Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ACC SQUAD - The Biggest Fall Camp Questions Across the ACC

Episode Date: July 31, 2025

ACC football shakeup looms as UNC eyes SEC move. Will this trigger a conference realignment domino effect?Hosts Jackson Holzer, Kenton Gibbs, and Morgan Thomas dissect the potential impact of UNC joining the SEC on ACC football. They explore the ripple effects on rivalries, finances, and team dynamics. The discussion shifts to a bold proposal: an ACC-Big 12 merger as a strategic response to conference instability. Key position battles at NC State, Clemson, and Syracuse take center stage, with surprising emphasis on Clemson's punter competition.Tune in for insider perspectives on college football's evolving landscape and critical team developments that could reshape the upcoming season. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

UNC is apparently going to the SEC. Let's talk about it. 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 could get loud, it could get heated, and it will definitely be fun. Squad up, you're part of the ACC squad. Hello, everyone, and welcome into the ACC squad. I'm Jackson Holzer, the host of Lockdown, Syracuse, joined by our awesome panel today of Kenton Gibbs, from Lockdown Wolfpack and former NC State defensive tackle, and Morgan Thomas, the host of Locked-on Clemson Tigers.

And on today's show, key position battles for each of these teams as fall camp is basically here. The college football season is just a few weeks away. I cannot believe it. It has been a long offseason. I think we can all agree we are ready for the games to actually begin, right? Also, conference realignment. That's right.

Everyone's favorite topic of conversation. Where's every team going in the magical year of 2030? We're going to talk all about it here on this edition of ACC C sloid. But first, North Carolina. That's right. The North Carolina tar heels are apparently heading to the SEC. That's right. There are multiple reports out there that are linking North Carolina to the SEC in the near future.

So I turn it over to you now, Kenton and Morgan. What are your thoughts on this? You know, I think that this is very interesting, all things considered, because there are parts of this that are plausible and makes sense. And then there are parts of this where I'm like, hey, we're being unsurious. We need to kind of get real with ourselves here. Right. So what do I mean by that?

The parts of this that I would say are very serious and to be considered is the fact that this idea of there's not a big enough footprint or there is no footprint for the SEC in the state of North Carolina. And I know pre-show we talked about will they have a footprint into Carolinas with South Carolina with the University of South Carolina and all that. But North Carolina is one of the fastest grown states in America, period, in terms of population. And you talk about, you know, how fandom and all that works, that's teams that are in your area, you're going to watch them on TV. They're going to be the teams they're on at a bar.

And if you're seeing a growing population and you're seeing those teams kind of get the boom of fandom with that, if they just so happen to hit a couple of good years with that, that makes sense to say, we want to get in on that as a conference. Now, the part that doesn't make sense to me, I keep hearing, oh, well, you know, the SEC wants to get in on UNC because they want to increase their basketball foothold. Quick question, guys. Who's the last national champion? The University of Florida. And what conference do the mighty Florida Gators belong to?

I believe they're in the southeastern conference. That is the SEC. Okay. And how many one seats did the SEC have last year in the NCAA tournament? was it two or three? Was it all of them besides dude? Okay, so it was two. No, Houston was a one seed.

Houston was a one seed. So they had half of the one seeds went to the SEC as well. So I kind of struggled to see that, especially with, and this is with all due respect to that brand, I am not, you know, I know I'm going to get called a hater and people are going going to say, oh, he's the NC State guy, I'm fine with that. But the realistic outlook is Michael Jordan ain't walked through that door. James Worry didn't walk through that door.

Ty Lawson, Rashid Wallace, Vince Carter, you name them. They are not putting on a Tar Heels jersey and suing up in a real-life game ever again for that university. And so you can have the idea that, oh, yeah, of course, they're going to bounce back. It's going to happen. But right now, that is a program that's headed in the wrong direction in terms of basketball. And so you look at that and you say, well, how do you go from that to, oh, you are so valuable. We're going to split our pie with you, one of the more expensive pie. which means each slice is more expensive than everywhere else for a basketball school.

When we know basketball does not drive enough revenue to warrant the cost, it just kind of, you know, the math doesn't matter there. So there are some aspects that make sense about this. There are some parts where I'm a little, I'm a little doubtful, a little incredulous, if you will. You know, I fail to see where the Tar Heels would leave behind NC State and Duke. You know, there's just so much history there. I wouldn't want to see it as a college.

fan in general because Tobacco Road has kind of been part of what I've known for basketball football too but mostly basketball but you know what I've known growing up that that was kind of those big three schools

there we'll throw in Wake Forest too but you know I feel like that a move away from the other teams would part of part of their brand is that kind of rivalry there And so it would hurt them in that way, maybe more than they really realize.

I would prefer they stay together. I would prefer that, you know, if you're going to leave the ACC, I'm not against that because it does seem like there's not as strong of a push to get the ACC competitive with the other big conferences. It's more of like a lot of talk about just leaving the ACC in general. I'm not against leaving the ACC, but to me, I've always been one where I'd rather just, if you're going to have the biggest teams in the conference leave, make a super conference where there aren't these key teams that are left behind that, honestly, I don't have a personal interest in, but I do care about as a college fan in general. So, you know, obviously, North Carolina has a huge brand when it comes to their, their, logo when it comes to their colors and their name. I mean, people wear those colors. It's almost like the Cowboys. You wear those colors, even if you really aren't invested in the team, just because

of what Michael Jordan did a long time ago. So, you know, as you mentioned, though, they're not stepping in the door there. And actually, the basketball team seems to be getting progressively worse year over year. So, you know, I can see where the SEC would want them because they don't have a stronghold in North Carolina right now. I honestly would probably rather have North Carolina than Clemson just because Clemson is just very close, even though the football brand is much better. If I'm the SEC, I'm thinking Clemson's a little bit too close to Georgia, a little bit too close to South Carolina, whereas North Carolina has a natural rivalry with South Carolina because of the state line. And also, SEC doesn't have anybody in that state already.

So to me, it would make sense there. I mean, we've heard rumors, what, a year, ago that it was going to be the big 10 because of their academic connection there, you know, with the, what is it, the AAC or something like that. So I know Clemson doesn't have that so the Big Ten didn't seem possible, but I can see where you'd want to get into, want to follow the revenue, and especially in today's age of athletics. But to me, it kind of hurts me to see that, even Clemson to just dump everything, all the history to go just chase the money. Well, I agree with you a little bit on that. I'll say this.

I'll say this for Clemson, for UNC, for whoever, the accreditation doesn't really matter. Like that, we can all talk about, hey, you need this accreditation to be in the Big Ten and all that. I'm going to tell you something. Accreditation seems to get real loose when money gets involved, you know. It's the same thing as how, like, with all due respect to players, including myself as a former player, most of us, if you take our profiles as individuals applying to these colleges, we don't have a snowball's chance in hell at getting in. Okay. But all of a sudden, when you're big enough, strong enough, and fast enough, we'll overlook all that stuff. You know,

we don't need him to clear and be a genius. We just need to get to a certain ACT that's a bare minimum. It's the same thing for these conferences in terms of that. And I will say the thing about the fit with the Big Ten in terms of academics, I definitely see that for UNC because they're not an Ag school like many of the SEC schools are. And even beyond not being an Ag school, UNC actively turns their nose up at Ag schools. NC State guy here. I know this firsthand. But, you know, you look at these things and you say to yourself,

the personality might not match. It might not make sense for a million reasons, but guess what? I can give you about 50 million other reasons why it would make sense for UNC if the SEC does decide to extend that offer or if they have already decided to extend that offer.

My only question is, and I'm going to leave this for you, Jackson, do you think that this is at all a tempering situation where we could potentially see something along the lines of Jim Phillips saying, hey, you're actively negotiating or bargaining deals with our teams when they're not available. That's a great question, and I don't think the SEC cares. I don't think they care at all if they are tampering,

and I think that we've talked about tampering so many times. We usually talk about it more in the transport and recruiting aspect of it. It just happens. People just talk. Like we're talking right now. People talk. People hypothesize all the time. And do you want to label it tampering, or do you not want to label it tampering?

is tampering at is it a formal offer is it a handshake deal what is to you feel like you know what tampering is when it actually happens and if it's a gray area we tend to not think that it's actually tampering kind of just look at it's like i don't know that kind of just seems stetcher it's just people talking like us right but for me in north carolina the cc i just don't know why the cc would truly, truly want them when it comes down to the money. Because the athletic actually did a study of the most valuable teams in football, which I think we all know that football is the most important sports when it comes to conference realignment.

No, it's not basketball. It's not about getting basketball brands into the SEC. They don't care about that. They care about your football. And North Carolina, I mean, they're up there. They're 26th overall. most valuable teams in college football. But is that enough to put them into the SEC?

Because it's not just about, oh, well, could they be a decent fit? You know, it's good geography, North Carolina. It's also about are you actually going to generate more money for the conference? Or are you making more money than you would be in the ACC, but everyone else is making less. Because if everyone else is making less, because you're now in the conference, because the pie has gotten divvied up a little bit less, they're going to say no to North Carolina. And I'm not sure if North Carolina is big enough of a football program

to where the SEC says, you know what? We're putting them in. Yeah. So that's where I'm at with North Carolina. I think there's a difference. I think when we're talking about tampering, I think there's a difference between us three talking and the head of an administrator and the head of a conference talking.

Like if us talking mattered, NC State would have got just, to lead a ball a little bit more last year. You know, if us talking was that important, unfortunately, you know, history will not remember it that way. But in all seriousness, I do get what you're saying in terms of, you know, tempering being this big thing that, you know, where do we define? Where do we define it?

How do we define it? And what's the enforceable penalty there? I, a thousand percent agree with you that. All right. Well, coming up, what's say North Carolina does go to the SEC? What happens to the rest of the ACC? We'll talk about that next on the locked on ACC squad. If you're trying to stay on top of your routine, whether that's workouts, long days on campus,

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This is the locked on ACC squad. I'm Jackson Hulzer, the host of Lockdown Syracuse, joined by our awesome panel today. Just two more of us, Tenting Gibbs, the host of Lockdown Wolfpack and Morgan Thomas, the host of Locked on Clemson Tigers. Last segment we discussed North Carolina SEC, does it make sense for both sides? We gave our thoughts on that. But what happens if it does happen, right? What happens if in the near future, sometime in the next few years,

maybe by the magical year of 2030, when the revenue or not the buyout is not a, as bad for these teams anymore to leave the ACC. If North Carolina goes to the SEC, what do you guys think happens to the conference? What do you think happens to teams like Florida State or I'll toss it to you, Morgan, what happens to a team like Clemson? Well, I think we've already seen what Florida and State and Clemson want to do, and that is stay together. I would assume that North Carolina being part of that mix as well, that's what I thought, you know, when this all kind of started, you know, a couple of years ago that North Carolina was in the mix, but we just didn't hear anything from them. They didn't, they didn't involve themselves in the

lawsuit for whatever reason. It was led by Clemson and Florida State. And I think the revenue sharing model, focused on the revenue generation, excuse me, model, is going to benefit the Tar Hills. They're obviously willing to, they're a powerhouse and basketball and they're going to get a lot of viewers. That's going to help them. But make no mistake, they didn't hire Bill Belichick to be average at football either. So they got the best defensive mind, you know, from the NFL. And whether or not you believe he was a national, or a champion, a Super Bowl champion with or without Tom Brady, obviously not, but still one of the better football minds out there, that was by no mistake. They're not only moving to put themselves in the

forefront of the football conversation, but also realign themselves with a strategy that's more NFL focused, you know, with the way that they've been building their front office, with the way they're building their staff, with the way they're recruiting now, much different than what we're used to in college, much more like what Dion Sanders has been doing. you know, and they're going to be doing it in Chapel Hill. So that investment in the semi-pro whatever look that this football is now is heavy on the tar heels, and they seem to be fully invested in that and ready to spend the money. So to me, that's an eye-opener, as you mentioned, last segment with the SEC.

If I'm the SEC or the Big Ten, I'm like, hey, you know what? they're not just sitting around, uh, on their hands. They're, they're out there proactively trying to make their program better and in the, in the sport that matters the most. So to me, they're serious player and they could move. Um, but I, I still, I still don't see where this, how they're getting over the obstacle that, that Clemson and Florida State has, which is that grant of rights. You know, it is, uh, a very large number. Even, I think the article with,

The athletic talks about even 10 years down the road, the number is estimated to still be significant compared to the money you're bringing in. So you think that that number is going to go down to where it'll be an easy buyout. It's going to be a painful buyout even 10 years from now. Uh-oh, Kenton's muted. The UNC lobby is trying to silence me because they knew that the hammer is coming down here. I think it's very interesting that they would be the first dominant. know to fall in terms of leaving the conference when we know whatever you do, don't look up John Swofford who his son is or Raycom. Those three things completely unconnected or where John

Swafford played his college football. Don't look up those things. But with that being said, if they were the team, if they were the first team to leave, I think that you would just see an exodus of teams who could leave. Again, I think the biggest difference between this situation of what you had with the PAC 12 is the PAC 12 had multiple brands that could leave and they all left at once. And not only did those brands that could leave at once, the rest of the teams kind of didn't have a good enough bearings about themselves to say, all right, what's our next game plan or play if these teams leave? The ACC does not have such a problem. With all due respect, there is a difference in level between that next level of ACC teams and that next level of PAC 12 team. If you look at the drop off from USC, Oregon, and, you know, Washington and all of them to the next group of Pact 12 teams, and then look at the difference between the drop off between Clemson and Florida State and UNC and then, let's say, a Louisville or an NC State or Virginia.

It's not the same in terms of just revenue generation and all that. For Christ, the two teams that we took in had deficits in their athletic departments. Like, that's just the reality in terms of what value is and who's bringing in what. They're in over their heads. So it's a situation where I think that we will very closely resemble what the Pact 12 is, where you don't have the heavy hitter per se, but you can still produce quality football by committee more so than saying, hey, we'll have one or two teams that'll be our banner teams to carry it.

No, no, no. We've got parity here. Anybody can win it any year. And because anybody can win it any year, we can have anybody as a playoff representative of any year. And because anybody can be our player representative, we can go from a, hey, isn't that the school with Herm Edwards? No, that's the school with Antonio Pierce where they do all that chief. Wait, who's this Cam Scataboo guy? Like, we can have that on multiple friends with multiple teams. It's funny how you mentioned a little Big 12 reference there. Because the Big 12

media rights deal ends 2030, 2031 academic year. And I wonder if you see this mini exodus from the ACC because I don't think this is going to be a mass exodus. Because I think you guys articulated it well enough that there's just not enough teams in the ACC that are going to be able to fork over that money and then find another conference that's better,

aka the Big Tenor of the SEC. Sorry, love Syracuse. I don't think the Big Ten would take them right now. And it's certainly not worth it to leave the ACC with that buyout. And there are a lot of schools that are in that category in the ACC. In fact, it's actually debate with

Some of the top schools and whether or not the buyout will be worth it or not, depending on what conference is going to be able to take them. Right. But the Big 12 media rights deal ends. And I wonder if the ACC is going to try to post some of those teams. What do you guys think of that? You know, I think that the best path forward, and nobody wants to talk about this out loud if people look at me like I'm a madman when I say this,

the best path forward for both the ACC and the Big 12 is emerging. They don't want to accept it. They don't want to accept it. Both of these conferences keep trying to, you know, when administrators know that like, hey, a merger would crunch half of our jobs off, they don't want to accept it. But this is the way to save both of your conferences so that you can weather this storm until we get whatever super conference there is or until football breaks off from the NCAA and then you can kind of do your own thing. But the reality is you cannot compete with the game. We don't have anything like that in ACC. You cannot compete with the Iron Bowl.

I'm sorry, you just do not. So with that in mind, the idea should not be one for one, we're going to take Oregon. One for one, we're going to beat Michigan. One for one, we're going to beat Michigan. One for one, we're going to beat Georgia in terms of viewership. That's not your play. Your play is we want to monopolize every single day with college football from our mega conference. You think that you've got matching in the middle of the week?

Oh, no, no, no, no, no. How about whatever we call this merged conference, right? We got Iowa State and NC State tonight. I don't know why. It's just we're going to put everyone together. And guess what? If you got them on a Tuesday night, America's going to watch. America watches football.

If that's the only thing on on Tuesday night, America's going to be watching some Cyclone and some Wolfpack football. Don't watch that over a World Series game. Exactly. So I think that that's the play for the ACC. I have said all along, the ACC's play should be we need to just put more of our product on. And what better way to put more of our product on than to expand our product outright? But some of these administrators have to kind of lose the ego and say, you know what? If I'm going to save my conference, it may cost me my job. It may cost me, you know, taking a reduction in payer or stepping down as, you know, the vice commissioner,

whatever, to something lesser because they already have one of those more experienced and next in line. That's fine, but we can save this. But if you're talking about, you know, trying to go it alone and we'll poke from you, you post from us, it's foolish because nobody wins in that situation. You can hang individually or you can hang together. But one way or other, the gallows away. I just want to know what we would call this conference. I feel as if you're, you know, you actually probably hurt yourself, the more that you're saying it out loud. I think that's a traditional way of thinking about it, making a merger there. But to me, the ACC has a foot to stand on in the fact that they are a natural rival with the SEC teams right now.

So you have Florida and Florida State, you have Clemson, South Carolina. I would go on to say Georgia Tech and Georgia. I would go on to say Virginia Tech and Tennessee. You know, so you have a lot of natural rivalries there between state lines or within state lines as well. And that, to me, is a lot of leverage that you start to lose as you merge with a conference that does not have any built-in rivalries already. You would have to manufacture those and it would take decades to be able to get any things. that was resembling of what you would have already. To me, with the SEC, to me, you already have natural rivalries there.

So I would lean more towards, hey, don't leave us behind. But also, we've heard from Jim Phillips that the ESPN is interested in a way that, as you mentioned, they weren't interested in the PAC 12. You know, the PAC 12 was begging for PBS to carry their games by the end of it. And so that's what really made everybody upset. You know, I say PBS, but PBS probably has better, better, you know, they have, they at least have Bob Ross. But you have, you know, the CW, I think barely wanted them. And then if you go to Apple TV, I mean, look at what's happening with the MLS.

Nobody even knows what the teams are anymore when you get on Apple TV. But I think that Clemson becoming an merger is actually a nether. is actually a negative thing if they do it first. I would not move to a merger with a conference that has no natural rivalries at all, only because of that concern that you would be cutting off those rivalries in that scenario.

So to me, I initially would say yes, but no. Yeah, you're already, yeah. And this hypothetical, Clems is gone. In this hypothetical, if Clemson is gone, if we lose Florida State, if we lose, like the only team we would have that you mentioned is Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. So you're saying that the big dogs are already gone in this scenario.

Carolina is the first domino to fall. They're not going to be the only ones. You're going to see Clemson leave. You're going to see Florida State leave. And you might see another team leave there as well that's big in the ACC. So at that point, if you're the ACC, what do you do? Yeah. And you're losing Clemson and Florida State with those SEC rivals.

Yeah. I miss that. I apologize. I missed that. I think that you're, right in that case it's if you lose your top three big dogs of the conference then then you got to do something drastic like that in that case yeah right now as it currently stands i would agree with you morgan i would not say hey merge right now and and you know create a situation where like you said

you could effectively end a lot of these kind of really great interconference um interconference roberts with the SEC. No, no, no, I'm not going to say that. But if the big dogs are already out and we've already lost the majority of those, you're at that point, you're not playing a game where you can win a war of attrition. That's not the game that you need to play. You need to do something that is very drastic. And to me, that drastic is it we're going to take every day. Every single day, there will be ACC football on somewhere. I know that logistically, it may be a nightmare. Don't give a damn. That's our path to success. We will milk that path to success. And that gives us, we'd have 20-some odd team so we'd be able to work it out in a way that like, hey, these teams,

you know, we could have a situation where the West Coast teams don't have to travel as far as much anymore as they go more to the central time zone and kind of have those things. But again, if the big dogs are still in play, that's a different scenario. You would have to have kind of like an East and West. Yeah. That's what it would be. I mean, you've got some West Coast or not all the way West Coast, but you got teams that are on, you know, the central and the western side of the United States.

Absolutely. And you could sit here and say, okay, well, Stanford, you don't have to make six trips to the East Coast. You only got to make like three of them because you're going to play BYU and Colorado every year. You're going to play BYU and Colorado every year. How's that? You are you, Colorado, Cal, that's three right there.

You go ahead and throw you some, throw you some, some, some, some, um, some, um, some, um, you got a good, good little scheduler. I, I think, you could do it. Arizona. How about that? Arizona. Okay. If you're a West Coast team, that's not that bad for you.

You're going to play those teams every single year. We're going to create an Eastern conference and a Western conference. We're starting to sound like we're pro football. other pro football has aFC and NFC but you get the point at the point this is every other every other sport except baseball has it set up east and west anyway so hockey has it east and west hockey hockey basketball has it east of you know we do we do a we do a rundown meeting before every single show i was not envisioning that we would get into a conversation of the acc merging with the big 12 at the big dogs leave but you know what that's the beauty of the ac c squad because sometimes something

predictable comes out of one of our mouths, and then we go on a big conversation about it because it's definitely interesting. If the ACC in the Big 12 merge and you got 25 teams in one conference, it would be unprecedented in college sports, it would definitely be fun. And these shows can't really get loud. Atlantic Coast Conference, tired. Bicostal Conference, wired, ladies and gentlemen. Give me some bi-coastal Tuesday football. Oh, I love it. All right. Well, coming up, more conference realignment talk. We're going to go over some key position battles because, well, this season for 2025 is fast approaching. So you're going to want to keep it locked in a locked on ACC squad. This is locked on ACC squad. I'm Jackson Holeser, the host of locked on Syracuse,

Kenton Gibbs, host of Lockdown Wolfpack, Morgan Thomas, host of Locked on Clemson Tigers. And folks, thank you so much for making it to this portion of the podcast. I hope he means that you enjoy the locked on ACC squad and you can just do us all favor hit that like button hit that subscribe button helps locked on acc grow to reach all acc fans and who knows maybe big 12 fans in the near future and also you can check us out in our own personal channels i host locked on syracuse kenton giv's host locked on wolf pack morgan thomas host locked on clemson you can hit that like button and the subscribe button over on those channels as well so we got key position battles because no team is safe no

team right now has 22 perfectly aligned starters. There's no camp battles. So I'll turn it over to you guys. What are some key battles that you are looking for in fall camp? Well, obviously at NC State, you're looking at the receiver position where you have a deep, deep receiving room of guys. It's just a log demo. You only have so many snaps. And how can you play all of these guys? You have Noah Rogers, Wesley Grimes, Jonathan Paler, Keenan Jackson, Terrell Amson, Tank Boston. I mean, you name it. They're just players, players, players out the wazoo that have all shown promise or in flashes or at least have been talked about in that way.

And even beyond that group, the edge rushing group, which I talked about a lot as a big concern for NC State in terms of, hey, who's going to get your, who's going to generate that pass rush from the outside? Brandon Cleveland is going to hold you down on the inside. Trvali Price is a somewhat known commodity at one edge, but let's just be honest. Morgan can tell us best because they've always seemed to got a stockpile of great edge rushers over there and they had to go to Purdue to get another one. That's that biblical breed.

That's that gluttony they talk about in the Bible. But in all seriousness, that's a situation where elite teams have a ton of pass rushers. And NC State is just looking for a second and third guy for when Price is coming out. hey, who's your next man up to kind of do the edge rushing there? We bought in multiple transfers this offseason, one from Texas Tech, one from Wyoming. And I can't remember the other at the moment. But there are some very quality transfers in that room right now. And you're kind of left asking yourself, who's going to stand out?

Who's going to win that position? Because multiple of the transfers happened after the Spring Portal. So you're looking at guys who have not played a snap of football impact. ads with NC State in any capacity, practice or games. So you're kind of worried about that. And there's a question on the offensive line as to whether or not Spike Souls is going to push for that center position. They highly touted true freshman is he comes from NFL stock with his father playing in

the league. And he is, he's been darn good so far as far as I've heard from Springball. But again, that's another position where NC State has bought in some very quality transfers with Z. Correll moving on. So you've got position battles galore in the trenches at NC State. I'm very intrigued Seattle Turner. For Clemson, position battles this season actually relatively non-existent compared to most teams, I think. 80% returning productivity from 2004.

Oh, we got a husband quarterback. We're so cool. We're the Clemson. We're going to go to the playoffs and we're going to win the national championship. chat. We're so close. Peter Wood's probably the best player in the nation. All right. Are y'all done? Are you done? We're done. We're done. Okay. I'll give you the whole segment. Clemson really, you're, you know, this is not going to help what you just did, but the biggest position battle for Clemson has to be the punter. And I'm and you think

I'm kidding, but you think I'm kidding, but the punter really is the talk of the town right now. I mean, Pickens County is going wild over who will be the starting punter against LSU. Will it be recruited Jack Smith? Will it be Walk on Will McCune? Will it be Robert Gunn the third who lost his kicking role? Will it, will it be Charlie Reed that they just brought on from the soccer? team as a walk-on or former goalie or keeper, you know, you don't understand how important it is for changing field position and putting your team in the negative until you don't have that punter. It's been many years since we've had Bradley Pinyon, many years. And, you know, we miss that because the thing is when you have a powerful offense and you

have a powerful defense. They're not perfect because we're human. And if you sputter, let's say LSU comes out and stops them quick and you can't punt it more than 30 yards, well, then you've just given your opponent half a field. And that happened more often than we'd like to think last season, and Dabo kind of swept it under the rug. And it's still a huge question mark. That was a very amazing way.

Our hearts grow up in the importance of a punter. Which they're funny. Punters are people too. It's so tough to live in a world where your punting is just, oh, Shucky Dards, man. Bradley Pinyinian ain't walking through that door, you know. It's just an evil world that Clemson lives in. It's so hard to be Clemson.

Chris Gardochie, not walking through the police. I'll punt. A punt. We'll see what I got here. There you go. There you go. I feel like you still got to football. I have no clue. I've only punted like three times in my life and all three of my shakes. So, you know, I have no clue. It's kind of like that money ball reference. It's incredibly hard to be a punter. Hmm. I bet. Hey, you heard Morgan. You heard Morgan. It's incredibly difficult. It's plaguing

Clemson right now. They are crying, shaking, and throwing up in Clemson, worrying about their punting because Lord knows, they're expecting to see the punter a lot this year, apparently. No, I'm just messing with. When Syracuse goes to Clemson on the road, you know, he's talking about it with all my, with all the people in Locked on Syracuse. We're going to be talking about Clemson's punter and how that's their big weakness and we got to take advantage of the punter. That's it. Actually, the thing about a punter is you don't have to take advantage of it because they will hand you the best field position you've had all season if they're if they're terrible. So you really have to, there's nothing the opponent has to do other than fair catch it because it's going to be on the FDR line if you can't punt.

You heard it here first, folks. The key to beating Clemson, just get the punter on the field. That's the key this year, everybody. So we don't need to worry about this. But if you don't get stops on defense, you're not going to see the punter. Therefore, it's completely irrelevant. So I'm glad that Clemson has a weakness. Apparently, it's a punter.

I did not know that. By the way, Morgan, you notice Jackson, the only one of us that got a quarterback battle on his hands and he ain't said nothing about his position battles. He ducked at a small. He don't have to say about Ricky Collins. What do you say about Syracuse's quarterback battle? But what more do I need to say other than they're having a quarterback battle? Fair.

That's very fair. I mean, they're having a quarterback battle. It's between LSU transfer, Ricky Collins, and Notre game transfer, Stephen Jelly, and we're just going to see what happens. Both quarterbacks have multiple years of eligibility, which is very encouraging because if one of them thrives this season, that means assuming you can hold on to them. They don't enter the transit portal. You also have your quarterback for 2026. And Ricky Collins actually is that three more years of eligibility. So if he is the guy that emerges, you got three years of eligibility with him. So he can be

your quarterback also in 2027. But we're going to see what happens. It's a lot. It's, It's a true quarterback battle. Neither quarterback has a ton of experience in college football. I mean, they've been in college football, but as far as actually throwing passes, not many. Ricky Collins has thrown seven career passes in college. Steve Angeliet's around 80 career passes. It's not a lot. So it's an unproven quarterback battle in Syracuse. The offensive line is also key for the orange as far as position battles because I was going through it on Tuesday. There's about nine different players. on Syracuse's offensive line that you could make an argument should be a starter. Now, that's a good problem to have. I mean, that means you probably have a decent amount of talent, but how are those players going to actually slot in?

And I also was describing, we don't necessarily know what position any of them are going to play. Because a lot of them, the guys that they recruited, they can play tackle, they can play guard, some of them can play center. So it's kind of a mix and match, and we'll just see how fall camp goes and how this offensive line is going to shake out.

And I can almost guarantee that they are not going to have the same five offensive linemen starting in the same five spots, even if everyone remains healthy over the course of the season because it's such a mixed match along that offensive line. But those are just a couple of the key position battles for Syracuse football. Any last thoughts, gentlemen? I will say this. Syracuse definitely gets a mulligan this year because they have half of last year's day.

Ah, no, no, no, no. Don't do that. Okay. All right. All I'm saying is this. All I'm saying is this. And Morgan, correct me if I'm wrong here. But if you heard, hey, you've got a first-time starter at quarterback.

Your offensive line, you don't know where they're going to play. You don't know who's going to play where. These guys have not played together much. You lose your start, your star wide receiver in the last part of the offseason pretty much there. And, you know, you do all of this. And we expect you to be good the next year. Oh, and you're at a basketball. In the country, too, you got four playoffs.

Half of the playoff on your schedule. And I'm supposed to sit here and say, oh, yes, that team, bring it on, 10 wins. No, no. What I'm saying is make a bowl. Make a bowl. That's what I'm asking for. Making a bowl is a mulligan after you just won 10. That's a mulligan in comparison.

Okay, I thought, okay, if that's your definition of mulligan, then fine. Fine. Yeah, yeah, I expect them to be somewhere. I know. I'm not giving this team excuses to miss a bowl. I expect them somewhere between five and seven wins. I expect that. I think that's where I have them too.

I think that's a good season for them. Anything beyond that, brand ain't going to be there no more. He's not going to be there no more. He's not going to get some balls. Don't tell Syracuse fans that. Don't tell Syracuse fans that. I know.

I know he said Newark is home and all that. $10 million a year, you'll find a new home. $12 million a year. You'll find a new home. new hall. You need to call the big call right now for a merger so we can get Fran Browen more money. All right. Well, this has been the locked on ACC squad. I'm Jackson Holdser, the host of Locked on Syracuse. I have the Syracuse background behind me in case you couldn't tell by now. Kenton Gibbs, the host of Lockdown Wolfpack and Morgan Thomas, the host of Locked on Clemson Tigers.

We will be back next week with another edition of the Locked-on ACC squad.