Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - What is the ACC's end game in their legal battles with FSU? ACC players to watch in transfer portal

Episode Date: April 11, 2024

What is the end game for the ACC in their legal battles against Florida State University? Should the conference consider settling sooner than later? In reality, the ACC needs to fight to protect their... grant of rights for as long as possible because if that crumbles, an FSU exit could set a precedent for others to follow. Then, the conference would be in a terrible position for the renewal of their TV deal with ESPN. And even if the ACC sees settlement  with FSU as an inevitability, they’d much rather settle from a position of strength. Hosts Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs break down the significance of Florida’s State’s Tuesday win in court against the ACC. The Leon County, FL judge felt the ACC rushed to file first in North Carolina as a method of “forum shopping.” Donno and Gibbs take a look at what could be a crazy NCAA transfer portal window next week. The NCAA is no longer able to enforce transfer restrictions, meaning players are essentially free to jump from school to school as much as they like. What are the biggest needs for the top teams in the ACC, and which players can the conference not afford to lose?Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! LinkedInThese days every new potential hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small business. That’s why LinkedIn Jobs helps find the right people for your team, faster and for free. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/lockedoncollege. Terms and conditions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARENTEED That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – win or lose! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 You know, most of us can agree that at some point, Florida State is going to find a way out or settle their way out of the ACC. The ACC might even agree with that. So why is the ACC fighting this tooth and nail? You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Shout out to the everydayers for making Locked on ACC your first listen and your first watch. I'm Alex Dono from Locked on Cane. He's Kenton Gibbs from Locked-on Wolfpack. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by Fanduel.
Starting point is 00:00:52 Make every moment more. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets guaranteed. That's $150, win or lose. Visit Fandul.com slash locked on to get started. On yesterday's episode, we reacted to the ruling by Judge Cooper in Leon County, Florida to deny the ACC's motion to stay. And at some point, we may reach the discovery phase. We'll talk about that.
Starting point is 00:01:18 So for right now, the battles rage on not only in Florida courts, but in North Carolina courts as well. And then for the ACC also in South Carolina against Clemson, we get a question or a YouTube comment on yesterday's episode from Aaron who says, hey, what is the end goal for the ACC here? FSU only has to win on one point for their suit to be a success. Why risk this, he says. The Florida judge basically told you.
Starting point is 00:01:42 he's not buying the ACC arguments. ACC should let them go and split the TV money. So I think Kenton, because so much of the coverage on this issue has been, I'm not going to say like favoring Florida State, but very one-sided. Like again, like I've been following a lot of great people in Tallahassee who have been covering this and we're covering the hearing on Tuesday in Florida. And a lot, I have seen this question raised Kenton. Like what's the end game?
Starting point is 00:02:11 there's a few points that are pretty obvious to me, but I'd like your take first. What's the end game for the ACC and why are they fighting this? You know, this reminds me of when people would ask me, how was Anna Nicole Smith married to that really old guy? It's like she's one of the hottest women in America. Why is she married to him? Well, I can name a few billion reasons. And in this situation, I can name a few hundred million reasons why.
Starting point is 00:02:41 Stick with me here. If we're following the logic, why is the ACC fighting so hard here? Florida State only has to win one thing. That is true. Florida State also could lose that one thing. And then what? And then what, right?
Starting point is 00:02:58 Like at this point, this has reached a point where the ACC knows if they were to give a cheap buyout to Florida State. And Clemson can afford that buyout as well. your top two players, your two top dogs have taken a buyout, they're gone. What is ESPN's motivator to say, we want to renew in 2026? Right. I believe that's when it's up, right, 2026?
Starting point is 00:03:27 Yeah, I know that the renewal kicks in in 2027. So I'm not, I think 2026 is probably when they have to agree to that. Yeah. So if they are to have any shot at renewal happening, we have to stop looking at this as like the domino that's right at front of us. There are layers of dominoes that each one as these things drop, they knock over something else. If you throw a rock in a pond, the ripple spread beyond where the rock hits. That's what we have to pay attention to with this case. It's not just fighting because the ACC likes Florida State that much.
Starting point is 00:04:09 The ACC is a conference as an entity. It's a business entity just like any other. Just like any other. If Arizona T could make a billion dollars tomorrow by turning a weapons manufacturing, you think they leave T alone? Of course. But it just doesn't work that way, right? So what we're looking at is the ACC knows it is more lucrative to fight this tooth and nail.
Starting point is 00:04:32 And if you win, you end up in a situation where both Clemson and Florida State have to stick around through renewal. Do they have to be here forever? No. Donald and I have said this plenty of times, which is why I don't get again, why people keep saying, oh, you all just want the ACC to stay together forever. We know the relationships are torn beyond repair. Yes. I don't care one way or another what happened.
Starting point is 00:05:02 here. But what I know for a fact is that if the ACC decided, oh, this is such a long and dreary fight, let's just give up and let's just let them pay the 130 and let's just say another 60 or so to make it a, or 70 to make it a clean 200 million and go on about your way, as opposed to saying, no, those TV rights are worth half a billion dollars here. Right. 400 million. You're going to have to pay us every cent to come up off of those. If they were to go to that first route, that then puts them in a bad situation for the renewal. When they're in a bad situation for renewal, they're in a bad situation for anybody to come back. Now it's a whole different ballgame. So that's what the ACC is working so hard for, in my
Starting point is 00:05:47 opinion. It's not just the 400 million reasons or really 800 million reasons because there's two lawsuits now. It's also every dime that's coming behind every university at this point. Because without renewal, who's to guarantee the ACC remains? Exactly. It's survival. I mean, protecting their grants of rights, it's an existential crisis because if that gets invalidated and broken, then theoretically the floodgates could open and it puts you, like you said, in a terrible position for your next TV deal, which the ACC doesn't want.
Starting point is 00:06:22 And another thing, like, I feel like it, I don't know how long it's going to take, but I think at some point there's going to be some form of a settlement that involves Florida State buying their way out of the ACC, including buying their TV rights. And it's going to be a number, probably somewhere between what Florida State is asking for, which is zero, and what the ACC is asking for, which is what, total of the, you know, 400, 500 million range. Now, a lot of times people look at this stuff very like black and white in terms of winning, losing versus settling, whereas, hey, winning is a W, losing is an L, and settling is a tie. No, there's different degrees of settlement, Kenton. And even if the ACC,
Starting point is 00:07:01 realize at some point there might be mediation and a settlement, you want to settle from a position of strength, not from a position of weakness. And if the ACC can get some court wins, it puts them in a better position to demand more from Florida State on the way out. I think that's important. Now, with that said, the more and more I study and try to understand Florida States, their victory, I'll call it a victory. It's a battle one, not a war one. Their victory in court against the ACC on Tuesday. it was significant because Judge Cooper, he made it very clear that he felt even though the ACC filed suit first, they got out first in North Carolina. And oftentimes this is what the ACC was hoping for.
Starting point is 00:07:45 Oftentimes the side that files first ends up getting favored. There is some precedent for that. So I felt like the ACC pulled like a Harvey Specter from suits move that, hey, they want to sue us. We're going to sue them first and get out in front of it. Clever. but unfortunately for them, the judge in Florida saw through that. He felt that the ACC, that there's enough of a sentiment in his mind that the ACC rushed their filing in order to beat Florida State by literally one day, deliberately
Starting point is 00:08:14 filing in friendly territory for the ACC in their home state of North Carolina in order to go. The term that he kept using was forum shopping. He used that throughout the process. Now, he did not agree to the ACC's assertion that the case in Florida, should halt temporarily while the case in North Carolina moves forward because Kenton had the case been halted in Florida, that would give the ACC the opportunity to hope for a favorable ruling first in North Carolina that could then influence or set a precedent for how things
Starting point is 00:08:46 play out in Florida. The judge, though, in Florida seemed to disagree with the idea that a judge in North Carolina should influence his own rulings in the Sunshine State because another part of what makes this whole process so complicated is the laws are different. different in North Carolina. They're different in Florida. They're different in South Carolina where Clemson is filing suit. So I guess there is a chance, and this may end up going through federal courts at some point, Kenton. There is a chance that the ACC could get the ruling that they like ultimately in North Carolina, with Florida State getting a ruling they like in Florida. And somebody's got to mediate that and break that tie. Now, another point that I want to bring up on all this, Kenton, is that when we're talking about these motions, to stay and motions to dismiss, they haven't actually reviewed the evidence yet, right? At this point, they haven't gone through discovery. They haven't gone through. So they basically have to take both sides at their word when they come to these preliminary
Starting point is 00:09:43 ruling. So we're only at the tip of the iceberg. If these cases keep moving forward, if they don't settle first, there's going to be a lot of nastiness out there. And I'm just going to get my popcorn ready. Oh, absolutely. And I'm going to tell you this, I don't foresee. a settlement coming anytime soon because when you look at who would want to
Starting point is 00:10:05 settlement, right? And not only who would want a settlement, but when you also look at who has the ability or who is hurt or helped the most by staying throughout this staying the course and saying, you know what, even if I lose, if I lose over the course of three years, that's better than letting you have a settlement in a a year and a half. The ACC is the party that would want to do that. That's a great point. And this is going to be expensive for both sides. I don't know who's got the bigger war chest, because obviously you're going to be paying legal fees for the next three or so years if it plays out that way. But yeah, it's going to become a war of attrition. And I'm going to tell you this much.
Starting point is 00:10:53 you have a war of attrition between one or two parties that each have one student body, one board of trustees, one pretty much, you know, their boosters clubs and all that feeding them versus an entity that has 12 other teams. That is actually that number is about to grow in terms of how many teams are feeding into it. It benefits the ACC for this thing to drag on. And that's just an objective truth. I trust me, I don't think it's smart that there were, you know, people screaming out of us in the comments saying, oh, it's all going to be over by June 30th. But I understand why they wanted that. Because if something so drastic as this case coming to a complete stop by June 30th, which happened in 99% of worlds, that means something has gone terribly wrong for the existence. because if the chances of those teams dropping out by then,
Starting point is 00:11:52 slim and none doesn't make sense. Chances of the ACC dropping out by then, again, slim and none doesn't make sense. But at least from the ACC standpoint, you could see them saying, okay, something new has come up that's made us withdraw. You wouldn't necessarily see that with Clemson or FSU. But the reality is, again, this is not suits. We do not have high respect. Okay. This is not Perry Mason. We are not seeing that moment where he gets you to admit to doing the killing in court. It's not going to happen. What we are going to see here, my prediction on this thing is at least, at least another year to year and a half of back and forth in court, back and forth in this court, this side wins this court case. Well, now we got to do this court. Now we got to elevate these cases because this saw I won this case and this side won this case.
Starting point is 00:12:45 case that we need to, you know, what jurisdiction is truly the jurisdiction that they have to follow and all that type of stuff. And that's why I said, if there is a settlement, the teams definitely make out the better because then they can go and get the higher pay days from the other conferences right away if they just pay out whatever and go, as opposed to the ACC, who is now, they're unhold because these two teams are gone for the payout. So, you know, this is, Again, when you ask, why are you fighting tooth and nail? Just imagine if somebody was holding your head underwater. How hard would you fight?
Starting point is 00:13:23 Because that's what the ACC is facing. That's what the ACC is facing. If you let these two out scot-free, you really are done. Because the ACC and ESPN already don't have a great relationship. It is already being speculated that ESPN and company are done with the ACC. And so if that happens, where do you go? next? Where do you go next as a conference? That's that becomes the big question to ask there. And when you come to that conclusion, you come to understand that this isn't a fight for just a few
Starting point is 00:13:59 ducats or a few dollars to bolster the the, the to to bolster our piggy bank. This is about can we pay the mortgage? Can we keep the lights on? Will we exist? That's what that's about. Well said. Well, Well, we're going to get into the weeds in football when we come back. Here's kind of an ominous quote from Josh Pate of 24-7 sports who said, I'm not overstating this. It will be the wildest transfer portal era that you've ever seen. And it's going to completely gut some of your teams. Transfer Portal is opening again in just a few days. We'll talk about who the ACC can't afford to lose and what some of the top ACC teams need to go after when they go portal shopping on April 15th.
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Starting point is 00:16:19 Terms apply. Again, create an account and use code, locked on college for $20 off, download GameTime today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guarantee. Thank you so much for making this episode of Lockdown ACC, your first listen and your first watch today. Alex Dono from Locked on Caines, Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack.
Starting point is 00:16:41 So, you know, Kent, there is a flip side to that, Josh. Pate quote where he said it's going to completely gut some of your teams, this upcoming transfer portal. And like, well, first of all, why is this transfer portal going to be different? Because the NCAA can no longer restrict how many times a player transfers. They used to kind of do that, where you get the first time free transfer, and then the second time you have to sit out a year or get a waiver. Some players were successful with the waiver. Some players weren't. Now you can just transfer as many times as you want. So it's going to be crazy. Now he did mention on the flip side, in addition to some of your teams getting gutted, other teams that may not feel like a contender when they go through their spring football games can maybe become a national championship contender if they add certain players.
Starting point is 00:17:26 You know, it kind of reminds me like Kenton, the ACC, you know, they've already, Duke already lost Riley Leonard, which is, which is a big loss for them. I can remember a lot of rumors in chatter a year ago, this didn't end up happening, but a lot of people were trying to convince me that Drake May was going to leave North Carolina last. year. He loved UNC. He ended up staying for his final year. He's going to be a very high draft pick coming up shortly. Are there players you would look at various teams in the conference? Like I think about, you know, somebody like a Casey Concepcion on your North Carolina State Wolfpack. I think about a guy like Ruben Bain on the Miami Hurricanes, like a player that, you know, teams just cannot afford to lose if this transfer portal really does get crazy. Well, if you're talking about NCN. State, I'll talk about a player that was already in the portal at an earlier point in time
Starting point is 00:18:19 in the portal cycle this offseason in Aiden White, NC State cannot afford to lose him. He is a premier cover guy. I mean, he is white on rice. He is, you know, he is, he's gloop. He sticks to guys and man, wherever you go, don't worry about it. He's your shadow. He's in your pocket. He's with you.
Starting point is 00:18:41 So long as the sun is out, he's going to be following you all day long. So that young man is one that if this is truly that crazy of a portal period, you know, I'm not saying that he's giving anybody reason to be nervous, but I'm saying that if we are looking at a portal period that is so crazy, it has people shaking in their boots. That may be a name to look out for because he's a cornerstone of that defense. And again, he has already shown the proclivity to look elsewhere and have a wondering eye a little bit.
Starting point is 00:19:15 And speaking of folks who've already had a wondering eye, many pieces on that Florida State defense. You may have similar questions. You may have similar questions. And you may work under the theory with Aden and those guys from Florida State. They've already looked out, right? It's like if you and your partner did the opening of your relationship for a bit, and then they got out there and said, everybody look a little funny.
Starting point is 00:19:39 They don't smell too good out here in the street. They're weird. They'll not have talked to people in the street. streets no more. What's going on? You know? And then they come home and that person is more settled than the person who may not have had that time to look out. You may look at it that way. That's a possibility.
Starting point is 00:19:53 But there are plenty of candidates that, I mean, you know, you're talking about guys that are not just starters, all conference performers who have previously looked in the portal that if they decide to leave now. You are absolutely right. Their teams will be gutted, mortified.
Starting point is 00:20:11 You have to replace a top talent. like that. You do not have a lot of time to do it. You do not have a lot of options to do it with. Now you're having to do roster reconstruction on a rolling and constant basis, which I'm all for player movement and I'm all for player in power. This, I believe, is a step too far. I believe that this portal window should not exist. But ifs and buts where berries and nuts, squores will never starve, and we live in the real world, so we got to get used to the potential of My team, your team, his team, her team, their team, seeing some very bad results out of portal in this spring window.
Starting point is 00:20:50 You know, something, I'm sure we're going to get a few more of these over the next couple days before the portal actually officially opens on April 15th. But there are certain players around the country who are like already kind of quietly announcing their intentions to leave their school, even though they can't officially do that until Monday. I think usually you'll like, you'll leak that to a media member and he'll put it out there. honestly like if I knew I was going to leave on April 15th, I would want to get that word out there early as possible, Kenton, because you think about it even if like technically, you know,
Starting point is 00:21:24 if anyone contacts you before the 15th, they are tampering. But at the same time, even if you take the tampering thing, you know, out of it, because some people just assume it, it happens and there's not really any way you can stop that. But even if you take the tampering part out of it, aren't there advantages? Like if you declare on Thursday or Friday, before Monday that I'm going to hit the transfer portal, at least then teams know, hey, this guy's going to be available.
Starting point is 00:21:47 We can put him on our big board and get ready to kind of envision what he would look like on our team and maybe make first contact as soon as the portal opens. Like I feel like if you know you're going to leave your team, why not kind of leak that out there early? Because at least it gives teams and intermediaries kind of a jump to say, hey, we need to go out and get this guy. Because I think my biggest nightmare, Kent, would be is every time a player hits the portal, they just assume my phone's going to be ringing off the hook. Well, when there are literally
Starting point is 00:22:15 thousands of players in the transfer portal, some of these guys don't get contacted, or at least not contacted by the teams they're interested in going to. So the portal can be the mean streets of the transfer portal is not what every player thinks it's going to be. Yeah, and the tempering thing isn't real. I'm sorry to tell y'all, if you get caught tempering in today's world, you're an idiot. Everybody is only five, six, five to six degrees. There was a movie about that, right? What was the movie? Six degrees of separation? Six degrees of separation, right?
Starting point is 00:22:47 So let's just say, let's just pretend in this fictional world, Ken's a little bit younger, okay? I'm a little bit younger and I play at NC State right now. I'm like, er, they're not going to play me behind Brandon Cleveland, but I'm a really good three tag. I can really generate some problems. And this 335
Starting point is 00:23:03 ain't for me, but I'm still stuck here. Well, there's a player that is now leaving Kentucky. He's no longer a part of the program and his name is Deontate Walker, right? Deontate Walker played at Cass Tech. Where did Ken go to high school at? Cas Tech. Well, now, wait a minute. If I'm Kentucky's
Starting point is 00:23:21 coaches, I think I just found a way to reach out and talk to Kenton without tampering. Bingo. Oh, well, you know, that's a very direct correlation in every school ain't like Cass Tech to where y'all got guys everywhere.
Starting point is 00:23:37 That's fine. Sure. Let's pretend. I know. I know. that you went to an All-American camp, let's say Dono's the guy. Let's say Dono is, what high school did you go to? What's it? Westminster Christian in Miami. Okay, Westminster Christian, and you were a bad boy of Westminster Christian. There was no corner that could keep up with you. You were white lightning. But Westminster Christian didn't put up with anybody else. They didn't put out anybody else, right? But they know you went to the Army All-American game and you ruined with Bubbo over here. Bubba is, you know, He's a personable guy.
Starting point is 00:24:11 He's fun. He's lovable. And they go up to him and say, well, how's Dono? Did you? Oh, yeah, I love Dono. Me and Dono chat all the time. We want Dono. He just announced he's hit the port.
Starting point is 00:24:21 Get on the phone. So that's for the tempering part. Now, let's get into the other part of this thing in terms of, you know, how teams can even go forth and go about handling this. That's the interesting part. That's the intriguing part that I just don't know the answer, too. I mean, there are some. many needs for so many of these teams that you're looking at potentially addressing right
Starting point is 00:24:44 away. But then the other end of it, you may have a new need created overnight. If Bain were to leave Miami, not saying that he is. And by the way, I also wanted to say, I'm not, I'm not saying that whatever happens. Hypothetical. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, hypothetical. But like you said, we're talking about players who could not afford to leave. Bain is one of those guys. Payton at Florida State is one of those guys. obviously Kairan Duranza and Byshaw too
Starting point is 00:25:10 And if they were to leave there I'm telling you you would be looking at some really bad situations All of those new transfers Up to Syracuse If any of them were to leave There is instant troubling paradise vibes Of wait a minute
Starting point is 00:25:25 Y'all love Coach Fran Everybody loves Coach Fran as a recruiter Why don't y'all like him as a head coach? Why are you leaving? What's going on? Same thing with Boston College I'll tell you what Thomas Costiano can ask answer somebody's question right away. The biggest question right away. He can go get some money
Starting point is 00:25:43 that I know he ain't touching in Chestnut Hill. And even if he is touching that type of money, we just saw with big boy from Iowa, Caden Proctor, you can double dip. You can double dip now. You can go get your money from one place, get more money from another place. So there are lots of players in the ACC that they are fundamental building stones. of the program that they're at. There are so many guys like that that, you know, you would just hate, hate, hate to see leave these programs. And so long story short, it's really almost too many the name.
Starting point is 00:26:22 But again, when you think about all of these teams, I would say this, if I can walk away with all of my two deep intact on both sides of the ball, I'm happy. I'm happy. If we got to replace our L5 and kickoff coverage, I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that. What I'm not okay with is having to replace our starting long snapper, our starting left defensive end, our starting running back.
Starting point is 00:26:50 Whoa, hold on. That's a little bit different of a story. Very different. Well, I want to talk about some transfer portal needs from some of the top teams around the conference when we come back. Alex Dono from Lockdown, Cains, Kent and Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack with you. Not done yet. Unlocked on ECC. And I'll never be done with Fanduel.
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Starting point is 00:28:03 You know, Kenton, again, it's not just we talk about players possibly leaving schools in the transfer portal. It's also an opportunity to make upgrades. And, you know, a team that's been the transfer goat in the ACC the last couple of years has been the Florida State Seminoles. And, you know, I know that we talked earlier about some of the reports out of their spring football is that, you know, you're having to rely on some young receivers to take a leap. And you're trying to replace Keon Coleman and Johnny Wilson, which is not an easy task. So I wonder if they may go after, you know, a top, and we don't know who's going to be in the portal next week, but if they may go after another top veteran receiver, because, you know, I went back and double-checked the date of when they acquired Keon Coleman last year. And that happened in the later transfer point.
Starting point is 00:28:48 It happened super late. So that was a need that they addressed after their spring game. I wonder if they might do something similar this year. You know, I can definitely speak on Miami. It looks like Miami is going running back shopping because, um, they're not exactly sure. At least I'm not exactly sure when Mark Fletcher is going to be healthy again. I think they might make a run at Damien Martinez,
Starting point is 00:29:11 the Oregon State back who rushed for almost 1,200 yards last year, 2,000 yards over the past two seasons who intends to enter the transfer portal. I also think Miami needs defensive backs. I think that's an area they're going to look at. Anything else you want to add on fly? I assume Clemson's not taking any transfers because that's not how Dabo does his business, but anything you want to add on some of the. these teams and who should NC State be looking at what positions?
Starting point is 00:29:35 I'll tell you what. In terms of running back shopping for Miami, absolutely. With all the respect to that true freshman from Bishop Gorman, if a tight end is looking like your best ball carrier. And go. Unless that young man's name is Jesus Christ, you should probably not be excited about that. And that's, listen, that's no disrespect to the young man.
Starting point is 00:29:59 I think that the more I hear about it, the more I'm hearing like, he's Brevin Jordan with the Super Soldier Serum, which I'm like, oh, that's a little terrified for the rest of the country. But still, you don't want your tidy end to be your best ball carrier. I agree. So going for a running back, especially one of Martinez's caliber, makes sense. That is natural. Now, in terms of the other positionees that you were talking about with Florida State and looking for a big time receiver, absolutely. Absolutely. We talk about how high DJUs floor is all the time, right?
Starting point is 00:30:32 But you know what brings up a quarterback ceiling more than anything else? Get him a star on that outside. Get him a superstar. Oh, get him one of those guys just like, he down there somewhere. Get him one of those. And watch how those numbers go up. Watch how that confidence goes up.
Starting point is 00:30:46 Watch how defenses have to shift their scheme to address that guy, which then does what for everybody else? Opens things up. Now that freshman that's like, he's a pretty good route runner. Well, he's always facing one-on-one coverage. And sometimes teams put out bad matchups, and he ends up against a safety or a linebacker
Starting point is 00:31:07 because they got to keep an eye on this guy. Going to get more playmakers absolutely make sense for Florida State. In terms of NC State, I would probably say linebacker and offensive line depth are the two areas that I would look at most. I'm really sold on their defensive back. I know that a lot of people aren't as high on them as I am, but I'm telling you right now, ladies and gentlemen,
Starting point is 00:31:33 if you don't know who Brandon C-Saysay is, by the end of this season, you will. He's special. He's special. And if Aiden White and he are the cornerback, are the cornerback duo at NC State, they'll be just fine. In that safety room,
Starting point is 00:31:48 last year we were down the safety number three, and it was still a strength of the team. I don't know how they did, but they're special. So I'm going to leave that where it is. but the lineback in depth or linebacker really starts. I don't want depth pieces. It's like, oh, he'll be good in a couple of years.
Starting point is 00:32:02 I want somebody that's going to be good right away there. And I'm going to tell you this. Bill O'Brien, I know you like to play with those tight ends and all that. How many good ones do you have in Boston College right now? How many are in Chestnut Hill that you feel confident about right now? You know, and this isn't any disrespect to the tight ends that are there. I just think that he's definitely going to want to add more. Like that's just something.
Starting point is 00:32:28 If you know Bill O'Brien and you watch Bill O'Brien coach teams long enough, they love to go with those multiple tight-end sets. And you need a lot of tight-ins to do that. Again, that's no disrespect to the tight ends that Boston College already has. And I think that multiple teams are looking at more, I mean, where don't you have needs for Pitt offensively? Where don't you have needs? Right.
Starting point is 00:32:49 What would you say this group at Pitt is good enough? to be an ACC starting unit. Guess what, Nardousie, if you got problems with the personnel, they've got a thing for you to fix it. I've got just a thing for you. It's called a portal. Go in there and go get some good guys. Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly.
Starting point is 00:33:11 And guys, we're going to be talking more. I'm sure in the coming days about Transfer Portal because, again, I'm heating Mr. Pate's warning. This is going to be pure chaos out there. Hey, are you watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV? day. Have to turn down that volume with all the shouting. Make the switch to Locked On Sports Today, a free 24-7 sports streaming channel program for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all the screaming. Locked-on Sports Today brings you can't miss analysis, opinions, and news streaming 24-7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app,
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