Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - North Carolina HIRES Bill Belichick | What will it mean for the ACC???

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

The North Carolina Tar Heels have just hired NFL legend Bill Belichick as their new head football coach!Belichick, 72, won six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots but has never coached in college before. Is he too big of a risk for UNC? Belichick promises to create a professional program in college. UNC has reportedly pledged to drastically increase their NIL investments. Hosts Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs discuss the seismic move, and wonder why Bill is doing this. The guys also talk about Duke adding Tulane transfer QB Darian Mensah and Cal losing their QB, Fernando Mendoza. For your next listen, check out the Locked On College Football podcast! From NIL deals to never ending conference realignment rumors, Spencer McLaughlin gets you ready for an exciting season on the gridiron! Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Omaha SteaksFrom legendary steaks to mouthwatering desserts and more, save 50% off sitewide at OmahaSteaks.com. Plus, our listeners get an extra $30 off with promo code COLLEGEANDa $30 reward card when you shop early. Minimum purchase may apply. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. 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.

The most successful NFL head coach of all time is on his way to the ACC. Let's sort this all out. You are locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Bill Belichick. Bill Belichick is finalizing a deal, as I say this, to become the next head football coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels. Thank you so much to the everydayers for making Lockdown ACC. Your first listen and your first watch today, 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. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandual. You can start the season with a big return because new customers can place a $5 bet and you'll get started with $150 and bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. Visit Fanduel.com to get started. I am Alex Dono from Lockdown Keynes. He is Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack.

We'll talk about the transfer portal giving and taking away. Cal is losing their starting quarterback. The Duke Blue Devils have found theirs. And I think it's a really good move for Manny Diaz and company. But all of that, Kenton takes a back seat to six-time Super Bowl winning NFL head coach who Bill Belichick. He's had a half-century long coaching career, which has been entirely spent in the National Football League. He's 72 years old. He's coming to the North Carolina Tar Heels.

I'm at a loss for words. I barely even know how to describe what's happening here. You know, this reminds me of the old song from, I believe it's the rapper, formerly known as Waka Plaka Playing Grove Street Party, because fellas, it's a party, it's a party, it's a party. Hey, it's a party. It's a party in the ACC. You've got to be excited about this.

I don't care who you are. You've got to be excited. Let me take you why. If you are UNC, you get the winningest coach of all time. I'm sorry, one of the winning his coaches of all time. In terms of winning percentage, I believe he's first. He's 14 wins behind Shula in terms of NFL one. I'm glad you said that because I wouldn't let you forget about that.

Oh, no. Never, never, never, never, never, never. We wouldn't do that. But in terms of winning for Cittians, I believe he is first. And who's got more Super Bowls than the man? So congratulations, North Carolina. You got your man. You got your guy.

Now, Tar Heels, go ahead and turn this episode off because it's not going to be nice for you the rest of the way. Everybody else in the ACC, we all got ourselves a guaranteed win, boys. Congratulations. We've worked so hard to make this happen. And now comes the day where UNC said, Matt Brown, you're a little too old? You've lost the touch.

You've lost to. And by the way, I spoke with a good friend of mine who is a UNC alum, played football there. And don't get to thinking I'm fratting out. It's with the enemy now. But a good friend of mine that graduated from UNC played football there, chatted with me about this. And he said, I think that North Carolina's problem has always been culture and discipline. And Bill Belichick is bringing both.

And I had not considered that. I hadn't. But I told him, have you not considered that Bill Belichick has never had to recruit in his life? He's never had to do that. And he said, well, he's going to hire a GM. I said a GM that's completely a separate entity from the coach. At some point in time, players are going to want to talk to the guy that's going to be going. With all the respect, the GM is not coaching them day to day.

Right. And not to mention when he was at New England, he was basically the GM. I mean, they had GMs in title, but Belichick was the guy who was who was shopping for the groceries, is Bill Belichick, who he, or Bill Parcells, who he worked for.

Yeah. Belichick was basically the GM there. So now, now all of a sudden he's going to delegate to a GM? Yeah, sounds good in theory. Sounds good at theory. Everybody knows this is a dumpster fire waiting to happen. This is a crash and burn. It's a train wreck that none of us can look away from.

because we know exactly how this is going to go. Bill Belichick is going to be Bill Belichick. He's going to rub a bunch of 18 to 22-year-olds the wrongest of ways. I mean, there's going to be a bunch of guys pissed off saying, oh, my God, bro, this man doesn't understand us. He doesn't get us at any level. He doesn't know how to connect with us. And on top of that, he expects UNC to not double, not triple,

but allegedly quadruple its current NIA. spending. Oh my God. This is going to be so fun, everybody. That's not a UNC fan. We did it, Joe. We did it. We got Bill Belichick. Donald, Grayson and I are planning on throwing him a welcoming party. We're going to be on the tarmac at RDU as soon as he lands. Oh, I'm sorry, that's not quite triple. That's quintuple. For those who are listening to the audio version, I put this ex post from Matt Hayes, who covers college football. I put this on the screen.

Source tells me UNC will increase their NIL package for football from $4 million to $20 million in an effort to land Belichick. This was seven hours before they were finalizing the deal. And throughout the day on Wednesday, we've heard that Belichick and the UNC administration we're still working some things out. Obviously, this is one of those things that they've been working out because Bill, Bill's not going to go there without some guarantees, right?

Bill's not going to go there if they're not going to open up the purse strings, right? Now, I'm going to push back on you a little bit. I will say this, though, to all your points about, you know, Belichick to UNC. This is not a gamble I would want my program to make, right? Absolutely. If the Miami Hurricanes had a coaching vacancy right now, this is not the direction I would want them to go in. I just think there's such a risk to bring in someone who's, you know, twilight of his coaching career has only coached in the pros. It's a massive, massive risk.

At the same time, I'm not 100% convinced that this can't work. I'm not because, again, you're bringing in someone who carries cachet and gravitas. I know. He's rubbed people the wrong way. at certain points of his career, but anybody you're recruiting knows this guy is the most successful NFL head coach of all time. You know, Bill's out there making these promises. He's on the Pat McAfee show and he talked about, you know, if I were to coach a college program, very hypothetical, of course, that I would make it an NFL program, right? I would have an NFL type of operation,

NFL regimen, strength and conditioning, nutrition. I would prepare guys. the NFL. I mean, maybe players will buy into that. And maybe, you know, some of these North Carolina Tar Heels that are in the transfer portal right now, which makes sense when your, you know, previous head coach gets fired. Maybe some of them are intrigued with the idea of playing for Bill Belichick. And I'm not, I'm not going to discount a 49 year coaching career. Not all of it was excellence, of course, but, you know, Bill Belichick learned and saw everything during a 49 year career. He's also made connections, Kenton, throughout his career, with a lot of college coaches throughout the combine and scouting processes. He's got connections galore throughout the football

world. I'd like to see what kind of a staff he hires. I am open to the possibility that Bill Belichick could find success at North Carolina. Me too, Dono. I'm super open to it. And you know what? You know, everybody talks about Bill Belichick's got no chance to succeed. Well, I want to point to a fellow elder statesman in the coaching realm that's done pretty well for himself, a guy born on June, the second day of June in the year of 19161. Oh, Kurt Signetti. Kurt Signetti has done amazingly, and him and Bill Belichick have very, very similar resumes, right?

I mean, Signetti before this, he only was a graduate assistant at Pitt, and then at Davidson was a QB and wide receivers coach. And then at Rice was a QB coach. And then at Temple was a QB coach. And at Pitt was a QB coach. And then the NC State was a QB tight ends and run game coordinator. And then at BAML was a wide receiver and run game coordinator. And then he went to IUP as the head coach.

Then he went to Elon as a head coach. Then he went to James Madison and led them to their most successful times as the head coach. Then the Indiana. A lot of college experience. Yeah. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, dono. Well, we're just talking about age.

here. Hey, I'm trying to buy into your narrative, Donno. This is going to be a smashing success. Congratulations, Chapel Hill. Happy times or here again. Congratulations, God. Again, please, somebody in the comments tell me when his plane land so I can be there to help him get to his new spot wherever that's going to be so that we can get him unpacked and get him everything he need. Because I want him here for the long call, Donald. I thought when, when you and see, had fired Mac Brown. I was downright sad, dejected, devastated even,

devastated. You heard me on this show calling for 20 more years of Mac. I wanted that to me. I wanted that for them. And then I see that they fire Mac. And Donno, I was worried. I was worried. I said, they're not going to get a coach

that ain't got no power for head coaching experience like some were all. That had me. worried. I said, oh, no, not something wrong. Don't bring him around. He doesn't have an experience. He just doesn't have an experience to do it. But when they bought up Belichick, I got excited.

I said, what's more experienced than five decades? And with that being said, they went out and landed him, hey, it's going to be great for the ACC, how good they're going to be. It's going to be great for everybody in the ACC how good they're going to be. And how, you know,

did you hear his pitch? Did you hear how unique his pitch was. We're going to run a professional program, right? And here's what he said. He's what said. On the football side, we're going to get them ready for the pros. And then on the academic side, we'll get them ready for life after football. Donald, are those not two of the most revolutionary concepts you've ever heard of? Never heard that before. Never heard that before. I ain't heard not. Naira coach say such a thing as we're going to get you ready for the NFL on the field and we're going to get you ready for life after the game.

Hey, listen, I'm excited for UNC. I'm so excited. Hey, William, Bill, Billiam, whatever you want to be called, we welcome you with open arms to the triangle. Come on in, brother. Come on in. As soon as you land on that tarmac, you've got two fans and me and Grayson Boone.

Come on, brother. There's more to unpack, by the way, from this Belichick move, because it seems a little sketchy the way that North Carolina even went about making this happen. None of this will surprise Kenton Gibbs, who's highly aware of some of the disorganization, let's say in the administration there at UNC,

but also what's in it for Bill? Because we're in an era where we've had in recent years like a flood of college coaches leaving to try to get NFL jobs because they don't have to worry about stuff like NIL and recruiting. They just focus on coaching, right? I mean, Nick Saban, he's not going back to the NFL, but he just, I'm not going to do this anymore. I don't want to deal with this new era. And yet Belichick at 72, he decides this is something he now wants to start at this point in

his life. Why? I'd like to discuss that. You want to keep it locked right here. We're only getting started on this brand new episode of Lockdowne on ECC. We're only getting started on Fandul. I can't wait to see the props on Bill Belichick, by the way. How many games is North Carolina going to win his first year?

You can find all the numbers and tackle all the NFL action as well. on Fanduel, America's number one sportsbook. Because right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if you win. The Fandual Sportsbook app gives you everything you need to place live bets on the NFL all in one place. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, if you live play by play and so much more right on the same page where you place your bets, just visit Fandual.com to join today. You'll get started with $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet.

That's Fandual.com. Never waste a hunch and make every moment. moment more with Fanduil, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. Thank you so much for making this episode of Lockdown ACC, your first listen and your first watch today. I've never seen Kenton Gibbs smile as big as he has so far on this episode. I have never seen you smile this much. So, yeah, I was watching David Hale on ACC on Wednesday afternoon, kind of talking about

the whole hiring process with Belichick. And I did a little more reading on the ESPN reporting and stuff. So, you know, Kent, I hope for UNC's sake that they're going to have alignment between, you know, the administrators and the football program because it really sounds like they undercut their athletic director to make this higher. Like, so basically they were holding meetings with Bill without Bubba Cunningham being involved. So it was the board of regents who really pushed for this. and you hear about this stuff happening in college football. Like sometimes the money people want to go in a different direction than the administrators. Like this would not be the first time something like this has happened.

But this apparently was initiated mostly by board chair John P. P. P. P. prior, who's, you know, really had Belichick in his sights in recent weeks. And I don't know how Bubba Cunningham, the AD at UNC, feels about this whole process. He might have wanted to take the search in a different direction or do a more complete search. And I don't know how much longer Cunningham's going to have a job because you remember months ago you were talking about those meetings that they were having and they were concerned about Cunningham mismanaging the budget and everything. And by the way, with a budget that's been mismanaged allegedly, now you're just going to quintuple your NIL package, right? It's easy as

that, right? Oh, for sure, for sure. And I want to say, I for one, I for one am shocked, taking aback, floored, flabbergasted, if you will, at the idea of this organization within UNC football. I am so shocked at this, Donald. Of all the programs in the ACC, of all the programs in the Power 4, really. You know, when you think about this organization and misalignment between the important parties,

UNC, we all know how in line everybody was about Mack Brown's retirement, firing, or refirement, I guess we can call it. Because we've seen multiple refirements in the ACC. We saw our boy, Beheim up in Syracuse get refired. And now we saw Mac Brown get refired. And we know refirements are always a great sign of alignment within a program. You know, it shows a straight line from the decision makers to the head coaches.

And so, you know, after seeing a refinement, I'm very surprised. that this process led to a little bit of disjointedness and fracturedness. All right, I'm going to take the sarcasm on my voice now. What a joke. What an unsirious joke of a situation. If you don't want the AD, get rid of the AD. But what you should never do is undercut the AD in such a meaningful way. Embarrass him.

Basically, have a situation where his job is stripped from under him, manhood completely taken away from him in this situation and to think you did all of this for a coach with no college experience again everybody keeps telling me ken football is football is football and he's the greatest of all time that's fair that's fair hey donald who would you say is the greatest college football coach just the year 2000 who would you say nick savin nick savin is the greatest Well, when he went to the NFL, that surely worked out well for him, right? I know firsthand, I covered him when he was at the NFL, and it wasn't a whole lot of fun in the building. I'll say that.

And, you know, he wasn't having fun either, clearly because two years later, he bolted back to college, and it worked out very well for him. Well, you know what? Maybe, maybe I, okay, okay, I get it. I understand it now. It's because he was not detailed enough. Like maybe a guy who has a script of every game, first 10 to 15th. team plays like a Patrino, right? Patrino's is really, really detailed. He's really detailed. When he went to the NFL, it worked out perfectly well, didn't it?

If you say so. Well, you know what, Dono, I'm sorry, I'm looking at this wrong. There have been a ton of coaches who've gone from the NFL to college and it worked out for them well, right? There's been like a ton of guys who, the list of coaches who's one of a Super Bowl and a national championship. It's got to be a mile long, right? My guy Jimmy Johnson is on there. Okay. Spitzer, who was kind of a fraud.

He did it. He did it. Okay. Yeah, we got, we got Switzerland. We got Pete Carroll in there. Can't forget old Carolyn. You know, there are more, right? There has to be more somewhere in there, right?

Didn't Lou Holtz or somebody had to. Yeah. So, long story short, the game is very. very different in college. Yeah, it is. With grown men who are, again, this is how they feed their families. And they have fully developed frontal lobes, which, granted, playing football makes those a little soft.

But they have somewhat developed frontal lobes against 18. To be fair, I didn't play football at any high level. And I'm not sure about my own frontal lobe. I don't know if mine ever developed either. Hey, hey, I'm not mad at you, Dono. just like I'm not mad at UNC. This was an absolutely terrible hire. But who knows, they really could come back and have me eat my words about this.

And as much, as disgusting as I find the dirty foot club, as reprehensible as I find them as a group of people. If they do turn out to absolutely dominate, if my good friend was correct, and Bill Belichick brings in discipline and structure that I was long missing there. Because objectively speaking, if people ask me, what's wrong with USC, for the longest, I would say culture. I would say they don't have a culture of toughness, of sticotiveness, of physicality, of, hey, we are football gods. We love this. This here is what we do.

If that were, if somebody asked me what UNC was missing, I would say that. And Bill Belich actually is a great, great creator of that. For all the things, for all the people he rode the room with, he is a great creator of that. So if he turns out to lead this team to a new era where UNC is known for toughness, they're known for being professionals, they're known for everybody showing up on time, doing their job in the way it's supposed to be done, objectively speaking, as much as it would make me cry, shake, and throw up like Jamie Foxen Ray when he was going through withdrawals,

I would have to accept that it is good for the ACC in that realm. However, I think it'll be good for the ACC in terms of Miami, pencil yourself in for another the win every time you're on the schedule. NC State, get ready to run it up for four wins straight to 10. Wake Forest, Duke, congratulations. You just moved up in the state banking order. Except Duke, you've beaten everybody in the triangle. Congratulations, you're on top.

I am looking at this and saying the rest of the ACC should be excited. But if I'm wrong, I'm wrong, and I'm a big enough man to come on air and admit I'm wrong as I've had to do in the past, like I just did about Clemson, where I had to admit, Hey, I said they were over. I said it was done. I had to admit I was wrong. I'm admitting right now again. I was wrong about cleansing.

They were not done. There are ACC champs once again. So if UNC proves them wrong, they prove me wrong. But I think that this is a mistake that will set UNC back at least a day. Let me ask you, why do you think Belichick wants this? Because I'm thinking about a few, I'll give you multiple choice.

And if you want to, you know, create your own multiple choice. Because I'm thinking about the possibilities here. Like, does he just, want another challenge? Like, does he want to do something? Because there have been a few guys, like you mentioned, who have gone from national championships in college to Super Bowls. No one's done it in reverse, right? Does he want to add another thing to his goat resume? Like, hey, you can't say I couldn't do this without Tom Brady, right? So does he want a new challenge? Maybe he just really wants to coach again at a high level. And it's clear the NFL has just cycled him out.

Like the NFL clearly feels that he has aged out. You know, he interviewed for the foul. Alkins job last year. They went with Rahim Morris instead. I don't don't really feel like other NFL teams are calling him for head coaching vacancies. Does he just want to coach again that badly that he's willing to take a college job? Or does he want to coach with his son and create a future job for his son? Because you know, Stephen Belichick, who's at Washington right now, widely respected that Stephen's going to leave Washington for a role on Bill staff. There have been rumors out there. I haven't seen it explicitly stated, but there are rumors out there that he wants his son, Stephen, to become coach in waiting. So maybe that's why he wants this.

He's got a 24-year-old girlfriend. Does he want to, you know, maybe scout some other prospects on campus? What do you think this is about for him? Can I go with the answer is E, all of the above? I mean, the reality of this thing is simple. You're looking at a ton of reasons. What job can Billichick get right now that's going to pay him what UNC is paying. And as much as people will say, oh, he's got enough money. Baby, there are these things that are called billionaires that exist. There is the flat-out reality that regardless of how much money you get, I believe it was one of the Roderick, Gucci-Maine Davis that said, never too much, never too much money.

And if they're going to pay you a million dollars to go out there and stink it up, I'll take a million dollars out there and stink it up, especially on behalf of UNC. If somebody told me, Kim, go out there and coach UNC to a bunch of traginess for a million dollars, for $2 million, three million. Well, I don't mind if I do. Throw a fifth million on there just for kicks and giggles. But in all seriousness, there's that. There's also the fact that, I mean, yes, it is, as much as people think it's weird to keep bringing up his girlfriend,

objectively speaking, a 70-year-old dating a 24-year-old, then going to college to coach, is objectively like a Why is he around? It's like an 80s comedy movie. I feel like Rodney Dangerfield maybe he rest in peace would be playing this role in a movie.

That's kind of what it feels like to me. Exactly. And then you talk about setting up his son. His son is a part of his coaching tree. Where has his coaching tree pissed a drop? I am still waiting on somebody to show me consistent

success from anybody in his coaching tree. Anybody. Do you know who has a more impressive coaching tree than him, but despite the fact that he has not coached for an Iota of the time that he has? Sean Damn Peyton has a more impressive coaching tree than Bill Belichette. He knows his son is not going to get a job based off of being his son regardless. So he has to find a way to usher in his son with a job. And then here's the last.

thing down. A lot of people are speculating what he needs to do this to get back to the NFL. I have a thousand percent agree with that. If he can show, hey, I'm 72 in the game that I've never even coach. Because let's be honest, the college game is exponentially different from the pro game in almost every way. The hash marks are different. The kicker ability is different. Think about how people are treating Justin Tucker right now. Do you know if a college kicker had his stats from this season, everybody would be like, hey, he's one of the best college characters in the nation. And we're all looking at Justin Tucker like, hey, I string that man up by the neck in

Baltimore. But that's the reality because, again, it's a virtually entirely different game. So if he can show, hey, I can coach this team to nine, 10 wins, all of a sudden, that NFL interest might get very, very real. All of a sudden, folks might start relenting. I don't know about that because, okay, like how, how many years would it actually take for him to have enough success at UNC to theoretically be attractive again for the NFL? And then however many years that takes, what 77 years old, do you think an NFL team is like, we're going to give our head coach, I don't care who you are. We're going to give our head coaching job to a 77 year old.

I don't think this is the last ride for him. I would say one, maybe two years. I think it's, seriously speaking, if he wins not. nine to 10 games and back to back year. Or even if you go six wins first year, nine wins the second year, right? If a team is desperate enough and they're like, hell, we're going to be terrible anyway.

Let's try our best to sell some tickets. What's the cheapest way to sell some tickets? Players are expensive. Great players in the day's market. Look at Christian Kirk's damn contract. Even mid-level players are expensive. You know, you're in Florida. You know what the Jaguars are doing.

good players down there. But a good coach, on the other hand, you can get for pennies on the dollar, especially a headline attractor like Belichick. So if he wins for a year, maybe two maps, because I don't think he needs more than two good years. If he has two good years, at that point, he'd be, what, 75, but he'd be 75 coming off a double-digit win season at UNC Chapel Hill, which that's not a common thing there. That's not like a, oh, yeah, yeah, They've only had one double-digit win season in the last 27 years. But that's the point. That's my whole point.

So if he were able to do that, I think he would absolutely be a contender for NFL jobs in the way that he would. So I say, this is E, all of the above. There are multiple factors that make this make sense for him. And the biggest thing, he could just really love coach. He could really just be like, listen, all my kids are grown. I'm divorced. I got nothing better to do.

I'm not about to chill and travel with my old lady. I want to coach some football. That's what I do. Coaching ball and chasing Co-Ans is what makes me happy. I want to go do. Oh, man. Well, we're going to shift gears because there's some quarterback movement in the ACC. A big one is arriving, and another one maybe leaving the conference, but not necessarily.

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Make sure you also check out Lockdown College football. I know our guy Spencer McLaughlin is going to be talking a lot about the Belichick. thing about the quarterback carousel in the ACC. So make sure you make locked on college football your next listen. So kudos to Duke. So Darien Mensa, former Tulane quarterback, hit the transfer portal within the last week. I mean, officially hit the portal on Monday. That's when the portal opened.

And first visit he scheduled was Duke. And he was expected to go through a whole series of visits. And like we always say this Kenton, whether it's recruiting or transfer portal, which is, you know, similar, you're always going to try to get, if you're the first visit, you want to try to get that player to shut it down. Like, hey, absolutely. Same thing when you're buying a car, right? They want to, what can I do to get you in this new Cadillac El Dorado today? What can I do to get you to Duke football today is what Manny Diaz said? And they, they land Darian Mensa, very sought after quarterback who had really good year with the Tulane Green Wave, was one of the hot prospects out there.

granted, not a power five or power four guy, but looks like he's ready to take it to the next level. 66% of his passes were completed this year, 2,700 yards, 22 touchdowns, six interceptions. And the most important question you ask when you, you know, when you nudge one quarterback out of the door and you replace him, is he, and I'm not saying that's what happened with Malik Murphy, but Malik Murphy left Duke. He's on the market right now. I believe this could be an upgrade, Kenton. I think Duke probably has themselves a better quarterback now than the one who left. You know, as a member of the ACC and a member of the Triangle, I was worried about a different guy from Tulane coming up from the Triangle.

Congratulations, Summerall. You stay down there in Tulane until you're good and ready. Okay, you stay right there. But in all seriousness, Minnesota coming up is a hell of a gift for Duke. It's a hell of a get for Duke because this young man, has shown to have many of the same abilities as Murphy, but at a higher clip, he has shown the ability to make those consistent throws underneath.

He has shown the ability to be on time and on target as a freshman. As a guy that's played zero relevant college football before this, all of a sudden he shows up on campus in Tulane, wins the starting spot, and does fantastic things with this team. So, you know, shout out to Duke for getting their new quarterback, right away. I mean, they didn't wait. They didn't let that, that front seat in the quarterback room get cold before they said,

all right, we got a new guy. We got a guy. We got a guy. So, you know, shot to Diaz and company, because that is a really great gift for them. And again, this is one of those moments where I'm actually worried as an NC State guy. Like, oh, damn. Yeah. Damn. You know what I mean? Y'all could have waited a little bit. Y'all could have let Minson take a couple more visits before y'all got them locked up. But in all seriousness, you know, I think the there'll be a serious offense with him at town. Yeah, and elsewhere, Fernando Mendoza, who we really like,

he's going to be leaving Cal in the transfer portal. And I know our guy Lawrence Ross, if you're listening to this, I'm sorry because I know Lawrence is a big fan of Mendoza. Just an ultimate, great competitor, tremendous young man, leader. Obviously, he's very intelligent. You don't, you know, you don't play quarterback at Cal if you're not. The academic standards are very high. And he's leaving in the transfer pole.

And it's definitely one, I'm not 100% sure where he's going to end up, but someone who covers Miami. This is one I'm on the lookout for Kenton because Fernando Mendoza, where did he grow up? He grew up in Mario 5. He actually played his high school ball at Mario Cristobal's alma mater in Miami, Columbus. Cristobal actually knows his father, like the families are familiar. So again, at this point, I haven't seen or heard anything substantive about my. Miami pursuing him, but it seems like that would be one to watch as Miami has maybe been dabbling in the quarterback market a little bit. And I like Mendoza a lot. I would, though, and this is a

discussion we can expand upon in a future episode, I would proceed with caution if I'm Miami for this reason. Miami has some good players who don't have experience yet, but some players with potential who are in their quarterback room right now. You know, Mendoza's got two years of eligibility left, when you're going to bring in a transfer quarterback, this is a game, you know, the Mike Norvels of the world know this all too well. You know, they just lost Luke Cromen-Hawk. You know, Davo Sweeney does not recruit out of the portal for this reason. If you're going to bring in a quarterback, especially one who's got multiple years of eligibility

left, you got to make darn sure that this guy is worth it and that he's an upgrade because you risk, you know, maybe forcing others that are within your room that you may want to develop into the transfer portal. because, again, like, Miami doesn't have anybody with as much experience as Mendoza. That's true. But I like the way Emery Williams has been developing. And Miami landed a true freshman quarterback who's been lighting it up in the state of Georgia. It's going to be a state champion.

Again, Luke Nicol, I don't want to jeopardize that dude's future in any way, shape, or form. So proceed with caution when you're bringing in transfer quarterbacks is all I will say. You know, my mother taught me a lesson when I was a very young child. Well, I would say a teenager, just by which is still a young. child that has stuck with me to this day. She says, son, don't you ever give up Mrs. Wright for Mrs. Wright for Mrs. Wright now. And, you know, what that means is everything that is in the distance looks shinier. It looks better. It looks fresher. It looks firmer. It looks more exciting. The arm looks bigger. Looks like he can elude tackles a little better because you haven't seen his

worst stage. You haven't seen him in his ups and downs. You have haven't seen his practice happens. You haven't seen him every single day. But Donald, I'm here to tell you. I'm here to tell you because people look at Cam Ward and they're going to have recency bias and they're going to go, oh, give us everybody out the portal. Get us portal. Get us portal, portal, portal. As an NC Stateer, I can tell you, we had, Gracie McCall, who with all due respect, the concussion problem was still lingering. in C. State bought a lemon in regards to health. And even when he was healthy,

it wasn't that good with all due respect. The year before that, same thing with Brennan Armstrong. Yeah. You guys need to stop bringing in transfer quarterback. So, but here's the thing. It's not just NC State. It's not just NC State. How many quarterbacks around the country,

if we look at all of these first year transfer guys that were just God awful in, in year one. McNamara up in Iowa, P.U. You got the head coach's sun fire. Not even Bill Belichick's I had to break up the Frize for how much that kid stinks. You know, how many times

have we seen? Even some of the great, Joe Burrow in year one, what did he look like as opposed to year two? You know? So I'm not saying this as a, oh, I don't believe in Fernando Mendoza thing. I'm saying this in a Cam Ward is the exception.

Cam Newton is the exception. Justin Fields is the exception. By and large, when you have players transfer, in year one, they're going to stink it up. And you are giving up on a guy who could be your Mr. Wright for three to four years for Mr. Wright now, which is very deleterious. Because if you are out of Miami,

why would your Mr. Wright leave hypothetically? If you have a quarterback in that room that's going to dominate. Why would he leave? A better opportunity out of the championship? Where the hell is he going to get that? There's about five teams in the nation. That two could say, hey, they definitively have a better shot. There's nothing Miami can do. That team will always have a better shot in them at the championship. For a bigger bag, y'all saw what Cam Ward was getting paid out there.

Who's getting paid more than that? I'm going to the quarterback's getting paid more than them. Nico and who else? Bryce Underwood and who else? You know what I mean? So the reality is the grass is, you know, Macy Gray said it best on the as told by Ginger Theme Song. Someone most told me the grass was much greener on the other side, but I took a visit and I thought that I missed it. It was different but exactly the same.

So you got to be very careful if you're a university recruiting over players for Mr. Right now. I couldn't have said it better myself. And I would also just, as a general thing, I'll say to Miami fans, and I am one, I mean, you can tell about what I'm wearing for those watching on YouTube. I'm a big Miami fan. Let's try not whoever the next quarterback is. Let's try not to directly compare him to Cam Ward.

I don't think that'd be fair to anybody. In fact, I think no matter who Miami's quarterback is next season, they should be more heavy on the run than they were this year. I think that's the recipe because they have the offensive line. There's even a chance Damien Martinez might come back. That's not a done deal either way. So Martinez might be back. You've got Mark Fletcher and Jordan Lyle.

Like if you need to, I'm not saying never, I don't want to be like a 1950s option offense. I'm not saying never throw the ball. But if you need that ratio to be closer to 50, 50, 50, 55, 45, in favor of the run, you do it. That may be the path to victory next year. Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree. With the talents you have in that backfield,

I think it'd be a fool's errand to say we're going to come up with one quarterback. And we're losing Miami's all-time leading receiver in almost every regard. Yeah, that's right. And yet we're still going to leave. I like a Royal a lot. I like him a lot. I believe Brown is the second leading receiver, and I'm pretty sure he's going to be back.

I like him a lot. I don't think that it would be a good idea to go away from the run. And knowing Mario Crystal Ball's style and what he wants to do, how he wants to drain the clock, how he wants to kind of shorten the game, I don't think he will. So, you know, Mendoza there makes a lot of sense because of that and because they're not going to expect them to do too much.

But even still, I wouldn't want to give up Mr. Wright for Mr. Wright now. Yeah. Well, really good stuff as always. Welcome to the ACC, Bill Belichick. You want to make sure you're following Kenton at TGIF underscore Kenton on X. Follow me at Alex Dono. Follow our shows, Lockdown Wolfpack and Lockdown Canes. And we'll talk to you again tomorrow on another episode of Lockdown ACC,

part of the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team. day. The patient away.