Andy & Ari On3 - TRANSFER PORTAL PREDICTIONS | Florida RB Trevor Etienne Enters Portal | K-State, Colorado’s Big Day

Episode Date: December 8, 2023

The transfer portal is in full swing and Andy gives his first predictions of some notable players who have entered the portal. We also have some news out of Colorado, Kansas State, and Florida, and Andy breaks it all down in today's show.(0:00-2:17) Intro - Transfer Portal Predictions(2:18-5:08) Florida RB Travis Etienne(5:09-7:03) Texas A&M OL Chase Bisontis(7:04-8:51) South Carolina Wide Receiver Juice Wells(8:52-10:08) Duke QB Riley Leonard(10:09-13:01) Texas A&M DL Walter Nolen(13:02-19:19) Colorado's Big Commit(19:20-40:09) Charles Power Joins(40:10-54:16) Shea Dixon Joins(54:17-1:07:36) Derek Young Joins(1:07:37-1:19:32) Nick de la Torre Joins(1:19:33-1:20:24) ConclusionFor your most complete coverage of the LSU Tigers and Jayden Daniels' Heisman Chase, head on over to the Bengal Tiger for the most complete coverage! https://www.on3.com/teams/lsu-tigers/For up-to-date coverage of Kansas State and their search for a new offensive coordinator, look no further than K-State Online! https://www.on3.com/teams/kansas-state-wildcats/To follow along with Florida and their unique situation, head on over to Gators Online to stay up-to-date with the never-ending news! https://www.on3.com/teams/florida-gators/Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube: https://youtu.be/nVhK73xSn98

Welcome to Andy Staples On3. And since I got to On3, I'm still in a bit of a trial period, I think. I don't think I've gotten the full privileges of an On3 employee because I've only been here half a year, not even half, not even six months yet. I'm hoping maybe on January 1, I do get the full rights and privileges. But up to this point, I have not been given the keys to the recruiting prediction machine. I've not been able to put in a recruiting prediction and say, that's where this guy's going, whether it's a high school guy or a guy in the portal. And I think, you know, it's a grave injustice. Pete Nacos can put predictions in. He put one in for Aiden Childs, the quarterback that's leaving Oregon State, that he's going to head

to East Lansing and reunite with Jonathan Smith at Michigan State. I want to do that too. I want the keys to the RPM machine. RPM machine is kind of redundant. To the RPM, to the recruiting prediction machine. But so far, I have not been able to get those. I got to find out who can make me a copy. Maybe I kidnap Pete, I take him to Home Depot, and we make a copy of the key to

the machine. But right now, I'm going to give you some predictions for players in the transfer portal. And I think if I get, let's see, I'm going to give you five. So if I get all five right, I feel like I should be granted instant access to the recruiting prediction machine. I think if I get four or five right that I should get instant access. We will see. I will run this by the powers that be. But by all means, take notes here. See how I do. I have very high confidence in a few of these. I think it's going to excite some of you because there's some very interesting player movement going on. So let's talk about the transfer portal in general. Let's talk about what has happened on Thursday. The biggest name heading into the portal, Trevor Etienne,

running back from Florida, younger brother of Travis Etienne, former Clemson star, current Jacksonville Jaguar. He is looking for a new home. We've also got quite a few guys that are looking around, taking visits, that have been in the portal. So I'm going to give you five predictions here. We'll start with Trevor Etienne. Trevor Etienne was rumored to be leaving Florida as early as the beginning of the week. It was something that was being discussed

and you weren't sure if it was going to happen. It seemed like Florida was trying to keep Trevor, trying to keep Shamar James, the linebacker, who it looks like they are keeping, trying to keep Eugene Wilson James, the linebacker who it looks like they are keeping, trying to keep Eugene Wilson III, the receiver. You heard us talking to Graham Mertz yesterday. He mentioned Trey Wilson, seemed to be a guy who's in the fold. On Wednesday, Florida lost defensive end Prince Liam Manny Allen into the portal. And on Thursday, Trevor Etienne followed. So where is Trevor Etienne going to wind up? This is a very versatile back.

Go back to that Tennessee game this year. He's got a touchdown run that if you are at a school that he might be considering, you are very excited after watching that. This guy's got incredible balance. He can catch the ball out of the backfield. Very similar to his brother. And so I know what you're thinking. Andy, you're going to say he's going to Clemson. He's going to follow in Travis's footsteps. That is not what I'm going to say. It doesn't sound like that's

on the horizon. Okay, he's from Louisiana, Andy. You're going to say he's going to LSU. No, not going to say that here. I predict that Trevor Etienne will be on the other side of the world's largest outdoor cocktail party in 2024. The game will still be in Jacksonville, but he will be wearing the silver britches of the Georgia Bulldogs. That is my prediction for Trevor Etienne. And let's think about it. You add him into a Georgia backfield that will be running behind what should presumably be good offensive line. Obviously, Georgia is going to have to replace some guys who are going to the NFL, but they've recruited very well at that position. It looks like Carson Beck is coming back. He still has a decision to make. Now, his decision

is not a transfer portal one. It's a, do I go to the NFL? Do I come back to Georgia for one more year? So if he's back, Oscar Dell put tight in, you're older, you're better. Some of those young receivers developing, Trevor Etienne would have a lot of talent around him. And I would imagine that'd be a pretty exciting prospect. So I think that is what's going to happen. Let us move along. Chase Basanti, offensive lineman for New Jersey, one of Jimbo Fisher's favorite players in that Texas A&M recruiting class of 2023.

Came in, started in the SEC as a freshman. This is a very good player and the type of player that you don't see in the transfer portal very often. We talked about that with his Texas A&M teammate, Walter Nolan, when Walter Nolan officially entered the transfer portal on Wednesday. Chase Basanti, same boat. Good offensive lineman, has already played at a high level in college, has three years of eligibility remaining. So this is a premium, premium guy in the transfer portal. That's why we've got him ranked 10th in our transfer portal rankings. Later in the show, we will talk to Charles Power, the director of scouting and ranking for on three about how these rankings get put together and how it differs from scouting these guys out of high school.

So Chase Basanti, where might he wind up? He could wind up at a school that is going to have to play Texas A&M. He could wind up at LSU. That's where I think it goes. I think Chase Basanti goes to LSU where some very good offensive linemen at LSU, Will Campbell and Emory Jones heading into their junior seasons, those offensive tackles who started since their freshman year. No Jaden Daniels, but Garrett Nussmeier seems to be the heir apparent quarterback. They seem to have a pretty good idea of what they want to do. And obviously that offense was very explosive this year.

We'll see if it stays that way with no Jaden Daniels. And after Malik neighbors and Brian Thomas Jr. Head off to the NFL. But if Chase Bassani is blocking, I would imagine that helps. Next prediction. I feel like Lane Kiffin's helping out with this one. Juice Wells is a receiver who went from James Madison to South Carolina. He probably would have had a lot more production in 2023 at South Carolina, except a foot injury kept him from playing very much. He's a dynamic receiver when he's healthy. The question is, where will he

land after entering the transfer portal this week? I feel like Lane Kiffin has been tipping us off. A few days ago, Lane Kiffin tweeted a picture of a golf cart that has a lot of South Carolina logos on it. It might be Juice Wells golf cart. That might have been a visit from Lane Kiffin. And then on Thursday morning, Lane Kiffin tweeted some sweatshirts. That say Juice on them. Apparently they are available to order. Now remember, Lane Kiffin's dog is named Juice.

Has its own Twitter feed. Very popular. Very popular canine. Probably almost as popular as Kirk Herbstin's dog is named Juice. Has its own Twitter feed. Very popular. Very popular canine. Probably almost as popular as Kirk Herbstreet's dog. Actually, probably more popular than Kirk Herbstreet's dog. So I'm not exactly sure who these sweatshirts are representing. But they say Juice on them. So I am going to predict Juice Wells' transfer from South Carolina to Ole Miss. Interestingly enough, I've had three

SEC guys on this list so far, and I've had them all going to other SEC schools. Remember, if you would like to transfer between SEC schools, you got to do it in this transfer window if you want to play next season. If you wait till the spring, you have to sit out a year. So you're not going to see any SEC to SEC after this window. Now we'll go to a guy who's transferring from an ACC school. Riley Leonard, Duke quarterback. This is one of my favorite players in the portal. I think he's very good, elevates his team's level of play, makes it better than it would be with another quarterback and significantly

better. I think if you saw the difference between Duke with a healthy Riley Leonard this year and Duke not with a healthy Riley Leonard this year. So where does he wind up? I think we're going to see a certain school do something very similar to what it did last year, where they went and got a veteran ACC quarterback with the hopes of juicing the pass game. That's right. Notre Dame went and got Sam Hartman from Wake Forest last year. I think Notre Dame goes and gets Riley Leonard from Duke this year and we'll see what happens. Will that make Notre Dame's passing offense more dynamic? I don't. The reviews are kind of mixed on how things went with Sam Hartman this year.

I think Sam did a pretty good job, but they were not a scary passing team. And I think with Riley Leonard, who can also beat you with his legs, there's a chance that Notre Dame's offense does maybe get a little more dynamic. So that's where I'm predicting Riley Leonard. One more, and it is the number one player in the transfer portal,

according to on three, Walter Nolan, defensive tackle from Texas A&M. This guy really could go anywhere he wants. And just asking around, it doesn't seem like anybody has a definitive idea of where he's going to go. It's somewhat easy, it feels like, to narrow down, but it doesn't feel easy to predict where he winds up. He was in East Tennessee as a senior in high school. He looked very hard at Tennessee. Rodney Garner, the defensive line coach at Tennessee, excellent recruiter, excellent developer of defensive line talent. So obviously the Vols feel like they're on the list. Nolan looked very seriously at Michigan.

They have been excellent at producing defensive linemen, putting guys in the NFL, but also really good players on the team right now, Chris Jenkins, Kenneth Grant, who's only a sophomore, some big things expected out of him in the next year. They could plug and play Walter Nolan and be really good. Alabama, it is the type of place where guys like Walter Nolan play. Same for Georgia. I can't imagine they would just say, nah, if Walter Nolan and his camp were to come along and say, we're kind of interested. What do we have here? What's the option here?

I do think those would be two that Walter Nolan would look at and would consider seriously. So where does he go? This is the one. I feel very confident with the other four. That's why I said, if I get four or five, give me the keys to the recruiting prediction machine. This is the one I'm going to have to take a little leap of faith on. I think Walter Nolan will wind up a Michigan Wolverine. That would be a scary, scary interior defensive line. You put him and Kenneth Grant together, not something you'd want to block. Not something you really could block with most offensive lines.

There's a few. Maybe if Chase Bassani winds up at LSU, maybe that offensive line would be okay with that. But there will not be many offensive lines that would be able to block those two guys playing together. So we shall see what happens. But I think it is a very interesting transfer portal season that gets more and more intriguing by the day. More people going in. We still, we're getting to see some of the people find their destinations, but we're still on the people going inside more than we are the people coming outside. Before we get to our first guest, Charles Power, which is just a great name, we got to talk about a little high school recruiting because there was a commitment on

Thursday that really was a surprise. And I think it helps us reframe our discussion about one of the more lightning rod coaches in college football. We've talked a lot about Deion Sanders in the last few weeks. Most of it has not been positive. You've got the panic decision to demote Sean Lewis and make Pat Schirmer the play caller toward the end of the season. Now, obviously, worked out fine for Sean Lewis. He's now the head coach at San Diego State. But that felt like a panic move where Deion realizes, okay, my offensive line's not very good.

How do I change the offense? And he did the thing that probably helped it the least, probably got Shador Sanders hit more by taking away the coach who runs the offense that helps mask a bad offensive line because it's about getting the ball and getting it out fast. He said at one point,

if the linemen aren't good, we'll just go get other linemen. And our thought was, well, your recruiting class doesn't include a lot of really good linemen. So what's going on here? Well, that changes this week. On Thursday, Jordan Seton, the number one offensive tackle prospect in the country.

He's originally from the D.C. era. He is playing at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. He committed to Colorado. Going into the day, his choices, as we knew it, were Oregon or Tennessee or Ohio State. And he committed to Colorado, and then he's on Undisputed with Skip Bayless shortly after that. You know, when Deion Sanders made his we're not an ATM comments, when he talked about you're going to Colorado to get a degree and be developed, that usually is code for our collective doesn't have much money. But the one thing Colorado can offer that is a little bit different is a platform, is exposure.

And if there's a little bit of money in the NIL along with that, or if you're so good that that exposure is going to make you more NIL money in the long run, then there is a chance that Colorado can get some of those better players. But we hadn't seen Deion do this since he flipped Travis Hunter. This was like flipping Travis Hunter to Jackson State, basically. Because Hunter was the number one recruit in the country. Seton, number one offensive lineman. Number 12 in the on three rankings. This is a guy who can play right now.

And this is a guy in a couple of years who can be outstanding. Six foot six, 295 pounds, moves really well, looks like a grown ass man. And this is the type of player Colorado needed because this type of player is really not available in the transfer portal. To get a guy like this who can become a really dominant offensive lineman, you kind of do have to get him out of high school. And the fact of the matter is they don't go to schools like Colorado very often. They tend to go to Alabama. They tend to go to Georgia. They tend to go to Ohio State with Oregon Oregon and Tennessee's NIL efforts, those

are schools that are going to be able to get guys like that more often. Oregon has shown with Josh Connerly that they can get a very highly touted offensive lineman and develop him. And he's going to do his junior year next year, and he's going to be probably a top draft prospect. Colorado isn't in the mix for those. Most of the Big 12 schools, remember Colorado's a Big 12 school starting next year, most of them aren't in the mix for guys like that. So the fact that Deion got him is a really telling thing. And the whole orchestration of it, putting him on undisputed, having him say Shador Sander is going to get sacked a lot less now. That's a good recruiting tool because it makes you wonder, does he have more of this in his back pocket? Are there guys who are committed to other schools currently

that he may flip as we get closer to signing day? It's possible. If you can keep this a secret and then spring it on the world and make a big splash like this, it's entirely possible. If you can keep this a secret and then spring it on the world and make a big splash like this, it's entirely possible. And maybe they're using this to try to convince some other guys to join in, be they high school players or out of the portal. But my confidence in Dion's master plan had been waning quite a bit because again, I was not sure how he was going to get offensive linemen and defensive linemen that are going to get them where they need to be. In a league that next year is going to also include Utah and Arizona and TCU probably due for a bounce back. Baylor always has good players. Kansas State's always good.

Oklahoma State is always good. It's not going to be easy in the new Big 12. But if they can get guys like Jordan Seton, that changes the dynamics. You get a few more of those, and you can be very competitive in the Big 12. Very, very competitive. So apologies to Deion Sanders for doubting you.

I was almost out, but now if you've got a few more of these up your sleeve, it might be right back in. When we come back, Charles Power, On3's Director of Scouting and Rankings, explains to us how the Transfer Portal guys get ranked, how that is different from evaluating them coming out of high school. And also we talk about where some of these guys' best fits are. Charles Power, he has the keys to the recruiting prediction machine and with good reason. We'll be right back.

We are joined by Charles Power, the director of scouting and rankings, and also probably a secret agent with a name like that. What's up, Charles? What's going on, Andy? Busy, busy couple weeks for sure. Seriously, because not only are we barreling toward National Signing Day with the high school players,

you've got to deal with the rankings of the guys in the transfer portal. And that changes by the hour, by the day. As we record this on Thursday, it's been a few hours since Trevor Etienne from Florida entered the transfer portal. And I believe he entered at number seven in our rankings and number one now among the running backs. And with these guys, you are reevaluating them because their scores are changing. How does that work for you in terms of like Trevor Etienne was a big time recruit. He was a guy you evaluated quite a bit in high school.

How does it change now that you have college tape on him? Yeah, I mean, I think in the case of Trevor Et et and it changes a lot because these guys played two years has significant carries uh in sec so um you know you get to see a lot more from like an even playing field and projecting there's not as much like projection going on once you get to see college tape and weigh production. But the transfer portal rankings are the epitome of a moving target. Like this is, like you said, these guys are dropping in by the hour, and you're really weighing different levels of college experience. Whereas when we were doing high school recruiting rankings,

the prospects are really all at the same point, you know, in their high school career, the development, whereas in college, like we're comparing some true freshmen who haven't played against guys who might be a fifth year senior. So that's one of the hardest parts for me with this is there's a little bit of an apples to oranges comparison. And I think that's a challenge for colleges as well. And I think we see the programs that are able to navigate the portal the best really just have a strong evaluation apparatus for it. But yeah, transfer portal rankings are a beast of their own. And I think everybody's trying to figure it out at the same time. Well,

and Walter Nolan's are number one. When he entered officially entered the portal on, on Wednesday, he shot to number one. How rare is a, you know, defensive tackle, you know,

interior defensive lineman who has all the traits you want, who has played at a fairly high level already in college. How rare is that in the portal in the three, four years that we've seen the portal in existence? Yeah, I think it's pretty rare. And I think it usually takes a circumstance like a coaching change for this to happen. And I think when you look at Walter Nolan, this is a guy who was a top five prospect coming out of high school, five star plus prospect. He is a big defensive lineman who can line up inside and he played defensive and can rush the passer.

And I thought he made a really good progression from his true freshman year to this year. And he's a guy who, like you said, Andy, you could plug him in on a playoff team and he could be the keystone foundation piece for a playoff defensive line. And I think when you look at the portal, I think scarcity plays a big role in assessing these guys' value. Because there's just not many Walter Nolans in the portal. There's not many edge rushers in the portal, and everybody wants offensive tackle. So it's very interesting in that regard, whereas at quarterback, the most valuable position,

there's a bunch of quarterbacks. So it's very interesting to kind of weigh the levels of scarcity at each position. For Nolan, we know how his recruitment went originally. I'm just thinking about the schools that we've talked about, who he already looked at. He looked at Michigan and Tennessee the first time around. Obviously this is one where I would expect Alabama and Georgia to be interested because he, like you said, he could go play there. And there aren't many people you can say that about, but I'm thinking like you could put him

with Kenneth Grant next year at Michigan. And that is a terrifying prospect. Terrifying. Yeah. Absolutely. And that's the fun in, like, us looking at this, Andy, just as college football fans, not only people that work in college football media, like, you think about these guys are plug and play. We're going to see them on the field next year making an impact whereas in recruiting you might have to wait a couple years um this is like

kind of instant gratification from a college football perspective like i'm thinking about if you look at like pete nakos is reporting on dylan gabriel and oregon like it's very easy to envision dylan gabriel and oregon's offense next year so i think it's i think it's very easy to envision Dylan Gabriel and Oregon's offense next year. So I think it's, I think it's fun just from kind of a roster building football test case, like just fantasy scenario to see how these guys shake out in all the different, different spots. And it seems like most teams now are waiting into the portal. Like we had teams that maybe what might've been slower to it, but now it's everybody.

So it's kind of all hands on deck, open race for these guys. So our number two right now is Cam Ward. He's the number one ranked quarterback. Came from Washington State. Originally came from Incarnate Word. He was a guy who, as a high school player in Texas, I believe his team ran the wing T, or it was either wing T or triple option was one of

those. And Eric Morris gets him at incarnate word. When Eric Morris gets the OC job at Washington state, Cam Ward follows. Now Cam Ward is coming out of his junior year. Everybody wants him. What is it about this guy from a physical standpoint that makes him so sought after? Yeah, I think Cam Ward is kind of an interesting scenario where he's a guy who's played a lot of football at varying levels, was really good at Incarnate Word, has played two years at Washington State. I think he's continued to get better. He really got off to a pretty hot start this year before kind of leveling out once they got in pack 12 place also better defenses but uh i think he has a good combination of experience and developmental upside um he was not a guy who was super polished coming out of high

school didn't have a bunch of um you know past attempts and i think he's kind of on an upward trajectory and i think when you're looking at the experienced quarterbacks he's certainly one of the better ones I mean I'm high on Riley Leonard as well like I think Riley Leonard um when you look at just kind of what he did at Duke the athletic upside uh and then just like the NFL draft upside as well um I think if he goes to an offense that can kind of develop him just as a pure drop back passer he might have the highest upside of all these quarterbacks at least the guys that are kind of the upperclassmen so um it's just an interesting group in general and i think

that's one thing that's different with this portal cycle than last year is we've seen these experienced blue chip type quarter quarterbacks, P five starters enter in kind of in mass. In addition to your high profile guys, like a Dante Moore, Aiden child, Sam Levitt, kind of the true freshmen. So it is if you,

if you're looking for a quarterback, the portal is a place to be right now for sure. Well, and you can pick what you want. Like you can pick a guy who has multiple years of eligibility left or you can like if you have a 2025 player who's really good or a 2024 quarterback who you want to kind of have sit behind some some veteran you can rent that guy for a year and yeah you know the Riley Leonard thing is a great example and he's probably my favorite of the QBs in the portal as well, because I look at how many of these guys truly raise the level of their team's play.

And I think, you know, we got a chance to see Duke with and without Riley Leonard this year, and it's a drastic difference. And so that's why, you know, you see him and think, OK, if he lands at Notre Dame or he lands somewhere like that, he could make a difference pretty quickly. Oh, yeah, no doubt. And I think with Riley Leonard, and I think this is just kind of in general a lesson that I take from college football this year, is the ability to pick up yards with your legs, I think, has such a value. You look at like what Jayden Daniels did at LSU once he kind of got settled in that offense and had it down pat from a passing perspective it just opened up his whole game and what he could do with his legs improvisationally um just really stress defenses I think Riley Leonard has that potential if he gets in a good

situation in an offense that he's comfortable in um I think he could really do a lot of damage and I believe he technically has two years left so I think when we look at these quarterbacks who have really gone supernova out of the portal think about this year Jane Jane Daniels Bo Nix they they ran it back for year two had the had the offseason to stay in like learn the offense better get their offseason reps uh chemistry with the receivers so i think to me the dream scenario for a team that gets riley leonard is you get him in good first year you say hey you come back for one more year and uh you know you could maybe like push for the heisman maybe a top 10 draft pick so that to me has a lot of value when you're looking at these

quarterbacks because like i think the one and done rentals uh you can get by with that but maybe outside of like a jalen hurts there just hasn't been a ton of major success stories relative to the guys who come back for the second year. So everybody wants Russell Wilson, but that doesn't happen. That was Russell Wilson was just a freakish story. I mean, he was really like the first guy. Oh, yeah. Well, and the reason in a month and the reason it happened is because this is part of nobody remembers. Mike Glennon had also graduated at NC State.

So Tom O'Brien had to pick one of them. And it wasn't a matter of Russell wanted to leave. Tom O'Brien had to choose one because one of them was leaving. And it wound up being the model for everybody else that they've been chasing, which you're right. Other than Jalen Hurts, I can't think of one that's been that successful.

So one guy I wanted to ask you about is our number four in our rankings, Trey Moore. He's at UTSA, edge rusher, or he's leaving UTSA. This is the kind of guy it feels like, and we've seen it with Jared Verse, but that was from a much lower level going from Albany to Florida State. But the group of five, guy who blows up at very important position. How many schools want Trey more right now? Seems like a lot.

And I think when you look at the, this kind of ties into what we were talking about with Walter Nolan. I think when you look at the edges, there's just a scarcity there. And I think the fact that Trey Moore has been so productive he's had 14 sacks this year the advanced stats are good he wins on a lot of his pass rush reps so I think like everybody wants a pass rusher so I think that definitely adds into it this guy is a guy who's been very productive I think when you go back and look at him as a recruit he's kind of fits the mold of a guy who had a great senior year didn't

do quite as much as a junior so he was a little under the radar a local guy as well so when you look at I think when you look at UTSA and the type of big hits they've had they've been local types like Frank Harris is from right there a lot of their best players are kind of from that metro san antonio area so um yeah i think i think he fits that fits that mold and i think when you watch him play he's just got a natural wherewithal as a pass rusher so um you know i don't think you can have enough pass rushers that's those guys do not grow on trees so i think when you're looking at ones who are officially in the portal right now, he's the top guy. I know Prince Lee Umami-Owens is announced.

I don't think he's in officially. But yeah, Trey Moore definitely brings a lot off the edge. Well, and another one that UTSA landed out of San Antonio, Marcus Davenport, edge rusher, who became a first rounder for them. But the portal was not the same thing with Marcus Davenport, edge rusher, who became a first rounder for them. But the portal was not the same thing with Marcus Davenport. It actually didn't exist yet when Marcus Davenport was playing. And I imagine he would have been the kind of guy who would have had a couple good years at UTSA and would have been off to Texas or Texas A&M.

Speaking of guys going to Texas A&M, Colin Lacy, the receiver from South Alabama, has committed to Texas A&M. He seems like one that the coaches and scouts are pretty excited about. Yeah, I think he has a case as the best G5 receiver this past season. He had like 1,300-plus yards. If you go back and watch Colin Lacey in high school, similar to Trey Moore, I think there's a good explanation for why he ended up at South Alabama. in high school similar um to trey moore there's there's i think there's a good explanation for

why he ended up at south alabama also a local school a guy from right around uh mobile played running back in high school very very good run at high school running back but i think when you're looking at running backs uh projecting to receiver there's a little bit of degree of unknown there relative to ball skills uh route running well colin lacy does all that at a really high level you look at how he played this year uh at south alabama he's got a ton of juice can line up all over the formation he's really good after the catch and i think he has really good ball skills like his ability to track the ball um make adjust adjustments difficult catches he's a guy who you know people who watch like group of five football,

everyone knows who he is. But I think once like the national media starts to dig on just, just how good of a player this guy was, I don't think there's much of a doubt he's going to make a, an instant impact. Now, while I got you here, Charles, we do need to transition a little bit to the high schools because there was some news on Thursday that was really interesting.

And I want you to explain how good Jordan Seton is. This is the offensive tackle, number one ranked offensive tackle prospect in the country at a high school. He committed to Colorado. And clearly this has been in the works for a while. He went on Undisputed with Skip Bayless to talk about going to play for, for coach prime in Colorado. But what is Colorado getting in Jordan seat? I mean, I think he's a day one starter at Colorado. Um, and when you

look at the offensive tackles in the 2024 cycle, I think he's pretty clearly the most ready to play. The guy with a really high floor, he's very technical. He's played a high level of football, really dating back to his sophomore season in high school. He's faced a lot of top pass rushers. He was in the D.C. area and then went to IMG Academy in Florida, right? Yeah, he's playing really high level at St. John's in D.C., transferred to IMG for his senior year. I saw him in person here in Nashville playing in Lipscomb Academy, and he was fantastic. I think he's very balanced. He plays under control.

He has a good pass set. He kind of has all the physical markers, like 34-plus inch arms, kind of a bull in the run game. He has a great grip strength. Once he latches on defenders, he kind of does what he wants with them. And just really good vision. Like I think when you look at these top offensive tackles in high school, sometimes like they can miss a free runner, miss a blitzer.

He like knows exactly what's going on. So he's playing at a really high level. And also he's kind of undergone a physical transformation. I think he was probably three 50, three 60 cut a ton of weight and he's moving really well. Um, so he's like probably around two 95, 300 right now. So, uh, I felt for a while that he's the most ready to play a guy who you could drop into the sec or any Power Five conference and be in a better position to play as a true freshman than the rest of the 2024 tackles.

So I think when you project him to Colorado, I would expect nothing less than to start their first game. How does he compare to, say, Caden Proctor, who was the number one offensive tackle recruit last year, who is Alabama's starting left tackle now? I think he's more refined in pass pro than Caden Proctor, who was the number one offensive tackle recruit last year, who is Alabama's starting left tackle now? I think he's more refined in pass pro than Caden Proctor. And I think we saw that this year. Caden Proctor is a great example. There probably were, I want to say, five to 10 true freshmen offensive tackles who played the majority of the season at power in power five, like in at least I would say close to 10. And we saw a lot of those guys struggle.

Now Caden project is a great example where kind of struggled in past pro the beginning, middle of the year and really played his best game of the year in sec title game. I don't think he gave up. Maybe they didn't give up a pressure. I know we didn't give up a sack. So it is a really developmental position.

You're grading those guys on a steep curve. To me, I think if you get on the field and in the power five as a true freshman, that's commendable in itself. But to play at high levels, another thing. But I think Jordan Seton, given how technical he is, you could drop him in there and I could see him playing fairly well. If he is kind of coached well, put in good positions, you know, offensive line, there's a lot of chemistry involved, but yeah, I think he has the technical skillset

to come in and play and maybe play well. And now to go back to the transfer portal piece of our conversation, that's not a person you can find in the portal right that it it feels like there just aren't those kinds of offensive tackles ever in the portal yeah especially in like a multi-year capacity right so uh and i i think too like there's another true freshman all-american offensive lineman in the portal, Chase Basantis, who kind of similar to Caden Proctor, was playing right tackle at Texas A&M out of position. I think we view him as more of an interior type. And there are some, but I do think it's fairly rare

that you would have a guy like that, you know, in the portal. Cause most of the, like most schools who have these types of talents in the offensive line simply aren't going to let them enter the portal. Like there's just too much, there's too much value there. I think barring a coaching change, you're, you're unlikely to see it. So congratulations to the Buffaloes because that's what you needed.

You need guys who could block yeah this one can and when dion was saying he was going to find linemen like i think we all thought he was going to go to the portal not high school but i think seaton is the guy who has the skill level or like the technical skill level of maybe a sophomore type. So, I mean, I expect him to come in and play. Yeah, and in the Big 12, which is not – Caden Proctor got thrown into the SEC. The Big 12 is not easy.

There are going to be some monsters that he's got to play against, but I don't know that the learning curve is as steep as it was for Proctor this year. So, that's – I mean, that is a huge get for Colorado, Charles. Thank you so much. And we will be in touch quite a bit over the next few weeks. Sounds good. That is Charles power. Busy, busy guy right now, because you've got everybody entering the portal.

You've got national signing day coming up A lot going on in the recruiting world. Also a lot going on for our next guest, Shea Dixon from the Bengal Tiger Covers LSU. He's got to go to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony. Jaden Daniels is the runaway favorite to win, but, there's a lot of stuff brewing in Baton Rouge. Maybe coaching changes, maybe not. Roster changes, we'll see. It feels like with the portal, it's going to be more coming in than going out in terms of people who can contribute. Shea has an awful lot on his plate, but we will start with that big trophy that's being given out in New York on Saturday. We welcome Shea Dixon from the Bengal Tiger.

That is on 3's LSU site. Shea is headed to New York City to cover the Heisman Trophy. The last time he went, he got to see Joe Burrow win one. This time, Shea, it does seem like you're probably going to watch another guy on the team you cover holding the trophy. Yeah, I think Jaden Daniels is a shoo-in, if Vegas odds are correct. And really, Andy, it was even before the Pac-12 championship game, there was that feel that a lot of people, at least on social media and TV,

were talking up Jaden as, hey, look, he's got the best stats, but will Bo Nix win it? When Bo Nix went out and they lost that game to Washington again, put him at two losses. That makes no difference to me or I think voters to Jaden's three losses, even though they didn't play in an SEC championship game. He's clearly the best player in college football this year. I don't think anybody can debate it. And he joins a long line or excuse me, a very short list of about five

or six guys. Most, if not, I think only one of them didn't win a Heisman that threw for 3,500 yards in a year and rushed for a thousand. So pretty unique company. He's joining with guys like Deshaun Watkins and Kyler Murray and a lot of other quarterbacks here recently that were very good at throwing the football and could also run it pretty well. I'm just so amazed because I've watched his whole career at Arizona State. He started for three years, and his freshman year was probably his best. That was when he had the most talent around him. But then when he transferred to LSU, you weren't even sure he was going to win the job, much less turn into what he turned into.

At what point did you realize, okay, this guy has a chance to have a very special season? I think last year we saw towards the end of the year that he kind of had really put together a total package of, he could run the football, he could throw it and protect it. But would he take that next step with the deep ball and going downfield? And look, we saw it at Arizona State his freshman season. He was going deep a ton at Arizona State. I think last year. Brandon Ayuk does that for you.

That's right. Even Jaden has said this, though. And there was that sense in his mind when he got here that he's competing for the job and don't mess it up. So don't turn the ball over. So then he doesn't know the receivers like he does now. He doesn't know, you know, the whole scheme and the offensive system like he does now. So it was playing just within that comfort level. He grew so much when he added that deep ball element where he felt comfortable about

it. And then you've got Malik neighbors leading the nation and receiving yards. You've got Brian Thomas leading the country and receiving touchdowns. And obviously Jaden leading the nation in total yards and rushing yards by a quarterback and pretty much every quarterback stat category. So remember, this was a guy in high school that twice was a 3000 yard pass or 1000 yard rusher. We shouldn't be surprised that we're sitting here seeing it now again here at the college level. And I think that's why he transferred LSU after things kind of went south at Arizona State was I feel like I am that guy who came out as the number one dual threat quarterback in high school. In fact, ranked number one, number two, Bo Nix at the time. But Daniels kept that dual threat element to him. And now it's turned it into what's going to be a Heisman winning moment. And it is amazing because you've got Baker Mayfield transfer who won the Heisman,

Kyler Murray transfer who won the Heisman, Joe Burrow, Caleb Williams. And now like this year, there are going to be three quarterbacks in New York, Jaden Daniels, Bo Nix, Michael Penix Jr., all transfers. Yeah, think about it. And the year that Burrow won, Hertz was standing there next to him as a transfer who had obviously had an unbelievable season. So, uh, there's a reason right now while you, uh, refresh whatever your social media or YouTube or podcast is that everybody's talking about transfer quarterbacks because boy, oh boy, have they not struck gold here in recent years with, uh, almost every guy beyond what a Bryce young maybe and two before him being homegrown.

Yeah, it is. It's interesting because you've got to kind of plant the quarterback in the right soil. And sometimes they're not in the right soil to start with. Sometimes it takes, you know, Jaden Daniels going from Tempe to Baton Rouge or Michael Penix Jr. going from Bloomington to Seattle. And it is pretty amazing. You know, let's talk about the transfer portal as it relates to LSU, because it feels like what's going out is what you usually see in the transfer portal. That'd be guys who haven't played as much as they would like,

or they've had some injury issues and things just haven't worked out for them. I've not seen any surprises from LSU. Anybody who it seems like they'd be relying upon next year? No, and that's the spot you want to be in. And I think in year three now, Brian Kelly has built this roster up from 38 guys when he took over to now having to balance of where you're at with that 85-man scholarship limit. They went really heavy on high school signees.

They've got more than 25 of them set to sign in December. I think they'll end up in that 25 to 30 range with guys. They add, then they want to add fewer than 10 players in the portal. That's such a stark difference from where they were in those first two years. So now you've got that balance on roster that takes us back to, like I've said before that I've said this so many times on my podcast,

people don't forget natural attrition is a thing. Before the transfer portal, 10 guys left the school every year. You can't sign 25 guys. You're just going to make nice instead of being able to go to another SEC school. Right. It's no different now than it was then, except you can transfer to it.

You don't have to ask permission to go to an SEC school and you don't have to sit out if you've never transferred. So yes, you'd expect those numbers to go up. But if you're in a program like LSU, verge of winning back-to-back 10 win seasons, you've rebuilt the roster. Now you're finally in a spot where you're not hemorrhaging players that you say left and right, man, we needed that guy. It's, hey, these are guys looking for playing time, whether it's early in their career, back end of their career, whatever it might be, they feel buried on the depth chart. And that's natural. That's fine. That's what the portal in large part should be for. So LSU fans,

fingers crossed. I think they can get through these 30 days without looking up and saying, Hey, we lost guys that we were relying on. And the other piece of that, you said, you know, bring in fewer than 10. How many of those are DBs that will come in from the portal? LSU fans want me to say all 10 of them, right? Look, they took four transfer corners last year. And by what, the two months into the season, none of the four were playing anymore. When they played Alabama, two of them injured and two of them in Denver Harris and Deuce Chestnut were suspended. And Brian Kelly's talked about that. He said, we're going to be so much more pointed in who we take, the position we take,

how good we feel about them making an impact on our team, because they had room before to just swing for the fences. They were taken above 15 transfers in both years that Brian Kelly had been here. Now it's very clear. let's go after a corner or two. I think a safety is going to be a big need for them. I think they get one or two safeties. D-line is one where I could see them adding one or two. But other than that, it would just be filling little position holes where you say, hey, maybe let's add another receiver

because we're losing Malik Nabors and Brian Thomas or whatever it might be to where you have depth, maybe let's add another receiver because we're losing Malik neighbors and Brian Thomas or, you know, whatever it might be to where you have depth, but you just want to add a little bit more high end talent to the room. And then there's one that everyone will always ask, which I do think LSU, or I should say, I,

I know LSU will explore his quarterback because yes, Garrett Nussmeier is their quarterback, but do you go into a next season where your backup quarterback is Ricky Collins, a true freshman right now, who's played in one game ever and thrown two passes? So I think an insurance quarterback is something that they'd be interested in. Or a reclassifying Colin Hurley who should be in high school. Yeah, he's only 16 and he'll be showing up to campus in about a month.

The hair is spectacular though. It's even better than before. It's as big as you can imagine and it's got a lot of colors to it. So, look, he's a magnetic personality, and that'll be the third quarterback on roster when he gets here in January with Jayden Daniels on his way out. And we'll see where LSU goes if they do go portal hunting for a quarterback and end up taking one.

That does seem like a good spot for a veteran who maybe is coming from a smaller school, wants to play at a big time school, but isn't necessarily hellbent on being a starter. Or promised a job, which LSU is not going to be able to do to anyone. You know, even Jaden Daniels didn't come into a situation like that. He won the job, but nobody's going to get promised a job when Garrett Nussmeier has waited his turn and is certainly talented enough to be the quarterback at LSU. So I'm curious to see how it unfolds. One more, and I'm sure your subscribers keep refreshing on the message board and refreshing the homepage of the Bengal Tiger. The defensive coordinator position, obviously the defense was not up to their standards this year. We have seen Brian Kelly make changes to that position before, either because he's had to, because the person was really good and got a head coaching job or because in the case of Brian Van Gorder at Notre Dame

was very bad. So what happens with Matt House? Here's what I've told LSU fans. And I think is the way to view it, that look at Brian Kelly's track record over the past decade plus, which is at Notre Dame and Cincinnati. He brought Diaco over from Cincinnati. He wins the Burroughs Award as a defensive coordinator. Then, look, he's got guys like Clark Lee, Mike Elko, Marcus Freeman, all DCs he hired who are head coaches now in the SEC and at Notre Dame. I mean, these are highly regarded defensive minds.

The miss was Brian Van Gorder. Obviously, he fired Brian Van Gorder in year three, and he talked about it this week, actually, with the media. He said, look, three games into that season, I fired my defensive coordinator and he stood in my wedding with me. So I know how tough these decisions are. But at this point in my career, remember, he's been coaching 30 plus years. He's got a D2 national championship. What he's chasing is a national championship at the FBS level. LSU is his final stop.

He came to the SEC for this opportunity. You're expanding to 12 teams. He knows it's sort of that now or never. So I've told LSU fans, look, his hit rate's great. And when it missed, he fired someone. It was in year three. It was a few games into it. I don't know what that means for Matt House because he's after year two now, where in year one, where you had even fewer pieces to work with, they actually were one of the middle of the road defenses in the SEC. And nationally,

it was just this year falling off a cliff when, boy, did we never think it in the Les Miles days. You've got the best offense in America. Nobody can stop you. You can go to Ole Miss and put up 600 yards and score 49 points and still lose a football game. That can't happen. So Brian Kelly gets paid a lot of money to make this decision. A lot of LSU fans have an eye on it. My view would just be, hey, look, a very good hit rate for a guy who's been a head coach 30-plus years. I trust that he knows more than we do about the situation and what's ongoing in that building. And whatever he decides to do is ultimately one decision that LSU fans will have to just feel confident in and stand behind. So after signing day is what you're saying.

All right, we got it. That's right. That's a long way of saying it. It. So after signing day is what you're saying. All right, we got it. That's right. That's a long way of saying it. It may happen after signing day. Now I, I don't know that. I don't know anything. I just,

usually when the, when the coaches string it out, that that's, that tends to be when things happen. So we'll see what happens with you guys. Oh, go ahead. I will note to a Notre Dame.

People have talked about this. Brian Kelly has had a track record assistant wise of guys find other jobs. And then you hear that news. You don't hear someone got fired. So maybe it's a wait and see, not just with Matt House, but the defensive staff as a whole.

Yep. I guess we will find out. Stay tuned to the Bengal Tiger and Shea Dixon. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. That is Shea Dixon from the Bengal Tiger on 3's LSU site. Next up, we're going to talk to Derek Young from K-State Online, which is on 3's Kansas State site.

The message board at K-State Online was ablaze on Wednesday when Colin Klein, their offensive coordinator and former Kansas State quarterback, decided he was going to leave and go to Texas A&M. Things calmed down a bit on Thursday. Now, we recorded this interview with Derek a little bit before this video was released by Kansas State, but as you'll see, it's very, very important. Avery Johnson is the freshman quarterback at Kansas State who is still there. Will Howard is in the portal. Jake Rubley is in the portal. So Avery Johnson releases a video saying that he's changing numbers from five to two. Jake Rubley had two, who's a year older, but now he's in the portal. So two's available. So Avery Johnson in this video revealing that he is now number two, but I think the subtext is more important,

revealing that he's still playing for Kansas State. He still intends to play for Kansas State. And listen, if I'm planning on watching the Pop-Tarts Bowl, which is Kansas State against NC State, I'm pretty excited about seeing the first game of what appears to be the beginning of the Avery Johnson era. For me, it's never been just a number. It's a mentality. An attitude. It's a tradition. And although my number changed,

our mission has it. Let's talk to Derek about Colin Klein's move, what Texas A&M fans can expect from Colin Klein, and what K-State does next. Joined now by Derek Young of K-State Online. A lot going on in the Little Apple. Colin Klein has left as OC. He is now Texas A&M's new OC under Mike Elko.

And they are on the lookout for an offensive coordinator at Kansas State, but also in retention mode trying to hold on to five-star quarterback Avery Johnson, who was a freshman this year. Will Howard's already in the portal. Derek, what has to happen to make sure that the biggest recruit they've landed in years, the biggest in-state recruit they've landed in years, winds up having a career at K-State beyond his freshman year? Yeah, and people are melting down because Colin Klein,

he's the Kansas State hero that's leaving. It's not a great time of the year to not have an offensive coordinator because the portal is open, your guys can enter, and it's hard to recruit it if you don't have the right guy in the right spot. So it's something that has to happen pretty quickly. And they probably have to have a hire that Johnson wants to play for as well. So you've got to keep that in mind because even losing Colin Klein, I will consider it still a success if you hang on to Avery Johnson

because it's tough to hang on your coordinator if he's being poached by Texas A&M. Well, and Colin Klein was a very marketable guy. Notre Dame wanted him last year. It sounds like Penn State was looking at him this year, and obviously Texas A&M comes along. So at a certain point, it was going to be hard for Kansas State to keep him. Yeah, I mean, teams were going to keep coming. There was chatter about Alabama last year, too, before they hired Tommy Reese.

So you thought maybe you're out of the woods because, man, if we can hold off Notre Dame, Penn State, what's another school on that level? But I'm sure he's focused on advancing his career. He wants to be a head coach. And apparently he felt like he needed to leave Kansas State to do that. What I will say is what's interesting to think about in that aspect is I don't think he had to leave Kansas State to be the next Kansas State head coach. So it makes you wonder if something else is at play. That is very interesting. So for the Texas A&M fans watching,

what should they expect from Colin Klein's offense? Yeah, I mean, we'll put it this way. His first year as a play caller offense coordinator at Kansas State, they won the Big 12 championship and he had a top two or top three offense in the big 12. The second year, everyone has questions what he can do without Deuce Vaughn, even without Adrian Martinez to an extent, even though Will Howard took over the job without Malik Knowles at wide

receiver. And all he did was number one in the big 12 in points per drive in yardage rate. So only two years of a sample size, but it's about the best two years you can ask of a Power 5 offensive coordinator. And, I mean, his star is rising. I mean, everyone just raves from the high school level to the college level. I've even seen some professional people commenting on it. They think he's one of the brightest offensive minds in all of college level. I've even seen some professional people commenting on it. I think he's one of the brightest

offensive minds in all of college football. Well, and he was a great quarterback back in the day and one of those guys that it felt like was in command at all times. So it'll be interesting to see him in Aggieland.

But now we move on to Manhattan where Will Howard decided to enter the transfer portal. Now it sounds like he's still trying to make an NFL decision as well, but he's not coming back to Kansas State. And that felt like I talked to the guys at Sooner Scoop the other day about the Dylan Gabriel situation where he's leaving Oklahoma and Jackson Arnold obviously is going to be the starter now.

He was a five star freshman this year. This feels very similar where you kind of have to make that choice between Will Howard and Avery Johnson. Yeah. And it wasn't another year of both of them. Wasn't going to be tenable. It just wasn't going to work. You couldn't pull that off. You basically had to pick one and they picked the right one. Now they have to hold on to them as they go on this next month with, or hopefully not a month long without an offensive coordinator. But no, they made the right call.

Will Howard probably made the right call because even if he wanted to stay, did he want to look over his shoulder another year? I'm sure he didn't. And everything that I hear, look, everyone knows he has a lot of interest. And maybe he gets blown away and takes one of those college opportunities. But I think he's leaning towards the NFL. Yeah. And he's definitely done about all he can do at the college level.

And he's led his team to a big 12 title. You know, maybe if he were to go to a national title contender that has an opening. I guess there's one in Columbus, Ohio. So we'll see what happens to Will Howard. But Avery Johnson is an interesting one to me because he is – am I being – am I exaggerating when I say he's the biggest in-state recruit they've ever signed? Now, I've only covered the team since 2017. I say only.

That's actually six years. I'm surprised I've been here that long. But there's nothing in that time period. There's nothing that I can think of. Darren Sproles, now he didn't have the ranking, but obviously a guy that had – Right, but turned into that level player, yeah. Yeah.

So that's someone that would jump. Terrence Newman, those types that went to the NFL in long careers, those are some of the best ones that they've landed. But from a prestigious recruit the meaningfulness at the premier position in football it doesn't get bigger than Avery Johnson they're going to try and hold on try like heck to hold on to him it sounds like they they feel like they're going to it's easy to say that when it could change in two hours they got a rate they got to make the right offense coordinator higher at the same time to solidify that um so it'll be interesting but you gotta

think about it from avery johnson's lens too right you see there's a lot of pretty good quarterbacks in the portal right now to where i think the supply might be a little bit more than the demand which i think is interesting or at least similar. And you're talking about when I was looking at Dante Moore and they came in the same class, about the same ranking. And if he goes, you know, Michigan's mentioned with Dante Moore on another spot where he's not guaranteed a starter. So Avery Johnson could have his pick at the litter probably. It's interesting that you mention that because like Dante Moore, from what we've

been told is okay with maybe not starting next year. It like, if he, if he were to go to Michigan and JJ McCarthy were to not go to the NFL, that maybe isn't the end of the world for Dante Moore. Like the, the, they wouldn't mind the year of development. It feels like with Avery Johnson, he's ready to play now. And he had that taste of it in the middle of this season. Yeah, he wants to play now. There's probably not, in the world of NIL, and I know Michigan is a school that can do it, is there a ton of schools that can pay two guys like that?

I don't know. So that's something to consider, I would say, too. Well, and I'm sure there are some schools that would be interested in Avery Johnson, but I imagine that he may want to stay where he is, be with the players he came in with. You know, it is home for him. That's, you know, unlike with a lot of these quarterbacks who go across the country, he did stay home. Yeah, and I think the best business decision for him would be to at least do this one year.

And if it doesn't unfold the way he likes, then, you know, you can make the option at that point. But you only get one of these, technically. So you've got to make sure you do it right. And, yeah, I mean, you get to play at home, and you get to play with the guys that you came in with and ensure clear his path to certain playing time yeah well and the other thing about it is so he's a rising sophomore you know you're chris

climbing you've done a lot in this sport you've won national titles at the fcs level you're a very experienced head coach i you don't ask the the 19 year what to do, but I do feel like you got to make sure the 19 year old's okay with what you're doing. I, yeah. How much input might not be the right word, but influence will Avery get on the OC search? Well, they'd be doing it wrong if it was zero. So that's what I would say, because maybe you don't allow him to make the decision. I mean, I don't think I even I would. But if you don't make sure that he approves, you're probably in a problematic spot. And we go back to when I said he has the clearest path.

What happens if he's not approving and you do that and you do make that decision? You don't even have a quarterback coming back next year that's on scholarship right now yeah and this is you know you got a pop tarts bowl coming up and the the thought it was it was going to be avery johnson's show before colin klein left now it you know it feels like that's in flux but he's the only scholarship qb on the roster now right. The others already entered the transfer portal. The non-scholarship quarterback may not be available because he went from a scholarship player in Minnesota to a walk-on at K-State, so he even needs a waiver to play. So the bowl game is certainly in flux. Now,

with that being said, for those listening that obviously follow Kansas State and kind of ride or die with them, nothing that I have heard suggests that he is leaning towards leaving. But obviously, the wrong offensive coordinator hire could be problematic. But I think they should have some comfort and some confidence that he wants to stay. Yeah. Well, it's going to be fascinating to watch. He's got such an incredibly different skill set than most people you've seen i that's what you and i text quite a bit about when when he's when it looked like he was going to play a little more very excited to see he's a

guy i've been wanting to see a lot more of so i am hoping that when i tune into that game it will not just be to watch the players eat the mascot at the end, that it will be the Avery Johnson show. And we get to see exactly what a full game of him looks like against a pretty good defense. An interesting angle to consider too. The bowl games on December 28th, he could play it and still enter the portal,

which is weird to think about as well. Something to always keep in mind, but I will say this. I will judge, grade, and evaluate Kansas State's offseason at this point. Probably not necessarily by the offensive coordinator they hire, but their ability to hang on to Avery Johnson. Listen, it's the most important position

in all of sports, and they've got a very intriguing one. So yeah, let's see if they can hang on. Derek, thank you so much I was gonna say Avery Johnson at his best can make an average offense coordinator look great that's exactly right so for that yeah let's let's we we didn't gloss this over the hair is spectacular one but two this guy is so fast but he can throw it throw. I go back to the – so he scores five rushing touchdowns against Texas Tech. The following week when they were moving him and Will Howard back and forth,

there's a throw that Johnson makes along the left sideline. And I'm like, how does somebody who runs like that make that throw? And you wonder, if he's the guy, how often are you going to see that? Yeah. No, it's fun. That's why there's some people throw out Lamar Jackson stuff when it comes to him because of the combination of speed, athleticism, wiggle, arm strength, and how he can really flip it.

Look, I don't know who's going to be the next Kansas State offensive coordinator, but a guy mentioned, he hasn't called plays yet is Willie Corn from Liberty was at Coastal Carolina. Now, that offense seems pretty tailored to Avery Johnson. Yes, the triple option is your play action, basically. But it is a it is a high. If you're if you're the right quarterback, it's a very, you become a very high efficient, high efficiency passer. And it's not like the traditional option offense where you're, you're throwing nine times a game and only on third and long. Like that, if you look at Grayson McCall's numbers, when he played at coast or when, when he was at coastal

and Jamie Chadwell was still there, he was a ruthlessly efficient quarterback. And then Caden Salter this year, same thing. So that would be very interesting if that offense found its way to Manhattan. Yeah, it sounds like it's him, Connor Riley. Those are two of the candidates being mentioned. Well, let's wait and see. That's going to be very, very fun to watch. Derek, thank you so much.

Thank you. That is Derek Young. A lot going on be very, very fun to watch. Derek, thank you so much. Thank you. That is Derek Young. A lot going on in Manhattan, Kansas. Also a lot going on in Gainesville, Florida. We opened the show talking about Trevor Etienne entering the transfer portal. It's an exodus from Florida. The question is, what are the Gators going to bring in?

Because the season ended on a bad note, five and seven. What happens next as some pretty good players have entered the transfer portal? We're joined by Nick Delattori of Gators Online. We welcome Nick Delattori

of Gators Online. And Nick, it's been a day at the University of Florida. Trevor Etienne, running back, brother of Travis, sophomore, member of Billy Napier's initial recruiting class at Florida, is in the portal. And you sent out a tweet after that came out that was rather eye-opening. And it's something that even as I'd watched the Florida players go into the portal,

I don't think I realized that half of Billy Napier's first recruiting class at Florida is now in the transfer portal. Yeah, a lot of fans. Mixed reviews on that one, Andy. A lot of fans pointing out to me that that happens a lot with bump classes and a lot of fans using that as just more kerosene to throw on the fire that they've already lit on the program. To me, it's when you look at that list, okay, 50% is eye-opening. It's pretty shocking.

When I look at it, like Kamari Wilson was a five-star. He was the jewel of the class. Chris McClellan was playing a ton. Trevor Etienne and Caleb Douglas were starters. Outsideris mcclellan was playing a ton trevor etn and caleb douglas were starters outside of that you're not losing a ton i think it's really just the number and and what florida is doing right now or failing to do i think is winning the battle of perception and the perception is you're 11 and 14 And look at all these guys who bought in initially jumping off the Titanic, you know, as they see an iceberg coming at them.

Well, and the thing I keep coming back to is what the party line from Florida has been throughout all this is just wait until Billy Napier gets his guys in. Something like that blasts a little bit of a hole in that line of thinking. Yeah, and the issue that I find is Florida was young in 2023. You can't spin that any other way. It is a valid excuse, albeit an excuse. I don't think Florida fans are going to care to hear that they're young in 2024. And if you have this kind of attrition and this kind of,

and it's happening everywhere, guys going in the transfer portal, but if you're losing your guys that are supposed to be your juniors now, your first class is supposed to be juniors, and well, shoot, we're going to be young again. I don't know that fans are ready to hear that or will accept that as an excuse in 2024. Well, and the other part of it, I think, that frustrates people is you look at, you know, Brian Kelly hired the same year, won the SEC West his first year. They weren't as good

this year, but they're going to have a guy win the Heisman. So it is, there are these things that just continually frustrate this fan base. But I just – what can Florida do at this point? I saw that Eugene Wilson III, Trey Wilson, who is their star freshman receiver, retweeted a graphic about who earned all freshman honors. He said, just getting started in the swamp. So that is his way of saying, I think, hey, I ain't going anywhere. I mean, my goodness. I might have hit the beat writer transfer portal this week

if Trey Wilson would have tweeted something about, like, does someone know where compliance is on campus instead of just getting started? I got to give him a little something. Yeah. There is a young nucleus. I think the 2023 class had a bunch of guys, Kelby Collins, TJ Searcy, Jordan Castell. Nobody played more snaps on defense than Jordan Castell.

And just as a freshman safety, there is a young nucleus. And those guys will be young on paper, but a lot of them have played a bunch of snaps. So it'll be interesting to me to see Florida. I think really needs to hit the portal hard. We're seeing guys already land at places and Florida hasn't even hosted anybody yet. So we saw them work slowly last year in the portal and thought, okay, well you've gotten some good guys,

but Florida is going to need some veterans specifically on the offensive and defensive lines to help them immediately in 24. Well, and that's the interesting thing too, because one thing Billy Napier has always said is that this process takes time. He has advertised that his evaluation process is not the fastest. That's fine in a world in which these transfer rules don't exist, which was the world four years ago, but it's not the world now. And it feels like they're going to have to speed that up. And you're right. I did a segment at the beginning of the show where I predicted where people might go. I had four guys leaving SEC schools. I had three of them. I was predicting two other SEC schools. Florida's not one of them and not in the mix for any of them.

And the big one is we talked about it on Monday on UNJD's live show. Florida needs offensive line help, specifically offensive tackle. And you're getting a couple guys, some guys from A&M go in, and there just needs to be more urgency. Like Florida's process is, I think, always going to, or Billy Napier's process is always going to make that spring portal kind of a wash because everything is crammed in and super fast in the spring. I just don't see the urgency, and maybe it's just the way that Florida works.

Maybe when Florida talks to these guys in the transfer portal, they're saying, please don't report your offers. We had a crazy booster in Miami who kept throwing more money at everyone that we offered. And, hey, don't report your visits because we want to keep that quiet. But I think it would behoove florida to maybe move less quietly in the transfer portal um and maybe some of these fans would put their pitchforks down well and jordan seaton was a guy that dj lagway who's the quarterback who's committed to sign

with florida in a couple weeks he was trying to work hard on jordan seaton who's the number one offensive line prospect in the country that That's the sort of thing, the sort of player that Florida is now going after and getting some traction with some of these guys. That's one thing Billy Napier has brought that, that wasn't there before him, but Jordan Seton's off to Colorado and Florida wasn't in the list of finalists or the list of semifinalists.

Yeah. I think Florida gave it a run, got an official visit. I don't think we hadn't even really written about Jordan Seton. I know fans kept asking about him, but I don't think Florida was, what do they say in politics, Andy? And also ran. I don't even think Jordan Seton, I don't think Florida's really an also ran there. And I don't think Florida's really also ran there. And I don't know how much a freshman would play, but that's the kind of guy. You know, when I talk about the battles that Florida needs to win, that's L.J. McCray.

That's a guy that Georgia really wanted. And you got him. A guy like Jordan Seton, even if you have to take some lumps in his freshman year, that's a guy that probably starts three years and gets drafted in the first round. And we look at the transfer portal. You know, you and I both said it's dollar general for offensive linemen. It's not Neiman Marcus. Chase Basanti is a guy who can start in the SEC.

We know that. We saw that at Texas A&M. But I don't have the keys to the RPM yet. I don't get to do that quite yet. But I said I think he's going to LSU. So not Florida. But that's the type of person in the portal, if such a person pops in the portal, you've got to jump on.

Now, the other thing you were mentioning with this portal versus the spring portal, the other part of this is you can't take an SEC player out of the spring portal because of the way the SEC rules work. You got to take somebody who was in this portal window. So that's, if you want to take someone who is from the SEC, otherwise you got to take somebody from another league.

And I think that does increase the sense of urgency now. Yeah, I think that's something that the sec should change. I think they don't want to, you know, be carnivorous towards each other. They're not going to change it. They thought about, you know why they don't change it because it calms everything down because a

lot of these guys don't want to go play in another league. So once this, or this window ends, they don't leave and you know as long as ever you can't be accused of colluding if everybody else has different rules than you so you know they're they're sitting back going hey we get to chill out in the spring you guys are all fighting for your players that's true that's true there's there's definitely never colluding or tampering um going on with the transfer portal.

Of course not. It's interesting, though. I just don't I don't know where Florida is going to get momentum for this for this transfer portal cycle. I thought getting Graham Mertz back would be big. Obviously, you look at the quarterback hot board, and those dominoes are starting to fall, but Florida can point to a guy who only has a year left or maybe only has two years left. Hey, we have a really good quarterback coming back. Here are some of the young pieces we have coming back.

We're one or two guys away. We need you, Joe Smith, to come in, and you can be that one piece. That can be compelling. I just don't know what the sense of urgency is, or if maybe I'm being naive to expect anything different than what I saw last year. And I will say this about Graham Mertz, not just because he came on the show yesterday, but we talked to Charles Power earlier today and he made a great point. Those transfer portal QBs that have multiple years that wind up starting for two years at the new school, that second year tends to be pretty awesome. So I think,

you know, if you are Graham Mertz, that's something you're probably trying to get across to people who are candidates to come join you from the portal. If you're Billy Napier, that's something you would try to get across to those people. But, but I'm with you. I don't, I don't know where the momentum comes from now either, because the schedule is brutal and the talent level looks like it's going to remain flat or be less. Yeah. There's a bunch of skill position guys that you can go after. But again, if, if Graham Mertz is running, running for his life,

I don't know how much those skill position guys help you. I think it'll be interesting to see what these quarterback dominoes do because I don't know that Florida's schedule is as hard as it looks on paper. A lot of name brands there, but a lot of those name brands are...

A lot of those name brands have lost their quarterbacks, but now, I mean, you could have Chase McCord starting at Miami instead of Tyler Van Dyke. You know, so Florida, I saw a list that J.D. put out on Wednesday, and I thought, man, all of the quarterbacks are going to schools that Florida will play next year. I think J.D. had Riley Leonard going to Miami.

I don't see that one. I see one of the one of the air raid guys that i cam ward i said needs to go to an air raid program so he needs to go to usc miami or wisconsin like so that again this is why they don't give me the key to the rpm though because i'm like he doesn't go to one of these three instead of be like, he's going here. Yeah, that would be the 33% going here, Andy Staple special. Well, it is going to be a very interesting time in Gainesville because this is interesting. The fan base and the message boards have been negative for much of the year.

This is as negative as I've seen them. And like you said, they gotta find some momentum somewhere. So good luck to the Gators on that front. Nick Dellatore, thank you so much. Thanks, Andy. Thank you to Nick Dellatore and Derek Young and Shea Dixon and Charles Power. Big newsy day.

And I think it's gonna be that way for a while in college football as the transfer portal continues to bubble and percolate. May slow down next week in terms of people going in, but I think we're going to get a lot more destinations revealed as we go. Hopefully my predictions from the top of the show, we'll see how accurate I am, but I think I'm getting access to that RPM. I think there's a chance. Probably going to be a bunch of news over the weekend. We will be back on Sunday night to break it all down.

We will talk to you then.