Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - INSIDER: Syracuse's QB Battle HEATS UP | Will Steve Angeli LOSE Starting Job to Rickie Collins?

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

SYRACUSE FOOTBALL: Quarterback battle heats up as ORANGE prepare for tough 2025 scheduleWho will lead the SYRACUSE ORANGE offense this fall? A fierce QB competition unfolds between Notre Dame transfer Steve Angelli and LSU transfer Rickie Collins. Host Alex Donno and guest Jackson Holzer break down the Orange's defensive needs, challenging schedule featuring Tennessee and Clemson, and new coach Fran Brown's potential impact. The crew analyzes ACC championship odds, highlighting value picks like Duke at +3500. Will Syracuse's revamped defense make crucial stops to compete in a loaded conference?Tune in for expert insights on Syracuse's path in the ACC and which longshots could shake up the conference title race.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYTime to fuel up and turn it up with 5-hour ENERGY®️ Transfusion! Go to https://5hourenergy.com today and use my promo code LOCKEDONGOLF to receive 20% off your order. This offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions. The code is not good on subscription orders.  GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE at www.monarchmoney.com/lockedoncollege for 50% off your first year.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.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.

When Steve Angelly transferred from Notre Dame to Syracuse, we all assumed that's their starting quarterback. Not so fast, my friends. You are locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Syracuse to me is one of the more interesting teams to cover Kent and Gibbs because everyone assumes they're going to have a really bad season because of their schedule primarily, yet everyone's really high on Fran Brown in the direction of the program. They just think they're going to be really bad this year, but they're still really high on the

coach. Absolutely. It's hard to not be. I mean, I was on TikTok the other day and saw Fran Brown quote jump off because the guy was running his college football 26 dynasty and he said, yeah, one of my slot receivers asked me for two mill. That's a little bro over at Ohio State. I was oh, my God, Fred Brown talk has arrived, ladies and gentlemen.

He is here on the national scene. Well, he is Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono from Lockdown-on Canes. And thank you so much for making Lockdown ACC, your first listen and your first watch. We're available free, wherever you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. On this episode, we'll talk about the best value if you're going to bet on a team to win the ACC this year.

Spoiler alert, the best value is not Clemson. Emphasis on the word value. We'll talk about the season outlook for the Syracuse Orange, but updates on their training camp we're joined by host of Locked on Syracuse, Jackson Holzer. So Jackson, right off the top, like I mentioned, hey, Steve Angelly, he might win the job, but he's not definitely going to be Syracuse's starter this year. What's the latest on the competition between Angelly and Ricky Collins? The latest is that this is a true quarterback competition.

How about that? And that I think the public perception, from the outside, maybe not necessarily from people inside Syracuse, is that, hey, Steve Angelly, he's coming over from Notre Dame. You don't leave Notre Dame to go sit on the bench at a school like Syracuse, with all due respect to Syracuse. You're leaving Notre Dame to go to Syracuse. You figure you got to be the starter there, especially with the experience that he does have, starting a bowl game, filling in for a drive in a college football playoff, filling in well, I might add in that college football playoff, but they like Ricky Collins too.

Ricky Collins is a transfer from LSU. He wasn't going to play at LSU this year because Derek Nussmeyer is still there. And similar sentiment with Steve Angelly, right? You're not transferring from Notre Dame to go to Syracuse just to sit on the bench, right? You want an opportunity to start? Same thing with Ricky Collins. He's coming over from LSU. You think he wants to sit on the bench either?

Probably not. So this is a true quarter. back competition here. The coaching staff has said basically that they love the fact that that Steve Angelly has got that experience behind him, right? Mentioned the bowl game. Mentioned the fact that he also had that cameo appearance in the college football playoff. But also they think Ricky Collins is really talented. He can be a dual threat quarterback for Syracuse football, which would be different from what they had last season with

Kyle McCord. So that's the latest. It's a true quarterback competition. They're going to have a Strimmage pretty soon on the hill. So we'll see what happens from the Strimmage. I don't know exactly when they're going to officially come out and name a starter. I still think we're at least a week or two away before that happens. So you talk about Ricky Collins potentially being a change from your quarterback last year, Kyle McCourt. But this offense is seeing a ton of changes from what it was last year in terms of, you know, a lot of very productive guys who've either going on to the NFL or going on to Penn State. in the situation of Trevor Pena.

What do you look at as kind of the North Star for this offense to say, hey, this is the thing that this offense will be able to hang their hat on under Fran Brown in year two? I think they're still going to be good at wide receiver. Last season, they had Jackson Meeks, they had Trevor Pena, they had a Ronde Gadsden at tight end, and McQuinn Allen was one of the best past hatching running backs in college football. all four of those dies, excellent players, and it's going to be tough to replace them. But if you look at Syracuse, I think they're pretty deep still, despite not having any of those dies returning. You got a guy in Darrell Gill, who's entering his third season of college football,

who last year took a big step forward in development and actually led the ACC in yards per catch. So he could stretch the field. They brought in Jontay Cook, who, yeah, yeah, I understand he hasn't quite lived up to his potential just yet. But hey, this is a fresh start, a fresh opportunity for him. I think he's going to slot in right there where Trevor Pena was supposed to be. And I'm not sure if they actually go out and get Jonte Cook had they kept Trevor Pena. I love Trevor Pena. We'll see if Jontay Cook makes us thinking by midseason, who's he, right? Because Jontay Cook, it's on the table. He has a massive season given the fact that he was a

five-star recruit as recent as 2023. So he's got. a lot of potential. And then the other guy kind of overshadowed a bit, but we had high expectations for him last year as Syracuse fans, Justice Ross Simmons. He's a transfer from Colorado State heading into last year, thought he was going to be a top two wide receiver on the team. But unfortunately, he dealt with a nagging hamstring injury towards the end of fall camp. It bled into the start of the regular season. And by the time he got healthy and was seemingly ready to go and ready to take on a bigger role, too many guys had already taken an opportunity from them. You already saw Jackson Meeks emerge. Darrell Gill was already kind of that

depth piece for Syracuse that they needed. Arronday Gadsden stayed healthy. Trevor Payne stayed healthy for the most part. Aquin Allen stayed healthy for the most part. There was just not enough opportunity for Justice Ross Simmons to get on the field when he was healthy. Well, now he's healthy. And he's got that fresh opportunity to be a top wide receiver on this team. So if they get good quarterback play, you got the talent around the quarterback at the receiver position. That's something that you can hang your hat on. So far in training camp, as we're joined by Jackson Holzer of Locked on Syracuse, what's the buzz been, I should say, on the defensive side of the football?

Good question, because Syracuse is known more as an offensive team. Look, let's face it with their defense. They got to improve in pretty much. every single aspect. You look at the stat sheet last year. It's not impressive. I pointed this out on the podcast. There was not one area really where they were good at on defense.

There were some where they were kind of mediocre relative to the ACC where you're not terrible, but there's nowhere where they're like, yeah, you're top five in sacks or you're a top five run defense. So the emphasis this year has got to be improvement across the board. and Fram Brown is having players wear shirts from some of the couple of key plays from last season that really went against them. There were a lot of key plays that went in their favor. But the reason why last year, Syracuse didn't have that Indiana type season where you know, you take advantage of the schedule you're given and you go 11 and 1 and you take that to the college football playoff is because fourth and nine against Stanford.

You didn't get that stop when you needed to get that stop. Fourth and one against Boston College. You didn't get that stop when you really needed that stop. So that is the emphasis, which is now you got to make the big play when the big play is there. So you talk about making the big play when the big play is there. Who are going to be the big play guys this year for Syracuse? Because let's be honest about it. It's never about your ex and those.

It's your Lairies and Jones. You talk about the fourth and nine. You had a corner one-on-one with Alec Island-Mino. I don't think that was a great idea. But- Kenton, don't get me started on that play. They rush three. they drop eight. Hold on a second here. They rush three. And look, the coaching staff has already

talked about this play long enough. So like they've admitted it was a complete mistake. But like, come on, you rush three, you drop eight. And yet their best wide receiver who's going to the national football league is still left one on one. What's the point of rushing three and dropping eight at that point? But that's what I mean in terms of your big time playmakers, you're going to need some players to make big time plays. Who do you expect? those players to be this year on offense and defense where you say this guy is going to be one of those guys that we look at and we say if Syracuse is to exceed expectations with a brutal schedule, this guy's going to have to make some big time plates.

Well, how about the fact that Syracuse is putting a lot of trust in someone who is 17 years old? Demetrius Samuel Jr. A consensus four-star recruit, two-way player, by the way. He's a corner. He might be the team's number one corner this year. And he's also going to get reps at wide receiver. They're going to use him, I think, in a similar way to Travis Hunter. I'm not going to sit here and say he's Travis Hunter 2.0 and all that stuff. Don't please.

Like, okay. But they're putting a lot of faith in him. 17 years old. Now, we've seen 17-year-olds in college football do quite well. Ryan Williams last year over at Alabama. It can be done. But Demetre Samuel, Jr., number one corner for Syracuse. And his first test, it's not going to be against popcorn state, right?

Tennessee. Tennessee. All right. Here we go. So how good is he going to be as a true freshman, 17 years old? I got high hopes for him at least long term. I'm very curious to see what he's got short term. And also you got Chris Peel, a transfer from Georgia in the defensive back room as well,

competing with Davy and Kerr, I think, for that second cornerback spot. I think both have a ton of potential. We just haven't seen enough from either of them just yet. Davian Kerr did start the final four games for Syracuse over at corner. So they like him at least enough to start him at the end of last year. But we'll see what happens. Syracuse does have a decent track record, at least over the past season, and now a fall camp of getting guys from Georgia and having them exceed.

Well, you know, we mentioned Tennessee is the opener. And the schedule doesn't really get any easier after that. Let's take a look at the Syracuse Season Outlook when we come back. We got Jackson Holzer from Locked on Syracuse with us, Kenton Gibbs and Alex Dono. You guys want to keep it locked. We're only getting started on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Do you ever wish that managing your money felt easier? With Monarch money, it can.

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There's a lot going on there this offseason, including a quarterback competition. Jackson Holzers can keep you updated, available free, wherever you get your podcast and free on YouTube. All right, so Jackson, beyond Tennessee, what are the other, in your mind, like the two or three other toughest games

on Syracuse's schedule this season? How about at Clemson at Notre Dame? How about that? Or would you like to do at SMU, at Miami. How about Georgia Tech on the road? You have any home games this year? Sheesh. No, actually, it's really unfortunate for Syracuse fans. They're closing the JMA Wireless Dome this year. They're also, all the fields are gone. Like, they were just wiped away, clean. So Syracuse is going to play zero home games. They're just not going to be in Syracuse

this year. They're going all on the road, 12 games. Lord, have mercy. That is a tough, you know, when parents talk about we went uphill both ways and 12 feet of snow. That's what this Syracuse schedule is looking like. So let me ask you this. You look at this. Everybody's talking about how tough the schedule is and all that type of stuff. What is a game or two in there where you say to yourself, Syracuse can steal this one.

This is one where you're going to be a dog, but I could see this one turning out in Syracuse's favor. What are the game or two or a few games that you look at and say, that's more pliable than what Vegas and the fans might think right now? I would say any game as of right now that is not at Clemson or at Notre Dame. Because, look, I'm not going to sit here and say Syracuse is going to go into Miami and win or into SMU and win or anything like that or they're going to beat Tennessee in week one, right? I mean, but at the end of the day, they have a tough schedule.

and we know this. You can also make it tough on the opponent as well. Like here's the thing with Syracuse. You're also allowed to be good. So if you're a good team, you're allowed to beat other good teams. I want to see how good this, how good this Syracuse team is

because it's a different roster than last year. They kept the big three coaches, but the personnel for the most part is much different. They got a couple, of players on offense and defense who are the same as last year. You know, you got Deuce Chestnut back there. You got Devin Grant back there. Darrell Gill is back, but even Darrell Gil is going to take a bigger role this season. Yassine Willis and Will Nixon at running back. They're back, but going to have a bigger role this upcoming season. Their offensive line's brand new.

Defensive lines got a couple of holdovers, but also some new pieces there as well. It's a brand new Syracuse football roster. They have a tough schedule, but Syracuse is also allowed to be a good team as well. And when you're a good team, you're going to beat other good teams. I think the big test for them is truly in week one against Tennessee. Because when I look at Tennessee this season, I view them in the SEC as a pretty good team in that conference. But they're not overwhelming, at least on paper in my opinion, relative to the rest of

the SEC. It's not like we're sitting here saying, hey, Syracuse is opening the season against Georgia. They're opening up against Alabama. They're going to lose by 30 or 40 points, whether we like it or not. Vegas is already giving them a puncher's chance to beat Tennessee. I believe if you check Fanduil, there are about a two touchdown underdog to them. They got their own quarterback situation that they got to deal with as well. Tennessee probably should win that game, but hey, who knows, right? It's week one. Weird stuff can happen in week one especially. So hey, Syracuse is a good team. you can beat Tennessee in a neutral site. And if you can beat Tennessee in a neutral site,

there are plenty of teams also on that schedule you can beat as well. The two toughest ones at Clemson at Notre Dame. Is there a bar you set in terms of number of wins where you go over that or at that it's a successful season. Under that, it's unsuccessful. Great question, because Fran Brown would tell you that it's undefeated and win the national title. And that's what I think everyone in Syracuse.

would say as well, now I'm not on the coaching staff. I don't play for the team. I don't manage the team either. So I'm going to have my own opinion on them, what is a successful season or not. Make a ball. Like, I don't care how top the schedule is. You want to continue the momentum that this program built from last season. Find a way to win six games. You're a good program, right? Or you want to be a good program. You want to take that next step. We all acknowledge that the schedule was tougher than last year. People would be understanding if you don't replicate nine and three again. We understand.

We get it. Go six and six at minimum. Go make a bowl game. If you don't make a bowl game, you better have a pretty damn good excuse as to why you didn't make the ball game. So I know that we're talking season outlook, but let's go beyond the season for just a second here, okay? Because Fran Brown, Rising Star,

getting five-star commits to come to Syracuse, highest-rank commits, since you and I were in diapers, Jackson. That's how long it's been since Syracuse's landed that type of player. Let's say Fran Brown does go nine and three again. Let's say, even with this gauntlet of a schedule, he pops out on the back end, ha ha, I got washed up for every game afterwards except two, right? What do you think the odds are that he stays in Syracuse at that point?

Do you still see that as like a, hey, he's home, he's here, he mint it, Or is that much more of a 10 million reasons? There's a lot of reasons to leave home again, per se. He's never given an indication that he's taking Syracuse just to go leave for somewhere else. So I have to kind of take him for, like I have to trust his word on it. Honestly, that's a good problem to have. If you're a really good team again this year with a great,

with a tough schedule and a brand new roster and you still churn out a similar result to the year you had before. That's incredible. At that point, if you're Syracuse, here's what you got to do. Especially when you look at the recruiting classes in the pipeline. Top 25 class in the country coming in in 2026. You don't want that to disappear. You've got to give the guy a blank check.

You've got to be willing to match any offer that's out there. Because one thing that I have told Syracuse fans consistently is that if the good problem emerges, which is that they have another big year, teams are going to call. It's inevitable. Big or perceived bigger programs are going to call. The example that I give all the time is, you know, Billy Napier over at the University of Florida is on the hot seat. If Florida doesn't win this year, he's done because they were going to fire him at the end

of last year, but they kind of got hot towards the end and they said, you know what, all that money we raised to fire him, well, we're actually going to put that into the recruiting aspect now. now. So we're just going to make the roster better. And we're going to give Billy Napier one more year. Well, you know what, Billy Napier? If you don't do a good job at the University of Florida, you're done. It's over for it.

University of Florida is a pretty nice head coaching gig. You don't think they would be interested in a guy like Fram Brown coming off back-to-back nine-win regular seasons at Syracuse. He's already recruiting five-star players in the state of Florida, too. He's a great. He's got an SEC background, even the fact that he was at Georgia, before he was at Syracuse. He can recruit pretty much anywhere you want him to recruit in the country.

You want him to go in the Northeast and get kids from Pennsylvania. He can do that or get maybe the top players from New York to come play. He can do that. You want him to recruit in Florida with all the resources that he's got. I'm sorry, Dono. If Fran Brown were to go to Miami, Fran Brown, if he goes to the University of Florida, he's going to out-recruit Miami. Period. End of story.

Like, you're kind of, that's going to be tough. It would be more competitive. I don't, honestly, and I see this, he would. He would. With those resources, he's out recruiting Miami all day. Hey, Donald. I don't think about hers harder than Fram Brown. Hold on.

If anybody other than Mario Cristobo was at Miami, if anybody other than Mario Cristobal was at Miami, I would say yes. But I think it would be a fight. They would be a slug fest. Donno, you're my permanent co-host. I want to rock with you. I can't imagine.

With all due respect to Cristobo, we've seen him born on third base twice. at Oregon and Miami, two places that historically, they're bad recruiting classes. We're talking about recruiting. We're talking about recruiting. In terms of recruiting, Oregon's bad year, Miami's bad year. Most schools in the ACC would pray and beg for Oregon and Miami's bad year.

Syracuse, their bad year, every team would cry, pee on themselves and throw up if they saw that recruiting class come in. Did you see what it was like before Fran Brown? They're sitting here bottom the ACC every year. I think it would be. They got a top 25 class coming in. The guy comes to the University of Florida. He's out recruiting everyone. I think it could be competitive on a good crystal ball year,

but I think year for year on average, I think Fran will cook them. I just, that's just what I see. I'm sorry. I will concede to the point where, like, Fran Brown at Florida would get me, would get me nervous. Like, Miami wouldn't be winning battles the same way that they win battles

against Florida and Florida State. Like, that would make me, I've always said the same thing about if Dion Sanders were to ever actually go back to his alma moderate Florida state, that would concern me. Fran Brown at Florida would concern me. But I still, I would trust Christobal to win a lot of those battles because he can close. Miami's always going to get there. Miami's not, I'm not going to sit here and say Miami's never going to get a player.

Like they're going to win battles. I'm just saying that year in and year out, Florida would out recruit Miami with Fran Brown. But back to Syracuse, you just got a match. whatever any team is willing to give, right? You got to open up the checkbook and say, hey, you know what? What, what's the number? What, what's it going to take? And if he truly wants to say, he'll say a number. Syracuse will hopefully be able to give it to him and they give it to them and we never have to talk about Fran Brown leaving. That's that. Again, good problem to have if you're in that situation, because that means your program is heading in the right direction.

You just want to make sure that you're no longer the stepping, you're no longer that stepping stone anymore, right? You're not taking the Syracuse job to then take a Florida job. You're taking the Syracuse job and we're going to pay you to continue to be the Syracuse coach so that, hey, two nine wins seasons maybe in a row. Year three, we're looking at college football playoff expectations. That's where you want to get to and you want to keep building and building from there. Well, we appreciate the time even though he's, you know, raising these blasphemous claims about Fran Brown recruiting at Florida.

Jackson Holzer. Last moment. You've got Kenton agreeing with me. That's kind of a... Yeah. That is bizarre. History in the making that's never happened before. Well, quite an appearance then from Jackson Hulzer.

Check him out at Lockdown, Syracuse. Thank you so much, Jackson. Thank you so much. Anytime. Yeah, I think that is the first time that you and Jackson have ever publicly agreed on anything with all those squad episodes. Yeah, I mean, he, he, He's a kid cat type of guy, too. You know, we're just different types of guys, me and Jackson.

You know, I hate kid cats and everything in me. But that's neither here nor there. You know, it is always a great time having Jackson all. Well, here's something I think Kenton and I will agree on in terms of best value to win the ACC this coming season. You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Oh, I need that pick me up, my friends. The one that I get from five-hour energy.

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All right. So Kent, looking at the betting odds for ACCC champion this year, you know, Clemson. Clemson is such an overwhelming favorite that, you know, unless you're maybe a Clemson fan, you feel very, very confident that nothing can stand in your way to win the conference. I don't see a whole lot of value at Clemson minus 110. to win the ACC. Miami at plus 400, I guess decent value. But I think when you get into the sweet spot, KG,

you start to get to these teams that are sort of in the middle of those favorites list. Louisville at plus 750, which means you'd get $750 back on a $100 bet if they won the ACC. SMU at plus 850. And how about this one, Kenton? I know you're not a betting man, but you're going to be running to Fandul.com at about five seconds. You can get plus 1,200 odds on Georgia Tech. You can turn $100 into $1,200 if they win the ACC. That's a good one. That's some good value right there because you're looking at returning your starting

quarterback. You're looking at returning, you're starting running back. You're looking at returning a good amount of your defense as well. And a defense that took Georgia to eight, you know, overtimes there, a team that show when Haines King was healthy, there were times where it was like, what do you do with this team? How do you stop them? And you're telling me that that team is plus 1,200?

Donno, you may get a call for me at 1230 at night. Come on, I've got the best beat, Donald. I've got one for you. Because that is the type of value right there that can get anybody off the sidelines and into the game in terms of betting. And also Louisville, another team that, you know, they say two things travel everywhere in any type of weather. Run game and defense.

Now, their defense obviously lost in key pieces and whatnot, but that running game is going to be explosive. It was explosive last year. I'm not expecting a drop off this year. And you bring in a Miller Moss as well, which, let's be very honest, I have been here all along. And I have, when I give Louisville their lashings for having to start Tyler Shuck, I'm also going to give them love for starting a quarterback.

that I think is immensely better than Tyler Shuck in terms of a Miller Mall. So I think that that is a group. And then Chris Bell out wide as well, that is a group that is going to be able to put up a lot of points. The defense, be opportunistic and you'll figure it out from there. I think that this is honestly a great setup for them in terms of value. I'll tell you the other one that I think there's value in. And again, I'm not telling you they're going to win the conference. I'm telling you that your odds are pretty good based on how good I think this team is going to be.

And that's Duke. Duke at plus 3,500. And you know what's interesting about Duke is they are behind Florida State at plus 2,500, who I feel is probably a little overvalued. And they're behind North Carolina at plus 3,000. You can get Duke at plus 3,500. I think Duke's going to be better than both of those teams I previously mentioned. Let me tell you something, Donald.

Actually, let me not tell you, because I know. know you're smartness, but to lock down ACC listeners out there, if you plan on putting $100 on Florida State or the University of North Carolina to win the ACC this year, I have a better thought for you, okay? Send it to me. Uh, send my cash app is dollar sign just gives. At least you'll be paying for me to get a stake the size of my back or something. It'll go somewhere besides to a billionaire betting site that, you know, they're not, they're not going to miss that money. Okay.

Go to charity. Go give it away to the Boys and Girls Club of America. Something like that. Do something generous with that money. Don't just throw it at Fandu. Don't just throw it. Don't do that. Don't.

There are many better ways to use your money. Now, Duke, on the other hand, that team, that is some exquisite value. That is. Because people believe that they upgraded that quarterback. Yes, you do see a drop off in terms of your skill positions around your quarterback. But you upgrade a quarterback, you have a defense that you know it's going to be excellent under Mandy Diaz. And Manny Diaz seems to have figured out that head coaching thing this time around, doesn't he?

He seems to have it rolling at a higher clip with a fairly pliable schedule. Duke does not have a world beater schedule to where you're like, oh, man, I see a bunch of games that you look at them and you know they're done. I mean, Elon, Illinois, Tulane, NC State, Syracuse, Cal. that's how they start the season off. You know what I mean? And then you ended with Georgia Tech in Clemson as your first two games in that back half of the second half of the season. But you got UConn, Virginia, Dirty Foot Club, I'm sorry,

UNC and then Wake Forest. I could see a 10-win season out of that. And going six and two in conference, there's a world where you get there. If you get there, that's pretty much all you need to do because with all due respect to even a Clemson, there is not a team in this conference

that's more than two or three bad plays away from losing to do. There is. So, you know, I think that that's a great value for where they're at. Yeah, no, I think that's really well said. And heck, I mean, they won nine games last year. Just say that they could win 10 this year.

It's not a crazy thought whatsoever. He is Kenton Gibbs. make sure you check him out on X at TGIF underscore Kenton and at Lockdown Wolfpack. Check me out at Alex Dono and on Locked on Cains. And we'll talk to everyone next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC. We are part of the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.