The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Prospects to Pros: Hendon Hooker, Bryce Young impress & more 2023 NFL Draft implications

Episode Date: October 19, 2022

Andy Staples and Dane Brugler discuss their takeaways from a wild weekend in college football. They talk about the battle between Hendon Hooker and Bryce Young and the other top prospects on display in Tennessee’s win over Alabama. Plus, do college offenses make it difficult to truly scout a QB for the NFL? They talk about Justin Fields and Bailey Zappe before diving into a big week for Kayvon Thibodeaux and Brian Robinson Jr.’s amazing comeback. They wrap by looking ahead to C.J. Stroud vs. the Iowa defense, Syracuse at Clemson and much more.Subscribe to the TAFS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6gWjMSDj7-8j3iCc2ZGo3g1:11-13:36 Bryce Young vs. Hendon Hooker observations13:37-22:26 Scouting QB’s in different college offenses and how it translates to the NFL (Justin Fields, Bailey Zappe)22:29-35:00 USC-Utah & Alabama-Tennessee takeaways35:04-41:49 NFL rookies (Kayvon Thibodeaux, Sauce Gardner, Tariq Woolen, Brian Robinson Jr.)41:50-51:20 What to watch this weekend Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show. Welcome to Prospects to Pros, where we talk about the guys that are headed to the NFL, the guys that just got to the NFL, and everything in between. I am Andy Staples, joined now by the athletics draft guru Dane Bruegler. Dane, this was an incredible weekend of football. There are a couple games that happened Saturday that there was so much going on. We could probably fill an entire show just talking about the Tennessee, Alabama game and the USC Utah game from a draft standpoint. But it was just unbelievable. No doubt.

It's so much fun. I mean, it was from start to finish. I mean, the noon games, the afternoon games, the late games, the Utah coming back and going for the two-point conversion to win the game. But you're right. I mean, I think we have to start with the Alabama, Tennessee. matchup and everything that was going on in that one. And really, when you think about it, it was kind of like the college version of Mahomes and Josh Allen, you know, just two big-time quarterbacks at the college level,

just throwing haymakers back and forth, back and forth. And it just came down to who's going to have the ball last. And if Jemir Gibbs catches that little dump-off pass, then Alabama in the final minute, Alabama probably wins. that game. They get closer, new set of downs, kick a field goal, win that game. He doesn't catch that pass. They miss the field goal. Tennessee gets it back. Henn and Hooker makes two unbelievable passes down the field to get them in field goal range and then make a clutch kick to win the game. So just an amazing game, a lot of different storylines from a draft perspective in this one for sure.

Oh, absolutely. And, you know, Bryce Young, we already knew we came into the season thinking this is a top prospect defending Heism trophy winner he's coming back off an injury is he going to be okay what happens if he takes him hits well he took a bunch of hits he was still okay I just I love watching Bryce Young play and we talk about this a little bit on my show after the game where

if you watch him and he's in such command of everything and after those big hits he would pop right up and it's always a thumbs up to the offensive line or to the receiver that he's that he's dealing with. If a receiver makes a mistake, he's coming to him after the play and just reassuring him. It feels like he's in complete control at all times. And I don't know about you again because it's very hard to draft on intangibles.

And obviously that is something you're looking for at the quarterback position. But it feels like it shows with him more than a lot of other people you see at this level in college where he is in command, he does have control, the sort of stuff you see with Josh Allen, with Patrick Mahomes, with Aaron Rogers, with the good NFL quarterbacks, who whatever happens on the field,

you kind of know they've got this. He's kind of immune to letdown. You know, like he just, he's in the moment, and if something doesn't go according to plan, he's got a plan B, plan C, plan. And I mentioned it before, but he's a problem solver.

And that's the thing I love so much about Bryce Young, no matter what happens, he's got an answer. And he was, I was blown away by his tape of this game. I flagged maybe 12, 13 plays, because I did a film room up on the athletic right now of some of my favorite plays from the tape from the weekend. And I couldn't decide which Bryce Young play I wanted to use. He had a throw where, you know, the touchdown to Cameron Latu,

where he does a Steph Curry and he's running towards a sideline before a lot to even catches it. He had a couple explosives. He had a couple. The placement was just pinpoint. I mean, there were so many examples of him getting outside the pocket and just toying with the defense, with the pass rush, buying those extra half seconds to give his guys a chance to get open. He does so much from the pocket, from behind the line of scrimmage to be creative. Now, that's also part of where, you know, talking about it.

about his next level transition, can that work in the NFL? You know, we've seen Patrick Mahomes run around and, you know, running circles and buy extra time. But, you know, Bryce Young has to do a better job at times of not taking those hits, of taking care of his body, because he's, he just doesn't have the frame to do it. So I think that while it's unbelievable what he's doing for Alabama, at the same time, he does need to protect himself a little bit better. But with that said, I think you're on point exactly when you talk about the it factor, the intangibles, the clutch gene, whatever you want to call it, whatever cliche you want to come up with, he's got it.

And it's just, it's so much fun. Henan Hooker had a great game. I mean, five touchdowns. What he did was outstanding. I mean, Brayshung was, I mean, he was a better quarterback. But Tennessee was definitely the better team. They got the victory. So it's just a fun game.

Well, let's talk about Henan Hooker. conveniently enough, you had a breakdown of Hinden Hooker that posted Friday before the game, and very good timing by you. But Hooker is one of those guys that we were not necessarily talking about in the context of the draft going into this season. I think everybody who follows college football knew that he had a great year last year in his first year in Josh Hyple's offense. His story is really interesting because he was a starting quarterback at Virginia Tech. It was very strange the end of the time there with Justin Fuente. who was the coach who got fired after last season.

But Hooker was a starting quarterback. It was clear he's not going to be the starter in 2021. So he leaves. He goes to Tennessee. And it was at the time that Jeremy Pruitt was still Tennessee's head coach. Pruitt gets fired, I want to say 12 days after Hooker transferred. And Hooker's like, well, I'm going to give it a shot. And he goes through spring with the old Pruitt QBs and Josh Heipel's there.

But nobody really kind of wows the coaching. staff. And so they bring in Joe Milton, who's a transfer from Michigan, who if you ever watch Joe Milton practice, he looks like the greatest quarterback who ever played football. And you would never start anybody else over him. And that's what happened is Joe Milton wins a starting job out of camp. But some of the same issues pop up when he's playing in games where he tends to overthrow people a little bit. He gets dinged up in their Pittsburgh game last year. Handen Hooker comes in, basically wins the job and never gives it back. This is his first full off-season. season with Josh Heiple as the guy.

And all of a sudden, he's just really blossomed. But he is 24 years old. So his age from a draft standpoint is an issue. And you kind of wonder, okay, what happened before? Why wasn't it like this all along? But Dane, what we saw Saturday was, again, a quarterback in command who can make a whole lot of throws. And oh, by the way, if you see it in Hooker in person,

he's massive. He's 6, 4, 6.5, 230 pounds and can move. Yeah, he's, his exact measurements from the spring from a scout, 6.3.5, 225 pounds. He's got a big wing span,

some of the biggest hands in the draft, 10 and a half inch hands. So the guy, frame-wise, just passes the eye test. There's no doubt about it. And I think I'm just so impressed with his operational control. his ability to run that offense, have full ownership with a line of scrimmage.

There are many times where he'll change the protections based off his pre-snap read. He knows where to go with the football. It's a very quarterback friend of the offense. There's just, there's no way around that. That's a fact. The up-tempo nature of the offense, the way, a lot of times, they're, you know, they're lining up. They have three receivers wide. All three receivers are outside the numbers.

They do a lot of stack receiver formations. So a lot of things that stresses out that defense and forces the defense to play in space. And it makes it for a really challenging way to stop that offense. And I think you brought up an interesting point with Hooker is the age. He's a six-year senior. He's going to be 25 years old when he's drafted. So here, let's play a quick game here. I didn't tell you about this, but I'll be interested to get your answers here.

Who is older? Quentin Williams is younger than Hennon Hooker. I know this. Well, I'm just going to keep it to quarterbacks, okay? So who is older, Hennon Hooker, or Trevor Lawrence? Hennon Hooker's older. Yes, that is correct. Hended Hooker or two in Taka-Valoa?

Let's see. No, they would have been, they were the same recruiting class, so they're probably pretty close. I'd say Hennon's probably still older. That is correct. Uh, last one. Justin Herbert or Hendon Hooker? Justin Herbert probably a little bit older. He played four years at Oregon, 16, 17, 18, 19.

Yeah, so Justin Herbert's probably a little older. Hendon Hooker's two months older. Really? Whoa. That was, that one surprised me too. I did not expect that. Oh, well, Justin Herbert's a boy genius. Right.

So he would have started college closer to, closer to 17, to 19. Yeah, so Henan Hooker turns 25 in January. Justin Herbert doesn't turn 25 until March. So just, yeah, kind of crazy. And what the age thing, you know, I think it matters for some positions, doesn't matter for others. It matters for some organizations. Doesn't matter for others. You know, we've seen, there's not a great track record of older quarterbacks coming in and, you know, being stars. I mean, you know, Brandon Weedon's obviously the most famous one. in terms of first round picks, at least in the one. Yeah, who, you know, wasn't drafted very high.

I mean, Kenny Pickett is a 24-year-old rookie, so that's, you know, closer, I guess. It's more of a recent thing, and obviously we don't know much about Kenny Pickett as a pro just yet. But it's an interesting wrinkle to his evaluation, because not only do you have him as a player, the offense that he's coming from, but then you also factor in the age. And I think for some teams, it'll matter a little bit. Other teams, I don't think it'll matter all that much. And then the other factor is, okay, well, are we talking about Henan Hooker as a top 20 pick?

We talk about Henan Hooker as a top 50 pick, a top 100 pick. You know, where, because obviously if you're talking about him as a top 100 pick, I don't think age matters as much as if you're talking about him as a top 20 pick. So that's also where the age will factor in. Me personally, I don't see Henan Hooker as a first round player just yet. I'm not there with him. I'm blown away by how he's performed this year.

A lot of things about Henan Hooker I like. And I think there's a lot of parallels to say like Gino Smith, who is doing a really nice job with the Seahawks as a starter. I think there's some parallels there. So Henan Hooker, I like quite a bit. And I give him all the credit for how he performed in that game against Alabama on that defense. Well, and it's interesting because that offense has yet to produce an NFL

quarterback that's effective. So that offense is the old Baylor offense. It's the Art Bryle's offense. And obviously when I bring up that name, it brings up some other off the field stuff. But from an on-field standpoint, it was an offense that lit up the Big 12. They were actually very insular about it. They were not a big sharing staff. They did not like to let other people in and show them what they were doing.

But after Art Barrels got fired at Baylor, they did sort of, open the doors a little bit. Some of those other coaches, Dino Babers is one of those guys. Kendall Bryle's son, who's the offensive coordinator, Arkansas, Jeff Levy, the offensive coordinator,

Oklahoma, who is Art Burrell's son-in-law. Those guys have shared a little more, have clinicked a little bit. And so Josh Heipal was one of the people who benefited from that. He took a lot of pieces of that offense. You mentioned receivers lining up outside of the numbers. That's a hallmark of that offense.

So why do they do that? It is to force your safeties to declare their intentions, essentially. Are you going to load the box or are you going to try to cover these guys on the outside? And you have to make that decision. The quarterback's going to count the box. If you're light, he's handing off or maybe keeping and running. If you're heavy, he's throwing a one of those guys. And it is very quarterback friendly.

But my guy, Bryce Petty, I love Bryce Petty. It didn't work out. real well in the NFL for him. That hasn't happened yet. But it's interesting because I wanted to talk to you about this in a bigger context because John Hayes, who produces my show over on the college side, was asking, you know, does the Ohio state offense, did it mask something with Justin Fields? Because, you know, you're looking at Justin Fields.

I was watching that game Thursday night. Justin Fields has only attempted 115 passes. It's almost like they're scared to have him. throw and it looks like he's kind of taking a snap, looking, reading one guy, and then if it's not there, he's bailing and running. And the question was, is there something in the Ohio State offense that masked that struggling to read part of it? And the answer is probably maybe not the Ohio State offense, but Ohio State having

better receivers than anybody else, somebody's always open. So if your first read's not there and your second read's not there, well, that's never going to happen because one of those guys is going to be open. But I'm curious about how the college offense affects the guys because we've seen air raid quarterback succeed now. Like Patrick Mahomes is succeeding. And before Patrick Mahomes, it was nobody from the air raid can succeed. And I know Art Browles did work for Mike Leach for a time. Not the same offense. Two different offenses.

But there is a pure air raid quarterback right now who's a rookie who didn't need the red shirt ear that Patrick Mahomes did. Now, I'm not comparing this guy to Patrick Mahomes, so don't kill me here. But Bailey Zappy played in a pure air raid offense at Houston Baptist and at Western Kentucky under Zach Kittley. And he's succeeding in the NFL as it were as a backup who has been thrust into action as a rookie. So is it the quarterback or the offense or a mixture of both? But just as a quick aside, Bailey Zappi came very, very close to transferring to Tennessee instead of Western Kentucky. And then when Pruitt was fired, he decided to go to Western Kentucky. And, you know, not.

But if he would have went to Tennessee and battled out with Hendon Hooker last year, that would have been a fascinating sliding doors moment in terms of how. things would have went. But I think it worked out for the best for everybody, except for Jeremy Pruitt, I guess. But, yeah, back to the original point. It's a fascinating. If Jeremy Pruitt had still been there,

it would have been the worst decision of Bailey's after his life because they made the job of quarterback so difficult under Jeremy Pruitt that it is amazing they ever got a snap off. Yeah, there's no doubt. And listen, there's nothing more annoying to me. then when I hear, oh, this player went to this school, so he's not going to be good in the NFL. It drives me nuts because it doesn't, there's no tangible reason except your helmet scouting.

And so I think it's easy to blame, you know, an offensive system. But, you know, to your point, if you just would have said Patrick Mahomes is not going to be a good NFL quarterback because Texas Tech didn't produce any NFL quarterback before, you're missing out on a really good quarterback. last time LSU produced a really good quarterback. So is that eliminate Joe Burrow from consideration? But and then, okay, well, people come back and say, well, Ohio States had multiple first round bust if you consider Dwayne Haskins and Justin Fields, if you want to call Fields a bust at this point. And I think that, first of all, it's too early on Fields.

You know, we'll see how that plays out. Second of all, neither of those guys, Haskins or Fields were viewed as no-brainer got, Neither went top 10. It's not like these were slam-dunked-th. They're going to be studs. They had question marks coming out. I mean, Justin Fields was my number four quarterback that year for a reason. So, you know, I think that it's easy to pick on the offense,

but it's Ryan Day talking to him about that Ohio State offense and the play calling. He focuses on one thing, and that's constructing the offense to fit the strengths of the quarterback. So are there wholesale changes to the playbook? No, not necessarily from quarterback to quarterback, but you look at Haskins, you look at Fields, you look at Stroud. These guys are all so very different in terms of their strengths. And you can see that in the play calling. Stroud is not doing the same exact things that Fields did. And just like Fields did not do the same things that Haskins did.

You know, they did a lot of things with Fields to utilize his athleticism. With Stroud, we're seeing a lot more RPO's with Ryan Day. Because Stroud is better at making those quick reads. his eye discipline is much better than Fields. And the fact that he's not a runner like Fields, so those RPOs, they hold the backside, they give Stroud an extra half second to execute. And that's something that really bothered me with Fields,

is he's very methodical. That's something that you saw at Ohio State, you're still seeing it in Chicago, and it really stems from his undeveloped field vision. The timing between progressions, his ability to work opposite side, to let his preferred route come open. Those things just were not, they did not come very easy to fields.

And that's something that really bothered me as a prospect, bothered me for him as a prospect. So I think that so much about playing quarterback is eliminating things quickly. And that's something where I think Stroud has a clear advantage. That's something where we can throw on the Ohio State tape and see him do that. And even though some of the play calling and things like that are the same, what they're asked to do when that offense is different. And so I think, you know, now at the same time, I don't want to sound like I'm picking on fields because one area that I worry about Stroud where I love Justin Fields with the athleticism. And that's something that I really worry about Stroud at the next level in terms of can he create outside of structure. That wasn't a concern with Fields.

We know he had the speed. We knew he had, you know, just that ability to improvise when things break down, when things don't go according to plan. those playmaking instincts take over. Now, Stroud, he is surgical when he's in rhythm, but when protection breaks down and he needs to create, can he do it consistently? That's something I don't think we've seen on a consistent basis at Ohio State. Now, you know, you watched the Michigan tape last year, where that defensive line, was just all over the Ohio State backfield.

Stroud really struggled. And part of that is, you know, the offensive lines fault and not giving him the quarterback a chance to make a play. but Stroud has to be able to create because in the NFL 60% of the time, plays don't go exactly according to plan. Something happens, you know, either based on the pressure package, based off the coverage, based off of the offense not being, you know, perfectly in sync, whatever it is, you have to be able to play outside of structure.

And that's something that I worry about with Stroud. So, you know, back to your original point and the question about the Ohio State offense, I think that, you know, it's every, you know, every college offense is trying to make the quarterback's job easier. This isn't an Ohio state thing. You know, we just got done talking about Tennessee in that offense. The job of a play caller at the college level is not to prepare these guys for the NFL. Their job is to win games. It's to make the job easier of the quarterback so we can put points on the board.

So this is not something that is, you know, germane to Ohio State or some of these other offenses. It's every offense in college football. It's just you have to take each individual quarterback, break down the traits, break mental and physical, and really build them back up and figure out, okay, how is this going to translate, which obviously is a big reason why quarterback's so hard to project and scout for the next level. It is amazing because until you've really seen them in that environment at that level, you don't know.

I will be curious as the transfer portal becomes more of a, a thing, will it be easier or harder to scout these guys when they've played in multiple offenses? Because Hinden Hooker is a good example of that. He did play in multiple offenses. He played something different at Virginia Tech, completely different than what he's playing in at Tennessee. Justin Fields, the Georgia thing doesn't really count because he didn't start and was just kind of using spot duty. So, but you're going to see guys who start at multiple schools in multiple offenses. And so you might get a little more, of a picture.

And so Hinden Hooker may be kind of the, uh, one of the test cases for that. Did want to move on to, to out west that, that USC Utah game where there was just a lot of, a lot going on to, to look at from a scouting standpoint. You had Jordan Addison against Clark Phillips,

one of the best wide receiver cornerback matchups that you're going to see in college football this year. And then, uh, and then Dalton Kincaid from Utah with, just a monster, monster game. Yeah, with the Addison Phillips matchup, two guys that, a little undersized, both of them. And so, you know, they're still making their case why they should be considered first-round picks.

I'm given the edge to Addison in this matchup. I thought he was, there are some of his routes that he runs, and you swear you're watching Stefan Diggs. You know, he's so electric. That lower-body twitch that he has is really, really, really. fun to watch. That little pivot route he had near the goal line that Clark Phillips had to hold him, got the penalty because of it.

Addison, there's a third and 15 later on. They put a nasty route on. I got a 30-yard gain. So Addison, I think, won the matchup. But Phillips had his share of positive plays too. His ability to drive on the football, knock the ball out, did that a few times. So both of these players are really talented. We'll be playing in the NFL next year as long as they declare.

Addison, we have to have to mention a little sobering how he injured his lower leg. It looked like a knee, I think. He was on crutches in the fourth quarter. It was really cool to see Steve Smith, the Utah alum, kind of taking him under his wing and propping him up a little bit in the fourth quarter. That was cool to see on the sideline. Well, if Steve Smith respects you as a receiver, that means you are a damn good receiver. That's that guy is the. is the definition of a dog.

We may not see Jordan Addison again until he's playing in the NFL depending on the severity of that injury. So I hope he's going to be all right. He's fantastic to watch. USC will have to kind of expand out and spread the ball around Mario Williams will get more targets, obviously,

and you're just going to have to see Caleb Williams try to develop some more receivers, and that's a good guy to catch balls from. But I did want to go back to Alabama and Tennessee. One more thing that I forgot to ask you about, are the Tennessee receivers? You know, we came into the season knowing about Cedric Tillman. He was the first 1,000-yard receiver in Tennessee since Justin Hunter in 2012 and looked to be kind of climbing draft boards. He had a high ankle sprain early in the season.

He's been out since then. I think we're going to see him. Probably we'll see him again when they play Kentucky, not this weekend, but next weekend. but he had the tightrope procedure on his ankle, the one to a tongue of Iloa had before the Orange Bowl a few years ago. But Jalen Hyatt, five touchdown catches, 207 receiving yards on, I think on six catches. It was obscene.

And then Brew McCoy also with maybe the biggest catch of the season there on that last drive. Yeah. And I wrote last week in my draft watch article how the most interesting prospect versus prospect match was going to be Jalen Hyatt in the slot versus Brian Branch or whatever, whatever nickel defender was going to be covering him. And Hyatt stepped up to the plate and was exactly that.

I mean, he showed he's one of the SEC's most dynamic weapons because of that speed. I mean, you can see, you know, a little bit of like a Will Fuller type of prospect with him because his ability to eat up yardage so quickly, he's on top of corners and he's past him. he in college or in high school he ran a 10-4-600 meters which is unbelievable and he also had a 40-yard dash laser timed in the high 4-2s low 4-3s so he's a guy that has speed and I think the biggest difference for jalen hyatt this season compared to you know what I saw over the summer was just the trust in his hands he's not a body catcher who is you're going to have these focus drops and I mean, he trusts his hands, even those deep shots.

He's not bringing it to his body to secure him. He's using his hands to catch the ball away from his frame. It's really impressive to watch. So I think Jalen Hyatt's a guy that, now, he's not running the full route tree. There's some things about his NFL transition that are still question marks. So it's not like this guy is all of a sudden going to be a, you know, top pick or anything like that. There's still some question marks. He needs to answer.

But when you have speed like that and you have trust in your hands, he has shown, and you're the only, at this point, the only player in college football with double-digit receiving touchdowns, that's going to get noticed pretty quickly. And so, yeah, his arrow is for sure pointing up in the eyes of scouts. And how about Brew McCoy? Because he's one that it was a major recruit. Everybody was very excited about him coming out of high school. But his career up to this point was not what was expected. He went to Texas. He was committed to USC, went to Texas, transferred. back to USC,

underwhelmed at USC, but now seems to be coming into his own at Tennessee. Yeah, and it's good to see because, you know, obviously there was, you heard so much about Brew McCoy, but not for stuff that was going on in the field. And so it's just,

it's good to see him on the field and producing for things that he's, you know, catching footballs. And so he's got that, that frame that you want. He's a good-sized target. I think he's got better speed than I expected. I mean, he's on verticals.

He can sneak by corners. After the catch, he's much better than I expected to. He's big and physical, but he's got a little juice to him. So he can fight through tackle attempts. He's got a stiff arm. He's a dangerous yak player. And so, yeah, Brew McCoy is definitely a guy on the radar. Tennessee's wide receiver depth chart.

I mean, if we're going to rank the best wide receiver depth charts in college football, I mean, Tennessee's top five, no doubt. It's just a matter of, okay, how close to Ohio State are they? Are there two behind Ohio State? Are they, you know, where does USC fit in there? There's a couple other teams. So it's Tennessee.

That's as much of a part of their success. Not to take anything away from Hendon Hooker because he's been fantastic. But I don't think the receivers get enough love for their impact on this Tennessee offense. And I throw the offensive line in there as well. Will Anderson, you didn't hear his name once. He had only one pressure the entire game against Tennessee. And now part of that was Alabama scheme and the way they were using him.

They didn't ask him to just pin his ears back and get after the quarterback. But give credit to darn all right at right tackle. Just a massive guy who is not the most flexible, not the most in terms of his ability to move and redirect. It's not what you want for the next level, but he's big, he's stout. And the way he's played this year, I think he's put himself in a draftful territory. He was a free agent over the summer by scouts. he's put himself in that draftable range. Well, and we also do need to point out Tennessee offensive tackle Jeremiah Crawford.

Not necessarily for his draft prospects. I don't know how big of a draft prospect he is. He's not usually the starter at left tackle. That's Gerald Mency. But Crawford was the one in the game when, well, he vomited in the huddle. And then he looked at the Alabama defensive line and just stared him down and nodded. And he's like, yeah, I just put chunks. You want some of this?

It was one of the most intimidating moves I've ever seen on a football field. And you're looking at the – and look, Alabama's defensive lineman, I can't remember exactly who was in at the time. I think DJ Dale was in. I want to say Anderson was in and maybe Braswell. They look at each other like, who is this guy? I want no part of this, dude. Right.

It was amazing. And I think that honestly, a guy like Henan Hooker, I think that's what he does for your offense. Like that, that confidence that he plays with, the fact that you just feel like Henan Hooker is going to get it done. And that rubs off on the entire offense, the rest of your teammates. Like that's something that is a, I think that's, you know, you look at the quarterback and the impact he makes in the huddle and then across the offense. That's part of it. So you gave me a great idea just now. You were talking about Brew McCoy and Jalen Hyatt.

And you mentioned a good yak guy. We just, you know, podcasts, the revenue streams usually come from the merch sales. So we need to have like a series of podcasts like prospects to pros t-shirts. And so good yak guy, we put like the best yak receiver's head on a yak's body and just good yak guy. Good bubble. There you go. De-Lyman with the best biggest butt is. Right.

So we need to do this. This is, Marissa, our producer, just take note of this. We'll have a meeting. We'll have our people call the T-shirt people. And we're going to make this happen. So we're going to make a fortune. I love how your mind works. It's really fast.

And speaking of, yeah, going back to that USC Utah game, you mentioned Kincaid, the tight end. Yeah. 16 targets, 16 receptions, 234 yards. And of those 234 yards, 109 of those yards came after the catch. So this is a tight ed. And this is what I love the most about Dalton Kincaid is how quickly he goes from pass catcher to ball carrier.

I mean, it's just the ball's in his hand and boom, he shoots up field and he's getting those extra yardage. It's really impressive to see. And that's the type of athlete that he is. He's really good at the catch point. But his ability to, that route acceleration to create that initial separation off the line of scrimmage in his routes, but then also after the catch to make something happen.

He had 12 first downs alone in that game against USC. To put that in perspective, Sam Leporta, who a lot of people believes the top senior tight end prospect this year, he has 12 first downs all season. And obviously, the offense, yeah, Sam Leportez. It's not Sam Leportez's fault. Right, exactly.

It's the offense is what the offense is. Let's not kill him for that. But Dalton Kincaid, as bad as the injury to Brant Quethe was, because he was kind of the focus of their passing game early in the season, it has sort of unlocked Dalton Kincaid because they've needed him more. Exactly. I think his ability to move the chains, his ability to get open downfield. And I think it also exploits.

some of the issues with USC on their defense. You know, linebackers, the middle of the field, they just had no shot against a guy like Dalton Kincaid. And coming into the year, I think Kincaid was viewed as maybe the early day three guy, fourth round type of pick. Saturday against USC, that tape is basically his audition for, hey, this is why I belong on day two. This is why I should be a top 100 pick.

And then I think we also have to mention Cam Rising. I mean, the guy that's throwing the passes. he had five touchdowns in that game, three rushing, two passing, almost 500 total yards. He led the team in rushing in that game. So he's been inconsistent at times that season opener against Florida, you know, was not his best performance, especially that interception late.

But there's just no denying the competitive toughness this guy brings. And when it comes to draft time, competitive toughness means a lot with NFL teams. And when you're looking at, because he's not a top 100 pick, But on day three, when we're dealing with a lot of these, you know, we've talked about it before, how this senior class is just kind of muddled at quarterback on day three. You know, guys like Aiden O'Connell and Sam Hartman and, you know, Clayton Toon and, you know, Devin Leary now with his shoulder injury, does he go back or is he part of this draft class? But, you know, I think that a guy like Cam Rising is also in that mix.

And when he has a performance like this and that competitiveness, that's something that could really help him when it comes to, team stacking their quarterback forward into spring. All right, Dan, we got to talk about some of these guys that are already in the league and the rookies that have shown out. And interesting, I thought we'd have talked about this guy earlier in the season, but I'm glad we're talking about him now. Kavon Tibado, huge play at the end of the Giants win against Baltimore. And this is a guy that I loved in college.

and the part I didn't know and wasn't sure about was, is he going to show up when it's not a huge game? Because that was always the kind of the knock on him is he was there when they were playing a big game and he played great and was unstoppable. And when Oregon played somebody who wasn't that great, maybe he didn't go as hard. But looks like he is adjusting pretty well to life in the NFL.

Yeah, you know, I had that injury obviously in the preseason, so he missed the first few games. And then as soon as he was ready, he was in a starting rotation. He was a starter for this team. So it's not like they're easing him back. He's playing a lot of snaps on that defense, and he's a big part of what they want to do. He's got multiple pressures. His sack, I believe, on Sunday was his first sack of his career, but he's got consistent pressure. It was his first career with a sack.

Right, but I mean, he's been in the backfield. I think against Greene, Green Bay the week before he had like four pressures, four hurries. So a guy that is still impacting what the backfield action is and what the offense is trying to do. So it's, I mean, this guy is talented, no doubt. To your point, the question was always, you know, is he going to be as focused to give full effort every single play?

Was he going to be as focused off the field as he was, you know, in terms of getting better as he was with his brand, things like that. Those are the questions. but he was still going to always be a top 10, top 12 pick. The Giants got him at, what, seven? So, you know, it was, he's going to be a big part of that defense moving forward. And I look at the Giants now with the 5 and 1. I mean, it's kind of crazy what Brian Dabble has done with that offense

and what they're looking like moving forward. We should have known that one year is his, as OC at Alabama. Is that me, Bill O'Brien's next? It was, no, I mean, the OC job at Buffalo with Josh Allen, I think, probably told us more. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was interesting, though, with Daibel, because when he got hired at Alabama, it was, okay, he's the tight-ins coach under Belichick.

Sabin's hiring because he, you know, understands how they like to work. But his creativity in that season actually should not be discounted because Jalen Hertz was not particularly great as a passer that year. They got him to the national championship game, and then they had to already and flip the switch and put him in the second half. And Brian Dable deserved a lot of credit for that. So let's stay in New York, though, because Sauce Gardner, I thought he had a pick six of Aaron Rogers right off the jump,

but it turned out that ball hit the ground that Robert Tanya was trying to catch. But Sauce had an incredible game against the Packers, and so did Breece Hall. Yeah, Soss Gardner, he's just continuing to live up to what the expectations were, the high, high expectations. You know, he gave up only one catch against the Packers. He was all over Alan Lazard. He was all over whatever receiver he was covering, finished with three pass breakups. He just such an impressive player. And he was a little bit of a tough evaluation in college because nobody threw at him.

And so, you know, at this time last year, it was like, okay, yeah, Soss Garner's, he's, you know, he hasn't given up a touchdown yet in his entire career. He's, you know, looks good on tape, but nobody's throwing at him. Nobody's challenging him. And at a certain point, it just has to become, okay, well, it's for a reason. Look at this guy. He's 6-3. He's got the speed. He's got that, that it factor that you want for a corner in terms of just that swag, the way he carries himself.

he has it. But that big framed ability with the speed. And speaking of a big frame with speed, Tariq Wollin, how about his fourth interception of the year? I mean, that guy continuing fifth round. It just still doesn't make sense to me. Usually guys that are that size that run in the four twos, teams, that's the exact type of player that teams will bet on at some point in

at least on day two. But, and then also want to mention Tyreek Woolen's teammate and Soss Gardner's former teammate, Kobe Bryant, also seeing a lot of snaps at Corner. He played really well against the Cardinals. So he, both rookie corners for the Seahawks. It's looking like a really impressive draft class for them. This is like a sequel to the Legion of Boom. They need a, they need to draft a Cam Chancellor type next year. That's the trick.

So. Yeah. All right. The other rookie I want to point out, he didn't have the greatest game, but it shouldn't even matter at this point. Brian Robinson, getting the start for the Washington commanders, he was shot twice in an attempted carjacking earlier this year and came back and started an NFL game and scored his first NFL touchdown against the Bears.

That's unbelievable. It doesn't really make sense. I mean, I stubbed my toe and I'm out for two weeks. And I mean, I couldn't imagine just the ordeal he went through and then to come back like that. But this is a guy, you talk about resiliency, a Tuscaluda native who just, he waited his time. You know, he played behind so many talented running backs, Najee Harris, Damien Harris. And so by the time, you know, he finally got his chance last year for Alabama. And he rushed for 1,300 yards and was a important part of that Alabama.

offense. And so this is a guy that's no, no stranger to adversity and, you know, kind of overcoming. And he's continuing to do that. And I have no doubt that he'll continue to do that throughout his NFL career. Yeah. And it's just, it was so gratifying to see. And so I, that one, that one was maybe my favorite rookie performance of, of the weekend. Dane, we got to talk about the, the college games that we're excited to watch this week. And I'll start you with one because you, we mentioned C.J. Stroud earlier. in the show. So he's got to play against that Iowa defense.

That Iowa defense is awesome. If you listen to my show, the Andy Staples show, we talk about Iowa a lot because it's one of the more fascinating things I've ever seen where you have an elite defense and really good special teams coupled with maybe the most putrid offense anybody's ever put on the field. It's frustrating to watch. I can't even imagine if I was an Iowa fan how infuriating it would be. for me. But I'm very curious to see C.J. Stroud against this defense where, look, they're always

in the right place. Phil Parker, the defense coordinator, puts them in the right places, but they can be out-athleted. And this might be a case where they just cannot handle the likes of Marvin Harrison, Jr. or Trey Henderson. Yeah, especially because the game's in Columbus. I think that if the game was at Kinnick, that automatically gives Iowa like, you know, two touchdowns right there. But, yeah, I think that, I was fascinating. It seemed like Ohio State was playing a lot of home games. So I looked it up, and they're playing. They have nine home games this year, or eight home games, four or way games.

That kind of surprised me. But, I mean, it's something that. Nine game, Big Ten schedule. Right. I think we're waiting for C.J. Stroud to really be tested. And that offense would really be tested. I think we saw a little bit of that against Notre Dame. How much will Iowa be able to do in terms of putting pressure on the backfield,

being able to cover the receivers, stop the run? I don't know that I was going to have enough to do it, but I was got talent on that side of the ball, like you said. So that'll be a fun matchup. How about Syracuse at Clemson also in that? That was my next one. Yeah, in that noon window. I mean, does Syracuse have enough to pull off the upset?

I mean, Sean Tucker is a really good back. I'm a big fan of Matthew Bergeron, the left tackle for Syracuse. Him versus going up again. And Bergeron's been awesome this year. Seeing him go up against Miles Murphy or KJ. Henry, that Clemson defensive line is going to be a big test for him. So there's just, you know, from a college football standpoint, it's going to be a fun game.

But also from a prospect standpoint, scouts will be glued on that one as well. How do you feel about DJ O'Iang-Loy? Because I've come around on him. I was worried about him at first. I am now a DJ is good, and maybe DJ is really good person. He is playing with a lot more confidence than we saw last year. There's no doubt. I think that it goes back to getting his fundamentals down

in terms of his upper half and lower half being on the same page, his eyes and feet being in sync, and he's playing a lot more comfortable. He looks like a confident quarterback. And so I don't know that we're going to put him, start talking about him as a first round pick or anything like that just yet. But he is playing, he has changed the narrative. It wasn't, okay, well, when's the next five-starter going to come in and play quarterback?

It's, okay, well, you know, does Clemson have a real shot at the playoff in a national title hunt because of what they're getting from their quarterback? So, yeah, he's completely changed the narrative. And that's something that will certainly help him when it comes to draft time. We talked about that Alabama secondary last week after the, Texas A&M game. We didn't talk about them after the Tennessee game, but they got a bit of a get-right game here against Mississippi State. Well, they're going to have to get right because they're going to be dropping eight, probably,

and it's going to be about covering. I assume with Alabama's pass rush, with the elite-level rushers they have with Will Anderson, Dallas-Turner, you name it, that even if they're rushing three, they're going to get home against Will Rogers every once in a while. But Will Rogers needs to get right too because they got shut down by Kentucky's defense last week. Yeah. I'm curious about the Alabama secondary against this Mississippi State receiving corps because historically in this matchup, Mississippi State is just not matched up very well.

Alabama is just so superior athletically that it doesn't really matter what Mississippi State does. Like even that really good team with Dak Prescott did matter. but these receivers have been able to get some yak yards. They've been able to run the ball effectively at times. This feels like a game where Alabama secondary needs to show it is better than what it showed last week. Yeah, there's no doubt. They really struggled. And the lack of in-game adjustments that the Alabama secondary,

the lack of ability to alter or see what Tennessee is doing and make the adjustments, to counteract that was really surprising. That's something we've seen from Nick Saban over and over. Even when they take a punch in the mouth, they're able to recover, make the adjustment, and come back stronger for it. We just didn't see that against Tennessee. And so how will they look against Mississippi State,

who we know the, I mean, Will Rogers, I think he leads the college football and passing yards per game. You know, they can score points, but they only scored 17 last week against Kentucky. So, you know, I think both these teams are looking for a little bit of a, okay, we need a bounce back in a big way here. So that'll be a big one. Games in Tuscaloosa. So certainly that won't be, that won't help Will Rogers. But I'm also kind of Ole Miss at LSU. Is Ole Miss for real? You know, I think that they have,

love their run game, love, you know, how they can move the ball with what they have in the backfield, including Jackson Dart. You know, once in a while, they'll get a big play from Jonathan Mingo. down the field. But can they do enough going to Baton Rouge, playing an LSU team that played maybe their best game of the year last week against Florida and the way Jane Daniels looked? That's going to be a pretty good game, even though I don't know.

I mean, because Old Misses, they're a top 10 ranked team. They're undefeated. So it's, I don't think they've really been tested. So it's a matter of, okay, go to a hostile environment and show that, yeah, we can take you for real. I did not like the way Ole Misses' defense played against Auburn last week. They were pushed around up front. They gave up way too many yards on the ground.

And, yeah, the Jaden Daniels thing, he looked brilliant against Florida, whereas Tennessee the week before had basically said, we're going to dare you to beat us as a passer, and we're going to shut down your run game, and they did nothing against Tennessee. So, Curry Coleman, Jared Eich, Ivy, the defensive ends at LSU, you got to go get, go get Jaden Daniels, get him on the ground. That's the way you win this game because I don't know that how well LSU will run the ball against Ole Miss.

They don't seem like they can run the ball like Auburn could. There's no tank Biggsby in their backfield. So that's how Ole Miss wins that game. And we'll see. I like the way Ole Miss can control a game offensively on the ground. I think Jackson Dart is good enough and the receivers are good enough to keep a defense honest. And then they just hit you with Zach Evans and Quinchon Judkins. And it's a pretty decent offensive line, too.

Some of those guys are a little bit younger. Nick Broker, I imagine is a guy that you'll have in the Beast. Oh, yeah. And, you know, he wears the run left hat. He's a big Taylor Luan fan. So they'll probably do some of that. Jackson Dart as a runner, especially on 30s. down got to watch him so this will be a this will be a good one dain i you got me pumped again i'm

excited we're one one day away from more football so let's just so pack 12 fans don't get mad at us we do let's mention UCLA at Oregon oh yeah that's going to be a fun one i you know pack 12 there with what we saw USC Utah uh what we could see with UCLA at Oregon that's going to be I think a really fun matchup is again two t UCLA are you for real. What we're seeing from Dorian Thompson Robinson has been outstanding. Oregon, since that embarrassing opener loss to Georgia, they've been terrific, especially on offense. So, you know, what are we going to see from these two teams? That should be a fun one. Well, UCLA will run the ball down your throat. Zach Charbonnet. Guess who's designed to deal with team, not many teams with

big linebackers. Well, Mr. Noah Sewell is designed to deal with a team that tries to run the ball down your throat. Well, and I'll tell you, I've been a little disappointed in Sewell this year. He has not played up to a first round level. If the drafts were tomorrow, I don't think Sewell goes in the first round. So he needs to have one of those big games where you kind of remind everybody, yeah, I'm still here.

I'm still the same guy you thought. He just, he has not, if you're in a draft an offball linebacker in the top 25 picks, top 30 picks. He's got to be a playmaker. And Noah Sewell just hasn't been a playmaker this year. So let's see it, Noah Sewell. Let's see a go out and make plays. All right. Dane, it has been a pleasure.

Let's go watch some football, and we will reconvene next week and talk guys going to the draft, rookies, and what we're pumped. Oh, and we're going to make some T-shirts. I mean, I think we just have to. We're going to make a fortune. This was the

Athletic Football Show.