Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ACC Stars Shine at the Combine

Episode Date: March 6, 2024

In today's Episode, Kenton and Candace discuss the importance of risers from the combine performances out of the ACC. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

So the Combine came and went, but there were definitely some ACC stars that are certainly notable here that we're going to discuss on today's show. Who definitely earned themselves some money that we knew all along? Who are some sleepers that people really need to get on board with? We'll talk about that. As well as Senior Day, Armando Beko finally deciding he has to leave Chapel Hill, whether he has a choice. And then ACC Women's Basketball Awards, why there are so many qualified candidates to win the whole kit and caboodle for that tournament happening on Wednesday. You are Locked-on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day.

Good on, everybody. Welcome to today's edition of Locked on ACC. I'm your host, Candace Cooper, joined by Kenson Gibbs of Lockedown Wolfpack. Each and every day, you find it so every listen to podcasts, make sure you download subscribe to the pod from anywhere. Got a lot to cover on today's show between all the sports that we love to enjoy. Make sure you download the, make sure you subscribe to the podcast on our YouTube page and always join in on that fun when we have the community time and leave those joyous comments.

This episode is brought to you by Nissan. Are you the kind of driver that likes to push things a little further? Ever wonder what adventure could be around the next corner? Take the Nissan Rogue, Nissan Pathfinder or Nissan Armada and go find your next big adventure. Check them all out today at Nissan.usa.com. All right, Kenyon, we got a lot to go over, as I mentioned, and we've got to start with football because the combine came and went. There were some very speedy guys, but there were.

were also some very impressive all around just athletes and ballers at this year's NFL combat what was your reaction to watching some of these stars you know i i say the same thing every year and the jams never listen to me and this is why i guess i'm not in the front office stop losing your wits over what these young men are doing in shorts and t-shirt that is the specific reason that i wore a tank top to the show today to let you all know that what i can do in this is not indicative of how I would perform in shoulder pads, helmet, thigh pads, pants, the whole kitten caboodle. So are you saying that they need to run 40s in full gear? Yeah, absolutely. What I'm saying is, actually, let me rephrase that. What I'm saying is this,

we need to stop putting so much weight into the 40, right? That's my biggest takeaway from this, because prime example, right? Everybody tells me, I have been talking to different folks in terms, of the scouting, you know, scouting world about Peyton Wilson for three years now, three years. The first year I talked about, everybody said, oh, he's the first round drive pick. Can he stay healthy? He did not. And so then it became, oh, he's a great player.

He just is not going to, you know, he's going to have those moments where you're going to wonder, is he healthy enough to make it through the season, whatever the case may be. And then I'm told there's nothing he can do. to raise his stock in this draft. And then he goes up there and runs a 4-4-4, and now people are talking late first, early second. And it's like, what happened? And it's not just about him.

It's about multiple players. Taz Walker, a guy that ran a little slower than people thought. Keon Coleman, same type of deal. Did he run a 4-3? That's slow? Keon-Col. Not Keon. No, no, no.

If Keon ran a 4-3, we'd be having a whole different guy. He would be the number of drive pick. You can't, yeah, you know, I'm playing around with him. But you get my point in terms of, in terms of, you know, you can't, you can't use these things that, I'm sorry, Ted Walker did run a 4-3-6. I apologize there. But either way you cut it and look at it, I believe it may have been Kea, who I was referring to in terms of him having a slower 40. And people are like, like, what is he? What can he do?

Turn on the film. Look at the leading. pump returners in the ACC and look at how big all of them are. And look at the one that's an outlier in the group and ask yourself why his big ass was back there if he was slow. I mean, you also had to think about guys who like Cooper Cup tweeted out, like don't let these sort of stats or these sort of performances sort of think that you're never going to be as good.

You got Nakua who also had a really incredible rookie season. So like those things hold weight, but they shouldn't. If a GM is smart. Yeah. Well, and my opinion is, if you have not seen players play against good competition, right, I can understand it. If you're watching a guy who, let's say, is coming from Concordia University, right, which is an NAA school. And you're like, oh, no, like, I haven't seen this guy that's different. Tess Walker, you've seen the play against the best corners.

Wiggins from Clemson, you've seen the play against the best receivers. Peyton Wilson, you've seen them play against the best lineman running back to You've seen all of these guys play against the stars. You see how the stars of tomorrow, how they stack up against those guys. So why are we still asking this question of, well, Kiann looked a little slow. Oh, Johnny read faster than we thought. We know Johnny Wilson can fly. The question is, can you catch a hitchh route?

That's the question for Johnny. Can you catch the hitchh route, brother? You're going to be wide open, not get tested. Can you do it? Johnny had three apples. I do think, though, that this not only has to do with, of course, the competition, but how sort of the ACC is positioned in the market, right? Because they're not as well respected.

People assume that they're not going up against the best of the best. But, you know, the numbers don't lie. Peyton Wilson, of course, being one of them winning the top, what was it, linebacker award? Yeah, he won pretty much every defense. of awards you can imagine, including the, the Benner, which I believe is for the top linebacker. And then, of course, you have. One of those two.

Yep. And then you have guys like Keon Coleman who just had his superstar season, Johnny Wilson, who knows how to make the insane catches, as you mentioned, Tess Walker, that Drake May connection was one good. And then if you talk about Drake May, right, you had Caleb Williams not do any sort of performances or set. You had Drake May try to do his best with what he could and what he got. somebody's going to take Drake May.

We don't need to stress about those types of things. It's just like at the end of the day, we talk about systems all the time here. If they're not fit for the system, it's not going to work out regardless. How talented they are. Look, case of point, what's my boy's name,

the Chicago Bears? Justin Fields. I'll give you even better one. You know, you talk about guys in terms of the fit for where they are or whatever you would talk about. Kyle Pitts. He was flatly. phenomenal in college, but the NFL

system that he was in, it just didn't work out for him. They just, you know. It ain't still there. It ain't working out for him. It ain't working out. Arthur Smith found ways to hide him. He said, I'm not hiding you from the world. I'm hiding the world from you. That's what's going on right now. Now, Rahim Morris decides to draft

Drake May or, you know, some similar quarterback style of things could change for Kyle. Yeah, for sure. For sure. And I'll tell you what, I here's the thing, here's another thing I need people to stop doing. In terms of quarterbacks. People are now talking about Joe Milton again and asking the question. And I hand the guy. This is a legitimate question I've heard. Well, Joe Milton versus, let's say,

a Drake May. Drake May may have the film, but when you look at the measurables and what he could do, what his ceiling could be, I don't know if he's over Milton. My brother's sister's friends in Christ, I don't care that Joe Milton is big as an ox. I don't care. I don't want. I don't care that he can launch the ball 50 yards from a knee. He could not hit the side of a super Walmart from the parking lot. Drake has shown us he can backpack a team that has very precious little and by way of talent with all due respect to those young men, now we're with them, precious little and make them look like superstars.

So I don't know what else he can do. Right. And the fact that you're making me talk nicely about Drake Mae is upset in my spirit. Oh, my gosh. But again, they watch the carabond. They see him throwing shorts and t-shirt, no pressure, no reads to make him. Oh, he's a bad man. Sure.

As soon as you can put him in a game where he doesn't have to make a read, doesn't have to worry about pressure, and he's in shorts and t-shirt. That'll never happen in the NFL, of course. That'll always be the case. he'll always be able to just throw whenever he wants and however he wants the guys like Miles Garrett will never get to him, sure. But when we talk about just like who may be impressed that people were sleeping on, I feel like Nate Wiggins had a really good combine.

Oh, Nate Wiggins, as the kids today would say, he ate and left no crumbs. That young man, every single drill he tested out in the top percentile of corners. If he wasn't number one or two, he was somewhere near the top of the leaderboards and almost everything that has to do with movement. We all know nobody cares about corners pinch press. Nobody's looking like, oh, God, he can't put it up 30 times.

But Nate tested out, and all the things that matter in terms of evaluating corners, absolutely. That boy was up to something. His preparation, whatever he did pre-draft, more players need to do it because I'll tell you, he did a phenomenal job. He put on an outstanding show, and he is climbing up to charts rapidly, which again is one of those things for me that I'm, even when it works for the, favorite players in the ACC, I'm still skeptical of. You have two to four years of tape on all these players.

Why are we letting what they did on one day skew the results of what you think this player is or is not all that much? But again, credit to the young man because he showed and proved in terms of everything testing on. I think that Fisk also had a really good NFL combine. I think he's, you know, that big man was moving, pushing him. lot of weight very quickly. I think Jared verse, of course, does his thing, but it certainly was impressive. Fisk stood out for me from Florida State as one of those, like people didn't know,

but if you were ever confused, I think you shouldn't be. You know, when we talk about Braden Fiske, you talk about a guy that towards the end came on extremely strong. I don't mean he looked good. He was unblockable. I'd say probably the last four to five games of his career, I very seriously saw maybe one or two times where he was blocked one-on-one. I went back and watched the film and I'm like, he's having his way with these guys. Wherever he wants to go, wherever he's trying to go, wherever the scheme is getting him to go,

he's going to get there. He's going to get there, including if that's to your quarterback. Just asked the Louisville Cardinals, whose game he wrecked single-handedly virtually. And so with that being said, I think the Braden Fiske is another one of those guys that, yes, he did amazing got the combine. turn on the damn tape.

Do your job GMs and scouts. Get on your Zoom. Every day you got to get on your Zoom, baby, because his tape does not lie. Shakira said the hips don't lie. I'm saying the tape don't lie. Turn on the tape and you'll see a ball. A thousand percent agree.

All right, let's talk more basketball here in just a bit. I want to go through getting buckets with your first. bet at Fandul, America's number one sports book. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's $150 if your first bet. Bet on all your favorite NBA players and teams with quick bets, a live same game parlay's exclusive props and more. Visit fandul.com slash locked on college to shoot your shot.

Van Duel is the official sportsbook partner of the NBA. All right. So we have a lot going on in football, but that's the best. ball is gearing up for its end. It's done on the women's side. Men are getting their close senior day for Armando Beka. It's finally here. He cannot come back.

He has senior day where he had a different color jersey because he had a senior day last year. And then he pulled a fast one and decided to come back. People are arguing or maybe even just begging R.J. Davis to come back for another year. But I think R.J. has made himself all the money he knows how to make and should take his talents elsewhere. There is absolutely no need for him to return. but people do wild things, you know what I mean? As soon as you get that scouting report and that's what it is.

But for this senior class at North Carolina, who's definitely had an up and down sort of stay, I think it is very fitting to be dominating Notre Dame right now. Armando Baycott's first game, Armando Baycott's last game, ends with beating the Fighting Irish. Yeah, I truly look at this situation and I say they were a very impactful class, but UNC is one of those schools where it don't mean a thing if you don't got that ring. Like nobody's going to talk about how, oh, your senior class, they were the holdovers, you know.

When we went from Rory to Hubert, you guys did a phenomenal job. It's about did you come home with the ring? Did you come home with the championship? And that's the level that UNC is at, and rightfully so. They've, you know, they've earned that for decades now. You know, they've been a team that you consistently look at in terms of, of being a threat to get to the Final Four, threat to get to the National Championship,

threat to win it all. And so, with all due respect, hey, more proud to you. The senior night is good, it's great, it's fun. You got to bring home a ring. Okay, this ain't, this ain't some other schools in the ACC where it's like, well, you went to the Natty that one time, right? That was special. No, no, no.

UNC. Don't believe that that's right. There's still regular season award implications of, of course, North Carolina beating Notre Dame going 16 and 4, and then they have to face off against a Duke team to where if Duke wins, it shakes it up towards the end. But this, of course, Duke UNC, Part 2 will be one for the books, not the same sort of hype and pomp and circumstances as before, but still, of course, you have this regular season time of energy. How important is it, you know, just speaking in general, to win the regular season title? What do you think that means for teams

as they're heading into the ACC tournament? In terms of the tournament and going forward and what it actually means, let's just be honest, not very much, not very much, right? But when you look at the circumstances surrounding this one, you're talking about your most hated rival. You're talking about the greatest rivalry in all of college basketball that, again, nothing comes close. Nothing comes close.

This is an energy where it's like the bragging rights of this thing mean more than anything because there will be folks in Chapel Hill saying till the day that they are no longer with us. Hey, how did Coach Kay's last game go? 100%. Not even just that, but the final four matchup to everyone since the beginning of brackets has seen, you know, we always wanted them to meet and never sort of worked itself out. And then magically they found themselves in that scenario at Coach Kay's final dance. And for it to go not his way, it's just insane.

Yeah, yeah. No better scriptwriter. But that's, but that's the nature of this beast. And so, you know, for Armando and RJ and all those guys, it's not about, oh, well, you were the guys who you all were instrumental in putting Kay out of his misery in that way. It doesn't matter if you look back at it and it's like, I mean, hey, you all, you did a good job. You came close to win the ACC tournament. you came close to win at all, but came closest about all we got here.

And for those people who are, you know, what's the word I'm looking for, people who tend to track stats, Carolina typically loses the ACC tournament and then goes on to win their national title, right? They come into the championship game for the tournament and then end up losing and going. So if they were to, let's say, help a team get the automatic banded team like an NC state team, like a C or C team, like a Virginia Tech, you know, when the ACC tournament get that auto bid, how many we got going to the tourney? If we have a bid stealer

come in and win the tournament, let's say at this point, I hate to admit it, but Pitt and Wake Forest would be bid stealers. Wake Forest's last one in right now. Listen, I would love, and here's the thing. I would love to be wrong.

I would very much so love to be wrong about this. The way that they're acting like the ACC has performed this year, and the way people are talking about Wake Force performance down the stretch, if they were not to, if they were to get knocked out, bounced in the first or second round

that they actually play in in the ACC tournament, I don't see it. I honestly don't see it. So with that in mind, if one of those teams was to steal a bid, I see three. I see, of course,

or I'm sorry, four, rather, I see, of course, UNC Duke, and then Virginia and then the fourth would be whoever the bidstiller is. I want to make an argument. I want to make an argument for Clemson. Those are the way for deserve it. I think Pitt would definitely be on the cuss. They need a couple more wins to get in there.

It's crazy because in past lives, six teams is not crazy for the ACC. I think that there should be. I think, and here's the thing, right? What I'm saying about these teams is not what I believe they deserve. Right. This is me saying what I believe this election committee will do. And as we have seen in recent history, baby, in the words of Saucin Santana, one thing about that committee, they are not on your side. Okay.

And Florida State might mess around to be a bid, a bid stealer. So. And if Florida State was the bid stealer, again, same thing. If we get a bid stealer, I see for four the possible. You know what I mean? Like we got a good spades head here. Four is not a good spades hand, but go ahead. if your partner can do a little something after you got four and a possible,

you're all right. You know what I mean? You got to know how to twerk that thing to make something happen there. Okay. But that's neither here nor there. The reality is I see four and a possible as the outcome if we get a bidsteeleer. If one of the obvious teams wins it and all of the teams that are in the bubble perform poorly to where like, hey, y'all got one win and you're out, I honestly see three in a possible.

That's fair. All right, let's end this show talking a little bit about women's basketball. Are you the kind of driver that likes to push things a little further? The 2024 Nissan Rogue is perfect for city drives and great escapes. Class exclusive Google built in is all. You're always updating assistant to call on for most of anything. Gone are the days of connecting your phone. Google Assistant Google Maps and Google PlaySword are built right into the 12.3 inch HD touchscreen information system.

The 2024 Rogue is the perfect mid-sized crossover for your next adventure. Make sure that you check it out now by going to shop nissonusa.com. You can shop at nisone.usa.com to get yourself on to the next big adventure. All right. We end the show talking about women's hoops. Elizabeth Kittley is the ACC woman's player of the year. She damn sure did her thing. It is exciting time for women's hoops.

paying any bit of attention. I mean, I would hate to have been this committee having to trying to figure out who deserved what award because, man, so many deserving young ladies. Yeah, just as the same way that we're seeing all of these teams be good, it's not by accident, right? Like, you don't see all of these teams be good without multiple players showing up and being big-time players. And so Elizabeth Kintley and what she's done here, collecting her, I believe this is what her third player to year? Like, you know, death, taxes, Elizabeth Kittley winning ACC player of the year, three things that you can book for as long as the sun rises on the east and sets on the west. She has been a driving force behind the champion in the ACC. And so,

it makes sense. It makes a lot of sense. Yeah, a thousand percent. Hannah Adago winning ACC defensive player of the year, also winning ACC freshman of the year for Notre Dame. Just getting started and having that sort of, you know, power and stronghold into what will be a great career for her. It's also very exciting, right? I think that overall, the girls that won held it down. Syracuse coach getting ACC coach of the year, certainly exciting as well. Her and the Asia Fair had quite the year as that duo. She's trying to really put Syracuse on the map. What a two-year turnaround for Syracuse. Man. Man, I'm trying to tell you what. And just to think about what this tournament is going to be like starting on Wednesday.

I mean, everyone can get it. Yeah, I remember. Go ahead. I remember when Syracuse was the pits. When Syracuse was coming through you, oh, yeah, go ahead, book that W. Book that. Now all of a second, you got a top team and, you know, it's not just the Asia. It's the whole team coming along.

Coach Leggett deserves all the love. She deserves all the love, all the respect. That's, hey, do your thing. Do what you got to do because that is a team that has turned this thing around in, you know, quick fast and in a hurry, as the elders would say. Right. You got Syracuse coming up there, Virginia Tech, Georgia, Amore, certainly during her thing. You have Notre Dame. You have North Carolina that's very inconsistent, but they could be.

When they're a good team, they're a great team, when they're a bad team, they're terrible. You've got NC State who's been NC State for quite some time. Now you've got a Miami team that can be streaky, but when they're good, they're great. You've got a Wake Forest team that might not get in this thing, but they could disrupt. some things, if you will, right? I think that's the biggest part. But Virginia also coming in, beating Virginia Tech and during that Commonwealth battle. So who would you give greetings to, of course,

winning this thing when it's all said and done? I mean, I think that this is going to be a, you know, clash of the Titans at the end. I think you're going to get one versus two ready to square this thing off. And I know that Coach Westmore going to want his get back on Kitty Brooks. I know he's going to want it. You don't want it back. But the question is how healthy is how healthy is River Baldwin going to be and Elizabeth Kidley as well.

Those are the big question because River Bowen. He looks crazy. Yeah. If River Baldwin ain't rolling, you can't stop Kitley. But if Kitley ain't rolling, Virginia Tech got a whole other set of problems because she's not the ACC player of the year three times for no reason. Like she didn't get that because that is one of the more unanimous decisions. every year. I don't think that anybody has been arguing any of these years, oh, this player for my team should have won it. No, stop it. I mean, Alyssa Kuhnayne, maybe, no. I think Alyssa Kuhnaen had an

argument, but the biggest thing that undercut her was it was so much of a team performance. You couldn't just give her credit in the same way they did Wood for Elizabeth Kittley when Georgia Amor wasn't Georgia Amor yet. And she's sitting up there like, I mean, yeah, you got a shooter or two. out there on the perimeter for Virginia Tech. I want to say the last name was King or Sailor, one of those two. She was really good at knocking down those stand-up threes, but she was only getting those looks because teams were having too hard double-kidly. Because when she got in that post, it was a bachia.

It was 50-flow eating habachi because I'm telling you, she was chopping them up. So the reality is, you know, if she's not healthy, not only are we looking at a dangerous situation for the ACC tournament, you're looking at the NCAA tournament as like, a team that, you know, had national championship aspirations is now I think would be lucky to make it to the elite eight. She needs to be doing her rice routine every single day, off that knee scooting, however she needs to get the class,

whatever she got to do. I mean, she's probably a 10-year senior, so she's probably all online classes. but I really need my girl to just get that that rest. Leave her alone. She is only 22. I like some of these players whose senior nights came and went. They about, you know.

Cormac Ryan, if you're listening, it's time to go, buddy. Pack it up. Pack it up in the mail. Pack it up in the mail. Go get a real enterprise. Get you part of that enterprise program. I know during that Ted Walker situation, everybody kept her binders of how old Bradley Rosner was.

He's in his eighth year. He's in it. You know, the boy down there in Miami, too. We're looking at you too, brother. That's right here down there on gear 10. Hello. When it's all said and done, though, I do think that it'll be a great women's tournament. I'm really excited to see sort of how, you know, there's going to be some upsets.

There's going to be some last second shots. I think whoever wants it is any given day, as we've said all season, it's about just who was better on the court that day. And I'm hopefully seeing, I just want to upset low-key. I think I really want Syracuse or like a Notre Dame to go ahead and shake it up, right? But I think that NC State might get the job done. I really feel strongly about that one. But like you said, a really healthy Virginia Tech team could, you know, run the table.

The beauty of this thing is all the teams that have a shot at winning, none of them are bid Steelers. Not a single one. Right. Nobody. Right. We're going to have a strong seven or eight in this bad boy. We don't have to, you know, second guess. And that's a healthy thing, right?

I don't know whatever the mainstream media loves about women's basketball, but if it could translate over to the men's side, we would do just fine. But all said, you know, all that to be said. We've got a lot to cover this week. We've got a lot to go over in terms of basketball as we head towards tournament time. Of course, we're going to keep you updated on all things football. So you don't want to go anywhere. Make sure you check us out on our YouTube page and anywhere you listen to the podcast.

We hope you guys have a great good start to the week for Candace Cooper and Kenson Gibbs. Until next time.