Andy & Ari On3 - UPDATED College Football week one lines mean we are SO CLOSE | Notre Dame and Ole Miss camp intel

Episode Date: August 19, 2024

Thank you to Gametime for sponsoring today's episode! Planning your college football travel for this season? Gametime has tickets to every game. (And every concert and comedy show.) Download the Gametime App and enter code: STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply. Last Minute Tickets, Lowest Prices, Guaranteed.(0:00-1:19) Intro - It's game week!(1:20-10:24) Picking Florida State vs Georgia Tech in Dublin(10:25-12:13) Week 1 Spreads: NDSU vs Colorado (-8.5)(12:14-13:26) UNC vs Minnesota (-2.5)(13:27-16:37) Clemson vs Georgia (-13.5)(16:38-18:06) Penn State vs West Virginia (+9.5)(18:07-19:51) South Dakota St vs Oklahoma St (-9.5)(19:52-21:42) Miami vs Florida (+2.5)(21:43-23:17) Notre Dame vs Texas A&M (-2.5)(23:18-24:26) USC vs LSU (-5.5)(24:27-24:56) Boston College vs Florida State (-10.5)(24:57-26:19) AD(26:20-49:00) Deep Dive into Notre Dame's Fall Camp(49:01-51:28) Week 2 Spreads(51:29-1:18:25) Ole Miss Deep Dive(1:18:26-1:19:41) Conclusion - See you tomorrow!The week one (and two) lines have been updated, and Andy is breaking down what Vegas thinks about Georgia-Clemson, Miami-Florida, Notre Dame-Texas A&M and more.  But first, Andy gives his against-the-spread pick for Florida State and Georgia Tech in Dublin on Saturday. That’s right! There is actual football happening THIS WEEK!Next, Tyler Horka of On3’s BlueAndGold.com joins to discuss Notre Dame as the Fighting Irish prepare to open their season at Texas A&M. How will the Irish adjust to losing left tackle Charles Jagusah for the season? How much better can the receiving corps be? How deep is the defense?Later, Ben Garrett of On3’s OM Spirit drops by to talk about who has made the best impression during Ole Miss preseason practice. We know all about Walter Nolen, but could a player who transferred before last season (but only played in the bowl game) have just as big an impact on the Rebels’ defense? Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube and join us LIVE, M-F, at 8 am et! https://youtube.com/live/uYmQzHXyDXAHost: Andy StaplesGuests: Tyler Horka, Ben GarrettProducer: River Bailey

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. Happy Monday, and it's a very happy Monday because it is a game week. There is actual college football at the end of the rainbow this week. Florida State and Georgia Tech in Dublin. We've got other week zero games. SMU kicking it off for the first time as an ACC team, though not in an ACC game. We are almost there, everybody. We have almost made it. Oh boy.

Oh boy. It's going to be so much fun. This is going to be the most fun college football season we've had in a long time because nobody knows what the hell is going to happen. Everything's going to be different. It's going to be different. It's going to be wild, but we got to talk about some week one lines. They've been updated. People have been kind of

honing them as they get their picks in for week one. We got to make a pick for Florida State, Georgia Tech. We're going to have Camp Intel from Notre Dame and from Ole Miss. Notre Dame, remember, starts the season at Texas A&M. We got a line on that game too. So much to talk about. Before we get to some of these week one point spreads though, let's talk about an actual game. Let's talk about a game that is happening on Saturday in Dublin, Ireland. Florida State, Georgia Tech. Florida State is an 11.5 point favorite against the Yellow Jackets. The number has been creeping up over the months.

It is now sitting at 55.5. And that's been what I've been thinking about. I've been thinking about the I've been thinking about the number as it relates to the point spread, because this is a fascinating game because Georgia Tech, I suspect, is going to be better than Georgia Tech was last year. And I thought Brent Key in his first full season as head coach overachieved. Better though might not translate into a better record because Georgia Tech has the hardest schedule in the ACC. And that includes this Dublin game against Florida State.

UT Boy in the chat reminding us, and this is important too, I'm going to get to this. UT Boy says, I'll take 11 and a half. He also says 63 to three, which would be the score of the orange bowl last year, Georgia tech beating Florida state, a Florida state team that did not look anything like the team that won the ACC because while they didn't make the playoff, the most important players didn't play. And that there you had it. But I think that matters. The last time we saw Florida state on a football field was that orange bowl. I suspect the Seminoles would like to erase that. I realized Florida state has a lot of transfers, but there's a bunch of guys who

played on this team last year and they do not want that to be the memory everyone has of Florida State. They would like to erase it. They would like to start fresh, and they can do that with an impressive showing against Georgia Tech. So I will tell you, I thought and thought and thought about this game all weekend and I was pretty sure what direction I was going to go. I was pretty sure I was going to go with Florida State's going to win, but Georgia Tech's going to cover. I'm starting to feel a little bit differently as I prep for the show this morning. I had this nagging feeling in the back of my head. And a lot of it was that these Florida State players that are coming back from last season don't want you to remember that Orange Bowl. They want you

to have a fresh memory of them that is much better. Here's the matchup. And this is where it gets interesting because both these teams should be able to score. Georgia Tech's offense, the combo of Haynes and Haynes, that would be quarterback Haynes King, tailback Jamal Haynes. They're going to be able to move the ball, you would think, a little bit. So Haynes King produced 37 total touchdowns last year, 27 passing, 10 on the ground. Jamal Haynes ran for 1,059 yards and averaged 6.1 yards a carry. Eric Singleton, the receiver, great freshman year trying to follow up on that. But here's where it gets interesting. So Haynes King also threw 16 interceptions last year.

That's the key here. If Georgia Tech wants to win or even cover, Haynes King's going to have to protect the ball because he's going to be inundated with Florida State rushers. Florida State is going to be able to get after the quarterback this year. Now, Haynes King is athletic enough that even if they get past the offensive line, he can turn it into something. He can keep running. So that part is interesting because I think Florida state is going to tee off on some quarterbacks this year, but I think Haynes King is athletic enough to not let that happen to him. The question is, does he allow himself to get stressed enough to throw picks? Because if he does, this could get out of hand pretty quickly. But if he protects the ball, Georgia Tech's in this game. Patrick Payton, Marvin Jones Jr., those are the guys you need to know on that Florida State edge. They're going to be coming

off the edge in the middle of the D-line. And this is the part that I'm curious to watch because Florida State loses Braden Fisk. Fantastic defensive tackle. It was Jared Burse, who's a very good edge rusher. But Fisk in the middle was a force last season. You saw him in the ACC championship game, just unstoppable. But Florida State is actually feeling good about their starters at this spot. They're maybe not as deep as they were last year, but Josh Farmer and Daryl Jackson, 310 pounds, 330 pounds. They are monstrous up the middle, monstrous, and they can move. I don't know if it's going to be that easy to run on them. That's the tricky part. If Georgia Tech can't establish that run game, it's going to be a problem. On the other side of the ball, we don't know what's going to

happen with DJU. We've seen DJU at Clemson. We've seen him at Oregon State. Is he going to be better at Florida State? We don't know. Now, I suspect Florida State can probably control the ball on the ground in this game. Georgia Tech last year was not very good against the run. They averaged allowing 5.4 yards a carry. Now they have a new defensive coordinator in Tyler Santucci. So potentially it's going to be schemed better, but I don't know because it's a lot of the same players. So it may be that this Florida State offensive line, which by the way, we liked Florida State's

offensive line last year. We like it again this year. After so many years of struggling in the offensive line, Florida State, when you look at the starting five, looks the way a championship contending team is supposed to look on the offensive line. Now, one interesting fact about this game, remember Alex Atkins is suspended. Get the whole deal with the NCAA. It was actually the Amarius Mims situation when Amarius Mims was looking at maybe transferring to Florida State. He's suspended for this game because of that. Now he's the offensive coordinator, but he does not call the plays. Mike Orville calls the play. So that's not going to be affected. But Alex Atkins is also the offensive line coach.

They're coming off the field, talking to somebody different. It's going to be potentially a situation, but I don't know that it matters. This is a pretty veteran offensive line. So we'll find out. Goat Dog asks, is this the best week zero matchup in a while? I think so. I think it's definitely the best week zero matchup in a while, because again, I do think Georgia Tech's going to be better than they were last season. Nebraska Northwestern a couple of years ago was fun and it was weird. And remember Northwestern won that game and we had big

expectations for Nebraska and all it did was show us that Scott Frost wasn't going to make it. This is going to be a different situation. Willie Thomas, the majority of the impact players on FSU were not on the team last year. They don't have that orange bowl chip on their shoulder, but Georgia Tech still won't cover. I disagree. I think there are quite a few impact players on Florida State's team that were there last year. DJ Lundy, I mentioned Josh Farmer, I mentioned Patrick Payton, Lawrence Toefeli. Lawrence Toefeli didn't play in the Orange Bowl. The last time we saw Lawrence Toefeli,

he was averaging 11.8 yards a carry in the ACC championship game. All of this is a long way to go for me to say, I think I've changed my mind on this. I think Florida State's going to cover. I think they are going to be able to move the ball on the ground, control it that way, and they can probably force a few turnovers. That allow them to be comfortable here. Again, if Haynes King protects the ball.

If he keeps it out of harm's way, this is going to be a close game. But if Florida State can force some turnovers, I think they win comfortably. So I'm going to take Florida State to cover 11 and a half. That is your first official pick of the year. We will be doing picks on Mondays again this year. So next week, we're going to have a ton of picks, the games that we're going to talk about in a second, but we'll be doing picks every Monday this year against the spread. You can yell at me about them all week. We can obviously revisit them if news breaks during the week, but I'm going to lock in and we hope we won't have another 0-8 against the spread week, the reverse parlay as it were. But I'm taking Florida State minus 11.5 to cover against

Georgia Tech. Christopher Jordan disagrees with me. He thinks Tech wins outright. Well, take that money line, Christopher, and we'll see who's right. But I'll take Florida State to cover. All right, let's talk about some of these week one lines. They have been updated. People have been honing them through the last few weeks. And they are very interesting. So let's start on Thursday night. This is a game everybody's going to be watching.

North Dakota State at Colorado. Colorado's an eight and a half point favorite at home against the Bison. Now, this is not the same North Dakota State team that it would have been a few years ago. They've had a brain drain in the coaching staff. Remember, David Braun left before last season to become Northwestern's defensive coordinator. He wound up being Northwestern's head coach. Matt Ince, the head coach at North Dakota State, left this offseason to be the CODC linebackers coach at USC. So different situation. South Dakota State is actually the dominant force in the FCS now, though we'll talk about them in a second.

But this is Colorado's first game. Dion said it very well at Big 12 Media Days. Why he scheduled this game? Why did you do this to me? Because North Dakota State, even if it's not the dominant force in the FCS anymore, those players aren't going gonna be scared of Colorado. They're gonna be very disciplined.

They're gonna be where they're supposed to be. It could be an interesting game for a little bit. I think Colorado is gonna be fine here. I don't think North Coast State has anybody like Travis Hunter, hasn't seen anybody like Travis Hunter. Colorado should be able to win this game. We're not making picks yet, but that one's an intriguing line. Very intriguing line. That same night,

North Carolina goes to Minnesota. Now, when we were at Big Ten Media Days, we talked to Max Brosmer, the new Minnesota quarterback, the transfer from New Hampshire. We talked to Darius Taylor, the Minnesota tailback, who if he hadn't had hamstring issues as a freshman, would have been one of the top rushers in America. So this team could be very good offensively and could be, you know, what P.J. Fleck wants it to be, kind of a pound you in the mouth, run the ball. And remember last year, Minnesota got in that situation against Nebraska where they had to throw kind of a pound you in the mouth, run the ball. And remember last year,

Minnesota got in that situation against Nebraska where they had to throw the ball a ton in the second half. The only reason they won that game is Nebraska just gave it away. North Carolina comes in looking very different. We don't know exactly what North Carolina is going to be. Jeff Collins takes over as the defensive coordinator. The defense could look completely different. So this is a situation where they're not going to have a lot of film. They're not going to really know what this is going to look like. They'll have Jeff Collins

film from a Georgia tech and from his past it at temple and as the DC at Florida, but they're not going to have it with these players. So that's going to be an interesting one. That could be a fun one that Thursday night. Let us move on to Saturday though. The one I think could be, I don't think it's going to be the game we're going to talk about all day, but I think it's going to dominate the early conversation. Clemson, Georgia in Atlanta.

Georgia is a 13 and a5 point favorite in this game. Now, the idea of Clemson being almost a two-touchdown underdog against anybody at this point in the Dabo era is a little bit crazy. I get that we've watched what's happened. We saw them lose four games last year. We saw them not take anybody in the transfer portal. It's still weird to see the number like that. And the question I think in this game is, does Georgia basically say, hey, you know we look like a national championship contender. Maybe Clemson's not that right now or possibly ever unless they change their philosophy.

This is one of those that Georgia can make a point here. Just as Clemson made a point. Remember 2008, Alabama made a point against Clemson. It started the end of the Tommy Bowden era, which ushered into Dabo Sweeney. Dabo Sweeney, by the end of the 2008 season, was the coach at Clemson. So maybe a point gets made here. Georgia made a point a couple of years ago against Oregon. Dan Lanning gets to Oregon.

Bo Nix gets there. They're all excited. They go to Atlanta, and Georgia just destroys them. But this is a chance for Clemson. Remember, Dabo said at the end of the last season, buy stock, buy stock in the Tigers. The question is, were you long or were you short on them? Because the people who were short on them, if Georgia just hammers them, well, there you go. So I am very interested to see what happens here. Can Clemson do much against Georgia? And I think a good point of

comparison would be the season opener in 2021 when Clemson played at Georgia. That was JT Daniels still starting for Georgia. Georgia wins the national title that season, but it's Stetson Bennett as the starter because JT Daniels gets hurt in this game. He gets his ribs bruised in this game. And it was Clemson couldn't move the ball at all. DJU, the starting quarterback now for Florida State, he was the starting quarterback that night for Clemson. Clemson could not move the ball at all, but the defense kept him in it. The question now is, can Clemson's defense keep them in it enough to give them a chance against Georgia? If they can't, then it may be time to reevaluate the certain philosophy of not acting like everybody else in the year of our Lord 2024

in college football. But we'll find out. I think everybody's thinking this is going to get ugly. I want to see, can Clemson prove us wrong? Can Clemson prove us wrong? Here's an interesting one. Penn State at West Virginia, Penn State is a nine and a half point favorite in this game. We know Penn State's defense is going to be good, even though we've got a coordinator change. Tom Allen, the new coordinator, replaces Manny Diaz. Tom Allen, the former Indiana head coach. New offensive coordinator at Penn State, Andy Kotelnicki, coming over from Kansas. If that offense at Penn State isn't any different than it was last year,

West Virginia is either covering this or winning outright. If it is as sluggish as it was last year, I will take West Virginia all day. The question is, are they? What will Penn State's offense be? Will it be better? Will it be more dynamic? Because the defense will keep them in almost every game. But this is one, you can't just walk in there and run a very boring offense that doesn't take a lot of chances and win here.

West Virginia is going to take every chance. Now, against that quality of defense, the Garrett Green boom or bust, feast or famine offense, well, they could have some turnovers. They could have some situations where they try some stuff and it doesn't work. But if they hit a couple big plays, Penn State better be able to respond in kind. That's a fascinating one to watch. Another how did you schedule this game situation?

South Dakota State at Oklahoma State. South Dakota State defending SAS National Champions headed to Oklahoma State. Now, I said with North Dakota State going to Colorado, this is a different North Dakota State team, also a different South Dakota State team. A lot of the veterans who were the cornerstones of this team are gone. So it is not the same team that won the national title last year. It's not, not as similar to Appalachia state going up to Michigan in 2007. Appalachia state at that point was the two time defending FCS champions, but they had brought back a lot from those teams. South Dakota State does not bring back nearly as much, but this is another situation where they're going to be very disciplined, be where they're supposed to be. Mike Gundy is probably like, why? Why did you do this to me? How could you possibly do this to me? Because this is a no-win situation for the Power Conference team because they're supposed to win,

and everybody's going to freak out if they don't just blow the team out. But I don't know that Oklahoma State's going to blow them out. Nathan says, if I did sports betting, I would hammer the under on this and even take South Dakota State outright. South Dakota State steals a lot of their guys, and they're incredibly good QB. They do have the quarterback. He is still there.

But they are, you know, the line, the receiving core, they're restructuring all that. They're trying to reload there. So we'll find out. But the under does feel appropriate in this one. 54.5 is the total on that game. The under feels real good. I think Oklahoma State. We'll see. we don't have to make a pick yet a couple more of these because these are fun

miami at florida miami is a two and a half point favorite going to the swamp which means if this were a neutral site game miami probably be favored by five and a half so the thought is that miami has the better roster than Florida, but the Swamp should make a difference. Also, do we trust Mario Cristobal yet? I think this game will go a long way in determining whether we should. You know, if Florida wins this game, even if it's clear Miami's more talented, that's not a great look. If Miami just goes in there and takes care of business, well, then the Florida people are just going to be off a cliff

because they're looking at their schedule going, well, if we can't beat Miami, how can we beat the teams at the end of this schedule? And that is a legitimate question. UT boy, Florida versus Miami under. Possibly, possibly. But again, we don't know what the Cam Ward Miami offense is going to look like.

And Florida's offense last year was not the problem, though Montrell Johnson is hurt right now. Don't know if we're going to see him in this game. It's a fascinating game. It is a fascinating game because the losing fan base is going to melt down completely. Zani, Florida defense will keep them in the game. Only if it is very different than the Florida defense we've seen the past three years. So that is a very optimistic view.

Because Florida's offense has been good. Florida's defense has been bad for the last three years. Is it better? We'll find out. One of the teams we're going to talk about in depth in a few minutes, the Notre Dame fighting Irish. We're gonna have Tyler Horker from blue and gold.com to go deep on the Irish. They're headed to Texas A&M. They're an underdog in this game. This is,

this is the thing with Texas A&M Vegas likes Texas A&M a lot. Vegas has their win total at eight and a half. They've got them favored in this game. So what do they know that the people doing the polls don't know? Now, in this case, you can say, well, Mike Elko knows all about Riley Leonard because Mike Elko was Riley Leonard's head coach at Duke. But you can also say Notre Dame's offensive line is, is a question mark after Charles Jagger. So I got hurt. Texas A&M's defensive line is probably the least question mark,

least question Marky position group on the team. So just, we'll find out. Gavin says, so just we'll find out gavin says who does indy have at receiver you're about to find out you're about to find out because that is something that tyler and i will talk about they are deeper at receiver than they were last year for sure absolutely you t-boy you can't mean, you can take the under in every game. You've said it for every single game. I don't think you should take the under in every game. Here's one.

Maybe you don't take the under. Sunday night, LSU and USC in Vegas. LSU is a five and a half point favorite. The number on this game, 63 and a half. Both these defenses stunk last year. Who has a better defense? Whose defense has improved? Who is USC going to start at quarterback?

It would be Miller Moss. It would be Jaden Maiava. Probably Miller Moss. Garrett be Jaden Maiava. Probably Miller Moss. Garrett Nussmeier playing behind a very good offensive line for LSU. But can either of these

teams stop anyone? We don't know. That's one of the big mysteries of week one. Because if somebody's better on defense, they're probably winning this game.

Because I think that both offenses are going to be fairly good. I don't know. Because if somebody's better on defense, they're probably winning this game. Because I think that both offenses are going to be fairly good. But if somebody can play some defense, they'll have the advantage. And one more, because the Florida State schedule is fascinating to me. Florida State, by the end of week one, will be a quarter of the way through its ACC schedule because that Monday night, they get a visit from BC. And Florida State's a 21.5 point favorite at home.

I won't even venture to guess at this game because by next Monday, when we have to pick these, I will have seen a Florida State game. And so will you. We will have watched actual football, and that's a glorious thing. Glorious. Speaking of actual football, if you'd like to watch actual football, let's say you want to go to College Station and watch Notre Dame play Texas A&M. The best way to do that is with GameTime. GameTime has tickets to every game, also every concert, also every play, every comedy show that you might want to go to. And you say, oh, it's sold out. I don't know how

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Maybe you want to see Ole Miss. We're going to talk about Ole Miss later today with Ben Garrett from OM Spirit. You can get into the Ole Miss-Tulane game. That's that, excuse me, the Ole Miss-Furman game. The Furman-Ole Miss game, Billy Napier not walking through that door for Furman, unfortunately. Bear Reinhart, the lead singer of Need to Breathe, former great Furman receiver, also not walking through that door. But you can get into that game for $14 right now on GameTime. So download the GameTime app. Any game you want to see, they got tickets.

Use that code STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. All right. Let us talk about the Fighting Irish because they start at one of the toughest places to play in America. Kyle Field. Here is Tyler Horka from BlueAndGold.com. We welcome Tyler Horka of BlueAndGold.com. Tyler, the best jersey scrimmage that Marcus Freeman has seen in three years at Notre Dame. Before I let

you tell us what that means, what's a jersey scrimmage? Like, what does that mean? Yeah, I don't know if this is unique to Notre Dame, but definitely when I got here in 2021, so this is my fourth season covering Notre Dame, I had never really heard of it. And basically what it is, is offense versus defense. And we don't know what exactly this looks like because we are not privy to watching this. But Marcus Freeman usually holds a press conference right after these things.

And yeah, it's offense versus defense. So like ones versus ones, two versus twos. And maybe you can see some ones versus twos on both sides. And somehow the offense gets a point total tabulated and so does the defense and this one ended up being 42 to 40 again we don't know exactly what that means Marcus Freeman himself in his press conference said I'm not sure exactly how we got there but we got to 42 to 40 and yeah basically the winner of the scrimmage gets to wear the blue jerseys for the next however long it is until there's another jersey scrimmage. So the entire time that I was here, the defense had the blue jerseys, Andy, and that's kind of been typical for Notre Dame lately, right?

Really good defense. The offense is trying to catch up. The offense won this one. So the offense gets to take these blue jerseys back. And that is very encouraging news if you're a Notre Dame fan because we haven't talked to you since Charles Jagasaw got hurt, but obviously the biggest question around Notre Dame is what do they do at left tackle? How then does that affect the rest of the offensive line if they have to move somebody from a different position? Where are they at on that front?

Yeah, it's interesting because we are now less than two weeks away from the Texas A&M game. And as soon as Charles Jagasaw went down, you assume that Tosh Baker, the elder statesman in this Notre Dame offensive line group, he's a fifth-year senior, would get the nod. And he was battling Emil Wagner at the right tackle position. They ended up moving Tosh Baker over there exactly like we would have anticipated. And Joe Rudolph, the offensive line coach, even said, hey, I think he's the answer there. Well, the next time that we got to see practice, which was some five days later, Anthony Knapp, a true freshman, was taking first team left tackle reps. And a sophomore, actually, Sam Pendleton, was taking first team left guard reps over a couple of seniors who started a combined 23 games last season in Pat Coogan and Rocco Spindler.

So, Andy, that left side of the offensive line right now is looking very young. But I have to remind people, Charles Jagasoff, highly rated guy, big guy. He looks like a tackle at this level and maybe even the next level. But he still only started one game in college football. So if you're saying, holy cow, we might go start Anthony Knapp at Kyle Field and College Station in front of 100,000 people, and this is this kid's first college football game, Charles Jagasaw has really only played in one as well,

and it was the Sun Bowl against Oregon State. And obviously bowl games, if you're not in the college football playoff these days, they don't mean a whole lot. So it's just a youth movement all around for Notre Dame's offensive line. Yeah, I know. The stadium pulse will be jumping at Kyle Field, obviously. I guess we all just now look at it like in terms of the college football video game. Like, you're going to see that.

Are we going to see, is Riley Leonard going to see squiggly lines when he looks at each receiver? Yeah, your heart's going to be pounding and vibrating a little bit, you know, all that stuff. Exactly, exactly. but you're right i mean that's something that we had kind of just baked into our heads that jagasaw is the starter and that was known in spring practice but you're absolutely right he didn't start in any of these environments last year either so whoever it is is going to be dealing with something for the first time and it it's not just obviously the crowd, the noise. It's Nick Skorton, who everybody knows is an excellent pass rusher.

It's a defensive line that that might be the best D line Notre Dame has on the schedule. I will see how Florida State's turns out, but that might be the best one they see. I have some Aggies fans in my mentions, Andy, who are saying this is the best defensive line in college football. And they might be a little bit biased, but there might be some truth to that as well. So, yeah, Nick Skorton, all of these guys up there for A&M. And I go back to the fact that now they're being coached

by a defensive head coach, defensive-minded head coach, who just so happens to know the quarterback on the other side for Notre Dame very well. Maybe some of his tendencies, they say, hey, if this happens, Riley Leonard is going to try to do this. And it's all adding up to a precarious situation for Notre Dame going in there in game one, because like you said, and like I said, don't really know what Notre Dame has in these guys. They think they have very talented players in Sam Pendleton, Anthony Knapp, Ashton Craig even, a guy that's only started three games at the center position. But until you get in that environment, you're not entirely sure. So Mike Denbrock takes over for Jared Parker at offensive coordinator.

The last we saw of Mike Denbrock, he was running the LSU offense, helping Jane Daniels win a Heisman Trophy. Brian Thomas, Jr., Malik Nabors, first-round receivers. How different is this offense going to look? It's going to look very different. And I liken it to a quote that Notre Dame's defensive coordinator Al Golden actually gave us this weekend on Saturday. And he mentioned Mitchell Evans, obviously the number one tight end for Notre Dame, one of the best tight ends in the country. And then he said, and the other two tight ends, too. Well, Notre Dame has six scholarship tight ends, and we've been used to seeing sometimes three or four of them on the field at the same time.

I mean, you're going all the way down to Davis Sherwood playing the H-back role with two other tight ends on the field. Now, I think you're going to see Mitchell Evans out there by himself. You might see Cooper Flanagan, Eli Raritan out there by themselves. Two tight ends, maybe. But, Andy, this is kind of the difference in a Mike Denbrock offense compared to what we saw with Tommy Reese and Jared Parker. You're going to see some wider splits. You're going to see pass catchers all over the field.

You're going to see running backs lined up as pass catchers. Tight ends, obviously, you're going to have to put your hand in the dirt sometimes. But I think they want these guys to catch passes from Riley Leonard and be a part of the offense you know, part of the offense that moves the ball down the field, not just blocking guys down the field. So it's different. And I think that quote kind of stuck out to me. Well, and that's interesting too, because one of the issues last year, like, especially after Mitchell Evans went down is who catches the ball. They just, they didn't feel like they had a lot of dynamic pass catchers. Now they're going to need them. And obviously Denbrock going from where he had

two first rounders to throw to, to this situation, who are the guys who do make those catches now that they're in an offense where they're going to be available? It's funny you ask, because I've been asking Mike Denbrock this question since we got a one-on-one with him at Blue and Gold, I want to say back in like mid-May, so just after spring ball. And at that time, he didn't know if Notre Dame had a dude, a guy, a number one wide receiver. And I asked him this past weekend as well, does Notre Dame have a guy? And he said, I don't know if we have a guy, but we have a collection of guys that can do what we want to make this offense go and make this offense go and make this offense hum. So who are those guys? I think you're looking at Chris Mitchell, the Florida

international transfer who caught 64 passes for over 1100 yards last year. You're looking at Jaden Greathouse. If he's healthy, had two touchdowns in his very first college game, then you didn't hear a lot from him after that, but that's because he was dealing with the hamstring. Those two guys, Jordan Faison, the lacrosse player that everyone knows, obviously, he's the national champion with Notre Dame men's lacrosse. I think those are probably some key guys. And then you have Bo Collins, the Clemson transfer as well. If you're trying to look for some things on the outside,

you're looking at Bo Collins, probably Jaden Thomas, the guy that comes back from Notre Dame that has the most experience in a Notre Dame uniform. But I think you are looking at these transfers as guys who can do a little damage as well. I love that Jordan Faison is now the lacrosse player because we're going to remember him as a football player last year. Yeah, yeah. He's a lacrosse player because that's, you know, we have recency bias, Andy, and that's what a national title. Yes. And won a national title. But I'm pretty sure people will be reminded that he's a football player very soon.

So you and I have talked about this before, but Marcus Freeman, still a relatively new head coach. This is year three as a head coach. We saw the learning process kind of laid out in stark relief last year at the end of the Ohio State game with 10 guys on the field. No way to get any sort of message to the team to call timeout or actually commit a penalty because they had no timeouts to figure out how to get more people on the field. Where do you think Marcus Freeman has grown the most as a head coach from year two to year three? I think he's finally able to put some trust in everything and everyone around him. At that point, you have to realize that Jared Parker, who we mentioned earlier in this video, for all intents and purposes, that was his first go at being the all-encompassing offensive coordinator.

I know he called some plays at West Virginia, but he really wasn't the guy there. He was the guy for Notre Dame, especially because Marcus Freeman is a defensive-minded head coach. So he was comfortable in what Al Golden was doing, for sure, and they held Ohio State to 17 points. Should have been 10. Should have never gotten to the end zone there at the end of the game. But now he says, okay, I have Mike Denbrock,

who's also been doing this for a while. Let me kind of dig into the things that I should be doing as a head coach, and that's, you know, some of those, I wouldn't call that intangible. You should have 11 people on the field at all times. But, you know, he's thinking about those things in a way that he couldn't before, because it never crossed Marcus Freeman's mind, Andy, that Notre Dame might only have 10 people on the field for that play. And it happened. And now he's thinking, okay, how can I make sure that stuff

doesn't happen again? What do I have to do in the 365 days a year that I can be thinking about, not just Ohio State or USC, Florida State, Texas A&M. I need to be thinking about this football program, what I need to do to make sure it's humming, what I need to do to make sure it is like an Ohio State, a team that is always on the cusp of the college football playoff, if not in it. I know Notre Dame's made it twice in the last handful of years, but right now it doesn't feel like Notre Dame is on that level

of an Ohio State or Michigan last year. Marcus Freeman is finally digging into the things that can get Notre Dame there because he knows he has a couple of coordinators that he doesn't really have to worry about the X's and O's as much. Well, part of that is creating the level of depth that allows you to be there every single year. And that was during the Brian Kelly era, we kept wondering, is that even possible at Notre Dame? Because they are fishing from a smaller pool because of academic standards and some various factors that Notre Dame controls, but they like it the way it is. So the question was, could they build that depth? I feel like at least based on our on three recruiting rankings, under Marcus Freeman, they've been able to build some of that depth.

Well, let's go to the defensive side of the ball, because this is one I haven't asked too many questions about it because I don't feel like there's a lot of unknown. They bring back so many good players. But that side of the ball, how deep are they? Very deep. And I asked Al Golden this question on Saturday. There's a couple of competitions that us on the beat have been following closely and you know,

Benjamin Morrison's going to start at one corner spot, but you don't know if it's going to be Jaden Mickey or Christian gray at the other. And then at safety, you don't know if it's Rod Hurd, the Northwestern transfer or a Don Shuler, a sophomore who didn't play much football for this team last year. I think it was like 50 snaps. He redshirted. So you look at those two competitions and I asked Golden, where are those at? And are you at the point where the competition doesn't matter as much as, hey, we have two really good guys at both of those positions and both of them are going to play.

And can you do that? Can you rotate in? And how Golden said, yeah, we are going to do that. And we want to do that at every single position i think notre dame especially on the defensive side of the ball has gotten to a point where it's comfortable in the two deep and that wasn't always the case like you said under brian kelly you wanted your starters out there at all times because you didn't know what the guys behind them were going to do now notre dame is at a point where you're like okay i like the fact that adon Shuler can get in there with Rod Hurd and Christian Gray and Jaden Mickey. It's basically no drop off from either of those guys. And I'll switch it to the other side of the ball for a moment as well.

Mike Brown, the wide receivers coach, has said, hey, we're going to play six guys and that's it. Andy, Notre Dame is finally at a point where you don't know who those six guys are because maybe you have eight or nine or ten. And the seventh guy is going to be looking like man i think i should be playing out there and he probably could but mike brown's like we're going to roll with six and if if the seventh guy feels like he can do what the top six guys are doing then the top six guys are probably doing something really special and that's where notre dame hopes to be probably couldn't have counted to six yeah second half of the season last year last year i think you could only count to four you could definitely use one hand yeah exactly so that's the part that intrigues

me because i remember watching them in in the playoff against clemson clemson wins the national championship this is 2018 season julian love goes out it's over the game's over when he goes out and they were in it they were hanging out they didn't you know they when he goes out. And they were in it. They were hanging. They might not have won it, but they were certainly in it. And it does feel different now in terms of depth. So I do have another recruiting question for you that's a little more recent. So obviously we've seen some Fong bombs of late about Deuce Knight,

the quarterback from Mississippi who's been committed to Notre Dame for a long time. So looks like he's a potential flip to Auburn. How are they handling that situation? Are they working on a plan B or are they just trying to make sure he stays in the boat? How does that work out? No, it's very much plan B. And I don't know if I have some names that I could rattle off as well as my co-worker Mike Singer can. So you're going to need to get him on there.

But, I mean, if you're following his coverage, as you should be at blueandgold.com, you know, it feels like a matter of time. As much as I don't want to say that to all of you Notre Dame fans, but you guys are thinking the same thing and you know that. So the Deuce Knight situation has deteriorated over the last month. And Notre Dame knows that. And it is looking at plan B and C. And I go back to the 20, I think it was 2022 recruiting class where Notre Dame got Kenny Minchie at the 11th hour. And I don't know if Kenny Minchie is ever going to play meaningful football for Notre Dame. He might end up starting somewhere else next year. You don't know how this quarterback room is going to shake out, Andy, but I do know he's a very good quarterback and Notre Dame pulled that off in November or it might've even been December. It was right before signing day a couple of years ago, got a quarterback of Kenny Minchie's caliber.

I think Notre Dame is at a place, like you said, with Marcus Freeman to where it could do that again. Notre Dame could pull a rabbit out of its hat and say, hey, we didn't get Deuce Knight. We thought we were going to get Deuce Knight all along up until we didn't. But we got this guy and he's coming in. And I think there's also some you take some comfort in the fact that Notre Dame also has C.J. Carr on the roster. And I'm talking about a falling bomb. I don't know if it's like a horka blast or something, but I think C.J.

Carr is this team's starting quarterback in 2025 and that i this is coming from a guy that likes steve angeli as well and kenny minchi i think cj carr starts in 2025 and maybe 2026 and maybe 2027 andy i think he's a really good quarterback can you take some comfort in that well and that's the part that i was thinking about as we were talking about this and now mike singer doing a great job, by the way, he was at my alma mater Friday night in suburban Orlando watching Noah Grubbs, who is the class of 26 Notre Dame commit a great Lake Mary Ram, probably the greatest quarterback in Lake Mary Ram history. I say that as someone who has seen a lot of it, but it is,

it is amazing when people think about the quarterback recruiting process and i i i love how wrapped up everybody gets in and i understand fans are passionate but let's do the math here you're going to take a quarterback every year you know if things work out and you have a multi-year starter which is what you'd want that means that there are going to be guys who don't start who probably transfer so getting all wrapped up into one or one deciding he's are going to be guys who don't start who probably transfer so getting all wrapped up into one or one deciding he's not gonna because like if if you're right and CJ Carr is the guy whoever they sign in 25 is probably never going to start for them and you have to think that deuce Knight is thinking about that a little bit I know Auburn's probably going to

start recruiting at a nice rate as well with Hugh Freeze down there, but you're exactly right. If I'm saying that I think C.J. Carr is the guy, there's a lot of other people up here in South Bend who bleed blue and gold and all those different things who are probably saying the same thing. I think Deuce Knight sees that, and he's like, well, if he's the guy, then what am I?

And look, Deuce Knight could very well come in here and beat C.J. Carr in a quarterback competition and Steve Angeli and all those other guys. But I do know that CJ Carr is a really good quarterback. And like you said, Noah Grubbs is also a very good quarterback. So if you're Notre Dame, you just, you have to keep stockpiling them because at some point you're going to start one that's very good. And maybe it's CJ Carr or Noah Grubbs or whoever, and you're going to be fine with that, especially if you can get multiple years out of that guy. And I think that's what Notre Dame is looking for. Well, and Notre Dame seems like the kind of place people get there.

They want to stay. They want to get the degree. So the chances of getting a Carson Beck who's willing to wait his turn or a Garrett Nussmeier who's willing to wait his turn, they actually seem higher at Notre Dame than most places. But you've got to be careful because like you said, Deuce Knight is probably looking at the situation. And if they really do like CJ Carr, and it looks like he could be the guy 2025 and beyond, Deuce Knight's looking at Auburn and going, well, Peyton Thorne is definitely gone after this year.

So unless Walker White, who's a freshman this year, has to go in there and becomes the guy suddenly, there's a, there's definitely a competition for that job next year. Whereas Notre Dame, there might be this dude who has a leg up and all of a sudden it's blocked off for a while. The thing about that though, Andy is I'll use Steve Vangeli as an example, loves Notre Dame can only envision himself playing here. And let's use Drew Pine as an example of this as well. Drew Pine played, stayed, played.

But then he got to a point where he had that degree that you mentioned in his hands. And he said, OK, I have this now. This is what I've been working for. Now I can go play somewhere else and probably play right away. And that's what Drew Pine was thinking with Arizona State. And if we get to this time next year or, you know, in the next eight months even, or whenever it would be time for Steve Angeli to say, am I staying here or am I going somewhere else? If he has that degree in his hands, he might be thinking, I've done all I can at Notre Dame. It's looking like it's CJ Carr or maybe even still Deuce Knight. And Noah Grubbs is coming in in a couple of years.

Maybe I go to this school and I know I'm going to start because I am a notre dame caliber player and if i go over there i'm probably the best that they got and i'll play there so it's twofold it's you think that steve angeli is going to stay forever but until you right when you lose him you're like man we had that guy and now he's gone so there's a little bit of of both factors in there yeah it, it is fascinating. And at least with Notre Dame, the idea of a guy coming in and just bailing after a year, probably unlikely because they do want to graduate from Notre Dame. For the most part, guys who go there do it with the intent of getting that degree. I see it all the time on both sides of the ball where you know some guys that you can pinpoint to and say okay he's not playing a lot right now and maybe he'll never play a lot at Notre Dame but he's not bailing

until he gets his degree you can go up and down the depth chart and say that guy's staying because he wants his degree and the number is actually really high that's why it's so easy and it is because so many of these guys want to do that and the cases of like a Rico Flores Jr. or Tobias Merriweather leaving, those are fewer and farther between than the guys who stay to get their degrees. And that only happened because the wide receiver situation was a mess and Chancey Stuckey got fired and they didn't feel comfortable in their particular position unit. That is also something that doesn't happen a lot at Notre Dame. There's generally some stability here, even with,

like you said, a head coach who's only going into his third year as the head coach. It feels like a very stable coaching staff, Andy, from top to bottom. And that usually provides stability for the players as well. One more before I let you go, and it's about the quarterback. And Riley Leonard, we didn't get a chance to really see exactly what he could do in the spring because he was hurt. He has to start against his old coach, Mike Elko, who coached him at Duke last year. How much fun is that for all of us

and for these guys going into that matchup? Well, you see these magazine covers over my shoulder over here. I wish I had the one that we just printed most recently because it literally has Riley Leonard and Mike Elko side-by-side with Kyle Field in the background. I think it's one of the best artworks that we've ever done on one of these covers.

And that is kind of the storyline. And that's what I wrote in the preview for that magazine was, look, these are probably two really good teams. Texas A&M might take a little bit to get there under Mike Elko, but it could happen pretty quickly. It happened pretty quickly for him at Duke as well. So two really good teams. But when you dig into the storyline of two guys that knew each other very well for two years

and had one of the most successful seasons in Duke football history together, I mean, those guys are the thickest thieves, man. They love each other. They've expressed that in the media over the last couple of months. I think in the next couple of weeks, you're going to see a little less of that because this game is right around the corner corner and it just makes it very intriguing. And like I said earlier, Mike Elko knows Riley Leonard. Riley Leonard knows Mike Elko. There's definitely some tidbits being shared in both athletic complexes.

And I don't know if you're going to see any plays out there, Andy, where you're like, oh, yeah, that's because Mike Elko knows what Riley Leonard is going to do. But you know that they're going to be talking about it as it goes on, on the broadcast. And I think a lot of people are going to be drawn in for that fact. If you, if you just stumble upon that game, which you're not just going to stumble upon that game, it's week one of college football. You're going to be locked in.

It's the game day college game day game. Absolutely. But if you're a casual who doesn't know, like if it just pops into your mind that night, oh my gosh, these guys were with each other at the same program the last two seasons. I think you're going to maybe grab a bag of popcorn and lock in a little more because just because that storyline is so intriguing. All right. Well, I can't wait to see it. Tyler, thank you so much.

Absolutely. Thank you, Andy. That is Tyler Horka from blueandgold.com. By the way, if you'd like the best Notre Dame coverage on the internet, you should subscribe to blueandgold.com. And if you use the code ANDY1 at checkout, you get your first month for a dollar. Now, you could also be subscribing to Inside Texas if you're a Texas fan. Dogs HQ if you're a Georgia fan. Bama Online if you're an Alabama fan. DogsHQ if you're a Georgia fan. Bama Online if you're an Alabama fan.

The Bengal Tiger if you're an LSU fan. We got it all here at On3. Use that code ANDY1 for $1 for your first month. Not $1 off your first month. That wouldn't be a great deal. $1 for your first month is a fantastic deal. A fantastic deal. All right, before we get to ben garrett of om spirit

and some old mistalk let's just throw i'm gonna tease you with a couple of week two lines that are already out there week two point spreads this is just for fun just for fun texas heads to Ann Arbor as a three and a half point favorite. I'm not touching these things until I see these teams play in week one. Just throwing it out there. Texas only a three and a half point favorite against the Michigan team that lost an awful lot from that national title team. Tennessee, a four and a half point favorite in Charlotte against NC State. Nico against Grayson.

It's going to be a fun one too. And then, of course, Coach Prime and company heading to Lincoln for maybe the biggest home game in Lincoln this year. Nebraska is a six and a half point favorite. Now I suspect we'll see some movement on this line after we get a chance to watch Colorado play and after we get a chance to watch Nebraska play, but we shall see. I just wanted to tease you with that a little bit. We're not real worried about Furman and Ole Miss. Think we know how that's going to go. But Ole Miss, a fascinating team this offseason. Big expectations, possibly the biggest expectations in Oxford in 50 years.

Maybe more. Let's talk to Ben Garrett from Owen Spirit about the Rebels. A little camp intel. We are honored to be joined by Ben Garrett of Owen Spirit on his birthday. I am making him work on his birthday, but only because everyone is so excited about this Ole Miss season. We need to talk about it. And Ben, it's been interesting reading your stuff the last week or so,

because you've been talking about the standouts in camp. And these are not necessarily names that we've been talking about all off season. Like we've been talking about Walter Nolan. We've been talking about Juice Wells. You're talking about TJ Daughtry. Like this is going to be a big like if he's who he you think he can be that's a huge deal for old miss because they have to

replace so much at linebacker no doubt about it and first of all andy staples on three is the best national college football show i'm not just saying that it's a good company man okay i've known that guy since i graduated Ole Miss in 2008 when I was a dumb ginger Shrek that just wanted a national guy from SI to come on my show, and he did. So he's the best at what he does. But, yeah. Well, and that was back when – well, it was a little bit after that

that Hugh Freeze was texting me links to your stories like, this guy gets it. And I'm like, yes, he covers you every day, Hugh. He should get it. and then Hugh turned on me after they got their ass kicked by Florida Chad that 30 to 10 loss and so you know it's the fickle nature of the beast Andy but about this team and these players and ones you're talking about I've been watching y'all stuff you and JD and Walter Nolan and Prince Lee Monmuel and yeah I mean that transfer class was number three in the country, so obviously they get all the talk.

But when you're out there on the practice fields and you're watching what will make – really fill in the margins of a championship contending team, what will make it a championship contending team is not just a Walter Nolan who's obviously coming in here to step in and start. It's a Caden Lee. It's a T.J. Daughtery. It's a Sunsering Perkins. It's a number of guys that maybe last year a T.J. Dottery. It's a Sunsering Perkins.

It's a number of guys that maybe last year in T.J. Dottery's case, formerly Dudley, he wasn't eligible because he transferred so late from Clemson. So he wasn't eligible to play until his debut in the Peach Bowl. He started and played pretty well, only two tackles, but he was all over. But that's just translated and carried over all of that work he put in over a year, not just on the scout team, but integrating it as best he could. T.J. Dottery's hit the ground running. He's like a returning starter for them.

Caden Lee broke out in the Peach Bowl. Caden Lee's right now starting in the slot because Jordan Watkins has been limited, if only for precautionary reasons, all of camp. So what you're seeing is what good programs do. Good programs, when a guy gets hurt, you don't go, oh, gosh, Jeeves Wells is in a black no-contact jersey. What are we going to do now? Well, now Ole Miss has a Caden Lee, who was a top-ranked,

you know, a top 250 prospect and all these kind of things. And they can step in and pick up the slack more than that. I mean, across the board writ large, Ole Miss is deeper than it's ever been before. And that's why I think it's an exciting time, certainly for Ole Miss fans, but even for the college football community watching a very intriguing contender in Ole Miss. I mean, what makes them good? Yes, is the transfers and Jackson Dart and Lane Train and all that stuff. That's what makes them intriguing and make you pay attention. But what's going to, if they do push it over the top,

will be Caden Lee and TJ Dottery and guys like that, especially on the offensive line too, like a Jerquan Scott, a transfer from Southern Miss who doesn't get the same run or same shine as Walter Nolan. I mean, he's been starting at center every practice, right? And that's taking over for a guy in Caleb Warren who started for three years at center every practice, right? And that's taking over for a guy in Caleb Warren who started for three years at center. Now he's moved off and playing guard because they can do that.

They have those options. So that's the really fun thing to watch about this team right now is all the depth of options that they have. Yeah, and that's the thing that held them back. And it was obvious that it held them back. You could watch the Alabama game last year, watch the Georgia game last year, and see that especially on the line of scrimmage they weren't as deep as

those guys one guy you mentioned and this is not necessarily an all-line of scrimmage player but he'll be there every once in a while was sunterine perkins and i'm intrigued by what role he plays in this defense this year because they've added some serious star power but this is a guy who was a freshman all-american last season what does he do yeah he was a freshman all-american and there's a block of people out there going well he didn't really do much last year where was sun terrain last year wasn't he a five-star plus prospect because they expected even more he was a freshman all-american and he gets kind of lost or he's talked about in a developmental way andy when when you're surrounding him with Walter Nolan, Jared Ivey,

and the ones that really stick out to me are guys like Trey Amos. Ole Miss from Alabama. Yeah, both of us agree that Ole Miss and Alabama right now for this year are kind of in the same grouping as far as contention window, like what they're doing. And he voluntarily chose in an offseason Ole Miss over Alabama for a title chase. And I think that's noteworthy. Walter Nolan, same thing with the contemporary in Texas A&M.

Chris Poupon, a contemporary supposedly in Arkansas. Key Lawrence, as far as Oklahoma. The depth of those options are what really impresses you and gives you some, you know, bullish tendencies in regards to talking about Ole Miss because they never had that before. Lane's always had them knocking on the door ever since he's been here in 2020. But the difference is they've got it all over the place. And I think really the offensive line is what set, I mean,

the offensive and defensive lines are what separate this Ole Miss team from other Ole Miss teams because of what you talked about. I mean, Georgia beat them by five touchdowns. They've never really been competitive with Alabama. And that's all, you's all a testament to it. Or maybe that's just the hump that Lane has to get over, you know, and maybe now he's done that. I think this is the best collection of talent collectively they've had

on both lines of scrimmage, certainly in the modern era. I can't really speak for like the 60s when they last won a title. But you're absolutely right. I mean, any mix of their 10 deep at offensive line would probably be the best starting five Ole Misses ran out there for an opener in modern history. I don't think it's really debatable, honestly. And defensive line, same thing, too, because Florida, a contemporary 80, right? Same contention window.

Prince Lee Monmielin, who is a top-ranked edge, according not just to the stupid Ole Miss homer, according to a lot of people, but, you know, like pro football focus who grades this stuff. Prince Lee, Mon Mielin. Yeah, he was Florida's best edge last year. I mean, that's not even up for debate. No.

And he leaves Florida voluntarily for Ole Miss. So, yeah, I mean, that's a guy you're pairing with Walter Nolan, and you're pairing with Jared Ivey, who's been starting here now going on three years. You're pairing him with a Chris Hardy, who is all league at Jacksonville State. It's because of the quality, yes, but also the quantity matches up as well. You know, I mean, Yam Banks, defensive back. I mean, he's a guy that's not getting hadn't gotten near the shine of Walter Nolan and Prince Leumon Miellon and he's been

starting since snap one since he got here well so and you mentioned the offensive line in that depth two guys from that Washington offensive line that was won the Pac-12 title won the Joe Moore playing for the national title uh Nate Koleppo, Julius Bulow. How much did having a former Washington transfer who played for Ole Miss last year and Victor Kern help that come to be? Oh, it was huge. It was huge. And that's, I think, a testament to the transfer culture that Lane Kiffin, Pete Golding, that coaching staff has really cultivated here to where Victor Kern was only here for a year, but he started every game at left tackle. When they recruited him, when they signed him to the NIL deal

with the growth collective that is operating at a capacity that few, if anybody, other collectives in college athletics, certainly college football, are operating, he can go in there and say, hey, here's the proof of concept. They told me when they recruited me, we're signing you to do this. I did that. And, you know, in a very volatile environment these days, it was always volatile,

but you know what I'm talking about. These days, I mean, who the hell knows what tomorrow is going to be? So I think the word then of a guy you trust, because he can show you, yeah, I did the thing. I went into the portal and did the whole crazy experience. And it was good. And they'll tell you that.

Nate Koeppel will tell you that. Julius Whaley will tell you that. And because of that, because of that culture that they've established, Andy, you can go get two starters in an all-season on the offensive line and sure up a weakness. You know what I mean? I mean, it's free agency, and Ole Miss does it well. But it's like there is a little bit of the human element. Not a little bit.

There's a lot still of the human element in regards to recruiting and how you go about procuring talent that's more than just, oh, well, Ole Miss dropped the bag on them. But the difference in this particular case, especially with the offensive line, is that there were guys coming back that you probably would have been perfectly happy with. They brought in people to compete and really didn't make any promises.

Yeah, absolutely right. And I think that's a great point to bring up because it's not like they're going, all right, come to Ole Miss. This is the land where transfers. It's the transfer paradise. That's not what this is. Last year, this time last year going into camp, it was Spencer Sanders and Walker Howard trying to replace Jackson Dart as they were recruited to do.

Same thing across the board. I mean, he's recruiting to replace everyone. That's what good teams do in the NFL. You know, the Cowboys, I love the Cowboys. No one knows this, but- I'm sorry about that. Thank you so much for that. But Dak's a great quarterback, and Jerry – but how we view things with this team, like you see how they operate, they're trying to replace you. Trey Lance comes in, can replace Dak. That's the idea.

They're always trying to make sure that they're fielding the best team that they can. So there is – it's nothing personal. It's just business. And I think that's really what's allowed Ole Miss, removing that emotional element from it as far as building a roster which has really separated it and um because it is about ball you know you ask jared ivy you ask like you say any of those guys about

what is really unique about this culture almost means what it says and says what it means now sometimes that can be pretty harsh you know it, it's like, Hey, look, yeah, I know we agreed to this, but it ain't working out. Yeah. Yeah. They've said that a few times. Those are the conversations that happen at the next level. That's how it works. You know, you come in and go, sorry, man, it didn't work out. We're going to give you a chance to go somewhere else. There's a lot of that. And that almost isn't unique in that way, but absolutely, man. I think the human element, maintaining that maintaining the thing that we used to all love about college athletics, which was, oh, there go our boys out there, you know, going to beat their boys. Oh, we're going to get them today. There's still a little bit of that because there is some pride taken in it, but it is a very personal ability. this in the off season initially the strategy was the the rules where you had a free transfer and then you had to sit out of your if you want to transfer again as an undergrad so they were happy

to take lots of guys as transfers that had four years of eligibility remaining or three years of eligibility remaining because they felt like okay this will be like the old system for us because they they're kind of stuck here that's changed on them now they now they got to have a culture where you still you got to make them want to stay but i we had jared ivy on it and you guys do a podcast with jared ivy the ivy league and i thought that was interesting because he's been at ole miss so long you almost forget he was at georgia tech but he's sort of the ambassador to the new guys coming in. Yeah, I love that you brought this up because this is something that I've talked about,

but really haven't talked about in a space like this. The way we used to view guys like who's a true Ole Miss Rebel, Deuce McAllister, right? Deuce was here for three years and then he went to the pros. Well, Jared Ivey's now been here three years. He's every bit, or at least on paper, the Ole Miss rebel that Deuce was, the Ole Miss rebel that picked a defensive lineman, then Derek Burgess, right? He's the same caliber of that, but he didn't start here, right? But how we view them is different. It's weird. Quinn Sean Judkins is a great example of this. He was here for two years.

He set a single season Ole Miss record for rushing yards he toppled Deuce he toppled Dexter McCluster and yet he's not going to be thought of in that way he's just going to be thought of as a hired gun while Jared Livington because it's no longer well Ole Miss is just doing it a certain way they're just going and buying a bunch of transfers if you're not doing it if you're not incorporating all of it and if you're not building that culture, you'll end up like Clemson or whoever you want to call it. And why are Quinshawn Judkins and Caleb Downs at Ohio State? Because Ohio State wants to win a national title. Yeah.

And Ole Miss looks at Quinshawn and says, well, that's a non-premium position for us. Ohio State says, oh, we want to bring it on. We've got the money to spare. We'll have two bad, really good running backs. Ole Miss miss says we need o-linemen and d-linemen that is how we're going to spend our resources sorry we're going to try something else at running man let's let's talk about that because you know you guys have written an om spirit that this year might look a little like 2021 and that was jerry and ely Conner, Henry Parrish, splitting carries in this offense. Ulysses Bentley, Rashad Amos, Matt Jones.

Is that the trio probably? Yeah. I mean, here's the thing. I'm not convinced that they have a number three running back on this roster right now. I'm just not. Now, fully acknowledging I am no way, in no way, an expert on anything. And we only get very limited view in practice. But there is an obvious drop off from Ulysses Bentley, way in no way an expert on anything but and we only get very limited viewing in practice but

there is an obvious drop off from ulysses bentley the highest graded returning running back in the sec according to pro football focus and then henry parish who's a variant of that albeit not as explosive um to then who the number three is supposed to be right now that's matt jones the former walk-on um rashad amos you just don't see it right now dominic smith another transfer from georgia state you just don't see it right now. Dominic Smith, another transfer from Georgia State, you just don't see it right now. I think one of the most important health developments that we'll be following and that all that are interested in how far can Ole Miss take this,

does Logan Diggs come back this year? Is Logan Diggs at mid-October? I mean, because they don't really need him in September, Andy. I mean, they've got four non-cons. I know Wake Forest is in there. You know, God bless the Damon Deacons, but always supposed to beat you in football this year, you know? So, like, they don't need him for that first month,

but he is the change of pace and quality of change of pace that you're just not seeing out there right now as far as who would be their number three or number two if you just consider Henryry parish a one b two ulysses bentley's one a so yeah absolutely i think ulysses is better than jerry on ely i think he's better than uh snoop connor he's better than henry paris sharing a backfield with but the difference is they had those three right now they have to they have two of the same guy so um that's that's the one area where we're they're really going to test and see

because durability has been the question for Ulysses. So for him, like if he goes, if he gets hurt, like he has every year, he's been at Ole Miss, that's going to be tested. And they're really going to press the philosophy that running back is a true low, you know, low value position, non-premium position. Yeah. Because if because if they do get dinged up there and then we're talking about that with Texas right now yeah you know Texas is a lost it's it's RB1 and the guy they thought would be RB4 who had to be RB3 and now he's gone too so now they're you know down to three scholarship backs but that's yeah all of that depth will be tested for every team receiver depth at Ole Miss I'm curious about though Ben because

we're hearing about Deion Smith you know former LSU receiver he's in Oxford now what you know what's his situation is there a chance he can help this team this year yes but um having seen this movie multiple times since for two years now since he left LSU uh I'll believe it when I see it I mean he told me in on June 1 he was on the way and he'd be ready to go for all season workouts and that didn't happen uh he told us two more times in July then told Bruce Feldman whoever did that he was going to be practicing he's still not practicing and they play in two weeks so what I honestly believe with Deion is whatever they get from him, at least that's how they're operating right now, is a bonus. Because for Ole Miss, it's an academic issue.

So for Ole Miss, from their end, it's good to go. They're just waiting for whatever rubber stamp they've got to wait from whoever it is. But that's one of the problems that you're seeing across college athletics. I'm not telling you anything you don't know. But for those that don't know transferable credits and the mess that is transcripts and the freedom of movement era which we all agree we wanted players to be able to move we just didn't want the ncaa to go oh y'all want to do that fine you know and that's not what we wanted uh and that's what happened so everyone's

just creating their own rules that what that has really led to uh we need to stop calling student athletes you know what i mean because yeah the student part has been absolutely ripped to shreds well and if you've ever tried to transfer from one college to another as a non-athlete you've dealt with this like you've probably had to repeat a class or repeat something that's kind of close to a class you took like imagine that for all these guys and then some of these guys are on their third school or on their fourth school brandon turnage went from alabama to tennessee a stop in georgia he didn't really like that so then he went to old mill or no excuse me alabama to georgia didn't like that

went to tennessee then goes to old miss you know from a compliance standpoint, God bless y'all. You know what I mean? I couldn't do it. Couldn't do it. Yeah, it is amazing because that part still exists. It changed a bit during the pandemic, but it still exists, and it's still going to crop up. Those people are still working behind desks. You know, they're still like putting the

numbers together but for us it's just like oh dang well deon can't get his transferable credits how come he can't play what's going on yeah is aiden williams gonna be good enough in his place he's like yeah that's that's what we do you know yeah all right i am gonna ask a juice wells question because it's that is to me kind of the, the linchpin there. If you've got a healthy juice Wells, it'll miss and Trey Harris and Caden priest corn and Jackson dart. It seems like that offense is a, is a pretty terrifying thing to try to deal with. Oh, absolutely. I think, well, first and foremost, Trey Harris against single coverage is the highest graded returning receiver in the SEC.

Juice Wells is arguably, it's arguable, but he was the best receiver in the SEC in 2022. Imagine Elijah Moore's usage for Ole Miss in 2020 with a more physical component in Juice Wells. That's how they want to use him. Now, the is juice healthy right um he's been only really full go and not in a black no contact or limited jersey once all camp and that's really i would say their whole mindset this camp has been get keep the guys healthy and get them to furman so i want to preface it with that all right they're keeping everybody healthy But we're talking about a guy who was not healthy all year last year in South Carolina. Exactly. So forgive me if I kind of want to see him actually really cut it loose, right?

For now, I'm looking at him like, all right, let's see how he dips into the snap share of Caden Lee in game one, in game two, right? But you're right. I think he's the key. He could be an absolute game changer for them, especially when the schedule starts getting tougher in October. And if he's healthy and they can unlock him like they did Elijah Moore in 2020, motioning him into the backfield, he became a ball carrier a lot. He was Percy Harvin.

You don't see that much anymore. That's what they want to do with Juice. But can he get on the field? And that's the fascinating thing about Ole Miss, is it's fun to talk about Juice and Deion. It's fun to talk about Walter Nolan and Prince Lee Monmiel. Trey Harris is probably the best player on this team, right? He's already shown it at Ole Miss, too, which is easier to take to the bank.

Yeah, it's like they went and got these guys developed, and that's a La Tech guy, former quarterback, who converted to wide receiver, but now he's a Blitnikoff Award watch list guy. Yeah. Caden Priestcorn, he's a converted quarterback, went to Memphis, developed. He comes here now.

He's an NFL caliber tight end, and behind him is an all ACC tight end in Daquan Wright. They built it out like good contenders do. You need a really good third cornerback, right? So let's go get it. I want Trey Amos and Isaiah Hamilton to push each other. Isaiah Hamilton, Ole Miss wanted him, and Alabama wanted him, and Missouri wanted him.

Everybody that is contending for the same thing of title next year wanted him, and he chose who? Ole Miss. So understanding that, Ole Miss is not some trendy flash in the pan thing. This was built specifically for a contention year or window, as it's been for the last couple years, like this. But this year is really the all-in push because all the guys are older. Jackson Dart is back for a third year. Jared's back

for a third year. Ulysses is back for a third year. Jared's back for a third year. Ulysses Bentley back for a third year. They are the old guys in the room like you were used to seeing. They just got here in a different way. And arguably, well, not arguably, it's to Ole Miss' benefit because they're actually contending for a title for the first time since the 60s, Andy. What?

The window is open. Open. But the window is potentially closing fast because like you said they're old guys so no no no no did you know who carson beck was until he replaced stetson bennett no you did not why not why can't that be walker howard yeah yes i yes i did but i know you know every mile from where he grew up so and yeah and now you're than that you this this is you aren't good to argue that but you know what I'm saying you know what good programs good program Walker Howard's supposed to step in you know or Austin Simmons who reclassified two classes he was a former four-star prospect that

almost got over Florida and others he's just supposed to step in kind of looks like to it but that's a Homer thing to say I'm sorry that's that's a home no but that is the goal that that that is what they're trying to set up and then it's it's first get beefy enough on the line of scrimmage deep enough on the line of scrimmage that you can win the games and then and then try to repeat that you know that's hard uh i was very small but i was i was an offensive lineman you know because i don't know let's see as a former offensive lineman to hear it classified as beefy that's that's that was good you know i mean they are large these these humans are very large but that's eating a lot of beef that's why i asked i don't

know repeat repeatable depth in the trenches is why georgia is georgia and alabama's alabama and ohio state's ohio state like that's that's really the difference between them and everybody else because everybody's got fast guys everybody can go get a quarterback who can play not everybody can get that over and over and over again and that's why what old miss has done this offseason the portal is interesting why david sanders committing to tennessee is interesting because it may be that the era of Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State having a prohibitive advantage in the trenches depth-wise is over. But we'll find out.

It's not over yet. It completely leveled the playing field. Yeah. You need to tell us the only thing that can stop us from building a contending team for one year. If it's just one year is money oh yeah i mean you you waste 10 bucks a month on the stupidest stuff you know what i mean i can just give it to go get a linebacker you know for a lot of people it's like heck yeah i'd rather go see

that instead and uh almost as a community responded in that way and that's why we're looking at oregon as a potential big 10 champ because oregon if you look at their offensive line like it's the best offensive line in the big 10 that that and they've had the best offensive line or one of the best offensive lines in their league Washington was better in their league last year and now Ole Miss has two-fifths of that line starting and Alabama's got one-fifth of it and you got you got uh Diego Pounce who was North Carolina starting left tackle last year you got Jerkounce, who was North Carolina's starting left tackle last year. You got Jerk Juan Scott, who was the starting offensive lineman at Southern Miss. That used to be a rivalry in this state. You know what I mean?

Or not really. But you get what I'm saying? Like, how we view this team, how we view college football writ large is completely different in a world where Ole Miss, we can honestly say, is a national championship contender. And they have to be viewed that way because of the depth of their options and um yeah it's going to be a reset next year because of so much personnel out the door but the show goes on because that's what good programs do and I think um but but the thing is I've heard Paul Fonbom talk about. I've heard you talk about it because you said it.

I watch your stuff, Andy. Andy said straight up, he was like, look, I got to see it with Ole Miss. They got waxed by Georgia. They got whooped by Alabama. And I went, yeah. But now that Nick Saban has said he thinks the upgrades will work, him I believe. Yeah, I believe him.

Exactly. Him I believe. I'm a natural skeptic. You know, I've got a lot of Ole Miss stripes on the wall as far as I was there for Laquan's Auburn game and all that bad stuff. I was there for fourth and 25. I remember all these disastrous things that have happened to Ole Miss football. So that informs what I'm about to say.

This is a good football team that is going to contend for national championship in 2024-25. And if they don't, Ole Miss fans should go, why didn't they? Because they are that good. I'm not just – dumb Kool-Aid man ain't just saying that. Andy's saying that. But Paul and Andy, all y'all make a really good point. Lane's got to get over that hump too.

Like Lane has never been more comfortable in his own skin. He's never been more comfortable as his own skin. He's never been more comfortable as a coach. He's operating at peak Lane Kiffin. Everybody should just be happy for the guy, regardless of what you thought about him before or after. He's really living his best life. But having said that, what's missing on the resume? Not just another NFL stop. That's another conversation for another day. What's really missing on the resume? Those wins you're talking about, because that takes him from, he's a fun story to, oh, he was in the lead of an elite coach, right? You win a national championship at Ole Miss?

If I'd have told you when we first started talking about it over a decade ago, hey, Ole Miss is going to be continuing for a title in 2024, you'd have gone, Ben, that's really cute. You know what I mean? Like, I'm really glad you feel that way. I enjoy doing your little Ole Miss dinghy show, you know? But no. No.

Well, I definitely think they got the people to do it. So now they just got to show it to us. Ben, happy birthday. Thank you so much. Thank you, Andy. Thank you. I am officially 21, so buy me a drink next time you see me, you know? Done.

Done. officially 21. So buy me a drink next time you see me, you know, done. Zach says, damn, I hope Andy's pot is later during the season. They have an announcement about that. Yeah. A few days, a week or so.

We'll let you know. Let's know. I think you're going to be pretty happy. Zach. That's all I got to say. That's all I got to say. As for Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss, yeah, this is not something I would have expected back in 2008, 2009, but here they are.

And it will be very disappointing if they don't make the playoff this year, if they aren't competing for a national title this year. It's all set up for them. The window is open. The window is open. The window for this show is always open. You can catch us in the mornings live.

You can catch us on demand. Got a fun one for you tomorrow. Dan Rubenstein and Ty Hilderbrandt, the OG college football podcasters, the guys from the Solid Verbal will be joining us. We're going to have a lot of fun. We'll talk to you then.