The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Prospects to Pros: Will Anderson Jr. & Alabama’s top talent + NFL rookie CBs standing out

Episode Date: October 12, 2022

Andy Staples talks with Dane Brugler about his SEC tour and his big takeaways from Alabama’s close win over Texas A&M. They discuss the Crimson Tide’s top talent heading into the 2023 NFL Draft and they look ahead to next week’s big matchup against Tennessee. Plus, it’s been a big start to the NFL season for rookie CBs. They explain what has impressed them the most about guys like Sauce Gardner, Jack Jones and more. They wrap by talking about Matt Rhule’s future and the games they are most excited about this weekend.Follow Andy on Twitter: @Andy_StaplesFollow Dane on Twitter: @dpbruglerSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTube0:44-21:44 Alabama-Texas A&M recap (Brian Branch, Will Anderson Jr., Chris Braswell, Tyler Steen, Bryce Young)21:45-29:16 Players to watch in Alabama-Tennessee29:20-38:34 NFL rookie CBs impressing (Sauce Gardner, Jack Jones, Kaiir Elam, Tariq Woolen)38:35- 41:42 NFL rookie OLs making strides (Cole Strange, Zion Johnson, Evan Neal)41:46-50:42 What to watch this weekend50:43-55:03 Matt Rhule’s future 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 going to be in the draft next year, the guys that just got drafted this year, and a little bit beyond. If I saw some sophomore, I really like. I'm Andy Staples. He's Dane Brugler, and we are talking NFL draft from a college perspective, from a pro perspective. This is your link between the. college game and the pro game. And, Dane, I had a front row seat for a lot of guys that we're going to be talking about.

I'd say over the next three years, because I was at Alabama, Texas A&M this past weekend, down on the sideline there at the end of the game. I was watching a lot of Alabama defenders that I know we're going to talk about today, but also I was thinking as I was walking off the field and some of Texas A&M's freshman defensive linemen were walking behind me. I was looking back and I was like, we're going to be talking about these guys pretty soon too. Can any of them throw the football? Can they?

I mean, that seems to be the biggest problem for A&M, right? They just can't find a quarterback, which we mentioned before with Jimbo. But I want to know, what did PFF rate your catch on the sidelines there? I mean, it's one-handed, so the difficulty level is a little higher. It was crunch time. I think they're good. But I feel like because I was multitasking, because I don't think any football player has ever been asked to catch a football while filming something with his phone. Like, I never stopped filming. I have the entire catch on video. My right hand never moved. And so I want some credit

for that. But it was tip. So it wasn't like I speared some laser beam from Haynes King, which by the way, a few plays later on the last play of the game, he did throw. an absolute laser meme that no one in no human being I don't care how good they are could have caught so you I know you Texas A&M fans

wanted pass interference that ball is uncatchable the ball I caught was quite catchable and I got an assist from Ross Bjork the Texas A&M athletic director former Emporia State fullback by the way you know I fullback's supposed to have a little better hands than that

but it was it was high he had to jump and so yeah I got the he tipped it and it kind of it hit my left hand and I pulled it in to the body. I don't think, you know, if I was doing a clinic, I don't think they'd tell you to catch it like that. Well, and I heard you talk about it on the podcast with you and Ari Sunday morning. And then I didn't notice it live. And then I was watching the tape Monday morning.

And I saw it and I was literally the Leo GIF pointing. Like, oh, hey, there it is. I forgot all about it. But two things I want to know from your trip. First, the best thing you ate of your trip. And then number two, the best player not named Will Anderson that you saw on the field Saturday night in that game. So the best thing I ate, and this is tough because I had a 30-ounce bone-out ribby at Republic in College Station. So if that had been a bone-in like a tomahawk ribby, we'd be talking like 48 or 54 ounces.

It was very nice. I had ribs at pig and pint in Jackson, Mississippi, which is an excellent barbecue place if you're ever in Jackson. If somebody's doing a Deon story or just going to see the Tigers play, that's a great spot. Actually, probably about a mile from Jackson State. Had two different kinds of biscuits and grew up. One kind of biscuits, two kinds of gravy at Big Bag breakfast in Oxford, Mississippi. had ribs at Archibald's in Northport, Alabama, which is Metro Tuscalo. Those are my favorite ribs in the universe.

Those are probably the best thing I ate, but they're not new to me. So that's hard to say. But I'll give you two. I'll give you two. The hot mama pizza at Slice in Birmingham. And a lot of places are doing this now where they go really hot and then drizzle the hot honey over it. So it's so prosada and it's got Calabrian peasant. peppers and it's got hot honey and it's got pepperoni. It is awesome. So that sounds amazing. Yeah,

slice in Birmingham. I think the first place that did that was a place called Polly G's in Brooklyn, which is also very good. But that is one of the better pizzas I've had. And then in Oxford at Snack Bar, which is part of the John Currence Empire. John Currance is the chef at City Grocery. He runs Big Bad Breakfast. He has Bure. But snack bar is kind of his lab. and the special on the night we went, it was cookbook night. So it's usually a page out of one of John's cookbooks. This time it was a page out of one of his friends' cookbooks. It was this lamb shank and had been reduced into this brown gravy pool that is swimming in with a bunch of root vegetables in there.

I would go swimming in the gravy that this lambshank made. And they had confit duck wings as an appetizer. So it was spectacular. Now, best player not named Will Anderson. By the way, Will Anderson, everything he was advertised to be. He was in Haynes King's lap every single play. I got tweets at Zero Sacks. The guy had double-digit pressures.

I mean, he was in the back. He lived in the back field. What are watching here? If you are watching that game, if you actually physically had the game on and you were tweeting at Dane about Zero Sacks, just stop watching football because you don't understand it. You just give up. You're hopeless. So, yeah, he was a monster in that game.

But the guy I want to talk about is Brian Branch, who he's a safety, but in that kind of, maybe not Minkafix Patrick versatility level, but very versatile. He could do all the different things that they need in Alabama's secondary. And it's more interesting, I think, when he's off the field. You know, he was there the entire time against Texas A&M against Arkansas. He goes off the field, and all of a sudden, Arkansas. it makes it a game. And that tells you how important this guy is. That's exactly what I was going to hit on. I mean, the last two weeks, I think, really

encapsulates just how important he is to that defense. And you mentioned Minka. He plays the same position, that star position. And for Branch, you have to be, there's so much stress put on you as a nickel defender because you have to be an open field tackler. You have to be a guy that can handle size in the slot, but also speed in the slot. slot. And he does both really, really well. He led all tacklers in that game with nine tackles. Two of them for loss, a couple of those where it just triggers downhill and makes a stop behind the line of scrimmage. He also had two pass breakups where I love his feet. He's so controlled with his footwork in any direction. Back pedal, collect himself, and then to drive on the route.

It's really impressive to watch. So I think there are definitely other contenders here. I mean, Dallas Turner is, he's not quite Will Anderson, but he's close, only a true sophomore. We'll be talking about him a lot next year. And then Henry Toto, just what he brings, just from a leadership and coaching standpoint, is so important to that defense. But, I mean, I agree. Besides, Willie Anderson's the most important player on that defense, Brian Branch, I think is number two. He was number 26 in my early top 50 back in August.

And he's only lived up to that, if not helped himself. more. So Brian Branch, I think especially when you talk about the NFL, nickel is base, what teams are looking for from that position, be able to play. And I think with Branch, too, he could play inside outside at corner. He could play any

safety position. He is very versatile. I think that's exactly what a lot of teams are looking for. Yeah. And the thing is, that star position, you have to be Nick Saban's brain on the field. Minka sort of design that position for lack of a better word. He and

he and Saban together designed that position because they were evolving what they were doing while Minka was in school. If you watch, I think it was a 2015 season. I think it was Minka's freshman year. They were much more traditional, like Minka was a corner. And they were still trying to figure out what their actual base base was going to look like. And so Minka helped Nick Sabin figure out what to do. with that position and Eddie Jackson also helped with one of the other safety positions

where they kind of figured out what the best way to use these guys was because it was it was an evolution you know that they thought they were pure corners when they got there and then they figured out no no no in this new world of spread offenses you need this person to do all of these things and so Brian Branch is just kind of following in those footsteps and he does seem to be the kind of guy who kind of mind melds with Nick Saban and does what he's supposed to. Another guy I did want to point out is Terry and Arnold, the corner, who was covering. Yeah, he was covering Evan Stewart on the final play. He has done a great job putting himself in a position, you know, beating out guys that were even more highly recruited than he went and they're all highly recruited at Alabama.

But I just want to point out what he did on the final play. And it's just really smart. He's known as one of their smarter defenders. But he looked at Jimbo Fisher on the sideline right before the final play. And he saw Jimbo Fisher mouthing the words Evan, Evan, Evan, trying to get Haynes King's attention. Haynes King is Texas A&M's quarterback. It was basically that they were running a play that they had scored on earlier in the game.

And there's trips, three receivers to the top of the row, to the quarterback's left side. There's an ISO to the quarterback's right side. they went to the quarterback's left side to score, but Alabama changed the coverage. And they were forcing everything down essentially. And so Jimbo saw that, obviously, from the sideline and knew that Evan Stewart was the only potential receiver that they could hit.

And so he's yelling, or he's saying Evan, Evan, Evan, and Terry and Arnold sees him. And he's like, okay, it's coming to me. And he jumps it more than he would have jumped it before. And it worked. Now, the throw probably wasn't there, but even if it had been, it would have been a tough catch. They threw it Arnold's way a lot. I mean, I think he had eight or nine targets. And part of that is just the way he was covering.

Part of it is staying away from Kool-Aid on the other side. But, yeah, I give him a lot of credit. He had an interception also in the fourth quarter. I mean, he was a guy that made me, okay, I usually don't take notes on non-draft eligible guys just because I only have so much room in my brain for the thousands of players in this draft. But he made me take notes and say, okay, this guy, the way he's playing, that aggressive nature that he has. And yeah, I think a lot of people coming into the year were talking about Eli Ricks,

the LSU transfer, going Alabama. And what I heard from Alabama was, hey, this guy's not even going to start. And so that's why in my cornerback preview in August, Eli Ricks didn't make my top five. He didn't make, you know, like a lot of, because everything I was hearing was there are other guys on the depth chart that are beating him out, being more consistent. And I think, you know, the move will be good for Eli Ricks. I mean, if you're not disciplined in that Sabin scheme, you know, you're not going to play. And I think eventually he'll get things figured out, but it's pretty clear he needs a crash course in that Sabin scheme just until he figures things out. But, yeah, that's, and really, and the safeties, too.

I want to mention the safeties besides Branch, because, I mean, I think DeMarco Helms, Coming into the year was known as a really good run defender, but he's going to give up plays and coverage. And he still will give up a play in coverage, but I think he's playing a lot better with just the spatial relationship of where he needs to be. It's been, I think, a big improvement. So Helms has played, he before the year looked at as maybe a fourth, fifth, sixth round guy. Now he's going to be pushing for top 100 consideration with the way he's playing.

And then, of course, Jordan Battle had the interception late in that game as well. there's a lot to like about that entire safety depth chart that Alabama was rolling out there. DeMarco Helms also, by the way, almost killed me with his helmet at the end of the game. He was very excited. He throws it straight up in the air. I've got a shot of it with my – I tried to do the NFL films, like track the ball in flight. And then I realized afterward, after I saw it land, I'm like, wow, that almost hit me. That was probably not smart to be trying to film that instead of just getting out of the way.

And the other crazy thing at the end was, so I'm walking, you know, I was right in the corner where all the throw happened. I'm walking around and I see Kulay McKinstree come walking by and he goes, what happened? And I'm like, oh, he doesn't know. He's on the other side of the field. He has no idea what went down on that play because they weren't showing replays because all of a sudden the game's over and everybody's just celebrating. But it's funny when you think about that, like a guy who's a very important part of the play has no idea what happens. happened on the play. Yeah, yeah.

That's, because, yeah, he's focused on his receiver. He's not, probably not looking back towards the quarterback because everything happened so quickly on that final play.

So that's, that's funny that he didn't, he didn't know. That's really funny. Yeah, and, you know, I just love good nicknames. It's a great year for nicknames in the SEC.

You've got Kool-Aid McKinstree. You've got Rocket Sanders at Arkansas. You got, you got Squirrel White at Tennessee. So this is, I can't wait to see these guys in the draft. you know, machine with the, how did you get your nickname stories?

Pork Chop, Walmac is still always going to be my favorite, though. Oh, that's, yeah, there's a lot, I mean, even, not even some of the nicknames, but some of the just normal names are great. I mean, Cavassier Smoke, Kentucky. I mean, that's as good as it gets. There's a lot of good ones for sure. Well, we had a, not this past weekend, but there was an East West Bowl, you know, Key and Peel East West Bowl quarterback matchup in the,

NFL with A.A. Ron Rogers, who was in an East West Bowl skit and Bailey Zappy. Like, Bailey Zappy. Now, I don't know if he do Bailey Zappy Western Kentucky or Bailey Zappy Houston Baptist on the East West Bowl. But that's, it was one of those matchups. So, yeah, this is a, this is, it's, it was very nice to see those guys in person up close. Anderson is, is just phenomenal to watch. Like, it is so much fun to see him figure out how to get past whatever an offense throws at him. And it's interesting because he was such a threat. Like that last play, I know we keep talking about it, but in the college football world is a very controversial play,

because you've got the A&M fans killing Jimbo for the play call, but you've also got the A&M fans saying it was past interference. But what you're not figuring, what they're not also including in that is Haynes, King threw the ball probably a touch early because he was terrified of Will Anderson getting him. Now, Will Anderson on that play was being blocked by the right tackle and shipped by either a tight end or a back. And he still was about to get through. Right. And that's what makes him so special is you have to account for him on every single play. And even if we just talked about how even if he's not getting sacks, he's still being disruptive just from a game plan perspective because, like you said, the quarterback knows he's coming. The offense has to make sure that he has help to that

side, whether it is a tight end or a running back sting in the pocket to pass protect, you know, whatever it is. You have to have a plan for a guy like that. You have to game plan for Willie Anderson. And in the NFL, there are definitely guys that you have to do that with, whether it's Nick Bosa, Miles Garrett, T.J. Watt. But, you know, in the college level, It's something that's even tougher to do. And when Will Anderson gets to the NFL, he's going to be that type of guy. He's going to be that pass rush you have to count for in every single play. And that's why, you know, whoever has the first overall pick, good chance we see a quarterback

there. But Will Anderson is going to at least make it a conversation. And he's still the overwhelming favorite to be the first non-quarterback drafted. And another guy I did want to point out after seeing him in person. is Chris Braswell, who's one of the other edge rushers at Alabama. And Anderson and Dallas Turner get all the publicity. But I don't think there's much drop off when it's Anderson and Braswell or Turner and Braswell.

When 31 comes off, which is Anderson and 41 Braswell is on, they're still getting to the quarterback. They're still pressuring that guy. So Braswell is a junior. He redshirted in 2020. you know, he's draft eligible this year. But this may be a situation. And you've seen this in Alabama a lot with like Jonathan Allen,

Dalvin Tomlinson, guys that could come out could be decent draft picks, but then they stay for one more year and they star and then they become a first round type draft pick. Yeah, and he still, he has zero starts to his name. Yeah, because he's coming off the bench. But he's a guy that last year we saw flashes. we saw a little bit of it. And then this year, I think he's getting better and better with each game. He's got a sack each of the last three weeks.

Another guy that when he's out there, he's being disruptive. He's living on the other side of the line of scrimmage. And you see the speed. You see a guy that the closing burst is really impressive, especially a guy that's 6, 3, 245 pounds. So I mean, you get almost guaranteed that, you know, Sabin's going to have the full court press saying, okay, well, as soon as, you know, Will's going to leave.

And you're going to step up and, excuse me, you and Dallas next year, just to, you know, make sure he doesn't go anywhere. But to your point, he is three years removed from high school. He is technically eligible. So a name that needs to at least be on the radar. Yeah, because it could be situational. He could blow up. I remember Kevin Dodd at Clemson a few years ago, had the great college football playoff, wasn't going to leave. And then it was like, yeah, it's probably time to go.

So, and I think he wound up being an early second round draft pick. So we'll see what happens with him. Steen is another one I wanted to point out the Alabama left tackle who was at Vanderbilt. Alabama, the spot recruiting out of the portal for positions of need, they have not been able to just plug and play on their offensive line necessarily. Last year they had some issues at right tackle. It took them a little while to figure out what they wanted to do. This year, they're still not perfect on the offensive line.

This is not the 2020 offensive line or, the 2018 offensive line. But Steen has solidified a lot of things. And I think he's one that he played at Vanderbilt, and now he's basically going to grad school at Alabama, except the master's degrees in football. We've seen Alabama really be smart about this. I mean, last year bringing in Jameson Williams,

bringing in Henry Toto. I mean, two of the most impactful transfers you could possibly have. and we're seeing it again this year. And the offensive line has not been a strength, like you mentioned. I think maybe Javian Cohen, the left guard, I think probably has been the most consistent of that group. But it's been good to see. And now, big question, okay, as we look forward, Brace Young, is he going to be ready to, that he didn't, I don't know if you saw this from the press box.

I don't think he took any warm-up tosses. No, he did not. We were watching very closely. He did not even throw in warm-ups. And from what Sabin said, Monday of last week, Thursday of last week, after the game, and then yesterday, they are approaching this very carefully

because the thought is if you do too much, it's an AC joint sprain. If you do too much with it, you could do more permanent damage or longer lasting damage. And their idea is if they wait long enough, they can get him back and he'll be able to just play the rest of the season.

but if they bring him back too early, they might lose him for longer. So it's a tight rope they're walking. That said, Jalen Milrow did not play that well. Now, he played really well against Arkansas, but he struggled against Texas A&M,

which is a much more athletic front seven than Arkansas. They were all over him. Well, the turnovers. I mean, that was the big... Killers. That was the difference, really, in terms of the offense,

not being able to move the football consistently. and I mean, that's a young player who is still figuring things out where, you know, Brayshong obviously is the veteran. Now, going to next week in Knoxville against a Tennessee team that just blew the pants off of LSU this past weekend in Baton Rouge. This is going to be a really interesting game. And whether Breitjong is in there or not, it's going to be a fascinating matchup of teams that are really talented. And hopefully we see Brichung out there because you want to see best first best. Plus, it would be awesome to see Hennon Hooker go up against

Bryce Young, those two quarterbacks, who are two of the better quarterbacks that are going to be in next year's draft. It would be a lot of fun. But you think about that environment in Knoxville, what it's going to be like for that team. I mean, this is going to be a really fun matchup. It will.

Here's the thing. If Young doesn't play, this is going to be a really interesting game because... I think at full strength, Alabama is still better than Tennessee. Tennessee might be able to beat him with a perfect game if Alabama is at full strength. But if Young's not playing, there's a real good chance Tennessee wins. And if Alabama plays the way they did against Texas A&M,

they will lose to Tennessee by two or three touchdowns. I mean, that was as bad as I've seen an Alabama team play and still win. And I was shocked that they managed to pull it out because they were just mistake after mistake. and it wasn't just the fumbles, but I'm not used to seeing that from a Nick Saving coach team. So we'll see if they get that cleaned up. And for Tennessee against LSU, I think the most encouraging thing for me was Henning Hooker,

it was not a great game for him. It was an okay game. But I thought he missed several throws that he should have made, but they still blew him out. I mean, it was not even, I don't think it was a point in that game where you thought, this is going to be close or, well, maybe if LSU scores a touchdown here, maybe.

It was 10 to nothing four minutes into the game, and it just felt like, okay, well, this is over. And so Tennessee, they're not at full strength either. They're missing. Cedric Tillman, their stud receiver. He made me back this week. Which would be great. But seeing Brew McCoy, who, you know, top of crew at USC, he's really coming into his own. He had a career game against LSU.

He's a, he's really, the talent we heard. about, he's really starting to show it. That's been a lot of fun to watch. Yeah, and Jalen Hyatt's the other one who's been very good for them. Speed, speed, speed with him. Yeah, Brumacoy's such an interesting one because remember he was committed to USC, he signed with Texas, he goes to Texas, he transfers to USC, there was stuff at USC. I think he was accused of something, cleared of it, leaves again, and then it's just

Now he's finally showing what what everybody expected when he was a five-star recruit. And boy, they needed it too. Oh, yeah. They needed it with Cedric Tillman out because Cedlman, high ankle sprained against Kent State. And, you know, the thought was, here's the first thousand-yard receiver at Tennessee since Justin Hunter. If you take him out of the offense, will the offense still move? Yeah, yep, still moves really great. So imagine with him back in there.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, they have talent. The running back was outstanding. He did a great job. The offensive line is playing well. So that Tennessee offense is more than just Henan Hooker. McCoy, a guy that size playing with that type of speed, not only can he beat you with that physicality,

he's got a stiff arm, he'll break tackles, but he's got some speed to him as well. So absolutely, that Tennessee offense will put up points. And it'll be awesome to watch that Tennessee offense go up We got this Alabama defense, which, you know, most of the inconsistencies for Alabama's been on offense, but on defense, you know, we just got done talking about all those guys, a lot of future pros. Seeing how Hennon Hooker handles the moment, you know, going up against the best defense he's going to face all season. Well, maybe Georgia has something to say with that.

We'll see. But it's going to be a really fun environment to watch, to scout a game to see how these guys do in the big stage like that. Yeah, and it's going to feel like a monster stage. I mean, there'll be more people in Neeland Stadium than they'll ever see in an NFL stadium. And they'll be drunker than the people they'll see in an NFL stadium. So it'll be fun. Handicap it for me. Let's just say that Brayshung does not play.

What's the line on that game? Okay. I would say if Bryce Young doesn't play, I would I would favor, I would actually favor Tennessee by three in that game. I was going to say like two and a half. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I'm with you. Because I don't think Tennessee is going to score as prolifically as they have against these other teams, but they will score. And Alabama will be incredibly conservative on offense if Jalen Miller has to start.

And so that's going to give Tennessee the ball more, get more cracks at that defense. Right. And if Bryce Young does play, there's still some unknown there coming off the injury. You know, he hasn't thrown the ball in two weeks. What's, you know, so even if he does play, it's not going to. to be Alabama favored by 10. You know, it's not going to be that type of line. I do think if Bryce Young plays and his arms feeling okay,

that they can move the ball pretty well. I mean, you watch Florida just move the ball up and down the field on them. Yeah. And Anthony Richardson is not anywhere near as polished a quarterback as Bryce Young. But Florida could run and could throw, and that's where Tennessee gets in trouble. If you're one-dimensional against Tennessee, they'll shut you down. That's what happened to LSU is.

Jaden Daniels can run, he can escape, he can keep some plays alive. But if you force him to be a dropback thrower, you're not getting much out of that. So that's what Tennessee erased LSU's run game and forced Jaden Daniels to beat them with his arm. And he couldn't. Bryce Young will beat you with his arm. And they do have a prolific run game at Alabama. Yeah, and it's interesting watching Alabama games, seeing them look a little mortal. You know, against Texas, against, and obviously A&M, there are certain circumstances with Bryce Young out.

But it should be another one against Tennessee where it's not going to be Alabama just blowing this team out. It should be a really interesting game that we'll see how coaching factors into it. We'll see how some of these players that we've been talking up, how they factor into it. So it'll be a good one Saturday. Yeah, it's really interesting to see how this has worked with Alabama because five years ago, this doesn't have, they don't look mortal. They just, they have the depth that if something goes wrong, they have another person just ready to plug in.

Like when Brian Branch went out against Arkansas, they wouldn't have dropped off a bit. But with Kirby Smart at Georgia, he's taking two or three players who would have gone to Alabama every year. Jimbo Fisher is taking a player or two that would have gone to Alabama every year. Billy Napier at Florida, the plan is to take a guy or two who would have gone to Alabama every year. And you do that over and over and over again and your depth of roads.

Suddenly you are not so much deeper. Your backups are not better than everybody else's starters. And that's where Alabama's probably finding themselves right now, even though their starters still probably better than almost everybody else's. Dan, let's talk about the guys that are already in the NFL. This has been a good year for rookie corners. And Sauce Gardner getting his first interception this week. week. So it feels like a good time to talk about the rookie corners.

Yeah, it's great. We've encountered it up this morning, which is kind of surprised me. We have 12 rookies with at least one interception. And most of those guys are our corners. And so seeing Tariq Wollin with three interceptions now, I still just, and I tweeted about this over the weekend, shocked. This guy fell to the fifth round. I fell out of the top of 150 picks. This guy is 6-4, 205 pounds. We,

you know, he was on Bruce Feldman's Freaks list. We heard, you know, watching him on tape. You see the speed, speed, speed,

former wide receiver. But it goes to the combine and he lives up to it. It runs a 4-26. He has a 42-inch vertical. Somehow the NFL lets this guy fall out of the fifth round. And it's just really,

really confusing. This is the type of guy NFL teams gush over the raw tools. Right, they overdraft. Yeah. Yeah. 99% of the time they overdraft him in the top 100 picks.

I think he finished like 80 for me on my top 100. Like, I mean, he belongs in the first three rounds, but I don't know if I could justify a top 50 pick on him. But he's, and he's been playing, you see some of the undisciplined play with him. I think he's got like six penalties so far. You know, he's giving up plenty of catches.

But he's also making plays. And did you see him almost tracked down Tassum Hill? Yes. That long, I mean, it just looked like everyone else was kind of jogging where, and they weren't, they're running as fast as they can. Meanwhile, Tariq Wullen, just unbelievable speed, almost gets, he reaches him before he gets to the end zone. It doesn't, he's not able to tackle him,

but before Hill goes into the end zone, but the speed is just unbelievable with him. Yeah, UTSA's been putting out some good players of late. I mean, this is, now why am I blanking the defensive end for the Saints? Marcus Davenport. Davenport. And so this is, I have a feeling,

we're going to see more of this from UTSA. But yeah, it is amazing how much these guys have been able to plug in. Now, Kyrie Elam was not supposed to be playing as much as he is, but he's in there because of an injury. Jack Jones has been really good. I would say that besides, I think Sauce has probably been the best rookie corner so far. Tariq Woolen certainly has an argument.

Jack Jones, he might have the best argument of all. He's playing, you know, so, Often we judge rookies based off of just production. You know, who has the most sacks? Who's got the most tackles? Who's got the most interceptions? But down to down, snap to snap, Jack Jones has been the best,

maybe the best rookie corner we've had so far this year. It's been really impressive to see him go out there and cover space. He's doing a really nice job, understanding route concepts. You could tell he puts it in the time during the week to understand what the offense is trying to do. and he for a guy that's not big. I mean, he is 5-9, but he plays with the confidence that he's 6-3. It's been a lot of fun to watch Jack Jones.

He's, you know, we saw that a little bit at USC. He feels like 10 years ago now, but he got into that academic trouble, goes to Arizona State, kind of rebuilds himself there in that program. You know, talking to some people close to that program before the draft, you know, guys like, you know, Marvin Lewis and, Antonio Pierce and, you know, guys that were around those guys at Arizona State on Herm Edward's staff, they all said a lot of the same things about him was just, you know, he needs to learn how to be a professional, but talent-wise, this guy's it. He has everything that you possibly want,

except for maybe just the size. So I thought he went maybe a little bit earlier than we thought. He went in the fourth round, but Bill Belichick obviously knew what he was doing. Yeah, and the ball skills that you saw in that Lions game, he was a, I mean, he could have played receiver in college. I don't, I don't think it was a question because of his size kind of pushed him toward corner anyway, but he was a very good receiver at Long Beach Polly High, home of the Jack Rabbits, the school where Snoop Dogg and Cameron Diaz once attended together at the same time. But yeah, he just, he's one of those. he's just an all-around football player. It's like I talk about with those safeties, I always bring up Jaquan Brisker,

Jalen Petrie. Just a football player. Like if, and with Belichick, and we saw it years ago with Troy Brown, but like if they needed a slot receiver suddenly and they were in a roster crunch, I bet Belichick would put a package in for Jack Jones and slot receiver.

Yeah. Heck yeah. I mean, it's just the days of Troy Brown You know, playing both ways. And like you said, just a football player, a guy that you know you can trust him to make plays. He's got those instincts that sometimes you don't always, you know, find the words to explain it, but you just know it when you see it, when you see him perform on the field. And yeah, I think Jack Jones certainly has that. I mean, here are the rookie corners with at least one interception.

Jereke Wollins got three. Jack Jones has two. Jalen Watson has the one, which is obviously that big one. Sauce Gardner, Kair Elam got his first. Stingley got his first over the weekend. Kobe Durant with the Rams and then Duran Bland with the Cowboys.

So we've seen, and then the non-corner cornerbacks that have their interceptions. Devin Lloyd has two. Jalen Petri is two. Roddy Thomas has won. Trouon Walker. I think that's it. So, yeah, it's been interesting to see

some of these corners play well. Martin Emerson for the Browns, I thought, has played really well. Denzel Ward's been a little up and down. Gregory Newsom's been okay. But Martin Emerson, teams are throwing a lot at him, you know, avoiding Denzel Ward and Newsom going after the rookie. And Emerson, for the most part, it's been up to the task. He's got beat a few times.

I know, you know, Garrett Wilson got him rookie on rookie in the Jets game. But Martin Emerson, I think, has played. He's been up to the task for what the Browns have asked them to do. And if you like Mississippi State Corners, like Martin Emerson. Get ready for Manuel Forbes next year. So, SCC, tied

to the SEC record for most pick sixes in a career with four. Emmanuel Forbes has, it is, he's a magnet for pick sixes. And why, why you would ever throw

an out against him mystifies me. And I, I think it may have been Jack Jones who said it, yeah, when they played the Packers, he's like,

it's disrespectful to throw him out against me. He was offended. He genuinely offended. And Forbes is, he's got a little that honey badger to him where he'll he'll freelance a little bit you know he'll do maybe not it might not play technically sound all the time but just because he trust he understands what he needs to do to bait the throw he understands the spacing and what he needs to do that where he can make up that space still take the ball away so yeah Emmanuel Forbes is a fun player

that it's funny the honey badger i brought up jaylon petri and juquan brusker that's who i should have mentioned as as the football player just the guy who yeah makes plays and it's funny how our way of looking at these things have changed because we were talking about brian branch earlier and i was talking about how he and mink of you know minka fitzpatrick helped kind of design that position i remember when when tyrant matthew was at lSU and we were like well i don't know how good of a just cover corner here he's not a lockdown corner and it's like what do you mean He's the antidote for all these offenses that are proliferating everywhere in the sport. And we're just like, well, I don't know if he could, you know, play one-on-one on an island.

It's hard to believe that was like a dozen years ago now. I think it's a dozen, 10 season maybe. But, I mean, it was, yeah, he's not the biggest guy. You know, he's not a guy that you think of as a, as a, you know, this unbelievable tester. But he just goes out there and plays, make plays. I mean, it's, whether he's lined up in the nickel, whether he's lined up as a safety. I mean, he just, whatever you ask him to do, he'll go out there and make plays and you start to, you know, he's a good, you know, for me personally, it was a good learning experience. As, you know, I'm coming up, I'm learning how to scout and what to look for and certain traits.

And at some point, you just have to ask yourself, can this guy play football? You know, I just, you, it's easy to overthink some of these guys, but you just need to focus on, hey, can he play football? and he did it in the SEC week and week out. You know, obviously there was more going on with him with the suspension and everything like that. But, yeah, he's more than lived up to, you know, what we thought he could be in the NFL. All right. Let's talk about a couple rookie offensive linemen that we've mentioned before. Maybe not in the best light.

But I think it's time to give them their flowers as they've improved as the seasons going on. We mentioned Colestrange week one. Cole Strait needs to be doing great. This may be another case. Bill Belchick just knows a lot more about football than the rest of us. He's the guard out of UT Chattanooga who the Patriots took in the first round and everybody's like, wait, why couldn't you have gotten him in the second? And he's doing well.

He's refusing to wear gloves. He's wearing the old school John Hanna face mask. Like, it's crazy. Him and Zion Johnson are the only rookie offensive linemen. who have yet to be flagged. Wow. And that says something. You know, guys that, especially, you know, Zion Johnson was a five-year player,

actually a former FCS guy like Cole Strange, but, you know, he was well-seasoned, ready to step in, plug-and-play guy. Cole Strange, a little more of a question mark just because he's coming from the FCS level and the speed of the game. But, yeah, there have been a few hiccups, but he's played really well. you could make an argument that he has been the best interior offensive line rookie so far this year through five games. And moving outside. So Evan Neal, and this is not a place you want to be, is Monday Night Football against Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence.

This is not a place you want to be as a rookie tackle. And it showed, it was not pretty. and that's probably what most of our, you know, exposure to Evan Neal this season until you saw them in London when they were again on the stage by themselves. Guess what this guy's doing pretty well? Well, and the game after the Cowboys was the Bears.

And if you need an opponent to get you back on track, the Bears will help you do that. He didn't give them a single pressure against the Bears. And then, yeah, like you said, in London this past weekend. He did give up one sack, but he was at least, you see progress. You see him settling down, not being as maybe frenetic as he was in the first few games. So he's a guy that's learning on the fly. This is a player who was always bigger than everybody, always just better going back to high school and IMG Academy and then he goes to Alabama.

And there's going to be a learning curve for a lot of these offensive linemen. Rarely do we see the Roshan Slaters, you know, the guys that just step in and are just all pros from the get-go. Those types of guys will kind of spoil us a little bit when Evan Neal, let's be honest, is more the norm in terms of it's going to take some time. It can be quantu, same type of deal. These guys, it's not like they should have been drafted top 10. It's just going to take a little bit of time for them to settle in, you know, take their medicine, learn on the fly, and they'll be better for it. So let's talk about the weekend ahead in college football. We've mentioned Tennessee, Alabama, which is going to be a great one.

There's three undefeated-on-defeated Power 5 matchups this weekend. So you've got Tennessee, Alabama. You also have Penn State at Michigan. You also have Oklahoma State at TCU. All of these are going to be really good games. Tennessee Alabama, there's so much intrigue because of Bryce Young. Will he play? Will he not play?

But the Michigan Penn State game feels like a limb. game in the playoff race. And this will be a good one for the folks scouting, too. Mazzie Smith's one. Then, you know, top of Bruce Feldman's Freaks list, we said, okay, how do they deal with losing Aidan Hutchinson and Ajaobo? Well, Mazzzy Smith plays a different position on the defensive line, but he is definitely shown that Michigan did not have an empty cupboard on the defensive line.

Right. This is going to, it's fair to say, I think, that this game could be one. in the trenches, which I can say that a lot of big 10 games. But I think with Mazi Smith controlling things in the middle, because as good as Penn State's offense is, it's still Sean Clifford out there. You know, it's still a passing game that, you know, I don't think you'd consider explosive, that there's question marks there. And so they're going to rely on the run game.

And Michigan can be really good stopping the run at every level of that defense. And it starts with Mazzu Smith in the middle, who I think is really, instead of being hype, I think we're seeing the production on the field, which has been awesome to see. But Penn State can play. I mean, we've seen it throughout the year. I mean, some of those games, the Purdue game was a little bit closer than you'd like to see, but they've got talent on that team. And so check out for the people who haven't seen them yet, check out left tackle Foshanoo for Penn State. If there's a potential riser in this draft, it's Foshanu, who is a first year starter. He has a chance to be in that OT1 conversation.

Still young, just a red shirt sophomore. We'll see what he plans to do. But this will be a good matchup for him going up against a Michigan defensive line that has, they don't have an Aidan Hutchinson. I don't even know if they have an Ajabo, but they are deep. on the Mike Morris, they've got like three or four guys that can get after you. So scouts will be focused on the trenches, in the trenches for sure on that one. And a guy that we won't be talking about here for two more years probably,

but watch Nick Singleton when he gets the ball for Penn State. Yeah, he's special. Five-star guy living up to that five-star status. Yeah, it's a fun one. At TCU, Oklahoma State should be quite a bit of fun too. How about quick Johnston? The game he had. The catch he made at the end of that game was unbelievable at the end of the Kansas game.

I think that, well, there was a lot of question marks about Johnson coming into that game because in the first, what, four games, he had 12 catches. He had more drops than touchdown catches, three drops to zero touchdown catches. And this is, there's a lot of hype. He was number 28 in my early top 50. so a guy that considered in the first round conversation had not lived up to it. It's not like TCU's offense has been bad. They've been pretty good.

Awesome, actually. Right. And so it's just, okay, well, what's going on? Why hasn't he been more part of this offense? Well, that changed against Kansas. It was a 14 catches, 206 yards, and then that touchdown that you mentioned, not only does he track the ball over a shoulder like that, but it was past interference.

He had a plate through contact. bring the ball in, adjust to it, and still get his feet in bounds. So Quentin Johnson is a really unique player. He's not, he's not shifty, but he makes the first man miss almost every single time he gets the ball. It's really fun to watch him. Sometimes it's just through play strength. Other times it's he just has a feel for it, whether he's doing a little spin move, whether, you know, he's making a quick cut.

He's very elusive and has a good feel for that. So of the 206 receiving yards he had against Kansas, half, we're after the catch. So there's a lot to like about what he brings. He's just a really unique athlete at 6-4, 215 pounds. So the big question is, okay, Max Duggan, can you get him to football consistently? And credit to him,

he's playing really, really improved compared to what we saw last year. I don't know how much of that is the new coaching staff. I don't know how much of that is just, you know, he's finally showing the promise that he flashed earlier in his career. But, you know, I think, every year we find a guy like this to compare to Taysam Hill. He reminds me a lot of Taysam Hill, though.

Because he can throw the ball when you want him to, but as an athlete, he's big, he's physical, and he's fast. And so there's a lot of parallels between what Max Duggan gives you and what Taysom Hill can give you. And like Taysam Hill, very good instincts on the read option. He knows exactly how to pull, when to let the back keep. another guy to look at everybody enjoying watching Rodrigo Rodriguez from Oklahoma State

Brock Martin, the defensive end from Oklahoma State, is in his 94th year of college football. I think when he gets the NFL, he will be 37 years old. But he will probably give you a few good years in the NFL. This guy, again, just a football player kind of guy. Does he even get drafted? I don't know where he would. would wind up, but probably not.

He's a PFA. He'll make a roster and he will play for somebody. Yeah, he's a PFA. He's a little under side. I mean, about six, two and a half, 250. Yeah. Yeah, but he's got 33 inch arms. He's, he's got a motor on him. And he'll be, I think he turns 24 in March. So not, that's super old, but yeah, a little, a little bit older than you'd like. But yeah, that Oklahoma State team in general, Texas Tep stayed around a little bit, but Oklahoma State eventually pulled away. So that Oklahoma State, are they the favorite in the Big 12, maybe? I think they are at this point.

Now, I think the winner of this game will be the favorite. I think that's the – because – well, Texas now seems to be rounding into form. You saw Quinn Ewer's come back for Texas, who's a – you know, we'll be talking about him this time next year quite a bit. but now Oklahoma's bad. So I don't know exactly how much 49-0-0 against Oklahoma tells us, but it looks like Texas is pretty talented. And that's an offensive line. We're actually going to be talking about Texas offensive linemen here in two years.

Well, and they made such a... For the first time in forever. Yeah, because they needed to, obviously. They made such an emphasis to recruit those guys. And it's starting to show. So, yeah, I mean, the Red River rivalry is never, I don't know, it just felt one-sided from the get-go. And that was kind of sad to see. I mean, Oklahoma, any chance Brent Venables is in danger losing his job?

It could have been he being one of them? I don't think he's in trouble yet. If they're just pathetic the rest of the season, maybe. But if Dylan Gabriel, their quarterback comes back, it will not look as sad. Part of it is their offense just can't do anything without Gabriel. Right. When Lincoln Riley left, obviously Caleb Williams left with him. And then they just didn't really have anybody waiting.

So they grabbed Gabriel out of the transfer portal. But the other quarterbacks they had were not really ready. I'll be curious, Nick Evers, the freshman from Texas, if this continues, if Gabriel can't come back, because he took a pretty nasty shot and got a concussion, do they start getting Nick Evers ready to be the guy? Because that was the plan eventually. So maybe you do that now. But the part that bothers me more watching them play is Venables is a defensive guy. No, there was not a lot of talent on that defense.

Like we're not talking about those guys as draft prospects. But they're just in the wrong place. They're not fitting the run properly. They're passing, you have DBs passing receivers into zones that don't exist where there's no player behind them. Right. And that needs to, that needs to be fixed. And that's something that Brent Venables can. fix you can if you can't do anything else you can put them in the right place and they're just

not right now part of me wants to see uh because you know tc u's offensive coordinator doing a nice job riley maybe bumping himself up a little bit yeah maybe uh oklahoma goes back to that riley well uh i don't know i don't know if they can pull that off i think the fan base might revolt in that at that point what what about uh matt rule who is now going to be looking for a job probably at the college level. So Matt Rule will be highly coveted by any of the jobs that are open. Though I still think Wisconsin is angling toward just bumping Jim Leonard up. Oh, yeah.

But Matt Rule may think he can do better than the jobs that are open and may want to sit for a year, may want to do TV. He'd be good on TV. But, well, so there's, the money that he's going to be receiving is unbelievable from the Panther. They gave him a seven-year contract. He's out after, what, three years. So he's he doesn't have to worry about a paycheck. I think it would make a lot of sense. Yeah, sit back, kind of relax, reset things.

And yeah, you could be really choosy about your next job. I think he'd be really good at Nebraska, but I think he probably feels like something that is not as tough of a job as Nebraska. Right. He's going to come open. Now, Auburn's going to come open. That's a job where you can win a national title. But I'm not sure he wants.

You have to have a certain kind of temperate. to be a head coach in the SEC at a place that expects national titles. And let's be honest, I mean, I did not see him taking the Baylor job. You know, that kind of felt like it was out of left field. So, you know, who knows how he kind of looks at things. And, you know, it's Matt rules a little bit of wildcard there. That'll be interesting. But yeah, it's Carolina.

Obviously, not a surprise, but they're going to be entering the offseason with, you know, we'll see what they do with the GM, Scott Fitterer, one in the second year as GM. I don't know if they'll make a change there. It's a organization that needs to turn the page and starts a quarterback. I think if you're Matt Ruhle, that might be your one regret. Maybe not one. I'm sure one of plenty.

But the main regret is they had 24 draft picks in three years where Matt Ruhl kind of ran things. And he ran things with all the control he had. they drafted one quarterback, and that was Matt Corral this past year who, you know, hurt his foot and he's not even in the conversation this year. They weren't picking him to start this year. It wasn't, they weren't picking him as a franchise quarterback. And you're right. I mean, that's been the problem.

Yeah, I mean, the swings that you took were, you know, Baker Mayfield and Sam Donald. I mean, you have to, you know, I think part of it is he had a seven-year contract. He felt like he didn't need to, you know, make a huge splash on one of these quarterbacks early, but, you know, a couple, two years ago, passing on Justin Fields and Mac Jones or, you know, the year before. So, I mean, he was, I think, not going after one of these quarterbacks and trying to groom him. That was something that I think was maybe one of his regrets. He never got the opportunity to do during his stinty after. And that may be a blind spot from college, because if you look, they never had great, I mean, he had, he had PJ at Temple, but they never really had great quarterback.

at either place. They had good teams, but they didn't have that special quarterback. And to win at the highest level in college, you do need that special quarterback. Right. And so that's something that he's got to think about. If he wants to come back at a level

where you compete for national championships, it's actually kind of the same thing. It's you've got to get some five-star, four-star type quarterback recruits and then groom them and develop them because at that level, it's very similar to the NFL. Right. Well, this is real quick.

Last thing before we sign off, this is the update. There are, what, five teams that are one and four right now. And in the lead for the top pick, Carolina, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Washington. And obviously, Vegas and Pittsburgh, they're not drafting a quarterback. Carolina, Detroit, Washington, three teams that very well could be drafting a quarterback. So there will be some competition there when we talk about the top quarterbacks and C. J.J. Stroud and Bryce Young and Will Levis. There will be a little bit of, you know, jockeying for position with those top picks between these teams that could be in the quarterback market.

Trade down, take hand and hooker. Thank me later. That's all I got to say about that. Big audition on Saturday. against Alabama's defense. It'll be awesome to watch and see how it plays out. I cannot wait. Dane, it'll be fun,

and I can't wait to break it down with you this time next week. Looking forward to it. This was the Athletic Football Show.