Andy & Ari On3 - Transfer QBs Cam Ward and DJ Uiagalelei VISITING Florida State | HUGE College Hoops weekend

Episode Date: December 15, 2023

The Transfer Portal is looking at a big weekend ahead as more and more players announce their commitments daily. Of course, we bring in our good friend Pete Nakos to talk about ALL of the "Nakosifications" that have been happening all week. We also take a look at updates at Michigan State and the world of college hoops!Thank you to Gametime for sponsoring today's show! Bowl Season is days away - don't miss your chance to watch your favorite team. Download the Gametime App and enter code: STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply. Last Minute Tickets, Lowest Prices, Guaranteed.(0:00-2:54) Intro - Bowl Season is Upon U s!(2:55-27:22) Pete Nakos Breaks down the Transfer Portal(27:23-42:59) Jason Killop from Spartan Mag joins to talk Michigan State, Jonathan Smith Hire(43:00-57:22) Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) joins to talk a BIG weekend of College Hoops(57:23-58:57) Conclusion - It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!Want to watch the show instead on video? Head on over to YouTube here: https://youtu.be/GQIDbLTKZJE

welcome to andy staples on three and happy bowl season that's right this is the last show before you've got bowl games on your tv that's right that starts saturday 11 a.m eastern time with the myrtle beach bowl the soon soon-to-be, in 2024, Sonny's Barbecue Andy Staples Bowl. We talked about that on Wednesday night's show. If you didn't hear that Dear Andy question where they asked, what would your bowl game be if you sponsored a bowl game? That's the one.

So go back and listen to that because that's the game you're going to want. Although, hey, Georgia Southern versus Ohio U, that'll be fun too. On the teal. Also the LA Bowl. The Gronk LA Bowl. Rob Gronkowski is the host. You got UCLA and Boise State. And the Independence Bowl, 9-15 Eastern time.

From Shreveport, Cal and Texas Tech. Your first Power 5 on Power 5 matchup of the bowl season. I guess we can still use Power 5 through the bowl season. It becomes not a term anymore after the bowl season, but Cal, still a member of the Pac-12, not off to the ACC just yet. So get ready for a bowl game. 11 a.m. Eastern time Saturday.

There's five bowl games this Saturday. Remember, in the New Mexico Bowl, New Mexico State, Fresno State, Diego Pavia is playing for New Mexico State. That's the quarterback. He's the most interesting player in all of these games on Saturday. So give that one a watch as well. We got a lot going on in the world of college football, a lot of news, a lot of movement.

So a lot of these schools, they are trying to get their recruiting classes together. The high school players can sign as early as Wednesday. Everybody's trying to nail down their classes. They got the final visit weekend. But the thing is, it will not just be high school players Wednesday. Everybody's trying to nail down their classes. They got the final visit weekend. But the thing is, it will not just be high school players visiting a lot of these campuses this weekend. There will be quite a few Transfer Portal official visitors. The epicenter of this is going to be Tallahassee, Florida, where two highly sought-after Transfer Portal quarterbacks

will be visiting the Seminoles at various points this weekend. We got a big show today. We're going to start it with Pete Nacos, the king of the Transfer Portal. Talking Cam Ward and DJ Uyungle visiting Florida State. What happens now to Kyle McCord? Now that he's not going to Nebraska, what does Ohio State do now at quarterback? So much going on in the portal, and Pete has all the answers. Here's Pete. We welcome Pete Nacos, and we have an official term

for when you drop recruiting news on social media or transfer portal news on social media. Whatever news you drop. You drop a lot of different kinds of news. You know, sports business news, transfer portal. We're going to call them NACOSifications from now on, Pete. I saw the Twitter reply, and you were like, that's it. And I was like, Andy's tuned in, man.

Andy is tuned in. I love it. NACOSifications. That's it. I was like, Andy's tuned in, man. Andy is tuned in. I love it. Nicosification. So we've had quite a few Nicosifications here on Thursday. I want to start with two quarterbacks in the portal who may wind up in the same town. I don't think they're going to be there together, but in pretty rapid succession, DJ Uyunglele, who's coming from oregon state cam ward coming from washington state both potentially visiting florida state this weekend yeah they're

both going to be there at very different times cam ward it's like five it's cam ward will be in tallahassee tonight uh and then dU is expected to roll in Saturday after Cam leaves. Andy, we talked so much about this quarterback market and everything. And then all of a sudden right now, the next 72 hours or so, Florida State's going to have the two best quarterbacks maybe in the portal in Tallahassee. Well, and Cam Ward coming from Miami, right? So he's looked at them. That's one where, you know, Shannon Dawson, the offense he runs, very similar to what Cam Ward came out of in Washington State. But Florida State, obviously, with the talent they have coming back, with how well they've done historically in the portal under Mike Norvell, I would imagine's a pretty enticing thing for for either of these guys yeah i mean i think i think cam ward thinks he can play in both

offices really well and i think the really interesting like narrative here per se is the fact that like ever since dju went in the portal he like fsu was the school like it has always been and then on the flip side you have cam ward who i mean cam has been really open the nfl is still an option he's been at miami talking to espn earlier today he even mentioned a possible third visit which could be at nebraska or washington and um it's two very interesting narratives going up against each other where dj wants to be in Tallahassee and Florida State needs to look at Cam Ward, right? Because, I mean, Cam Ward is a freak and might be a top draft pick in 2025, and Florida State would be doing a disservice if they didn't bring him in.

Well, right. And, you know, DJ, a very different quarterback than Jordan Travis. But Cam, from a skill set perspective, probably can play a similar style to Jordan Travis, which I imagine Mike Norvell enjoyed calling plays for Jordan Travis, probably would enjoy calling plays for Cam Ward, too. Yeah, definitely. Just really interested. I don't think we're gonna even like know anything until like sunday night um because i don't think they're gonna get both on campus couple couple possibilities here if we if we play this out like you could have dju starting

against clemson which would be storylines galore if that, you'd also potentially have DJU starting against Cam Ward in an ACC game in Florida State, Miami. Yeah. I think the crazier narrative to me, and this is like a huge hypothetical and you'll laugh, but imagine if Cam Ward doesn't commit on that Miami visit, then commits soon after the FSU visit, and now Mario Cristobal has to completely, like, look at his QB board all over again and try to get – DJ, what's up?

Will Howard, yes. It's Will Howard, but still it just would be a crazy turn of events. It is amazing. This is so much more interesting, I think, than the out-of-high-school recruiting, just because we know these guys so well. Like, DJU, think about DJU as a true freshman in 2020, replacing Trevor Lawrence at Notre Dame when Trevor had COVID. He's been in our lives that long.

He's got one more year of college football. The coolest thing about DJj is like those two years at clemson just never never really meshed the way i think dj thought and and then you go see him at oregon state this year and he crushed it man like everyone was like uh it's a dj problem at clemson and then he goes to the west coast and like dj looks like the five star that we we all knew he could be and it's just cool to see that play out. It'll be really interesting to see what happens, whose offense he ends up in and what he ends up doing.

Another guy that you reported on this week is Kyle McCord. You said on Wednesday that Nebraska's off the table as an option for him. What are his options now? Yeah, I think his market isn't exactly what a lot of us thought it'd be when he hit the transfer portal i've heard duke thrown around i've heard sarah hughes uh nothing really firm there uh but yeah really interesting position comic finds himself in right now so yeah he again started for Ohio state against Michigan less than three weeks ago. And now here he is casting about looking for a school. What happens with Ohio state now? Because

this is one where they don't have to take a quarterback out of the portal. They have quarterbacks on the roster. have Aaron Nolan who's a very highly recruited quarterback coming with the signing class as well but is it possible that they put out the bat signal and and say hey guys in the portal or even guys who are not in the portal you might be able to be Ohio State's starting quarterback yeah so one thing we should make really clear is Kyle McCord will not be going back to Columbus. That is not on the table. We're just talking to sources and stuff.

Anyone hoping to see Kyle McCord back in Columbus, that's not going to happen. The second thing I'll say, though, is I don't think Ohio State is dying to add a transfer portal quarterback right now. They've talked to DJ. Everyone was speculating about Cam Ward to Ohio State,

that that is not going to happen. They really wanted to get in on Riley Leonard. That just never came to be, I think, as they had hoped to. So, yeah, I think they're going to stay pat. They got Devin Brown. They have Lincoln Kienholz. They're adding Aaron Noland in January. And they're really high on Lincoln, who is a true freshman

and will be a sophomore and probably challenge Devin Brown for the starting job if everything plays out the way it is right now. And the bowl game, Devin Brown's game, though. Yeah, I mean, I think Devin admitted it in conversations with the media early this week, and it makes sense. He has game experience. But I'm sure Ryan David would love to get Lincoln maybe a couple snaps to you just to get some film to look at as we enter the offseason.

Yeah, that's a pretty big job to have open. And, you know, until that NACO certification that Kyle McCord wasn't going to be there, we assumed it was going to be Kyle McCord. So let's talk about another guy who generating a ton of buzz, even though he's not really been a QB1 anywhere yet. He has started a couple games. Malik Murphy coming from Texas. This is a situation where he has decided that he's not going to be

with the Longhorns through the playoffs. So Arch Manning moves into the backup role behind Quinn Ewers. And what is the thinking here with Malik Murphy? Because he's one of the, after spring practice last year, could have entered the portal and had a ton of buzz as well. Yeah, I think we were all kind of bracing for that. But Malik stayed and obviously he stepped in this year when Quinn went down. And really tough situation where he can't be with texas right now for the college football playoff

um but andy you and i were kind of talking about it before i think that the the truth is though is that he is really highly sought after right now he has a great market um pete family put out like like eight to ten schools to watch today i think yeah really early on before we're like these are the top three or something but um definitely has a lot of interest his athletic ability is insane yeah and and the arm is great the turnovers that were the the question but again that was his first couple games as a starter how does he grow you know how does he develop and that's one you know in the you mentioned pete thamel put out a several teams ohio state was on that list georgia was on that list it does feel like he's one that's

going to draw interest from those kind of places because there's three years of eligibility remaining yeah i mean usc and and South Carolina both made it two, which was interesting to see. But, yeah, I think the eligibility, I mean, he has experience in the Steve Sarkeesian offense. He pushed point viewers. I mean, I think Malik has everything that a lot of offense coordinators and quarterback coaches are looking for.

We talk about dual threat and everything like he is the the the great college quarterback right now like he is the the prototype to an extent of what college coaches want in a quarterback yeah fit physically everything you want now whether whether that comes together it remains to be seen but in terms of raw tools yeah he's exactly what you want so that that market definitely appears to be robust another market that another guy we'll move away from the quarterbacks for a second because i want to talk about trey moore who is one of those guys coming from a group of five school at a position that is very valuable in the transfer portal so he's an edge rusher he's at utsa this is you kind of wonder like if marcus davenport

had been able to take advantage of these transfer rules before he became a first rounder from utsa so trey more uh you said you reported that ohio state called off a visit with trey more basically getting good news from their their defensive linemen from an nfl perspective but trey more headed to visit alabama now yeah uh yeah so Ohio State did call off that visit I talked to a couple sources at Ohio State and it was made pretty clear to me that the Buckeyes were the ones who called it off and I mean I think Texas is still the one to beat right now for Trey Moore but he is going to visit Alabama this weekend and man could you imagine him in a Nick Saban defense oh yeah I mean and that's the thing that they have had

better pass rushers in the last few years at Alabama than they had previously under Nick Saban. Like Will Anderson obviously was, was off the charts. Good. But Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell this year, very good. Like you, you throw another person in there like that and it does help Alabama kind of continue rolling but you know texas is a is an interesting one as well because i feel like they would be pretty formidable off the edge if you add if you add a tray more and i think i think the big attraction too for texas is obviously tray more uh has proven himself and And, and, but Texas also has to make that jump to the sec next year.

And, uh, Trey work and make that a lot easier, uh, with, with his past rose ability. Yeah. Cause they've got Ethan Burke coming back and they were,

they were using Anthony Hill a lot, you know, in, in pass rush situations. If you add another kind of elite pass rusher, that is a, that is a scary prospect for, scary prospect for opposing offensive tackles. So one school that seems to be very active, and I think we may have them number one in our team transfer portal rankings at the moment, is Louisville.

They got the offensive tackle from Yale. They got Thor Griffith, the tackle from Harvard. Tyler Shook, the quarterback from Texas Tech. You reported that Colin Lacey, the South Alabama receiver transfer, who everybody thought was going to Texas A&M, that he's visiting Louisville. Yeah, Andrew Cord Brooks is getting to campus tonight. Alabama, yeah. I mean, Louisville has it together.

And let's be blunt, Andy, Louisville has done a fantastic job getting its NIL operation in place the last six months. They knew the portal was coming. Jeff Brom is all in at Louisville. And yeah, they figured out the NIL. They have it going strong. And I mean, even just talking to sources, the last 24 hours, there was hope that Cam Ward would be on campus this weekend. Wow. That's not going to play out the way they were hoping, and that's okay. They have some elite wide receiver talent coming in.

But, I mean, yeah, I think it's just evidence of how the cards have it rolling, man. Yeah, and you knew when Jeff Brom got there he was going to get him going, but I feel like he got him going faster because they were better on the field this year than we thought they were going to be and now roster construction wise this looks like it could be one of the better rosters in the acc by next year yeah i mean i don't think anyone entering the year expected them to be in the acc title game i mean i don't know uh so um but yeah i mean they even if they just like get age cory bro Ja'Cory Brooks or A. Colin Lacey, I mean, that is a wide receiver one for the Cardinals maybe.

I mean, at least someone who's definitely going to make an impact. And they also had the UCF quarterback, Corey Thornton, in at three interceptions this year. So, yeah, I think they're doing a heck of a job bringing talent. You could say a hell of a job on this show. It sounds like they are doing a heck of a job bringing talent. You can say a hell of a job on this show. It sounds like they are doing a hell of a job. But I want to switch now to one of my favorites. I was very excited to find out where this guy was going. So Curtis Rourke, the Canadian cannon, leaving the Ohio U Bobcats.

He lands with Kirk Cignetti and the Indiana Hoosiers. Yeah, I exchanged messages with Curtis after his commitment. And, I mean, he was awesome at Ohio, right? He had 20, 23 back offense player of the year, had a great arm. But similar to his brother Curtis, who's now on the Jacksonville Jaguars roster, I mean, it's all about NFL development in this decision, and he thinks Indiana can really fit what he wants to do and develop, and he's going to be an NFL-esque offense at IU,

and he really thinks that this is going to be able to elevate him. Yeah, it will be fascinating. Speaking of Kirk Cignetti, he was James Madison's coach. We've got Jordan McLeod still in the transfer portal, it is it'll be fascinating speaking of kirk signetti and he was james madison coach we got jordan mcleod still in the transfer portal his quarterback from jmu who started at usf went to arizona went to jmu i don't think jordan jordan clouds a grad we can have around as much as he wants he doesn't need the uh the temporary restraining order on the transfer rules but it does sound like you know he's taking full

advantage of the transfer rules i wouldn't be stunned to see him win indiana too i think it'd make a lot of sense but i guess we'll see how that plays out yeah that'll be interesting i did want to ask you about because you you cover the business of college sport as well all of the nil and the different rules changes that are going on. That court case in West Virginia, which feels like it's impacting basketball quite a bit more now, but a temporary restraining order issued in federal court basically against the NCAA's transfer rules. So there's a 14-day window where they don't apply. There might be a permanent injunction issued in two weeks. We'll find out. But is that potentially going to affect anybody in football

right now or is that more of a basketball situation right now you know the ncaa came out with a statement today saying that if an athlete did play and then the ncaa ended up winning a court case that the uh they would be penalized their one year of eligibility uh i i feel like quite a few phone calls today um from a slew of people and i had to politely tell them like i don't know if if your player needs to go here i don't know if that's the best because i i would really just wait to see how this case plays out yeah that's the thing and it's really two weeks so it what it would be with football is if you have a bowl game between now and the 27th and you just sort of got to figure that out one i that was interesting to me and i i checked with florida state on this one

because daryl jackson that he had transferred from miami this past year from maryland to miami before that and he was denied his waiver well because of when he transferred to florida state he actually can play in the orange bowl because he's been at Florida State a year now. So he has fulfilled the requirement. And so the defensive tackle, the Florida State, and just imagine if he played for that defense with Fisk and Jared Verst on that defensive line.

That'd be crazy. Yeah, he's playing in the Orange Bowl. That's awesome for him. Yeah, I think what has happened in the score case has left a lot of people confused. The NCAA double-backed on its statement from yesterday. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, which looks like – I mean, what if a player played last night because of it? Like, I'd have to go look in on that.

Several did. There was, I believe, a UNLV basketball player who played and scored like 14 points. And so that is – it's going to be a very interesting time. You've been covering all this stuff for the last couple of years, but I just feel like if they don't, if that permanent injunction gets issued in two weeks, it's basically open season on every NCAA rule. If you're a, if you're a plaintiff's attorney. Yeah.

I mean, and not to go all big picture. I mean, we're at a breaking point right now, Andy, right? Like we cannot, it's not,

it's not good for college athletes to have the NCAA rulebook picked apart in open court. One by one. Yeah, exactly. And this is not my open campaign for Congress to step in. My point is, though, it's just evidence of a broken system that definitely needs to be remodeled somehow. Yeah. Somebody needs to go get together in a room and try to build it up from scratch. I don't I don't think getting the federal government to do it for them is the smartest idea because they tend to put in things you might not want. But, yeah, it'll it'll be interesting to see what happens going forward, because if this judge issues that permanent injunction in 13 days, they're going to have to understand that this is it. Like you've got to rebuild the system after that. So we'll have a lot to talk about and write about. Yeah.

Lots of, lots to talk about. So Pete, back to the transfer portal though. Like what do you, what are you most looking forward to over the weekend in the next week to finding out from the transfer portal? It's Cam Wardman. It's like, is he going to go to the NFL? I mean, I continue to talk to people who keep saying, like, the NFL is a viable option.

And I don't want to jump ahead of it. But, like, what if he goes on these visits and he still wants to go to the NFL? Like, you're going to leave quite a few schools. Like, really? I don't think that's going to happen. but I still think it's a real option. So just finding out what Cam Ward's going to do and have these quarterback dominoes fall. Really want to see what Lincoln Riley does at USC.

Does he bring a quarterback? I mean, he's been pounding on the door at some places, and they still have Malachi Nelson. So how does that play out? And then the last thing is Arizona State. I know it's really random, but they did bring in a quarterback. Does Jayden Rashad a state foot? Does he not?

I saw his dad, Harlan, had an Instagram post this week that had the little circle, the loading, loading. So I don't know what that means i've i've you know written quite a bit about that situation with jayden rashada with with miami with florida with arizona state we'll see what happens but you're right kenny dillingham has been talking to some quarterbacks in the transfer market and we'll see what it means but if it means jayden rashada is in the transfer market boy howdy that could be another fun improvement to follow we're just getting started exactly pete nakos thank you for the multitude of

nakosifications today thank you andy that is pete nakos taking a tour of the transfer portal it is a vast void filled with players looking for new homes pete is your guide and i think he's doing a hell of a job we got a couple things to dig deep into today first michigan. There's a ton going on in East Lansing. Jonathan Smith has taken over. He's got a defensive coordinator in the fold now officially. He's got a quarterback in the fold now officially. A lot still moving around there in terms of guys they have in the portal, some guys coming out of the portal and staying, but it is one of those jobs where they have so much to do. There's a lot to talk about. Jason Killip from Spartan Mag will join us very shortly. Later, we talked to Joe Tipton on three's college basketball recruiting guru, Tipton Edits. He's the guy the players go to when they say, hey, here's where I want to commit.

Well, Joe stays in touch when these guys get to college too. And we're going to talk about some of the biggest games this weekend. This is a huge weekend in college basketball. You've got North Carolina, Kentucky. You've got Auburn, USC. You've got a very fun Baylor Michigan State matchup and maybe the most fun matchup, Arizona Purdue in Indianapolis. Hey, would you like to go to the Arizona Purdue game in Indianapolis? Perhaps the biggest college basketball game so far this season. You can do

it with game time. That's right. Plenty of tickets available, good seats, Banker's Life Fieldhouse. You're very close to a certain steakhouse with a certain drip cocktail. And potentially, again, the best college basketball game of the regular season so far. Maybe you want to go to the Sugar Bowl. Maybe you want to go to the Rose Bowl,

see the college football playoffs. So you want to see Texas Washington in New Orleans? Well, go to GameTime. You download that app. You can look exactly where your ticket would be. You see the vantage point from the seat you would have, and a couple more taps, and that seat is yours. By the way, if you use the code STAPLES when you buy that ticket, you will get $20 off your first purchase. So download the GameTime app, code staples, 20 bucks off your first purchase. Also, you want to see an NFL game for nine bucks? That's right.

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I think that's the best way to do it. Go to GameTime, code Staples, 20 bucks off your first purchase. The tickets are gonna be much hotter at Michigan State in the fall of 2024 than they were in the fall of 2023 when they were dealing with all of the fallout from Mel Tucker's firing in September. Jonathan Smith has come from Oregon State to be the steady hand to make their program kind of what it was during the Mark D'Antonio era. That, I think, is the goal for Michigan State right now. That includes keeping one Mark D'Antonio era assistant on the staff.

We learned this week that Harlan Barnett is staying. Jason Killip from Spartan Mag joins us to talk about all of the things going on in East Lansing because Jonathan Smith has been a busy, busy man. We are joined now by Jason Killip of Spartan Mag. That is on 3's Michigan State site, and it's been a busy, busy week in East Lansing. Jonathan Smith, the new Spartans coach, came from Oregon State. Now he's got his quarterback, Aiden Childs, who he signed at Oregon State last year

and coached at Oregon State last year. Jason, how did that process go? And was it always going to be Aiden Childs reuniting with Jonathan Smith? Yeah, I think Aiden Childs was very attracted into following Jonathan Smith to East Lansing. He fits into that offensive system really well, run by offensive coordinator Brett Lindgren. And of course, it's a massive pickup for Michigan State with an empty quarterback room at the moment. Childs can step in and Michigan State fans can expect to see him on the field right away. He played as a true freshman for Oregon State last year splitting time with DJ Ugale, the Clemson

transfer. So he has experience already as just a true sophomore next season and he he knows the system, and he's very familiar with Jonathan Smith and Brian Lindgren, and he brings something to the table that Michigan State fans aren't used to with the dynamic dual threat capabilities, and he's a guy that will attract other talent to follow him to East Lansing. So it's a big first step for Jonathan Smith as he arrives in East Lansing to get that quarterback position locked up and keep pushing that momentum. I'm now trying to remember the last dual threat quarterback Michigan State had because I'm struggling. I'm struggling, Jason.

I've seen people bring up Drew Stanton as a guy that goes back a little bit. There's not too many, really, when you think about it. Michigan State's really stuck with that kind of pro-style quarterbacking offense. So Michigan State fans can be excited about that dual threat capabilities. Childs had three rushing touchdowns as a true freshman with Oregon State in his limited role. And he can extend plays and keep the ball, keep the chains moving. So it's a little bit different, but Michigan State should be excited to have that in smith's offense i was gonna say rocky lombardi but it feels like the threat was mostly on the ground yeah yeah rocky is yeah so yeah it's it it's very interesting and it does

feel like a you know a departure but how much of this should feel familiar for a lot of these guys? Because it does seem, you know, I've seen reports of more visitors coming from Oregon State. I would assume there's more coaches coming after they have their bowl game that potentially more players may come. Exactly how much is Jonathan Smith going to be importing from Corvallis? Yeah, so they have offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren on staff, and then they have running backs coach and assistant head coach Keith Bonoffa. He was a recruiting coordinator and running backs coach for Oregon State. And then tight ends coach Brian Wozniak, defensive line coach,

and defensive backs coach Blue Adams. So those are just the on-field assistants that Smith brought over, which is quite a few. And then the recruiting department is filled with some guys from Oregon State as well. And as Michigan State fans know, last night they received two commitments out of the high school ranks from running Texas running back Makai Frazier and California tight end Wyatt Hook. Both were previously committed to Oregon State and they both took official visits to Michigan State over the weekend and decided to join Smith & Company in East Lansing.

And they won't be done adding kids from Oregon State, Michigan State fans. We were recording this on December 14th. There should be a commitment coming this evening. So State's hooked to that. There we go. Yeah, so he is kind of making it Corvallis East. So Michigan State fans can be excited about that, plugging some holes that are on the roster currently.

Got to get used to the specific time commitments with the guys with the West Coast background. But one guy who's coming who is not from Corvallis, he's coming from elsewhere in the Big Ten. That's Joe Rossi, the defensive coordinator now. He's a higher way from Minnesota. He's been at minnesota for a long time he's been there since 2017 for those who don't remember he was elevated a defensive coordinator at the end of the 2018 season basically they had one of the worst rushing defense games you will ever see against illinois

and pj fleck made a change rossi got promoted and he's been there D.C. since. This was not a case of them trying to get rid of him. This was Michigan State going and taking him. And, you know, Jason, what does Joe Rossi bring to East Lansing? Yeah, Joe Rossi, for the recruiting side of things, he immediately got to work on the recruiting trail. Michigan State was actually hosting a Minnesota commitment four-star linebacker, Brady Pretzlaff out of Gaylord, Michigan. He was on campus over the weekend and he's committed to Minnesota at the moment. So he has a very close relationship with Joe Rossi. And as you mentioned, Joe Rossi is an experienced defensive coordinator and a guy that Pretzlaff sees himself fitting in his defense well. So Pretzlaff decommitted from Minnesota last night.

And that's obviously something to watch for Michigan State as signing day approaches December 20th. He wants to have a decision then. So having Rossi in East Lansing helps with him. But it's not just one recruit, of course. So as he gets settled in East Lansing, we'll continue to work with guys out of the print transfer portal and things to that effect.

Now, this isn't a complete, you know, just everybody's going to be new because they are retaining Harlan Barnett, who dates back to the Mark D'Antonio staff, retaining Courtney Hawkins, the receivers coach. What went into those decisions to keep those guys? Yeah, so with the familiarity they have in state recruiting and with Michigan State in the Midwest, with Courtney Hawkins and Harlan Burnett both being former players as well. So there's a lot of good things that they can do coaching and recruiting with that background. And Harlan Burnett, native of Cincinnati, a very important recruiting area for Michigan State. And also when he took over as interim head coach this fall,

he was a key role in keeping all those guys away from the portal throughout the season. And obviously Michigan State had some guys enter the portal, but a lot of guys waited it out and stayed in East Lansing. And you can give those kids some respect for that. And Harlan Burnett, some credit for keeping them around. And as far as the 2024 class goes, there's three defensive backs committed in the class, Jalen Thompson and Keyshawn Williams of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and Dustin Denson of Providence, Rhode Island.

And all three of those guys credit Harlan Barnett for keeping in touch with them the whole time. And they were on campus. Thompson and Williams will be on campus this weekend, and Denson was last weekend. And keeping Hawkins and Barnett helps keep the class in fold, helps keep the players on the roster, helps retain guys, and helps the Midwest recruiting connections going forward.

As you mentioned, they have lost some guys. Obviously, both quarterbacks who played last year are gone. Noah Kim committed to Coastal Carolina on Thursday. Spencer Brown, the offensive tackle, is going to Oklahoma, where he's probably a plugging play starter there. But I thought it was interesting that a couple of offensive linemen, Ethan Lloyd and Brandon Baldwin, withdrew from the portal, decided to come back.

How much did Jonathan Smith and company work on talking to guys when they got there saying, hey, give us a shot before you decide you want to take off? Exactly. Some of the kids, they did enter the portal before they got that shot from the new staff. And I think that's a result of seeing Ethan Boyd and Brandon Baldwin, two offensive linemen, come out of the portal and return back to East Lansing. They had multiple conversations with the staff and Ethan Boyd told our website, spartanmag.com, that this Jonathan Smith and offensive line coach Jim McKelzik showed Ethan Boyd appreciation that it was not there before. So just coming in and talking

to those guys, everybody, even whether they're in the portal or whether they're not and building those relationships. When Jonathan Smith was introduced in East Lansing, he said that he didn't sit in the homes of these kids. He didn't recruit them. So he's, he totally understands kids wanting to test their waters in the portal. And I think having that open outlook on things and inviting them back, you'll see a couple more withdrawals from the portal in the next coming days, but there's still kids entering as well,

and it's a two-way communication between the coaches and the players, and they're doing their best to retain guys that they think will help, and there's guys on the roster like that that will help. And a true freshman linebacker, Jordan Hall, there was a lot of interest in was he going to enter the portal? Is he? Is he not? And he posted to social media earlier this week that he's going to stay in East Lansing. And so that's a big addition for Michigan State that's already on the roster. So Smith and company are out there looking at the portal, looking at high school and also recruiting their

roster the way they need to to keep everybody in East Lansing. How important is it to just for Jonathan Smith to just kind of calm everything down there? Because it seems like even when it was good three years ago, or two seasons ago when they had the great year, went to the Peach Bowl, and then they fall off after that, and then obviously everything melts down with Mel Tucker getting fired. How much do they need just some calmness and continuity with this program? Yeah, that's exactly what the program needs. No doubt about it. And back to

Harlan Barnett and Courtney Hawkins, I think they help keep that calmness in there. The players really do bond with those two guys and the players that were already on the roster know them well. Smith has come in and I think Barnett and Hawkins keep a level of calmness in there. And like you said, that's much needed in East Lansing right now. And some familiar, fresh new faces, I think, is going to really turn the page for them. And you mentioned those offensive linemen decided to come out of the portal.

How much excitement is there about the style style of play that that smith brings because it seems like what he did at oregon state in terms of you know they were really good on both lines of scrimmage they love to run the ball it feels like something that would be embraced in the big 10 no doubt and though yeah exactly and the players in the portal are noticing that and recruits are noticing that and especially now that they've got their quarterback in Aiden Shiles they can keep pushing that offensive philosophy out there and it's a little bit of a change of pace for Michigan State fans and Michigan State observers with the previous head coaches a lot of them defensive focused and having that offensive

Pac-12 style of play come over here is welcomed and the offensive players are excited about it that's for sure as someone who covers a lot of recruiting I'm curious about this because it feels like Michigan State has bounced between recruiting philosophies quite a bit you had the thing that worked for D'Antonio for years and years where they were finding these gems these diamonds in the rough and developing them and where it seemed to start falling apart for D'Antonio is when they started chasing stars a little bit and then you get mel tucker in there and he says no i want to recruit the same body types as ohio state i want to get those guys on campus maybe i can sign them maybe not and it didn't look like they ended up getting any of

those guys what's the philosophy going to be from Jonathan Smith in terms of recruiting? Because obviously he's not coming from a place where you could get four and five star talent regularly. Yeah, and I think it'll be a mixture of those philosophies. And that's what the perfect common ground is, is where you build your base in Michigan, in Ohio, in Chicago, in Illinois, in Indiana, in these areas around the Midwest, the places that the kids can get in cars and drive to East Lansing from, places where their parents can get in cars and drive to games in the era of the transfer portal. I think that really does play a big factor when players are looking at things at the end of the day, how close is campus, how easy can they get there. And sometimes you get a kid from California and it doesn't work out for them right

away and they want to go back home and that's completely understandable. And with, so with building around from the Midwest, you can get some of the, you can set your foundation. You can get some higher, higher three-star lower four-star level guys from your area. And then you can look at, look outward from there and go down, go down in Michigan state has had success in Texas and Florida and at times in the past. And a lot of that success comes with on-field success, of course. and Michigan State has had success in Texas and Florida and at times in the past. And a lot of that success comes with on-field success, of course.

But you can set the foundation in the Midwest and you build out from there. You go down to Texas and Florida and you can finish your class with some higher level kids down there. And I think that's what Smith is going to look to do here as he gets things rolling. And as the program gets itself back to a higher level, then that's when recruiting can take another higher level jump as well. So how do the people in the Michigan State fan base feel about the way this new Big Ten schedule is going to work? Obviously, they're always going to play Michigan, but they don't have to play Penn State next year.

They do have to play Oregon. Ohio State's still there, so it doesn't feel like it gets any easier. But does it feel like it's a little more fun with things changing up a little bit, or is it just different? Yeah, I think it's more fun, and especially for me, someone who covers recruiting, I like covering recruiting nationally

and with recruiting territories expanding and the Big Ten territory expanding. And with the schedule as they go, I think there is a factor that Michigan State fans might not have noticed at first where, like you said, they don't play Penn State every year. They do not play Ohio State every single year. And those spots will be filled in with UCLA, Oregon, Washington, et cetera. But also you get a lot more games against the former Big Ten West, which was some of the schools on the lower end of the scale.

So you get to play some more of those and less of the schools in the East, less demands of Ohio State every single year, Penn State every single year. But like you said, you'll fill those up in games against Oregon and Washington. Those games will be tough and those will be fun as well. And it's something you're not totally used to. So I think it'll be fun as it gets going. but you know who is used to playing those teams jonathan smith there you've been playing him for for years now played him when he was in college so he'll uh he'll be he'll fit right in and i i know oregon's on the schedule the the spartans have to go to

eugene so it'll be just like you know it'll be just like the civil war for him yeah i think that's their first um big 10 conference, if I'm not wrong. Home conference game. They got Ohio State before that. So just the easy version of Ohio State and at work. Yeah, there you go. Well, welcome to the league, Jonathan Smith. You get to play somebody familiar, but you got to play the Buckeyes first.

Jason, thank you so much. Yeah, thank you for having me. So much going on with the Spartans. So much work to be done for Jonathan Smith and staff. We have a lot of work to do in the college basketball season. It's almost time for conference play, but there is one last gasp of great non-conference games coming right at you this weekend. You've got Purdue in Arizona and Indianapolis. You've got Kentucky and North

Carolina in Atlanta. You've got Kansas going to Assembly Hall in Bloomington to play Indiana. You got USC in Auburn. You got Baylor in Michigan State. This is going to be a packed weekend. Who better to talk to than Joe Tipton? That's right. Tipton Edits, the guy who breaks all the recruiting news. Talk to him about how he got into that line of work and also about this monster college basketball weekend coming up. You know Joe Tipton, even if you, your brain is telling you, I haven't seen Joe Tipton on the show before, but you have seen Joe Tipton on your Instagram feed and on your Twitter feed. Every time a college or a future college basketball player commits,

that edit is coming from Joe. Like it is almost universal. Joe, before we get into the preview in this weekend, tell everybody how you got into this. We've talked to Hayes Fawcett about how he's done it on the football side. But how did you get into being the guy that these players trust to break their commitments? Well, first, I was the first guy to do it. Nobody, at least on the basketball side, and Hayes was probably the same for football.

But there wasn't really anyone doing graphics for high school kids whenever they wanted to announce their top five schools or their commitment to a program. I remember Donovan Mitchell, of course, is starring in the NBA now. This was pre-Tipton edits. He goes into the notes of his phone, types out his top five schools, screenshots it, Instagram and Twitter's it. So it's changed a whole lot because now you don't see anyone doing that. They always have a graphic. So just over time, many, many years of doing it,

you know, eventually kind of led me here. And it's been a it's been an awesome journey. So, yeah, notes app is for apologies. Notes app is not for for happy news like that. That's that's the rules of the Internet. Like you can't you can't put here's where I'm going to school on the notes app. So I'm glad you you've filled that need and and and in the process i've gotten to know a lot of the best basketball players in the country and you know a lot of these

guys we've already seen move through college into the nba yeah absolutely i mean zion williamson um kade cunningham paulo bancaro um know, the list kind of goes on and on. So it's really a unique position, especially kind of catch them early on, you know, when they're 16, 17, 18 years old, before the basketball world and the world knows them at all. So it's very unique. So the Zion one I'm curious about because he was very famous as a high school kid because of the dunking on Instagram how does that that first contact get made so with Zion I'm I can't even remember how it how it began but I'm sure it was just he DM'd me or I DM'd him and um you know I had already

been kind of operating my tip the net it's page for a couple of years and kind of when he blew up. So we would just kind of message back and forth throughout the recruitment process. And it's funny, before he got super famous, I kind of knew that he was going to be big just because of there's this dude that's six foot six, 270 pounds and jumps the way he does. And he's a highlight machine so i screenshot his instagram following he's at like 50 000 followers and then like a year later he's at like this is why he's still in high school before he goes to duke and even blows up further you know he's at like 250 000 followers and i like even sent him and he was like wow you know it's crazy that you you kind of saw that coming. So I think anybody would have seen that coming, though, just because based on you just don't see basketball players that look like football players jump the way he does.

Right. The explosion was the thing. We were just like, whoa. So you see these guys on the recruiting circuit. Now they're in college. We're going to talk a little about some of the better freshmen in America. Well, we'll start with it. There's a game this weekend, Kentucky-North Carolina. And Coach Cal has a pretty heralded freshman class,

but the guy everybody's in love with right now is Reed Shepard out of that class who probably wasn't the – everybody's thinking DJ Wagner, Rob Dillingham that those guys are going to be the the breakout stars but what did you see from Reed Shepard when he was in high school on the AAU circuit that that you know sort of gave you an idea that this this might happen? Well to be perfectly honest if you said that you saw this happening him being in his freshman year of Kentucky then you're lying no one saw this coming coach Cal in interviews was not even mentioning Reed among his stud freshmen I mean if coach Cal doesn't see it coming then none of us see coming but just his just his overall feel for the game I mean you

could tell you know that guy was, you know, made to play basketball. He really understands it. His defense, his shot making. I even interviewed him. It was at an event last year. I kind of said, you know, what can you, what do you expect your role to be as a freshman?

And he said, kind of whatever Coach K wants me to do. If he wants me to get him water, I'll get him water. If he wants me to come in and knock down his shell, I'll come in and knock his shell. So it's been incredible to see kind of his rise and, of course, his parents going there and having so much success. It's a very unique story. Yeah, his dad's an unforgettable. But it's interesting because that's not something you expect to hear from a guy going to Kentucky on scholarship. Like, I'll get him.

Like, that's just not typically. But it's funny because I remember when they last won the national title, that was a group. And they were very highly recruited. Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd, Gokris, those guys. But they were all super selfless. Like, didn't worry about it. And they had kind of the, a couple of veterans that, that helped them along. And, you know, so maybe that's, that's the Antonio Reeves role

on this team, but it's, it's interesting to me because they're going to play, you know, a more veteran heavy North Carolina team. And you see the younger guys and the grown men. Oh, 100%. I mean, I think Coach Cal is, at least with this year, he's mastered it with a little bit of the veteran leadership that you need in college basketball to win. The older player, along with the freshman McDonald's All-American caliber player. We saw the past couple years, he tried to bring in a bunch of transfers, kind of got away from that young style of play. Didn't necessarily work out for him. And Kentucky fans were not happy with how things were going.

But this year there is definitely a newfound excitement in Kentucky basketball. They're playing faster. They're shooting more threes. They're playing a modern style of basketball. Kentucky is fun to watch. So UNC Kentucky, probably the two biggest brands playing this weekend, but that's probably not the game that everybody's excited about. That game happening in Indianapolis, I believe Ken Palm would call it a quasi home game for Purdue, Arizona Purdue. And we talk about Caleb Love with Arizona,

but I feel like this is a situation where their two seven-footers, you know, Balo and Krivis, they kind of take center stage as they've got to figure out what to do with Zach Eadie probably before they foul out. Yeah, that's the thing. That's the unique thing about Purdue and Zach Eadie is that, you know, how do you stop him? I understand there's other seven-footers in college basketball, but when you have a guy that's 7'4", 300 pounds, you know,

moves the way he does, is able to score and get to the free throw line, everybody always wants to say, oh, he's shooting 25 free throws a game. Well, it's because you have to foul him in order to stop him. He's just that strong. He's that physical. He's that big of a post-present. So he's a difficult one to stop, and he gets your front court players in trouble. And, I mean, it is hard to stop that big man.

And it feels like he's opened up so much more space for Braden Smith, who had a good freshman year, but now he looks like he could be one of the best players in the Big Ten. Yeah, he's made a huge jump. He's made a huge jump. A lot of the criticism about Purdue last year was that, can Braden, can Fletcher Lurie, can they handle that pressure in the backcourt? And that was kind of what did them in in some losses last year., you know, a year older, they're a year wiser. Most college basketball players make their biggest jump from their freshman to sophomore year. So they're new and improved. And then they landed a, they brought in another transfer from, I think it was Southern

Illinois, Lance Jones. So he's another veteran piece that gives them that kind of, you know, that better, you know, that veteran piece as well. So what do you, what do you think happens in that game? That's a great question. I mean, you got two top five offenses in the country per Ken Palm and then two top 10 defenses. You know, Arizona is going to try to speed them up. You know, Arizona plays much faster than Purdue. Purdue plays a little bit, you know arizona plays much faster than purdue purdue plays a little bit you know slower style of play um it's going to be it's going to be a very interesting one to watch um one guy that really stands out to me um for arizona is we mentioned caleb love he's been he's been great so far um he's shooting the ball more efficiently he's sharing the ball he was kind of that go-to

guy last year at carolina the guy that was could at times be a little shot heavy but he's shooting the ball more efficiently. He's sharing the ball. He was kind of that go-to guy last year at Carolina, the guy that could at times be a little shot heavy, but he's averaging four and a half assists this season. But I think the key for Arizona is Kashaw Johnson. He brings a defensive component that Arizona did not have last year, transferred from San Diego State, played in the Final Four last year. I think he's the key. How much does having that experience help? I mean, he's played in bigger games than this. This is not going to intimidate him whatsoever. Oh, absolutely. I mean, that's every year you see it, you know, transfer portal, it's the talk of the town every year. I know

football is going through it now. It'll be a few more months for basketball, but teams want to get older. You know, colleges are taking less high school kids and they want to, you know, get those grad transfer guys. This is the last year of the COVID year before it phases out. But so the experience matters, but then also coming from a winning program like Kashed Johnson at San Diego State matters as well. So let's talk about the guys who, you know, you were helping break their commitments last year,

their freshmen this year, who've been the ones that have stood out to you as, as kind of the quickest studies once they got into college basketball. Yeah. A few that come to mind. Jacoby Walter at Baylor is one. Baylor is really good this year. I think most people, at least if you watch Jacoby play in the high school ranks, you kind of saw this coming. He was the perfect replacement for Keontae George, who also found success at Baylor.

Very similar shot maker, guy that gets to his spots and can really score at a former McDonald's All-American as well. He's been a huge standout for me. Another guy, Isaiah Collier at USC. A lot of the question marks that he had coming out of high school were, can he shoot? Okay, we know he's a strong, tough guard, downhill guard, really, really talented passer, but can he shoot the basketball? That was the question. Well, you know, at least from the field, he's almost 50% from the field. He is a little bit turnover prone. I think he's ever had four turnovers a game, which is not ideal.

But I think a lot of that will just come with, you know, him being more comfortable, you know, as the season goes on, but those are kind of two guys that initially stand out. Yeah. And USC breaking Bronny James back in, we saw him against Long Beach state making his debut.

That game this week is still going to be everybody talking about Bronny James because of who he is, but USC is playing Auburn on Saturday. So you get Collier versus Aiden Holloway, Everybody talked about Bronny James because of who he is, but USC is playing Auburn on Saturday. So you get Collier versus Aiden Holloway, which is one of the better freshman point guard matchups you're going to see this season. Absolutely. They're very different players.

It'll be interesting to see how it plays out because Aiden is a little bit smaller, but he's a much better shooter. He can shoot the cover off the ball. He is not afraid to let it fly either. He fits perfectly in Coach Pearl's system there at Auburn. And then Collier, a little bit more of a pass-first guy, but can also really score it, but loves to get downhill. Aiden would rather shoot around the perimeter. He can get to the rim, shoot floaters, but that's also going to be an interesting matchup as well. So Joe,, as we get these next couple weeks will lead us into conference play.

What teams do you feel like have kind of evolved over this early period and you're excited to see them when they get into their conference and really get in the meat of their schedule? Yeah, I think Kansas is one that initially stands out to me. Then adding Hunter Dickinson, I think, was a huge piece right now. Obviously, Hunter, you know, 7'2", top transfer from the portal last season coming in from Michigan. Double-double machine. We've seen how Bill Self likes to play through his bigs.

He's doing just that, but he can also step out. He's shooting 58 from three at seven foot two 265 pounds kansas going to assembly hall on saturday by there's a there's a bunch of fun games you got you know kansas indiana baylor michigan state we mentioned north carolina kentucky arizona purdue like this is going to be a fun weekend joe oh absolutely i'm really excited for um i'm really excited for the Kentucky-North Carolina one. That's probably my must. Actually, I take that back, Andy.

I think Purdue and Arizona is my must-see game of the weekend. But it's going to be fun. Yeah, it is. And those are both. Now, Kentucky-North Carolina is a true neutral site. It's in Atlanta. I would imagine that's kind of a 50-50 crowd. But in Indy, Purdue, Arizona is probably going to be about 90-10.

So that'll be a Purdue home game just in walking distance of St. Elmo Steakhouse, which, listen, a shrimp cocktail will get you going. There you go. Joe, thank you so much. Absolutely, Andy. Thank you to Joe Tipton. Very excited for these games this weekend. There's so much. Absolutely, Andy. Thank you to Joe Tipton. Very excited for these games this weekend. There's so much to watch.

So much to watch because we've got all those great college basketball games on Saturday. There's some NFL games on Saturday. And there are five bowl games on Saturday. So, listen, don't get sucked into the NFL when you could be watching Diego Pavia in the New Mexico Bowl. You know you want to. It's going to be so much fun. It's bowl season, baby. It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Talk to you Sunday. Outro Music