The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Klatt’s Top 5 Running Backs & Defensive Players in the NFL Draft & Nick Saban’s concerns about CFB

Episode Date: March 11, 2024

FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt continues to reveal his position rankings heading into the NFL Draft. He begins the episode by ranking his top 5 Running Backs including Michigan’s Blake Corum, Texas’ Jonathon Brooks and Florida State’s Trey Benson. Klatt then ranks his Top Defensive players in the Draft including players like FSU’s Jared Verse and Alabama’s Dallas Turner. He wraps the show by giving his thoughts on Nick Saban’s candid comments about his frustrations following Alabama’s loss to Michigan and how the changes in modern college football influenced his decision to retire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He's 6'4, 247 pounds and ran 4.46 in the 40. That's like, that hurts, that hurts my head. Like, what are we doing? Like, there are guys that can do that? College football has never been better. Interest has never been higher. Believe that we are at the dawn of the golden age of college football. It was an epic day of college football.

It was one of those days where you fall in love with the sport all over again. Hey, what's up everybody? Welcome into the Joel Clat show. I am Joel Clat and I am happy that you are here. Hey, just remember wherever you get this podcast, go ahead and download it, subscribe so you get all of our content right away. If you're watching on YouTube, be a subscriber to the channel so that you know everything that comes out right when it comes out. We're also going to have some YouTube exclusives here during the draft process as we get closer to the 2024 NFL draft. Make sure to leave a comment below. Sometimes I like to jump down there and leave a comment as well. so maybe we can mix it up down there at some point. Last thing, I'm going to be on the NFL network the first night and the second night covering the draft.

And so that's why I dive into this so heavily is I'm going to be there with Daniel Jeremiah, with Rich Eisen, with Charles Davis covering the draft in Detroit. And so what you're getting is kind of the prep as I do it here during this process. I'm just bringing to you right here on this show. And we'll get into a few other things, including that Nick Saban article that I found to be incredibly honest and forthright, really, that came out from Chris Lowe on ESPN.com. So let's get into it. Let's get into running backs and defenders. I'll start with my top five running backs available in this year's 2004 NFL draft. Now, I'm going to go five to one. And the reason I'm going to do that is because I didn't feel like there was an obvious guy at number one.

And it speaks to two things. One, the depth of the class, but also the fact that I don't think that there's the prize possession out there in the running back class. I don't think we have Bijon Robinson or Jemir Gibbs from a year ago. There's not going to be a first round guy, which is fine because these guys are loaded with talent and they're going to help somebody win football games this year. You know, whether they're going to be the featured running back in some organization this year or not, these guys can help you win football games.

Look at the backs that have come out in recent years. Kiron Williams from Notre Dame. He was a fifth rounder in 2002. He went to the Rams. He's third in rushing this year. James Cook, second rounder to Buffalo in 22. He was fourth in rushing. Kenneth Walker was a second rounder to Seattle.

Isaiah Pacheco, for goodness sakes. You go back, Nick Chubb, Derek Henry, all second rounders. These guys that I'm about to talk about will help organizations. These guys are really, really good players. So let's start with number five. I'm going to go to Tennessee, which I know makes our incredible producer, Kat, very happy. She's a Vol, and I'm going with a Vol right here. I like Jalen Wright at number five.

So Jalen was second team all SEC. He's the leading rusher for the Vols the last couple of seasons. But what I really love about his game is he's got this incredible home run ability, and his speed jumps off the tape. Now he's testing well, which is great. and it's a feather in your cap. But all it does is solidify what you see on tape. When you turn on the tape, when you watch him run,

what you will see is home run ability. Love his speed. In fact, he had three touchdowns of over 75 yards. Three. By the way, this is the SEC. This is not, you know, a lesser league, not to disparage any other leagues, but there are his speed on the field in the SEC.

And yet this guy can separate and he can still hit home runs. That's incredibly valuable for an NFL team. You know, if you're a team that needs that, he is the guy. Love his jump cut. He's got sticky hands. I think that he can catch the ball well out of the backfield. The one issue that I think Jalen Wright's going to have to clean up, and I know it's tough because this is something that generally doesn't get cleaned up,

but I hope it does for him. He's had the propensity to put the ball on the ground. So he's had some fumble issues in his career, but if he can just hold on to the football, man, this guy, like I said, he's got that home run ability. In fact, when you look at rushes of over 10 yards, 10 or more yards, a quarter of his rushes went for 10 or more yards. It's fast.

He can get it done. So I like Jalen Wright. He's number five. That number four, Bucky Irving from Oregon. Bucky is a hell of a player, man. Now, I know he traveled a little bit of a longer road, began his career at Minnesota,

but then he had back-to-back thousand-yard season, first team all packed 12 this last season. And what I think is his best trait is his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. Now, he's a great runner. And by the way, all these guys are. You're not going to be in the top five running backs in the draft unless you can run the football. So they can all run the football. Are their styles a little bit different?

Yes. Are the schematics in which they succeeded a little bit different? Yes. But they've got those traits. So you need things that separate you. And while he's not a huge guy, he led all FBS running backs with, 56 receptions in 2023.

Look at the NFL right now. Why is Bijan so good? Why is Jemir Gibbs so good? Because they can be threats out of the backfield. Why is Christian McCaffrey considered the best position player in the sport? Because he can catch it out of the backfield. So he can do everything that you need between the tackles, which these guys can.

But then he can be a threat out of the backfield catching the ball. That's exactly what Bucky can do. I think his size is probably the, the biggest knock on him. But man, he's sure-handed. For a guy that maybe isn't the biggest guy on the field, he only had one fumble in 486 career attempts. So you put that next to, remember last week I was talking about tiebreakers. You're always looking for things and you're like, man, I think I like these guys very similarly. Their evaluation is similar. Maybe not their style, but their evaluation. So you're looking things to break ties. Is it the way that they tested? Is it

some attribute that you're going to value more. Well, for me, it's ball security. And the reason that Bucky Irving was ahead of Jalen Wright is ball security. Jalen Wright, fumble issues. Bucky Irving didn't. One fumble in 486 career carries. All right, let's go to number three, because this is a guy that I actually think is, you're going to think to yourself like, well, he's a little bit older and he's coming

off of an injury. So I don't know. But if you actually look at his career, not a lot of carries. You know, as they say, there's not a lot of, there's a lot of tread left on the tires, and that's Jonathan Brooks at Texas.

I think Jonathan Brooks is a hell of a player. I really do. And he's of this crowd. I think he's the guy that is most similar to those three that I mentioned, your Bejohn, Jamir, Christian McCaffreys,

in that he's, very dynamic run of the football, and he is such a threat catching it out of the backfield. And then what you see is like, well, it only happened for one year. And now he's coming off of this ACL, which is a bummer. Because if he wasn't coming off of that ACL, I genuinely believe he would probably be the top running back in the class. But because of those concerns with your knee, now you've got to mix that into your evaluation. He's a slasher.

he's great catching it out of the backfield. He's got home run ability. And then you look up and it was like, oh, man, he only had 51 carries before last year. Because there were other guys there, namely Bijjan. And so now you look at him and you're like, man, he barely cracked the 200 carry mark. These other guys have four or 500 carries. And it's like, in some cases, 600 plus carries. And he barely had 200.

gains yards, knows for the end zone, catches it well, good leader, really smart player. He's going to help somebody out. So he's number three. At number two, and again, I would have had Brooks higher than three, if not for the injury. But at number two, I'm going Blake Corum from Michigan. Blake tested and performed and worked out incredibly well at the combine. And then his tape speaks for itself. Now, it's the direct opposite view of Jonathan Brooks because Corum has the 675 carries.

Okay, so is that a point of concern? Possibly. Possibly. And then you start to look at what he does well. And he, if you put him in the right scheme, this guy is going to succeed. First of all, he is a tremendous leader. I mean, a tremendous leader, a selfless guy. He came back this year. He was really the heart and soul of that Michigan team. And that Michigan team just went 15 and 0 and won a national championship. And in so many ways, Blake epitomized the personality of, the work ethic of,

and the selflessness of the entire team. They took their keys from him. He was the alpha of that team. And so that's the type of guy that you're getting if you put him in your locker room. And then you look at what he does on the field. He's incredibly smooth, okay? And he's got that little glide step towards the line of scrimmage. He was great in gap schemes.

He was great in duo schemes. He was great in zone schemes. He catches it really well out of the backfield. So he's a well-rounded back. Now, he's not going to blow you away with catch numbers, but no one's going to blow you away with catch numbers at Michigan because they just don't throw the ball enough. they don't throw the ball enough for him to get the, what was it, 56 catches that Bucky Irving got at Oregon.

But boy, when you watch him run the ball, one thing really jumps out, and that's his vision. I think his vision is as good or better than, well, anybody in this draft, certainly, but a lot of guys, even in the NFL. So this scheme I was talking about, this duo scheme. Duo basically covers up players, and the offensive line is double teaming. the down linemen, and then they're working up to, so the duo blocks working up to the linebackers. Now, it looks a little bit like power because you're blocking down towards the front side, and then that's where the ball goes.

But then there's no polar to that side. So, you know, people have said it's kind of like power without the polar. It's a little bit different than that. The bottom line is that the back has to pick the hole. The back has to have the vision there. And if you go back and you watch Penn State, if you go back and you watch Ohio, Ohio State. If you watch the Alabama game, if you watch the Washington game, what you'll see is that Blake has great vision. And he knocked off huge home run runs because one guy would get out of their gap, would get out of their gap. It happened against Penn State. One guy jumps out of his gap, bam, touchdown run. Happened against Ohio State. One guy gets out of their gap, bam, touchdown run. Then he flashes the 6-5 for Zach Zenter who had just gotten injured. So like Corum's going to really succeed. in the NFL. That vision's going to allow him to succeed, the smooth nature with which he runs,

his ability to catch it, and then his leadership in the locker room, all of that is going to play and pay huge dividends for him moving forward. And then my top back is going to be Trey Benson from Florida State. It was really hard for me to get over this size speed combination that he possesses. He's six foot, 216, 216, so almost 220 pounds. And he runs a 4-3-9. Like, let's go. You know, and Trey, and Bucky Irving are going to be linked, you know, because of their paths and the way that they moved around in college football. But I just look at this guy and I think to myself, okay, this guy is going to be a really great professional running back. Second team all-ACC, 6.1 yards per carry over the last couple of years, ran that 439, third fastest for running backs,

began his career at Oregon, which is why Irving and him are going to be kind of tied together. but Benson is a guy that can catch it out of the backfield, but it's his physical attributes. I think that his ceiling is incredibly high. I like his vision. There are times when he can get a little bit upright, which tall big running backs do generally. And guess what? So does Derek Henry, you know, but it works for Derek Henry. And I know that comparing him to Derek Henry is not what I'm trying to do here,

but you get the gist of it. His style is going to play well at the next level. There are a lot of backs, though, that I could have put on this list. Maybe not at the top spot, but again, I even told you, Jonathan Brooks without the ACL was going to be my number one, moved back to number three. There are other guys that didn't make my top five that could have very easily made my top five. Marshawn Lloyd from USC really loved his season. Braylon Allen, quietly, guy plays for three years at Wisconsin, basically starts from day one as a true freshman and runs for 3,500 yards in college in 35 games. So basically, he was just churning out 100-yard games.

That's what he does. Audrick Estimee. Love him on film. Didn't love him testing at the combine. But again, a guy that like, he'll probably find a home in the NFL and probably succeed. And I hope that he does. I hope that he does. So it's a deep group without that upper echelon first round talent that really drove last season with Bejohn Robinson and Jemir Gibbs.

But these guys, they're going to help people out. It's a good class of running backs. Let's move to defenders. We'll probably parse it out a little bit more so leading up to the draft. But I just wanted to do, in general, defenders. Part of the reason that I wanted to do just defenders is the fact that I think that the offensive players are going to dominate the first round of the draft. I really do. So there's not going to be a ton of defenders, especially in the first half of the first round.

And when I started looking at it, I was like, you know, I can do top five of all these different position groups, but these are the guys that we're going to hear their names on night one. Okay, for sure. I think for sure you're going to hear these names. That may be a few others, but not a lot of others. So let's get into these top five defensive players in the 2024 NFL draft. I'm going to start with number five. I'm going to go to one because, again, I think that there could be questions about the order depending on where you go.

and who you listen to. So at number five, I like corner Tarian Arnold from Alabama. So Tarian was recruited as a five-star safety, didn't get on the field as a freshman. Then he comes out, all he did last year, freshman All-American, this year, first team All-American. The dude can play. Now, Kool-Aid McKinstree is going to get, you know,

or got the bulk of the press at Alabama. Arnold was the better player, five interceptions. So great ball skills. for the SEC lead. The fact that he only played for two years and is this good, I mean, the gift at the Auburn Interception was a gift, I get it. But the fact that he only played for really two years didn't get on the field as a freshman, I think it's very easy to say that his best football is ahead of him.

There's no way that this guy has peaked. Only playing two years in college, like you can go and have a career where you've got major upside. major potential. I think that he is a pretty high floor, very high ceiling type of player and evaluation. I really like him. The reason he felt a five in my rankings, candidly, was his direct comparison with a guy that I'll get to later in my rankings and their 40-yard dash. He ran a 4-5-0 in the 40 at the combine, a bit disappointing, a bit disappointing. But when you watch his film, really like it. And number four, I'm going to go chop Robinson.

Penn State, edge defender, began his career at Maryland. He was a five-star recruit. Then he spent the last two years playing for Manny Diaz's defense at Penn State. Now, Diaz left, obviously, but this guy lit it up at the combine. He's got great size and speed, and he's a terrific athlete, you know? And that just, let's face it, that's what we come to expect from Penn State defenders. Look at what Micah has done in the NFL. And I don't know what Chop was going to do that.

I think that that would be insane to put him in that category. But his first step, and those of you watching right now are seeing the first step that he put on Michigan in the first series, two series of that game. You cannot block him when he gets that speed rush going. You cannot block him with that first step. He's incredibly fast. 45840 at 254 pounds. That's wild. He had, check out his.

his numbers as a tester among edge players at the NFL scouting combine. Second fastest 40 to Dallas Turner. Tied for the fastest 10-yard split. He tied for the longest broad jump at 10-8, and he had the second fastest 20-yard shuttle. Dude is an athlete, and he gets after it. He gets after it. The one knock on chop, and you're asking like,

well, if he's that good and he's that unblockable, then why is he four and not one? I didn't see the production at Penn State. I wanted more every time that I did their games, every time that I watched them on film, I thought to myself, how does this guy not have more sacks than this? Now, to be fair, you cannot beat an offensive lineman

faster than he beat the right tackle for Michigan in the first couple of series. He was the main reason. Think about it this way. Why did Michigan run the football 32 straight times against Penn State? It wasn't because they could or they wanted to, although they'd probably like to tell you that now. It's because they couldn't block Chop Robinson early in the game.

They totally abandoned the drop-back pass. They could not block him whatsoever. And so immediately the next series, they put two extra offensive linemen on the field. So they had seven offensive linemen. They created a super hard, long edge for Chop Robinson where he couldn't get to the quarterback. And they just started running the football. Why did Michigan do that? Because Chop Robinson was going.

to annihilate them that day. They could not block him. Okay, so there's always two sides to every story. I was in the booth. I saw it. That's what went on. Now, you got to give Michigan a lot of credit. One, they did it. Two, they were willing to do it. And three, they just bludgeon Penn State to death, really, in that second half. But they did it because of Chop Robinson. He was that good rushing the passer. Let's go on to number three. Quignon Mitchell, the corner from Toledo. He's the guy that I wanted to compare Arnold to. He's the guy that I'm trying to break ties with in this whole process. These two guys are my top two corners. I'm looking at them and I'm thinking to myself, I love their game. I want to go with Arnold because he's a big conference player.

Yes, I'm an elitist in this. Why? Because Arnold played in the SEC. He saw better competition on a weekend and week out-out basis. And yet, Mitchell out tested him at the combine and showed up to the senior bowl and was lights out. And that's great competition. So that put at ease some of those concerns I would say I had about where he played. Now, if he does get selected as high as I think he could get selected, like if he goes in the first, let's say top 15 picks, I think there's a good chance he does. He'd be the first Mac defensive player to do that since Khalil Mack back in 2014. So you couple the way he tested 433 and the 40 to the Arnold's 450, the way he played at the Senior Bowl, and the fact that we have seen guys like Kaleo Mac, like by the way, Saus Gardner, who played at Cincinnati, who was a group of five school. Now he's arguably the best corner in the National Football League.

It can happen. So all of that tells me, okay, you're fine putting him above Terry and Arnold. And I did. he's a two-time AP All-American coming out of the Mac. And I think it's fair to have concerns from guys from that league. I think it's fair. But like I said, putting that to bed with guys like Sauce Gardner, Khalil Mack, the way that he tested at the combine.

And for me, when I look at Quinnion Mitchell, he's fast and he's also big and strong. He's got length. That doesn't happen all the time. Normally when you see corners that run really fast and have some length, I'll be real honest. They're not overly strong. This guy is broad and very strong. He did 20 reps of 225 at the combine. 20 reps.

That is a ton. There's probably guys out there that think like, well, you know, I don't know, man. I could probably like bang out 10 or 15. No, you can't. No, you can't. No, you can't. In fact, if there's one guy listening to this podcast that could do 20 reps of 225 on the bench, I mean, I'll find a prize. I'll make you a sweet hat. I got a guy that does these hats that I've been wearing on the show. I'll make you a sweet hat. If you video and email us to the Joel Clatshow Mailbag at gmail.com, if I can have video proof of you doing 225,

20 times you're getting something. It'll be pretty sweet. My guy has master's hats. I'll send something out. We'll make a special J.K.S. Joel Clasio hat for you. I'll make all the hats for you. 20 times. Anybody listening, 20 times at 225.

I might give you a hat if you can do it 10 times. And I'll respond to your email if you can do it five. I will personally respond to your email if you can do it five times. This just turned into my favorite segment. Now this is all I'm going to be thinking about all week is like how many don't hurt yourselves, first of all. And I assume no liability for your injuries. That's a disclaimer. You do this all on your own accord if you send me a video.

All right. Let's get on with it. Number two, Jared Verse from Florida State. This dude, man, so he starts at Albany. Then he goes to Florida State. and my issue with Chop Robinson was a lack of production. Don't have that issue with Jared Verse. 18 sacks at Florida State over the last few years.

I think he's schemeed the verse. He's probably the safest defender that you can select. I've got him number two because I'm going to have Dallas Turner up at the top, and I'll talk about him in a moment. But Verse is more versatile. There you go. I think he can play with his hand in the ground. I think he can play standing up.

So I think he's scheme diverse. He's very strong at the point of attack. He's got a great first step. He's got the production sacking the quarterback, and yet he's also a really good run defender. So this guy is easily a guy that I think can be the best defender in the class. He just doesn't have the top line attributes from a testing perspective that a Dallas Turner does. But Jared VERS is the safest defender, at least on my draft board.

I think that this guy has the power. and the speed to dominate at the next level. I'll be pretty surprised if there's not a year where he is up there, at least in the top five, four in sacks in the NFL. And number one, I alluded to it, Dallas Turner from Alabama. First team All-American, 22 sacks over the last three seasons. So this guy gets it done. He's a monster.

It was second in the SEC and QB pressures. this last year. When he gets there, he arrives angry, but that's going to have to change. That's going to have to change. That hit on Jalen Daniels, like, he's going to find himself playing for free. If he plays exactly like he did at Alabama once he gets to the National Football League, he's going to run into some fine issues because he arrives at the quarterback in angry fashion. He's a great defender. He's a dynamic athlete. He's 6'4, 247 pounds, and ran four, 4, 247 pounds, and ran 4-4-6 in the 40. That's like, that hurts, that hurts my head.

Like, what are we doing? Like, there are guys that can do that? That's absurd. That's absurd. 4-4-6? What? Let all-edge players. Played with Will Anderson.

I think Will Anderson is not a comp, but Will was a more polished player coming out. That was proven out to be true this year with the Texans. He was phenomenal. Dallas might have a higher ceiling than Will Anderson. I'm not saying he's definitely going to get there, but the attributes suggest that he's got a higher ceiling. He's not as consistent and he's not as polished as what Will Anderson was.

Will Anderson is an alpha. He's terrific player. I mean, terrific. That's why he was the NFL rookie defensive player of the year. as far as just a ceiling, Turner's might be even a little bit higher. Now, Turner and Arnold played at Alabama. And there was an incredibly interesting article that came out,

and I'm actually very surprised that it didn't get more run. You know what? We're giving it run. So here we go. Nick Saban speaking with, I think it was Chris Lowe at ESPN.com, he gave a couple of answers in this article that blew my mind. I just didn't expect it. And you know what? Hopefully this is more of what we get from Nick as he enters our world, you know, and he goes into his role at ESPN. I'm going to paraphrase a couple of these things. Then I want to give my thoughts on some of these quotes. So they lose to Michigan, 2720, overtime loss.

I was there. It was a great game. Alabama had a great chance to win it. Michigan just kind of took it from them. That drive in the fourth quarter, they had a fourth down that they had to convert. I mean, Bama is right there, right there with a chance to win basically a national championship. And they lose. And so it kind of starts with like, not only was Saban upset about the way his team played,

but especially disheartened about some of the things that happened afterward. And I kind of, I'm reading, I'm like, huh, well, this is going to be interesting. What is he going to say? And here's some of the quotes. He says, I want to be clear, this wasn't the exact reason that I'm retiring, but some of these events certainly contributed. Got my attention, Nick. He says, I was really disappointed in the way that the players acted after the game. You got to win with class.

You got to lose with class. Wow. Okay. He goes on to say, once we were back in Tuscaloosa, it became apparent to him that his message wasn't resonating like it once did. Been there for a long time. Had an incredible amount of success. One national championship after national championship after national championship after national championship, playoff birth after playoff birth after playoff birth.

Like, they are the bar. They are the standard. As much as Georgia can say that, yeah, we passed Alabama, I mean, Bama beat them in the SEC championship game. Like, they are the bar. And then he says, I thought we could have a hell of a team next year. And then maybe 70 or 80% of the players you talk to, they all want to know two things, he says.

He says, they want to know what a sure. do I have that I'm going to play because I'm thinking about transferring and how much are you going to pay me? He goes on to say our program here was always built on how much value can we create for your future and your personal development. Wow. He loves talking about the value stuff. Love talking. And he did it with us on Big Noon conversations in the offseason. But these two areas, I've got to like chat about these two areas. One is this. reaction to the loss, and then two is what happens afterwards. And once the players are back and once he's having conversations with the players, you know, after this loss to Michigan.

The first is just the reaction to the loss. And I think that they're at the end of the second answer that I'm talking about, that second quote, was kind of the key to what was happening in his frustration with the way that they lost to Michigan, or at least the reaction to the loss against Michigan. He's had so many great teams, so many great teams. And you've got to understand, like, those great teams have to have great leaders. You're never a great team without great leadership and great culture. And the culture was different before NIL. So even subconsciously, and this isn't even what he referenced to, but as a coach, as a player, he always subconsciously,

I'm sure, is comparing how it felt year to year. So now all of a sudden, this team and this age of college football reacts a certain way after a really tough loss in the playoffs, all he can do is compare it to the previous teams that he's coached throughout his career, any level, but certainly at Alabama, and the way that Dave done it. And if it wasn't similar to him, he's got to think to himself like, well, I don't know, man. Like, I don't know. And that's basically what he says in the answer. And my point would be, this happens.

This happens all the time. to be at a place for as long as he did is really unprecedented in a lot of ways and unheard of. And it's hard. It's hard to be in a place for that long because your message can get stale. And the way you preach the message is going to remain consistent. But the way the message is received is always going to change. And that's where the disappointment can lie is the way that it's received. And so he's disappointed in that regard.

And that happens. that happens with a long tenure like he happened. And then you go into that second answer more about once they got back and once the conversations with the players started. What an admission that he says 70 to 80% of these conversations went along the lines of what assurances do I have that I'm going to play because I'm thinking about transferring and how much money are you going to pay me? I've got a couple of thoughts here.

Two thoughts. The first thought is, I think within that answer is a picture of why Michigan was able to win a national championship and go 15 and 0, and maybe other teams weren't this year specifically. Okay. Here's what I mean by that. this sport is still about being selfless and dying to, as an individual, something bigger than yourself. Still what this sport is about. And the best teams generally do that. Now, talented teams win, but devoted teams win championships.

and devotion and talent are two very different things. If you go by the metrics, and we do it all the time, the most talented team in the country last year was Alabama. The talent composite would tell you that. They were the most talented group of players in the country. All intents and purposes, they should have beat Michigan. They should have beat Michigan. They had them.

They had them dead to rights. And yet, football isn't always just about talent. It's also about devotion. Okay? Dying to something bigger than yourself. Being devoted to something bigger than yourself. And I can tell you, that Michigan team was as devoted to the cause of the team as any I've ever seen. You might be listening and hate Michigan.

And guess what? I'm sure there are some Ohio State fans out here. that hate what I'm saying right now, but it's the truth. It's the truth. Talking with guys like Chris Jenkins and Blake Corum and J.J. McCarthy and Donovan Edwards, Zach Zenter, all of them, all of them. Nobody cared who got the credit. Roman Wilson didn't care how many catches he got.

He told me that so many different times. Colston Loveland didn't care how many catches. he got. They had guys transfer in that were starters at other schools on the offensive line to be the sixth and seventh offensive linemen at Michigan and get in and spot duty. And nobody complained. Donovan Edwards is one of the highly recruited running backs in the country. He could go anywhere he wants. He could take his ball and leave and go score 10 and 12 touchdowns, but he doesn't. He sits there and he watched Blake Corum get all the touchdowns. You know how many times I saw Donovan Edwards carried the ball inside the 10, 5 yard line and then Blake.

Lake Corum would jog on to the field. And guess what? He always said like, I don't care. I don't care. J.J. McCarthy is a five-star quarterback. And in a day and age, when we rate five-star quarterbacks by, are you in the Heisman Trophy, what are your numbers like? The guy didn't care at all when he had to hand the football off 32 straight times

against Penn State in the top 10 matchup. It was unique. It was unique. It was unique. So in a day and age in which you're going to have teams that are highly talented that might not be focused on the right thing and might not be devoted to the cause that is bigger than themselves, you're going to have an opportunity for teams that are devoted to the cause that are bigger than themselves and that are selfless that can go win a championship. And you know what? To me, that's great news. And you might be thinking to yourself, Joel, that is a wild silver lining to what Nick Saban said.

But it's true. It's true. And before this, it didn't matter. It didn't matter because the teams that could recruit the best won. The talent gap was so large. And now as it's dispersing because of transfer and because of NIL and because of what NIL does to locker rooms, even more so than just a big collection of talent,

what NIL does to locker rooms, we're going to see it on the field. And I think that we did. I think that we did. I don't think Michigan should have been able to beat Alabama. Alabama was the more talented team. Georgia was a more talented team. Ohio State was a more talented team.

Michigan was just committed more. They were devoted more to the cause, the selfless cause of the team than anybody else. And they won a national championship. So that's my takeaway number one. Takeaway number two. He says it right there. He says it right there.

And they want to know how much. you're going to pay me. Folks, I know I kept saying NIL. It's not NIL. These players are being paid based on an agreed sum of money with their coaches and the program. We are in pay for play.

I know I already said this a couple of weeks ago, but my goodness, it is right there in the answer. We are in pay for play. And we are going to continue to lose coaches as great as Nick Saban, and he was close to retirement anyways, but I don't think if we had the right guard rails, I don't think Nick Saban retires. If we had the correct structure,

I don't think we lose Nick Saban. I don't think Chip Kelly leaves a head coaching position to go to Ohio State. I don't think Jeff Halfley leaves a head coaching position to go be an assistant in the National Football League. I don't think that any of that happens. And the reason is, is because we just won't, acknowledge what's in the answer. It's right there. Nick Sabin said, they want to know how much are you going to pay me. It is pay for play. We need to say that. We need to call it what it is

so that we can have agreed upon contracts. Guess why you don't have this messiness in any other walk of life because you have agreed upon contracts. I can't just tell Fox like, hey, you know what, if you don't pay me more, how much are you going to pay me next year? We agreed upon it. You signed a contract and we all know what that contract is. That's what we need in college football or else, or else it's going to continue to be so chaotic and so messy that we're just going to lose guys. Because guess what you can't do if you're Nick Saven, one of the great coaches, if not the best coach in the history of college football. And he preaches something that is tried and true about creating value not only for yourself but for the team. And it's worked to

the tune of more national championships than anybody. And he is the bar. And even he is saying it. It's like, we can't do it. All they want to know is how much you're going to play me or else I'm going to transfer and how much are you going to pay me? You're going to play me or are you going to pay me? Our program here was always built on value, how we can help you create it for yourself and how you can create it for us. That's what he says. Like, why don't we just listen? This is, I'm getting because it's right. And if we don't fix it, we're going to continue to go down this road where we lose greatness. And these guys that can really do it and really do it at a high level and that they care about kids and they care about kids and their future, more so than the 50 grand they might get the next year.

Guess how many kids are getting life-changing money through NIL and college football? barely any. Barely any. You might be thinking like, oh, I heard this kid, they're getting millions. There's very few that are getting that. The dollar amounts are way exaggerated.

And quite frankly, we're not even doing a good enough job for them under the constraints of what we could be doing. If it was a contract and we could bring their agents into the light and we can talk with everybody and negotiate things, then guess what?

They're never going to get, well, I shouldn't say never, but who knows what's going on with these kids from a tax perspective? Who knows what's going on with these kids from a perspective of getting taken advantage of by an agent, what they're signing away in perpetuity and future earnings? All of this stuff. Like, it'd be better for the players. We need a contract.

So that was what I thought of right there. It wasn't just an Alabama article. It wasn't just a Nick Saban article. To me, this spoke about the entirety of the sport. And it wasn't all just doom and gloom. I think the fixes are right there. If we just read what the truth is, face the truth, face the truth. I said it right there in the show.

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Next week I will have my mock draft 2.0. Mock draft 1.0 was a huge success. We're coming back with our mock draft 2.0 that will have all the interworkings of free agency kind of worked out. So we're going to have a better idea of what teams are looking at and valuing in the draft. And that'll be cooked up in the mock draft 2.0. That's next week, next Monday.

So make sure to come back here to wherever you find us and get that content. Have a great week, everybody, and I will see you then.