Andy & Ari On3 - Which Year 2 coach makes the leap? Freeze, Prime, Rhule or Fickell? | Northwestern's David Braun

Episode Date: July 31, 2024

This show is sponsored by Rhoback, the makers of the world’s most comfortable hoodies, polos, shorts and swim trunks. Use the code “ANDY” on Rhoback.com for 20 percent off for all new customers.(0:00-1:14) Intro(1:15-3:56) More Connor Stalions Fallout?(3:57-7:47) Dukes The Scoop Joins, Wraps up Stalions talk(7:48-12:09) Auburn's Recruiting Heater(12:10-12:56) Ad(12:57-23:14) Continuing the Discussion on Auburn(23:15-29:10) 2nd Year Coaches: Deion Sanders at Colorado(29:11-33:45) 2nd Year Coaches: Matt Rhule at Nebraska(33:46-37:55) 2nd Year Coaches: Luke Fickell at Wisconsin(37:56-40:58) 2nd Year Coaches: Alex Golesh at USF(40:59-47:38) 2nd Year Coaches: Brent Key at Georgia Tech(47:39-48:56) Dukes' Special Shoutout(48:57-49:20) Closing out with Dukes(49:21-1:00:56) Northwestern's David Braun Joins(1:00:57-1:04:32) Wrapping Up; Dear Andy Tomorrow!Phillip Dukes, the host of On3’s Five-Star Flex, joins Andy to discuss Auburn’s recent recruiting hot streak. The guys then follow yesterday’s discussion of first-year coaches with a discussion of second-year coaches — starting with the Tigers’ Hugh Freeze.Out of a group that includes Freeze, Colorado’s Deion Sanders, Nebraska’s Matt Rhule and Wisconsin’s Luke Fickell, who is poised for the biggest jump from year one to year two?Later, Northwestern coach David Braun — another second-year head coach — joins Andy to discuss how his team came together last year under bizarre circumstances and how he has worked to explain to his players that this is a new season with a new set of challenges.And there may be even more fallout from the Connor Stalions case — but this time not at Michigan.Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube and join us LIVE, M-F at 8 am et! https://youtube.com/live/Ou4WRdPqJak

Welcome to Andy Staples on three big show for you today. We did first year coaches yesterday. We're going to talk about second year coaches today because there's one who's on a recruiting heater. That's Auburn's Hugh Freeze. But as intriguing as the first year coaches are, the second year coaches might be even more interesting because you get that first year to second year jump and crazy things happening.

Like Urban Meyer won a national title in his second year at Florida. Kirby Smart went to the national title game in his second year at Georgia. You see some big leaps year one to year two. So we're going to talk about that with our guy, Philip Dukes. Dukes the Scoop, the host of the five-star flex on the On3 Recruits channel. We'll start off talking about what Auburn is doing in recruiting as Hugh Freeze ramps up for year two, but we'll expand that out into the universe because there's some very notable year two coaches, Matt Rule, Coach Prime, Luke Fickle. There's a lot of folks,

and then some folks that maybe you're not thinking about that might be due for a big old jump. But before we get to that, one little piece of news, one little piece of news. This comes from John Bryce at Football Scoop. So he reported this on Tuesday. Fascinating story. Jake Costner, who has been Central Michigan's quarterbacks coach, is not expected to remain with the Chippewas. That's according to John Bryce at Football Scoop. Now, why is that interesting? So Costner is a Grand Haven, Michigan native and worked with Jim Harbaugh for four years as a student assistant at Michigan. Now, again, why is this interesting? Well, remember Chris Ballas from the Wolverine, our Michigan sighted on three. Chris reported that Michigan's expecting to get a notice of allegations

regarding the Connor Stallion's advanced scouting case. And remember, Central Michigan figures into this case because who was that guy on Central Michigan's sideline during the Michigan State game last year? Who was that guy? We all know who that guy was. Look at him. We can see him. Look at him. We know who that is. He's wearing the wrong shoes and everything. That's how you know somebody's not supposed to be on the sideline because they're really weird about the shoes. You got to wear the brand of shoes the team

wears. He's not wearing them. We know who that is. That's Connor Stallions. And for the longest time, Central Michigan's like, we don't know how that happened. We have no idea. We don't even know if that was him. But shortly before camp, you've got a staff reshuffling just as this notice of allegations is about to come down.

I'm not saying anything definitive. No one's saying anything definitive because Lord knows no one said anything definitive yet. But could this be related to the greatest Halloween costume in college football history? Now, it happened on a Friday night, week one season opener. But the funny part is, we all figured it out on Halloween. Connor Stallions. The story just keeps on giving it. The Central Michigan part of the Connor Stallions story is actually my favorite part

and what I consider to be the most interesting part. Like I want the whole story behind that. If the Netflix documentary gives us that, I will call it a success. I'm not optimistic, but if we get the full central Michigan story, I don't even care about the rest of it. I just want that story. We'll find out. We'll find out. But that seems like an awfully big coincidence. We bring in Philip Dukes, Dukes the scoop. Dukes, I know you're a little bit of a historian and I'm saying that as a way to not say that both of us are old,

but you remember when Bobby Valentine was the manager of the New York Mets and he gets thrown out of the game and he shows back up in the dugout with a hat and glasses and a mustache? That's what I think about when I see that Connor Stallions thing in Central Michigan. Hey, this is why. The only time I've seen anything like this was either pro wrestling or the Bobby Valentine situation.

Only time I've seen stuff like this. Insane. Well, and then Bobby Valentine, like, if you've ever heard him interviewed about that, he's very funny talking about that. But then he also claims he invented the rap as in like the rap sandwich right so now like that's this conor stallion's documentary i can't wait because that's what i want i want him to just expand on things like i want to know about the vacuum cleaner repair business that he had with the vacuum cleaners in front of his house i i and again this central michigan thing if if someone's been fired over it and Central Michigan feels like they're in a place that they're good, like, let's hear the whole story.

Oh, man, that's insane. I think the picture with the sunglasses is the best. I mean, he looks like – It's so good. It's almost like spy versus spy. You remember that? Oh, yeah. That's exactly what it looks like.

Well, and look, everything here comes with a big allegedly because we don't know yet. We don't know that this personnel move at Central Michigan is related to Connor Stallions. It's just awfully coincidental. But I'm just imagining a conversation. Hey, dude, you know that thing you do with the signals? We could use a little help.

And this is a team y'all play later in the year. So you could just, you know, just look. And if you see something. Right. That's crazy. You're so good. I got a polo for you and a hat. Come on.

Come on with it. That's crazy. Oh, my Lord. It is the greatest. Again, I know everybody else is worried about, is Michigan going to get a bowl ban? What's the NCAA? I don't care about any of that. I care about finding out the whole

story involving Connor Stallions and Central Michigan. That's it. The initial conversation had to be so wild. Yeah, man. He has one of the greatest names to be involved in the

scandal, Connor Stallions like it's yeah it's headline worthy i love it oh it's amazing i was googling it this morning and so many people spell it wrong because there's only one l in stallions in his last name and of course if we're talking about multiple horses it would be two l's but so many people spell it wrong that google told me no no two l's and i'm like no there's only one l i'm the expert here google don't mess with me i cannot wait to see what happens and again if the if the documentary which releases august 27th and, would have preferred it a week earlier because we're going to have too much news on August 27th to really dig into it.

But I will take the Central Michigan piece of the story. If it's only about that, I'll be happy. But Dukes, we got to move on. We got news. We got stuff happening. Hugh Freeze, according to his Twitter, he hit a hole-in-one on the golf course yesterday going into camp. But he's also just mashing it in recruiting.

They had their big cat weekend at Auburn over the weekend, and it's just an avalanche of commitments, including two flips from Alabama. Obviously, this was the plan to time it out this way but did Auburn expect it to be this fruitful yeah they did um no doubt about I was talking to people on the planes earlier in a month and when Alabama had their run where they were uh number one overall for a while Auburn just kind of stayed cool and was like, be patient. And from what I was understanding, there is a sense of a shift in Alabama where Auburn is now becoming the destination place.

I always talk about how the 17-year-olds who are being recruited as 25 recruits and now when you see them recruiting the 26 class, these guys are even younger. Well, they haven't seen Auburn play championship football. There's no recency buys when it comes to their championship prowess. So for Hugh Freeze to do the job that he's doing to introduce Auburn as a place that you want to go to beat guys like, to beat teams like Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State for players, that's huge.

And I think that right now you're starting to see the beginning of what could be a powder keg in Auburn, Alabama. I hadn't thought about it that way, Dukes, but it's interesting. So these kids were five. They were in kindergarten when Cam Newton led Auburn to the national title. There were eight for those Nick Marshall teams. They have not seen that. But,

but right now I believe they got commits from eight of the top 10 players in the state of Alabama for, for 2025, which is a massive shift from when Brian Harsin was there. And yeah, it's, it's, we,

we always thought Auburn would recruit well in the NIL era, but it does seem like Hugh Freeze has sort of figured something out. When you're when you're recruiting against Auburn, you're recruiting against Hugh Freeze. When you think about sometimes you have guys where the defensive coordinator or you have a recruiting specialist on staff where you're going against Hugh Freeze. And I think that's something that you were missing in the previous regime where Brian Harsin was more of a CEO type guy. So there hasn't been that type of energy with these guys where it comes to having direct contact with the head coach. Hugh Freeze is a recruiter. If he was selling me something, I'd buy it. And right now he's doing the same thing on the recruiting trail where you're able to lock down the majority of the good players in Alabama.

And the last time that we saw somebody put a fence around Alabama like this is when Nick Saban started his run. Yeah, you're exactly right, because that's kind of what drove Tommy Tuberville out at Auburn, is Nick Saban was just outworking and whipping Auburn's butt. You're talking about Julio Jones. You're talking about Rolando McClain. It was just kind of an avalanche.

The 2008 class is really where it came home to roost. Now, I know Rolando had committed to Mike Shula and Nick signed him. But like that 2008 class, just they got every good player in Alabama. And it felt like they got every good player in Alabama for about three years. It lasted a long time before Auburn was able to grab one of those highly more rated guys. I mean, when you,

and the guys that actually panned out, it, it got into the late 2000 teams before Auburn really started to kind of shift the momentum. When it came to like top rated players, you think about a guy like Marlon Davidson, he was the guy who helped shift the program. when he became a senior those junior and senior years auburn was good and they were in and they were competitive when auburn wasn't getting those type

of game changer players and the best players in alabama they weren't competitive and and you started to see that and and multiple coaches have felt the wrath of an unhappy and uncompetitive Auburn fan base. So now when you have – right now you have Auburn happy off of the field. Now Coach Freeze has to do it on the field. You go out here, you get eight, nine wins against this schedule, then I think you start – you see the start of something special. I'm glad you mentioned that. So we're going to talk second-year coaches.

We're going to start with you, Freeze, and Aub I got to remind everybody this show, you see the little dog on my shoulder right here. This show is sponsored by Roback, the makers of the world's most comfortable hoodies, polos, shorts, and swim trunks. Use the code Andy at Roback.com. That's R-H-O-B-A-C-K dot com for 20% off for all new customers. By the way, not just for the guys, great clothes for the ladies too. The active dresses, the skorts, they got everything. My daughters told me, listen, just get me Roebuck for Christmas. I want a bunch of Roebuck. So it is stylish. It is perfect for any activity that you have coming up. I got a fishing trip coming up

this weekend. I will be wearing my rowback performance hoodie. I promise you that. R-H-O-B-A-C-K. Use the code Andy. 20% off for all new customers. All right, Dukes. Let us talk Auburn on the field this year. We saw him at SEC Media Days. Peyton Thorne came, talked about how different things are this year. I'm curious. We've talked a lot about Cam Coleman, the freshman wide receiver. It's not just Cam Coleman, but how can the receiving core help Peyton Thorne in Hugh Freeze year two? I think, one, being more consistent catching the ball.

One of the things was like, I always growing up, and you know this too, Andy, if you have a quarterback that's struggling, the last thing you can do is drop a ball when he puts it on the money. And we saw that way too many times last year. It's very deflating when things aren't going the best and the quarterback makes a heck of a throw

and the wide receiver drops it. So we saw that way too many times last year. I think also you have veteran guys who've done it on a larger scale. When you think about a guy like Robert Lewis coming out of Georgia State who's really like – he reminds me so much of – what was the guy from Louisville last year, the wide receiver who transferred in? Oh, Jamari Thrash. Thrash. It reminds me so much of Jam was the guy from louisville last year the wide receiver who transferred in oh jimari thrash thrash reminds me so much of jimari thrash uh track they had the same trainer in atlanta so i think um that's a guy who has documented production who can play the perimeter and the slot and then you think about keandre lambert smith from penn state who's also done

it on a high level now you have veteran guys who when the when when things are going wrong there's somebody who can go and and and tap Peyton Thorne on the back side and say come on bird you got this and I don't think he had that last year with any of the guys who uh from uh who were on that that in Auburn's receiving court last year not to say they were bad but they weren't this good and I think that makes a difference and who should we be looking at on Auburn's defense this year because it felt like that group was a little more steady dealt with the offense being inconsistent they could be rewarded if the offense is is better but who who do opposing offenses need to worry about I think this renaissance in Auburn recruiting started with K and Lee who uh flipped from Ohio State at the end that year. He's an absolute dog

out of Cedar Grove High School in Atlanta. Goes about 5'11", a little bit undersized and he plays with that chip on his shoulder. Last year he was thrown into the fire. It left a man a man a lot of times and he actually graded out pretty well. Had a bad game against LSU, but who didn't?

I think as far as using that experience this year, I think he's basically played against first-round picks, and now he's, after a year of being in that system and being able to do a little bit of everything, now you bring in a guy like Charles Kelly to partner with Wesley McGriff, who can kind of give him some feedback on how to use him.

I think you'll see KLE turn into a star this year. Charles Kelly, we probably should have mentioned that when we were talking about Auburn's recruiting, getting Charles Kelly back on the planes. This is a guy who, when he was at Alabama, was very successful as a lead recruiter on some really important people like, oh, I don't know, Will Anderson. So this is a guy who can help them on the field and in recruiting.

The other thing I noticed with Auburn that I think is interesting because Auburn was very active in the portal this year, especially on defense. But if you look, it was more like depth building on defense. It was not necessarily we've got to get this guy to come in and start, but you look at some of those defensive linemen like Phillip Levy, Troll Carter, whether they start or not, they're going to be in and start but you look at some of those defensive line like philip levy troll troll carter like whether they start or not they're going to be in the rotation and we always talk about having a deeper d-line rotation and how in the sec it's absolutely

critical that's that's the part i'm interested to see is how how deep did they make their d-line in terms of whoever the starters are are there people who can give them 20 reps a game fresh that they feel confident in? Yeah. And I think 20, and I think those 20 reps are super important when it comes to the fourth quarter, staying fresh.

We saw, we saw in the fourth quarter last year when Georgia just started to kind of lean on them, run the ball better. And then they just started going to Brock Bowers. Well, some of that stuff can be attributed to the defensive line not being deep because as they start to lean and you have to start to bring down extra people

to help to stop the run, now you're getting one-on-one situations with one of the best tight ends in the history of college football. So I think that hurts you. So bringing that depth in, you're able to keep guys fresh and you're able to stay fresh at the point of attack, which I think is super important in the SEC because of all the pass effects and all the great quarterbacks, it still all starts

with the run. And if you cannot stop the run, it's an issue. And I think by bringing in guys who have that run-stopping pedigree, like you talked about, like a guy like Treo Carter or a guy like Phillip from Indiana, I think these guys help, and you beat people for these guys. I think when we talk about recruiting, even in the transfer portal,

it's not who you got sometimes, but if you want to know how good a guy is, it's who you beat. And I think by having guys from the LSUs of the world, keeping him off of LSU's roster says a lot. Well, and also we've had a big discussion about lsu and the d-line and where basically that they felt like the prices got too high in the spring transfer portal didn't end up taking anybody may not have that depth on the d-line this year like that that's something they're going to have to deal with and they were trying to address it, but Auburn did address it.

So again, you mentioned earlier, we had the schedule up and you said if they can win nine games against that schedule, that's a roaring success. And you look at it, so they got to play Oklahoma, Georgia, Missouri, Texas A&M, Alabama, they're at Kentucky. That's not going to be easy either. I think you're right. If you go nine and3 against the schedule, you're actually probably getting talked about as a fringe playoff team. I don't know if you make it, but everybody would be pointing toward Auburn 2025 as a playoff slash SEC slash national contender.

Absolutely. And I think that if that happens, you see Auburn go ahead and break the bank for whatever quarterback is out there in the transfer portal. If you build that type of momentum and you have that roster setting, then you have the Cam Coleman. He does what he does. And you've got a guy like Ken Lee, who you know is probably going to the NFL draft next year.

You've got to strike next year with that first class that you brought in. And so you can also continue to build around that class and the synergy that's going on in Auburn. So I think that's when you really see – people think that Auburn has been like really just, oh, they've got the NIL going. Wait until they win some football games. Then you'll really see the bank open up, man. Yeah, and it's funny because you forget the Brian Harsin years,

and it was only two years, but it was so frustrating for the Auburn people because it was not what Auburn has been historically as a recruiting program. It was like somebody was trying to do something, trying to make them something they weren't. And I think now they look at with Hugh Freeze, they can go back to being what they have been and what they historically are. And I, you know, I go back to Hugh Freeze when he was at Ole Miss, it was the second class that he put together, you know, the 2014 class with Robert Condici and La laquan treadwell and laramie tunsell you know that was the that was the one that that really elevated them that made it different now the difference now is people aren't going to go well how did you get those guys you're not supposed

to get those guys like one we're used to auburn getting good recruiting classes, and two, NIL. I think, and the way that Hugh Freeze is doing it, I think the most, the best part that I've seen, I was in the facility earlier this year, Laramie Tunsil comes there every offseason to work out with Coach Dom Stoniski. Every year. So when you see an offensive lineman who's one of the highest paid offensive linemen in the NFL saying, hey, these are my guys

and wherever they are, I'm going to be here. That helps. And what place was Auburn always kind of deficient in even when they had top 10 classes? The offensive lineman. This year, now this is going to be the best offensive line Auburn has ever had. They have never had this type of depth and this type of athleticism along the

offensive line. And I think we're going to help and you may see them get a guy like Andrew Babel or another five-star. You already got a five-star pedigree guy in project show from Kansas. So now with the offensive line recruiting, this is kind of that second year where it's like, where you had an Ole Miss where it was like, hold up, Auburn's doing what? Our Ole Miss just got who?

That's what you're going to see along the offensive line. Somebody said, what was Harsin even doing for two years? Chilling and football. One thing I'll say about Brian Harsin, he wasn't letting anybody stress him out. Zero. Always cool as a cucumber. You wasn't going to see him mad. Hey, you're not recruiting.

Hey, I'm a football coach. I'm a CEO. He was so cool. He always treated me well. But when it came to recruiting, that just wasn't his thing. Yeah. Unfortunately for him, it's Kirby Smart's thing. It was Nick Saban's thing.

It's definitely Hugh Freeze's thing. I'm excited to see Hugh Freeze in the era of, I can talk to my quarterback directly into his helmet. We've talked about that in the past. I think that's a big one for him, for Lane Kiffin, for Mike Norvell, for those guys who are the play-calling head coach. There's just people who see things on the sideline. We were talking to Jed Fish, the Washington coach,

and he worked with Steve Spurrier coming up. Steve Spurrier was the ultimate of, I'm on the sideline. We were talking to Jed Fish, the Washington coach, and he worked with Steve Spurrier coming up. And Steve Spurrier was the ultimate of, I'm on the sideline, but I can see things that you can't see with your guys in the press box. And Hugh Free's one of those guys too. I've always been amazed at what he can spot in real time, get that play in,

get the attention of the quarterback. Hey, do this, do that. Now you can actually talk to him. I do think that's going to help Peyton Thorne, or if Walker White winds up having a play as a freshman, I think everyone will be all right. But let's expand the universe here. So we're talking about these year two coaches.

So we've said what success would be for Hugh Freeze, because I think we both agree on the recruiting trail, he's doing exactly what he needs to do. They're building what they need to build. They need to do it on the field. They need to be better. An eight win season would be great. Nine win season would be awesome. Let's talk about some of these other guys. Coach Prime is one, and you and I have gone back and forth on what Deion Sanders may or may not be able to do in year two. I think, and I may be wrong here, but I think if they just make a bowl game,

that's acceptable progress given where he started. Agreed. I think if they get a bowl game year two, seven wins would be great. I think if you can get in that range, then you start to see like the proof of concept as far as this is winning football. But I think like, of course, their aspirations are way higher than that. And I'm cool with their aspirations being high because I don't,

I'm not one of those guys that says, oh, you got to be realistic. There's nothing realistic about my life. And there's nothing realistic about Deion's either. So of course, when other people say, oh, well, you got to be realistic. There's nothing realistic about my life, and there's nothing realistic about Deion's either. So, of course, when other people say, oh, well, you got to be realistic and you won't be able to do that, he doesn't see it that way. I mean, when you look at it, he's Deion Sanders. What is realistic about him? Period.

None of that is realistic. So I think that, yeah, but to your point, I think six, seven wins is a win for them. I mean, there's not an easy one on the schedule, in my opinion. I think they play guys every week. There's not a gimme game on that schedule, including North Dakota State, who plays a great brand of football, and they're notorious for spanking people who come in, not expecting them to play well.

And they play very, very disciplined football, which is something that I think that Colorado could have done better last year and be more disciplined at times. So I think that where Colorado is right now, they're at a point where they've raised the talent level on that roster to now they have a second defensive line. If somebody gets hurt on the offensive line, you can't just spot a position where, hey, we're going to attack this guy

and we're going to beat him for four sacks alone. That guy from Colorado State last year is still sacking the quarterback right now. Exactly. But now, this year, that doesn't happen. I don't see them being able to get game wrecked by one player because they have more talent on the roster. And I think, yeah, I absolutely think that they're a contender to get six,

seven wins, and I think that's a win for them. I do, too. It's crazy because the conversation about Deion, it's like the Deion fans get mad if you say something like that because they're like, no, no, they're going to win the Big 12 this year. And then everybody who hates Deion, and again, go back and watch Duke's video on this because this is it was perfect because he explains it perfectly like people either love him or hate him there's no

like middle ground in the discussion and so the people who hate you know they're gonna go three and nine this year I do think there's incremental improvement to be had but you made a great point about the discipline let's look at that schedule again. Because North Dakota State, incredibly disciplined football program. You'll hear from David Braun, the Northwestern coach a little bit later, who came through North Dakota State. Nebraska, we don't know about them on offense, but we do know defensively they're going to be very good, very disciplined. Kansas State, Utah, Kansas, Oklahoma State.

All teams that are going to hit you in the mouth be where they're supposed to be like you if you make mistakes if you get sloppy they will beat you like those are the ones you got to be very careful with arizona is just kind of star-studded this year we'll see how they how they play under brent brennan but they got dudes and that You're right. If they're not disciplined, this could go bad. That is the biggest thing they have to improve upon from last year. I think we're on the same page, Dukes, on what success is for Colorado, even if Deion says he wants more. I go back to Kirk Cignetti, the Indiana coach, talking to him last week

where he's like, why are we limiting ourselves to just saying we need to beat Purdue? I'm going to say we're going to try to beat Michigan and Ohio State. If we don't make it, that's okay. We're not limiting ourselves, though. And that's what I'm saying. People are mad at DM because he's saying he wants them to go to the playoffs. I mean, I don't wake up. I don't go to work anywhere and say i just want to be the

best at my job title no i have bigger and better that's what you want to do so i think deon sanders has that same thing and then you got the thing he's got two top five picks on the roster not saying that's the end all be all but when those top five picks are a battery that like where actually yeah we'll be throwing the ball to another top five pick where the defense offense, as an athlete, Travis Hunter is one of the best players in the world, in the nation of college football. So when you think about it, they have star talent. They have guys who are going to raise their level of play.

This team is way more talented than last year's four-win team. And if you just go based off trajectory, another three wins, I think – and especially in this conference. Like, you don't see any – there's no fluff on that schedule. That's a pretty decent schedule. So, if you add three wins there, then, yeah, of course. And I think that if they do any better, if they pick up momentum, this is the whole thing in my opinion.

Let them mess around and get five and two and pick up some real momentum. Then I start to think how much difficult Colorado becomes when you have a roster that is built the way this one is, where you have depth. Last year they had no depth. You punch them in the mouth and the guy has to go out. Then it was a little bit worse that people started to get down on themselves. This year, the roster is different and I think they can be successful. Now, another second year coach, Colorado's going to see in week two. So that's Matt Rule. Tremendous pressure at Nebraska. They haven't been to a bowl game since 2016.

We know the defense is good. You dealt with Dylan Raiola's recruitment. You saw him getting recruited to, he was at, he was going to go to, well, he's going to go to Ohio State first, then Georgia. Now he's at Nebraska. It feels like that's kind of the key here. Like, I think they're going to make a bowl game. I think the defense is good enough. The offense just has to be okay.

But if they want to have a really good season, like they want to win eight games, flirt with nine, they're going to have to get production out of that freshman quarterback. How much pressure is that on him? It's a lot. I think you're talking about, you're not seeing the highest classification in Georgia, where he played last year.

Buford plays a great brand of football, and he had talent all around him and d1 players everywhere but it's still not the big 12 this is a ton of pressure for dylan raiola i think that his playing style is built for it though when people ask me about what did i see in dylan raiola i say he's able to throw from arm angles and arm slashes that are unreal. I hate to bring up the Pat Mahomes comparison, but he's one of the only other guys that I've seen that can throw the ball the way he can with his elbow at the most insane angles that you can think of.

So last year when he played, he didn't have like the big stack year. What he had was plays where you saw a talent that will project to the next level. So when things break down, he's going to be able to do things that the average freshman cannot do. So I think that, yeah, can they get a ball game? Yeah, I think they can. Do I think that Dylan Rayola comes out and is a Heisman candidate? Absolutely not. I just think there's too much of a learning curve coming from high school football to the Big 12. I mean, it's not... Big 10, they start

with the Big 12 team in Colorado, but... Oh, yeah. Excuse me. We want a time warp. It's okay. We're old. I'm sorry. Going into the Big 10 is even worse just to keep it a book. I mean... Yeah.

Oh, they got Northern Iowa too too yeah yeah that's another that's another one that's usually pretty good but i think i i think if they beat colorado there's a very good chance that they're six and one heading into the ohio state game or maybe five and five and two where ucla usc wisconsin those are games you can win nebraska iowa is going to be a lot of fun because there's a chance i was sitting there you know maybe with nine ten wins going into that game maybe a playoff chance so this is it's gonna be a fun season for nebraska but you know so matt you know, what what's success for Matt Rule in your I think you got to get over the home mega bowl game. But I think they're better than that. Like, I feel like it. I feel like with Matt Rule, we're looking at more of a Hugh Freeze situation.

Like if you you win eight or nine, then you're really setting yourself up. Yeah, you look at how the way that he's recruiting to get some of the major programs in the country. Think about a guy like David Sanders. Right now, number one offensive tackle in the country or number two, depending on who you ask. But he's seriously considering Nebraska. And they already have proof of concept getting the number one player overall in the country last year in Dylan Rayola.

So now it's like, hey, you go out here, you win a couple of ball games. They've got Michael Terry on the hook who decides soon. They're not just going to get guys just from Nebraska. They're getting guys from across the country. And maybe you start to see that renaissance in the 90s where Nebraska was able to recruit with a national imprint, and we haven't seen that in a while.

But they got to win. That schedule sets up up like you said they could literally be six and one going into that pivotal game so i i think you gotta win i mean you think about gimme games or let's let's not say games that you should lose ohio state i mean maybe that's pretty much it like the like usc w Wisconsin, Iowa feel like games they can win, not necessarily their coin flips, but they could win them. Right. Yeah, absolutely.

So I think six wins will probably be just sneaking into a ball game will probably be selling themselves short with that schedule. Yeah, I think you're right. And the other big year two guy that i think everybody's been looking at is is luke fickle at wisconsin and we're watching this team last year thinking okay i i get what they're trying to do but they don't have the speed to do this and so we'll see if luke fickle added enough team speed at wisconsin but they were they were seven and six last year i dukesukes, I don't know.

It's interesting to me because I think we forget how good Wisconsin was for how long, like Brett B Loma era, the early Paul Christ era, they were, we're talking double digit wins, a lot of seasons. And I know a lot of that's because of, of the big 10 West and the, in the Paul Christ era, and they weren't playing everybody. But I just feel like this is one where you've got a solid base with your offensive line. You're always going to be able to recruit and develop offensive linemen. If you can just import some receivers that can get open and can outrun people,

I think this could be a monster. Yeah, it could, man. It just feels so different from the traditional brand of Wisconsin football that we've seen. It almost feels like Dolly Parton coming out with a rap album. It's just not what we're used to. I think she might be the one person who can pull it off. For sure, especially in this era but uh with with uh with wisconsin going with using some

of these uh some of these past happy concepts that we've seen in cincinnati cincinnati was always able to recruit guys because they were getting guys who had that specific trait of speed and also being able to get guys who may not have checked all the boxes on the ranking sites to be a five star but they had plus trace that allowed them to be successful. So he was able to identify those three stars that worked in that system. Well, now you got to find out those four star guys, because that's how you're going to be judged.

It's not, you can't just go get the same guys you were getting at Cincinnati to be successful at Wisconsin. So now you have to figure out how do you infuse that team with speed? It no, no, no offense to that Midwest area, but Florida is where the Southeast and maybe Texas and sometimes Cali is where you go get your speed

from majority of the time. And I think that being there for it, he's going to have to increase his national imprint to make that thing go in the way that he wants it to. I think they'll always be good in the offensive line. I had a coach last year from the Big Ten tell me, you know, that was asking about some guys in the Southeast that he wants it to. I think they'll always be good in the offensive line. I had a coach last year from the Big Ten tell me, you know, that was asking about some guys in the southeast that was saying, well, you know, I'm really kind of okay. I really like this kid if I'm recruiting him because I could just go in my

backyard and get three of those. And so I think that's really what they're going to be able to have as their bread and butter is that they're always going to be able to have the offensive line, to your point. But I think if you cannot recruit with more of a national imprint it's going to be trouble in wisconsin but i think they'll be fine but i don't think luke fickle's ideal fine is what the average guy's ideal fine is he wants to play championship football and i'm thinking that he's going to have to figure out a way the same way oregon does how does does Oregon always have this guy who runs a 4-2-40 every year?

He's got to figure that part of it out because I guarantee you they're not coming from Oregon. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. And once they do that, I think they can be competitive because I think if you've got a good offensive line, it opens the door to a lot of things.

You know, like we talked about LSU this year, like their, their offensive line is going to be awesome. Like that's why I don't worry about LSU's offense. Cause I know, I know upfront they're fine. Like whatever else happens behind them,

don't figure it out because they're mashing people, Alabama, the same way this year, like that's, that's where Wisconsin can, can really go because all of a sudden, if you are breaking some long pass plays, that box gets lighter. Those big dudes start leaning on people. You're running for five, six yards to carry.

It all opens up. But you're right. Luke Fickle wants to win big 10 championships, wants to compete for national championships. He wouldn't have taken that job any other way. So I think your point is really good. his vision of like we may say hey just win one one or two more like you won seven last year went eight or nine this year he's going no no no we we need to be double digit wins here absolutely so a couple couple other uh year two guys that you and i had texted back and forth about that I think are really interesting. Alex Golish at USF. Great first year. Byron Brown,

one of the most exciting young quarterbacks in the game. What do we think Alex Golish is going to do in year two? I think, man, did he not set the bar really high for himself last year? I mean, he had the second most wins as far as turnaround goes. I think he had six

uh did he end up getting seven they won the bowl game yeah so they did yeah they got yeah so to go from one and eleven to winning seven games that's that's literally unheard of and i think what they're bringing back one one guy that he uh he talked about as far as in the ac uh media days was ben knox the cornerback who he said was the heart and soul of that defense. When you look at what that defense was able to do against Alabama last year, albeit before they – during the whole Jalen Milrow experiment thing where he didn't – I don't think he played that game. Didn't play a snap.

Didn't play a snap that game. But he basically was able to hone in. They held Alabama to 17 points. You look at that level of competition and what they were able to do, I could see them winning eight or nine games this year, maybe even 10. In that conference, the AAC is not the same AAC that we knew from a couple of years ago after you lose a Cincinnati and a UCF. And a Houston, yeah. Yeah, Houston-like.

So I think in that conference, they should be able to do better. You've got another year of Byron Brown. The running backs came back. What's my guy? The wide receiver, I love this guy, too. Sean Atkins. I think Sean Atkins is back, and he's like the quintessential college football wide receiver.

Not the biggest, not the biggest, not the fastest, but he knows how to get open. So, yeah, I think they have a lot of things to be excited about in South Florida. And he's one of the cooler coaches in the game. He just turned 40. He's enjoying the moment. He runs that offense that we've seen multiple times. I just think that South Florida is one of those teams that can win a lot of games this year and surprise some people but i don't think we're surprised but i i think there's

a chance they can win a league and then if you win the league in this environment that means you may be a playoff team so like that's that's the thing and when he took that job you know jeff scott had tried to get it going. Jeff Scott's a great recruiter, but just had not been able to get that thing going. You're like, all right, is this ever going to get back off the ground? Because they had success under Jim Levitt really early in their history as a program, and then it just sort of fizzled out. But yeah, you look at the circumstances right now, Memphis, them,

we'll see what John Summerall does at Tulane. But USF's a team you're talking about as potential champion in the American Athletic Conference, which if they win it, we are talking about them as maybe a playoff team. One more, we'll go a little closer to your home. And this is a guy, he got half a season as an interim before he became the full-time coach. This is really a, this is really year two and a half for Brent Key at Georgia Tech. But I've just been so impressed from the moment he got that job after Jeff Collins got fired. It feels like he's done all the right things. You know, just stopping the bleeding as the interim, bringing in Buster Faulkner, Haynes King last year.

This is a team, Dukes. I don't know what success is for them, but they have probably the hardest schedule in the ACC, plus they play Notre Dame. But I feel like they're going to beat some teams they're not supposed to. Yeah, and no disrespect to Jeff Collins, but I think Brent Key is who we thought collins was going to be for georgia tech um yeah when you think about the like the what the energy that he's brought into their program uh representing the 404 like as you know anybody

from atlanta has this great sense of pride and they'll tell you every two seconds they don't even tell you they're from atlanta they going to tell you where they're from in Atlanta. And I think that he's re-infused that program with that type of pride and staying home. He's getting guys like – so I think one of the biggest wins that he had on the recruiting trail was last year's freshman All-American, Eric Singleton. They beat Auburn straight up to keep him home. And he goes out and he becomes one of the best deep threats in the country. He also went crazy on – he ran a 10 – a high 10-1.

I know high sounds crazy, but he ran like a 10-1, 8-100 coming out of high school, and Auburn was going crazy about him at the end, and they beat him. And so now when you start to think about these type of guys that you're able to keep at – that you're able to keep Atlanta in Atlanta, I think it's a huge thing. And the only way you're going to be able to atlanta in atlanta i think it's a huge thing and the only way you're going to be able to do that is to continue to show proof of concept that you can win i think this year what getting haynes king was key as well i think like that battery between those two guys as far as and they've gotten a lot better up front i think by being able to throw the ball and stretch the field i think they're they're they're a threat to beat any team in the country

because all they have to do is have a good game between those two. Yeah. And now everything else works. And Haynes King, like, we're going to talk about this a little bit on tomorrow's show because I got a really great Dear Andy question about it. But Haynes King, the second year a transfer quarterback starts for you, we've got some examples of some guys who made some very big jumps in those years. And Haynes King could be that guy.

And he was a big-time recruit going to Texas A&M. It never worked out for him there because of injuries, because Jimbo Fisher was about to get fired. Like it just it didn't didn't work there. And the Haynes Kings game did not match what Jimbo Fisher wanted a quarterback. Like so Aaron Murray, the former Georgia quarterback, told me something a couple of years ago that I could never unsee about Jimbo Fisher. Aaron goes, look at every Jimbo Fisher quarterback and look at how they carry the ball when they're moving around on the field and it's like always up here two hands by the ears he's

like try to move around like that just in your in your living room and see how natural that feels so imagine you're an athlete like haynes king and who is a really good athlete and you have all these natural instincts to move very fast and move around. It's not easy to do it when you're holding the ball like that. And if you watch Haynes King last year, his natural athleticism came out a lot more because he was allowed to move naturally. And so God bless Aaron Murray,

who won a hell of a lot more games as a, as a starter in the sec that any of us, were noticing that. And he noticed that like three years before Jimbo got fired today. It was amazing. But every time I see Haynes King, I think about that because I'm like, oh, this is a plus athlete too. And now he's allowed to be it. Yeah, and I think even with Georgia Tech last year,

I think Brent Key, as far as game management, he's going to get better there. That's one thing I think he could have worked on last year. There were some games that Georgia Tech probably should have won, one being a Miami game, which is a little more egregious than any of them. They definitely should have beat Miami last year. And that's a – oh, no, they did beat Miami. Excuse me, Miami should have beat them. They did. Miami should have taken a me. Miami should have beat them. They did.

Miami should have taken a knee. Miami should have taken a knee. So I think it was – I want to say – I don't want to misspeak on the game that they should have won. But I think that year two you're going to see Brent Key do some things that are going to show him more as a hitter than we've seen previously. So I think in this moment, like, yeah, they got a heck of a schedule. I mean, Florida State, Georgia State is not going to be the same.

Give me – I think Syracuse, we'll see what Fran Brown does. We'll see what Fran Brown does. Yeah, at Louisville. See, they get all the best of the ACC. They get Florida State, Louisville. Everybody thinks Virginia Tech is going to be good, and they got to go to Blacksburg, Miami, and NC State. The only one they miss is Clemson.

But then they also have to play Notre Dame out of conference, and, of course, they have to play Georgia. It's brutal. Yeah, but this is what programs are made of when you're building them. Now you're going to have the – how many times are we going to see Georgia Tech on ESPN this year versus when we used to see them? We're going to see them a ton, and now that Georgia Tech is relevant, Georgia isn't just – they're not just saying, okay,

well, we can sit all our starters at the end of the year. They know they got to go play Georgia Tech this year. They know that. And I think Brent Key, man, growing up in Atlanta, we grew up having the Joe Hamiltons of the world and seeing Georgia Tech being successful. Even though they never got over the hump, you knew that Georgia Tech, when you went to go play Georgia Tech, you had to bring your boots

and your chin strap. And I think that's what Brent Key has really infused in. I think he's one of the bright coaches in the country. I will never forget. I was either in college or shortly after college. I was in a bar in Buckhead, and there was a palpable buzz in the bar because reggie ball was in the bar man and that is that's what georgia tech was back in the day yeah man good gracious reggie took me back there man i'll never forget i was at auburn and auburn goes into the uh pre, number five team in the country, and they lose to USC.

Like, oh, we're going to smack Georgia Tech. Man, Reggie Ball went nuts that game. I think he still scored touchdowns, man. That was crazy, man. Shout out to Reggie Ball, man, to fake fitness. That's right. I got to give one shout out real quick. Go for it.

Man, D-Bass, your guy. Man, do you not see? David Bassidy. That's right. Go for it. Man, D-Bass, your guy. Man, do you not see? David Bassidy. Do you not see this beautiful Falcons helmet in my background? They saw the one I had that I stole from my son's Halloween costume. And, yeah, they was like, nah, Dukes. They saw me on Andy Staple's show, and they said, Dukes,

we got to get you a better Falcons helmet. So shout out to David Bassidy, man, my man, communications for the atlanta falcons for giving me that helmet that is andy staples thank you that that is not because of me that is because that is the most beautiful helmet i want that to be the permanent helmet again there was a there was a tweet i thought of you yesterday somebody tweeted about andre ryzen and It was a picture of Andre Rison. It was when they were wearing the red helmets and they had the white jerseys with the black numbers.

Man. It was beautiful. Yeah, man. In Little League, the Falcons, we got to wear those. That one. Yeah, man. That was a good time.

We didn't have the full. We had to with the gray pants oh my gosh yeah it's oh it's perfect a little homage to to georgia silver britches there a little homage but yeah absolutely it has been a pleasure thank you for helping guide us through the year two coaches. Man, Andy, thank you so much, man. It's always fun. I got to go get me some of those rollback hoodies. I like the dog. I'm definitely, so when we get offline, I'll definitely be calling you. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Well, my daughter stole two of them, but I've got more, so don't worry. Oh, for sure, man. I'll see you, Dukes. All right, man.

The great Phillip Dukes watch him on the on3recruits channel if you're not already subscribed to the on3recruits channel get yourself there five star flex he had a great one-on-one interview with Kirby Smart last

week great show great interviews with some of the best recruits in the country. You know, that's what we're, when, when you want to figure out who's next, which, which programs are trending up, you go to that on three recruits channel and you will find out. Now we talk second year coach. We didn't mention this guy, but I think he's in a unique situation because he was actually the interim coach for his first year, his whole first year. It's David Braun at Northwestern.

Got thrown into about as terrible a situation as you can get thrown into where Pat Fitzgerald gets fired right before camp starts. And he is the new defensive coordinator. He had been hired in January, come from North Dakota State, and basically has to rally everybody. All the guys that are on your team, they signed a play for Pat Fitzgerald. They thought they were going to play their whole careers for Pat Fitzgerald because this is the guy who'd been there for a long time, but it was still a young guy. And you thought, okay, what do we do now? That first game against Rutgers, they looked awful. You wondered if they'd ever win a game. And then you get to the end of the season, they've won eight games.

They beat Utah on a bowl game. What a turnaround for David Braun, who I remember writing a column when they fired Pat Fitzgerald. I was like, okay, Northwestern's going to have its choice of coaches. They're in the Big Ten. They've got all this money. Could they be the one that prized Dave Clawson away from Wake Forest? Could they get another up and coming coach? Well, it turned out David Braun was the right guy for the job. And all it took was him having a season to prove that. And now he's got his own offensive staff in there and he's got a different challenge he's got he's got to show them hey guys everybody's praising you for what happened last year we have a very tough schedule we got to be better so here is david braun

training big 10 coach of the year, David Braun from the Northwestern. Very different experience between last year and this year. For sure, for sure. I just remember watching you up there on stage last year thinking, they should not make this man do this. But you not only dealt with that, but an entire season where not not a lot of known and then you end up winning eight games win a bowl game how satisfying was that that year for you yeah it was uh just doing it with great people you know i mean at the end of the day uh the reason why i got into

this the reason our family does it is because because the people and the relationships, what that group navigated, what they were able to accomplish, the way we were able to celebrate with a bowl victory with a bunch of, you know, those young men, a lot of which were going on to graduate and on to new things, whether it be football or life outside of football. I told someone earlier today that that bowl went against Utah. That is a memory I will never forget standing in that locker room with that group of young men and celebrating an incredible culmination.

And you guys have been through so much. Because nobody thought last year would be the way it was. And also, Kyle Whittingham doesn't lose many bowl games. That was a hell of a performance. Well, I mean, going to that bowl game, it was one of those situations. Like Utah, what they've established in their sustainability and what Kyle's created. I mean, it's kind of going to that game.

You really admire what Utah is and what they've built and what an incredible challenge for us. That was a neat experience. So this offseason, you go in're you're given the full-time job you start to create the staff that maybe would have been your vision what's it like now that is it is your program and and you've gotten to make all those big decisions over the last year yeah it's it's it's been it's been really exciting i mean that that transition was hard i mean the success we experienced last year was a credit to everyone that was involved.

You know, you just realize as a head coach, it's your job to make decisions that you believe are in the best interest of the long-term health of the program. It's been exciting. It's been challenging. New landscape. What's this going to look like? You know, I'm learning a lot about myself. It's been a year first of what this looks like planning long term i think the ultimate challenge for us right now andy is truly understanding that as much

as it's i mean it's what we've been doing a lot today we've been talking about the success of last year well right what this new group of of uh players coaches everybody has to understand is this collection there may be a lot of guys coming back that were a part of it but this new collection of people hasn't accomplished a damn thing yet oh yeah you know and and you don't know what chemistry is going to be until you get them out there together yeah there's got to be a certain hunger and urgency that we move with daily and just taking it one day at a time and um you know from from what i've seen in terms of our off season and spring um you know i'm i'm excited about where this group's at we we ran a story recently

on your new oc and i know you guys are really excited about what what was it about him that that made you say this is this is who i need yeah you know i i think there's a lot of factors but i mean the the thing i really challenged zach on in our conversations or you know i i don't want i don't want to see a playbook or a system i I want you to talk about your vision for creating, you know, utilizing and tapping into your system and your concepts that you've created to be tailored towards the skill sets of the young men in our team that you inherit. Yeah. Here's what we got. Yeah. What can you do with that? Absolutely. I just highly intellectual super relatable adaptable and just has a certain level of understanding the game and leverage and how you can utilize leverage to

your advantages and offense creative with trade shift motion and uh not ego driven you know so many times we get tied up in well the best defense or the best offense or the most yards at the end of the day it's our job to put our guys in situations to win games. Yeah. Zach Lujan is all about finding ways to win games. Actually, I was having this conversation with, with Bush Hamden,

who's the new OC at Kentucky the other day. And so he's working for a defensive minded coach again, where he'd been with an offensive minded coach as a guy who comes from the defensive side of the ball. How do you handle the complimentary aspects of how do I practice to make sure the offense get gets what it needs but my defense is also getting what it needs yeah I I think it really comes back to what we just talked about um you know being really intentional and doing my best to ensure that we are hiring low ego high output individuals like how does that happen

as much as you direct as the head coach and you can mandate that It's it's a lot easier when you hire an offensive coordinator and a defensive coordinator that just check their egos at the door and work Well with one another in those aspects Already I've seen that between Tim and Zach of like hey, what do you need to see? What do you need to see? Hey, what can we set up this fall camp to make sure that we get some two back looks? Hey, what can we set up this fall camp to make sure that we get some two back looks? Hey, I, you know, we'd really love to see some tempo out of the offense so we can prepare for some of the tempo operations. And both are just so willing to service one another to, at the end of the day, serve the program, which is critical. So in terms of, you know, putting your culture in

the program in a different play, like you've been to North Dakota State, which obviously great winning program, great tradition, and they know how to win. But is it, you know, these past few months where you finally got to say, okay, here's how I feel like we should run this program. Yeah. I mean, it feels like last season was just trying to deal with the next week. No doubt. When did you get to sit back and say, okay, here's my vision for this thing?

Yeah. you get to sit back back and say okay here's my vision for this thing yeah yeah i think it's one of those things uh you know being someone andy that uh you know when i'm at my best i'm taking time for myself and creating some quiet time staying you know i've said before staying prayerful there there's moments throughout the season moments throughout the off season where things just click where you go and i was kind of searching for that but i also need to take some time to really digest that write it down as we move forward the things that are critical to me how do we find a way to win a big 10 championship the only way we find a way to do that at northwestern is by out developing people and out teaming people yeah well we have guys that go on the nfl first round

draft picks of course but at the end of the day the way that we are collectively going to win we got out developed we got out team and then you know for us um it's it's looking at everything through a prism of in this new landscape what's unique about Northwestern and there's plenty that's unique about Northwestern but we need to leverage that uniqueness to our advantage in terms of everything that we do. Well, I felt like when Jim Harbaugh and then David Shaw were at Stanford, they did that, where they didn't use Stanford's academics as an excuse. They made it the primary selling point. And all of a sudden, all these great offensive linemen are coming because offensive linemen tend to be smart guys. They look at the degree and they're like, wow, okay. But let me ask you this. In this era,

how do you outdevelop when the second people realize you've got something good going and that you've got this person kind of ready to go, they're swooping in? That is a great question. I think on the front end of recruiting and prioritizing high school recruiting, you're making sure that you first identify young men that love football. This isn't, as much as I respect the Ivy League and what that conference stands for and the quality football players that come out of the Ivy. At the end of the day, this is the highest level of college football along with Northwestern academics. You better love football.

Step one. Step two is identifying young men and families that truly value a Northwestern degree. As much as we want to talk about NIL and revenue share, one of the greatest selling points we have to retain our student-athletes is making sure that they really value what a Northwestern degree will do for the rest of their life. Because you can show lifetime earnings. Okay. Absolutely. And then, you know, in terms of the development piece of it, how do we develop and out-team? It's by development development in in transfers

you're going to ebb and flow it's going to stunt your growth creating a system that guys really want to be there for four years they want to fully develop they want to develop holistically and then ensuring we got our work cut out for us in this area but we got people that are hard at work at it ensuring that our our uh you our NIL landscape and how we navigate this revenue share and things that are on the horizon, everything is geared towards the retention of our student athletes. So at the end of the day, they earn their Northwestern degree and they play their best college football at Northwestern, not at another institution. I feel like as the revenue share era starts, it's going to help schools like yours. I would agree. The gap isn't, you don't have to go raise it all. Some of it's there.

A hundred percent. I'm not going to share strict numbers, but the NIL gap right now between us and others in the Big Ten is incredibly dramatic. That's not to understate the work that TrueNU has done and others have done to fundraise and people that have supported. Again, just like I said earlier today, with challenges in this new landscape, there's also opportunity. I'm really excited to go attack those opportunities. Good luck. Appreciate it, Coach.

Thank you, Andy. Appreciate you. That is David Braun, Northwestern head coach guy with maybe a harder job this year than last year getting all those folks to say we had a good year everybody thought we were great sang our praises all off season now we have a very tough schedule but it is a schedule that is fascinating because we now have the stadium situation. Now, remember, Northwestern is going to play a couple home games at Wrigley Field. but you've got all these other games in a converted lacrosse field hockey stadium i believe well i believe it's lacrosse stadium it is on lake michigan like no shield from the elements if you've ever been in chicago you know sometimes the wind comes off lake michigan very hard so So if you

are going to play in Northwestern's converted lacrosse stadium, get ready. You are going to maybe have a situation where you are not able to throw the ball. So I'm sorry, Ohio state in Illinois, those are the games at Wrigley. So the Wisconsin game is going to be on campus at Northwestern. So I'm telling you, I got to, I got to figure out which game to sneak to in Evanston because I really want to see game in that stadium. I really do. And I can't just like it, especially I want a day where the wind's whipping like 35 miles an hour off the lake. Let's make it happen. We'll put up a poll at some point like which of these games oh that's a good

game time poll that's a great game time poll which of the northwestern home games at the converted lacrosse stadium should i attend love it you'll see that later today tomorrow dear andy show you drive the show your questions it. I told you we've got a couple good ones already, but don't worry. We need as many questions as we can get because I am bringing back the written version of Dear Andy. So we'll have the version on the show and the version you can read. I will not be answering all the same questions. There will be some crossover because sometimes what you do in writing does not translate as well to speaking or translates differently to speaking. So we may

answer some of the same questions because we can answer them in different ways, but we also will answer different questions. And also we're going to have a random ranking every week in the written version. We occasionally do the random ranking here, but we'll have it every week in the written version. We occasionally do the random ranking here, but we'll have it every week in the written version. So absolutely get your questions in at Andy underscore staples on X or on Instagram. Andy staples on three at gmail.com. If you have a truly Epic question, if you want to send me a video question can't wait this is going to be a fun one already got some good questions could use a few more though so we will talk about your questions tomorrow also nico speaks we're gonna hear from nico iamaliava the new tennessee starting quarterback

that he doesn't usually talk very much, but he had his pre-camp press conference. Had some interesting things to say. So we'll hear from him tomorrow as well. We'll talk to you tomorrow.