Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - NC State's Run Comes To An End, Will There Be A Lasting Impact? Clemson & NC State Spring Football

Episode Date: April 8, 2024

NC State’s magical run through the NCAA tournament came to an end in their Final Four loss to Purdue. Will the Wolfpack leave a lasting impact? How can the ACC benefit from having an underdog reach the last four, and how will the Wolfpack hoops program benefit in recruiting and team-building for the future? Why didn’t NC State have enough for Zach Edey and company? The game came undone in the second half, when the Boilermakers held NC State to just 20 points in the final 20 minutes. Hosts Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs break down NC State’s Cinderella run. The guys also recap the first two spring football games in the ACC. Clemson and NC State both played their spring games on Saturday. The guys weren’t impressed by Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik and wonder if he will hold Dabo Swinney’s team back. Meanwhile, the Wolfpack seem to have a quarterback for the future in early enrollee freshman CJ Bailey. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! LinkedInThese days every new potential hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small business. That’s why LinkedIn Jobs helps find the right people for your team, faster and for free. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/lockedoncollege. Terms and conditions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARENTEED That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – win or lose! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.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.

Well, NC State's Cinderella run came to an end in the final four. But what will be the lasting impact? You are Locked on ACCC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Shout out to the everydayers for making Locked on ACC. Your first listen and your first watch today, we're part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I am Alex Dono from Locked on Cains.

He's Kenton Gibbs from Locked on Wolfpack. And what a valuable resource Kenton has been to everybody during these great NC state runs, both men's and women's. They come to an end in the final four. NC state men's team falls 63 to 50 to Purdue, who punches their ticket to the final game. Yukon, not surprisingly, punched their ticket later that night. But Kenton, I think about what the lasting impact could be here, both from the micro perspective of NC state and from the macro for the ACC.

Also in this episode, we will talk some football, because Clemson and NC State had their football spring games on Saturday, and the next two weeks is just going to be a paloosa of ACC spring games left and right. We'll preview some of those. Now, from a conference standpoint with the Wolfpack Kenton, to me, it's always a positive development when an ACC conference that we felt was underrepresented in the NCAA tournament, only getting five teams in. Same deal last year.

And in both years, you get a team, get all the way to the final four. It was Miami last year, my hurricanes, your Wolfpack. get it done this year. And it's also good to show you that, you know, in a league where even if they didn't get the respect on Selection Sunday, we come to find out that a team like NC State who ended up a double-digit seed and only got in because they won five games in five days in the ACC tournament, the type of grind you get with that Atlantic Coast Conference schedule is going to prepare you for the NCAA tournament. Yeah, for sure. And I think the other thing here is one thing that we know, ACC fans don't have ACC pride.

That's not the thing. The SEC fans, they have most of that. Yeah, that's not a thing. ACC fans do not have ACC pride. But what we do have is we will unify over a good troll. And John Rothstein, Joe Lenardi and company, they provided us excellent troll material this entire run. Oh, the ACCC is a top heavy conference.

That's why they don't deserve the love. Well, let me ask you this. there were three teams, three ACC teams in the Elite 8, if I do recall correct. Right. Yes. Okay. And of those three teams, how many got the double by in the ACC tournament? None, right?

One. Duke was the only team. Duke was the only team out of the three that were in the Elite 8 to get a double by. And here's the fun part about that. The way that the bracket shook out, either way that NC State Duke game went, there was going to be an ACC team in the final four. Right. Mm. And a conference is so top heavy.

In a conference that nobody matters outside of U and C and do. And look at that. There was a school from the triangle in the Final Four all along, just like everybody had predicted, just like everybody knew from the beginning of the tournament. Well, and the Big 12 was the glamor conference of basketball this year, and they were awful in the NCAA tournament. So that's why we play the games.

You don't say. You don't set. You're telling me. me that Texas A&M University Commerce doesn't prepare you for the NTA tournament. Iron sharpens iron in the non-conference. Well, well, what is plastic sharpened? You know, what is very dull plastic sharpened? Because we need to have.

Plastic sharpens rubber. There we go. There we go. So the Big 12 was rubber, okay? And I guess during the tournament time, it was ice cold because those boys cracked under pressure with the slightest tap. This was embarrassing for them. But again, it's the Big 12 where everything is magical and they're okay and they're not going through any problems.

They're not going through any losses. It's just us losers over here at the ACC who, again, happened to continue to whoop the wheels off the Big 12 every time. You know, this NC State team that we're talking about now, I believe their first round matchup was against some team from Lubbock, northern Texas. They got really funny accents. Always sounds like they know something. the Red Raiders, Texas Tech Red Raiders. Is that right? They always sound like they know something.

Oh, if you've ever been to Texas, trust me. That North Texas accent always like ends upward when they're done talking like this. It's kind of like, do you know? I know. Do you know, don't know. It's that type of deal. So, you know, and pardon me for that terrible accent. I'm from Detroit, baby.

I can't help it. But with that in mind, the reality is very simple. When the games that matter of the most happen, I can understand if NCNs, State World won off. But like you said, the year before that, it was your Keynes. The year before that, both UNC and Duke made it. I mean, how many times, you know, as the old saying goes, fool me one time, shame on you, fool me twice, you know, hey, shame on me. Fool me three times. Can't get fooled again, as our former president said there. So, you know, that's what we're looking at here, a situation where the ACC continues to fool. It continues to astonish, despite this being a year over

year, over year occurrence. And despite none of these pundits ever just saying, you know what, we were kind of wrong. We got it wrong. You know, these teams are better than we thought. Instead, they just, the metrics say that they were not good. And just because your teams were good every year for four to five years straight for three weeks, three particular weeks. And it's so interesting that those are the three weeks where the best of everybody's conference gets together, you know, it doesn't change anything. And it's just like, man, if you all double down like this in your relationships, I'd hate to see how your wives handle this at home.

Oh, I haven't won. I'm happily married over 12 years, haven't won an argument in over 12 years. But you know what, though? I really do think that it is such an ego thing because you go in, not with a question, you go in with an answer and a narrative, and you need whatever happens to fit that answer to narrative. When I come and do this show every day, I don't come on here to say,

this is what I think in terms of like, this is what I believe and I need to find facts that support you. The facts that I look at form my opinion. I thought Kay K. Klobnik was the second coming. I thought that he was the next one up in the Clemson line. I said, oh, he didn't look good in his first game ever, but that was a one-off and that was a bowl. You know, it was a lot.

little bit different of a situation he'll be all right come next year he'll be back he's proven me wrong i accept that i accept that i don't walk in with well cave is good so i'm going to find a way to make him good regardless of whatever happens same thing with nc state i don't look at them and say i feel this way about him so i'm going to fight and claw and scrap to have dissipation you've got to let the facts dictate how you feel about it and the facts dictate that this final four run was stuff of legend from the men's team from the women's team it was a little bit more predictable because they were the team

that finished with the most ranked wins in the country. So despite being a three seed and kind of stumbling down the stretch a little bit, it wasn't inconceivable to see them getting to the final four. As soon as their bracket came out,

I knew they were going. I knew right away. I said, yeah, that team's going. Texas can't compete with them. Stanford can't compete with them. They're going. Lo and behold, they went. But this man's team,

this is the stuff that stretches beyond basketball. This is the stuff that gives you hope for the downtrodden, gives you hope for the castaways, the ones that weren't picked first, the ones that aren't seen as that group, the ones that are constantly denigrated, constantly the brides made, never the bride. That team, five wins and five days, and then to go on to get four more after that, where the competition got gradually tougher each game, you know, that's the type of stuff that that stretches beyond sports.

That's life. That's life right there. And that's saying, as long as you show. up as long as you are willing to believe that you can do it. You know, it's that old Henry four quote. The man that believes he can, the man that thinks he can, they both have something in common. He's very likely right. Well, I do want to talk about how the game played out when we come back. And I also want to talk about how a couple of spring games played out. Because again, spring games glorified practices in football, I get that. But you do see certain trends,

especially when you see certain Clemson quarterbacks not seeming to play well in consecutive spring games. So we'll get to all that and so much more. Locked on ACCC, you want to keep it locked. We're only getting started. And if you're a small business owner, you're only getting started with LinkedIn jobs. Guys, when you're hiring, you want to find quality professionals that are right for your role. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn jobs. LinkedIn jobs has all the tools to help find the right professionals for your team faster and for free.

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part of the Lockedon Podcast Network, your team every day. And, you know, you were talking Kenton about how, you know, sometimes we get things wrong. I did have a hard time seeing NC State winning in the game, out right against Purdue, but I thought they would be within double digits. I thought they would cover the spread. They didn't quite do that. There was a lot of DJ Horn and not enough of anybody else.

Kenton, he ended up with 20 points and had a great stretch. Overall, and this includes their work on DJ Burns, but overall, Purdue defensively clamped down so much in the second half, NC State only scored 20 points in the second half of that ball game. That's not going to be good enough to close out of final four. Yeah, and the big thing here is we saw shades of the Can't Get Right teams from earlier. You know, NC State defensively did more than enough. If you hold one of the nation's best scoring teams to 63 points, you should be able to win that game.

You should be able to walk away from that game winner. They weren't able to because the shots just didn't fall. And like you said, too much DJ Horn, not enough for anybody else. That's, you know, that have been a story for NC State for many points in time. during a year. Credit to Purdue. Credit to Purdue. I specifically said, if you make everybody else from that team beat you but Edy, then they win, you tip your cap and you move on. And guess what? You tip your cap. Hey, they showed up. They were the 40% three-point shooting team that they've been throughout the year, and you move on. And so, you know, best of luck to them going forward.

But the actual game, I think the story of the game was Michael O'Connell going down and kind of seeing what that offense looked like without a true floor general, without somebody to truly set it up, control the pace, all those types of things that were immeasurably valuable for NC State throughout this run. Because if you look back at the first game, the game against Louisville, DJ Horn was out with a lower body injury. And he was coming off the bench for the next two or three games in the ACC tournament. But Michael O'Connell was there to again just be that steady guiding hand. Was he a 20-pointed game guy? No, but he was steady. And he was steady. And he knocked down big shots.

If you have the other guys showing up and stepping up, sometimes that's all you need. And when Michael O'Connell went down, this team was in trouble. And again, I'm not saying Purdue did not win this. And if Michael O'Connell was healthy, NC State would still be playing. So don't take it for me saying that.

But I am saying it became a lot tougher of a task to score when you're a set-up guy, when your playmaker, is out. Yeah, because some of the things that Purdue did do well, and like you said, like they earned the VIII. victory and Matt Painter talked about it afterwards that they had to win a game that was a little bit ugly at times. I thought NC State they obviously did a good job containing Zach Edie's offensive stats. He scored half the amount of points he had scored in the previous game. He was held to 20 points. But I thought he really played unselfish Kenton. His passing was on point.

And, you know, he draws so much attention. Like, you know, when you have Eadie on your team, you're able to guard DJ Burns one-on-one and make it difficult for everyone else. North Carolina State couldn't do the same things with Edie. So he was able to find opponents for a lot of open threes. And the boilermakers did shoot 40% from three, which was a big part of their success. But even in a game where Edie doesn't, you know, flash, you know, the 40-16 type of numbers that we've seen him put up. Well, the 40 was a career high, but he'd been close to it before.

But even in games where he doesn't flash quite that much, he still does make the right basketball plays to get his teammates going, and he's really difficult to deal with. And think about this, NC State was down six at half, and they, you know, come out and they keep it close. They keep it close. They go on a very long run where they have produced scoreless for, I want to say like four or five minutes. The problem was they also didn't score.

That was the problem, right? So, again, offensively, you know, credit to Purdue's defense, credit to, you know, painter and company, they did a great job. but the reality is NC State just didn't hit their shots, and we all know basketball is a make or miss game. Anything could happen if you're talking one game, make or miss. Purdue is the better team. Purdue showed who they were all year.

NC State had regressed into that team that we saw earlier in a year that I can't get right out of us where only one side of the ball shows up. And on this night, it was the defense that showed up. But, you know, you're not going to be a top-seated team with only one side of the ball showing up. Let's talk about the lasting impact from an NC state point of view. Now, as a Miami fan, someone who covers the team, I saw the Hurricanes get to the final four last year. They did a very job, we're very poor job following that up, as we all saw, not qualifying for the NCAA tournament, getting bounced in the first round of the ACC tournament.

I still think that things could go okay from Miami when it comes to the long term, because that final four run, even two years ago, helped with recruiting to get a McDonald's All-American like Jaliel Bhea. in, so there are long-term effects from that. NC State are going to be losing the DJs, Burns, and Horn will not be back next year. But do you think NC State can be in a position where they can find more immediate and sustained success after a final four run? Absolutely for a multitude of reasons. This NC State run was unique for a lot of reasons. One of the biggest reasons, the leading score from the team is from the city that the team is in.

Think about that for a second. DJ Horn is a Raleigh native. And he did not originally get the offer out of college, took the long way around, found his way to NC State. Now, I want you to think about this. North Carolina is known as the Hoop State. High school basketball is a very strong part of North Carolina's culture as a state. Some of the best basketball talent in the nation is produced here. And they just saw neither of the blues but NC State.

go to the final four. And not just for the men, for the women as well. And so when you see players that have questions of, can you really win? Imagine if Rob Dillingham was coming out this year instead of last year. You think he still goes to Kentucky?

Nope. I don't think that. Interesting how that would have worked out. But things happen as they do. If fips and butts were bears and nuts, girls will never starve. But going forward, we are looking at a situation where, and I've talked about this before with Roy Williams and Coach K. Retiring,

there was a window that I thought was closed for NC State to re-usher in itself as one of the preeminent powers in college basketball. And did this one run do that on its own? No, but it is a hell of a start. If we look back 15 years from now, an NC State is on that track and they've got multiple national championships, multiple final fours. appearances. You know, a trip to the Sweet 16 is an embarrassment for some NC state teams. If we look back in 15 years and that's the case, we will not look further than this moment

as the definer to say, Kevin Keats was this close to getting fired. And then all of a sudden, all of a sudden, McNally misses a free throw, O'Connell hits the three, and now boom, right? that window that I thought had been closed because I'm like, man, Shire keeps getting number one class after number one class. And, you know, Huber Davis has found his way to a national championship game as well. You know, these are two very good coaches. All of a sudden, that window seems to not be as closed as it was the other day. So, you know, this could have a very long lasting impact for NC State. And I have under good authority that this transitions sports as well, because there are some football recruits who their concerns about NC State

were their ability to win. And I'm talking high-level guys that normally North Carolina's best guys they have to go elsewhere to win championships. I have, under very good word, if NC State football can find a way to carry this momentum and do good things in their season, the perception of NC State is not what it used to be. And I'll just leave it at that. You already stole my guy, C.J. Bailey quarterback formerly from Shamanad Madonna down here. He's Jeremiah Smith and Josiah Trader's quarterback over there.

Miami got into it too late for him. And they only did. Miami pushed him to us. Miami pushed him to us. They said, we don't want to keep. They didn't want him until it was like too late for him to feel wanted, unfortunately. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. It's a, like you said, we're going to talk about him a little later. But it's one of those moments where you start looking at, you start getting these things to snowball. You know, you talk about the one thing affecting another, affecting another, affecting another. Two teams going to the final four in the same year. I've never heard that hurting the program. Never heard of it.

Well, when we come back, not only did NC State have their spring football game, so did Clemson. And there was a lot to like from the Clemson Tigers, specifically on defense. But in there being a lot to like, I'm not sure if they're starting quarterback was one of those things. So you want to keep it locked right here, unlocked on ACC. Thank you so much for making this episode of Locked on ACC, your first listen and your first watch today. Shout out to the everydayers. Locked on ACC is part of the awesome Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Since we were just talking about NC State, Kenton,

let's start with the Clemson Tigers. As, you know, not surprised this happened because Clemson always very good defense, very good defensive line, specifically. The defense dominated the day for the Tigers in their spring game. But I'm watching their quarterback, starting quarterback, Cade Clubnick, and he didn't really look like he's shown a lot of development coming out of last season. Again, I don't want to sound the alarms after a spring game, but I was really not impressed. You may not want to sound the alarms, but in the words of what Patrick Starr, we will, we will, we will, the alarm should be sounding. Kaye Clubnick has proven who he is at this point, and his struggles in the spring game should not surprise anybody. I mean, at this point,

You know who he is. If you're expecting him to have a breakout season, that's on you, Blair. That's on you. You know what I've heard constantly of a sophomore slump? I've never heard of a sophomore jump. Never heard of it. And so these teams now have a year of tape to see what you like doing, what concepts you like, what concepts you throw the best, all that type of stuff.

They don't have that on K Clubney. And we're expecting him to get better because of what? Don't get me wrong. Is he really good in high school? That's not the only argument they have going for themselves now. Oh, and that's so interesting. Oh, boy, he was really good in high school. If only that was a predictor of who would be good in college,

I'll tell you what. I mean, no offense, Donald, but your Miami Hurricanes would have won about what? 50 national championships by now, if good in high school was the barometer? 50 in 50 years, yeah. You have to get on the field, and you have to show what all of that meant. All of those rankings and all that, they must align with your play. And it's just not. It's just, it hasn't been there.

Now, could there be a come to Jesus or find a religion moment for him where that magical light cuts on and he strings it all together? Possibly, I don't see it happening. I don't think he's the guy from any standpoint. From a pure talent standpoint, I have not seen him make a play where I'm just like, oh, okay, I get it. He may not be there yet, but I get it. from a decision-making standpoint,

anybody who was listening to me talk about Kay Kleblinx decision-making, you know how I feel about it. But for those of you who haven't, I would not trust that young man to think his way out of a paper bag. That said, open here. Okay, I would not trust him to think his way out of it.

So in intangibles, where you just talk about that it factor, we're like, ah, you know, it just, he just makes it work. You don't know why, you don't know what happens. He just makes it work. He doesn't have that either. I haven't seen that thing in him where I'm like, in winning time, you don't bet against Kane.

He may not be the biggest, the fastest, the strongest, the this is, the that is, but in winning time, he just always ends up on top. He doesn't have that either. So at this point, I'm asking, right? And I know that all the Clemson fans are going to say, oh, you all are just upset because we're leaving your podunk backwood conference. That's fine. I'm fine with that. But I'm asking, and I want somebody to give me some compelling evidence, when you call us stupid, please. just tell us what you've seen from Kate to indicate that there is a big breakout coming next year.

That's all I have. I think a lot of Clemson fans agree with you, just based on some of the comments that Clemson fans were making at because I was watching the game online and I had like this live chat of Clemson. They were complaining about Cade the whole time. And I agree with a lot of these comments, not to say that he'd be the better option right now, but in terms of the future, I thought Trent Pierman, freshman quarterback, had overall a better outing, probably showed more upside, at least for the future, as far as that goes.

But, you know, I will emphasize Clemson's defense played really well. They had 14 tackles for loss, nine sacks in the spring game. Now, it's spring game, so a lot of those are the play gets blown dead. Maybe a quarterback could have escaped it in certain situations. They had a pick six in the game. So it was a good performance by the defense. And I think Clemson, they're going to be a good team this year. But the thing is, I just don't necessarily favor them.

to be ACC champions. And that was, I went on the locked on college football show with Spencer McLaughlin a few days ago, Kenton. And he's, he's a little higher on Clemson than I am because like for his formula, you get a team that, you know, returns the, the triumvirate of the head coach and the offensive coordinator and the starting quarterback. He likes the consistency. I think he's going to, he thinks Clemson's going to be.

And they were okay last year, but he thinks they're going to be even better than they were last season. I think Florida State, they're my ACC, champs until proven otherwise. I hope nobody clips that because you know I'm a Miami guy, but it's just, that's just the way that I see it right now. But, I mean, where do you put Clemson in that pecking order, Kenton? I would say that Clemson is a 2A, 2B, maybe three, however you want to put it, type of situation.

Honestly and truly, at the top, there's so much volatility. Yeah. That we all are pretending to know, none of us know. none of us know what I mean like we can all pretend oh yeah DJ you is going to look great and you know their receivers are going to look great they're bringing in lots of talent at Florida State they're going to look great it may work out it may not who knows you know how long did it take Jordan Travis to get fully adjusted yeah few years yeah you know and we're counting on DJ to go at year one now the thing I will say about DJ is of all the transfer quarterbacks in ACC I

probably say he has the highest floor. He's the guy. Good way to look at it. Playing his worst ball, I think is better than Kyle McCord's worst ball, right? I think that that's definitely a situation there. But the problem is he has one of the lower ceilings as well. Like, I don't see DJ having Heisman moments. And what's the problem with that?

If you look back at Florida State last year, Jordan Travis had multiple Headsman moments. He had multiple moments where you look back, Oh, my God, man, that boy looks special. You're not sure that you're going to get that same thing from DJ. So you've got questions there. And with Clemson, we just talked about NC State basketball and defense showing up at the offense. Well, it's not enough.

It's not enough. I'm sorry to tell you, I'd love to believe, I'm a defensive guy. I'd love to believe that you can win with just great defense. I'd love to believe. You need more. Do you trust Clemson's running game to get? you to 11, 12 wins? No.

Do you trust to get you to 10? Nine maybe. That's what I'm saying. It's not good enough to get you to the conference championship. No, no. I'd say no. I'd say no. You want to say, well, NC State could do it, but NC State has never done it.

NC State has flatly never done it. That's just what you're looking at there. So now you're asking yourself, who even has the wherewithal to get it done? You talk about Syracuse and how well Fran is doing it in recruits. Colin Cal McCourt is your starting quarterback, period, period. Until he shows me that he's an entirely changed man, and we could go down the line for all the teams of the ACC, but I see more teams with big questions than I see teams with big answers.

And so that's why I say, if you ask me where Clemson fits in, I think that about one through three are all like, eh, they're jockeying for position, and you can say, well, you know, the tie goes to the legacy team, the team of one. it last year in Florida State. But again, a lot of questions. Yeah, a lot of questions about, a lot of new faces, a lot of questions about even your old faces. Why was, why was your D. and Patrick in the portal? Why did your linebacker Monday go get in the portal? What is going on over there? Well, I think a lot of it had to do with, with NIL, with wondering how come guys that are transferring in are getting better deals than I have now. And it's, it's one of the realities

that comes with this era of college football. And do you not think that of all the things that could potentially tear apart a locker room? NIL, definitely. Not being one of your two stars being looked at as like, hey, he didn't really want to be here. And that same problem goes to Miami because Cam Ward said that he wasn't coming. He was going to the NFL. Right. You see what I'm saying?

So every team at the top of the ACC, there are big questions. I'm not seeing big answers. I'd love to see teams pop out with big answers, but we're not going to get that till we put the ball down and start playing some football here. Yeah, I was watching some of NC States spring football game as well. I thought Grayson McCall looked pretty good. He missed on a few throws. But, you know, overall, I think he's going to be fine. He's going to be good there.

But again, like talking about quarterbacks to the future, I mentioned C.J. Bailey out of, you know, one of the most prominent high schools in South Florida. He had some really good plays, Kenton. 67-yard run. He had a 23-yard pass to Wesley Grimes for a touchdown. And, you know, we're talking about an early and. Roley freshman. I'm going to be watching a lot more of these spring games because we've got like,

what, 13, 14 of them still to come from the ACC. But I liked what I saw from C.J. Bailey. I want to thank Mario Cristobal personally. I don't know who's more happy with Mario Cristobar. Georgia Tech fans with me. I just don't know. I don't know. Still probably Georgia Tech fans.

Because brother, well, here's the thing. Him not kneeled against Georgia Tech costs him one game. Him letting CJ Bailey get a pot of there. Who knows how many that? I mean, so basically, Miami has another quarterback in the class who they recruited first and prioritized this guy, Judd Anderson, who's six foot seven, he's got a strong arm. So I, I've liked, he doesn't have quite like the athleticism that CJ has, but I've got an open mind. And I like, Judd seems to have a good head on his shoulder. So we'll see what happens.

Well, here's what I mean by that. Not necessarily that Miami doesn't have a quarterback. and it's going to cost them games. I mean, think of the amount of games that NC State may have just won because you let CJ Bailey get out of South Florida. Yeah, yeah. How far is Shamanaut from Miami's campus? Oh, probably 30 miles or maybe not even, like to a 25, 30 miles, something like that.

So a 45 minute drive. Yeah. Thank you, Mario. Thank you. I am telling you right now, NC State's skill position. and show me something. That room, again, no disrespect to the guys from last year. It was the void of talent.

This year, Wesley Grimes, every time you saw him, defenders were looking at the back of his head like good barbers. He was gone. He was gone. They were trying to line him up and he was gone, okay? You know, you talk about Noah Rogers. Noah Rogers is going to know an end zone. He's going to know a touchdown.

He's going to know a few postseason awards if he plays during the season, how he looked during the spring. game. And I'll tell you, the biggest thing that really stood out to me is, like you talked about with C.J. Bailey, it's the depth. It's multiple guys getting it done, not just the older guys. You know, C.J. Bailey did his thing, but even Lex Thomas, right? For those of you who don't know, Drake Thomas, Thayer Thomas are the big brothers of Lex Thomas. Now, of course, Drake was supposed to be good. He was highly taught my lad. Thayer is some skinny walk on from baseball. What is he doing on the field. Now he's all up in NC State's record books. And Lex, of course, 90-some-oddard

touchdown of Wesley Grimes, who's a guy that he knew before they came to NC State. I'm telling you what, this team, this NC State team is scared. The problem is for them, like I have talked about with the basketball team, they have had Can't Get Rightitis in the past. And they need to truly tell themselves, Russell Wilson ain't walking through that door. Mike Lynn, they're walking through that door. Tom O'Brien, they're walking through that door. None of those guys are walking through that door. This ain't the old school. This ain't, you know, with Phillip River, this ain't Chuck him out.

This is us. And we have to believe, not just that we can go to a championship, we can win it. We can win it because the pieces are there. You have a cornerback that hasn't allowed a touchdown in, what, nearly three years in Aiden White? One of the most underrated players, not just Cormers, one of the most underrated players in the country. he got an interception up off Miami and cover four by letting his receiver get behind him. Thanks, Tyler Van Dyke. You know, that's the type of calculated risk.

If you take it, you got to make a thing that separates like a, oh, he's a guy and he's the guy. A. White is the guy. The lieback of core, the lieback of core left something to be desired in this game. I was a little concerned about them. but I'm sure Tony Gibson is going to get that together and correct it. This team can be special. To me, the biggest concerns, lineback and core offensive line, and I'm a big believer that the big boys are what determine your season.

If this offensive line can hold up and do good things, they'll be just fine. And like I said, I have one very good authority from some very good players in the state of North Carolina. If NC State can show that they're a winner, certain players who are very highly touted that don't have NC State on the radar right now, they jump up in those talks. Because, of course, everybody wants to stay home if you can. And, you know, if you can stay home and win and end up in the playoff and get NIL deals that are half a million, million dollars a lot,

who's not going to take that? Right? That's taking candy from a baby. So, you know, these spring games are telling us something. They're telling us a good look at the picture, but there's still so much to be discovered. And there are 12 spring games left to be played in the ACC. tomorrow we'll talk about which ones have the most significance.

He's Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack. I'm Alex Dono from Locked on Cains. We'll talk to you again next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC, part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team every day.