The McShay Show - Ranking Week 1 CFB Matchups, a 2023 NFL Re-Draft, QB Start-Bench-Cut, and Debuting First Tape

Episode Date: September 3, 2026

Welcome back to The McShay Show! Today, Todd and Steve are drafting their favorite games from a loaded Week 1 college football slate. Then, they’re playing start-bench-cut with Darian Mensah, Jayden Maiava, and John Mateer. To close, they’re sharing which prospects they expect to see on tape and re-drafting the top 10 of the 2023 NFL draft with three seasons of hindsight. (00:00) Welcome to The McShay Show! (02:28) Drafting our favorite week 1 matchups (15:54) Friday Night's Assignment: Mensah, Mateer and Maiava (24:53) First Tape (51:57) Redrafting the 2023 NFL Draft (1:11:58) Week 1 CFB Picks Get 20% off any home warranty at https://ahs.com/McShay The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit https://fanduel.com/playwithaplan to learn more about the resources and helplines. Host: Todd McShay Guest: Steve Muench Producers: Tucker Tashjian, Conor Nevins, and Daniel Comer Social: Abou Kamara Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Week one of the college football season, it's a jam-packed show. You ready for this, Steve? First, we're going to draft the week one games. Secondly, we're going to do start bench cut for three top prospects playing on Friday night. Thirdly, we're going to debut first tape. What are the scouts looking for? Week one of college football, the entire weekend going up in two and through Monday night. And finally, why not?

We'll just throw it in here. We're going to redraft the 2023 draft, top 10 picks. 238 days until the NFL draft. Met you good? I'm good, man. Roll that thing, Tuck. The McShea Show is presented by Fandual. College football Saturdays are here,

and it's your most rewarding season ever on Fandual. With the all-new Fandual Rewards Club, every eligible bet can earn you points, win or lose. The more points, the bigger the rewards you can unlock. Head to Fandul.com slash McShay to start earning. with Fan Dual Rewards Club. 21 plus select states, 18 plus D.C., Kentucky, or Wyoming.

Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. Call 1-888-7-8-9-77-7-7-7. Or visit cpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. I'm already out of breath from the open. We've got a lot to get to today. Let's not waste. Thank you for watching on Netflix, Spotify,

listening to Apple, everywhere else you get your podcast. podcast. Please just click the button. Stop down for one second. Click the button, whether it's, you know, bookmarking the show, whether it's liking, subscribing. Let's build some things up as we get into the college football season. Week one, legit start. Week zero was cute. Week one is the real deal. Here we go. First block today. We want to draft the best games in week one. Week two looks sizzling. Week one has some good games. It's not quite as good. Let's just be honest. But there's some interesting games from a scouting perspective, certainly from the National College football,

like perspective, just looking at the whole picture. So I'll throw it to you, Munch. How are you today, brother? I'm doing well. How are you? Like, good, energized, some juice. That's great. Two of the four kids are off to college. AJ drove a car.

He got his license yesterday to college. To high school, I should say, not college. How is Marissa doing? Marissa's in tears this morning. Firstborn drives the car to school. By the way, that's a problem. We got to buy it. We got to buy in a car.

I right now don't have a car sitting in it like when this is over. Oh, that's no good. So we get some stuff to do after the show. And Mia, freshman in high school, first day in high school. So a lot of stuff going on. Tate and Allaire had enough. They go Tuesday. They're after Labor Day.

Okay. So here we go. A block. I want to draft the week one slate. I will let you kick things off. What's the first game you have, like you cannot miss. You are going to be seated 15 minutes before watching the pregame. You got your spread going.

You're ready. What is it? All eyes are on Baton Rouge and I am here for it. But let's be honest. I mean, it's Louisville at Ole Miss. That's the best game in week one. What do you mean? No.

The only two, the only game with two ranked teams. Okay. I am fascinated, fascinated with what Jeff Brom at Louisville, the head coach is going to do with his new transfer quarterback from Ohio State Lincoln Kleinholz. I hope I said that right. He is a dynamic player, got all kinds of armed talent, can make plays with his feet. Louisville has completely rebuilt itself through the transfer portal. I don't think we really know what we have there, but they have a lot of talent. Then, listen, I'm going to be honest, any day you get to see Ole Miss running back, Keywon Lacey run the ball is a good

day. Add to that, Trinidad, Chamblis, all the buzz that's been going on about him in the offseason about them being able to get him another year of eligibility. We finally get to see him back on the field. Clemson, we'll get into it in a second. Clemson LSU is sexy, and I

get it, and I can't wait to talk about that game too. But I can't wait to see the talent from Ole Miss. I can't see what Jeff Brom from Louisville does with his new quarterback. That to me is the best game in week one. Yeah, I mean, not that this is draft is going to wind up mattering and we're not going to keep tabs on it.

No one's going to win or lose, but like, fine. You're winning. I'll take Miles Garrett at pick two, you know. Fine. I'm taking Clemson, LSU. Did I help smart myself with this one? I mean, massively. Here we go.

Like criminally almost. Lane Kiffin is the face of college football this year, whether it's a, you know, whether it's a mass marauder or whether it's, the hero of or you view them as the total villain. I think most people probably would go with C. It's loaded with prospects from our perspective, right? And I'll get to some of those later in this show. Sam Levitt, and I'll get to this more,

but the fact that I actually get to sit down and watch Sam Levitt playing a football game with under Lane Kiffin in this offseason and see the progress, can't wait for it. like I am here for it. Then you've got the fact that it's, I mean, you're in Death Valley, LSU's Death Valley, the only Death Valley, if you're from Baton Rouge.

If you're from Clemson, it's a little bit of a different deal. And like even this past couple weeks with NFL players coming back and they're not going to factor in. And we'll catch up later this week with the ruling in Baton Rouge on Thursday. And what that means to, Bruce Feldman's going to join us and talk to us about what he's hearing. But there's just so much smoke around this game. And, oh, by the way, LSU's a top 10 team.

Oh, by the way, Dabo's coming out and just, like, indirectly, but kind of directly shredding Lane Kiffin and his more, his college football morals. His moral compass is distorted, basically. I'm here, like, we have a potential handshake game. You know what I mean? Yeah. James Franklin and Mike Loxley at that, at, at,

Or a 50-R line. Harba Pete Carroll. Like, yeah. Alex Golish and Tom Herman when Goalish gave him the quick handshake and then walked off. Those things don't usually come true, by the way. But you bet my ass is going to be sitting there after the game looking. And I will be so pissed if they don't have a camera on those two. Like I will be, because they've done that before too, where they miss it.

It's a potential handshake game. It's a potential handshake game. All right. So pick number three. What's the third best game in your mind? With the third best game in my mind, I'm going to go with Western Michigan versus Michigan. Jason Beck, the offensive coordinator coming over from Utah, I want to see how good this Michigan offense is going to be under him. He had last year, he was with Utah.

They were the second best rushing team in the country. The year before that, he was the offense coordinator in New Mexico, second best rushing team in the country. They have two outstanding running backs in Jordan Marshall and Savion Haiter, the true freshman who's going to be an absolute stud. The question is how good is Bryce Underwood going to be? And how much can he get out of him? But I'm here to see that. Western Michigan is also interesting is that they have the Mac player of the year last year

in Brock Lowry, the quarterback. And this is going to get interesting if this game is tight because Lowry's a rushing quarterback. He's a mobile quarterback who can scare the hell out of you late in a game if this gets tight by just extending drives, making plays, and making this Michigan team sweat. I think they need to get out early and take care of this, or this could get interesting.

I feel like you're having a disastrous draft. But I'm like, I'm here to watch your games. But like I'll see your Western Michigan, Michigan, and I'll raise it with Notre Dame, Wisconsin. Okay. Let me keep this thing simple for you. Luke Fickle has his job on the line, essentially, and he's done some nice things,

and you can kind of sense that NIL, transfer portal, recruiting. Things are on the uptick, but is it enough this year? They've got some dudes on defense. They always have a good offensive line. And I'm not saying that this is anywhere close to a game. I'm not even saying that. But what I am saying is, like,

they've been preparing all offseason for an opportunity to play this Notre Dame team. This Notre Dame team that loses two first round running backs to the NFL, and now it's all on our third ranked QB prospect in this class ahead of Arch Manning. CJ Carr. CJ Carr has become one of the darlings coming into the year. But now all the emphasis is on him in this passing game.

With a couple guys from last year, Faison's a good player. Great House is a big, big, tall receiver. Can he stay healthy? They brought in some transfer portal guys, right? And now it's about, can C.J. Carr carry this team? National championship expectations

for Notre Dame. Marcus Freeman is one of the most beloved coaches and all of college football, but it's time to go win one. And oh, by the way, we're playing in Lambeau Field. Get out of here, Western Michigan, Michigan. I'm taking Notre Dame in Lambo against Wisconsin. What's your fourth pick? I mean, you just, you're like, first of all, great take, Biggat. And second of all, you're like the guy who loves, uh, why? Because I, because I, because Fickle's doing some good things. Yeah, I mean, like, come on, come on. Really? Like, like, Like all of a sudden, come on.

And you're like the guy who loves reality TV, right? You're here for like the Lane Kiffin Show. I watch more Bravo than I like to admit. You know what? This is what you're such the TV guy still. You're like, what sells? We're on the football guy. Where I want to see like what's, what's really going on here, the nuts and bolts of it all.

What's this being long term? Who's your fourth pick? I just had, you know, you had to be aggressive about coming after my picks. So I'm going to come right back at you. All right. I'm going to go to Boise State at Oregon. I like that. And I just, I want to see what it looks like with the two coordinators.

I want to see what this looks like. How the operation is, do they come out, are they ready to go? Are they going to come out a little sluggish? Is this going to take a little bit more of a acclamation period than I think it should? And Boise State, look, they gave Oregon all kinds of problems two years ago. That was a 37, 34 game. And granted Ashton Gentie was in the backfield for Boise State. But this Boise State team is exactly what you think of a Boise State.

state team in. Good depth at running back and experienced quarterback, a solid defense. I think Oregon's going to handle them. And I think I'm not really overly concerned about losing the game, but what's this all look like? Do they come out and make a statement of that we should be the number

one team in the country and really flex their muscle with all that talent? Or is this going to be more of a project that maybe I was anticipating coming in? Yeah, I'm here for that game. like Dante Moore's with coach apparently like in Asia or something this off season.

Yeah, Will Stein. Like I just want to see like, where are we? Right. Is there anything different? Is there anything more advanced? I want to see that. I'm going to go, I don't know. I mean, I do know why.

This one intrigues me. I feel like nobody in Tallahassee wants Mike Norville is their head coach. What do you mean? He's done so well. And. SMU, like, was the darling a couple years ago and still has Kevin Jennings. And last year, kind of like, I don't know, it feels like this could go one of two ways for SMU, right? I watched that FSU game last week, and it's New Mexico, 3417.

New Mexico hangs around until, like, the fourth quarter. Inconsistent pass pressure. I thought some inconsistency on defense didn't look like a team in Florida State that is, is going to like maybe surprise all of us, right? And then I think back to last year with like Castellanos and Alabama the win, and it dissipated. But it felt like maybe they caught lightning in a bottle for another year, you know, after a miserable 2024 season.

So anyway, 419 total yards of offense, 217 rushing, right? Six for six in the Red So there were some positive things in the offense for Florida State. I thought the running back, Chroma, Ust Main Chroma, 115 yards on 14 carries, impressive. Singleton, the other running back, really impressive. Chris Jones, defensive standout. So there's some players I want to watch, but then you got Kevin Jennings coming back.

What did they name the stadium after him when he's already currently playing or something crazy like that? Which team's going to step up? I think there could be some fireworks in this game offensively. I just think it's going to be a fun game. And I think it's almost, I don't want to say an elimination game, but we're going to find out real quickly with Florida State and SMU. Is there kind of a sneaky sleeper team here,

or are they what we kind of think? Which SMU, I think is a good football team. I think they're better than the FSU. But this is kind of a telling one for me. Yeah, I'm with you. It's good. Can I tell you a sneaky one? I think that's, is that the end of the draft,

but I got a sneaky one for you? Is it? Or is it one more? Do we have one more? Give them one more. Keep an eye on Miami at Stanford. Again, not a game that I think Miami loses. That is a 9 p.m. Friday start.

I think it's just kind of a, it's, Miami didn't play last week. Stanford did. For them, I think it's going to be interesting with dealing with that, the time change, the travel. I think that game's going to, in all of the changes that they're going through and they're still jelling. I think Miami handles them. There is a massive talent cap between those two rosters, but it might be a little closer than some people think. Yeah, I don't disagree. And I want to see MENSA in that offense with those weapons in that system.

You know, like, all right, B block. Let's switch it up here. This was, this one, Connor and Evans threw this one out, I think, or was Dan. Cut, no, start bench cut Friday night. It was Connor. This was Dan's concept. It came from the newsletter, though, right? Yeah.

And the newsletter, but then we're going to retailer it. By the way, check out the newsletter. We're rolling one out every day. Like, I took some time off, summer. everyone needs a break, including the readers. But it's the McShea Report. McShea Report, Google it, subscribe. Also, you can go to the ringer.com slash McShay.

We're getting ready to unveil it in no time at all, our top 50 prospects with all our evaluations. But you can get the newsletter there as well. Every day this week, we're rolling out new stuff from watching tape this summer, unveiling our top prospects by position. Eventually, we'll culminate it with top 50 prospects and get ready, get everyone ready for the season

and what is shaping up to be arguably the best draft in the history of the NFL. We'll see how it plays out. We're going to get some answers starting on, really on Thursday, but this entire week one. But three quarterback prospects that we both think highly of are playing on Friday night. It's a treat.

It's a Friday night treat, you know? And we're going to play a little game as we did in the newsletter with, start bench cut. Here are the three quarterbacks. Ready? We've got John Mateer from Oklahoma. We've got Jaden Mayava

from from USC playing in the second game now after the San Jose State one. And then Darien Mensa, as you just mentioned, in that Miami game. So let's start with who are you starting? And I think we're probably going to agree on this one. But if you had to do start, bench cut,

and it's kind of a shitty spot that comes. Connor puts us in here. But let's roll with it. Who are you going to start? Mensa, and it's not even close. I just think he's the most accurate and the most consistent,

and that's what I want. Yeah, I agree. I mean, 91 grade coming into the year. We both see him as a first rounder with the ability to elevate. Are you doing this for college or pro right now? I can do it for both, quite honestly. It changes my rankings, though.

Does it change yours? Mensa would be top for both, by the way. MENSA is that's that's off the table. Menta pro and college. I want Menza first. All right. So let's finish that up. But he's the highest grade of the three.

I just trust him throwing the football. Correct. Yeah. Like, like, yeah, if you put Mensa in any one of these situations, he would be my start. For Oklahoma, for USC, you know, I just, I'm, I'm itching as a college football fan and an evaluator to see him come out and play. So yeah, it would be to start there. So now let's go to bench. If you're viewing this from a scope of you want one player to play in a college football game,

are you taking Mateer or are you taking Ma'aba? I'm taking Mita. You got to bench him, but essentially you're saying you'd rather have him on your team to cut him. You're taking Meteer. Meteer, yes. I love Myava, but I think Meteer's ability to make plays with his feet makes him so freaking dangerous. And I also think he has. And it's not that I'm knocking myava here,

but I do think that Mateer has his brain's a little bit different. And like he, he's a guy who can put the team on his back and we're going to go do this. Myava's more of a distributor and a point guard, which I really like. But Mateer is, I can throw three picks and still find a way to win this football game for you. Yeah, I know it was San Jose State,

but myava went 86.2% last week, 286 yards, rushing touchdown, two touchdown passes. Like the bunch of kids running around out there for them. Yes. How about those freshmen? Yeah. I can't over. The team's interesting, then.

I spent a whole, a whole 2025 season looking ahead to the 2027 draft. I'm not doing it this year. But I'd be lying if my notes page on my iPhone doesn't have a couple names from a couple three names. Yeah, a couple three. A couple, an edge, a wide receiver. and a tight end, I think. A tight end. Oh, gosh.

19. Yeah. Grown ass, man. Okay. I don't disagree. I would go the same. If we're going NFL prospect, I'm taking my Ava. I think this is one of the most fascinating players that no one's really talking about.

Because we get so much to talk about all the off the field stuff, the Lane Kiffin stuff. We've got Arch Manning, Dante Moore, C.J. Carr. We got all these big name transfers from Mensa to Levin, all of this stuff, right? Mater's just kind of quietly back in Oklahoma. They lost a lot of good players, brought in a lot of good players. The expectation has kind of been, it's been numbed a little bit or muted. And I just, you know he's worked his ass off. You know he's the first guy in the building by like two hours.

You know that like the grind he's put it through, watching McMannan Passing Academy that like just going in the lab tweaking his mechanics finally after a lifetime of being like all over the place jumping up in the air back foot up like he was a disaster but still was getting torque on the ball

that I didn't even understand how he did it and now he's doing it like a lot of the other guys do most the other guys do solid base hip rotation arm slots a little different to protect that thumb I'm fired up to see it but yeah like drag half prospect-wise, I think my, I think Mayava is probably the guy that's most overlooked in all this.

I think he's a better pure pastor. You and I both walked away from the tape. Yeah. Because I look at him. He's this big, tightly packed athlete, does some mobility things. You see a lot of his highlight throws are kind of on the move, creating. This dude will carve you, man. Yeah.

Don't carve you. So I'm fired up to see both of them. But if you've gunned ahead prospect-wise, I would go, I would go, Mensa, Mayava, Mateer, gun to head college football game. I'm with you, man. I wish we could disagree here. But Mathier's just got a little something. You know, he's just got a little something.

One of the great competitor, we overlook how great of a competitor this dude is. Oh my God, yeah. Like, I don't want to cut any of them. Like, I don't want to cut anyone. Like, that sucks about the exercise. But yeah, you have to make a call. And that's why it's fun.

I hope we continue to do it. I think we can do with other positions, too. It would be interesting. Yeah, I mean, and Connor can go bleep himself. for putting us in this spot. If it was easy, it would be fun. Yes.

I mean, what a slate, though, on a Friday night, you're used to like, remember back in the day with Joe Tess? It was Joe Tess

and Pollock and, and Palmer. Yeah. Jesse Palmer. And there was always like, Boise State was pulling off massive upsets. And Tess was treating it

like WWE and it was wild right and then all of a sudden like the high school game kind of took over let's not interfere with Friday night lights and we're going to play Saturdays and they would throw in a game on Friday night maybe three of them a year you were excited to watch but like it wasn't like back in the day like early 2000s you know now I get a sense there's a little bit more of an emphasis on the Friday night game which I'm here for and talk about kicking things off and I know they're not the best matchups necessarily yeah but anytime you can I isolate and not have 55 games going on on a Saturday. And you can sit back and watch three potential draft picks,

three of the best at the most important position in one night. That's going to be a fun deal. The McShay Show is brought to you by Fandual. College football can change in a single play. And sometimes your bet changes right along with it. That's why Fandual is giving all customers a bet reset. Oh, man, I'd love to have one of those. Here's how it works.

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American Home Shield. Don't worry. Be warranty. I'm excited for this. This is going to be something that we integrate throughout our shows the rest of the year. First tape. I love the name. because we are the anti-take factory.

I had to dip my toes into some of it, and I was constant. I even worked it into a contract once mentioned. And I will not give details ever publicly, where I didn't have to be involved in that culture, right? Yep. Protections put in place to make sure that I wasn't one of those airbag, like not airbags, like hot air balloons, whatever you want to call.

Wind bags, whatever, yeah, whatever. Wind bags. Yeah. It felt like an airbag deploying and breaking bones every time you have to sit through that. Gas bags. We're gas bags. There we go. Yeah.

Thank you, Tucker. I don't know what you're talking about, by the way. Do you have a name of them or no? So this is our show, instead of it being the initial take and getting out to the take, we're going to get first tape. These are the things that we've watched and we've studied throughout the year. Throughout the summer, in this case, getting ready. Like, what are we.

most intrigued to watch based off the tape we've studied what jumps out at us and we've come up with four categories within this first tape segment right the first is and I'm going to ask you who's the top rate and by the way we have not shared so we might have a duplicate I didn't even think about that but who's the top rated prospect with the most to prove in week one for you not saying that this is going to change his draft stock or it's all on the line I'm saying you're going into this week and you're like, I need, like, I'm curious, I'm eager to see. I want some, I want to like confirmation of or I want to be proven wrong, whatever it is, a guy maybe in our top 50 or ideally in our top 20 or 30, that you, that you have high expectations,

low expectations, whatever it is, but they got to go out and start showing at week one. Listen, I've got two if you want to go first, but I think there are two names that are obvious. And I think the one that really that jumps out to me is Texas quarterback Arch Manning. Like it's got to be Arch. And I know, listen, the opponent is not great week one. But that also sets you up for if you get off to a slow start, the noise in Austin is going to start getting loud very quickly. And then you turn around. I would, I agree with the premise.

I actually think the noise nationally will be louder than the noise in Austin. Really? The weird, yeah, I guess both, right? I mean, yeah, but it's like, I honestly think in Austin, he's, he walks on water. I think nationally people are rooting for his, I told you, I'm sitting in the Manning Passing Academy, the Manning Passing Academy. 1400 high school kids are invited there. They're guests of the Mannings. And there's like a section of kids who are kind of.

of booing arch. And I don't know if it's like the Nepo baby thing or just too much hype. You know, kids these days like they don't, it's like the anti-Gyter Yankees, the anti, whatever the winner is or the big, it's like we're going against the grain, right? Yeah. So I think nationally it might be. But anyway, sorry, I'm nitpicking. But I do want to give that perspective that I think nationally people kind of, there's always

sinning. It seems like a lot of people would like to see him fail nationally when you get on social media and all that stuff, whereas people who are in the know and people who like understand Ball and people who are in Austin and see, see him for what his value is and what he is and the human being he is and the leadership he has and the work he puts in and the potential he has. I think that they're they're less eager to like, oh, I knew it, you know, versus the sometimes, sometimes nationally, I feel like that's the agenda. Yeah, I hear you.

If you had Cam Coleman in the building and you go, go out and you put up 21 points against Texas State, I think even Matthew McCona, he's going to raise some eyebrows and be like, what are we doing? Like, if he goes out and he dirt some balls and he just, he doesn't play up to the level that we think that he's going to play. And by the way, this is not my expectation. I think they're no role. I think they're going to come out ready to go. I think this, I think this Texas team's going to be very good. And probably end up. higher than what I had him in the prison, which was seventh, but just felt like you had to put

them there until we saw what they're actually going to be. That being said, if they put up 21 against Texas State or it's a 28th, 10, 14 game, I think there are going to be some people in Austin who are going to feel a lot like those kids at the camp and wonder what's going on here. Give me the second one then. Go ahead. I think CJ Carr. I do it to you all of that. That's my guy. Yeah. I'll take it. I know Carr is going to make like all the pretty throw. and against this defense of Wisconsin, like I think he's going to have some success. I want to see him win the mental game for four quarters.

I want to see him come out and look razor sharp. I want to see a guy that is that I saw at the Manning Passing Academy that is advanced in terms of his knowledge, his processing, that does have robotic mechanics that we've seen with the elite quarterbacks, that we saw even from a taller, longer levered, Mendoza a year ago. I think his football intelligence,

his decisiveness, I think it's off the charts. I think that his mechanics are outstanding. It's this compact, lightning delivery, repeatable. He's like a jugs machine, right? I think his best trait might be to touch timing,

layering the ball. As you talked about, I think outside the numbers, even more so than kind of some of the over the middle stuff. I want to see him come out. I want to see the little bit more consistency. on those middle of the field throws. I want to see a little bit more consistency

because I've seen greatness on throws on the move. I want to see a little bit more consistency in that regard. I want to see who are the guys stepping up for Notre Dame? Who's he developed the rapport with outside of the two returning guys, phase on and it's great house, right? Yes. I want to see what that receiver core looks like and how's he feeding those guys, right?

And then Luke Fickle. like Mike trestles coordinating the defense fickle I told like yeah call me big pack big cat whatever like they were 50 they were 15th nationally versus the run 20th in sacks per game 24th in total defense last year that's that's fickle's identity so while it may not be the best team or opponent they're they're going up against the defense that's going to be pretty comparable to what they're going to see and quite frankly might be a better

defense than they see in the vast majority of games. And it's an opener. And it's in Lambo. I think there's opportunity here for C.J. Carr to come out and make a statement. And I'm here to see it. Just want to point out really quickly that Western Michigan had the ninth best scoring defense in the country last year.

I don't get a shit. And no one, literally no one. Watching on Netflix or Spotify or listening on Apple cares. Just saying, just say, watch that Michigan game. It's going to be good. Oh, my gosh. When you triple down on. Western Michigan.

All right. Next, next category within first tape. Who's the new face that you can't wait to watch? There are so many. This is the hardest category. By far, there were maybe 20 names I could go with. But I'm going with a true freshman. I'm going with the Ohio State receiver, Chris Henry Jr.

And I'll tell you this right now. If you lose Cornell Tate, this is. what you lost. Carnell Tate averaged 17.1 yards per catch. He had 4.6 catches per game last year. He was their deep threat. He was the guy that could go up and get the ball downfield. It's going to Jeremiah Smith is they worked him in different ways because you have to

because they're going to adjust the defense forward, yada, yada. I think Chris Henry, Jr., as a freshman, is capable of replacing that production. And let me tell you why. He is 6'5 and 211 pounds. This is not like one of those high school receivers. who are going to have to get him in the weight room. He's going to get to the dining room, and we're going to have to beef him up

and get him bigger so he can handle the physicality of play at this level. He is, from a physical standpoint, ready to go. And then you watch what he did in high school and his ability to track his sticky hands, his speed. He is, I think, already ready to make an impact as a downfield pass catcher right now. Add into that, this running game,

I think, is going to be outstanding. Arthur Smith, the new offense coordinator, is going to feature play action. You've got Jeremiah Smith drawing so much attention away from him. He's going to get some single coverage matchups. This kid is someone to keep an eye on. I'm interested to see if Smith and Ryan Day making a priority to get him going against Ball State

and really get the ball rolling. But from a talent standpoint, I can't wait to see what he does. Yeah, me too. It's eagerly anticipate. Everyone's waiting to see. Because if he's the guy that people think he can be, And even if it's not in week one, but it builds. And he becomes that guy in November, December, January,

we're going to have to re-rack our best tandems in college football. And it absolutely will exceed that of Texas is with Cam Coleman. And Indiana with Charlie Becker and Nick Marsh. That leads me to, perfect segue. My new face that I'm dying to see is this is Nick Marsh. I feel like because Josh Hoover transferred in and Mendoza's out. I feel like because so much else is going on in college football and you've got Cam Coleman with Arch, you know, for some reason,

it was like a big story right when it happened, but I haven't heard a lot of Nick Marsh stuff, right? And this for me, it's, I'm not looking to find out if Nick Marsh belongs. He does. I'm looking to find out if Indiana can unlock Nick Marsh. 6-3-2-10-pound Nick Marsh. I know he's a big physical presence. I know he's a playmaker.

I know what he can do physically. I know last like career, two seasons with that offense, with a passing game that's not, was not up to a consistent level that you'd expect, right? And Child's a dynamic athlete, but not a great passer at this point. And he's transferred since. 100 catches, 1,300 yards, nine touchdowns.

But if you do quick math right there, that's 13 yards per catch for him. Last year is just 11.2. You get Charlie Becker on the opposite side. You get Hoover who they're hoping that Hoover's dam doesn't break. And that's the focus for Shanahan and Signetti this offseason is to make sure he plays in the system. Zone Reed, mesh, ball out quickly, no turnovers. We went on defense.

We run the football. You can't be that guy. But we want you to sling it and do all the things that you can. do. When they take their chances, whether it's those back shoulder fades, vertical routes, deep posts we saw with Omar Cooper

Jr. last year, right? I want to see Nick Marsh become an absolute freaking dog down the field because I think he can be. He's capable. And I wanted them to go, like, yeah, he's a day two wide receiver. He's got a lot of talent. I want him to be like, oh, no, like,

is it Becker or Charlie Becker or is it Marsh? they're both top 20 picks. I want it to be that level. That's what I'm excited to see. In Indiana, and yeah, they're playing, who are they playing? It's a Saturday big noon kick against North Texas.

That's what it is. So I'm excited to see that out of course. Real quick. Has not been my best show. I mean, maybe I didn't have the best draft at the beginning of the show. I've stumbled over some names, but at least I didn't make a Hoover Dam show.

And I hope that's not something that you go back and like, That was pretty funny. I think I'm going to go back to it because I'm going to tell you right here right now in front of everyone. We could scrap. We could scrap the Hoover damn jokes. Yeah, I could actually, I could see, like my son does a really good job of side eyeing me. Yeah, the groans from the kids.

Growing up, I was the eye roll guy. He for some reason is a side eye guy. Yeah. It's been in his report card a couple times, to be honest with you. We could do without the side of the way. That's our right. You know, you don't want your kid to be like a robot. I felt the side eye from another point in this house.

So, yeah, you're right. That will be my last Hoover Dam. Thank you. And yeah, you're right. You've kind of sucked on this show. I agree. Thank you. I'm sure.

You didn't have to say it. I'm just, I'm getting spiteful. All right. This is the third element I want to do in first tape. Underrated prospect that you're excited to see in week one. Who's a guy that maybe nationally isn't getting the love that he deserved? maybe it's from a program he's in. Maybe there are other great players at that position, whatever it is.

Who's a player that you're excited to sit down and really watch so that you but yep, I knew it. Yep. And now I can get on social. Now we'll get on the show Saturday night. By the way, Saturday night show is back. It'll be on Netflix. It'll be on Spotify.

You'll get it on Apple. We are taping it this year after. And it will be out ASAP. Tucker is the best in the frickin'n business. He's going to turn that thing around and have it for you shortly after. the prime time game. Right after the primetime game, we're going to tape it and we're going to get it out

as fast as we can. But the Saturday night show, the instant reaction show with all of our draft takes, our college football, you know, analysis, not takes. We don't do takes. We do first tape.

It will all be there. But on Saturday night, who's the guy you're hoping that you get to talk about that's kind of been overlooked? I love early in the year when you get these smaller programs playing up against the bigger programs

because it gives an opportunity to some of these players to show what they can do. And Youngstown's going to Kentucky this weekend. And they have an offensive tackle name Desmiel Lee. And I'll be honest with you. He is a early round talent with mid to late round tape. And what I mean by this is he's six foot six, he's three under 24 pounds. He moves really well, McShay. I mean, some of his past sets are gorgeous. I think he was, he went against Michigan State last year. I think physically he really held his own in that game. The issue I have with his tape is that as the play evolves, as each snap evolves, his technique tends to fall

apart and he starts to lose. He's got to be cleaner with his technique. What's concerning about that is that he's a four-year starter, so you're hoping that at this point after being a four, this is your fourth year as a starter, some of those things are a little more developed, a little more refined. But he also only played one year of high school football. So let's keep that in my I like that. I like that. He was a little cross and basketball guy. And you thought maybe that you had heard the end of this name for a while. But I think the talent in the background is going to draw some comps to Maxi and Ochoer from Arizona State.

And I think it's that volatile stock with this kid. He could be someone who gets, you know, a camp invite or gets drafted late if he doesn't play well this year. Or he could be someone that generates a lot of buzz because, again, 324 pounds. Guys don't move like he does. So he could really move up with a strong season. I like that. And I like, you're going with your, you're staying in your lane. Like you're going to identify the best offensive one.

No, seriously, I think that's great. I'm actually going to go a little more mainstream for week one because I do feel like this year, there's a lot of prospects that aren't getting love, that deserve some love, because we've got so many damn quarterbacks. And we've got edges like Dylan Stewart and Colin Simmons and Yonsei Pierre

and we've got wide receivers like Jeremiah Smith and and Cam Coleman. And even the running back position. It's like Ahmad Hardy, we're going to put the plug in that for a little bit. We'll see what the injury stuff is with the off-the-field incident.

But we still have Kiwan Lacey and we've got we got Baugh at Florida. So, but why is no one talking about Isaac Brown the Louisville running back? This guy is a dynamo, man. He is so damn. I mean, I get it.

He's undersized, but he's also, what is he? He's like 5-9, 190, I think is what he's listed at. But he's also, like, he's one of those guys that can catch the football. He can take, like one play. All it takes is being out of position. I'm excited to see him for Louisville. You talked about the new quarterback coming in. You talked about the Brab.

You talk about Jeff Brom, you throw in Brian Brom, like the Broms and what they do with offenses when they get one off. season to kind of transform to their new quarterback. But I want to see now with Isaac Brown, who's considered, I would say third round, probably if you consensus pulled all the scouts, like somewhere in that rain. I think that's fair. Maybe top 100, maybe slightly out. I want to see him become the guy this year.

I mean, Pete Golding runs a defense that attack in your face disrupt, and it kind of will be like, it's okay if you're not gap sound and all of that up front. So, yeah, there may be some negative plays for Brown, but it also creates some opportunity for Isaac Brown to come out. And if there's one guy out of place and he gets a little crease to go, you know? Watch out. And Pete Golding likes him. Golding called Brown, one of the best backs will see all season.

And they're playing in the SEC. And I don't know if they're playing ball. And I don't have the schedule in front of me. They're going to face some pretty good backs. His explosiveness, his ability in space, his initials, like that initial burst and then finishing speed. He's also get some contact balance and body control, like 8.8 yards per carry.

I knew it was high. I just looked it up. I knew it was high. 8.8 yards per carry. And yeah, there's the son Tareen Perkins. There's Will Eccles, who's one of your favorite prospects in the entire class. Cam Franklin and Edge,

just Keaton Thomas. But there's seven guys that are lost from last year's defense. So Goulding now as the head coach, but the defensive specialist is going to, try to reconstruct that defense. And there's some opportunity early with some new faces for him to have a monster game and maybe keep this thing close for Louisville, you know? It's almost like you think that might be the best game of the weekend.

I hear you. Second best. Last one I want to get to here. First tape. Buyers remorse anxiety is what I'm going to call it. Who's the prospect or player in college football that you have followed? maybe fell in love with. Maybe you gave a grade and you're like,

I know he's capable of, but maybe he's not there now. Who's the player that you're going to watch in week one? You're kind of going in like, I know he can't. I believe in this guy. I gave him that grade. But you're like,

I don't want to face McShay if this guy comes out and is average to below average and lays an egg in week one. And that doesn't make a player. You still got the rest of the season. Right. But I don't want to start off in a bad,

after I kind of stamp this guy. So we'll call it Byers Remorse Anxiety going into week one. Who is it? I'm going to go LSU left tackle Jordan Seaton. And that's him to a T, man. I mean, you just explained it really well. Talent for days. And when the tape is good, I am in love.

And I thought that he could be in the running as, you know, the first, you know, like a top five pick, if not a first overall pick, if it's not a quarterback and all that, yada, yada. when we were going into the evaluation process. And he ended up being the fourth offensive tackle on my board once I got through. And the reason is he's just inconsistent.

And now you're taking a kid who was playing at Colorado, and that's great, and you're putting him in the SEC. And now you're going against Clemson and a guy and Will Helts, the edge from Clemson, who I think got better over the... He's gotten significantly better over the last two years and might get after him a little bit in this game. worried about this matchup from a Seton standpoint.

I think Seton's going to be really good, but this could be a tough one for him because I think Will Helt is that good too. So it's going to be interesting to see. I think, you know, I look at Will Helt, by the way. I'm a little higher on him than you are. He's a taller, leaner guy. He's got some Aidan Hutchinson to him,

the way he moves in that frame. And, yeah, listen, man, I really like him. So this is a matchup that I've got my eye on. Yeah, I gave help, I think, a 90. And put him in a right around our top 30. Yeah. Oh, I didn't see that. That's awesome. But you, I also kept in consideration.

I probably would have given him like an 88, 89, but like I know how much you like him, so I kind of met you in the middle on that. And again, our top 50 prospects will, we'll unveil that shortly as we get through this week in the newsletter, the McShay report, Google, subscribe, please. I'm sticking with LSU, weirdly enough. We didn't pre-plan this.

I believe in him. I believe in him. I believe in the guy. coaching him. I believe, like, you have no idea how much I believe in his ability, but I'd be lying to you if I told you I'm not nervous about Sam Levitt. And I wish they had a warm-up game against Texas State or Western Michigan. I have gone all in on Sam Levitt.

And you and Stanford Steve have pushed me on Levitt and DeMond Williams, where I'm probably going in even more than I want to, but I'm cool. for you in a corner. I love it. But on Monday night, what is it? Monday night, 7.30, I think it is. No, when's the LSU-Colmsing game? It's Saturday night.

Oh, Saturday night, sorry. I'm thinking there was another game on Monday night. Saturday night, it's 7.30, whenever, yeah, the primetime game, I am going to be quietly sitting there with sweaty palms. Here's my deal on Levin, okay? My entire projection hangs on one question. question. How quickly and effectively can Lane Kiffin get this beautiful rock and turn it into a diamond? Right? How quickly can he get him to play on schedule, get his mechanics right, play him within a system?

It took Pat Mahomes a year of sitting as a backup and watching Alex Smith and Andy Reid around him and then finally get in the starting job to kind of be in place to do that. Leavitt doesn't have that. Levit gets plucked late in the transfer portal after a whole lot of stuff was going on, comes in. There's all sorts of distractions at LSU. He's got to learn all this stuff and come in week one against Clemson. But I'm here for it. Levitt's a dynamic athlete. As explosive quickness as he is speed, he's got this live, loose arm. He fits the ball into some tight windows where you're like, yeah, that's my guy. That's my guy right there, clip that one tuck, clip that play, right? He's got this competitiveness about him that, like, harkens to the day of Brett Tharv.

But he also makes some mistakes and make some decisions where you're like, fuck, man, you're hurt, you're killing me. I'm trying. I'm trying to, like, I'm in your corner. And then he makes some throws where, like, should be easy, some layups that he just, he kind of misses because his feet aren't right or his eyes weren't there and everything's rushed. So now I've got this offseason that's been chaotic in all this.

And Lane Kiffin's got doing a thousand different things. He's still recruiting NFL players to come back. And I'm like, have we had the time to properly get him kind of channeled in the right, you know? Lane thinks he has. I can tell you that much. And now you're going up against Tom Allen's defense in the second year of this defense. It didn't go well last year. I get it.

But a lot of guys kind of eye in the NFL and maybe that kind of held them back. now year two 15 points per game Clemson allowed in their final four they started to click a little bit now year two and you get Sammy Brown back phenomenal linebacker Ashton Hampton one of the potential

shutdown corners will help you talked about the edge rush of position this is a test man this is a test and I'm going to be white knuckle in this motherfucker for four hours on Saturday night because I believe

leave and levit, but this is scary. I've watched some talented corners in this class man, and none of them backpedal quite as well as you do. Great backpedal. I mean, you are. It feels like a little bit of a backpedal. I'm not backpedal. I mean, this has been your guy.

I have a terrible backpedal. I'm not balanced. My feet aren't quick enough. I'm upright. I get, no, I'm not backpedaling. I'm just saying if I'm being on, this is a truth serum moment. So if he comes out.

I said, but I'm also like, I have enough self-awareness to know that it's what I saw. It's not there, but I believe it's going to be there, but is it going to be there fast enough? Or in week one, he doesn't come out and all of a sudden we get a situation where it's like, LSU just got upset by Dabo Clemson, you know? Yeah. Look. And now I get to go on the show that's going to be on Netflix and Spotify that night. and you come in with that big-ass grin,

the white beard shining, and Levin went 15 for 33 with two picks, and LSU just got upset as the number nine team in the country. That, like, you know? Look, I could say you're doing the mature thing, and I respect the honesty and yada, yada, yada, yada, or I could just bust your balls, and I'd rather just bust your balls.

That was going to be the end of our show. And then Connor jumped in with something, like literally at the end of our show. production call yesterday. And as he initially was saying it, I was like, I love the idea, we're not squeezing this in. And then the more we started talking about it

with Will Levis getting cut and with some of the fourth year options on quarterback, the fifth year option not being picked up in fourth year quarterbacks like Stroud and Bryce Young, CJ Stroud and Bryce Young, we started looking at the 2023 draft

class where let's definitely do a 2023 redraft because that class is fascinating. But maybe we'll do it another time. No, let's do it tomorrow. Let's do it. So here we are. I'm here for it, man.

It's a total, like, talk about like a detour, sharp left. Here we go. All week one college football, like leading up to all of our tape study pro prospects. Let's go back to 2023, but let's go. Tucker, throw up the graphic of what we had in that first round, okay? Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, right off the board. Remember the drama? Nick Casario, the GM of the Houston Texans,

they moved up. They take C.J. Stroud. Let's show our quarterback. He's the guy, but we all kind of knew that Will Anderson wanted to be the pick for some people in that building. And maybe ownership or some other people got involved and said, well, we need a quarterback too. All right, fine, I'll go trade. I'll go mortgage off these picks.

I'll move up to two. And I will go get both guys. So it was Bryce Young and then the Texans got C.J. Stroud and Will Anderson. Then the Colts came in and I was surprised. I didn't see it. I saw the talent. Everyone could see the talent. I didn't think the cults were going to take Anthony Richardson in it for, but they did.

I love Devin-Weather spoon. We both. Yeah. What a football player. Yeah. But not the biggest, you know, the biggest cat, not a former five-star. He went, you talk about, you talk about John Schneider having convictions. I don't care.

The position, the size. That dude is among the top five players in this class. And it's paid off. Paris Johnson's. and really good for the Arizona Cardinals. Tyree Wilson with the Raiders. Bejohn Robinson goes eight. Is it too high for a running back?

We all know he's talented. Jalen Carter goes nine as Schepter's phone is blowing up. And I'm in the neighborhood. And there had to be talks between the agent, the shark down in South Florida and Howie Roseman. Parameters in place because this guy's got some character stuff and some off-the-field issues. And we've seen some stuff since he's been in the league.

but my gosh, he might be the most talented, physically gifted player in this entire draft. And it's kind of how it's played out. And then Darnell right, the right tackle, coming out of Tennessee, right? Chicago Bears pick at 10. So now we have an opportunity, Munch, to redraft this thing, knowing what we know.

And by the way, Will Levis was the 33rd overall pick. We had the girlfriend at the time, who remains the social media. Darling. Yeah, that's Oh no. She remains something on social media. Oh, okay.

But does not remain Will Levis's girlfriend. I believe she's dating another athlete as far as I know. But my point is, it was a big story on draft night. Gia Duddy. That is her name. The young lady I'm referring to.

You can check that out on social media. But he was the second pick of the second round. Yeah, you don't want to. Let's keep our, let's keep our 4U page clean. So when Stella gets on your phone or Iris sneaks around, now I'm joking. All right, here we go. But Will Levis gets cut.

And we got those two quarterbacks who were picked two in, picked one and two. I was just on with Bill Simmons yesterday. Had a fun hour with him. We talked about a bunch of stuff. And Richardson was four. And Richardson was four. Yeah. And so you get two guys, it's like, yeah, didn't work.

Didn't work. Gone. gone from Tennessee is Will Levis and gone from the starting job. And honestly, I think if the Colts got a decent offer to trade him, he'd be gone from Indianapolis. And then you got Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud, you're looking at, like, what do we do with him now? Correct.

Browd was brilliant as a first year player. Last two years, we've seen a massive regression. It's hard to pinpoint. Then we got Bryce Young, who it was the opposite arc where it was miserable in the beginning. What a bust off the bat, but regained his confidence, got an opportunity, got in the starting lineup, started to play better. Last year, I thought he played well later as the season went on. I thought he played really well in that playoff loss.

I was impressed. I saw some things. But neither organization, Dan Morgan for Carolina, Nick Casario for Houston, neither organization was willing to commit, understandably shows. So they shouldn't have, but they've also been very confident in their support of those players. And they both want. these quarterbacks to succeed. But they don't have enough belief

to pay them. So where are we now if we're going to redraft? And I want to start with Carolina right now. Right off the bat, I'm giving you the first pick and put the pressure on you, Munch. Who are you taken with that first pick if you're the Panthers? It's Will Anderson. It is, I don't,

like, it's just, it's Will Anderson. He's a dominant edge rusher in this league. He just got paid. It is a no-brainer for me that it's Will Anderson. I don't disagree. Okay. And that would have given you four years to figure out a different quarterback.

And quite frankly, like the 15th ranked quarterback last year, however you would rank them. Like, I think that they got a much better shot at making a run beating the Patriots in the playoffs. Go ahead, what? You're not factoring like roster and need into this like redraft, right? Because, and this is what's fascinating about this to me is when you go back and you look, you should have just taken the damn, the best damn player. Like, why not take the best player? And it's funny when you look back at it that way.

And when you're going through the process, you're like, this is what we need. And this is like going back, I'm just taking the best guy that I could have gotten because the 10 players that I have my top 10 in this list are all really freaking good. By the way, I should have started with this. This is one of the best fucking drafts of all time.

It's really good, this group. You can create a list of 30 guys where you're like, wow, they're all from this one class. I'm not saying this thing. But it's like, if I went back and studied, the draft. Like, it's got to be in the top 10, maybe like top five, seven of all the draft classes. When you look at the top of this class, I don't disagree. I don't disagree. Number two, Houston. Now, Will Anderson's gone. Honestly, knowing what we know now is a redraft. I'm taking

Pooka Nakuwa. Over Jackson Smith and Jigba? I take either of them. I'll take either of them. I love them both. Yeah. You know, it's not that crazy. It's not that crazy. He's got 313 catches for 4,191 yards, 19 touchdowns through three seasons. He had 129 for 17, 15, and 10 last year.

He had an immediate record-setting rookie impact. Now, is he the same guy in that system that he is with, you can argue that. Quite frankly, Jackson Smith and Jigma is more, it translates more to everywhere you go. So I could live with that. I could live with that. But if you're going off the player that they have been,

production consistent, like, but now we get the off-the-field issue. I haven't turned to call it. There are some things there. I'm taking, you're right. You know what? I'm going to swap.

I'm going to swap. Because it's not as transferable, and more importantly, where is he off the field and where is he in a personal life and all that stuff? I was just going off of like the product, like who's been the best players.

And you have to put Puka ahead of JSN. But knowing what we know now and we're allowed that, this is all about hindsight, I think it's more transferable. And I think, I mean, JSN is the most humble

nonchalant star that this league has had in a long time. I don't think people even realize how good he is because he's so nonchalant and so humble. So yeah, all right, I'll take JSN. Thank you. Now pick three. Who you got? I know I'm getting a great player. I know I'm getting a great player.

I'm going to go Jalen Carter. And there's a part of me that like this is really difficult to do it. But I think he is such a game wrecker when he's right. And you're asking for trouble with a lot of the other stuff, and I get it. And one thing I will remember about this draft is how much shit you took for the reporting you done in Jalen Carter and how angry it made me. But that being said, there's just not a lot of Jalen Carter's in the world. Oh, I agree. I'm going Jalen Carter here, but there are like four other guys that are making this real difficult.

That's the beauty. All right. So the Texans would walk away with Jackson Smith and Jigua and Jailen Carter. Then the Indianapolis Colts would be on the board. I'm going to hold off on the running back here. In Indianapolis, had one then, they got one now. So Pook is still on the board now because I'm taking Puka here. I like that.

I'm taking Pooka and Nukuwa here. I am. I think that feels fair. All right. So then Seattle's up at number five. You got an opportunity to bring back the same guy. Totally happy. But there's this other corner that just got paid a little bit of money.

did he get paid? No, he has it. He's getting sex. He's going to get paid. He's waiting to get paid more is what I should have said. Yes, yes. He did not get paid yet. That's the whole deal.

He's waiting to get paid a little bit more than Devin Witherspoon who just got paid. Or you can go a totally different direction. I'm going Bejohn Robinson here, man. I just think he's that good. And it's early for a running back. I think you can make an argument for two running backs in this class in the top 10. and as good as this group is, and I think Bejohn's the top five guy in this class.

I think he's that freaking good. I'm taking Bejohn Robinson. All right, so I'm writing this down. So Bejohn Robinson goes five. Cross him off the list. Now I'm sitting at a list that has two of those elite corners. It's got another elite running back. It's got some other really good players.

And I am, I'm drafting for the Arizona Cardinals, who, by the way, nailed that pick. I don't think people really – Yes. There are shots as a damn good football player at a hard position to nail. But I got to take Christian Gonzalez. Really? I just think he's that good.

And it's hard – it's hard to get a shutdown corner of his – yeah, I'm taking Christian Gonzalez. He's one of the massive impact players in the league. Oh, no question. I love God. He's a top-ten player here. I would argue you could put him in the top five. you could i wouldn't hate it all right so so so yeah so gonzalez goes six yep who's you got uh who's picking out picking seven is las vegas you don't have to worry about about

taking the guy that they got the first time around because you ain't going to do that tyree wilson i this might surprise you go with darnel right all pro offensive tackle darnel right The player that he is developed into is, I just think he's one of the best offensive tackles in the league, and I'm not passing up at that at seven. Really? Over Paris Johnson? Yes. Yes.

Over Witherspoon. Yes. Those guys aren't going to last long, by the way. They're coming off soon. Okay. All right. Cross them off. This is fun.

Now, number eight, I've got it. Lana and Bijon's gone. Sorry, Falcons fans. It's about the only thing you can hang your hat on these days. Not only, but pretty damn close. Just taking shots.

Dan's pissed. Landa needs a lot. I can't help, but I get it. I'm taking Jamir Gibbs. Really? Yeah. All right.

Why wouldn't I? I love him. I think he's, I have him in my top 10. I just think that when, you have a Devin-Weatherspoon out there that, like, we've got, we go through this exercise. We do mock draft sometimes, and we're just like,

we have a player that we like so much that somehow is falling. It's always a good exercise to do. This feels like Weatherspoon, like, how, how? You know, how is someone going to get him at eight? He went five initially, and he has been everything you've wanted in more. It is a good exercise to look, too, of like, how much we do push up these quarterbacks. And I love Bryce Young,

but had concerns, and I love C.J. Straub, it had some concerns, but they were so good in that class, and they were coming off of great, like, you know, take the best damn football player, sort it out later. Go ahead. So right now we've got Will Anderson going number one to Carolina. Houston has two back-to-back picks. We got JASN, Jackson Smith, a jigba, wide receiver,

and Jalen Carter going number three. So they got an elite star wide receiver, an elite star on the defensive side in Carter. Then Pookin to Kua goes four, said of Anthony Richardson to Indianapolis. Bejohn Robinson comes off the board even earlier in number five to Seattle. They pass on Witherspoon.

Gonzo, cornerback, as Mench calls him. Gonzalez winds up going at number six to Arizona instead of Paris Johnson. Las Vegas is thrilled to have a redraft. They get rid of Tyree Will, is that pick and they take Darnell right. They got an all pro right tackle. Jamir Gibbs goes number eight.

So Atlanta still gets a running back. I mean, you love both of them. They get Gibbs. They can't be disappointed with that. And now we're at nine where the Eagles took Jalen Carter, defensive tackle from Georgia. He's off the board. What do the Eagles do at pick number nine?

Kevin Weatherspoon. No, wait, we took wait. No. Weatherston still available, right? Yeah, yeah. I cannot wrap my head around it. I cannot wrap my head around it. It's weather smooth.

Like we're sprinting. Howie does it again. We are sprinting to get that name it. Good. Congratulations, Howie. How do you feel about it? You mean, you're acting as if you didn't pass on them four times too. I know.

I know. That's a fair point. You're right. But it's, I'm not giving you a hard time for it. I'm actually saying is look at the town. that has come out of this draft that somehow Devin Weather this one's going to get pushed down the board.

This one becomes tough at number 10. I think they've all been tough, to be honest with you. I mean, they have all been tough. Because I'm looking at 10 and you're like, shit, man, when LaPorta's right, he's one of the best tight ends in the league. I got C.J. Stroud, and that's not going to be the direction we go.

But I've got Brian Branch. He's a great player. I've got Devon H. A. Chan, who's become an absolute sneaky sneaky sneaky good I get Jack Campbell if we want a linebacker

I get all these dudes man I get all these dudes I'm going I'm going to surprise you a little bit though I'm taking Zayflowers you're Paris Johnson too

I'm taking Zayflowers yeah I love Zayflowers and I hear you I mean I don't like small receipts and Zay Flowers is one of those guys is like, you're going to fall.

But now I'm envisioning him with the burden and flowers with Caleb and the time. I hear you, man. I know, I hear you. That's why I love the player. I don't think you could take that kind of receiver over a franchise left tackle in Paris Johnson. And I do think, and this was your guy. Correct me if I'm wrong. But Jack Campbell has turned into an absolute dude.

I mean, she is a linebacker. And I got Caleb Williams. I know. You're right. The Paris Johnson won. That's a tougher call. Especially with their offensive line. You can easily go Paris Johnson.

I'm like, yeah, fine. Coin flip for me. Yep. In fact, it might be a smarter call because it's like that positional value. But there's something about Zay with Ben Johnson's offense. I love that you're throwing his hat, his name into the mix, because he's turned out to be that kind of a player. And again, I just thought he was too small to do what he does at this level.

And he's been outstanding. All right. So throw up the graphic. Here we go. Will Anderson goes number one. If you're watching, you can see the graphic here by Tuck and Dan. If you are listening on Apple or anywhere else, I'll rip through him. Carolina Panthers in the 2023 redraft, top 10.

Will Anderson, best player from the class, goes number one overall. Jackson, Smith, and Jigba, after a little bit of a discussion and mensch showing me the way, some off the field stuff. Does it translatable, transferable to one scheme to the next? Jackson Smith and Jigba goes number two to Houston. And then Houston with that third pick gets another elite defensive star, Jalen Carter, who comes with a little bit of baggage. But my goal, there's nobody that does what he can do.

Then you got Pooka Nakuwa going number four. The Colts fans would be thrilled. We got Daniel Jones. Now we just signed a big play outside receiver. Now we got Puka as well. Let's roll. Bejohn Robinson. goes three spots earlier, running back Seattle Seahawks,

how that would have changed kind of the fortunes or, it's interesting to go back and look at it, like, how would things be? So the Seahawks get Beijon Robinson. Christian Gonzalez, a cornerback from Oregon, goes to Arizona at pick number six. Darnell Wright, offensive tackle. Interesting move by match. She's solidifying this offensive line for Mendoza.

The Raiders take Darn. right, right tackle at seven. Atlanta Falcons. They don't get the running back that they wanted, but my gosh, it's not that big drop off when you talk about Jamir Gibbs at number eight. Eagles take Devin Witherspoon because Jalen Carter's off the board,

and the Bears in a controversial pick by yours truly, Jose Flowers, who just got paid in Baltimore over maybe a Paris Johnson or some of those other great players that we mentioned. This is fun. It's great. Other than me calling Witherspoon, Weatherspoon over and over again.

but, you know, that's just, that's part of the course for this guy. You knew we had to do it. Fanduel keeps the lights on for us. Fan Duel is now everywhere. So let's share some of our favorite picks this week, Munch, as we go into week one of the season. We'll do this. It's a segment we're going to do every single week leading up to the college football weekend at hand.

I want to know your three favorite picks. It's at Fandul, by the way, on social media, and get the Fandual app, please. I love the tool. But go ahead. Who are your three favorite picks for week one? I have done no analytic research to back this up, but I always feel like offenses get off to a slow start in the season, especially when there might be some changes or some question marks.

And I'm expecting some low-scoring games in a few of these. And I think I look at Tennessee State of Georgia. Georgia has some questions at the wide receiver position. I think they're going to pound the rock. I think they're going to play great defense. That's going to be a low-scoring game, I think. Marshall at Penn State. I think Matt Campbell's first game at Penn State,

they might play it a little bit safe. They're going to keep that defense is going to smother Marshall. again, I see another low scoring game. Then the last one would be Northern Illinois at Iowa. I know Northern Illinois just got Taryn Dickens from Western Carolina, and he was lights out last year. That transition might take some time. I think Iowa at home is just going to play smothering defense.

Again, run the ball. They might play two quarterbacks in this game. I just think when you're getting off to the beginning of the year, maybe offenses aren't clicking on all cylinders and that they might not put up as many points as people expect. All right, my three picks, I feel great about them. I've had the whole off season to get ready. I think my, you don't buy a Ferrari and decide you're just going to take it out

and drive in the right lane like Mench going 63 on cruise control down I-95. You take that to a place where you can unlock that baby. I get Mensa. I got Malachi Tony. I got an offense that's going to be even better than what Cam Ward had a couple years ago in my mind, right? I get another nugget for you

as Miami gets ready to take on Stanford who looked a lot better than we expected. We talked to Andrew Luck right before that opening game. They go to Hawaii and they played Hawaii and it was a grind for a while but they looked good. They looked like a program that believes in what they're doing. It was a fun game.

They had to make a play late to win that. Hawaii came back on it. It was a good game. here's here's what i here's a here's a nugget i got for you last 10 years mensch opponents coming off a week one teams against opponents coming off week zero who have not played in week zero so the fresh team versus the team coming off of any game win or loss in week zero

149 109 and six against whatever numbers out there so uh to me you add that to just the talent disparity and the fact that you want to drive this Ferrari 120 miles an hour. I think that this could be a lopsided event. Another lopsided event. I remember Nick Saban, it wasn't great in terms of having to score 30,

you know, outdule the opponent by 30 more, 30 or more points or whatever it is. I think Alabama is going to absolutely annihilate East Carolina. I think Alabama has heard enough. I think they got a stud, quarterback and Keelan Russell. I think that they're going to wind up,

I think we're going to wind up being like, wait, wait a second. Why didn't we see the writing on the wall with this team? I think now you got, with DeBoer, they've got more players in that fit their mold and had another offseason. Like, I don't know. I think, I'm not saying Alabama is going to wind up win the national championship. I think they're a little bit better than people think. And I think everyone nationally's had fun with,

of course, it's who's replacing Nick Saban. And I think they want to make a statement in week one. I think East Carolina is going to be on the, on the unfortunate side of what could be Alabama, kind of been like, yeah, get out of here. Finally, flex a little. Flex a little. Finally, Georgia Tech. I know there's going to make Dan happy.

I think Colorado has leveled off a little bit. Let's put it that way. I love Justice Fair. Haynes. I think the mismatch in this game is going to be in the trenches. I really think Georgia Tech is going to grind. Colorado wear them down. Colorado's offensive lines rebuilt.

I think it's going to be a mess. I think Justin Haynes is going to have an awesome, awesome day. What a get for Georgia Tech, by the way. That running back, Justice Haynes, when he's been healthy, he's unreal. That was a great pickup by them. Great pickup.

And I would say this. I think Georgia Tech's going to win that by a couple touchdowns. All right, we'll see you on the other side. Enjoy football this weekend, but we got one more coming up for you between now and then. And we're excited to have a special guest joining us and Bruce Feldman. And something tells me, I don't think it's going to be surprising news out of Baton Rouge,

but I think there's going to be a lot of intel that he can share that is very telling of what's going on in college football. So we'll be back in probably 24 hours from when we taped this to talk to Bruce and get the ruling out of Baton Rouge when it comes to the pro players playing in college specifically with LSU. But, yes, five stars for you, brother. Thanks, ma'am. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas. in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino, or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem?

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