Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ACC Could STEAL Teams From The Big 12 Via ESPN Maneuver? | Non-Conference Schedule | Rueben Bain

Episode Date: July 31, 2024

Could the ACC end up expanding their conference by stealing teams away from the Big 12? An X user recently brought up a scenario where it would make financial sense for ESPN, the biggest TV partner fo...r both conferences, to steer teams from the Big 12 over to the ACC in order to maximize their own profits. Is it safe to assume that ESPN wields this much power, or do the ACC and Big 12 have more autonomy than people give them credit for? Could schools like Utah and Arizona State really jump over to the ACC?Hosts Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs break the scenario down. The guys discuss nine early season non-conference games featuring ACC teams against power four opposition. Will the ACC come out of these games over .500 to start the year and hopefully set the tone for a good 2024 football campaign? Donno catches up with standout Miami pass rusher Rueben “Hurricane” Bain at Miami’s preseason media day.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.Factor MealsHead to Factormeals.com/lockedoncollege50 and use code lockedoncollege50 to get 50% off your first box PLUS 20% off your next month while your subscription is active! eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM and add a big win to your summer bucket list!FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Maybe now conference realignment chatter has officially jumped the shark because now we're talking about the ACC possibly stealing teams from the big 12th. You are locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Shout out to the everydayers and thank you so much for making Locked on ACC your first listen and your first watch today. We're available free wherever you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day.
Starting point is 00:00:40 Today's episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code, Locked-on College for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. On this busy episode of Lockdown ACC, we're going to hear from Miami Hurricane Standout Edge Rusher, Ruben Hurricane Bain, who I had a chance to spend some minutes with today,
Starting point is 00:01:00 some good minutes with today at Miami Media Day. We're going to talk about how the ACC can set the tone against non-conference power four opposition first two weeks of the year. The ACC has an opportunity. If they can go over 500 and some of these games are a lot more difficult than others, but big non-conference games early on. But Kenton Gibbs, by the way, he's Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown. Wolfpack, I'm Alex Dono from Lockdown Keynes.
Starting point is 00:01:23 We got to start with this because I was going through the awesome content today from our colleague Drake Toll, who we were co-hosts with. Drake last year and hopefully again this season for Lockdown College Football Kickoff Live. Drake does a fantastic job on Locked on Big 12. And Drake was a little nervous on his episode today because there's a new, I don't know if I call this a rumor or more of a theory as to why and how ESPN would actually steer teams from the expansion Big 12 over to the ACC. So let's break down some of the nitty gritty on this.
Starting point is 00:02:03 And by the way, I share the annoyance that Drake had with this, that why are we allowing people on the X app to write novels? Like, this is, this is not a tweet. This is a full-on blog that this person wrote, why ESPN will move Big 12 schools to the ACC. He says ESPN wants more profit and less cost than how could it make more money with respect to the ACC than the Big 12. contrary to what many people think, the simplest solution would be to move some of the Big 12 schools to the ACC. Why is that? He says the answer. By the way, this is from X user Old Gray Dog, which in itself makes me laugh.
Starting point is 00:02:45 He says the ACC is expected to make more money than the Big 12 for the Big 12's next cycle by 5 to 10 million per year. But note that the ACC has two separate deals with ESPN, the base contract and the ACC network contract. The base contract with ESPN gives the ACC. only the low 20s in 2023. Each ACC school received another 11 million from the ACC network profit sharing. In other words, ESPN gives less money to the ACC than to the big 12 if we only look at the base contract. The ACC money is subscription based and is shared between ESPN and the ACC. Thus, more people subscribe to the ACC network, the more profit ESPN and the ACC would share.
Starting point is 00:03:27 On top of that, cable companies are also required to pay higher in-network. or carriage fees for states where the ACC schools are located. Thus, if ESPN moves the big 12 schools to the ACC, ESPN would pay less base contract pay and receive more ACC network profit. He talks about Utah and Arizona State as teams that come to mind. First of all, Kenton, I know this guy has numbers to back up his claims. The whole thing seems a little absurd on the surface, plus the fact a lot of people out there assume that ESPN and Fox just have the Power 4 conferences on puppet strings.
Starting point is 00:04:08 I feel like that gets overstated a lot. Yeah, they're imagining Disney to be a combination of Vaught International, of Globo Corp, of GlobalJ. They're imagining that they're this mystery conglomerate. What was the company in Fallout? Do you remember the company in Fallout that was pulling the strings? What is that a video game? I have no idea. Never buy it.
Starting point is 00:04:35 You're a little too old. Yo, VopTech. That was the name. VopTek was the name of the company. They're imagining that there are all of these companies at once, and they simply are not. Don't get me wrong. Disney is massively powerful. They do have a ton of money.
Starting point is 00:04:49 That is not to be understated in all of this. But I think that we're creating a situation where we are imagining Disney as being so powerful, they can move institutions from. one conference to the other with a snap of their fingers, which is not necessarily the case. It's not the way it sits right now. And this is why I think it's so interesting that now people are finally looking at sources and saying, wait a minute, is this source legitimate? Because where were these same people vetting at when there were all of these rampant
Starting point is 00:05:22 rumors about the ACC breaking apart and all these teams leaving left and right and all that? Nobody was vetting sources then. when there were rumors that, oh, yeah, Florida State and Clemson played their last game in the ACC. Not a single damn soul did it out of vetting. Now all of a sudden were paying attention. But you know what? If this is the moment it gets us to pay attention to where we're getting our information from, good. Because I don't believe that the ACC is taking Pac-12, or I'm sorry, Big 12 teams.
Starting point is 00:05:49 Really, with Utah and Arizona State, they are Pack 12 to Big 12. But you get my point. I don't think that they're going to take those teams because Utah, just signed into that contract. Utah cannot, hey, I don't like this contract. I'm leaving. As we're seeing right now with Florida State and Clemson, you cannot do that with a contract that just because you don't like it.
Starting point is 00:06:10 You have signed that contract. You have to sit in that for a while. You have to do whatever you got to do, pay whatever the exit fee is. But that's just the reality of what we're looking at here. And moreover than anything else, yes, the numbers make sense. But there are things outside of numbers sometimes. When you break down the raw numbers of who makes more, and this would be a very simple. It's like saying, oh, yeah, Dono, you save a ton of money if you just didn't take care of your kid anymore.
Starting point is 00:06:36 Well, hypothetically, yes? Yes. If I don't feed him, if I just send him out to panhandle for food, that I can say. Yeah. Listen, all you got to do is go behind the cookout. They're throwing out food every night at about 350 a.m. You know, just send them out there. They'll feel bad for them.
Starting point is 00:06:55 Tell them to do the big eyes. They'll get free food for everybody. But you get the point. There are practical things that do not always align with theory. And this is one of those moments. Yeah. I mean, I guess like ESPN obviously has a lot of leverage when it comes to the ACC and the Big 12 being the biggest and most important TV partner. But people just assume the conferences have no autonomy whatsoever that like, you know, they have their own contracts and agreements and relationships with their members. Now, I guess, like, if you really want to dig deep into the conspiracy, you know, ESPN can always threaten, hey, we have that look-in provision coming up, you know, if you got, which is actually with the ACC. So that's leverage. I think the ESPN has more leverage over the ACC than they do with the Big 12. But I guess you could say, we're not going to renew this deal or we're not going to extend it if you don't do what we say. So obviously, there's a certain amount of leverage and power that the TV networks have. But people assume that the conferences have no autonomy whatsoever. Like I got to tell you, if it was, if it was all about the TV networks,
Starting point is 00:08:01 then Fox would have already snatched up Clemson and FSU. It may happen eventually when they get to the Big Ten, but it certainly hasn't happened yet. But I think, I think my message here is, Kenton, that people have to do a better job, maybe us included, in filtering out the noise from the actual reputable conference realignment reports. Let's try to filter out the reports a little bit better from the rumors because, and I enjoyed this theory. I enjoyed the theory that, yeah, cost effective ESPN could probably
Starting point is 00:08:34 do themselves a financial favor if they were to turn these two conferences upside down. I just don't know if they actually have the literal power to do so. Now, I do go ahead. Go ahead. Oh, no, no, I was just going to say the only thing that I agree with out of this article is that ACC stands to make more than or to give ESPN more than the big tool. for getting a lesser payout. So, like, that's why I keep trying to tell everybody,
Starting point is 00:09:00 this world that you're imagining where ESPN doesn't renew the ACC's contract, it's delusion. It's delusion. Come back to planet Earth. Because that is the one thing that this tweet got right that I've been saying for forever. The ACC gives ESPN a great deal. They're not going to lose themselves out of a great deal to where now Fox can go get that great deal because, well, we just don't think you guys are worth it without Clemson and Florida
Starting point is 00:09:28 State. That's not how this thing works. Well, I'll tell you, the ACC, they have an opportunity. Now, there are some really big non-conference games late in the season, you know, including Georgia and Georgia Tech, Florida State and Florida. But I'm looking at the first two weeks, Kenton, where I'm looking at nine non-conference matchups, ACCC teams against Power 4 opposition. is the ACC going to go over 500 first two weeks of the year and set the tone for what's hopefully a very good, very good season for this league that gets dragged into the mud so much. So we'll talk about that and so much more.
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Starting point is 00:12:47 month. That's code locked on college 50. at factor meals.com slash locked on college 50. Thank you so much for making this episode of Lockdown ACC, your first listen and your first watch today. Make sure for your second listen, you check out Kenton and Grayson on Lockedon Wolfpack. You check me out on Locked on Cains.
Starting point is 00:13:09 We give you guys tireless coverage of our teams and, of course, coverage of the league, the ACC here on Locked on ACC. So Kenton, I'm looking at Week 0, slash one and week two this year. Why don't we go through these power four non-conference matchups, and you tell me, we'll tell each other if the ACC is going to go over 500 or below 500 in these nine games.
Starting point is 00:13:35 So you've got UNC at Minnesota, August 29th. The Golden Gophers, by the way, are two-point favorites for that game. Do you think the gophers get it done and hope? Thankfully, it's home in August for them. You don't have to go to Minnesota. in November, do you think UNC can pull off the mild upset or do the gophers get it done? I think UNC pulls off the mild upset here. I think that Fleck and company are not what people thought they were in the Big Ten.
Starting point is 00:14:03 And I think that's going to be a problem. I don't know what the problem is, but Minnesota just, they always seem to be in their own way as of late. And I'm not sure that that changes as of this year. I think that the hills pull off of mild upset here. You know what? I probably, we probably shouldn't even say mild upset because when you're a two point favorite at home, it's kind of like being a one point dog. So you know what? Maybe the smart money would be North Carolina plus two for that matchup.
Starting point is 00:14:32 So that could be a one and no non-conference power four start for the ACC. Now, this one could be a little bit tougher, Kent. And of course, we welcome the Stanford Cardinal into the conference with open arms. They're going to be hosting TCU. on August 30th, and the horn frogs are eight and a half point favorites on the road against Stanford. I think we're probably going to be one and one after that game. What do you think? You know, I'm expecting Sunny Dykes and company to have a good rebound year after last year,
Starting point is 00:15:06 which was like, that was very, very tough after what you saw a year earlier in terms of being a playoff team, winning a playoff game, getting to a national championship, and then to lose to a four and eight Colorado team to open up out the gates to struggle as mildly as they did at times last year. I'm expecting them to bounce back, and I think that that bounce back starts with a win over a meandering, but young and getting better Stanford team. Yeah. So then you have, obviously, this one is of interest to me. I will be at this game in Gainesville.
Starting point is 00:15:40 Miami at Florida, August 31st, and the hurricanes are road favorites minus two. and a half. I think Florida's going to get a steady dose of Damien Martinez, Mark Fletcher, and Cam Ward. I think it's going to be close, Kent. I know some Miami fans are like, oh, we're going to blow them out. Some Gator fans are like, oh, we're going to blow out Miami. No problem. I think it's going to be a close game. I think the trench play is going to be the difference, though, and Miami pulls it off. You know, we are always in the market for new hosts here on locked on and Billy Napier, if you would like to come on to me and Donno's show, we'll have you as a third, a permanent co-host here because I think he knows a lot of good ball.
Starting point is 00:16:28 You know, he's a very exciting guy. He's great in front of the camera. Unfortunately, he has not been great on the sidelines in the SEC. So come on, Billy. Come on. This game is going to start a few shellackings that I think, I don't think he makes it out the month of October as the head coach for it. Wow. Yeah, they have the toughest schedule in the country.
Starting point is 00:16:46 Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I don't think they make it out. And this game will be one of the reasons because I don't think that Florida will look competitive in this game. Wow. Your mouth to God's ears. I would certainly love to see that. So that could be a two and one start for the ACC. Okay, then you have Clemson against Georgia in Atlanta. And the dogs are 13 and a half point favorite. So I'm not even sure if Clemson can cover if we're being, and no disrespect to the Tigers, but Georgia is Georgia, and I don't think that game's going to be close. You know, when you put Uggar and the L together, things get ugly, and that's what this game is going to be.
Starting point is 00:17:27 It's going to be uggily. You know, the Tigers might have to do some soul searching after this one, because I think Georgia takes them to the woodshed. And then, so that's probably two and two right there. But week zero and week one, I think the ACC comes out of that first full weekend, three and two, because you've got Virginia Tech at Vanderbilt. And Kenton, if we're going to be able to pump our chest at the ACC's record against the SEC this year, I know it's Vanderbilt, but it would still count as a win. Hokies are 13 and a half point favorites at Vandy.
Starting point is 00:18:02 And I think they get it done by at least two touchdowns, if not three. The Commodores have one of the most intimidating home presences in the country. You know, they feel that stuff. I'm lying. They don't. They do not. Drones and company gets it done in this one. I, you know, I don't think that Vanderbilt quite has the facilities to stop that
Starting point is 00:18:24 powerful running game that Virginia Tech is going to be coming with MouttaGa's. I just don't. So then you head to week two. You have a couple games that are a little less exciting. couple games that are more exciting. Let's go through these first two. You've got BYU at SMU. Remember SMU now in the ACC?
Starting point is 00:18:46 That's on September 6. And also September 6th, you've got Duke at Northwestern. And I'd like to think that's 2 and 0 right there for the ACC to start that weekend. I can never read BYU. I never know which BYU you're going to get. But give me the Pony Express. I think that the guys in Dallas get it done. And they take this one home.
Starting point is 00:19:08 The Nerd Bowl, Duke and Northwestern. I'll tell you what, Northwestern was one of the most improved teams in the country last year, going from, I believe it was a one-win team to a six-win team last year. Great job. Great for them. Duke is going to be dealing with a lot of turnover, a lot of attrition. I'll tell you what, if this line was any bigger. Actually, do you have the line for this?
Starting point is 00:19:32 There's no line for that game that I've seen. one of, that's one of these week two games that they have not released odds for. Yeah, I would say, I want to say Duke takes this one. I really do. But I think that these are two programs headed in opposite directions. And I'm not sure who comes out on top when these two meet in the middle. Now, Cal at Auburn, September 7th. That's probably a relatively easy Auburn win, I think it is. Now, Cal gave them hell at Berkeley last year. They nearly pulled off the upset. This one's going to be at Jordan Hare Stadium. This is another one. There's not a line for it, but I would imagine multiple touchdowns would be the odds in Auburn's favor. If Cal got blown out
Starting point is 00:20:22 last year, this would be my upset. If Cowell got blown out by Auburn last year, I would pick Cowell handily. because Auburn has a very bad habit of going to sleep on teams coming into Jordan here. I don't know why they imagine themselves as being like, hey, we're good enough to do that because they're not, as made very apparent by New Mexico State or was it, New Mexico or New Mexico State, whichever one it was. I think it was state, right? One of those two teams whooped the wheels off those boys last year. So with that in mind, if Calais, was able to sneak up on them, I would say they get it done.
Starting point is 00:21:03 I think that Auburn handles this one fairly easily. Yeah, it was state. New Mexico State Aggies got that classic 31 to 10 win against Auburn. So, yeah. Yeah, I think that Cal, you know, again, love Jay Knott. I think that he's one of the most exciting players, regardless of position in the country. But they can't sneak up on them again. Because last year, they almost snuck up on them and got one.
Starting point is 00:21:27 and I just don't see it happen in this time. And that's going out to Berkeley. It's a tricky road trip. And I think some teams in the ACC are going to find that out in the next couple of years, that it's not an automatic win when you have to go out west like that. And then one that is near and dear to Kenton's heart. There is a line for this one. Tennessee at NC State September 7th.
Starting point is 00:21:51 Obviously, you've got the SEC hype coming in. I think the balls could be pretty good this year. They're four and a half point favorites, though, the road. Kent, I'm not sure if I'm ready yet to predict the full upset, but I would definitely lock in NC State plus four and a half. I think they keep it either way within a field goal. You know, I said that Cal would have been my upset, and if they wouldn't have pulled Auburn close last year, well, somebody's got to be my upset, and damn, and I'm picking steak. Let me tell you why. I like Nico a lot. He looked good in the bowl game. He looked
Starting point is 00:22:27 fantastic in that bowl game against Iowa. However, I just don't, I don't see it for this team. I feel like they find a way to lose this game. Not only that, there is something about that defensive line from Tennessee that everybody treats as if they're like world beaters who are indomitable when they're losing one of their top sack guys from last year and in terms of the transfer portal. And they're losing some death pieces as well. I'm saying to myself, there's a chance that they're not as good up front as everybody believes. There's a chance that if you think that you have the horses in the stable outside of Pierce to where, hey, if you got to double him, everybody else will eat.
Starting point is 00:23:08 They may not. There may be a little bit of famine on the old Rocky Top if that's the case. So I think that NC State has a chance at this thing. I really and truly do. And I think they'll pull off the upset here in Charleston, Bank of America State. So there you have it. So I think that puts the ACC over 500. I'm counting, I think six wins, three losses in those ozo.
Starting point is 00:23:34 There we go. The conference will be feasting. And you talk about passes and edge rushers. I had a chance to chat with me and a couple of other reporters, chat with one who should be among the very best in the country, heading into his second season at the University of Miami. We'll hear from Ruben Hurricane Bain at Miami Hurricanes Media Day. when we come back. You want to keep it locked right here to locked on ACC.
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Starting point is 00:24:52 eBay guaranteed fit, only available to U.S. customers. Thank you so much for making this episode of Locked on ECC. Your first listen and your first watch today. So someone who drew almost as big of a crowd on Tuesday as Cam Ward did at Miami was Miami Hurricane's co-leading soccer. Ruben Hurricane Bain, here's Bain on the locker room and on the upcoming season. So what's the energy like in the locker room right now? I know Fall Camp literally right here, you got Florida a month away.
Starting point is 00:25:25 What's energy like? I mean, we just all excited, honestly. You got a whole bunch of new pieces, and you can't really tell what's going to happen when we're in T-shirts and shirts and shucks. So now that we get here, and we're putting on real pads and real gear, everybody's just excited to see who can do what
Starting point is 00:25:39 and who really going to do what they say. My locker, like, five feet away from Cam Wood's locker, so he always looking at me. He always got something slick to say, so he knows I can't hit him, so I think that's why you always say something crazy. So who talks the most trash? The most trash?
Starting point is 00:25:54 The Nass Cooper. They and Cam Wood coming in. that close. So can't go walk up to the line and say so I'm crazy, but you know, we can't hit him at the end of the day. Yeah. But with that trash talk, how do you balance? Like, I obviously, you want to do your job as you can, but he's also your teammate. He kind of got to laugh somebody. He didn't make you laugh. It's definitely, it's funny because we can say some stuff that it's like inside jokes that we're going to laugh about as we're like going through the plate. But nobody's really like taking it to heart because we all know that at the end of we brothers. So we're pushing each other side of business and we're just trying to get better. We should just trying to play football. The trash talk, it's like a little fun part of practice that lighten up because we all know it's going to get hot out there. We all going to get aggravated.
Starting point is 00:26:32 It's a long practice. Making practice fun, making football fun, that's just going to lighten up the more. How good can this defensive line be, in your opinion? This could be something that's historical because we got all the pieces. And I was just about what you're going to do with the pieces. We're going to live up to the hype. We're going to know what the hype. You know, having continuity with the same defensive coordinator from last year's same defensive line coaches,
Starting point is 00:26:56 How big is that and for you heading into the second year in the same defense? That's huge, especially for the guys that's returning. Because like, you're in the same coaching style. You don't have to get adjusted to a new coaching style. You know the plays like a back of our hand. It's something that we don't have to think twice about. But if we do mess up, we know that we got somebody right here that knows it like the back of their hand too so they can fix me.
Starting point is 00:27:18 It's something that like you don't have to sweat, you don't have to stress because you already been doing it for the first year, then you spend the whole off season with it. And now you get the role into the season with it. Now that's two years that you don't spend into it. It's like, it takes stress off you because you already know what you have to do. Speaking of continuity, though, it seems like it's almost a whole new defensive line. I think it's like 12 guys who left, 12 put you guys in between the freshman and transfers. What's it like kind of like having to build all those relationships, all those bonds,
Starting point is 00:27:42 like relatively quickly and everything and have them, you know, they're learning the playbooks and everything. What's that going on? It's been really small, honestly, pretty easy because, like, we spend so much time around each other. Like, you have no choice but the bond. But not even with football. We'll go to each other's apartment and just be in each other's apartment just to be on our phone, we're going to be around each other, we're fine, keeping each other out of harm's weight,
Starting point is 00:28:03 just relaxing and talking. And if we do talk football, that can be an hour conversation. And now we even be bonding through football. So, like, we bond no matter what it is. It can be fooled. We don't bond over full. Is there anyone on offense or defense that can make that same impact that you made last year as a freshman? You know, it's very hard, but is there someone you think can?
Starting point is 00:28:24 Um, Elijah Lofton, but he's like crazy. I think he's like the same version of me just on offense. Just on offense. Like same body time. Both short opposites. You don't look like we play opposition, but we do like that essential job, man. Stuff he did in the spring, I was like, damn, that's crazy. Because everybody in high school, then he played Central.
Starting point is 00:28:45 I'm like, man, how y'all let him do that? And then he got understood how he did it. So, like, I think he got like a real perfect. you put on size from last year? What's your weight now? I'm just saying we. I just lost body fat. So I lost like, um, since June, July, I lost 3%. But before then, I lost like another 3. So I'm like 18 right now. 18% body fat.
Starting point is 00:29:08 What do you think for maybe your biggest change in mentality from, you know, this point a year ago? Because obviously this, a year ago sitting here, getting ready for your first year in college. Now you've done it. You've played a whole season. You've done very well on the field and you've learned everything. I guess what do you think is the biggest difference for you? So, Stan's level-headed. Keeping the mind thing, the main thing. My mindset is just the word. And I always want more for myself.
Starting point is 00:29:29 So if I keep that mindset, I feel like I'll be all right. Because at the end of the end of the day, you can read the press clips and feel like, oh, I made it arrived. But at the end of the day, it's a lot more in store. So I'm doing it back. You know, and a lot of conversations I've had recently Kenton with Miami players. They're very self-aware of the idea that, you got to ignore the hype.
Starting point is 00:29:53 Like Ruben said there, you got to ignore your press clippings. I think these guys are aware of the fact that, you know, even if you're a freshman, a sophomore, a transfer who just got here, they understand that, you know, Miami does obviously have the reputation of underachieving, and rightfully so because they've done a lot of that in recent years. And, you know, their kind of their slogan has been just keeping the main thing, the main thing. They're trying to block out all that noise.
Starting point is 00:30:19 Oh, sorry, about that. I had you. You're good. here. Rubin, I love the way you play the game. I love everything you said there. It all, it all sounds very good. Get rid of your barber, brother. That, that hair line is pushing back. Come on and join the ball crew, Rubin. Rubin, we love you. We love you on this show, Rubin. I know you're going to have a standout year. I know you're going to be a standout. That hair line is creeping back. No, but in all seriousness, though, he absolutely has the right temperament for what this Miami
Starting point is 00:30:52 team needs. I think that his statements are very reflective of a team on the mission more or less, right? It isn't just like, hey, you know, we're just happy to be here. And, you know, whatever happens, happens, and the chips are going to fall where they're man. He's very much so we're excited, but we know there's work to do.
Starting point is 00:31:09 Hey, the continuity has to be built because we know there's work to be done. There's things we need to do. And he's a very young guy as well. He's a true sophomore if I do remember correctly. And so, you know, this young man, he sounds wise beyond his years. And that hair line is showing us that he may not be beyond his years out of the road.
Starting point is 00:31:26 I had this. I was in school. Hey, listen. Listen, when it's time, it's time, Rubin. And let me tell you, you're going to be one of the top first 10 to 15 guys to hear your name called by Roger Goodell and company when it's time for you to go. Stop messing around. Knock it off. Okay.
Starting point is 00:31:45 But no, seriously, he's a baller. I'm expecting to see good things from him next year. Well, we'll talk to you guys again tomorrow. always a great time here on Lockdown ACC. Make sure you smash that like button, subscribe to our channel. You watch us on YouTube, or if you listen to the audio version,
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