Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Notre Dame Fighting Irish's Gameplan + Penn State's MONSTER Defense + ACC Portal Talk

Episode Date: January 6, 2025

Can the Notre Dame Fighting Irish outmaneuver the Penn State Nittany Lions in their upcoming clash? With the College Football Playoff stakes high, this matchup promises intense action. Dive into the strategic breakdown of key players like Tyler Ward and Riley Leonard, as the hosts explore the pivotal role of the running game.The episode also uncovers the ACC's transfer portal dynamics, spotlighting Florida State's aggressive moves and North Carolina's strategic gains. Meanwhile, Syracuse and NC State face scrutiny for their portal strategies. The discussion extends to a potential NCAA rule change, proposing a five-year eligibility for athletes, with insights from hosts Jackson Holzer and Kenton Gibbs.Join the conversation for a comprehensive analysis of college football's evolving landscape and discover how these developments could reshape the future. Don't miss out on these expert insights and predictions! Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Rocket MoneyCancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com/lockedon today. Turbo TaxReady for stress-free taxes and the most money back, guaranteed? Head over to TurboTax.com today and get matched with your Expert. Only available with TurboTax Live Full Service. Real-time updates only in the iOS mobile app. See guarantee details at TurboTax.com/guarantees. 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. FanDuelFrom big upsets to game-winning drives, the NFL Playoffs are better with FanDuel new customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED BUCKS in BONUS BETS - GUARANTEED - Win or Lose. Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. Make this playoff season unforgettable with FanDuel, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. 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.

And then there were four. Notre Dame against Penn State. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Hello, everyone. I'm Jackson Holzer. This is Locked on ACC. I'm filling in for Alex Dono, the host of Locked on Cains. I'm the host of Locked on Syracuse. And of course, I'm joined by Kenton Gibbs, former NC State defensive tackle and now the host of Locked-on Wolfpack alongside Grayson Boone. And we got plenty for you here on this edition of Locked-on ACC. We're going to talk about portal winners and portal losers.

We're also going to talk about the NCAA eligibility requirements because according to John Rothstein-Kenton, they might be given everyone a fifth year. And we certainly have strong opinions about what the NCAA should do with everyone regarding eligibility. But we are going to start this podcast talking about Notre Dame, which is ACC adjacent when it comes to football against Penn State in the last four teams remaining in the college football playoff. Before we get to everything, this episode is brought to you by GameTime.

You can download the GameTime app, create an account and use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase. All right, Kenton, this game taking place on Thursday, Orange Bowl, 7.30 p.m. Eastern. What are you looking for in this matchup? Yeah. So what I'm looking at in this matchup, I think that this is going to be, I talked about Georgia and Notre Dame being a game that was going to be won within three yards of the line of scrimmage. And I don't think that that much has changed in terms of Notre Dame and Penn State. The only difference is this.

There is the guy that's probably going to be the best player on the field is Tyler Ward. he's a guy that, you know, on the outside, I don't look at Penn State and get scared. Penn State has shocked me. They won more games I thought. But with that being said, they've won the big game, which was always Franklin's Achilles Hill, and say what you want about SMU,

say what you want about Boise State. These are playoff games. It doesn't get me bigger. So there's that. But now on the other end of things, I'm telling you what, Freeman, what a hell of a job. A hell of a job coaching up that defense to stop Georgia.

And, you know, a lot of people are saying, oh, well, it was their quarterback and, oh, it was, you know, they had their backup end and all that. Who cares? Who cares? You play who's in front of you. And you rock out from there. So I look at this game and I say to myself, if Notre Dame wants to win this game, it's very simple. The safety, you're in the Gersky winner. He needs to be on Tyler 1 like right on rice all night and run whatever coverage you want with it, whether it be zone or man, but you need to keep somebody with him at all times. And then from there, it's all about stopping that two-headed monster to backfield and getting your running game going. Because while Notre Dame has some struggles in terms of pass blocking the left tackle since they've started a true freshman out there, the biggest thing that has worked out for him has been when he gets to get his hands on those smaller edge rushers. And Abdul Carter is one of them. He's a smaller edge rusher.

He's great around the edge when he's going up field. But I'll tell you what, if a big tackle gets their hands on it, it's like a good bouncer, you know, when they got those strict rules in the club, Hey, what are you doing with a hat in here? Don't worry about it, son. Come on, we're going to put you out the club. It can be one of those situations. So again, this game to me will be, it'll be just, very similar to the last one.

And as much as we talk about spread offenses in today's college football, this game is going to be one of the trenches. I agree with you on that one. And my thing about this is this almost feels like it's going to come down to Notre Dame's rushing attack, which is one of the best in the country, but they're currently banged up. Jeremiah Love, he's banged up right now against Penn State's elite run defense. And then you got Penn State's passing attack with Drew Aller versus Notre Dame's elite

past defense. It's a very, very interesting matchup. I feel like so far for Penn State in the playoff right now, they haven't really fully had to unleash Drew Allen. They haven't had to fully, fully unleash him yet. If the time comes, is he going to be ready against this Notre Dame past defense, one of the best in the country? And conversely, with No. if the game comes down to the fact that it's going to be in Riley Leonard's hands to throw the football, not run the football. Is he going to be able to do it? Do you think so, Kenton?

I think so. I think so. There's a thing. I was high on Riley Leonard coming into this season. Anybody who has seen me on the Notre Dame podcast I've been on this year, I've talked very highly about Riley Leonard, even when it wasn't easy. Even after that Notre Dame loss and everybody was calling me the biggest food, they don't see and all that.

I still stood 10 toes down. Now, granted, I have said no more one-year transfers because, I mean, there are very few guys who set the world on fire. Jackson's over there smiling because he's like, oh, my guy set the world on fire in year one. I can't relate to those problems. Hey, Miami did it too. Yeah, but for the most part, it doesn't work out. It just doesn't work out.

But Riley Linder has gotten better and better and better. And also, the offense has gotten better at working with him. It's no longer trying to fit a square foot. peg into a round hole is you know what our personnel is around hole so we're going to work or our personnel is a round peg so we're going to adjust a hole to fit we're going to adjust that to say okay this is what he needs and that's what it's been some people say oh they put handy uh they put uh uh wheel training wheels on the offense and all that good stuff i disagree it's not that it's playing to your guy's strengths it is not about oh well you're dumbing down the office or simplifying the

offense because you are not doing certain things it is simply saying That's not your strength. That's not where you excel. I'm not going to put you in a position to fail. That's what a good coach is supposed to do. And that's why Freeman gets so much love. You lose a first round quarterback early in the season. And yet you still have one of the best past defenses in the nation.

Your quarterback shows some holes that you may not have believed we're there going into the season. And yet you adjust and work it out and move forward. You've got Jeremiah Love who's banged up. But I'll tell you what, you didn't make it. making the best out of that pitch count, ain't he? Oh, yeah. I'll tell you what. Every time you see Jeremiah Love coming to game,

it's like you're hearing them Edwin-Dia's horns. You know it. You know, because when he gets in the game, if he's even, he's leaving, even with a bad will. So you're looking at a situation where I think that Notre Dame will be just fine in this game because Coach Freeman is a hell of a coach, and even with these most recent wins,

and the fact that I hate going against a cast tech guy, Kobe King, you know, I love you over that pin, state. You know, I think he's a hell of a backer. But if I'm looking at this game to say, what's it going to come down to? If it comes down to Drew Aller, Riley, Leonard, who can throw the ball the best? I think Notre Dame has a much better shot than people are giving them credit for. And even beyond that, if we're just going run game for what run game, blow for blow, I'm not going to be surprised if Notre Dame wins that battle either. All right. Well, currently right now, Notre Dame on Fandu is a one and a half point favorite. So

Kenton, I guess if you want to give an early prediction, What is your prediction? My prediction for that game right now, it's an extremely close one. I think it'll be a rock fight. I think it's going to be ugly. I think we're looking at a final score of 2420 Notre Dame. So I'm kind of with you on that,

except I have Penn State. I think this is finally the game for James Franklin. See, a lot of people, including myself, I've criticized him. You can't win the big game. And granted, he's won two playoff games. but let's be honest, those wouldn't be playoff games in the old playoff format. You're in the final four now, right?

It's the final four. I guess this isn't basketball, though. It's very weird calling that. It's very weird to say final four. A final four is the final four. It's the final four. If you beat Notre Dame, I think we can officially put that narrative to bed, that James Franklin can't win a big game?

And then it would simply become, well, can he win a national champion? chip because those are two different things. Right. So I got Penn State in this one. And I think similar to you, it's going to be very close. It's going to be a defensive battle. But I got Penn State 1713. That's right. There's not going to be a lot of points in this one, in my opinion.

I'm Jackson Holder. That's Tenting Gibbs. We just wrapped up our talk about Notre Dame versus Penn State. And folks, feel free to comment in the comment section below. Your thoughts on the upcoming matchup this Thursday at 7.30 p.m. Eastern in Miami, Florida, in the Orange Bowl, all right? Because coming up, we're really going to talk more about the ACC and the transfer portal, winners and losers early this off season.

From big upsets to game winning drives, the NFL playoffs are better with Fanduil, because right now new customers can bet $5 and get 200 ducks in bonus bets, guaranteed. That's $200 in bonus bets, win or lose. The Fandu app gives you everything you need for live bets, same game parlays, and so much more. Folks, my Super Bowl pick for what it's worth is the Buffalo Bills. All right, I think the Buffalo Bills are going to win the Super Bowl. Sorry, Kenton, who's a Detroit Lions fan.

I don't think it's the Lions here. I just don't believe in their defense. Just visit Fanduil.com to join today and get started with $200 hours of bonus bets. That's fandole. Make this playoff season unforgettable with Fandul an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. ACC, transfer portal, winners and losers. I'm Jackson Holesler, the host of Lockdown Syracuse, and that's Kenton Gibbs, the host of Locked-on Wolfpack. All right, so Kenton, straight up, who has been doing well for you in the transit portal so far?

It's easy, it's low-hanging fruit, but sometimes the obvious answer is the right damn answer. Florida State has kicked ass and taken names in the portal. They have done a fantastic job in the portal, and granted, you needed to, right? Like you can't look at last year's Florida State roster and say, oh, well, you can kind of whole hum and ha and whatever you do in the portal is going to be good enough. Absolutely not. When you talk about holes, right, that team had more holes than a movie Shia LaBuff was in. You know, the, I'm tired of this, grandpa, that's too damn bad.

Yeah, this roster had holes all up and down it. And not only did they have holes, I think the biggest thing that people don't pay attention to a lot is that there was not a there actually was a very serious uh portal problem i'm sorry not portal problem there was a very serious culture problem that you know not just with the whining and the quitting on that the game and all that there was also a thing where you bought back multiple players who jumped in the portal um at the end of the season so when you look at that it's tough to say oh yeah this is fine and everything is okay here. We're fine here, despite the fact that you had guys who not only were just like,

hey, I'm about the money, they don't want to be here. And you had to bring them back or chose to bring them back for whatever reason. But everything that they've done so far in the portal has been spectacular. And when I say everything, I mean everything. There is nothing that they've done. There's not a single player that they picked up in the portal where I say, man, that guy, you know, that Thomas Costalanos guy, you and I make. disagree on them. What you can't

disagree on. He's a playmate. He makes something out of nothing. That's a guy that he is. You can't look at them and say, oh, man, they just didn't add anything on the offensive line. They have added four guys, all of whom, or I believe a majority of whom, have power

for starting experience via the portal. In terms of the receiving core, getting better, getting bigger, getting more signs on the outside than the portal, and getting Dominic Robinson. This is, I struggle to find a way, or Duce Robinson, rather, not Dominic, Duce Robinson, his son. I struggle to find a way where you can say, hey, Florida State did not get better in the portal,

not just from an addition standpoint, but also addition by subtraction because multiple guys who got in the portal last year are now back in the portal that committed elsewhere. Well, the good news tented, I guess for Florida State fans as well, is I don't think you can get much worse than where they were at last season. You can't really get much worse. or two and 10. Very true. It doesn't get worse, right? I guess one in 11, 0 and 12. That's it.

I really thought about deeming Florida State as a winner because I think they have done a fantastic job. Yeah. But we do disagree on Thomas Tostalanos. He is a playmaker. He's a playmaker. He can make something out of nothing. But when you give him something, he's not always very good at taking it.

And by that, I mean, I mean, those basic throws, the throws that quarterbacks are supposed to make in their sleep, he can misfire on them. He's not an accurate quarterback. Every time I've watched him, with the exception of, ironically, the Florida State game this year for Boston College, he hasn't really been that accurate. And you lose your era parent in Luke Romanhock. So am I really going to sit here and say,

Florida State is such a huge winner because they got better at XYZ, deep position, whereas at the quarterback, I'm still not sure. Are you, are you positive in Thomas Tostalanos? If you believe in Costalanos like you do, then yes, Florida state's a winner. I don't believe in Thomas Tostalanos. Even for somebody who doesn't believe in them, you saw the quarterback play last year. I'm not even going to say. Kenton, you're talking about starting from literally the death valley. I mean, you are literally at the bottom of the, you're at the Earth's That's how bad it was last season, but you look. If you get better, you got to be a winner to me.

And even out of the quarterback position, you can't argue they didn't get better on the end. I'm not arguing. That's not what I'm arguing. They had no pass rush juice whatsoever despite all these big names, despite all these guys that I highly doubt. And I don't know exact figures for everybody. So I don't want to go speculate. Or actually, you know, I'm going to say I'm not guaranteeing this. But I would speculate.

One would think based on what the NIL market is and the fact that guys jumped into Portland came back. For an edge Russia, a really good one, I would suspect that they were paying well over a million 1.5 for that defensive line and just in terms of the first four. I would suspect that. And you saw what the hell they did. So you're right. You're right. They are started from the Earth's Corps, but I'll tell you what, I am not going to treat them like their Florida state of old because they're not. James Winston ain't walking through that door.

James Water ain't walking through that door. Ward Dunn, Dion Sanders. They're not. Bobby Baldwin ain't coming back to coach. Guy, rest of the soul. He's not coming back. So with that being said, I'm going to treat them like a two-in-10 team.

And if any other two-and-10 team did this, if Boston College, let's switch to the decals, if Boston College is the Burgundy and Gold team or the Maroon and Gold team that's doing this, we would all be like, well, damn, what they're cooking over there? I got to give no real credit because while last season was atrocious and that falls squarely on his shoulders, I also got to give you credit for improvement this year.

All right, fair enough. I'll give you one winner, in my opinion. I don't know if you're going to like it, but it's my winner. I think North Carolina is doing a nice job in the point. I knew it. I think they are. They haven't lost a single four-star transfer, not one. When you look at their departures, some guys on 24-7 sports, they're very weird with how they do it.

They'll list like their high school rating for whatever reason. So I solely look at what their transfer rating is none of them are rated four stars, the guys that they have lost. They added a four star defensive back from Washington, who is an absolute stud in Camori House. They added some O-line beef as well. And they have the fourth rated transfer class in the ACC currently. Tell me why I'm wrong. Why is North Carolina not a winner, in your opinion?

Here's the thing. I'm not going to lie to you and say they're not a winner. They're not well for themselves in the portal. I got to admit that. I got to admit that they've done well for themselves in the portal. However, when I look at North Carolina, I look at the same thing time and time again. The flash is always there. It's like dollar store fajitas that were bought out of chilies.

They'll spray a little sauce on it. I'm sorry, they'll spray a little spray on it to make it pop and glimmer and everybody in the restaurant is looking. Oh, that looks good. But when it gets to your plate, it's still ankle meat. It's still horse ankle on that plate. Okay. The reality is North Carolina could put together. the best portal class that we've ever seen. Bill Belichick is a 70-year-old who the NFL game passed by.

And now, despite his no college experience in his five decades, by the way, and when I say no college experience, congratulations. If you're listening to this podcast right now, you have as little as, or more than, there is no way you have less than this, college experience than Bill Belichick. He's never been a GA at the college level. He's never been a coordinator, never been a head coach and now we're assuming that a 73 year old is going to come in here and make things shit good luck good luck i believe in you buddy make it happen super excited again uh william mac brown to william bellichick keep them both forever make make one of them the GM and one of them the head coach you can make one of them a coordinator if you really yeah yeah listen i'm excited

for him i'm so excited to see the boys of baby blue but again in terms of talent acquisition in terms of purely talent acquisition in sport i can't disagree with you they don't a hell of a job. All right. Let's get to some losers. What do you got? Who's a big loser for you? I'm going to beat you to the punch because I already know. I already know what you're going to say. I already know you go come from my alma mater. I'm going to take my alma mater. I'm going to take my alma mater. Oh, you're going to take my alma mater. Oh, oh, no, no, no, I'm going to take your alma mater. Because I am thoroughly, thoroughly, thoroughly, thoroughly shocked and a little disappointed by not just the fact that there were defensive back transfers away from NC State.

It's the fact that all of them got in the portal within like a 24-hour span. It was the craziest thing. I have never seen anything like this. And some people are being a little bit dramatic and calling it a mass exodus. I wouldn't consider four or five gods of mass exodus. It was just the way in which it happened and the players in which were included. You got Brandon C-Saysay, who was a guy that I watched this film coming out of high school, and I said, I don't know how Clemson's in South Carolina left him.

him get off the state. But he's going to be one of the best corners in the nation coming soon. He's proven that I look a little prophetic. You know what I mean? I'm not saying that, you know, I'm the main character in Dunes, but me and Timothy Shalamee look a little like. Anywho, the reality is this. He's proven to be that he jumped into the portal. You look at T. Matt Cooley, a guy who transferred back home, he's a North Carolina guy, transferred back home from Maryland. He had a hell of a season. He started off a little slow, but picked up got better and better and better throughout the season. And the bowl game was called

a T-Nak Cooley game where I believe he had eight or nine tackles, two interceptions, all that good stuff. He's in the portal. And then DeVon Borgbe, he played this year. That even played it. We're rehabbing an ACL. He's in the portal. And then Bishop Fitzgerald gets in the portal. All he's got, Bishop Fitzgerald, everybody was excited

because of the junior college ruling and knowing he was going to get an extra eligibility. Now he's in the portal. And again, all of these, did not happen like, oh, one guy before the bowl game, another guy. Literally, there's a five-day window after your season ends to jump in. Every guy got in on the fifth day past like 8 p.m. It was the strangest thing I ever seen.

So that type of movement all in that short of a span has to make NC State a loser for me. And don't get me wrong, they've done a good job of bringing any the new defensive coordinators guys from Temple. They're following them over in terms of a couple of defensive backs. but it's still tough to lose guys who are all conferences who are on their way to being that in that quick of a sequence. You know what, Kenton, I'm going to cut NC State a little bit of slack here. And it's not because you're an NC State alum or an NC State podcast host.

They kept the number one guy. They kept their golden goose. They kept CJ Bailey from entering the transfer portal. That's fair. I think that's not to count for something. That's right. If you can keep your quarterback who's got high hopes, high expectations from entering the portal, I think that's a win.

I'm not going to call them a big winner, but I can't sit here and say, well, they're a big loser. A lot of people had it set in stone that C.J. Bailey was going to go to Miami. He was going to enter the portal, and he was going to go to the Miami Hurricanes. I'm sure Dono wanted him. And a lot of people on Locked on Cains wanted him. But you know what? He's staying with the wolf pack. So that's got to count for something. I think that's a big win for you guys right there. For me, I'll go with my alma mater.

I'm not in love with what Syracuse has done so far. Currently on 24-7 sports, excuse me, it's the second worst class in the conference. It's the lowest rated on average class, meaning the player average rating. It's the lowest for Syracuse right now. Now granted, it's early. And if you're a Syracuse fan watching this, you're going to find out later in the week why I'm not too concerned about it. But we're doing early portal winners and losers.

And I got to be objective here and say, has Syracuse really done what they needed to do in the transfer portal to get better? Yes, they got insurance at the quarterback position just in case Kyle McCord cannot come back. And we'll talk about the eligibility in the next segment here. But they still need to figure out linebacker. They still need to figure out defensive back. They still need to figure out the offensive line. granted they did add an offensive lineman.

When your objectives are pretty similar to what they were before the offseason, and we're still talking about the same objectives on January 6th, you cannot be a big winner. In fact, you're more of a loser right now, in my opinion. But you're a Syracuse fan who's tuning in right now because I'm hosting this podcast. Don't worry. Relax. It's still early on in the process.

Kenton, any last thoughts on Portals, winner and losers? I will say this. I'm expecting Louisville to come on strong in a portal like they always do. And I've already been strong. And I was just about to say, I would expect the same for Syracuse. Those are two teams that, I mean, Louisville was right up there. In terms of if Florida State hadn't been doing what they're doing, Louisville probably would have been my winner.

But Syracuse, we know how Fran Brown gets down. Come on. If there's two things you got to know about Fran, he's not going to shower after a loss, and he's going to cook up in that portal, okay? And I see this as a thing where, you know, I agree with you, Jackson. And it's really a non-issue because it is early. It is early and there's still time. And even with Coach Doran to some extent at NC State, I'm not super concerned.

Like, oh, there's no chance to take because I don't know what it is about NC State, but they find a way to get these late commits, these last second 1159, you know, for those of you who ever been in college and turned in that digital assignment at 1159, you still get an A on it somehow. You know, Doran's that guy. Tim Matt Kooli was one of those guys last year that didn't come in until those. last minute and he came in and did great things toward the end of the season. So I look at this and I say to myself, I'm not, I'm not like the sky is falling in

rally and everything needs to go, but this does need to be addressed. You do need to meaningfully address multiple positions. And like you said about Syracuse, there are still holes in this team that hadn't been addressed, which I'm like, I'm still begging and pleading. Please get me two more quality lineback. We need it. We don't want it. We need it.

All right. My last thought, Clemson, thank you for using the Transfer Portal finally. Really appreciate it. Welcome to the Transfer Portal. They've only added two players. I would love to see if Davosweeney's going to add a third player. Maybe I'll enter the Portal and maybe they'll pick me up and say that I'm good enough to play at Clemson. But I digress. I'm Jackson Holder. That's Tenting Gives. We just talked about the ACC early Portal winners and early Portal losers so far. Granted, it's only January 6th. and we still got plenty of offseason to go. Coming up, you know what's a big monkey wrench

that could be thrown into this whole thing right now? You thought the Diego Pavia ruling was big for Jucco players. Well, the NCAA, according to multiple sources, might be given everyone a fifth year. So Kenton and I are going to talk about some eligibility requirements after this. Attending the new 12-team college football playoff games is an incredible experience that brings fans together like never before. I remember the excitement of past playoff games and can't wait to make new memories with the updated format and extra teams involved.

GameTime is a new feature called GameTime picks that makes getting tickets for events even easier. It filters out the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats, so you don't have to waste time searching through thousands of tickets. Recently, I used game time picks to find tickets for an upcoming game. Browsing through the deals was a breeze, and I found great value for all kinds of seats around the venue. The Super Deal in particular stood out as the best value for the event. I love that I could see the seat views before buying, and that the app shows the total cost up front with no surprise fees at checkout. Plus, the on-time ticket delivery and lowest price guarantee gave me complete peace of mind.

Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, creating account, use code locked on college for $20 off. Terms apply again, create an account, redeem code locked on college, L-O-C-K-E-D, O-N-C-O-L-L-E-G for $20 hours off. Download game time today, last minute tickets, lowest price guarantee. So the NCAA, according to CBS sports as John Rothstein, is considering giving everyone across all college athletics. This is not just college football.

This is not just college men's basketball. We're talking literally every single sport, every single athlete, getting a fifth year of eligibility and basically creating what's called the five for five rule. We got five seasons to play five. years. Kenton, what are your thoughts on this? I love it. I love it. I am against a flat tax in terms of America's current taxes, but that's another story for another time. In terms of the NCAA,

though, there needs to be just a flat five. No offense or buts about it. There is no scaling. There is no, and I'm saying this as a guy who suffered multiple injuries. I'm saying this as a guy who suffered Gary Andrew. Five should be it. Five should be it. We're seeing guys, I believe, And there was one in the ACC, I believe it was Cam McCormick that was on year, what, eight or nine? Yeah. Stop. Stop. Go on somewhere.

I don't care what your reason is. I don't care. With all due respect, I really don't. It is beyond insane to me to think about some of these things. And, oh, they need to transfer for this reason. They have to sit out for the train. There's no sitting out anymore, right? If somebody in your family is sick and whatever case may be, which to me,

really wasn't a good excuse to begin with because if you think about it's like if you knew that there was a chance that you're ailing or that you got a grandma that's 85 and you wanted granny to see you play why would you just not play near where granny is instead of being like oh my 88 year old grandmother is sick now that just it's foolish but that's neither here nor there the reality is all of these different one-off situations i don't care anymore we've gotten too far we've lost the plot. We're seeing guys who are six, seven year guys. Stop it. Stop it. COVID already gave y'all an extra year. None of you need a year beyond that. None of you need a year beyond five. And we talk about, hey, this is hurting high school football players. That's hurting high school

football players. All of this fifth year, six year, six year, seventh year and stuff, that's hurting college football players. Granted, that's a very small percentage of the athletes in the NCAA, but still, any percentage is too many. One is too many. Brother, go get a job. Go get a job. Go do something else. Stop playing college football. You are in your seventh year.

Knock it all. There was another guy. I mean, Oklahoma State, their quarterback, Alan Bowman, had been in college since 2018. 2018, he played seven years. Lord, I absolutely love the five-for-five idea. To your point, I'll say to maybe a little bit more of a harsh way.

I don't care about injury excuse. I don't care about hardship excuse. I don't want to hear any excuse in the world. You get five years and that's it. That's it. You want a red shirt? That's cool. That's going to burn a year, though.

You'll still get four more. Only five. That is my opinion on this. Now, it could have huge massive ripple effects. and Kenton, I actually broke this down on the Locked on Syracuse podcast. I think if the NCAA is going to make this switch, they got to do it ASAP. They got to do it now.

If you don't do it now and you decide to wait until June, congratulations, the class of 2021 is probably going to file a class action lawsuit against you. Because a lot of people got that COVID year in 2020. Then the class of 2022 onward, they get the fifth year of eligibility rule, which leaves one class that gets stuck. Class of 2020. They got to do it.

Either you do it now or you don't do it at all. And you just leave the current system. I'm not-five years. I'm not mad at that at all. Again, I'm very much so on the side of at the end of the day, college athletics are meant for you the time. And I'm not even on the side of amateurism, because we all know this isn't amateur.

It's not amateurism anymore. Yeah, it's not amateur ball. You know, it had been an amateurism for years. People, when thousands of people show up to scream your name, that's not amateurism. Me and you playing ball in the wise amateur. But that's another story for another time. Seeing Jackson Holder hit a left-hand layup probably would be the joy of my day. Do you think I can hit a left-hand lay-up?

Are you crazy? First of all, I'm right-handed. That's what I'm saying. I think you were struggling. No, look, I have some athletic ability, not in basketball. Absolutely not. You think I can play basketball? I am one of the worst athletes.

I'm one of the worst basketball players in the history of basketball. And that's what I said. Watch you hit the left head. Watch you hit the left head a leg would make me smile. It would make my heart smile for a beginning. But in all seriousness, I look at this. I look at this situation. And I say to myself, again, five for five just makes sense.

And that alleviates a little bit of the pressure on the high school. guys. And I think that there would have to be something that kind of works in how the Juko ruling is going to affect that as well. Because to me, again, you talk about, you know, juco guys and needing those extra years and not counting toward their eligibility. Maybe this five for five is like you're compromised between the like, hey, listen, you get five years. So if you do a year or two in Juko, you still have three left. You come out of Juko, you don't have two. You have three whole years left to do whatever you need to do or whatever university you need to do. But to me, it will be ridiculous to see this be stacked on top of that.

So now, Junko, guys, and this is get seven years to be in college, which is like, something about that feels a little wrong. Some about that feels a little like, this is icky and gross. So I'm interested to see how this kind of plays out. And, of course, we're the most litigious country in the world. So there are going to be lawsuits regardless, Jackson. That's the only thing I disagree with you. regardless if they do it now and six months and a year, somebody's going to suit.

But I would like to see this is one thing that I think would have popular support across the board, because how much of an argument can you make for, hey, five years is a bad thing? I really don't have an argument against it. But here's the problem. It is with the Juko ruling. So Diego Pavia, I just looked it up. He played two years in Juko. And he's played three years in Division I.

So under our rules, that's it. That's your five years. But the court ruling was that playing in Juko handicaps your ability to make NIL money. So therefore, you've got to give them another year. So it would almost turn into a cheat code if you can play two years in Jucco and then five years of NCAA ball. So to your point, there has got to be some sort of compromise here. honestly, I think it might be in the best interest for the players to unionize across all college sports. It's not amateurism anymore.

I mean, these are basically professionals at this point. They're getting paid. You get paid by definition, you are a professional. I agree. And I think the unionization would not only be good for the players, it would also be good for the universities. Because what we're seeing, for example, take my beloved old NC State, there are multiple guys who resigned into the NIL collective who are now in the

portal. They didn't resign the collective at the end of 2020. They resigned at the end of the 2024 season just this year over the holidays and they're still in the portal. At some, professionals don't even have that much freedom. Like when you sign, you sign. If you sign to a year long professionals have no freedom. That's why they're always constantly fighting for free. Collegiate athletes have much more freedom than an event. Exactly. And to me, when you sign, you're there. To me, when that's the situation, you're where you're supposed to be. So I look at this kind of five-year thing and say like, oh, with the cheat code and who can make it night, who can't, I'm going to say very simply, as simply as I can put it. At the end of the day, it should be

far for everybody. And at most, at most, if you're a juco, guy, get your one year kind of deal there. But that's, I, again, I don't see the actual, the principle of that and the spirit of that, I do see that being violated at a high level. If you are to say, hey, you get two years of Juko and then X amount of years at the FBS level. I mean, if it, it's just so complicated. I almost lose my words over it. It's like if you're a high school athlete, not like a five or a four star guy. I'm talking like most of the athletes who make college ball.

It doesn't matter what sport. Most of them are going to be three stars are lower. In fact, most of them are going to be zero stars. Of course. Why wouldn't you go to Juko to start? Why wouldn't you? You're still going to get an education. You're going to get educated.

Go for a couple of years. And then you got five more because the court's saying right now that it doesn't count. And now we're back at square one. And now we're back to square one. We're back for the bunch of 25-year-olds running around on the field. There's just got to be some sort of solution here. And I think the best solution for every party is, let's go five for five. You get five seasons no matter what.

I do not care where you started playing college. I don't care if you got injured. I am so sorry. I don't want to speak too insensitively. I don't care what the hardship is. You get five years because you know what? You play professionally. If you somehow make real professional ball, doesn't matter what sport.

Guess what? You sign a contract. and if you tear your ACL, you blow your knee out, guess what? That year still counts on your contract. Last time I checked. That's where I'm at with this. There's got to be a solution. This is the solution from John Rothstein.

Five seasons, five years. That's it. I'm Jackson Holder, the host of Lockedon, Syracuse filling in for Alex Dono. That's Tenton Gibbs, the host of Lockedon Wolfpack. He's always here on Locked on ACC. Thank you for making us your first listen to every single day here on the Lockdown podcast. network. It's your team every day. Alex Dono will be back for the next episode of locked on

on ACC. And plus, ACC squad is returning on Thursday. Folks, it's going to be a good one. So everyone, take care.