Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - INSIDER: Darian Mensah SHOWS OUT In Miami Spring Game, Louisville, UVA, GT & VT Spring Recap

Episode Date: April 20, 2026

ACC spring games reveal rising stars and pressing questions as Darian Mensah shines for the Miami Hurricanes, tossing three touchdowns and showcasing command of the offense. True freshman Jackson Cantwell stands out at left tackle, stifling Miami’s pass rush, while attention shifts to possible depth concerns and the impact of the incoming transfer class. Can Mensah’s dynamic play and Miami’s loaded backfield power them to ACC contention, or will backup issues emerge as a stumbling block? Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs break down key takeaways from Miami, Louisville, Virginia Tech, and Virginia’s spring action, spotlighting Lincoln Kienholz’s vanilla debut for Louisville and questions about sustained success at Virginia. The show tackles the fallout from Virginia Tech’s skydiving mishap, the ongoing “shadow portal” debate, and Brent Key’s perspective from Georgia Tech. Will the NCAA’s crackdown really prevent rogue transfers, or is college football’s transfer saga just getting started? Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get two-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game.   FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Spring games are over around the ACC. We got takeaways on Miami, Louisville, Virginia Tech, Virginia, SMU. We're only getting started. You are locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Yeah, it seems like there's not really a quarterback competition at UVA, or maybe there never was, because it's pretty clear. who their guy is there.

Virginia Tech, same thing. We'll talk Miami. We'll talk Louisville. He's Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono from Lockdown Canes. We got a lot to get to on this episode of Lockdown ACC, including perhaps we're not going to have a shadow portal, as we suspect we might. Maybe the NCAA have they successfully prevented the shadow portal with all these crazy

punishments they want to impose on any coach? who takes a ghost transfer. But the first thing, we got Mr. Shadow Portal there. The Shadow Portal was ready. He was ready to make an appearance, Donald. He was right here. Who knows? It still might happen.

But Brett Key from Georgia Tech does not think it's going to happen. We'll get to that. But, you know, Kenton, I was at Miami's spring game on Saturday, and I'm just amazed I didn't get sunburned. I put so much sunscreen on. And the SPF, shout out to the SPF 40, because it actually kept me protected. It was very hot and very.

sunny out there. Certain programs like, you know, Florida State didn't host any kind of spring game. SMU hosted like a fan event. It was like a jamboree type of thing. They had some seven on sevens, not really a spring game. Miami had kind of a hybrid. Like it was not a pure spring game. They kind of ran it like an open practice, Kenton.

Like they were doing drills for about the first half. And then they did go live 11 on 11 for a good hour. near the end of it. So it was kind of, you know, like a hybrid live scrimmage practice. And the things that really stood out, KG, not that this is a secret to you and I, because we know the ACC. Darien Mensa had a phenomenal day out there. He chucked three touchdown passes. No interceptions, not really any turnover worthy plays from Mensley. It was just a really solid performance. He threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Dalyan Upshaw. He threw a 29-yard TD pass to his very good friend Cooper Barcate. Barcate had a couple of really good catches out there,

and he threw about a six or seven-yard red zone touchdown to Cam Vaughn, the West Virginia transfer. Malachi Tony only participated in like the one-on-one drills early. Malley did have a crazy one-handed grab from Mensa in one-on-ones, but Tony did not play the 11-on-11. Neither did Mark Fletcher, so Miami kept some of their more proven guys. They took it easy on some of them, so limited work for them. But then the other thing, Kenton, that really stood out to me, true freshman left tackle, Jackson Cantwell, looked so good in

past protection. I think the only rep or two that he lost was against Damon Wilson, who's Miami's best edge rusher, the transfer from Missou. But there was one rep when he put Wilson on his butt on a play that Mensa threw the 33-yard touchdown to Dalyan Upshaw. So Cantwell more than held his own, which again, like, you always have this discussion, like what does that mean for Miami's edge rushers this year? But the true freshman left tackle looks fantastic. I'm going to tell you this. I've heard nothing but this kid is nightmare fuel for defensive ends.

All ever since he stepped foot on that campus, that's all I've heard. Now here's the deal. It is possible. that that's true. It is possible that like you alluded to, there's issues with the edge rusher camp, right? Okay. But I'm going to tell you this much.

One thing that I know for sure, Darien Minza doing Darienza things is no surprise. Nobody's shocked by this. Nobody is sitting up here. Darian Minza? Who? The quarterback. You know, the guy that was like,

wait, the guy who's the New York financier? Yeah, it's not that mean. It's not that mean because everybody's like, oh, yeah, Darrya and Minson, this is what we expect from him. I'm going to say this, though. The biggest takeaway that I have from all of spring ball across everybody, not just Miami, not just SMU. I'm seeing spring ball or not spring ball, but spring games not only lose their public importance, but also their behind the scenes importance. It's becoming such a strange thing.

We're seeing non-participation from super, Yeah, I don't like. For the guys that's like, this is supposed to be. And the thing that's so confusing to me about it is I was told, well, you know, we're going to not want to show these things publicly because we don't want anybody to get in a portal or anything like that. Some of these guys that are being held up. That kid's a super senior.

He's on his sixth year. There's no way that anybody can snatch him from your school. He's a starter in his sixth year. What are we doing here? So I'm a little bit confused by that. But again, back to Miami here. I mean, you know, is anybody surprised that that offense is a unit? You came in with a running back in Fletcher that we knew bona fide superstar.

He's not superstar, but he's a bona fide star could be bona fide super star. Because we know Mario's going to give him the touches if he can get there. You come in with a bona fide star quarterback as well. He's much closer to that superstar level. level in Darry and Mincea. Now you do have a superstar in the slot in Malachi, Tony. And now you got Cooper Barcate as well. I mean, you've got dudes all over the place on that offense.

So nobody is really too shocked by them performing well. I will say those edge rushers, I'm watching. I'm watching because everybody knows you cannot be a good team without good edge rushers unless your decalckles are next level out of this world. you can't be a good team without good ad rushers. Normally you need at least three to four guys that you could trust to reliably get home if they're in one-on-one situations.

So that's a situation to monitor out of Miami. But maybe that just means that Miami's offensive line is so good, they'll be stale-made in everybody. They'll just be, hey, man, how you doing? My friend Darien is back there. He's about to pass the ball. You just wait right here.

You just take a ticket, wait right here like the DMV, and when he gets rid of the ball, we'll let you go. How about that? Yeah, for Miami, I thought the receivers and the D.Bs looked really good. Omar Thornton, the transfer DB from Boston College, he looks like he's going to be a star. I thought he was probably maybe the top performer on the defense just in terms of the number of plays he was involved in. Very, very disruptive. Justin Scott at defensive tackle also had a good performance on D.

You know, I think, let me get back to Mentsa real quick because something that, And I've said it before, like on Locked on Cains and here on Locked on ACC, I think Mentsa can be kind of a good, sort of a hybrid between what Cam Ward was a couple of years ago and what Carson Beck was last year because Mentsa, he goes down the field really effectively, and he's also got the escapeability that's not quite Ward level, but it's Ward-esque, you know, the way he can extend plays. But one thing that Ward did not do ever at Miami was take checkdowns. Like, Ward was always going for the jugular on every play. And I see Mensa taking more checkdowns.

You know, Carson Beck maybe took too many checkdowns until he tried to play Hero Ball in the national championship game and threw an interception there. But overall, a lot of checkdowns from Beck. And Mensa did take some good checkdowns like to Jordan Lyle, the running back. So I appreciated that. In terms of the things that, you know,

they look like their works in progress at Miami. I'm not necessarily worried. about the edge rushers because I feel like Cantwell just did that well. But I am, you know, it would be a problem if Dary and Mensa was ever not available for games, Kenton, because the backup quarterback play, it was uninspiring. Outside of the first team offense, they didn't do a whole lot. And like one spring game is not necessarily an adequate description of like the four weeks of spring football. but, you know, the second team offense with Luke Nichol didn't really do anything.

The third team offense with Judd Anderson, not that Judd is like a threat to, you know, to take anybody's job at quarterback or anything, but he had some flashes. He led a touchdown drive. The true freshman Darion Coleman had some ups and downs. He did have a turnover worthy throw that could have been an interception that was dropped. So the backup quarterback play was not really inspiring in the spring game. And the backup offensive line was a little concerning at times. Outside of Miami's projected starting center, they don't seem to have another center who could snap the football correctly right now.

Yeah, there are a lot of high snaps. Like, they better be snapping to Judd Anderson, who's six foot eight. Like that's like the only quarterback they could snap to because the other quarterbacks are, you know, six one, six foot. And it's funny because people always ask me about all the offensive linemen that Miami lost from last year. I don't think it really affects the starting. I think the starting five is going to be really strong. But I think losing all those guys from last year, it might affect the depth. Because I think there's maybe a bigger drop off from the first to second string than there was last year.

So that's just going to be something to monitor. I mean, they have like five months to get these guys ready. Christobal and Mirabal, I think, can do a really good job. But there's that, you know, we need to work on those snaps for the next four months. I'll say that. Well, the reality is, that's the new reality of college football. You have to pick where do you have your depth? And Miami has better depth in their running back room and wide receiver room to just about anybody in the nation.

You can't name too many more schools that can go for running backs deep, where if everybody else got hurt and that guy had to be the guy carrying the mail, they could all be a thousand yard rushers and nobody would be like him brown a thousand what it's like no that guy could totally do it fletcher a thousand yeah no makes sense you know what their third string back his name is eluding me right now but yeah it's either lyle or pringle i'm not even sure who the third string back is they got so many guys and lyle is the one that's more of the scatback right he's the more more of the speed between the two yeah yeah low goes for a thousand Nobody would be shocked by that. Nobody would be like, wow, a thousand.

I can't believe it. This is just unbelievable. So ultimately, you got to pick where you're going to have depth now. And it's just a function of the way that the portal and college football works where everybody can get paid, everybody can get their opportunity to have their shine elsewhere. And big dudes, they lead. They lead. You know, there's a graphic that came out recently.

I know this is a different sport, but it's very much so the same principle. In basketball, guess who commands the most money? in terms of elite players. Oh, yeah. The bigs. The big dudes. Sure, of course. In college football, the quarterbacks obviously get paid the most,

but who's behind them? The bigs. The big fellas. So in the past, you could stockpile a CC with a Cantwell, with another one, and a third one, and a fourth one. Now it's like, you know, in the words of Victor Suite, that's too much for just you're going to have to share that. You're going to have to share that.

You're going to have to share that. You're going to have to pass over there. around and that's ultimately what ends up happening. Yeah, no, no doubt. Well, when we come back, I want to talk about Louisville's spring game. It was very, very kind of vanilla. So, you know, it's probably not the most adequate way to judge Lincoln Keenholz, their projected starting quarterback. It was a lot of quiet day. That's another thing, Kent. And when we talk about spring game trends, I'm sure it's been like this, you know, for a long time. But, you know, you're usually getting like 1% of the offensive playbook. Like, they're not going out there going too

crazy, but we got more spring football to talk about, including a skydiving stunt that went very wrong in Blacksburg. You want to keep it locked right here. We're only getting started on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Workplace chaos. Deadlines are stacking up inbox overflowing, and the one position you have to fill is still sitting open. When the pressure's on and you need the right hire, this is a job for sponsored jobs.

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but if you haven't, this is a great time to hop in. Go to Lockdown Podcast.com slash Everydayer, and you can join the club for any and all of your favorite shows, whether it's Locked on ACC, Locked on Wulf Pack with Kenton and Grayson, Locked on Cains with me. We give you guys exclusive content, add free versions of our episodes,

newsletters, discord, chat, access, and so much more. You can chat with hosts and other listeners. Go to Lockedonpodcast.com slash everydayer and become an everydayer club member today. Thank you so much for making Lockdown ACC your first listen. So Kenton, did you, I'm sure everybody saw this by now. And I'm just glad the guy was okay.

But at the Virginia Tech spring game got delayed by an hour because they were doing. And, you know, we see these from time to time in football where you get like military personnel involved. They had these guys that were parachuting onto the field waving American flags, really cool effect when the scoreboard doesn't get in the way. So this man, I understand. you know, a veteran, we thank him for his service. Like, he, he, like, the wind took him right into the scoreboard. And I'm like, I'm trying not to laugh.

Thank God he's okay, right? Because he was like stuck up there. They were able to rescue him. It took 15 minutes to get the guy down. He's all right. Thank God, right? Because it wasn't, you know, terrible. It wasn't a terrible thing so we could chuckle about it a little bit.

But, you know, the videos are viral. They've gone on down there. So I just hope that's not like a bad. omen for the James Franklin era, Kenton. You know, it's so odd to me that when we think about the, what goes into spring games these days, and it's always been this way to some extent, but now it's like on steroids now. I listen to the Thundercats song, Black Qualls a lot.

And there's a lyric in where he says, no more living in fear. And that's how I feel talking to the offensive coordinators, if I could say anything to him going to these spring days. Stop living in fear. Let your boys let it rip. You don't got to bring out everything. You don't got to bring out nothing crazy and you're really in your bag stuff.

You can let them boys run for it, run time. Everybody has verts. Everybody has it. Everybody has all knots. It doesn't matter if you run air raid. It doesn't matter if you run wishbone. It doesn't matter if you run wingtie.

Everybody has, hey, all my wide receivers run his fans. as you get to the end zone. Quarterback, depending on the coverage, you go here, you go here, you go here. Everybody has it. Let them let it rip. And then we see Virginia Tech, your pre-game synonygates.

Maybe we should live in a little bit more fear. Just a tad bit more. Just a little bit more, you know, because that's, but again. Shoot fireworks next time. Yeah. We don't need, like, physical stunts. Let's just set off some fireworks and call it a day.

Have a guy run on the, field waving the flag, you know? Safe, on the ground, wind doesn't matter. But, you know, it was, I, too, the first thing I thought was, oh, this is a bad over. Oh, this is a really bad sign. Like, everything is, you're flying

high and everybody loves you and you're good. Boom, scoreboard. And it's like, oh, is this saying that the scoreboard matters more than some theatrics, you know? But in all seriousness, no, but in all seriousness, though, I really do think that that was just an unfortunate incident. And I don't

I think it'll be indicative of anything bigger in Blacksburg. However, that no more living in fear mantra, then birds out there in Louisville. And here's the thing, I love the city of Louisville. Anybody who knows me knows, that was my favorite place to play in ACC. You know, I've never been there. Oh, it's a great time. It's a great time.

It's a beautiful, people, that city gets a really bad rap. I think Louisville is a wonderful place. I really do. And I'm going to tell you something. Y'all let Lincoln throw that ball next time, man. Yeah. Would you like, would you like to hear Lincoln Keenholz's stat line, Ken? Please tell it to the people. Tell it to the people. You told it to me already. I need the people to know what happened in that ballgame. Let me give you the stats and then I'll tell you what this means. So Lincoln Keenholz, who he's running with the ones, of course, is going to be their, you know, going to be their starting quarterback barring something unforeseen, the transfer from Ohio State.

10 for 16, 91 yards. No touchdowns, no interceptions. 10 for 1691 yard. That, that, you're talking. You're talking. You're talking. about vanilla. That is Checkdown City right there. But listen, to be fair, that's the Louisville first team offense going up against their first team defense. So perhaps the defense is, you know, the coverage is very tight. They're getting

penetration. So listen, I'm not going to say this automatically means there's anything wrong with the... It could have been a great showing from the defense to spring game. And, and Starwide, Ray Richardson, did not participate. Did not play. And Isaac Brown did not participate. Isaac Brown did not

And let me tell you something, those two, that's, that's something on the offense now. That's something on the offense. So we get it, but still, let them, let them air it out a little bit. You know what I mean? Let them, let them get in there. Let them, let him really do his thing. Let them spin just a little bit because that, that's just like, come on, dude, come on, man. That's, that's really worrisome for me.

But all in all, I will say, I am, I don't take too much out of these spring games because, you know, When you look at these things, I mean, there were reports going around that Archmander threw four interceptions. Archminton didn't even play in Texas. No. There was some account that claimed Darien Mentsa through two or three interceptions. And like, I was there. There was not a turnover worthy throw, let alone an interception. And that's what I'm saying.

If you're not there in person and you don't have boots on the ground sources, not too much weight to be tossed into this. But I will say, Lincoln, I'm. I'm watching you. I'm going to be watching you early in the season next year. Because Louisville is one of those squads, man. I really, really want them to be good. They always feel like they're right there on the precipice of greatness. They feel like they're right there all the time.

And it feels like they're always one player away. And that one player is a quarterback that they win because of, right? Right. You can throw Lamar Jackson on any of these Bromled squads. They'd be in the playoffs. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they'd probably be winning a Natty. Yeah.

Absolutely. But you get what you get, right? You go from plumber to Maw's to, you know, and you kind of get what you get there. So I will say there are many worse things to be concerned about. But I still am concerned about the fact that, I mean, even through spring, Keynotes has not shown me anything super impressive. Even the reports that I've heard out of Louisville Springball have been like, he's been good.

He's on schedule. What scares me. What scares me? I don't want to hear on schedule. I want to hear this guy is lighting the world on fire, but we'll see. Yeah, so I was hearing Jeff Brom's comments afterwards, and it sounded like he was a little regretful that, like the rest of the offense didn't do a good enough job.

Like you mentioned, there were some key players out either with injury or just precautionary like Trey Richardson, but they weren't really giving him options to throw down the field. So Brom wasn't really putting that on. Keenholz. He was more putting it on the rest of the offense for what that's worth. Their backup quarterback had some juice, Kenton. David Widner, 10 for 12, 194 yards, two touchdowns. So that was going up against, I think, second and third teamers on defense. So not not the same personnel, but hey, they got a backup who's got a little juice there, at least in

the spring game. I'm going to tell you this. I'm going to tell you this. Wouldn't be the first time that we saw a backup come in and make magic happen. Wouldn't be the first time. I'm just, Just saying a few years ago, that TCU team that went on the magical run was, who was there starting to start off the season? I don't believe it was Dugging. I don't believe it was not. So, you know, I'm just saying. But in all seriousness, I really do have a good outlook for Louisville going into the season.

And this spring game did nothing to dispel that. Like I didn't watch. I didn't hear about it. Let me not lie and say I watched it. I didn't hear anything out of the spring game where I'm like, what's going on there? What's, y'all are. scaring me cards what's happening yeah yeah let's see um looking at uh which who who else's spring game uh grunkemeyer with uh with virginia tech we talked about their day a little bit oh

here's the one that didn't have a whole lot going on so beau prebula uh is clearly the starter for virginia he went out there he was with the first team offense but he only attempted four passes, Ken. So it doesn't sound like he played very a lot. Probula just went two for four for 40 yards. Eli Holstein, I don't see the full stats for him, but it seems like clearly there's not much of a competition. It's Prubula's job. But Holstein did throw a 13-yard touchdown pass, and he had a 29-yard completion on the day. Peyton Lewis at running back had a 51-yard run for them. You'd like to see them get some juice. at running back after who they lost last year.

So we shall see because Virginia is certainly a team where we wonder if they can build on their first double-digit win season in so long last year. They got to the ACC championship game. Was that a flash in the pan for them? And Tony Elliott was on the hot seat before that. Like can they sustain success is what we all want to see? That's absolutely a wonderful question. I don't feel like that's an illegitimate question that ought to ask.

and I'm very protective of ACC coaches in their respect and saying like, hey, no, you don't disrespect this coach and act like if he would have won 10 in the big 10, everybody would call him the new greatness and all that. But I really do think that you have to ask that question sometimes. That's a valid question to ask. And I'll tell you this. I like I said about Louisville, same thing applies to UVA.

I came into this game with some concerns and some, hmm, what's going on there? I leave this game, not feeling worse about them, I will say I do feel slightly better about UVA only because their backs put on a show. And I was wondering how they were going to replace Jamari Taylor. Because Quiet's kept. As much as we talk about Morris, Jamari Taylor was very secretly to start that show. He was very secretly the table setter that then allowed Morris to get down and do what he does. So I was wondering who's going to be their new back?

Who's going to be the new guy that provides that pop to where, hey, it's just one miss tackle and this Katie did's at the doorstep. I remember watching Virginia last year play NC State, fourth and one, fourth and one. They hand the ball off to Jamari Taylor. Now, this is what I mean by a math changer is a game changer. You saw NC State contact them one yard in the backfield with one defensive lineman. And then two linebackers contacting them at the line of scrimmage or within one yard of the line of scourge. He made all three of those players miss and ended up celebrating a 30-something yard touchdown.

That is the type of stuff. You need that if you're going to be a great team. I don't care what anybody says or how you say it. You need multiple math changes, guys who the numbers and the equation does not work out. Because on paper you can say, all right, we got a guy to fill here. We got three points of pressure here. The ball to be tackled. But that running back says, I beg your pardon.

You got a guy where? Hmm, that's cute. We'll see how that goes for you. So they need those math changes. The price may be it for this thing. When we come back, Georgia Tech in their spring game, Alberto Mendoza, the first team quarterback, had a good day for the yellow jackets. Plus, Brent Key does not seem to be worried about the shadow portal.

You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Lockdown ACC. Thank you so much for making Lockdown ACC your first listen. And for your next listen, make sure you check out our other shows. Kent and Gibbs and Grayson Boone do an awesome job hosting Locked-on Wolfpack, talking all things NC State. I talk all things Miami on Locked-on Caints. So I know NC State didn't have a spring game.

Did they do like a fan fest or something or did they keep it more low-key? Yeah, it was much more low-key. It was a former players invite and reunion type of deal. Oh, nice. Yeah, former players, you know, very nice to be there. Yeah, but, you know, in all seriousness, you know, NC State, I mean, it's standard stuff, kept it very vanilla. You saw what you expected to some degree, a high-powered offense, a defense that's coming along. They're coming along in the lineback and core, a lot better than most people thought before.

A guy, Popo. Hey, listen, Popo's been said in the world. Thank you. We're gracious. We're gracious. I'm still upset about it. I'm still, yeah. Hey, listen, y'all got an embarrassment of riches over there.

You know, you got an embarrassment of riches down. down there in Coral Gables. So, you know, but in all seriousness, NC State had a very understated spring game and whatnot, which, honestly, that's what's best for NC State. Every time they have low expectations, that's when they like the world on fire. But the minute, the millisecond, you start looking around saying,

is this state legit? Are we going to get an ACC championship game appearance? They're like, hey, best I can do is seven games. That's all I got for your player. That's all I got seven. I got to ask you because he's one of my favorite college football players. Actually, one of my favorite football players ever, period. Was Philip Rivers, did he show up to the event?

Or was he too big time? Well, here's a very interesting thing about that. You know his son is an NC State, you know. Yeah, he's right? Gunner, his name's Gunner Rivers. Yeah, he's the first of the Rivers boys. There's a couple more coming down the pipeline. Oh, isn't there like eight more?

Oh, no, no. He's got a ton of kids, but most of them are girls. He's at more. The old girls and more. He's a great dad already. Philip's a granddad already. He's literally a grandfather because his oldest daughter. That's right.

There's, I don't believe Philip was there, but I could be wrong. I could be wrong on that. I got a fact checked out one, but I don't believe Philip's. Well, I'm just, I'm a huge fan. Like, I love, ever since he beat Florida State in like, oh, two, or oh, three or whatever it was, I'm a huge Philip Rivers fan. Oh, man. But as far as Georgia Tech goes, Alberto Mendoza, Indiana transfer, younger brother of the Heisman winner, he was their starting quarterback.

And it sounds like he had a good day for the rambling wreck, 12 for 16, 148 yards in a touchdown. But I think one of the bigger stories, though, for Georgia Tech is Brent Key had a funny comment afterwards, their head coach in that, like, it's such a relief, he said that he could have his spring exit interview. views with all of his players, not having to wonder, are their butts going to be on my roster next year, right, since there's not a spring transfer portal? So, yeah, with that quote, it doesn't sound to me like Coach Key is worried about any of his guys, you know, unenrolling and enrolling somewhere else, which the NCAA has passed these preemptive rules about that coaches would be suspended for half the season. If you take any ghost transfers, and you forfeit 20% of your marketing budget

or your revenue sharing budget, I should say. So if Coach Key isn't worried about it, Kenton, then maybe we have averted the potential crisis that is the shadow portal. Coach Key may not be worried about the shadow portal, but the shadow portal is indeed worried about Atlanta, Georgia. No, but in that seriousness, you know, I have, I will say this.

I have heard very little in terms of players transferring and whatnot, But we all know how these things go. They're honored until they're not. It's, hey, everybody respects it until you get one player to drip out. And then all of a sudden, two players are trickling out. And then all of a sudden, you got six players that are leaking out. And then all of a sudden, you got a flood of players into the shadow one. And lawsuits everywhere and, you know, all that good stuff.

And, oh, we order restraint an order for him to play for the season. And none of the penalties to be involved in all that. So, you know, I will say I give the NCAA kudos where kudos are due. They did their big one. They did their thing. Nobody really asked about it. Nobody really said anything to the effect of, hey, what's going on? Players are transfer and players are leaving.

Key is right there. I haven't heard any smoke about any players from NC State leaving at the end of the at the end of the spring ball session. Dono, I'm sure you haven't heard anything about any Miami players leaving. So again, as much as I talk bad about the ACC, as much as I talk bad about the NCAA, I will give both institutions their credit when they have done something successfully.

And this is a moment where the NCAA, you have won the day, my friends. I'll tell you, I was rooting for there to be a shadow portal because it would just make our, it would make our next month of shows so much more fun. If there were guys like, and I hope it still happens. Like I hope there's one guy who decides, you know what,

I'd really like to be in Coral Gables. Let me slide into that shadow board. Oh, of course he got a hope to be in Coral Gables. Anywhere. If he wants to go to Raleigh. Don't I got enough of everything down there? You got, oh, we got a first round tackle store that we just go get new guys out of all the time. Oh, y'all be missing those five-star tackles?

Can't relate, not us. Listen, okay, y'all greedy. That's that gluttony they talk about in the Bible. That's that greed that they talk about in the Bible. Yeah. Yeah, but I think overall, most coaches are pretty happy. They prefer it this way because obviously having another transfer portal, yes, it gives you opportunities to address weaknesses coming out of spring ball or, you know, God forbid you have any serious injuries. But at the same time, you play a lot more defense than offense, especially at certain schools where you're really worried about getting rated. So yeah, you no longer have the opportunity to supplement your roster. in April, but you also don't have to worry about guys leaving in April. So I think coaches prefer it this way. And overall, I mean, at the end of the day, the less chaos, the easier it is to manage

roster building. Whether you're a feeder school or a school that's a taker, it's easier to manage the roster, period. It's easier to know, hey, this player that can't cover grass, we got to figure out how to get him to buzz to the flats and figure out his landmarks and his drops and, you know, when they're going to run Star Concept, when they're going to run Flob, when I need him to know that right away as opposed to, you know what, we can get rid of this kid. We can just go get somebody that's going to play over this kid. No, no, no. I know that I have to coach him up. Yeah,

yeah. Well, I'm sure even without a shadow portal, we'll have plenty of stuff to talk about this week on Lockedon ACC. Make sure you follow Kenton at TGIF underscore Kenton. Check him out on Lockdown Wolfpack. Check me out at Lockdowne Kain's at Alex Dono on X. And we'll talk to you next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC. We are part of the number one Locked on podcast network, your team every day.