College Football Live - CFB Live - BIG 12 Media Days Continues...

Episode Date: July 10, 2025

On this episode Zubin Mehenti, Tom Luginbill, Harry Lyles Jr., and Pete Thamel discuss Coach Prime's headline grabbing comments, the new EA College Football 26 video game, and the No. 1 overall recruits' school decision. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey there, welcome inside college football live. The top recruit in the class of 2026 has made his college choice. We'll unveil that for you here in just a moment. I'm joined today on college football live by The Triumvirate, Tom Lugan Bill, Harry Liles Jr. and Pete Thamble. And we're going to begin today with a guy that's known for reeling in some pretty big recruits of his own. Of course, we're talking about Coach Prime entering year three of Colorado, embracing Michael Urban, the playmaker.

Remember, Big 12 Media days taking place last couple days at the global headquarters of the Cowboys plenty of changes in Boulder forthcoming this fall because he lost some, shall we say, playmakers. But the guys they had last year led him to nine wins. They were right there in the Big 12 title race with a chance to go to the title game deep into the season as a solace. They did finish ranked in the poll for the first time since 2016, largely aided, of course, by the incomparable Travis Hunter,

becoming Colorado second Heisman winner after the late great Rashan Salam, playing on both sides of the ball, of course. And for the first time in his college coaching career, Coach Prime won't have Chodor at quarterback. They do have five-star recruit Julian Lewis, who they flipped from USC, and the Liberty Transfer quarterback, Caden Salter. Pete caught up with Coach Prime yesterday at Media Days.

Obviously, your two-star players from last year are gone. Like every school, there's a new identity each season. Give us a window into the case for Colorado winning this year. Well, we won't have those two phenomenal players. But we will have a phenomenal team. We're not as good individually. We're better collectively. Without Chador, a lot of people speculated you didn't have much interest in coaching college football.

Why was that? Why would that be a factor? Why would I have interest in doing what God bless me to do? That don't make sense whatsoever. It's easier for me, man. Okay. Why? Because I don't have to be two things.

I don't have to be the father and the coach. Now I could just be the coach and I don't have to live. look and make sure I'm a dad and he's doing his job. I'm a dad and he's doing his job on the defensive side. Now I could just focus on these young men. I love so many of them like they're my sons. I truly do. And some of them act like they're my sons.

But I don't have any biological sons on the team right now. But I'm proud of them, man. But I love the challenge. I do. Well, it's great to have you back healthy, Dion. Thanks for time. Thank you, my man. God bless. We're going to talk about Dion's health with Pete here in just a moment.

but Harry, I want to begin with you. Are we buying that after losing two of the most transformative players in the history of the program that collectively see you can be better in 2025? I mean, it's not impossible. I mean, when you lose a player like Travis Hunter, that's a big deal. And Shador Sanders as well. But I do think that there is something to a foundation that has been built at Colorado. I know, you know, the first year that they were there,

it was a lot of Shador Sanders, Travis Hunter, and hope that they can erase the mistakes. of the players that were around them. Last year, you saw the offensive line still had issues, but it had somewhat improved as well as defensively as well. So I think the fact that they've still got some pieces there. They added 26 guys in the transfer portal. You've got two great quarterbacks in Caden Salter and Julian Lewis,

who people around here in Georgia know is incredibly great. He's been the starting quarterback at his high school since he was a freshman. He's only lost like three, four or five games. I think because they've got those foundational pieces, Colorado is still going to be able to compete in a good Big 12 conference. I think they're the most fascinating team to watch in the Big 12. Obviously, for many of the reasons you just stated, Harry, and I kind of agree with Coach Prime. I'm not so sure that the chemistry and the locker room and the pillars and foundations of the program might actually be better than they were each of the last two years.

And not to say that Chador and Travis Hunter were distractions, but so much of the spotlight, so much of the exposure was on that dynamic between Coach Prime and those two players. and now you remove that, and now the focus goes, guess where? Everywhere else. Who's going to be that new quarterback? How's he going to perform? Can they run the football effectively? How much better are they going to be in the trenches? I look at this schedule, and you look at some of the road contests at Utah,

out West Virginia, at Kansas State. Very, very difficult, and they've got to figure out if the quarterback plays going to take a dip, whether it's the freshman or whether it's Caden Salter, who's played a lot of football. But I think this is a really interesting team to watch. watch, but it's going to begin and end with the trenches. If they've gotten better in the trenches up front on both sides of the football, they'll be an improved football team.

I think the biggest news out of Big 12 Media Day is yesterday to me, guys, was that Coach Prime is back and he's healthy. He has not been with the team the last couple of weeks. He told me he hasn't even met some of the early enrollees in person yet because he's been back in Dallas, or the Dallas area dealing with an unspecified health issue. He told me he's feeling good and he's eager to go back and rejoin the team. He's expected to do that in the next week or two. And I think having Dion Sanders there for camp fully present is going to be a big deal for the buffs.

Yeah, no doubt. His staff did say it was business as usual in Boulder as much as it can be Pete without the headman there. Dion, of course, asked about the deal every coach is dealing with. NIL direct payments. Let's just say his response sounded like a guy that spent, I don't know, 14 years playing on Sundays. I wish she was a cap, you know, like. The top of the line player makes this. And if you're not that type of guy, you know you're not going to make that.

That's what the NFL does. So the problem is you got a guy that's not that darn good, but he could go to another school and they give him a half a million dollars, and you can't compete with that. That don't make sense. All you have to do is look at the playoffs and see what those teams spent. And you understand darn there, why they're in the playoffs. It's kind of hard to compete with somebody who's given $25, $30 million to darn freshman class.

I think he might be speaking for Dion, but I think he might be speaking for much of the coaching profession with those comments. The entire coaching profession. Listen, not all teens and programs are created equal. When it comes to name image and likeness, it is a resource-based business. And I'm sorry, but a Colorado or a Kansas or a TCU is never going to be a Georgia or an Alabama or an Ohio State when it comes to the resources needed

to be able to go out and maximize name, image, and likeness. And the problem is if you don't have a salary cap, all right, then there's no way to prevent any one of the top tier college football programs from becoming the New York Yankees. That's the nature of the business that we're in right now. And that's why these coaches are screaming to the rooftops for some structure and some collective bargaining. But before we get there, we have to admit that they're employees first. And we've got to have structure and you've got to have rules and guidelines. And guess what? Not everybody's going to get paid what they think they should get paid.

they'd start getting paid more what their value is based off of production. And that's not necessarily what we have right here. So I agree wholeheartedly with Coach Prime in this regard. And I think all of his peers do as well. Yeah, Lou's you talk about structure. I think it looks like we're trending towards a salary cap. So I think that's going to help. But I know for me, when I talk to coaches both during and after the season,

the biggest sticking point seems to be, hey, like we understand that, you know, there's going to be financial inequities throughout college football. That's just something that's not going to change. But the one thing that can help smaller programs is continuity. And one of the things is solidifying that transfer portal window. A lot of coaches want just one. They, you know, vary on when they want that to be. A lot seem to say January would be the best because for coaches it wants to be,

hey, look, we want to start the season knowing who we've got on our roster in the spring and go through an entire season with our guys. And most coaches will tell you, hey, if a guy decides he does not want to be at our program at the end of that year, that is absolutely fine by us. But I think having that structure in place is good, not just for the coach. coaches. Like, I'm all for player movement, players getting paid, all that different kind of stuff, but it is also not just a very black and white thing. Like, I also think that having some structure there helps these young men make better decisions for themselves because the continuity

you've seen in Heisman trophy winners, whether it's Joe Burrow or Jaden Daniels, when you have that second year now, which seems so rare, that ends up paying dividends for players as well. And, Harry, I think the future of the Big 12 as a competitive league is really going to be ground into how much legislation and how many rules are put into place to limit third party NIL or legitimized third party NIL. Because if there is more of an equal playing field and everybody's spending essentially the same in RevShare and then players are earning legitimate NIL, it's going to be a boon for leagues like the Big 12 and the ACC.

It's going to spread the talent around college football instead of allowing the Alabama's and Georgia's to hoard it like they did for years. Pete, I couldn't agree with you more. I think the other thing, too, is it relates to name image and likeness in the transfer portal. And Harry just touched on it is the coaches want that single portal window as opposed to December and then after spring football. Because what we've seen, particularly in the last calendar year, is coaching staffs are going to step back now. They're going to say, well, wait a minute. I'm not going to pay a bunch of upfront money to a guy that I get in the transfer portal in December and have him all of a sudden bolt and take all the money with him after spring football.

and he never plays it down for us. And so you're going to start to see a shift on behalf of coaches and how they're managing this if we continue to have two windows. I think one window is the way to go. I think we can get there. If you've been tampered with, you already know where you're going to go anyway. And then that gives the rest of the pool that's remaining plenty of time.

They will have completed the season. They will be able to still get into the offseason conditioning program and be ready for spring football. And then everybody knows where they stand when they enter into the summer season. All great points. I want to circle back to something Pete said, which is the competitive nature of the Big 12. That said, take a look at the odds to win the conference. I mean, this is America's most parody-filled conference.

You got a bunch of teams with real legitimate chances to get there and try to give the Big 12 its second ever win in the college football playoff. I want to mention the Big 12 pole, preseason poll is out. That's likely because in 2023, the team that was picked to finish last finish fourth, and the team that was picked to finish last year finished in first. So we're going to come up with our own poll. And right now, Harry, I want to start with you. And I want to kind of take a look at your upper crust. And the team that kind of catches me is Utah,

because they're coming off in atypically subpar year under Kyle Whittingham. You're obviously expecting a bounceback. Yes, absolutely. And you said the word they're atypical. This is not something that Utah is used to. In fact, that was their first sub-500 season since 2013. They got those transfer quarterback in Devon Damp here out of New Mexico. They brought his offensive coordinator, Jason Beck, as well.

Look, I think that Kyle Whittingham, you look at this schedule, there's not going to be an easy schedule in the Big 12 this year, guys. And look, obviously, you see some tough ones on there, Texas Tech, Arizona State, Colorado, Kansas State, but all those games are at home. So if you're Utah, look, if you're going to get a schedule that looks like this, most of your tough games are going to be at home. Kyle Whittingham talked this week about how he is re-energized because of how last year went. They just have had a lot of tough injury luck. I think that that's going to

switch this year for them. And we've seen two sub-500 teams make the college football playoff last year in the first year of the 12-team format. Why not Utah? I tell you what, the one thing he's got and he's got a quarterback. And if you got a quarterback, you've got a chance. And I love to see Kyle Whittingham continue to evolve and mature and figure out a way to revamp this Utah offense. But Devon Dampier, if you haven't seen him, I think he's going to be maybe the most impactful offensive transfer portal edition in the Big 12, and it's his legs that add to the passing game. There is going to be a quarterback run element to this offense that is going to force defense to have to contend with two back sets and quarterback run, option principles, and constant

backfield movement. He is a nightmare to deal with when the play breaks down, and that is something that Utah hasn't had at quarterback. So I think he's going to be really fun to watch for the youths. No doubt about it. Tom, you said it. If you got a quarterback, you got a chance. So let's look at your preseason Big 12 poll. And the team that kind of catches my attention is a team that really is towards the middle. But this is a team that's got a quarterback of their own. And that's kind of an under the radar TCU signal caller Josh Hoover. Yeah, I know you look at TCU and both Harry and I kind of feel good about TCU.

I think any one of these top 10 teams here could potentially win the conference. That's how tight the race is. But I think the interesting thing about TCU is Josh. Hoover is a guy who threw essentially for 4,000 yards last year and nobody was paying attention. They've got three of five starters back in the offensive line. They've got weapons on the perimeter, but this is what TCU has to do to make the next step. They've got to do two things. They've got to get back to the 2022 order of business of winning close games. They won them all that year on the way to the college football playoff and national championship game. And then they

lost them all the following year in 2023. And then this last year, here's the second thing. They couldn't run the football. When they ran the ball for 110 yards or more, they were 8 and 0 last year. So if they get any run game to help Josh Hoover, I think TCU is going to be a really good football team. Lugues, I think if you want to sound smart at your Labor Day barbecue coming up in a few weeks, you can tell the world about Josh Hoover because Monday night in Bill Belichick's debut as a college coach, Josh Hoover and TCU are perfectly poised to spoil that debut. Look, UNC lost its best two defensive players after the spring. And after spring practice, one left for Ohio State, another left for Penn State.

TCU is going to go in there with all the attention on Carolina, all the attention on Bill Belichick, and they really have a chance to build on a nine-win season that if you look at it, could have easily been an 11-win season. They let a couple of those close games slip away. I think TCU is really poised to ambush the country again like they did three seasons ago. Yeah, no doubt about it. And keep in mind, Hoover said he turned down a huge overture. for the balls to stay in Fort Worth.

On the way on college football live, EA 26 is out. The cover boys, we cover the best plays each of them had this season. Some eye-popping stuff next. Back on college football live after an 11-year hiatus, EA college football made a huge splash upon its return last year. And after the 2024, they're both Ryan Williams and Jeremiah Smith had, they grace the cover of the latest installment,

and it is now out. So let's cover the cover boys in terms of the top plays each of them had this year. Tom, let's start with you. We'll start with Ryan Williams and let's go 3, 2, 1 to build the suspense. Yeah, the Cheetah and Cleats is what I call him. Look at this vertical route versus Vanderbilt down the sideline

and the awareness to keep his feet inbound, locate the football, and then not lose his balance. I think Vanity thought he was out of bounds. He just makes it sound like, you know, it's routine for him. And then this one is just an exceptional display of focus, ball skills, having the presence of mind and the hand-eye coordination to relocate that ball off of the tip. He tracks the deep ball as well, if not better, than anybody in college football. And then I don't even know if we can explain this play,

even though we've all seen it 100 times by now. But again, the sideline awareness, the ability to elevate, He's got such a tremendous feel for the game when the ball is in the air. And a lot of guys are like that when they're 6-2, 6-3-6-6-4. But I'll tell you what, Ryan Williams is special. What do you have for us on Jeremiah Smith, Harry? Yeah, Lou, so some of those Ryan Williams play is just absolutely incredible. But for Jeremiah Smith, man, I got three heaters for you here.

The first one from the first play of the, I'm sorry, first touchdown of their college football playoff running against Tennessee. Give me a little Willie May's action here from Jeremiah Smith. Very Julio Jones-esque of him. Incredible body control. And obviously that keyed their run onto the national championship. Then we had a one-handed touchdown catch against Michigan State. This one was for a touchdown.

He had one like four plays earlier in this same football game. It was almost like a who's his coming out party basically. And then another one handed one. This one against Iowa. Guys, you should not physically be able to. do this. Like, with all due respect, some of y'all watching at home, like, have a tougher time taking out the trash or, like, filling up the dishwasher. He made that look easier than all those other activities. It's absolutely incredible. I love your Julio Jones comparison because the, you know,

the physical makeup is so similar there. You know, both these guys came out in the same recruiting class. And both are vastly different targets in terms of style, stature. But man, the end result and the productivity is off the charts. Okay, so we know the shine on this game is certainly for the players. But as for one coach, Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy, he had, shall we say, a hair-raising reaction to his flow in this game. I think it's pretty cool that somebody put me in a video game. I don't know if somebody showed me the picture just recently of it.

And they gave me a great hairdo. Like, I have really good hair. But I mean, that's like punmented hair for like forever. But I'm good with it. Looks like he's in witness protection. That looks like nothing like. He looks like Albert Brooks. That's what he looked like.

Harry, you're young. Do you know who Albert Brooks is, Harry? Are you young? Do you know who Albert Brooks is? I don't know. I know who Albert Brooks is. No. Go Google him.

Here's what I can't understand, guys. I don't understand how they can make the whole game and the players and the movement looks so realistic and be so far off the mark on the coaches. Yeah. I don't get it. No, 100%. And also the other thing is, too, I mean, for all the incredible things that we can do with technology, I mean, even just to piece this thing together, the advancements that we've seen with AI, the fact that we can't kind of just really get this thing right on the nose at this point, like, we need to start there and then we can continue to make technological advancements in society because I need my video game to look as real as possible.

All right, on the way, while Harry Googles Albert Brooks, that's Lamar Brown. Is he choosing Texas, Miami? The Aggies or the Bayou Bengals? The top recruit in America. The answer next. From Searchlight Pictures comes rental family, now playing only in theaters.

earning rave reviews at Tiff. Rental family is emotional, funny, and the feel-good movie of the year. Academy Award winner Brendan Fraser stars as a lonely American actor living in Tokyo, who struggles to find purpose until he starts working for a Japanese rental family agency. Along the way, he forges some surprising human connections and discovers unexpected joys within his built-in family. Experience rental family, now playing only in theaters. Get tickets now.

Top high school recruit in the class of 26. Lamar Brown, a defensive tackle from University High in Bat Rouge, Louisiana. Not so surprising, maybe. He picked LSU today over Miami, Texas, Sanem and Texas on Sports Center. Tom Sweet Vindication for the Bayou Bengals, remember they lost out on Bryce Underwood. So what kind of impact can this kid have? Well, I think it's huge. Twofold. Number one, he's an in-state kid.

That's critical. You've got to keep those guys at home. Number two, he is an impact player at a premium position in the mold of a Peter Woods at Clunson, just so disruptive, so active. And I think it sends a message across the state that LSU is the place you want to be if you're a homegrown talent. And LSU's got to get back to what we've. all grown up watching them be Domiton defense. Yeah, Brown's certainly familiar with Baton Rouge,

Scott Frost familiar with Orlando, Rich Rod, familiar with Morgan Town, back in their old stomping grounds. Going home isn't always easy. Going back isn't always easy. This was an easy choice for me because of how much we liked it there. I think UCF has grown so much

and had so much growth potential. It's been 17 years. You know, I feel like Forrest Gump. I've been in the desert, been in a bayou, been all over the place. But I'm back home now, and it's been great. Obviously, you know, for our staff, a lot of our staff has been together for a long time, be able to come back.

And it's good to come back to the place that we know that we know you can win at, but also it's home. All right, Harry, let's start with you. Of those two guys, more likely to rekindle the magic. I've seen Forrest Gump, and that's not why I'm going with West Virginia. I am going with West Virginia, though, because I got to see the process during the spring. Rich Rod runs a hard edge as he. calls it program and with this new transfer portal era he is going to be able to sort of weed out the players that are not going to be able to handle it in the modern college football it's very

old school to a lot of people so i think that he is going to be able to find success faster than ucf will i will take ucf and i will take them because tavin jackson is going to be a breakout quarterback this year he played behind curtis rourke last season in indiana spot started in that washington game scott frost told me big 12 media day zubin he's his talent talented throwing the ball as anyone he's had. I'll take that guy any day. All right, fascinating. The sport has changed so much since those two guys were last at those two schools.

It'll be a race to see who adjusts faster. And we'll see you tomorrow for more college football live back on ESPN 2 at 2 p.m. Eastern. See you that.