Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - CHAOS: ACC Scheduling REVOLUTION Proposed | Could RELEGATION System SAVE the Conference?

Starting point is 00:00:00 So Clemson blindsided the ACC, went behind their back to come up with this. And it's great for Clemson, this scheduling agreement with Notre Dame. But is this going to set the tone for possible unbalanced ACC scheduling in the future? You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Shout out to the everydayers and thank you so much for making Locked on ACC, your first listen and your first watch. We're available free wherever you get your podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:38 We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. He is Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono from Lockdown-Kane's. Today's episode is brought to you by Fanduel. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. On this loaded episode, we'll talk about this. This is like sacrilegious, this top five ACC quarterback ranking.

Starting point is 00:01:01 I certainly didn't write this one. Kenton might have if you go based on one of these. We'll break that one down top five quarterbacks in the ACC heading into next year. So we talked yesterday and you set me straight, KG, because I thought, hey, you know, this scheduling deal between Clemson and Notre Dame where starting in 2027, they're going to play each other annually for 12 straight years, which is big for both of them. They did it behind the ACC's back. But I initially, I talked about it like, hey, this is a good thing for the ACC because it brings more high profile games.

Starting point is 00:01:37 Like you pointed out, this is basically Clemson covering their behinds for, you know, when they eventually leave the ACC. And the conference had nothing to do with this. But do you think that this deal between Clemson and Notre Dame could be a domino effect where other programs are going to want to say, hey, if they're getting the advantage of bigger ratings draws every year against Notre Dame, we need to come up with better deals. and maybe we'll talk about it, unbalanced scheduling in the ACC. I'm going to say no because you cannot match what this matchup is, in essence, right? And by you cannot match, I mean, let's just say every other team wanted to do it. Let's just say that, you know, let's just say an NC state was to say, we want a team that's as big of a draw as Notre Dame that is willing to play us in a home and home every single year.

Starting point is 00:02:31 for the next 12 starting in 2027. Who? Again, we have to consider the criteria. As big of a draw as Notre Dame, or really, not even as big with draw as Notre Dame, in the same sphere, in that kind of, that realm and that level of a draw, and they're going to play home and homes with you for 12 years.

Starting point is 00:02:53 Who else in the ACC has that kind of power that hasn't already exercised it? You look at Miami, your school, they've already got their deal with Florida. They're already saying, hey, Gators, come on. You know what it is. This is beat. This is hatred.

Starting point is 00:03:07 We don't like you. You don't like us. Let's solve, right? You've already got that ironed out. What else can they do? You look at all these other teams in the conference, you know, we talk a little bit on the squad about how Boston College has their thing with Notre Dame. But again, if you are not a school that already has an ironed out, who do you go get?

Starting point is 00:03:27 And are they willing to have a home-and-home series that lasts for over a day? decade, which, let's be honest, with the new nature of college football and how coaches get hired and fired. That's basically in perpetuity for intents and purposes. Who wants to have that deal with the different schools in the ACC? I don't see schools of that level necessarily doing it. You're right, but we're on a little bit of a different wavelength with something I'm thinking here. What if I told you we could potentially have a solution within the ACC that doesn't even involved non-conference games. And I don't know,

Starting point is 00:04:06 telling you, Jim Phillips, this is another Nichols worth of free advice we're giving you. Like you owe us some kind of like a consulting contract or something, because we're coming up with all your ideas for you, okay? I don't know why we didn't think about this weeks ago,

Starting point is 00:04:19 because I don't know, maybe it was two months ago, Kenton, we talked about it. And this wasn't my idea. I think Coach Kay and some other people were thinking about this for ACC basketball. So I don't know why we didn't think about it in football terms.

Starting point is 00:04:31 what if you were to devise a plan? What got me thinking about this was actually a quote from Miami athletic director, Dan Radicovic, who talked to David Hale of ESPN. He says the brands need to play each other more. That's what has to happen. Do we divide into two divisions? Who gets to play Notre Dame? How are we doing those kind of things?

Starting point is 00:04:52 And if the SEC goes to nine conference games, we might have to go to nine as well with the bifurcated brands and non-brands. So right there, there's the idea, Kenton. You do two divisions and not the Atlantic and not the coastal, where you purposely divide them up, where you can either do bigger brands versus smaller brands, one division, bigger brands, one division, smaller brands. Or maybe you do, and I think this was Coach Kay's idea, a little bit of a European soccer model, promotion, relegation, where if you have success on the field, you're in the top division the following year. If you have a lack of success, you're in the bottom.

Starting point is 00:05:30 bottom two, let's say you fall into the lower division and vice versa, where you know, you have schools like Clemson and Florida State and Miami and maybe North Carolina, Louisville, playing each other in the same division annually more often than the teams that don't bring as many, you know, viewers to the set and don't have as much success on the field. I mean, I think it's a great idea, but I understand that this only widens the gap between the haves and the have-nots. Let's run with that idea. Shall we down on?

Starting point is 00:06:02 Let's say this year was the first year they came up with that idea and they said, we're going to do this. We're going to do that, right? We're going to do the relegation promotion situation. I believe one of the first teams you just named would be relegated. I'm pretty sure the Florida State Seminoles would be in ACC2 or ACCC premier league or champions league. He would be in the 80. You would drop them to the G5.

Starting point is 00:06:26 But that's what I'm saying, right? Yeah, you're right. hypothetically, this works out on paper. On paper, this works out until you get into the practice of, oh, my God, we were terrible. And now you have a partner that has already sued you, that has already complained to the high heavens, despite you instituting certain policy,

Starting point is 00:06:45 that ensure they're going to get more money or that was supposed to ensure it, the success initiative saying, hey, just win your damn games, you'll get paid more. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, we will only win two of our games. and we will still want to receive more. So again, this stuff, this type of stuff works in theory. In practice, I think it's a little different because when you go through who gets divided

Starting point is 00:07:12 up where, I mean, as a coach, where would you rather be? You could potentially see some tanking going on because coaches are like, hey, I'd rather be at the top of the bottom half of this thing than at the bottom of the top. Why would I want to be the eighth best team in the eight. ACC one, if I can be the top team in ACC two. Let me go ahead and take a couple losses that are unnecessary. You don't have this year, Bill Belichick is going to tank, and then they're just going to play like Wake Forest and UVA on Loop in 2026.

Starting point is 00:07:43 They'll get into the college football playoff. And listen, and listen, here's the really funny thing about that, right? The idea that, oh, I'm at the bottom and now we're stuck playing all these things, it brings us back to a problem we used to have before. remember when Florida State and Clemson that game during the regular season was the de facto ACC championship? I believe it was like for eight or nine years straight

Starting point is 00:08:06 it was like the winner of that game won the ACC championship. We're going to get to that exact same problem because if you're in the top division, unless you say, hey, everybody in the bottom division, you don't have a chance of winning an ACC championship. We don't care if you're 11 and 1. We don't care if you're undefeated.

Starting point is 00:08:22 You have to then move up. And then the next year you can win it, which, again, that's, that's an even bigger thing. But I will say this. Now, once we're really doing the knowledge now, Donald, now we really got our 10-point hats on. We combined this idea with the last week tournament that we talked about before, where it's like, hey, the entire last week of the season will take out a conference game, give everybody extra buy week. But the last week, we will run a tournament-style system. I could absolutely see that working out, right? The top team in ACC one plays the worst team in ACC two,

Starting point is 00:09:00 or maybe they get a bi-week. And, you know, it goes on down from there, second best, second worst, so on and so forth. I could absolutely see that working out for the ACC. Jim Phillips, give us money. We're doing the knowledge for you. Now, it's obvious they're tinkering with certain ideas, right? Like they're launching the brand initiative,

Starting point is 00:09:20 in addition to the success initiative, easy for me to say, do you think within the next few years we're going to have maybe not my exact idea, which I still think is brilliant. But even if it's not my exact idea, do you think Jim Phillips and company might throw out like a Hail Mary like this to desperately try to keep Florida State and Clemson in, right, to do something where, hey, guys, we got an opportunity for even more revenue. You don't need to go to the Big Ten and maybe not actually.

Starting point is 00:09:50 you know, get the revenue you're thinking. You can stay here in the ACC. You're going to play a top-notch schedule. TV ratings will be through the roof. Do you think Phillips is going to try for a Hail Mary like this idea? Oh, absolutely. Let's be very honest as to where we are right now. This is FDR in his first kind of days just throwing policies at the wall trying to see what sticks for those of you who are history buffs. But in all seriousness, this will be a moment where I would not be shocked by anything that Jim Phillips brings out because he's calling it all to the car. He's doing everything that he's got because you have to try. You have to try if you believe these are our two big fishes and we can't have them leave.

Starting point is 00:10:29 My only problem with that, it's very clear there's nothing that can be done. All you can do at this point in time is piss off the teams that are going to stay. You're going to be stuck with them looking at you like, all that working, what did it get you? All that appeasing them and they still took off, huh? Now you're stuck here with little old me that you're. She didn't want to, you know, Christina. Where's Christina? Oh, she's going to the SEC.

Starting point is 00:10:56 Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that, Phillips. You're just stuck with a little old Wake Forest here. When we come back, maybe we can keep scratching this itch a little bit on this topic. But I also, I want to get into Mike Farrellsports.com's ranking of the top five quarterbacks in the ACC. This list made me very angry. And it made Kenton Gibbs kind of happy. on a couple of different levels. So this is outrageous, but you want to keep it locked right here.

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Starting point is 00:12:37 For your next listen, make sure you check out our good friend, Brian Smith, who not only is the host of Lockdowne Seminels, but he also hosts the portal podcast. And Kenton, the portal's still churning. Miami just landed another defensive back last night, Keante Scott, out of Houston, formerly of Auburn. There's still players out there up for grabs. North Carolina has been grabbing transfers left and right, Florida State. You want to check out the portal, available free, wherever you get

Starting point is 00:13:02 your podcasts and available free on YouTube. So earlier today, I sent Kent and Gibbs basically a rage text when I sent him the link. And I enjoy it. Like, Mikeferralsports.com, I enjoy that website. I think they cover college football pretty well

Starting point is 00:13:19 if I'm being honest, but I'm canceling my subscription. actually it's a free site so I can't even do that. So top five ACC quarterbacks at number five, they've got Miami's Carson Beck coming in at the bottom of that top five list. They say about Beck, I had extremely high hopes for him during his time at Georgia where he was among my top five quarterbacks nationally. However, his inconsistent play caused him to drop from that ranking. Still, Beck is undeniably talented. He needs to fine tune a few things.

Starting point is 00:13:52 and stay healthy. He lands at number five here because he hasn't played in the ACC yet. I guess that's fair. And he struggled with consistency last season. That said, I haven't given up on him. This could be his breakout here, a major comeback perhaps. Now, listen, before we talk about the quarterbacks that are ranked that ranked above Carson Beck in this list, I want to remind you, this man has a 68% career completion percentage, 60 to 20 career touchdown ratio, and has a, I think, a 24 and 3. All time record as a starting quarterback and won a lot of games last year, despite having a wide receiver core, a bunch of chumps, they led America in drops last year. That means a lot of completable balls that were not completed because these knuckleheads

Starting point is 00:14:38 couldn't hold on to the football. He also had a rushing game. How did they help him out? 100 second in the country in rushing. That was Georgia last year. 100 second in the country in rushing. And people are writing off Carson Beck, like he's some kind of a loser now. He's playing against ACC defenses this coming season. I think that's going to bode pretty well for him. And I know Kenton talks about allegedly Georgia had, you know,

Starting point is 00:15:02 three offensive linemen drafted in the top 100. I still think he's lying. I don't care what the draft recap says because they couldn't block anybody last year, Georgia's old. They clearly were not selected for their run blocking. A hundred and second in the cut. A lot of bus came out of

Starting point is 00:15:18 Georgia's offensive line last year. I think Carson Beck deserves more respect than number five. I don't think he's the best in the conference. I will admit it. I don't think he should be number one, but he deserves more respect than number five. How much more respect can you get that number five? Number five in the conference of how many teams do we have right now? 18? 17. Or 17? You're in the upper third of the conference. You're in, man. Listen, I'm going to tell you this. I'm going to tell you this, right? For all those knuckleheads that he played with

Starting point is 00:15:52 couldn't catch and all of the run blocking that wasn't there and E.D.N. K. read a hole apparently. There were a whole lot of names called on draft night that they said, such and such Georgia, or I'm sorry, University of Georgia. There were

Starting point is 00:16:08 a lot of names like that. A lot of them offensive. A lot of them, big fellas. So I find it interesting to say the least to say, oh man, he just didn't he wasn't surrounded by no talent their blue chip ratio at that school has got to be like what 98% or something like that and we're going to tell me i think they're their second behind ohio state in at blue chip rail iowa state was over 90% last year literally that was crazy and a team

Starting point is 00:16:38 that you're telling me is second in the nation and blue chip rate has surrounded him with just nonsense and foolishness well more power tool i think number five is plenty of respect for Mr. Beck. And honestly, honestly, I would be okay with saying it's disrespect if there was nobody ahead of him or if there was anybody ahead of him, then I would say there's not even an argument for this player being buried. I would honestly say that. I would admit that and say, hey, there's some, there's some fission in the water. I don't think there's any fish in this one. I think this pond is very barren. It is correct. It is correct that he's about number five. Well, Carson Beck last year. And everybody talks about all this awful year that he had

Starting point is 00:17:20 allegedly at Georgia, this awful year, threw for 3,500 yards, 3,485, to be exact, 3, 4,8, 28 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, completed 64.7% of his passes. And so he is behind a quarterback. Just hear me out on these numbers, who last year threw for 2,413 yards, 17 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, 64.9% completions. So, and listen, I like C.J. Bailey. Are we talking about a true freshman? That was a backup?

Starting point is 00:17:55 Are we talking about a true freshman? That was a backup, Donald? Should he really rank ahead? Carson Beck has so much experience. And like C.J. Bailey, who played okay on a, you know, not successful team last year as a true fresh. C.J. Bay, at South Florida kid, I love him. But C.J. Bailey should not be ranked ahead of Carson Beck.

Starting point is 00:18:14 At worst, you can flip this four and five. So here's, here's where I. will say, and this is why I said there's an argument for every player in front of him. This is why I did not say every player is definitively so much better than him. He should not be anywhere near this list. There's a reason I didn't say that. If you are talking about

Starting point is 00:18:31 higher floor between Bailey and Beck, Beck has the higher floor. No offense or busts about that. You cannot tell that lot. Two Sons as a starter. And listen, as an NC State grad, as a guy to gave three tendons for the program, I'm not going to sit here

Starting point is 00:18:46 and lie to you and say, oh, yeah, of course. there's not a world where CJ Bailey's floor is lower than Carson Beck's. Here's what I also know is true. There are many worlds where if you're talking ceiling, if you're talking, hey, this guy is best, this guy is best, we've seen, and this is with all due respect,

Starting point is 00:19:08 I think we've seen the best football we're ever going to see Carson Beck play. I do. I think that we have seen it in terms of you're going into a new scenery, new offensive coordinator, new terminology, new group of weapons to work with that you have not thrown to in the off season because you're recovering from surgery.

Starting point is 00:19:24 So this is a situation where all the stars are aligning to where dude, we've seen his best ball. CJ, we've only seen what I would believe to be his worst ball because we saw last season he was thrown into the fire when he was supposed to be rescherded. He was, you know, in a situation

Starting point is 00:19:43 where I will say at minimum, some guys did not want to be at NC State anymore. he was responsible for throwing the ball too. And so you're looking at these two, and I'm saying again, if we're going by floor, absolutely flip four or five. But if we're going by ceiling, there's not a word where you're going to tell me Carson Beck's ceiling is higher than C.J. Benisys. I don't think this is the top five high floor or high ceiling list, though.

Starting point is 00:20:11 I think that this is, you know, what to expect upcoming in 2025. Like, I guess if you're going to go by ceiling, but if you're going to go by ceiling, I don't think Carson, if you're going to go highest ceiling, I don't think Carson Beck is the best quarterback on Miami then, because I think true freshman Luke Nicol may have a higher ceiling than Carson back. Well, I think they're going top ceiling of the starters for next year. I think they're saying who has the best ceiling.

Starting point is 00:20:34 I mean, I don't know what went into this man's rankings. I'm just saying if I'm justifying this, if you say, Kenson, you are the lawyer that is charged with defending CJ Bailey being in front of Carson Beck. That's an easy case. My case is resting peacefully, putting a snugging him. And I made my case for Beck, and I rest my case. Let's talk about the sham of the top three when we come back.

Starting point is 00:20:55 You want to keep it locked right here. Justice for C.J. Bailey and Carson Beck, you want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet. Unlocked on ACC. Folks, I am only getting started at Fandual.com. The NBA playoffs are in full swing. We got action literally every night. I love this time of year. I mean, we inch closer to the finals.

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Starting point is 00:22:07 Make every moment more with Fandual, official sports betting partner of the NBA. Thank you for making LockdowneCC, your first listen, your first watch today. All right. So, and let me, let me credit the, uh, the author of this top five. And I know I've talked some smack, but again, I do appreciate this site, Dorington Myers of, uh, Mike Farrellsports.com, top five ACC quarterbacks. He's got Carson Beck of Miami at number five.

Starting point is 00:22:35 He's got C.J. Bailey, NC State at number four. And then, uh, you know what? I appreciate a little Haynes King love. I'm not going to argue with that. He's got Haynes King in the top three. And you know what? It not only takes ball. to put Haynes King in your top three.

Starting point is 00:22:50 It also takes football knowledge. Because I feel like Haynes King and Georgia Tech in general, very underlooked program. And I think Haynes is a very underlooked quarterback, you know, who, and I didn't think much of him when he, you know, transferred over from, you know, Texas A&M where he kind of struggled to start his career.

Starting point is 00:23:07 But he has been awesome now heading into his third year with Georgia Tech. What quarterback didn't struggle under Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M? That's not exclusive to him. James King, but he has had a career resurgence, the type of which has been absolutely fantastic for him, fantastic for the game, fantastic for the ACC. He is a dual threat quarterback that had a shoulder injury, and when he had that shoulder injury, their plan was, we're only going to run you. Do you know how tough you have to be to make that decision? He was in so much pain. He could not throw the ball and said, coach, use me as a battery ground. Use me as a blunt force object. I

Starting point is 00:23:49 go and get you five yards of pop on the ground, which he did. He did. So, you know, this young man's toughness, his mobility, and let's just be honest, his seniority means something because he's back in this system for another year. All of the gang except Singletary is coming back. He will find a way to make this offense move the ball downfield. I have no problem with Haines King at three. I think he's going to have the type of season we saw Kenny Pickett out his last year at Pitt

Starting point is 00:24:17 because again, he's just been there so long. He knows the game. He knows the ins and outs. He knows what these corners and safeties are going to do before they know what they're looking to do. So I expect him to have a phenomenal year. Yeah, I was really for him and for Georgia Tech, I was really sorry that he lost his top receiver, Eric Singleton, into the portal.

Starting point is 00:24:34 He went to Auburn, like Singleton. And you've got to give Haynes King some credit was the guy throwing him the ball. Singleton is the top ranked receiver transfer between the two portals. portal openings in December and January and then in April. He is the highest ranked transfer receiver for the class of 2025. And, you know, credit to Singleton, but obviously credit to Haynes King for helping him get there. Like, you talked about the toughness where for certain games, he couldn't throw, but he was still starting at quarterback.

Starting point is 00:25:05 That's why he only threw for 2,100 yards, which is a misleading stat. He rushed, though, for 11 touchdown, 11 rushing touchdown. So Haynes King can stay healthier this year. you know, even when he's not healthy, he still plays. But that was a great year. All right. So they got then Kevin Jennings at number two from SMU, which doesn't leave a whole lot of suspense.

Starting point is 00:25:28 And I'm not going to argue number one. Cade Klubnick from Clemson at number one. And it was like Kevin Jennings threw for over 3,200 yards last year. And he he does offer legitimate dual threat capabilities. Do you think I just, I think SMU might take a little bit of a step back this year. So do you agree, you probably agree with Clubnik at number one. I think we're in concert on that one, but do you agree with Jennings at number two? I agree that Jennings is a top quarterback in this league, but if I'm asking,

Starting point is 00:25:58 will he have the second best season of all the quarterbacks in the league? I strongly do not believe so. One of my biggest problems with Kevin Jennings is something that most people would not understand or believe if you just like hear about him and hear how national fund is who don't watch his games, you know, talk about it. He doesn't run the ball enough. He doesn't. I think that he needs to be a guy that's more decisive in terms of, you know what, everybody's

Starting point is 00:26:23 covered. I've got some space. Let me just go get eight yards. Let me just go pick up eight and I'll be all right. I think that he's a guy that wants to be this pocket passer in a way that is like, hey, he has a very natural feel for escaping pressure. I understand wanting to look downfield. I understand wanting to get your guys open.

Starting point is 00:26:40 Sometimes don't try to play hero ball, either chucking in the stands or take a three, four, yard game and that's okay because either you are net neutral of where you just were or you got yourself a little bit of yardage. Be decisive and make that decision a little bit more because last year he was a guy that was a part of a really good system, a really good core group of guys around him. This year, he will be asked to be more of the system. More of the system will be Kevin Jennings. We need you to figure it out, brother. And I believe he's capable of doing it, but I believe he's got to get out of that thing where it's like, oh, I got to pass. Got to pack a guy, got to throw the ball.

Starting point is 00:27:20 No, you have to move the offense down the field. However, you do so by hook or by crook. Get that ball across that goal. I'm trying to think about who didn't make this top five. And I completely understandable because last season was not good for him or his team. But, man, I would love to see Kyron drones bounce back. I knew you were going to thank Kyron Drones. I knew you're going to say Kyron Dros.

Starting point is 00:27:42 I'll tell you what, though. I do agree. I do agree. And you know what? When you think about Kyron Drones, that's a clear, that's a clear example, I guess, of we're not talking about SILs. Because if you watch Kyron Drones play against Miami, there's no doubt in your mind, he can be one of the best five quarterbacks in the SEC.

Starting point is 00:27:58 He can be one of them. Even if your argument is, oh, Miami's defense was terrible. You could throw for 120 yards or 200 yards against them. Sure. But if you watch what he was doing in that game, it wasn't just about, oh, there was a lot of busted coverages by Miami. guys were where they were supposed to be. He was just fitting the ball in spots.

Starting point is 00:28:17 He was just taking off and making things happen with his legs in a very good way. So, you know, Kyron Jones, he absolutely has the potential. And we're talking about, again, best seasons upcoming, he absolutely has the potential to end up in this top five. Now, if you were, I should probably pull up who made this list a year ago, because I would imagine one year ago today, you probably would have seen, and he was at Boston College last year, year probably would have seen Thomas Castellanos on the list who was coming off a really good

Starting point is 00:28:48 2023 season where he was BC's entire offense and then you know he he and bill o'brien didn't exactly mesh well last year he eventually got benched he you know he left the team like eight games into the season he's at florida state now um you know so it it seems like uh you know Gus Malzahn might be able to get more out of Castellanos in his system, although the Gus Malzahn, Mike Norvel dynamic is going to be weird because Mike Norvel is an offensive guy and a former play caller and he hands those duties off. But I don't know, I feel like if we, if we were to rank a top five ACC C quarterbacks one year ago, probably have Thomas Costiano's on that list.

Starting point is 00:29:28 He's still in the conference now and he's on the team that, you know, may win more than BC does this year because Florida State should bounce back at least a little bit from that two and ten debacle. You think Castiano should be getting some love? I think Castellanos would be honorable mention. He has the talent. He has the talent. But again, I'm always leery of a quarterback going into a new, new system with a bunch of unproven guys in year one. I just am. I'm tough. It's tough for me to say, hey, I expect you coming out the gates to have that type of season. And also, I'm going to say something that a lot of people aren't going to like, but it needs to be said.

Starting point is 00:30:04 Gus Mazzan is the greatest example of why players should have been getting paid. He is the greatest example of why players should have already gotten paid. Because if it wasn't for a young man by the name of Cameron Newton from Georgia, he would not be seen as this offensive guru because I keep asking everybody, what has he done without Cam Newton at quarterback? And people are struggling to give me an answer. I, you know, so. that situation, I'm not saying

Starting point is 00:30:36 Kastonos is a bad situation, not saying that at all, but I am saying, you know, I'm not surprised he's not a top of him. Well, this might change your mind, though, because while you were talking, I just ran a search to make sure the timeline was correct, because Kastianoos, I think, started his career at UCF, and he did play for Gus Malzahn there. Like, he started his career when Malzan was at, so now he reunites with Malzahn. So, I mean, it's not an offense that's

Starting point is 00:31:03 unfamiliar to him. Assuming Malzahn's really the one, you know, orchestra and he and Norville aren't, you know, clashing and budding heads or whatever, but it should be a familiar offense for him. Yeah. Even if you have familiarity with the offense, Kevin Jennings has familiarity with Red Lasson's offense, but you and I both discussed. He may take a step back because of what? The pieces surrounding him. If I'm looking at the pieces of Florida State, they look good on paper, and I'm not arguing, hey, are the pieces good on paper? I'm arguing instead they're running into a similar problem that I've always said Miami has had since the portal is open. When you get a bunch of guys out of the portal, when you have these excellent portal classes every year,

Starting point is 00:31:45 you run into the problem of continuity. You run into the problem of some of these guys, they don't exactly know. And you can say all day and night, well, there were reps during the off season. Reps during the off season are valuable. However, reps in live game, seeing guys, oh, this is what this looks like. Okay, this is where I need to hit you. That is more valuable than anything. Oh, this is what it looks like when you've got to run a whip route and you know you're

Starting point is 00:32:13 hot and you and me both see the blitz is coming. How do you adjust that way? Do you shorten it up a little bit? You know what do you do there to make that route work for you? So, again, it's not a thing of doubting Castellano's talent. I am not Jackson Hozier, who, by the way, told me I was right yesterday. You know, great time for me. Oh, yeah.

Starting point is 00:32:33 I had to miss the newest squad. Like, I miss a week and all hell breaks loose. He agrees with you on something? The people in hell are wearing meat coats, right? Or I'm sorry, they're getting ice water right now wearing meat coats, okay? Because that, let me tell you, that thing froze over. But in all seriousness, I'm not saying that, that, you know, these guys are, you know, going to be complete nothing.

Starting point is 00:32:55 I am saying after what I've seen out of first year transfer quarterbacks, I'm very leery of putting them in these talks of like he's going to be the guy next year. See, I used to agree with you. And then I watched Cam Ward one year with a new team and I'm like, all bets are off. One exception does not make the rule. Cam Newton was the same way. See, see what I mean? Cam Newton is getting folks fame.

Starting point is 00:33:19 He gets folks fame. But in all season, you know, most of the quarterback, Riley Leonard, look what he was in Notre Dame. You know what I mean? Graysson McCall. Look what he was over at NC State with all due respect, even before the entry, even before the entry, not just talking about the concussion. How many quarterbacks have we seen?

Starting point is 00:33:35 He was the guy, and then he went to place X, Y, Z. In the year one, P, you. He stinking to join up, please. Wasn't Devin Leary was another one? Hey, now, Devin Leary, Bailey Hockman. I mean, the list goes on and on and on with guys who transferred place X, Y, Z. And in that first year, even guys who turned out to be great, like a Joe Burrow, look at him in year one, look at him in year two.

Starting point is 00:34:01 You know what I mean? It's more common than not for quarterbacks to struggle year one at their new destination that it is for them to ball out. Now, there will always be exceptions to every single rule there is, but the rule is the rule for a reason. Cam Ward made me believe anything is possible. We appreciate everyone for making Lockdown-A-C, your first listening and your first watch. make sure to smash that like button, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, subscribe on Odyssey app, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your pods.

Starting point is 00:34:31 For Kenton Gibbs of Lockdown Wolfpack, I am Alex Dono from Lockdown Caines. We'll talk to you next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC. We are part of the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

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