The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Building the Beast: Dane Brugler's midseason top-three at every position

Episode Date: October 8, 2025

We're just about halfway through the college football regular season, and boards for the 2026 NFL Draft look different than they did in August. How different? That's exactly what Dane Brugler and Dave Helman dive into on this episode of The Athletic Football Show's Building the Beast. With about two months of the season in the books, Dane offers up his top-three rankings for the 2026 NFL Draft at every position.Rundown (timestamps are approximate)6:50 Quarterbacks18:28 Running Backs26:48 Wide Receivers36:54 Tight Ends40:09 Offensive Tackles45:47 Interior OL49:04 EDGE rushers52:06 Defensive Tackles55:01 Linebackers1:00:20 Cornerbacks1:02:41 Safeties1:05:35 Week 7 LookaheadConnect 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 BellerProducer: Michael BellerFollow 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 every single week, Dane Bruegler and myself seek to build the Beast, his annual NFL draft catalog. Today we took a step back. We wanted to look at the bigger picture. We talked a lot about how we felt about this draft class over the summer heading into the season. And as we near the halfway point of the season, we wanted to see how some of those projections stood up. who has impressed, who has lived up to the hype, who has come out of nowhere, all of that good

stuff. Dane was gracious enough to indulge me by ranking his top three players at every position in the game. We went through all of them. Really fun conversation with Dane and myself. Let's get into it. And joining me now, as always, it's my co-host, Dane Bruegler, coming live from the former home of Joe Flacco.

Dane, how we doing, bud? Good. Yeah, you don't really see the inner division trades very often. But this is one of those, yeah, sure, I guess. Why not? I mean, you know, the Bengals are desperate, right? And the Browns, it's a rookie movement. So Browns need to find out what they got with these young guys. And it's going to be the Dylan Gabriel show for the, at least for the time being. We'll see if that changes down the road.

From an NFL perspective, anything that makes the Bengals resemble why, is a win in my book. And then on top of that, for for our purposes, Dane, we'll get plenty more Dylan Gabriel opportunities. And at some point, I don't know, maybe Shadur Sanders enters the conversation. I think it's still too soon to have that talk right now. But with Joe Flacco off the roster,

I think that becomes a more realistic possibility at some point during the season, even if it's not soon. Yeah, which I think is what we all expected. at some point, you know, the Browns need to know what they have at him. And, you know, I thought Dylan Gabriel was fine in his debut, like a tough, tough place to make your NFL debut. But he was fine. And he's just limited.

He's always going to be limited. But in terms of moving the ball, getting first downs, like, he'll be able to do that. And I think he'll be better. But, yeah, I mean, there's a reason I think Dylan Gabriel has looked at as a backup projection around the league. So, yeah, I think the Browns, they're still open for business. when it comes to the quarterback of the future, I think. It's funny, the Brown's draft class was already a gold mine. If you talk about draft prospects like we do,

and now we might actually get to see, you know, the guys that got all the headlines who haven't been playing, they're going to join the mix too. So we'll see what that looks like. That is not the topic of the day, though. I'm really excited for this show. We're taking a little bit of a departure. We're not doing so much of a recap and,

and the normal format of the show this week because we're getting, we're getting into October. We're getting into conference play. Teams are starting to get into the meet of their conference schedule. We've also just got a decent sample size. We've played six weeks of college football. Everybody's played at least five games. So it's close enough to the halfway point of the season that I wanted to do something. And, Dane, I appreciate you playing along because it's a heavy lift on your.

part to re-examine how you feel about guys. And you'll have your revised top 50 out later on this season. This is not that. But for the purposes of the podcast, we just kind of wanted to revisit where things stood as opposed to in August when we had nothing to go on. So what we're doing today is we're going to look at every position in the game and just go through Dane's top three players so far this season. And it's nothing set in stone.

It could change as soon as this weekend. We're going to mention some other guys that maybe we'd like to see a little bit more from. Some guys who have had disappointing seasons so far that still have a chance to fix it. So it's fluid, but we wanted to look at where things stand at the top of each position, in our opinion anyway. And I think this will be a really good thought exercise after a little bit less than half of the season. No doubt. it's a good chance to reset the rankings because obviously yeah like you said things have changed

and so this is a good opportunity to kind of take a step back reassess um like you said there these things are very fluid uh rankings shouldn't be fluid in february you know you shouldn't be drastically altering what you think based off 40 times and all of that but in season when there's still tape to be watched and games to be played updated evidence out there yeah there's going to be some fluctuation And so I think this is a good time to do a reset, see where guys stand. And then maybe a couple weeks from now, we can even do it again and kind of get a sense for how these rankings are shaping up. All right. So let's just jump into it.

Otherwise, we're going to be here all day the way we like to talk about prospects. Let's start with the moneymaker, the headline grabber, the quarterback position. It's been a relatively surprising year compared to the preseason hype, but a lot to dig into with this position. So you've got your top three. Take it whichever way you want to go. You want to start at three and work our way up, or do you want to start at one? Let's do two and three. Because that's my view on these guys really hasn't changed.

That two, Lenora Sellers, South Carolina, three. Fernando Mendoza, Indiana. Look, both these guys were ranked top 20 prospects for me coming into the year. They were quarterbacks two and four. And so Sellers stays at two. Mendoza jumps Nussmeyer takes over that third spot. And I think there seems to be a narrative that Sellers has struggled this year. And I don't think that's exactly true.

The stats aren't amazing. And I understand why he's not a Heisman candidate. But from a scouting perspective, I don't think anything has really happened to drastically change what you thought of him coming into the year. Super explosive athlete still is probably the strongest quarterback I've ever evaluated that still shows up every single time you watch him. And I think he's getting incrementally better as a passer. There's throws where, yes, the placement needs to be better. The pacing isn't there. He's trying to throw a fastball when he needs to throw a change up.

But again, he just turned 20 years old. This is a young player that's growing in front of our eyes. And he missed one game due to a concussion. That's a factor in this as well. But every single tape from this year, there are multiple throws that make you set up and say, okay, yeah, that's the guy that I can see why people are getting excited about him. So he's at two. And then Mendoza, he's played exactly how I expected, to be honest, coming over from Calde, Indiana.

Physical traits aren't going to blow you away, but he's efficient. He's accurate. He knows how to attack defenses. So nothing has really changed in my eyes from the Mendoza evaluation. So with all due respect to Fernando Mendoza, I mean, we've talked a lot about him on this show. And he'll have another big opportunity to prove himself this week. Indiana goes to Oregon, huge game on the schedule. I'm glad we're talking about sellers.

And like if I'm looking for blind spots as a host, we haven't talked a ton about him this year. Other, like we talked about him when South Carolina beat Virginia Tech in the opener. And it's kind of been quiet ever since. And I feel a little bit bad about that. But by potential QB1 standards, you kind of mentioned it. There's not that much to go on. Like he gets knocked out of the Vanderbilt game early.

And then last week against Kentucky, I mean, South Carolina beat the brakes off the Wildcats, but a game where you're not really asking a whole lot of heavy lifting of your quarterback. I mean, he did have a very impressive day as a runner, but just not like a game where you needed your quarterback. I will say there were some really, really impressive throws on the Missouri tape. I know South Carolina lost that game, but all the stuff people were excited about.

And I feel like that game kind of got lost in the noise, but all of the stuff people were excited. about was on display there with with his arm talent and the throws that he was making yeah no no doubt the Missouri there was a one I think it was in a second quarter there was like three plays back to back to back where it's just like oh yeah NFL throw NFL throw NFL decision like he he makes plays on every single tape against Kentucky there was one play where he was rolling out to his right and through a perfect seed for a first down move the chains like there are enough improvements that he has shown as a passer that tells me he's on the right trajectory

Now, this weekend, going to LSU against a pretty good defense, that will be, okay, next step, let's see you do it. That'll be a big step for him. Obviously, in the SEC, almost every single week, you're playing a pretty good opponent. So, you know, it's a constant evaluation on these guys. But I think where we are right now, Sellers Mendoza, neither guy have really, I think, played outside of what we thought coming in. They've both been pretty good. You can see why, you know, people could be a. excited about their future.

So two and three have been pretty what we thought. Number one now, that's where we, this is not what we thought coming in. Yeah, I'd say that's, I would say that's fair. Well, with Dante Moore from Oregon, all we had was a five starts at UCLA that were bad in 2023, backs up Dylan Gabriel last year to Oregon. And this year has just been outstanding. He is obviously the newcomer here. we've been talking about it almost every week now it feels like as okay this is a quarterback on a first round trajectory based on what he's put on tape so far 14 to 1 touch down interception ratio the amount of times on the Penn State tape where it was on the quarterback to bail out the offense whether it was the left tackle not making the block or you know the way that the offense is structured some of the receivers not turning in time to look for the ball or they're not executing the route combination exactly.

how they're supposed to. A lot was on the quarterback to make things right and he did it consistently, both with his arm and his legs. So such a promising start for Dante Moore in this offense. And I mean, based on what we see right now, how can he not be the favorite to be that number one guy? Now, obviously, you wish he had more starts under his belt. If he does make that jump to the NFL up to this level, he's only going to have, you know, he'll have under 20 starts to his name. And that's not ideal, but the way he's been playing, talking to scouts, they think it's now a more realistic possibility. He could make that jump. And it's always tough when you're dealing with that limited sample size. We'll talk about this with Ty Simpson, the Alabama quarterback moving forward. Simpson's

been a strong quarterback as well, but he has five starts. And so it does make it a little difficult. But with Dante Moore, until he proves us otherwise, it's hard not to have him at the top. he recently became the betting favorite to win the Heisman trophy. And just looking at Oregon's schedule, I would guess they're going to be favored to win the rest of the games until they reach the college football playoff, which I hate to act like it's already set in stone. But that just feels like where the ducks are headed. So, I mean, there's plenty of opportunity. As good as we feel about him, like as much progress as Dante Moore has made in the eyes of evaluation. years since September, there's that much more opportunity if this Ducks team does in fact wind up with,

I mean, I would even say it seems likely that they get a buy in the postseason the way that they did last year. Well, honestly, that might come down to Oregon against Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game for that buy. Bring it on, baby. Exactly. Like, that would be a lot of fun. I mean, Ohio State, that defense has been unbelievable this year. We'll talk more about those guys in a little bit. They have yet to allow a red zone touchdown.

I think there's like eight, eight, um, uh, chances for the offense and zero, uh, zero touchdowns allowed in the red zone. So it's been, it's been crazy watching that, that group this year. Um, Minnesota had no shot. It'll get tougher here, you know, Penn State's coming up. Um, you know, some more offenses that can score points coming up. But I would, from an evaluation perspective, would not be upset to see Ohio State and Oregon meet again. They met twice last year, split that one. it'd be fun to see that third matchup this year as well.

Without giving anything away, we'll be highlighting plenty of Ohio State players on this list of ours. Real quickly, I think you mentioned, I think Mendoza passed Garrett Nussmeyer to move into your top three. Obviously, it's been a forgettable season for Nussmire so far. We talked last week about why that might be the case. Nussmire had a week off. So hopefully coming out of the buy, he is a healthier player. And yeah, I mean, Garrett Nussmeyer versus Lenora Sellers is a heck of a, I guess if Dante Moore and Fernando Mendoza is like the top billing, that's a nice little undercard on Saturday

to see where those two guys stand. No doubt. I mean, it is a good chance to just check in and see, okay. Yeah, because we've talked about it before with Nussmeier. He's clearly not healthy. And that's affecting his play. Having the buy week when it did was seem like a good time. How does he show up against a South Carolina defense that can get after you?

That'll be, you know, Dylan Stewart is one of the best players in the country, a defensive end for the gamecocks. How does that work itself out? And, you know, Nussimire right now, it's not like, you're not, speak for myself. I'm not bailing on him as a prospect at all. He's just, he's more in limbo right now because it's because of the injury, because of all the factors of that offense, you know, there's just no run game, the offensive line, things we've talked about before.

So not bailing on Nussmeyer by any means. It's just his draft stock is a little bit in limbo right now as we let the season play out and get a better sense for, okay, how much of this is on the quarterback, possible regression, how much of it is the supporting cast and the injury that are really affecting him. You mentioned it about South Carolina too. I mean, Lenora Sellers and Garrett Nussmeyer, it's all out there in front of them still even halfway through the season because South Carolina plays like half. of the top 10 over the next month and LSU has four more ranked opponents on its schedule as well. So even if it's

and particularly more so for Nuss. I mean, I don't think Sellers has been disappointing but just in terms of making a stronger impression in the second half of the season, there's still plenty of opportunity to do that for both of them. I would throw out the, you know, uh, Meteer when he comes back, uh, for Oklahoma.

It sounds like he might be able to play this weekend against Texas, which is crazy when he just had surgery on his throwing hand two weeks ago. I think Josh Hoover, what he's doing at TCU, named to keep on the radar. Brendan Sorsby at Cincinnati, named to keep on the radar. These are younger, these are all underclassmen. If they play their way they're capable,

the rest of the year, we'll be talking more and more about them. And I did want to mention Drew Aller and Kate Klubnick. I didn't have either of these guys in my first round with first round grades coming into the year. So obviously, no real change there. Neither have really played up to what we hoped, you know, maybe they could take that next step. Club Nick was better against North Carolina, but it's North Carolina. And, you know, Drew Aller, that Penn State loss at UCLA was tough.

But honestly, it might have been Aller's best game. There's a lot of issues with that Penn State offense. The lack of, the lack of explosive plays in the passing game is astounding. Like, they have 13 completions all year over 20 yards, which is the same as Northwestern. It's like 106th in the nation. So it's something that the offense needs to figure out, and it's more than a quarterback issue going on in Penn State. I don't want John Mateer to do anything irresponsible, but it would be a hell of a story if he can play 16, 17 days removed from surgery on that hand. Don't do anything reckless, John or Oklahoma, but it sure would be a fascinating storyline.

I'll have my eye on the Red River shootout in Dallas this weekend for sure. Let's move on to running back really quickly. I think not terribly surprising. Jeremiah Love still your top running back. I don't know if we need to dive super deep on that. You know, we gave it. Our eyebrows perked up a little bit with the slow start that he had against Miami. And then Notre Dame has proceeded to remember that he's their best player.

And his performance reflects that. We've known running back one from the start. Obviously, Jeremiah Love is he was the only running back to make my top 50 in the preseason. And I think the bigger question was, okay, who's going to step up and be running back to? Right now, I'm leaning towards Justice Haynes from Michigan, who has played well. Alabama transfer. I'm surprised that they let him go as easily as easily as they did. I think some will remember his dad, Varon Haynes.

who was a running back for the Steelers. Not that long ago, but just a good player. But Haynes was born to play the position. Love his vision, the run balance, the way he drops his pads into contact, he grinds yards, catches the ball well. I think his ceiling might be capped a little bit just because I don't see a lot of suddenness. I don't see a lot of the creativity as an athlete where he's going to make a lot of explosive plays. But he does all the running back specific things well.

So all the talent is there for him to be a question. quality pro back. With all due respect to Justice Haynes, can we talk about your number three running back, who is an early favorite of mine? Like, it's way too early in the cycle to say that you have a pet cat, but...

No, it's not. It's never too early. Man, the first night of this season, when Washington played, I think it was Colorado State, I got my first look at Jonah Coleman. And every week since, I just check in on him. And I'm like, yep.

Still a badass. This guy's really fun. Tell me more, please. Yeah, I mean, he's the only player in college football with double-digit rushing touchdowns. He is, he's looking quicker this year for a guy that's stocky

and like he's short, but not small. He is built like you want a running back to be built. His pacing, his tempo has been awesome. The vision's been terrific. And like I said, he just looks a little bit quicker this year. And a lot of what I said about Haynes fits for Coleman,

where he does a lot of the running back specific traits. A lot of those things, he does them very well. And he catches the ball well. He won't put the ball on the ground. You just, you trust him. And so he didn't have a great week this past week against when they went to Maryland. But, you know, he will get what is blocked for him plus a little bit more. He is, this is not a loaded running back class, but both these guys, I think Justice

Haynes, Coleman. Jonah Coleman, you just have a good idea of what you're getting with them. However much he might have struggled against Maryland, I was that impressed by what he did against. Again, you talked about how nasty Ohio State's defenses and I thought he made a very good showing of himself. You're so right. Like, 5-9-228 just gives me a mental image of what you might look like running the football. And it's not Jonah Coleman, dude. Like his feet are constantly moving.

the suddenness with which he makes cuts, he does not move like his, like his bio suggests that he might. No. Like he's a jump cut runner. Like he is and he is chiseled. He is rocked up. But the way that he can run with burst through a crease,

but then also get in and out of his cuts is really impressive for a guy that size. And like I said, he sees the field well. He can work between the tackles. He can work outside the tackles. Yeah. I think he'll be drafted, you know, somewhere in the top, probably top three rounds. There's a good chance, Jeremiah Love is still the only running back in my top 50 when I, when I updated it in a month or a couple weeks here.

But these two guys are worth watching on day two. Before we take a break, any other running backs that you want to mention, even if they didn't make your top three? You know, the Penn State running backs, I think the way I thought, you know, Singleton being a 220 back, who's going to run a 4-3, it's like, okay, I get, the talent is there. Ketron Allen's been a better back this year for Penn State. And another guy that looks quicker, Penn State needs to get Ketron Allen the ball more, plain and simple. And that's something I'm hoping to see here over the next, the second half of the year, because that stood out. big time watching the UCLA tape, watching the Oregon tape. Ketron Allen gives them a little more juice because he can find extra yardage.

He's not running into the back of his blockers. He's just a better, there's no doubt that Singleton's a better athlete, especially at that size. Ketron Allen's a better running back. And so I think teams will really be split about, okay, do we want the better running back or are we going to bet on the better athlete, hope we can develop him. But, you know, these two backs are worth watching the rest of the way. really curious to see how Penn State responds to such an obvious disappointment. I mean, to fall out of the top 25 as a playoff favorite, and obviously they've got plenty of draftable players,

plenty of chance to salvage the season. I mean, you got games left to make an impression, and I mean, I don't really care about the playoff picture for the purposes of this, but how guys with this talent level and NFL aspirations respond to, being very far from where they thought they would be. I think that's interesting to watch. All right, we are going to take that quick break. And on the other side of it,

a fun conversation about the wide receiver class. All right, Dane, receiver is a position that I remember all the way back in August. We had a couple of names. We weren't sure how it would all shake out. We weren't sure who would make their claim at the top of this position group. roughly halfway through the season.

How do you feel about it? I mean, I do think there's one obvious guy that is living up to his billing, but how does the rest of this shake out for you? I feel a lot better about this receiver group now compared to the middle of August, no doubt about it. And the three guys in my top three, we're all in my top 50, so not a big surprise here.

Start with Jordan Tyson, Arizona State. The guy we've been talking about is wide receiver one the whole way. fluid athlete, the field awareness is outstanding, the ball skills. He's cut down on the drops, which has been awesome to see. He's creating his own space consistently in his routes. And I think just having the continuity of the coaching, the offensive coaches are the same. Heinz Ward, still there coaching him up. The quarterback, Sam Levitt, still there, making plays.

I think that has helped his development as just having that continuity from last year to this year. He leads the FBS and touchdown catches. And I think he, as he continued, to develop his craft, you see the impact he's making just get bigger and bigger, which is saying something because he was already making a big impact. I think so I still have him at wide receiver one. I think the interesting thing is at wide receiver two, which felt wide open coming into the year, I think it's it's less and less wide open now because I think Malichael Lemon from USC has

been, he's really proven himself as a guy that wants that spot at wide receiver two. I think the best way to sum him up is I think he could be this year as a mecca at Buka. And I say that because. Well, that's that's an eyebrow raising statement considering what Ibuka is doing in the NFL right now. Well, and I say that because like the testing might not be amazing with, you know, that was it with a Buka. He wasn't an amazing athlete, good athlete and not a bad athlete by any means. But he didn't run a 4-3, anything like that. And I think it'll be same with Lemon.

He's not going to be a physical freak in terms of size and the testing numbers, but he knows how to play the position and he knows how to play it at a high level. He can line up across the formation. You want him to play in the slide. You want to play the X, the Z. He can do all of that. A gliding route runner. He can maneuver through coverage.

He doesn't have to gear down. He's so good at finding those open zones for the quarterback. He is an elite zone route runner. It is really fun to watch. He catches everything. He plays through contact. He's rarely, and this is one of my favorite things about him, he's rarely tackled where he makes the catch. And that is key because those hidden yards are all over his tape with the yak, with how efficient he is, making the catch, tucking it away, and then immediately getting upfield.

I just, I love lemon. He is so much fun to watch. He is a pro receiver right now. They've got a big one coming up here against Michigan's going down there to L.A. Michigan's a pretty good defense. And so this will be a big test for that passing offense, which has been phenomenal this year. Lemon is averaging eight catches for 114 yards in conference play.

Like that's eliminating Cupcake games. Right. He is bawling out against the conference opponents, the tough opponents on the schedule. I don't know if we need to get deep into this right now, but I am curious. I mean, Emeka Abuka was still a first round pick, a top 20 pick.

but it's always interesting to think about the way people view guys who who maybe have like a limited upside, whether it's because they, because of their physical profile or because they play in the slot and people get enamored, rightfully so, with these freakish ex receivers. But more like more often than not, guys who are just good at football prove themselves. I mean, you're seeing it with Ibuka right now. I think people just, not that they thought he was bad, but he just wasn't a super sexy prospect. And you're just seeing what a very complete,

smart football player can do in the NFL. It makes me wonder what the ceiling draft wise might be for a guy like McKay Lemon. And I think we're all guilty of that. I mean, I know I am in terms of, because ideally, yes, you want the 6-3, the 4-3, you know, you want the, the monster receiver, that's Julio Jones.

I, you know, I get that. With a Micahouca, it's, it's just an appreciation of what he is. He is so, you know, he knows how to play the position. I think there's, there's an appreciation for that. And Jackson Smith and Jigba is the same way, right? I mean, another guy that we talked about is he slot only. What, you know, the, and he didn't go into, what, the 20th pick. So, you know, there's something to be said about exactly what you're saying.

being proficient at playing the position as opposed to fitting the mold of what you want. And I think Abuka is very much that because he's quarterback friendly. He understands the subtleties of how to uncover and win at the catch point. And so to me, like that's like I compared him, Abuka coming out, my comparison for him was like Rishi Rice, where I thought that was his best, like let him work in the slot, let him get open. He can make some plays after the run after the catch. but I think he's even, you know, past that with the way that he's lining up at the X, lining up across the formation, doing all these things that Tampa needs him to do.

And I think Lemon can be somewhat similar because he's so diverse with the way he can win in coverage. And just the fact that he's a little bit smaller than Abuka, but not by much. And I don't think the testing is going to be all that different. So it'll be really interesting to see Lemon go up against some better defenses down the stretch. Maybe Lemon will also benefit from what Ibuka is doing in the NFL right now. But I'm totally getting ahead of myself. Rapping up the receiver spot. I was interested.

It felt like you had a choice between a guy that you highlighted before the season in Chris Bell and a guy that was on your preseason top 50 in Carnell Tate out of Ohio State. Yeah. And maybe it's recency bias about what Carnell Tate did to Minnesota on Saturday night. but yeah, he gets my number three spot. And I, like, I've been high on Chris Bell since the summer. I've really been kind of pushing him. But I have a second round great on Bell.

And, you know, he is, there's some holes in his game. He needs to work on. He's, but he's a really, a guy worth talking about getting excited about. So hated leaving off Chris Bell. I mean, Jeremy Bernard is another one of those guys that just knows how to play receiver, hate leaving him out of the top three. But Colonel Tate, I mean, you give him any. a little bit of a runway, good luck.

I mean, he's so talented on those one cut routes, the double moves. He can manipulate his pacing. He can create separation. He's really long as an athlete, strong hands. Drops haven't been an issue for him this year, which popped up a little bit when you watch his 2024 tape. He's one of the best receivers that I've scouted in terms of working the sideline. And I think it's such an underrated skill for wide receivers.

The ability to tightrope the white, the length, the pull throws. of bounds, back in bounds, both the length and the strong hands. It's absolutely a skill and something I think Tate does routinely on his tape. The clip you posted earlier in the week of the entire Minnesota defense reacting to the Jeremiah Smith end around. Oh my gosh. To open up Carnell Tate on the double move, which, hey, nothing wrong with that. And, you know, hopefully Carnell Tate will have.

have a receiver like that, not to take credit away from him. But yeah, I mean, if he's, if he's drawn one-on-one matchups, you're in a good spot. We're going to have a Jeremiah Smith problem. When we start talking about him next summer, it's going to be a problem because I'm trying not to get like hyperbolic about him. He's just so dang good. He's so special. And a guy at 220 pounds moving like that, getting open with ease, as soon as he catches

it. It's just his acceleration is immediate. He is in a lot of ways exactly how you want to draw up a wide receiver. And so it is, it will, I'm not even going to worry about it right now. I'm just going to enjoy watching him play football. But next starting in the summer, next year, it is

going to be hard talking about him without going overboard as a prospect. It's wild to be in that situation with a receiver. Like we've had it happen with quarterbacks a few times like Caleb and Trevor Lawrence. but for a wide receiver to just so obviously be that caliber prospect of full. I mean, we knew it last year and we know it again this year.

So like two whole years before he can be drafted. But never, I digress. We don't, we don't need to do Jeremiah Smith right now. Let's move on to tight end. And here's my question for you, Dane. I don't think I'm, we don't need to be dramatic about this. Kenyon Sadiq at Oregon is your number one tight end. I think just anecdotally, Kenyon Sadiq seems like,

one of the very favorite players of draft analysts all over our all over this community like everybody loves the guy and he's he's having a very good season so far for an undefeated Oregon team my question for you and hopefully I'm not putting you on the spot too much but how high do you think he can climb I mean we just saw colston loveland and Tyler Warren go in the top 15 like what caliber of prospect do you think we're talking about here um I see it's difficult to answer that because of this class specifically. Like this class in like in the top 10 is not, there's not a lot of locked top 10 picks.

You know, like the quarterback situation is very much up in the air. You know, if Sellers goes back to school, Dante Moore goes back to school. You know, some of these defensive guys will talk about here in a minute. You know, they're promising, but they're not locked. So it is tough to gauge, you know, how high he could. actually go when the top 15 seems very unsettled. I don't think that, like, he's not Brock Bowers, okay? Like, I don't, I feel very confident saying that.

And Brock Bowers is, what, the 13th pick. But he was in a draft where there were six quarterbacks that went ahead of him, a couple, three stud receivers, Joe All, like, I mean, it was a specialized draft where Brock Bowers just happened to fall out of the top 10. This year, it's a little bit of the opposite, where the top 10's a little bit of flux and so that could put Sadiq up maybe a little bit further. I don't I don't see

him on that level as Brock Bowers. Now I love him. I think he's awesome. He was like 18 I think overall in my top 50 in the preseason and I kind of still feel that's kind of like where I have them where I don't I'm not going to get too high where I see him as a top five top 10 pick

but I think anywhere in the teens it would not surprise me if he ends up being getting drafted. Behind him you had Joe Royer at Cincinnati and number three you talk about recency bias maybe Michael Trigg down at Baylor having an eye popping weekend against Kansas State maybe that has a little bit to do with him landing at third on your tight end list yeah and like Royer at two I think the tight end's kind of like running back where we there's a clear one and then two there's a lot of debate you

know there's a lot of there's a lot of right answers I think you can make a debate for some guys here I went with Royer at 2 because I think he'd be a playmaker in the passing game. Is blocking gets better and better? He can be a true why for you. At 3 with Michael Trigg, it's tough because on talent and ability, it's absolutely deserved. He's a top 50 player. He looks like a basketball player on the football field. He's big, he's smooth.

The way he catches the ball with ease, you know, it looks like I, every morning before my kids get on the bus, we're in the parking lot playing catch with this little Nerf football. every morning. And it feels like that's how he, that's, that's, that's the ball he's playing with. Because he's playing with a nerve ball. Yeah. Like, and, but even a smaller one, because his, his, his, his hands just, just grip the ball. And it's crazy. The one-handed grab he had against Kansas State. Um, he, he had 150, 155 yards receiving career high. So talent wise, like, it's not a mystery here with Trigg. Now, the unknown variable is some of the off-field stuff. Um, every scout, you know, I talk about Trigg, it's kind of the same thing where super talented, maturity, a question mark. And that's something that has followed him at every stop. He started at USC, top recruit coming out, then the Ole Miss for two years. I think he even served a suspension at Ole Miss.

So now at Baylor, he's a fifth year guy. Hopefully he's able to prove to teams like, hey, that stuff's in my past. All those concerns, in my past. Because if he does, if he can do that, man, he's going to be a hot commodity come draft time. catches like that from the tight end position have a way of making people take notice. If you haven't seen it, please go go find Michael Triggs performance against Kansas State from over the weekend. You'll get the hype pretty quickly. Offensive tackle, I think we can do this kind of quickly because we've highlighted a lot of these guys.

But I am, I am intrigued. The order changed. And look, I mean, you have Caden Proctor falling from your preseason number one to your mid-term. season number three. I think that's fair, but it does seem like he's been playing better ball here over the last couple weeks. Yeah, and I'm glad you said that because that's part of what makes him an enigma, right? He looked bad on the Florida State tape.

The Wisconsin tape was shaky. And so it's like, okay, what are we doing here? The past pro landmarks are off. You know, the, he sets very tall. And so he's late reacting the inside moves. He's very late with his hands. some of the tendencies that he's played with, just they look lazy. But then you throw on the Georgia tape, okay?

A lot better. Throw on the Vandy tape. All right, all right, the last two weeks, this is the guy we were hoping to see. But why is it taking until now to see that? And so I need to see better urgency from him down the stretch. And we're going to see plenty of opportunities to see him tested Missouri this weekend. So Zion Young, that group, Jonathan Joseph and Tennessee the week after that. And then Dylan Stewart and the Gamecocks the week after that.

So we're going to learn a lot more about Proctor throughout the rest of October. He could absolutely move back up. But what he did in September is I just, you just can't ignore it. And so that's something that sticks with me. Proctor at number three, Spencer Fano at number one for Utah. It hasn't been perfect by any means, but he came in as a top 10 potential pick. I think he's played. The talent's evident with him.

I think that he still belongs in that conversation, the movements, the efficiency, especially in the run game, the play demeanor. And it's interesting that the top. two guys on my list are both right tackles because I have Francis Maui Noah from Miami at number two. And I get those that saying he's a guard. I think his skill set would probably be maximized if you move him inside a guard. But I think you can play tackle as well. So I'm going to keep him here for the time being at least. Outstanding grip strength. He can create vertical push in the run game. He can put edge rushers in a vice, especially when they try to go through him. He's going to make him pay.

So all the tackles we've been talking about as possible first rounders, I think it's him that's been the most consistent so far. And so it'll be interesting as we kind of go out throughout the season with these tackles. You know, Proctor, can he move up? By the way, did you see what they call the offensive package for him when he's a target or a ball carrier? No, but I need to know, please. It's crispy, as in crispy cream. Because according to Ty Simpson, he eats way too many.

donuts. So that's what it's called in the playbook. And one other interesting tip, but that's phenomenal. I don't know if you saw this. So Xavier Chaplin and Auburn left tackle. He was in my precincts in top 50. He's really struggled the last two games, both on the road, especially with penalties. Hugh Fries came out this week and said that he has a hearing problem. And it was a main factor in those penalties and some of his issues and something they have to get figured out. So that was a new one to me. That's something you hear about. out a lot and something that we need to monitor because the dude's big, he's talented, but obviously that's, that's an issue if, you know, you can't communicate with your left

tackle. And so that's just something to watch. It's an interesting thought. And we'll talk about this over the course of the draft cycle, but, and obviously Hugh freeze brought that to light, so we know about it now. But there are so many issues like that that affect prospects that the vast majority of never make it to the national consciousness, you know, where I've had conversations with scouts where I'm like, man, y'all really, you didn't like that guy? Like, his tape is so good. And they're just like, well,

what you don't know is this thing about his health that never made it to the public. And you're like, oh, right. Y'all are working with more information than the rest of us, aren't you? Yeah. And sometimes it's, you still roll the dice. Other times it's like you just, you can't, you can't do it. And so, yeah, it's, And that's where I try with the beast to paint as clear a picture as possible, get some of that information without killing the kid. You know, like it's always a fine line to walk. But yeah, try to get as much information as possible as to why a player maybe isn't going where you thought. Very quickly, your interior offensive line top three.

Connor Lou, the center at Auburn. Like I said, that Auburn team loaded with good prospects. Unchallenged at number one. and then a guy you gushed about after the Penn State Oregon game, Vega Ione, the guard at Penn State. And then Brian Parker the second, who you have on the interior, even though he plays right tackle at Duke. Obviously, we see that all the time. But I think that's worth noting that maybe this is a guy whose future lies on the interior. And I'll push back a little bit on the unchallenged because I, I mean, Lou's been fine.

but I don't, it hasn't been great. And so I think like right now he's still a top 40 pick, but I want to see him play better the second half of the year for him to kind of stamp himself and go that high. Because yeah, Yawane from Penn State has been awesome at left guard. And then yeah, Brian Parker, I've kind of penciled him in at center. He might be a center only just because of his body and the way he's built. But he is a technician.

And this isn't like Graham Barton who was Duke's left tackle and we knew he's going to move inside. He's not on that level as a prospect, but character's elite. He's a really good player. So I think he's somewhere in that mix along with, you know, Brailsford at Alabama and a couple Oregon players. So it's a, that second tier of interior offensive linemen definitely in flux as we, as we work through these guys. I spent five minutes during prep digging for the pronunciation of Vega's name and I still butcher it. So I, I apologize to you, Vega. Well, hopefully I said it. I don't even know if I said it completely correct either.

This is what the cycle is all about by like we will, we will get there and like we're all works in progress just the way these prospects are. So there's plenty of time for us to get this right. The point is he's been playing some awesome football. That does it for the offensive side of this. On the other side of this break, let's dig into Dane's top defensive prospects through the half point of the season.

All right, Dane, the money position. We all know it. edge rushers. There doesn't need to be suspense here. Ruben Bain has 30 pressures through Miami's first five games. He had 11 against Florida State on Saturday night. Three sacks. Interception against Notre Dame.

I mean, you said a couple weeks ago, he's the prohibitive favorite to be the top prospect in this class right now. And it doesn't seem like that's changed recently. Yeah. And I don't think anybody will be surprised that he's, the top here. He's not super long and that'll be a problem for some, but he plays with so much power and burst that it just, it gives blockers fits. And I, like, you watch defense events to

see them rush the passer, but I love watching Ruben Bain against a run. He is an elite run defender. And so he's just been the most impactful edge defender we've seen so far. He deserves this top spot. Keldrick Falk at number two, T.J. Parker. who we talked about Clemson's struggles among their big time prospects, but as Clemson is trying to dig out of that one and three start, maybe he's off on the right track. Well, and yeah, with Falk, I think there'll be plenty of debate with him because I don't think the production's

necessarily going to be there for a top 10 pick. But when you watch Auburn, they're in a three-man front a lot. So Falk's in four-eye, five techniques, sometimes at the nose. They aren't asking him to line up off the edge, consistently and just rust the pasture. So he's long, he's athletic. There's a ton of power behind his hands. The youngest player in the draft, he won't be able to legally drink until alcohol

until after his first NFL game. So there's just a lot of, you know, we're betting on traits here with Falk. That third spot with Parker, it came down to T.J. Parker and then Texas Tech, David Bailey, who you mentioned Bain has 30 pressures. The only player in college football with Moore is David Bailey with 31. I think he also had 11 pressures against Houston. Just the tackles had no shot in that game. But the better all-around player is T.J. Parker.

And that's why I went with Parker. I gave him the edge. But if I'm looking, and I think it just depends on what you want. If I'm looking for a pass rush specialist, then I'm going Bailey. I still have questions about him as a full-down player, especially in the run game. But if you're looking for that edge speed, Bailey has a fastball and he knows how to use it. you said you gave Parker the edge and expected me not to notice, but I did. I did. I'm hip to your games. Yeah, David, David Bailey, dude, 11 pressures, two sacks, three quarterback hits against Houston. I,

not that he's been bad to this point in the season, but with the amount of attention he garnered by transferring over to Texas Tech, I've just, I've had an eye on him and I've been waiting for a performance like that. Like I said, not that he's been bad, but I was waiting for that sort of dominant game. And he showed up with it against Houston last weekend. Defensive tackle. Again, we talked about the Clemson prospects. It has not gone the way the Tigers wanted it to so far this season. But not enough to change your opinion of Peter Woods as the top prospect in this detackle class.

Yeah. And I don't think he's lived up to being the top prospect overall like we thought, potentially. but he's still one of the better defensive players in the class. The talent's there. He was pretty easy for defensive tackle one. I think it gets tricky after him. I ended up going with Amari Washington from Oregon at two and then Caleb Banks from Florida at three. Washington, it's kind of like Falk.

It's based on traits. It's based off of guys 330 pounds shouldn't be able to move like that. And so Washington is a, you're betting on the potential here. He's got all the talent with Banks. it's tough because he has that left foot injury. Doesn't sound like they expect him back anytime soon, so that complicates things, but the talent still says he belongs there.

But I hated leaving off like Dominique Orange, you know, big citrus. If you're looking for a true nose tackle, he'd be an appealing option. Christian Miller at Georgia is not putting up big numbers, but his tape has been pretty good. Daryl Jackson on Florida State, dripping with NFL tools.

So afterwards, I think that there's plenty of debate about, okay, what's that next tier looks like? looks like and just what kind of defense attack you're looking for you answered this for me but that was going to be my big question Caleb banks we've talked about him before when he's healthy and doing his thing he looks like a top 10 pick he's terrifying he's 6 630 he moves really well he plays really violently but he reaggravated his foot injury and had surgery on it after the lSU game i mean before the miami game or excuse me the um goodness gracious the texas game i'm like did Florida just beat before the Texas game he's out on the field with a scooter yeah you know to

keep his foot elevated so like this doesn't look like a guy that's ready to play anytime soon but you think him being listed at three is just more about that ability than anybody else being underwhelming because that was my big question yeah and i because i think it's we don't know enough about the injury right now um you know if it's something that will linger and something that you just never know what the guy, 300 pound plus bodies and foot injuries are always tough, always something you worry about. So we'll know more about the injury as we move forward, but I'm not going to downgrade him just based off of that. I don't think anybody has played to the level where they're going to take that spot, at least so far. Like, I love Big Citrus, but, you know, he's a

nose tackle and, you know, I think there's some limitations to what he's going to be. So as long as the teams are okay with the injury with Caleb Banks and think he'll be fine for training camp, I'm not going to downgrade him too much. All right. We have reached the linebacker portion of the show. I'm just going to give the floor to you, however long you feel like gushing about your pet cat. Please, I mean, let's let's just talk about Arvel Reese.

No shock. It, number one, with the way I've been talking about him all season, just a phenomenal all-round player, length, power. He can play off blocks. amazing change of direction for a guy that's 6-4, 240 pounds, the burst to close. The patch rush value is definitely a big part of why I think he's going to go early or why I think he's going to go in the top half around one. But, you know, he also, he leads Ohio State in tackles, arguably the best defense in the nation. He leads a team in tackles.

Oh, he also leads a team in pass breakups. So, like, I mean, this is a guy that is a do-everything linebacker. And we haven't seen him, you know, I think, at full capacity yet. So I think Matt Patricia and that hire has been such an unlocking event for him. It really allows him to show off that versatility, that diverse skill set that he brings. So easy at number one for me. Now, two and three are a little bit more. Okay, I could see you go this way or that way.

I went with C.J. Allen at two. He's been very good sideline downhill as a run defender. It's what he does best. So no surprise there. in coverage, it's been a little more up and down, but I think he shows enough promise there. So I'm keeping C.J. Allen at two. Sunny Stiles at three.

The other are 6'4, 240-pound freak linebacker at Ohio State. They're listed the exact same way. I was like, Ohio State, can we at least, you don't have to copy and paste these guys' measurements. Like, surely they're not exactly the same size. I'll be interested with Reese to see what exactly he is because Stiles is actually that big. he it's so his styles is 604.3

so 6, 4 and 3 eighths and 237 pounds. And oh yeah, he's still 20 years old. So like, yeah, it's, he's, it's hard to find guys like that, that type of athleticism at that size, who are still young, still growing. He got better every single year. And you talk to people at Ohio State.

And he's a captain. He's one of the best leaders in the program. they rave about them. So teams love styles. It's not hard to see why. So, but I do want to say, too, like this linebacker group is fun. Like, I have no problem with those top three, but I hated leaving off like the LSU kids, you know, Whitweeks, Harold Perkins with the way they've played.

Like Anthony Hill at Texas, I don't think he's the superstar. Some people are making him out to be, but he's still a good player. My guy, Jake Golda, from Cincinnati, who I just keeps rising and rising and rising as he gets experienced moving from defensive end to off ball linebacker. This past week against Iowa State had a couple really nice plays in coverage. So big fan of Cincinnati number 11.

But this linebacker group as a whole is a, it's a fun group, a lot of good athletes, a lot of fun players that I think will be interesting to talk about throughout the process. I feel like I have to ask you a reckless question. I feel like I'm obligated to do it because over the last few years, it's a common, it's a common refrain to be like, hey, he's a fun player.

We don't have to compare him to Micah Parsons. We don't have to do this just because he's got sick closing speed. A lot of guys have that. But when you watch Arvel Reese, like, Arvel Reese is a guy where I don't think it's stupid to think about. And I just want, like, A, do you think I'm off base and B, like, is this a guy where we need to talk about what his fit is? at the NFL level? Like, is he good enough off ball linebacker that that's what he needs to do?

Or could this be a guy that spends a lot of time on the edge in the NFL? We'll have a lot of conversations similar to what we talked about with Jalen Walker coming out of Georgia last year where, you know, you're primarily, when you watch him on tape, he's off the ball, but some of the best things that he does

is getting after the quarterback. So I think with Rval Reese, it's like he's only limited by your lack of imagination. And I understand, like, it's, it can be tough when you're drafting a player like that to have a, have a plan in place. But he can do so much for you. He can, why can't he line up on the edge? And, you know, he has shown he can do it.

He has the length. He has the power. He has the burst. But he can also drop in space and make plays. So, yeah, I think that he is, like, I'm not going to compare him to Michael Parsons just because I, Michael Parsons is arguably the best non-quarterback in the NFL. And so I just, I can't do that. But in terms of role and how you want to maximize a skill set, yeah, I get it totally. And there's a reason why I'm saying Reese should be, he'll be drafted someone the top half of round one.

Like he has that type of ability that's just, it's just different. You can't do it, but I can. And if I can be the irresponsible idiot half of this show, I will do it. I'm rubbing off on you. Go watch some, go watch some Marvel Reese's tape and tell me, Tell me it's crazy because I don't think it is. All right. Cornerback, I thought was very intriguing because your top guy has not played football yet this year.

And I feel like that is an endorsement of Jermad McCoy's potential, even if it hasn't been realized yet. Yeah, and it's unfortunate because there was a lot of buzz about, hey, we think he might be able to be ready for the season or at least by October. and he's not been medically cleared yet. So no change with the top two. McCoy, I'm just, I'm going to hit pause on that one until we have better idea. Like, who knows, we might not see him play at all this year. And the ACL happened in January, I believe. So it's not crazy to think that, hey, let's just shut it down and let's get ready for

pre-draft testing as opposed to pushing yourself to get back. And then, God forbid, something negative happens. So he's at 1. And then Avion Torel from Clemson at number 2. Love the competitiveness with him. He's exactly what I want at Corner in terms of play style, even if he is just a little bit undersized. So the third spot, that's where I think got interesting.

Just, you know, who was going to take over that spot. I went with Mansour Delane from LSU, a player we've talked about multiple times over the last month. He's done nothing but put good play on tape. And I've mentioned this before, but he's going to get picked apart during the process. He's not super long. He's probably not going to run a blazing 40,

but he's just a good football player. And we can't lose sight of that because I think that's what's going to translate the most. Six catches allowed through five games for LSU to go with an interception. Do you know? Six catches on 20 targets. See, if it's six and like 11, like that's, okay. But 20, yeah, that says something. I mean, opponents just aren't throwing in his direction.

LSU lost Ole Miss a couple weeks ago and they were trying to pick on anybody but number four in the LSU secondary. So, you know, it's easy to build the South Carolina LSU game as sellers and Nuss, but sellers going against this LSU defense, particularly guys like Mansour Delane for, for our purposes, that is very, very intriguing. We'll wrap it up with safety. I feel like we've been saying Ohio State guys all down the line of, uh, of the defensive half this show, I don't think anybody's particularly surprised that Caleb Downs is in the top spot here.

Caleb Downs, still Caleb Downs. He's a top safety in the draft. And I hate that I've been like trying to hit the brakes a little bit with him just because, you know, because I said I wouldn't be surprised of Arvel Reese is the first buck I defender drafted. And I got a lot of pushback on that. And it's not that I don't think Caleb Downs is a good player. I do. It's just the NFL has told us how they draft safeties, especially safeties like Caleb Downs, who doesn't have this elite ball production or, you know, the

physical traits are more good than great, or he doesn't play in the deep half of the field. He's more playing closer to the line of scrimmage. So I just wouldn't be surprised. Caleb Downs could go five or 15, and I wouldn't be surprised at all at either spot. And so it doesn't mean he's not a good

player. Caleb Downs is awesome. But I think that's just we have to be open-minded, because of what the NFL has told us to drafting safeties. I think that is always, yeah, we've talked about it before. That's worth keeping in mind. I mean, I love Caleb Downs. I think he's phenomenal.

I think it's tough to get drafted in the top 12 if you're a safety. I mean, it's hard not to think about Kyle Hamilton and how far he wound up falling. So I think that's worth keeping in mind, even if he is one of my favorite players. Your number two guy is the only group of five school player represented in this podcast. Emmanuel McNeill Warren from Toledo, six, three and a half, 210 pounds, four or five speed.

You know, he is, he's a younger player and he wasn't even like full-time football until he really got to Toledo and decided, or like the coaches were able to develop him. Every single year he's gotten better

and better and better. Still very young. It's just the vision from the boundary, the way that he can read, react. I liked him over the summer. He's playing better and better this year. So yeah, he's one of those guys that I think could get into that top 50 conversation.

And then I went with Camari Ramsey, the USC safety at the third spot. He's been banged up a little bit. So, you know, the first month of the season, he was good. I think he's supposed to be back this week against Michigan, which will be awesome because Michigan we know like to run the ball, like to throw their tight ends. So Camari Ramsey will be important for the Trojans to slow down that offense. A long list of guys to consider really fun conversation. and even better than that, man.

You just mentioned it with Ramsey and USC going against Michigan. Another loaded weekend, dude. Yeah, it is. I mean, last weekend was a little bit of a step back, but right off the jump, Ohio State, Illinois, real quick. Like, you as an Ohio guy, I got like, is this the biggest Ili buck game in recent? Like, when was the last time the Illabuck game looked this good on paper

as number one Ohio State and number 17 Illinois? It always seems to be an interesting game. I can remember when Juice Williams quarterback in Illinois, they upset, I think was Zook still the quarter or the head coach of that Illinois team? It was Juice Williams and I think like, yeah, that 07 Illinois team. Before that, before that you're talking about like Red Grange. This is uncharted territory for Ohio State Illinois. Alabama playing a good Missouri team, an undefeated Missouri team.

At Missouri too, yeah. We mentioned Indiana, Oregon, obviously. big showcase for Fernando Mendoza and Dante Moore. Oregon's like favored by seven and a half too, which is in, I mean, I, you know, it's at, it's in Eugene, which is a very tough place to play. I thought it'd be a little bit more than just seven and a half, but so that, that's an interesting line. I think people, I think this Indiana team is, you know, I know they didn't play anybody in

non-conference, but I think they're, they're better than they got credit for when they were making their playoff push last year. No, they are. I mean, the way Mendoza's plan, but honestly, they should have lost Iowa. They needed a few things to go right for them to end up winning that game. And so, yeah, against a better opponent in Oregon, I can't wait to see this one because it'll be a great test for Mendoza. Same thing with just the receivers for the Hoosiers. There are a couple of good players.

Just overall, all these games, which one are you looking forward to the most? Is it Indiana at Oregon or is it one of the other ones? I think LSU bias aside Yeah LSU bias aside obviously I mean that is good though Like objectively Nuss and Sellers is

is very very interesting I would say Yeah I mean I'm it's so basic To be intrigued by the quarterbacks But Mendoza and Moore I think that's a huge stage for them I'm very interested in that And then after that

Yeah I would I would say the ones with the quarterbacks are the best. I mean, if, if John Matier plays in the Red River game, then I'm all in because you know, like Texas, Oklahoma is always weird anyway. And Texas losing to Florida should not change anybody's opinion about how wild of a game this could be. So I mean, like I said, I don't want John Matier to jeopardize his health, but it would be really, really fun if he was available in that game. It would. And Texas coming off that tough loss, the offense is just a mess, which I did not expect from a Sark offense.

It's like arch, yes, Arch is part of the problem, but they don't have an arch problem. They have an offense problem. And Arch is part of that, no doubt, but the offensive line can't block anybody.

There's no running game. The receivers have been okay, but not great. So it's something that we have to watch and see how are they going to fix this? How are they going to get right? because so far it's been it's been tough and it can't be all on arch to get if you can't put all that on his shoulders to make it right because this is not going to happen so yeah that'll want to be fun georgia at auburn that'll be you know plenty of prospects what we mentioned just in this podcast they'll be playing in that one

michigan at USC will be fun i NC state at Notre Dame a sneaky one as well i was about to say yeah a friskey NC state team. I don't, we don't have a ton of time left, but I want to watch Hollywood smothers in this opportunity against Notre Dame. He's undersized. He's like right around, I'm just under 200 pounds. Like I, you hit him and he's going backwards. But he is a fun player with the ball in his hands.

And then watch the tight end to number seven. Justin Jolie. I, he was a guy that I considered at that third spot as well in my, uh, tight end rankings. a loaded loaded college football weekend Arizona State of Utah we got to mention that one too can't leave it out I didn't want to I didn't want to bring my bias into it my fiancee went to Arizona State but that is another I mean if you're looking for a test for Utah's offensive tackles this is probably the best one left on the schedule and then obviously Sam Levitt and Jordan Tyson another opportunity for them I love it's it's a I mean it's a 10 15 game for you but you might have to watch it that on Sunday morning. Yeah, probably. I'm really excited that this is going to be just getting going when all the other games wind down and I can, I can throw this on before I go to bed for sure.

It's spread out pretty nicely. Yeah, there's, it's not overloaded in one window. So hopefully, yeah, it's a full day of competitive games. It should be fun. We will be recapping it in detail next week on Building the Beast. Until then, thank you all for listening. Dane, always good talking to you, bud. We'll talk to you soon.