Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - SHOCK: Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech EXPLODE in ACC Recruiting, Is SMU Failing? | ACC Podcast

Starting point is 00:00:00 As the gap continues to widen financially and competitively from the SEC and the Big 10 down to the ACC, these are the ACC programs who must step up. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. He's Brian Smith from the portal filling in for Kent and Gibbs today. I am Alex Dono from Locked on Caines. this episode of Locked on ACC is brought to you by Odu. Great organizations win because operations matter.

Starting point is 00:00:43 And that's why you should get Odo. Try for free today at Odu.com slash locked on. That's ODO.O.com slash locked on. On this loaded episode, we'll continue to go through the ACC head coach rankings because there are some surprises on the bottom half of that list, not to mention things people are complaining about on the top half. We're going to talk recruiting trends because we do have the recruiting overlord with us on this one. And whether or not the ACC can get stronger because, you know, Brian, we are all aware of the ACC's TV deal being inferior to that of the SEC in the Big Ten.

Starting point is 00:01:20 If that Protect College Sports Act passes as the way it's currently written up by Congress, that would restrict the ACC's ability to expand. And also, you know, giving Miami, Clemson and Florida State and others a much harder time leaving because of the restrictions on expansion. So we might all be stuck together. So, Brian, you look at the recruiting trends in the class of 2027. Do you see the ACC as a conference that's on the rise? Because if you recruit well, theoretically, two, three, four years down the road, you should be playing better on the field if you're recruiting well. there are two programs that have made obvious jumps. The two techs, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.

Starting point is 00:02:07 As you and I discussed before the show, this is one of the craziest stats I've ever seen in recruiting. In the month of June alone, Georgia Tech has 23 commitments. And we're barely halfway through the month. Look, I did a show with our guy Jarvis the other day. He has locked on Georgia Tech. and he said they had some boosters, dump some money. Well, apparently the dump was pretty significant

Starting point is 00:02:33 because it's just gone bonkers. There's spending more money than Georgia in a lot of SEC programs. Wow. And I'm like, oh, because I was making fun of Georgia Tech. Jarvis even told me he was making fun of Georgia Tech. And he's a Georgia Tech fan. But all of a sudden, they went from zero to 60. So they're one.

Starting point is 00:02:50 And we know that James Franklin wasn't going to take that job down in Blacksburg, unless he had some research. Like, why would I take this if I can't get to the problem? What are you going to give me to go buy the groceries, meaning the players? And they've done some pretty good things, and their class is pretty good. They got an expensive quarterback. They've got linemen. They've started to hit the DMV harder.

Starting point is 00:03:10 Those two programs, I think, are trending in the right direction. However, what in the hell is going on with SMU? That is, if you have not, for anybody that's listening to this show, I don't care if you like or dislike or anywhere between the SMU, they have a ton of of money. And that school is located in Dallas, Texas. It's one of my favorite two cities in the country to scout along with Atlanta. It's just every school has got somebody. How does SMU have arguably the worst class in the Atlanta Coast Conference?

Starting point is 00:03:43 Yeah, according to 24-7 sports, SMU is ranked 17th out of 17th in the ACCC. And I'll find them in the overall ranking, like entire country. I'm guessing I've got to probably click down to like page three. to find them because they only keep 50 per page. I'll see if I could find where they rank overall. But yeah, I know it's not good at all. I mean, what? I mean, listen, I know Rhett Lashley is a hell of a football coach, right?

Starting point is 00:04:13 Because he was at Miami for two years as the offensive coordinator. I see what he's doing at SMU X's and O's wise. SMU beat Miami last year. I mean, is Rhett Lashley not known as a good recruiter, Brian? I would rank him that way now. apparently, I mean, look, you can't have the financial resources that institution possesses and say this is a good plan. If you want to go portal, that's great. But again, they're in the city of Dallas.

Starting point is 00:04:40 That's as crazed a football city as there is in the country. When I go to high school games in that area, this is not a joke. Almost every school has like some kind of indoor facility or a special extra practice facility. Their weight rooms are like college or pro. It's insane. recruit your home base. You don't have to beat A&M for every kid, but you should have a top 25 class if your Texas A&M

Starting point is 00:05:05 with their resources and location. And as you said, rightfully so, hey, this guy can develop you. He's proven that. So that one I'm concerned about. They should be somebody above all else today. They need to step up more. They're going to lose Kevin Jennings after this season.

Starting point is 00:05:22 He'll be a fifth year senior. You know, like, what are we going to see there? Because I'm a little concerned. they're going to have a precipitous drop off. That's who's in senior quarterback is rough anyway. They're not recruiting like they should. So they'll be good this year, but you're going to run out using the, I know. I cover Florida State.

Starting point is 00:05:40 They went the border route consistently. How do that go for them? Going to bite you. It's going to bite you. You have to be able to grind on the recruiting trail, and I know most coaches loathe it. You have two choices. You can win or you can lose.

Starting point is 00:05:55 Deal with the loathing or lose. Yeah, SMU needs to figure that out. Yeah, by the way, they rank 72nd overall right now. And I know it's June. I know it's June. It's not, you know, national signing days in December. But I think you've noticed, Brian, as I have, that I would say a higher percentage of Blue Chip recruits have come off the board now than in any other class I can remember.

Starting point is 00:06:21 Like, I know flips could maybe be a thing. But I don't think I can remember a recruiting cycle where this many of the top. you know, four and five star recruits have already made a verbal commitment somewhere. Well, it's like Clemson's basically done. I want to say Clemson's sitting there with their class, basically. Yeah. They're like one or two guys they would still take. Miami.

Starting point is 00:06:43 Yeah. Miami's down to like two or three guys and maybe a couple of flip target. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. 's right around that area too.

Starting point is 00:06:51 Like, what, what is SMU waiting on here? So I, I'm a little nervous in that regard. But as the saying goes, that's their decision. And if they don't figure it out, it's not going to go well because, look, the life water your program are prep football recruits. It doesn't matter if you're Georgia where it's easy, Miami, et cetera, or S&U, if you want to build it, you've got to build it from the ground up. I mean, look what Mario did when we recovered Miami. Like, when he first got there, that was not a Miami roster. No.

Starting point is 00:07:23 You built that primarily through the prep ranks, and then you plug in a few guys from the portal. Well, that's fine. But, you know, you're not going to get all a key messadors out of the portal. So you got to recruit the kids like Ruben Bain. So I'm hoping some more teams kind of figure this out. Pittsburgh should be doing better. Like they're not, they're not spending enough. Boston College is terrible.

Starting point is 00:07:45 Virginia's okay. Like NC State, North Carolina, like, White Forest. The league is bothering me in this regard. Like they're just not spending the money. And I'm not sure if it's boosters or whatever. That's not my turf, but like we all know Florida State struggles. They did get a commitment here just a little bit ago, but their class, to my knowledge, still doesn't have an offensive line commitment.

Starting point is 00:08:08 The league overall is not doing well recruiting. Again, outside of the obvious Miami, Clemson, Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech, those four, we're good. After that, it is a massive gap, and that's a problem. Louisville's class probably be the one closest in the middle, but they still haven't done what they need to either. Because, I mean, I look at this from the big picture. And, of course, Florida State and Clemson have already sued the conference.

Starting point is 00:08:34 They did earn a settlement, but we know they've been unhappy and they're going to weigh there. If there is an option to leave the ACC, they're probably going to be on that first taxi cab out of there. Right. I mean, Miami hasn't said a lot publicly about conference realignment until this week. University of Miami President Joe Etchavaria did say loud and clearly in an interview that Miami's playing. for their next contract. And in the next round of conference realignment, whenever that is, that Miami wants to position themselves to be attractive to whatever the top situation is at that time. Now, if, you know, Congress gets their way and they can block the power four from expanding,

Starting point is 00:09:16 maybe everybody's stuck in the ACC. So I guess my question would be, Brian, you know, a little less than 10 years from now when the ACC's grant of rights runs out, do you think this conference will be in a position for a better TV deal, a worse TV deal or status quo? Right now, I don't see how you could say it's going to be better because you have to measure it against your competition. Yeah. Is the gap getting bigger? Yes.

Starting point is 00:09:44 What would lead you to believe based on what we just discussed with recruiting that makes you think that it's going to get smaller? Florida State is down. Their money is really down. That's the biggest blow. When Florida State's down, it's going to hurt the league. Like, I know you can't stand Florida State, but you understand the broad sense of that. It's not good for the league at all.

Starting point is 00:10:02 Yeah, sure. And honestly, it's weird for me to say this out loud as a Miami guy, but I actually think college football would be better if all of Miami and Florida and Florida state were all good at the same time. I think that would benefit everybody. Absolutely. And I think Florida is strongly trending in that direction based on their 2027 recruiting class. Clemson, we're not sure.

Starting point is 00:10:25 It's a good class, but they don't have the same kind of quarterback play they used to. We'll see on Virginia Tech. I know Brent Keith can coach, but all the money keeps coming in, I think Georgia Tech's going to be the next throwing the side of everybody in the league. But everybody else, there's just so many questions based on the money. When they get a really good play, look at Pittsburgh. One of the linebackers, great player, he transferred to Texas. One of their de-leinman, a really good player transferred to Notre Dame.

Starting point is 00:10:49 They took the checks. This league is not spending enough. And I know I'm talking about the problem not offering the solution. I apologize, but there's no way around it. Unless this league finds more money and the TV contract is a big part of that and finds it almost immediately, I don't know how that's going to happen. The gap is only going to go in the wrong direction. We need to figure out something here because it's, it may be a couple years for Virginia Tech

Starting point is 00:11:15 just as an example. That roster was nowhere near where it to be when Coach Franklin arrived in Blacksford. Georgia Tech maybe takes a slide back a little bit this year, but I have faith in break key. But after that, Alex, I mean, Miami's the obvious. Who do you think can challenge Miami? A and B, who do you think could make a run in the point? Not just make it, but could win games in the playoff based on the rosters right now and this week.

Starting point is 00:11:39 Right. I don't see it. Yeah, zero. I don't see it. I mean, I guess like if Chris Fizzina is a lot better than we think is Clemson's quarterback, because I know Clemson has talent outside. of that. Sure.

Starting point is 00:11:52 You know, I see like SMU as a team they can sneak into the playoffs, but I don't see them winning playoff games. I just don't. And I can't say it for anybody else, right? I think long term, if Florida State can get their act together, that that may be the best hope. But, you know, I want to talk about coaches because Andy Staples of On 3 released his ranking of ACC coaches from 1 to 17.

Starting point is 00:12:16 I think they may have gotten number 17 wrong. and a lot of people think they got number one wrong. You want to keep it locked right here because we're only getting started. We got Brian Smith filling in for Kent and Gibbs. I am Alex Dono on this brand new episode of Locked on ECC. Folks, the biggest stage in world soccer is here. Every match feels like it has potential for a memorable moment. We've already seen some of those with Team USA.

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Starting point is 00:14:22 Thank you for making Locked on ACC your first listen. And Brian Smith, before we get to the ACC coaches ranked by Andy Staples of On Three Sports, there is one program in recruiting that's trying to crash the party a little bit in the ACC. Yeah, we talk about Georgia Tech. Now, Georgia Tech right now has the fifth rated class in the ACC and number 21 overall. The Cal Golden Bears actually have the fourth best class in the conference right now and five less verbal commits than Georgia Tech. I mean, could Cal and Cal, they've obviously.

Starting point is 00:14:55 had some tremendous players go through there over the years. Could Cal under Tosh LaPoy be on a big up swing? That's the wild card. Beast mode for me is the all-time great. I mean, Aaron Rogers played there too, but Beach Mode was so much fun. Yeah. Look, Cal is kind of a sleeping giant. It's in California. Nobody talks about them. That state's got a ton of money if any of the boosters, like any of those tech people, you know, they got tech people. Yeah. Right there. It only takes one of them to say, you know what, I'd like to see us be good in the pig skin. Tosh can recruit. He was under Sabin, and he was under Dan Lanning.

Starting point is 00:15:33 Those guys don't hire coaches who can't recruit. They won't do it. That could be really interesting. And if you're a wide receiver or if you're a tight end or running back, JKS would be a little bit of an interesting, I mean, that guy, he's, I could care less about Cal Football in general. But when they're on, at least if the offense is out there, I'm going to stop. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:15:56 That's fun. I think they're a threat with, again, I don't know what their money situation is, but the recruiting's not too bad. Somebody's throwing some money on the pile there. If it gets a little better, maybe they're the wild card. And how weird is that, by the way, Cal being a possible top five ACC team, the location I still can't get over it. Yes, I'm old school.

Starting point is 00:16:17 You want to yell at me fire away, but that, you know what? I would love to see Cal, especially because then I'd get to see Jake. It'd be great if Cal made it to, like, play Miami in the ACC title game this year. That'd be awesome. Yeah. But as a recruiting program, I guarantee you they've already given USC, UCLA and Oregon some fits out there. That's the sweeping giant. They're trying to give Miami fits too.

Starting point is 00:16:42 They're going head-to-head for receiver Eli Woodard. And they might win that over Miami. If you can beat Miami for receiver recruits after the season that a certain young man that you and I know pretty well, it's about 5-9 to play slot. I would say that you know how to recruit. And, well, they're going big game hunting. They're going after top linemen that like Oregon wants, receivers at Miami wants.

Starting point is 00:17:07 Cal's the wild card. I need to see it for more than a year. You know, you see the financial investment, but I know Tosh, again, from the school that he's from, Saban, Lanning, et cetera, he's going to hire people that can recruit, and he's in California.

Starting point is 00:17:22 year. It's not rocket science there, recruit your backyard. They should be a program that's top 30ish, at least every year. They get the right money. They could be top 20, and then they could be annoying every year. So I think it's great. I think college football needs some injections like that once in a while. No doubt. So this is rocked social media for the last couple of days. Andy Staples, Yvonne 3 put out his ACC head coach rankings. Now, it's a very much in the moment type of ranking because obviously if this was like overall resume dabbo sweeney would deserve it be number one but this is as they are now and dabbo sweeney is number three mario christobald james franklin dabbo ret lashley jeff brom rounding out the top five we'll circle back

Starting point is 00:18:07 to the top of the list but i want to look at the bottom of the list because kenton and i didn't get there on yesterday's episode uh new stanford head coach tveda pritchard i feel kind of bad that he's already shoved into the 17 spot, the dead last spot, without having coached a game there. But my question is, Brian, he's right below Bill Belichick at number 16, Tosh LaPoy at number 15. I mean, is Bill Belichick at number 16? Is he ranked too high? Look, I don't know what that was last year at North Carolina, but you can tell he's not the greatest fit at the collegiate level. Obviously, his run in the NFL is well documented and desert.

Starting point is 00:18:48 forbidly so. But at least Tavita Pritchard knows his way around Stanford. He was a quarterback there. Yeah. He was there right before Andrew Luck got there. I would imagine that Bill Belichick is probably about where he should be. It's funny, they put Tosh in front of him, but Tosh can recruit. Bill can't. No. And honestly, I think Tosh at 15, I think he should be higher than Bill O'Brien at 14. I do, too. You could flip those easily. Bill has no support at Boston College. They're the least funded program in the ACC. They have no chance. Jesus could walk down and be the head coach there,

Starting point is 00:19:26 and it's not going to matter. But I mean, I don't know what to do for Bill. You know, Bill O'Brien is in a bad spot. But he took the job. You want the job? You got to catch those checks. You've got to take the bad side. He didn't do anything last year to excite me.

Starting point is 00:19:43 So I agree with that. what do you think about Fran? He's hard to really read with Syracuse at 13 too. I didn't know where to put him because I think he did a really good job the year before, but then once his quarterback got hurt this last year. Yeah. Holy cow, they, oh my God. That was bad.

Starting point is 00:20:04 I think I could go anywhere from like 10 to 14 on Fran. They have him ranked 13. That's like, you know, I know people will make excuses. for last season by saying, well, hey, that's what happens when your starting quarterback gets hurt. It can derail your season when Steve Angelly got hurt. But then my counter argument would be how do you not have a better backup quarterback situation to at least be able to win a few games with your backup? That I get it.

Starting point is 00:20:34 Like you lose Angelly. But how come your next best option after Steve Angelly is a player on a lacrosse scholarship that can't throw a forward pass. Like, how is that your next option? And there are little things that people scrutinize about Fran. Like sometimes he's a little performative when he had guys running gassers right after they survived the overtime against Yukon.

Starting point is 00:20:59 Like some of it seems like he puts on some theater out there. I mean, listen, I think Fran Brown's a pretty good coach. But like you said, the first year looked really impressive. The second year was an absolute debacle. I don't really know what to do with Fran. And I could go anywhere from like number 10 to number 14 on him. What about for you host to Lockdown Seminels? Mike Norvell at 12.

Starting point is 00:21:20 Too high, too low, just right. I wouldn't have him number 12. You're not going to tell me that if you said, Brian, would you rather have Tosh Lupo way or Mike Norvel? It's not close. You know my rule. If you can't recruit, you can't be a head coach today. And he's applying himself now, but it's too.

Starting point is 00:21:42 little too late. I don't think he's one of the top 14 coaches in the lead. I would have him below Tosh. And I know he had the great season in 23. They hit the inside straight on the portal, but he made so many mistakes with his hiring, didn't want to get rid of guys. He's been lazy with recruiting until here just recently now their money has run out. I don't trust Mike Norbell, and I wouldn't put him that high. Yeah, no, I'm with you on that. But when we come back, I want to break down that top nine because I read the comments. I know some folks are arguing Mario Cristobal at number one. I'll defend it.

Starting point is 00:22:20 You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet. Brian Smith filling in for Kent and Gibbs. I am Alex Dono on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Friends, running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never designed to work together. You got one app for accounting, another for inventory, another for sales, and somehow none of them talk to each other,

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Starting point is 00:23:03 instead of just managing software. My friends, the best organizations know that success isn't just about talent. It's about having everyone working toward the same goal. That's true in sports, just like it is in business. I mean, you think about Miami right now, you know, being at least on paper, top of the ACC.

Starting point is 00:23:22 One thing that really stands out is how Mario Cristobal has that organization pulling in the same direction. It wasn't just about one great player or coach. It's a coordinated effort across the entire organization that makes that thing successful. Folks, great organizations win because operations matter. And that's why you should get Odu. Try for free today at Odu.

Starting point is 00:23:43 dot com slash locked on. That's ODO.O.com slash locked on. Thank you for making locked on ACC your first listen. So, yeah, Mario Cristobal at the top of that ACC head coach rankings. And again, Brian, this is an in the moment as things are right now rankings. And I, you know, to those who will say, oh, you know, Christabal, the end game problems, the Georgia Tech game from three years ago, I would say what we were just talking about at that Odo spot when it comes to getting everyone in your organization rowing in the same

Starting point is 00:24:21 direction. And just as much as in-game decisions are part of coaching, so is recruiting, so is transfer portal, so is program building. And right now, Miami, again, we're here in June. Miami does look like the team to beat in the ACC this year. So do you agree having Cristobal number one, or do you think he still has more to do to earn that? The way I do rankings and to make sure that common denominator is correct. I don't look at your history. I look at what you're doing now and what I project. Like you said before during the show,

Starting point is 00:24:55 if we're doing a collective, well, it's Davo Sweeney. He has two rings. But did Davo adapt to college football, Alex? No. He finally started this last off-season. He took 10 portal guys. Now, I don't know what their NIL is.

Starting point is 00:25:10 I don't have that information, but their recruiting class is pretty good. But have they completely adapted? I don't know. So based on that, I think those are the two guys that I would look at the most. But Mario was just in the national title game while Davila had a senior-laden team that barely went to a bowl. I'll take Mario. Now, James Franklin just got fired from a job.

Starting point is 00:25:31 So I'm sure he's not going to put him over somebody else. Yeah, that one's a little odd to have him at number two. Exactly. Yeah, because if you're going in the moment, like what is Franklin done in the, he's got a nice little recruiting class, but she's got fired. Yeah, that's Brett. Ashley was in the playoffs. I mean, he got beat by Franklin, but with nowhere near the roster. I think he's a better pure coach than Franklin is.

Starting point is 00:25:54 I don't think it's right that close. Same with Brahm. They're just at places where it's harder to get physical talent than Penn State. Like if you put Jeff Brom at Penn State, I bet you'd beat a high of state or Michigan at some point. No offense, but I don't think that's very different. And he can recruit, but it's his choice to be at Louisville where it's a heck of a lot harder to win. I think Franklin should be about number five.

Starting point is 00:26:16 That's how I would look at it. Diaz's done a nice job at Duke. That's the one that's the hardest for me because they don't have a super high ceiling. I mean, they had Mensa last year, but they could be four and eight this year. It wouldn't shock me, you know, especially after they lost, not one, but two really good players on all. It was Mensa and they lost his sidekick, barcate to your Miami hurricanes. I got a feeling that's going to be a precipitous fall as well. I don't think the beginning of the list is all that off.

Starting point is 00:26:42 It's just Franklin kind of bothers me a little bit. Yeah. That's the one that I'm not real sure. And I would also move Brick Key up what he did because tech was awful when he got there. I mean, you and I have seen that firsthand covering Miami following this league. They were really bad when he first got to tech. They're competitive with everybody now. I'm not sure how they're going to do without Haynes King.

Starting point is 00:27:05 But I trust that he's a good football coach and they're recruiting a lot better. I would have him somewhere right up there. I'm like, matter of fact, I'd probably have him above Franklin too. I think he's done more recently, especially with less. Now that they're starting to recruit better, why would I not project Georgia Tech to be the next team that could threaten Mario Cristobal in the Miami Hurricanes? Watch out for Brent Key in the Yellow Jackets. Shout out to Jarvis Davis, who hosts Locked on Yellow Jackets.

Starting point is 00:27:32 I know it seems like a program that could be on the rise right now. Huge thank you and shout out to Brian Smith. We love to bring the recruiting knowledge from Brian here to Locked on ACC. You want to follow him on X at FB Scout underscore Florida. Check him out. He hosts two shows on this network, the portal, where he talks all things recruiting NIL transfer portal. And he also hosts Lockdown Seminoles.

Starting point is 00:27:54 And yeah, get to your studio, Brian, because I know the Seminoles did just land a three-star recruit today. So he'll have a new episode for you guys. Check me out at Lockdown Cains and at Alex Dono. And we'll talk to you next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC. We are part of the number one sports pod. Network. Happy 10th anniversary to the lockdown podcast network, your team every day.

Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - SHOCK: Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech EXPLODE in ACC Recruiting, Is SMU Failing? | ACC Podcast

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