The Bobby Bones Show - 25W: Most Pointless Win Streaks of All-Time + Vanderbilt HC Clark Lea on the Programs Foundation & Expectations for 2023 + The Palray is Back! + 3 Vanderbilt Players Join Bobby & Eddie on the Field!

Episode Date: August 25, 2023

With the Ravens preseason win streak ending earlier this week, Kickoff Kevin asks Bobby if this is one of the greatest win streaks of all-time or if it is one of the most pointless. The guys went to Vanderbilt and sat down with head coach Clark Lea, QB AJ Swann, LB CJ Taylor and P Matt Hayball to talk about the program, building off a successful 2022 and much more! Plus, Bobby's parlay is officially back! Download the DraftKings Sportsbook App today: https://dkng.co/bobbysports   If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-877-770-STOP (7867) (LA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visit OPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA).   21+ (18+ WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA/MI/NJ/ NY/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. N/A in NH/OR/ON. New customers only. Valid 1 per new customer. Min. $5 deposit. Min $5 wager. $200 issued as eight (8) $25 free bets. Ends 9/19/22. See http://draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.       Follow the Show: @25Whistles Follow the Crew: @MrBobbyBones @ProducerEddie @KickoffKevin @MikeDeestro @ReidYarberry  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

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Yes. Nice. This is 25 whistles. Presented by Draft King Sportsbook and official sports betting partner of college football. Download the Draft King's app. Use the code Bobby Sports and get in on the action. We got a good one. Coming up, head football coach of the Vanderbilt Commodores,

former defensive coordinator for Notre Dame, Clark Leake. We talk about the pressure he's constantly under. I was straight up like, hey, so is it harder to get in here so you can't get as many good players? What a great question. Because Vanderbilt's hard to get into.

A lot of smart kids there. No way you didn't go there? I never even thought about going there. Because you weren't smart enough to think it? Yeah, to me, it's like the Harvard. It's the Yale. It's the Vanderbilt. Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. It's like Ivy League school in the South. Yeah, not for me. I think my favorite question was, do you ever just look in the mirror? I can't believe I'm here. That's a good one about me. So we'll talk to Clark Lee coming up and then three players from the football team who joined us.

AJ Swan, quarterback, linebacker, C.J. Taylor joined us for a little bit. Punner. It's fun. We went over there. We made a show of too much access as well. And I've hurt myself. But every episode I hurt myself. You hurt yourself, really?

For real this time? Well, I didn't injure myself or hurt myself. Yeah, me too. My leg. My right leg hurts. I wiped out. You did. I did. I thought you were joking, but you weren't.

No, I wiped out. It sucked out. It sucked. Okay, let's go over and get in the tittle tattle. It's time for the stupidest name ever. It's the tittle tattle with kickoff. All right, the other day we were talking about athletes changing their last name. So if you could change your last name, something unique, different, what would it be? I'm a little bit obsessed with the name from Rob Deardock's Fantasy Factory. And he does ridiculous this too.

but her name is Chanel West Coast. I don't even know much about her. I just think that name is so funny. That's pretty cool. Because their real name is like Charlie or Charlotte or something, but in their last name is a real normal name. I looked her up, but it's Chanel West Coast. So I think I'd be like, Bobby Southeast.

So dumb. But you already have a cool name. Like you already have bones. The question was changed her name. Yeah, it can't be bone. I know that, but come on, go along here. I'd be Bobby Southeast. Bobby Southeast.

Yeah, or Bobby Bobby, yeah, they're like Bobby Arkansas, something shit like. Bobby Arkansas. That's a redneck right there. I love that. What would yours be?

I guess, spaghetti? Eddie spaghetti. Right? I mean, that would just make sense. Is that like a cartoon? You? I don't know,

now you got me thinking like regionally, California, Kevin. No, you don't have to do that. You can pick whatever you want. It's a last name, not a first name. Kevin from California, there you go. No, you don't. I know.

I'm just. From California. California would be. You're talking with a bunch of guys, too, who have fake names. Like, Bones is my real last name. And you don't even really go by your real last name, although it does get brought up sometimes. It's there. Mike D.D. has a whole different last name.

Yep, not distro. It's not Destro. Kickoff is not Kevin's first name. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Could be, though. Yeah, yeah. So I'm going Bobby Southeast. All right.

All right, what else? All right, Notre Dame and Navy are kicking off in Ireland this weekend. If you could watch Arkansas playing any other international. country, where would it be? Well, would you want to see them in another country? That wasn't the question. No, I'm saying that's probably why it's tough to even think of one. I wouldn't want to, but I would just go like full culture shock and go Japan.

Wow. They would be like, what is happening? Oh, my gosh. I'm just picturing all these rednecks. Your stepdad and Japan. And camouflage. What the. Yeah.

And all the different kind of Kit Katz they have over there? They have a lot of flavors. This is a green tea Kit Kat? Yeah. What on. earth. How long they had these over here? We didn't get them in America. We need to get them shipped back over there. I was talking

to one of my buddies about a golf line and I thought it would be funny to do, there were two versions of it and he had these ideas as well. Like a Hunter's Orange Golf line for hunters who also play golf, but most of the stuff's like Hunter's Orange. It's actually not bad.

I've never seen Hunter's Orange Golf. And the other one was, and he said, what about a, for people who smoke a lot of weed, like a like a marijuana golf line. I was like, yeah, I would call it 420. Nice. Hilarious.

Nice. I don't know if those exist. And so you're talking about leaves all over? What? Marijuana leaves? It can be whatever. Okay. But I would call the, but 4-F-R-E, 4.

20. The brand would be 4-20. Nice. You know how some shirts have like little patterns of things. You look closely and it's a martini drink or something. So it would be a lot of that. It would be like a joint. It could be a weed leaf.

It could be Bob Marley. Smoke. Whatever. But it would be. like that. Like, Hunter Orange. I don't know what I would call that one yet. But 420 can't be immediately.

I was like 420, F-O-R-E-20. I don't even smoke weed. I've never smoked weed. So Hunter Orange, Hunter Orange, though, would be cool with like a shoot. Because, you know, you shoot a score. And you shoot when you hunt. There's something there with shoot.

Like shoot under par. You know what I mean? Shooting under, shooting. Oh, let's think of it. There's something there with shoot. Let's think about this. We come out with our own 25 whistles golf line. We steal this whole idea.

Well, I mean, no, I was part of the creation of the idea. Yeah, but whoever your buddy was you were talking to, they're out. If we come up with the name, they're out. You're out. Sorry, man. We came up with shoot under par. Thanks, man. Shoot under 70.

Antlers. We're looking for the parallels between golf and rifle and hunting. Driver. Sticks. Driver. Grip. Grip it. Deer stand, tree stand.

Pist. Morning. Bullseye. Early morning, due. Yeah. Deer corn. We'll come back to it. Okay.

I like that, though. Deer stand. Next question. Okay, after being named the start of this week, what is your over-under on Baker-Mayfield's starting games this year? Oh, here we go. Unrealistic. Go ahead, Vance.

All the games. Exactly. Every game. This is a pro-Baker-Mayfield podcast. I'm a massive Baker-Mayfield fan. Let's go, Baker-Myfield. Let's start them all. Let's win it.

It's one of championships, what I say? Eddie, you want the first four games? He's filling it, yeah, please, who are they playing? At the Vikings versus the Bears. Loss. Win, win. Versus the Eagles. Win. At the Saints. Win.

Ooh, I have lost, win, lost, loss. You have Vikings loss. Yep. Bears win. Yep. But you have them losing against the Eagles and the Saints. Yeah, man. Be careful with the Saints.

Carr? You got Derek Carr there. Do you see that Instagram how ripped he is? No. He had sleevel shirt and he had a helmet on? Okay, I haven't seen that, but did you see the Kyler Murray one that where he's wearing like, it looks like a sports bra? His belly is sticking out. The longest yard, too, I'm going 16 games.

Only not 17 because they probably get hurt one game. Everybody messes a game. Stop, be realistic. And the buck's win 10. Wow. This is a pro-Baker-Mafel podcast. I heard that. I heard that.

All right. What else? Last one, the commanders ended the Ravens NFL record preseason win. at 24 games the other night. Is it the most pointless win streak of all time or one of the most impressive? I'm going to tell you this. They play that game hard.

Both those teams played that game so hard. It was actually a preseason game. Everybody wasn't playing, but it looked like it mattered. It was awesome. It's not pointless because even if you do something pointless, you can't do it 24 times in a row.

It was like last year when I went on like a 12 or 13 week winning streak. I could never do that again. Everything just worked out in the right way. I got very lucky. Same thing with the... the preseason games. It's not pointless.

I think it's pretty cool. But there's, we talk about it. We've talked about it for three years, four years. So there's something to it. Like it's fun, but I'm not going to say pointless.

Good for them. I looked up some of the other streaks, longest streaks. Patriots, 21 game win streak in the early 20s. That's crazy. Yeah, it was awesome. That's a lot.

You remember that? And that's winning the Super Bowl. Yeah. Like it's leading up to the Super Bowl, winning the Super Bowl, and then all into the next season. UCLA basketball won seven straight titles. I'm convinced.

that they were the only ones that had a goal. All the other teams had to come to their house to play. When was that? It was John Wooden, you know, Lu Alcindor before Creaves. Oklahoma Football won 47 straight games. Think about that.

That's insane. That's four seasons. That's pressure. After 20s, every game's like, oh my goodness. The Lakers, 33 game regular season win streak, which is pretty crazy. So there you go. You know, though, back to preseason, though,

I really thought that, that most teams go into preseason being like, we're just going to work stuff out, we're not really trying to win this game. But after watching a little bit of hard knocks, and not just this hard knocks, every hard knocks, you really do see that they care about winning that game.

Yeah, you see that they want their schemes to be successful and how are they successful by producing yards and points. And if you produce yards and points, you're going to win. You're going to have a shot. You're going to want to win that.

And then you're also just a competitor. You don't get to that stage if you're coaching or playing without being really competitive. So you never want to lose anything. I don't want to lose anything ever. I don't want to rip my eyeballs out sometimes instead of lose. Even stupid stuff.

You feel like your old life. Oh, yeah, I hate it. So, but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, that's it. Thank you. I hesitate to tell you guys this. What? It came to me in a dream.

Let me tell you what's happening here. I just a reminder of the draft Kings sports book that there are people, 25 whistles presented by Draft King Sports Book An official sports betting partner of college football Download the draft king's app Use to code Bobby Sports

And get in on the action So we do the parlay here every week Yeah And I think Probably what happened was We'd spent so much time at Vanderbilt I dreamt about it that night After we left

Vanderbill Hawaii Yes I dreamt Or somebody came in my dream And told me who to bet Okay and they said take Vanderbilt minus 17 and a half. But all I know is that going up into that,

I was like, I'm not taking Vanderbilt minus 17. That's just a lot of points. Just straight up. It's just a lot of points for two teams that people don't really have a handle on. So I wasn't going to even bet the game. But in my dream, some guy in a hat said bet Vanderbilt minus 17.5. You can't argue with dreams, man. you know what I think about with this?

The sandlot. When Benny has a dream, Babe Ruth comes into his room. He says you got to go at that ball. Wow, yeah, yeah, I hadn't thought about that in a while. Okay, Vanderbilt minus 17 and a half and Notre Dame minus 21. Is this going to be a thing?

Those are my parlays. What? Dreams? I don't know. I never had somebody come to me in a dream and tell me to bet a game. No, I mean, I think that happens. I'm going to bet the Vanderbilt,

which, by the way, I'm super happy that we have football again. Oh, my gosh, I'm so excited. Even if it's week zero, as they call it. Let me get on draft Kings. You said Notre Dame and Navy or where? Ireland, Dublin. I'm going Notre Dame minus 21. My official parlay is going to be Notre Dame minus 21.

Vanderbilt minus 17 and a half. Okay, so let me get my verification in here, draft Kings. Keeping off the season with some blowouts. Yeah, I'm good on that. I'm good on blowouts in early football and early NCAA tournament, first couple rounds. all right let's go over to

college football here it is college football you're like past women's soccer volleyball badminton hey I can do

money lines right Mike yep okay I got to put some money in my account yeah I was gonna ask you that what's in the kitty nothing I took it all out

I took a bunch of out and then lost the rest of it in golf this week yeah yeah yeah nice so I'm doing

Vanderbilt minus 17 and a half, 500 bucks. Okay? Okay. And I'm going to win this money because of a dream. And if this works, come on, dreams, keep on coming. Sweet dreams are made out of lead.

So that, and then in my parlay, you got that mic. I got it. All right, if you want to take the 25 whistles parlay, you can check out draft king sports book, new users. Use the code Bobby Sports when you download the app, 21 and up in most eligible states. But age varies by jurisdiction, eligibility and deposit restrictions apply,

gambling problem call 100 gambler in New York 877 8-8 Hope and Wire text Hope and Y 467-367-369 see show notes for full details and now now now no we get into an interview with head coach Clark Lee some notes on Coach Lee

former defensive coordinator from Notre Dame from 2018 to 2020 where he helped them get to the college football playoff he was a walk under Vanderbilt as a player before earning a scholarship as a fullback he was a big baseball player and walked on as a fullback he helped get the program their first

SEC wins since 2019 last year when they stunned they then ranked number 24 Kentucky and then beat Florida the following week and in my dream I was told bet on them you can follow Coach Lee on Twitter at Coach underscore Lee here he is Coach Lee Coach what meeting did you come from right now

I was just honestly in my by myself planning mode oh they acted like you run some big important meeting with like 50 people and that you were delivering basically a sermon on leadership I was encouraging myself leading myself sometimes that's the hardest

That's right. That's exactly right. As the season, I mean, you guys are playing this weekend. Yeah. So you've spent the last few weeks, a couple months, getting ready for the season, but now it's week one. Are you into game prep mode with the team now, or is it still, we're still figuring out who we are, the identity of our team going into the season? No, that's, I mean, not that that's perfect, but that's been set. We started Friday with Hawaii prep. So today was totally dedicated to them.

I mean, there always will be aspects of us playing good on good in practice to keep speed up and, you know, just give guys a chance to continue to compete for the roles they want. But we're in the swing of the season off. Good on good feels dangerous because if you play too good on good, somebody can get hurt pretty easily. But you're right, there's like a fine line you have to walk because you want your guys to feel the speed of the game as close as possible, but not get hurt. How do you walk that line? Well, you have to have a feel for it. I mean, I think for us right now, we're still establishing a program,

so we can't be afraid to play football. And that doesn't mean we're going live, but it means that we're willing to go out there and put our best on our best and allow for iron to sharpen iron. I mean, that's an important part of our growth. Now, the cool thing for us is in year three, we have more depth. And so we're going to get better looks out of our scout teams. And sometimes good on good doesn't always include the ones versus the one.

You have the ability to mix a match, and the better your depth, the more quality of the play is on the field, no matter who's out there. Is the defensive line the hardest place to get quality depth? Oh, yeah. I mean, it's a, yes, that's a tough place for sure. I think, you know, we've also fought to build depth at corner. I think that's a position that has, like, you know, very particular traits that you're looking for. And then I would say the O line also, I mean, it's, you know, it's one thing to go out and get big bodies. it's another thing to get refined players that occupy those big bodies, right?

So sometimes those guys need another year to kind of incubate and, you know, take ownership over those big frames. And so it's a little bit slower process there. You know, fortunately for us, we feel really good about where we are in the O-line death. We return a lot of guys from a year ago, and we had a good O-line. But, you know, in college and particularly in a developmental program, you've got to be patient with all of those things. And over time, like we're experiencing now, we look out on the field and see better football being played.

And that's exciting for us. Do you feel like the portal itself is good for Vanderbilt? Because with, I would say, the surge of what will be the – like just the momentum the program has, that people are now looking to if they're going to hop out of another SEC school to give Vanderbilt a look for the first time? I think there's a lot of reasons to feel like that the portal can serve us, well. We'll never be a team that builds out of the portal just because I think that when I think about sustained success here, I think about building it through retention in our systems, retention in our culture, retention in our language. I think it's so important. And when you're swapping

players out every year, it's hard to actually own an identity. So we want to, we want to be really deliberate with the fact that we are recruiting players to be here four and five years to learn our systems, learn our culture, learn our language, and to be able to teach that within their roles as a player-run program. But when you look at the facility upgrades, and obviously, you know, we got to keep, you know, pulling the progression line of success in terms of our results, being in Nashville, Tennessee, which has got such a great local recruiting base, you know, being able to call some of those guys back home. Obviously, Nashville being attractive to people that want to maybe a different experience. And,

and then what they started their college in, and then obviously as we build this program to sustain success, I think it becomes very attractive for those guys looking for a new home. We have to be very disciplined to make sure we don't lose the kind of the strategy of the program, which is, again, to build it from the bottom up and not to be trading in players in and out every year. Does it concern you, or is it a good concern that the better your program gets, you have to almost re-recruit your guys to stay? because if you're getting higher quality players,

obviously if they're not getting the playing time they deserve, they may look elsewhere. Have you had to start that process at all? Well, yeah, I mean, I think it's important, no matter the success of the program that as a coach, your responsibility is to keep your players connected with the vision for success that you have for them within the program. And so we need to communicate that every day.

You know, we are a program that takes a long-term approach. that doesn't mean we're, you know, punning our success to five years from now. It just means that we're going to give people time to develop. We're never going to give up on someone. If we've recruited them into this program, they belong here. And so even if they don't see the results right away, it's our job to keep them in the fight, to keep them learning and growing and inspired to take action. That takes intention.

You know, that has to be part of the design. And certainly we also celebrate those guys that at the moment they feel. like this isn't quite right for them, that they go and find opportunities elsewhere that allow them to get out there and play. I don't see that as a bad thing at all. But to me, we are, what we're delivering here is an experience for the players. It's one that we're putting resources into their development. They're challenged and supported here. They're building connection and bonds through doing hard things together. That to me is the starting point for us. And so I believe that you recruit your team every single day in the way that you

again, deliver that experience. And so we're very, again, very intentional and we've designed this as a part of our process. Are you a players coach? You a disciplinarian? How would your guys describe you? You know, we talk about building boundaries here. You know, I'd like to think that I'm a players coach. I mean, I'm relatively young. I try to make sure that the boundaries we set are around things that are most important. We're trying to be a team. that still functions from a foundation of human connection. And so, you know, my messages a lot of times challenge the idea that, yeah, we're all inherently selfish, but we have to put the team mission first.

And what does that look like? You know, again, coaching is full of cliches and team sport is full of cliches. But to us, it's less about the words and more about the action. But, yeah, I mean, I want, again, my focus is on the experience of the player. And so I do demand discipline in certain areas, and there are high operating standards here and high expectations. But my job ultimately is to explain why that is and why it's important. We don't have rules here. We have standards, and those standards should be taught.

And once you allow the player to have ownership over that and to understand it totally, I think in the end, it becomes theirs, not mine. Is it harder to get in to play football here? Is there a different admission standard to play Vanderbilt football than other schools? like a great point or I don't know it just feels like you gotta be smarter a lot of smart kids here yeah I just would be like why they're wearing a monocle under their helmet that's what I feel like that would be like it it is harder here and we we sell it we embrace that it's not you know again we don't have a team of balloting torans we have guys from all kinds of diverse backgrounds and academic experiences we

we like to think that no matter where you're from or what your experience has been in the classroom that there's certain foundational elements that you know we provide support here where you're to have success, but, you know, our guys have to go to class. They have to turn their assignments in. We're going to have midterms here in a couple months, and, you know, that's going to be a challenge to them. And we don't look at that as somehow independent of the football experience. You know, we're training pros here. And just like for you, there are times where you get up and you have passion for your work, but certainly I'm sure you'd love to stay home and you have to get on the road and you don't have choices in some areas when you want to chase excellence.

No, it's no different for a professional football player. I mean, there are things that you have to sacrifice in order to refine your skills and to have staying power. And our guys learn that not just in our program, but in everything that they touch here at Vanderbilt, that it's not always about doing the things that you want to do. It's doing the things you need to do to sustain success. And any results, a lag effect of your investment. So these guys are investing in every area of their life while they're here. to me, one of the great parts and one of my great beliefs about why this job's

important is because from this room will be the future leaders of our communities. Certainly many of these guys will do that from NFL podiums, you know, and platforms, but beyond that, I mean, you know, we're going to send out some really capable people that will have

an impact in the world that my kids will inherit. And that's, you know, kind of a part of my mission and vision for the program. Are there kids that can't play here, though, because they didn't make a grade that they could go and play at an Arkansas because the standards wouldn't be as high. I mean, that's just what I feel about.

I feel like it's harder to get in here, even to play football, and that would at times, and this would speak to the work that you're doing here. At times, that would be tough for a coach because you're not actually recruiting the same, the playing field. We don't, our pool is not quite as deep.

You know, there are certain standards. Now, those standards aren't, you know, totally in lockstep with a normal student emission process. But it's our responsibility. to, you know, when we are finding guys that maybe don't have the strength of foundation in the classroom, we're looking for, you know, competitive characteristics that tell us that they're really interested in what this educational experience has to offer. We don't sell Vanderbilt as a degree. I think that makes it way too simple. You know, this is a, this is an experience. You're going to learn to think critically. You're going to learn to ask good questions. You're going to learn to interface with some of the best professors in the world.

that's an experience again that'll pay dividends in in every area and and does that mean that sometimes you know we're limited in our choices certainly you know compared to our peers but we don't see that as a disadvantage you know I think if we're doing the right thing and doing our due diligence with respect to the you know that that that threshold for ability you know and then you look at a threshold for character and say if we're above those two lines you know we're going to be able to build a competitive team. And that's where, again, the design of the program as a developmental program allows us to take someone that has speed and length and frame, but maybe hasn't built it out or maybe doesn't have the play experience yet that may have been overlooked or

undervalued as a recruit that we know can have success in a challenging environment. And we grow them in our systems and our culture. And we believe that's going to produce a dominant program in this conference. Coach, how do you keep the excitement, the momentum throughout the season? Because I know personally for me, when I get back from vacation, it's like awesome. This is great and all, but two weeks, three weeks into it, I'm like, I'm ready for vacation again. So how do you guys keep it going throughout the season if you're not winning every game? I understand if you're winning all the time, you're like, all right, let's go. Yeah, I think, you know, the truth is that, you know, as humans were problem solvers. And sometimes, you know, I've been on teams that have had undefeated regular seasons, and that sometimes challenges you more than years where you're trying to problem solve and figure it out.

I mean, I think it's all a matter of the time and effort you've spent on foundation, how well you know your team, how well they know each other, how deep is their purpose in playing the game. Like, that's important. And we take time to develop that, and that doesn't start at fall camp. that starts in January when the team starts formation. But if you think about the year as a whole, you know, we split the year into cycles. And so formation cycle is really kind of foundational to us. That goes from January through spring ball. Preparation cycle is summer into through fall camp.

And then this is execution cycle. And so for us, this is really on the calendar three months. You know, we're fighting for a fourth and a fifth month. But the season happens so quickly that we won't, you don't even have time to get distracted. I mean, it's day and day out. You're hitting the reset button. And I think my biggest challenge and a coach's biggest challenge in this time is to not defer an after action review to after the season is how do you focus on the most important things where you can adjust and adapt performance in the moment. so that your team is playing better, you know, in December than you are, you know, at the beginning of the year.

You ever look in the mirror and go, holy crap, I cannot believe I'm coaching a Division I school. Because I do that stuff. I'm like, I can't believe I'm playing this stage. And I work so hard sometimes I don't think about it. But like I have a little break or just like it hits me and I'm like, what is happening? I can't believe it. Does that ever happen with you? It does.

Yeah. I mean, I don't know. Living the dream is the wrong thing to say because I, you know, I think for you, too. I mean, we, you, you, you sacrifice a lot and you put a lot of time and effort in to reach these opportunities. The one thing that I, that struck me as I, as I accepted this position, then stepped into it was it's, you know, I think in your mind, and I don't know if that you would relate to this, but I would imagine you would as you're playing those environments is you see, you see those moments in your mind before you reach them as arrivals and really their

beginnings. And one of the cool things for me is this, uh, this job. job, this role that I didn't do very well in my first iteration that I'm growing and learning and becoming more effective in. It's a journey in and of itself. And so to me, it's like a great challenge. And it's something that the thing I'm working on now is just to take enough time to really appreciate, you know, how I'm being stretched and how I'm learning and how I'm evolving forward while it's going on. Because I don't want to look up in 10, 15 years. and I think I wish I would have, you know, really thought about that more while I was in it. But certainly, I feel like I have a great life, and I am so excited to be in the role and be

around the people that I get to be around every day. They have therapists for creatives, and so I go to my therapist, and they deal with creatives all the time, so we're extra nuts. Do they have therapists and football coaches? Well, we need them. And we, you know, there's obviously, it's a sports psychologist. You know, for me personally, I work with an executive coach. that I think the first time we sat down,

I needed a therapist. I think it had to do with the pressure and just feeling like I was kind of on the verge of a season where I really didn't know what to expect. This was year one. As I've been able to get my head above water and really established consistency in my routine and my role, I think now we talk more strategically

and about how I've become better at my job. Not plays. You're talking about human. Human strategic. And how do I facilitate performance in other people, right? I mean, no different than you. You know, my mood swings impact everyone in the building. And so it's not so much always about how I feel.

It's how I perform in our role that allows other people to be effective. And my message is really important here. It does set the course, but it's only as impactful as my assistants carry it to their rooms. and my players carry it in their hearts. And so I've got to be super aware of the manner in which I deliver that message and focus on responding rather than reacting. Those are things that I don't know that you really fully grasp until you're in the role and you have to learn on the move.

Respond and react, I constantly am talking to my people about that. I try to get out of lizard brain. I try to get out of flipping that. Because if I'm reacting, it usually ain't good. That's right. My reactions just usually are not good unless I'm like dodging something. Other than that, you know, it ain't good. Being a head coach, is it comparable to, say, being the man of the house where, like, I have four kids.

It's my house, right? It's my house. I think the man of the house, though, feels like 1950. Check it, though. Hear me out, though. So I run the house, but I really don't do much. I tell the boys what to do. Like, you are going to take out the trash.

Right, right. Like, you take out the trash, you're going to take the dog out, you're going to feed the dog. So is that kind of head coach life where you're just kind of like, I run this thing, but all my people run it? Simply, well, I see the parallel. There we go. I would say that it's a little more complicated because it's not so much telling people what to do. It's inspiring action in the spirit of co-creation. Is that too much?

When I root talls it says my foreman never said co-creation, ever. He didn't use that word? No, it's a whole different deal. He'd be like, he'd just sit back there, smoke a cigarette and be like, you missed that spot. It didn't feel like that's what, you're the opposite of that. So here's, here's like, this is something I shared with the team in my first year. And the first year was really hard. And I look back on it reverently because it was our beginning and we had to go through it.

And I think all the pain, yeah, I was emotional after the Kentucky went last year. And I think a lot of people made the assumption that that was because there was an SEC streak that we ended or it was my first SEC win. And really, I didn't think about any of that or talk about it. I mean, that was not on my mind at all because I've got a belief in what we're doing. And we say in the program, belief is a practice. And so you just step into that belief every day. But my emotion was more about the pain of our beginning and how much that this group of guys had gone through to get to that point. and being so excited for them to experience in me to experience that breakthrough.

But in that first year, I was inspired to tell the team that what we were doing was very similar to what it feels like to be a parent for the first time. And my experience with that was, you know, you're obviously, you find out that your wife's pregnant and, you know, your baby's incubating. and that word is way too passive, but we don't know the experience in total. But every day you're talking to your baby, you're thinking about, you know, for me, it was our first son, C3, and it's, you know, what is it, you know, one day he's going to be the president, the next day he's going to be a professional athlete.

Then after that, you're like, I just hope he's honest and hardworking, right? You have all these visions for success. And then the day comes when you're called to the hospital. And, you know, the next thing you know, you're going to overreferral. simplify, you're holding all those hopes and dreams in your hands. And I think that's, there's no more human moment, an almost spiritual moment for me than that. Like, right, you're holding your child, hopes and dreams. And then, you know, and then he goes to the bathroom on you. And you can't give them back and say, hey, you know, come back when when you learn how to use the toilet. You think about it,

but you can't. You can't do that, as it turns out. So what then, you recognize in that moment, that you learn to put diapers on and you realize that all those hopes and dreams that you had that you microwaved in your mind still exist, are you willing to love and invest in that person every day? And so we talk in this program like we're co-parenting this program. And it's appropriate for us because we meet external doubt every day. And most people don't really understand what we're doing here.

And so rather than try to convince them or somehow fight those battles externally, we focus on the love and investment we bring internally every single day. And we know that the ripple effect of that, how it manifests externally will be to show and to reveal. But that's really not what's important to us. It's what we do inside together that ultimately is what's rewarding and fulfilling to us. Man of the house. No, that's the stupidest term.

Same thing to me. No, but I do not accept the term man of the house. My wife pretty much, I guess if anybody give me the man. That could be problematic. Yes, that could be. Anyone. Yes. Final three questions. What are your most used cliches?

It's going to be three of your most used cliches. Well, I mean, these are going to be unique to our program. But the first actually stole this from my time at Wake Forest at Dave Claelson. But successful people leave clues. So any time that we have a guest that spends times with our program, or even if it's a player that's experiencing success, and that could be success in process. But I'll say to the team, successful people leave,

and they'll finish the sentence clues. And the idea is just that we're paying attention to what people have done to reach levels of success. And important for me, because we're trying to build resilience, is also acknowledging the adversity that they've gone through to get there. So that's one. Belief as a practice is another one. And again, that's just meant to paint the picture that, you know, when you, again, this is where I come from.

Once you set your intention and your belief on something, the universe will align with you in your quest. And that doesn't always mean you get what you want, but you get what you need. And so that could be the sting of a painful result. That could be, you know, a disappointing act. by a team member, whatever, you know, but it can also be positive things too, but you're seeing them not as impediments to your journey. You're seeing them as the path or the way forward. And so belief is a practice is one that's important to us. And you asked for three. Don't poop where you eat. I don't use that one. I think that's a good one, though, honestly.

As a parent, you use that one for sure. Well, probably literal, though. I like that your team finishes your say say say cliches but your mantras. My team, they don't really do that. The only one we do is, ready? Oh, oh, oh, oh, O'Reilly. That's the only one we do. You know what, I may steal that one.

That'll be my third. Then they can sing it. Henceforth, yeah. Any two questions left. All right, coach. Do you care about what the media says? Do you read all that stuff during the season? Do you pay any attention to it?

No, two-part answer to that. I don't engage at all and what, you know, what's being said or what is on message boards or whatever social media platforms. And that's hard. And I know I've not always had that discipline. And I think that the problem I saw is once that starts to impact the way you, the lens through which you view your experience, you're all loading power to people that really shouldn't matter. Right. And that could be, They're praising you. I didn't have a whole lot of bad games when I was at Notre Dame as a defensive coordinator. I had a couple.

What I realized pretty quickly was for whatever good will that I'd built up in good performance when I had a bad one, it was pretty quick to crash down. So why would I spend time and energy on that? So that's the first part. The second part is I think it is important to pay attention to narratives around the program because our players will experience those. And also we want to have an ability to message our community about the exciting things that are going on here. And so what I've done in order to do that is just to have a lot of transparency and open doors.

And that wasn't actually how I was running the program year one. And I realized that I was really misunderstood. And so I just started to let people in. And team meetings, position meetings, whatever they wanted to come to, I wanted them to see beyond the curtain. And I think that's been helpful, at least, in giving the people that are writing the stories perspective on what we're doing and why we feel like this is so special.

You can just show up, bro. I know. I also heard, too, he's not going to watch this. We're not the real media. We're the stupid media. Final question. Let's talk about next season. You guys end extremely high.

I mean, I have a great taste in my mouth from Vanderbilt Football because of how you guys ended last year, and it was the most organized storming of the field I've ever seen. It was incredible. It was passing out tickets to storm the field. It was awesome. One at a time. Yes, absolutely.

All right, we need. So do you feel better now going into this season as compared to going into last year and even the year before then? I feel more connected to who we are. And I think that that's like, again, I, you know, I'm going to impale myself on this job. So what I want to do is feel a connection with the people in this program, and I want to feel like I'm fighting for them every day. That's how I feel.

So I'm really excited. And we've gotten better, too. The weird thing about what we're doing is that what I hope is that every year we kind of reset expectations, and it actually makes my job a little harder. And so, you know, I do think the way we finished last season, we accomplished that to a point. I think that our fans and even those outside are expecting more from us. And we're at a point in this program right now where there's nothing guaranteed. So, you know, we have to win every margin and show up to play every week.

But certainly I want with every year this job to become harder and harder because people have expectations of what Vanderbilt football is about. And I think I will ultimately measure success on how I've impacted the lives of the people in this program. But a close second is how much, how challenging I've made my job. from a standpoint of meeting those expectations every year. You mentioned the narrative of the program. I'll end with this. I think the narrative of this program because of the upward trajectory. Because that's a big part.

Momentum is a big, big word, big part of it, how you end a year. I think it's just, I mentioned I was coming to talk to you, and the two people I talked to about it today, they're like, and that team has really turned themselves around. Now, I think you won two conference games, but those were two big conference games, and they were recent. And so I think the narrative of this program is, hey, this thing is trending in an absolutely right direction.

And it feels like you're rooting for their best interest. I need W's, coach. I'll be honest with you. Well, I need Ws, too. Okay, good. We're on that same page there. Coach, good luck. We really appreciate it.

You sound like you read a lot of books. I like that about it. We want to play for you now, coach. I don't understand any single word he said. I got to go back and put this and rewatch it and that dumb guy it up. But we're rooting for you last year. and really rooting for you this year, Coach. Well, it's great to have you guys here,

and it's always fun to do this. And appreciate you all. What is to do this? I feel like in a way, it's like talk to the challenge children. He's like, you know, sometimes I like to do this. Well, thanks for the charity, Coach. Out of the goodness of my heart. Yes, of course.

Coach, thank you very much. I appreciate you guys. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions,

my journey from basketball to college. football or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

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The 26 NFL Draft is here, and the NFL Daily podcast has it covered from all angles. join me, Greg Rosenthal, and Jordan Roderig after night one on Thursday. Nick Shook joins me night two Friday and then Sunday to recap everything that went down over the three days in Pittsburgh. We'll tell you who won the draft and which players were my favorite picks. Listen to NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal on the free IHeart Radio app. Open the app, search NFL Daily, and listen now. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl.

You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that, trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me?

The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe.

On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. All right, thank you to Coach Lee. We got some players coming up in a few minutes, but you've waited all year and the time has finally arrived. College football is backs or the traditions, the tailgates, the great offers from Drafking Sportsbook.

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and they stayed out there for a week, and it wasn't hard to get out there and play the game. It was to fly back and play another game in like four days. Yeah, after that lag. Yeah. So, but look, you got Navy at Notre Dame, San Jose State at USC, Hawaii at Vanderbilt. Let's go. Kick off the season with Draft King Sportsbook.

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In New York, 877, 8-7-8, HOPE & Y, or text Hope and Y, 467, 369. See, show notes for full details. Hey, what's the deal with Reggie Bush? You walked in Kevin sent by Reggie Bush. Yeah, now he's going, not going after, but he's, what do he calls? He suing. Yeah, suing a lawsuit trying to get his Hysman back because they've been battling for a couple of years now.

With the NIL deals now that it's legal and all that. So he's trying to tell the Hizman committee, hey, I need my trophy back because you can get paid for this. So what they need to do is find out if it's legal enough nowadays for that to go down 20 years ago, then he also deserves his Hizman. It's a little sticky. Were they the rules then? Yes. Okay.

Right. And that's it. Right. That's what to do. It's like somebody, and I'm not sure what the protocol is, but let's say in Colorado where weed is legal, now that it's legal, everybody that's ever had a drug charge, if they're in jail for a weed charge, or they just let out immediately? No. Do they just get it all like sponge from the record? I don't think so.

No, man. Whatever the law was then, like you broke it and that was your punishment then. Right. So you got to serve it. So you don't think he deserves it? I didn't say that. I don't know. Like, I really don't, I don't, I just really, if you're basing it on that rule of that whole guideline, I mean, it's just, you broke the rule back then.

That was the rule. What sucks is his records don't even count for college football, all the touchdowns, the yards. Like per seasons. Maybe you'd have some sort of. Who paid him? What happened there? I don't know who paid him, but he was making, I mean, a lot of those U.S. I mean, all those guys have, you know, he just got.

Did Mansell get his Heisman taken away? I mean, he had a whole business going. It just came out of the documentary about it. So there's a lot to be argued here if I was Reggie Bush. Exactly. You know what I mean? I feel targeted right now about him.

Compromise. Give the guys Heism, but don't give his records back. Yeah. Because you got to save some face. What do you want more? You want the trophy? You want your records? I want the trophy. Yeah, for sure. Because you got to save face somehow after the NCAA. Yeah.

And that's probably you reach a compromise there. He should have his high. Yes. Okay, so let's get to some interviews with the players. First up, starting quarterback AJ Swan from Vanderbilt. He was an underarmor All-American in high school, an elite 11 finalist, four-star prospect before enrolling at Vandy in 2022.

AJ had almost 1,300 yards passing with 10 touchdowns, and only two interceptions as a freshman last year. And you can follow AJ on Twitter at AJ Swan 10. He walked up while I was, I just got loosening up a little bit. I know he probably saw E. little intimidated. I'm a little older than you. So don't worry about you'll grow into an arm like I have. Your thoughts on watching me throw a little bit?

Honestly, kind of impressed by both of you all. I mean, I've watched my dad throw and it's not not the best. So I hope I was always listening to this just how is your dad not the best? Exactly. That's what I was going to say like genetically. So actually he's first he's left-handed and then in high school he played tight-in and he got his legs cut out from under him and he put his arm down in a broken half. So he has a broken arm. That'll do it. You're giving your broken arm dad a hard time. And you're comparing us to your broken arm dad. That's even worse.

You healthy? You good? Yeah, I'm healthy. Ready for the season. I'm definitely excited for this week. Yeah. I mean, here we go. It's this weekend.

It's a lot of, you know, off season, early season. Does it feel like Christmas or does it feel like, man, I just want to get this thing go? I mean, I don't know. Is it like, boom, we're here, or it's just starting? Kind of like Christmas. I think Christmas takes too long to come around, though. I think we're all ready for the season.

We're all excited for us. So I think that we would have wished for it to come faster, but we're happy it's here now. Do you feel like the game has slowed down a little bit for you from last year to this year, even because you've had the experience, but also you had a break to kind of let stuff process? Absolutely. It's definitely a big difference just at practice.

I actually got in trouble earlier last week because I was seeing the routes too fast, and I was getting it out before the guy's head was around. So I had to slow it down a little bit. So I think that's definitely helped and it's going to help going into this year. How important it is for you and your receivers to have, we'll use the word chemistry? I mean, it's the most cliche word there is, but it also means something. Is it harder to get out on the field with somebody you haven't had a lot of reps with? And what's the difference?

If they run the right route, they run the right route. Like, what is the real difference? Yeah, chemistry is definitely a big thing. Like for instance, like a timing route, like a dig or we have like a bang eight route. Like those are huge timing routes because how fast defenses are, especially in the SEC. Like if you're late or anything, it could be a pass breakup or a catch and you get the receiver. putting a bad spot and you get hit hard. So timing is a big part of that and chemistry is a big part of that.

And it's definitely harder when you go into the field with the guy you don't have good chemistry with because you don't know how he's going to run the route or how fast he's going to get out of it, the angle he's going to take out of it. So chemistry is definitely a big part of it. So physically there are little things that the receiver does that you're watching as well, meaning if it's good off the cut, if he's quick off the line, if he doesn't change. So it's just experience with another player? Yeah, absolutely.

I think Mew, Will, Shepard, and Jada McGowan are, With those two receivers I have really good connection with And Quincy Skinner is another guy that me and him Are gaining connection every single day So with those three I feel very confident I know when they're gonna get out of their cuts And like the angle they're gonna take out of it They ever come back and like you kill him or you throw it too high

And the same way you can be like you're killing me you dropped it Like nobody sees it but if you throw a ball high and he gets lit up You're like god dang I wish I wanted to done that Yeah in the moment I kind of I'm like dang I wish I would just finish my thrower like if I throw it high but my mentality most time is just next play, next throw, because I know what to make the next time. Yeah, that's a good point, Bones.

Like, so the my bad, like, that's got to be hard, though, right? Sometimes when you're just like, you know, that was on me. Especially when they caught it. Like, it's a completion, but just like, oh, I mean to get you, I mean to put your ribs up there. How hard is that to admit that you're wrong? Honestly, it's not as bad as people think. Like, it's pretty easy to say.

Oh, I never met them wrong. Yeah, no, it is. That's terrible. That's why I asked it. It's honestly not that bad. I think it helps that the receivers are the same. Like if they're a little deep on the route and I got throw it and it looks a little bit outside and it looks like I just do a bad ball.

Like they'll come over me on the sideline and like it's my bad. I need to get out of it or I want a yard too far. And I think that helps me be shared up with them too. Like if I throw it over their head and I'll be like that's my bad or if I miss time the route and I throw it early or if I throw it late, I'll say it's my bad. So I think that just the mutual like being able to accept the fact and take accountability for when we mess up is a big part. What's a bang eight? A bang eight is a it's like a eight yard hook if I'm guessing.

No, it's a... Exactly, that's why I don't guess this. So we, it's our fifth outside step. It's like a slant or like a really short post. So like, if you're a receiver and you have your left foot forward, your fifth step with your right leg is when you're going to break and you're taking like a slant angle. Why is it called a bang eight?

I didn't hear the word eight anywhere. Eight steps? Why not the bang five? No. Couldn't tell you. He doesn't know. We can make that really. Is he called the bang five slant?

Some people call it different things. There's bang eight. There's a glance. We call it bowl. What's the difference in a slant and a bang eight? The depth. So they give one step slants. You have three steps slants.

Some people will use yardage just for slants, but our glance or bang eight is like how far you're getting down the field. What's the difference in a hook and a curl? A hook and a curl. So they're pretty much the same thing. We have a play called hook, which the route is very different than our play curl. So like for us it's like very different. It's basically like a spot route.

So he's running to the hash and setting up right there. And our curl obviously 12 yards coming back down to 10 towards me. So curl and hook both coming back in the same direction? Yeah, so I think the only thing is with those is they're working to the same area. So that's why they're referenced in like a year about a hook curl player. Like those are really just referenced to that area. So like a hook, a hook's usually around, you can say seven to ten yards and a curl is usually around anywhere between 10 to 14 depending on the offense. If you're looking at a single high safety is that pretty much cover zero,

cover one most of the time? A lot of times, unless we're in like a snug or squeeze down in alignment, then a lot of times the check cover three. But a lot of times single high guys, they're getting pretty good at disguising it, but a lot of times just cover one, and we don't like hook or curl in that instance. Yeah, right? Why is it important to identify the middle linebacker? So for us, we don't identify the mic. We identify based on play, which backer is important. So a lot of times it's the wheel or like a backside linebacker. Sometimes it's front side linebacker. And the quarterback runs all that. So we have stuff called match, point, down. So like that's, our offense isn't just the mic. But a lot of times it can be the mic. And it's pretty important to know where the combo blocks from the O line we're going to go to.

Because if you can identify the will, which is the weak side linebacker, and you know that the line is supposed to find that line. It's just to know where the block. So everybody's on the same page. Yeah. And then so if we have a tight end and a run play and I say point the mic, then they're going to work to the plus, which is in that case would be the Sam. for running to the boundary would be the wheel. So it also tells like where all the combos are going to. So the tight end are going to work to the plus, the center and the guard are going to work to the point. And the backside tackle and guard are going to work to the minus. Do you make your voice deeper?

I would. Oh, for sure. Yeah, boy. Like I would make my voice deeper. It doesn't matter how deep it is, I would still take it down a notch just so they would think, you know. Honestly, the Georgia game last year, I had to, I actually had to do that. Like, I had to make my voice really deep, like in the huddle because they were screaming the whole time. They had music playing.

So I actually had to make my voice deeper. When you're playing at a stadium that is extremely loud, is it hard to communicate when you're on the line? Do you have to go to? I mean, can you go to full-hand signals if you have to? Yeah, we can. We also have a silent cadence that we didn't even have to work last year. But it's honestly not that hard. As long as you're clear with what you're saying, a lot of time, the line, like, we have the chemistry.

I have chemistry with no line. Like, they know kind of what I'm saying. And we all understand the offense well enough. Like, if I see somebody, they're going to see it too. Like, I'll be like easy, easy. They'll understand that. So they'll all kind of get their eyes up. and they can see what I see, which helps a lot in those situations.

AJ, don't worry about it. No one's listening, but what, because he's going to be, because he's going to be honest right now. Do you study more of the playbook or your classes? I study more. Which one? Which one do you study more? Playbook, honestly. Yeah.

Yeah. What's your major? Medical health on society. Of course it is. I think you need to focus more on the classes. For your future, the future people that you're doing medical health for. They're not going to want to hear this. What's the goal with that?

Let's say you finish here, you do your football career wherever it takes you after that. Like, do you want to go into the medical field? Is that, like, what's the deal? Not really. In medical health and society, it's like kind of like an everything major. Like, it's a, you can kind of get into anything you want, the business world or. That's the difference of Vanderbilt. That's the most complicated major ever.

For us, it was like general studies. Yeah. Well, what does that mean? Anything. This is a hard school, huh? If you make it hard. If you talk to professors and turn in your work, it's honestly not as hard as you'll make it out to be.

It's pretty cool to go to Vanderbilt. Very cool. I mean, as far as colleges go, aside from the program moving in the right direction with Coach Lee, like just going to Vanderbilt, there's some real prestige to, I mean, this is basically an Ivy League school just with an accent, you know?

How does your family feel about you being in a Vanderbilt? They definitely like you. They're a little over three. hours away so definitely not that bad of a drive for them they'll be up here this weekend for the game my sister brother-in-law nephew so excited to see them again you can fix your dad's arm with your major that's right they have to make fun of him anymore I don't know if I could or I think he's making fun of us yeah I think about it he was like you throw better than my dad who has a broken arm and we're like well that's cool what's what's he about he well he broke his arm is that good

are you really that impressed yeah yeah so you're healthy ready to go I'm very healthy very ready to go I'm super pumped to, you know, see you guys take it to the next level. And you like Nashville? I love Nashville. Great city. You like country music? I do like country music.

What are you from? I'm from Georgia, Canton, Georgia. What's in Canton? If I drove to Canton, Georgia, what's there? We drove to Canton. Yeah, what's the first thing I see when you get to Canton? We have a stoplight? Mm-hmm.

Okay. You have a stop light in my home time. It's so small. Yeah, yeah. It's not that small of a city, but definitely not that much of doing Canton. You get down to the Woodstock area. there's a lot more to do. And like the Cartersville area, if you're coming from Tennessee,

he goes Tennessee, or not Tennessee, he goes Cartersville to Canton to Woodstock. So like Carlsville and Woodstock have a lot to do in Kansas like the city in the middle. Is there like a Georgia Hall of Fame there? They try to like replicate the Canton Football Hall of Fame? Do they do anything Hall of Fame in Canton, Georgia? No.

No, that's stupid question. I don't know, man. Yeah, it'd be like Canton, Georgia, but they have a Hall of Fame. You would think. Hope you stay healthy. Thank you. How tall are you? Six-three.

Godly. That's nice. How tall's your dad? 5-11. Really? What? Where'd you get to height? My mom's high. My mom's 5-6, but her dad was 6-5, and her brother is 6-4.

Did you always play football, or did you excel in other sports? Yeah, I was actually pretty much all baseball, growing up, all baseball and basketball growing up. I actually hated football. And I quit in third and fourth grade, and my dad made me come back out for fifth grade, and glad he did. But, yeah, I played baseball until I was 12. A couple of kids I played with got drafted last year. Dylan Lesko, who was committed to Vanderbilt, got drafted. Drew Jones, who was committed to Vanderbilt, got drafted.

I played with a couple of those guys. And then basketball, we played YBOA, which is like AAU. But before they did grades, they had the age groups. So if you had a kid who was reclassed when he was younger, we weren't able to play AAU, so we played YBOA, and we actually won the national championship for that. Wow. You should brag a little bit.

Yeah, man. Please, a little more. Just a little one. Just six three, played with the All-Star. What didn't you like about football? That was too good, apparently. There's no challenge for him. It's a 6-3-9-year-old, just dominating everybody.

No, I actually don't know what I didn't like. I mean, I was so young, it was just like another thing. Going in with travel, baseball and basketball was just a lot during the summer. And then, or not during the summer during the fall, but to change, I think the biggest thing was having to change my throwing motion between football and baseball because I was a pitcher was really tough every single year to get back going in each sport. So that was rough. Last question.

That question. I can do this for 30. Yeah, me too. I know. So if you were the, how far can you just throw a football? I'm not asking you to do it. I don't want you to do it. How far could you, what's the far, how far can you throw it?

The farthest I've thrown it was senior year of high school. I threw it 73 at practice. You can throw it 73 yards in the air? I think I can throw it farther now, but now it's the senior year. What's the, is that a, was that a Hail Mary? No, we were at practice and we had a really fast receiver, and my coach told me to let him get down the field to see if I could out throw him. And that's how far I threw it.

That's pretty cool. I barely run 73 yards without much less. How far do you throw up, once? I don't know. I mean, I was showing off my 18-yard. I saw it. I don't, though. I think y'all get 40. 40.

If I do, it's going to hurt the next day, for sure. I'm going to throw my arm out. Good to talk to you. Thanks, man. Thank you. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Clever Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network

on TikTok. The 2026 NFL Draft is here, and the NFL Daily podcast has it covered from all angles. Join me, Greg Rosenthal, and Jordan Roderig, after night one on Thursday. Nick Shook joins me night two Friday and then Sunday to recap everything that went down over the three days in Pittsburgh. We'll tell you who won the draft and which

players were my favorite picks. Listen to NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal on the free IHeart Radio app. Open the app, search NFL Daily and listen now. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never

mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And Rule 2, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends... Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck.

I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

All right. Next up, linebacker, CJ Taylor. CJ was named second team preseason all SEC. Did you know that? No, I didn't know that. Neither did I. I didn't know that. And I'll watch some clips later. Kevin and I were watching him. The dude can hurdle. He jumped over a lineman. Like, no problem for a sack. Really? Yeah. Last year against Missouri. is awesome. And then it was a scoop and score. It was pretty amazing. Dang. Here he is. And he had on some shoes that were like slides, but I had like bubbles all over.

We don't think we talked about him, but it was pretty cool. Here is C.J. Taylor, follow him underscore C.J. Taylor 1. We were walking through the facility a minute ago, and there was like tons of free snacks. That's got to be the best part about being a college athlete, right? Free snacks all time? Yeah, I mean, sometimes it gets to the point where you're just eating just to eat. I'd already eat and I still wanted to grab a couple just to have like a, I still wanted to grab a couple just to have like a, bar or something. Do they, they have a good program here to make sure like you're eating the right stuff? Yeah, for sure. If you, if you're not gaining the weight they want you to get, it's, it's really like you're just not trying to eat. Like if you do what you, what Julia says,

which is our nutritionist, if you do what she says, and you're going to gain the weight that you need to gain to be successful. How much weight have you put on since you moved and started to come to school, Vanderbilt? So when I first got here, I was like 195, but it was like bad weight. So, I was like 195 or like 18% body fat. So, and that's very bad. I don't know if you know about, of that stuff, but it's bad. But now I'm like it, 207, 9.5, 9.5, 5. Same, me too, exact same.

Wow. That's amazing. Why do he laugh so hard at that? Yeah. No. What were you eating, though? Is it like cheese? So one of my coaches, or my position coach,

he moved me in. He wasn't my position coach at the time, but he is now. And he moved me in to my dorm, my freshman year. And, like, my mom, like, I'm my first generation, like, college athlete or college student

in general. So my mom didn't know what to get me. She didn't know, like, so basically she overpacked and she got me a bunch of snacks and food. I had, like, maybe, like, four or five totes of, like, beef jerky, five, six totes of, like, Raymond noodles. So, like, it was, like, bad. And, like, my position coach now, he was, like, whenever I was moving in, he was like, dude, you can't eat that. And then, like, Julia was, like, interrogating me, like, how much have you been eating ramen noodles? So it was, it was a big ordeal because, like, my mom was a rookie when it came to this. So she was just trying to make sure it was. son was fed all the time.

What's a normal day of eating for you? Like, how many calories you're trying to put in? Like, what is it? Three, four meals, big meals? Yeah, so I eat breakfast in the morning. Usually, like, the omelet, some fruit. And then after practice, I usually get some cereal, and then I go to Chipotle. But you can eat clean at Chapolet.

Yeah, yeah. I usually go to Chipotle every day. You get a bowl, though, not a brawereo. And usually, usually, but what it really is is every day. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I get a, I get a, basically, brown rice. chicken boat. And then throughout the day I'm eating snacks,

and then obviously I'm a load up for dinner, whatever that may be. I'm a lasagna guy, so I like lasagna. Yeah, if I, my stomach gets real bloated. You get bloated ever? No. No, yeah, never mind. We're like old dudes.

CJ, look forward to this. You ever get bloated? You ever have a head, you ever hit someone so hard, your head hurts and then you got to stay in? Yeah, like the Florida game last year when I hit pierceal on the sile line. Like when I hit them, I like, their helmets were blue. So I hit them and I just seemed like a blue blur.

And then I got up and like the ref had like pulled me. He's like, hey, quit talking crap. I wasn't even talking crap. I was just trying to overcome the brutal hit. And I did to him. But that's one of the hits that I hit somebody. I'm like, dude. And then obviously I'd just stay in.

How do you adjust to that though? Because anytime you hit or get hit if it's, you know, if it's a big collision and you're going on the next play, do you just expect to catch up with yourself before the play starts? I guess it's kind of different for defensive players. Obviously, offensive players, they're the ones getting targeted. Like, I'm trying to hit the opposite player every time. But as a defensive player, you can kind of control, like, the way you hit somebody.

So if I hit somebody straight up, I can go lower next time. So I can kind of try to absorb the blows differently every time. You ever just light somebody up and knock their shoe? You ever take their shoes off? You ever literally declares somebody? Like a car? Yeah, I've hit someone that made them flip or whatever. but I've never, like, taking their shoes off.

But it's, like, there's streaks on the ground. You got to do that this year. Yeah, that's good. When you do that, when you do that, you never teach me that technique. Now you don't know from me. You get bloated. I had to bloated. When did you, like, did you like to hit from the beginning from the first time you played?

Yeah, so, like, when I was little, like, I've always been, like, an aggressive kid, as my mom would say. I was an instigator, and I always loved, like, being aggressive. So when I first started playing football, it was kind of, like, second nature to me, and I really liked it. So, I mean, that may be a question for her. because I don't remember the first time I hit somebody, but from what I know, I was very aggressive and I liked it. You hit them hard. Were you recruited as a linebacker?

No, I mean, I was recruited as a safety to a bunch of schools, and then like the Army, Navy, Air Force, like those schools I got recruited as a running back. For the most part, it was safety. For, like, the big power-fob schools that I got recruited by, it was for safety. Mississippi State was, I was an outside linebacker. That's what they were wanting me for. How does it project to the next level for you? Is it wherever?

Yeah, I mean, it's, so like, obviously the NFL is more of a passing game, like, because you can tell how they're treating running backs now. That, that position has evolved into a position that doesn't get valued. So it's really like a more of a passing down or passing game in that level. So if you play safety and they think you like speed, you're going to play will. Obviously you have to show that you can use your hands. So really, I don't know. I'm going to have to figure out, like either I'm going to have to put on a bunch of weight, good way. good weight and play will or get my technique better and play safety.

So it's a high safety. So it just depends. Lasagna is the key. Yeah. Lausania is the key to put on weight. One final question for you. Going into the season, I mean, there's a lot of momentum. You know, according to the coaches, you're one of the leaders to keep this momentum going on

that side of the ball. Like we're about to go into game number one. Like how are you feeling? Do you feel like, you know, you've got to be the guy out there that's answering everybody's questions if there is one? Oh, no. I mean, I think as a collective, like, we are returning a lot of guys. Like Mahoney, Ethan Barr, Kane, Patterson, Derricki, Nate Clifton. I can go down the line, definitely. But I think that we all have a bond and a connection to where, like, I can look at Derricki and he knows.

Like, if something happened and I look at him, like, he knows either he did something wrong and he can fix it or vice versa. If I did something wrong and he looks at me, I'm like, hang on. So I think that I don't think anyone has to answer to anyone's questions. I think we all know there's a scheme that we're comfortable with it. So I think that's one thing that's going to carry us throughout the season, and especially early, because all the guys that were here last year, minus a few, we're back. What was your best game in high school, stat-wise?

Oakland, probably, versus Oakland. I had like 250 yards, two touchdowns. Nah, let me take that back. Blackman was my best game. They wanted more than Oak. Yeah, yeah. My best game was against Blackman. We've never beat them.

So we're 6A. We've never beat them for like the past 15 years. So we've never beat them. And then my senior year, we went down there in Mervisboro. And I rushed for like 321 yards, five touchdowns. And we won 3528. That game is still close, though. 3528?

I have a screenshot on my phone. There was someone to screenshot at the end of the first quarter. It was 21-0. So we didn't do our job to pull off or I guess you would say put the dagger in them. But they came back. 300 yards? 3-21. Was it just easy?

Red Sea parting? No, if I was in shape, because whenever I was in high school, like, dude, I was a basketball player. I played football. I never had an offseason. So I was just going from season to season, and you know that basketball shape is different than football shape. There's a quote that their coach said that if I was in shape, I would rush for 500 yards. But after every play, I was like this. So.

Man, I wish I could be like that. I know a 90 yards. Every awesome. Someday. Have a great season. Good luck. Stay healthy. Really looking forward to this year.

Thank you. Yeah. Thanks for the time. Yes, sir. win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show.

This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right

where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. work on TikTok. The 2026 NFL draft is here and the NFL Daily podcast has it covered from all angles. Join me, Greg Rosenthal, and Jordan Roderig after night one on Thursday. Nick Shook joins me night two Friday and then Sunday to recap everything that went down over the three days in Pittsburgh.

We'll tell you who won the draft and which players were my favorite picks. Listen to NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal on the free IHeart Radio app. Open the app. Tell Daily and listen now. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either.

We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends... Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con art I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands.

They said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And now from Australia, the punter, Matt Habeau?

Matt Hable? Or Matt Hodge. Or Matt Habar, like with an accent. I just called him Matt. Yeah, me too. Matt's from Australia, transferred to Vanderbilt from Florida Atlantic last year. He's on the Ray Guy Award watch list. He's a punter.

He played Australian football, and we talk about that. You can follow Matt at Matt Hayball. All right, there you go. Here's Matt. By your accent, you're not from Nashville. That's correct. He's from Georgia. A little bit further away.

Got it. Yep. Yep. Not far. Florida? Transferred from a school in Florida, but from Adelaide, Australia. And so you're the punter. And I think of when I was in Australia, there's a lot of rugby over there.

Is that what you did? Was that how you were brought into football? I played Australian football, Aussie rules. What's the difference in that in rugby? You said you've been to Australia. Did you catch, you caught some rugby games, not AFL, though? That's sort of. Yeah, I don't know.

Then I went to something where they were playing cricket. Cricket? That's another thing, yeah. I'm not really sure what that one is either. But I went to one of those, too. That's closer to baseball. Yes, yeah. Aussie football was sort of soccer, rugby kind of hybrid is how I describe it, even though the Aussies probably wouldn't agree with that.

But it's just we sort of punt the ball around to each other. That's why there's so many Australians over here now. So you were like throwing passes, but punning it? Basically. Do you get a point if you kick in, someone catches it? No, so we're trying to work from one end to the other, kick it through some posts and you get six points for a goal. Like croquet? Do you ever see croquet?

It's on the ground? No. Not overly familiar. All right, all right. Me either. You're confusing. We had a set in the back of the apartment complex we lived in when I was like seven, and I remember hitting.

So were you really good at Australian rules football as a kicker? So everybody kicks in the sport, so. But everybody could just come over here then if everybody was good and just be collegiate punters. They didn't know, you did. It's a little different. You have to, we sort of kick those end-over-end style, so it takes a bit of training to be able to hit those spirals. so the technique's a little different to sort of get to that level.

But yeah, it is becoming more and more popular. How did you get involved in American football? So I came through ProKick Australia. That's the academy most of the Aussies go through. Just sort of do some tryouts there. They train us on how to punt and the schools sort of contact them and we get sort of partnered up that way. Do you get hit harder playing Aussie football

or punting American football when you have a big line in front of you? Well, thankfully they're not really allowed to hit me over here, so pretty safe, but over there, no pads or anything. So no pads and they can hit you? That's right. Here they can only hit you if they tip the ball. That's it, yep. Oh, so here's, this is nothing.

Yeah, no one's allowed to hit me. But did you wear a helmet over there? No. So that's got to be different, though, to put a helmet on your head to kick. Yeah, it's an adjustment, for sure. A bit of extra weight, but, no, nothing, no equipment at all in Ozzie rules. What's the key to being a, I don't know how to punt. I have no idea how to punt.

Yep. Are we going to test you out? Yes, as I can tell. I just want to like a quick lesson. Got you. And what's the key to being a quality punter? Well, it just takes consistency is the hardest part. So just a very repetitive technique that you're comfortable with.

And we're trying to drop the ball flat, hit it through the sweet spot of the ball. and hit it high and long, hopefully. Are those punting shoes? They're not punting shoes. Do they have punting shoes? Soccer cleats, really. Okay, I'm going to take a lesson here and learn how to punt. Oh, boy.

See how we go. If I can hit... I think he's going to be fine. I think he's making fun of me. I think so, too. I would never. All right, let's pun him up. Hey, before he leaves, are we going to interview him again?

No. I want to ask him about the kangaroo. Oh, I'd kill a kangaroo. Yeah, so Bones thinks he can... No, no, random. It has to be a random kangaroo. He thinks he can take on a random kangaroo. You think they're pretty big.

You're saying one face-to-face? General. General kangaroo. So it's just luck of the draw. It's not one of those big buffy. The big reds? If you just grab one out of the woods, I think if you put me in a cage, I would kill it before it killed me. It's optimistic.

I'll say that much. They got some sharp claws. Okay. And they may puncture a couple things, but I think I'm bigger and stronger. They're going straight for the stomach with those claws. Are you rooting for the kangaroo? I think he is. It might be.

That's his mascot, man. Yeah. That's not true. Okay. All right. That's it for the show. Thank you guys. Everybody feel good. Yeah, man.

Feel great. We got Coach Beamer coming up next week. Yes. We have Farah Siddiqui. Talk fantasy next week. We got a lot more, too. I'm just blanking. You see it.

Long day. You see it, yeah. Coach Malzahn. Yeah, you guys have a good day. Thanks for listening to 25 whistles. Please share this and tell all your friends that you're a whistler. Just that. Yeah, don't say anything about 24th.

Just feel like, I'm a whistler and say nothing else in context. And if they ask any questions, just say like, don't say anything after that. Just start whistling. And if you see us out in the about Whistle at us? Just say, oh, we need an official whistle, though. If we had an official sound, like, ooh, I like that.

If somebody ever does that, you don't even mention it. You just know that you're a whistler. And don't get offended if I can't do that to you because I can't whistle. So if you see somebody out, you see any of us, if we hear that, we just know. We don't address it. It's like Fight Club.

We know you're a whistler. Do we just give them like a look? Yeah. Well, that's like when you, like some families have family whistles. I don't have a family whistle because I can't whistle. But if I could whistle, I would do a family whistle. That's just like that. It's like our family.

That's good stuff, man. Okay, I'll blow this whistle. We're out of here. See you guys next time. Bye. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me.

Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brain. and new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The 26 NFL Draft is here, and the NFL Daily podcast has it covered from all angles. join me, Greg Rosenthal, and Jordan Roderig after night one on Thursday. Nick Shook joins me night two Friday and then Sunday to recap everything that went down over the three days in Pittsburgh. We'll tell you who won the draft and which players were my favorite picks. Listen to NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal on the free IHeart Radio app. Open the app, search NFL Daily, and listen now. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take

matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.