Andy & Ari On3 - What happens NEXT at Michigan after Jim Harbaugh interviews with the Chargers? | Alabama update

Episode Date: January 16, 2024

Thank you to Gametime for sponsoring today's episode! Week 1 is days away, don't miss your chance to watch your favorite team. Download the Gametime App at Gametime.co and enter code: STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase, terms apply. Last Minute Tickets, Lowest Prices, Guaranteed.(0:00-6:44) Intro - Jim Harbaugh Interviews with Chargers(6:45-31:36) Clayton Sayfie from the Wolverine Joins to break down Michigan's Future(31:37-34:42) Jedd Fisch's Staff at Washington/Candidates for Arizona(34:43-1:01:14) Tim Watts from BamaOnline joins to break down Kalen DeBoer's staff at Alabama and What's next for the Tide(1:01:15-1:02:30) Conclusion/Caleb Williams Declares for the NFLJim Harbaugh interviewed with the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday. Sources didn't tell us that. The Chargers did, because NFL teams aren't as weird about head coach interviews as college programs. Clayton Sayfie of On3's The Wolverine joins to explain what this means for Michigan. Is Harbaugh the leading candidate? Will he talk to other NFL teams? What are the chances he decides to stay at Michigan?Later, Andy provides an update on Jedd Fisch's transition to Washington. He's starting to fill out his staff. Meanwhile, Arizona is working to replace Fisch.Next, Tim Watts of On3's BamaOnline gives us an update on former Washington coach KalenDeBoer's first few days as Alabama's coach. He's got an offensive staff, but what will he do on defense? Also , how much work does DeBoer have to do to keep the Crimson Tide's roster together.Want to watch the show? Head on over to YouTube now! https://youtube.com/live/9rHkjP5qi3Q

Welcome to Andy Staple's On 3 Harbaugh Watch 2024. Completely different from Harbaugh Watch 2023 and Harbaugh Watch 2022. And then it's happened a little earlier, I think, than last time. But yeah, it is Jim Harbaugh Watch. We are once again waiting to see what happens with Jim Harbaugh and the NFL. We know he interviewed with the Chargers on Monday, not because Ian Rappaport or Adam Schefter or all of the usual NFL reporters reported it. No, the Chargers tweeted it out. We've completed an interview with Jim Harbaugh for head coach.

If you click on the link, it's basically a biography of Jim Harbaugh. It's five questions about who the guy is that might be the next Chargers coach. It might be coaching Justin Herbert. But it's so funny as someone who covers college football where every college coaching search, every head coaching search is like a papal conclave. We will not tell you anything. In fact, the other day when Alabama had an opening and they decided on who they were going to hire, Greg Byrne, the athletic director's first tweet after they decided who they were going to hire was a photo of Archibald's, the best rib place in Metro Tuscaloosa with white smoke coming out of the chimney. Like that's how it works in college.

In the NFL, it's like we interviewed this dude. We're going to interview this dude tomorrow. Here's who we've interviewed. Here's the list. It's amazing. It's so amazing. Now, part of it is in the NFL, you're interviewing other NFL coaches usually, whether they are assistant coaches or coaches who are not employed by another team.

You can't really hire somebody else's head coach. You got to trade for somebody else's head coach because they're under contract. And unlike in college football, where you just say, I'm going to pay the buyout, it doesn't work that way in the NFL. The compensation is draft picks if you want to get somebody so we've seen it before sean payton was actually traded to the broncos last year because he was still under contract with the saints so the broncos had to had to flip him a draft pick to get sean payton and famously bill belichick was traded from the jets to the the Patriots. But this is not the norm. It's not the norm in the NFL. They have expiry. And nobody in the NFL, the agents who represent NFL coaches, many of them also represent college coaches, but they don't go to the NFL owners and say,

hey, my guy needs four years on his contract or he can't recruit. Like, NFL contracts expire. They let them expire. And then sometimes they sign new ones and sometimes they don't. And it's a very different world. Very different world. But we've seen this with Jim Harbaugh the last couple of years.

Two years ago, he interviews with the Vikings. He didn't get the job. Kevin O'Connell did. Last year, the flirtation was with the Broncos, who did ultimately end up hiring Sean Payton. So this year, it's the Chargers. We'll see if it's anybody else. We're going to talk to Clayton Safey from the Wolverine

very shortly on 3's Michigan website. And we will talk about if there's anything else beyond this in the NFL, or did Jim Harbaugh look at the available options, decide what might be the best fit for him, what franchise might want him the most, and say, here's who I'm going to interview with, and then I'll make a decision. All of that needs to be figured out. And of course, Michigan has been trying to sign Jim Harbaugh to a new contract, a lucrative new contract, for months now. They would like to have him stay, and who would blame them? The man just led them to a national title, and they're 15-0. We'll talk to Clayton about this in a minute, but I was enjoying spending some time on the Wolverines message boards and the the difference of opinions

regarding Harbaugh flirting with the NFL what it means for recruiting I had to laugh at a couple of folks and and I will say there are a lot of really smart people on these message boards that that are pointing out the obvious but there are some folks who will say, hey, don't you know this is killing recruiting? And I'm like, not really. Because these are the same people who say it killed recruiting before. They just won the national title. They're recruiting just fine. Whatever they've been doing and the recruiting classes are fairly similar over the last few years.

And what they do out of the portal is fine. It works. It just took them to 15-0. They've won the Big Ten three years in a row. It's working. It's okay that he's 40. And maybe Jim Harbaugh's the only guy in the world who can get away with

this, but he can't. It has not adversely affected their roster one bit. And I don't know that you could say that about most coaches. I don't think that would work in most programs, but it is working in Michigan's program. Before we get to Clayton safety though, we need to talk about game time and Clayton's up there in Ann's program. Before we get to Clayton's safety, though, we need to talk about game time.

And Clayton's up there in Ann Arbor. I know everybody's excited about Michigan just winning the national title, but they're also excited about those Detroit Lions who just won a playoff game last night. Clayton's already in the studio. He's fist pumping already. If you would like to go see the Lions play against whoever wins this Bucks

Eagles game next weekend, well, you can get tickets on GameTime because GameTime is the easiest way to get last minute tickets. You download that GameTime app, use the code staples, you get $20 off your first purchase. So that one's a hot ticket, obviously. Now, if you're looking for something a little more reasonably priced, let's say you're in Austin this weekend and you want to see Texas and Baylor playing basketball at Texas. One of the last meetings between these two programs as conference foes, and Baylor's really good again this year, well, you can get a ticket to the game.

Very easy. You look at the picture. It shows you where your seat would be. You turn your phone. It shows you what your vantage point actually looks like in the stadium look at the picture. It shows you where your seat would be. You turn your phone. It shows you what your vantage point actually looks like in the stadium or in the arena. And a couple more taps, the ticket's yours. So sporting events, concerts, comedy shows, you name it, GameTime's got it. The easiest way to get last-minute tickets, download the GameTime app,

redeem the code STAPLES, and get $20 off your first purchase. We now go to Ann Arbor clayton safey joins us hardball watch 2024 does it feel different from hardball watch 2023 or hardball watch 2022 yeah i i would say so and you mentioned the lions my voice a little bit gone here because of the Lions. We have them to blame for that. Yeah, it does feel different. It feels a little bit more in the open. I know he was dodging all the questions when you and I were in Pasadena and then Houston for the national championship. Didn't want to talk about the future.

But even the Chargers putting out that graphic, like we interviewed Michigan's Jim Harbaugh, it's kind of like it just feels different because he worked in silence a little bit more the last couple years which is also a little bit odd because now he has a high-powered agent in Don Yee with obviously deep NFL ties so I just think that it's one of those things he said it this past spring and I know two years ago he said it was it was going to be one-time thing. He wasn't going to look at the NFL again, but he kind of changed his stance a little bit more this past spring when he said, every January, you look around, you talk to people, how much do they want me here? That sort of thing. What calls come in? He said, Jesse Minter interviewed with

the Eagles last year. NFL is interested in our players. He's kind of changed his stance a little bit where it's like, yeah, I am going to explore. I'm going to see what my options are out there. And he doesn't have a new contract at Michigan yet. I'm sure he could sit down and sign one right now, like right now. Ward Manuel would give him the pen, whatever pen he wants, you know, whatever. There's also DocuSign. I know he's old school, but there's DocuSign. Exactly.

So he could sign, Andy. And that's not to say that they're not still negotiating on that front as well, but it does just feel a little different to me. But also what I've come to realize too is that I don't think it's some lock that if he gets an offer from the Chargers, he goes. But I don't think it's a lock either that if he gets everything he wants from Michigan that he stays. I think he's going to see what's out there. And I know we'll probably get into more of the nuances,

but I think this Chargers thing to me feels more like he's interviewing them to an extent than it is they're interviewing him. Yeah, it doesn't feel like the Vikings thing two years ago, which we went into that knowing that Jim Harbaugh was going to interview with the Vikings, thinking that it's like a college interview where once you go there, you're obviously the prime candidate. But that wasn't the case. They were trying to figure out what they wanted to do. They end up hiring Kevin O'Connell. This one definitely feels more like he would be their main target in this situation.

But like you said, it doesn't necessarily mean he takes it because this target in this situation but it does like you said it doesn't necessarily mean he takes it because this is a different situation he's just won the national title so chris ballas at the wolverine reported today that that one of the sticking points in in contract negotiations with michigan is trying to get assurances that they're done with the ncaa that there's no further punishment coming, which I don't know how Michigan could grant that. Yeah, I mean, it's tough. And you mentioned the smart people on our message board.

I do appreciate you giving them that compliment. But as you know, and as you've mentioned, I think with me on here before, a lot of lawyers at Michigan and a lot of lawyers on there are saying you just cannot do it. It's a non-starter, that sort of thing. At the same time, it's so unprecedented you know this is such an unprecedented situation because he is you know one of the best coaches in all of football regardless of level he's also embroiled right now currently in two different ncaa investigations one of them they've been delivered the notice of allegations for burger gate as people call it. Yeah.

Not saying it's just all about a burger. There I am in the video there with Donovan. Well, there was cheese on the burger. There was cheese. It was a cheeseburger gate more than a burger gate. OK, right. So you have cheeseburger gate, but you also have the sign stealing thing. Who knows what rule was broken, how severe it is, that sort of stuff.

There's still a ways to go there. So you have these two NCAA things. And I think he has seen, this is my guess, but I've kind of seen it too, how fickle a lot of people at a university or involved in academia can be. I mean, Chris Partridge was fired the day before they went on their trip to, or the day of the trip to Maryland. You know. Not saying it's all apples to apples here, but I think he probably wants to realize if I'm going to turn down a really good offer somewhere else, like Los Angeles, I want to make sure that I'm good here no matter what happens with this investigation. And look, you could still fire him. You would just have to pay him, right?

So, I mean- Right. Well, I don't even think about it like Michigan having to fire Jim Harbaugh. When I look at them winning a national title and him being suspended for six games that season, I would think, and given the public posturing from Santa Ona, the Michigan president, that barring something out of the blue that we never saw coming, that they just say, look, if the NCAA suspends you more, we got your back. We're not going to punish you at all.

And if you have to sit out games, that's fine. We have your back. We'll continue to pay you. We'll pay you more. You have a job here as long as you want to have a job here. That is how I would handle it in this particular situation. I agree. I agree with that.

And maybe that's what he's, what he's looking for. It'd be interesting to see all the wording there. And then, you know, too, I mean, it also,

it's not also simple either, right? Because there is history here. I mean, I don't think he was very happy with the self-imposed suspension for cheeseburger gate at the beginning of this year. I mean, that was lev think he was very happy with the self-imposed suspension for Cheeseburger Gate at the beginning of this year. I mean, that was levied by Michigan, you know, obviously as a form to, you know, in part to protect him. Right. So, I mean, right. I think he understands why they did it, but I don't know necessarily if he was on board with it.

And there's, you know, I mean, his pay was cut. There's a lot of history here. So it's never cut and dry when it comes to Jim Harbaugh. That's why he's so unpredictable. You never really know exactly what he's thinking. He's hard to get a read on. And Michigan's kind of quiet on this stuff too. So I know Ward Manuel was as vocal as he's ever been, starting with when you and I were in the scrum there with him

after the national title. And then even on Saturday night when I was at Chrysler Center for the championship celebration, and he said, I'm working on getting this guy a new contract, pointing right at him. He wants to get it done, but it's just so complicated. But it is interesting to see. I don't want to say desperate, but it just felt like they know that they got to get this done if they want a shot here to keep him.

Well, and the other thing is I'm not sure it matters because if he really wants to go to the NFL and he's offered an NFL job that he feels is somewhere he can succeed, I would think he's just going to take that. And then if that doesn't happen, he's going to stay. I know we got to talk about this a lot but I feel like it's it's not more complicated than that sure I mean that's part of it too is he's talked about the itch he had you know to potentially win a Super Bowl at some point it's kind of the one thing now that he has

a national title that he hasn't been able to to check off I mean they finished number two when he was a player here at Michigan he was really close to the Super Bowl a couple different times as a player and then made it and lost to his brother last time. So that's still a big pull for him too. But I think there is part of it, though, where if you're Michigan, you could do everything you possibly can to make sure that if the NFL is not the right situation, that he would want to come back. I mean, you don't want to leave any stone unturned, I would say, if you're Michigan. And that's why, you know, I think, you know, you hear this from Chris, obviously, all over it, reporting it.

You know, that's why I think those details are still kind of out there where things could be changed. So Malachi in the chat is representative of the fan, people in the fan base who say this does hurt recruiting. He says, this is hurting recruiting. Call me negative and miserable if you want. And so let's talk about that. Michigan right now sits at number 15 in the team rankings for the on three industry rankings.

I believe they were a little higher last year when there was a flirtation as well with, Oh no, they were, they were 18 last year. So, I mean, it feels like they're recruiting fairly similar to how they have throughout

much of Jim Harbaugh's tenure. So I, again, I don't know how much that actually hurts. They were, they were number nine in 2022, which is the year that he was interviewing with the Vikings on the second signing day. 2022, obviously, a very good class for them. But again, I don't see how much it's hurting them i mean like they still got will johnson and derrick moore and you know that that's the class that had that has kenneth grant that has

a bunch of guys who play for them right now yeah colson love exactly so yeah one thing to note on that too is that class though i mean like will johnson was here um you know as an early enrollee at that point so right it was a lot of guys were alreadyee at that point so right it was already signed at that point sure so it was more the next class but and i do understand i mean sure would recruiting be probably a little bit better if you didn't do this then absolutely but it's also partly the price you pay when jim hackett michigan's former interim ad went and pried a guy out of the nfl that was coaching in a super bowl you know a year and a half earlier so that's kind of what what the deal is here um i think nil is a bigger

factor than the jim harbaugh flirtations but i think all of it is kind of a perfect storm for them to that they have taken a step back a little bit and recruiting more more so 15 to 20 ish is where they've been finishing the last couple cycles. And really, that is not good enough. But I don't know that the correlation here necessarily – or that's the full reason. They've been behind in some other areas like that. So, look, and a counterargument a little bit to what you said is a lot of the guys that did win them this national championship were part of, you know, a lot of them were top 100 guys. I'm not saying that they had the five stars that Alabama did,

but like that sweet spot for them has been kind of the 75 to 150 type of kid, like a Blake Corum. And then they developed the hell out of them, right? Yeah. And I think this era of college football, that may be the better way to do it now. It might be. So beer-drinking CFB enthusiasts in the chat, I think Michigan has changed the way they recruit. They go after their guys, not chasing five stars.

And look, when they get the five stars, they hit. Donovan Edwards, you could say he didn't hit this season, but he sure as hell hit in the national title game. He hit. Will Johnson, he hit. they're getting those guys too right they get the five stars and look they offer these other kids too so part of it is i understand that they they do recruit a little bit differently jim harbaugh has definitely in the last couple years prioritized guys that would be culture fits especially since he's gotten this culture

really up and running um you know, over, you know, maybe the five star, but they're still offering the five stars. They're still going out and evaluating and trying to get in the door there with those kids too. So they do have to be better recruiting. I will say that, but I don't think it's, it's fully that reason. There are other reasons as well. And that's kind of where they're at, I think. Yeah, it's a very interesting mix, and the way you build a roster now to create a championship team has changed. It just has changed in the last three years, and I don't think anybody knows exactly how to do it right.

I think probably the surest way is do what Georgia does and just stack five-star offensive and defensive linemen, but not everybody can do that, and Michigan just went 15 and 0 without ever having done that and so I just I think that piece of criticism is a bit unfair but I also think Jim Harbaugh might be the only coach who could pull this off no I I agree with that um you know one let like the aspect of it that i mentioned with he's the only one that would be doing this because like other guys would probably love to have the option to

talk to the chargers this week um yeah you know but so he has that opportunity but with that comes a little bit of a curse you know in that there's a lot of you know a little bit of instability every january it feels like at this point that sort of thing. But also you have the benefit of having a coach good enough to piece things together. And he operates well in chaos. I mean, he almost likes things to be uncomfortable and has somehow been able to kind of pull through even in those situations. So, and honestly, the last couple of years, once he has come back, whether it was after the Minnesota trip, you know, for that interview with the Vikings or last year with

a couple of meetings with Denver, they actually came here to Ann Arbor. Once that's over and spring ball starts on Valentine's day, because they love football, which is the most Jim Harbaugh thing ever, then he's, he's so locked in and that you know they they just run such a smooth operation it feels like from that point on and then yeah maybe you take a week you celebrate you have a parade and then the uncertainty starts again but if he's back I have no doubt that that things are going to be probably pretty smooth come Valentine's Day yeah I would think so also. Let's talk about if he leaves because that he did interview an NFL team today. If he leaves, and it probably ends up with Sharon Moore. And also, I think if you looked around, too, nationally, you may come to the conclusion that Sharon Moore is your best bet anyway because of the advantages he has of already being on staff,

having a relationship with these guys. He's a rising star that knows Michigan. You know, he's a Michigan man now. Jim Harbaugh nominated him as a Michigan man. I don't know if he's confirmed or not yet, but I would confirm him if I have any sort of power. Yeah, I think the Ohio State game confirmed him as a Michigan man. 100%.

It's interesting, though, and I know Michigan fans don't want to hear this comparison, but it is similar to the situation. Remember, Ryan Day had to be Ohio State's interim coach for three games in 2018, which allowed Gene Smith to get a look at him and see how he ran the program. And then Gene Smith said that he vetted some other candidates. He looked at some other people, but ultimately decided that Ryan day would be the best successor for urban Meyer. Like he had a few, he had a little bit of time to do that so I imagine Ward Manuel is probably already has already done that and and probably has an idea what he wants and it's weird

too because you didn't expect this to happen because so Andy you and I were there for you know all the press conferences in Houston and everyone was asking Jim Harbaugh up there even with Kalen DeBoer the day before the game about his future. Turns out Kalen DeBoer less than a week later was gone. It's wild. Think about this, Clayton. Exactly a week ago right now, they were in the first quarter of the national title game coaching against one another. Now one of them coaches Alabama and the other one interviewed with the Chargers.

There's a graphic saying that he interviewed with the Chargers. Yeah, and the other one is wearing crimson. and it has had it long had his press conference two days ago now yeah already so time time moves fast but i bring that up to say this that if there was a name that i think michigan fans at least would want to look at externally it would have been caitlin devore i mean he's a guy who's on the street at eastern michigan for a few years at one point obviously has midwest ties and is a great coach and up and comer, you know, somebody that was at Indiana, you know, in Michigan fans kind of got to know him then when he was the offensive coordinator. So he was a guy, you know, even, you know, the name Jed Fish

is thrown out there. Well, now he has a new job. So even more so over the last week, I would say it's solidified that it's thrown. I'm not saying it wouldn't, it wasn't going to be already, but the options are, you know, Nick Saban kind of threw a wrench in this whole thing. Yeah. Little guy says, my heart says Sharon Moore, but my head says Jesse Mentor. I would imagine if Jim Harbaugh leaves that Jesse Mentor is Jim Harbaugh's defensive coordinator at the Chargers or wherever. That's what I would guess as well. Yeah. And, you know, I think he probably goes back to the NFL at

some point. And I think Sharon Moore is, you know, I just don't think it would be Jesse Minter. I think Sharon Moore is kind of a little bit more groomed at this point to be the head coach. Yeah, it'll be, it will be interesting to see if that happens. Because I also think that Sharon is the obvious choice, that they really don't have to overthink this. And Rex from FC Boston in the chat says, Jesse Mentor feels way more critical to our success than Sharon. Hard disagree, because I've watched that offensive line play for the last three years, and I would say that's the most important element

to Michigan's success, and guess who's directly responsible for that? Yeah, Sharon Moore, and then he's directly responsible for that yeah Sharon Moore and then and then he's taken over the offense too I will say the two changes so it's kind of hard to figure out which one you know was more important but I do agree with you uh but they switch the defensive system they bring in Mike McDonald from the Ravens now they're running this NFL style system the same year I call it the Ravens internship system. Pretty much. Yeah. It's like you get to – it's almost like the Sharon Moore test driving the car there for a few games. It's like Mike McDonald got to test drive or John Horvath got to watch him. We don't need to wait for Martin Hill anymore.

Come on, Mike. Right. And he's done a great job, and he's interviewing for head coaching jobs, and they're the one seed. So they're going to have a great opportunity here to win a Super Bowl. But at the same time, you promoted Sharon Moore to offensive line coach. You made that change on the defense. Those were the two biggest decisions I think Jim Harbaugh's made at Michigan. You can't go wrong either way.

And Minter was incredible this year in year two of the defense, and what he did to Michael Penix in Washington was amazing. But I agree. Sharon Moore, he's He's the second longest tenured coach on, on staff now. And, uh, and kind of that protege of Jim Harbaugh. So I'm going to break Malachi's heart in the chat again. Uh, he wants, he wants Joe Brady as Michigan's OC. Um, if you just watch the bills play Joe Brady, he's going to be fine in the NFL for a little while. He's, he's got a, he's He's got a job there, and he may have a lot of NFL teams after him as play caller after this because he's essentially the interim because he replaced Ken Dorsey.

So, yeah, this is – I don't think you're going to get Joe Brady. Also, Sharon Moore might be a play calling head coach. Who knows? He could be. We just saw him do it. Right. He did do it against Ohio State in the biggest game of his life. Obviously, everyone knows how big that game was with everything that went on.

But here's the thing, though. I think the one concern you would have with Sharon Moore, not just him specifically, but any guy who is an internal hire who's been here for a while. So a lot of his network is here at Michigan. I know he obviously knows other people in the business, but he's been here for a while. He's an internal hire, and he's a first-time head coach. It's a little bit different when an assistant coach signs up to work for Jim Harbaugh than it would be for a first-time head coach.

Now, he could retain a lot of the staff, but I do think if you're thinking next steps, and we got a lot of time to talk about this if things happen, but that would be kind of one drawback, I think, is hiring your staff. But at the same time, maybe the continuity would keep with him. Let me throw this out there. I'm assuming Jim wants Sharon to get the job if Jim leaves. I think so. If that happens, I think the John Harbaugh internship program stays open,

and I think the Jim Harbaugh internship program comes open. And so you may be getting some whiz kids sent your way, just like Jim's been doing with John's whiz kids these last few years. That's a good point. That's a great point, too. So there's an advantage, too, with Sharon Moore on that. And, no, it's a great point too and there so there's an advantage too with with Sharon Moore on on that and no it's a great it's a great point so but it's something to think about because you do you know I think that one of the biggest things Michigan has done the last few years is they've

built one of if not the best staffs like one through 11 head coach to 10th assistant in the country so you can't do it alone if you're a head coach but you make a great point there too maybe the internship system is i mean just incredible that they have the ability to do that and you have two brothers at the top of the game like well and it's unbelievable because that raven system is so good and now you've got it kind of laid out you've laid out the groundwork so whoever the the next hot up-and-coming assistant is with the ravens is a good position coach you send him over call the plays and then he's ready to ready to rock and roll in case mike mcdonald because mike mcdonald's been interviewing for head coaching jobs so jesse minner may be the ravens defensive coordinator for all we know mike mcdonald's defensive coordinator

correct correct so that that's the part you gotta you gotta think about. So you want to keep that pipeline open. Before we let you go, Clayton, I do want to ask you about the roster because quite a few announcements went down. Donovan Edwards coming back. That feels pretty big. That is big. I know he didn't have the year that everyone expected him to have, and he didn't revolutionize the position like he said he might.

But at the same time, I mean, this dude came back and probably thought Blake Korn was going to be the NFL this year. I think things just didn't work out as well as he would have liked them this year. And he was coming off two pretty serious injuries that required surgery last offseason. So I think a healthy offseason for him is going to be big. This is an offense that we don't know who the quarterback is going to be.

It could be a younger guy. It could be an Alex Orji or Jaden Davis, the freshman. And I think they're going to have to rely more on the run game or as much as they have. And it's huge to have depth there. So now you have Donovan Edwards, Kalel Mullings, who we saw play pretty well this year at different points. A top 100 guy in Jordan Marshall out of Ohio that's coming in. So they have depth in other guys I'm not naming, but they have depth there at running back. That's big.

Rod Moore comes back on defense at the safety spot along with McCarty Page. Those are really big ones. Josiah Stewart at the edge spot. So there's a lot of talent on that defense, some uncertainty on the offense that I think they'll be able to piece together. And I think Michigan may be, depending on how everything shakes out here they may be one of the more active top tier teams in the transfer portal in the spring um just because you know you didn't know what some of these guys were going to do but uh yeah a lot of guys that would have just come back on a covid year you know a lot of guys that have played four

or five years of college football have moved on, including six offensive linemen, which is crazy. Including Trent A. Jones, and that was one of those when he – I feel selfish saying this and stupid because, you know, have your moment, everybody. But I've seen a lot of guys who were out of eligibility. They sent out the graphic declaring for the draft. I'm like, wait a second. Did they have eligibility left? And then it makes us go back and research and do it. but trent a jones actually did have one more year left yeah so he is forgoing a year to go this is this is the guy who got plugged in at right tackle

after the zach zinner injury and carson barnhart got kicked down to guard yes and so he he's a guy who's not been a full-time starter for an entire season. Began last year as a starter at right tackle, got hurt, and then got overtaken by Carson Barnhart, and then this year only started the last three games, but has done well when he's been in there. He also posted this, though, Andy, I think the day before he made his decision. I think it might have been off topic, but it might have been kind of a precursor. He pointed out that he's 23 years old.

At some point, these guys weren't planning on having that COVID year. And, you know, he's probably- And he's classed in 2019. Like he spent five years in college. For sure. So I think that's part of it. And those are mainly the guys

that have left the Michigan at this point. You know, like Drake Nugent had the same thing, but, you know, Trevor Keegan actually could have come back and zintered, but those guys were already on, you know, they came back for one more year last year. So those were expected. And same with Roman Wilson, the senior bowl type of guys. But, yeah, I mean, look, it's going to be a new look offense.

No clue who the quarterback is going to be. It might be a Ravens type of offense with Alex Orji in there. But the defense is going to be pretty loaded again. Well, now we've got to figure out who's coaching. So that too. Clayton, thank you so much. We will be back in touch very soon. I'm sure. Appreciate it. That is Clayton safety from the Wolverine. And a question from Donnie in the chat. Do you think Alabama picks up Michigan's defensive coordinator? No, I do not. I think Jesse Minter, if he's not staying at Michigan,

his next move will be to the NFL. But in a few minutes, we will be talking to Tim Watts of Bama Online, and we will definitely ask him who he thinks Alabama's next defensive coordinator will be. Now, I don't think we know who Washington's defensive coordinator will be under Jed Fish, but I do think we know who the offensive coordinator will be. It looks like Brennan Carroll, who is the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Arizona under Fish, is coming with Jimmy Doherty, the passing game coordinator, quarterbacks

coach, Jordan Pau-Pau, the tight ends coach, Scotty Graham, the coordinator quarterbacks coach uh jordan pow pow the tight ends coach scotty graham running backs coach uh kevin cummings wide receivers coach so basically the entire offensive staff a couple of defensive assistants and the strength coach coming with jed fish so we'll see what happens in terms of hiring at arizona What does that mean? Because Brennan Carroll was one. If you're going to go an internal hire, that might be one option. But he's obviously going to Washington with Jed Fish, where, by the way, his dad Pete has lived for a while. So I imagine you see Pete Carroll quite a bit around that program. And then we'll see what happens in Arizona.

Potential outside candidate would be Brent Brennan from San Jose state. Who's a guy that, that they interviewed last time around. So we'll, we'll find out more probably pretty soon in the next few days, who they're going to hire, who's going to replace Jed Fish. Johnny Nansen is the other potential one where he went to Texas and as an assistant, the thought is if they were to go, it's not really internal because he's already left, but he was on Jed Fish's staff. So that would be another, another one potentially, but we've got to get a little bit more clarity on this before we find out. And then Arizona, obviously the transfer portal open for them on Monday and we'll stay open for 30 days. So we'll find out exactly what happens to that roster and whom, who may be following Jed Fish. Also, we are keeping close

track of what is happening to Alabama's roster because they have a new coach. There's some guys that have already left. There's some guys in the portal. Also some guys that may be considering going into the portal, but they've got to get their staff figured out. Kalen DeBoer looks like he's bringing most of his offensive staff from Washington, but what happens with the defensive staff?

And, you know, Freddie Roach, the D line coach staying on board at Alabama. We'll see what happens with that. The best person to talk to you about this, of course, is Tim Watts of Bama online. They are all over all of this. Lots of new developments in Tuscaloosa. Here's Tim. I figured we haven't bothered our friend, Tim Watts from Bama Online in a while, but a fairly significant thing happened over the weekend, and now Kalen DeBoer is in his third full day as Alabama's head coach. Tim, I would imagine

that's a drinking through a fire hose situation. Yeah, I mean, I can't even imagine. I'd like to break down. I mean, we have a rough estimate of everything he's went through, but we know he took the job, arrived in Tuscaloosa at 830. A lot of people were waiting on him, probably a little bit surprising for him to see that big of a crowd, and then spoke to the players at 9. We know they were burning the midnight oil Friday night too, so he was meeting with coaches, going over rosters,

doing everything they have to do. And of course, you know, in previous coaching staffs, this one's changed because that 30 day portal window's open. So they're having to deal with that. You know, you got a huge amount of kids on campus and, you know, trying to get your staff and everything else and just the logistics, even for the assistant coaches, you know, like, you know, we know where coach DeBoer's at, but the assistant coaches, some of them are still in Seattle because they had kids going to school today. I mean, they have a lot of stuff they have to deal with and it's just not as easy. Although it seems that way, it's not as easy as, hey, everybody getting the

U-Haul, we're going across the country. So there's a lot of logistics to work out for these guys. Well, it definitely seems like he's bringing the bulk of his offensive staff. I know Robert Gillespie, the running backs coach who was there under Saban, former Florida Gators running back, is staying on board at Alabama. But it feels like the rest of the offensive staff is coming kind of whole cloth from Washington. Yeah, I think the biggest name, obviously, is the one we were the most curious about was Ryan Grubb. I think that probably the best offensive coordinator head coach duo in the country as far as tag teaming and working stuff together. I think they're as good as anybody, so

seeing what he could do. Because we've seen in the past a guy like Ryan Grubb would be up for the Washington head coaching job, which always makes it interesting because you have similar to Brian Kelly, Marcus Freeman, right? Yeah. The majority of those guys stayed at Notre Dame, so you have to kind of choose between your two best friends. You know, you've got to make choices you probably didn't expect to make. So him coming was huge.

Great reputation. Jamarcus Shepard's another guy I've been researching, has a great reputation. The offensive line coach I'm pretty interested in was Scott Huff, simply because, as Travis Reiter pointed out on BOL, their offensive linemen were a lot lighter than what Alabama, what you saw at Alabama this year. So there's a little bit of different philosophy, and they're built for speed. Alabama was built to pin you down, hold you down.

So it's pretty interesting, everything that's coming along with with you. Like you said, Robert Gillespie, who's did an unbelievable job with the last two classes, the last two group of signees, obviously keeping him there is a big plus as far as familiarity goes. Gillespie's recruited all over the South because he's worked for Tennessee, he's worked for Alabama, he's worked for North Carolina. I'm missing a few stops. South Carolina, right? And South Carolina as well.

So he's been a lot of places, and he's a Mississippi native. And he's got Florida, which, I mean, that's kind of where the – you start with your in-state, then you go to Florida and Georgia. That's kind of your big three, how you work off of it. So, yeah, big get there, obviously. Yeah, and now let's talk D.C. because I feel like Kalen DeBoer's kind of welcome to the SEC moment was congratulations you got the Alabama job I know

you want to keep Traveris Robinson on your staff but Kirby Smart says nope I'm taking him they tried to take him back but it doesn't look like that's going to work yeah that was exciting I mean I think it's a little bit you know kind of was in motion. I know T-Rob and Nick Saban were trying to work out an extension or a new contract that never really got finalized and Coach Saban retired. So if you don't have that job done, if you're a coach, you're probably looking at other offers. He's a hot commodity, I think, because of how well he did recruiting. I think the Georgia offer was in hand for a while. Met with Coach DeBoer Friday night. Couldn't really give him an answer.

I mean, again, I don't know how much time he even had to think. I'd be surprised if he's still not, you know, moving 90 to nothing. The next morning, T-Rob resigned, told his players he was leaving. Sunday morning, we find out he's interviewing for the job. We reported that last night on Bama Online. And then today, he decided to stick with Georgia. So almost like a little bit of a recruit coming down to signing day. You know, we had some back and forth there.

And, you know, I think that was a pretty decent battle there. But then again, I don't know how well Kalen DeBoer knew T-Rob. I don't think they had any previous relationships. So you kind of understand how this came about. Yeah, and so the job at Alabama would have been defensive coordinator, I don't think they had any previous relationships. So you kind of understand how this came about. Yeah. And so the job at Alabama would have been defensive coordinator, which it's so funny because you go back to the Ole Miss game and Lane Kiffin saying, we think that's T-Rob's defense. We think he's calling the defense.

So it is funny how that works because he goes – he takes the must-champ spot at Georgia, and then Glenn Schumann is the other co-defensive coordinator there. So that'll be interesting. But I saw you guys reported, and this is a name that I thought was really fascinating, Kane Womack, the South Alabama head coach as a potential Alabama D.C., which that's – I mean, if that is a job that Kane gets offered, he's got to decide, what's the quicker path for me to be a Power Conference head coach?

Yeah, I think it's obvious. It's Alabama, and especially when you count in the NIL. I felt he did a really good job. I was talking to Charles Power, who does our national recruiting today, and he was talking about how well he evaluated. And what happens with schools like that is people realize that they're doing a great job evaluating. They go and double-check on them.

Wake Forest used to do this, too. This happened to them a lot. And the big-name schools will just poach them. NIL certainly is a factor. South Alabama couldn't compete there. So I think if you want to be a head coaching job now, I will say he beat Oklahoma State this year, and there was a lot of talk about him becoming a hot commodity. He lost a couple games he probably shouldn't have,

and I think that affected him. But obviously, you get a guy like that, good reputation. They worked in Indiana together. I think when he went out west, he just needed West Coast people, from what I understand. But all intents and purposes, talking about him today, it seems like he would be a really good fit as far as that coordinator position goes. Well, and Kane's an SEC guy. Like his dad, Dave, was a longtime assistant at various SEC schools.

Kane worked at Ole Miss with Hugh Freeze. You know, he's worked in the South before. That's how he kind of got exposed to Tom Allen, who wound up hiring him at Virginia. So that would be really interesting if that happened, because that is a good recruiter, good evaluator. And you've got to think if Kane does a good job in that role, he's an SEC or an ACC head coach pretty quick.

Yeah, that's been the norm. I mean, he played at Southern Miss, I believe, and I think he coached at Jacksonville State early in his career. So a lot of Southern connections. I'm looking now, UT Martin's one, Ole Miss. I mean, a lot of Southern connections, plus the connections to him. South Alabama, that's going to be one of the biggest areas in the States. Always got a ton of talent from that area,

so he'd be familiar with that and an in-state guy. Yeah, so that would be very interesting. And that's, that's probably the biggest hire DeBoer's got to make if he's, if he's bringing grub that, that probably is the most important one. I think, you know, I think the fans want this to be quick. It's kind of funny because to me, this thing is moved way faster than I expected to. And I think most of us, when we took a look at the timeline,

it's moving as fast as it possibly could consider Nick Saban retired Wednesday at 4 p.m. And we're here Monday, a little bit, you know, four or five, six o'clock. And where were Alabama's at with this? But at the same time, they want it faster. They want to know who the D.C. is because I see people talking about the portal. I get that. They want to see all that. But to me, the most important thing is you get your guy right. You get that guy, the guy you want, the guy you're comfortable with. Because you felt comfortable on defense, but that was kind of low-hanging fruit because you had such a good staff. You knew you could bring them. All that stuff. So defense is going to be a little bit different.

And I think that you have to make sure you get the right guy you're comfortable with. So, yeah, I mean, you think about it this way. A week ago at this time, Kalen DeBoer was coaching the national title game for Washington. Like that's how quick all of this has changed. Let's talk about Bama's roster. We saw Isaiah Bond leave and decide he's going to go to Texas.

We saw Martin I. Black put his name in the portal. Who else do you expect to at least consider jumping to the portal, and how important is it for Kalen DeBoer to make sure they keep who they want to keep? I think to some degree, you know, the vast majority of the roster is going to look at the portal, or I say look at their options. That's kind of what I would expect. Now, if you're running back and Robert Gillespie stays I think it's a little bit easier but if you're at a position where your position goes hey you look at the defense Kevin Steele was already gone Coleman Hutzler was already gone T Rob was expected to leave for Georgia nobody's even mentioned Robert Bala so you know you're a defensive guy you've lost most of the guys you know so keeping Freddie Rhodes is going to be huge there because he's got some kind of relationship with those guys.

And he's got a lot of areas in the South as well. So I think you have to consider your options. I mean, I just look at what I tell my son or what I do. I'd say, look at your options. Talk to your coach. See how you feel. You might love him. You might hate him. You won't want to do this. You might want to do that. You know, figure it out. Or maybe, you know, take visits or just lock it down. We've seen Jalen M. Bocquway from Clay Chalk, both five star guys, second ranked guy in the class. He locked it down, said I'm done.

We saw Beeman, Jeremiah Beeman from Birmingham said the same thing. So the ones that are saying it, you know, they they're locking it down. Jalen and Jeremiah is kind of easy because their coach, the guy recruited on Freddie Roach is still there. So, yeah, relationships are going to matter in those situations. And it's important to keep them all because if, and it's not going to happen now, obviously Isaiah Bond's already committed to Texas, but have they keep the rest of their guys on the roster? It's a top three talent roster in the country talent wise. Yeah. The running back thing's interesting. Jace McClellan goes pro, Roydale Williams transfers to Florida State,

but I was wondering how much movement there was going to be in that running back thing is interesting. Jace McClellan goes pro. Roy Dell Williams transfers to Florida State. But I was wondering how much movement there was going to be in that running back room just because it became pretty clear in the Rose Bowl that Justice Haynes is the future of the position there. Yeah, I think that they all just have different roles. I mean, Richard Young is a guy that can grab a gear and go, kind of a straight line guy. Daniel Hill is a big muscular guy. He's going to move the

crowd reminds you of the old fullback or jerome bettis types the big guys move the uh you know he's his own his he's his own push push you know what i mean nothing wrong with that yeah so you got him and kevin riley your local kids got that burn so you got guys and that's not even to mention jayle miller who to me might be the most complete of them all outside of justice. So talent wise, you got them in the room. You see him hit him out of the backfield. You see how they run. If you're an offensive guy, that's why I was a little I was a lot surprised by Nari Amari not black because the Washington system. My goodness, if it's not built for tight ends to be exposed, have their talent exposed. I don't know what it is. If you just watch their plays, they have so many plays drawn up for the tight end that they're definitely showcased. So I was a little surprised by that. But again, I keep saying portal in doesn't mean portal out. That doesn't mean they're going to leave. The player's gone. It just means he's looking at the portal.

And we've seen guys, if you follow our boy Pete Nacos, you got guys in the portal, out of the portal. Isaiah Hastings from Alabama hit the portal, out of the portal. Isaiah Hastings from Alabama hit the portal, committed to Missouri, decommitted, went to Illinois. So there's a lot of things happening. You know, you saw Elijah Pritchard. He was in the portal for 11 and a half hours. So, you know, it's a big decision for a lot of these guys.

And I get the, you know, the uncertainty. And if you're, you know, adults are uncertain. I see fans, you know, really upset and really freaked out. Imagine being a 19-year-old. Yeah. You just want answers. Well, especially if you're an Alabama player, because it means you were probably a big-time recruit.

You were probably a high four-star or five-star recruit. If you put your name in the portal, everybody's going to contact you. You'll have a very good idea of what your options are. You'll have probably a very good idea of what your NIL situation would be. And you can decide. But I wouldn't be shocked if there were more guys who just do that test, pop in the portal, pop back out, and decide to stay. Yeah, I think that's a possibility.

I think, you know, I said this early on that I expected the portal to be almost like the negotiating table because you have a good year, you go on the portal. What have I got? What's out there? Take the biggest deal and go. I think you can do that three or four years in a row to get your, you know, get through your college career. So I think some guys who are business driven and that was their whole decision will do it that way. But I do think some will be curious and want to take visits you know and the you know the old grass isn't always greener but you know it could be greener for some so i think the uncertainty with the staff um which they're addressing again they're meeting tonight at 6 30. i'll say this about uh deborah he is very active this staff is very active they're talking

to people they're meeting with people and the about it is, anybody they haven't met with within 24 hours, I think they begin to get paranoid that nobody's met with them. They don't know what's going on. But again, he's putting a whole roster together. He's talking to staff. He's talking to recruiting. He's got to figure all this stuff out, move his family, how his kids are doing, the whole nine yards, everything that's going on. But I do think another team meeting, this is at least the second one we're aware of, 630, you never know what this is. At worst case, this is, here's where we're at. This is where we're at in the coaching.

Here's your coaches. Here's what we're doing. Or he might have an announcement of a coach. He knows who he is. He can offer somebody while we're talking and they accepted it. Does it still blow your mind that Nick Saban is not the Alabama coach anymore? It does. I just, it feels, the whole thing's surreal

because this isn't what I expected after he retired. I didn't expect after he retired to be less than 100 hours into his retirement and to find out that he's still going to be on campus sometimes. I didn't expect, you know, at the time, when you first start thinking about him retiring, you never knew there would be a portal. You know, you didn't know there would be NIL. So that's changed everything.

To me, it feels like it's moved really fast and really well. But then at the same time, you know, as a fan, it's almost like, man, this thing's moved taking forever. So I kind of go back and forth just like that with the message board guys, when they feel the anxious, the anxiety, what's going on, I get it because, you know, a lot of times your biggest fear is what the uncertainty. Yeah. No, that's why you're scared of the dark. Most people are scared of the dark. You don't know what's in the dark, but usually it's not Freddy Krueger. You know what I mean? It's usually not the most scary thing you could think of it's still scary well and in this particular case you've seen a level of dominance that really

nobody's been able to match and so the question is can the new guy keep that up I think it's probably unfair to expect that but if you're used to it it's going to be hard to adjust to something different oh yeah and I told you before on the show you know you went from just want to win give me one championship just give me one more and I'll be done you know what I mean and then you get that one championship in 2009 and 2010 you're screaming what is going on this team can't lose three games so you go and then it got to the point with Alabama fans it wasn wasn't just give me a win. It was, hey, we gave up a touchdown with two minutes and 38 seconds to go. We can't lose our focus. So it went from winning to being happy to be in perfectionist with everything,

but nobody's going to do what he just did. There's just, to me, it's completely impossible to do what he did. I mean, you got the portal. I think your goal now with the portal, with the NIL, I think your goal now is to make the 12 team playoff, you know, perhaps win your conference and make the 12 team playoff. I think that's where it starts. I think that's Alabama's first goal. And then to, you know, depending on the year, you can compete for a national championship because some, all years aren't equal. Some years you've got a team. I mean,

we saw it this year where you probably, florida state had a healthy quarterback you had six legitimate teams that were national championship caliber teams in my opinion um in some years you're lucky to have two you know the thing is like you take nick saban out of alabama you don't have that superpower type team necessarily maybe you do maybe caitlin devore will be that guy but it feels like the only person left who's been able to create that multiple years now is kirby smart so is it going to be like that or is it going to be now texas is going to do that or now ohio state's going to do that again or now you know another school that has not been like Ole Miss maybe Ole Miss does it like it it feels like there's more it's I imagine it

gave some hope to the rest of the SEC it did but I mean if you're not in that upper echelon of the SEC you probably have no hope I mean if you're yeah you know if you're LSU they're an up-and-coming program got the number one commitment in next year's class and Bryce Underwood invested heavily in the NIL lane. Lane Kiffin really went all in NIL, NIL wise in the transfer portal, Kirby smarts, a monster on the recruiting trail, big time program. Steve Sarkeesian is the exact same boat. They're very heavy in the NIL space. So when you look at all of that, if you're not one of those teams, you you know Auburn's fighting to get up there with Hugh Freeze and he's proven he's going

to be pretty competitive over his history and then Alabama but if you're a Vanderbilt you know I gotta like eject you know what I mean I gotta yeah I gotta I gotta eject and get somewhere where I'm a little bit more comfortable and we can't even sleep on guys like Eli Missouri another one yeah I don't believe the SEC is going to be absolutely brutal. So it's going to be hard for anyone to – it's not I don't think there's great teams because I do. I think there is now. I just think it's going to be really hard to dominate. Yeah, I think you may be right.

I think it's not just Nick Saban leaving. It's all of these other programs kind of coming up at the same time. Yeah. Maybe because the rules have changed. I mean, maybe that's part of these other programs kind of coming up at the same time yeah maybe because the rules have changed i mean maybe that's part of it is alabama and georgia can't stockpile the way they used to man there's gonna be more parity i mean washington did that with the portal look at florida state they just took what five or six guys from alabama yeah um yes i mean they're literally just pulling back in but you know what that's know what? Roydale Williams is who the portal's for. Yes. That's who he is.

And Shaz Preston, who just portaled to Tulane from that area, that's who the portal's for. Behind people, want to get more run, kind of caught in a log jam. I want to play. I'm at the end of my career. That's what the portal was for. I'm all for Roydale doing great. Shaz Preston.

I don't know if I would be a bigger Shaz Preston fan at Tulane. So that's what it was for. I'm all for Roydale doing great. Shaz Preston, I don't know if I'll be a bigger Shaz Preston fan at Tulane. So that's what it was for, but it does, it does level the playing field. Cause not everybody's going to wait four years. Like you've seen so many guys that, I mean, what year did you notice Quentin Williams, Christian Barmore? I mean, there's guys, Draco Patrick spent his freshman year on special teams. You know what I mean? A guy like that, it's probably thinking, you know, I'm getting out of here next year so I can be a starter. So, I mean, there's been so much. And Kirby's facing that now with the influx of people that are going out.

The inpatient. Look, we're in a TikTok world. I know I'm sounding like an old boomer get off my yard, but I don't like people in my yard. I'll be honest. You actually use TikTok. I don't even use it. I'm more of an old man than you.

I get angry. I won't load the app because let me tell you what it does it just tells me what i'm watching yeah it just keeps row i'm not doing that no i'm not doing that but you get those 20 second clips and you go to twitter you don't have to watch the game you can watch the highlights of the game on twitter um so everybody wants instant gratification everything happens real fast and kids are impatient by nature and I'm not saying that you sit there and wait for sit there and wait three or four years to play one year I'm not saying that at all yeah I but you also do need to have some panel like a Marius Mims is a good example at Georgia you know he almost went to Florida State

and he ended up having to stay another year on the bench at Georgia but then he wound up being a really good offensive tackle and he's going to be a high NFL draft pick and Georgia said hey look if you just stay it'll work out exactly the way we told you it would and it did talent it's hard to keep talent off the field you know what i mean and i do believe that there's a certain amount of quinn and williams not being a freshman starter all-american right right away and learning from a jonathan allen and a pain and all those guys that they learned from i do think there is something to waiting your turn waiting in line who you practice against i think all that at the big

time programs is the case. But yeah, I mean, you're not going to get, again, you're not all going to be, you know, true freshmen starters on a top five team. You know what I mean? It's just, it's hard to do. You got to be super talented. Even those guys, most of them have flaws. So basically what you're doing is you're going to have to hunker down. Football's not like basketball and baseball. Football's an adjustment sport. I mean what you're doing is you're going to have to hunker down. Football's not like basketball and baseball. Football's an adjustment sport. I mean, you've got to get physically ready. You've got to be bigger, stronger.

There's a lot to just learning where your classes are and learning everything that's going on. I mean, there's a lot of learning when it comes to football because they do so much. Yeah, and the Quentin Williams example is a really good one because if Quentin Williams goes somewhere else after his freshman year, does he become what he would would become as a junior because dealing with all those people you know that he had to play he had to back up he had to play against the practice kind of made him

what he was well i mean we learned the most from losing in adversity you know what i mean we don't lose anything from winning. I mean, we learn anything from winning. We learn from losing. We learn from adversity. We learn how to change things and fix things. Winning is easy. We all can win. We all can handle winning, but losing is different. And that kind of goes with being mature and growing up and all that kind of stuff. I you know another thing when you go to the NIL we got 19 year olds driving you know Hellcats now I mean if I was 19 with the Hellcat I've been through this 50 times that would not have ended worst best cases I got to

suspend his license and even now you come to see me and you're driving me around alabaster Alabama though but yeah I mean you got so much everything's sped up for these, and it's just the world. I mean, I have kids. They're much more grown or have access to grown stuff than I ever did. Well, it's going to be interesting to watch what Kayla DeBoer has to do in terms of keeping this roster together and then building on it because, obviously, he's going to be expected to recruit the way Nick Saban recruited.

Yeah, that's going to be – to me, that's Saban recruited. So yeah, that's, that's going to be, that's like, to me, that's impossible. I mean, that to me is impossible. I think Kirby will probably be the last of that mold. I think that, that, that, that kind of cut up and recruiting that way and doing the way they did it. I think it's just in Kirby's nature. He was a, you know, he's a fantastic assistant recruiter and it carried off, but you don't have to recruit as hard if you got a good NIL program behind you. So, I mean, things have changed a little bit there. But yeah, to recruit at that level,

I think it's unrealistic for anybody to do it. I mean, Nick Saban was even recruited again, taking criticism against himself when he missed on big time prospects, but obviously he did it at another level that nobody else has ever done it at. Well, no pressure on Kalen DeBoer because all he has to do is do that again. Just do it, save it. The one thing I'll say is I think being able to coach football helps. And I have not, and I don't know about you, but I have not spoke to a single neutral coach not involved with Alabama who doesn't love this guy. Like X and O's and the creativeness of the offense.

I mean, I haven't met anybody that doesn't love him as a football coach. And I will say this. I think recruiting is a little less important as far as prep recruiting because now you've got the portal. Yeah. I mean yeah you don't have to do it the same way Florida State and Washington have proven you can now flip you know basketball you can flip a schedule and what a roster in one year yeah I've never been able to do that without the portal and now we're see you know back in the day it used to be Mississippi

State signing 27 juco's that was as close as you got. Nice. The JUCOs were at a different level than the portal guys we're seeing. But, I mean, you don't need a freshman anymore when you can get a junior with experience. So you can plug and play pretty quickly. It's a new game. I cannot wait. I love it, though. I don't know about you.

I love it. I don't mind any of this stuff. I don't either because it makes it fun. It allows teams to have hope now there are certain programs that i think it does suck the hope out of but i did i think it allows more teams to have hope more teams to feel like they can compete for a national title and it certainly gives you something to talk about all year round and i think that's one thing because i i i talked to fans who you know they're excited when they get somebody new in the portal.

I say, OK, what does this mean? How is this going to work? Is this is it does this mean we'll be good now? And I think before there just wasn't that like you might sign a good class, but you might going to see those guys play for two years. So it probably goes with our tick tock society, Tim Watts, where it's just sped everything up. Yeah, remember that a good grade. I don't mind it, though. Like you said, year round, it's part of the puzzle. You just have to figure out. I mean, it's not ideal.

I mean, I hate the, you know, the decision some of these kids have to make with just their business decision. You can love a school, but get an offer so good you have to go to another college. I mean, they're making tough decisions, but, I mean, a lot of them are making a lot more than I ever made before I was 30. So there's sympathies at a minimum. No, you got to earn it. And they are trying to do that at Alabama. Now, all of the coaches and the players. So, Tim uh lots of stuff for you guys to cover and uh we we anxiously await you guys breaking that DC hire yeah we're looking

forward to it thanks Tim all right see you Andy thank you the great Tim Watts of Bama online and interesting to see what Kalen DeBoer does with that DC hire Kane Womack I think would be a really good one and yes they did work together for one season at Indiana one other piece of news that I should have mentioned at the beginning of the show we had some fun with it with Pete Nacos yesterday we were pretty sure this was coming but things had been pretty weird with this guy so we weren't sure exactly how it was going to go Caleb Williams went pro today we were pretty sure he was going pro but Caleb Williams went pro he will We were pretty sure he was going pro, but Caleb Williams went pro.

He will be the NFL draft, assuming he'll be the number one pick, whether that will be the Bears picking Caleb Williams or trading the pick to someone who will then pick Caleb Williams. I still think he's going to get number one, but he is now officially in the NFL draft. Question is, will Jim Harbaugh

be picking someone or be helping a GM pick someone in the NFL draft? We don't know yet. We'll have to wait and see. But he did interview with the Chargers on Monday. So, only a matter of time before we get a decision. And Jim Harbaugh

Watch 2024 will come to a close. We'll talk to you tomorrow. ...