The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Prospects to Pros: Anthony Richardson declares for the drafts, Caleb Williams shines, surprising QB stay-or-go decisions, and more

Episode Date: December 7, 2022

Andy Staples and Dane Brugler focus on the most important position in sports on this episode of Prospects to Pros. The guys discuss Anthony Richardon's decision to enter the draft, consider why more quarterbacks than usual are returning to school and gush over Caleb Williams.Follow Andy on Twitter: @Andy_StaplesFollow Dane on Twitter: @dpbruglerSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTube1:20 The stay-or-go balancing act for QBs in the NIL era16:18 Anthony Richardson declares for the draft32:41 Other players who have declared, including Jaxon Smith-Njigba40:01 Caleb Williams is ridiculous48:21 Brock Purdy getting his chance Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show. Welcome to Prospects to Pros, the podcast that covers the guys going in the NFL draft, the guys who got drafted in the NFL and everything in between. And Dane Brueger, we're talking about new stuff today, stuff that we've never really had to talk about before with respect to the NFL draft. But we're talking about guys that might make more money staying in college. Our friend Jim Nagy tweeted something out from the senior bowl on Tuesday morning saying he's hearing about deals up to $5 million, NIL deals for some quarterbacks to stay in school or to have another year at their school and that is thinning out the 2003 quarterback class. And while as someone who covers college football and talks to the people at the schools and the NIL people all the time, the five million, very difficult to believe.

leave because it is lying season and basically every kid's agent is lying to every collective out there saying, well, school X is going to give him this. So what are you going to give him? They're all lying to pump up the market. But that said, there are deals where people are staying at their school when they could have gone to what would be perceived as a bigger school. That would be Quinn Sean Judkins, the running back in Ole Miss. Everybody assumed that Auburn or Alabama would scoop him up. Nope. He's saying signed a deal. but he was a freshman. He's not draft eligible.

It's different when NFL money comes in. But Jim's point, and I thought it was very interesting, and you and I were trading names before we started the show, there are quarterbacks who are very good college quarterbacks coming off very good years, who probably would be fifth, sixth, seventh round picks in the draft, who might not make the roster next year or might make the, you know, basically the minimum in the pros and might actually make more than that for another year in college. NIL has really changed everything. And, you know, I think it's fascinating because this quarterback class with, especially from

Jim's perspective, because, you know, he's not, he doesn't care about Bryce Young or Anthony Richardson or CJ Stroudan, these underclassmen. He's focused on seniors because that's going to be at who's at his game. And it's, it's an interesting mix. Now, the guys that have already committed to the Senior Bowl are the 6th year guys, Clayton Tune from Houston. Jake Hayner, Fresno State. I mean, Tyson Baygent's not a 6th year guy, but we know he's coming out from Shepard. And then Henan Hooker, he accepted his, but he won't be able to play, obviously, because of the ACL.

So all those guys have exhausted their eligibility, but now there are these other guys that can take advantage of that extra year talking about Michael Pennix from Washington, who has already announced that he is going back to school. Bo Nix, Oregon, who, let's be honest, Oregon, they have no shortage of, you know, income streams coming into that program. They have a very active, aggressive collective. They're one of the kind of cutting edge leaders in that department. They were ahead of the curve on almost everybody there. So, yeah, and not even just quarterbacks.

I don't know if this affects next year, but I saw Jalen Hyatt now has an NIL deal with Hyatt with the hotels. Right. And he's one that had one good college year. He might come back. Well, but I think the difference there is, you, Hyatt is if he comes out, he's a likely top 40 pick, right? And so I think there's different money there when we're talking about a top 40 pick. But that's always going to be more than college, yeah. Yeah, exactly.

And so, you know, and that's why Anthony Richardson, who announced this week, you know, Anthony Richardson was making over a million dollars this year in NIL money. Yeah. So, and that probably could have, you know, gone up million and a half, maybe two million more. You know, who knows if he came back to school. But he bet on himself that, hey, I'm going to be drafted higher in terms of, you know, what I'm going to be making. And he decided to come out, which is, it's a fascinating development. But, I mean, you think about, okay, Brock Purdy, who is now the unlikely starter for the San Francisco 49ers as they make a playoff run. I believe he was the last quarterback drafted last year.

He was Mr. Irrelevant. Yeah, exactly. He was literally Mr. Irrelevant. Yeah. So round seven, final pick in the draft. You know, his contract is, it's like four years, under $4 million total. So he's making under a million dollars a year. you know, the guarantees, you know, not all that great.

So, you know, if there's going to be, say Bo Nix is making over and making over a million dollars, you know, I understand why he'd go back. If, you know, some of these other quarterbacks that are maybe on the fence, like a Jane Daniels from LSU, you know, if he's making close to that money to go back, you can understand why, especially with Kishon Boutte, the wide receiver announcing this week, hey, I'm going back to school. So, you know, maybe that could affect the decision for the quarter. quarterback. It's, there's so many, and it's fascinating with the transfer portal. I saw there's over a thousand names in a transfer portal. I mean, I don't, being a college coach is hard enough

with recruiting. Now you factor in this layer. I don't know how you keep it all straight. I mean, it's just, it's craziness out there. Well, the good news is they're paying college coaches more than they ever have before, too. So I will, I will quote Don Draper, as I often do on my own show, the Andy Staples show, which you can listen to if you like college football and want to hear us talk college football all the time. But remember what Don Draper said, that's what the money's for. So when you're making $9.5.10 million a year,

I've got no sympathy for you having to juggle all this stuff. But there is a lot to juggle. Like you mentioned Jaden Daniels. If you watch the SEC championship game, you saw Garrett Nussmeyer come in and you're like, huh, is Jaden Daniels even going to start next year? Yeah, I mean, now I think Georgia maybe took the foot off the pedal little bit there later in the game.

And I get it, Jalen Carter didn't play much. They wanted to keep him healthy and fresh. You mean after he lifted Jaden Daniels like a little, it's sort of like when a toddler gets out of the garage and you grab the toddler and you wave to your neighbor across the street, got him, it's okay. That is exactly what Jalen Carter did to Jaden Daniels.

He threw up the number one with the other hand to saying, hey, this is why you need to take me number one overall. Yeah, that was great. But, I mean, it doesn't take much to realize why Jalen Carter is one of the best players in this draft. But, yeah, I mean, it's a fair point. The quarterback market is, okay, if Jane Daniels does come back, does that mean Nussmeyer's gone?

You know, is he going to try to go find some place to start? Like, it's, if you have to, if you're a college coach or, you know, you're keeping your phone lines open, you don't know what dominoes are going to fall. And so how this affects the draft, you know, bringing in full circle here. You know, and that's why I know, like, I mean, I've scouted most of these guys, but I've held off undoingly on my final reports on, you know, guys like, like Jane Daniels or Sam Hartman from Wake Forest or Bo Nicks from working. And I haven't done their full report yet just because I'm not sure they're going to be in this draft. So it's a really interesting wrinkle that, I mean, it started with COVID, you know, giving everybody that extra year of eligibility.

So even fifth-year seniors have to officially declare for the draft. And Will Levis had to officially declare even though he's a fifth-year senior. So I mean, I can't wait until we're past that. But now with the NIL money coming in, it's just another factor we have to consider. Well, and the Hartman thing, I've been chasing rumors about him for a couple weeks now. And I was told by the Wake Forest people, no, no, the plan is still for him to go into the draft. But until he says it, you don't know. it's very strange

there's more options than ever for these guys you know and that's it's great for the player you know it's whether it's monetary whether it's you know getting more experience or a better opportunity somewhere else in a transfer situation I mean opportunity is great

options are great but it does complicate things a little bit you know for a lot of people well and it raises the quality of the college game if this is actually what's going to happen And if you have third day guys who are coming back for another year because financially it's better, maybe better for them. And in a lot of cases, they're also betting on themselves that they have a productive college year. It bumps them up in the draft next year.

And that's real, real money. But if you get some of those guys back, it does help. And especially, we're not talking about helping the Alabama's and the Georgia's and the Ohio states because their NFL guys are going to leave after year three anyway. That's just how those programs work. Those are kind of elite of elite, and that was their plan all along. But the Wake Forest, the Oregon's even, I know Oregon has money, but they're not at the same level as a Georgia or an Ohio state in terms of what level of player they bring in on a regular basis. So if they can get that guy back, and it doesn't necessarily have to be a quarterback, it could be an offensive lineman, it could be a linebacker. it raises the level of that team's play when you have a dude who is above average to pretty darn good in college,

and you're not having to work in a redshirt freshman at that position. Yeah. And at some point, this has to be regulated a little more. And I don't know what the answer is. Because it's, for a lot of these guys, you know, they're not, they're transferring the, you know, multiple times. and that throws off their credits in terms of graduating. Like that's a factor in all of this. I do feel for some coaches who, you know,

they invest so much time and effort into developing these guys only to see them bolt. And so I don't know. I don't know what the answer is. I don't have the answers. But it has to be regulated in some way. So it's just not the Wild Wild West. And every college coach has to worry about,

okay, who's going to poach my best players because they can add an extra zero or they can, you know, throw in something else. So it's just a crazy world out there. And, you know, I don't know. We'll see how it affects the draft, specifically this one. But, you know, it's constantly evolving. I am, I will say, as someone who covers college football, let it stay the Wild Wild West for as long as possible.

Because this is ridiculously fun to cover. This is crazy. But it is nuts. Like, for example, I got a call yesterday, said, Austin Reed's in the portal again. And if you don't really follow college football closely, you're like, who's Austin Reed? Well, to put it in NFL terms, he's the next Mike White or Bailey Zappy. So he's the guy who transferred to Western Kentucky and blew up at Western Kentucky. He originally was at University of West Florida, which is a Division II school in Pensacola.

And he had great years there, led them to a D2 national championship. He goes to Western Kentucky. He's second in the country in passing yards this past year. And he's in the portal. I would expect him to end up, I don't, somewhere, a Big Ten, ACC, but in the Power Five. And, you know, the Western Kentucky people are mad because they're like, hey, look at Bailey Zappy. Look at Mike White. You can succeed there.

And to which I say to them, you got them out of the transfer portal too. Yeah. So live by the portal, you die by the portal. Yeah, no doubt. I mean, it works both ways. And I'm, I'm interested to see, you know, some of these decisions are going to be interesting. Sam Hartman's an interesting decision. Max Duggan will be an interesting decision.

I was told all year by scouts that, no, he's going back. He's going to go. It feels like he's been there for 12 years, but just started as a true freshman. But he's a four-year starter, and he can't go back for another year if he wants. And obviously, I think we'll wait or he'll wait until after the college football semis, whenever TCU is knocked out to make that final decision. But, you know, in his mind, he might have, he might think at this. point, you know what, maybe I've taken this as far as I can go, time to move on. Or, you know, losing

that Big 12 championship game, you know, maybe that lights a fire and saying, hey, I need to go back. I need to need to, you know, but he's also going to lose his top three receivers, you know, led by Quentin Johnston. So it's, there's so many layers to this in each decision. It's, you know, the underclassmen decisions are always a big domino for the draft every year, which underclassmen come out, which go back. And now it's, you know, another layer with these seniors to see what decision they make. Well, let's talk about a more traditional decision, and that's a third-year player who has a lot of elite physical traits, maybe not elite numbers, who did declare for the draft, and that's Anthony Richardson from Florida. He's going to be in the draft. He is

six foot four. He is 235 pounds. He is lightning fast. He has a massive arm. He also completed 33% of his passes against Florida State and was a 53.8% passer for the year. He is a case study in traits versus production, and I'm fascinated to see what happens with him. Yeah, you and me both. I mean, he's a true wild card. He could be the 16th pick in the draft. He could be the 60th pick in the draft, and neither would surprise me. I mean, you can understand why either scenario would happen.

This is a big twitchy athlete, a freak show athlete. Looks like a linebacker, runs like a corner, throws like Dan Marino. I mean, it's just there's, it's a rare combination of skills. And I think that he has, you know, a handful of throws every game that make you go, okay, yeah, you know what? I see it, yeah. That's a smooth stroke. that's, you know, do you see how he read, left or right there? Did you see how he came off that man?

Did you see how he put it over the line? I mean, he has these moments. It's not like he's a complete project, but there's no consistency there. And he has. Then I was going to say, then there's the throw where he's got a swing. He's just got a little swing out to the back and he throws it to somebody, two people deep on the bench on the other side of the field. Yeah, or it bounces.

I mean, it's not like he misses consistently high or low. it could be really inconsistent. And it's the same thing. He has an inconsistent feel for his fastball. You know, when to take a little bit off, when to put a little bit on, trajectory, just too scattershot. And so, look, I mean, this is a-

You know who had that problem early, and it's still somewhat of a problem, but it has fixed it a lot better, made it a lot better than it was, is Will Levis. Yeah. Will Levis had no touch on his fastball before either. That was a big problem with Josh Allen's film at Wyoming.

You know, he couldn't. Some of the simplest screens were an issue for him in terms of firing the ball too hard or putting too much loft on it. Yeah, I mean, it's something that is a fixable thing. I mean, you can learn and more coaching. It might have been, this might be a situation where Anthony Richardson felt like he learned all that he could from this coaching staff. And it was time to move on. And that's a real thing. Now, I also think he's been told since the summer that, hey, you're a first-round pick.

You're going to go early. You know, I think he's been told that. And so once that seed is planted in your mind, it could be tough for a lot of, you know, 20-year-old players to just forget that, block that out and say, you know, what, I'm a big time player. And, you know, I'm going to go early. And, you know, regardless of, you know, like, yeah, I couldn't use more time. I mentioned this before, but my biggest thing with him is he needs reps, and he's not going to get reps in the NFL, at least in year one, and who knows when he's going to get on the field.

And when he does, it's probably going to look ugly until he's able to turn things around. I mean, we've seen that, you know, Justin Fields. As bad as he looked as a rookie, and even earlier this year, it took time for not only fields, but the coaching staff to figure out, okay, this is how we need to, you know, best use him to highlight his strengths and help him develop. So it takes time when you have such a super talented player who is undeveloped in a lot of areas. So it's not just dependent on Richardson doing what he needs to do to get better.

He has to go to the right situation where the coaching staff understands, okay, this is what I need to do to get the most out of this player, to bring him along. And so each team's going to feel differently. I mean, I checked in with, you know, different scouts. to get their opinion on it. And they each kind of said the same thing. Like he's a wildcard.

We, you know, it's, the traits are obvious. You know, the talent is obvious. But the asking price, the value on draft day is going to be widely debated between now and,

and April. You know, it's, where do you, where do you need to draft this guy? Because all 32 teams, and there's a, there's a chance he's Logan Thomas.

Except the difference is Logan Thomas, Logan Thomas had a lot more production in college. Yeah. And didn't have his elite of traits as a passer. But Logan Thomas still playing in the NFL. So, you know, it's possible that happens. Well, and yeah, I think Richardson has shown a lot more in terms of like, hey, I could see this working out. You know, I could see him turning into a guy.

But it's, yeah, it's just the inconsistency is tough. Logan Thomas was better at football in college as a quarterback than Anthony Richardson was. And see, that's what I come back to. We had a discussion last week with Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud. And my thing is take the person who's better at football. I look at these guys. I mean, you mentioned Justin Fields. Justin Fields had off the charts production in college.

Yes. So this, because the only person you can comp is Josh Allen his last year at Wyoming. But if you go to Josh Allen's junior year, Wyoming, he actually had a pretty good year. Or I guess Redshirt sophomore year. He had a pretty good year. He lost some talented receivers. And all of a sudden they're playing like an elite defense like Iowa and he can't do anything. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. And I wasn't trying to compare him to fields, like as players. I just talking about the situation. As athletes. Yeah. Well, where you go is important because if the coaching staff doesn't know how to use you, then, you know, because that's, you know, even in September, we were talking about Justin Fields as like, this is not going to go well.

Like, this is going to end poorly. Yeah. Fields is going to have to move on somewhere else. He's going to be a bus. Like, this is September. But then it's the bear, you know, it's a first year coaching staff with Chicago. They figured out how to use him, how to unlock those skills. And I think Anthony Richardson and Fields are different players, but it's going to take

Richardson going to a place like that where they understand how. how to unlock all this talent, how to corral it and then, you know, unleash it on the field. It's not as easy as, hey, just go do your thing. I will say it's different because in the NFL, it's unlikely that somebody is going to say, well, because of your speed, we're naturally going to use you as a read option guy. He's not a great read option guy. His read option instincts are not good in terms of when to pull, when to let the back take it. But that's not something you're going to have to do a ton in the NFL.

They're not worried about a lot of design quarterback run because that's going to get you beat up. So it may be that because that's what everybody wants him to be in college because that's what every coach kind of defaults to. If you've got a quarterback who can run like that, well, I'm going to put the ball in the back's belly and just freak out the defense. But in the NFL's a little different. But that's the part of what makes Richardson so talented, though, is that he has that in his toolbox, right? is he's, you know, as big as he is, but, you know, it's like, okay, if Ben Rothusberger could run a 4-4, you know, what would that look like? You know, and so, you know, not only are you that size, it's hard to get on the ground,

but, you know, if he has that type of speed, then, you know, you have to use it. You can't waste it. And so, you know, it's really going to be a fascinating evaluation for these teams. Not the talent, because, again, all 32 teams would love to have this talent on the roster. that they could develop. It's just, what's the asking price? Where do we have to draft this guy in order to get him on my team? And the answer to that from team to team is going to look a little different.

Yeah, I can't wait to find out where he ends up going because I'm with you. You could see him going in the first round. You could see him going in the bottom half of a second round and maybe in the early third. Like, it is very strange to see a guy this much of a mystery. The pre-draft process is going to be really important for him, just like the interviews, for teams to understand, okay, where is he mentally? You know, when he reads a defense, what is he seeing, you know, protections, you know, all these different things that it takes to play the quarterback position at a high level, you know, where is he in that development? You know, is he close? Is he pretty far away from that?

Is it come natural to him? I mean, there's a, and I don't know the answer to those questions. teams don't know the answer to those questions yet that's what these interviews are for in the pre-draft process to sit down with him put him on the whiteboard put up his tape from this year at florida and say okay hey what are you looking at here what are you asked to do what is the defense showing you and how does that affect what your decision making it like all the the answers of those questions is going to ultimately decide where he's drafted and obviously you know we don't have access to that exact information at this point but it's something that And that's why it's going to be a talking point throughout the process is because teams are going to use every minute they can between now and April to try to figure this guy out. Yeah. I just, I cannot wait because like you said, freak show athlete. I think people feel like we are exaggerating when we say this. But I just don't recall seeing anybody like this.

He's different. And that's what made. But it didn't translate on the field in college. when you have something like that, it should be a prohibitive advantage. And Florida, just, well, Dan Mullen, when he coached Florida, the guy who initially signed Anthony Richardson, he didn't start him. He kept him behind Emery Jones. And Emery Jones is not an NFL quarterback.

And then I, but Dan has a history of being loyal. Like, he wasn't going to start Kyle Trass till Felipe Franks got hurt. He almost didn't start Dak Prescott because. Tyler Russell was the guy, and then Tyler Russell got hurt. So when Malin was at Mississippi State. So we thought, okay, well, that's just his history. That's his personality. This new staff comes in, Billy Napier.

He had a quarterback named Levi Lewis before, who had done a lot of really good things at Louisiana Lafayette. And Levi Lewis actually helped Anthony Richardson learn this offense. And you're like, it's a 60% run offense. They're going to run the quarterback a ton. Then the guy they had brought in as a transfer to be their backup gets hurt early. They had no confidence in any of the backups. They don't run in very much. It's all just an odd situation. Yeah. Yeah, it is. It's funny, Levi Lewis, the exact opposite size wise. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean,

he's like five, nine, 180 pounds. And, uh, but yeah, no, it's, and that's never just, you know, I hear a lot about how, you know, college coaches it never assumed the college coach knows what he's doing. Like, I mean, it was so frustrating. trying to scout Kyle Trask and, you know, Emery Jones kept coming on the field. I'm like, what are you doing? Kyle Trask is your quarterback. He's the reason you're in this position, why you keep bringing this other guy in, like, let your starter start. Let him play.

And I mean, yeah, Dan Mullen was very frustrating, you know, with the way he operated with his quarterbacks. But at the same time, you know, Damien Pierce said it wasn't limited to quarterbacks. Yes, good point. Very, very good point. But, you know, it's, and that's why I bring up the pre-stant. draft interviews and how important that is just to understanding, you know, how much he knew the playbook, how diverse was the playbook, you know, just how much can we put on your plate? And that will help tell us, okay, this is going to be, like, we don't expect him to see the field

for two years. We are three, you know, we don't, you know, trying to figure out that trajectory is a big part of determining where you draft him. If you don't feel like he can get on the field for, you know, three years, then, I mean, that was a big deal with Malik Willis. know last year when we talked about a lot of people talking about oh he's going two overall to the lions or he's not getting out of the top 10 or is this people really underestimated how far away he was a year away from being a year away and that's he got he got drafted exactly where he should

have been drafted probably i mean yeah and that's and again a big part of that is he's just he's not going to see we've seen the field a couple times this year and you know you see how raw and inexperienced he is as a passer. And it's the same thing now, okay, with Anthony Richardson is, you know, how far away is he? I don't know the answer to those questions. And teams won't until they sit down with him to really, you know, peel back the layers and get a better sense for where he is mentally. Let's talk about some of these guys that have also already declared for the draft.

We're getting those every day. Right before we sat down and record this on Tuesday, Drew Sanders from Arkansas, declared for the draft. Joey Porter Jr. from Penn State. Obviously, we expected him to declare, but he is declared. And by the way, if you would like a handy guide at the athletic, we have a draft declaration tracker. So you want to go all the way down to Jacob Copeland at Maryland,

speaking of guys who signed with Anthony Richardson, who played with him in Florida. But Emmanuel Forbes, the corner at Mississippi State, another one we expected to be in this draft, and he's there. your guy Tucker Kraft has officially declared for the draft. But Drew Sanders is, they are. They are. Still in the playoffs.

So I'm glad he could just do that, though. It always drove me nuts when you had the guy who was obviously going out. He's obviously a first round prospect. He doesn't need to stay in school. And they're like, well, I'm not sure yet. I'll have to look at it after the season. We're not even thinking about it right now. Listen, we know you're interviewing agents.

You're doing it. Now you probably already have an agent. in the NIL days, but we know you're doing this, so just say it. Yeah. No, and I think it's, you know, you don't want to come off like you're abandoning your teammates or anything like that, but, you know, celebrate it. You know, especially a guy like Tucker Kraft from the FCS level. You know, everybody in that locker room knows he's different.

He's not like me. I'm a good player, but he's a great player. So, yeah, let's celebrate it a little bit. And so, yeah, the interesting, too, remember, I mean, it wasn't that long ago, we were talking about guys sitting out bowl games and, oh, man, he doesn't want to compete and, you know, this and that. And I mean, now it's kind of become the norm. Drew Sanders, yeah, he announced today he's going to declare.

He won't play in the bowl game. Anthony Richardson, not playing in the bowl game. It's becoming just, you know, very normal for a lot of these guys. Osiris Torrance, I don't think he's playing in the bowl game. You know, he had to announce he's a four-year-season. I'm not sure anybody from Florida is playing in the bowl game. Like, this is going to be a skeleton crew at the loss. Vegas bowl for them.

Hard to blame them. You know, it's one game that really doesn't mean all that much. It's not much on the line for me except potential to get hurt. And so, yeah, I'm going to take my chance now and go. So it's the way we view skipping a bowl game is drastically changed over the last five years. Yeah. And, you know, look, the Las Vegas Bowl against Oregon State. Now, Oregon State is going to crush Florida in this game because Oregon State's happy to be there.

and they're enjoying this trip. Florida, we have no idea who's going to play for them at this point. But that's very far down the chain. You know, you look at Ohio State. They had a player into the transfer portal yesterday, but he said, I'm going to play. He's a backup. He plays on special teams. He's like, I'm going to play in the playoffs.

Like, I'm not leaving the team. So if there are still stakes, the guys usually still play, just like your guy Tucker craft playing in the FCS playoffs. Yeah. And in that same vein, Jackson Smith of Jigba announced that he will not come back for the college football semis and will instead start preparing for the draft, which, you know, it's hard to blame him. I mean, if he were to push himself and try to play in that game and then, you know, damage that hamstring even more, it probably knocks him out of the entire pre-draft process. So if he's not feeling right, and I don't think this is a compete issue, okay? I mean, Jackson Smith of Jigba is one of the biggest competitors that I've scouted so far in this class in terms of the work ethic.

What he puts into this is, I mean, he's been training for this since he was five years old. This is a big time competitor. His brother is a major league baseball player. I mean, this is a family that understands professional sports and what it takes. Jackson Spitha Jigba has that mentality. So this is not a guy that's just trying to preserve himself, you know, just. for monetary reasons. If he could go, I think he would go.

Now, at the same time, it's just a bummer. We're not going to be able to see that Ohio State offense, you know, at 100%. At full strength. Ever. Right. It was the first two drives of the Notre Dame game and the opener, and that was all we got the entire year. So just a big bummer, just from an entertainment value standpoint.

But not a surprise, Smith and Jigba going to be in this draft class. I had them going late one in my mock draft. I think that's, you know, probably somewhere in that 20, a 50 range is where he's going to end up and he's going to be a pretty good pro. Now would he be there if he'd been healthy and had a great year this year where would he be higher? I see, I think that he's always going to be in that range. I do think it's a missed opportunity for him to maybe show, because last year he was with Garrett Wilson and Chris Alabe, you know, two of up and coming stars.

And Marvin Harrison Jr. was coming up behind him. And Ibuka, too. Yeah, no doubt. And so, you know, a lot of people will say, oh, you know, the coverage is focusing on Wilson or Olavay. And that opened things up in the middle for Smith and Jigba. That's why he led the team in catches. But he also set a Big Ten record for receiving yards. And that doesn't happen by accident.

But, you know, with him being the guy, it would have been nice to see how he operated in that offense. We see him more outside because he was pretty strictly a sloth. lot guy last year. Could we see a more outside? Could we see a more diverse role for him? You know, just with the way that he worked in that offense. And how would that have affected C.J. Stroud's evaluation? Because Stroud, he, you know, you think of Olavay and Garrett Wilson and Marvin Harrison. Stroud is very emphatic that Smith and Jigba is the best route runner on that team, the best route runner he's ever played with. And so, you know, what does that do for Stroud's evaluation in terms of better understanding where he's at.

So it's just a bummer overall. I still think no matter what Smith & Jigba was going to be in that late one, early two range. I've said this before, but I know one team that gave him a third round grade. But he's just, wow. He's too good of a player. You know, because he's probably going to run in the low four-fives. Like he's not a burner. You know, a lot of teams think he's a slot only.

you know so that's why he's not a universally loved first round stamped player but still he's a really good guy a really good player who's going to be in the NFL for a long time so that's why he still made it my first round mock draft it's why I still think he has a good chance to go there yeah I'm excited to see him get on the field again because I have a feeling it's going to be one of the situations where people forgot how good he was and he's going to get drafted late in the draft go to a or late in the first round go to a good team and people are like oh crap we let him go to them yeah i mean what he did in that rose bowl that's that's all you need to see like i don't i don't think he needed this year to for you to know how good he is i mean it's all on tape

from last year it would have been nice to see him this year but not necessary he's i think i think you're right he's a just a really good player who's going to remind us next year well speaking of hamstrings and elite talents i got to see caleb williams in person on friday night at the at the Pac-12 championship game, and good God, is he special? He is. And we knew that on TV, but in person, it's, when you see him escape a sure sack and just keep a play alive and keep his eyes downfield and make something happen. And then actually, I was probably more impressed after the injury with some of the things he was doing.

Because you knew he was hobbled. I didn't know exactly what had happened. I knew something was wrong. I thought it was his knee at first because he kept grabbing that. But there's a throw he makes where he's already been hurt. And he's not been moving great. He's been taking sacks, kind of giving himself up because he just knows he can't move. Where he just says, you know what?

Screw it. I'm moving here. And rolls out to the right and off his back foot hits Jordan. The E.B slipped, but there's no reason that Caleb Williams should have been able to get out with a bad hamstring and make this throw off of one foot as he was about to get hit. And it's just incredible. So I was really impressed. Now, I talked to some people about this over the weekend. If you're Lincoln Riley, do you play Caleb Williams in this bowl game or you just say, hey, look, man, let's just chill and get ready for you to maybe try to win another Heisman.

Yeah, I mean, I guess, you know, the, the Hysmans will already be done by that point. You know, there's really not a ton on the line there. Just get ready for next year, get healthy. But, I mean, I just, I think for your receivers and I don't know what their backup situation looks like, but, you know, for the rest of the players on that team, I don't know. I still think if you're the coach, you want to play them. Because you don't, you know, you don't want to leave your other players hanging. you want to give them the best chance to win to go out with.

They're playing Tulane. They have a pretty good chance to win anyway. Sure, no, but I mean, I don't know. That defense, with what I saw, I mean, I'll be eager to get your thoughts on. The defense is terrible. It's terrible. I mean, it's really bad. Tulane's got a really good running back sharp,

who reminds me a lot of James Cook last year, Georgia, was a second round pick of the bills. So, I mean, I don't know. I mean, Tulane, yeah, USC the better team. they're going to be favored, no doubt. But that defense can't stop anybody. So I don't know. I'd like to see Caleb Williams out there and, you know, one last hurrah with that, with that squad.

But yeah, yeah, he had 363 yards in that game against Utah. And that's with being injured with that Utah, a really good Utah defense. And with them just, once they knew he was, he was hobbled a little bit, they just kind of, yeah, let loose. And so for him to, the courage to stay back there, stay patient, let route. develop. I mean, there were, I tweeted the, the clip of the one dig throw that he had that was just, you know, a guy right in his face and the armed talent to make that throw, just unbelievable. So, yeah, he's, he's, I mean, any chance that he doesn't win the Heisman next week? No, he's, he's going to win. He's going to. I agree. I can't imagine who would, who else would

have gotten that many first place votes across the, the whole country. Now, so I don't want to get, I don't want to deal too much in hyperbole. But I'm thinking about the Lincoln Riley quarterback since Lincoln Riley has been an offensive coordinator slash head coach. And it feels like Caleb Williams combines a lot of the best traits of them. Because he's not as fast as Kyler, but he's bigger. He's still very fast, still at times, you know, one of the fastest players on the field. And very good at like Kyler. Yes. And like Kyler, good at keeping plays alive behind the line of scrimmage, letting receivers get open, forcing D.Bs to cover. Intelligence-wise, Jalen Hertz and Baker Mayfield, who are both very smart guys, very similar to that. Not the power of Jalen Hertz as a runner, but definitely a more physical runner than Kyler was. So it's very interesting to see him in that offense.

which Lincoln is always very good at designing his offense around the best traits of the QB. The thing is this guy's traits are, they're all great. Like there's not one thing he does bad. There's not even a thing he's average at. He's just really above average at everything. Yeah. I mean, it's hard to disagree. I mean, he's not, I guess size wise, you wish he was a little bit bigger.

But, I mean, that, that's, we're picking nits here, you know? Like, it's not like it's a fatal flaw for him. Yeah. And he also has that arm, you know, the arm angle versatility that you usually see in guys that played a bunch of different sports. But he's been training for this this whole life just in football. But he looks like one of those guys who played like four sports who's just like, I'm going to figure out how to get this done kind of. Drake May does a lot of that. Yeah.

And that's being able to throw off platform from different angles. To be able to find the passing lanes, that's what you have to do as a quarterback. And he does it as well as anybody. He has more touchdowns this year against the Blitz than anybody else in America. I mean, he is really good when teams try to come after him. He has answers to the test. And that's something that a lot of quarterbacks, you know, they falter. They fall apart.

And they're not able to step up like that. And that's, you love to see that as you evaluate for the next level. Because in the NFL, you're seeing constant pressure. You have to be able to deal with it. That's why, you know, I'm as high as I am on Bryce Young. That's why even a guy like Jay Caner from Fresno State who just accepted his senior bowl invite, I'm a big Jay Caner fan because he understands, I mean, that game against UCLA last year is stuff of legends. I mean, it's something that.

That last throw is unbelievable. Like, if you have not seen it, go to YouTube and watch. Jay Caner, UCLA 2021. Your mouth will drop. He's a warrior, man. I mean, and, you know, he plays with such confidence. And he's a guy that's small. He's six foot, 210 pounds.

His arm is good, not great. So the physical traits do not wow you. In a lot of ways, he's kind of like the Bryce Young of the West Coast. Now he's, you know, going to be a day three pick, not a first round pick like Bryce Young. But if I'm going to bet on one of these day three, quarterbacks, you know, big fan of Clayton 2, and big fan of Aiden O'Connell, big fan of Jake Hainer.

You know, we talked at the top how some of these quarterbacks are going to go back because of NIL money. This draft still has some pretty intriguing quarterback options on day three. I think that Hainer is going to play in the NFL for a long time as a backup. Well, it's interesting because we mentioned earlier in the show, Brock Purdy, and he got thrown into this situation when Jimmy Garoppolo got hurt.

Obviously, this is not what the Niners expected. They thought Trey Lance would be their starter. He's down and Jimmy G. becomes the guy. Brock, I covered a lot at Iowa State. I did a big thing on him in the pre-draft process. And, you know, his whole mindset going in was, I kind of want to have Chase Daniel's career. Like, he wasn't expecting any of this. But I will say watching him against the Dolphins, he came in prepared.

And he looked like he was ready to play. Now, it helps that the 49ers have that offensive line that Trent Williams is there to help you out. And they had that run game that the defense has to respect no matter what. But typically, if you're throwing a seventh round rookie quarterback in, he's going to poop all over himself, especially against a good team like the Dolphins. He did just fine. Yeah, well, I think his whole thing is when he's in rhythm, he looks really, really good.

He executes at a high level. He knows where to go with the football. But when he gets out of rhythm, that's when things start to fall apart a little bit. But Kyle Shanahan is so good at keeping his quarterbacks in rhythm with the play call, with utilizing all the talent around him, the versatility of a Christian McCaffrey, of a Debo Samuel. I mean, Shanahan is so good at utilizing all those things. And with a quarterback like Brock Purdy, he's really good at keeping him in rhythm. And so it was a great spot for him to land because I think that's what unlocks him as a quarterback.

And so a really good marriage. You know, it's obviously it changes. what we think of the 49ers in terms of legit super bowl. Yeah, exactly. But at the same time, we shouldn't be surprised if Purdy, you know, rips off a few wins here, you know, maybe even in the playoffs. Like, he's not an incapable quarterback. This is kind of what happened to him at Iowa State as a freshman.

He wasn't really supposed to play. They had an older guy who was supposed to play. He got hurt. Brock had to come in and Brock never let the job go. So it's fun. to watch him because he he does some crazy now he will he will drive you nuts sometimes he will he will do some oh no no no oh yes kind of plays and in the NFL those are usually more oh no than than oh yes so i but i'm excited for him because he was always one of my favorite guys to cover you know his his

story's great it he was so they have the early signing period now for high schoolers where the they sign in most of the guys in december and then they can sign again in february brock was was a was going into college the first year of that. And so the first signing day, first early signing day ever in December 2017, he's sitting there at home. This is the day before he gets offered by Boise State. He's never seen Boise State. He's never been to Boise State.

He's from Metro Phoenix. And didn't understand why nobody was offering him. Dad had been a minor league baseball player. He had just set all these records in the state of Arizona. But nobody, nobody was interested. And Boise State offers, he's like, Listen, I've never even seen your campus. Is there any chance that the offer's still good if I don't take it right now,

and I can just sign in February after I visit and see if I like you? And so they say, yeah, that's fine, which is a big mistake by Boise State, because what happened is nobody knew how coaches would react to that early signing period. And when 90% of the signees signed in December, the guys who didn't have a quarterback in the class were like, oh, crap, what do we do now? So Brock Purdy became the hottest commodity ever. Iowa State gets him in there early for a visit and they offer him and he really hit it off of Matt Campbell. But then Alabama, like basically, there was a quarterback coach in Arizona who called a guy at Alabama for a favor.

And like, hey, can you look at this guy's tape? Is he good enough for a preferred walk-on? If he is, can just give him a preferred walk-on offer so that we can drum up some interest. And so they look at the tape and they call back, they're like, no, no, he has a real. He has a scholarship offer. And so Alabama, Texas, A&M, UCF come in, but he really liked Matt Campbell. That's why he went to Iowa State. And then you got the month of Brock Tober every year where he would just go bananas.

So I'm excited to see that. When the really fun guys from college football, who you didn't know if you'd see him again in the NFL, when all of a sudden they're thrust in the spotlight, it's a lot of fun. No, no doubt. And, you know, I love Matt Campbell. I mean, he talks highly about most of his players. But he did say, I mean, he told me that Brock was the most competitive player he's ever been around. And, you know, that may be a little hyperbole, but it also says a lot about the player.

And, you know, he's got those Gardner Minshu quads. Like, I don't know if you've ever seen Gardner Minchew in person, but he has massive quads. And Purdy has those massive, like, quads way too big for his body. Yeah. Well, and he's a family of athletes, like you said. His dad was a college baseball player, played in the minor leagues for a while. His sister was a softball player in college. His younger brother.

Chubba's at Nebraska. Yeah, he was at Florida State, right? And then he transferred to Nebraska. So, yeah, it comes from a family of athletes. And, you know, it's, I was a little surprised he was drafted. I mean, I guess it did come with the last pick. But still, I mean, he's got his opportunity. He's making the most of it so far.

Yeah, it's going to be fun to watch. Listen, if you're going to get thrown into the fire, at least be thrown into the fire with Trent Williams as your left tackle. Yeah, that's not a bad, best strategy to have, that's for sure. That's living right. All right, Dane, this has been a lot of fun, but next week, I think we're having an even better idea of who's in the draft. They'll weigh their NIL deals versus their potential draft stock. We'll have a little bit of better idea who's playing in the All-Star games. We can break down some of the rosters that we know.

know already for the All-Star games. We got to talk about North Dakota State's fullback. I mean, we haven't talked about him yet. We got to get some hot fullback talk in here somewhere. So this has been quite a college football season. And now it's all-star time. Some of these guys may blow up in a bowl game, but a lot of these guys may skip their bowl games.

And it's time to get going. It's time for some real heavy-duty evaluation now that we know who, who's really going to be the draft. Talk to you next week. Sounds good. This was the athletic football show.