College Football Live - Since the National Champ...

Episode Date: February 6, 2024

Host Matt Schick is joined by Sam Acho and Tom Luginbill to discuss coaching changes, Senior Bowl and more. Plus, Pete Thamel joins the show to discuss the SEC-BIG TEN advisory alliance, as well as possible coaching moves... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome in, or should we say welcome back to college football live. Matt Schick along with my good buddies, Tom Luganville and Sam Ocho, our first edition of College Football Live, since the national championship game. Let's catch you all up to speed on everything that you've missed over the last month. And it has been a very busy month. The man who won seven national championships officially retired from Alabama. Nick Saban, calling it a career after 17 seasons in Tuscaloosa, where he won six of those titles. DeBoer replaces the goat. We call those big shoes to fill.

Sam, what does life after Nick Saban look like at Alabama? Well, in the short term, it looks bleak. Obviously, there are some transfers that have left, but in the long term, it looks good. Notice you're seeing Kaylon DeBoer is coming from Washington. He had the longest winning streak in college football for his span. But he's also bringing his wide receivers coached Jamarcus Shepard, who coached some of the best receivers in college football, as well as William Mons, co-defensive coordinator. So the list goes on and on.

And so the winning that you saw from Kaelin DeBoer in Washington and even before then, you're going to see a consistent type of brand of football moving forward. Obviously, it may not look good early because of all the transfers that are leaving, but guys are also coming in, including one of the best linemen in college football, Parker Brailsford. Well, Jim Harbaugh, fresh off the national title win over Kalin-de-Bor's Washington Huskies, took the head coaching job of the Los Angeles Chargers, didn't take long to find his replacement. though. His replacement has a win over Ohio State on the resume. Offensive coordinator Sharon Moore, the new head man. Tom, what's the likelihood this program maintains its elite

status without Harbaugh at the helm? Well, I think it's a very high likelihood. Now, the timing of it coming off of national championships, fantastic, but you're also going to have an awful lot of departures. But the reason why I really liked this hire is it's a hire of comfort, familiarity, stability, and it's very clear that the players in the locker room, at Michigan want this guy to be the head football coach. Now, he's still working through the coaching staff, trying to get the right fit, waiting on some guys and maybe some NFL moves. He's hit the ground running and recruiting for the 2025 class.

So a lot of positives coming out of Ann Arbor. But listen, this is the reality of the world we're living in. You think Michigan looked at Alabama and saw that attrition when they made a coaching change? Michigan wasn't going to allow that to happen here. Now, three of the four playoff teams replacing their head. coaches. Texas keeping their head coach and their starting quarterback. Quinn Ewers announced he'll be back. Arch Manning, the presumed backup after Malik Murphy transferred to Duke. They also had wide receiver Isaiah Bond from Alabama. Sam, your alma mater. What are the expectations for Texas coming off

this remarkable season under Sark? Well, there are still national championship expectations, even though Texas lost their top wide receivers, Adonai Mitchell, Xavier Worthy, Jordan Whittington, even tied-end, Jetavian Sanders, all gone. But I ran it as Steve Sarkesian in the offseason a few weeks ago. Actually, he was recruiting. He was recruiting one of the top linemen in the state of Texas and the entire nation. And so top recruits are still coming to Texas, even though they lost to Washington, still national championship expectations.

And Quinn Ewers is back. Quinn Ewer's former school. Ohio State isn't messing around. All the chips are in the middle of the table in Columbus with portal additions and Quintchard Junkins from Ole Miss, Caleb Downs, Julian, saying from Alabama, Will Howard from Kansas State. Bill O'Brien is the OC, although that might not be for long. More on that later. Luke, how would you describe the need to win and win now in 2024? I'll tell you one thing. You talk about those chips being pushed to the table. They were pushed

with a very expensive front loader. That is for sure. Ohio State, you know, having seen them in the Cotton Bowl and seeing some of their holes and seeing some issues, particularly a quarterback, It was very clear to me that this is a very talented roster top to bottom. But if you're going to compete with the likes of Michigan, you're going to get over the hump, you're going to beat a Georgia, you're going to beat in Alabama, whoever it may be. You better be ready to compete on the open market the way they have. And I think Ohio State put their best foot forward here. Hard to believe Ohio State has just won at national championship in the last 20 years.

The Big Ten and SEC combined to win eight of the ten national titles in the 14 playoff air. Now they're joining forces off the field, forming an advisory committee to work through some of the big issues facing college football and college athletics as a whole to reaction to, quote, recent court decisions pending litigation, a patchwork of state laws and complex governance proposals. That according to the Big Ten press release, welcome in college football insider Pete Thammel to break it all down. Pete, what is the significance of this joint venture with the Big Ten at SEC? Well, the shorthand of what you just summarize, Matt, is that college sports are a mess and no one knows what they're going to look like in

five years. It's been an interminable slog trying to get anything done in college athletics to push forward and set a vision. And this is basically the Big Ten and the SEC saying, quietly, we have the most power and forget about transformation committees. Let's not let random judges or random attorneys general determine the future of college athletics. Also, in the past, college athletics are so big and there's so many schools under the same tent, this is the SEC and the Big Ten saying, we don't want Eastern Michigan having to save what happens to Michigan. We don't want South Alabama having a say what happens to Alabama. So this is a, it's a stark turn from two years ago. And you remember there was an alliance that the Big Ten was part of, essentially against

the SEC after they took Oklahoma and Texas. This is basically two leaders saying, moving forward here, we are going to communicate and work together for the best solutions for college athletics. That's interesting. Those outside these two leagues might have some red flags going, whoa, whoa, whoa. Now you've got the Big Ten, the SEC in this together. This end game could be a pull away. Maybe they do their own national championship. They'll call all the shots. Pete, what is the eventual end game here? The end game is hard to say. In the short game, I don't see this as a gateway to a breakaway. What sources did tell me this could be a gateway too is a settlement of some of these lawsuits right now, which the, the least,

our defendants in and using the framework of the settlement to start revenue sharing. So if the SEC and the Big Ten say, we're going to settle the House case, for example, and in that, we're going to pay off some of the deaths that are asked in the case, but we're also going to set a framework going forward for revenue share and what it looks like. And maybe then they could bridge that to congressional help. Right now, Congress doesn't want to save college sports, but it could help them if they help themselves. And Pete's got a very interesting column coming up, a story, a lot of good insight on ESPN.com. You'll see that very soon. Lugues, what does this signify to you?

Well, it signifies to me that hopefully we are going in the right direction where we start to get some law and order back in the process. And there are a lot of topics that are being discussed here, whether it's name, image and likeness, the transfer portal, the calendar window for recruiting, whether it's basketball, whether it's football. I think this is a start. but I don't think you truly get anywhere if you don't include those that are living it every single minute of the day and I mean current sitting coaches men's basketball, men's football,

whatever your biggest revenue producers are women's basketball, you need to get those people in the room and those people need to have a voice because part of the problem in all of this is you've got a bunch of people meeting and getting together and talking about how to fix it but none of the people that are living it on the day to day are involved in those discussions.

That has to happen. That has to happen for change and for finality so that we can get some law and order back into this thing. Yeah, you've got collectives kind of running the show in some way, shape, or form about player acquisition. You've got players coming and going every single year. There's a lot to navigate here. We'll see if the Big Ten and SEC can get their arms around this for the betterment of the sport. Up next, more offseason news to discuss, including more departures from the college sidelines to the NFL. Is this a sign that more coaches are becoming more fed up?

with the state of the game. It's been a busy week in the coaching carousel. A pair of coaches leaving the college ranks. Kentucky offensive coordinator, Liam Cohen, left his post in Lexington to become the OC with the Tampa Bay Bucks. This will be the fifth straight season. Kentucky has a new offensive coordinator, including the last time Cohen left Kentucky for the NFL two years ago.

And Boston College looking for a new head coach after Jeff Hathley packed up his belongings and headed to Green Bay, as the new defensive coordinator for the Packers. Halfly spent four seasons with the Eagles, qualifying for three bowl games, winning the pinstripe bowl just a couple of months ago. Let's welcome back in. College Football insider Pete Thammell.

Pete, what is the latest with the Boston College head coaching search? Well, two things to remember about every Boston College search map. One, it will move deliberately. It will not have the portal or any other timelines dictate the search. And the other is that ultimately this decision comes down to five, William Leahy who's been the president at BC for almost 30 years. He is not one who's going to give into fan sentiment or board sentiment. He is going to do what he thinks is best for BC. So that said, we're kind of in the mid phase of this search right now. A handful of candidates are expected to interview

today. Among them is obviously Bill O'Brien. He's been the most prominent public candidate there. And certainly because of his local ties being with the Patriots for a long time, his wife went to BC. He sort of emerged as the public favorite. But this will be a full and thorough search. that still has one more phase left. A candidate or candidates is expected to come to campus later in the week. So there will be some drama over the heights until we see some smoke from a chimney there. We shall see again. Bill O'Brien just recently hired as the offensive coordinator at Ohio State.

All right, thank you very much. Pete, Jeff Hathley, before taking the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator job in the NFL, had this to say about the sport he's leaving behind. now that I'm also the general manager and you're trying to manage the cap that you really know what the cap is and you're fundraising and I mean there's a lot of things I mean I want to coach football I know I mean I said you earlier like I want to coach more defense this year than I did last year yeah and now it's just prioritizing like how am I going to not do this and I got to coach you yet I miss I miss coaching DBs yeah but how am I going to do that and that's what I need to figure out that was next up with Adam Brennam and Sam let's start with you here interesting words there from Mr. Jeff Hathley. His words, and not only that, but him leaving a head coaching job in college for a defensive coordinator position in the NFL,

should that be a red flag about where this sport is headed? Not even close. I mean, many college coaches, you talk to a majority of them, they'll say that an opportunity in the NFL is not necessarily what they're after, but it's a huge opportunity. And obviously a head coach could be different, but when you're talking about the NFL,

there are very few opportunities, 32 head coaching jobs, obviously 32 coordinators offensively or if you're going to go defensively. And so I don't see it as a red flag by any means for college football. I think that Jeff Hathley had a great opportunity, one of the very few limited opportunities, to go to the NFL, and he accepted it. I actually couldn't disagree more with you, Sam, on this particular one, because I agree with you on the NFL side. There's limited opportunities.

But when you leave a head coaching position at a Power 5 school, it's not just about going to coach in the NFL and be a coordinator. You're considering all of the different reasons why you're not enjoying coaching football right now. And a lot of these coaches feel this way. You know, they can't, they have no control over anything. There's no rules, no regulations, as we talked about before. You've got the transfer portal players going in and out. You've got name image and likeness.

And depending on where you're coaching in college football, you may not be able to compete in name image and liken it. Let's just take Jeff Hathley for a second. Jeff Haffley, let's say, recruit some really good players, develop some really nicely. and guess what? They enter the transfer portal. And if an Alabama or a Georgia wants to pursue them, how's Boston College

supposed to compete with that? And he talks about managing time in the day and very, very little of that time is actually about coaching football. So I get it. I see it. And I think the profession is going to see a lot of young, up-and-comers

as coaches, GAs, and analysts start migrating towards professional football because they're seeing what all the other things that come along with college football now that didn't exist. 10 years ago. Yeah, I hear what you're saying, but I think part of coaching is taking in all of that, right?

Even going to a little league, I'm coaching my son's third grade flag football team. I'm going to be picking kids up. I'm going to be trying to figure out plays, trying to figure out. My point is, like, no, I'm not general manager, et cetera. But as you become a coach, Matt Brown was my coach in college. He was meeting with players at 6 a.m. being like a father figure in so many ways. He was obviously game planning. He's hiring coaches.

He was more of a CEO, right? hiring and firing the right people. So not everyone gets the luxury of being able to only coach football. Even at the NFL level, I played nine years. A lot of these NFL coaches aren't only coaching football. You have to actually handle life stuff when it comes to your players. There are a lot of egos in the NFL. A lot of the players' salaries are going to be higher than Jeff Halfleys.

That's something I have to think about as well. And so my point is, like, you may be thinking that going to the NFL is just going to be coaching football. No, no matter what level you coach, oftentimes it's more than just the X-Hawley. and elves, even if it's third grade flag football. As a youth sports coach, I totally understand. We're saying it's very stressful in that draft room, drafting 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11-year-olds. But Luke's thinking about Halfley in that move, you have to keep in mind, too, Cohen and Halfley formerly coached in the NFL, so who knows what their ultimate dreams are.

But I wonder, Luke, if it says more about Boston College and schools like Boston College than it does about college football in terms of what's attainable. What can you win at a school like BC? you stay. Yeah. It's a great point because it's all relative to what the expectation level is, right, for wins. All right. Well, if we're expecting you to win eight, nine, ten games, but we don't have any of that stuff to be able to do that, then how are we supposed to compete at that level? It's all relative to what the expectation level is when it comes to wins and losses. Well, Halfley realizing some NFL dreams. Riley Leonard hoping to do that as,

as well in the NFL and believes that heading to Notre Dame is the best way to do that. The quarterback transferred from Duke in the off season. He's just coming off tightrope surgery on his ankle stemming from an injury he's sustained in the loss to Notre Dame last season says he'll be fine, be ready for the spring game coming up in April. But Sam, how does he fit here with Notre Dame? Well, it's a great fit. I think number one because of Notre Dame's defense, Marcus Freeman, former linebacker,

Obviously, defensive coordinator in years past. Now he's the head coach. This Notre Dame team had a top five defense in college football. So that's going to be set. Now you go to the offensive side of the ball. Riley Leonard, with Healthy, could have beat Notre Dame when he was at Duke last year. That injury obviously hurt his chances. And so Notre Dame got a chance to see Riley Leonard up close and personal.

He's a competitor. He's a winner. Obviously, had that week one winning against Clemson last year. That run being one of the big plays in that game. So Riley Leonard to Notre Dame is a perfect fit. Yes, because of the defense because of his leadership on the offensive side. the ball as well. Yeah, back-to-back years, new transfer starting quarterback. Sam Hartman last year for Notre Dame this year, it will be Riley Leonard. Speaking of Riley Leonard, his former

team Duke took one on the chin to North Carolina in hoops, get to see North Carolina, see if they can piggyback that with a win coming up against PJ Hall in Clemson tonight, Popp Isaacs and 23rd ranked Texas Tech taking on Jacoby, Walter and Baylor as well, both games on the app. Up next, NFL draft coming up, combine end of the month. Senior Bowl in the rearview. Who increased their stock in Mobile? The Senior Bowl was held on Saturday. NFL hopeful is putting on a show for pro scouts.

Former Washington quarterback Michael Pennix Jr. did not, opted not to play in the game, but did participate in practices during the week. Fellow Pac-12 quarterback Bo Nix played only two series in the game. Both were Heisman finalists. Welcome back in Pete Thamel. It's been a great all-expenses paid week in Mobile, Alabama. Pete, what are the scouts and those you talk to saying about? about this crop of quarterbacks?

Well, it could be a historic crop, Matt. Remember, that class of 83 had six quarterbacks taken in the first round, and there's a chance that this could do it as well. Obviously, we have Caleb Williams, Drake May and Jaden Daniels crammed at the top of this draft, and there's that next tier with J.J. McCarthy, Bo, Nix, and Pennix. From talking to people in Mobile, there's a good chance all six go in the first round, in part because 2025 is not going to be a great year. for quarterback. Sure, there's Carson Beck,

Quinn Ewers, and Shador Sanders, but there isn't a ton of depth. And Lug's can speak to this. The class of 2022, high school recruiting, has not produced a surefire no-brainer first-round quarterback yet. Those are guys like Connor Wegman and Drew Aller.

They haven't quite shown yet that they have the stuff to be considered no-brainers. Yeah. You want to know why Quinn Ewers is coming back? That graphic we just showed for class of 2025 is certainly a reason why. Outside of the quarterbacks, Who else was creating some buzz there in Mobile? Yeah, perhaps the best player on the field this week was Quinn Yon Mitchell.

He's a corner from Toledo. He's from the Gainesville area. Jason Candle, the Toledo coach told me last week, I said, who'd you beat for him in recruiting? And he said, nobody. Toledo found him. They developed him. And NFL officials really like the fact that he stayed at Toledo.

He could have gone to any Big Ten program, SEC program he wanted after being All Mac as a true sophomore two years ago. Instead he came back, won All Mac again, and really blew everyone away with his speed in Mobile. He looked like he belonged, which is always the question when you have one of those group of five guys. Yeah, thank you, Pete. Great stuff today. Quinion Mitchell was matched up frequently during the senior bowl against a player. I know you like wide receiver out of Michigan, Luke. Yeah, Roman Wilson, I think's got a chance to be a really good player.

He's got natural separation skills. He just gets open. and he's got a great feel and awareness for coverage. One-on-one, he had a great week. And when I say week, it's so important to emphasize that because the week, and Sam will tell you this, he played in the game, but in any type of all-star setting, and look at the separation there for Roman Wilson.

It's all about the day-to-day, the schedule. Can you handle being coached? Can you handle criticism? Do you compete? Do you take plays off? Do you have a nagging-liguring injury? And so the week leading up to the game, I think, so much more important in the evaluation process,

but I like Roman Wilson a lot. I think he's got a chance to be a really good player at the next level. Yeah, I couldn't agree more, Luke, especially when you talk about the week. I played the game. I got a chance to win an award in the game, but the comment that I heard was, hey, practices are much more important than the actual game.

And I saw that when it comes to the East West Shrine Bowl with a player I'm going to go with is Trey Taylor. So Trey Taylor, he won the Jim Thorpe Award, safety out of Air Force. And I got a chance to speak to some of the players at the East West Trond Bowl, even the coach as well. Richard Hightower, he was a head coach for the East team, especially he was coordinated for the Bears. He talked about how Trey Taylor shined in practice. The first day, one of the first drills, he was one of the best players in that drill.

And so sometimes, yes, it's about the game and performing in the game, but the practice matters. I actually got a chance to see Trey Taylor as he's training up in Frisco, Texas. He's big, he's strong, he's a smart football player. So that practice time at the East West Trond Bowl, and you talk about Senior Bowl. is helping people climb up the charts. Those players trying to hear their name called in the NFL draft. Coming up tomorrow, we got some players moving from high school to college. Luges, it's national signing day, first Wednesday, February.

Doesn't have that same buzz that it used to, right? Well, there's still guys that haven't signed. And with the rule, because of the coaching change at Alabama and then Washington, that trickles down to Arizona, then to San Jose State, now Boston College. Well, now you're going to sign some of those guys that went into the portal because of the rule that allows them to jump in. So it'll be interesting to see if teams can hold on to the verbal commitments tomorrow. We're going to hear from Ryan Day tomorrow.

We'll hear from Sharon Moore tomorrow on College Football Live, the National Signing Day Edition. We will not hear from Nick Saban tomorrow. He's got better things to worry about than recruiting and all that stuff, winning games. No, he's working on his golf game. He was golf with 50 Cent, Travis Scott over the weekend at Reggie Jackson's Celebrity Charity Golf Events. Sam, you think he's thinking, why didn't I retire early? Should have done this years ago. I love it, man.

Look at Nick Saban, living his best life. Shout out to Coach Sabin, all those rings. Trying to with some other ones on the golf course. He's going to be in the waste management open. Did he win? Did he win? I don't know. That's what we need to.

We need to find out. All he does is win.