The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Most Intriguing Spring Storylines in College Football & the Top 5 NFL Draft Prospects on the Rise

Episode Date: March 9, 2026

FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt reveals his Top 5 Storylines in College Football as we head into Spring Practices - ranging from QB Battles in Tuscaloosa and Tennessee to major coaching changes in the Big Ten and fresh faces in Texas. He also ranks his Top 5 NFL Draft Prospects that are rising up Draft Boards following the NFL Combine including Ohio State’s Sonny Styles. He also reveals which of Fernando Mendoza’s Indiana teammates is climbing into potentially being a first round pick. Klatt then gives his thoughts on the College Football Roundtable at the White House last week and breaks down how we got to this point and where things are likely to go from here. 0:00-1:27 Intro1:28-1:42 Klatt’s most interesting spring storylines1:43-8:23 Alabama & Tennessee QB battles8:24-10:06 Michigan’s coaching overhaul10:07-12:27 USC’s new faces12:28-16:12 Texas’s transfer haul16:13-18:07 Ohio State defense rebuild18:08-30:03 Klatt’s NFL Draft risers30:04-41:20 White House hosts roundtable discussion to address issues in college sports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you look at my way too early, top 10, all 10 teams experienced quarterbacks coming back. I value it more than I value anything else in the sport. I don't know if there is any way those two programs are not underachieving next fall. You say that name and everyone's going to be like, oh, it's a great hire. A vertical of 43 and a half. I couldn't jump off my desk 43 and a half inches. Dude, what are they feeding these kids? Like, this is insane.

like today is why we love college football. Hey, welcome into the program. This is Joel Klatt show. I'm Joel Klatt. This show is brought to you by Graduate by Hilton. We thank them for their support. This is going to be an awesome show today. We got three really great topics.

My most intriguing storylines for spring football, that's coming straight at you. My top five draft risers after the combine, that's coming up as well as kind of a recap of that roundtable discussion, if you wanted to call it that with the president and all those people in Washington, D.C. there was a ton of people there talking about college sports, but more specifically college football. My thoughts on that, where are we, where are we going from here? That's all coming straight up.

Just remember to subscribe to the program, YouTube, all the channels in particular on social media, wherever you like to social media, Agile Class Show. Let's get into it. My most intriguing storylines of spring football, I think it's going to be a great spring in college football because there are a lot of things that we need to figure out with some really big brands in our sport. Let's start with a couple of the biggest. to Alabama and Tennessee having traditional quarterback battles. Now, this is something that is not as prevalent as we've seen in the past,

is these traditional quarterback battles. What you see now, more from a prevalence standpoint, is that you go get a guy in the transfer portal. And that job is kind of promised or insinuated. And that guy comes in and that's the job. And you don't have these traditional young quarterbacks got to win the job type of deal. But we're going to get that at Alabama and at Tennessee. At Alabama, Austin Mack spent his freshman year at Washington. He followed Caleb Dibor down to Tuscaloosa, and then he was

the backup for Ty Simpson last year. It got into that game. The Rose Bowl against Indiana after it got out of hand on the Hoosiers run to the national title. They also bring in Keelon Russell, the five-star recruit from the 2025 class. So he's there. And now you're going to have these two young guys battle it out. And this is very important because we know how important Ty Simpson was. to the Crimson Tide last year. If he wasn't great, they didn't have a chance, in particular in big games. And even when he was really good in big games, sometimes it wasn't enough. Sometimes it wasn't enough.

I mean, he was brilliant against Georgia. They went on the road. He was brilliant against Oklahoma. They went on the road. And in other games, it fell flat, like the SEC championship game, the second time they played Georgia. Tennessee's similar scenario here. We're going to have a traditional battle.

This one's going to be a three quarterback. battle. George McIntyre, the red shirt freshman. He's going to be battling Faison Brandon, the five-star true freshman, really talented guy. I can't wait to watch him play, whether it's practice or in a game. And then Ryan Stop. You remember Ryan Stop? He came in from Colorado. He started a couple of games late in the season, kind of middle, I guess, middle to late in the season for Colorado. And it got some press. He played well in relief in one game, and he's got two career starts. So there you go. You don't have a lot. of experience across the board at Tennessee and Alabama.

Now, normally I would stop there with this storyline and just think to ourselves like, okay, great, we've got two big brands, both want to play at the top end of college football, both have been in the playoff either the last, what is it? I guess two years ago for Tennessee, last year for Alabama. So they want to be back in that conversation. They want to be at the top end of their conference in the SEC. And yet, they're going to go the inexperienced quarterback. route. Now, why is that such a big deal? And why is that a storyline that we have to keep our

eyes on, excuse me? Well, because everybody that went with inexperienced quarterbacks, for the most part, underachieved last year. This sport has drastically changed, and we all know it. I've talked about it for a long time here about the importance and value of experience. And I think that that value is, well, you can't overstate it at the quarterback position. That's where we see the good teams, the quality teams, they've got experience at the most important position on the field, the quarterback. We saw it last year. The last four teams in the national semifinals all had quarterbacks that were at their

second school. They had played a lot of football. They were experienced players. Dante Moore, second school. Trinidad Chamble, second school, Carson Beck, obviously second school, and Fernando Mendoza, second school. If you look at my way too early top 10, which is already out, go back to the YouTube channel and make sure to go back and check out my way too early

top 10, all 10 teams experienced quarterbacks coming back. I value it more than I value anything else in the sport because that's what's proving out on the field. We're seeing it with J.J. McCarty three years ago with Michigan. Michigan with Will Howard in Ohio State and Fernando Mendoza and Indiana. If you don't have experience, you will underachieve. It's not just that the teams that are achieving at a high level have experience. It's, again, like I keep saying, you will underachieve with inexperience.

We saw it at Michigan with Bryce Underwood last year. However talented he was, and clearly he was an upgrade of what they had the previous year, even offensively as a whole, they were better. But they underachieved because of his inexperience. There were moments during the season, you're like, okay, he's a freshman. As good as Julian Sayan was at Ohio State, and he was brilliant for a lot of the year and went to New York as a Heisman trophy finalist. This guy had a great year, and yet at the end, what ends up happening, he was, hate to say it, a bit overwhelmed in losses to Indiana

and Miami. Both of those teams have experienced guys in those games, and they end up winning in the end. Saw it with Arch Manning. Arch wasn't all that experience. He could, got a couple of starts the previous year. And I know people always say, like, Joel, stop saying that he'd been in college for a long time. He had sat behind who was a Quinn Ewers for a number of years. I understand, but he wasn't experienced on the field as a starter. That is a different deal. It doesn't matter where you start. It's better to have started. And now these teams, Alabama and Tennessee are not going to have that. Meanwhile, you have teams that are going to have that. Let's just talk about a couple of the other great storylines. Like LSU is going to have

a really good quarterback and Sam Levitt. That marriage with Lane Kiffin and how that all materializes is going to be something that I'm very interested to see. You've got Darien Minza going down to Miami. They're going to have an excellent football team, excellent football team, as long as the quarterback plays well. Maybe the biggest one of all is Josh Hoover. And his marriage with Kurt Cigetti, Mike Shanahan up at Indiana, because if that works, and if he is as good throwing the RPO as we saw with Curtis Rourke and as we saw with more specifically Fernando Mendoza, Indiana will be right back where they were this year in the hunt for a national championship. I think that they're really that good. They're really that good. You've got experience all over

the map. Now you've got saying with a year under his belt. You've got Arch with a year under his belt. You've got Carr at Notre Dame, year under his belt. You've got all this experience around the country, Dante Moore, year under his belt. This year is going to be phenomenal. And that's why it's so strange to see these giant brands who want to play at that level, Alabama and Tennessee, going within experience. I don't know if there is any way that those two teams,

those two programs, are not underachieving next fall, just simply based on that. So we'll see how that goes. I find it very fascinating. All right, here's the next. one. The Michigan overhaul. I am so fascinated about this because, candidly, I think that this could go one of two ways. Now, I don't think that this is just a home run and absolutely going to work. I lean that direction because I believe in Kyle Whittingham. I believe in his run-oriented

toughness mindset style that fits Michigan and what they want to be. It's what that roster wants to be anyways. I think that's all a fit. Now, having said that, you've got Underwood, he's got to marry Jason Beck and this coordinator, quarterback, marriage, how's that going to work out? Listen, I think that it could go either way. Sky's the limit if it works out. And if it doesn't, where do they go from there? So again, this entire culture shift, and maybe it's not even a culture shift, as much as it's just an overhaul. It's an overhaul. They're going from a regime that they were desperate to hang on to in the Harbaugh regime, and it went to, you know what, Helena Hand Basket under Sharon Moore.

Some would say on the field, but most certainly off the field. And now Kyle Whittingham is there, high character, high integrity, toughness, run oriented, physical, the mentality. This guy is a great coach. And now he's at a Blue Blood that just won a national championship three years ago. I mean, come on. This is as intriguing as it gets. What is Michigan going to be?

What is Michigan going to be? I happen to believe that they're going to be very good. And so that's why I'm so excited about this. This is why it makes it one of the more intriguing things that I'll be watching this spring. I can't wait to see them early next year. So we'll see how that goes. Here's another one. USC.

I'm more optimistic about USC than most out there. And it's not just because I live next to basically all of their fans here in Southern California. It's not about that. I'm optimistic because they have experience in the right spots, namely the quarterback spot. I thought my Ava is tremendous. And I've always seen Lincoln Riley develop wide receivers. So as good as Mackay Lemon was, and he was great, I think that they're going to have the ability to replace him with someone that can maybe not be him but close. Maybe not be Lemon but close.

And maybe they can do that with a number of guys. But more specifically, they're going to have their entire offensive lineback. and both backs. So you've got King and you've got Wayne and Jordan. And now they're back and it's like, okay, they can run the football. Every time that Riley has been really good as a head coach, they've been able to run the football back at OU, his first year at USC when he almost went to the college football playoff.

They should be able to do that now. And so this is very intriguing to me. How do they replace Mackay Lemon? But then it's not just about Mackay Lemon in the wide receiver position. It's about bringing in a Hall of Fame former head coach to be your defensive coordinator. That is wild, and I cannot wait to see how it works out. Gary Patterson, former coach at TCU, coming in to be the defensive coordinator at USC.

This is phenomenal. I can't wait to see how it all pans out for USC. Why? Because I'm more optimistic than most about this crew. More optimistic than most. Talented wide receiver, Tannuk Hines was good late in the year. Myava's very good. They can run the football.

Is Gary Patterson going to help them on defense? thought Danted Lynn was very good. This is not something that Patterson has to go in and totally fix the defense. But listen, if he provides something, then they're going to have something really special. And again, I'm more optimistic about USC than most. Here's a really good one. Texas. Come on now. How are you not intrigued with Texas this spring? Arch is coming back from the foot injury. They've got to develop more depth and get better at the offensive line position. Are they going to be better at wide receiver? I think they feel like they will be, but we'll see. The proof is in the pudding. Oh, by the way, similar to USC,

very similar. Also a new defensive coordinator. So Texas is always intriguing because it's Texas, but now you've got arch trying to come back from what a lot of us would say is a disappointing season for Texas, in particular when you weight it against what the expectations were to enter the year, right? I mean, they were preseason number one. He was the Heisman Trophy favorite, and it wasn't close to that. So now you're going to go in more under the radar than you were a year ago, and with more experience. You should be able to overachieve at Texas this year as opposed to last year. At least you should.

And now you have a new defensive coordinator. Now, Pete Kutikowski, who was their defensive coordinator, had some good defenses under Sark at Texas in the last couple of years, some really good defenses, top of the table, really, in college football. But it didn't work out, and now you go out and you hire a new defensive coordinator. Why do I keep like saying defensive coordinator? Will Mush Champ comes in. Will Mush.

Now, okay. Will Must Champ is going to carry a lot of weight in certain rooms and in certain conversations. You say that name and everyone's going to be like, oh, Will Must Champ. It's a great hire. Texas fans are going to be really excited about this. People in the SEC are probably going to be like, oh, man, he's going back there. But here's the thing. People outside of the SEC, if you're outside of the SEC, if you're outside of the SEC,

the SEC, you're kind of looking at that and you're like, really? Like, is, are coaches just not like on a marigle round down there? Are they just in the dryer just tumbling around? It's like a shoe in a dryer right now. It's like, you hear it. And it's like, it's coming around and dirty. They're like, I think Will Mustchamp has been a very good defensive coordinator at times.

There are other times when it doesn't work. And here's the thing. There is something about, there is, about SEC nepotism. It's a thing. It's a thing. Coaches down there. And I think it's maybe more of the fans. It might even be more the fans.

It's like there's this idea that if you're making the hire, if you're an athletic director or an athletic department, if you're a head coach, and you want to win the press conference with a hire for someone on your staff, he better have SEC. experience. And it's like, well, who cares? Who cares? Guess who didn't have SEC experience? Brian Haynes, Mike Shanahan. Like, we guys don't care, right? I, so is this a good hire? I don't know. I don't know. I think if you're a dyed in the wool SEC believer, you think that this is just the greatest hire of all times.

everybody outside of that footprint saw that higher and they thought to themselves, interesting, interesting. Will it work? Maybe. Maybe. Like I said, Will must champ is a really good coach, a really good coach. But man, are coaches in the SEC, are they not the shoe in the dryer? It's just here it comes and it just slams back down.

And it's like, what is he going to do really well at Texas? going to get hired at Arkansas? That's the way it feels. That's the way it feels. Everyone, I think, I think it'll work because Texas is a good spot to work. He knows that.

He's been there and he's done well there. And Sark is a really good head coach. So we'll see how that's intriguing to me this spring. Here's another one from a defensive perspective. What I thought was the best defense last year was Ohio State. And they've got to replace eight starters. That's wildly intriguing to me for, for this spring. Matt Patricia is going to be back. He signed a contract extension. There was some

question about that. Obviously, with his NFL background, you're going to sit there and think to yourself, like, is he going to go back? Does he want to deal with this? Does he want to recruit? Does you want to deal with the transfer portal and the wild calendar and all the things that are crazy about college football? Turns out, yes, he loved it. He loved it. And he had great players to coach, man. I tell you, man. That defense was insane. I loved watching it on film. I thought he was very smart with the schematics of what they did. And it turns out like, they had really good players. They're really good players.

And eight of them are going to have to be replaced. So their spring is going to be giant. They brought in some transfers, some guys that are going to have to plug and play right away as starters on that defense. So this spring is going to be fascinating, trying to replace guys like Rvel Rees and Sunny Stiles and Caleb Downs and Caden McDonald. Those are big shoes to fill. Really big shoes to fill.

And this is a team that, as you know, there is, very, well, there is no let up in this fan base. It is like, you got to win the, you got to beat Michigan and win the national championship every single year or it's a failure and the Titanic is sinking. And so it's like, that's the bar. That's the bar. And they're going to have to do that with a defense that is widely going to be new, although a lot of those pieces will be experienced. And obviously, you know how I feel about experience. They've got three returning starters, Kenyatta Jackson, very good player at defensive end.

Jalen McLean, a safety, very good player. Jermaine Matthews, I think he's the best returning starter that they have. And then they're going to have to piecemeal this thing in. Maybe some young players, some guys that were in the depth a year ago that weren't considered starters, and then obviously some transfers. And that leads right into our next topic. I want to get into some draft risers post-combine. And I wanted to start right there right after this Ohio State conversation about their defense

because did anybody see Sunny Stiles at the Combine? That was bonkers. Number one, sunny styles. I tell you what, was that the best on-field workout in Combine history? You're not going to get an argument from this guy. I think it might have been the best Combine ever. and here's what I love, at least four Sunny Stiles, is that this guy was already a first round guy.

He already pops off the tape. He's a great leader. He was the blocko reciprocantity. He wore number zero because that's the most important number in that program. And he was voted to that position by his teammates. Okay. And this dude, he had the audio in the helmet. He was the leader.

Like I said, he was the leader of that. defense. The best defense in America was led by Sunny Stiles. And so he's got all the intangibles and he's got a first round grade. All right. It is so easy for a guy like that to just be like, no, you know, man, like, I don't want to compete. But he knew. He knew. He's like, no, no, no, I'm going to go to the combine and absolutely blow it out of the water. And here's now where he finds himself. When you've got all the intangibles and you're a great leader and you're a captain and you do all of those things and you're humble and you work hard in the wait room, this guy went through a position chance. and he was a safety a few years ago at Ohio State, moved down to linebacker, turned in one of the

best linebackers in America. He's an absolute freak athlete. And then he goes out there and he runs a 4-4-640 with a 156, 1.56 10-yard split, which is insane. A vertical of 43 and a half. What is it? Like, I couldn't jump off my desk 43 and a half inches. That is wild. And yes, I get it, folks, the desk is already, what is it, 35? I can't jump 10 inches. I can't jump 43 and a half inches off a chair. Like, that's insane what he's doing right now. And he broad jumps 11-2.

What? What? So he goes from a mid-first round guy to now clearly in the conversation, certainly in the top 10, maybe even in the top five. Because here's the best part about it is all those intangibles now are backed up by freak athleticism. So if you're an NFL organization, there is this many concerns about Sunny styles. I'm holding up a zero for those of you listening on audio. If you're watching YouTube, you see it. That's how many concerns there are about Sunny styles. So you talk about rising and

creating value for yourself. He's done it in spades. That was awesome. And when I've been around Sunny, this guy is high character, high integrity, like I said, a leader of of men at a really big program, which is hard to do. And I think he's going to have a phenomenal career in the National Football League. And like I said, some organization is going to look up and be like, well, guys, we have to take Sonny Stiles. Obviously, he's going to be our captain. He's going to play in our organization for 12, 13 years and be the face of our organization

in our city. Him and the quarterback, wherever he goes, will eventually be on the billboards. that's Sunny Stiles. I love that. Okay, so he was number one. Number two, how about Kenyon Sadiq? If it wasn't for Stiles, Sadiq would have turned in maybe one of the greatest on-field performance. The on-field performances this year at the Combine were bonkers.

There's no doubt. By the way, I didn't even find a way to get R.Vell-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-Ease on this board, one, because he's already considered maybe the best prospect in the draft, but his combine was insane as well, and it was just like, eeked out by Sunny Stiles. so no one's talking about R. Val Riesu had an insane combine because of Sunny Styles. And then all of a sudden, here comes Kenyon Sadiq. What?

He ran the fastest 40 by a tied end in Combine history. And listen, this dude is not just a straight line track speed. Oh, it's a tight end. Remember, like, Kyle Pitts, he was a flex tight end and he was fast and athletic. And everyone's like, oh, he's going to take the NFL by storm. But this is the deal. Saddick is not just that. He's not just a track star that's going to be out there.

there and run an insane number. By the way, he ran 4-3-9, which, by the, that's just crazy. That's crazy. 4-39 from a tight end. Here's what's going to make him so valuable is that he was better as a blocker than he was a wide receiver and he runs 4-3-9. He's an insanely good wide receiver. He can flex. He can be an athlete. If you're watching YouTube, you just saw the hurdle over the player from USC on the perimeter. This guy is a phenomenal player. But it's all the work he puts at the point of attack. He's a terrific blocker. He's humble. He works hard. All the same things I said about styles, you could say about Sadiq. When I sit there and talk to Dan Lannning and Will Stein in preparation for the game against Northwestern earlier this year,

you know, Dan Lending was like, Joel, you can't watch just a past catching cut up of Sadiq. You've got to go watch him block. And so I did. I went back and I reset the filters and I just watched run plays. And I watched this guy work in the run game and block and work. And work his tail off and get after it. And I was like, oh, my gosh, she's one of the best blocking tight ends in America with all the athleticism. So you talk about a draft riser. I think this guy could be approaching top 10. I really do.

Certainly in the top 15. All the same things I said about Sunny Styles from an intangible standpoint. Now you can say about Sadiq and he's putting it on the field as well. Number three, Jacob Rodriguez, the linebacker at Texas Tech. Phenomenal Combine, Buckus Award winner. and then now he goes out there and answers questions about his athleticism. I think wrongly, there were some people around the sport that were just like, you know what, he might have just been a good college linebacker,

and there have been guys like that. Mantei-Tayal comes to mind, right? Like, there's guys, and there's nothing wrong with that. Everyone says that that's like a knock. It's really not. I think there was a thought that Jacob Rodriguez was going to be just like, oh, you know what, he's just a really good, intuitive, college player.

And then he goes, and he puts a season like this season together, and now a combine like he just put together. Top time for the linebackers in the three cone and the shuttle drill. He ran a super solid 457 in the 40. I think he was trying to get himself into the second round. And now I think that there's a conversation for him, maybe even at the back end of the first round, certainly at the top of the second.

So he created value for himself. and here's another guy, just like Stiles before him and just like Sadiq before him, that you're going to ask all these questions as an NFL organization, and he's going to cross off all these boxes. I sat with Joey McGuire before that Utah game. And I sat with him and I was like, all right, you tell me about this team. How are you going to mesh all of these transfers? Because at the time, they hadn't faced any adversity up until that point.

And I was thinking to myself, you paid all this money to all these people to come in, in particular on the defensive side. And I was like, why is that going to work? why is that going to mesh? And he was like, because I put them all in a room with that guy for the first week. And he made them all Red Raiders because that dude bleeds Texas Tech. And he points at Jacob Rodriguez. And I'm like, I love that.

See, I love that. I still love college football. That's kind of what I love. I love to see a guy be a leader and this and I love it. Right? This is what I'm here for. And that's him. That's him.

So all the same things I said about Stiles and Sadiq, there's going to be this many questions about Jacob Rodriguez. Now he backs it up with great athleticism. I'm holding up a zero for those listening on audio podcasts. I love this for Jacob Rodriguez. He was terrific. All right, my number four guy. How about Omar Cooper?

Omar Cooper had an outstanding combine. I thought he was the best wide receiver. Bear with me for everything I'm about to say here. I thought he was the best wide receiver in the Big Ten after he had the ball in his hands. I know that's a lot of prefaces, but, you know, like, Zachariah Branch is tough to beat at Georgia wants the ball and is in his hands. But when you watched Omar Cooper, man, man, those RPO games, you should go back and watch the Illinois tape.

It's insane. It's insane with the ball in his hands. But, but the play you're watching right now on YouTube, that catch against Penn State, when Gus and I lost our minds, there's memes all over. the internet. Guys from around the globe are doing that call. That was the greatest play that I've ever seen live. And I'm always going to remember Omar Cooper because of that. And so, guys, guess what? I'm a human. This is a biased pick. He had to make it because I'm rooting for him. I'm rooting for him because he got his right foot down in the back of the end zone against

Penn State. I'm rooting for him because he gave me one of the great moments of a broadcast career that I will ever remember. I loved that moment, loved that moment. And I think that his tape is incredible. I think his body control is incredible. His hands are incredible. Then he goes out and runs 4-4-2. And I'm like, boom, let's go. Let's go, Omar Cooper. I think now he's a first round wide receiver. I think people are coming around to that. Daniel Jeremiah, he's the guy that I most respect, and hopefully we'll get him on the program at some point leading up to the draft. He's got him now inside of that. top 50 right up there in that first round ranking.

But I'm always going to root for this guy because of that catch. That was the single greatest catch in crunch time that I've ever called live. I've ever called live. That was outstanding. So Omar Cooper, he gets a tip of the cap from me here at number four. And then number five, the defensive tackle from Florida, Caleb Banks. I'll tell you what, man, he's an athletic freak. And no one, he was really not on anybody's radar coming into the combine,

At least, maybe no one, I don't know, maybe he was. But he didn't really play. He lost most of the season to an injury. So now, like, you got to go perform and perform. He did. 6-6-327, and he's got an 85-inch wingspan, and he jumped 32 inches. What?

Dude, what are they feeding these kids? Like, this is insane. This is insane. I was just, you know, we're recording this on a Sunday. I was at my kids' lacrosse game. today. My son's 11, Sam, right? And Sam's in fifth grade. And this kid jogs on the field. And I'm like, there's no way he's in fifth grade. He was taller than me. Like, what's going on? Caleb Banks is 6'6, 327 and jumped 32 inches. What are we doing? That's got to be illegal.

I always think about that scene from wedding crashers when they're playing, they're playing the pickup game with, you know, with Zach, you know? And he's like, and I can't remember which character gets hit. If it's Owen Wilson's character or if it's Vince Vaughn's character. I think it's Vince Vaughn's character. And he gets hit. And he's like, I think they're on steroids. Oh, that's what I think. 327, he jumped 32 inches.

That's wild. That's wild. So Caleb Banks is a riser for me. Hopefully he has a really good career. All right. I wanted to touch on that roundtable in Washington, D.C. on Friday. Because it had all the pomp, and circumstance before the event.

There were a lot of eyes and ears on the event. There was a lot of important people at the roundtable. Obviously, the president was hosting with a number of others. They're co-chairing it, Randy Levine from the Yankees. Ted Cruz was obviously there. Ron DeSantis was there. And then there was a ton of people. Obviously, Nick Saban was there.

Our very own Urban Meyer was there. A lot of people from conferences, even television. networks were there. So listen, this was, this was an important day in intercollegiate athletics because there is right now a sentiment, and I don't disagree with this sentiment, that the current model is totally unsustainable. And that's true. That's true. And so they go into this and they're like, okay, we need to do something big. We need to do something big. And by the way, none of what I'm going to say is political in nature. Zero. Zero of this is political in nature. I'm not giving kudos for anyone for having this roundtable. I'm not going to disparage anyone

for having this round table. Not at all. I'm going to tell you why Friday happened and what is going to come of what was talked about in the room on Friday. The first thing you have to understand is that everybody believes that we are in an unsustainable model. I raise my hand. I also believe that. What's unsustainable about what we've got going on? Now, I think the layperson would immediately say to themselves like, oh, well, NIL and Transfer Portal, that's totally unsustainable.

Nah, not true. That's going to be here forever. It's just that we have to have guardrails on those things. Okay. So what is unsustainable? Really. Governing the sport through the courts. That's what's unsustainable.

that's why they were there on Friday. That's what we have to avoid is that we have to avoid every single ruling from the NCAA or the College Sports Commission or any entity. It doesn't matter the entity. That's why we're not going to get into the nitty, like the weeds here. Every single ruling that comes down about eligibility

or what is legal or illegal and NIL or transfer or whatever it is immediately goes to the courts. We cannot be a body. or an entity or an enterprise that governs ourselves through the court system. At all. At all. Everybody is losing too much money and it's way too slow. It's way too slow.

So if you really wanted to get down to the crux of it, what's unsustainable? What's unsustainable is intercollegiate athletics, football more specifically, governing itself and enforcing its rules or lack thereof in the court system. system. So we need to fix that. Now, once you start to fix that, then you can provide some framework where you can start to then build guardrails for all the things that maybe drive you crazy or don't drive you crazy. I don't know. Maybe you're a transfer portal fan. Maybe you're an NIL fan. But all these things that a lot of people have a problem with, and you can start to build guardrails around that. Protections for players so that agents don't take advantage of them. Okay. So,

that's really what they were there to do. And I've said for a long time that there was really only two paths to govern the sport in a way that you didn't do it in the court system. The first path was to actively negotiate with the players, basically a players association. Now, it sounds easier than it is because a lot of things come with employees or employment status and in particular like a union for a college athlete. A lot of things with that. Okay. So that's hard to do. So the enterprise or college athletics, everyone said to themselves, you know what we need? We need federal legislation. We need federal legislation to give us some antitrust protections so that we can govern ourselves and we can enforce rules and not

every single time we try to do that get taken to a court and sued. Okay? That's not so far fetched. And so there was legislation that was starting to be drafted and there is an act out there. You've probably read it. If you haven't, you can go and check it out. It's called the Score Act. All right. Now, listen, there are some people that are very big proponents of the Score Act, and there were others that are big opponents of the Score Act.

I'm here to tell you, both are probably right. As is the case in every piece of legislation, there's some things that you like and some things that you hate. And that's just the way it's going to be. And that's how both sides feel right now. Now, the way that it's currently constructed, I don't believe that it's going to pass. It's not going to pass probably even the House of Representatives

and it's certainly not going to get 60 votes in the United States Senate. So what was Friday? Let's go back to that. Friday was a momentum ploy. It was a show of power and support towards the SCORE Act to elevate an issue that all of us would say, all of us would say like, yeah, it probably needs to be fixed. And this is where I will give a compliment,

but again, it's not political in nature. This is one of the things that this administration does well, is that they look at an issue that the majority of Americans will say, yes, I agree with that. If you said the majority of college athletics fans, in particular college football fans, hey, would you want some more guardrails? Would you want to fix college football or college intercollegiate athletics?

They would say, yes. So it's an 80-20 issue. So they're simply trying to raise to the level of national awareness, an 80-20 issue in order to use that awareness as leverage in the House of Representatives and in the Senate for this specific piece of legislation that they really like, which is the Score Act. Okay. That's what Friday was. And now he's going to try to do it through an executive order, and that executive order immediately will go to the courts. He acknowledged that. That'll do very little. So let's talk quickly about the Score Act. Would the Score Act actually fix things in college football,

more specifically, or even in Intercollegiate Athletics. The SCORE acts would really do five things. So let's talk about them here. I think the most important thing and something that I very much agree with, which is why I do think that federal legislation needs to take place, is it would mandate that there would be one set of rules across the enterprise, and we wouldn't have 50 different sets of rules based on different states' laws. Because right now, NIL is really governed by the states.

And so that's how you can have no tax on NIL in what was. is that Louisiana or I think it was Louisiana. I think it was Louisiana or maybe Mississippi. And you can have a different rule in California and a different rule in Texas and a different rule in Ohio and a different rule in Florida because all of those state legislators are going to treat NIL differently. Okay. And then you've got everyone trying to operate in college football under all different sets of

rules. So the SCORE Act would put one umbrella over NIL and say, no, no, no, these are the federal rules and they're going to supersede state rules. Okay, it would also ensure that employment status is not given to players. That's what this act would do. And, of course, most on the left side of the aisle are going to oppose this specific part of the legislation. There are some groups like, what is it, Athletes.org that are trying to organize players. Anybody that's trying to organize players or unionize players is going to be against this act.

because of this provision specifically, it would mandate that players, athletes, and college sports would never be given employment status. So there's that provision in it. It would also mandate that if you're a high earning institution, $25 plus million, that you would be mandated to give health benefits, including three years past playing status. It would solidify the house settlement as kind of the code. The house settlement is what gave us the revenue share, which is, $20.5 million would probably go up as revenue goes up, where every school can basically pay direct payments to players that are considered NIL, or I should say, more revenue share. And then lastly, and this is a really big provision, it would protect athletes by limiting

agent fees in a broad stroke. So you would no longer be some shady agent that would be like, hey, man, 20% in perpetuity. No, no, no. Those deals will be gone. And every single NIL deal, every single representative of a college athletic would be capped at 5%. That's the most that they could potentially earn. So those are kind of the provisions of the Score Act. Now, will it work? Listen, as it's currently written, I don't think the two sides are going to get together on this. And so it's going to be something that resembles this.

But Friday really was a push, a public push, to try to get an 80% sentiment behind something so that they can push it forward. We'll see if it works. I think that it's going to be hard to fix. I will say this. Once we get something, we can go about the business of fixing the things that we need to fix in college football. But here's what's so maddening. Here's what so maddening. You can't have that on Friday and not have a player there. That's terrible optics, awful optics. You can't just say, oh, the coaches represent the players. No, like you can't say, you have to have players there. that's number one.

Number two, everybody in that room is there for a very different reason, which is why we got to this place and in the first place. You've got people that want to, you know, aggregate television rights, others that don't want to aggregate television rights. Nobody in the room was on the same page. So they were supposed to be in there all being like, save college sports. Nobody in the room is on the same page. So many people operate in silos and only want to take care of their silo. That's the way we've done it in college athletics forever.

And until that changes, nothing is going to change. Right. So like that needs to change in and of itself. And we need to do a better job of that in the enterprise in what we're operating here. enforcement is a big issue, obviously, and maybe all of that gets it fixed. But we shall see. All right, that's going to do it for today. Our next episode is going to be a banger. It's going to be a mock draft. Our mock draft 2.0 is coming straight up next week on Monday right here at the Joel

Clat Show. Make sure to subscribe to the channel, invite a friend to the channel here in the offseason. We've got a lot of things planned, hopefully, a big offseason here at the Joel Clad show. So subscribe to the show. So follow us on social media at Joel Clashio, wherever you like to social media. We'll be back next Monday with our mock draft 2.0.