Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - ALARM: Florida State's Tommy Castellanos STRUGGLES in Practice | Will Seminoles' QB IMPLODE Against Alabama?

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

ACC Football Heats Up: Quarterback Controversies and Coaches on the Hot SeatFlorida State's Tommy Castellanos faces scrutiny as practice reports raise concerns about his consistency. Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs analyze the mounting pressure on ACC coaches, with Virginia's Tony Elliott potentially on the chopping block. The duo highlights must-watch QB matchups, including SMU's Kevin Jennings vs. Clemson's Cade Klubnik and the intriguing NC State-Duke showdown featuring C.J. Bailey and Dereon Coleman.Tune in for expert insights on the ACC's evolving quarterback landscape and which coaches might be fighting for their jobs this season.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

National alarm bells are being sounded about quarterback Tommy Castellanos at Florida State. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Shout out to the everydayers and thank you so much for making Locked on ACC your first listen. We're available free wherever you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube. We are part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. He is Kenton Gibbs, former NC State defensive lineman co-host of Lockdown.

Wolfpack, I am Alex Dono, host of Lockdown Canes. And today's episode of Lockdown ACCC is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code Lockedon College at Monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. On this episode, we'll talk about the top quarterback matchups in the ACC this coming season, which coaches are on the hot seat. Now, speaking of quarterbacks, Kenton, Florida State about a week and a half into training camp.

They've had a scrimmage. So we're collecting data on the performances of transfer players, including quarterback Thomas Costalanos. Let me get into some of the comments here from this 24-7 sports.com article. But Kent, it's safe to say that a few weeks before the season begins, there are a lot of doubts about how far he can take the Seminels team. man that's that's tough because at the end of the day there was so much talking going on before a single snap was played and now you know it's still a single snap has not been played and we're already getting reports that are a little bit concerning donno i'm going to let you take it away because there is so much meat on this moment so a 24-7 sports dot com posted a piece yesterday uh on tuesday college football insiders fs u quarterback Tommy costalano incredibly inconsistent before season opener versus Alabama.

A lot of the comments came from national college football writer Brandon Marcello from CBS who said, quote, I was told during the first week of practice going through their first scrimmage that he's been incredibly inconsistent. He's been absorbing sacks a little bit more often. I got the precautionary. Well, it's not live. We don't know how he's going to respond in games. But they have not been wowed, as one source down there told me, he said.

CBS sports Richard Johnson said Castellanos was effectively benched at the end of the season at Boston College. We know that last year. There's a reason he's not in Chestnut Hill right now. There's just a lot going on at Florida State, and they're trying to sift through that at the beginning of preseason camp. Here's another comment from Brandon Marcello that to me I thought this was almost as interesting about the inconsistent play stuff. Because Kenton, one of the reasons why we've covered Costalanos quite a bit this summer, it was him, effectively trash talking Alabama three months before they even play. Like back in June, he was making comments about Alabama and Nick Sabin's not there to save you.

I don't see them slowing me down, which you don't often hear college football players giving out free bulletin board material to the likes of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Brandon Marcello said this, I hung out with Gus Malzahn. That's Florida State's new OC for a day this summer. and it was after Tommy mentioned the Alabama thing. And I asked him, how do you feel about that? He said, we had a talk. He understands now.

But then three days later, he said it again. That was at ACC Media Days where Costalanos doubled down on what he said about Bama. So you wouldn't know this better than most in terms of what that sort of bulletin board material can do. Do you want to know the funny part about that? He doubled down when specifically asked that question by me. that's the most interesting part about this. I specifically ask like, you know, you've said some inflammatory things this offseason and, you know, are you kind of, what's the line between confidence and cockiness or how do you

navigate that? And he's like, hey, I said the team stands on what I said. So, you know, it's, I'm going to tell you, man, this is concerning. This is concerning. This is one of those moments where Florida state folks are starting to turn into black helicopter people. It's starting to be like everybody's got like a vendetta against us and everybody wants to see us fail. And in all seriousness, I hope that that's the case here. I hope that these folks are lying on Thomas Costalanos in this offense because if not, you've set yourself up

to be a phenomenal crash and burn week one. Week one, people are going to be hate watching, not just because it's Florida State, but also because you've talked about you were the best athlete in Chestnut Hill and you didn't play with any other good athletes. You tore the ACC up by yourself and all the teams that played, you're like, you tore what up? By what? What? And now, you know, you're saying, hey, Alabama doesn't have Nick Sabin to save him and

all that. And the reports coming out are not. The offense is firing on all cylinders. We're worried if the defense can keep up. It's wildly inconsistent and taking too many sacks, which the worst part about that, It's one of those things that it fits who Thomas Casillanos was at BC. One of the biggest problems, one of the biggest drawbacks was he just can't get the ball out on time. He cannot make the read and say, all right, this read is there.

It's not a big play, but you never go broke taking a profit. Let's just take what we can get and keep moving down the field. It was instead this big hero ball thing of everything has to be touched down or bust. And to hear that he's taking more sex, in the words of my mother, everybody ain't lying on you. As much as I have deep disdain for Bill O'Brien as a coach and his, actually I would say disdain, just deep disbelief in his ability to be a high level coach. Everybody in their mom is not lying on you.

My eyes aren't lying on you in terms of we've seen the film of you holding on to the ball too long. So hearing that that's still a problem at Florida State with the better athletes, it's a little problematic. You know, I do wonder, though, if, like, you're talking about these critiques of, like, how he's performing in practice, if that can be a little overblown. But if it is overblown, I think Tommy brought it on himself because he made himself a target for criticism when you're saying nobody in the ACC can stop me. And, you know, Alabama, I'm paraphrasing here, but Alabama's in big trouble because they don't have Nick Sabeman to save them. Like, it becomes low-hanging fruit. you become an easy target for criticism when you say stuff like that.

So the truth is going to be told when they start playing games that matter, not scrimmages. And I will say it's worth noting that, you know, because I was this article was 24-7 sports national. I saw one of the Florida state local guys, Brendan Sennon from 24-7, who, you know, I'm sure covers more of their practices than the national guys do. And he, he wasn't too happy with the way that they, like, compiled that article, cherry-picking quotes from people. And he did mention, like, I don't think Castellanos is wowing anybody in practice, but that I think he kind of felt like the criticism on the field was a bit overblown. And I think Florida State's offense is going to be better this year. I mean, adding guys like Deuce Robinson and Squirrel White to your receiving core. And I think Costalanos is probably going to be better than what DJ O'Yunga Lale was to start last year.

I think the question is, how much better will their offense get? Because two and ten didn't exactly set a high bar last year. Absolutely. Your offense can't be worse than one of the worst offenses we've ever seen in the ACC, period. And I mean, you include some terrible teams from the White Forest and UVA down years, and you still would struggle to see an offense that was that. But I will say this on the front of this potentially being overblown. The same way I defended Miami yesterday against national media, I'll do the same for Florida State here. They have not played a doubt yet. It is concerning to hear this. It is concerning. to hear this. But guess what? There's a time, there's going to come a time where it is Thomas Costellanos and his crew against Alabama and their crew. And that's what this thing is going come down to. All of the national pundits can believe everything that they want to believe. I can ask him all the questions about his confidence, is it cockiness? And he can say, we stand on business and all this and that. It's going to be a moment when that ball is kicked off. And between

he knows hedges is going to be 22 big violent angry men trying to impose their will upon one another and somebody's going to win somebody's going to lose i'm rooting for thomas councilman lordsin lordsa florida state i want to make that very quick there are an acc school playing against the cc sorry granny i know you hate what i root against your time but i got to do i got i'm with granny on this one i'm with granny on this one i love my grandma i love my grandma but i just don't love all the the the fandom choices she made you know not not not necessarily jail in there. But I want to see Thomas Costalamos be successful. I'm a big Tomas Carlos guy. I know you are. I'm a huge Thomas Coslano's guy. So I hope that he's successful.

It's just when you put that big target on your back, you have to be successful. If Babe Ruth calls a shot and then strikes out, what happens? Right? As opposed to you go up to play, hey, do my best. I'm giving everything I got. Knowing, oh, he likes to throw the slider. I'm sitting on that thing. And then you take it yard. You know, it's one of those moments where the target is there, but as big of a moment as it is for him to fail, if he wins this game, he will be,

he will be lionized in Tallahassee forever, regardless of the results of the rest of the season, just for dominating in game one. So I have to wonder, is Tommy Castellanos writing checks that Mike Norvell cannot cash? Because Norvel is one of five ACC coaches who reportedly enter the season on. on the hot seat.

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locked on college. Thank you for making locked on ACC your first listen for your next Next list. Make sure you check out our other shows. I host Locked on Cains, talking all things Miami, Kenton, host Locked on Wolfpack with Grace and Boone. They talk all things, NC State. All right, so this was on, and I know I've poked fun at these guys a lot, but they actually write some really good stuff,

the Fighting Gobbler, Virginia Tech site, Fighting Gobler.com. So shout out to them. They put up their list of five ACCC coaches who are on the hot seat. Let me give you the five Kenton and tell me if you disagree on any of these or if you think there should be other names in here, okay? So they've got Mike Norvell from Florida State in there.

Your guy, Dave Doran at NC State. They've got Brent Pry at Virginia Tech, the coach of the team that they cover. They've got Justin Wilcox at Cal and they've got Tony Elliott at Virginia. Do you agree with all those five? Absolutely. I think all five of those guys, you have to have a year that is not only successful, but what is deemed successful by your fan base in order to say, save yourself. Let's just be very real about this thing, right? Virginia Tech is seven wins enough.

Is six wins enough? Maybe. Maybe not. When Virginia Tech's history, it could be very easy to say, you know what, we're not doing this again. We're not doing this barely making a bowl game thing again. We are one of the prouder programs. We've had a history where in recent history where Dono and I were both alive. And this time, I know for a fact, you were alive for this one, Donno. You watch that Virginia Tech team go to a national championship. And you watch that team. What a player. Exactly. You watch Beamer Ball get you 10 wins a year consistently and steadily.

And now we've taken a deep decline from that. You look at NC State. Dave Doran has absolutely raised the floor. However, external things are starting to add pressure to him. Like NC State adding Will Wade is their head basketball coach. And all of this excitement going in to basketball and now people are looking at football like, It might be time to make a big splash over there, too. Mind you, the last basketball coach, NC State had took them to the first final four since 1983.

Okay? And he got the can. So, you know, it's a situation where external things are going on there. Wilcox, even though Dono and I can both report this, we've seen it with our own two eyes. The power struggle seems, at least from appearances, to not be what people are suggesting it is. I had a good talk with Ron Rivera personally while I was at ACC Media Day.

And also you remember that time you and I were at breakfast with a reporter who covers Cal and we asked about it. He's like, no, it's fiction. He said there's no power struggle that Wilcox actually appreciates Rivera being there to take stuff off of his plate. Exactly. And I, a thousand percent, am saying, hey, we've seen it. And Donald and I can vouch for it.

It looked good. All the reports that we got, boots on the ground were good. But still, with the mass exodus you saw to your backfield in the spring portal, of all things, this isn't even a fall portal. This is in the dead heat of like, hey, we're about to do spring ball. Actually, y'all are about to do spring ball. I'm leaving. That was, you know, very worrisome and troublesome, the way that all those offensive talents left

and kind of the effects, positive or negative that Brian Carson will have. on that team, people are looking around saying, dude, how long are we going to do this with you? How long are we going to play around with you? Tony Elliott, there were certain things that gave him grace that were external. We don't want to talk about, you know, what happened, but we all know what happened at UVA that kind of extended that lease to say, hey, we're not going to count this year. We'll give it a mulligan, you know, keep going. And he hasn't made this team meaningful or relevant in any serious way.

all of the players on that team who know what it's like to go to a bowl game where there are DeBronko Mendenon. Not a single player who has only been there for Tony Elliott's time, know what it's like for the Virginia Cavaliers to go to a bowl game. If your ceiling is five games, I think it's about time when you're making what these coaches are making. So I think all five of these guys have very, very good. And Norville, two and ten, two and ten at Florida State.

come on dog come on i don't care how big your biote is those boosters will find the money it'll that money will pour down like melodies from heaven to get him up out of there if if he does another three four maybe even five to six winced so out of those five in my opinion i think the one who will actually get fired first i think is tony elliott at virginia because they they've been too bad for too long and I don't really see a light at the end of the tunnel for them this year. Whereas like for Virginia Tech, no question, there's a lot of pressure for Brent Pry, but I just would not surprise me if that team performs better than they did last year because I think they're more talented than what they put on the field.

So I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. I think Virginia Tech is going to be better than they were last year. You know, obviously there's a ton of pressure, as you just mentioned on Mike Norvell. I'm not even sure, like, how doable the buy. out is for him even after this coming year. So I think the leash might be a little bit longer than people would like you to think. Now with that said, if you win three games, four games, you're done. Like you can't, you can't follow up two and ten with another losing season. So like Florida State, I think bare minimum, got to be bowl eligible. And I know like Florida

state fans hear me say that. They're like, well, I mean, got to set the bar higher than that. Fine. Like I over over under seven and a half wins this year, I think Florida State maybe feels like they could be a dark horse team to compete for something. So fine, go out there and do it. But I think he's probably safe if they're bowl eligible this year. Anything below that, though, Kenton, he gets the ax. Let me tell you something. I will wear a wig on this show if we see Norville and Elliot keep their jobs at the end of this season.

You want to talk about two guys that are right up against it. And you know what? I'll just say this. if we don't see at least two firings from this list, don't worry about it. I'll let the fans pick the wig at the end of the season when nobody gets fired, okay? But I'm a firm believer that this is a situation where

I'll include retirement center as well because a couple of these guys are at that point in their career as well. You didn't hear that for me, though. But I will say this. This is a situation where a lot of these guys, there kind of is no path forward for them. With all the respect to Virginia, what's the path forward to success?

If you can't get Malachi Fields going, where else are you going offensively? Defensively, your only players who look like they would be in the NFL sometime soon are now in the NFL. That's it. You have not replaced them with that level of talent. So what do you do there? And then Florida State, I'm going to tell you, Dono, yes, the buyout is big. Yes, Florida State is already leveraged massively in debt. We live in the United States.

of America, brother. Debt is everywhere, and people are not afraid to take it on. People are not afraid to take it on for something they really want. And if Norbel goes out there and wins five, six, I'd say seven may save his job, but he goes out there and wins five or six games because six games is still a losing season. You're six or seven. There's no way they bring them back. There's no way.

Like you said, three, four, oh, yeah. I don't think he makes to the end of the season with three or four. So, you know, these are situations where a lot of these guys, they, and if you've heard Doren speak about, you know, some of his father's health struggles later in his life and where he was like, yeah, my dad, once he hit about 61, 62, things went downhill quickly. It starts to feel like, hmm, what are you saying that for? I believe he's 55 right now. I'm like, what? What's going on there? You know, so it's a very interesting dynamic for a lot of these coaches.

I think if I had to say which coaches have the best path forward to save their jobs, I would say Wilcox and Fry. I would say those two are the two that I look at because Wilcox, the expectations are low. Seven wins does save your job. Seven wins, nobody's going to fire your account. It doesn't make sense. And Pride, you have the talent. Donovan Green is one of the most underrated transfers, I think, in America.

He was dynamite at Wake Forest. Now, you know, with Kairon drones throwing the ball and Kairon drones having him to throw the ball. Last year, that Virginia Tech wide receiving room was banged up. And so was he. And so was he. So, you know, I think that those two have a really good shot at saving their job. I would say Dorn is about in the middle. It's 50-50.

So whether or not he does what is his one to save his job here or whether or not he decides to step aside and say, you know what? I put together a good season, but I'm done. I've done 14 years in Raleigh. I've had a lot of grace. We raised the floor, but it's time for me to move on. Or the team may be moving on from him if the season is rough. I can see the way, but I can also see them being very successful because of how high power that offense is probably going to be.

But those last two, the path forward is tough to say to league. And I thought this was a really good list by the Fighting Gobbler, because you remember, I can't remember which other publication it was. But we talked a month or two ago about another list of hot seat coaches. And they put Frank Wright on there. He's an inner. He said, I'm not staying beyond a year. So I guess, yeah, he's on the hot seat because you know he's not coming back. But that's a self-imposed hot seat that he put on himself. Is there anybody missing from this list? I mean, obviously there are other coaches with

pressure to perform. I mean, the guy that I cover Mario Cristobal, there's a certain amount of pressure with the expectations. But, I mean, it's coming off a 10 win season. So, It's not as if you would say it's getting a little hot under the collar there. So obviously, you know, you could say it for any of these teams. If you really underperform, then the seat can get warm. I don't put Christa ball there right now. And then obviously Bill Belichick is in the honeymoon. Like it would have to be a, in fact, Kenton, Belichick's not getting fired after a year.

If things were so bad, maybe he'll start looking for another job somewhere. But he's not getting fired. I agree. I agree. if there was an honorable mention for this list, it would be really tough to find. Because in the ACC, who right now, who other than these coaches has serious pressure to perform? Davo is darn near a deity down in Clemson. Brett Lashley has turned SMU around and people are thinking of pony excesses back in town.

You look at even if you talk about a Boston college, that's a team that historically they were good. But, I mean, it hasn't been much as of late. and, you know, for whatever reason, Bill O'Brien keeps getting jobs. So, hey, he's there. Up and down the coast, who do you really talk about? Fran Brown at Syracuse, he's the new hot thing. Everybody loves them.

Everybody wants to be him. You look at Louisville, another team. Everything's going well. Outperforming everything that Brian was expected to do. He's outperforming it. So you would ask yourself, who is next that if they have just a, man, so-so season, people start looking at them and saying, Oh, what's going on over there?

We may need to look at your job. I think everybody else is safe. Narduzi up at Pitt, he's safe. He's safe. You can say what you want about the losing street last year. He's the last coastal coach to ever win an ACC championship. And he's probably going to be the last one for quite some time. So, you know, he's safe.

And most of other coaches are brand new or one-year rentals. So I struggle to find more coaches who have a hot seat right now. Now, there are coaches that, like you said, said, a bad year, the seat starts to get warm. The seat starts to say, but it's college football. Who isn't one or two bad years away from people saying, hey, what are you doing over there? What's happening here? You're a thousand percent right about that. When we come back, you know, the ACC, they call it the conference of quarterbacks. So let's take a look at what the athletic feels are going to be the top five quarterback matchups in the conference this year.

If you want to keep it locked, we're not done yet on locked on ACC. And I think Kenton, for this list, they went only straight up ACC games, not non-conference, because obviously, you know, say Kate Klubnick, Garrett Nussmeyer, go to start the season, but I think they go strictly conference matchups. The first of the five, I don't think these are in order of what date they happen. So we're going to jump around a little bit. But October 18th, SMU at Clemson, Kevin Jennings versus Cade Klubnick. that's a heck of a quarterback matchup.

And Jennings, obviously, we have a really good idea now what and who Cade Klubnick is. For Kevin Jennings, can he sustain what he did last year when he burst onto the scene with really not a whole lot of film on him because he wasn't the guy who started the season as SMU starting quarterback. Exactly. He's a completely different style of quarterback in Preston Stone was.

So, you know, you game in, game planning for one thing. We're expecting to see one thing from SMU. All of a sudden, it's a complete 180. So, you know, that's a matchup where we're looking at quarterback probably one and two in the conference in a lot of people's eyes. Sorry, Miami fans, sorry to tell you, but that's what people probably are looking at saying, hey, those are two of the best quarterbacks in the conference. That was the ACC championship rematch as well. You're looking at what could be a dynamite game offensively unless, you know, Wachobia and Parker and company have anything to say about that. And, you know, Clubnick didn't have that great of a game against SMU, 24 for 41.

The offense stalled a bit in the second half. So, you know, it wasn't, it's still a pretty good game, but not his sharpest game. So the next one they go with, which I think is going to be a really good matchup, especially based on how these teams played against each other last year, but different quarterbacks last year on both sides. But Louisville against Miami this year, Miller Moss against Carson Beck. Last year it was Tyler Shuck against Cam Ward. And the final score of that game last year, Kenton, was 52 to 45.

There was a lot of quarterbacking happening on both sides of that game last year. No pressure for Miller Moss and Carson Beck to try to create something like that again this year. You know what? It was a BYOD party and both of the head coaches forgot. It was a bring your own defense party. You know, they said, hey, we will provide the good vibes. We got DJs. We got all the pretty ladies you can watch.

Just bring your own defense. and both coaches showed up patting their pockets. Now, I know I had a secondary in my pocket last time I checked. I guess I left him back in Coral Gables. But in all seriousness, this could be another very fantastic quarterback matchup. Because last year, those were two first year quarterbacks that, let's just be honest, we thought highly of Cam Ward. People did not see how high Cam Ward was going to go last year.

We thought highly of Tyler Shuck. People did not know whether or not he could stay healthy or whether or not he could produce at that level when, you know, playing for an entire season. This could be a very similar season to first year quarterbacks that are very talented. Carson Beck was a guy that was predicted to be a not just a first rounder, but potential top five pick coming into last year. Miller Moss was a guy that was supposed to be at the head of USC's resurgence. Things didn't work out for either one of these guys like that.

So can they both have a great game in their rehab spots here in what is a head-to-head matchup that will surely see some sparks fly. I believe so. That one's going to be October 17th, by the way. Then October 11th, so the week prior, Haynes King versus Kairn drones, Tech on Tech, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech. That's for the real ball knowers, Kenton. Like that is a low-key, really excellent quarterback matchup. The Brent Ball, or the Brent Bowl, baby. We got Brent Key. We got Brent Pride. We got two coaches that love running the football. ball. And let me tell you something. I love me some Brick Key a ton. But you know what I love even more than Brickie? After leaving ACCC media days, Donna, I hate to say this. Don't tell nobody I said this,

okay? I know we're saying this on national tell about, but don't tell nobody. Everybody who's watching this, keep this to see you. I love me some Haynes King, man. I love me some Haynes King. What a sicko of a quarterback. Oh, my arms hurt. Use me as a battering round. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, yeah. What a sicker. And when asked about it, All he said was that's what's expected of me. I'm the quarterback and I want to win football games. That's what's expected to me. That type of stuff right there, that is the stuff of legend.

That is the stuff that makes sure that you are getting everything that you need out of a program and that everybody's on the same page because when you have that thought, that team before me, I'll put my body on the line. I'll put everything on the line. It means something. And Kyron drones, when he's rolling at his highest clip, people say he's Ken Wars cousin. he looked more like twinning them. He looked more like his baby brother or something,

because it's eerily similar to see them sit back there and create and make these deep bombs with a flicker the wrist. These are two phenomenal quarterbacks, two phenomenal teams. The Brit Bowl will be a blast, ladies and gentlemen. One more that is going to be near and dear to your heart. C.J. Bailey versus Darien Mensa, NC State at Duke, which is going to be September 20th, four. That's going to be another like low key really good quarterback matchup because I know like overall last year was a tough season for NC State, but the real silver lining was found themselves a franchise quarterback.

Like C.J. Bailey performs so well under that kind of a pressure as a true freshman. And then you've got, you know, Darian Mensa transferring over to Duke with high expectations perform really well the last couple of years. So I like that match up a lot. And, you know, C.J. Bailey is a South Florida kid. So I'm going to be rooting for him. Yeah, I'll be at this game in person. Let me tell you something. These are two young pups. This is the first time you've got two underclassmen on here because both of these guys still got Simulak on their breath, okay? And yet, we're expecting these two to put on the show because, I mean, at the end of the day, C.J. Bailey got better and better as the season went on.

There were certain things with the play calling that many NC State fans will tell you, it just was not ideal. You know, if we ran one more bubble screen, we were all going to pop like a bubble. at seeing that. And yet we continue to do so instead of getting one of the best tight ends in the nation the ball. But then Darien Mintsa on the other side. That's going to be, I believe, what, week

five or six? Week four, I think September 20. Okay, week four. Week four. Yeah, Darian Mintsa should be hitting a stride. He should have been seeing enough real reps, live team reps against other guys that, you know, in practice, defenders can't touch you.

They got to, there's a imaginary fence built around a quarterback. I can tell you this as a defender that if you even get too close, they tell you fall down or run away. One or the other. Do not, you know, you don't want the quarterback hitting his hand on your head because you're rushing hard and he's throwing the ball or anything like that. This is going to be one of his first times seeing a real live team that, you know, wants to kill him. And he'll be at week four at this point, he'll have a few games under his belt. He'll know how the timing is starting to work and click with that team. So I think that this could be a very

interesting matchup in terms of CJ having seen the way that Diaz likes to discuss his defenses last year and Mensa in terms of having seen a at least a quarter of a season with these guys and playing against an NC State defense that there are some questions about points could be abounded this one points could be coming we appreciate everyone for making locked on acc your first listen make sure for your next listen you check out the portal hosted by our really good friend Smitty, Brian Smith. I call him the recruiting overlord on the portal pod. He talks all things recruiting, transfer portal, NIL. It really is like a great, if you're ever confused by all this stuff about the new era of college football, Smitty breaks it down in the best possible terms.

He does a really good job. So check out the portal free wherever you get your pods. And make sure you check us out. We'll be back tomorrow for another episode of Lockdown ACC. We are part of the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network, your team. every day.