The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Prospects to Pros: Michael Penix, Blake Corum, and the rest of the NFL prospects who stood out in the CFP semifinals

Episode Date: January 3, 2024

Michigan and Washington advanced to the CFP National Championship Game with wins in the semifinals on New Year's Day. They did it on the strength of individual performances from players who will be in the 2024 NFL Draft, most notably Washington quarterback Michael Penix. Nate Tice and Dane Brugler dig into those performances, and take a quick look ahead to the championship game, on this episode of The Athletic Football Show's Prospects to Pros.Follow Nate on Twitter: @Nate_TiceFollow Dane on Twitter: @dpbruglerSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show's Prospects to Prospects to Pros. Hello, welcome to Prospects to Pros. I am your host, Nate Tice. We have a great show for you today because it kind of wrote itself. It's a college football playoff recap of the semifinals, the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. One game ended about six hours ago, and the other game lasted about six hours. But to help me go over these two games and all the prospects that played in them, because there were quite a few that we're going to be talking about today.

Is the athletics draft expert, Dane Brueger, how are you doing today, Dane? I'm good, I'm good. It's, I mean, we couldn't have asked for anything really better in terms of action. We've been spoiled the last two years with these college football semis in the playoffs. It wasn't the case for so many years where it seemed like the semis and the playoffs were just letdowns or blowouts. And I mean, what we got this year was came down. to two teams, two games where the

literally the final play was in the red zone and with a chance to keep this game going. So yeah, two really entertaining games. Let's start with Washington and in Texas. And I think we have to have, you know, let's start with the Pennix discussion, right?

I mean, this is a, and obviously we do this show from an NFL draft perspective. You know, we're not, we're not a college football show. We are an NFL draft show. And so that's important context when you discuss Michael Pennix because he is having an outstanding final season of college football. And what he did.

Think about how many good games he's played over his career, especially this year. He played his best game of his career, First Texas. And in some ways he showed what he's done all year, very aggressive putting the ball downfield, supreme arm conference. I just throwing javelins all over the field. Part of that is because he knows what type of receivers he has and he gives them a chance to go make a play. Now, the Texas defense, very good versus the run, but the secondary has been awful all season. They rank in the hundreds nationally and past defense. So it wasn't a surprise to see the Huskies passing attack find this type of success downfield.

But the key to this game was going to be, could Texas pressure panics create issues? and they couldn't. They didn't touch them. And part of that is because the rush was inconsistent. They're very vanilla with how they attack. And this is a Washington offensive line that literally is the best in the country. They won the Joe Moore Award for a reason. But the other part of this is Penix was outstanding when he was forced to move from a spot.

And that has not been the case this year. No doubt, no doubt. And look, I tweeted a clip of Byron Murphy, the Texas. Texas defensive tackle who is a top 50 prospect. Winning right through the A gap, Penix, just gives him a little side step, then fires a dart to a dunzee for the first down. The touchdown where he threw,

I believe it was to Polk right before halftime. It's like maybe a skinny post. There was a free rusher from his left. Quickly climbed through a seed to Polk. Pennix also had 30 rushing yards in this game, which that doesn't sound like much. It's the first time he's gone over 20 rushing yards in a game this season.

So he showed things in this game that we hadn't seen before. And it's not quite apples to apples with C.J. Stroud and what he did in the semifinals last year against Georgia. But this is the type of performance, the type of tape that can win over evaluators. Because you don't erase the inconsistent moments for PennX the season. You don't forget the Arizona state tape. The ups and downs from Washington State tape. But at the same time, I'm very impressed by his ability to show up and play at his best when the lights are the brightest. Did it in both Oregon games.

Did it against Texas. And that matters. Yes. And being constantly aggressive is such a thing. It's like such a thing that carries over. Like that aggression is wired in some guys. That's why you can't discount that. And we've talked about throughout the year, but it's most of these evaluators are like the ones that are not traveling, not the, not the.

road scouts on the area scouts. They'll be watching the games once they're all kind of completed. And they'll be watching because the NFL season's kind of going. So they're keeping an eye. Don't get me wrong. They're watching games throughout the season. But when they really focus, okay, right now we're getting draft season, All-Star games are here.

Now they watch the four to six, the seven games. They're going to pick that one. And so that's the thing is that us, as we're watching the ups and downs of every week and sometimes it's ups, ups, ups, and then a big down. After the season, they might just go, okay, that's the one bad game I only watch. I didn't watch two in a row. I'm just saying it's just what they curate at the end of the season. But you cannot discount.

So it's like, what do you want to weigh? Is it the 13 games, 12 games where I've seen him hitched too many times? He doesn't operate over the middle as consistently as I would like. That's a big thing that I, if you want me to get into negatives first. But I mean, I think just last night he showed the one, like, I got away him going against a college football playoff defense. I'm going to just put it like that and doing the things that I wanted to see him do, which is move in the pocket.

throw with pressure in his face. Have a plan if somebody breaks through right away. He hit that, I tweeted it, the inside fade where he just flicks the slot fade really early as the guy wins right away, right in his face. You brought the poke touchdown where he steps up and he's throwing on the move. And on top of it, I even thought his best throw was that wheel route to the tight end on the little pump and go, a little double move. He throws it to the sideline. That was in tight, he threw it with anticipation. It was tightly covered.

There's three guys over there because it was a zone defense. from Texas. And that one was, he threw with anticipation. That's something I've been wanting to see. So many times I saw him have to wait to see a guy pop open, which was often with these guys. And then he throws it because he has pretty good arm. But that was one I was like, oh, you threw that with touch and anticipation and you

dropped it in. It's like, all right, so what do I weigh? And that's what's going to be so interesting to kind of break down with him specifically, all these guys, but him specifically at the end of the season. And, you know, we talk about this Washington offense and how explosive they are. because they have all the pieces in place. They have, like I said, the best offensive line in college football. They have...

Fantastic play caller. The coaching, yeah, the play caller and just... The offensive coaches on this staff from head coach on down, the play calling included, they are really, really good. And then you factor in the weapons, these receivers. I mean, how many... Okay, if you swap out this receiver depth chart with the chiefs, with the Panthers.

Those teams are winning more games. They are. These receivers are better than what some NFL's. Yeah, they are. And McMillan is your third option. McMillan? Yep. So again, this is not to take away from Pennix,

but when you have an offensive ecosystem like this, that is everything coming together perfectly at the right time, this is what you get. And when you have a quarterback who was playing out of his mind, played the best game of his career. It was a lot of fun to watch. It really, I mean,

as someone who just enjoys watching football, I mean, I can speak for both of us. Like, it's just enjoyable to watch, playing and simple. It's amazing. Yeah.

And he plays a style that I will appreciate more than other types of styles. That quarterback. Sure. Like, bombs away. Just go. Like, everything's down the field.

Aggressive. I'm going to always like that. So that's the thing that you always said, it's like watching it just from a neutral fan was actually, this was a fantastic way to, because it wasn't too late for me. on the West Coast. So, but it was a fantastic way to kind of end the night, at least for me.

Yeah. And, okay, so now we'll talk more about the national championship later on. But just to kind of preview this, because, you know, while we're on the topic here, the Pack 12 doesn't have anything that looks like Michigan. No. Like, the Pac-12 doesn't have a single team that's ranked top 50 nationally in past defense. Okay, not one. And the best all around defense in the PAC 12 is UCLA. And we were robbed of seeing that matchup this year because Washington, UCLA, they didn't play. So Michigan's defense, their pressure

packages are a lot more unpredictable. Their coverages are way better than Texas. Now, you know, so I mean, I still think this Washington offense, like they're going to find success because they're just that good. They're that well coached. They have the talent that Washington offense is going to find ways to make plays. But Michigan is going to give them their toughest challenge yet. And that's how it should be for the national championship. But from an evaluation perspective, if Pennix goes out and has a game like he did against Texas, that hype machine is going to need a generator because it's already off, you know,

it's already gone crazy. But if he does it against Michigan's defense, which is Michigan, the way that they can really create conflict to create problems. That's something that I think this offense, I mean, this offense found themselves in some lulls. You know, watch the Arizona State game. And it's like, you would have thought Arizona State was a top 10 team, the way they played that game.

But Michigan's going to present them with problems that maybe they haven't necessarily seen or they're not going to be able to foresee. Like I said before, Pennick said after the game that Texas is very vanilla on defense with what they run. They knew what was coming. So Michigan. is the opposite of that. They're not going to be vanilla. They're going to really diversify the way they get after the quarterback. So this is going to be a test for the offensive line, for the

quarterback, for everybody involved. And you know what? It's going to make for a really fun game just from a fan perspective, but also from an NFL perspective with all eyes, all NFL eyes on this game to see how they perform. And you don't want to overreact or under react to one game, one moment. But you know what? That just kind of happens. And it's human nature. when you have these talented players playing on this type of stage. And it's another box that would be a great way to see Pennix check it. Like you just mentioned the test of the offensive line, the quarterback, but just watch what that defense did to the Banah's offensive line of Mill Row.

Like it just shows the difference between the quarterbacks and the line, really, in the Bay of the offensive line a minute. But watching Mill Row, who doesn't have as many games played as Pennix, does not have the type of awareness in football IQ. that Panics does, at least the operation stuff. And he's young. That's it. That's just how he plays right now.

But right now, watching him and that plan that he would have, Milo just got taken out of the game because he didn't have a plan against the blitz or those evolving looks that you just talked about. Like I thought the second best prospect, second best performance of those games, those two games was Jesse Mentor, the defense coordinator from Michigan. He might have him in Panics probably had the best days of anybody throughout the day. But I really just want to watch it because it's another question. You talk about panics operating under duress, under pressure.

When he gets moved off the platform, he showed a little bit of that, see more of that. Does he have a plan? Does he progress from the pocket? A lot of it, it seems to me, is, I mean, they're really well coached. And he does when things unfold, how they should unfold, he is fantastic. Like, that's why it's like you don't want to discount that. But that changing picture stuff is going to be just interesting. The one thing, too, they're going to make them throw over the middle.

And this, I do want to get to this one thing. This is my hesitation for anyone wants to know why I haven't gone over. board with Penix is that there's really only one quarterback that's right now in the NFL that succeeds that doesn't work over the middle. And that's Jaywin Hertz. Jalen Hertz is also 2.30. And Jalen Hertz runs what, four six, you know, is? And that's the thing, that's why I have hesitations with Pennix.

We're really excited that he ran for 30 yards. But the thing is, if you're not working over the middle and you don't have the most talented receivers on the outside that can win constantly, I love that he pushes it. I love that he tries the outside. But defenses are going to make you try. try to work over the middle. That's the sweet spot that you want to see quarterbacks hit, but defenses if they don't think you can, they'll just pack the pain on the outside.

So that's just one thing. Another thing I want to see if he can get there. But if you want to see a stat for that, this year, he's 2849 on throws from 10 to 22 yards over the middle. That's the kind of intermediate range of football. Two touchdowns, three picks, 57% success rate. That's 43rd in attempts. That's 85th in success rate, all quarterback's at PS.

So it's like, that is just one other question I want to see is just how he operates over there. Yeah, no doubt. Yeah. And look, the receivers, they, O'Donzee was great. I mean, the body strength, the focus, the ability to play through contact is so, so good. I mean, he's a pro playing in college football. Yeah.

I mean, it's, it looks very, very easy for him. I mean, I think when you look at the top three receivers this year, I've said it before. But for me, it's Harrison Jr., neighbors, and then Adunzee in that order. But in most other drafts, they'd be the top guy. So it's just, it's just a loaded group this year. So O'Donze being third for me is not some diss that he's not as good. These guys are all very close. It just comes down to preference in what you're looking for.

There's going to be some NFL teams that upgrade a receiver in a big way in April with these receivers. So and then, I mean, Polk is, I think he's probably has a better chance of going in round two, the round one. But the way, you know, you never know with the way he's been playing. It's if a team drafted him in late one, it would not be a shot. at all. I did want to also mention when we're talking about Washington. We have to talk about on defense. Braille and Trice was awesome. Yeah, the Husky's pass rusher. Hands are so heavy, so violent. He actually shows a plan of attack. It's, and it doesn't matter if it's an inside, outside, he'll go right through guys. When I do my top 50s and my mock drafts, I always send

him to a few scouts for feedback and notes. And when I included Trice, in my mid-season top 50 back right after Halloween. I got a lot of, nah, he's a third-round guy, multiple responses with that with Trice. He's not going to test well. He's not very long, average length. I get that. I couldn't leave him out of the top 50 because, and this game was really an example of why, because he's a game record.

I mean, I think you just have to trust the tape with him. The combine might not be great for him. You know, he might not hit every single. box, but when you watch him on tape and see these plockers trying to slow him down, usually doesn't go well. So Brayland Trice, he had a terrific game against a pretty good Texas offensive line. Yeah, and one that knows what they're doing. Like they're, actually, that's what you kind of see going against a competent offense line.

But I was going to ask you about how do you think he tested it? My notes on him were I thought he's added to his past rush move set. I liked it before, but I thought he was more of an effort guy before. But like you said, I think he's got more toolsy, which is, toolsy in a sense of the patch rush tool set as opposed to toolsie with trades. But I think he could be just a legit three down guy in the sense. They moved him to the inside, which was cool. And I was like, oh, that's good.

As a pick guy and doing all that stuff. And he's 275. He's got legit size. So, yeah, just, I know he used his term a lot, but useful. I think he, and he also finish his place. I'd be curious to see, like, what his pressure two sack. We always see that with quarterback sometimes. But for him, he, because I think because he's strong.

So he actually wraps up and gets the guys. Sometimes, you know, he has some length issues. Maybe the guy gets around him. But that's one I would just be curious to I kind of maybe study in the offseason. But great shout out with that. How about Donnie Mitchell, Don A Mitchell with a fantastic double jump, Super Mario double jump for the touchdown? Yeah, we need to talk about Texas. Yeah.

The play before that, how frustrated he was because he wanted the ball. And then it was such a bummer on that final play, just not giving him a chance if you're U-ers. I mean, Ubers really showed his just kind of the immaturity of, not immaturity, but just inexperience. The leverage of the cornerback where he was, you got to throw that towards the pylon. You got to make the corner go through the receiver to make a play. Instead, he throws kind of a jump ball fade, which, you know, the corner, it was out of bounds anyways, but the corner really had no problem making a play. But where the leverage of the corner was, Ewers has to throw that more towards the pylon than that jump ball.

and you've got to give your guy a chance to make a play. So, yeah, that was a little disappointing. The Texas defensive line, Devonre Sweat, was awesome versus the run. I mean, you just can't move this guy. For a team that's looking for that massive nose, he's going to be valued, I think, really high. Byron Murphy, I mean, you mentioned with Trice as a guy that finishes, Murphy is kind of a little bit on the other side where he was the one consistent rush threat for that Texas defense. He's going to go on Penn Exist highlight tape.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, the clip that I tweeted, you know, he did an outstanding job winning with his hands. He wins with leverage. She's got quickness. He's got strength. He showed why he's, I think, in my opinion, a top 50 guy. He'll get beat up through the process because he's a little undersized and, you know, you can nitpick with him.

But I think he's a top 50 pick all day. And then, you know, I think Xavier Worthy was a little disappointing. Didn't create a ton of separation. just couldn't get them the ball, didn't have much of an impact on this game. I mean, for Texas, they were in it until the very end. And just, you know, they, a couple of their guys that usually show up in these games didn't. And it really just came down to the defense not being able to get consistent stops where, you know, the Washington offense pretty much did what they did. You know, they controlled the game that most of all four quarters.

So, you know, Washington earned it, no doubt about it. And it's going to make up for a really fun championship. championship game against Michigan, who, you know, came down to overtime. It looked like, you know, Alabama in the second half really kind of swung things and they were taking the momentum. And, uh, but towards the end, I give credit to Michigan, they made more plays, including, what, a fourth down, went for a fourth down on that final drive, which is just a bust by Alabama, not covering Blake Corum in the flat. Oh, I know. And then to, uh, drive down. I mean, that was a really entertaining game that was back and forth.

I mean, J.J. McCarthy, I mean, rarely is he asked to just drop back and read out the defense. You know, it's just they do a great job of gaming things up, create open receivers, and it's really a credit to their offensive design. You know, tight bunch formations, misdirection, right.

Some mesh, natural rubs. The design really forces the defense to, into conflict. And McCarthy, I mean, he missed some things. throws, he made some throws. It's not an offense that really relies on his arm, but when he was asked to make some clutch throws, he does it. And that's what, that's what we saw against Alabama. That's, that's some of the, you know, why he was my number three quarterback in the summer. I expected more from him this year, but I think it's, it's a product of the offense. They just don't

rely on him to be, you know, they don't need him to be Michael Pennix. That's not how they operate. So, you know, it's, but I do, I think he deserves a lot of credit for being unflappable. I mean, it didn't matter what was happening, what the scoreboard said, the situation, whatever. He is kind of the same guy. And he's unflappable, rises to the moment. And I mean, McCarthy deserves credit for that. He's, it's funny. He's, the best moments with him sometimes is when he just gets to play football.

And like, like, when I think, I think he might be a little, sometimes he's like, okay, I got to be perfect here. The first play was kind of an example. at the spread out. I bet you all week they designed that to hit the high one. So he's like, oh, that should be open. And then he kind of like, he tried to make something happen. Because he had the underneath open. Wide open.

Yeah. Because that's the one on the play. That's where you're supposed to go. But I guarantee you all week, they're like, hey, we're going to get a nice, like 20-yard gain on the first play. Like boom, get, you know, sprint out, safe protection. But the double pass when he one-handed it, adjusted, and then through it. And it's like those moments is why you keep coming back to them because it's just like those movements on. the move, those throws on the move, he'll throw over the middle. I thought one of his best

passes was one that was dropped, the one that went right through the receiver's hands as clean as possible. Like that was one of his best passes. So I get a big third down, yeah. Huge third down. And again, it was another nice design. They were, holy crap, the run game design by Michigan was like, like hanging in a museum. But it, but I, McCarthy is just, yeah, with you. It's just like there's not a lot that you get to like study. It's like seven plays. Penix, I got 25 probably. I could get that a real translatable place. So that's just all it is.

It's like you see the nice moments when he's thrown as Inbreaker. Sometimes the outside throws, he sprays. And I think it's because it's just like he's really trying to push it out there. So yeah, I'm with you. I just need to watch. He's going to be one where if he does declare, it's like I literally have to watch every throw because that's the sample size you're kind of working with. Yeah, he'll be he'll be, both these quarterbacks will be polarizing throughout the process.

There's no doubt about that. Speaking of that offense, Blake Corum played really well. That overtime touchdown, I thought, was the perfect encapsulation of him as a prospect, that urgent decision-making at the line, the way he can pair his eyes with his feet, and then always finds his blockers

and then makes it a chore on tacklers to finish him off. He's not a guy that's going to run well at the combine. He's not a proven past catcher, which is ironic because his two catches against Alabama, one was for a touchdown, was that fourth down in the flat two really big plays yeah also you see a five eight running back you're like oh right got to be a good pass catcher but coming into the game he had like not even 100 yards receiving this year I mean he's just he has he's not a proven pass catcher

it doesn't mean he can't do it but it's kind of a hole in the resume type of thing I'm still a coran believer I think he's be drafted probably in that third round range and be uh that quality part of a backfield um you know it's uh it we'll see we'll see about Donovan Edwards, he hasn't had the season that many thought he would have. I think if he's smart, he goes back to school. But the offensive line did really well. Roman Wilson made plays when he was targeted.

So, yeah, I think that Michigan offense, the way they're coached and the way they execute from both the quarterback, from the quarterback perspective and then also from the blocking, it's a really impressive operation. It was. Corum, yeah, he's a three down back because more because of protection.

You know, he's good. It's kind of, he's got a little that Kiron Williams where it's like, you appreciate the game, but he might run a four, six and change. So, you know, but it's like that. And at least with Corum, I mean, because Corum's probably 25 pounds heavier, you know, than Kiren. So it's like, he's a little pocket percules. Yeah. He's, he's going to be a legit 220. And he's, yeah, he's under 5.8.

He is like 5.7 and change. And he's going to be around 220 pounds. He's great short yardage because he really is. He's just that little bowling ball. Yeah. The legs never quit and he can get so low and just burrow in. That's huge, though. Like that's more downs he can play.

Like that's, I think you nailed it. Like pairing him with one other guy and I would love that backfield. Like if you said, you got the other guy that says it's a little more juice to him. Like that's just a nice, nice, because he's just, you can fit him in anywhere. And that's the thing. It's funny that he doesn't have a lot of catches and stuff. And again, that might be part of the Michigan offense because he looks natural catching a ball. Like it's like, you know, like the touchdown catchy was fine.

It wasn't like he batted it like a volleyball or anything. Like hands were high on it. We're good. But I, I, yeah, he's, he grows on you because you're just like that the touchdown run from the spider cam view was amazing. That was the angle I was watching on the USPN news. It was just, it was just great. It was just like, you know, like a commercial almost because he was just cut through.

He made like two cuts on it. He's fantastic through the middle. So I really, really like what he did. I thought some Bama defenders had some nice moments. I wish Caleb Downs wasn't a freshman. We could just talk about him for a half hour. But I know one of your guys had a nice moment, the five technique that you like.

I'm not going to try his name. Go ahead and say his name. Who are you talking about? Justin Bwigby? Yeah, that's pretty good. Yeah. Okay, okay. Okay.

But yeah, I know that you're a fan of him and he has some nice moments. He is strong as hell. It's hard for an Alabama defensive, especially defense alignment, but any Alabama player to be underrated. But this guy is because he had a big injury last year. It was like a neck injury. And he just, he never quite was the guy on the defensive line this year.

He's grown into that. And really good run defender. Once in a while, I'll give you a little bit of a pass rush. But yeah, I think he's, and he's versatile. I think he'd be a five technique. He can move more inside. I mean, there's a lot of things that he can do. And he went from a fringe prospect, can't body type of guy to now he's getting drafted.

And it's just a matter of how high you guys. to take this guy. So yeah, he had some good moments. Dallas Turner had some nice moments. Arnold was, I mean, corners are always up and down because, you know, you're going to give up your catches. But I thought he made some nice plays. McKinstree showed up as a run defender. I don't, I don't think that there was when Michigan had a big play, it was either because they executed. The linebackers. Yeah, right, exactly. And a lot of times, they just, the run fits, I mean, they just, they weren't able to get into position and win the angles.

They just weren't able to do it. Or it's just a complete collapse, like that fourth down to quorum. So it was, you know, this wasn't the big bad Alabama defense. I think we used to talking about, you know, with Sabin, but it's still a really quality unit. And, you know, it took everything that Michigan had to grind out that win. So, yeah, I mean, I was fast forwarding this to, to, to my. Monday and the national championship game. This is going to be fun.

I mean, we talked about how, you know, Pennix mentioned that Texas was vanilla. Michigan's going to be the complete opposite of that. I just can't wait to see what they throw at them. I mean, it's from simulated pressures to just all the games that they're going to play. It's going to test the blocking, the offensive line. It's going to test, obviously, the quarterback. Roma Dunzee versus Will Johnson on the outside is going to be a lot of fun. Johnson's just a true sophomore.

So not draft eligible, but a guy that we'll be talking about a lot at this time next year. It's just there's a lot of NFL talent's going to be on this field. I'd probably put the over under 20 probably. You know, there's, you know, juniors obviously some underclass decisions. Future Big Ten battle. Yeah, exactly. They're playing next year. That's it.

The teams are going to look a lot different. But, uh, yeah, this is, you, when it comes to a national championship game, you want really good versus really good. And it feels like we have that this year. And from an evaluation perspective, it really does feel like some of the key prospects, namely Pennix, but not only him, but a lot of these guys will be tested in a way that you want to see when you scout these guys. You want to see the best of the best. You want to see them challenge.

Who's going to rise up? Who's going to be able to make the most of the opportunity? This is going to give a lot of guys that opportunity. So it's going to be a lot of fun. I agree. And it's not only talent, it's for me, you know, like that what you've already mentioned it, but the scheme stuff's amazing. Michigan's so well coach.

And I think Washington's so well coach. So you see, like you said, it's all translatable, which is great. It's not just like you're going to watch it. It's just RPO, RPO, RPO, or some gimmicky defense. And you're like, okay, there's four real reps because they ran cover two the entire game. But I think that's just such a good point. I'm really excited to watch even, you know, Michigan's defense aligned versus Washington's offensive line.

Like, you know, I thought J.C. Way them for Alabama had a really good game, the right tackle for Alabama. He was mowing them down. But it's like, okay, well, Washington's got some, they're better coached than Bama's offense a line. They have some talent up there. So I want to see that matchup as well. I'm pretty fired up for this.

I mean, watching, we just already mentioned the Michigan defense versus the Washington offense and just the other side of the ball is just going to be just so much fun. I just think, oh, my God, I just confuse myself. Hold on. watching, not watching Michigan's offense versus Washington's defense, there we go, but watching like Roman Wilson's little adjustment for the catch and everything off the like the unbelievable J.J. McCarthy spiral that got tipped into a spiral and it just like kind of rose on it. But that was just such a great moment because you saw the Bama DBs, you know, spiking down on that play and just really

closing on it. And it was just again, it was another good moment of like, oh, this is a translatable pro rep because that was a true play action concept, a true overrout that he had throw on time against a safety that's driving. And we're going to see more of that in this next game. So I think this is just going to be great. I think this, well, this Washington defense is not Alabama defense. And so I think Michigan will have a little bit more success than what we saw against Alabama. So can someone on that Washington defense step up and, you know, who's it going to be?

How's it, you know, how's that going to play out? That's going to be a big factor here. We mentioned Brayland Trice. He's, you know, can he get consistent pressure against that, with that. Michigan also does a really good job just with movement with their quarterback. So you just rarely see J.J. McCarthy take, you know, these big sacks. It just, you know, doesn't happen. But who else is going to step up on that defense?

The linebacker number five, Yulo Foscio, he's a great story, first of all. He's Alaskan, not many prospects come from Alaska. This kid from Alaska moved to Vegas to your backyard Midway through high school The classic Alaska to Vegas pipeline Exactly. They went to Bishop Gorman Of course, yes.

But he went overlooked, I mean, they had how many guys, Dorian Thompson Robinson was on that team, Brevin Jordan, Cedric Tillman, and they were stacked, you know, they always are. But he went overlooked as a recruit. He had to walk on at Washington and he's had some injury stuff, but he is kind of like the heartbeat of that defense.

And with the way he plays, how fast he plays, how aggressive he is. So, you know, can he, how much of a factor will he be? And he, I mean, he, they'll need him to slow down Blake Corum to slow down that,

uh, that rush attack, what they do with their blocking execution. So, uh, look for number five because he is, he's turning himself into a draftable player. It's just a matter of,

okay, what type of draftable player is this? I mean, are we talking about, a late rounder. We talking about a mid-rounder. You know, how he plays against Michigan will kind of formulate that narrative. You mentioned it, though, watching those BMA DBs, like the strings that Michigan was pulling

in the run game and past game, really, past game was there attacking the linebackers, but the run game shifting, motion, shift, motion, motion, shifting again. And then run jet sweep, and then we're going to run tops away. And you got to see those Bama D.Bs in a run fit over and over and over. And I thought Laura Rutledge, for ESPN, did a great job. She actually said she talked overheard saving and going like, hey, when they shift emotion, you got to do it quick. Like you got to do it right now because they're gaming you up, basically.

And I thought the, so it's funny you say that like Washington's going to be a step down. So it's going to be kind of one of these like aerial salts on one side of the ball and then just pounding the rock on the other side. It would be very much a like. And so it's just that disconnect of two very good offenses, but they get there through different means in a way, but they're both well coach. It's just going to be such a cool disconnect. But watching these defenders have to defend those different type of styles.

It's just perfect because, again, you're going from eye formation, tight end heavy, to air it out, what aerial assault from week to week. Well, Michigan's philosophy in this game is going to be easy. I mean, they're going to, it's about game control for them. Keep it the number, their number one objective in this game is to keep panics off the field. Washington is going to go down and score and then Michigan's going to try and have an eight-minute drive. That is what their focus is going to be. be and then no don't try to hit explosive here or there but for the most part they're going

to establish the ground game and try to just wear out that defense and so it's it should be a lot of fun to watch uh michigan's favored by uh say do you have a prediction i mean it's tough it really is tough because the way pennix played i how do you bet against that i know the way that he and and he like those 50 50 balls anytime he has a chance at a 50-50 ball. He's like, oh, we got this. You know, he just, he's throwing it because he has that type of supreme confidence in his guys.

And he should. People are call him downfield handoffs. That's what they are. I mean, basically. The one to do Dunezay was incredible. He, it was a one, two, three. It was an 18, 20-yard gain. And it was like the most casual little quick fade that you'll see.

It was just like, it was just cat. It was like, Pat, go. Yeah, we're warming up. But it was just like a clutch moment in the fourth quarter, third or fourth quarter that he's doing it. Did you have a comp for? I can't remember if you had a good comp for a duncee or not. Godwin was my.

Okay. Okay. He might be a little faster, though. He's, yeah. But just kind of that inside outside. Yeah. He'll block and scrap if he wants to. He actually has a little more juice downfield,

but just kind of does everything well type. That's the guy that I was workshopping who kind of keep, it's not a perfect apples to apples comparison, but some of Mari Cooper there. Oh. That inside outside. stuff faster than you think um not small but not you know huge either like he's just he's just a really quality player who makes plays consistently you know that's just the at the catch point

as a route runner um there's some of mori cooper there with uh roma dunzae which is obviously a high compliment yeah i know the poke i'm trying to figure out one because he's like a z right he again inside outside doesn't have a lot like i don't know what he'll run in 40 but because he's He has a good one to four gear. Fifth gear. He gets stuck, get in the fifth gear. We saw it on that play. The corner route, he makes a bunch of moves.

And then it's like right at the end, he gets caught. It's like, oh, I just want to see him open up at the end there. Made a guy miss, though, you know, like he's definitely, he's probably the best of the group in terms of yak of those Washington receivers. So, yeah, no, that's all those guys. Even McMillan's a, he's going to be a day two pick. So, you know, it's, they're so loaded. at that position. I compared him to Christian Kirk early in the year.

McMillan? Yeah. Like kind of a vertical slot kind of guy. Oh, I know. It's just that those are the comparisons we're throwing around to these three receivers. It's like, yeah. I tweeted it last night, but if, I mean, the Panthers had these wide receivers, they would have won a few more games.

Because these receivers are ridiculous. And like I said, it's a receiver-rich draft. And, you know, Malik neighbors played yesterday as well. They played him for about a drive and a half so he could set the LSU record. Then they pulled them. That's what I thought. Yeah, that's pretty funny. Yeah, he had three catches, went over 3,000 career.

NIL bonus incentive. Like, you know, I kid guys at that. I just think about all the receivers that have gone through Baton Rouge. And he stands atop the rest as having the most catches, the most receiving yards. Pretty, pretty imprined. And he did it in three years. you know so pretty impressive for him Brian Thomas had a good game who

I tweeted my top five receiver rankings and it's Marvin Harrison Jr. It's neighbors. It's a Dunezay. And then it's Brian Thomas. And it's interesting with, I got a lot of responses from

those rankings. And some people will have neighbors won. Some people think O'Donze is one. Oh, wow. It's kind of crazy to see all the feedback on these guys. I mean, these are really talented receivers. So, I mean, I am less interested in debating them and more interested in praising all of them.

Yeah. Because they just are all, it's preference thing. It's based off of what kind of you value at the position. Yeah. Harrison still. It's more of the landing spot that I'm just so excited to see where each guy is on. Oh, yeah. That's more than anything with these guys.

And it was almost like a couple years ago when we had, you know, Drake London and Garrett Wilson and Lave. And, you know, it's just, if Garrett Wilson was the first receiver drafted that year instead of Drake London, no one would have battered an eye. It's just what you wanted, the type of receiver you wanted. And yeah, it doesn't be the same size. Did you want the Polish Routrunner in a lobby? Right. Do you want Garrett Wilson breaking guys off? Like, it's like what you want the yak guy?

You want the route runner. You want the size. Like it was kind of like, pick your poison. Yeah, exactly. And so this is another case of that where it's just the type of guy you want. I mean, neighbors gives you a little more explosiveness. between all three of those guys. O'Donzee, yeah, maybe the physically,

maybe the toughest of the group, his ability to play through contact. So, I mean, you can really, it's not hard to sell any one of those receivers. And it'll be cool to see O'Donzee still be able to play here in this national championship game. That, uh, I know I texted you.

I was doing my mock last week. And then I was like, it's a crazy have Tom set four, like, uh, I have a Colvin. And that was such a nice feeling when you're like, yeah, just wait. Because I was doing my mind. I was like, hold on.

I'm watching these guys, man. This guy's pretty good, guys. I don't think people realize just how good this guy is. Brian Tom, he's me, he's 6'4. He can fly. He, as a route runner, he gets better and better. Great feet for 6'4. Yeah.

He actually, yeah, he can actually move like, or agile for 6'4, I should say. Yeah. As a freshman in high school, he didn't play football. He led his basketball team to the state title. I mean, you're not surprised when you watch his tape because you could see it. I mean, he would have easily gone, played college basketball if you wanted to, but he committed to football and really came together for him this year. He's going to test well.

I mean, he's, I know I got a lot of, oh, him over Keon Coleman, but he's going to test better than Keon Coleman. I think I trust them more in terms of being able to get open, create his own space. And I like Kean Coleman a lot. He's just a different type of receiver. So another one of these guys, that's just different. I know, I know.

That's five right there. I mean, it's going to be hard to narrow it down because it's like, I feel like I've talked about 12 of them already. As like guys like to keep an eye on. People are like, oh, how many could go in like the top two rounds? I'm like, well, this guy, yeah, this guy too. Oh, I really like this guy.

Oh, Lamaconclic. Yeah, yeah, sure, sure. Like throwing one guy after another into the group. It just like just doesn't stop in different flavors. You're doing senior and shrine? Yeah, I am doing, I'll be in Frisco, DFW for the Shrine, then hop on a plane, the mobile for Senior Bowl. And Cam Ward, Washington State quarterback announced he's going to bypass his final.

I thought he, for sure, he's going to transfer, but no, he chose, he's going to go to the draft and he committed to the Shrine game. So that'll be a big opportunity for him. He's kind of in that third to fifth round. range as a guy that's super talented. He's raw in several areas and it's just a consistency factor and when can you trust him to be on the field. And so he'll have some plenty of questions to answer.

What you did you figure out where, uh, what game you're going to? It looks like the senior bowl. So getting it confirmed, but the, no, but I saw the cam word thing to the shrine game as well. And I was kind of like, that was very interesting to me because especially out of this kind of class thinned out with how many guys did transfer instead of declare for the draft. It kind of was like, actually not a bad. decision because that kind of glut in the middle really, really kind of, you know, like I said,

thinned out. So probably a senior bowl. I think it should be interesting. I definitely want to check out Spencer Rattler there. That's another kind of guy in that kind of middle range that very, very interested to watch a throw in person and also just hear about any interview anyone has with him. But no, I'm very excited. I got to confirm it, though.

I only could get one. So no offense to the Shrine game. I gave you two years when it was here in Vegas. My wife allowed me to go to one. And she's like Frisco and Mobile. I was like, yeah, yeah, that's, that's where, that's where they're at. No, I don't, it's the, the, the core, and we'll see here because, I mean, we're recording this on the second. Um, go up on the third.

Uh, the fifth is when, um, juniors will be able to officially accept next week. It'll be. All-star, uh, invites. So the end of this week's, we'll start to hear about juniors accepting going to the senior bowl, going to shrine bowl. So that'll add a little more. intrigue than we're usually, you know, just a different curveball than we're usually having these All-Star games. And that'll be just add something else to look for.

And that'll be a lot of fun. Big opportunity for these guys. You know, I mean, it's a couple of these positions are a little underwhelming this year in this class, but this is where an All-Star game, especially with some of these underclassmen, they can have a real, real breakout and sell themselves as, hey, I'm a little bit better than you thought I was. So plenty. We're already in January.

So we're talking about things that are happening this month, which is crazy. We got the deadline. So national title game, this upcoming Monday, week after that, the deadline for the underclassman. And then as soon after that, you know, we've got the Hula Bowl. We've got the Shrine Bowl, then the Senior Bowl. And then it'll be combine time before we know it. So this draft process starting to really heat up. I got the Super Bowl to combine term.

around, which is the, that's, that's, that's a hard shift that I've had to get used to the last couple of years, but I'm prep for it. You know, you know, fool me once, can't be fooled again. I'll get, I'll get it this year. L.A. to Indy. That's, uh, different. Well, Vegas to Indy this year, so I don't get to, I don't get to go anywhere. Yeah, that's right.

Yeah. That's true. That's actually the nice part. Yeah. Home field advantage. Last year I went, I went to the game. We did the show after the game from the stadium and then I just drove through tonight back to Vegas from Arizona from Phoenix and that was that was one that was like I had my wife when I came back

I'm 430 in the morning whatever it was I just crawl into bed and she's like go shower you stink I was like I can be home but like you said we got some fun shows coming up we got we'll recap the college football final or that's what they just call it right I don't think there's a college football playoff final there's no fancy name sponsored by visas or anything like that but be recapping that well yeah break down who's declaring breakdown to all the senior bowl round game, all the All-Star game action coming up. Here we go. We're getting into draft season. It's full systems go. Let's do this. So see you guys next time. We'll be every single week on Prospects to Prospects to Pros. See you guys next week. This was the athletic football show's

Prospects to Prospects to Proskast.