The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Building the Beast: Arvell Reese continues his climb

Episode Date: November 5, 2025

After a week away, Dane Brugler is back on this episode of The Athletic Football Show's Building the Beast. He and Dave Helman hand out some game balls from Week 10—hello, Arvell Reese—and then turn their attention to under-the-radar prospects making their statements as the season approaches the stretch run.Connect with The Athletic Football ShowX: https://x.com/TA_FootballShowIG: https://www.instagram.com/tafootballshowYT: https://www.youtube.com/@TAFootballShowTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tafootballshowDiscord: http://discord.gg/theathleticfootballshowCall us: 847-448-0701Email us: [e-mail]: Dave HelmanCo-Host: Dane BruglerExecutive Producer: Michael BellerVideo Producer: Katy DuffyAudio Producer: Michael BellerSocial Producer: Scott KrinchFollow Dave on Bluesky: @davehelman.bsky.socialFollow Dave on X: @davehelman_Follow Dane on X: @dpbruglerTheme song: HauntedWritten by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love SongsCourtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to another episode of Building the Beast. I am Dave Hellman and every week during this 2025 college football season, we seek to build the Beast, Dane Brugler's annual comprehensive, exhaustive draft guide due out in 2026, but it doesn't just drop as a finished product in the spring. It is a painstaking process put together over the course of a summer, a fall, a winter. and this is that process, Dane Bruegler, joining me every week during the season to evaluate, analyze, put together prospect lists as we creep toward the 2026 NFL draft. If you are an NFL fan whose team might be picking at the top of that draft, we welcome you in.

We're excited to talk about this draft class with you. Without further ado, that feels like a pretty good intro. Let's get into this week's Building the Beast. And back to our regularly scheduled programming. It is good to be joined once again by my buddy Dane Brugler back from his travels. Dane, it's good to see you, man. How we doing? I'm good.

Thanks to Trevor for filling in. You guys did awesome. I listened to the pod on my flight. Robert and I were in New York for some work stuff and happy to be back now because, yeah, we've got a lot to cover here. We're, what, November, Halloween's over. So it's like that to me feels like, all right, now seasons, we're, we got a month left for the season's over. Some of these guys, you know, we're, we're almost out of tape. And so it's like the last go for some of these players to put good stuff on tape for for scouts and for teams,

kind of like a last audition type of thing. So it's going to be a busy next month. So a quick programming note, we are, we're going to do the top of the show pretty similar to what we've been doing. we're going to hand out some game balls from this past weekend. But we're going to depart in the interest of that. I love this idea, Dane, with so few games remaining for a lot of these teams. We want to highlight some of the lesser known prospects that we think you should know. And you wrote a story about this for the athletic last week.

And we just want to highlight, look, I mean, we've covered most of the powerhouse programs, most of the teams that are going to fill up the college football playoff bracket, we've spent a fair amount of time on those teams. But we want to highlight some programs, some names that maybe we haven't had a chance to talk about. Again, if we're building the beast, my main goal in this show is to familiarize the listener with as many draft eligible players as possible, whether that's a top 10 pick or a fifth round guy. Hey, great week to bring him up. How about that, bud?

That is a perfect example of how deep last year's running back class was. For a guy like that to fall to the seventh, and I get it, his testing wasn't great. But, I mean, he entered the, he entered last season as one of the top senior running backs. And then he had a good season. It was fine. It wasn't amazing. And then, you know, the All-Star season didn't go great. But he was still a talented player.

And so I get it. It was the Bengals defense, but credit to Kyle Minan guy, the rookie running back for the Bears, who just was awesome. I mean, he's, I tweeted this earlier. He's number two in the NFL right now among all running backs in terms of percentage of his runs over five yards. Only James Cook has more or the percentage is higher. It's like 45%.

So given his opportunities, he's been awesome. Playing the Cincinnati Bengals defense will have that effect on a guy's stat line. So that, I mean, that's a great example of what I'm talking about. We definitely, we want to highlight some guys that maybe aren't being discussed at the top of the 2026 draft class, but are absolutely worth highlighting. So we're going to get into that later in the show. And it actually, it coincides perfectly with, I believe, Dane, it'll be next week's show. Correct me if I'm wrong.

But you have your updated top 50 coming out. And we're going to dive into everything going on there. the big changes from the preseason edition, the big movers, maybe guys that dropped a little bit, what your late season analysis is compared to what you said in August. So today we will be looking into some more under the radar names and next week we can dive into some of the really big heavy hitters in your November top 50. Yeah, can't wait because that's really the top 50s already mapped out because I always try to get me the first two months, give me two months of tape. Then I'll update the top 50.

They wanted me to wait until next week to post it because we've got a lot of trade deadline stuff this week. And they all start my midseason, all rookie teams coming out this week. So just to give it some more time to breathe, it's going to come out next week. But really, it's already done. So, yeah, I can't wait to talk about some of these guys with you on next week's show. The hay is proverbially in the barn, maybe one last opportunity to make an impression coming up this weekend. All right. So let's get into a new.

our game ball segment and I think that is a perfect segue because look it's been a running joke since August we've talked a lot about this guy from the very beginning of the season against the Texas longhorns but at the top of this show as we're handing out game balls and maybe previewing your November top 50 I think it's time to have a longer conversation about Mr. Arvel Reese at Ohio State and exactly what he's doing. And like I said, we've joked about it every week. I mean, you were on the guy immediately and the case for drafting him highly has only gotten stronger as we've gone.

And then you get a big showcase opportunity, big noon against, I know not a good Penn State team, but a Penn State team with a lot of NFL draft prospects. And Arvell Reese just wrecked shop, man. 12 tackles, two and a half tackles for loss in a sack and a sack. in a demolition of the nittany lions. And so other than just saying, holy shit, this guy's really good.

I want to have a longer conversation about where this is heading for Rvel Reese because the hype train, it left the station a long time ago, man. We're tearing down the track at like 150 miles an hour. Yeah. And kind of like you set up there, like it was pretty obvious from the start this season,

from that Texas game on, that number eight for the Buckeyes. he's just different. 6'4, 240 pounds to have his length and power, but also the burst in closing speed, but also the, like he's not just an athlete out there. Like he is a pure football player.

The violence in his hands, it's rare stuff. So he can take on blocks. What he did to Drew Shelton, left tackle for Penn State was unbelievable, setting an edge. I mean, he'll take on pullers. He will shed blocks with ease.

He will chase him down. the dip and rip that he has around the edge is phenomenal. So it's just he's a fun player to watch. And I said this before the show, but my favorite thing to do, either Saturday night or Sunday morning, is the fire up that Ohio State defensive tape just to see, all right,

what's Reese going to do this week? And so far he hasn't let me down. I tweeted Saturday night, kind of like a seven best plays from that Penn State game from the L-22. And it's just like, this guy, I'm running out of things to say about him. I'm just going to look, I'm just going to show you.

Like this is what a really good player looks like. And so, yeah, like I referenced my top 50 comes out next week. And all right, I'm just going to spoil it. Reese is going to be number one. He is the best player that I've scouted this year, plan and simple. I don't know that he'll actually go that high being the number one overall pick. But it would be very disingenuous for me to put anyone else at number one besides Rvel Reese because the tape is that good.

and every week I kind of rave about them. And so it would be, I would be lying if I put anybody else at number one. This is such perfect timing because we've reached the time of year again where like draft order is starting to feel real now. Like you like the teams that might be drafting highly are starting to come into clear focus. And I saw last week like draft accounts and college film accounts are posting like mock early mock drafts. Not that I care about that specifically, but NFL fans who maybe don't follow college football are seeing Arvel Reese as a top five pick. And they're like, oh, my God, an off ball linebacker?

Like, no, you can't do that. And people that are watching college football like you and me are like, oh, oh, buddy, that's, that's not what you're getting in Arvel Reese. So let's, when you talk about drafting a guy this highly, and I don't, I don't think it's crazy at all to say that he's the best player of the guys that we've watched so far this season. But what do you think his role would look like? Like, let's just assume he is a top, I don't know, whatever, eight NFL draft pick. And we brought up the comps to Micah Parsons before.

Like, we've talked about that briefly. Like, what are you drafting this guy to do and what do you think his role looks like for an NFL team? other than just re-cathic. Yeah, well, and that's, it's tough because how Ohio State uses him is kind of perfect. You know, like they really use him as a hybrid. And, you know, Matt Patricia, defensive coordinator, obviously an NFL background. And you look at what he did in New England with guys like Dante High Tower and guys like that where you, you really like what they do downhill. But it's just how you deploy it.

How do you weaponize it? Do you use him as, you know, is it a three, four scheme where you have three down linemen and then who's that fourth guy? A lot of times it's going to be Raville Reese. You just don't know where it's going to come from. Using him as a spy has been so advantageous for this defense to have an athlete like that as a spy who can play in space. But then when he has a beat on the quarterback, you can close like that. They don't ask him to drop too much. But when they do, he looks comfortable doing it.

He doesn't look out of like a fish out of water and space. And so, you know, I think, you know, last year, what, Jalen Walker was the 15th pick to the Falcons. Like, Arvill Reese is a much better version of that, especially as a pass rusher, where he's, like I mentioned, violent with his hands, his burst around the edge, the way he can dip and contort his body. So that's going to be part of why you draft him high and how you deploy him. How much you do that, you know, I don't think there's a right or wrong answer. It's just you want him to be as disruptive as possible. And if you want him to be a full-time edge, why couldn't he do that? With the way that he can set an edge against the run, the way he can get after the quarterback,

why couldn't he be a full-time edge? And I get it. He's listed 6-4-240, and that's maybe not ideal size. But he's bigger than Michael Parsons and longer, much longer than Michael Parsons. And I get it, Parsons is one-on-one. But this is a unique special football player. And I don't think there's. a every defense coordinator is going to kind of look at it a little bit differently,

but that's kind of the appeal of this guy is you don't have to put him in one little box. He can do a lot of different things for you. I'm glad you answered my question for me because I was just going to point out, as fun as it is watching him do it, Arvell Reese has 71 pass rush snaps this year on 375, 379 snaps total. So he's rushing the passer a little less than 20% of the time. So it's not like this is his full-time job. but I'm glad to hear you say that because watching him do it,

I think he could absolutely at least do it more often than he is doing it for Ohio State, if not full time. I mean, the efficiency is off the charts too. Like he's rushing the passer like eight times a game and getting three pressures a game to go with eight sacks. So like 40% of the time he's rushing the quarterback, he's having the intended effect.

Like I think you could probably bump those numbers up a good bit if you wanted to. Yeah, and I don't think that the efficiency will necessarily go away if the pass rush snaps increase. You know, I think, and that's the appeal with this guy is all the different ways he can impact your team, depending on the offense that you're playing. He is a, he is a joker of a defensive player. That's kind of how he is. And that's, I understand why that would scare some people. If we're talking about a top five draft pick, potentially number one over. overall, I get it, drafting a quote unquote hybrid player that early.

But there's a difference between being a hybrid player and then being kind of a tweener, you know, like stuck in between two positions. Like he's not a tweener at all. There is nothing that on his tape that you can point to and say he can't be a defensive end. There's nothing on his tape that you can point to and say he can't be a linebacker. So, you know, I just think you have to get whatever that timeshare is and you have to feel comfortable with it and understand how to weaponize a guy like this. So coaching is a big part of it.

But if you have the right coaches who can unlock all of that and really spread his talents across the front of the formation, man, it could be really special. It could. These are conversations we can have between January and April. But just off the top of my head, last time we kind of talked about who the best prospect in this draft class was, we landed on Rubin Bain. and he i mean still having a phenomenal season but how do you how do you balance those two things like a true a true down edge verse i hate to call arvel risa projection but like he is a guy that i mean at the

very least as a as an edge rusher doesn't do it full time like how do you weigh those two things yeah and i think with with bain honestly one of the themes of miami's now has two losses They've lost twice. One of the themes of those two losses, it was very quiet games from Rubin Bain. He was not able to make a big impact in those games. Not saying he's the reason they lost those games by any means. Now, if we want to talk about Carson Beck, that's a different story. But sticking with Bain, like, yeah, it's, he is a more, you look at him,

you see more of a traditional defensive end. He is a dense 275 pounds while still having that get off, while still having a lot of things that you want from an edge rusher who can win with some edge speed. So I think it's, it definitely is a little bit more of a contrast of skill sets. And that that is something I'm sure we'll be talking about between now and April is just maybe the more traditional route or a guy that's a little more unique. And just you have to trust your coaches to use it in the right way. plenty of time to talk about that but are well deserving of of this sort of conversation and i'm not surprised based on talking to you all season to hear that he's he's going to lead this

top 50 next week i'm excited to dive into that let's uh am i crazy like does that is that okay i just want to make brother i watched i watched this guy every week just humiliate people and also And his range and his speed, like his closing speed just as a linebacker is incredible too. Like he, you're not saying anything out of line. And like, I don't want to speak too hyperbolicly because there's a lot left to do in this process. And the transition to the NFL is a tough one for everybody. But all I can say is I would be really excited to draft this guy highly. That, that's me.

Well, and something with this draft too. and this is something I struggled with when I put my top 50 together was it's just not a great top five top seven you know like in terms of I think that's part of it I think I mean yeah it's I think it's fair to say like the top of this draft isn't as sexy as some past years maybe that's part of it but this is still an this is an incredibly exciting prospect regardless 100% both things are true we can spend a little less time on carnell tate but I wanted to hand to him a game ball and here's here's my thesis for you day. And it's, it's, I'm speaking purely for myself, not anybody else, but knowing that Jeremiah

Smith was coming behind him, I don't want to say I wrote Carnell Tate off, but I just, I, I wasn't that excited. I was like, okay, yes, of course, Ohio State has really good receivers. He's a good receiver, but he's, he's no Jeremiah Smith. Like, that's the guy we need to focus on. And that might still be true. But week by week, I become more. more excited by Carnal Tate and more convinced like this guy's just a badass in his own right. And probably it's probably not fair that he was as overshadowed as he was because he does it again against against Penn State. Another just circus catch touchdown. I love this dude's physicality at the catch point and after the catch. Like the fact that he turned that into a touchdown

instead of going down at the at the two or three yard line, I just, I love this guy. And I don't I personally don't feel like I gave him his just due early enough because every week he just looks like a more and more exciting player. Yeah, I think there was a little bit of, you know, prove it to me first with him. Like he was a five-star guy and he was, he had some production last year for Ohio State. But obviously playing behind JJ Smith and Mecca, Buka, and, you know, he didn't see as many targets as he has this year. but he has taken his game to another level this year. So it's watching him, he's so detailed with every step. And that's what I love about him.

It's not, yeah, he's 6-3, over 200 pounds. The physicality, like you mentioned, the ball skills are there. But he's a very detailed receiver. And so I love him on those vertical stems. His ability to build up his speed. And it just really opens up the way that he can beat coverage, whether it's a straight nine route, some type of double move. He's very detailed.

detailed with each one of those steps. So the pacing is there and then just the acceleration where he can go make a play, tracks the ball beautifully, strong through the catch. And then, yeah, it doesn't go down easy. He's not a guy that's going to break a lot of tackles in terms of just his elusiveness, but he is physical as a finisher. I've mentioned it before, but outstanding along the sideline. So he's a guy that I keep bumping up more and more because he just every week,

he shows you more, shows you that it's no fluke. he's being consistent. He doesn't drop the ball. So yeah, big fan of Cardinal Tate. And he's going to be, you don't have to read very long in the top 50 to find him. It's not shocking that this is where Ohio State is, right? Like we had a feeling they would have a chance to put together a title defense with all the talent that they have. But in my opinion, they look a step or two better than everybody else in the country so far. And I think you can point to guys like this ascending and like not not just like maintaining, but taking that next step and looking like these sorts of prospects. I think that's a big reason for it. Obviously, Julian saying continuing to play out of his mind,

he's not draft eligible for our purposes. But the story of this Ohio State team is they were already loaded, but all the right guys seem to be improving as the season goes along too. No doubt. And I try not to watch guys that aren't draft eligible, but it's hard not to keep an eye on Julian saying, how accurate he is, how poised. Like there's just no panic in the way he plays. And it's just,

it's fun to watch. But I'm really looking forward to Michigan. And then if they get past Michigan, Big Ten championship game, whether it's probably Indiana, which would be a lot of fun. And then what they do in the playoffs, again,

some better opponents, some better defenses. Like that, that's going to be a lot of fun. to watch this talented team go up against some better opponents down the stretch. If this Ohio State team can't get past this Michigan team, then we got to have a conversation about what's in this team's head when it comes to the school up north because I thought that last year. I mean, they were clearly a better team than Michigan last year.

And it was at home and they couldn't do it. So, you know, obviously they went on the winning national title. you know, it is what it is. But this year, being in Ann Arbor, that's a tough place to go play. And it feels like all the pressures on Ohio State necessarily. But yeah, we'll have plenty of time to talk about that game. Banners hang forever, but you got to find a way to beat Michigan. All right.

We got, we've talked plenty of Ohio State. We got two new names to hand out game balls too. But before we do that, let's take a quick break. All right, Dan, I was excited to talk about. this guy and I'm I'm combing through college football looking for stuff that jumped out to me, looking at my notes from Saturday. And we've talked plenty of Texas Tech and we've talked a lot about David Bailey specifically. But I wanted to hand out a game ball to the other edge rusher on Texas Tech's defense who made a huge play. They dispatched Kansas State. And I feel like Texas Tech has a knack

for doing this where they win a game by 20 plus points and you assume that it was easy the whole way through. And they are experts at putting the game away with like five, six minutes to play. So in this game, Kansas State's been red hot for a minute. They're up 2920. So they got a two possession lead, but Kansas State very much alive with five minutes to play, they get the ball back in their own red zone. And on the very first snap, they got a two possession lead. They got a lot of guy I want to highlight, Mr. Romello height of Texas Tech, he just

whips the right tackle, strip sacks Avery Johnson, the fumble gets returned for a touchdown, and now we're in the clear. It's 3620. I think Texas Tech finished, they won 4320 as a final, and a game that was nervy at times

becomes a laffer. And just a really nice moment for Romello Heights, who has 40 pressures, 5,000. sacks eight quarterback hurries of his own behind David Bailey and this Texas tech team firmly firmly part of the college football playoff situation and have having two edge rushers that look like they will be meaningful NFL picks is a big part of that. Yeah, David Bailey is going to be a first round pick like that that's pretty much done.

Height is a little more complicated because he's six two and a quarter, two hundred and 30 pounds. You know, like he's, there are linebackers bigger than him. And so where does he fit? The burst and the effort off the ball are outstanding. And that's enough to beat a lot of college tackles. The play that you were referencing that,

that strip sack, his ability to abruptly transition and then flatten to the quarterback, that's different stuff. Like, that's awesome. Like, that's what you want to see from that type of player.

But exactly what position is. I don't think he's a DPR necessarily, but, you know, where are you playing him? Is that enough to take him on day two, round three? For some teams, maybe. Other teams probably not. So he's just a really interesting player. He's a six-year senior. This is 14, I believe.

So he's been around for a little bit and playing his best ball when it matters the most. Two years at Auburn, spent a year at Georgia Tech. and he was one of several big time transfers to this Red Raider defense. And safe to say it's been money well spent. I mean, they got to get this thing over the finish line. They have a big game this weekend against BYU. Oh, yeah. But, you know, like David Bailey, Jacob Rodriguez, the linebacker up there.

If we didn't mention Jacob Rodriguez because he had two more force fumbles against Kansas State. He's now up to seven force fumbles on the year. and he's really mastered that peanut punch technique. It's awesome to watch. And so as a prospect, he's pretty average from a size speed perspective. But the toughness that he plays with around the football is awesome. So, yeah, if, you know, we're going to mention David Bailey and height, we got to mention Jacob Rodriguez too. You got to love that the program that struggled to win with Patrick Mahomes putting up video game numbers is now.

with Patrick Mahomes as a as a invested donor, now putting together a fire breathing defense. I love it. One other guy I wanted to highlight. We've talked about him before, but not in a minute. And I remember early in the season, you talked about Georgia linebacker, C.J. Allen.

You mentioned that he wears the same number as Roquan Smith did in college number three for the Bulldogs. And no disrespect, but like early in the season, I was just like, I don't think I see it. But I, it's, it's coming together here over the last few weeks. Like he had a nice game against Auburn a couple weeks ago. And then on Saturday against Florida, 13 tackles, seven solo stops, had PFF charts like stuffs or stops like tackles that lead to an unsuccessful play.

More than half of his tackles were charted as stops by PFF. four red zone tackles, good day in coverage. Oh, and he had a pressure that led to a third down throwaway by DJ Lagway as well. So a game where like you just notice the off ball linebacker popping off the field every single snap. He was he was phenomenal and he very much reminded me of Roquan Smith against the Gators. And Georgia needs him to kind of be Superman because this is not the Georgia of three years ago where it's just every level the defense is first round picks, second round picks. Now, maybe eventually some of these guys will get there, but not this year.

And so C.J. Allen, playing at the high level that he is, is something that this Georgia team needs for them to continue stacking wins. And if they're going to be a player in the SEC, some of these games have been close. But so far, they've been able to pull out the victory. And C.J. Allen was a big reason why against the Gators. There was one play in the second quarter. QB delayed run. Alan just jukes the guard and plants lagway right away. He showed a little bit of everything in this game

because not only his ability to mirror the backfield vision at the line of scrimmage, but his range to unlock and go and make plays outside the numbers, we saw that as well. You don't see him a lot in man coverage, but he'll zone drop and he looks good doing that. So, yeah, CJ Allen, I just, I'm a big fan of him. And he is, to me, in between the two Ohio State linebackers. If I'm going to stack one, two, three, it's Arvallery, C.J. Allen, Sunny Stiles. And Allen's firmly right there in that top 30 conversation.

Okay, we love Reese. But if we're taking out guys that have like a pass rush role, because that's, you know, CJ Allen is more, he's a prototypical off ball linebacker. So is it, is it Allen and styles for you in terms of guys that are mainly off ball? Yeah. if we're going to say strictly off ball, nothing else, then, yeah, Alan, and that's not how it was coming into it. Alan was my top. He was linebacker one for me coming into the year.

And so strictly off ball, to me, he has done nothing to take away that LB1 distinction from him. Looking, and I don't want to give people the wrong impression. He wasn't bad earlier in the year, but it really feels like he is playing up to that, that pedigree that you explore. Like when I, when you tell me that a Georgia linebacker reminds you of Roquan Smith, that conjures a certain image for me anyway. Because Roquan's just one of the most slam dunk incredible prospects I can remember watching. It sets the bar high. Yeah.

Yeah. But he's, he is meeting it these last few weeks, I think. Uh, I think one last game ball. You wanted to throw one out to, to a guy in the big 12, I believe. Uh, yeah, Spencer, uh, Fano, uh, right tackle for Utah. that was a big game. It's a late game. I don't know how many people saw it.

But, you know, I was giving a lot of Cincinnati players love going into that game. But, man, Utah, they pretty much dominated. And when they needed a yard, they went behind number 55 at right tackle. One of my favorite things is watching him on skip pools, you know, those power left plays. He's so quick, so efficient with his feet, with his hips. He can erase linebackers at the second level. This is an offensive tackle class that has been. And pretty underwhelming.

And even Fano at times has not maybe lived up to some of the hype that we've put on him. But he's still been the most consistent of this group. So seeing him and what he's doing in the Big 12 this year's, he's still, to me, O line 1 in this draft. And I thought he played like it against Cincinnati on Saturday night. Big 12 is exactly as goofy as you thought it might be. I mentioned Texas Tech and BYU have a big game coming up for first place in that conference, but Cincinnati's still ranked. Utah has been on a role the last couple weeks, just rolling over people.

Arizona State, a relatively shocking win, in my opinion, in Ames the other day, considering Sam Levitt is now out for the year, just entertainment every single weekend in that conference. Tyson out? I think he was. Yeah, you're right. He did not play. in that game against the cyclone. So down your top two playmakers, you get a road win.

I guess that's just what you should expect from Big 12 football. That's a good way to sum it up. It'll be fun to the end. And that's kind of what we expected from this conference. All right. That does it for game balls. We're going to take a quick break. And then we're going to look into some under the radar prospects,

Dane highlighted on the athletic.com. All right, Dane, we call it building the beast. The whole point is to find prospects at every program. at every level of the draft. So I got excited when I saw one of your most recent pieces for the athletic and basically just looking at under the radar names, maybe guys that aren't splashing every week on a national level like in Arvel Reese doesn't mean that there aren't good prospects all over the country.

So I got a few names that I want to talk about, but I'll throw it to you. If we're just, if we're looking for some under discussed draftable prospects, where do you want to start and then I'll kind of fill in from there. I'll go out to the West Coast. San Diego State's having a really good year this year. And Chris Johnson at Corner is a big reason why they're having success on defense. He is, I hate to say it comes down to the 40, but, you know, it's corner is a stopwatch position. And so that matters.

Some scouts are worried he might run a 455. but if he gets in the four-fours, I think he'd go top 100. I mean, I think he can go. To me, he has tape of an NFL starter. And so the 40 might impact where he's drafted. I think Chris Johnson is going to start in the league. He can play man, can play zone, really calm. And his quickness and his ability to mirror off the line is impressive.

Physical down the field has a really just a natural feel for making plays on the football. I watch, throw on the Cal game, throw on Northern Illinois. Every single tape, he's making plays. And so Chris Johnson to me, and I talked to him, I don't know, maybe two months ago now, or sometime in September, talking to him the phone, just getting a lot of background and finding out more about his story. You know, he was, he was like 5 to 150 pounds as like a sophomore in high school. And so he was, nobody knew about this guy.

until later on and when he finally got recruited. He's younger for his age. Like he's, I think he's still 20 years old right now. His parents started him early in kindergarten a year early. So that's why he was so small as a sophomore in high school and kind of behind the eight ball physically when it comes to being recruited. But now is a fourth year senior for the Aztex. He's really emerging and showing, you know, what he could be.

So he's a standout on special teams. He had a block punt last year. Makes plays, you know, a gunner. So there's just a lot that Chris Johnson offers. And to me, he's a very underrated player who is going to have an NFL future. And like I said, that 40 is probably going to determine where he's drafted. I don't care where he's drafted. He's going to have an NFL type of career. I love talking about Corner because it does feel like a, it feels like a murky position to me. And obviously, we've talked a lot about Mansour Delane at LSU. We like him very much,

Avion Terrell at Clemson is another guy worth mentioning. Other than that, I mean, I know, I know people talk and think highly of Jermad McCoy at Tennessee. We've mentioned him too, but both Tennessee corners are good, good players. Colton Hood and then McCoy. But yeah, like McCoy coming back from the ACL, it just doesn't sound great that we're going to see him this year. So a little bit of a question mark on his name. That was, that was going to be my point. I mean, we haven't seen him, unfortunately.

And so if you're looking for the top of this cornerback class, it gets a little murky after. And I'm not trying to slot the guy, but I just think we know and like Mansour Delane. And then everything else feels like it's up for interpretation. So San Diego State, they haven't lost since week two of this season. You mentioned the Cal win. I'm not trying to sell anybody on Cal being a world beater,

but that's a powerful program. they beat the shit out of them. 34 to nothing. He had to pick six in that game. Chris, I mean, he's, he's been playing phenomenal football.

And I think this, this feels like a name worth knowing. Like when you're, again, when you're talking about like the upper echelon of the corner position, like is it, am I crazy to suggest? I get your point that it could come down to the 40 time.

But like if he times well, it seems like he could have a shot at being like a first round or at least like a top 40 type. of pick? I don't know if we'll be able to get that high just because I don't think the physical traits are necessarily going to wild teams. Like that's just, that's not how scouts talk about him, I guess, you know, because he's, he has decent height. He's six foot. He's just 182 pounds. So he's very lean. And the, the straight line speed is definitely a question mark. It does show up a little bit on tape, not to the point where I would be super worried about drafting him. But I don't know that his, in terms of projection, I don't know if we're going to be talking

about a price tag that high. But to your point, this is a corner class where, you know, we'll see which underclassmen come out. But, you know, how does he stack up with Igbenoson from Ohio State or Will Lee from Texas A&M or Dalyan Everett, Georgia, you know, these guys that are considered day two corners, Chris Johnson belongs in that conversation as a guy that, you know, we should be talking about as a future NFL starter. Because again, I watch his tape and I see an NFL starter.

His ability to work inside, cover the slot, he can do that. Again, I mentioned his special teams. So, you know, I don't know exactly because I do think a lot will determine or how he tests, will determine a lot of exactly where he's drafted. I just know I see a good football player. And, you know, he's a guy that should be talked about more. They have plenty of opportunity to stay on the radar. I mean, they're right in the thick of it for the Mountain West.

And they're about to play like all of the good teams in the Mountain West. Like it's Hawaii this week, followed by Boise State. So if they're going to win that conference, they're going to have to win some big time games against some of the better teams in the league. So this is definitely putting San Diego. Diego State on my radar for this final month. And I think that Hawaii game is in Hawaii. So it'll be on late after you're done doing everything else on Saturday night. And that's why he gets overlooked a little bit is, you know, a lot of those games are late

at night. People aren't watching them. But yeah, Chris Johnson. If you're watching, if San Diego State's on TV, check them out. Okay. I really love this because it's very much in the spirit of building the beast because Boston College is one and eight, Dane. They won their season opener.

They beat Fordham. And they have since lost eight straight games. But I need to know about Logan Taylor, who in my preliminary research, the guys played three spots on this offensive line and acquitted himself pretty nicely. So I am intrigued. and and I love the idea of reminding people that even some of the very worst teams have some very, very good football players. Well, shoot, let's go even further back. Born in Nova Scotia, okay? Like this is a guy.

We're getting a brugler special here, baby. Let's go. He grew up in a basketball family. His dad's like 6'9. And in Nova Scotia, there's not a lot of football. But somewhere along the way, one of his buddies was playing on a team. got him to come out and he turned into a pretty badass defensive lineman. And ends up, you know, going to high school in the States.

And that's when COVID happened. So he went back. But it was still able to get recruited. Goes to Virginia. He was at Virginia for two years. And then he transferred to Boston College, which was closer to home for him. But yeah, he is a big dude. And he's not a top tier athlete.

and I think that's ultimately why we're not talking about him as a top 100 type of slam dunk is because the quickness, the ability to move is more good than great. But he is a big dude with versatility. And I think that versatility is something that's going to help him when scouts really, you know, or coaches really get involved on him because he's more of a guard. I like him at guard. But you watch him against Cal. I think it was against Yukon.

They put him at left tackle. And he more than held his own on those tape. Now, they put him at right tackle against Notre Dame over the weekend, and it wasn't so good. But I think this is more of a natural guard who can kick out the tackle in a pinch. So Logan Taylor, to me, he's someone that needs to be on the radar as a third, fourth round guy and someone that is, I think, a little bit underrated. 6.6.5, 308 pounds. He's long. I think he's over 34-inch arms. there's just a lot to like there with the ability and the versatility. You tell me a guy drafted on day three could, and I get it if he's better in some spots than others,

but like if he can conceivably play three spots on your offensive line, that's how you make a, that's how you make a 53 right there, Dan. No doubt. And look, I'm, I'm Mr. Don't Scout the helmet. You know, look past the decal, but I don't know, something. about Boston College offensive linemen. They seem to produce those guys. And I think Logan Taylor is certainly in that mix.

That Notre Dame game, football is just a heartbreaking sport, man. They've lost seven straight games. They're playing their big rival in Notre Dame. They gave them hell for three quarters and change. Like it was nervey in the fourth quarter. And then you throw basically a goal line interception. and one snap later, Jeremiah Love is like, this is why I'm a top 15 pick

and he goes to the house from 94 yards out and your best effort in two months just goes up in flames right in front of you. I tweeted the end zone view of that touchdown and the blocking was unbelievable. So it was going to be a 10, 12 yard gain no matter what. But the burst from love and then the slalom them to like just get a little bit, not a big weave, but just a little weave to get away from the

proximity awareness with him is phenomenal. And so yeah, I mean, we, we've talked about Jeremiah I love and how he's one of the best players in this draft. And, you know, a play like that, just if you needed a reminder, you know, there it is. It's just stick with the, with the boring guys up front. Let's, let's talk some offensive line here. Caleb Tiernan, the current left tackle at Northwestern, which you want to talk about a program where if you're doing things, like I'm listening if I'm hearing about a Northwestern offensive lineman. Rishan Slater, Peter Scoransky, 526 snaps at left tackle for the wildcats this year. Per PFF, seven pressures and one sack allowed.

That seems good to me. That like, I mean, how high are we on this guy? Because that's, those are encouraging numbers. So, yeah, I think I cheated a little bit on. Tiernan, because with this article that I did on the athletic was, you know, I limited it to guys graded in that third to fifth round mix. And Tiranin's going to go before the third round. I just, he's a good player, man. And it's not a big surprise when you go back and look at, okay, Ohio State wanted him, Michigan wanted him, Penn State wanted him.

Like he was a pretty highly recruited kid come out of Michigan. And he chooses Northwestern and stayed loyal. You know, this will be his fifth year at the program. And, you know, just throw on the organ tape. And, you know, how clean he was playing left tackle against a top tier opponent was awesome. The past protection all year has been very, very just clean and almost perfect. So Tiernan is a player who, I think is on the rise and someone that'll go,

he'll go somewhere in the first two rounds. I'm starting to feel better about that. I'll ask you the same question as we were talking about with Johnson. Like is first round, does that feel realistic to you when, when this is all said and done? I, with an offensive lineman, I wouldn't rule it out. I mean, he's, he entered this year with like 30 straight starts. And he's, you know, so like there's an iron man.

quality to him. Like he doesn't miss time. He's played both left tackle, right tackle. He's very controlled. And he's not a super elite mover, but he's very controlled. He's very efficient in his past sets. He just makes it tough for guys to get around him. Talking to scouts, he's very quiet in terms of demeanor.

But it's, he's naturally introverted. But the coaching staff has really pushed him to become more of a leader. And they say that's exactly what he's done this year, which is. what they were hoping to see. So inconsistent knee bend. I think he needs to be a little bit better in terms of hitting his targets at the second level. But these are not things that are going to keep teams from drafting him if they are looking for offensive linemen. So I wouldn't be shocked at all if he snuck up into the top 40 or higher because every team needs offensive linemen.

And this guy looks like a future NFL starter. One other guy I wanted to highlight. I mean, we were just talking about C.J. Allen, you think about Georgia linebackers and what that entails. I don't get, I don't get those vibes when I think about the Tennessee defense. And maybe that's just because they're in a shootout every damn week. So you point out that Ari and Carter at Tennessee leads the SEC and tackles. No, like, tackles aren't created equally, right? I mean, Tennessee is they're playing 30 to 40 point shootouts every other week. So I'm curious what you see watching him as opposed to just the raw stat totals and and how impressive of a player has Ari and Carter been this year.

Yeah, he's just a very instinctive player. You know, and they'll use him. You know, you'll see him blitz. It was the Syracuse tape. He had a really nice coffee house splits. He, the way he reads the basketball. Field's really impressive. So I think I was told he's kind of 50-50 on whether or not he comes out.

He's a third year junior. So a true junior could go back if, you know, things are. I think he entered the year as kind of like a fourth, fifth round pick. But he keeps moving up. I think right now I would put him in a third round. But if he gets even better feedback from scouts, maybe he does come out. So Tennessee is desperately trying to keep a hold of him because they've already got a few guys that are probably going to leave early.

I mentioned those two corners with Hood and McCoy. Brazil probably comes out to the receiver. So I think Tennessee, they look at Carter as maybe one of those guys they could keep. And so we'll see how he finishes this next month. But I think Carter, he'll have a big NFL decision to make here pretty soon. One of the biggest Tennessee Vanderbilt games maybe ever on the horizon. I mean, that's not until that's not until Thanksgiving weekend, but I'm already excited about it because that's usually,

I don't know how many people outside the state of Tennessee are getting excited for that matchup normally, but I am personally very excited for it this year. That loss to Texas was big for Vanderbilt in terms of just, you know, taking them down a peg if they want to reach the playoffs, if they want to be considered a true playoff contender. but I still feel like they have everything in front of them. If they win out, they're probably going to get in as a two-loss SEC team.

So it's even though that was a tough loss and they fought till the end, and they only lost by three at the end of the day, I think it was. But they this is a team that still has everything in front of them. Maybe not an SEC title game. We'll see. But if they went out, they're still very much in that playoff discussion. So yeah, to your point, That's going to be a huge game at the end of the year.

We've mentioned a few other guys on your list. We've talked about Ketron Allen, the running back at Penn State. We've mentioned Nikki Prongos, the O tackle at Stanford. Are there anybody else in your story that you want to highlight here? There's a couple tight ends I think makes sense for that. Justin Jolie from NC State. He's a fun story because he was a like a 190. pound wide receiver coming out of high school and barely got recruited.

Yukon finally at like the last minute took him on and he really developed his frame. He's up to 250 pounds now. Transfer to Nancy State. He's a really good player, really athletic. Reminds me a lot like a John Huss Smith type of tight end. So I think he'll go in the third round. Eli Stowers from Vanderbilt, another one of those guys. I mean, he had two touchdowns over 100 yards against Texas over the weekend.

He's also kind of in that third round where I think he's going to test really well, which might give him a little bit of a bump once we get the draft season. So tight end's got a few. Austin Barber, the left tackle of Florida. He's another one of those guys. We talk about offensive linemen going pretty early. He's got his warts, but size, he moves pretty well. He's a smart player.

And I think that teams are going to see him as, okay, he's a, he's, a little bit more of a developmental player than we want, but there are starts in his future. And so, you know, I think somewhere, you know, top 75, top 80 could be a place for him. So, yeah, there's, we could, seriously, we could go for hours talking about these third round, fourth round, fifth round types who definitely have their warts, definitely have something about them that is holding them back a little bit, but they're still fun to talk about because you look at them and you can see NFL talent. There's something about them that says, yeah, that'll translate, that'll give them

a chance. And so yeah, we'll talk more about some of these guys as we get closer and things start to firm up. But I'm glad we were able to hit on a few of them today. Barber is one of those guys who you get intrigued just by watching the quality of competition that he's played, like going against Ruben Bain and Akeem Mesedore with Miami, Cassius Howell, Texas A&M, he went against the LSU front. They just played Georgia. So when it comes time, for draft season where you're putting these guys tape on throughout January and March, you're going to have no problem finding plays of him going against the very best, which I think is always,

that's a feather in a guy's cap. Even if you don't always win those matchups, it's just, it's nice to know what you're looking at when you evaluate a college player, you know? That stuff matters so much. There's a big difference between, you know, going up against that type of schedule and then going up against, you know, some of these other guys what they have to face.

And so, yeah, Barber's a guy that doesn't have that elite arm length, pad level is a little high, anchor's not great, but quick-footed. I mean, you can tell that he's been playing a long time with the depth that he gets in his past sets, the way that he finishes, really physical player. So, and scouts have told me that he could have had more money elsewhere, but he took less to stay at Florida this past year for his final year. So he had a few good reps. I know it came on a loss to Georgia,

but watching that tape yesterday, he had some really good reps against a pretty good Georgia front. Just a short sample of the many guys that we will continue to discuss as we build the beast. But I definitely wanted to try to highlight some guys other than the consensus top 20, top 25 prospects. Before we get out of here, I do just want to take a quick look at week 11, Dane.

And my overall takeaway from the week 11 slate is this is just a big opportunity for teams to show how they handle a big road test. Because that is a pretty consistent through line for a lot of the best teams in college football. Indiana, we know at this point what Penn State season is, but that is a road game to Happy Valley for an Indiana team that as good as they are still hasn't played in a whole. lot of situations like this. BYU is on the road at Texas Tech where the Red Raiders are undefeated this year. A&M, how about that? I think, I think this is my favorite one on the weekend, Dane. The A&M offensive line on the road in Columbia against Zion Young and Damon Wilson and that Missouri pass rush that we've talked about so much. And you also get Dante Moore going to face Iowa at Kinnick Stadium. So a lot of tough environments for a lot of playoff hopefuls and NFL hopefuls here.

Yeah, you mentioned a few of them there. Florida State at Clemson, like I get it. Clemson's been a dumpster. I get it. But they still got guys on that defense. They're going to be high draft picks. And so seeing how they do against Florida State, what will be pretty important. Yeah, I'm with you on Missouri.

That feels like a track. game for A&M. Like A&M is a, the way that they've been playing on offense, on defense, you know, they deserve to be a top three team in the rankings. But, you know, it's hard in the SEC, week in, week out to keep stacking these wins and going to Missouri will not be easy with Zion Young, with Damien Wilson, you know, with the guys they have in that front. That'll be a tough one.

So, yeah, that'll be a good game. You mentioned with more, another test for him in a road environment. You know, that Indiana game really showed still just how inexperienced he is. And this game will kind of be a chance for him to remind people, okay, this is why, you know, I'll have an NFL decision to make after the year because I can still do this at a high level. And look, we saw Fernando Mendoza go to Iowa earlier this year and struggle. they needed a lot of things to break Indiana's way to get out of out of Iowa with a win and so how will Oregon acquit themselves in that environment at Kinnick that that'll be a lot of fun you know this very you know this better than most day in Iowa

city can be a nightmare for a Big Ten title hopeful in the later parts of the year that's I get it like we can make jokes about Iowa's offense over the years and you know, it's a program that really loves the value of special teams, but that can be a very tough place to get a win on the road. I'm very interested to see how Oregon handles that. No doubt. That'll be a fun one. So, yeah, this is, I mean, LSU at Alabama, we got to mention it, even though I get it.

You know, we have to mention it. No, I mean, we do. Look, I mean, the funny thing is, look, LSU is obviously the disappointment of all disappointments. It's us and Clemson, which ironically, we opened the season against each other. So goes to show never, never get too high after week one. Simple times. You never know, you never know where a season's going to go. But this is, I mean, between these two teams, you're still talking about a boatload of NFL prospects on both sides of the ball. And LSU defense hasn't acquitted itself as nicely over the last couple games as it did in the early going. But I still think this will be a

fun test for Ty Simpson. We mentioned Mansour Delane, a shot for him to showcase himself against who I think is, who I think is the best quarterback going in college football right now and his receiver options. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot to be intrigued about from an evaluating talent standpoint, even if I'm not really excited about what the final

score might be. Well, and Nussmeyer too. Like for Nussmeier, you know how much guilt he probably feels after, you know, head coach and offensive coordinator gone. You know, like he probably feels some of that burden. Like, you know, if I would have played a little bit better in this game or done this, like maybe that does it. Now, I think that's unfair.

Like, it's not on Nussmeyer that, you know, what happened happened at LSU. But this is a chance for, okay, let's see how mentally tough you are. Let's see how you bounce back now. You just had to buy a week to think about it. You go to Tuscaloosa. You know, this is a chance to put all that behind you and go make a statement. So, yeah, I don't think LSU is going to win this game, but it's still a chance for some of these players to put good stuff on tape

to help themselves throughout the process. You talk about the dead cat bounce when a team fires its head coach, and it's very normal to see a team rally around the interim head coach and play its best football of the year in a situation like this. This is me, the fan speaking, not me, somebody trying to evaluate things fairly, but like I'll believe that when I see it when it comes to LSU playing Alabama. Like I just don't buy it.

I don't. I mean, it takes an act of God and Joe Burrow to beat Alabama, especially in Tuscaloosa. So we'll see how that goes. You're not wrong. But regardless, we will be here on the other side of the week to recap it to break it all down.

And like we said, next week we will have Dane's November top 50 to dive into. I am really looking forward to doing that. we will we will not ignore what happens over the college football weekend but we will definitely do an in-depth look at the top 50 really looking forward to that until then we appreciate it as always for dane i am dave we'll talk to you next time