Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - FRENZY: Nico's SUDDEN Exit RATTLES Tennessee | Can Belichick Lure Him to UNC's REVAMPED Offense?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Nico is out at Tennessee and didn't we tell you there was going to be an ACC tie-in somehow to this story? And we've got it because Nico is now being linked to the North Carolina Tar Heels. 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 AC. your first listen and your first watch. We're available free. Wherever you get your podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:39 We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on college at Monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year on this loaded episode. We'll talk about the new trend that has apparently replaced spring football games in the ACC. Mario Cristobal,

Starting point is 00:01:04 I was down at Miami Spring game over the weekend, and Mario Cristobal had some strong words for a Niko Iamaleava type situation and how he would handle that as a head coach. Kenton Gibbs, before we bring on our special guest here, by the way, Kenton does an awesome job on Locked on Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono. I host Locked on Cains. This Nico story escalated really quickly, KG,

Starting point is 00:01:29 because we talked about it on Friday. By Saturday, he's off the team. Tennessee, Josh Heipel dismissed him, and they had to, right? I mean, yes. It's, again, with the way that this thing has seemingly turned out, which again, multiple reports from multiple sources are now corroborating me the idea that Nico and his family were asking for more money and he was being shopped around. So again, it could be a situation where a lot gets around the world before the truth

Starting point is 00:02:01 leaves the front door. but there is a lot of evidence pointing to. There are a lot of people all pointing to, hey, this young man was seeking a new deal, a better deal, a more lucrative deal, and that was the problem here. So we're going to report it from that angle because, again, that's what seems to be widely supported,

Starting point is 00:02:20 which again, that's just what we know it. You have to do that. Because at the end of the day, if you bend the knee and capitulate to this, and this is especially pertinent to the ACC, because remember when the ACC was going through it with two teams? And I said, don't you dare. Don't you dare make a success initiative specifically designed to give those teams money

Starting point is 00:02:44 because what did I think would happen? What if the success for one of those teams doesn't come and they don't get to be a part of the initiative? Now, in the revenue sports that were a part of the initiative, I believe one of the schools that they capitulated to didn't have the success to, to, to warrant the money. So what then happened? They won two games. I would call that a success, right?

Starting point is 00:03:07 Success against two teams. Congratulations. They're not so successful against other two. But in all seriousness, very similar situation. You cannot say, I'm going to give ground wherever you would like because how often

Starting point is 00:03:21 would you have to give ground? You know, and I'm going to tell you this. Again, we are reporting the stuff that's generous. that Donald and I have done our best to play this thing as straight down the middle with the facts as we possibly can. There are reports coming off from guys like Josh Pate that Nico was looking to redo his deal during the playoffs. Yeah. This is so, so if things like that are true, I mean, you absolutely cannot say, hey, man, we're going to go ahead and pay you more because we're in the playoff, even if you're a guy that we won with and maybe at times in spite of,

Starting point is 00:03:58 instead of a guy we want because of it. You know, what's crazy is the transfer portal is not even open yet. And we're already seeing predictions and even crystal balls on where Nico is going to land. We bring in Ryan Smith. And by the way, he's two for two. He was with us Friday. He's with us Monday. We appreciate his time because he's very busy this time of year.

Starting point is 00:04:19 He hosts the portal podcast here on Locked on. I'm already seeing Nico is being linked to a move to the North Carolina, car heels. Very interesting crystal ball because the crystal ball actually came from a Florida state insider Brendan Sononi from 24-7 sports. Now, it's an odd source for that info. Sononi is good at what he does. So like, I'm not doubting it. He must be doing his due diligence and somebody told him UNC might be the move here. But I mean, can you imagine Nico with Bill Belichick at North Carolina. I can because right now their quarterback situation is about as good as the haircut that Kenton or myself have. It's just not where it needs to, well, I'll try to leave you

Starting point is 00:05:07 out of this, Don. I was being honest. Thank you. But look, I know that Kenton is not exactly a big UNC supporter, but if you're Bill, first year's important, man. Their quarterback room is iffy. Now, I'm not saying that they're going to be given in to the, He's four million ain't happening anywhere. Not based on because Kenton was right. He hasn't earned it. He handed off and did a great job of that. I'd give Dono back here to hand off part of the time.

Starting point is 00:05:37 Now, I know Nico's arm's insane, but does he really deserve a shot like North Carolina? Not necessarily, but they're just earning enough quarterbacks, you know, and they've got a lot of NIL money. They got a bunch, allegedly. oh what kenton speak to that i'm sure he knows more about it than i do by a mile but you got at least call don't you kent if you're unc i mean a phone call doesn't cost to anything yeah yeah i'll tell you this much from what i'm hearing out of the unc can this is there is allegedly some traction there there is allegedly some traction there when you talk about the the n i allotment he will not touch near what his tennessee deal was he's not

Starting point is 00:06:23 however what I'm hearing and again this is just what I'm hearing and this is I tell y'all when I got a source and I'm like oh I'm a thousand percent sure this source has been good to me it's not that type of deal here but what I'm hearing is the thing that may make this marriage work is the thing that kind of got them in trouble here about the incentives and the extras about the like hey if you perform you know you could see a potential increase in pay which I think it kind of works out when you think about how Bill Belichick consistently talked about we're going to make this the 33rd NFL team. Well, what's more professional and saying, all right, this is your deal for 12 games. If we play it 13th, here's a little laying up on top of that. If that 13th is the ACC championship, that changes the calculus, if that 13th is a potential playoff game. So I'm hearing that they are kicking the tires.

Starting point is 00:07:17 And also, like you said, Brian, this is a situation where, you know, you would be a generous saying they were iffy, the quarterback room was iffy. I'll heard that quarterback room stinks to the high heavens. So you need to do something to sure that thing up. And Nico, like you talked about, although the proven like, hey, he's been

Starting point is 00:07:37 a leader, he's been a winner, he's been a guy that you won because of, although that may not be there, the talent is to where all three you got, or all three of us know, if you have the right amount of talent, if we know what you can do from a physical standpoint, point, there will always be a coach there saying, I can do it.

Starting point is 00:07:56 I can change him. I'm the coach that's going to coach him up to 4,500 yards and 50 touchdown. I'm the coach to do it. So obviously, somebody who's going to come along to Nico, I just think this is unfortunate for Nico because, again, he's going to take a paper. Like, there's no doubt in my mind about that, even with UNC being a big player in NIA. I agree.

Starting point is 00:08:18 Now the question is, is there anybody else? UCLA was banied about Notre Dame Manhattan, and S. ain't happening, Oregon ain't happening. I heard Texas Tech wouldn't happen. They got NIL money for sure. But like, just do the due diligence. Like, who needs a quarterback and who also has not good, but elite NIL, those two things aren't really happening together right now.

Starting point is 00:08:42 You know who else I've heard could be in the mix here? And it's obviously not at the same caliber as the programs you mentioned, but Tulane might be in the mix for him. That's a rich school. So maybe they would make us flash. to make up for their quarterback getting snatched to Duke, which that is bizarre on another level. Yeah, yeah.

Starting point is 00:09:01 Maybe they wouldn't want to, but that's a school with a lot of money. I just don't think they want to dump it into football like that. Right. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong. They've got a really good coach. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:09:12 I agree with Kenton, though. Pay cut is likely. He needs to have a very heavy incentive-laden deal. And if you ball out this year, let's say he goes to one. They go 11 and 1. one go to the playoff, okay. Then you pay his butt on the back end.

Starting point is 00:09:29 He earned it. He changed your school. Absolutely. And I'm all, look, man, if you go out and ball out and you get a couple extra sponsors, the local Mercedes dealership or something, wants to sign you a check, fire away, brother. Well, when we come back, I want to talk a little bit more about how this is unfolded over the past 48 hours. Because, like, the last time, you know, we were unlocked on ACC and Brian was on with us, We were just talking about the Pete Naco's reports about, you know, him shopping for deals or his family and his agent, Niko's family, his father and his agent shopping for deals and how, you know, something was going to happen with Tennessee.

Starting point is 00:10:07 That has happened. He's going to be in the portal. You want to keep it locked right here, guys. We have a lot more to get to on this episode on this brand new locked on ACC. Do you ever check your bank account and wonder, where did all my money go? Between dining out, online shopping and entertainment, it's easy to lose track. That's where Monarch Money comes in, your personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch money isn't just a budgeting app.

Starting point is 00:10:37 It's a complete financial command center. You can track all your accounts, investments, and spending in one place. So you stop just managing your money and you start building wealth. Guys, when I started using Monarch, I realized how much I was spending and overspending on things like subscription services and food delivery. Like all this stuff is good, but in moderation, I budget smarter now and I save more. And instead of juggling multiple apps, you can use Monarch to check your finances, track spending, even plan your long-term goals. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money.

Starting point is 00:11:08 Use code locked on college at Monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first order. That's monarchmoney.com code locked on college for half off your first year. Thank you so much for making Lockdown ACC, your first listen, your first watch today for your next listen, make sure you check out the portal podcast. And in fact, if you get into a vortex on the portal podcast, you'll be there all day and you'll love it because there's so much going on in the transfer portal. And Nico, who's going to be in that portal, is a huge story, Brian. And I think one of the things that I feel, I feel a little bit bad for Nico here.

Starting point is 00:11:51 And tell me, to your knowledge, am I characterizing this correctly? because it really seems like this guy, he wants to play football. But, you know, when you've got family members that start, you know, managing the business side of your career and you've got an agent who's trying to manage that side of your career, I don't know how much of what's going on. Now, Nico, he had to make that decision not to show up to practice on Friday. That's on him. Like even if people are telling him, hey, don't show up there.

Starting point is 00:12:23 He could have still shown up there. and explained to Josh Heiple what was going on. He didn't. So I guess that part of it is on him. But a lot of this, Brian, feels like he's been manipulated a bit. Yeah, I've had the opportunity to be around Nico. Great guy. He was somebody that was always very humble with the media, very gregarious.

Starting point is 00:12:44 Everybody enjoyed being around it. Not everybody that is involved in his camp, I would label in the same. And I'll just leave it at that. And I had a sense this wasn't going to end well, not to this level, but I had a sense this wasn't going to end well before he even arrived in Knoxville, Tennessee. But this is utterly stupid, like the way they handled this, because whether you like it or not, and players are getting paid now, but the schools still have more leverage because there are other quarterbacks. They know, as Kenton and myself and Donald and everybody talks about, if you give in to Nico,

Starting point is 00:13:19 the line out the door, you can't look at it from an individual perspective, alone. It is calculus. This is not pre-algebra here. And they looked at it from a singular ledger. Like, that's just about NICO. No, it's not. This is the Tennessee volunteers. So again, for those you're just throwing stones at NICO, I guarantee you, this was not his play. I guarantee it. But at the same time, as Dono said, he didn't show up to practice, whether that was influenced on him or whatever. It's still his decision to show up or not. He didn't. And then, Now he's got to figure it out. I'm sure he's got plenty of options, but at the same price tag, not really.

Starting point is 00:14:03 Here's my thing about this, right? I get that you feel bad for the young man because his brain ain't fully formed yet, right? We know 25 is about the time that you're the part of your brain responsible for. I'm 40 and I'm still waiting for that day. Well, you know, it's the average. That's why they say it's the average. Some people get early and some people get late. But there is, I fully understand that there are bad actors in the camp.

Starting point is 00:14:32 And trust me, we've all heard the same thing. If you've been following this story closely, obviously calling reporters to be word and all that. That's not something that's becoming of somebody that, you know, hey, I'm trying to get you paid. That's not how you go about doing it. Now, with that in mind, I'm going to give, and I'm sure that this is going to be taken with a grain of salt, if Nico even ever hears this or listens. But I'm going to tell you right now, Nico, I'm going to tell you, and I'm going to tell every college athlete,

Starting point is 00:15:03 I'm going to tell all the future college athletes right now. You need wise counsel around you. And a lot of times that wise counsel is going to come in the form of somebody who has no vested interest, no dog in the fight. It's going to come from people who are looking at this thing, who have everybody's got a Houdini Brown in their corner rubbing their shoulders. Oh, you're the baddest, you're the greatest. For those of you who don't know, Houdini Brown did that for Muhammad Ali.

Starting point is 00:15:32 That was his job. It was to rub Ali's shoulders and say, oh, you the greatest, champ. You're the chair. You can knock anybody up. You could do whatever to anybody. And Houdini Brown was there all the way to the end when he fought Buster Douglas and all that when he was well past his prime. Still saying, you're the best, champ.

Starting point is 00:15:46 You're the best. You can get it. When there was no shot, you had no shot. It's the same thing here. players please be aware everybody there's going to be somebody in your corner the grass is always green on the other side you can go get more money over there you can go get look at your situation of where you are you are earning in terms of n i.m. One percent of amongst college players period. Football and basketball you were a one percent you're not going to drop far out of that but you're

Starting point is 00:16:15 going to take a drop that's just that's just period because like you all have both alluded to already these teams that have big money don't have big needs at the end of spring. That's not how it works. And quarterback is the biggest need there is. If you've got money to drop $3, $4 million on the quarterback, you've already dropped it. Look at Miami. Carson Bexel, you stole a land ball.

Starting point is 00:16:40 I'm going to get another one. You need to have to wait for the insurance check. He's just like, I'll get it today. Oh, y'all got me. All right, let them keep it. A lot of dip, and I'll go get enough. But that's the point. The schools who have the money have the quarterback already.

Starting point is 00:16:56 Nobody who has that type of money is sitting here waiting after Spring said, well, damn, what are we going to do about this quarterback position when you're going to get less reps guaranteed? So, again, players, please, please, please have somebody in your ear that's going to be good counsel. Because Nico, whether he realizes it right now or whether he realizes it in five, 10, 15 years, he has bad counsel in his ear and they are going to lead him down a path of ruining and destruction where he's got to come. He's got to overcome and jump over the hurdle of.

Starting point is 00:17:30 Well, he's a great kid. All of us can agree. Anybody who's met the young man, I haven't heard bad words about him as an individual, but I also have not heard a good word about his camp. So any NFL team to draft him? Oh yeah, you got to go to that. You got there with that too.

Starting point is 00:17:43 It's unfortunate. Well, let me throw in something. And Brian, you can chime in on this, because it's pretty similar to what you said with us on Friday. So after Miami Spring game on Saturday, you know, Mario Cristobal was asked about, like, how do you handle a situation like this? And I thought Josh Hepew handled it appropriately. And I think Christobal agrees with that.

Starting point is 00:18:05 Like he mentioned if you're, if you're going to play holdout, you might as well get out. That was his quote. And he brought up that like as a university, you know, as a coach, and I guess it would have been the NIL collective would have been responsible for ponying up, you know, the extra money. But if you, if you cave to those demands, then Brian, you're going to have, in Christobal's words, a line of 80 guys who are then looking to get their deals redone the way Nico or whoever did.

Starting point is 00:18:35 And again, I'm all about, you know, name image and likeness. Like I am for it. I am for NIL, but there's a right way to go about this when you're trying to get your bag. And that was not the right way. it wasn't there were rumors about it all the way back in December during the playoff we talked about that but doing it at the end of spring you didn't have a great sophomore year they just thought they could leverage them and they were wrong so Mario's point is very true as well by definition

Starting point is 00:19:08 of the law here it is his right to renegotiate that's that's fine but if you're Miami or any other school that's in that situation with a big time player, Tennessee, Michigan, it doesn't matter. If you open that Pandora's box, there's just too many guys on scholarship. That's nothing against Nico or his camp. They couldn't do it no matter what they wanted to do because then they screwed themselves. I happened to cover Florida State. I saw what happened when they ponied up last year. How did that go?

Starting point is 00:19:37 Oh, that's right. They went two in ten. You cannot allow complacency to get it. You got to earn it. You can set up something with a bunch of incentives. on the back end. Up front money's out the door. For the people that were hoping kids get a lot of upfront money, what Nico and his camp did, just screwed that. That is going out the window. It was headed that direction anyway, but this is going to push it further to the back. They want to

Starting point is 00:20:01 see results first. And that's unfortunate. But this is exactly what I was saying about wise counsel. And I'm sorry to cut you off there, Brian, but this is exactly what I mean about wise counsel, because you said they tried to leverage them, what's the language? And where's the option? When you look around, I could understand if we're having this conversation immediately following the loss

Starting point is 00:20:25 to Ohio State. It was a terrible performance. Hey, people are, your stock is at all time low, but I can at least see the rationale of, hey, there are schools with money, though, take them. There are schools with money

Starting point is 00:20:37 that I can, we can spend this some way to say, oh, HIPA doesn't put guys in the NFL, and, you know, they've got guys playing out near the hash marks. That's not an NFL system. I just want to be somewhere that will get me pro ready. You can spin it. In this moment right here,

Starting point is 00:20:52 there is no spin, there is nobody with money looking for a quarterback. Where is your leverage? And that's what I mean by your camp has to be wise. It's not just about, you know, it's not just about the decision you make as an individual. Look at your camp and look at the situations they put you in and say, is this a good situation? because we are all talking about Nico. And if somebody would have told you in 2019, hey man, let me tell you something, we all are going to be talking about Nico.

Starting point is 00:21:23 He's going to be the biggest story there is. Tennessee fans would have went wild. They would have said, oh, boy, I'm salivating. I can't wait. I can't wait. If we would have said this three years ago, they would have been super excited. But now the reality of this is he's the biggest story

Starting point is 00:21:39 for asking for more money than he was worth to most people. he's the biggest story for asking for money when again the money schools already gone dono would you have loved him at miami if if he was on the table in the center before now right him cars and bet would you have definitively said i a thousand percent want back over him there's not a world where i want nico um i mean i i would say back is more proven than nico but i i would have taken a long hard look at nico but i i think back would be the guy i would go with But now, because you have waited this one out again, your camp has put you in a terrible position.

Starting point is 00:22:20 If you wanted to do it, do it early. Do it while these schools got money. But now you're sitting here waiting for scraps from somebody who's got money, who's got something for me. Instead of staying where you were, make your extra $2 million. And then next year, say, all right, I'll prove myself, all these first round defensive linemen are going. I've shown that I'm the reason we can win ball games.

Starting point is 00:22:39 Now I'm going to go get a pay date. Can I give you my opinion? I think that this may be less about to them, to Nico's camp. Maybe this was less about going somewhere else, but really thinking Tennessee is going to pony up because I've just gone through the entire off season through spring. And guess what? Tennessee's backup quarter, they've only got two more scholarship quarterbacks on the roster with zero collegiate experience. So I honestly, I think Nico just overplayed his hand here. I don't think he really wanted to leave Tennessee. I think he thought they've got no other option but to up my deal.

Starting point is 00:23:17 He overplayed his hand, in my opinion. Well, both those quarterbacks, one is enrolled in the spring. The other one had a grand total, I believe, of nine snaps last year, and neither one of them is physically ready to be a true SEC quarterback. I've been around both of them. Neither one of them is ready. That's at that point. But you also tick off the coaches, but they're not stupid.

Starting point is 00:23:39 they know Ken, our college football coach is stubborn would you say they're stubborn? Do they take that well when you try to leverage them?

Starting point is 00:23:49 How does that go? Let me tell you something. There have been situations there have been situations where a coach combined two calls that would have had me and the defensive end both in the B gap together.

Starting point is 00:24:00 And I was like, Coach, those calls don't make sense. We would have collided in the B gap based on, and the coach was like, you just read what I said. You're not the, coach. And then he came up to me after the meeting. Everybody's gone. He said, it gives,

Starting point is 00:24:13 man, you were right. I just couldn't in front of team. Say that, you know, because that's how stubborn coaches are. So you're absolutely right. If a story is in front of millions of eyes, they definitely can't look weak and, oh, we've bended the knee in front of millions. You definitely can't do it. Well, one of my favorite about coach personalities, one of my favorite stories is my guy Channing Crowder, before, before he's got, he's so big now with the pivot and everything. I used to do local radio with him, and he would tell this story, you know, and he played for

Starting point is 00:24:45 the Dolphins and Sabin. Nick Sabin was his head coach for a couple of years. And Crowder had like, you know, he said it was after a practice where he didn't do so well, and he ran into Sabin in the men's room. It was kind of awkward, so he's trying to make small talk with him. He's like, oh, Nick, how's your wife doing?

Starting point is 00:25:01 And his answer was, she'd be doing a lot better if you could cover a tight end on third down. Oh, I'll tell you what. But that, I mean, that's the way coaches are. That's single-minded focus. It's that single-minded focus. And if you don't have it, you're not going to be at an SEC school,

Starting point is 00:25:20 especially not one like Tennessee for long. Yeah. Well, I want to say huge thank you. I know Brian Smith has got to get all of his portal headlines ready. So we're going to say goodbye to Brian, but make sure you guys follow him at L.O. underscore the portal, locked on the portal podcast. Brian, thank you so much for taking the time.

Starting point is 00:25:41 And if you see me calling you, feel free to hit ignore because I'm going to be hitting you up a lot over the next couple of days. I appreciate it, man. Thank you very much. Awesome stuff. When we come back, so only two programs in the ACC opted to have their spring games televised.

Starting point is 00:26:03 Here's why you want to keep it locked. My friends, Supply House is the spot to get the supplies you need from the site made for the skilled trades. Guys, whether you're in plumbing, HVAC, or electrical work, supply house is the reliable way to order products online. They're easy to use website is packed with helpful resources and the latest product info to help you get the job done right. Plus, with a complete inventory of over 200,000 parts from 400 plus top brands, you'll

Starting point is 00:26:36 find exactly what you need, delivered fast from coast to coast. Need help with an order? Supplyhouse offers expert support and industry-leading service. you'll always talk to a real person. How about that? And for trade pros looking for an extra edge, their free Trade Master program offers exclusive perks like a dedicated phone line,

Starting point is 00:26:53 free shipping, and discounts on every order. Thousands of skilled professionals are already taking advantage. Now it's your turn. Join the Trademaster program today at Supplyhouse.com and start ordering plumbing, HVAC, and electrical supplies with just a few clicks. Plus, use promo code SH5 for 5% off your first order. That's Supply House.

Starting point is 00:27:14 Thank you for making locked on ACC your first listen. For your next listen, make sure you check out Kenton Gibbs and Grace and Boone on Locked on Wolfpack. Check me out at Locked on Cains. All right. So, you know, Kenton, we talked last week about, you know, how many ACC programs just didn't have spring games. A lot of them did, but opted not to televise them, including Miami Spring Game that I went to on Saturday.

Starting point is 00:27:43 In fact, only two programs in the ACC, Georgia Tech and. and Virginia were the only ones who opted to have their spring game televised or streamed in some form by ACC network in the ESPN family. And this is interesting, Kenton. So by the network, the ACC programs were given the option of either televising your spring game. You can do that. Only two of them decided to do that. Or if you wish, you can, this was reported by the Miami Herald last. week. You can either air a live spring game or you can provide a piece of original spring

Starting point is 00:28:24 football content to replace it if the school is interested in producing that show. So Kenton, almost everyone has opted to produce original content. What Miami is doing is they're doing, it hasn't aired yet, but they're doing like a behind the scenes, all access spring thing. And Kenton, if given that option, I can understand why most of these programs are opting for that for option number two, because you get to completely control the message. You get to edit. You get to produce your own interviews and only show the highlights that you want to interview versus airing your spring game, which can come with warts.

Starting point is 00:29:02 It can come with broken plays. It can come with also stuff you don't want other teams to see and players you don't want other teams to see and potentially poach. So yeah, if you give a college program the option of producing essentially your own commercial versus airing your spring game good, bad and ugly, all of it. I can understand why most programs are opting to produce their own content. Soft. Soft, Dono.

Starting point is 00:29:28 It's soft. It's Sharman soft and not the Sharman Ultra Strong. Charmin Ultra Soft type of soft. This is terrible. This is terrible. Let's be honest, Donnell. Let's be very honest here. Everybody wants to control the narrative, control the narrative, control the narrative.

Starting point is 00:29:44 Well, here's the thing. When you get out on that field, you won't be able to do so. The narrative will be written by what you produce. Good, bad, and different. Oh, well, you know, it'll keep our players from getting posed, will it? Oh, well, it'll give us an extra, extra practice. And see, a lot of people don't even realize these arguments work against each other in a circular, very dumb motion. Oh, well, we don't want a spring game because we want high intensity.

Starting point is 00:30:12 And we want these guys going at each other, running the stuff that we want to see. not what the fans want to see or what we don't want to show other team. So then the injury thing is out the door, huh? Oh, well, you know, we're very worried about injuries, and that's what we're having another practice. So you're not going to practice. Y'all are just going to chill and kind of have fun with the fans, right? Oh, well, well, we're very worried about players potentially entering the portal

Starting point is 00:30:39 and getting poster or getting, what's the word I'm looking for, tampered with by other schools. Okay, cool. So you think that you have the type of depth that is so good. Every school, y'all all think you all have depth that is so good that other schools are just itching and being in for your players. Huh? You think so? You think I'm going to tell you right now that red shirt senior, that's still a backup, that young man's an accountant. That's what he is.

Starting point is 00:31:11 He's an engineer. He's going to be a wonderful engineer. He's going to build some of the best bridges we've ever seen. But you know what he is not an other thing player. You know what he is not in all-conference performing another group of Power 4 conference. That's what he's now. And most group of five schools, you know,

Starting point is 00:31:30 we heard Marshall's coach last year. If you want an NIL deal, we've got a great biscuit place. You can get all you can eat biscuits. That got me excited. Yeah. And now he's at Southern Miss. Oh, yeah, that's right. So I'm sure there's some good biscuits in Mississippi, too, I hear.

Starting point is 00:31:50 But you get the point, Donald. This is, what are we doing here, man? Everybody always wants, oh, everything has to be curated and perfect and nice and need and the way I want to do. Give your fans something because a lot of y'all schools, your fans are going to have nothing to the cheer for during the season. At least give them something during the off season, you know. But for the schools who,

Starting point is 00:32:12 played the spring game and didn't televise it, I'm less sour at them. I'm less sour at the Miami's of the world. I believe, what was it? Did SMU have a spring game that they just didn't televise? No, they didn't. They had a closed scrimmage. They didn't have a spring game. Gotcha, gotcha. But either way, either way you cut a slice it, the schools who had spring games for the fans, Clemson, I know, have one. They just didn't tell about more power to you for those schools, but to the ones who are, we need this one extra practice. Get out of here, man. Get out of here. If you can sacrifice one practice to make your fans be more excited to show up,

Starting point is 00:32:50 to give yourself that home field advantage, and it gets a little bit louder. People feel a little bit more connected to the university. Give up that damn one practice. Yeah. I think to me, I think connecting with the fans is so important. And some programs take that for granted.

Starting point is 00:33:06 Like some programs just think, hey, you know, we're playing football. Football is a billion, multi-billion dollar business. they're going to show up. But like fans miss some of these little things, Kenton. Like I, you know, and I know some Miami fans who are a little older, they're like Gen, I don't know, Gen Z or Gen X. Whatever is, Gen Z's younger.

Starting point is 00:33:26 Gen X, I think is what I'm looking for. You know, I'm a millennial. I know some Gen X fans who are like upset about things like they don't do media guides anymore that you can order. They don't send out like the poster schedules and stuff. And it's just, it's changed a lot. But I think connecting with your fans with a spring game is super important. I prefer if it's televised, but if you're not going to televise it, at least still do it and give

Starting point is 00:33:51 people in the community an opportunity to get out there and connect because, you know, like, and some programs are finding other ways to do it. Like I think North Carolina, North Carolina didn't have a spring game, but I think they did have like a fan fest type of thing. So at least you could go out and like get autographs and stuff. A lot of programs build that individual. their spring game like Miami had an autograph session before the spring game started. But connecting with fans is super important. And listen, I think we need to make Kenton the new commissioner.

Starting point is 00:34:21 I mean, Jim Phillips can't do this forever, right? Eventually, Jim is going to move on to the next thing because Kenton would not have been bullied by Florida State and Clemson in those lawsuits. And he sure as heck would make sure teams are doing spring games. You're my next commission, KG. Hey, listen, I appreciate the vote of confidence. If this is an election, I would definitely say, vote for me and I'll bring spring games back. Okay, that would definitely be me. But unfortunately, it don't work like that.

Starting point is 00:34:51 You know, the board of trustees, they're not going to vote for a guy like me because I'm going to tell you, either things are going to go swimmingly well, or it's going to go horn. Either we're going to win that court case against the Clemson and the Florida State, or if we're going to be out of two schools. we're going to be out to a really big one. So, you know, I will say this, though. I a thousand percent think that there is value to, like you said, giving the fans that experience,

Starting point is 00:35:17 giving them that connection to your team when in, in 2025, the thing about this, the Gen Xers you talked about, there was no TikTok for them, right? There wasn't all of these different things. Believe me, the Gen Xers, they're not on TikTok now either. No, no, but that, but you know, that's my point. When they were having their formative years, there were not all these different things pulling them all these ways.

Starting point is 00:35:41 It was, you go to the Miami football game or you don't. That's it. That's all there is to it. You form all your great memories at these spring games. Oh, yeah, I remember we took that trip down in the four games. I remember we took that trip to the stadium. It's not the same when you don't give these younger fans that experience. Right.

Starting point is 00:36:01 Well, we appreciate everyone for making Lockdown ACC your first listen today. to Brian Smith for joining us, check him out at the portal podcast. Check Kenton out on Locked on Wolfpack. Check me out on Locked on Cains. And we'll talk to everyone again tomorrow on another episode of Lockdown ACC. We are part of the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.

Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - FRENZY: Nico's SUDDEN Exit RATTLES Tennessee | Can Belichick Lure Him to UNC's REVAMPED Offense?

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.