Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ACC SQUAD - HOT TAKES: ACC Postseason FAILURE in 2024 is embarrassing

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

Welcome to another exciting episode of ACC Squad, the ultimate roundtable podcast for everything related to Atlantic Coast Conference football! Hosted by Alex Donno of Locked On ACC, we bring together expert analysis and insights from Locked On hosts covering your favorite ACC teams.In this episode, we delve into a comprehensive post-season wrap-up, discuss bowl game selections, and provide predictions for the upcoming matchups. Whether you're cheering for the Boston College Eagles, Clemson Tigers, Duke Blue Devils, Florida State Seminoles, Louisville Cardinals, Miami Hurricanes, NC State Wolfpack, North Carolina Tar Heels, Syracuse Orange, California Golden Bears, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Pittsburgh Panthers, SMU Mustangs, Stanford Cardinal, Virginia Cavaliers, Virginia Tech Hokies, or Wake Forest Demon Deacons, this episode has all the information you need!In This Episode:Recap of the ACC football season highlightsAnalysis of bowl game matchups and team prospectsStandout players and award contendersCoaching changes and recruiting updatesJoin us as we break down the season's most memorable moments and look ahead to what's next for each ACC team. Share your thoughts in the comments below—let us know which bowl games you're most excited about and which players have caught your eye this season!#ACCSquad #ACCFootball #LockedOnACC #BowlSeason #PostSeason #CollegeFootball #BostonCollegeEagles #ClemsonTigers #DukeBlueDevils #FloridaStateSeminoles #LouisvilleCardinals #MiamiHurricanes #NCStateWolfpack #NorthCarolinaTarHeels #SyracuseOrange #CaliforniaGoldenBears #GeorgiaTechYellowJackets #PittsburghPanthers #SMUMustangs #StanfordCardinal #VirginiaCavaliers #VirginiaTechHokies #WakeForestDemonDeacons Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The ACC's postseason football record is absolutely horrific. What does that say about the conference? Let's bring in the squad. You're talking ball with the ACC squad, sponsored by game time. From Florida State to North Carolina, from Syracuse to Miami, and from NC State to California, it's the local experts of the locked-on podcast network, bringing you scoops, breakdowns, and the most comprehensive preview of the upcoming ACC weekend. Hang on.

it loud, it could get heated, and it will definitely be fun. Squad up, you're part of the ACC squad. Shout out to the everydayers, and thank you so much for making the ACC squad. 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 Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel.

From big upsets to game-winning drives, the NFL playoffs are better with FanDuel. New customers can bet $5 and get $200 and bonus bets, guarantee. win or lose, visit fanduel.com to get started. I am Alex Dono from Lockdown Cains and Locked on ACC. We got Jackson Holzer, one of only, you know, two teams to win their bowl game from Locked on Syracuse. We got Kenton, Gives, and Grace and Boone from Lockdown Wolfpack. Kenton also does Lockdown ACC with me, and we got Isaac Shade from Locked on Tar Heels and Lockedon College basketball. All right, so fellas, I know we've all had our fun, you know, trolling the SEC narrative and the Kirk Herb Streets and the Paul Finebbs of the world. But if we're

If we look in the mirror, you know, Jackson, I guess, is exempt from this. But the ACC, two for 11 in bowl games and CFP games. And for those who care about this stuff, zero for 13 against the spread. So the football postseason has been absolutely horrific. Now, do we have excuses, fellas, for, hey, listen, bowl games, you know, opt out. My quarterback opted out for the second half of my bowl game. otherwise Miami probably would have won that game. Do we play the excuse machine,

or does 2 and 11 say a lot about who the ACC was this year in football? I mean, my offensive coordinator opted out of giving a guy who had eight yards of touch the ball in the third quarter. Shout out to Robert Nye, who now is on LinkedIn. But in all seriousness, I don't want to lean into the excuses. I want to say we are who we are based on this record, but I'm one of the people that's consistent with it. You know, there's too many folks out there that, oh, the ACC is terrible because of both season.

When it's the SEC, exactly. But with the SEC, all of a sudden, it's, oh, well, you know, there's this deal of, well, there, you know, we had guys out and dollars and all that happen. Listen, the ACC is who we are. We need to own that right now, we look like a group of five conference, maybe even worse, because hell, we're getting whooped on by a group of five teams. Toledo beating Pitt, ECU beating NC State, all those types of things. Carolina is what Carolina lost to Connecticut. I don't think they're technically independent, so

y'all are safe from the G5 slander for now. But in all seriously, as I look at this and I say, the ACC has to own that we look like a clown show right now because these bowl games mean something to me. I don't care if everybody causing the glorified scrimmits. I don't care if everybody says, oh, our coach was fired or who

was wherever this player opted out, that player opt out. I don't give a damn. Every time you have the opportunity to suit up and represent your university, you show up and do that. And whatever that result is speaks to who your university is. And whatever the compilation of universities that make up the ACC do, that's what the ACC is. So right now, we look like the clown show. I own it. Give me my red nose and I already wear side 16. So I got the big pointy shoes already. It's almost all I'll add something. Sorry,

Grayson, but from the, even from the Miami point of view, like, despite the fact that Cam Ward only played for the first half, Miami still had plenty of opportunities to beat Iowa State. I mean, if they could have gotten even competent quarterback play from Emery Williams in the second half, now that was probably constructive because I think Miami may realize that's not necessarily the guy you want to turn to next year. And if Miami could have played a lick of defense, I mean, Kenton, your O.C. is on LinkedIn. DC is now looking for a new gig on LinkedIn job. So despite the, you. the fact that, yeah, some players opted out, you know, starting quarterback didn't play after the first half. Miami still had every opportunity to win that game against Iowa State. So I make no excuses for that L from a Miami point of view. For North Carolina, man, it's, it's, I mean, I got to have the excuse of it because it's like you've got the whole coaching change. You've got like people that you wind up with Jacoby-Christwell, your third-string quarterback getting hurt on the second drive and your fourth string true freshman quarterback who's also in the portal that just was like, all right, I'll play. And then you wind up going wildcat, basically the entire fourth

quarter with a running back that had just come back out of the portal. I mean, it's just all of it. It's like nobody cared if I'm being honest about two basketball teams playing a football game in a baseball stadium. So out of this whole panel here, Syracuse was the one that won their bowl game. They were one of the two teams that won. But Syracuse was one of the beneficiaries of all these opt-outs. That's why, honestly, I don't take much stock into bowl games. I don't care what the conference is anymore. And I'm very consistent with it.

ACC, SEC, I don't care that Alabama lost to be in a bowl game. It makes no difference to me. It's a bowl game. I don't know who's playing and who's not playing. I can tell you from Syracuse's perspective, most of our players, they play. They opted into the bowl game. Washington State, on the other hand, Dono knows this because they were going after John Mateer.

They didn't have their quarterback. They didn't have their coaching staff. There were like 20 players, maybe even 30 players, who were opting out for Washington State. And granted, they put up a solid fight against Syracuse, but honestly, was it really all that fair? I mean, it ended up being like a three-score line anyway. And Syracuse won by three stores.

So I really don't take much stock into these bowl games. But if that's the case and you feel like, hey, we're so depleted, we don't have a team, we're not fielding a proper team. Do what Marshall did. Sit it out. Say, hey, listen, we don't have what? We don't have our guys. We don't have anything for this. Go ahead and let one of those teams with a high graduation rate fill in for us.

We're good. We, you know, we don't have a team right now. I can't coastline with that. I mean, you're, yeah. I don't understand that, though, because, like, I know those schools did that, but you're, you don't, want to opt out of a bowl game. That's a nice payday for your university by playing in the bowl game. So you want to play. It's the players that are opting out in the coaches, but the university, there's a reason why these bowl games still exist. They want the money. So then there's like never

going to opt out of the game. North Carolina sold under a thousand tickets to the Fenway Bowl. There were like triple digit tickets sold and then they had to eat the rest of the, what is it, 3,800 ticket allotment, right? Like, and so it's so like a normal game at Keenan? Yeah, exactly. That's incredible. Yeah, I mean, it's just like, so like at some point we have to come to the conversation of and if we're not ready to have it, let me not push us ahead. But what like, if this is going to be what it's going to be, what are the fixes? What are the things we talk about? How do we brainstorm different ways to do it? Whether it's like once we get to contracts,

like contractually, you are obligated to play in your bowl. Like, what do we do? How do we we fix it. I think that there's a very easy fix here. Bull games generate a lot of money, right? There's an easy way to up the score here. Instead of doing traditional bowl gifts like they do it now, create like a player of the game or players of the game and pay those players, hey, you get an NIL deal for signing your game jersey and giving it away. Like, oh, if you win and you sign your jersey and give it away, tax slayer gives you $70,000 for that or whatever the case may be. guarantee you guys will be showing up by the boat low oh wait i need to play in this game i need to play in this game the only guys that you'll see opting out are a high level like hey i'm a first round

guy that 50 000 70 000 100 000 whatever it is means nothing to me well hold on on on that note um we can talk about cam ward you know i mentioned the the second half opt out and and you know part of that i think is what miami's coaching staff wanted because i think they wanted to you know get a look at their potential quarterback of the future. But it's interesting how these days, these days, a lot of players in his position, he may end up being the number one overall pick,

would just opt out. It's a no-brainer. And nobody even brings it up. But he gets more chatter ward by playing one half than the guys who opt out of a game completely. So I'm curious as to you guys' takes on that. Now, I wasn't, you know,

I wasn't outraged by it in any way, shape or form, but probably because I was expecting something like that to happen. So I was kind of conditioned that, Hey, Ward's going to play, but I don't know if he's going to play two series, two quarters. I did not expect him to play the entire game. So I wasn't surprised by it, but were any of you guys taken aback by it? I think it might be like the first time we've ever seen something like that.

Have we ever seen someone opt out during a game or like during halftime? And we've heard of them opt up to Borough Brown. Yeah. No, I, you know, I actually, I actually have and I remember it because it was a team Miami was playing against in a bowl game a few years back. I think it was Chuba Hubbard from Oklahoma State. Like literally, I don't know if it was halftime or after the first quarter, but I remember him and this was like 20, 21. And I remember like, did he just opt out during the game?

So, I mean, it doesn't happen often, but I don't think Ward was the first. I think that this is much ado about nothing because, I mean, yes, we have seen this before. And also the reactions to this very extreme for no reason. Oh, NFL coaches aren't going to want a guy who opts out in the middle of the game. If they are okay with drafting a guy who opted out in the entire game, why would they not be okay with a guy who opted out halfway through the game? I'm genuinely confused by this. That young man has shown to have a rocket arm, a capability that is, I won't say generational, but it's rare. We don't see that every class or so.

It's just not what is happening there, and the anticipation to hit windows at a high level. And you think in the same NFL where former ACC guy, Daniel Jones, got paid $40 million a year, nobody's going to say, give me that cat, because he opted out at halftime. Let's stop the foolishness. It's a load of hooey in the words of the elders, because that's just, it's not something that matters. And again, this is a very much so non-story that we've made a story. I was going to say, as someone who had some United States currency on Cam Ward in this game, I was a bit of taking aback, but perhaps that's on me for not consulting Dono before.

I was going to say, you should have texted me and I would have said, hey, just place your first half props and don't worry about the entire thing. Hand up, maybe that's on me, but I don't know. I don't think it's that big of a deal. But, you know, traditionally, these players that are for sure going the NFL draft, they're opting out to preserve their health more often than not. They don't want to risk playing in a game that's relatively meaningless and then injure their stock. I'm very glad he did not get injured, but imagine if Cam Ward did get injured in that first half. Now, that would be a nightmare scenario for all sorts of opt-outs, whether it's the whole game or just a half. What a mess that would have been.

But, you know, I would certainly rub the wrong way because I lost the money in the deal. But it is what it is. You're degenerate. We told you stay away from that. We told you. You were warned. It's cut off handle. Well, I'll tell you one of the one of the bowl games that I did bet on it ended up being a push was with Syracuse to cover against Washington State.

I got the number at 17. I'm sorry. I mean, it's better to push than lose, but man, was I let down? Because I thought, oh, 17. At the end of a game, I'm sorry. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I'm already preparing my post-dain podcast. In fact, I think I had already started recording the post-team podcast when that happened.

Yeah, well, we got a lot more to get to on this episode of the ACC squad. I got to pick Isaac's brain on Bill Belichick. And he's already, he is out there visiting high schools on the recruiting trail. So Chapel Bill is doing some of those things that people doubted he would actually partake in. So I love to see that. College football playoff, I know the ACC is no longer represented, but I'm kind of wondering with, you know, three representatives from the quote-unquote power two. And with Notre Dame in there, they're independent, but ACC, a judge. Is there any message we can send to the rest of the ACC for that?

You guys want to keep it locked right here. We're not anywhere near done yet on this brand new episode of the ACC squad. Hey, did Rocket Money help you find any subscriptions you forgot about or that you were paying for twice? That's definitely happened to me. I had a few subscriptions. I didn't even realize I was still paying for. And Rocket Money made it so easy to track them all down. It's like having a personal assistant for your finances.

Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps you find and cancel. your unwanted subscriptions. Monitor's your spending. It helps you lower your bills so you can grow your savings. It brings everything together in one place, whether it's subscriptions, your spending habits,

or even the goals you want to hit this year. Rocket Money has over 5 million users and has saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 a year when using all of the app's premium features. For me, one of the best features is that subscription tracker. I've used it to cancel services I wasn't using anymore, and I've already saved a ton.

with their goals feature, I've been able to automatically set aside money for my family's future. No more stressing out about budgeting every month. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with RocketMoney. Go to RocketMoney.com slash Locked on today. That's RocketMoney.com slash Locked on. RocketMoney.com slash Locked on. Thank you so much for making the ACC Squad your first listen and your first watch today. Make sure for your next listen, you check out Locked on college football.

our guy Spencer McLaughlin. He's still, I know it's the end of the season. He's still in midseason form. Talking CFP, talking transfer portal, everything that comes with that. Make sure you check out Locked-on College Football like this show. It's available free, wherever you get your podcast and available free on YouTube. All right, friends. So you've got two from the Big 10, one from the SEC, former Big 12 team representing the mighty SEC in Texas. And you've got independent Notre Dame, who unfortunately for us is a member of the ACC and everything but football. Now, you know, Notre Dame being in the spot, and they had to do it kind of the hard way not being part of a conference. They couldn't get a first round by because there was no

conference championship to win. I mean, does their story offer, you know, any comfort to those who are not in the power too? Because I kind of look at it in like Notre Dame has resources that, you know, most schools from the Big 12, the ACC, and the group of five just do not have. So I look at them as an outlier in my opinion or maybe we're all rooting for Notre Dame to win the championship because of their independent status. Did the two teams that we not say were going to benefit the most from the playoff expansion benefit the most? Who were the two teams that everybody always said, oh, with the playoff expanding, they got a shot now. They're going to be Penn State and Notre Dame. And who's in the final four? Penn State and Notre Dame. And so this is not a situation where

everybody should be getting hope from this. This is not a situation where everybody should be feeling good about themselves. Oh, Notre Dame did it. Anybody could do it. What the hell does that mean? Notre Dame is one of the biggest brands in all of college football. What Nebraska used to be,

when they were the only team on ABC, guess what? There's a new one of those in town, and they wear gold in helmets. So this is not a situation where everybody should be excited saying, hey, this is super replicable, just like Michigan.

in Ohio State wasn't something everybody should get excited about. Sure. All you got to do is have two first round defensive tackles, and you can easily just play too high all game and beat. Yeah, everybody can do that. Yeah. What do you mean everybody doesn't have two first round tackles? Oh, most people don't have one? Well, I guess you're cooked. It's the same thing here.

What Notre Dame is doing is unique to Notre Dame because they're an extremely extremely unique university with an extremely unique funding system, which by the way, they're making it this deep. Everybody else's conference gets paid. You know who got paid because Notre Dame got this deep? Notre Dame. That's all. So, hey, I'll take.

They are themselves. I'll take not getting any better than a five seed if I can keep all that money to myself, right? Like it's like, to that point, like I feel like the money aside, we've got to fix the way this bracket sets up, man. We've got to get away from the NFL style, like division winners get the higher seeds and just, seed the teams what they are. I just think it's not like, I don't know that Oregon gets out of, you know,

into the final four as it is, but they were done zero favors with the way their bracket set up, right? And that's the team that's earned number one in the nation, right? Like, I know, I feel like we talked about this a couple weeks ago, but again, that bracket has to be relooked at.

I agree with that, but at the same time, if you're good enough, you're going to win anyway. That's how it is. If you're good enough, you're going to win. And regarding Notre Dame and the ACC, what it tells me is very simple. I mean, the ACC, if they can, can just write them a blank check.

That's what I would do. Write Notre Dame a blank check to join the conference. How about that? Yeah, Kent is looking at me like I'm nuts. Of course, our bag ain't deep enough. They can, what, 37 million? Exactly. That's my point.

Notre Dame is ACC adjacent, but they're Notre Dame. Like, this is one of the biggest name brand, name brand teams in all the college football, right? This is one of the most story programs in all of college football. This is one of the most successful programs as well. If you look since 2017, they've been highly, highly successful, and they don't just play cupcakes every single year, right? It's not, does it give, you know, we're fans here, except for Dono here of teams that one day we hope can make a college football playoff, right? NC State, North Carolina, Syracuse, one day we hope to have that magical year. I don't look at Notre Dame and say, man, I feel like Syracuse one day is going to have a real chance at this because Notre Dame was able to do it.

Like, it's Notre Dame. This is what's expected of them. What you mean except for Dono? Dono, Miami. Miami, the expectation is the college football playoff, whether they're going to get there or not. What is that expectation based on? What the hell is that expectation? Ray Lewis is every day.

They were going to be in that college football playoff this year. They were right there. And then the final week of the season happened. And I was going to go on the day. with Meg the stallion until my tire, it called a flat, and then I missed the date. I so, I so appreciate what Jackson tried to do there for me, and I knew, I knew somebody was going to cut in and ruin it. I knew, like, I kind of made a face, like, is he going to get away with this?

Because I'm not going to correct him on that. Well, the Miami fan. Let me tell you. Let me tell you something, Donald. I'll play some spades when I went home for Christmas, and the jacket's never going to walk across the tape, but not on my table. Jack ain't going to walk on my table, okay? But that's just ain't what we're doing.

With all the respect to Miami, I love them, but they're not at that point. Well, I think they're going to take a step back next year because the schedule is tougher. I don't know who the quarterback's going to be. I mean, they might even roll with a true freshman quarterback who's a really talented one, Luke Nicol. But if you got a true freshman starting a quarterback, you've got to reset your expectations a little bit. So we'll cross that bridge. But I want to go back to something Isaac was saying about, about reseeding.

you know, not not guaranteeing the top five seeds or the first round buys. I'm all good with that, but I almost, I feel like, and I, because I'm of two minds with this, because I think if you stop rewarding conference champions with higher seeds, maybe you do away with conference championship games. And maybe if you expand the playoff, you can offset whatever revenue you lose. Because my thing is, guys,

if you're not going to reward conference champions with higher seeds, what's the point of playing in a conference championship? game, right? I mean, teams might as well opt out of it. I mean, all the, all the SEC fans wanted SMU. Thankfully, the committee kept them in, but the SEC fans wanted them to take SMU out because they lost their conference championship game. Had they set that precedent, then Rhett Lashley should have opted out of it in the first place. So I don't, I feel like if you're going to have conference championship games, there should be a reward for winning it. But, you know, if you're going to seed it a different way, I'm fine with that, but maybe the conference title games go by by.

Well, let's take the basketball model, right? Like, you don't get guaranteed a certain seed just by winning your conference championship, but you do get automatic inclusion into the NCAA tournament. So I think, like, obviously apples and oranges with the sports and number of teams and games and all that. But there is precedent for, yeah, you guarantee your inclusion into this event. But, you know, if we've got, like in this season, the SEC is going to have probably two or three number one seat. And so if they're not able to get that just because they only have one conference championship,

and maybe that's an interesting line to toe because of what it would mean for the SEC as well in football, but there is precedent for it. I can see that. I strongly disagree. Oh, I was just going to say I strongly disagree with the president that as it currently stands, like there should be a situation where we're automatically granting seeds. But again, I do think that if we're going to do a seeding base, on what has happened, it needs to go back to the computers.

Because if we leave it up to the people, it'll be big brands getting home games. It'll be big brands getting those, you know, games that honestly they haven't earned or they haven't deserved as we saw this year from bowl season. Because, again, I'm one of those guys that care about the Bulls. I don't get a dad. Hey, you showed up with your team's jersey on. I don't care if the quarterback ain't there, or this guy ain't there, or that guy ain't there. You showed up.

And you did what you did. We have some interesting developments on the recruiting trail because Chapel Bill Belichick, he is out there. He's visiting more high schools in a month than Dion Sanders has in the past five seasons. You want to keep it locked right here, my friends. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of the ACC squad. Thank you so much for making the ACC squad your first listen and your first watch today. I'm Alex Dono from Locked on Caines and Locked on ACC. We got Jackson Holzer from Locked on Syracuse, Kenton Gibbs and Grayson Boone from Locked on Wolfpack.

Isaac Shade from Locked on Tar Heel. So, Isaac, what's been the fan reaction so far in Chapel Hill from Coach Belichick? Because I know the ones that I talked to right after they made the move, very mixed feelings on it, right? Because, again, you're hiring a guy who's about to be 73 years old, who's never coached at the college level before, despite his sterling resume is arguably the goat in the NFL with the six championships. But one of the things that people doubted he would do was really be engaged. on the recruiting trail. And so far, he's doing it.

He's making high school visits. Dion Sanders doesn't make high school visits. Bill Belichick does. Count me as one of those who didn't think he'd be out there. I thought he would, you know, Lombardi, Mike Lombardi would be kind of spearheading that and sending off his minions to go do all that work. But Bill's out there with a sport coat that's working way too hard with that button

to try and stay on. And things are looking interesting. By the way, if you're going to follow Bill Belichick on Twitter, make sure you get Belichick underscore B, not UNC Chapel Bill, which his own general manager retweeted something from. Come on, Michael Embarder, we got to do better than that. It's wild, though, to see him out there doing that. He was all over the state of North Carolina on Tuesday. You saw pictures from everywhere jump popping up on social media. So I'd color me surprised with this whole thing. I didn't think we'd see it. Anything I stay on the subject, I'm going to get labeled as a hater anyway,

but this is just a photo op. He's just making his rounds, taking his pictures, shaking his hands. His minions are the ones doing the actual work. And until proven otherwise, that's what I'm going to stand on.

I'm going to say this. Is that necessarily a bad thing, though? Like, a lot of... No one has a problem with when he doesn't go to high schools. Exactly. It would make more sense for his means to do it number one.

And number two, the fact that he is out there, as much as I hate to say this, locked on Wolfpack fans, please don't unsubscribe. I got to respect it, you know? I never thought that I would say, hey, look at this. Bill Belichick is being like Team Esau-Peezy.

He was never scared to put in lead work. This is an interesting moment that I'm seeing right now in terms of him being out on the recruiting trail and all that. And I will say this. At the end of the day, if Bill Belichick is to be successful in his role, he has to show that he has redefined himself in a very meaningful way. And the ability to recruit players is one of those things that I felt like this is going to be a defining factor of the Belichick error, whether or not it's an error or error in terms of what happens at UNC.

Because if he has that ability to go out and be charming and likable, which I mean, Bill Belichick and charming and likable, they're sort of oxymoron. And yet, if he can be those things, he is going to go a long way in finally making something happen for UNC. But just because I want to leave my boy, Grace now, they're on the island. I mean, that's always been to school that's more flashed and substance. So who knows? It could very much so be like the Chili's fajitas. We're like, they're not actually that hot. They just spray a sizzling sauce on them that makes them pop like that before they get to your table.

And then you're like, what the hell is this? They look warm. So, you know, who knows? I think the key with Belichick, and you kind of alluded to Kenton, it's, you know, when he was in the NFL for all those years, He was kind of the Grinch. This guy was an assassin as a head coach. He was a Terminator.

He didn't care. It's like he didn't have a personality outside of football. And my biggest question mark was, okay, is that really going to work in college? And the answer is probably no. He's going to have to get, quote, unquote, a little bit softer. He's going to have to get a little bit nicer because now you're not dealing with grown men. You're not dealing with grown professionals. Granted that these guys are now getting paid.

But you're not dealing with all these guys with real lives. outside of college, right? You're dealing with just college kids at the end of the day. So he's going to have to get a little nicer. And I guess him being out on the recruiting trail and taking all these photos is one of those steps into getting a little bit nicer. And then when it comes down to actual football detail, that's where he's going to need to shine. And I think that's go ahead, Dono.

Go ahead. Well, a couple questions I have it about it is because, like, I agree with what Grayson says, like the photo op is powerful and you want to accomplish that. But I guess my question would be, is he going to keep doing this? Because, listen, as far as head coach is recruiting, the photo op is the most important thing. Like position coaches are the ones that really put the leg work in on the recruiting trail. So as far as a head coach, sometimes you're showing up, taking the picture, sometimes that's enough. So is he just doing this right now because they're in the honeymoon stage?

But if he keeps doing this for a couple few years, then that's pretty powerful. And then the second part of it is, and I wonder if, this even matters as much as it used to, given the nature of college football now with the transfer portal and NIL, because one of the concerns that I would have about Bill Belichick recruiting in high school, transfer portal's different because it's mostly a short-term deal. Like if high school players ask him, like, hey, Bill, if I go play for you for four years, are you going to be there for all four years? Like, can he answer that question? Is that question as prominent now as it used to be?

Because we all cover college football. I mean, college basketball, same deal. Like when you recruit a player out of high school, you don't know. I mean, there's a good chance he may be one year, two years and done off to someplace else anyway. But, you know, the old school recruiting, it's always important when you go into those high schools, you go to those living rooms. You want to make these kids at least believe you're going to be there for their entire college career. What's funny is that that is the difference of the previous coach to the current one, because that was Mack Brown's special sauce, is his ability to go into the living room in an era where the living

room mattered, right? Now it's so transactional. I'm going to continue to use that phrase that the Belichick model, whatever it's going to be, if he softens up some as Jackson used that phrase, it's like do the football principles that he and Michael Lombardi have used to both put together a team and then train it up on the field, do those things still work regardless of his temperament in the public light? I don't know. I strongly disagree with that take, Isaac, because as what I've seen, and Grayson canvots for this as well, because we've had guys on the show that we talked to them about, hey, like, did NC State give you the biggest Nilell deal

or whatever the case may be? And more often than not, we heard the answer, absolutely not. This was not the biggest deal on the table, but we wanted to be here for reason X, Y, Z, reason A, B, and C. And the money helped. Obviously, if you were giving no money, that's a very different thing. But when everybody's got money to give, you still have to do something.

because while it is transactional, it's not a one-for-one, like, hey, whoever offers the biggest bag is where I'm going. You know, prime example of that, that a lot of people are deeply misunderstanding because I know his head coach was my defensive coordinator and all that, Bryce Underwood going to Michigan. When I talked to, you know, his former head coach was my former defense coordinator about it.

He was like, yeah, the money was great. Don't get me wrong. Him making all those millions was great. But even beyond that, he grew up. big time Michigan. He loved that program from a very early age and that stuff still matters. Winning on the couch still matters because the check is good

but unless your check is so much more than the next team that it's like hey, I don't give a damn what you talk about, okay? They talk in millions, you're talking a couple, you know, 50,000 or whatever. You're not in the same ballpark. I mean, it's

still going to matter to win that conversation, to convince mom to do what, you know, Coach Call as a master at bouncing babies in the family and me and whatnot, that's got to be a big deal. Yeah, money's only part of the equation. Basically, it comes down. If the money is close, that's when the XYZ reasons apply. You got to first get into the ballpark.

If you're not in the ballpark, you have no chance. It doesn't matter how great of a recruiter you are. Because if one team's offering, you know, or let's say three teams are offering in the ballpark of $500,000 for a player, but you're stuck at $150,000. thousand dollars i'm sorry you don't have a chance you're cool like you don't it's if oh well these three schools are at 500 we're at 475 so how do we convince a kid to leave 25 000 on the table to come play for us that's when going into the living room definitely matters because you're going to have to explain to these parents and to that kid hey you should come and play for my program and by the way

you're going to have to probably take a little haircut to do it as well yeah 100% you have to be in the ballpark like i look at an example actually from the big 12 because we found out on two that Arizona State quarterback Sam Levitt is like staying. He did just sign a new NIL deal, but he was offered more by other schools to potentially enter the portal, but he decided like, hey, I'm already having success here. Kenny Dillingham is my guy.

I'm going to take less money to stay in a situation I already know is good for me, but the money still had to be there. Like he's still making reportedly seven figures. So you have to be in the ballpark. But yeah, if the situation is right, sometimes you take a little less money for a different situation. Well, the room got quiet all of a sudden.

I don't know. I haven't disagreed here. No, no, we said the same thing. Yeah, we said the same thing. I agree. It is going to be important when the money is close. But again, it's not all about the money. And I say that because most of these teams are close.

Like, there are legitimately teams that are on different tiers. We get that, right? Ohio State and the $20 million a year team, you know, I was on a Notre Dame podcast not too long ago where they said, hey, if Notre Dame wins it all, would that convince teams to stop spending money? I said, brother, Pandora's box is already open. You can't. How do you even say, oh, because Notre Dame won, we're not going to pay anybody else,

because then you're going to have the guys who are currently there, the incumbents getting paid, and then the guys coming in and going, well, why the hell is he driving a Rose Royce? And I don't have a car. The Wolfline bus does not give me around campus in style. This is not how I want to do this. What are we talking about here? So, you know, you're looking at a situation where, yeah,

the money does matter if the money is close. But again, once that money gets close for everybody, like you said, Dono, you make that decision based on the situation. And if you can't, I think because all of us agree to that, that's why there wasn't much to say. Because it's like, we're all, you know, we've all been there, right? We've all, we're all in lockstep for once. And that's crazy because me and Jackson can't even agree on whether or not to wash up

with a towel in terms of a shower. But here we are agreeing on this. And then ultimately, it's all going to come down to what happens on the field. Can you take whatever that group is and get dubs? That's what it all comes down to in the end. Hey, Ben, to that. Well, I appreciate everyone tuning in and making the squad your first listen and your first watch today. Make sure to smash that like button and subscribe, subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your pods. And make sure you check out all of our shows. Check out Locked on ACC with Kenton and me. Check on locked on Syracuse,

locked on Wolfpack, locked on Tar Heels, Locked on Cains. And we'll talk to everybody. next time on another episode of the ACC Squad right here on the lockdown podcast network, your team every day.