The McShay Show - The Year of the College Quarterback and NFL Rookies to Watch in Week 1

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

Welcome to The McShay Show! The guys are back to preview some of the biggest quarterback matchups in college football this weekend. They also discuss the rookies they’re most excited to see play in Week 1 of the NFL season. Our first LIVE show with special guest Dan “Big Cat” Katz will take place at Lincoln Hall in Chicago on September 10. Tickets are on sale now—secure your spot today! We’ll also be live on YouTube this Saturday night to recap all the action from Week 2 of the college football season. 0:00 Welcome to The McShay Show! 2:01 Week 2 CFB Preview: (15) Michigan vs. (18) Oklahoma [-5.5]18:00 Analyzing Oklahoma QB John Mateer36:35 Week 2 CFB Picks!42:05 Year of the QB: Prospects To Watch1:00:20 Todd's Week 1 NFL Rookie Watch  The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit ⁠www.rg-help.com⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Todd McShayGuest: Steve MuenchProducers: Tucker Tashjian, Conor Nevins, and Daniel ComerSocial: Jon Roemer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the McShay show presented by Fanduel, and college football Saturdays are already delivering. Every game means something right now. Ranking shift, upsets hit, and the best place to stay on top of it all, Fanduel. Whether you're riding a noon kickoff or betting the late games, Fanduel lets you bet it your way.

Same game parles, live betting, player props, alt lines, whatever your angle is, it lives in the app. So if you're watching the action, bet on it with Fandul. So download the app or head to Fandul.com slash McShay and make every Saturday count. The ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit RG-Help.com to learn more about the resources and help lines available. And listen to the end of the episode for additional details.

Must be 21 and older in present in select states or 18 and older in present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Helphelp.com. Call 1-88-78-88-88-9-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. Michigan, with its true freshman quarterback, heads in Norman for the first time in program history to face show favorite John Mateer and the Sooners. We break it all down next. Plus, it's the year of the quarterback in college football. So let's start celebrating it a little bit, huh?

And we got a rookie watch for the NFL. It's week two in college football, week one in the NFL, and just 231 days until the draft. Munch, you good? I'm good, man. Let's roll this thing. Michigan at Oklahoma. You know this Nugget, Munch? First time that Michigan's ever traveled to Norman.

Not like a massive surprise, but still surprised. you ready for this one? I couldn't believe this nugget when I read it. It is Michigan. Think about this story program. First time in history that Michigan has had a true road game at an SEC opponent. Stop. Promise.

Wild? I think both of those stats are wild, to be honest with you. Yeah, I know. Yeah, these two teams would have faced off at some point, but obviously not. And then they were in the Big 12. Oklahoma was in the Big 12. It was still a possibility. But wow.

By the way, I know. I'm excited to see where you want to go with this Michigan offense, but your boy, Portnoy, got himself a quarterback. Oh, my gosh. We'll get started on that. Let's, a quick thing right off the top, though. We're a week away. We're taping this real late Wednesday night.

It's going to air Thursday morning, so it'll be less than a week when people are watching this. We've got a live show. I want to remind folks, a live show. show in Chicago. If you're in the Chicago area, you got to come see us. It's going to be an intimate setting in Lincoln Hall, right? In Chicago, I was on with our friends Spiegel and Holmes today, 670 the score in Chicago. Good. Getting some buzz going, Mench. My brother-in-law sends a text today. He travels all over the

place. He's an IT consultant. He doesn't know shit about IT. Yeah, Jeff, I'm talking to you, but at least in his own home is what I'm told. Oh, the best, dude. You know, Jeff. Yeah. He's walking by the Lincoln Hall today. What's it say outside? Oh, no way.

The McShay Show. That's cool. All right. So we're going to be there. We got everyone, the Spiegel and Holmes show. They're sending four members of the group there. Excited to see them and everybody else. It's intimate.

We'll probably shake everyone's hand there. We'll take questions as long as you. you guys want to ask questions. We'll hang around after the show and talk. So it'll be fun. If you guys like the show at all, you probably don't like me that much. I'm annoying and I talk too much,

but you know you like the big guy here. And our special guest from Chicago, he's walking from his home in Chicago to Lincoln Hall. He lives that close, the big cat from Barstool. And you know what? When Barstool was like, Portnoy was living with his,

is in-laws in their basement, almost going bankrupt. Barstool was like struggling. I was there for Barstool. I was timing them 40s and doing their vertical jumps and their three phones. People need to go back and watch that. We had our first ever Barstool combine, 102 degree temperatures. So I was there in the beginning. And here we are in the beginning, not even a year into our show.

And Barstool is going to, Big Cat is going to pay it back. he's pumped man he's all in on this thing he's promoting the shit out of it he's asking me today to send graphics i'm plucking pictures of him to go on our graphics for the mcche show so it's it's it's kind of like you know full circle family's all back and we're ready to roll so hopefully you guys will be there to join us and we're talking about this michigan oklahoma game let's jump into it right now munch let's go but i want to remind folks the best thing we do the most fun thing for us at least that we do all year long is the Saturday night live reaction shows. There's a link up on the on YouTube, the McShay Show page right now.

You can go click it to get a reminder. We're going to come on. We came on with like four, three, four minutes left in the Clemson, LSU game. A little technical difficulty on my side. Want to get on maybe like five, seven minutes left of game time this week in the Oklahoma, Michigan game. So make sure you come join us live there.

All right. Housekeeping's done. I gave you my nuggets on that game. Let's just jump right in. Let's go. I just finished up watching Underwood. Let me start with this. And I send out stuff like I'm not on the chats.

I'm not like, I'm not in the chat rooms. And I get it that if you, if you're an Ann Arbor person and you were, if you were like talking Michigan and Underwood all week, you probably heard about this play. But when you watch Tate and you see something happen that's not like, oh, he's got a big arm,

he's getting the ball out, he's showing a lot of poise, all those things. You watch something happen in the game that, like, you don't expect. I just, I sent it out like literally 15, 20 minutes ago on, on X and threads. There's a play where he hands the ball off and his running back, Justice Haynes, who had a monster day, by the way. Yeah, they got a back too.

Haynes was 16 for 153 in three touchdowns, the Alabama transfer. In that system, Chip Lindsay, like, that's a good fit. I can't wait to get into that. Yeah. But anyway, so he hands the ball off. There's a little like stutter step. Underwood goes out and starts to go see if he can lead block on the play. Sees a linebacker, I think it was a linebacker or a safety flash.

A little crackback. Wow. brings Haynes for a touchdown. And I'm like, all right. Because I like, listen, five star multi-million dollar DNIL deal, all world. recruit. You've had choices between here and LSU and every other major program.

And so you wonder sometimes about like the character, like the football character, not a guy, but like is he going to protect himself? Is he like this free Madonna, right? Right. And see that play, I was like, I kind of like this guy.

I kind of had one thing to that. I saw the play. I had completely agree with you. I saw that play. But do you notice what he did after he completed his first pass. He threw a little, he threw a little bubble out to the left. Go back and watch us on tape because I love it.

There was a little bubble out to the left. It's maybe a six, seven yard game. Great drive starter, by the way. We're just going to get it rolling. We're going to get him, you know, get him greased up. He's going to be,

you know, get him going. It's just a little bubble. He completes it. And he raises his hands like this. I was like, dude, that's like an eight yard gain. He's like, he's like,

we're out the gate. And immediately I thought I was like, this kid's playing. you know, first game, a lot of pressure. He's going to be the savior of the Michigan program. All of this stuff. And all I thought was he's after playing with joy. Like he's got some joy to him.

He seems happy. He seems light. I was like right away, it was a good vibe. And some people might be like, you might be reading too much into that. No, I like that. Relaxed dude. It's an eight yard game.

I thought it was great. I was like, here's this young kid out here throwing a bubble. Kind of like the high school energy, right? Right. I thought it was kind of, you know, I just thought it was. great. So he missed the seam throw in that first drive, right? Remember that he's kind of perfect. No, no, no, I know. I'm just, but like you look for little things in a first start from a young man with all

this hype, right? He misses that. He's rolling to his right. His momentum's got him going a little too fast as they're right. Receiver flashes open off the play action. Seam throw just completely mails it, air mails it, right? Then Justice Haynes, he hands the ball off to on like a delayed inside zone, kind of he had the receiver coming back kind of like their zone count inside zone counter um Haynes takes to the house 56 yards touchdown. That was that was like the six play on offense right comes back and the thing I appreciated about him is like really poised. I didn't see a guy like made mistakes but not critical errors didn't make you know a freshman

and true freshman like two or three like real critical errors that I saw. But but like carried himself with a lot of poise throughout the game. The highs were too high. The lows weren't too low. I thought the velocity just jumped out to me. There were throw. I will say there's two things and cut me off if you were going to, I don't know what your time is going to be here.

There was two things to me. There was throws that he made that I was like, that's ridiculous. That's just ridiculous. the talent to make that kind of a throw. So the tools jumped out. But when you talk about that poise, I want to put people in the game situation,

because I don't know if a lot of people watch Michigan, New Mexico. That game was 17 to nothing. Michigan jumped out to 17 to nothing. And then New Mexico started to climb back. They got to 17 to 10. And it was near the end of the first half. That's a situation I think a lot of people are saying, let's just ride out the half.

Let's get back into the locker room. We'll talk to the young, quarterback, especially when you get a third and 14. But Michigan got third and 14, and they put the ball right in their young quarterback's hands, and he threw an absolute dart for a first down. And he leads Michigan down for score that changes it from seven to 14. I think he throws a 15-yard pass to Marlon Klein, the tight end, who I think we should talk about, too.

Yep. A nice touch pass to Marlon Klein for a touchdown. Now they're going into the half up 14. I think people are breathing a little bit easier. And now I was worried about this, maybe this gritty New Mexico team kind of, you know, keeping it close and making it interesting. I mean, I think a, tell me if I'm wrong. I think a lot of programs would have said, we're just going to pack it in,

we're going to down it. We've got a pretty good defense. We're just going to go into the half, up seven. We'll regroup then. And instead, they stayed aggressive. They got down the field and they scored. And I thought he showed a lot of poise. And the way he handled, by the way, no turnovers in this game either.

I know. There was some mistakes in terms of decisions, I think, but no turnovers in this game. He took care of the ball for the most part. And they believe in him, to your point. Obviously. You can tell they believe in him. He believes in his ability.

But he didn't play outside of himself in the first game. Yes, the opponent, I get it, and we're going to Norman now. Like, I get all those things. I like the decisiveness, the lightning quick release off of like the RPO game. I thought like pretty good mechanics for a true freshman. I honestly was like, I don't know what to expect with this young man. I'm not watching the spring game and all that. I've seen like some of the high school clips.

It's just not like we're doing a lot of other things in the spring. Like the NFL drafts kind of a big deal in our world. But you never know what to expect with a guy who's unbelievably talented. And you hear dual threat and all this stuff. You know, we've seen a lot of guys come in and they're just like kind of sloppy, but they just run around make plays. He's not that. He's a big

kind of sound, poised, seemingly mature. We'll find, we'll find out Norman. Primetime game, Herb Street, follow. Yeah, we will.

Like, we're going to find out Norman, but like really promising start from where I sat watching the tape. And, and I was like, I know he can run, but he didn't have,

to do a lot of that and I'm sure by design in the opener I'm excited to see how much more we see yeah how it evolves with him in his mobility perfect example that we should talk about chip Lindsay a little more in detail but they had a play a play design I thought chip Lindsay man I'm not really familiar with his scheme I am after one game of watching that I was like I love what they're doing I mean in love with what they're doing they have one formation where you technically call it 20 personnel where you would have two backs in the backfield. But the slot was so deep. He was basically in like another back. He was even with the backfield, even though it was like a slot alignment, alignment, but they just ran power right.

The fullback led for the running back. But if you watch the way the play develops, there's an RPO action off of it. It was clear that it was predetermined that it was going to go power right. But if he keeps that ball, he can now turn and run or kind of flip it to the slot. Like you saw with Arch Manning in that play where he ran out to his left and he zipped it out to the receiver, they have that action off of it. So they didn't, it was clearly we're going to do that in this game, which you can see the seeds of where they might want to go. And when you see his creativity, when you see Lindsay's creativity and see what he's doing, man, I mean, this was a great start. And then you can see where it could go and how it could develop. And it's exciting.

Yeah, I like Lindsay. Like, I think we're only 51 years old, 27 years in balls, been a head coach, offensive coordinator at multiple places, was at UNC with Drake May, not considered like the most NFL friendly offense, but very effective college offense. And the thing that I like about this fit, right, is you've got Sherrod Moore with the offensive line coaching and like the Harbaugh remnants of, you know, like the tight ends and like throwback, but like creative with the. run game, but kind of, you know. Oh, Michigan's still Michigan. The DNA is still there.

It's still the DNA, but it's like, welcome to the new millennium and the new, like the 20, 2020s, you know? Yeah. That it's a nice little blend. Yeah, I love the way he used, he used motion to get receivers involved in the running game and then create favorable angles for receivers that were blocking in the box. I thought the motion was great. I love orbit motions where they bring the back around and the back.

field and then you fake the hand off and you throw it back to the back. It's just a lot for the defense to think about. There's a lot of moving parts without, by the way, making it super complicated for your young quarterback, even some of their formation ships. They didn't do a lot of this in the game, but they did it a couple times. I think one really stood out to me where they'll come out and make it look like it's a spread set and then all of a sudden the tight ends come in tight and it looks more like a traditional 12 personnel run heavy set. You know, that's not something that's going to be very taxing on your young quarterback, but it will give the defense a different look

and force them to adjust to how they line up. I thought he had a, I thought Lindsay had a great game. I thought he put him, his, he put Underwood in a great position to succeed, uh, the whole,

the whole game. Yeah. And again, like we're going to find out a lot. Like the run game is there. Like Justice Haynes, kind of all downhill, got some juice,

fits what they're doing. Omar, O'Mary and Hampton had great success. right? And I'm not saying Justice Haynes is to that level, obviously, but the Alabama transfer comes in, another big back, straight line juice, kind of light on his feet. I mean, that's a good fit.

Now, they've got seven returning starters on defense, not all of them returning from last year's group. They lost a lot. And this is going to be a big, I mean, you lose Kenneth Grant, you lose Mason Graham, you lose Josiah Stewart, right? All top 100 picks, yeah. All top 100 picks. So it's going to be interesting to see now going up against Oklahoma.

And it seems like a good time to flip it to Oklahoma. Really quickly, though. Did you like Marlon Klein? Did you like the tight end? Yes, yes. He's a dude, man. Yes. The receivers, I don't know about that much yet.

Jury's still out. But Marlon Klein, that tight end, he can play. He can play, man. It's interesting. Two big 10 programs, two tight end. drafted early, right, Warren and Loveland, and both programs seem to be like, reload. Yeah, right away. Mateer, I mean, what do you take from Illinois State, right?

Yeah. I get it, but I did want, you know, he comes with Arbuckle, the coordinator of Washington State comes there. They've got a bunch of receivers. They've got some portal guys. How's it going to look? Jaden Ott. I don't want to say this is breaking news,

but I literally just was texting with my source at Oklahoma within the last hour. Okay. And I'm told on good authority that Jadenott, while just remember he had the shoulder injury, injury last year, very limited. Right. At Cal.

Supposed to be a top 100 pick. Doesn't have the season he thought he was going to have. Comes back to college, transfers to Oklahoma, and expected to have a monster year with an Oklahoma with the new coordinator, with John Mataric quarterback, bringing his coordinator, with some of the weapons they have at wide receiver, including Dionne Burks, who's a potential top 100 prospect.

And then I, like, I didn't watch the game the other day. I caught like some highlights. I went back and watched the tape, and I'm like, where's I? So when the box score, I was like, I'm like, one carry negative three. Right. Then I was like, Google. And I knew he had the shoulder, but I didn't, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, It wasn't something that popped up.

And then I talked to my source at Oklahoma in the preseason. He didn't say, like, worried about odd. So I was, I'm trying to do, find them. I'm just going to text my guy. He's fine. He's good. Shoulder injury did limit him in camp, protecting him last week. But he's going to get plenty of run, was the quote that I got.

Good. I mean, that was one of my notes is how healthy other running back. Because the other guy that, that I thought was outstanding was the true friend. running back Tony Blaylock and he left in the third quarter with a shoulder injury. That kid, if they can get Ott and Blaylock healthy together, watch out, man. That kid Blaylock, vision burst. I was reading an article about it and he was supposed to get like a little bit of run. And by the third quarter, they were like, this kid's army won for us in this game.

Like we're going right back to him. And then he heard his shoulder. I guess the shoulder was in sling. Sounds like it's not going to be serious, but the Knight might not be able to play in this game long term rb one and rb two if you got a aunt and blaylock i mean that's a it's going to be a good backfield yeah and what else jumped out to me is they've got three receivers dude kiantez louis who's play wow dude i didn't know wow no wow no idea jaron canick the tie on burks and uh kiante lewis keontes louis kiantez louis

those three guys combined for 21 catches, 297 yards, and three touchdowns. Like those three pass catchers are, and it's good to see, I'm not odd, it was good to see Mateer with these, like on the same page, rolling. And that offense works fast. And I'm not even talking about tempo. I'm talking about from snap to ball out, like from the RPO stuff to the progression, reads like mater is exact like we're used to it now these texas high school football guys whether

it's baker johnny football um go back to oh kiler after that i'm just like off the top of my head like these tech it's like tempo fast quick reads r pos get the ball out and but it's not necessarily just like short game quick game it's even like the intermediate in the down the field so everything happens fast. And so to see that he's on the same page with these receivers was really promising, albeit against Illinois State. He finishes the day, Meteer does, 30 of 37, 392 yards, three touchdowns through the one pick, 353 went over Illinois State.

And I'll say this, there's tough to glean much, but that defense for Oklahoma was really good last year. They lost a couple key guys, like really like foundation. pieces we talked about. Linebacker, safety, Billy Bowman, but got a lot of the big time players back. Our Mason Taylor,

and their deep at defensive tackle. Yeah, they got some guys. So like the defense, I think it's going to be wind up being the top 15 unit nationally. So Mateer comes in, and it's the same old stuff, man, little bit more refined.

from what I saw. But it is a scramble drill. This guy in the best way. I thought about this, because this is a nationally televised night game. It is the game of the weekend, right? And there are people out there, college football fans.

I think there's a good amount of buzz about John McTeer, but there are college football fans who watch that Saturday night game who have not seen this guy play. And they get to watch him for the first time. And I'm a little jealous. like watching him for the first time and like getting the the john meteer show if you don't know what's what's coming your way it is i mean get your popcorn ready i mean it is it's awesome i promise you if oklahoma wins on saturday night john meteer is the story in college football

yeah he is he could he will have taken over september in college football because everything with this guy is a fire drill and like a well-constructed end result good, but it's a fire drill. John Mateer gives zero fucks. When you watch it, like he doesn't care. No.

He will challenge you on all three levels. It's RPO ball out in the flat. You're still figuring out if he's handing the ball. And before you know, right by your ear, the ball is as a linebacker. He has an unbelievable. unbelievably quick release.

The ball just snaps off his hand. He's got full back legs. He gets torque from the lower body, even when his lower body's a mess when he's off balance. He just, his arm angles are from here to there and everywhere in between. Absolutely slings it.

Unbelievable competitor. And when all the others, the RPO, the pull back, pulling the ball back, the screens, the quick slants off the screens, the deep ball, all that other stuff is driving you mad as a defender? By the way, he can talk and run it,

and I swear to God, he runs a four or five. Right. Like, I don't doubt it. And he's the most competitive SOB, maybe in college football. Yeah. I absolutely love watching his tape. It's like watching, like, I don't know.

Like a Spielberg movie for me. You know? I don't. Or I would be more by Michael Bay to me. More like Michael explosions and Axton and all that's happening. I was just coming up with a famous director that people might know. Right. Leave it to you to one up me.

I love it. But, but and he did it last week. First of all, he broke Oklahoma's debut passing, passing yards in the game. He broke Baker Mayfields, Mark. just went out and shattered that in his first game. Tough to imagine it being a better start. But he did give one away. He did throw an interception.

Oh, he's gonna. And he will give them away. And that's something to keep an eye on this game. Michigan has to take advantage of those chances. I mean, he will do it. Whether or not they take advantage kind of remains to be seen. I think it's something to watch in this game specifically. Can I go back to Lewis for a quick second here?

Yeah. This guy's been everywhere. He was UCLA, Wisconsin, Southern Illinois, Oklahoma, and I'm trying to figure out. Really, I didn't know any of this. I went back and tried to see if there was maybe an issue in the young man's life that had caused him to bounce around. I couldn't find anything. My understanding when he was at Wisconsin, that there was, they brought in some guys in the portal,

and he just, and he just, it wasn't a fit for them. The sands up in Southern Illinois is productive. I'm watching this dude. He's a route runner. He's got a good release. The contested catches, I was like, where, where has he been? Yeah. I don't know how he wasn't.

I mean, obviously, Jim Nagy knew. Nagy knew. Like, they knew, like, they were getting a kid here, man. Like, good for them. But I was watching that tape. I was stunned. I mean, because you saw Dionne Burks. I was like, oh, it's nice to see him healthy, man.

He's playing well. Good to see him back. These are the things he can do. But Lewis was a total eye-opener for me. And one of the matchups in this game, they'll say that we can get into, I guess, a little bit. But Jair Hill, the cornerback from Michigan, I thought he was up and down last year. I thought he was up and down the first week, but he's talented, and he can get up and and he can challenge Lewis.

That's going to be an interesting back and forth in this game. I said Armes, I'm just going back over some of the notes that Nagy, I was just asking Nagy, like early in the summer, some of the guys. And he was talking about Armeson Thomas, not Taylor. Yeah, I guess Taylor. Yeah, he's talking about wine and Acoye, the other edges and all the day, Dionne Burks and and the left tackle, the right guard, beating ball, the UTSA kicker springing in the portal. But didn't mention this guy.

I mean, they had to have known that he's going to be a big part of it, but I don't even know if they knew, right? Right. Like that he was going to be this in-game, you know? There was a throw, the 1158 second quarter. by Mateer looks off to the left slides like slightly that's one thing he does if you watch him on saturday just keep an eye on this he's his feet and his eyes are married like happily married 50-year marriage you know i can complete each other's sentences like his feet and eye like so if he's he's

kind of he's looking left he's and but he's coming back to his right he's going to slide a little bit buys himself some time make sure there's space in the pocket So he comes back to his right slightly, off balance still because he's kind of moving right, feeling it out off. When he decides he doesn't care where his lower body is, when he decides like, yeah,

it's great if it's underneath me, but I've got like, I've got Mike Allstadt legs underneath me. I can throw a little off balance and just, he drives this seam route on the money. Kind of like, and the balls are, and then and then there's another one 1452 in fourth quarter he slides to his right waits for

there's a work with me here he he first of all pre-snap he he he gets two two guys in motion reset saw something in the defense so he gets that all set up moves his back sets the protection everything's good comes out looks left and right comes back to his right all right slides to his right again slightly waits a quarter count what and then you go back in the tape you like what was the he was waiting for something they they two receivers on his right the one on the outside runs a deep post runs he's waiting for the safety to carry that that deep post receiver and then there's a there's a crosser that kind of sails underneath so but it's still deep i think it was burks yeah no on this one it was I think it was Burke's running him off.

Oh, okay. And then underneath him came in, came Lewis. Yeah, no, I know exactly what you're talking about. And then he drills that one. Touchdown. And he catch about the eight yard line and he just kind of scampers in for a touchdown. Those are just two throws that like stood out to me.

They're not, again, like we're not putting it on the NFL draft highlight reel. They're not like anything crazy. But it's just like how quickly he reacts, the little things he does with his feet. he's yeah i don't know that there's a more fun player if you want like quarterbacking 401 if you want to see the same shit that we talked about with like the all-time greats and like the mental and like the patent mannings and like all that stuff and what tom brady did like you go back

and you and you watch garrett nussmeyer and what he didn't make one against clompson right if you want an absolute like thrill ride this is your guy yeah he's the most exciting thing again between the lines in all of college football i agree now one thing i do worry about and you know what this was you had to know this was coming came into the year wondering how good this offensive line that had giving up 50 sacks last year, was riddled with injuries, how good it was going to be. I think there's signs of, there's things to be encouraged about. There were also some concerns in that game, especially considering the opponent. In that Michigan front, yeah, I know Mason Graham's gone.

You know, Kenneth Grant's gone. I know they're gone. I get it. They got some dudes. No, they do. Michigan's got some dudes. I mean, TJ guy, Derek Moore, Cameron, all those edges. Rayshon, Benny, on the inside,

I'm telling you right now, there are some one-on-one matchups that Michigan can exploit, and that's going to be interesting going forward. Are those tackles, especially the Oklahoma tackles, they're able to elevate a little bit and handle those edge guys, or is that going to be an issue for Oklahoma in this game? That's something that jumps to mind is something to keep an eye on. Because I do think the playmakers,

I think Oklahoma's got the playmakers to make some plays against Michigan's defensive backfield. But I worry about that pass rush from Michigan. And I worry about the run game, especially it makes me feel better than Jay Knott's healthy, but I'm worried about the Oklahoma running games a little bit. That game's going to be a special one. There's a reason it's prime time ABC that gets the treatment. Fowler, Herb Street.

I can't wait. Who you got? Well, I'm glad you ask. We could do that now? Put a plug in it. A friendly quick reminder. It is, it's by far the best game on the slate Saturday. Come join us for the last five, seven minutes of game clock.

We're going to have a blast with that. We'll watch the end of it. Well, you guys can watch it with us. Have it on your big screen. Get us on the phone, iPad, whatever you want to do. We'll have a lot of fun kind of reacting and talking through it. And then once the game's over, we go into full reaction mode for the entire day of college football, right?

And it's always these weeks where it's like, it's not quite the slate. We got week one was unbelievable. Week three, we got some big games. Week two is kind of like a, you know, it's always these weeks where something like wild happens. So we'll be, we'll be reacting to all of that, the day of the day of football. So join us. Remember the McShay show, go to the YouTube page. You can go, you know, put an alert in right now.

Just click on it. So that you put in a reminder for yourself. The McShay Show is brought to you by Fandual. Ready to fire up your Saturdays? Fan Duel's got a boost you don't want to miss. It's called boosting with the boys. And it's giving everyone a college football profit boost every single week. I get a couple things for you here.

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See terms at sportsbook.fandul.com. Gambling problem? call 1-800 gambler or visit r g-g dash help dot com call 1 888 789 777 or visit ccg.org slash chat in connecticut this episode is brought to you by deluth trading company ready to give rival tailgates the foam finger deluth trading company crafts hall of fame game day gear to help you grill hotter cheer louder and tailgate longer trust me like i'm a scene at the grill. I know what this is all about. They've got bibs loaded with pockets, gustated pants so you can crouch without snuffing out your coals, and free swinging shirts

tailor-made for beanbag tossing, or some like to call it Cornhole. Stay comfortable from preseason to playoffs in the toughest tailgate attire around, only at Duluth trading company. And then also, Fandual, while we're here, and you just mentioned the picks. One and one we both are. I'm not happy. That's why I'm pausing. You got a great start. Purposeful dead air, folks.

One and one. We both came in off hot. We were patting each other on the, pat ourselves in the back telling you to pat yourself and both picked. I had Kansas State. You had the under felt great after week zero. Week one, we laid an egg. You bet Clemson loss.

I had Baylor plus three and a half loss. Fine. Blame whoever you want. I'll let her know. but we're one in one. So it's rebound week. Here's what I want to say to you. We've got a four-leg parlay.

You were doing a pick a week. I was doing a pick a week. I didn't do a good job of meshing the four-leg parlay last week. Now I want to mesh both. Problem is go through your two picks right now for your picks of the week. I got Michigan with the points plus five and a half. I don't know if they're going to win that game, but I think that game's going to be tight.

I think Michigan's going to give Oklahoma a game. That's going to be, I think it's going to be awesome, again, tune in because I think it's going to be an absolute battle. So I got Michigan with five and a half. That's minus 115. And I got Florida to cover against South Florida. Look, South Florida had a great win against Boise State.

Fake punt. They, Boise Stateed, Boise State. I think that's a great win for the program. The problem with that win is Billy Napier and the boys down in Florida, down in Gainesville, now have you on your radar. And you're not coming in there and surprising anyone. And I think Florida is very much in a business mode.

And I think they cover that 17 and a half. I think that's going to be a big game for Florida. So here's the problem with trying to integrate your two picks with the four. You don't like one of my two picks, one of my two picks for Fandulville pick of the week is I like Oklahoma to win that game. game. I'm going money line. All right. So Michigan's out. So ride with Bench or ride with me on your picks of the week. My other pick of the week, I love Illinois money line. Really? Minus 154. I get it. You got to give a little juice. I think they're they're not underrated because I think they're like 11th coming into the week. I think they're money line, right? They're money line game. Yeah.

Illinois's favorite in that game. Okay. So your two picks of the week are Michigan plus five and a half and Florida giving up 17 and a half. Right. I'm going with two money lines. Got it. Parlay them. Take them straight up, whatever you want to do. I like Oklahoma. I like Illinois. But we're going to merge a couple of some of our picks. We're going to take the Oklahoma, Michigan game out of it. All right. Okay. I'm going for four game. This is the fan duel featured bet. Four leg parlay. It nets you a plus 408. And I got a little crafty here today, match.

I'm learning as we go. Let's go. Illinois money line sticking with that one. I took your floor to play and put it in here, but I got us the alt line, the alternate line. Okay. At three and a half. Okay.

Ooh. It's minus 620, but you put it in a four leg parlet. Exactly. So Florida wins by four and Illinois beats Duke. Now we got two parts of the four, four, four-leg parlet. Then I want Iowa plus six and a half. And we'll get to I, we'll get to that matchup in a minute. Okay. And I want Baylor plus three and a half. I'm going back to the Baylor Bank. I actually like the way they played. I think

Auburn's a really good football team. I think Auburn's really good defensively. Even though they gave up not really good. I think Auburn's pass rush, but papa, I think Auburn's a good football team. I like that. I like that. And it's good parlay. I mean, obviously. So it's, I. So alternate spread on Iowa plus six and a half and on Baylor plus three and a half. Those are two alternate spreads, not big movement in those.

But I like that Iowa plus six and a half. That game's always close, almost always close, usually between like three points. Then Illinois Money Line and Florida alternate line of three and a half. Okay, that's what we got. Reminder. Got to promo this again. Chicago, you and me. Lincoln Hall.

Barstool, Big Cat. Dan Katz, Lincoln Hall next Wednesday, September 10th, be there, intimate group. We're going to meet everyone there. We'll talk. We'll catch up. We'll get to know some of the people who are supporting our show. I can't wait to do it. If you're in Chicago, in the area, just come in for the night.

Hour and a half show. We'll probably make it into a three-hour event somehow. We'll be hanging around after until I get hungry and Munch gets hungry. He gets hungry. So that's it. That's it on all that. Now, here's what I wanted to get to. And we've gone long and we always do.

Because I do want to at the end of the show get to the NFL rookies. We're coming up on week one. And we spent 12 months going through that rookie class. Now that we have information coming out of training camp, I want to just rip through some guys that I think are set to have big years and starting on week one. But this is the year of the college football quarterback, man. We are in the golden era of quarter. of quarterbacking in college football.

And it's trickling its way up into the draft. And we saw it two years ago with the six guys drafted top 12 picks. Last year, there was this little like hiatus. It was the week two between a great week one in college football and a great week three. All right? But here we are. And we've got this this year. And we watched last year, last week, right?

Arch versus Sayin, kind of first year starters. They've been around a little bit, but their next. up and it wasn't all pretty but my goodness there's talent there we watched later in the day is it going from the jv game to the to the varsity game when nuss and clubnick took the field and yeah it was only 17 to 10 the final but there was some damn good quarterback play in that game we also saw sellers going to hero mode lenora sellers john meteer put up the numbers we just talked about and like and that's just that's just those are some of the top guys right Yeah, and then Carson Beck and CJ Carr, a little, a mix of both, the veteran versus the freshman.

I mean, that was great. Yeah, and Beck is back in the mix. Good point. Yeah. And we saw Underwood is a true freshman, right? So, like, we got all these names in college football. But I want to remember, like, I've got scouts texting me being like, holy shit. There are so many dudes at quarterback this year.

And it's never going to be more prevalent than in a slate that's not that great at noon after whether you're, watching game day or big noon kick, whatever your cup of tea is. There are six quarterbacks playing in three matchups that feature one ranked team that are all dudes in their own way. Yeah. And they're only kind of unique, but they're all worth watching. Baylor at SMU with Sawyer Robertson and Kevin Jennings. Illinois at Duke, a highly underrated quarterbacks in Luke Altmeier and Darien Mensa.

Agree. Iowa, Iowa State, Rocco Beck and Mark Grunkowski. I want to start, and we don't have to go deep into these games. I just want to give people an understanding of what we're watching on Saturday and what like the treat that this college football season is because everywhere you look, there's a quarterback or there's a quarterback matchup that's like we're not used to seeing at this level. Jennings versus Robertson, Baylor at SMU, noon kick as we said, SMU's minus two and a half, about to fight. find out if SMUs is good or they're just ranked that high because of what they did last year. Interesting line, right? Yes. Yeah. I like, I like Biller in this game.

But go ahead. I do too. And they're in our four, four leg parley. I won't even pretend to talk about Robertson because he's been your guy for since, I mean, he's at the Manning Academy, right? I mean,

you really like, you really like a dive on him. Cousins of Jarrett Stidham, two years at Ole Miss. He's been around, played a lot of ball and you can tell. He played 400 yards last week. 419 and three touchdowns and a loss to Auburn.

It was 27 of 48. He was a little off target at times, but he's 6.4, 220. He runs well. He flicks his wrist and drives that football. Beautiful, like 840 in the first quarter. I was going back and watching tape today. Beautiful deep ball down the right rail.

I give a lot of credit to him too, man. That Auburn pass rush, Kelvin Falk, those guys, they got, Keldrick Falk, they got after his ass, and he took some hits, and he made some mistakes under pressure and all the things, but he hung in there. He kept firing. The run game wasn't reliable for Baylor. They had 80 yards on 20 carries from their top two back.

So it was all on Stoyer, in that passing attack. I was impressed with them. I was impressed even in a loss. And now you go to SMU. It's a tough way to start the season for Baylor. It is. Auburn and then at SMU.

And you go up against Kevin Jennings. And like I said, like let's find out. Are they as good as they were last year? They lost 14 starters. But Rhett Lashley hit the portal hard again. Again, 12 starters now coming in. Damn good coach, too, man. I mean, last year.

Damn good coach. I'm interested to see what a difference in weeks potentially going up against that Auburn front for Robertson. Versus this D-line that says, to me, has got to have a lot of questions. And they didn't get answered last week against East Texas A&M. No. But you lost four starters along the defensive line, including Elijah Roberts and Jared Harrison hunt. Eight transfer portal guys.

So that to me is a matchup that's interesting. And then you got Kevin Jennings for SMU, who's back doing Kevin Jennings things, 22 of 30, 260, passing touchdown, two rushing touchdowns, really nice deep ball. Started the night off of the deep ball down

the left rail touchdown. Changes his arm angles. RPO rips it. Smooth, sudden runner. Yeah, way more. of a threat as a runner than the stats would suggest. I lose his rushing stats. I was like, oh,

I thought he was like, and then I thought he was a better runner. And then I went back and watched the tape, you know, he is, he is a better runner. And he, he had this against,

again, it was East Texas A&M, but he had this play last week where he just threatened the, put the linebacker in conflict by stepping up, and the linebacker stepped up and he just ripped it down the right sideline for a touchdown. I don't know if that's the same throw you're talking about,

but he's, he's, I will say this, he's a little thicker this year. he's still lean, which makes me a little nervous every time he takes off. But he's a gamer man. He wasn't even a starter going into the season last year. And then he's nine and two when he takes him to the playoff.

He was a three star. He was a three star. You know his other offer was Sam Houston? Sam Houston, yep. Yep. That's it. And he struggled against Penn State. And he pressed, but he played pretty damn well against Clemson after a slow start in the

ACC championship game. So there was a lot of encouraging things. And he was a captain that year. He was named a captain in a year. It wasn't a starter going into it. Tough, smart, good arm. I mean, he's going to be fun to watch. I think Robertson probably has a higher ceiling because of the tools.

NFL ceiling. Yeah, absolutely. Jenny is a good quarterback, man. So there's that game at noon. And then you got another game, Illinois Duke. Illinois comes in ranked 11th in the country. Is it warranted? We'll find out.

I happen to think that they're pretty damn good. They're favored only by three. and a half, though. I think that's accurate, man. Okay. And I'll tell you why. Go ahead. You tell me why first.

I love Darren Vinsa. The two-way transfer. I love him. He is, he is an absolute assassin. He throws moving to his left. He throws moving to his right. Accurate yards after the catch. He's not an elite runner, but he is.

He's a pocket passer who can, who can kill you. if you don't, if you don't account for it. He will extend plays on you and then make, and make off platform throws. Throws all in the run. Right. Downfield touch a little inconsistent. Again, not an elite scramble,

but a guy that if you let him, he'll pick you apart, which is why that talented Illinois pass rush better come to play. Because if they don't, Mensa will give Duke a chance in that game. It was only, I get it. It's Elon.

It was 10-10 at halftime. But he was one player that was not playing like a 10-10 game with Elon. No. He was drilling intermediate throws, driving the ball vertically, outside shoulder to wide receivers on the deep ball where it needed to be. Back shoulder placement. I like this guy. The running back dropped that touchdown right down the seam.

Yep. You could see one of the offensive linemen almost through his hands up was like, I can't do that. I mean, a little frustrating on that one. But yeah, he's, dude, he's. good. Yeah, like, if you're talking like head-to-head quarterback play, like, I'm, like, and I'll get to Altmire in a second. I'm a big fan. But I don't know which one I'd take. It's, it's interesting, because I actually think they're similar in a lot of ways. They're Altmeyer so calm and poised in the

pocket, the way he gets through his reads, the way he finds guys. I like Altmire, too. I like Mensa a little bit more. And, but that, again, you have to be careful. about recency bias, right? I'm not as familiar with Mentsis game. I've seen all my years now. So you do worry about that. But I do. I think they're both very effective pocket passers.

Well, Ments is at Tulane. Nine wins season, playing the AAC championship. Comes out, goes 27 to 34 for 389 with three touchdowns against Elon. But Elon was hanging around. By the way, interesting staff for Mentso was he led the AAC and completion percentage and yards per attempt. So he led it in completion percentage, but it wasn't dink and dunk stuff.

Right. No, he he he rips it, man. And I saw him at the Manning Passing Academy. I'm like, I'm like, what is like I like this UNC kid, that Gio Lopez, who didn't have a great first game, but you could see the talent. I like, I like the kid from Washington. I like Fafita, who's 5'9, you know, and in 190, like wet and wearing boots. but I'm like this Mentsa guy.

I don't know much about him from Tulane last year, but he's 6-3s, 205, a little lanky, but looks the part, he's going to grow into it. And he's slinging the ball everywhere. And then you get to Monn Williams from Washington. Like I'm telling you, this quarterback play is outrageous. But Mandy Diaz is 9 and 4 last year, 13 returning starters.

This team is more experienced. Like they're in the program. I think they're as talented as last year, but their schedule is pretty brutal for the ACC and Illinois playing Illinois non-conference doesn't help, you know? I like Illinois, but they better not sleep on this Duke team. They better not. Oh, I don't, yeah. It's a noon kick at Duke. I get it.

But, like Altmeyer's been through some wars. Two years at Ole miss is a backup. Transvers to Illinois in 2023, got better each season. stand out at the Manning Passing Academy. Like there's a lot, you talk to coaches and the counselors and all these different people, like Altmeyer's one of the guys. You know what I mean? Can I back that up with a stat?

Yeah. He is the only quarterback in the nation with three game winning touchdown passes in the final two minutes or overtime last year. He did against Nebraska, Purdue, and Rutgers. He leads the nation in career game winning drives in final minute and overtime with five. When it matters most, what's your quarterback doing? This guy's got something to him. And everyone I talk to that's in the know, in the quarterback fraternity, that circle, he's one of the guys, okay?

I'm talking like, I'm talking like prepares, does all the little things, active in community, loves his teammates, cares, work ethic, all those things that are part of the DNA of a great quarterback, he's like check plus plus. Okay. And then you can watch him on tape. You can just tell he's played a lot of ball. Mechanics are sound. He goes through his reeds as quickly as you'll see a college quarterback.

That's one thing. Just even watching this game. Just, you know, and the offense operates fast because of that. He's got enough mobility. Occasionally takes off and runs, but that's not a big part of his game. But he's very sudden in his reads, progressions, feet with him, all that stuff. He just goes through things in a flash and his feet married. He missed a deep ball, but came back on that pump and go, connected for a touchdown.

Good arm. I just, I liked his placement on the ball. He's a really good player. Agree. So that's another game. So that's a second game at noon, ranked team, Illinois versus Duke, three and a half point spread. The other one's a two and a half point spread. Rank versus non-rank. Then we got this other one. Fascinating. Rivalry. Iowa, Iowa State, always a close game. Iowa State's a two

and a half point favorite. Rock O. Betts comes out. Gets outplayed, by the way. In rainy conditions, just, they're my people, the Irish, but my God, the weather. Rainy conditions over at a Viva Stadium. Avery Johnson outplayed him, I thought. But it finds a way to win, guts it out. Gritty competitive. Remember he had the two calls at the line of scrimmage. They needed a first down.

The game on the line, he had two calls of the line of scrimmage. He got into the right play, dumped the ball off to his running back. It was a touchdown that they called back, but he had the two calls of the line of scrimmage. He got into the right one, first off, and then he executed in that situation. So again, what's your quarterback doing? points of the game. No question. And then and then he comes back, it's South Dakota. I get it. First ball of the game just drills a deep crosser going right to left. Beautiful ball. A couple

plays later hits that tight end, Braemer in the corner of the end zone. Touchdown. Off and running. Ball's jumping out of his hands. Rolling right, got a guy coming back to him, zips it in. They jump out to a 35. seven lead, early third quarter, days done, he went 19 of 20 passing. What do they always say? How do I evaluate any player or quarterback against lesser competition? Does he dominate? Well, yeah, 19 of 20 passing three touchdowns.

Now, here's what's interesting to me, man. Another guy that a lot of people that Manning Passing Academy really like and are like really kind of invested in him, the guy, this Mark Grunowski guy for Iowa. Three seasons at South Dakota State, two-time FCS champion for the Jack Rabbits, wins the FCS Heisman Trophy Award, leads FCS in passing efficiency in 2023. Tied for the winningest quarterback in FCS history, he was 49 and 6. 49.6, that's a big number man. For them Jack rabbits.

he's mature 23 years old told you love people in that quarterback circle love this dude a proven winner but he really struggled in the debut i went and watched that tape against albany it was weird man the receivers aren't getting open consistently enough i'll give him that but he looked like he was confused holding onto the ball too long missed some open receivers like didn't see them getting open, just doing a lot of this. Cramping off. I mean, yeah, felt like he was afraid to pull the trigger at times. Like, so I'm like, is this, is Iowa just something like where quarterbacks go to die?

Like what this isn't, but you know that this isn't that guy. No. Hesitant, holding the ball. Now, the Iowa's offensive line looked pretty good. they protected them pretty well. They ran the ball well. They ran the ball really well. But he's got to correct some stuff.

They got to get him feeling confident in his reeds, playing with some, you know? Talented player. I like Iowa in this one. I like their defense. I like their line. I like their run game.

I think they're going to bully Iowa State a little bit. The only thing that scares me about this game is that one, Iowa State's got a little early season momentum going after being Kansas State and then taking care of South Dakota. They got a little momentum. and I do think that Rocco, who I look at him on my table, I'm like, he's not the biggest,

he's not the fastest, he doesn't have the strongest arm, but he's playing at a, he's playing the position at a very high level right now, in my opinion. So Rocco's playing at a high level. They got a little momentum.

Coming into the year, I looked at this before the start of the year, I loved Iowa in this game. Now, I still like Iowa, but it's, I think it's going to be an interesting, it's going to be an interesting matchup, especially if Krenowski doesn't turn around.

By the way, one other thing about him, he, and Dan's going to kill me. Tucker's going to kill me, we're starting to run long, but he rushed for 37 touchdowns at South Dakota. He, um, he is not a great athlete. Dakota State, by the way, big difference, big difference.

Sorry about that to the people in the area. Uh, but he's really good about following his blocks on design keepers. He's an instinctive runner. He's not very explosive or powerful, but he is really good. He has a real good feel for it. All right. So that's that. It's going to, like,

It's going to be an exciting day. There's no question about it in college football. We just gave you six quarterbacks and three noon kicks with one ranked, one ranked team involved. And we gave you winners for fan duel. But I do want to say this, Munch, it is week one of the NFL season. And I know we're like, we're all hands on deck college football, but we also were all hands on deck for 12 months going over these rookies. I'm going to rip through some guys. Yep.

That were my guys, guys I loved that I'm hearing. There's nothing better, right? Than when your guys and you start to, you know, you start to talk to people in the league, you start to read reports, see things on the tube that your guys are actually, they're living up to expectations in camp. There's nothing more frustrating than guys that you stamped.

He's like, he's not he's not picking things up so i'm going to rip through some guys real quickly and as you pointed out to me when i sent you some notes i've got nine guys and i didn't i didn't leave any for you mitch i didn't even say that you just read into it you 200 248 or so other players were drafted i didn't leave any for you you used a pretty graphic language i'll be honestly you were not happy i did i told you you to go fuck yourself uh matthew golden talk about reports out of camp being good all the things we talked about. Yes, the four nine, four two nine speed. I get it. He's fast. But adjusting to the ball, better routes than people that ever gave him credit for. Doesn't surprise me. Right. Everything that

we said pre-draft, all the reasons why I absolutely loved him. And I know you did too is what we're hearing out of Packers camp. I think he like Jordan Love, this is going to be his guy. They've drafted guys in the second round. They've brought in other guys like they've had a kind of a carousal of guys. Right. Yeah. I think Matthew Golden is going to be the guy. Another receiver who's doing great in camp. This is my guy. I know it's not your favorite.

A mecca Buka, 19th overall picked by the bucks. Killing it. Like right away, Baker Mayfield's like, I trust this guy. Plays any position, whatever position they need him to go to, he knows what he's doing. Outside, slot, understands, all the things that we told. Like, I remember talking to people at Ohio State. And they were like just the love that they have for certain guys there. There's a certain receiver that just signed a contract for the commanders.

He was a pretty big star. He was like a third round pick. And the same things they were saying about him. They're saying about Emeka Abuka. And now all of a sudden he gets in the camp and he's trusted, right? And so now I look at him and Chris Godwin's still recovering from the ankle. They've had a couple injuries there. I think it's going to be Mike Evans and Emeka Abuka right off the bat.

And so you got first of all. They're playing Detroit, Green Bay is from Matthew Golden. Second of all, the Bucks are playing at Atlanta in the opener. I can't wait to see those two guys, right, come out. Terry McLauran, by the way, was the guy I was talking about Ohio State. I think I was teasing the name and I never said it. But now, so those are the receivers. I think all season long get on those guys, but also, like in week one,

I'm excited to see how they play. now a couple running backs who absolutely loved. And there were a lot of running backs, including Ashton Jinty and Judkins and all these guys, right? The two guys that I love. Now, I'm stealing this one from Menture, at least I did during the process. But Omari and Hampton was Mention's guy,

was always his guy, but then I stole him and just yelled louder about it. But you don't see, what did I say? You don't see six foot 220 kind of move like that and be light on his feet and accelerate. Accelerate. That's what,

That's what's coming out of Chargers camp. Players, coaches, raving and a perfect fit, that Harba offense, run the football. Omarion Hampton is going to be a big part of this Chargers team trying to go from good to, like, actually doing things in the playoffs. Patriots right here locally. Not breaking news. Cravian Henderson, 38th overall pick. I thought, like, you and I both talked about totally cool with him going in round one.

Kind of surprised that he held a 38th, which wasn't a big fall, but just a different gear. Right. And everyone you talk to in New England is like, yeah, Jemir Gibbs, David Montgomery. Well, we got Ramandre Stevenson, and this is going to be our Gibbs. And I'm just, I'm excited to see him with Drake May, a young offense. You got Josh McDaniels. Like, it's just, I'm excited to see this next step for May. and I think Henderson's going to be a big part of it.

Then my tight end, I told you, Oroyo, Elijah Arroyo. Doc that he fell to where he did. Loved Mason Taylor, loved Elijah Arroyo. I fell fully in love with Arroyo when I saw him blocking. We like Ferguson too. It was just that Arroyo would seem different, man. Yeah, I liked Ferguson, but I loved. Yeah.

Arroyo. And really love Mason Taylor, but just something about this guy, had the injuries, all that. Speed, toughness, blocking, hands, consistency. Those are the five words, the describers that I keep hearing out of camp. So good. By the way, Seattle's playing in San Francisco in the opener. I meant to say this with all these teams. Chargers are playing Friday night against the Chiefs.

Can't wait to see him against that defense, right? Can you get off to a good start? Henderson's playing first week versus Vegas. Seattle versus Sam Fran in the opener. Uh, so good Arroyo's been, you know, they released Noah Fant. I didn't see that. Yes, they just released Noah Fant. So that tells you what you need to know.

Then two more guys, both on the same team, Bengals play the Browns. These are two of my guys. The Bengals defensive picks. Shamar Stewart, massive holdout, all the off the field stuff. The agent, the this, the that gets on the field. you know who loves them teammates you know what he's doing playing his ass off like he did at A&M battling picking things up quickly he's ready to go we like the Bengals desperately need desperately need anyone to step on the up on the defensive side especially on that defensive line

Samar Stewart I think is going to come out right off the gates can he become a better pass rusher and a finisher we'll find out but the reports have been glowing in the last couple of weeks out of Cincinnati. And then their second round pick, Demetrius Knight, I told you, shot out of a cannon watching that South Carolina defensive tape, just C-Bull, run through ball. So those are my guys, Mitch. Who do you got week one head to the season? You like the glowing guys. You're all Mr. Optus. I'm here for the welcome to the NFL moments. And what does that mean? I'm here to see Cam Ward go to Denver. And let's find out what we got here, man. Could you have a tougher week one assignment? You're going to Denver, my man. And I'm

I love Cam Ward. And this is just what it is. And this is the league. Let's see what you got. I'm excited to see him, see what he can do with the opportunity. I want to see Will Campbell, the number four overall pick lined up against Max Crosby. You are a crusty old offensive line. See how that works out. Bastard. And who knows?

Maybe this is where Campbell shows up and says, hey, hey, Mench, remember you call me a guard? Do you see what I just did against Max Crosby? You see what I just did in that game? I mean, that's a great opportunity for him too. And then the last one I'll say is it's a little bit different, but. Baltimore, that big game against, uh, against Buffalo. And you got Malachi Starks starting at safety opposite Kyle Hamilton against Josh Allen. Let's see what happens there. Man, I'm excited. But that, that Raven secondary, by the way, they've invested a lot.

You got Nate Wiggins, former first rounder at corner. You got, you brought in Jayae Alexander at the other corner. Yeah. You have Kyle Hamilton and Malachi Starks at safety. Remember when that, that, that, that secondary was a little bit concerned for. for the raven. Oh, yeah. Yeah, like that secondary has the potential to be outrageous. But Malachi-Starks, you played in a lot of big games. Josh Allen, like negotiating him.

You haven't seen Josh Allen on Sunday night in Orchard Park, by the way. That's one I want to watch. I'm here for the welcome to the NFL moment. So I just ripped off nine dudes that are having awesome camps that I slash we love during the process, that we're excited to see how they burst into the scene in the NFL. and you just gave me three dudes that you kind of sneaky or insinuating that you want to see him fall flat on their face. I know, no, no, I did not say that. I want to see them succeed.

I want to see that succeed. Yeah, you want to see Will Campbell succeed against Max Crosby. I absolutely. You want to see Malachi succeed against Josh Allen. 100% I do. You want to see who is the first one. Who else did I have? Cam Ward and Denver.

Yeah, Cam Ward versus Denver. in altitude. Let's see what happens, man. With young receivers. And a patchwork offensive line that by reports out of camp has not been awesome. Yeah, we're going to see, man. We're going to see. We didn't even say Travis Hunter, by the way.

I can't wait to see how they use him. Travis Hunter is going to be interesting just to see how we, there's been all this talk about how they're going to use it. And Ashton Genti with Vegas. Ash and Gentie. There's a lot of names out there, man. It's going to be interesting. The two tight ends drafted in the first.

Yes. I left all these big times. names on a plat. Hunter, Gentie, Tyler Warren, Colston Loveland. Excited to see them all, man. Excited to see them all. You went across the old offensive line. All right. This is fun.

Saturday night, come join us at the end. Michigan, Oklahoma. We're going to be their live reaction show. We'll send out tweets and threads and everything else to let you know exactly when we're coming on. But playing on the last couple drives of that game, we'll be on and we'll have a reaction show the rest of the night. And don't forget, next Wednesday, live show, Lincoln Hall, Chicago, September 10th, you, me, Big Cat, and hopefully a lot of supporting friends with us. Mench, once again,

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