Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - BIG 10 SQUAD - Did the Iowa Hawkeyes WIN the college football offseason?

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

Coaching changes shake up the Big Ten landscape! Ohio State's recent staff adjustments, following their national championship win, have left fans buzzing. How will these shifts impact the Buckeyes' future? Dive into the latest college football insights as we explore the coaching dynamics at Ohio State, Penn State, and Washington. Key figures like Jim Knowles and Matt Rule are at the center of these discussions, with potential game-changing implications for the upcoming season. Spencer McLaughlin hosts a lively conversation with experts Mark Culkin, Jay Stevens, Connor Happer, Roman Tomash, and Isaac Seiko, offering insider perspectives on quarterback situations and team strategies. Join us for an engaging analysis of the Big Ten's evolving football scene. Don't miss out on the expert breakdowns and predictions that could shape your understanding of the season ahead!Coaching changes shake up the Big Ten landscape! Ohio State's recent staff adjustments, following their national championship win, have left fans buzzing. How will these shifts impact the Buckeyes' future? Dive into the latest college football insights as we explore the coaching dynamics at Ohio State, Penn State, and Washington. Key figures like Jim Knowles and Matt Rule are at the center of these discussions, with potential game-changing implications for the upcoming season. Spencer McLaughlin hosts a lively conversation with experts Mark Culkin, Jay Stevens, Connor Happer, Roman Tomash, and Isaac Seiko, offering insider perspectives on quarterback situations and team strategies. Join us for an engaging analysis of the Big Ten's evolving football scene. Don't miss out on the expert breakdowns and predictions that could shape your understanding of the season ahead!

Who's had the best off season in the Big 10? Let's find out on the Big 10 Squad. You're talking ball with the Big 10 Squad, sponsored by Game Time. From USC to Ohio State, from Michigan to Oregon, from Nebraska to Washington, it's the local experts of the Locked On Podcasts Network, bringing you scoops, breakdowns, and the most comprehensive

preview of the upcoming Big 10 weekend. Know her feelings and thin skin aloud. Squad up, you're part of the Big Ten squad. Thursday everybody welcome into the Big Ten squad. I'm Spencer McLaughlin and though I am not the visual manifestation of who HIMS really caters to, I am your host of the Big Ten squad this week. We've got Mark Kolkin of Locked On USC, Jay Stevens, Locked On Buckeye. See one of you got it. We've got Connor Happer popping into the chat as well and Isaac Seko of Locked On. Nittany Lyons, sit back, relax and get ready for the banter coming at you right now. Roman today huh? Yeah. Oh gosh, such an

accident. That was purely a Freudian slip, maybe, maybe not, because I'm Spencer McLaughlin, neutral arbiter of all things college football. This is just some memorabilia I've picked up over the years. But Jay, I want to start with you. Three coaches gone from a national championship staff, and it doesn't feel like it usually does. When a team wins it all and then loses some coaches,

what exactly is going on in Columbus at the moment teams in college i mean teams of college football into the nfl are trying to take guys from a national championship winning team or be quiet Zach one guy goes to the big 10 two guys go to the nfl uh the chip kelly thing going to the nfl doesn't really surprise me based off the things Ryan Day said on Joel Klatt's show was kind of, hey, let's put everything here together to win right now. We have a roster that we believe quit a national championship in Navy Chip Kelly lead at the one year to go to a spot that might be in the NFL. That's what happened. Justin Frye, not mad about it being the O-line coach going to the NFL. He's going to get more time with his family than he's gotten over the past year in Columbus, Ohio. So I can't knock that move. You're going to get more time with his family than he's gotten over the past year in Columbus, Ohio So I can't knock that move you're going to get money

You're going to get more time with the family to win win especially when you get the still coach ball But Ohio State has guys on the roster or it's on the assistant coaching staff that can fill some of the holes not all of them but that can fill some of them and Keeping seven of your ten assistant coaches from last year on the staff, at least so far going into 2025, it's huge for Ohio State. Losing coordinators after a natty win is expected, but being able to keep the majority of those assistants will be big for Ohio State moving forward. Roman Tomashov, Lockdown Huskies.

I imagine you can relate to what Jay is kind of going through at the moment. Hey Spencer. Yeah, I am part of the show this week. Thanks for having me here. It's so great to have you here. Thank you so much, it's such an honor. Yeah, I mean it's interesting Washington has lost both coordinators. Steve Belichick obviously departs to go back to his father at North Carolina just like Washington's offensive coordinator Brendan Carroll who will be joining Jay's offensive coordinator on staff, the Las Vegas Raiders. That one is a little bit more interesting to me where I look at that because Washington within an hour promoted Jimmy Doherty to offensive

coordinator. And as, as all my everydayers over on Lockdown Huskies know, that was the least surprising thing that could have ever possibly happened where to be completely honest, I thought that Brendannan Carroll was more of just the offensive line coach while Jimmy Doherty who was the one position coach that Washington did have up in the box last season. Jed Fish called him his eye in the sky said that he would bounce every play call off them. It was just kind of the easiest promotion in the world where they were never really going to search for anybody because as long as Jed Fish is around it's going to be

his offense he's going to call plays so they also promoted Michael Switzer to the offensive line coach who's somebody who's been in the room with Jed for three seasons was the assistant offensive line coach, you know, just by default really last season. So I look at that and I say, that's really nice. Bring in Ryan Walters from Purdue to replace Steve Belchick on defense is probably as good as you can get in terms of an actual defensive coordinator. We're not getting into the head coaching side of things because you know, very different story there. And then adding Taylor Mays from from Mark in USC. Mark, I'm

actually really curious to get your thoughts on that, because I think that's a great hire to get somebody like that from O'Day High School here in Seattle to come back to Pacific Northwest. I think that's a lot of fun. Yeah, he's coaching training. He'll be back at USC soon enough. Look, Ant Mullen, he's more of a, he's the defensive coordinator, but he likes to work with the safeties. So this is a perfect opportunity for Taylor to kind of, you know, push him out of the nest a little bit, go earn your coaching wings and come back when you're ready. So, you know, he's from Seattle. He's, I know he's looking forward to this, this opportunity. I spoke to him after USC beat Michigan

State over the weekend, and he's looking forward to this opportunity. Kind of, not to have anybody so much looking over his shoulder. It can be his room. So yeah, good luck. I mean, he came from Seattle, he came to USC, he was a three time All-American, four time All-American, whatever. Came back, got his coaching shop started, and now he's going to show you why everybody wanted Taylor Maze out of high school. I don't know what's less clear at the moment. Roman's confidence in the Washington coaching staff or Jay Stevens' face here on the pod. It's running, running gun battle at the moment, Roman's confidence in the Washington coaching staff or Jay Stevens' face here on the pod. It's running, running gun battle at the moment. But let's keep zigzagging.

Jay's upset because Pete Carroll's working behind the scenes for USC. He's the one who convinced Chip Kelly come over the Raiders. And that just, that just helps out USC a little bit. Yeah. I bet Jay's in a state of eternal mourning after winning the national championship. I bet he's heartbroken, torn up, and just absolutely ticked off. Let's keep our our zigzag going and then we'll get Connor in here. Seiko kind of feels like of the teams represented here today or maybe anyone in the Big Ten, there hasn't been a better off season than what's happened in Happy Valley. Yeah, when you end up with the best defensive coordinator in college football,

that's absolutely. And when you get to take away from the school that has been at the top of the big 10, been a Thornton Penn State side for the past decade, it's absolutely the win of the off season. I think we had that same kind of framing last week on the show. Let's, let's hash it out again. I getting, getting Jim Knowles to back into Pennsylvania where he was born and raised from the Philadelphia area.

He just had his introductory press conference with Penn State just talked about his roots and getting settled back in and everything and how this just, it means something to him. He wants, he wants to be here. Talked about maybe this was a little bit of a jab. I, I'll let people translate it the way that they want to, but he talked about how there are a lot of low ego assistance on staff. Meaning that he's not expecting a lot of tensions to boil over, that it's going to be easy to work with an Anthony Poindexter or Deon Barnes or a Dan Conner.

I don't know what was going on over there at Ohio State with Larry Johnson Sr., but hey, that's all I'm gonna say is that he pointed out that that hey, it seems to be easy to work with this staff that we have. So it's at the end of the day for Penn State. It is it is that it is the right match above all else. James Franklin has been working on this since 2022. Before they got Manny Diaz, before they ended up getting Tom Allen, it was all about timing. He has made it clear in private circles that he's always wanted Jim Knowles as Penn State's defensive coordinator. And now it happens. Folks, shoot the shot, ask the person out, take the risk, take the jump, do whatever. Because in this case, it worked out for Penn State.

Yeah. I mean, I don't know if that's applicable to every situation in life, but in college football, yeah, I say go for it, my man. Full, full send, by the way, Roman, 10 second thoughts on the last name point Dexter, because I imagine that's a fond memory for you. Oh, you know, it certainly is. I Quincy Pond Dexter would as always the first place I go with that. Just one of my favorite, you know, basketball players of all time.

But Spencer, I got to take it back. Something you said a minute ago. Did I sound not confident in this Washington coaching staff? Because I'm very happy with the hires they made. You know, there's this neutral arbiter of college football. I'm like, I'm a little disappointed. Yeah. Asking questions.

Sure. We, we, we can go with that road for right now. Yeah. All right. We'll, we'll revisit, revisit this, but I want to bring Connor in here because I would be so sad, Connor, if Nebraska's spring game was suddenly welcome to the big 10 squad, by the way. I would be so sad if Nebraska's spring game went away.

But Matt Ruhl made unfortunately reasonable comments over the weekend. Bring people up to speed for those who are not. You know, it's funny that those comments sort of like caught fire around the country and people see the word tampering and then they, they freak out and you know, they're attracted to it like crazy. Um, you know, he mentioned that they were going to probably not have a spring game this year at Nebraska, something that's been really quite successful for them over the last several years, you know, getting close to selling it out or

selling it out, making a bunch of money off of it. But having it on TV was one of the things that they are going to try and get rid of because he said, according to Matt rule that his players, you know, got a lot of calls from other schools after the spring game last year and didn't want another opportunity to have that happen. I don't know how much like of the pie that is and the decision making to take away the spring game for Nebraska. Like there's a lot of stuff. The rosters are getting cut down. Nebraska is formerly a school that had a big roster. You got to be concerned about injuries and stuff like that. But locally it's funny that it's gone over relatively smoothly and you know,

you would think in a place like this, that's, that's super rabid. Um, you know, people would have strong opinions on whether or not there's going to be a spring game. It's it's weirdly gone off without hitch. I love this because this the squad pod seems like everybody is fired up about coordinators like Nebraska is going to have three new coordinators going into 2025 as well, which is, you know, they're going to have Daniel Holgersson who's back from the end of last year. People are super fired up about that. A new defensive coordinator after losing Tony white to Florida state. And they elevate John Butler from that, from their staff who joined the staff last year. And then they just grabbed Mike Eckler, um, special teams coordinator from Tennessee over the last couple of days. Um, who's, you know, been known for

flipping special teams. So I think people around here are pretty fired up about the coordinators as well. I don't know what the scale is compared to getting Jim Knowles as the defensive coordinator that feels like it's the top. But I think Nebraska fans are pretty fired up as well. Well, if you haven't lost a coordinator this off season, apparently you're super lame. So Mark Colkin of Lockdown USC and I are the lamest people in this chat. That's heavy sarcasm there.

But we will continue the coordinator talk and I want to dive into the quarterback talk as well because I have questions. Just questions. That's coming up next. And coming up right now is game time. If you're looking for tickets for your next big event, whether it's a concert, comedy show, sports game, finding the right ticket at the right price, can be a headache, but with game time, it's not. With Game Time Picks, it's never been easier.

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so what what is kind of the expectation your confidence level I like the Ryan Walters hire a lot. But even when you are bringing in a good coordinator, bringing in new ones from the year prior, it takes some adjustment. Right. So what are your expectations for these guys? Yeah, absolutely. It was nice. We got to speak to Ryan for the first time on Monday. And one of the things he talked about was keeping things somewhat similar

in terms of his scheme is going to fit around the players. There are going to be a couple of things a little bit different in terms of the defensive line, in terms of just the way he's going to rush the passer and having to carry on the outside certainly changes a lot. So that's that's going to be really nice to have around, especially when Jay and Jeremiah Smith come to town at the end of September. I'm so excited about that matchup. I can't begin to describe it. But when I guard the best wide receiver in college'm so excited about that matchup. I can't begin to describe it. But when I want to guard the best wide receiver in college football, the best quarterback in college football.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's fun. I tell you, I watched my team go through it and I was loving it. I you know, I also would happen in that game. That was absolutely incredible. Yeah. Thank you for the way that I played out. All right. You set yourself up for that one. Now I I'm really excited about what Ryan Walters can do with this defense, uh, with some revamped personnel on the defensive line. I think that that's going to be the most important thing here because as the

season wore on last year as Zach Sacco and you Spencer know very well, Washington could not stop the run. And Mark, if USC wanted wanted to run run the ball a little bit more in that second half Maybe we're having a different conversation as well, but I Offensive coordinator or at least play caller was just go there Yeah, that's you know what that's very fair But with Ryan Walters this defense the scheme itself is going to change in a few different ways But they're still gonna be really aggressive. I think we're gonna see a really high blitz percentage out of Ryan Walters, just like we did on Steve Belichick.

But I think with the personnel, the pressure rate might be a little bit higher. Mark, same offensive and defense coordinators for USC going into next year. Does that make you excited, apathetic, demoralized? Like what's kind of the vibe around the Trojans? Well, technically that's not true. USC's offensive coordinator last year on his resume was Josh Henson. He is now Purdue's new offensive coordinator.

Lincoln Riley is still the play caller. He just named Luke Heward as his new offensive coordinator in for this upcoming season. But again, we know who's calling the offensive plays. To Zach's point about they got the best defensive coordinator, let's not forget they wanted Danton Lynn first and that's why Jim Knowles was available second time around. So yes, USC is keeping their continuity.

But you kind of heard me blurt it out there. As big of a fan of Lincoln Riley as I am, I think a head coach should be the head coach. And I would love for him to delegate, play calling to somebody else. So that's where I'm at this off season. Other than the fact that USC is trying to, you know, stuff their front office with as many GMs

from across the country as possible. They're adding assistant coaches who are strong recruiting. That's where they're at. The coordinators are set. You've got Dantwin and you've got Luke Hewer. Yeah. I'm with you on the air quotes there, but Jay, I saw a list of potential offensive coordinator candidates for the Buckeyes to hire that included Oregon's offensive coordinator, Will Stein, former Oregon offensive coordinator, Joe Morehead, and a couple other guys who are notable as well. Shannon Dawson, who is coaching for former Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal down at Miami. So is Ohio State just really trying

to be like Oregon? Is that what's happening here? We win national championships. We wouldn't want to be like Oregon. Excuse me. We win national championships. Spencer keeps throwing up alley-oops, man. Have you not seen the statistical matrices that have made it inexplicably clear, plain and obvious to the entire world that Oregon are the national champions? This is the most desperate thing I've ever seen.

There's a reason why Ohio State had so many trophies on their, the entire world that Oregon are the national champions. This is the most desperate thing I've ever. There was a reason why Ohio State had so many trophies on their at the national championship celebration and some of them already been there on the podium. Did you guys get any at all? Yeah, the big ten championship, the one that really matters the most. Does it really matter anymore? No, I disagree cuz I'm all about the statistical matrices. That's the most important thing in my life now.

Connor, we're not crazy, right? Like this is where the real national titles are won. Hey, we win the off-season national championship every year. So, I mean. That's impossible. That's Oregon State. Oh yeah, that's Oregon's only national championship ever in the off-season, Natty.

Yeah, Ohio State had a notably bad off season last cycle. So we'll just keep pretending that didn't matter and whatnot. But here's here's a thought. Just just a thought. You have a returning offensive coordinator in Happy Valley, the best defense coordinator maybe in all college football in Jim Knowles. Zach Seiko, are you ready to declare Penn State

as the favorites in the Big Ten? In the Big Ten and certainly one of the favorites. I would say that it's unless Oregon and Ohio State make these radical moves in the transfer pool. It's really Texas and Penn State as far as the teams that are to beat overall in 2025. In the Big Ten, yeah, because as of right now, I imagine Don Taymor is going to be the quarterback of Oregon. I imagine Julian Sands going to be the quarterback of Ohio State, but they're not the declared starters at this point in time and Ohio State is missing a chunk of its coaching staff. Michigan has a new quarterback coming in. I know Mayava is going to take over at USC, but USC still has things to, they're not They're not at the, at the top,

but I think they can get better throughout the season. We know what Washington is. I like Nebraska's setup, but it's not to the extent of what Penn State's returning in a third consecutive year starting quarterback to four year, co-starting running backs. They've started for the four past years, the going into the season, four year co-starting running backs.

You get Andy Cotell, Nicky back, you bring in Jim Knowles, and yeah they lose Abdel Carter, yeah they lose Tyler Warren, but I would bore you guys to tears rattling off all of the names that are going to be starters and contributing whether they already did last season or they're just the next in line. Former five-star tight end Luke Reynolds is gonna take over for Tyler Warren. So Penn State is back better than ever and reloading not rebuilding. Mark, I'll get to you in just a moment, but Seiko, sounded like there was a little dig in Washington at their Roman. You just going to sit there and let him talk about your dogs like that?

I mean, after what happened in the White House, I think that one might be allowed. Yes, I noticed a distinct lack of smack talk after Oregon beat Washington 49 to 21 this year. It cooled down entirely, you know? See Spencer, like I'm going to let you have that because with your, you know, supposed the best team ever in 2023, I'm going to hold on to that until both teams are actually ranked in the top 10 and play again because you know, yeah, oh wow. Oh, you beat a six and five at the time Washington team. Oh,

Sounds like you should win more offseason national championships. That's what it sounds like to me. But Mark has been waiting patiently with his hand up. Go ahead, Mark. So all I wanted to ask is kind of some rhetorical questions and you guys can respond. Last year, I think everyone would agree USC's defense improved significantly. Yes. Does anybody- It's hard to get worse. Does anybody believe that Lincoln Riley's offense will kick itself in the groin two years in a row?

And to follow it up, if USC's defense got significantly, significantly better last year, and they've developed their roster better, and now they're going into the same scheme two years in a row it it says that they'll probably be better this year on on the deep inside of the ball so to whomever was pointing out that Zach that USC still has a ways to go they were pretty close last year um Penn State good thing you had Tyler Warren because without him, you probably don't win that game.

Just saying in James Mike, let's tell your head coach, man. That's true. We were instructed a beat, a beat. He out coach Lincoln Riley. So I still I get the last laugh on this point. Let's just say that he had a good day that day. I wouldn't say he had a good day. It's so basic. It's so basic. I'm curious about that too. By the way, you at USC and Nebraska Connor kind of the opposites of one another but with the same end result, which is so close but not there. But when Nebraska just like Oregon

this defense rock only one of those three schools won the conference championship last year. I'll just throw that out there. But you know, Nebraska, national championships. That's, that's true. That's yeah, that's, that's very true. Are we just going to overlook Oregon men's basketball's title over Ohio state in 1939? I'm not, I'm not. Whoa, whoa. Every time Washington brings up a national championship, I was making a point that was making it was a terrible point. I feel not. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Every time Washington brings up a national championship. I was making a point that was making it was a terrible point. I feel justified.

Get you off there. The point I was making before I was so rudely insulted here, Connor, was that USC and Nebraska have kind of been the opposites on the same side. USC, the defense has been a struggle, but improving Nebraska, the offense has been a struggle, but improving Nebraska. The offense has been a struggle, but improving does Matt rule spring game or not have what he needs to take that step forward with Dylan Raiola next year? Well, I mean, I don't know. Like I feel like out of the six people in the six schools represented in this podcast.

Does Nebraska have the best quarterback out of all of them? Who is Dylan Raiola the best quarterback out of out of all of them? Oh Is doing the best quarterback out of all of them? Alright, yeah, you guys played yet Now obviously no, no, I'm laughing because I'm waiting for Saco to say something about your hour I'll take the rally, you know drew hours good player. It seems I think he's proven himself to this point So yeah, that although bad interception there in the in the semifinal, that was that was no good. But I don't know.

I think they feel really good about the tools that they have retooled it wide receiver second year quarterback. Yeah, I think they feel like they're in a good spot. Okay. Well, I want to continue this quarterback discussion Washington, Penn State, Nebraska, Oregon, USC, Ohio State, who's got the best quarterback going into next year?

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use code LOCKDOWNCOLLG to get50 instantly. After you play your first $5 lineup, that's locked on college for $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup price picks run your game. All right, you guys can just kind of shout it out. We lost Seiko who is no longer here to defend drew aller. So I guess I'm left to do that as neutral arbiter of all things college football. Who thinks they have the best quarterback in the Big Ten going into next year?

Me. Oh, up, Roman's first. Roman's first. Daman Williams. By the way, as a general courtesy, his name is Daman Williams, not Desmond Williams. Yeah, if I see Desmond Williams one more time, I'm going to throw him something. Oh man, it's far too often. But anyway, go ahead Roman, make your case. So I'm gonna start this by reading a couple of text messages.

Williams could be crazy good. Demand is gonna be sick. Spencer, thank you for sending me those messages over the course of the last month, month and a half or so, because I couldn't agree with you more. I've been so impressed with him in his two starts, the way he was composed. He completed 85 percent of his passes in a game where he was sacked 10 times with 17 for 20 at Oregon. Looked just out of this world good in the bowl game against Louisville. Yeah, they lost that game. But to mine, three hundred and seventy four yards passing for touchdowns,

added another 50 and a score on the ground. I I love his arm talent. I love what he can do with his legs. Jed Fischer said he's the fastest player on the team. He's just got electric athleticism, the arm talent to throw to all three levels of the field and with a full season under his belt and a better offensive line, I legitimately believe he could be one of the top five, ten quarterbacks in the country.

Connor, make the case. Go ahead, Mark. I was gonna say, that sounds like Ty Thompson coming out of high school. one of the top five, ten the country. Connor make the kind of high school. Well, first one's at a power core game. The tie Thompson sta 21 with three interceptions. Whereas Daman Williams, I'm defending him here, which is unusual, shall we say,

did go to Otzen and was sacked 10 times and still went 17 of 20 and did not turn the ball over. That's not nothing, that's not nothing. There's still plenty of development, but he's just more that, like Ty Thompson was always a hypothetical because it was talent on paper like Jay, Tavi and St. Clair who comes in five-star true freshman. He's got Lincoln Keenholds in front of him. He's got Julian Zane who is the presumed starter, but all of those guys are frankly more akin to Ty Thompson and Oregon once upon a time where we know what we think they could be,

but we haven't actually seen them play any real football. No, no, no real football. A couple of the two older guys played a little bit. Keen holes played in the cotton ball in 2023, but you have no idea what you're going to get from any of those guys. I'm going to say this right now, Ryan Day has not started in St. Claire.

A true freshman quarterback would never start at Ohio State at quarterback. And so that's out of the way. I have no idea what to expect from either quarterback moving forward. I do assume that Sagan's going to start. I would not be shocked if Keegan Holtz took massive jumps this year and won the quarterback battle. But I have no idea what's going to happen. And if anybody out there says, we know definitively what's going to happen, I gonna say based off what you don't you don't know nobody has an idea and it's weird because right now

I have a similar feeling like I did going into 2023 when Kyle McCord was a starting quarterback Because I didn't know what he was gonna do either It's just I think these guys are more talented in high school at least saying was but high school stuff Sometimes doesn't translate to college football. So I have no idea. It's a weird state to be in right now at Ohio State coming off of Will Howard, who had a career year in Columbus, Ohio. He set the bar at a pretty good rate for being as efficient as he was.

I think he set the record at Ohio State for a completion percentage in a single season. I don't know if Sagan or Kienholthos can come close to that or even will be consistently good every single week. I have no idea. It's a weird way to be at Ohio State when you have the best receiver in the country, but you have no idea what you're going to get out of the quarterback position. Connor, can Dylan Raiola become the best quarterback in the Big Ten? I don't actually think it's crazy because I like Drew Aller a lot and his floor of the quarterbacks that are here in this, in this chat, probably the highest floor of anyone in terms of proven production. But I think I know what drew our ceiling is, and I don't think

Dylan Rayola is close to that ceiling yet. Well, not yet. And we have, we haven't seen that part of it yet. Part of it is because he played three quarters of the season last year with his hand, with one of his hands tied behind his back. And they finally made the offensive coordinator change in the, in the back quarter of the season there. Um, the first game for Dana Holgersen was against USC and that they were really, really still getting acclimated then. And then he had a great game against Wisconsin and then two bad weather games, you know, against Iowa

and Boston college, um, you know, to finish off the season. And I thought he was pretty good in those. It felt like they were really starting to grab onto something in that back quarter of the season. And then you pair that along with the flashes that we saw earlier in the season from Dylan Rayola, um, and a, an improved wide receiver core, man, like, I, I think there's a ceiling there too. I mean, he, at one point he was the number one player in the country in his class. And depending on where you looked at the end of it, he was the number one player in the country in his class. So like, I think you pair that guy along with Dana Holgersen, you got, you got

wide receivers like Dane Key, you transferred in from Kentucky and Isaiah Hunter who turned his transfer did from Cal. Those guys were productive last year at their spots. Like, I, I mean, I think there's a pretty high floor and I think there's a pretty high ceiling too. Mark, when Jayden Maava transferred from UNLV to USC ahead of last season, I didn't get it, but now I get it. It makes sense for him now,

but where does he fall in the rank of big 10 quarterbacks? Right now he's USC starter, or the perceived starter going into spring camp. With that said, USC has never been hesitant to throw out their best talented quarterback to start, whether it's a true freshman, redshirt freshman. Jay, I think as a Buckeye fan, you know that a true freshman can come into Columbus and lead a team to victory and Then you know, I don't know if you remember the whole Matt Barkley Joe McKnight thing that game, but it's possible So if you have a talented true freshman, you can make it happen

To my point. This is the perfect season for Lincoln Riley to say you know what? Throw my hat to win. I'm gonna roll the dice. U. S. He opens up at home against Missouri State. Then that scheme is followed up with Georgia Southern, and then they go on the road to Purdue. If you were going to take a five star quarterback who has an unlimited ceiling like Usan Longstreet, um, this might be the year that Lincoln Riley says we're gonna have a real true quarterback competition.

May the best man win. And a lot of people feel that as talented as Jaden Mayabe is, big strong arm can run. It comes down to can you protect the ball? Can you leave the team? And that's what's going to be the determining factor for USC this year quarterback. So are we left with Drew Allers the best quarterback in the big 10 by default? Too many questions because I know Dante Moore ceiling is crazy high at Oregon. But the last time he played college football, he couldn't throw it to the right team.

He gave it away too often. He had three straight games with a pick six. Then he got benched. And then he came to Oregon to sit for a year. So, I mean, you just kind of go around. It's like question mark, question mark, question mark, question mark. There's no question marks with Drew Aller. I know exactly what he is.

Roman? I'll take 80% in demand. Each of demand's first two starts over that completion percentage. I'm pretty happy with that and I'm going to just sit here and ride the tomorrow games. Well, but there's a difference between happy and best quarterback in the Big 10. Sure, and again, it's a two-star sample size. I think that I'm convinced that we're going to get to the middle of the season. We're gonna talk about Damod Williams is arguably in that same tier with whoever

you want to say is top three quarterbacks in the Big 10 and I'll die on that hill. Yeah, Dante Moore Heisman get used to it. Okay, final 30 second thoughts going around the room. Yeah, Dante Moore Heisman get used to it. Okay, uh final 30 second thoughts going around the room. Mark, you can begin. Uh the spring game, the whole paradigm that we're used to, it's going to be eliminated. I think more programs are going to shift to the NFL OTA type of a thing. If this is not a Matt Wolf thing, I think Hugh Frees has even alluded to this as well over at Auburn. So coaches are talking behind the scenes. Jay.

Ryan Day recently made a comment about enforcement that there's, that's one thing that needs to happen more in college football, really collegiate athletics. And I think that there'll be more coaches around the country that would agree with him, that more things and more rules need to be enforced. And by enforcing rules, it helps everyone involved. The coaches, the players,

it makes collegiate athletics a whole lot better. Yeah, enforcement. Good luck with that. Boys can dream. That's a real thing. Connor, what are you dreaming about for Nebraska football going into next year? I think Nebraska is in as good of a position

as anybody in the conference as we move into the revenue sharing part of this thing. They're gonna pay for it out of their own pocket. They're not gonna ask for any money for anybody else. And they're gonna have the NIL on top of it. So I think they're really comfortable with their operation right now. And they feel really good as we head into this new

105 man revenue sharing era. Roman Country Roads, take me home. Jay, I love your comment about enforcement. Quote from Jed fish from just before we hopped on here So pretty big for the text messages and calls that I saw which was when he was asked about How many teams asked to mod Williams if he would enter the transfer portal? So I'm just curious to see who's gonna be that that first coach to say hey At school they called our quarterback and they said they wanted to get the transfer portal enforcement. Curious to see what that's going to look like. Yeah. But see, the tricky thing is enforcement. We really need to come from conferences, but then you're actually

hindering your own team's ability to get the guys they need. And if you are, you know, being the good moral, upstanding conference and following the letter of the law can guarantee you there's somebody else who isn't less. We go back to, you know, the first 20 letter of the law can guarantee you there's somebody else who isn't unless we go back to, you know, the first 20 years of the modern era of college football where everyone knew the SEC is probably paying players like this is thing that's happening. Other schools not doing it quite as much and will the SEC won a lot of national championships. So why don't we end it on that happy and chipper note. Mark Colkin locked on USC, J Stevens locked on Buckeyes, Connor Happer locked on Nebraska, Roman Tomashoff locked on Huskies. I'm Spencer McLaughlin of

Locked on Ducks. This has been another audition as always of the Big Ten Squad. We'll see you next time.