Andy & Ari On3 - Why Marcus Freeman is STAYING PUT at Notre Dame | Keys to victory: Indiana vs Miami | Ty Simpson's Alabama Legacy

Episode Date: January 14, 2026

It's a Megaboard Wednesday, and the message boards are always providing the best intel amongst the college football fanbases. As the Pittsburgh Steelers job has opened up, Marcus Freeman's name is once again swirling as a candidate to replace Mike Tomlin in Acrisure Stadium. Just like the last time, Marcus Freeman reiterated his passion and desire to be the head coach at Notre Dame. Watch here as Andy & Ari discuss Marcus Freeman in depth. (0:00) On Today’s Episode(1:43) Presenting Sponsor(3:27) Intro: Freeman Staying with Notre Dame(17:35) Dell(18:45) Does Marcus Freeman WANT to be an NFL coach?(23:08) Oregon S Dillon Thieneman Declares(23:42) Husan Longstreet to LSU(26:58) Justice Haynes to Georgia Tech(27:40) Rhoback(28:45) Introing Cole(29:09) Cole Cubelic Joins(40:56) Indiana’s Haul(41:33) Miami vs Indiana analysis(45:35) Keys to the game in Miami vs Indiana(55:23) Closing out with Cole(55:43) Ty Simpson’s Legacy at Alabama(1:04:45) Closing out Later, Cole Cubelic joins the show to discuss two major departures from the Auburn program in Deuce Knight and Cam Coleman. Although some talented players are leaving the loveliest little village on the plains, Cole explains why one single person will never make or break an entire program. After discussing Auburn, Andy & Ari discuss the national championship game between Indiana and Miami and discuss the keys to victory in Hard Rock Stadium. Who will win? To close the show, Andy & Ari visit Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where Ty Simpson is leaving a lasting legacy as the Crimson Tide QB. Offered by schools like Tennessee and Miami to be their quarterback, Simpson has turned down those offers to keep his name in the NFL Draft. Watch here as Andy & Ari discuss the legacy that the Bama QB is leaving behind. Dear Andy & Ari tomorrow! Send your questions [e-mail]@on3.com   The Dell XPS proves there’s no need to compromise—style, power, and reliability come together in one expertly crafted machine.Check out the all-new Dell XPS at Dell.com/XPS. Our show is sponsored by Rhoback, the most comfortable clothes on the planet! Use the code ANDY on Rhoback.com for a generous 20% off for all new customers through the end of this week. That’s 20% off all Performance Polos, Shorts and more with code ANDY Our show is also presented by BetMGM! If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works: 1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB.2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game.3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sureyou use bonus code CFB when you sign up! Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary. See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Join On3 today and get one full year of access to The Athletic included! https://www.on3.com/subscribe/C Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's episode of Andy Nareon 3 presented by BetMGM, Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame head coach. Every time an NFL job opens, his name pops up. The Steelers job open. His name popped up. Just so happened, Marcus Freeman was talking in a press conference on Wednesday and got asked about NFL jobs. I don't think he's going anywhere. It sounds like he is going to be at Notre Dame for some time. He talks about how excited he is to be at Notre Dame

and what's next after the Fighting Irish skipped this postseason following the college football playoff snub. Plus, our friend Cole Kublich joins us. We talk about his rant that went viral on Wednesday about Auburn and keeping Cam Coleman-induced night or not keeping them. And what that means and what the mentality is

when you lose players in the transfer portal that were big-time recruits. We also talk to Cole about the keys to victory in the national championship game between Indiana and Miami. Cole diagnosed his line play better than anybody. And with these lines of scrimmage, it's great to dig in with him. Plus, former Alabama quarterback, Ty Simpson talk star, Chris Lowe and on three about the offers he got. And man, they were throwing bags of money at him. But he is not staying in college. He is going pro, even though Miami and Tennessee came after him pretty hard.

Ty Simpson explaining why he's going to be former Bama quarterback, Ty Simpson only as he moves on in the NFL. All that today on Andy and Ari on 3 presented by BetMGM. We are presented by BedmGM. We use BedMGM lines and totals. And you can join us by joining BedMGM. If you have not signed up for BetMGM yet, use the bonus code CFB. as in college football, CFB, and you'll get up to a $1,500 first bet offer

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Welcome to Annie and Ari on three presented by BetMGM and Ari. It's probably good if you're Marcus Freeman. And every time an NFL job opens, everyone assumes that you are the number one candidate. Or every time a college football job opens, everyone assumes, well, they're going to have to call Marcus Freeman and make him say no. Like that's a great place to be, right? If you're somebody who everybody says you got to call that guy every time a job opens, That means you're doing your job well. That means you're probably being paid very well.

You're probably getting a raise. You're probably getting whatever perks, benefits, stuff for your friends at work that you want. But it's also maybe a little bit annoying that every time you've got to say something about it. Andy, I know he's been brought up for a lot of NFL jobs. The Steelers is like the gold standard of NFL jobs, right? Well, sure, they've had three coaches since 1969. I'm old as hell, and Chuck Knoll had been the Steelers coach for nine years when I was born. So they've only hired, like they hired Chuck Knoll before I was born.

They've only hired two coaches, Bill Coward and Mike Tomlin, in my life. And again, I'm old as hell. And like Marcus Freeman, I believe is from Dayton, Ohio, right? And the Steelers are not, I mean, I think the Bengals are probably more of a, a Dayton fan fan base than any other NFL team but the Steelers are like a very big presence in the Midwest and into Ohio,

especially as AFC North rivals to the two Ohio. And the Steelers are a national team. Like they have a national fan base. It's not just Western PA. And I'm not like caught up on like NFL records and stats because like the Patriots and now the Chiefs or whatever. But like the Steelers do have the most

Super Bowls too or amongst the most. Yes. Yes. And if you were going to take an NFL job, I guess the point I'm trying to make is like, if you were ever interested in the NFL job, like, this is the job I would want, I think. Sure. Great stable ownership. They give you what you need.

They don't fire anybody. Always good. Trust you to do the job. Like, it's pretty awesome. The Steelers down years are like the Browns like dream years. I feel like they go eight and eight. Didn't they have like, I don't know. Mike Tomlin set a record or something of like most consecutive seasons of at least 500 football there.

Like, I mean, like, I don't know. Like, I'm not trying. trying to talk people into this because it sounds like to me that Marcus Freeman would not do this. But if there was ever a testament or proof that he's not interested in the NFL right now, turning down the Steelers job would be the job to turn down, right? That would be the job to turn down. It would be. And look, this is a mega board Wednesday.

We are going through the different boards on the on three sites. And obviously, this one on blue and gold went quick. And they had this out here yesterday. Report Marcus Freeman staying at Notre Dame. It was an Adam Schefter line from one of his reports on ESPN. This was yesterday. Because everybody knew it would be the first thing anybody asked. And fortunately, Marcus Freeman happened to be doing a press conference today.

So we got to hear from Marcus Freeman himself about this stuff. He was addressing a lot of other things, too. They're haul in the portal. They've got some new coaches. he had the stupid thing where the wrestling coach at the high school had accused him of something and the newspaper wrote a story and then the video came out and you're like, oh, wait, that's nothing. And so he talked about that too. But obviously the part everybody's most interested in is how do you feel about all this NFL stuff?

And I thought Marcus Freeman did a really good job answering that question today. Your words, if you could share with us, your plans for the immediate future. Yeah, the head coach at Notre Dame. And I've said this before, that individual recognition, individual success, NFL interests, those are all a reflection of team success, right, and where this football program is. And, you know, Pete, I've used some of the interests from the NFL to personally gain wisdom from maybe some of the GMs or the front office executives that you get a chance to talk to. about your players, but also about what they view is a successful coach.

Maybe it's an NFL coach, but what are some of the things they've seen that have made a coach successful in their organization or franchise and maybe not so successful? And so I utilize these opportunities through conversations to gain knowledge of myself to be the best head coach I can be of the Notre Dame football program. And so, again, that's where my mindset is. And I don't control the noise. But again, I know the noise that's in my head and where my focus is.

Also, we really wouldn't want to control the noise in most cases. I guess when you're recruiting, you probably do. But if everybody was like, Ari Wasserman should get this job at ESPN and this job at NBC and this job, and this job at CBS, and they should just keep throwing money at him. Like, you don't want to tamp that down, do you? Why has that not happened?

Like, I don't understand. Why hasn't there been, like, an internet groundswell of Ari Wasserman deserves to be the highest compensated person in college football media? Like, I think we should start that, like, now. You know, I think it might be different for a college coach. I mean, I think that, you know, the recognition is nice. And I think that that also, in turn, The fact that the recognition came and he is staying there, I think strengthens Notre Dame's already strong foundation as a program.

And I don't think that's lost on people. And like, Notre Dame to me, you know, is a team that I think is situated to compete for championships every year. And if you consider they just got done signing their best recruiting class on paper and program history and I've turned it around quite well in the portal in recent weeks. or sorry, recent days, I should say, like they are doing everything they can to win a national title there. And like, I suspect they will. And when you think about where he currently is and his age, you know, you could coach yourself into Notre Dame history

in a way that, you know, hasn't really been done in the previous two decades by any other coach. That's a pretty sexy proposition too. You know, I know, I know he has a lot of. a lot of kids. I know that moving and taking a shorter, potentially shorter period job that, you know, could fire you, maybe not the Steelers, since they keep their coaches longer than, you know, most other franchises do. I can understand why that might not appeal to him because when he looks around at the country, he sees the team that is built and invested for consistency.

It's one of the premier brands in college football. Every single person, uh, who watches college football has an opinion or a viewpoint or at least, you know, interest in Notre Dame, like, as it pertains to jobs and coaching, I think you could probably make the case that Notre Dame is a better position in football coaching than half of the NFL. So it's not like more than half. Yeah. The only reason we're even, we even brought this up is because it is the Steelers. But weirdly, it's funny because Marcus Freeman is young, like he's 40 years old.

According to their last three hires, he's too old for this. Chuck. Chuck Null was 38 and Bill Cower and Mike Tomlin were 34 when they got hired by the Steelers. So Marcus Freeman just ancient. He's aging out, which I don't often get to say that people younger than me are too old for something. So I'm proud to be able to say this. Yeah. Well, he's two years older than me.

The guy's ancient. I understand the career move. And also, let's be real. I know that a lot of people probably like, I mean, there were threads on message boards about suing me from Notre Dame people who know that my opinion was that the committee made the just decision and that everything makes sense. And I'm thankful that Miami didn't embarrass me. But you probably don't want to go out on that either. I mean, you get to the national championship game the year before.

You assemble a team that, in my opinion, though rightfully left out of the playoff, could have made noise if it were permitted. And maybe even could be in the national title game had they made. the playoff let's be really are i agree yeah um there's some there's some oil still down underneath the surface there that you can drill for and i think that like i completely understand and i'm not shocked or even caught off guard that he would stay there uh i think it's a really great place and by the way they love him that's the other they love him well and he's he is taking them to places that maybe some of them didn't realize they could go. Because I think, I don't think I was alone or you were alone when Brian Kelly left.

And we said, okay, did Brian Kelly have Notre Dame and its ceiling? And then Marcus Freeman very quickly showed us that he didn't, that Brian Kelly did not have them anywhere near their ceiling. And that Freeman could get them further along. And now, like a lot of this press conference today was about what they're doing, the transfer portal, how they've changed some admissions situations so that they can get more undergraduate transfers in. And that's the sort of thing that, like, Marcus Freeman can get done because he has leverage to get some of that stuff done because he does get interest from other college teams, from NFL teams. And so to keep him happy and make sure that he is continuing to bring Notre Dame toward its ceiling in football,

they play a ball with him in ways. He didn't necessarily play ball with Brian Kelly. So you got that. And then after this failure, Andy, how did Notre Dame react? They didn't react. Well, Marcus didn't do good enough. Let me ask you this, because I've never said that before. And I think it's a very important distinction to make.

If let's say, let's, what do you think is the most, uh, which, which SEC fan base do you think is the most nuts and, uh, most spoiled? Oh, depends on it would be Bama? Bama. Alabama, LSU, Florida. I mean, Tennessee. Let's go to Bama.

Let's just do Bama. Okay. Kaelin DeBore starts O and 2. Mm-hmm. And then runs the table and is improperly left out according to very many people. I don't, I don't think they were improperly left out.

But for the sake of conversation, we're improperly left out. Notre Dame took the beach for him. And was like, this is bullshit. Like, we're not playing in the game. We're doing this. Right. The AD backed him.

Yeah, everybody had his back. Yes. Everybody had his back. And you know what? Like, you know what you didn't hear a single person say? Marcus Freeman failed because they lost, started the season O and two. That wasn't a talking point by anybody. No.

Now, if you were to replace that situation with an Alabama and let's just say it happened to Kailin DeBoer. Don't you think Kailen DeBoer would be under at least like 5% heat? I think people would be like, well, they won 10 games in a row. row and back in good race. I mean, he's under a lot of heat now, and they did make the playoff in one of games. I'm just saying, like, you also missed the playoff in a two-loss season where you had an incredible team, and literally nobody is criticizing you, which is like not really something that's

very typical for programs. And essentially, everybody wants to hire you still. And I thought our friend Pete Sampson, our former coworker at the Athletic, asked a really good question because he was falling up on what Marcus Freeman said about that he uses this NFL interest more as fact-finding. You had referenced sort of, you know, the NFL interest that allows you to sort of be a fact finder as well. What have you gotten out of those conversations? And I guess is there, are you concerned ever there's a negative here with that sort of ambiguous interest,

whether it comes to a portal guy or recruit being like, are you going to be here or not? Yeah. Again, I'm always open and honest with our administration, our recruits, our current players. and it's important they hear from me and not maybe what's on the media or social media. But it's not just, again, gaining knowledge from NFL executives. I gain knowledge from coaches around here. I spend time with Micah and some of our other coaches. And I'm always looking for ways to improve.

It's the same things we challenge our players to do every single day, right? Is how do you find ways to improve today? How do you find ways to choose hard to do it today? And that's what I want to do. And so if I can utilize, Brad Stevens here to watch his son play, Coach Stevens, I should not coach anymore, but Brad, can I meet with you? Let's just talk. What have you seen in your coaches and your time that help certain people become successful?

And I think that's what I want to be an example of for our players, but that's what I believe in my heart, which makes maybe the best, the best, is they're never satisfied. They're always looking for a way to improve. So we'll wrap up the Marcus Freeman discussion and look forward to what is coming at Notre Dame in a second. But as Marcus Freeman talks about ways to improve, there is a really good way for you to improve your productivity. There's a little more from Dell. Every great idea deserves the power to bring it to life.

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Powered by the Series 3 Intel Core Ultra processors, the XPS gives you the freedom to create without limits all day long. The Dell XPS proves there's no need to compromise style, power, and reliability come together in one expertly crafted machine. Check out the all-new DellXPS at Dell.com slash XPS. Okay, Ari, so it's interesting because Marcus Freeman is one of those smart people who he never says never. Because I think if you're a coach, you should never say never.

You shouldn't box yourself in on anything. So I'm sure there's a lot of people who've been listening to all this going, well, he didn't say he's not going to take the Steelers job. Okay. Can I play him one more thing that should drive that point home? Sure. All right. Let's do one more from Marcus Freeman.

This is from our friend Tyler Horka from Blue and Gold, our Notre Dame cited on three. When it relates to the NFL, we've heard what you talk about what it means for your program, for that interest to be in you from the league. For you personally, what kind of interest do you have? I know you just turn 40, but you have your whole career ahead of you. Do you want to be an NFL head coach someday? And can you see that for yourself? Do I want to be?

I mean, I don't really, I've never done it. You know, I don't know if it will, I don't know enough about it. You know, it may be sometime in the future if it's the right time and it's what I think is right for me, then maybe I'll pursue it. But I don't love wasting time thinking about things that aren't right in front of me. And so I don't know what I'll want and how. however many length of time, you know, how much length of time from now.

I don't know. But I know right now that I am as convicted and motivated to be in the best head coach of a Notre Dame football program as I can be. Yeah, that's Marcus Freeman going. I had a hell of a signing class and portal class coming in. I plan on being really good here next year. And maybe if I win some national titles here,

maybe in the future I'll do something else. But I plan on win some games here. Yeah. One last thing. before we go. Thank God he's not. College football needs these people in college football. I don't want our stars leaving to the NFL

to go be the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts and fly under relative obscurity. Do you think if you asked, like, our audience who the head coach of the Colts is, like most people would know? No, Shane Steichen. Did you know? I did, yeah, but I'm on, I'm online a lot.

Yeah, I think that's true. Could you name all 32? Well, there's only 24 right now, so probably. Yeah, yeah. There's 23 now. Tomlin left. Yeah, I'm trying to think. Like, who's the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks?

Mike McDonald, former Michigan defensive coordinator. Who's the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys? That would be Brian Schottenheimer, former Fortigator. I'm going to have a son of one now. legendary coach Marty Schaenheimer. Who's the head coach of the Bengals? Zach Taylor. Well, you know that because he has Survivors' guilt.

He's the only coach that survived. The AST in North Michigan. I was trying to think of like teams. What about the Arizona Cardinals? Last one. They don't have one. Jonathan Gannon got fired. Trick question.

You know them all. Okay. Whatever. You get it. I just like, I'm happy that we get to keep. We were playing that game. Actually, at the coaches convention, as the head coaches were meeting, can we name all 136?

in the FBS because remember Ohio U just changed over. And so we were trying to figure out if we could name them all. You get stumped? I got stumped on, I could not remember Ohio U's new head coach who just got named last month. So that was a tough one. Yeah, John Houser, right? John Houser, yes, he was elevated to the job. And they had, we played the video of him being hired on our podcast.

Yes, we did. Exactly. We know what I would be bad at, though. NBA head coaches. I would be cooked. Oh, yeah, I'd be terrible at that right now. Terrible at that. Although there's a lot of guys that that I watched as players that are now head coaches that I'm like, wow, he's a coach now. Okay. We got some other news that we need to talk about, Ari. Dylan Thineman, the Oregon safety, has announced that he will enter the NFL draft. So we talked about Koi Perel. coming as a transfer from Minnesota yesterday, and we said this sounds like a replacement for Dylan Thineman.

That's exactly what it is. They're not going to be playing together in the Oregon secondary. Theneman will be in the NFL. So we had the very good first two years at Purdue. Then Thineman went to Oregon for this past year, had another great year. He's off to the NFL. Coy Perich will probably fill that role for the Ducks next year. Ari also in Transfer Portal slash draft.

slash everything else news. LSU has another new quarterback who's on Longstreet, late of USC, who was the backup to Jaden Maiava this year. He was a very high-profile recruit, thought he was going to be the next Lincoln Riley quarterback. And I think had Jade Maiava gone pro, he would have been the starting quarterback at USC next year. But with Jayne Maia coming back,

hmm? You don't think you would have a place because he wanted to play now to go to a place where he's not going to play now. That's a good point. I'm actually kind of surprised by this when I saw it. I thought the whole reason he was leaving was because he couldn't get on the field. That is a good point,

because he will be Sam Levitt's backup at LSU. The presumption is that he won't, maybe it's just better to be Lane Kiffin's understudy right now than it is. And you also have Landon and Clark, the Elon quarterback they signed. So they have three quarterbacks, now had zero three days ago.

So, you know, like, I don't think you really freak out about this because like you always say, there's another quarterback around the corner and you have your guy next year. Oh, no, you want is your guy for next year. But it would, I would resent it a little bit if I were a USC fan of like, well,

if he's not going to play next year, why wouldn't he wait it out here with us? Like, that would annoy me. Right. Because this didn't, this was not a situation like Malachi Nelson, who was a very high-profilever recruit, signed with USC. it became clear very quickly he was never going to wind up being the starting quarterback there.

Right. And then he transferred a couple of times and he's in the transfer portal again after leaving U-TEP. So yeah, this is, this is interesting. And now we're going to see how it all stacks up. But it does seem like a succession plan where he would be backing up Sam Levitt. And the thought is he's going to be the starting quarterback next year. But I, I, I don't know that you can make a plan like that in the year of Our Lord, 2026. Can you? Maybe you can.

Why would anybody who, I think today you can, he came in with the information that he's not going to play. And if he, at the end of the year, he has given the information that he's the guy, he'll stay. Right. There's no surprise here because he's coming,

knowing that Sam Levitt is also going, I got you. We shall find out. But then again, if somebody else offers him a huge bag next year, there's still no guarantee that he might not leave. Exactly. I don't know.

Yeah. I mean, the quarterback's, I remember back in the day when I was a beat writer, I used to write stories of like, here's the quarterback room and here's what Ohio State's vision is for way it's going to play out. And it would be like 2016 and I would have your starter for 2020 listed. And it's like, that is gone. And by the way, if anybody paid any attention to Ohio State's quarterback situation from 2014 to 2020, you knew that those stories were also wrong.

Right. Nobody had J.T. Barrett becoming the starter when he did. Yeah. Or Braxton Miller finishing his career as a receiver. It's a crazy sport. You know, like it's a crazy sport. One more crazy transfer. Justice Haynes running back, started his career to Alabama, went to Michigan. He is now transferring to Georgia Tech. And what's most interesting about this one is that last name probably sounds familiar to people in the Peach State. he's veron haynes son veron haynes former georgia fullback the guy who caught the hobnail boot against tennessee in 2001 you know larry monson we stepped on their face

with a hobnail boot broke their nose that was veron haines that was justice's dad so an all-time great bulldog on the other has his son on the other side of clean old fashioned hate so got that one we're going to be talking to our friend cole cublich in a second But first, I'm going to tell you about Roback. I'm wearing my Roeback Hezzy hoodie right now. You can get yours at Roeback.com. R-H-O-B-A-C-K.com. Use the code Andy for 20% off your first order.

And of course, if you want your favorite school's logo. And when I was walking around Atlanta prior to the Peach Bowl, I saw some very cool Indiana Roebuck gear. I saw some polos. I saw some Hezzy hoodies. That's the Bama Hezzy hoodie that we've got on the screen right now. They've got the really cool quarter zips, like that Ohio State helmet stripe quarter zip is really awesome.

So you name it, Robax got it, with your school logo on it, or if you're just looking for great, comfortable clothes that you can take from the office to the bar to the golf course and feel like you're perfectly dressed every single time. rowback.com, R-H-O-B-A-C-K, use the code Andy for 20% off your. first order. Now, let's talk to our friend Cole Kublich, who went a little viral this week because he had a rant on his radio show, Mac and Cube, which is him and Greg McElroy,

the former Alabama quarterback. They do a show in Birmingham together. And Cole was going in on Auburn fans who were upset because Auburn lost Cam Coleman and Dusnight to the transfer portal. And I thought Cole had a really good message for those guys. Let's talk to Cole. It is, of course, Megaboard Wednesday, and we go to the Auburn Sports message boards. The corner with this headline,

Kubelik preaching this morning, and it is Cole Kubelik on his show, Mac and Cube, and Greg McElroy reduced to just chiming in, just uh-huh, amen. Here's a little bit of Cole from the pulpit.

No player cripples a program when they leave. Not a single one. Not to the draft, not to the portal, not to Enterprise rent a car to start a career. None of them cripple a program when they leave. And if your mindset is of so, that is a loser brain. That is a loser take. That is a loser mindset to think, oh, he's leaving.

We can't win. You can't think that way. We are joined now by Cole Kublich, co-host Macroly and Kubik in the morning. You see him on ESPN on the sideline. You see them on the SEC network. If you're really a Cole Kublich head, you're listening to Tuesday night date night and the Cube show. So, Cole, I appreciate this. I appreciate this.

This is one thing that drives me crazy in this era of Transfer Portal and everybody moving is fans going nuts because they got so used to or they fell so in love with somebody when they were a recruit and covered as a recruit and they picked the school and maybe they didn't even do that much at the school but because they were a big time recruit when they leave it's the end of the world first off a little bit different

flavors on the headlines there from our friends here at al.com than what On 3 decided to do there so my wife sent me that one she's like oh no what did you do I think it's going to be okay. I don't see any lies on that headline, by the way. And Cole, let me ask you before you get going.

I got to say this. Is there anything more gratifying to the soul than just dropping a loser? Like, loser mentality. Like, it's like so true. But at the same time, the anxiety drives the interest. It is. But it goes back to what Andy was saying is that we're so conflicted in so many ways with the portal right now. Because our, our guy goes in, we get mad.

We're angry. We don't like that person. And then if that's a player that was hyped up through recruiting or has shown some flashes of brilliance or even been a great player for us, how are we going to survive that? How are we going to get over that? Departures have been happening for the existence of college football, kicked off team, graduation, obviously leaving early to go to the NFL. Those have all been difficult for people to overcome. They're just more frequent now. But you can replace some with others players out of the portal, which then that becomes convoluted.

and confusing because we have portal rankings. Some, as Andy stated, are players that have not played. Others are players that have 500 to 1,000 career snaps in real college football, which is being proven Monday night and has been through the playoffs that that's extremely valuable right now. No matter how many stars you had by your name, there are just a lot of different directions that our brains can go. This was me, and it was not Andy Burtzom's fault. Andy Bertrand, Voice of the Auburn Tigers, joins our show every Tuesday. We just kind of asked him, how are things going with Alex Golis? You're down there, you see him, you talk to him, you feel it out.

He mentioned those two names, not trying to make excuses or a pity party, anything. And I promise you guys, I was at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, walking around Thursday afternoon, Friday, Friday night at the game after the game. I had five different fans. I know two were Auburn fans. I don't know if the others were. mentioned these two players specifically to me and how Auburn was going to overcome that. And I was just to my wits end yesterday

when asked about this because it seems to be focusing in on those two individuals. And I would be telling you guys a bold-faced lie if there weren't some other people involved in the athletic department that a lot of that wasn't directed at as well. Well, and that's my next, that was my next thing because it seems to me that this is not as much about the Auburn. fan base as it was presented when the coaching change was made, when the decision was made to

push for keeping DJ Durkin on the staff after he was the interim coach, that it was in service of retaining the roster, specifically retaining someone like Cam Coleman, retaining someone like Deuce Knight. And you've talked about this a bunch. And we've talked about this on the show. an AD, an athletic department, they should understand at this point. If you fire your coach, you are pressing reset on the roster. That is a choice you've made. You can't make both choices. And in fact, you shouldn't hamstring the new coach by saying you got to make sure you keep these guys.

Not only that, you won five games the previous year. Should you want to keep a lot of these guys around? And that doesn't mean that they can't be good football players. they can't contribute. There were just a few people who for some reason thought this was personal. I think Cam Coleman's an outstanding football player. I think you have a great football career. Deuce Knight showed us against Mercer.

Maybe he has a chance to be a great football player. I don't really know if either are going to be consistently great for a long time. But when you begin to peel back the layers and ask the questions, if we're just talking about these two, like what games did Auburn win because of them? What games was Auburn in because of them? Now, that has to do with supporting cats. I think the Vanderbilt game, but they still lost the game. They lost.

Yeah. We're in it, correct. There were some things against Oklahoma that maybe they're not as competitive in if he's not a part of that game. And that's not to really take away from him. It's just that those services were available and still not enough for you to be even good, much less really good or great. So maybe part of me too is completely bought into this Indiana mindset right now of

go find a bunch of players that want to do it the way it needs to be done and that are willing to play on selfish football. And if you need to pick a center to allow for your looping defensive in or defensive tackle to go make a play, by God, you're going to do it. You're not going to complain about it. Or you need a tight end that's going to catch 32 balls in the regular season to just go out there and grind his rear end off as a blocker and help him pass protection. And he's going to be okay with that.

Go find that guy instead of the guys that want the flash and want the glitz and want the glamor and want the targets and basically have the previous head coach tell the media in a non-conference game, we are going to force feed him the football. So hopefully he stays happy and maybe sticks around on our roster. Like those are not the things that a healthy team is built on. And when I hear the same two names continue to come up, that's where the frustration came from. So it was some from the administration of thinking that those two had to be retained or else, which to me is just the exact opposite of how any team should or can or will be built if it's going to be great.

There is no one player on any team that you say, if we don't have him, it's not going to work. Because no matter, let's look at Cam Newton because he's the ultimate example, right? People would say he put team on back, he carried them. Cam Newton had four senior offensive linemen, five who actually played during the course of the season. He had two defensive tackles that played in the end. NFL that were both seniors. He had a senior inside linebacker that called the whole defense that played in the NFL for a while. Like they had vets everywhere to prop a team up. You still need people to be in position to allow you to go prop them up or else Derrick McFadden's Arkansas teams would

have never lost the game. T-Boss Florida teams wouldn't have won national championships. Like you, the cast still has to allow you to be that guy. And I will say, honestly, in fairness, Colman especially because Deuce Knight didn't play a lot. He didn't have a lot of that. He even put Auburn in those situations, but I just, I can't get into the, if we don't have these one or two guys,

we're not going to be able to find a way to win football game. You know, I think it's interesting, Cole, and I love this fired up version of you, but I think that what we view as necessary to win a national championship, ebbs and flows on a year-to-year basis based on who's playing in that given year. And like, I think Indiana obviously is a major exception

to what we've all become. Like most people who watch college football for the last 30 years have associated star power with success, right? And I think Cam Newton is the commiserate example of it. And if I'm an Auburn fan, I'm thinking, we had a good team then, but Cam Newton was the star. And we had a star that helped lift us up. And the two names that keep popping up right now are probably the two most

recognizable names on Auburn's entire roster. So, like, I understand, like, the angst of that. But at the same time, like, how much do you think that, Indiana's style of how they built their team and who they are right now is going to influence how other teams, you know, frankly, that are much higher or have been traditionally much higher on the totem pole are assembled in the future. It's an awesome question and it's an intriguing question and it's one that I think the answer will vary based on athletic department, head coach and maybe most importantly geography. Because are you covered teams up north on

a specific basis for a period of time. None of us have spent a ton of time covering teams out west. But the way I view it, where are recruiting rankings king? I believe it's in the southeast. Because probably per capita is where most of the elite players come from. And it's where most programs and their fans obsess about where they are in said rankings. There are SEC programs for the last couple of years that can be seventh or eighth, But pissed off at the world because there's five other SEC teams in front of them.

So that's not good enough for them, which you're probably putting a roster together that can win a lot of games. And I just, I don't hear as much of that from non-Ohio state and Michigan teams up north, from a lot of teams out west that just have to be in the top 10 recruiting, have to win a recruiting national championship, have to have however many five stars or number one player at each position. And so I also think that because so many fan bases and maybe even some coaches, their brains are still a little bit warped by this, they're not going to be able to allow themselves to be okay with that because they want to chase those guys you're talking about. Perfect example of this is like Indiana now. If Auburn or Georgia or Tennessee or Florida or LSU or Mississippi State would have signed their portal class last year, how many fans would have been walking around saying, here we go. Yes, this is going to be the year.

We got it figured out. None of them would because there's not enough stars. They weren't guys that they heard of being recruited out of high school the first time around. And it wouldn't have been satisfactory. So the hard part about this are is it is going to take legitimately 100% buy-in in that you don't care what the fans say. You might not care what some of the other assistants say because they came from a background of, we got to go get Johnny five-star guy or he can't help us win. It is literally top to bottom buy-in of this is how we do it.

This is the kind of person that you need. I ask multiple people involved with that program over the weekend. How do you find these guys? Like best quote of the year from their DC that I heard over the weekend. We have guys that care more about winning than they do being drafted. How many college football teams around the nation have one or two of those guys, much less a whole defense of them? So if it's not full buy-in as far as the type of person,

I don't know if a lot of teams are even going to want to try to replicate it, to be honest. Yeah, there's one other, yeah, that's an interesting point because it's like optically, can you try it if the, like if you don't pass the optics test? I think that's an interesting point. But I think there's one really important thing that we keep forgetting about collectively as a nation when it comes to this Indiana team. They have multiple first round picks on their team. It's not just like in everybody, love everybody, like under,

underachievers coming together to, you know, linked at arms to achieve a common goal. Like, Elijah Surratt is, was better at playing football this year than Cam Coleman. I don't know, like, what is going to happen in the draft and how Cam Coleman might, you know, reach a ceiling from a physical aspect standpoint, he's unbelievable. But like, they have a quarterback who's going to be the number one overall pick in the draft and a receiver is going to be in the first round and a cornerback who might be a day two pick, but only because he's not prototypically signed. Because he's 5-9.

Yeah. The DiAngelo-Pon's thing is hilarious to me. The guy locks up Jeremiah Smith every day at his high school practice. But because he's 5-9, nobody in the SEC or the Big 10 even offers it. Or Miami. Or Miami. Because he told me after the game, did not get that offer when I asked him about Mendoza and him going back. He said they didn't offer me either.

So like Jeremiah Smith will tell you this dude locked me down at practice every day. But I want to fall up a little bit of what Ari was saying there because it's, it is intriguing and it's accurate. But I'll go back to that Cam Newton theory again, whether it's Joe Burrow, Cam Newton, Herschel Walker, when they put that cape on, you saw them put all that on display. The difference with Indiana, Ari is, and by the way, I don't think Elijah Surratt will be a first rounder, because I think he's going to run like a four, six, two. And that's not a knock on him.

I just don't, he's going to get to the combine and not run super fast. And we know what the reaction to that's going to be. Oh, this guy can't play. He's tight in speed. All I know is the dude gets open and he catches anything near him. I would love to have a hundred of him on my football team, based just on the mindset and behavior patterns alone, much less catching the football.

Yeah. Here's the difference in Indiana. They don't lean on their superheroes to always put the cape on. of those other teams and other guys we talked about, if said superhero didn't put the cape on that day, they weren't successful. Indiana can throw it to the tight end. They can hand it to multiple running backs 35 times.

Guys, if I'm not mistaken, Mendoza still has one 300-yard game this year. One. He threw the ball 17 times against Oregon. Like, that's not normal superhero tendencies in college football. So while you're 100% right on the superstar ability, maybe showing up occasionally, the difference is they don't walk onto that field and say, all right, Fernando, carry us again today.

Or, okay, DeAngelo, three picks or we lose. It can be the D-Line. It can be the linebackers. It can be scheme one day. And what I see more than anybody else, I see almost perfect execution on a very consistent basis, and you see relentless effort and strain. And I thought the strain aspect of it was a,

on full display against Oregon because there were multiple situations just when Indiana was on defense of some sort of a stunt, twist, or pressure that was initially picked up that four or five seconds later ended up being almost a catastrophe play for Oregon, which tells me you knew the assignment, you went the right way, you did the right thing, you just couldn't do it as long as the other team could because they had that ability inside of them to be able to go and make it happen. The strip sack with Indocque where the detackle, it's a twist. The detackle pushes the guard into the tackle who's blocking in Dockway. And Dockway then twists around.

It was incredible. And the detackle then recovers the fumble. It was the greatest two-man stone of all time. Like the two guys did everything. Cole, this brings me to another message board thread I wanted to bring up to you because you are the person I wanted to ask about this, this one particular match. up specifically. And it's from the Hoosier, our Indiana site. And it's, don't underestimate Miami. And Duvali Jay says, Miami does a lot of the same things Indiana does well. They have a very

experienced and talented quarterback. They have a balance of running and passing. They put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. They're well coached and usually make the right plays. You don't want them to still be in the game on their last possession. If you don't believe me, go back and watch their victory over Ohio State. You were the one I wanted to ask about this particular matchup, these two teams on the line of scrimmage because both offensive lines are awesome. Both defensive lines are awesome. Who do you think has an edge here? If we're just talking about those two groups, I think there is a slight advantage.

Let's just start when Miami is on offense, Indian is on defense. There is a slight edge to Miami there. and if you really dive in, there is movement that can be had. Multiple teams, you go back to the Ohio State game and the Big Ten title game, they had some movement at times.

Now, one of the problems with multiple teams in this playoff has been finding success in the run game and not sticking with it. Go back to Shannon Dawson, since we're talking about Miami in the Texas A&M game. Y'all were at that game with me. And Ari was the one that was bringing up all these trick plays.

from out of nowhere and like what else could we find to try to run when Mark Fletcher could have just pounded them into submission. Now, fourth quarter, last couple drives, yeah, turned into that. Look at Georgia against Old Miss. Nate Fraser actually gets a couple of runs going and for whatever reason Bobo decides he needs to be a dropback team again. The same thing happened in a couple of other postseason games this year. For whatever reason, I don't understand why teams consistently get away from it. Miami is the one team that will be truly stubborn with it, in my opinion. Oregon got some

movement, specifically in Gap scheme runs against this Indiana front. The problem is, and I pointed this out on my podcast, speaking of twists, there's one play early in the game. Oregon runs, I think they have two tight ends to the right, and they run an inside zone to the left.

And there are three defenders for like four blockers to one side. Indiana is outnumbered. And what is they should, Oregon runs the ball to this side. And there is a tackle, tackle twist. And the noseguard going to the side of the play comes around and there's like a wall of two or three blockers that are in

his way. But because he just continues to fight, scratch, claw through, it ends up being like a two, three yard game. Should have been a 23, 33 yard game. That's the strain that I kind of talk about with Indiana. So although that initial movement will favor Miami, finishing, straining, staying on those blocks is going to be critical because guys show up at a. nowhere on this Indiana defense to be able to assist in making plays. The other part of that is this. This is a little bit bigger picture. And I've really wondered this and I really kind of don't know the answer to this.

Go back to that Miami-Ole-Miss game. 17-14 at the half, if I'm not mistaken, 17-13. It was a four-point game, I believe, at the half. Felt like it was a 44-point game because Miami controlled the game, but had not put their foot on their throat. And what I wonder a little bit is if Miami takes this ball control, we're going to milk the clock, run the clock, convert short-yarded situations, maintain possession.

I ask this question, honestly, is that enough? Because I think no matter what, Indiana will score, not every possession, not every time. They're going to put points on the board. It might be 13, it might be 33, but they're going to score. And because they're so efficient, I do wonder, can you live in that neighborhood of wanting to completely shorten that game, knowing that you will give up some points at some point in time?

Because I don't want to be Miami chasing points late. I just don't. I don't want to be that team. Now, on the flip side of that, the advantage is going to be with Miami. Obviously, some of that is how healthy they are, specifically Moten. I mean, I guess Bain and Mesidor, too, who looked like they were a little bit nicked up. How healthy are those guys? but the problem there becomes you're now playing,

you're outnumbering a group that is always outnumbered and continues to find ways to win. Like Miami rarely is going to put an extra big body on the field to stop the run. Here's our four down even front. Good luck dealing with it. We'll bring a nickel every now and then. A linebacker will walk up occasionally, but like you've got to deal with these four guys

and you usually have five or six to deal with it. And if Miami wins the numbers game there, That's when they usually get a massive advantage on the back end. So I do think Miami physically has a little bit of an edge on both sides, but because of how things operate, I don't necessarily, that means they have the holistic advantages that pertains to the game. Yeah, it just feels like Miami can't let Indiana score twice early and control it.

I feel like Miami has to be the one driving the bus for four quarters if they're going to win. I think Carson Beck is going to have to hit some shots downfield for them to win. You want to dictate Andy when you take those. chances. Correct, which they did. You that, okay, we need to go two-minute offense with eight minutes left in the fourth and him have to do that like four consecutive drives. That's where I think you get in trouble.

Yeah, because they did dictate that against A&M and against Ohio State. Yes. And it was doable. I look at the Ohio State wins for both these teams and they feel very similar. It feels like they both kind of want the same things. Well, and I just wonder, too,

if it did turn into a different style fight, do you immediately lean Indiana? Because it does feel like there's there's one neighborhood, one gated community that you have limited access to where Miami wants to live. And they don't want to venture out to other neighborhoods. Like Indiana, if we threw them in the trailer park, I feel like they'd figure out a way. You know,

if we put them in the high-rise condo in Manhattan, like they'd figure out a way. Like that's, and that kind of goes back to the player. That's literally what they did as a program, Cole, by the way. They moved from the trailer park to the high-rise. There you go. But it almost feels like going back, that pertains a little bit to what we're talking about with the superhero effect.

The reason that I've kind of fallen in love with this group is the team aspect of it. And they are a great team. And I think the best team in college football right now. Now, Miami does have some better players. And there are aspects of what Miami does that I think they do a little bit better than Indiana. But it's hard for me to look at Miami with some of the penalties, some of the turnovers, things of that nature and say they have consistently been a best. better football team than this Indiana group has. Now, Monday night's Monday night. You let the chips fall in the middle of the table and you see how everything plays out. But I love the team aspect of

what Indiana does. I also don't see them waiver. Like when has Indiana panicked? Not after a pick, not after a sack. I mean, any other team running a two minute offense with 90 yards to go that takes a sack down on the road in Happy Valley, it has to try to battle back from that. You're done. they melt in that moment. Miami or Indiana figures it out. So you don't see the DBs getting in each other's face like somebody blew a coverage. You don't see offensive linemen pushing quarterbacks and quarterback slapping them on the rear in before.

None of that stuff happens with this group, which maybe the most amazing part is how like no one ever seems to go at anybody else on the team on the field at any point in time. Well, I guess you kind of hinted at it. but if I were to ask you for a pick and just maybe against the spread even, which side would you take? It feels like a lot of points. I'll say that.

I don't know how super confident I am there. I picked Indiana to win it before. I picked them to win the Big Ten championship game. I just think that I hope that this does provide a little bit of a blueprint moving forward of, hey, creating the best team can be the best avenue in which to go. Not everybody's going to want to or has to operate that way, but I just think when you go into a fight,

how many ways can you win it? and Indiana has a gigantic bag of ways that they can win it. If it's like street fighter, when you walk around and picked up all the weapons, like you have the baseball bat with the nail in it, and you have the whip and a little knife. Like they have all the tools in the bag. Miami has one really big bat that if they hit you with it,

like it's going to hurt and it's going to be bad. I don't know if you get up from it. But I just think Indiana has the whole bag of weapons that they're bringing to this fight. Therefore, they end up finding a way to end up being the winner. I'm so excited for this thing. Let's kick it off right now, right now.

There's going to be an absolute blood bath, like in a great way, in a good way. I mean, blood force trauma meets brick wall, bowling ball, wrecking ball. It's going to be awesome. I can't wait to see the paint be traded in this game. So Fernando Mendoza goes, Haddookin. And he has that ability. And it usually ends up right on that defender to take them out of where it needs to go. So I've seen him throw multiple balls this year that I thought it went through the DB, literally.

He just phased out, just happens in the video game all the time. The one to Baker on going away from us in the press box, like it was on the left hash and they throw the out. He lets it go like two yards before he's even out of his break. The DB is there and he waves his arm in front of it. And I literally watch it. I'm rewinding it thinking it went through him, literally through the DB. I don't know how the ball got there. I just don't.

I cannot wave this. Cole Kublich, thank you so much for joining us. Make sure you are listening to Cole on Cube Show, Tuesday night, date, night. And check it on Mac and Cube in the morning. It is streaming everywhere. You don't have to live in Birmingham to listen to it. It is spectacular every day. Thank you, Cole. Thanks, Cole.

Appreciate you. That's our friend Cole Kublich. And obviously, he does that show with Greg McElroy, former Alabama quarterback. And listen, there's something to being the former Alabama quarterback. but what Tya Simpson is doing may take the cake as far as former Alabama quarterbacks go because he talked to our Chris Lowe and on three. And he explained why he's keeping his name in the NFL draft. Charlie Potter at Bama Online posted Chris Lowe's story on Tuesday night.

Ari, Ty Simpson went on the record and said, that Miami and Tennessee came after him very hard, that the highest offer was $6.5 million for one year playing college football, which, I mean, he's going to go to the NFL. We'll see where he gets drafted, but he might not make that much in his first year or two playing NFL football, depending on where he gets drafted. So this was quite a choice by Ty Simpson,

and I thought it was really fun to read what he said. because I think people just see all this transfer portal stuff, and they assume, well, everybody's just out for the biggest bag that you can get. And I don't think Ty Simpson's out for the biggest bag you can get. Yeah, and I think for people listening into the podcast form, let's just read the quote for them because it's up here on the screen for those watching. But Katie and Coach Grubb have been so good to me, Simpson said. I'm sure they were wondering what was going on because they wanted a decision for me last Thursday

so they could just start building their roster for next year. I was honest and told them what I'd been offered, but that I just couldn't do it because of everything I stood for and what Alabama had meant to me and the legacy that I'd built there. Everybody would just remember me as the guy who took all this money and went to Miami or Tennessee for his final year. But I was a captain. I put my hand and footprints in the cement at Danny Chimes.

I would have lost everything that I built at Alabama. And that's the thing. There's still guys like this. And we talk about the portal and you get the stat that. that the 30% of the active rosters are in the transfer portal, which also means 70% are not. There's more of these guys than you think that go to a school that love that school

that want to be affiliated with that school for the rest of their life. And that's that's Ty Simpson. I mean, because I don't like, Ari, there's no going back from saying something like this. And like he's put his name in the draft. He's gone. He's going to the NFL. Yeah.

I mean, you only say something like this once the decision's been made. but like I also like thought about Quinn yours because I think this was part of the calculus with his decision a year ago and people were beating him up for going into the NFL draft. I think that, you know, being a Texas Longhorn meant a lot to him and anybody who tracked his career path, you know, knows that he went to Ohio State was there for a semester and then immediately went back and like as a Texas boy. You know, like all of his NIL deals were around like Texas lifestyle stuff. I think he has, if I'm not mistaken, a tattoo of a longhorn on his thigh somewhere. Like, he wanted to be known as a longhorn forever now. It's a convenient thing to say because Arch Manning was going to be the starter here this past year, no matter what he did.

But I think he would have been really well served saying something similar a year ago. And when you think about legacy, Quinn yours's legacy was bringing Texas to the playoff two years in a row. Yeah. You know, Ty Simpson, I think, was a major piece of Alabama's success. But when you look back at his actual on-the-field legacy in comparison to the countless players that played behind him, it probably doesn't stack up pretty high in Alabama lore. But this quote certainly shot him up the list, I think. I would think so, too.

And the thing is, if we look at, and Quinnier's an interesting case, say, because Quinn Ewers ended up bidding draft in the seventh round, he was 230. first overall. Ty Sims is going to be picked higher than that. I don't know where he's going to wind up. I don't know if he's going to be a first round draft pick that I think he believes he is. But if Alabama didn't have Ty Simpson, if Alabama had a lesser quarterback than Ty Simpson, how do you think this year goes? Because I don't think they beat Georgia. I don't think they beat Vanderbilt. Ty Simpson was keeping them a float for a while. Yeah. And you know what?

We have gotten so spoiled by Alabama's success and consistency of success that like, you know, we look back at Alabama's season this past year and go, oh my God. But like they made the playoff and won a game in the postseason. Like they made it to the final. Like they had a good year. So they won 11 games, right?

I mean, they, they went 10 to the regular season. They lost the SEC and they went one in the playoff. Yeah. And like, listen, you don't want to lose the SEC championship game. more the quarter final game the way that they did in the playoff,

certainly. Alabama, you know, demands and should demand more than that. But it's not like they didn't have a good year. So, and I think a lot, like you said, to echo what you said, like a lot of that success was predicated on his ability to move the chains on critical third downs throughout the year and keep his team afloat when they couldn't run the ball and, you know, get them out of jams. And I think that that makes him a very attractive, you know, NFL prospect. And the other thing, too, is that the,

loyalty that you, you know, illustrate while in school and staying and not transferring and developing within the program playing for Sabin, staying there after he leaves, all these things, I think are pretty good, you know, numbers and an arithmetic problem of like what's going to make you successful in the week. Like, you know, we always talk about what's going to make you successful. I think the number one thing right now is how many snaps as a starter you take in college. I think that that's like a pretty important stat. But in terms of staying put and illustrating the abilities that he has both on the field and off of it, I think that that makes him an attractive candidate to be a quarterback for an NFL team in the future. Well, and he could

have taken more snaps as a starter in college, obviously, if he'd wanted to take the money and go to Miami or Tennessee. But I think the post football part of his life, I mean, there's a lot of avenues that open up by being a former Alabama quarterback and a beloved former Alabama quarterback, which I think you mentioned earlier, like what he's doing now, this choice will make him beloved. And he'll be fine financially. He,

I mean, look, he was getting paid this year. He will get paid a decent amount of money in the NFL. He will be a financially well-off person playing football because he's a good quarterback. And so he's going to be on an NFL roster. And he can be on an NFL roster for a long time. So that's the other part of it. is he's probably very secure in that, that, hey, I'm going to, I'm going to make plenty of money.

I'm going to be taken care of financially. I'm going to get to do the thing I love. And I don't have to turn my back on this school that I love that I've, you know, spent four years at that I feel like is a part of me. And I love seeing it. I mean, and that's the thing. I don't have a problem with anybody taking the bigger bag to go somewhere else. But it's also cool that there are guys. like this that want to do it this way.

Yeah, and it also would have just been weird to see him in a Tennessee uniform. I mean, like, there are lines, too. Like, it's just like, I would have prefer. And maybe we should have a discussion on a show later this week. Maybe we'll do it from South Florida when we're there for the national title game about what Miami is going to do a quarterback next year. I've gotten a few questions about that. And I think that being involved in the Thai symptoms sweepstakes is a clear indication

that they're in the market for one. And that's an interesting thought process that we're going to have to delve into and at a later show, but like respect to Ty Simpson, and I can't wait to see what he does in the league. Yeah, and we talked about Tennessee yesterday and what they're going to do, and it's probably George McIntyre, who signed in the class of 25 or Faison Brandon,

who's coming in the class of 26, winds up being the starter, and Miami is the next question. Now, Miami's still playing, but the transfer portal closes on Friday already. So if there's not another quarterback who jumps in who's experienced, then you're probably talking about Emery Williams, who's been waiting his turn there at Miami,

and he has not gone into the portal. He's still on the roster. He's the backup of Carson Beck right now. So potentially, maybe that's the guy, but we'll have to discuss that further because we know it's not going to be Ty Simpson. Now we just find out where's Ty Simpson going to get drafted because he's a Bama guy.

through and through. And as far as college football goes, he'll always be a Bama guy. Now, we hope you guys are always going to be Andy and Ari guys and gals. And one way to reinforce our relationship is you ask us questions. Dear Andy, dear Ari, tomorrow on the show,

Andy Stapleson3 at gmail.com, Ari.com. You guys always ask the best questions, and it just helps us shine a light on what you want to know about. And so there's a lot of questions to be answered in the world of college football. Hit us with your questions and we will answer them to our best ability on tomorrow's show. Ari, I will see you then. I'll be sending you questions tonight.

Put your thinking, Cap on.