The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Building the Beast: John Mateer's big day, top-50 stock watch, Armand Membou's NFL debut, and more

Episode Date: September 10, 2025

Week 2 of the college football season may not have had the marquee matchups that Week 1 did, but it still gave Dave Helman and Dane Brugler more than enough to talk about from an NFL Draft perspective. The guys dig into John Mateer's big day against Michigan, Sawyer Robertson's second straight strong showing against a power four team, Jordyn Tyson's hot start to the season, and a whole lot more on this episode of Building the Beast on The Athletic Football Show.Rundown (timestamps are approximate)5:12 Game Ball: Oklahoma QB John Mateer12:40 Game Ball: Oregon QB Dante Moore18:40 Sawyer Robertson leads another big week for Baylor's draft prospects28:45 I Was Not Familiar with Your Game: Cincinnati LB Jake Golday34:23 Prospect Snapshot: Louisville WR Chris Bell38:38 Prospect Snapshot: Texas A&M EDGE Cashius Howell42:21 Top-50 Stock Watch: Sam Leavitt and Jordyn Tyson46:13 Top-50 Stock Watch: USC WRs Makai Lemon and WR Ja’Kobi Lane50:04 Top-50 Stock Watch: Iowa State DT Dominique Orange vs. Iowa C Logan Jones56:40 NFL Rookie Watch: Browns LB Carson Schwesinger and Jets OT Armand Membou1:05:33 Week 3 CFB previewHost: Dave HelmanCo-Host: Dane BruglerExecutive Producer: Michael BellerProducer: Michael BellerConnect 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: https://discord.gg/sPp5md3BCall us: 847-448-0701Follow 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 in to another episode of Building the Beast. I am Dave Hellman and each week during this college football season, Dane Brugler and myself are building the beast, his much anticipated annual NFL draft guide. We are reacting to all the biggest matchups, all the biggest performances in the college game as we put together this 2026 NFL draft class. Really fun discussion coming out of week two of the college season, which as we're going to get into, I at least had my doubts that that would be the case. I shouldn't have. College football is good for that. It is good for the surprise weekend, even when you don't expect it.

This one did not disappoint. Really fun show between Dan and I, not just recapping the week that was in week two, but looking forward to a really loaded week three in college football. Also, some talk about some impressive rookies in the NFL. Yes, we're not completely college football focus. we're keeping eye on the 2025 rookie draft class as well. A loaded episode of Building the Beast with Dane and I. Let's get into it.

All right, Dan, I'm going to be fully transparent with you, man. Looking at the slate, looking at what we were working with in week two, I was a little trepidacious about filling a draft podcast episode with content just for the matchups that we had. Like heading into the weekend, I was like, is there going to be enough here to get us excited about to fill a podcast. And by like two o'clock on Saturday, I was like, what was I ever worried about? This is like, of course there are going to be storylines. Of course stuff is going to happen that gets your juices flowing and makes you excited to talk about some of these prospects. And so if this is

what we get coming out of week two, I am so excited once conference play starts and once we kind of get through these these very cupcake heavy weeks because I found a lot worth getting excited about on Saturday. What about you? Yeah, shame on us or anybody that ever doubted college football. It always comes through for us one way or another. And that's kind of the beauty of, you know, looking at this through a lens of the NFL draft and evaluation. Because even if the ranked versus ranked matchups aren't there, there's still plenty of prospects to be looking at. And so from that respect, no, I don't, it didn't disappoint at all.

There's always something to be looking at every single. window of Saturday college football. And I do think much like in the NFL, we say, well, it's week one. Let's let's not overreact. Let's temper our expectations. And college is similar where you're saying, okay, for a lot of these guys and a lot of these teams, you're still not getting into the meat of your schedule. You kind of got away like, okay, he did something amazing, but I don't even know where

the school he was playing is located. So I'm trying to keep all of that in the back of my mind. but even with that being true, a lot of cool stuff to get to. So we're going to do categories today to help us work through the schedule. I'm going to hand one of these out every week. And that's that's the game ball from week two of college football. Game ball for our purposes, which again, we're not trying to figure out who's going to the college football playoff.

We're not trying to rank the teams one through 25. That's somebody else's job. We're here to talk about NFL draft prospects. So with that in mind. mind. I think we both agree. If we're handing out a game ball, let's talk about the Saturday night game in Norman, Oklahoma. And John Matier, we set it heading into the weekend. Big showcase game for him. I really thought the guy delivered, man. That was a really fun performance to go and watch back. Matier is giving Lorna Seller's a serious run for most entertaining quarterback to watch

in college football. I mean, he is a true dual threat guy. He had over a thousand yards rushing last year. If you take out the last sack yardage, which I hate that college football does that. They counts against the quarterback's rushing yards. But if you take that out, he had over a thousand yards rushing for Washington State last year. As a passer,

he looks like a second baseman completing a double play. Like it's just, he's got that sidearm whip. It's a really twitchy release. So it's out. I mean, he can really toss some lasers. Sometimes, you know, maybe too many fastballs at times, but I think this stat says a lot.

Mateer has at least one rushing touchdown and one passing touchdown in 13 of his 14 career starts in college, including first two with the Sooners, which that's incredible production, incredible efficiency. He's accounted for 51 total touchdowns in his 14 starts. That's a ton of production. And so to put that in perspective, 51 total touchdowns and 14 starts, Jane Daniels, 52 touchdowns in his final 14 starts at LSU. And I know SEC competition is different, but just to put in perspective what type of production that this guy is putting up, it is really impressive to watch.

And yeah, the game was in Norman. You know, we don't really know what kind of team Michigan is this year. Are they a seven-win team, nine-win team? I don't know what time will tell. But they still have guys on defense. They have dudes on defense. We saw in the bowl game last year against Alabama. So, you know, and they did lose quite a bit from that team, but they still, this is Michigan

we're talking about. So for John Mateer to have the type of outing that he did on Saturday night, again, at home, but still, I know something tells me nothing intimidates this guy. I'm so glad you said that because watching this game back on Monday afternoon, the thing that jumped out at me, and there's a few things I want to hit. I'm glad you brought up his throwing motion because it's very wonky and fun. but man, the fearlessness of this guy. And I like, after like six plays, I was like, this dude's teammates love him.

There's no doubt in my mind. Just watching him play. Like he's, he's so willing to rip throws, not like completely unafraid to throw it wherever he needs to on the field. And then as a runner, full transparency, I didn't see much of John Mateer last year. I wasn't doing a draft podcast at the time. I apologize for that. I won't make the mistake this year, though. He is a, he is a very capable runner and a very physical runner, by the way.

Like, he's listed at 6-1-219 with, in my experience, you're usually smaller than what your college lists you as. So I'm sitting there, I'm watching him. I'm like, this guy runs like a much bigger player. Like, I expected him to be listed at a larger size. And I was like, he is physical. He is fearless. Yeah, you're so right.

He throws it like a baseball infielder with that kind of compact. sidearm motion that he gets into so much is just a very, very fun player to watch. Like my initial impression of this guy, I had a blast. Yeah. And so are the Baker Mayfield comparisons a little too on the nose because I, I mean, probably. It felt a little lazy considering he's in an Oklahoma uniform, but I completely understand why you feel that way. It makes sense, right? I mean, you look at their frames.

They're similar. They're short, but not small. I mean, they're both probably around six foot and a half, two 20-ish pounds, strong arms, ultimate competitors. Even their backstories are kind of similar. They're Texas kids who went overlooked as recruits, kind of forged their own way, and ultimately ended up at Oklahoma transferring in. And, you know, Bruce Feldman did a great kind of backstory look at kind of his journey, why he was overlooked and how he got to this point.

So check that out on the athletic. I will say this, though. There are, I think, two main differences in these two quarterbacks. Mityer, I think it's the better scrambler. I mean, to your point, just the overall athlete, his start stop, his speed, his ability to break tackles are different than what you get with Baker Mayfield. And part of it worries me with Meteer because he will take on contact. And he's not afraid, which almost to his detriment at times.

Like, how often are you going to be to hold up, especially in the SEC doing that for a full you know, hopefully for Oklahoma, they're playing 14, 15 games this year. So that's ultimately the, you know, we have something we have to watch for with him. But the other main difference, and this is a big one, I think Mayfield was the much more accurate passer.

And that is ultimately the question mark that I think we're going to have with Mateer is can he develop in just a more precise passer of the football? He puts a lot of hot sauce on his throws, needs to develop his touch. his desire to make a play, I think it leads to him throwing a lot of fastballs into a lot of tight windows

and his ball placement just isn't on the same level that we saw from Baker Mayfield in college. So can he get away with that? Yeah, but not all the time. And this year in the SEC, it will be tougher to do that. There were multiple throws on that Michigan tape that were turnover worthy,

where Michigan could have made a play on the ball. And at some point, that's going to catch up with you. And so we'll set something to watch here when we watch this Oklahoma offense and John Mateer the rest of the season, at what point does that catch up with him and how does he develop? How does he get better? So from an evaluation perspective, I can't wait to watch this guy the rest of the year. His mechanics are very fun when it looks good and you're just like, oh man, like the confidence to sling that in there. But yeah, I think over the course of a 12, 13, however many games,

OU winds up playing season, I think that's something to watch. and whether it comes back to bite him and how consistent he can be with that. But like just from going in, knowing very little other than that he was highly touted in the transfer portal, I had a blast. I cannot wait to keep watching him very, you know, I'm putting OU firmly on my radar for the rest of the year.

Absolutely. Another guy we wanted to hand a game ball out to. And I love this too because we know the big name quarterbacks and we'll get back to some of those guys as the season goes, we don't need to talk about many of them as they did not play noteworthy games on Saturday. But at least in name, which we can talk about this, Oregon played a power for program on Saturday. What that means is up for interpretation if you watch the game. But I do think it's a good call on your part to hand out a game ball to Oregon quarterback Dante

Moore, who a very highly touted guy coming out of high school, his career took a little bit of a detour, spent a year at UCLA, backed up Dylan Gabriel. And now he is off to an incredibly hot start with Oregon. What that means as the Ducks beat Oklahoma State 69 to 3, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, because I'll be honest with you. Watching this game, I was like, I don't really know what I'm learning about this guy right now, but it was a very impressive win for Oregon. Yeah. Dante Moore, like, there's no way of around it. He was a bad quarterback at UCLA. Okay. So now he was a true freshman.

He had limited weapons around him on that Bruins roster. That's an important context to mention here. He went to UCLA so he can get on the field so he could start. But things didn't go well. He transfers to Oregon, sat out last year behind Dylan Gabriel. I think two things happened for him. First, he was humble a little bit. And then second, he learned how to play quarterback.

And so I think Will Stein, the offensive coordinator for the Ducks, as someone scouts bring up as a rising star in this business. I think most people know, Dan Lannning is just how impressive of a coach he is, but he's got a really good staff. And offensive coordinator is a big part of that. So him being able to mentor Dante Moore over the last year has really paid dividends. And we're seeing it on the field here.

Now, obviously, the asterisk is, Montana State in week one, an FCS program, and then Oklahoma State in week two. Could they be the worst team from a major conference? Yeah, maybe. That's there at least in that conversation. But he deserves his due for the way he's played. He's got a really smooth stroke as a passer. It's been really impressed with his pocket movements.

He has a good feel for where the heat is coming from and just how to access the space around him to buy those little half seconds to let the route come open. So this is a good player. And now I think it's up to, for debate, just how good, based off of this small sample size in a few weeks. So now look at the schedule. They got Penn State coming up here in a few weeks. That's going to be a must-see game for scouts, two quarterbacks with plenty to prove,

Dante Moore, Drew Aller, and then just a ton of NFL talent on both rosters. But just for now, through two weeks, I think Moore deserves a little bit of credit for the way he's moved the offense up and down the field in these first two games. I will say this. And if you go watch this game, you're not going to see a ton of like tight window high difficulty throws. But his ball placement really impressive. Like for for what you're working with and understanding that Oklahoma State was clearly very

overmatched, I was like, these are, there's great anticipation, great accuracy on these throws. And I mean, like you said, like even even knowing who Oregon's over. opened against. He's looked really good. And I think it's, it's smart to highlight him because obviously Penn State is a game to circle on the calendar. We can't wait for that. But I'm going to step out on a very sturdy limb and say, Oregon's going to win 10 plus games this year. Like, the schedule just doesn't look like something that should prohibit them from being in the thick of the college football playoffs. So I look at that. And I think to myself, obviously, Bo Nix finished

third in the Heisman voting two years ago. Dylan Gabriel finished third in the Heisman voting last year. If Dante Moore plays anything like this and shows up well against Penn State, he's going to be in that conversation just by virtue of playing quarterback for one of the best teams in America. No doubt. And he's got a very young team around him. Oregon had so many guys drafted last year.

And, you know, Evans Stewart going down with the knee injury being out for the year at receiver. So he's thrown into a lot of young guys at receiver. I mean, Kenyon Sadiq was awesome. He's been so good. I mean, he's been my draft crush over the summer and through two games. It's just kind of I'm crushing even more. It's funny how much I heard about, oh, he needs to develop as a blocker.

People watch this guy block. Kenyon Sadiq is a madman. And on the move, the way he finishes, screens. I mean, he loves to finish. He loves blocking. And we really haven't even seen him become a big part of this offense yet as a pass catcher. That's coming. So I think Kenyon Sadiq is just, we're just kind of the tip of the iceberg of what he can be.

So yeah, to the your point, though, just Dante Moore, if he keeps this up or anything close to it, yeah. I mean, he's going to be in that mix to be someone we're talking about Heisman time. And then even after the year talking about, hey, you know, you have an NFL decision to make. And, you know, I'm sure he's in a good spot because either way, he's going to get paid. That's just kind of how it works. And today's college football, right? And Oregon's got the pocketbook. So, yeah, he's, if he continues this up and it continues to play at this type of level, yeah, we'll be talking more about Dante Moore throughout the process.

I am itching to see a better test for this Oregon team because they are obviously oozing with talent. It's at Northwestern this weekend. They got the civil war against Oregon State. And then not only Penn State to wrap up September, but Indiana on the horizon as well, which we'll see what happens between now and October 11th. But where's that game? Fernando, it's in, it's in Eugene. Okay. But Mendoza going against Dante Moore, that could be very pertinent to our interests here on this show.

No doubt. No doubt. I'm going to get into a category that Dane came up with, which I love very much to quote Shaquille O'Neal from the meme. We're calling it, I was not familiar with your game. And I will say this, it's going to be a lot more of me being unfamiliar with people's game because I am wading into the draft waters the same way that all of you at home are. But even our resident expert, Dane Bruegler, maybe as the season goes, he'll be in for a few surprises of his own.

Do you want to start this off with your guy or do you want to let me gush about what happened in the early window on Saturday morning? Yeah, we start with the years because I know this was a fun game to talk about. again, so we go into the week and, and it's, it's clearly on paper, not the sexiest college football weekend of, of the year. How wrong we were, by the way. I mean, a couple major upsets. And then this game at 11 a.m., the Baylor Bears, who we should note were competitive against Auburn on the first Friday of the season. They go up to SMU to play the Mustangs coming off of their playoff appearance.

And what a game, man. Like just as a football fan, I mean, double overtime, I believe, final score of 48 to 45, the Bears come back from 14 down in the fourth quarter and win this thing in double OT, just a fun game no matter what you're looking for. But then as in a, as somebody looking for NFL prospects, I was on the edge of my seat. Because I knew going in, you highlighted in your week two preview, SMU receiver Romelo Brinson, who by the way, goes to the house from 75 yards out on the first play of this game. And I was also looking at Baylor running back Bryson, Washington, one of the top running backs returning to college this year.

And those dudes took a back seat, honestly, to the display that we got from Sawyer Robertson, the senior quarterback at Baylor. Like, what a performance this was? I mean, my guy threw for 400 yards, he's at 859 yards and seven touchdowns through two weeks, by the way. And that is, again, this is the time of year where you have to cash everything by saying, hey, they played, they played Alabama A&M. They played whoever. They weren't playing the best competition. Sawyer Robertson has now done this against a CFP team from last year and Auburn,

who even if Auburn isn't the juggernaut that we have associated with them with at times, still an SEC program. I would argue Sawyer Robertson probably has the best two-week resume just considering competition played, or at the very least you can put him up with anybody in the country. And so for him to go on the road and do this to SMU and got great days from his receivers as well, like Josh Cameron, the Baylor receiver, had a great day in this game. I just, I was riveted the entire time and found myself thinking like, damn, I think there are some really good players in this game on both teams.

Yeah, I really enjoyed diving into Robertson over the summer and just learning more about him. And his dad was a former first round pick in baseball. You know, grew up in the Lubbock area. So naturally, you know, with his dad having that type of background, he grew up more of a baseball player. But then like later in middle school, he's like, you know, he wanted to play quarterback at the college level.

So ends up transferring schools. And he was kind of. tabbed as the guy. And there are a lot of big-time programs that wanted him out of high school. I mean, Texas offered him, USC. And they wanted to bring him in as a baseball player and football player. And so for Sawyer Robertson, he was a highly recruited player, decided to go to Mississippi State because he wanted to play for Leach and that air raid offense.

And then he ended up transferring to Baylor. he was a backup. Last year he kind of took over the starting duties. Like, hey, maybe after the third game or something around there. And he's a very incomplete player, undeveloped in a lot of areas. But he has taken a little bit more of a jump this year, which we love to see. Now, I mean, you love the size. You love the way he moves.

He's good athlete. He can get the ball out quickly at times. Other times he holds it too long. All the character feedback I've gotten. from NFL teams and scouts has been really high. I mean, just impressive kid, leader of the team, self-starter, pushes himself. You know, there's a lot of things I like about the person and some of the development too. So I still think he's a work of progress in a lot of areas.

I know, the decision-making, it's got to be better this year. There's a lot of too many times the layups, he's missing those throws. He saw on the Auburn tape and even against SMU. The pocket presence needs to be a little bit better. But to your point, the production, you don't have that type of production. He leads all of college football right now in plays of 10 plus yards. You don't have that type of production without. That's a stat.

Yeah. It's like 36 or something. That's crazy through two games. You don't have that type of production without having the talent to hit your receivers in stride, really fire the football. So I think he's, and he's really worked hard because like I said, he was a baseball play. And so we had that pitching wind up and different mechanics. He's really worked hard to quicken that release and kind of get rid of some of those bad habits. And this is the best version of Sawyer Robertson with what we saw on Saturday and a guy that's getting

better and better. So yeah, it's still a work in progress. But, you know, I think you have to be encouraged by what he's shown here in the first two weeks. My harsh opinion, that's definitely not fair, but it's just how I feel is when I I typically when I see that a guy is like a fifth year senior, I'm just like, okay, what's, what's the issue? And like, that's not exciting to me. But then you look at it and it's like, okay, you transferred from state after one year.

And really over the first two years of his college career, he played less than a full season combined. So this is really his second season as like an every week starter in college football. So that makes me feel a little bit better. And yeah, I mean, if this is how you're starting off, what I would assume is your, final season. I guess you can't take that for granted these days. But this is how you're starting off. I'm pretty

impressed. And I mean, all these quarterbacks have such unique journeys. I mean, Jane Daniels and Joe Burrow and like all these, you know, they had to transfer to really discover the full version of themselves. And yeah, I'm not just bringing up LSU players for you. I mean, they just kind of too that

popped in my mind. But you know, like with the with Sawyer Robinson like yeah, he goes to Mississippi State. He red shirts his first year. His second year, he stuck behind Will Rogers, who was the established starter there for Leach. And then Leach passes away. Soie Robertson goes in the transfer portal, goes to Baylor. And that first year, he doesn't play all that much. And then, like I said, the next year is last year where he becomes a starter, you know, at some point in September.

And, you know, he had over 3,000 yards passing last year. So I think that he is a, we have not seen the best version of Soier, I think we're seeing a player that's getting better and better. And we have to be encouraged by what we've seen up to this point. And even though they ended up losing that game to Auburn in the opener, I mean, they have as good a chance as any to really compete in the Big 12, which feels wide open. I think it's worth saying that, yeah, staying in school, like exhausting your eligibility

means less now than it ever has. We've seen so many success stories with guys really clicking into play. especially a really impressive start right we're not talking about running back we're talking about quarterback where you know you look at some of the guys that have made it in the league uh you know the at quarterback you know there was no no mystery why jane daniels and bow nicks were arguably the two best rookie quarterbacks last year they were fifth year guys in college you know they were ready for that they needed that uh extra development they got in college and so you know i yeah to your point fifth year seniors at quarterback i

It shouldn't scare anybody. It's part of a quarterback's maturity in development. I do want to shout out Romero Brinson one more time. Like I said, he scored on the first play of this game, tipped ball. I thought excellent concentration and ball skills to make a tipped catch. And then the speed speaks for itself. And then in overtime, just a really nice contested touchdown catch

that I honestly thought was going to win the game for SMU. I came to this game because of your recommendation on Brinson. And he didn't disappoint at all, even if Sawyer Robertson kind of stole the show. Yeah. And he's, I wish you were a little bit bigger. He's so wiry. He's 6.1.5 and he's in the 170s. So he is very, very lean, but he can fly.

He has that 4-3 speed where he can stretch out of defense and be a real threat down the field. And so if you do that, you're going to have a chance at the next level. and Brinson, he was banged up a lot last year. And so it's good to see him back healthy. And it seems like him and Jennings, the SMU quarterback, have a connection. And so they'll be, even though I know they lost, ended up losing that game to Baylor, the ACC feels wide open with Clemson struggling. They almost lost to Troy.

You know, we'll see if Miami's for real here the next few weeks. But the ACC, it feels like it's very much a conference that's up for grabs. and SMU will have something to say about it. I'm going to go ahead and assume you were familiar with this guy, but you highlighted him on Twitter. Cincinnati linebacker Jake Gold Day. What are you learning about his game in the early going of the season? Yeah, and I liked him when I studied him over the summer,

a game with a draftable grade, included him in my linebacker rankings when those came out in July. But he's seeing things a lot better so far through two games this year. And I think he's really trending towards being a day two pick now that he's got a year underneath them. And I think that's, again, as part of the context here. So with Jake Golda, linebacker Cincinnati, he was overlooked as a recruit. He comes from a big basketball family. His parents were basketball players.

His older brother is a basketball player all in college. He was a football player. And that was kind of his best route to play in college. He goes to Central Arkansas out of high school, actually played the same high school, played on the same team. team as Kenneth Walker running back for the Seahawks, actually. Oh, wow. In the kind of outside of the Memphis area. So he goes to Central Arkansas.

He's a defensive end. And then so he's defensive end for, what, three years. Last year, transfers up to Cincinnati. They move him to offball linebacker. We're talking about 6'4, 237 pounds. But he has the athleticism where he can play in space. He was banged up last year. His first year kind of playing off the ball.

So he had a good year. but maybe not a dominant year. Good enough where it's like, okay, yeah, this is a draftable player. And so they're playing him at like a Sam position. So he's out in space, almost like a nickel. And man, he can run like the wind. And it's fun watching him go pursue. And like I said, he's seeing things quicker.

So it's just boom, see the ball, go and get it. And he's a little robotic in his change of direction, but the dude can go. And so now that he's seeing things better, it's allowing him to be more confident and really show off that athleticism. And it's fun to watch through two games. He leads the FBS and tackles. It's just all clicking for him right now. It's fun to watch.

My guy is on pace for 156 tackles right now. Tide for third in the country in total tackles. So yeah, it's a nice place to be for Jake Gold Day. Cincinnati program, between Gold Day, Corleone, the defensive tackle, Royer, the tight end. They've got some guys to watch. in terms of draftville players for next April. Putting that on my radar, okay. Adding that to my notes,

watch more Bearcat football moving forward. Got plenty more to get to, but first, let's take our first break. All right, Dan, next thing we want to do today is a category we came up with. We're calling it Prospect Snapshot. It's exactly how it sounds. If there was a prospect over the weekend

that made a play, just something quick that gives you a perfect encapsulation of what they're all about, this would be it. I'm going to let you start this because you were beating the drum for this guy over the summer. We talked about him in the preview episode before we even started playing games. And he kind of showed you what he was all about in a Friday night game against James Madison. That would be Louisville receiver Chris Bell.

Yeah. And I think the Louisville offense has been a little underwhelming. So far, I think Miller Moss has been up and down of kind of expected more out of that offense at least. But with Bell, yeah, like you said, he started the year, wide receiver two on my rankings. It's, I expect a lot of fluctuation in those receiver rankings just because there's not one clear cut, top 10 pick in this in this draft. And after even if you do like say Jordan Tyson as your wide receiver won,

two through six, seven, it's wide open. Chris Bell is right there in that mix. And it's really based on the traits. And in the third quarter of this game, he had a 64 year touchdown that I I think really illustrated the best version of him. And it's those traits that I'm talking about. Simple slant versus zone. Bill or Bell, he uses his strength to drive the corner off the ball and then catches a slant mid-stride and just accelerates away from the rest of the defense.

6-2-27 pounds running like that. I mean, legit 4-4-speed and not like 4-9. I'm talking like 4-2, 4-3, somewhere in those low 4-4s. it's hard to find guys like that. And that's why he started the year so highly ranked for me. He needs to continue making plays like that because that's what's going to get him drafted in the top 50. Because there were a few other plays in this game where it showed some of my concerns, where especially in those contested situations, you want a receiver that size to do a better job winning in traffic.

And he's a really emotional player. It's something he's been working on to play with better focus. So something I'll be watching closely this year. But that 46-year touchdown, man, like that's, it's intoxicated. Like, that's what NFL teams are looking for. Guys, that size with that type of ability who can make a house call on a simple slant. And so if he can keep making plays like that the rest of the year, Chris Bell is going to live up to kind of that high billing.

We were giving him preseason. I paused the play when Bell made the catch. And there are four defenders surrounding him. Like there's the, obviously the corner that he, you know, bullied off the ball. There's two linebackers pursuing and there's a safety in front of him. And it wasn't even close. Like you talk about erasing angles. Like the safety never even had an angle.

Like he just straight up blew past these guys. And then down near the goal line, the like the backside cornerback who wasn't involved in the play. He tried. He tried. And Chris Bell was just like, get off me. Like, stop it. Yeah, it's honestly on stuff. I mean, like, it's just, it's hard to find those guys.

AJ Brown is a good modern example because I was going, I was going to go back to our time doing draft content for the Cowboys. And I was like, oh, I saw Des Bryant do this stuff all the time. Right. Like this, it was a very Des Bryant type of play. Yeah. So I officially understand why you are intrigued by this guy. Yeah. And like I said, there are areas of his game where he needs to get better if, you know, this is going to come to fruition.

No doubt about it. And better consistency, especially in those contested, uh, closed windows. But I think when you put plays on film like that, that's when NFL teams can look at point two and say, okay, yeah, I want that on my offense. Coaches can look at that and say,

yeah, we can work with that. And so hopefully he's able to do that throughout the rest of the season. Guy I wanted to highlight with my snapshot. I'm cheating a little bit because it was actually three plays, not one. But it was three plays that happened all in a row. So,

Miles Garrett. in basically i mean obviously that's crazy praise texas a aan em adjacent hey he's a texas a and m player maybe you heard that cash is howl of texas a and m just took over a game by himself over the weekend they were playing utah state cash is howl who's who's been a good college player transferred from boiling green where he had a nine and a half sacks season i think he had he had four and a half sacks last year like he's he's produced in college. But that is a far cry from three sacks in three snaps, which is what he did to the other Aggies of Utah State on Saturday afternoon. And the thing that I really liked about it was he won in a different way every single time. Like the first snap, he just bulldozes the left tackle,

just bullies the guy, gets his hands on him, forklifts him out of the way. Classic like, I'm stronger than you type of play. Then on second down, the tackle sets up outside and he just knives inside and just straight line to the quarterback like, oh, thanks for playing. And then finally on third down, he runs the hula hoop around this, I mean, this poor left tackle. Like, guy did not know he was going to become a meme in draft circles when he woke up on Saturday morning. But three snaps, three sacks, and you get those sacks in three different ways.

Cash is howl, rightfully so, make it. a big impression on an otherwise kind of quiet weekend. Yeah, Cassius Howells, he's interesting. This is the reason he transferred up to the SEC is to show what he could do. And obviously, there will be a bunch of better competition coming up on the schedule. But pretty good start for him. A little more of an undersized, probably a designated pass rusher type of guy, 6-2, 250. He has Twitch as a rusher, plays with violence, type of guy that you could see maybe being

your third or fourth past rusher on an NFL. roster, but games like that, plays like that, or play sequences like that are things that are going to help him come draft time, no doubt. Howell will have a much better opponent that coming this weekend, but we will get into that later in the show. I want to take a look at some of the prospects on your preseason top 50 day and all year long for better and for worse. I just want to whenever somebody on that list is playing a no- worthy game or has a noteworthy matchup. I want to do our best to check in on that.

And at the same time, guys that maybe play their way into that type of consideration when you put out your next top 50, we want to kind of keep an eye on how all of that's shaking out. And this week, there was one, we're going to talk about a few names, but there was one big game that I felt like affected that. We talked about it.

Arizona State going on the road to Starkville, a very underratedly tough place to play. play, even if the Bulldogs aren't always a power. And Sam Levitt and Jordan Tyson had a big opportunity to kind of stake their claim and make a statement. And to credit the Sun Devils, they bounced back a little bit, but overall a performance from Arizona State that left you wanting a little bit as the Bulldogs get a big ranked upset win.

Yeah, it was, in Arizona State almost put it out at the end. but yeah, credit to Missou State for, in the end, just, you know, it's a program where it's tough to win, and Coach Levy is, I think he's got those guys in the right direction. So, you know, it's good to see them get a big ranked win at home. But from the Arizona State perspective, I don't, Sam Levitt just did not look like the Sam Levitt. We have come to really appreciate playing quarterback.

It just, everything looked hard for that offense. And for Leavitt, it just looked like he was second-guessing himself a lot. hitching with his throws. You can tell he wanted to go one direction and then kind of had like a mental battle with himself and went somewhere else, then airmailed that throw. And then the connection with him and Jordan Tyson, who both these guys were my top 50 coming into the year,

Tyson being wide receiver one. And while they looked like it in week one against Northern Arizona, it didn't look at nearly as easy in week two against an SEC defense. the placement and timing just there were not there everything looked forced to to Jordan Tyson so this is an example of these two guys just I don't know not being on the same page so it was a watching Sam Levitt in this game I think you get the sense that this is going to be a player we're talking about in the 2027 draft more so than the 2026 draft you know maybe that sounds like

an overreaction but that's kind of the vibe I got from his tape last year as well is just this is a good player. There's something here, but the overall consistency is down to down is not there yet. And by the looks of it on Saturday night, it's still something is working through. To be fair to Sam Levitt, he's 20 years old, which that was a little surprising to me when I looked it up because he transferred in for Michigan State. He quarterbacked a playoff team last year. He's been playing college football and he's been on my radar long enough that I assumed he was an older player, but he's not. He's 20 years old. And, man, he looked like it.

And it's, it's not that I thought he was going to win this game by himself. I don't think of Sam Levitt as a guy that we're talking about as like a top 10 pick. But given what we've seen from him and given that, you know, I know Cam Scadaboo's a hell of a player, but Arizona State didn't, it's not like they lost all these players to the NFL draft. You know, I think about I'm going back a few years, but Sam Howell, remember, he lost so much production from that 2020.

North Carolina team. And it looked like it when he went back to school the next year, Sam Levitt, there's enough on this Arizona state team that I thought it would look better. And the Sun Devils came back. They, it looked like they were going to steal this at the end before their defense collapsed a little bit in the final minute. But I just, he did not look in command. The entire team looked completely rattled by the environment, which I thought was very

surprising. Like if you know one thing about Mississippi State, it's that they ring cowbells. So I don't get why they looked surprised that that would be the case. And even if he, even if he wasn't just going to play the game of his life, I thought that having a quarterback who's done this and performed well in conference championship game and in playoff games, I just, I thought it would look better. I thought it would be more of a stabilizing force for Arizona State. And there's a lot of season left to be played but it was just disappointing. So when I turned the film on Sunday morning to watch that game, the tape actually had the audio on.

And so you hear the cowbells. And I mean, I had to turn my volume off because it's so loud and so distracting. I couldn't imagine trying to play quarterback in that situation. But to your point, you know, it's coming. And, you know, I think part of it is just an SEC defense last year was Levitt's. His worst game last year was against Mississippi State. also like a second career start. So, you know, I think that was expected.

But it's something that is we have to, we have to pay attention to that, you know, the better, one of the better defenses he's going to face all year was where he struggled. And so something to watch that development as we go forward. I will say this. I've been to Davis Wade Stadium and like Ohio State, LSU, Clemson, Penn State, like, all these big programs love to pride themselves on how loud they are. Davis Wade is about as loud as I've ever heard. And for an obvious reason, because they have, they have cowbells.

Like it's not, it's not fair, but it is incredibly loud. But having said that, good teams go into Davis Wade and win all the time. I mean, Bama, Bama plays Mississippi State every year and it's not usually a problem for them. So it's kind of a hollow excuse for me. Mississippi State, when they didn't have a win last year in SEC play. So, yeah, like I 100% agree. Like, it's, we both expected a. much better showing from Arizona State and that offense and Sam Levitt.

And it didn't happen. So we'll see how they bounce back. A couple other guys you wanted to highlight, not the same caliber of opposition, but USC has some very intriguing receivers who both put on a show on Saturday in their own way. That USC offense as a whole, it's just, it's been fireworks in the first two games.

They have so far five different receivers. with at least one catch of 50 plus yards. That's unbelievable. So just something to watch for this year. Is that USC offense, especially these receivers? Jacoby Lane had that ridiculous big brother touchdown. That was just silly. That poor cornerback's going to never live that down.

But Mackay Lemon, who cracked my preseason top 50. What I loved about his game over the summer was just how slippery he was to get open. snatch the football and then create. He could do something after the catch. He's already over 150 yack yardage of season. That's number two in the FBS. Again, like you said, USC hasn't faced necessarily a daunting schedule, shall we say.

And it's not going to change this weekend. They've got Purdue coming up. But Illinois, Michigan, Notre Dame, they're all on deck after that. So we'll have more time to talk about this offense as a whole if they continue to pass these tests in front of them. But just had a shout out these receivers and what they're doing for the Trojan's offense.

Mackay Lemon, 248 yards on the year. 151 of that, as you said, is yak. And I'm not going to fall too far in love until I see it against better opposition. But he's like he's very fun with the ball in his hands. Like he kind of, he's very running backish once he gets the ball in his hands, in my opinion. And I was like, ooh, this is this is fun.

and interesting. Just the movement skills, the balance once he's running after the catch, I thought was something that stood out to me. Yeah, he's just got a natural feel for it, which makes him a weapon. One more thing we wanted to highlight, and we've talked about him before, but let's just state for the record, Big Citrus is such a good nickname for Iowa State defensive tackle Dominic Orange. He went against Iowa Center, Logan Jones, the big noon game. Of course, El Asico, as college football sickos like to call it, it delivered just like we knew it would. Of course, it scored under 40 and a half total points. But we definitely wanted to highlight a matchup of two interior linemen that I think we can go ahead and assume we'll be fairly highly drafted.

Yeah. And I mean, Dominic Orange has, he's at least in the conversation for the name we've mentioned the most here in this short lived. It's true. to be fair to us they played on week zero okay so that's more more time that we've just spent talking about Iowa state well I mean you can go to other podcasts they'll be talking about the receivers and running backs we're talking about nose tackles here right and this guy he he's going to be starting them for an NFL team at this time next year 6 2 330 so dense and powerful but he also has some movement skills he showed that going up against Logan Jones who Logan Jones is kind of

the opposite where he's undersized very much So he's very much Tyler Linderbaum. That type of player, just not nearly as talented. He's a good player. He's got a shot to be drafted. He's just undersized. And it's really the movement skills. And the weight room strength is great with Logan Jones.

But actually, you know, just his body type kind of limits him going up against a guy like Dominique Orange. And that was pretty evident during this game. So the, I would not being able to run. any semblance of an offense. Part of that is their personnel, and I have no idea what they're trying to do. The other part was that Iowa State offense and a guy like Dominique Orange in the middle

blowing things up right from the start. So like this is a guy that probably not going to be a first round pick, but I bet you he's going to be a day two pick. And like I said, I bet you he's starting a year from now. Hawkeye fans nodding along with the thought of, I don't know what they're trying to do on offense, a theme for most of the last quarter century for Iowa.

And look, they went and got Mark Grinowski, and I get, like, Grinowski was a good player at South Dakota State. If he would have came out, like, it was crazy. Like, two years ago, he was in demand. Like, he was getting offered a lot of money to go to, like, Miami, Wisconsin. Like, there was a lot of teams after him. He stays loyal. He stays put.

It doesn't go great last year at South Dakota State. Instead of the draft, he decides to transfer, go to the portal, go to Iowa. Again, when he talks. And it's just not a great fit. It's just not. What I was asking him to do, that whole structure of that offense, and Grinowski hasn't played well either. So it's just, it's rough to watch.

And I feel for Hawkeye fans who don't have a Caleb Johnson at running back to kind of get them out of, or give them something fun to watch when they have the football. I'm glad you said this because I wanted to ask you. I wasn't sure if I'd be putting you on the spot. but it's easy to wonder about the draft range for a nose tackle, even a really good nose tackle, because the cliche is that if you don't, if rushing the passer isn't your specialty, it's tough to get drafted highly. But at the same time, I mean, right off the top of my head, Tevonneuray Sweat was just drafted 38th overall out of Texas.

And that is looking like a really good decision by the Tennessee Titans, by the way. So clearly there is a value for this role in the NFL. and if you're good enough at it, you can get drafted pretty highly. And I know it's way too early in the season to write anything in stone. But Dominique Orange, like you said day two. I mean, is it realistic to think top 40, top 50 back like third round? Like what are your initial thoughts on that? Yeah, a player like this, it just you have to get it a little bit lucky that the team that is looking for a nose tackle is set at maybe some other needs where they would feel comfortable with drafting.

at 45 overall, you know? And so he's not going to be for everybody, especially in the top 100 picks. But if the right team lines up with the right need, I think absolutely he could sneak into that top 50. If not, I think he'll be a top 75, top 80 guy. The point of attack strength is just, it's really impressive. You're not going to move this guy.

He is immovable, even against double teams. And then like I said, he has the movement skills where he can go make something happen. So even though he's never going to be a high leverage pass rusher, but I don't only be a two-down player for your team, not someone that you want playing three downs. There's still a role, an important role, for a guy like this in an NFL building,

and it just might take the right team having that need at the right time for him to go in the top 50. A couple more things to get to. Before we do that, we're going to take one last break. All right, Dane, before we take a little. look at week three of the college schedule. I do want to jump into the pros for a second, because I do think this show offers you a great opportunity. You talk so much about the rookie class that gets drafted in the spring. And then for better or for worse, they just sort of blend

in with the background noise. But this feels like a great place to talk about the rookie class for 2025. But certainly as we move forward, we can do this every year where this is a chance to check in with guys we loved, guys that are surprising to us, maybe guys that are a little bit disappointing. So I wanted to use this place to talk about some things that we saw from week one. And we can do it as the season goes along. Who stood out to you? And I mean, there are too many rookie performances to highlight them all in one podcast. But if we're just looking at things that jumped out to us, who stood out to you in week one of the NFL season? Well, I really wanted to talk about two of my favorite players from this past draft class,

Browns linebacker, Carson, Schrox, and Jets Right Tackle, Armand Membo. The UCLA tape last year for Swettinger, high-level instincts, play speed, and that's exactly what we got in the opener against the Bengals. He was one step ahead, flying around. You would not have guessed it was his first NFL game, finished with eight tackles, several key stops on third down. He didn't give up anything in coverage. he's an underrated guy for defensive rookie of the year this year.

He's going to get over 100 tackles and maybe he could get a pick or two. Who knows? He could, if Abdul Carter doesn't have a big rookie year. And, you know, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Swessinger kind of goes in there, steals some votes. And then Membu, who just turned 21 years old, not that long ago, to ask him to go into that type of environment against a good Steelers defense, including a lot of matchups with T.

watt and not only win but look dominant at times the balance the play strength the finishing grit it was awesome to watch it was it was as good as an as a debut i've ever seen for an offensive line in the nfl i mean that's that sounds hyperbolic but i really believe that it was as good as i've seen for a rookie to come in week one and play that impressively against a pretty good defense i was going to say you're you're allowed to say it armand mimbu played 64 snaps it right tackle on Sunday. Zero pressures allowed. T.J. Watt played 54 of his 59 snaps over right tackle. Like on that side of the formation in some form or fashion. And he held up beautifully. The Jets ran the ball for 182 yards. They had six explosive runs, which I think wound up third best in the NFL for week one.

I mean, just a phenomenal performance. We joked about it on the recap show, Robert Derek and I, moral victories might not be a thing in the NFL, but if you're a Jets fan, you're allowed to kind of feel like you won, even in a loss on Sunday afternoon. Right. Yeah. And that's,

like, Membu is just, and he was a, I think a lot of, like, I remember vividly at the senior bowl, talking with a scout about Membu, and because he was supposed to be there and he got sick. And so there's a lot of,

there was a lot of anticipation seeing Membu at the Senior Bowl, he's so young. They wanted to see how he would be, I'll pull us in person. And we didn't get that chance. And they thought, this one scout said, you know, this might drum to the second round now. And, you know, and I just, I don't know, the tape. The tape says he's going top 15.

He said, oh, no way, no way, no way. And then as we go through the process, I remember he texted me in like early April and said, yeah, you're right. This guy's going top 10 because he's just too good. The ingredients of what makes him a talented player are too good. And so for a young player like that to live up to that potential this early, it's one game. But, yeah, it was a really good first game. And we're going back several years.

He's certainly, he's not close to a rookie anymore. But man, it was just, it was fun to see the Justin Fields that I loved so much as a draft prospect playing behind a phenomenal offensive line. I mean, and yeah, and we'll see how that goes as the year goes along. but it was cool to watch Justin Fields and be like, hey, he's still there, that guy that I remember from Ohio State. And technically he is not a rookie, but J.J. McCarthy in his first, like the NBA and baseball does it too. Like if you don't play your first year, you're still considered a rookie. So you're still eligible for like rookie of the year. NFL doesn't do that.

So J.J. McCarthy is not technically rookie. He cannot win offensive rookie of the year honors if he keeps us up. But just good to see him out there. And the way he played over the second half, If you're Minnesota fan, I think you're feeling pretty optimistic. I'm glad you mentioned Carson Swessinger because I just wanted to highlight basically the entire Browns draft class because they all obviously you draft two quarterbacks. Those guys aren't going to play week one. And obviously, Quinn Sean Judkins just recently signed.

We'll see when he makes his way onto the playing field. But four Browns rookies got a lot of playing time on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bank. And I think the obvious caveat is the Browns need to play their young players. Like that's what happens when you trade away a generation of picks in a trade that doesn't work out. So the rookies are playing because the Browns need them to. But when Mason Graham, Carson-Swessinger, Harold Fannan, and Dylan Samson all are forced onto the field, it's really nice when they all play well, man.

Like every single one of them, even Mason Graham's stat line is far from. sexy. But if you just go back and watch, I thought it was a nice debut. You know, he was active in the run game. He was drawing a lot of double teams. He almost sacked Joe Burrow for a safety on one sequence. So certainly not a splashy debut from your top five pick, but a very solid one. You already mentioned Swessinger. And then Harold Fanon, man, seven catches for 63 yards. They had him play Wildcat quarterback for a snap. And I thought he was adequate as a Locker. And Dylan Samson, nothing was really doing for the Browns run game anyway, but had what? I think he had 93 scrimmage yards in his rookie debut as a, as a what, third, fourth round

pick. Fourth round pick. Fourth round pick. I was, I was so encouraged watching the Browns game back and being like, man, if all these guys need to play, it's got to be a relief when they all look pretty damn good in their first game. I think. Joe Burrow had one completion over 20 yards the entire game. Like they just, credit to that Brown's defense. And it was just nice after an entire offseason where the two Browns draft picks that got the most ink,

Shador Sanders, Quinchon Judkins, obviously neither played in this game. Good to see the rest of this draft class get a little bit of love with the way they played because they really did. And to your point, they have to because that's who the Browns need to put out there. but they believe in this young class. And so far so good for this group.

I'm eager to watch how, I mean, I know Robert, when he was leaving Berea, he called me and told me, man, they love Harold Fanon. And it's no surprise. I mean, he is right up their alley in terms of young guy, super productive, just a little bit different, but a unique athlete. and with Ninjoku being a pending free agent after this year, they want to get Fanon involved early so they can find out, all right, is this our guy moving forward? And, you know, Jerome Ford's the top back for this team. So Dylan Samson's going to get a lot of touches,

at least until Judkins is ready to go. Then, like I said, I talked about Schwessinger. I think he's a real deal. So it's going to be fun to watch these guys. If you, you know, the Browns aren't exactly a sexy team to watch, but if anything else, these rookies should be fun. I'm not convinced it's going to reflect in the win-loss record,

which, hey, that's probably a good thing when you have multiple first-round picks in the upcoming draft. But I just, I'm optimistic that the Browns could be fun to watch just as a fan of football, which would be a step in the right direction after the last couple years that the Browns have had. Yeah, I mean, Fanon, man, like, again, like the box score production is one thing,

but you just watch the game, the stuff that they're asking a third round tight in to do in his NFL debut, like they clearly feel comfortable asking a lot of this guy, which is, I mean, if that's where we're at on September 7th, that could be really fun by the time we get to the second half of the season. Yeah,

no doubt. It's, we have plenty of rookies to talk about this year, but something tells me it's not the last time we're going to be talking about this Browns group. We will be sure to check back in with them. We'll definitely, we'll use this time.

we'll definitely find something we loved about the rookie class that we can highlight every single week. So I'm looking forward to doing that. Before we get out of here, we do also, we want to spend time looking ahead to the week that's coming. And I think this one, if we needed to wait until Saturday to be impressed by week two, I don't think that's going to be the case in week three. We have no shortage of marquee matchups. I just, we don't have to spend a ton of time on it, but I just want to highlight what makes these games interesting. I'll just start off the jump. Anybody that follows the draft

knows that you can count on the Georgia Bulldogs to have a list of NFL prospects and week three will officially be their first real football. Like no opponents worth mentioning in the first two weeks. And now they go to Knoxville to play a Tennessee team with sky high vibes, by the way. Like for all of the drama with Nico Iamaleava leaving in the offseason, kind of felt like, people sort of left them off to the side entering the season. Tennessee looks very fun with Joey Aguilar stepping in from Appalachian State. So a lot to be excited about. And obviously, particularly on the Georgia side of things,

there should be no shortage of NFL prospects to look at. Yeah, they've got a lot of top recruits and guys ready to step up. But now it's time that we see it, right? One of their top players this year, C.J. Allen at linebacker. He was my linebacker one coming into the year. year. And he's been awesome so far in two games. So let's see if he can continue that dominant read and drive defender, a lot of Roquan Smith to his game. I just want to see him become more of a playmaker in coverage. And so I think he'll have a chance to do that in this one. For Tennessee,

let's stick on defense. Joshua Joseph's pass rusher, I think he could be this year's version of Donovan Azaraku, where he's a tad undersized, 6-3, 240, 245, but really long. arms and awesome body twitch has speed around the edge can win with explosiveness can win with physicality and so he's a name to watch is maybe that maybe not good enough for the first round but once we get a day two one of those interesting pass rushers that that have a could have a role at the next level joshua josephs with a strip sack against syracuse and the season opener so and and tennessee nobody of note in week two but going and playing a neutral site game against Syracuse and looking very good doing it.

I mean, that carries some weight. I'm curious about this game because Georgia hasn't looked like world beaters against bad competition. And Tennessee kind of looks like they've found something here with Joey Aguilar. I don't think Tennessee's beaten Georgia since Kirby Smart's first season on the job. And obviously, the game's in Knoxville. This could be a big. Georgia's actually favored.

So I think by a field goal maybe, but that's, it's interesting. I, this series hasn't been very competitive in recent history. So like this is this is a big chance for Tennessee to say something. I'm looking forward to that. Another big game, obviously Texas A&M at Notre Dame this weekend. Jeremiah Love is the obvious headliner. Maybe Notre Dame will get him a little more involved than they did in the season opener against Miami. And we mentioned Cassius Howell.

I would say that counts as a step up in competition going against Notre Dame's offensive line. Is there anybody else in this matchup? up. Yeah, we saw Notre Dame's tackles get a little beat up against Miami in the opener. So maybe they could be vulnerable against Howell in that past rush. But yeah, I mean, you mentioned it. This, I want to see

a Notre Dame rushing offense go up against an A&M rushing defense that I expected to be better so far this year. Scooby Williams at middle linebacker for the Aggies. He's a potential day three draft pick. He's been a little bit up and down. So that's the main thing I'll be

watching for in this one is can Notre Dame, establish the run. He can A&M do anything to stop it. If we were a strictly college football show, we obviously would have led with this, but it is worth mentioning. Yes, South Florida did score a huge upset of the Florida Gators in the swamp.

We actually joked about it, Dan, the upset tour continues because they started the season with Boise State. Their reward for beating Boise State was a trip to Florida. And their reward for the upset of the year so far is, now go do it in Miami against a hurricanes team that looked pretty ferocious in week one against Notre Dame. So I know you wanted to talk about Byron Brown, the USF quarterback. Let this, this is our opportunity. Congratulations, Bulls. The tough tests just keep coming. Yeah. And I believe the hurricanes are like 17 point favorites in this one. So the world's still against you at USF.

You got you play. Even though you're coming off a big win, you've got plenty of motivation to go out there and do it again against the hurricanes and we'll see i think florida helped out uh usf a ton in that game so we'll see if uh south florida can maybe step up against the hurricanes and byron brown he is he's really inconsistent but man he's fun they don't win these first two games without them um you know six three and a half 235 pounds he's big he's got a rocket arm uh misses way too many layups uh it was all over the the florida tape where just he just didn't have any touch on those easy throws, flat throws, screens, slants. Needs get better in the short to intermediate game.

And then what do you can do with his legs? That's a, if you better finish this guy to the ground because he is a bull. And so he will carry that offense as far as they can go. But it'll be fun to see if they can stick with them with Miami throughout the game. I didn't catch your pun on the last show, but I caught that one. I thank you. Thank you for that. I will get better as the season goes along.

The next one, it looked better before the aforementioned USF upset, but there should still be, I mean, there will be a ton of NFL talent on the field in Florida at LSU. It's not quite as sexy from a narrative standpoint now that Florida's lost a game they shouldn't have. But again, there's, there's talent all over this LSU defense. And even for whatever you think of DJ Lagway from a consistency standpoint, he will present a very fun challenge for guys like Harold Perkins, Witt Weeks. An LSU defensive lineman I really want to watch in this game is Bernard Gooden,

who actually fittingly transferred from USF, sort of impact that he can make in this game. And then obviously I'm burying the lead, Garrett Nussmeyer, another big opportunity to make a statement after a very, you know, LSU just kind of messed around with their food for three and a half hours on Saturday against Louisiana Tech. I'm guessing they can't afford to do that this week, no matter what happened to Florida. Yeah, and I, Florida needs Caleb Banks back at defensive, on the defensive line.

That's their best player. Not having him is really shown up in these first few games. Like Tyreeks Sapp at defensive end, is a good player, but he's stout versus a run, doesn't give you enough as a pass rusher. So they really need Caleb Banks back. We'll see if he's healthy and good to go. Billy Napier needs to coach for his job, man, because that's coming off a really bad home loss to USF. It's not easy going to Baton Rouge at LSU facing that defense, which got after Kay Klubnick in the opener.

They're going to get after DJ Lagway. Hopefully, Lagway plays better in this one, hopefully for Florida's sake. And then, yeah, for LSU, I want to see Garrett Nussmeyer. I mean, technically he's probably the Heisman favorite now with Arch. kind of fizzling out in that opener i understand this isn't how it works but that's insane considering what garrett looked like against louisiana tech like i mean just a very very gross night for the ls uffance i did not watch a lick of that game and so do you think it was ls u kind of looking forward a little bit and not taking their opponent as serious as they maybe they needed to um or

what was your why didn't nussmire and the rest of that offense look better in that game so i mean I mean, it was a combination of both. The big thing really is LSU's starting center sprained his ankle on like the first snap of the game. And it is not encouraging. A good player, by the way. Brayland Moore, yes. Transfer for Virginia Tech. It is not encouraging that LSU looked that overwhelmed at the line of scrimmage against Louisiana Tech with one injury.

Like you should be able to function against Louisiana Tech even if your center goes out hurt. But they could not. They couldn't run the ball. The pocket wasn't good. And Garrett, I mean, Garrett is Garrett Nussmeyer. Like he is not afraid to try some stuff. And he had a really ugly underthrow that got intercepted. He just tried some very audacious throws that he, in my opinion, had no business trying.

It was the Garrett Nussmeyer experience. So, I mean, I get it. He's still a really good player. But it doesn't, like I said, particularly the way they functioned with an injury on their offensive line against lesser competition. It doesn't make you feel good about what might be coming in the SEC. So hopefully Braylen Moore's injury is not a long lasting one. Florida's defense is, they've got some guys.

And so it'll be interesting to see Nussmeyer in this type of test against this defense. So yeah, anytime Nussmeyer is on the field, it's important to watch from a scouting perspective. And yeah, this will be definitely one to keep an eye on. I would have drafted Caleb Banks in the top 20 based off of his LSU tape alone last year. So with my luck as an LSU fan, he'll be healthy and ready to go this week. They let him, they thought maybe he can go in the opener and they held them out. They thought, okay, well, week two, well, they held him out against USF, probably thinking, let's keep him healthy going into LSU.

And obviously that backfired a little bit. Hopefully he's ready to go because, yeah, he is a difference maker when he's on the field. and a type of player that can help change the game. And especially if, is Braylon Moore going to play for LSU? Do you know? I haven't heard. I'm not optimistic,

but I don't know that for sure on Tuesday of game week. Yeah, no. Yeah, absolutely. That's big. And that's something that could really affect how, you know, just the effectiveness of that offense. One last one I wanted to highlight.

Obviously, Lenore Sellers is going to be must-see TV all season long. And he gets a home game against Vanderbilt, which obviously some years, Vanderbilt is like whatever, they're honorary members of the SEC. This Vanderbilt is not that Vanderbilt. Like this is, this should be a really good test for Lenora Sellers. Vandy just crushed the Virginia Tech team that gave South Carolina a pretty tough game. And they did it at Lane Stadium too. So, you know, everybody knows about Diego Pavia. He upset Bama last year. Like this, this is a spicy Vanderbilt team. So don't, don't, don't

Don't look at this one on the schedule and write it off just because it's the smart school in the SEC. Yeah. And if you're watching this one, obviously Lenora Sellers, just he's must see anytime he's on the field. But when Vanderbilt has the ball, I think people know about Diego Pavia, the quarterback. I don't think he's a serious NFL prospect, but the tight end, Eli Stowers is 6.3.5, 240 pounds. he's not a traditional inline type of blocker. He's a pass catcher. And he's a guy that he could blow up the combine, burst, athleticism.

The quickness in and out of his routes really shows up. So he can win one-on-one. He's got reliable hands. I think Eli Stowers is definitely a guy to watch here. And he's competing for the right to be that first senior tight-end drafted. I think that's most of the major head. headliners. Is there anything else that you want to have an eye on as we get closer to Saturday? No, I think we covered. I mean, there's there's always something from a draft perspective to watch.

And, you know, I know we mentioned a lot of, it's a lot of SEC. I think almost every team we mentioned is an SEC program. I noticed that. I was like, man, I hope nobody thinks I'm a homer, but that's just where all the good matchups are this week. Yeah. And, you know, that's, that's how it is, you know, that's the SEC is where most of the draft picks come from um but you know Ohio state they're playing ohio and um like some of these other programs that it's just not a big week for them so uh no i think we covered it still i mean be that as it may what we listed off we listed off five games here like there is a lot to look forward to on this schedule looking forward to catching up with you on that next week dane this was a ton of fun man thanks for listening we will catch up with you all on the other side

Talk to you soon.