Andy & Ari On3 - Way too Early 2025 Win Total WINNERS | Georgia Recruiting Tax Break?

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

Two faves for just 7 bucks? Gotta Be Wendy’s. You remember Super Value Menu and the Biggie Bag. This is the next generation. Choose any two of these four items for just $7. Spicy chicken sandwichDave’s singleClassic chicken sandwich10-piece nuggs There are 16 different combinations, all delicious. Make a Hot Poultry Power Couple with a spicy chicken sandwich and spicy Buffalo nuggs. Go Double Beef with two quarter-pound Dave’s singles. Create your ultimate duo today in the Wendy’s app. Gotta Be Wendy’s! (Terms apply) Thanks to XFinity for bringing us to New Orleans!When we’re streaming shows live, Xfinity Internet has a 99.9% network reliability, ultra low lag, and reduced buffering so we never miss a moment of our favorite entertainment. You can enjoy that same 99.9 percent reliability whether you’re streaming Sunday’s game or gaming with your friends to get you through the offseason. Game, stream, chat or do it all at once with XFinity. You can also count on fast speeds and reliability, whether you're streaming your favorite show in the house or out at a sports game. With WiFi PowerBoost — only from Xfinity Mobile — you can get fast speeds up to a gig at home or on the go. Enjoy unmatched value while staying connected to the ones you love with the most reliable network and nationwide 5G. Visit XFinity.com to learn more. (0:00-1:05) Thank you, Xfinity(1:06-1:46) Introduction(1:47-15:17) Georgia Recruiting Tax Break(15:18-16:24) Wendy's Duos(16:25-17:22) Win Totals Intro(17:23-22:47) Florida: 6.5 wins(22:48-25:44) Louisville: 8.5 Wins(25:45-29:05) Alabama: 8.5 Wins(29:06-33:47) Michigan: 8.5 Wins(33:48-37:26) Wrapping up Win Totals(37:27-46:30) Kansas RB Devin Neal(46:31-54:58) Former Oregon State, Miami RB Damien Martinez Joins(54:59-1:06:20) Former Wisconsin, Florida WR Chimere Dike(1:06:21-1:07:40) Conclusion On Tuesday, a piece of news dropped regarding the state of Georgia and a tax break for recruits. Andy & Ari break it all down to open the show. Meanwhile, FanDuel dropped some EARLY win totals for the 2025 season, and Andy & Ari take a deep dive into the seemingly winners. Later, Andy throws it back to the Senior Bowl to wrap up some interviews. First, we talk to an EA Sports star from the Kansas Jayhawks RB Devin Neal. Then, Miami RB Damien Martinez joins. Florida WR Chimere Dike closes us on out. Join us tomorrow as Andy & Ari go through their top 25 head coaches in college football! Watch us on YouTube instead:  Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey 

Ari, how do you feel about beignets? They're electric. It's a donut covered in powdered sugar. Yeah, a lot of powdered sugar. Get ready to smash some because we're headed in New Orleans. Xfinity is bringing us the big easy to interview former Minnesota Vikings and Notre Dame star Kyle Rudolph and help everybody get ready for the last football game of the season before the long off season begins. The off season just means more time for me to crush people in the college

football video game Andy. Well with Xfinity's fast and reliable internet service you can run up the score with no issues. You'll have blazing fast speeds ultra low lag and that'll help you pile on the points plus you can can unlock faster wifi speeds at home or on the go with wifi power boosts only from Xfinity Mobile. That's electric, dude. Xfinity provides faster reliable connections with lower lag so you can drop in

without the fear of dropping out. Level up your gaming with a network that provides 99.9% reliability. And thanks to Xfinity, we'll be coming to you from New Orleans on Friday. Welcome to Andy and Ari on three. Presented by Wendy's and Ari, we got win totals. It's like hook them into the veins.

It's February, but we got win totals. Yeah, win totals is just a lovely way to look and see if Vegas thinks that our projections for next year's playoff or anywhere near correct or if they haven't run yet are way too early top 25. But I did feel like a few of these stuck out a little bit here, Andy. I did too.

I did too. We're going to hit some of them. We're going to save a few related. We're going to hit some of them. We're going to save a few related. We're going to hit some of them, but first we got to talk about a very interesting news story that crossed on Tuesday. Pete Nakos at ON3 reporting that a new Georgia state Senate bill filed this week would exempt NIL compensation received by college athletes from the state income tax in the state of Georgia. Introduced by multiple senators, Brandon Beach, Greg Golezal, Ben Watson, Cardin Summers, and Frank Lynn, it would create a distinct recruiting advantage for Georgia universities, Pete writes. I don't know that it would be an advantage.

I think they're trying to blunt a disadvantage that Georgia universities have, but it's just so funny because you know me, I'm Mr. Athlete Empowerment. I'm Mr. Pay the players. I don't think this one's going to go over very well with the electorate other than the really rabid Georgia fans as a as a Tennessee fan. And my mentions said, the only people who are gonna be really for this

are the ones who get down on all fours and bark at other human beings. So here's the deal. Did this strike you the same way it struck me that they are trying to negate a recruiting advantage that schools in Florida, Texas and Tennessee might have? What did Florida, Texas and Tennessee might have. What Florida, Texas and Tennessee have in common? No state income tax.

That's right, that's right. And you hear like, I don't know, we hear this during pro athlete free agency, where it's always like, oh, so and so is gonna sign with the heat because they don't have to pay the state income tax in Florida for all their home games. Cause like the pro athletes actually do have to pay the state income tax in Florida for all their home games. Like the pro athletes actually do have to pay the state income tax on road games when they travel.

But the idea is like if you're an NBA player, 41 games a year are in Florida. Well, I guess if you play for the Heat or the Magic, you're also playing at the Heat or the Magic. But I didn't know that part, the await part. Well, I was reminded of that when the Luka Donchich trade happened because they were talking about how he goes,

he's actually gonna lose a lot of money getting traded from the Mavericks to the Lakers. One, because he can't sign the super max contract. So he would have been able to sign a bigger contract had he been with the Mavericks. But two, because he goes to a state with a 14 state income tax from a state with a zero percent state income tax so he's taxed on all his all his home games at 14 you'll have to to walk me through this because like i live in a state where there's

no state income tax and you do too um i i've but other than the first seven years of my life in south carolina i've only lived in states with no state income tax because i do too. I've but other than the first seven years of my life in South Carolina I've only lived in states with no state income tax because I also lived in Tennessee. But the way that it actually works is they just tax you in other areas so like when you're an adult with a home like you're ending you still end up paying that money you just pay it to a different type of tax right like our our Like our homeowners' property tax on a given year is more expensive than my entire cost of living when I lived in Ohio. It depends on your state. Yes, states kind of get you one way or the other, but for the case of these college athletes,

it's probably a little bit different. It doesn't matter to them because they don't own homes, right? But like even like- They're probably renting, yeah. But for me, like doesn't it cost a heck of a lot more to like register my car in Texas than it does in other states? Like there are ways that we are taxed that are higher as a result of- Or some states have a higher sales tax, correct.

Like in Florida, the sales tax is a little higher. Now in Florida, they do tack on, you know, extra taxes on hotel rooms and rental cars. They try to get the tourists to pay a lot of the freight if they can, but the, you know, the property taxes that you pay to your county may be higher. So yes, there are ways that they get you.

But in this particular case, you've got these people, which I understand the intent that the lawmakers have there. I think they're gonna find out there are fewer college football fans in Georgia than they think, even though Georgia is a state probably that has a very high concentration of college football fans.

Yeah, well, you need to be like a economics professor here for me and like break down the downside to this because it seems like a very limited scope, doesn't it? Yeah, so it's 5.39% is the is the state income tax rate in Georgia. Well, the downside for who because I would worry as a state senator, this would get me primaried by voters who don't get this tax break who are like, why are you giving it to them? But them is such a small amount of people, isn't it? It is, but why, why are we carving out anything?

Like we're talking about five here and because it goes, go dogs. That's why it is a 5% right. Go dogs. here and because it goes go dogs that's why is it five percent right go dogs do you think there are enough georgia fans that care that deeply about college football more than they care about whether they're getting taxed and somebody else is not they're going to be okay like if you live in georgia either way right would you get mad at your, at your, if it were, if your state senator represents you, would you get mad at them for introducing this bill or would you be like, yeah, go dogs? That's an interesting question because people like to get mad about these sort

of things a lot. Like my general thought process, and I don't know if this is just normal as it pertains to politics, is okay, what's my tax rate gonna be and what am I in for? Like, I don't ever really find myself comparing myself to other people. But at the same time, too, it's like, there is probably a large segment of the population in general that already resents how much money that college

players are going to be getting in comparison to the zero they used to be getting, at least above board zero. And then now to create an income tax relief you know, relief for people who are already getting paid more money than a lot of people probably think they deserve. You know, you and I, in our takes on whether or not college athletes should be making a bunch of money are based on a seasoned exposure to how much work, effort and sacrifice these players have to make in order to not only play for these schools, but to get there to begin with. So like, I don't know.

And also how much money the enterprise brings in. Right. And like, I don't know. You'd have to, again, like, this is an economics thing. But like, if Georgia is better at football, how much better off is Athens, the town, from a financial, right? Like, I don't know, does it make it also a difference? But I think it does, right? The more excitement, the more traffic, the more hotels being rented, the more restaurants being, you know, eaten at like all these things. Is this gonna make a difference? Like, is some recruit that is choosing between Tennessee and Georgia, or Tennessee and Georgia Tech? Or, you know, because it would apply to all the college athletes in the state. The question you have to ask, too, is that do you have people that are seasoned enough?

This is about Georgia. This isn't about Georgia Tech. But like, are the people who are around the players who are agreeing to these NIL deals even seasoned enough in many cases to kind of understand the difference between those two things? Right. Like we talk a lot about how... I would lot about some of them, because look, there's agents, but there's agents who represent NFL players who do this math. Like they say the Dolphins need to pay one thing and the Giants need to pay another thing because the same amount of money being paid to play for the dolphins, you take more of that home than if you're playing for the giants. So, I know that you pay for the, if you play for the dolphins and you buy a nice house on Key Biscayne,

aren't you paying like 7% more per year annually on the property tax? Like I just like, you do, you do understand that property is expensive in the New York metropolitan area as well. So- I do, yeah, I do. Yeah, so here's what I'm saying. Is the juice worth the squeeze here, if you're the politician? I don't think it is.

I think this is one where, because I understand, like if you're in a Southern state, you wanna protect the home state football programs, that feels like a nice bipartisan thing. This probably is the one thing where you stepped over the line state football programs. That feels like a nice bipartisan thing. This probably is the one thing where you stepped over the line a little bit. Well, I think what this will be very popular among the electorate.

You don't really see a lot of laws being passed that are so blatantly obvious to help football get be better. Right? Like this is like a, I always like find it interesting because, you know as somebody who isn't too seasoned as it pertains to to politics I always find it interesting when politics kind of neighbors into college football and I

think in part it's it's necessary as a result of trying to figure out how to fairly compensate people with money they're entitled to but I don't know that this is the first time that someone's been like, let's like introduce a law that really only benefits Georgia football players. Like I've never seen something like that before. They've done this before. They've tightened the public records laws

just to keep people from getting information about Georgia football. So yeah, it's true. Although you hopefully can make the case that maybe there's other benefits to that. Like, I don't know what the other benefits to this are. Uh, right. There are. And that's the thing. Like if I were, let me put it this way. If I were a politician opposing one of these people in a primary, which means I'm of the same party as them,

I would be like, how come you don't give it to soldiers in Georgia? Like, wouldn't that be a better group or teachers in Georgia? Wouldn't that be a better group? So, but it's a group. The thing that's so interesting to me is that when you compare the actual group to the entire population, what's that like at most 200 people? It's a small group. It's a small number. And that's, that's the thing. And that's what they're going to say. This is just a small number. It's negligible amount, but it's the principle of the thing. Like if you want Georgia or Georgia Tech to be able to cover it, like just have them pay 5.39% more in NIL deals, just donate 5.39% more to the collective, like you can make that work. Yeah. This probably isn't the way to get

that done. And I wonder if you could like Galaxy brain it to say that in years where Georgia's competing for a national championship, the sales tax collected in the Atlanta metropolitan area was 19% higher than it was in years where they weren't good and then try to like spin it into something like that. You can economic impact any football success. Like the studies, those studies are great.

Like the bowl games do this area. The Alamo bro brings $ three billion dollars the San Antonio area here's the thing that we're not saying out loud that needs to be said out loud too is that the players who are coming to Georgia that are gonna have an impact on the team from like a Are they gonna win the national title standpoint or not our players who are making so much money? That it's kind of hard to like boohoo yourself over the 5.39% too, right?

Like that's like an entire divide. I honestly don't think that 5% is gonna cost Georgia or Georgia Tech a player. I don't. Now the California one maybe like that might. So if I'm Lincoln Riley, maybe I'm going to Sacramento and talking to some people, but. California strikes me as a type of

state that would be less inclined to even discuss this. I don't know. It's a you. You think that would definitely get some primary in California. There's nobody who's there aren't enough people who are a fan of

enough teams in California to make that work so absolutely not from a selfish standpoint though. I kind of like love the passion. Nobody who's there aren't enough people who are a fan of enough teams in California to make that work. So absolutely not. From a selfish standpoint though, I kind of like love the passion. Like I mean, that's the thing. Like the funniest part was I read the story that Pete wrote and my first thought was look at them thinking about Cruden.

They never stop thinking about cruden. That's why they're good. Because people care. Well, it's not even just why Georgia is good. It's like this. I appreciate the politicians at least understanding a little bit of what drives the electorate. But again, I think this probably- We have to say it though. Underestimates the group of people who'd be like, I'd rather you not give that carve out.

Yeah. There are people, even Georgia fans, I think who are living in paycheck to paycheck situations, or are down on money in Georgia and the rural areas around it. They might be Georgia football fans, but they also would probably be a fan. They're money fans before they're Georgia football fans. Yeah, my dad taught me when I was a kid, maybe a rule for life is that everything is important until it starts talking, infringing on someone's pockets. And then all of a sudden morals go out the window, right?

So it's just kind of like, and it's like you also too, like there's plenty of people in need in Georgia that, you know, could probably use those breaks a little bit more. And I can understand the, like, like when you said the soldier thing, like that kind of hit me. It's like, yeah, I mean, there are people who have sacrificed for our country in a way that, know KJ Bolden hasn't you know I and it's like and he'll be fine financially anyway, so You know it's it's funny, but at the same time too like I could see how that could you know rub people the wrong way All politics are local and it's localized entirely in your wallet Speaking of your wallet Ari speaking of your wallet You want a deal two favorites for seven bucks.

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terms of plaque. Alrighty, we gotta talk win totals because Fandool knows what we like and they dropped some win totals to liven up an otherwise mundane February week. Ari, I'm gonna read some of them for the people who listen in podcast forums so they're following along here

and then we'll talk about the ones that stuck out to us, but Ohio State, Oregon, Notre Dame, Penn State, at 10 and a half wins over or under. Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Clemson, at nine and a half wins. Alabama, LSU, Michigan, Indiana, Louisville, Miami at eight and a half USC, North Carolina, Kansas at seven and a half. Florida, Colorado and Iowa, six and a half. Ari, I'll let you start.

Which one of those just jumps out to you and screw? Yeah, that's what I said too. That's what I said too. Is it not? Oh no, I'm 100% in agreement with you because there is a universe where they go over and Billion Apir gets fired. Like if they go seven and five, they're going over and billion api or gets fired like if they go seven and five they're going over and billion api or gets can't like I don't think it's possible for them to be worse than last year which puts them over.

The schedule is slightly easier. Still hard. But they don't have they trade UCF for USF. The dates of the games change. They get LSU really early. Miami is not the opener. Miami is the fourth game. You get Texas to Texas A&M back to back. It doesn't end with the biggest grind like last year did.

It actually spaces out a little better So yeah, I'm looking at that and going they've got a They've got to be as good as last season. I Can't imagine a scenario where they're better. They're worse than last season. So that that feels like a pretty Generous one to me Yeah like a pretty generous one to me. Yeah. Um, that three games stretch in the first half of the year, Andy, uh, of at LSU at Miami and then home against Texas, who I think we both agree is the number one

team in the country going into the year is brutal. Like there is a legitimate, they have a week between Miami and Texas though. I don't know. Okay. Uh, like there, there's a, there's a chance that they can be two and two and three going into the A and Texas though. I don't know. Okay, I like there's a there's a chance they can be two and two and three going into the A&M game like and it's uh, You know, but I guess if they are two and three, but there's a chance They can be two and three going to the A&M game and still finish seven and five which puts you over Yeah, six and a half is pretty low and the other thing that stands out to me too is you know

I don't know like playing at A&M is tough, right? And that's, that's the fourth game after that three-game stretch. And then playing Georgia is tough. But like, are Ole Miss and Tennessee going to be as good as they were a year ago? Like, I'm sure one of them will be, but I don't know that they will be. Tennessee might. I don't know about Ole Miss. might, I don't know about Ole Miss. Ole Miss, definitely not, right? So I do agree with you that their schedule has, like, lightened up a little bit. And I don't know that I anticipate that Florida State's going to be all the way back. I, you know, the hope is that there's some improvement there, because it couldn't have gotten worse for them

a year ago. And maybe Kentucky's better. That game's in Lexington. Like, so that could be tough. But I just I feel like they've they've got a good setup to win seven games. Like if they win seven games, they're going to want to run billion apier out on a rail like that. That's not going to be nearly good enough like that. This fan base wants 910 11. Now, I don't know if they're going to get that but I think that the probability of them going 8 and 4 or 9 and 3 is significantly higher than the probability of them going 6 and 6.

Yeah. It's like crazy because like my anticipation for Florida this year is that they're going to have the best quarterback in college football. And if that comes true, they're not going to go six and six, right? Like right, because they're gonna get two easy wins out of the gate. Like they're gonna start to know and then all they have to do is win five of their last seven games. Or sorry, that's the worst math I've ever done in my entire life. Six. Six of their last 10 games. Yeah. Six of the last 10. Oh, yeah, they went sorry, five of the last time the last year at math podcast. I know what I'm saying. After they start off to know they just have

to play 500 football. And I think that that's a pretty reasonable ask, especially considering the fact that there are a few games in the SEC there. Like I mean, they should beat Mississippi State next year, right? Like that, that's it. Mississippi State, they probably should beat Kentucky unless Kentucky's improved dramatically uh you know the A&M game should be a toss-up they got killed by A&M last year at home and now they go to Kyle Fields that look A&M I think is going to be pretty good I love Mike Elko and they should be more competitive with Miami next year right like I think Miami's an interesting team right I don't know

that Miami's going to be as good as they were, but that games an away game now look, it's at Hard Rock Stadium. What's that going to be? 50 percent Gators fans, more than 50 percent Gators fans. Yeah, probably. Um. I don't know, LSU seems like a beatable team at the moment. Yeah, but LSU is going to be talking about. I can tell you that right now. That's a huge game. LSU seems like a beatable team at the moment. Yeah, but LSU is going to be tough. I can tell you that right now. That's gonna be a huge game for LSU and we're gonna have to

delve into LSU this offseason because they like Brian Kelly needs to have a good year this year because the expectations at LSU are national title or bust every year. And so he keeps winning nine or 10 games, which is great, but it's still not good enough for them. But the Florida thing is just like, as soon as I saw that it jumped off the page. Let me tell you another one that I found very interesting. And it was kind of during doing my

my top coaches list so you you've already released your top 25 coaches. Mine is coming out on Thursday and on Thursday's show we will be talking about why we put these coaches where we put them and we're arguing about who's where. Jeff Brom, spoiler alert, is on my list somewhere. Louisville's eight and a half and you may go, well, that's kind of high. I don't know if it's that high. This is the guy who got Purdue to the big 10 championship game. He had Louisville in the ACC championship game his first year there. Their schedule lightens up. It's still hard in places because they do have to make Clemson and SMU and Miami,

which as ACC schedules go, that's a kind of a tough draw. They do not have at Notre Dame this year like they did last year. Remember they won at Clemson last year. They played SMU very close. Beat the crap out of it. Played Miami. Okay. So eight and a half seems like a lot.

I feel like this is a fairly easy over. Yeah. Well, you're. Removing any ability to lose a game you shouldn't lose. That's what that is. Right. But I think they're going to win at least one of those. I think they're going to win at least one of the ones that we would say maybe they should lose.

But I actually think they might want to favor in one or two of those depending on how they come out. Yeah. I mean, yeah, that's a, that was an omission that I had on my list that ran on Tuesday and there were a few, I made the mistake of going through and reading the comments. Oh God, why? Well, the fun thing about this specific exercise,

we can talk about this more on Thursday, Friday whenever we do it is, there's no way that you can please anyone. Like everyone's gonna be mad. There's no like great lists. Like this is like one of the things of like, you're not pleasing anybody. Right, because it's not just about who's on it

or who's not on it. It's also about where everybody is who's on it. You're wrong multiple ways. Yeah, and I guess the only way that you can be right is if that person's favorite coach is where they think it should be. Number one. Yeah.

Yeah. But Jeff Brom was an omission on mine and I've probably made a mistake. Well, so he won eight last year in the regular season, eight and four in the regular season last year. I feel like this should be a nine or 10 win team this year. Now we'll see. I mean, you know, they get Miller Moss in. That's the quarterback that'll be hanging it on. You do wonder at what point are they going to try to home grow a quarterback. But I don't know. I'm excited about that one.

Can we talk about Alabama though? It still feels very strange to me seeing a single digit number next to Alabama. Last year was nine and a half. Now it's down to eight and a half. Like part of me wonders is if this is going to be easy money. And like that talented roster just starts rolling people. The only way it's easy money is if you know something's wrong, immediately hit it

and then you never have to sweat. Like you don't know which way you're going on this, right? Like, so like, my college football playoff bracket come, will be out by the time this episode was out. I have Alabama, not just making the playoff, but advancing in it. I don't know if you- So that's an easy over for you.

I would think that that would be an over. I don't know if easy is, because you could be wrong. I was gonna say, would you put your own money on it right now? The one that I would put my own money on, I think is Florida over. Is the Florida, right.

That one jumps on a page I Might Yeah, I don't know that I would put my own money. This isn't like this doesn't scream out at me of like this is easy no, and that's we don't know why I asked about it because it's not this one didn't jump off the page because it looked off. It jumped off the page because it's still strange to see that number. Because with Nick Saban, it was always 10 and a half. Sometimes 11 and a half, but always at least 10 and a half. So I just. Yeah, it is very weird to see this is that they lost a lot in the portal, right?

But they did sign a really good recruiting class. Absolutely, and they still have a lot of really good players. They didn't lose in the portal. I really, really, really, really, really am wary. Of their quarterback position, and I think it's possible, certainly within the realm of possibility that by white week eight, Keelan Russell is last year's lag way. That's out there. Yeah, and if that happens, then this is gonna go over.

But I do think too that my number one flaw as a person, as it pertains to being an analyst of the sport, is that I overthink what most recently happened a lot. And I think it's very easy to say, Well, Alabama stinks, Cailan D'Aubourg doesn't know how to coach, they had a bad year, it's going to happen again. But like, I also want to rely on the things that we know about him, which is that he's getting his offensive coordinator back from Washington, who, right Ryan Grubbs coming back. He got fired by the Seahawks. Now he's he's rejoining Kalan aboard in Tuscaloosa They might have a really really good quarterback if it works out for them, maybe it's Austin Mack

Maybe it's Ty Simpson. I don't know they have a chance to Clearly have one of the best receivers in college football and Ryan Williams Ryan Williams is back like there are the pieces in place at Alabama from a talent perspective, married with a person who I still think is a very good coach, you know, for them to be back. Like, I feel like if this bet does not hit, like the entire city of Tuscaloosa is going to be on fire. Yes.

All right. Another one that I found very interesting. This one kind of jumped out at me because if this program takes the strides, I think it's going to this should be an easy over and that is Michigan. Michigan's at eight and a half. So Michigan went seven and five last year with a basically non-functional offense and a really hard schedule, by the way. So basically non-functional offense, hard schedule, still eight and five, or still seven and five, eight and five after the bowl game when they were playing basically with their backups against a fairly intact Alabama.

And so that tells me Sharon Moore can build a culture. The question is, once he gets the correct roster That tells me Sharon Moore can build a culture. The question is, once he gets the correct roster in, can he win with it? I'm guessing he can. Now, I don't know if it's Mikey Keene or Bryce Underwood starting at quarterback, but I know he went and got the two he wanted, one out of the portal, one signing.

There was not all this hemming and hawing about is Jim Harbaugh gonna stay or not? Like they didn't have to deal with that. So they had a full recruiting cycle, a full December transfer portal window to actually address needs, which they didn't have last year. I think they're gonna be fine. I think this isn't over.

Well, I got some good news and some bad news. All right, go for it. The good news is that they have to go on the road to Oklahoma and then on conference. Is that that's good news. It's good news for us. That's the bad news. That's the bad news. Okay. Sorry. Yeah. But the good news is, is that I think beating them is going to be more manageable than playing Texas a year ago And they also do not play Penn State or Oregon in the regular season

Correct. So like that to me. It's like a lot of this too You have to do a little schedule watching with these conferences being you know, 16 18 teams You have to know who you got to take stock and who they're playing. Yeah, at Nebraska at USC, Washington's coming to them. These are ones you might want to worry about a little bit. Michigan State because I think Jonathan Smith's a very good coach. Like these are ones you might want to worry about. Obviously Ohio State. But I don't know, they've won four in a row. So yeah, that's that's a free win for them, right?

Just twist the knife a little more. Ari twisted. Yeah. They can cry into their national championship trophy. You know, we're playing around, but New Mexico, central Michigan, guaranteed wins, the problem with their big 10 schedule is, is that I don't know. You would say Northwestern Maryland and Purdue are all guaranteed wins, so you're already in five. Um, and then you have Oklahoma on the road at Nebraska, who we anticipate will probably be a little bit

better than it was last year. Wisconsin, who knows what they're going to be on the road at USC and they're playing on the road in East Lansing. So they have some like coin flip games. They would have to win in that scenario. Um, but I do think that like no matter who their quarterback is, that they will have a far more functional offense next year. Yeah. And do you think they're losing for, if they have a far more functional offense next year. Yeah, and do you think they're losing four if they have a far more functional offense? I do not. But I do wonder what Michigan. Wolverine life is like without Kenneth Grant and Mason Graham and Will Johnson and all these guys that were we saw it without Will Johnson

for most of last season. The They did beat Ohio State without him. But like, yeah, I think that like also too, losing those two defensive linemen is about as big of a loss as any team in college football is going to have to recover from in this offseason. Is that a fair thing to say? No, I would say that Ohio State lost more on defense than Michigan did. No, but I'm saying like if you take two players or one player at a specific yes, very impactful players.

Yeah, Ohio State lost their entire team. But I just mean like in terms of like who Michigan was as an identity. A lot of it was wrapped up with those two guys. Here's game. I know ballgames replace that. I know ballgames might not mean that much. The fact that in the ballgame, they didn't have any of those guys and they still played played their butts off and Alabama again like I said was mostly intact like most of the guys who missed the game for Alabama missed because of injury and they like those guys who

were backups at Michigan look like they're ready to step in and be starters. Oh yeah yeah yeah no Michigan's gonna be a good team. But going to nine, nine and three with some of the games on their schedule, like it's, I think that that number's exactly where it should be. Yep. Well, I say we save another batch of these

and talk about them next week because. Yeah, it's like leftovers. Yeah, well, the North Carolina Belichick one, there's a whole Belichick conversation we need to have. And- Yeah'll do that in New Orleans on Friday, since we will be kind of merging or, you know, colliding with the NFL. Like, there's a conversation to be had around Belichick. Maybe it's during our coaches' ranking conversation, because you had a very curious where you're somewhere I had them somewhere yeah yeah so I think that is a fascinating conversation to have because that's a North Carolina's at seven and a half wins and I'll give you a little spoiler alert for that conversation like you look at their schedule because you're probably gonna go oh god they just just they put seven and a half just because Bill Belichick that that's good.

That's an under go look at their schedule guys. Go look at their schedule. It's manageable. Manageable might not even begin to describe it. Mac Brown just like oh God. Why couldn't I get the schedule with Drake May just hang on for one more year to get the schedule? So yeah, is that the easiest schedule in the sport this year? why couldn't I get the schedule with Drake May? I just hang on for one more year to get the schedule. So, yeah. Is that the easiest schedule in the sport this year?

It's entirely possible. It's entirely possible. Perhaps we're underestimating the Richmond spiders, but we will have that conversation. We also need to have a Notre Dame. Phil Belichick mind right there. He knows what he's doing. He's cooking back there.

But we also need to have a Notre Dame conversation, a Texas conversation, a Georgia conversation, Tennessee conversation, Clemson conversation, you name it. We got a lot to talk about. So we're gonna save some of those and we will dig into those win totals. But those ones that we talked about today were the ones that just, boom, jumped off.

And then we'll talk a little more. But now I- There's one more in there that I wanna just tease you with. Oh, is it? Texas set nine and a half is just outrageous. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll talk about that.

And see, that's just me thinking we need something to peg the other video around. Yeah. Like how in the world, what are they seeing? We don't yeah, I don't know I am I is there something on that schedule. I think they are playing at Ohio State to open the year, but There is that But no, it's this is This is gonna be really interesting and and and it's fun because it lets us dig into the schedules Like I I looked more at schedules in the past week

doing the, the mock bracket and this, and I really feel like I'm getting a sense of, of what everybody's schedule is going to look like. Now, look, we don't know. Cause like, if I told you Indiana is going to play the two teams that played for the national title the year before in their 2024 schedule and then we're going to be arguing about how easy their schedule was and how they didn't play anybody. You would have said I was insane. So don't don't read that much into it, but do look at it. It is fun to dig into schedules. Ari, let's transition now to some exit interviews. We talked to some players at senior

bowl last week. And after you had to go, I caught up with a few more. The next guy we're going to talk to, I love this guy so much. And not just because of the video game, but it's Kansas running back Devon Neal. And I had somebody suggest to me, and I thought this was a great suggestion, an all loyalty team, guys who got offered in I L deals stayed where they were. Devin Neal is one of those guys. He could have gone anywhere. He's so productive. He could have gone anywhere. He wanted to stay at Kansas. And I thought his explanation for it was just incredible

So here's Devon Neal. I Am honored to be joined by Kansas running back Devon Neal. I told Devon when he sat down that my son is gonna be so jealous because Devon is his favorite player in the video game And okay So how since that game came out last summer, how many people have come up to you and said, you are my favorite player in the video game?

A ton of people, you know, I just ended up getting blessed with a great card in the game. And so, you know, a ton of people, I got a bunch of fans from that. And then they were able to watch me play and they're like, okay, well, maybe it's pretty good. So it's awesome. It's, so I obviously I had been watching you all your career. I knew how good you were

I knew how good Jalen was so I get the game and playing the kid and he's you know at the time He's like 14. He thinks he knows everything and I'm like I know what to do it To just humble him and so all I did is just like a little inside zone read option between you and Jalen, right? tempo, tempo, audible to slants every once in a while. Just murdered him down the field. We get the third and two every time and he's like, I got you four yards, Devin Neal. And then every once in a while, 60 yards, Devin Neal.

Right. Hey, that's awesome. I love it. And it's just amazing. Cause we talked about this when the video game was coming back. There are going to be some players who, because they're people who they're fans of Alabama or they're fans of Michigan. They probably don't watch a lot of Kansas football, but now they know you and now they

know Kansas because of that. It's unique in that aspect. You know, you kind of get more fans, you get more traction and people understand who you are as a player because it's just a video game. So it's special. And so you are from Lawrence. You are Kansas's all time leading rusher. You hold essentially every Kansas rushing record. But I was looking back because I couldn't remember exactly when you committed.

You committed in March 2020. Right. Right before everything went down. Yeah. Yeah. What what made you stick with so that's when when Les Miles got let go probably like a month after that. Right. What made you stick with with Kansas when you had you know other big 12 offers you had some big 10 offers. What what was it about the hometown team that kept you? Yeah I mean for me it was a couple of things. You know I always set out to have the goal to change the program. And I wasn't gonna waver on that, you know.

When I committed, I was loyal and I wanted to do whatever it took for this team. And, you know, I was talking to the guys in my class and when that happens, like, what are you guys gonna do? And everyone kind of just bought in, it was like, it doesn't matter. You know, in high school, I kind of set out and said, you know, obviously building a relationship

with a coach is important. But I feel like a lot of guys will commit towards a coach and you never know the landscape of college football. And I feel guys leave, right, you kind of have to go where you feel you can develop first, which is kind of the coach, but and then where you feel comfortable going. So I was really comfortable going to KU and sticking it out. And obviously, when coach Miles, everything happened with that.

I was kind of just like, ooh, I don't know what to do. You don't have my parents and you know, who's going to be the coach and is it going to be right fit? So it kind of changed it up for me a little bit, but I remember my first meeting with Coach Lightpole and you know, Coach Sleeve and you know, I bought him immediately. Like I knew from the get-go that those guys were legit,

that they were going to do whatever it took to get this program in the right way. Lance Lippel is one of those guys you meet and you're like, Oh, okay. This guy knows what he's doing. Yeah. And it's come like it emanates from him like the first second you meet him. But I think it's interesting that you said you were going to change the program. Because that is exactly what you guys did. Like, you guys went from being, you know, the losing his program in college football to one that nobody wants to play. Yeah

What does that feel like as it as it was happening? Yeah, I mean it was exciting You know, it was finally like we're competing it started out with we're competing with these teams, right? and then and then it transpired and over winning and No one wants to play us and we're we have all these expectations of being the best. And it changed so fast. And it was so special for us because we put so much work in behind the scenes that no one knows. And we had to change from the bottom up.

We had to change as people, as culture changers, leaders. And there was so much that went into winning on the field that people don't understand. It's not just X's and O's. We started out as the smallest team, the youngest team. And then we grew up together. We changed our bodies. There was so much that went into us just being a successful team.

How hard was that like your freshman year when you're going through it at the beginning? As you know, this is Coach Leipold's first year. He has a bunch of transfers in. You're all just trying to figure it out. And obviously the other rosters are pretty talented compared to yours. How did you guys just keep the faith? Yeah, I mean, like I said, it was extremely challenging because we saw the pieces, we saw the glimpses of it, but we couldn't put it together all the way. But we also knew, hey, we were really

young and we're really small. We were the smallest team in the Big 12 by far. Up front, every position on average, we were just so tiny. And you know, it's hard to win the physical games like that. They wear you down by the fourth quarter. And so, you know, we were extremely motivated to change that. And, you know, yeah, we were losing games, but we were competing in those games. We were competing against top 10 teams. And obviously and obviously later in the season we end up winning against Texas We're the best game against TCU and we saw that we saw the pieces coming together We saw the change happen and then once we saw that it was no full speed ahead It was like we can do this and then we got to have a big offseason Come leaders and great players So I talked to coach we had him on the the show this off season and he was pretty open about people going after like Mello and Kobe, your your cornerbacks who are obviously NFL dudes and how many offers did you turn down? I mean I turned down a few, you know, just to be brief

because to me it wasn't about money, it wasn't about you know the fame or going to a bigger school, it was about setting out what I wanted to do. And, you know, it was important for me to be the, not necessarily just a hometown guy, but the guy to be a part of this team and be a leader. Cause they, a lot of people are looking at me and looking and see, Hey, what would you do? And I'm just like, you know, I just want to be the best I can for this team and work every day. So you're thinking about what the other guys are going to do based on your

actions. Yeah. I you're thinking about the other guys are going to do based on your actions. Yeah. I mean, I just I just firmly believe that if I were to chase that, then other guys would follow. You know, so what was that like finishing up? Because you guys had a tough start to this season and you had lost some very close games and then started to put it together and you get to like, you know, the Colorado game where it finally kind kind of feels like it's all clicking into place. Yeah, I mean, for us, I think that's just who we are. Obviously, like you said, we started out rough and it took great leadership. It took just honing in on the objective to get us out of it and understand that it's

not over. We still have a lot of things to play for. I know obviously, early on we realized maybe our chances of winning the big 12 or, you know, going to the playoffs kind of dissipated. But, you know, we still wanted to go to a ballgame, you know, and we fought towards that. And obviously we came up short, but, you know, I just think that's so important just to get out of that hole. It takes a lot of leadership and it takes a lot of courage to not give up. So I was super proud of the guys. I was how proud are you now as you leave that when coach light bulb goes and talks to recruits now, it's not the same thing.

He's selling something completely different because of what you guys did. Yeah, I mean, you can already see it kind of turning just with the recruiting trail. And, you know, for me, it's really cool to see Kansas guys stay home. And, you know, a lot of times they're going to places like K state and they're going elsewhere. They weren't coming to KU. And so for me to kind of lead that, you know, they, they see a Kansas guy, you know, be in the face of the program and they're like, Oh man, I can do that too. And so that's really special for me because that's what I set out to do. I want, like I said, I wanted to change the

program in every way. And so it's really special for me. I take pride in that. I take pride in all my Kansas guys, you know, trying to prove prove themselves and make their mark on the world and in college football. And you know, just everything the facility getting built everything that has happened is so special. It's because of us. Congratulations, Devon. Thank you. I appreciate it. Good luck. Thank you. That is Devon Neal. Mr. Loyalty, Arianna. I imagine you have tortured some people with Devon Neal. Mr Loyalty Aryan. I imagine you have tortured some people with Devon Neal in the video game. You know, I haven't played with Kansas as much, but I played Antonio Morales, the USC beat writer from the athletic and he was Kansas and he cooked me like right when the game came out.

They made him into like Bo Jackson Barry Sanders combination in that game and you know, rightfully so I was sad. I wasn't there for that interview Andy, but he's a great guy and I'm rooting for him. Well, speaking of running backs, one of the more impactful running backs who did enter the transfer portal before last season was Damian Martinez. Now look, he was leaving Oregon State,

which was, you know, conference realignment happened to Oregon State. Damian Martinez went to Miami where he was part of a very dynamic offense. So let's talk to Damien Martinez about playing for the Canes, moving from Corvallis to Coral Gables, and playing with Cam Ward. Joined by Miami running back Damien Martinez, former Oregon State running back.

Alright. When you got to Miami, how different was it than Corvallis Oregon? Uh, completely different got to Miami, how different was it than Corvallis Organ? True, completely different. I mean, just going from one end to the other. Yeah, it was just completely different, flipped on his head.

I have been to both places. I've been to Coral Gables, I've been to Corvallis. There's nothing similar about either place. But wait, okay, give me the sales pitch for Corvallis and give me the sales pitch for Coral Gables. Corvallis, you know, you go there, work hard, you know, keep your head down, then what's the dude would just focus on ball. Miami, for me, it was just, you know, the offense is

what it could be and then what it was this year. So we were talking to Xavier strepo the other day and really, where do you take recruits? What do you he's like, Oh, we go to these restaurants on Key Biscayne. It's like, you just don't get that in Tuscaloosa, Eugene and State College. What was it? What? What was that like when you when you got to Miami and Cam Ward gets there and obviously you played against him already. Could you guys tell right off the bat how special this office was going to be? Oh, yeah,

I mean, like I said, trans transfer reporter just looking at the offense, what was there, the old lineman that was there, the cam, the receivers, X, George, Kobe, Sam Brown coming in. I mean, just how much production was in the offense and what the offense could be. How much did you, when you were in the portal, how much did you look at the offensive lines of the schools you were looking at? I was definitely a big thing for me, just, you know, making holes and then pass protection for the quarterback,

you know, it all starts in the trenches. Yeah. And you got to like Jalen Rivers is here with you and how much did you get to know those guys over over the year and how how special were they to you? Yeah, I mean, it was transitioning like getting to the locker room with everybody was pretty smooth. You know, they they wanted me to come there recruiting me also. So getting in with them was pretty easy. Well, and that's the thing you guys had a lot of new guys.

And you had Meach from Washington. There were a lot of guys that came from the West Coast. Yeah. Did the guys who came from the Pac-12 hang together a little bit, or did the whole team just kind of blend in? No, the whole team was pretty close, yeah. But no, it is kind of funny that you

say that Pac-12, Meacham and Meach are all locker buddies right next to each other. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so it was cool to. You're like, oh, the rain's it rains everywhere all the time there and it rains all the time here. It's different rain like it only rains for an hour here. Very, very strange. But what is what is your favorite memory from from this time in Miami?

Favorite memories probably definitely just after the game, just being on the field with the fans and my teammates. Just seeing how happy everybody was when you had some crazy games. I mean, the Virginia Tech game. That was probably the craziest moment right there. Did you think you'd lost? No, I knew we were okay. All right. I didn't I'm letting a girl that we do not we do not have to relitigate that play.

I know how everybody Miami Miami feels about that. Cal game was another wild one, though. Yeah, yeah, that was. Yeah. Did you because that was another one you think, OK, what as you're coming back, you guys were down 20. Yeah. Midway through the third quarter. As you're coming back, when did you feel like, all right, we can't we can get back here? Really, the whole game, I mean, it was on the

sideline. Just you know, like, we got this, you know, we are capable of it was just mental mistakes, little mistakes we are making. Do you notice when Michael Irvin is doing push ups on the sideline? We can hear him though. He's funny. What does he say? What does he say to you guys? He just brings energy. I mean, sometimes I don't understand him, baby. He just be bringing energy to the team. You know, you feel it. I mean, that's that's old school Kane stuff. Like they, you know, the dudes would go to

the NFL and they call their old dorm room. How does that even work? That doesn't work now with cell phones because nobody's got the same phone number. So yeah, no, I mean, I don't know how, how many old Canes would would come by? How many guys did you meet in this year? I met a few, Rohan Marley, Michael Irvin, who has came to the Rock. Rohan Marley. I mean, think about that. That was kind of, that was crazy. Is Bob Marley's kid married Lauren Hill?

That's a legend right there, man. And he was a really good player. Yeah, and then the Rock sent us a few gifts a couple times. Nice. So the Rock just randomly sent you guys. Yeah. This is the recruiting pitch, because listen, I know Miami's still active in the portal for next year.

So you're already helping out with that. But when you were looking at schools, when you were trying to decide what was next, what was the most important thing to you in the portal? It's really just comfortability, you know, feeling like I was going to be comfortable with the coaches, with the players, just where I was going to be at, you know. Feeling like I was going to be able to excel and do what I could do best. Does it change? Because I've had guys say when they transfer, like they go on the visits and stuff and people try to show them like all the facilities. They're like, no, no, no, don't care. Show me how you're going to use me. Exactly.

Like how's this going to work? Yeah, no, I mean, as a freshman, you know, like coming into college, everything's kind of crazy, you know, just looking at all schools for the first time. But then after a while, it's like, OK, kind of all look the same. Everybody's going to have a nice place. Yeah. It's always going to be something nice. Everybody's got a nice weight room.

It's always going to be something nicer. But, you know, just how they're going to use you. How can you be a how can you produce in their office? How do you like Coach Feld? Coach Feld, he brings energy to just feel the sleeves is being in the weight room. He's cool. Yeah. Oh yeah. Well, you, you fill the shorts.

You got the thighs like that's the, I mean, it's, it's more important for the running back to have lower body, but felt see, felt does the field of sleaze. So for those who don't know, Aaron Feld is Miami strength coach. Used to, used to be at Oregon. Was it Georgia before that has the, has the handlebar mustache like he

the first time I met him I was doing something on him when he was at Oregon. And I don't know if he set this up for me or not. You tell me I think I think I know what you're gonna say. But I get in the weight room. And he's like he's on the incline. And he's got 405 on the bar. He's like, hold on, I got one more set. Just racks it. Three reps, puts it back up. You think he did that just for show? You think was that just for me?

For my benefit? Definitely what he does, he be up there lifting hard. That was a long snapper. Yeah, I know, and I found that out too. Pretty funny, but yeah, he talks about it. He's open with it. It's funny though, cause you think he'd be like this tyrant in the weight room, but he's like Mr. Science and he's got

all these crazy different lifts. Yeah, he got a we got like the record. I forgot what it's called. But it's like the recording thing on the weight. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That kind of measures your force. Yeah, that's a lot of physics going on there. So So is it as you transition to this next step? How do you show NFL teams that you can be what they need? Just coming out here these next few practices, you know, putting things that I just got to get better on taking a pass protection, catching up off the backfield, just prove it. I'm on three down backs.

The pass pro part of it. I mean, obviously you had to do it in college too, but how How critical is that to show teams that you that you understand that and that you're that you're with because sometimes you see you know these backs have to have to stick their head in on a free rusher and Like you're taking on a much bigger guy. Who's got a full head of steam. Like Is that something you have to get used to or is it you're getting hit every play anyway so you just like the contact? No, I mean that's the pass protection is a one-two. You got to want to do that. You got to want to be an asset in the game. You know, be a three down back, protect the quarterback, get the ball at the back shoot. I mean, other than just running the ball, you got to be

able to do it all. Well, we know you can do it all. So good luck. Appreciate it. Is there? That was Damien Martinez from the Miami Hurricanes as he transitions into the NFL. The team that Miami beat the first week are the Florida Gators. You and I were at that game. We pretty much wrote him off. The next guy you're to hear from was one of the people who made sure that season was not a lost season. And that's Shamir Dike, who was a receiver who transferred from Wisconsin.

He didn't, he didn't come with Graham Mertz. He came the, the, the next year. So he came between 23 and 24 and between Shamir Dike and Elijah Badger, who transferred from Arizona state, they were the ones who really gave DJ Lagway reliable targets there at the end of the season. And I thought the way they handled that situation where basically they all could have quit and they didn't was pretty telling.

So let's talk to Shamir Dike about why. All right, we're here with Florida receiver come here Dike and I mean. What a year this was like started really bad. Ended really good. How did the vibes change on your team as a season went on? Yeah, I mean, I think obviously when you're playing great and winning big games like the energies up, but I think coach Napier and the rest of the leaders on the team did a really good job of, you know, kind of just keeping us even keel and continue to work and improve.

I remember before the UCF game, and that's when things were still kind of dark. Billy was saying, oh, during the bye week, we had some of the best practices we've ever had. And you're like, OK, yeah, coaches always say that stuff. And I remember talking to some of your teammates after you guys beat Ole Miss, and they're like, no, that's really when it turned. What was it about that time? Because you lost to Miami, you lost to A&M,

you'd beaten Mississippi State, but what was it about that point in the season and those practices that started to change things? Yeah, I mean, I think that we just got back to competing, like playing loose, playing fast. I feel like we have a lot of really talented players, and they still have so many talented players, and we kind of developed our identity.

I think that we just kind of built off of that as the season went on. For you, you come from Wisconsin in the off season. You had played with Graham Mertz before, and Graham obviously came in with high expectations for this year. He gets hurt. DJ Lagway comes in. How did things have to change when DJ became the starter? Yeah. I mean, I think they obviously have a little bit different playing styles, but you know, both of them handled that situation so well.

Yeah. You know, Graham was the whole time was, you know, a mentor to DJ and DJ, you know, was just a sponge. He learned so much. And I think that's a piece of humility and character of both of them. And I think that DJ gets to go over the season. I'm really excited to watch him in the future.

Is it the most grandmertz thing ever that he tours ACL, did not know he tours ACL, and threw a touchdown pass? Yeah, it's got to be. It's not a lie. The competitive spirit that he has to be able to stay in the game and keep competing, even with his leg banged up, it's gotta be so I mean the the competitive spirit that he has to be able to stay in the game and keep competing even With his leg banged up pretty impressive each he tried to do it the year before

Before you join the team when he got hurt he broke his collarbone against Missouri It looks like he was still trying to play to so he definitely you deaf I think he had a handoff and he said like he couldn't do it anymore at that game But I don't know he's different. I think I'd be out that same That's like everybody thinks the quarterbacks are the the pretty boys, but Graham's a dog now. But DJ, I don't remember. And I went to Florida and lived in Gainesville a while. I don't remember this much excitement about a quarterback in Gainesville since Tim Tebow.

What is it like? Beer on DJ on a daily basis. Is he getting mobbed? Like when he goes out in public? I mean, he's definitely a fan favorite in Gainesville, let's put it that way. But the good thing about DJ is like, he's the most humble kid ever. He hears about his teammates first

and he's super hardworking. And that's why I know he's gonna be a great player there. And he's gonna continue to get better because even though he's already so talented and already can play at such a high level, he's not satisfied with that. What's your biggest wow moment from DJ? Practice or game?

Just some of the throws he makes, like the FSU throw, scrambling throw he made to me when he threw the defender off of him. Oh yeah. I was like thinking he's tackled. Oh, he's done, right? I'm like, oh, I better start scrambling. Like, he's tackled. Oh, you guys, he's done, right? Oh, I better start scramble. Like he's an animal. I said the one for me is is the LSU game where he's basically

playing on one leg and there's three guys about to and it just flicks the wrist and it just I mean, it was a laser beam. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, like the ability throw from different arm slots. Yeah, super talented. Like you can't really teach someone throws he makes. Well, that's what do you have to get used to as a receiver?

Because there was one there was one through I think it resulted in interception. I want to say it was the Ole Miss game where it was a pure sidearm throw. And I don't think it was you. So I think but I know it was to me. It was. Yeah. No, I mean, the arm slots don't think it was you. So I think but I know it was to me. It was Yeah. No, I mean, it's the arm slots don't really bother me. Yeah. I just didn't do a good enough job on that. You know, pulling down a high ball, right? Like if you know, when a football is a little high, right middle, like, as a receiver, that's your job. I would just think that's so hard

to catch because you're because he clearly wasn't planning to throw it that way. And it's just like, cause the instant replay of that was crazy. Watch me. Are you talking about the screen to the side? No, no, no. This throw wasn't to you. This was like a purely like drop down sidearm,

like old school baseball pitcher sidearm. And there's the TV show to replay of it. And it was like, I don't know if as a receiver, I would even know what to do with that. I mean, the thing is no matter how he throws it's usually on the money so you know it doesn't really bother me. I played baseball before too. Did you okay that's it the the guys who did play baseball understand the the arm slots and everything but when when things started to get rolling for you guys and and and you could tell that things were getting better against Tennessee against Georgia but when it really started going,

how satisfying was it that you gutted that part of the season out and got to the, the improvement? Yeah. I mean, to fight through that adversity that we had, um, you know, being somebody who, who wanted to come there and make an impact, you know, I think that towards the end of the year, it's like, all right, I want to, I want to help these guys learn how to win these games. So I do think that in some ways,

big games are a skill you learn how to win, right? Yeah. Cause you see teams every year that are in those games and you see programs every year that win those games consistently. So, you know, it felt great to go out there and kind of play the level ball that we were capable of. Cause it's amazing to me me how much the excitement level

has changed because before it was like, okay, don't know what they're gonna do. Now people are really pumped about what Florida can be. And it's interesting because you were there for the year, but now you're part of that foundation. Yeah, I mean, I'm excited to watch them next year. Yeah. All those guys, I have to have a close relationship with them.

But just so many we build, I want them to keep building that. I know they will. You know, they'll have great offices and continue to stay hungry and I'm attacked schedule next year. So I know you and Graham and some of the older guys, but who are some of the guys that really kept that team together when things were tough? Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, there was a bunch of people, the young guys that stayed, stayed hungry and stepped up their opportunity. That was huge for us. DJ,

you know, there's, there's more like Kobe Jackson, for example. And then I think that we had a lot of good leadership, you know, I think that, you know, Cam Jackson, Montreux Johnson, myself, Graham, Jake Slaughter, like the list goes on, Austin Barber, like all these guys are really good leaders. Joey Slackman, like all these dudes that were consistent and they continued to work and they helped the team attack every practice attack for them. Jake Slaughter is Mr. Gator, right? Jake Slaughter is a man.

Because we knew he was a good center going into the season, but now to see him coming out and people talking about him as potentially the best center in America. I mean, could you guys tell that, you know, at practice that this guy is going to be special? Yeah. I mean, it's, it's a little different when we were watching the center compared to, um, receivers because you really have to zone in. But like, dude, Jake Slaughter is the hardest working guy ever. Um, and he wins consistently at practice against monsters on the

field line and, uh, you know, I, I have no doubt he's going to be playing for a long time and he's going to be, you know, one of the better Gators to play. I was thinking when Caleb Banks decided to come back, I'm like, that's the biggest pickup off season they could have gotten like, cause he could be here right now working for a draft spot, right? Yeah, he's Caleb's obviously super talented. You saw some of the havoc you read, especially down the line. I started playing really, really good football. And, you know, I think that, you know, this year is an opportunity for him to take another step even and get

even better. So now you and Elijah Badger are here, you know, you're gone, you're going to the NFL. Who do you think of those young receivers? Are you really excited to see? Oh, I mean, I think I'm excited for all of them, you know, Tank Hock and TJ Abrams, Aidan Myzel, Trey Wilson have taken another step. Like the list goes on, they got new guys coming in. You know, I think that Billy G does a great job of developing those guys,

and I know that they're going to be ready when the season comes. Yeah, that's it. Billy Gonzales, a longtime receivers coach, coach for Urban Meyer at Florida. It's interesting, you know, how you and Elijah became kind of the go-to guys this year, when you were the new guys. I mean, how long did that take to develop that chemistry? Obviously, you had worked with Brand before, but he hadn't. I mean, I think they're throughout camp, you know, you saw the growth being made and even throughout the season. You know, just developing that but no for me, it's just going out there and execute my job at a high level. That's all I focus on and I try to be the same guy every single day. Go to go to work my tail off and know my teammates know they can trust me.

So and as you as you transition to the next level, like how do you show that you're seeing your goal right now? You're going to these practices where obviously everybody in the league's watching you. How do you show that in a practice that you can do all those things? Yeah. I mean, I think it's, it's tough to show all those things, right? Because you only have a limited amount of reps, but it's attacking every single

rep you have, right? And taking advantage of it and competing and be consistent. And if you do not make a play, then that bouncing back and, you have, right, and taking advantage of it and competing and be consistent. And if you do not make a play, then it's bouncing back and showing that you're able to continue to go and improve and work. What is the competition for reps like out there? Are you trying to cut people in line? Are you trying to... No, out here?

I don't know if you can do that, right? It's not like a high school camp. No, it's... We have scripted reps. Yeah. So you don't really have to think about that. Just going out there and taking advantage. You just have to make the most of what you got. Make the most of what you got. And I mean, you

know, I have a lot of a lot of plays on film. So this is just another opportunity to go improve myself. That's the I always wonder about that when guys have a very, you know, big body of work like you do. Do you feel like, okay, they're probably looking at that the most, but I still have to. Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, game film, your game fully put on film during the season is definitely a huge part of NFL evaluation.

But, you know, when you're around the best players like this in mobile, like this is a great opportunity to get in front of scouts interview, see how they operate, and then also just compete against really high level players. You know, but I think it's it's also you can just approach it as like an opportunity to get in front of Scouts, interview, see how they operate, and then also just compete against really high level players. You know, but I think it's also you can just approach it as like an opportunity to play against the best opportunity to get better and you know, iron sharpens iron. So that's kind of how I'm looking at it. And then you get to talk to the Scouts, you get to talk to the personnel people. What's the what's the best question any of these guys have asked you? What really made you think when they asked you that? Oh, um,

I don't know. There's so many. It's, it's tough to pick. I'd say probably just like, um, you know, what makes you tick? I think that's the first time you get asked that question and you have to, you have to think about it. But, um, you know, I just love competing. What does make you tick? I love competition. Since I was a little kid, I played four sports. Like I just became addicted to it. Like, you know, whatever season it was, I wanted to compete. I love competition since I was a little kid. I played four sports like I just became addicted to it like you know whatever season it was I wanted to compete. I wanted to play but then obviously you know football is a way to support your family and you know I want to have a future family that I that I can support and you know those two

things probably are the main two. That's that's a hell of motivation right there. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Ari, I'm gonna miss all those guys. The exit interviews kinda make me sad. They are sad. Xavier Estrepo one got me last week. He's awesome. He was so fun to watch.

But I can't wait to see him in the NFL. He he's one. I feel like is going to blow up in the NFL too. Yeah. But also too, it's just like when these guys leave, it just opens the door for new awesome personalities and stories to, to, you know, kind of find their way into the light. And I'm excited to spend the summer trying to discover some of those guys before they officially become stars. You know, that's, that's definitely right. There's always somebody in line waiting. So. Yeah, we're gonna be hunting for the next stars, but on tomorrow's show, we're probably gonna be arguing because we published some fairly controversial lists and we knew this was gonna be a fairly controversial.

We went into the exercise knowing that people would not agree and that we would not agree with each other. But that is the beauty of this. Ari has his top 25 coaches list out already. Mine is coming out Thursday at on three. We will discuss them both on Thursday's show. Talk to you then.