, I understand the doubt right now from the Nebraska fans. Matt rules, it's got to be a big jump too. Yeah. It seems like it's like it's either hit a ceiling or it's starting to regress. And this was his MO. As far as quarterback, I think he has to make a splash. I think DJ Lagway would be that splash. Now, do I trust DJ Lagway to stay healthy? Do I think he could be the best quarterback

that you go out there and get right now? The jury's still out on that. I think it's potential to you, but your best, you know, ability is availability and he's been beat up a lot. So I think if they were to go get DJ Lagway, a lot of Nebraska fans would be hyped up. Will Conto will be tweeting out, oh, he's way better than Kenny Minchie anyway. This is a win for Nebraska, this, that, the other. But at some point, Matt Rule has got to take you from mid to really good to possibly elite. There is a lot of pressure on that man this season to make a big jump and make sure that this wasn't just some pipe dream.

And you, you know, you taught a kid how to walk, but you never taught him out of run. Well, you heard the end of that quote where he said, we're worried about Big Ten champion. championships and national championships. They're pretty far from that right now. Yeah, well, I'm worried about winning the lottery, but that is... Let me give me a blind resume. Are you ready for a blind resume, Jake? Let's do it.

Coach A, 19 and 19 after three seasons at Nebraska, 10 and 17 in conference play. Coach B, 19 and 19 after three seasons at Nebraska, 12 and 14 in conference play. Who's who? I'm going to guess that Matt Rule is obviously, one of them. And I'm going to guess Scott Frost is probably going to be the other one. Or is it Bo Polini? It's Mike. Boyle would have a lot more wins. Wow, that's a throwback. I remember when Nebraska fans were all upset about like the California connection that wasn't working out with Mike and all that. Yeah, man, it hasn't, it hasn't progressed into what they thought it was

going to be. And I understand if they're pissed off. They should be pissed off. You've given him every opportunity to take that next step. And imagine this, Andy. I'll make the point I just made. You're a Nebraska fan, you're watching Indiana in the final four in college football in the semifinal. You watch Vandy win double-digit games. It is just, it's got to be sickening right now. It really does. Yeah, and they're frustrated. I mean, you go to the Husker Online message boards. They are, they're fenting as much as they can. And I don't blame them. And this is, because it's not, it's not a case that Nebraska can't do it. We had those long discussions throughout the last decade of maybe the sport has changed in a way and it's just

not going to be possible at Nebraska. Kurt Signetti is putting the lie to that right now. Nebraska loves football. Nebraska is all in on football. Nebraska will give you resources. Nebraska will allow you to go get players. There's no excuse. Andy, we had two group of five teams make a 12 team playoff. Like, I mean, come on. You're, you're, it's like, it's like when I got upset an Ironman and Tony Starks was able to build it in a cave out of scraps. And meanwhile, Matt Rules over here in some huge layer inside of-

Underbilt won 10 games this year. Yeah. Yeah. Like, we're in that world now. Nebraska can do this. It's not impossible there. You just have to do it in the way that it's done now. And I think the formula is starting to show itself now. And it's not quick development.

It's go win now. Go find the players who can. win now. And you still have to develop. I mean, I think if we look at the teams in the national title picture still, like Kurt Signetti's team is a lot out of the transfer portal, but a lot of those guys are players that he recruited out of high school to James Madison and have they've been developing them along the way. Miami has a great mix of transfer portal and guys they sign out of high school. Ditto for Oregon. Ole Miss has more of the high school guys than you think, but they've done a good job of one getting portal guys and lane always did a good job i thought of finding portal

guys with tons of eligibility so it felt like they'd been at almost the entire time well there's a lot of different ways to bake the cake i think obviously you're trying to get to the same outcome you're trying to put the best roster with depth depth and important places especially along the line of scrimmage and i always thought that you didn't want to build the ship out of the transfer portal you wanted to plug holes in the ship with the transfer portal you have some coaches that are 60% transfer portal, 40% high school development. I mean, again, I bring up Colorado as an example. You know, they went to the portal a ton.

Now, they didn't do great last year, and they only won, what, three games, three or four of the first year, which was like a 300% increase, though. I just think there's a lot of different ways to do it, but at the end of the day, how can you become in an inconsistent world of college athletics with so many moving parts on the roster? How can you become the most consistent possible?

And if you're a guy that goes out there and just wants to get a mercenary every year. If it works, it works. I mean, you look at Lane, like, he's going to go out there and get a mercenary at quarterback. He'll get a couple other guys and then mix it with development. I just always thought I would love to be just like run past. I would love to be as close to 50-50 as possible.

But again, you know, the timeline has sped up on these coaches. So you're almost forced to go into the portal to show instant progress to then show recruits that this is going to be a place you can come win. So it's some people do it. different. It's worked in multiple ways. They just haven't found the right way to make it work yet. Well, and Matt Rule is in a tough situation, too, with the fans. I think he's actually in a fairly secure situation because he just got that extension. When Penn State opened, Nebraska jumped and gave an extension. Now, he was, I believe, six and two this season when all that

happened. So it will be, it's going to be a very interesting situation. Yeah, look, you better win or regardless. They'll find there's enough corn in a Nebraska. They'll fire you into the sun, bud. Yeah. They especially are not looking at another Big Ten school that was in a lot worse shape competing for a national title now in Indiana. They're thinking, we can do this. We just... And look at what happened to Brian Kelly. Like, and James Franklin. Like, dudes are getting... Like, it's like the earls of the Viking lands are getting chopped left and right at the first sign of weakness. Ragnar's showing up on the boat dock with the boys and you're cooked. That's right. So Anthony Calandria,

Bo Perbula, Aidan Childs, DJ Lagway, potential Nebraska QB-1s. Also, T.J. Lateef still sit there going, you know what? What about me? I want you that at UCLA game. Yeah, to me, I tell you, Charles, I just the throwing ability is not there. It's just not developed enough. Not that he can't do it. It just feels like he's still so raw. You know, we saw that when he was even younger and maybe you could kind of put it together because his running ability and athletic abilities off the charts. It just,

Probula would make sense to me, but I think just from an optic standpoint at the end of the day, I think there's a good chance they may go all in on Lagway. And I wouldn't blame him for doing it, because if Lagway were to hit, if he were to put it all together,

I think he's more talented than any of the players you just mentioned. He's the highest upside for sure. He can make throws that probably 90% of the guys in college can't make. The problem is he also may throw five interceptions in a game, and you have to be prepared to deal with that, too. So it's, he is, he's the, the guy that coaches can't stay away from, but also the guy that,

that coaches know can get them fired. And it's, it's that push pull. Like, it's, it's an angel and the devil on the shoulder. Like, yeah. Is I mean, she's out of your, see me drop it in the bucket against LSU in 24? Well, it's like she's out of your league and she still likes you, but she's also nuts. So, like, oh, how does. Oh, so. J. Langewin is. is the quarterback. Everybody's the quarterback version of the Hot Crazy Matrix. That's exactly right. It's just like everybody's going to see me out with this really good looking girl and think I have game.

And then she's going to throw a chair in an Outback Steakhouse. Like, I just, it's tough for me to deal with that. Like, sorry I didn't put the towels away in the right place. You don't have to burn the house now. That's the perfect comparison right there. Yes, DJ Lagway is the quarterback hot crazy matrix. 100% is it. It's all life.

In this case, it's hot interception matrix. Yeah. rich guys have the rich ugly guys have this problem it's that's what and that's what Nebraska is like right there are a rich ugly guy it's just the they they are they're Matt rule that rule's a good looking dude I mean I'm not gonna look like he's about I will not I will not have this Matt rule slander he's a very handsome man but he he does need to go find a quarterback now he'll be a lot more where they do a better quarterback Andy one one place where they do have a quarterback now is the place where your your dad played Kirk crane for those who don't know

a former Auburn star now things have not gone well in the loveliest village on the plains no and they fire Hugh Freeze they hire Alex Golish the supposition all along was that byron Brown the quarterback for Alex Golish at USF would be following along that is now official Byron Brown is headed to Auburn how do we feel about Jake well look if you're an Auburn fan watching this you know the next thing I'm about to say is 100% true. They could have sent Moses at quarterback and every Auburn fan would still be worried. Like you're feeling better, but at the end of the day, it's Auburn. So you're always going to worry about how this is going to fail.

What I like about Byron Brown's game is the toughness level that he brings to it. Is he the greatest thrower of the ball in the world? No, he's not. There's things fundamentally that he's got to work on if he really wants to take that next step, even though he did put up some good passing yard numbers. And the reason he's able to do that is because, Because he is such a phenomenon as a runner that you get a lot of naked or skinny coverage outside because guys are so worried about the zone read game, Q power, Q power, C counter, power read, things like that, that he opens up things on the back and it gives you a lot of one-on-one match. I mean, Auburn's never had anybody like that.

They've never, they've never had a converted quarterback playing quarterback that scared the hell out of people with the legs. It's funny. A lot of people try and make a Cam Newton comparison, which I'm going to be. be blatantly honest with you. Unlike Gus Malzano, I will not compare every player that's ever played to Cam Newton. I'll take the Nick Marshall comparison though. Nick Marshall was very successful. In a philosophical way though, right? Like in a philosophical way. So the only two players I've ever seen be able to play like Byron Brown played in the AAC and get away within the SEC was Tim Tebow and Cam Newton. I don't think you can survive a 12-game, nine-game

SEC conference season or Big Ten conference season. Or, heck, we can throw in the Big 12 and the ACC a little bit in there, playing like that unless you are from another planet like those two guys were. I would love to be proven wrong. But the Nick Marshall comparison philosophically, I think is more spot on. Nick Marshall threw two routes. He threw a dig and a post, okay? Sammy Coates says hello.

Yeah, if you bit on the dig, he would throw the post. If you did not bite on the post, he would throw the dig or then he would take off. Byron Brown doesn't need to go back there and think he's Jacoby Brissette. It's going to be one read, two read, maybe the checkdown if it felt good pre-snap, and then I am gone. But what I like is the toughness element he brings, and he is a winner. He is a guy that runs with a, and runs with a level that takes a little bit out of in the first, it takes a little bit out of the second, takes a little bit out of you in the third,

and then the fourth, he owns your ass with it. So I like the mental makeup of Byron Brown, and he has had success before. When you look at the other two quarterbacks that Auburn has brought in, Peyton Thorne had one good year at Michigan State because he had Jaden Reed and Kenneth Walker. He was not the entree. He was the mashed potatoes on the side.

He was the vegetable on the side. You bring in Jackson Arnold, who hadn't done anything of substance at Oklahoma, and did basically the exact same thing at Auburn. It was a four-game slate, and you're gone. I think the middle makeup of this guy will help out Auburn. I think staying with Goalish, keeping that continuity will help Auburn. So I think it was a good move when you look at what was really available in the market.

Well, and the fact that Goalish knows what he's getting and knows how to use the guy. This is, Byron Brown has started for Goalish for two years. He knows exactly how to use him and how not to use him. I think that's even more important. I mean, that's like Hugh Free's never figured out how or how. not to use Peyton Thorne. You never figured out how to use Jackson Arnold that he shouldn't have been using Jackson Arnold

over Ashton Daniels. So that part, I think, is interesting. And also look at how many USF guys are following Alex Gulloch to Auburn. It's not the whole team. And I've said this about Iowa State guys going with Matt Campbell, too. It's not the whole team.

It's the guys that he believes will succeed in the SEC. Like they've got a young receiver named Jeremiah, Koger, who was just a freshman this past year at USF. He's coming along. They even brought their backup quarterback, Lockland Hewitt, who by the way, if you remember the fake punt that they ran with him where they snuck him in as the point as the punter. Oh, yeah. I mean, he's Auburn's Austin Mac, like DeBora brought over. Golish is bringing the best, he's doing two things. He's bringing the best pieces of fruit that are ripe on the tree right now. When you look at Koger, I think Davenport's a sneaky good back too. Not a lot of people will talk about him.

The Eccles kid at Titan is big at 6 foot 6. I'm interested to see him develop. Singleton would be a big transfer, not the Singleton that's going in the NFL draft, but really the leading receiver at USF. And then he's bringing some of the young guys he thinks can help them in the future. You look at the corner they brought in, the 6 to 170 pound corner they got, who actually redshirted, I believe, this past year, but I know DVD feels really good about him in the future. So he's bringing the best right pieces, and he's bringing the best pieces to plant.

Auburn to turn into something. At the end of the day, you've got to go out and get some offensive linemen and defensive linemen, though. And I know he knows that. Why do you think you haven't seen one lineman from USF go to Auburn yet? There is a reason for that. He did not think that they could help at this level. And I think it kind of held USF back offensively a little bit, even with Byron Brown, even with Davenport, even with Singleton, even with Cogar. So I think Golish is going about it the right way. Gavin Jenkins, by the way, the corner you're talking about, six two corner a a union county bulldog shout out lake butler for sure i believe long corners j spiller yeah come here please coach db's for six years division one level i'll take all the

long corners thanks so i i think you know i'm with you on on the auburn fan base and the just the expectation of the piano falling on the head yeah because of the past but i really really do feel like Golish has come in with a good plan. And it's interesting because the plan, I think from John Cohen, the athletic director, when he did this coaching search was, we're just going to keep this roster together. Like, we're going to keep Cam Coleman. We're going to keep all these guys. And that fell apart completely once everything got rolling. But that's just not how it works anymore. I think what Alice Golish is doing is the way it should work now. Yeah. Well, Andy, you know this. You played at a really high level or any level. You know, you have talent and then you have culture. Both of those things are equally as important. You look at a team like Indiana. Does Indiana have the most talent of any team left? No, they don't. They're talented. I'm not saying they're not talented, but compared to the others, at least when you look at ratings and things like that. But their culture has elevated their talent because they played together. What I've tried to tell Auburn fans when we've spoken,

about Auburn specifically is you've you've got to think about this in a different way you look at cam Coleman you see the highlight catches he is so talented now you talk about running two routes he runs a hitch and a go that those are the two things he can do he's still very raw as a route runner cam Coleman is an amazing talent but at the end of the day Auburn had some of these talented guys and didn't win they didn't win one game that mattered the only game they won's because Texas A&M dropped a pass in like the fourth overtime to tie the game and send it to another the culture at Auburn was awful. That's why you are seeing mass exodus and they're being very selective about who they bring in. Golish ain't going to beg anybody though. That's the thing. Hugh and Hugh,

I know him, he's a really good guy. Hugh was out there trying to run a youth camp. Like, that's not what this is. We're not going to all wear the same shirts and sit in a circle and play the guitar. That's not what we're trying to do here. At the end of the day, you've got to have talent, but the culture has to be right. Without the culture, the talent doesn't matter. Now, at the end of the day, if you can't bring in talent, you can have the greatest culture in the world and you're not going to win. But you've got to set the foundation of the house before you start picking out what color you want to paint the walls. And that's what Alice Golish is doing. So if my car didn't work good in 2025, I'm not going to sit here and pay even more for it in

26. If you want to leave, you're either a tiger or you're tiger bait, bro. The choice is yours. And he is going to apologize to nobody. And from a more practical standpoint, what he's doing is going to accelerate the adoption of the scheme on offense. Now, obviously, defensively, DeJerd Rican is still there. But when you have guys in almost every position room who know exactly what they're doing, who know what's expected of them, who know what the strength coach wants,

who knows what everybody wants, and can tell everybody else in the locker room. Here's how this works. Yeah. I think that speeds things along. And, Andy, look at most of the returners that have come out and said I'm coming back to Auburn. What do most of them have in common?

they're all young they're all young you look at ellis at center right you look at autry on the d line you look at winners and fagans and and demarcus rittick right really you know adkins is is kind of the exception of the rule of a bit but gollish feels like he can still save those guys with his culture jared smith right coming in defensive end they're mostly young players and i think that's very smart too because i still got time to save you you're not already so far gone that i can't fix you yeah well while we're on the subject of people who as a young player had their bumps and bruises but have a high ceiling we got to talk bryce underwent the big news on monday night was that brys underwood announced he's returning to michigan for next season

which we suspected was going to happen but it was one of those things than until you heard it out of his mouth, you weren't entirely sure. Now, number one recruit in the class of 2025 had to play right away, flipped away from LSU, probably so he could play right away. But great clip from your show, right when he announced it, you guys did an emergency show, David Cohn, your co-host, who is a former Michigan quarterback,

explaining why this matters so much. But I think you'd be drunk not to understand. understand that Bryce Underwood's potential is through the roof and keeping a guy like this on a roster like that is a massive thing for Kyle Whittingham, new OC Jason Beck, and really Michigan moving forward. Yeah, well, what I'm most excited about is for Bryce Underwood to have an opportunity in year two to build off of being an 18 year old true freshman starting quarterback at Michigan in the Big Ten. It's not his fault that he was thrust into action right away. And look, a large part of this. We talked about him flipping from LSU and the majority of it sounds like it was about

the NIL money and he got a huge payment package there. But he wanted to start as a freshman. So he signed up for that. At the same time, Michigan should have had some other, you know, elements in place on the roster so they didn't have to start an 18 year old kid. But now he gets to build off of all the lumps that he took this past year. I think what was going to be really difficult for Michigan fans was if Bryce Underwood came in, started as a true freshman, took all of his lumps there in Ann Arbor and then went to LSU or went to Oregon or to some other school because I do think that his potential is off the charts. I don't think there's any ceiling when it comes to this kid. And I say that, I mean, you're going to have Jason Beck coming in with Kyle Winningham to run this new

offense. And I know you guys are going to dive into that a little bit. But just from a high level perspective, you're the highest rated recruit ever to sign with the University of Michigan. You're from 19 miles down the road. That means something. That community wants to keep you there. They want you to succeed. They want you to win a Heisman trophy and a national championship. And so, you know, it's, it's on him now. It's on him to do that, to move forward and to grow because he did take some. He definitely took some lumps, but I'm with Cohn. Like, this guy's ceiling is off the charts.

He could be great. And I think, you know, I looked at that Utah offense. Devin Dampere and Bryce Underwood are very different quarterbacks. Devin Dampier is a better runner. Bryce Underwood is a much, much better throw. But I feel like he can do what Jason Beck's going to want him to do, and Kyle Whittingham is going to make sure he's got a good offensive line in front of him. Yeah, and, Andy, we live in a world now, and a, you know,

a lot of fans expect these young guys to come in at these high-level places playing against grown men. I mean, we're talking about 25, 26-year-olds. I'm not talking about BYU. They come back from a mission or something like 28, but, like, I think you would be crazy to have wanted bryce underwood to leave and when we posted this we had ohio state fans that were celebrating saying oh this is the greatest thing for ohio state ever i'd be careful i'd be very very careful because the norm is what we saw out of bryce underwood the norm is what we saw at archmanning for most of the year that that is that is how an 18 year old typically should play

think about you when you were 18 just think about that there's some guys that can't run a lollipop stand or a lemonade stand when they're 18 years old, let alone run a college offense in the Big Ten or the SEC. So to Cohn's point, one, it's a big win for Kyle Whittingham, I think. I think it's the first big win that he's had from a personnel standpoint as a player coming back that will draw in more players to Michigan, gives you continuity, gives you solidarity. But Cone's exactly right. You want to get the best parts of Bryce Underwood after going through what should be the worst parts. Because the potential for him to not only be a good player, but a dominant player, a generational player down the road is there. That is God Giffin.

It's not Mabelene. He was born with that. So the worst thing that could happen would be for him to go somewhere else and become what he could possibly become. And there's no guarantees. There's no guarantee that's going to happen. But I think this was the right move. I think this was the best move. and at the end of the day, Jason Beck, combined with him, I think you're going to get a lot different flavor from Michigan. Same identity, tough, play defense, want to run the ball, but you have a lot more answers with Jason Beck, and I like the development aspect of this as well.

So this is a big win for Michigan to me. And still waiting on Andrew Marsh, the receiver, who had a very good, especially back half his freshman year, which this is the, this is portal times, Jake. This show's going up an hour after we record it. still may not be current. We never know. It's part it's an uptempo way of living. That's what we've chosen now. Actually, they've made us choose, but we're still here. Well, I, and I just, I keep coming back to Michigan winning nine games with everything that we learned was going on in

the background. I mean, Sharon's on only fan meetings before the game and you won nine games in the big 10. Goodness gracious. Like, I just, I would love it's funny. You brought up Auburn before. you know what Auburn fans would give for nine wins right now and a young club in a lot of in a good league it's not like Michigan did this in a bad year like this is what a high class problem oh you went nine and three it's like Marie Antoinette like that's what it reminds like what a high class problem you guys got over there going nine and three all trade I'm sick of getting raw hide wallets I want Hulk hands at least once well I am I am fascinated to see what Whittingham can do with this because I think you set, and this goes back to the conversation we were having earlier in the show about Matt Rule and about, obviously, about Addis Gullesh taking over and Will Stein taking over. If you are year one coach now, there is no build time. It's immediate. And, you know, Kyle Whittingham is coming off a 10-win season at Utah. He's taking over a team that won nine games at Michigan with all of that crap going on in the background.

I think bare minimum, he, the expectation should be college football playoff team, bare minimum. 100%. And again, that goes to our last point. If you're upset about 9 and 3, you're probably thinking Kyle Winningham should go from Utah to Michigan. And, you know, and I've got a ton of respect for Utah. I actually think Utah may be the most underrated football state that we have in the contiguous United States. That's the story for another day. But going from Utah to Michigan, you do feel like it's an upgrade. You really honestly believe it's an upgrade, and with more talent, there's more responsibility. And Kyle Whittingham got universal praise, the most consistent praise I have ever seen, to be honest with you, especially in today's age, of a coach going

to a new place, and Michigan kind of backended their way into this one. But yes, the honeymoon phase will be over the minute that ball is kicked off for game one. So the expectation is not going to change. It's probably going to be raised even higher, Andy. And I think Kyle understands that and his staff understands that. That's why I'm excited to see what he can do it, Mr. Man. I'm really fired up and they got the quarterback. And again, I go back to the Devon Dampeer offense at Utah. Like, you would have liked in Utah for that to be a little more dynamic of a passing offense. You can make it a more dynamic passing offense at Michigan because you have the guy to do it. Now, go get him some receivers to help out because keep Andrew Marsh, then go get him some more. And

have fun with that because that can be a team that can compete for everything. Yeah. Well, you feel like they're just a couple pieces away. Like, you know Michigan is going to be good up front. It's just like, I know I'm going to, my 11 month old is going to wake up at 7.15 in the morning. That's what she does. I know that Michigan's going to be good on the offensive line and the defensive line. They are a couple pieces away you feel because I believe Somaget Morgan got in the portal again.

That guy dropped more than a news station, but that's the story. for another day as well. There are a couple pieces away from really... They can run jet sweeps for other people. Yeah, that's exactly right. That's exactly right. There are a couple pieces away from you feeling like, hey, Rice Underwood starts living up to this potential.

This is a balanced football team. This is a dangerous football team. This is possibly a championship football team. One more thing before I let you go, Jake, and this has been an absolute pleasure. Again, I look forward to the collaborations. If you're not following Crane and Cone on YouTube right now, as soon as you're done here, hit that follow button.

You should obviously be following the On3 YouTube channel as well. I want you following both. But Crane and Cone, they hit the airwaves whenever something big happens and just daily. So I want to make sure everybody knows, hit the follow button on Crane and Cone. We can't do this without talking about Lane Ciffin. We're not contractually obligated to talk about Lane Ciffin on every show. And now we have to talk about Lane Ciffin. And we started this show with a discussion of Sam Levitt visiting LSU, Kentucky, going out and getting Kenny Minchie because they weren't going to get Sam Levitt.

So that might mean that Sam Levitt's going to LSU. Two people we know who are not going LSU. We already knew Trinidad Shambliss wasn't because he did a deal with Ole Miss a couple nights ago. Kiwan Lacey on Monday night, the running back. also coming back to old miss and now the ls u.su fans are freaking out look again we were just talking about things that we know are going to be the case michigan on the line of scrimmage my daughter waking up at the time she does i would never worry about lane kiffin's offense he brought in it i don't care what trinidad

chamblis won at the place he was before he brought in a d2 quarterback and the guy is an absolute baller. We all thought it was going to be Austin Simmons, who, by the way, is going to what, Missouri? Missouri. It's not like Austin Simmons is a bad player. He's also a rocket scientist. But to the LSU fans, I want you to listen. I want you just come here. I want you to sit down and want you to listen. Stop worrying about the offense. This guy does not produce bad offenses. He could go get a hobo out on the street to throw for at least 2,500 yards, and you guys average 30 points a game. And it's LSU. Don't worry about it. But then the beautiful part is you still got Blake Baker on the defense. You still got him trolling around

out there. Stop worrying. You got your guy. I'm not going to sit up here and pretend that Lane Kiven's going to struggle on offense, LSU. And I'll go ahead and tell you this too. And I know there's people out there that hate Lane Kiven, and that's fine. I think Lane Kiven's guy, you the love or you hate. LSU will win a national title within the next four years. Ooh, okay. And win a national title, not get to the title game, not make the college football playoff, not win the SEC. LSU will win a national title with Lane Kiffin in the next four years. Stop worrying about stuff that you shouldn't worry about. Well, I'm with you on the offense part, especially if they wind up with Leavitt.

Now, again, this is Portal Times. Thing can change quickly. Leavitt has not said yes, and Miami still looms out there. We'll see what Oregon has to, you know, if Oregon's going to get into this thing, we don't know what Dante Moore is going to do. but if you wind up with Sam Levitt and you're Lane Kiffin, there's absolutely nothing to worry about. No. I tend to think about it the way you do.

The man has never had a bad offense. Never. So I do think the concern is probably, because I think what the LSU fans thought is because Lane Kiffin's here, they will automatically just clean house in the transfer portal. I'd like to everybody to go back to this time last year at Ole Miss. I don't know that people were just aghast over the names that Lane Kiffin was bringing in. Like if you watched Oklahoma State, you knew Deshaun Stribling was pretty good.

You know, you'd seen a little bit of Lukash, the tight end. So you knew they were getting some good players. But I don't know that anybody realized how good Kiwan Lacey was. Yeah, I'm not questioning Bobby Flay while he's making me dinner. Like I'm just not doing that If you're Sam Levitt, why would you not go to LSU? Like if you want to lose weight, you go see Jillian

Michaels and let her yell at you until you lose it. You got a problem with your dad. You go see Dr. Phil. You want to become an elite quarterback and be in the Heisman conversation and really elevate yourself. You go play for Lane Kiffin. It's just the way the world works, whether you love the guy,

hate the guy, or whatever. At the end of the day, the man is a master in the art of quarterback development. Well, I mean, while we're making timely and topical, Jillian Michaels and Dr. Phil references, let us remind everybody that Lane Kiffin smashed records at Alabama's O.C with Blake Simms as the QB. That's what I'm saying. Like, again, this man at the end of the day is a savant at doing this offensively and with quarterbacks. Name the last bad quarterback that Lane Kiffin had.

You can't. There isn't one. It's like it's the same reason that I never caught to tooth first. when I was a kid. The man's got Johnson drafted. Yeah, like this man will get the most out of whoever. He'll get the most at him, then go play 18 holes with him. And they'll just be buddies.

Like, that's what saying, LSU fans, y'all got to stop worrying about this. Y'all are going to give yourself a heart attack for no reason. LSU's here. They're bad. But this is why you hired him, too. For sure. He better hope that your prediction comes true and they win a national title in the next four years because he did just leave a team that,

actually has a chance to win the national title. I'm not sure he thought they actually had a chance to win the national title. But, yeah, and anybody can certainly win it now. Anybody that thinks Lane Kiffin was rooting for Ole Miss against Georgia, I can, I'd be willing to bet all the money I have that he was rooting for Georgia. He'd probably put on the shoulder pads with the spikes and painted his face while he was watching it. Like, Lane Kiven 100% does not want Ole Miss to win a national team. Well, and this, this Kwan Lacey, this Kwan Lacey news, like they could,

could they run it back under Pete Golding? Like, especially if Trinidad Shambliss gets his eligibility for next year? Yeah, because, I mean, I think so. Look, play calling is very important. I am not slow playing or downplaying play calling. But after being in it, I've seen great play callers look like idiots because they didn't have the guys. And I've seen idiot play callers look like geniuses because they had the guys.

You don't have to go out there and be Will hunting offensive. when you've got Trinidad, Chambliss, and Kiwan Lacey. It helps to have a great play caller that has that feel and that chemistry with them. But Ole Miss, here's the difference though with Ole Miss. Like the defense has elevated the past couple years. That's why y'all are where you're at. Y'all, the offense has really never been a problem, if we're going to be honest, but it's the team balance and the defense being able to do their share to win these big games,

like slow Georgia down in the second half. That's why I'm so shocked that we're sitting here talking about this year's Ole Miss team doing this, not the one they had last year who had one of the best front sevens in the country at Ole Miss with Jackson Dart and those guys on offense. I think it's a credit to the team building in all three phases that they've done, which is why they're at. And now you've got a defensive head coach. So you bring back some offensive studs, got a defensive head coach.

You feel pretty good about making another run at it next year. Well, and John David Baker is the guy coming in to be the O.C. Charlie Wys Jr. The play now is headed to LSU. But John David Baker was fantastic at East Carolina this year. Caten Hauser was his quarterback at East Carolina this year and got a really good season out of him, which sent him to the transfer portal.

He's headed to the Power 5 now. So I'm excited to see what Ole Miss can do because especially if Shambliss gets his eligibility and can come back, it's going to be. Pretty fun to watch. No, he's got a lot of witch in him. He really does.

And again, you return, Trinidad coming back and Lacey coming back. We talk about in the portal. You talk about attractive to guys in the portal. If I'm a receiver or I'm an offensive lineman or I'm a guy on defense that wants to be part of a team that's in the headlines and put some really good tape out of there in big moments and big games, you are doing nothing but putting more gold in the vault with Trinidad. if he gets that extra year with Kiwan coming back, who to me,

I think Kiwan Lacey's the best running back in the country. I do believe that. And he's a big reason they have a chance to beat Miami on Thursday night and play for the national title. Jake, it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much. Again, follow Crane and Cone on YouTube. We are so happy to have you here.

Andy, you know how much respect I have for you and Ari and everybody over here. I really, it's been nothing but a warm. welcome. We're really excited to be at a sports place. Yeah, so go check us out. It used to be Cranning Company. Now it's Cranon and Cone. Same channel, same place. Just over here with the mothership now, and I'm walking around, look at all the glowing buttons, and it's awesome. That's exactly

right. J.D. Pekyll, right behind you. Huffling out. Trying to get in the studio. Tomorrow, Megaboard Wednesday. We'll go deep into the college football playoff. And of course, we will keep you up to date on everything happening, the transfer portal. We'll talk to you then.

Hey,