The McShay Show - Week 12 Tape Truths: Georgia’s Rise, Special RBs, and the College Football Coaching Carousel

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

Welcome to The McShay Show! Todd rewinds the tape and gives his biggest takeaways from Week 12 of college football. Then, he’s joined by The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman to break down every angle of the college football coaching carousel. 0:00 Welcome to The McShay Show!3:23 Tape Truths from Week 123:40 Georgia could be the best SEC team in the CFP13:17 The 2026 running back draft class is looking special20:24 Ahmad Hardy is the most productive back in CFB22:14 Kewan Lacy is the best defensive asset for Ole Miss24:32 Kaytron Allen vs. Michigan State: 181 Yards, 2 TD25:13 Ty Simpson isn't perfect, relax on the narrative35:25 Makai Lemon's rising draft stock41:10 This is the Kenyon Sadiq the Ducks need47:45 Bruce Feldman joins the show48:32 What's the first coaching domino?53:00 What's next for Brian Kelly?57:45 Will Lane Kiffin stay at Ole Miss?1:04:00 The latest on LSU's coaching search1:09:08 The latest on Penn State's coaching search1:14:37 Bruce Feldman's latest intel The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. This episode is brought to you by American Eagle. Host: Todd McShayGuest: Bruce FeldmanProducers: Tucker Tashjian, Conor Nevins, and Daniel ComerSocial: Alysha Tsuji Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We've got some telling tape trues here on a Monday and a volatile coaching carousel. Man, do we have a busy show for you today? Just 157 days until the NFL draft. Mench, you good? Mench? Mench? Bueller? Bueller.

Ah, screw it. Tucker, roll that beat. If you were with us on Saturday, you know that my dear friend and cohort here on the McShea show, Steve Mench is not with us this week. We miss him dearly, but the show must go on, and we're thrilled for him because he's able to spend some much-needed time with his family. So all is good in his world and our world. So this is the McShay show presented by Fanduel, and college football Saturdays are heating up. Whether you're in for the early kick or the late-night action, Fanduel lets you bet your way with the same game parlays, live betting, game props, and more.

And Missouri, get excited because Fand-Doole. coming your way on December 1st. Download the app or head to fendool.com slash mcshay and make every Saturday count. Must be 21 and older in President Select States or 18 and older in President D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com.

Call 1-888-889-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. it. Welcome in. We've got a great show for you for you today. It is jam-packed. I'm not going to do the 10-take trues because we'll leave five out because of Ments, but we've got some additional things, so it'll feel like eight or nine. Plus Bruce Feldman. Couldn't think of a better time to have Bruce on. Good friend of the show. Been a dear friend for over two decades. And very few, if any, are more dialed into what's going on in the coaching world and behind the scenes and reporting. And so with so many job openings right now, talking about LSU and Florida and Penn State and Arkansas and Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech and all these big names out there and potentially big names moving.

We're going to get to that with Bruce after we get through some of the taped truths. So I will remind you, the McShay report is out, recapping Saturday's games. And with the TMS top 12, as we have the tomorrow night, the rankings reveal. There will be some interesting movement in there. how far does Alabama fall? What happens to a couple other teams? Is there anyone sneaking into the top 12? And so if you want the McShay report, Google it.

Very simple. Google the McShay report. Subscribe. We've had a lot of new subscribers in just the last week. And I think everyone's starting to gear up. We know the end of the college football season is coming, college football playoff, and the NFL draft starts to kick off. So a lot of good stuff coming your way.

and then we'll be back on Thursday for our normal show, and then Ments will be back on Saturday night. Big Saturday night. Week 13, it is coming up in college football before Thanksgiving, and things start to get a little crazy, which is fun. All right, let's dive right into it. Tape Truth Number 1. I'm trying not to overreact.

It was just one performance, but was it really? I'm going to say this right now. if Georgia's defense continues to ascend, I think you can make an argument that the Bulldogs could wind up having the best team in the SEC when we enter into the college football playoff. Yes, the offense was really good again. And I've been stunned all year at the offensive production

and what things have looked like in Gunner Stockton. And Gunner Stockton's become one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the country, both throwing the football and running the ball. The play action stuff, because they've shown a commitment to the run, has been awesome. 14 of 15, he was this past week on play actions. I think it was like four of six on throws over 20 yards down the field. I think all of them were off of play action. I went back and just studied this tape both sides of the ball, Georgia's offense, Georgia's defense.

This tape truth has a lot more to do with the defense, but I do want to say that this offense continues to ascend. and a lot of it is Gunner Stockton and the way he is operating the offense for Mike Bobo, the offensive coordinator, and the dual threat ability that he brings to the table, because as a defense, you have to account for it. And so when I look at this Georgia team and what we thought it was three, four, five weeks ago,

it no longer is. It's a different team. And the offense has gradually continued to kind of play at a high level and gotten a little bit better in some of the intricacies. But it's the defense that we've been talking to you about for the last couple, couple three weeks. It's never going to be that unit, the Trayvon Walker, the Jordan Davis, the Devante Wyatt,

and all those cats. It's just not going to be. But there's a lot of young talent that's starting to emerge and kind of mesh with the veteran talent. And we know about KJ Bolden at the safety position, continuing to make big plays. We know about C.J. Allen, who got knocked out of the game this past weekend. And guess what? There wasn't a drop off.

And that's the thing that George has always had. This secondary has to be protected. And watching Glenn Schum and the defensive coordinator and Kirby Smart throughout the season and even more so in game, the adjustments they make to protect that backside. And they're getting better on the backside. But what I'm seeing is a front seven with, depth and then coaching that continuously is putting them in the right position to succeed. I talked about Mississippi State. It was a tape truth last week. They gave up that long 75-yard

drive on the opening drive against Mississippi State and then locked it down basically until the fourth quarter when the game was kind of getting out of hand. And so we've seen gradual improvement. And I here's why I said I'm throwing a little caution at my tape truth of that this could be the best team in the SEC by the time we go in the college football playoff. Because as I mentioned to you with Texas coming off that Oklahoma win, we've seen this before. Certain programs kind of own other programs. Certain coaches seem to quote unquote own other coaches. And there's been a lot of talk about Georgia owns Texas.

Kirby owns Sark. And unfortunately for Texas and Sark, like you can't deny those. claims. I think it's a lot more complicated than that. But let's look at what's happened. In 12 quarters plus, plus an overtime, I should say, against Texas over the last 13 months, Georgia has allowed 83 net rushing yards on 72 Texas rush attempts. That's wild. One point one yard per carry. And remember, this is a Texas team we talked about going into this game. Healthyer on defense. Michael Taff is back. healthy on offense. The healthiest they've been at running back all season long

is the information coming out of Texas. Ryan Wingo back healthy, finally like 100%. 1.1 yards per carry allowed in those 13 quarter or 12 plus quarters. 16 sacks Georgia has had of Texas. Only allowed two touchdown drives of more than 36 yards. And 14.6 points per game allowed against Texas. and Sark. That's amazing.

But is it just a Texas thing? The reason I have some caution, but also some optimism, is the caution is they kind of do own Texas in the last two years. The optimism is we've kind of seen this steady growth. And had I not come to you last week on tape trues when Mench was here and said, I'm seeing this defense starting to get a little bit better. I'm watching number nine, even though he's not considered a full-time starter, Chris Cole, he's a red shirt sophomore, and he's kind of growing, and he's got tools,

and he might be next at that linebacker position for Georgia. And then I watched C.J. Allen with the injury, and we're a waiting word. The initial report was, hopefully it's not as bad as it seems, and he was kind of, he was limping. I think it was he on crutches or at the end of the game. But now you've got to remember George is kind of in a good position, and he can hopefully get a little bit of rest and be ready for the college football playoff. But in his, Chris Cole's rotating and playing in certain packages, but stepping in, like, he led

the team in tackles, did a fantastic job. And so we talked about on Saturday night, 11 tackles for loss, seven sacks versus Texas last year. This year it wasn't as eye-opening and astounding, but it was still seven tackles for loss and three sacks. And the biggest complaint I have for this Georgia defense, this year's version, compared to what we've seen in recent years when Georgia has been the king of the hill. And I mentioned those names, right, the Trayvon Walker's and the Jordan Davises and the Jalen Carter's and the Devante Wyatt's.

They're not as, they're getting into pads and gap discipline this year and they're doing those things, as they're always taught with Kirby's defense. and it's less about sack production and big plays in the backfield from the front three and sometimes front four, depending on what front they're using. It's more about discipline. But in the old days, with those amazing defensive linemen that all won the NFL, a lot of them with Philadelphia Eagles, so many of those guys, first round, all of those guys I mentioned first round picks.

They were not only gap disciplining. They were getting in violently and jacking guys up and driving them back and then discarding offensive linemen and going and making plays. It's not happening nearly at the level that it did turn those years. But I'm seeing a little bit more flashes of playmaking ability along the defensive front. And I've also talked to you about these linebackers and the blitzing, and that continues to happen. And yes, there could be vulnerability when you blitz.

But Schumann and Smart are so calculated in a positive way in what they're doing with them. They're picking most of the time, not always, but most of the time they're picking the right spots to do it. So this was the most disruptive defensive line game that I've seen from Georgia all season. Arch made a lot of good throws. Arch made, Arch played well enough for Texas to wind up winning this game. Had the running game showed up and had the protection been been a little bit better and had there not been drops, I mean, there were a handful of significant drops in that game. but what Georgia did to affect that was they consistently were keeping him bottled up, kind of squeezing things in, driving it back,

and Arch very rarely had a throw where it was just clean. And that's different from what we saw from Georgia early in the year. Three of the sacks, as I mentioned, the linebackers, all three sacks were from the linebackers again this week. 33, Quintavius Johnson had one, zero, Gabe Harris had one, and 10, Zaden Walker had one. Yes, you're left vulnerable, but it's very smart how they're doing it

and when they're utilizing the Blitz, and those linebackers are getting home, and if they're not getting home, they're getting a lot of pressure. So it's been very effective. So to me, Georgia right now is a huge surprise because I didn't foresee them getting to this level where I would be saying in mid-November,

Georgia might be the best team in the SEC. A&M is still undefeated. Alabama obviously has a lot going for it. Ole Miss has got a lot going for it, even though they struggle with Florida this lesson. There's a lot of good teams, as my point, in the SEC. Oklahoma is rising, all these things. But I'm looking at Georgia now,

and I'm starting to see a team that maybe you want to face least of all the teams in the SEC. And maybe Georgia's the third best team. the second best team in the country. We'll find out. All right. Tape truth number two. This is where I need men, so I can take a sip of my lemon perfect and reset. Tape truth number two. I'm going to go off the radar here a little bit. We'll get back to the big games. But what we're witnessing at the running back position in some places across the country is absolutely special. And I want to remind people, last year, right? Last year, last

April this year, but last April, there were 26 running backs that were drafted in the NFL. What does that mean, Todd? It was one of the best groups we've seen in almost 12 years. There were a whole bunch of them, 20 in fact, drafted in the top 200. That was the second most, 26 running backs drafted was the second most that we've seen in the last 12 years. So only one other time there were more. It was 30 in 2017. Names like Gentie, Omarian, Judkins, Henderson, Scadaboo, Harvey, E.T.N. And beyond. All gone. So the natural question was coming into this year in college football, are we going to see a massive dip at the running back position? Where's all the talent at running back? There's no way we can have the same level.

But I'm watching this past Saturday as we get into this time of year, right? Weather's changing. It's colder. We start to see precipitation, winds picking up. Especially in certain areas of the country, you've got to lean on the run game. And I saw a handful. I will focus on three and mention a fourth. But there were a handful of places in the country this past week where the running game and specific running

backs absolutely took over the game. Let's start with Notre Dame at Pitt. Game days there, all the hype. Narduzi and the defensive side of the ball, and they played their quarters, and you can get matchups in the passing game, your slot receiver against their safeties, and typically Pitt does a good job versus the run. Excuse me. Jeremiah Love just did Jeremiah love things. And I can't do a whole section, a whole tape truth, on the running back position. without mentioning love. We've talked a lot about them. And the thing that I'm excited about all three of these guys that I'm going to feature,

we actually got on it early. Everyone was on Jeremiah Love early. But the next two guys are guys that we got on as they were kind of just breaking out. And what's to come? And we were telling you, these guys are workhorses, and these guys are going to carry their teams late in the season when the weather changes and when they need them. And love, it's no different.

They still have Judarian Price. I get news for you, folks. He might be a first round pick. If he's not first, he's going to be second round. But love has emerged as someone that I view. I'm starting to put him in like the Bijan level. And I'll be the first to admit, I knew he was the best back in the country coming into the year.

Everyone did. So no congratulations to me or Steve or anyone else. But I didn't know that he was going to be at like that Gen D, Bejohn, elite running back level. he's corrected me his combination of size and like ballerina feet i know that's something a football player but like if you watch i call him like poetry in motion he is so smooth we saw everyone watch that highlight reel the um the spin move that he had but it's more than that it's how smooth he is with his feet and then when he sees a crease that level of acceleration that he has that most big back

just don't possess. And he's catching the ball well, only two catches for 20 yards in this game. We finished with 23 carries, 147 yards, and a touchdown. I want you to go back to the beginning of the year. Oh, by the way, his pass protection, I just watched a real yesterday. He's improved there too. So what doesn't he have as a pro prospect? And also, what doesn't he have now is Notre Dame's getting in this stretch run,

heavily favored the last two games, no conference championship game. In fact, I'm urging Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame. Let's not forget what happened last year. Let's not try to get Jeremiah Love to New York. He's already done enough to get to New York. And if he doesn't get there, he doesn't get there. This is about the college football playoff.

This is about having Jeremiah Love healthy. Look at the run that Notre Dame made last year in the college football playoff. And they did it with all intensive purposes without Jeremiah Love. He was not healthy. He tried to gut through it, but he just wasn't the same back. Imagine this team, the improvement we've seen, going into the playoff with a fully healthy Jeremiah Love and Judarian Price and some of those receivers that I've talked about stepping up. So to me, it's about now kind of easing up the workload on Jeremiah Love the next couple of weeks and getting him ready for the college football playoff because there's plenty of time between now. in that first game.

And I just, I look at the size of him, the versatility that he has. Now he's protecting better. Now he's catching the ball really well. The sweet feat that he has in the acceleration, the contact balance that he has to continue runs after contact. After just two, after two games,

he had 33 carries for 127 yards in a touchdown. Those two games were losses to Miami and A&M. since that, since those first two games. And the big question, it wasn't necessarily the A&M game because he had a decent amount of touches in that game and almost reached 100 yards. It was really the Miami game, but combined those two,

and it wasn't the workload you would think for the best back in college football and maybe one of the best five, six backs which can come out in the NFL draft in the last decade. He has had 144 carries for 1,008 yards, and 13 touchdowns in the last eight games. he's third nationally despite those first two games third nationally with 113.5 rush yards per game if he doesn't get to new york what the hell are we doing and i have a heisman vote so i'll do my part

but as i mentioned he's given me bejean vibes man i'm not saying they're the exact comp of the two but the size the ability to contribute in the past game the acceleration and every time he touches the you have to take a deep breath. I think this Notre Dame team is going to be scary if he's 100% and it looks like we're tracking towards that when you get to the college football playoff. And I'm excited to see it. All right.

Next up, Ahmad Hardy, Missouri. I know we're going on a long roll here, but that's okay. Mench isn't here. We'll get to Bruce in a little bit. Amad Hardy, we talked about before, 510, 215 pounds. He was a transfer from Louisiana Monroe. And he came in this year. He won the starting job.

after just one year. He was a freshman All-American at Louisiana Monroe. Transfer's in. He's like, yeah, SEC, no problem. I got this. Let's go, coach. And he has been the best, most productive back in college football this year. SEC defenses?

Yeah, I did it at Louisiana Monroe. I'll do it here. This past week, he was absolutely dynamic, devastating. Best individual performance I've seen from a running back all year long. was Ahmad Hardy for Missouri this past week against Mississippi State completely took the game over. This guy was a battering ram on Saturday. 25 carries, 300 rushing yards, and three touchdowns, and that went over Mississippi State. His combination, I'll just sum it up real quickly.

It's a confidence and a vision, this patience and kind of waiting for his spot, and then he's got this unique, like, whether it's lateral or first three steps going vertical, explosion for a back who's probably a 4-5-5 guy in the 40-yard dash. And then you watch him at the end of runs. It's like zombie hunting if you're a defender trying to get this guy down. You think you've killed him and he just keeps going. Three, four, five, seven yards at the end of carries. He leads the nation hardy does with 1346 rush yards,

134 per game, and third nationally with 15. rushing touchdowns. He's been absolutely special. We'll talk about him in 2027 for the NFL draft, but this year, I'm just talking about him as one of the most dynamic running backs in all of college football. Finally, Kiwan Lacey, another back that just took things over when its team needed him the most. And another back in the SEC, just like Hardy. Keywon Lacey, we talked about a couple weeks ago, right? He's become the best asset for the defense for Ole Miss and for a pedestrian defense for Ole Miss, and this is a team that's marching towards the college football playoff.

And Lane Kiffin has identified that. Lane Kiffin grew up the son of Monty Kiffin and Tampa II, the godfather of that and great defensive mind. But he knows as the son of Monty Kiffin, you've got to be strong in the run game. No matter what he's done in the past, zone read option,

West Coast principles, tempo, not tempo, all of the different variations we've seen of Lane. The only thing that's always stayed the same with Lane, We will run the football. And this year with Trinidad Chambliss, who's not Jackson Dart, but has played at a really high level considering coming from the Division 2 level, first year starter in the SEC, they've had to lean on the run game even more so. And Lacey, after being kind of nicked up and in and out,

Lacey has found his groove, and we talked about it a few weeks ago, this guy's going to be the most important individual player for Ole Miss down the stretch. What does he do against Florida? And this was a grind. They were trailing in the fourth quarter. Then they had a three-point lead in the fourth quarter. It looks like, oh, they beat Florida by 10. That was a real late touchdown to make it a 10-point game.

This game was tight. This game was scary for Ole Miss. Lacey finishes with 33 offensive touches, 239 yards, three touchdowns, in a game that Chambliss was kind of up and down and couldn't be counted on to play at the level that he has played at certain times this year. And this guy's doing it with this downhill run style contact balance, initial burst,

unbelievable instincts as a back. It allows him to anticipate and kind of weave through and guys bouncing off of them. You don't get clean hits on this guy. It's been really fun to watch. And he's protecting the ball. I think he always has one fumble this season despite all these touches.

And that's critical too. I want to throw in this a fourth name for the running backs. Ketron Allen, he got in the action. 2810 for Penn State. I know everyone's kind of over talking about Penn State. They're the two big games, almost, you know, close with Ohio State for a half, and then almost knocked off Indiana. So, all right, Penn State's out of sight, out of mind.

They beat Michigan State 2810. He had 25 carries for 181 yards and two touchdowns. It's that time of year, folks. Running backs play a critical part. We've talked about receivers and quarterbacks and defenses and everything. else. You watch how important these running backs are now as we get to the end of the regular season,

the championship games, and the college football playoff. And those are four really special guys doing it, but they're not the only ones. Tape truth number three. Ty Simpson has not been perfect, but chill on the narrative. Like, I read it, I hear it, and

everyone's, he's had some mistakes in the last few weeks, and it hasn't been perfect, and it hasn't been as characteristic of what we saw maybe in the first six, seven games of the season. But like, let's not lose perspective on what's going on here. Let's give you some background here. Alabama had nearly twice as many total yards in this loss to Oklahoma. 2321 was the final.

Nearly twice as many yards, 406 to 212 as Oklahoma did. Possessed the ball for 35 minutes and 28 seconds of the game. only had two penalties. They did have three turnovers, and that was a massive part of it. And so it's easy to start pointing, well, that's all on tie. But follow me here, okay?

I look at this situation with Alabama, and you've got to look at it from two different things. What's going on over the last few weeks that has been kind of mounting, and the naysayers are coming out, and the McShay's an idiot, and everyone else is an idiot, whether it's Orlovsky or this guy,

that guy, and draft pundance. I just have to laugh because if you're watching the tape, you can see a full perspective, and there's two different things to look at here. There are a few things that Ty has, there's been kind of some flaws recently that you can see in his game.

Also, the Oklahoma aspect of it, and Brent Venables, which I'll get to a second. And then the third part is, what would Alabama be without Ty Simpson? And the answer's scary if you're an Alabama fan. If you're one of these people out there that's driving this narrative, that it's a TIE's fault and, like, laughing at him as an NFL draft prospect, A, you don't know what you're talking about.

And B, I want you to take a step back and ask, what would Alabama be with the quarterback that wasn't playing at this level? Okay. All right, so let's get into it. I look at the run game continuing to be an issue. Yes, there were flashes, and I know they made an offensive line adjustment to the right side, I believe it was this week. And there were times where it's like, oh, Alabama is starting to,

to get their run game going. But at the end of the day, this run game produced just 80 yards against Oklahoma. Not good enough, especially for Alabama, but not good enough for anywhere. Okay? 59 rush yards against LSU. Do you know what Alabama ranks in rushing game,

yards rushing per game in all of the FBS? 123rd. They rush the ball for just 108. yards per game. Do you remember the Garrett Nussmeyer effect a year ago when Garrett Nussmeyer was healthy and was dealing? Do you remember watching him how great he was for a portion of the season and all of a sudden because they couldn't run the ball and he's having to throw 30, 40 times a game? And he's taking all those hits because defenses and defensive coordinators know that they can't run the football so they don't have to kind of gear up and play his discipline and they can get after the quarterback.

and Nussmeyer took this dip until he had the time off before the bowl game. It's the same thing I'm seeing from Ty Simpson in a certain degree. I don't see it affecting him physically. But there's a wear and tear that happens with a guy who's not 6-4-2-30 over the course of a season going up against SEC defenses that are just teeing off on this guy. So that's one part of it. The second part of it was I thought on Saturday,

And this tape truth is supposed to be all about Ty Simpson, but you're going to see it morph for a little bit. The coaching job that Brent Venables did Saturday was as good of a defensive coaching job as I can remember all season long and maybe beyond. It was his Holland's opus. It was his moment. Bringing that defense, without its star edge rusher, by the way,

are Mason Thomas, who we've talked about is one of the three best past rushers in all of college football, going into Tuscaloosa and to execute it like a high-level NFL defense, was when I sat down and got finished with the tape, I just sat back and was like, whew, like Venables has to be almost in tears, watching his defense go out and do exactly what he asked of him every single play. It was a combination of blitzing at the right time, showing four-man fronts.

I watched this like, they would show six almost every single time and wind up rushing four. The problem for Alabama was, you didn't know where the launch points were, man. You had no idea where they were coming from. And I'll get to some specific plays in a little bit. But they're overloading one side,

dropping guys from the other, and then I talked to you on Saturday night about like the string that's attached. And usually if they come with pressure here, and one of those guys who could be in coverage comes, the strings attached with this defender behind him. Well, they were breaking that string and throwing the string on another defender,

and so now all of a sudden, Ty Simpson's gut pressure coming on him, but the look is completely different than what you're used to with a hot read. And so it created some confusion. The pick six was absolutely Venables' brilliance. And I talked about it on Saturday night, watching it during the game,

and then I watched it on tape and it was even more brilliant than I thought. Follow me here, okay? They show six, as I mentioned, rush four. From the quarterback's perspective, they rush two extra guys from Ty Simpson's right. They drop the two guys who are on the edge on the left side. So as a quarterback, your job is to throw into the blitz. Find your hot right on that side.

That's what he does. Venables knows how smart this cat is. Venable knows, hey, if I bring that pressure and drop those guys off, he's going to pick it up. So let's fuck with him a little bit. And that's exactly what he did. Instead of it being man to man or a simple zone on the side that Ty Simpson's going to to Isaiah Horton, who's running kind of a slant route, he brings the safety down to the flat and creates this high, low, bracket coverage on Horton. So if they try to go vertical, the cornerback is getting depth in his drop, and he's there to contest.

If they try to undercut it with a slant, which is what they did, I got a safety coming in the flat. Pick six, all venables. Execution from the players, don't get me wrong. But a brilliant strategy. That's just one play. This went on and on and on. The thing I'll say for Alabama, and I have been the biggest Ryan Grub proponent and backer all season long. They've got to figure out their protections. And it's not a Ty Simpson thing that he's

getting the wrong protect. It's what they're trying to do. Because if you're only having four rushers, I shouldn't have my running back protecting against Kip Lewis, who is blitzing over and over again, that A gap coming up the middle. I shouldn't have my running back isolated on him as many times as they did. It should be, we've got to adjust the protections up front. And so that became a, that became a problem throughout the game and really kind of accelerated in the second half. I went back even because I'm trying to figure out every, this whole narrative, this like undercurrent of Ty Simpson, what a joke is building. So I'm not, listen, if Ty's not playing to the level, I'm fine.

And there are things Ty's doing. I went back to back and watch all turnover worthy plays from Ty this past, this entire season. It's a short clip real, man. There's only 11 plays. considering the amount of offense that he's having to carry without a run game. Ball security in his ball carriage in the pocket when things start to squeeze is absolutely an issue. He's had five fumbles in the last five games.

It can be fixed, but it's got to be fixed before the college football playoff. Because he's laying the ball on the ground at least one time per game in the last handful of games. Fifth consecutive game, as I said, with a fumble. There have been times where he's been overly aggressive with. some throws. And it's led to an interception or two, maybe two. There are some deep throws that he's been off target. He had 11 off target throws in this game, but that was more about protection and different things. There was one that, yeah, everyone's got on social media where he just overshot

his receiver. I get it. But for the most part, he's been deadly accurate, except he's been just kind of up and down on the deep ball. So those are areas that he can continue to improve. I want to remind you, he's a first year starter in the SEC carrying an entire offense. I also want to point out, though, that Ty Simpson adjusted. And the first two series, really, there were some struggles and there were some different looks and Venables and throwing different things. He and Grubb adjusted, except for the protection stuff in the second half. And he also did some awesome stuff.

He was 28 to 42 for 32 years. That's like 120 plus yards more than Oklahoma had total offense. and he threw for a touchdown. Alabama has some stuff that it's got to get right if it's going to wind up making a run in the college football playoff towards the national championship. Ty has some little things that he needs to clean up, but Ty ain't one of the problems.

Let's start with the past protection and let's start with the run game if we're going to start putting a lot of the blame here. All right, tape truth number four. If USC wide receiver Mackay Lemon was playing at Ohio State or in the SEC, he'd be getting the full treatment right now. this guy is on a role.

I've talked to you about Mackay Lemon and his rising stock in the NFL draft ranks, right? And I've told you that there's only a few other guys that are being mentioned in the first round, and Lemon's one of them. And we'll get to that in a minute. The last two weeks, though, quietly, for some reason, quietly,

he has had 21 catches for 314 yards and two touchdowns. Yes, it was Northwestern. yes it was Iowa but Iowa was a really good football team Iowa almost beat Oregon Iowa jumped USC and they absolutely needed every ounce of production

that they got from Lemon so I went back and I watched the tape because I want to share with you guys like what special is going on with this young man and why is it that he's not getting the attention like a Carnell Tate or Jeremiah Smith or a Ryan Williams or Jeremy Bernard

or any of these other stars that we know with the wide receiver position in the SEC or at Ohio State. Ryan Wingo does this in the last two weeks. We're going crazy. Jeremiah Smith does this the last two weeks. That's all we can talk about. No one's talking about Lemon. His production's been awesome,

but the NFL stuff that he's doing as a route runner, like when I went back and watched the last couple games, he has advanced his game so much. Like subtleties, getting off the line of scrimers. in breaking routes, sharpness, like exploding out of brakes. And then down the, it's not just like slants and crossers and some of the college stuff that we get used to seeing the bubble screens and the quick game. It's like down the field stuff.

And he's doing it with this body control and acceleration out of breaks and like understanding how to set up defensive backs. The other part of it is the downfield contested catches. He's not the biggest cap in the world, but he plays big and he's sturdy built and the focus he has with the ball in the air. I'll take you to a couple plays. Two minutes left in the second quarter.

Contested catch. Focus while elevating, taking the hit. Like, I need this toughness and reliability in a wider seat. You'll see it on social media everywhere. Going up, defender, like undercutting him in traffic. You can watch his eyes see it in. Nothing else matters. We've talked about Ryan Williams.

We've talked about some other great receivers, been a little bit up and down catching the ball. Not McKay Lemon. Let me take you another play. 1339 third quarter. The pluck and the toe tapping along the sideline, defender draped all over them. That's going to be a theme here, right?

Big time stuff. 703 third quarter. Tracking the ball over his shoulder down the field. Fingertips catch. But just the ability to go track it and get there and the focus to bring it in. And then guess what? Defender hanging on him again.

And then finally, 333, third quarter. The touchdown catch, right? Contested. Focus, two defenders converging on him. It's the hand-eye coordination in traffic that translates to the NFL game. And it's also what's allowed him to become one of the most productive receivers in the country.

And you've got my Ava, and you've got the run game that's been kind of hot and cold, but pretty good throughout the entire season. You got a defense that's playing better. And now all of a sudden we get this Oregon game. And we started the year and we thought Evan Stewart was going to be there. And I'm going to get to Kenyon Sadiq in a second. Mackay Lemon is the best weapon on the field for either of these teams. And if they're going to pull off a win against Oregon, a huge ups and a huge ups and

set against the top 10 team, he's going to have to have another monster game. Again, after 21 catches, 314 yards of two touchdowns. I want to make this perfectly clear, okay? I'm starting to see in Mackay Lemon what I saw in Ladd McConkey, a mecca abuka, those guys who came in and immediately made huge impacts in the NFL because it translates. Thick, sturdy, route running, savvy, crispness, reliability for their quarterbacks, contested catches. That's the NFL game.

You're not running away from DBs. You're not getting these huge passing windows created by scheme or your talent. You've got guys around you, draped on you all the time. You've got to learn to win the margins and then to make the tough catches with guys around you, draped on you, the physicality.

Lemons got it. So when I start looking at this draft and I see Jordan Tice from Arizona State, and I see Carnell Tate, Ohio State, deservedly, first round draft prospects. I'm looking at McKay Lemon and I'm saying, I don't know that there's a big gap. I really don't.

So on Saturday, you're going to be forced to watch it this week because they're playing Oregon and it's a big matchup in the big 10. But keep it in mind as the season progresses just a couple more weeks. This guy is must-see television. He's playing better than Casey Concepcion

is getting all the love and even Mario Craver at Texas A&M. He's playing better than Denzel Boston, Chris Bell from Louisville, Boston from Washington. Jeremy Bernard. I love Jeremy Bernard. You can make an argument. He's playing better than Jeremy Bernard.

Mackay Lemons, he's doing some special stuff. All right, tape truth number five. We'll wrap it up and we'll get to Bruce. This one's an interesting one. Listen to me closely, I should say, as I go through this because some stuff happened last week. Tape Truth number five. This is the Kenyan Sadiq that the ducks need.

Okay? You have to go back to Friday night's game. Season highs in receptions with eight receiving yards, 96. Oregon blows out Minnesota. Statement game for them, not in the college football landscape, but this is one that Dan Lannning wanted to come out, and he wanted his team to show them that they can take care of an opponent, put them away, and do it in dominant fashion.

And that's exactly how the Ducks responded. But the most important individual effort in this game was from Sadiq. Remember, this is a program with a really talented young quarterback, super talented, super inexperienced. Dante Moore. They're running back position, Noah Whittingham and like five other backs, has gotten better and better as the seasons progressed. And you saw that on display Friday night against Minnesota. But the past catching targets have been a question.

Evan Stewart injured in the preseason, potential first round pick. Huge loss. Imagine if Jeremiah Smith out. Ryan Williams is out for the year. That's the kind of loss that Oregon suffered for their program, okay? But they get this young cat Dakota Moore, true freshman who's burst on the scene. Early in the season, we were talking about him like just rare air. The same kind of stuff Ryan Williams was doing as a true freshman a year ago.

he was doing early on the season but he's kind of gotten quiet he kind of slow season high catches was seven against Penn State but since then he's been out the last two weeks and if you look at the rest of the season never more than four catches

so Penn State he had seven but even in those other games four catches were it's high for the game the total so they've needed Kenyan Sadiq to step up now I want you to think about the target share for tight ends, first round tight ends, guys who are these awesome difference

makers who are going to be drafted in the first 32 picks in the NFL because they're that special at that position. Teams don't love drafting a tight end in round one. So if you're going to be drafted as high as Colston Loveland was and Tyler Warren were, both top 15 picks, I believe, somewhere in that range. It's got to be that you are, you're special, you're different, and you probably had a huge target share in your offense. Go look at the target share for Colston Loveland in Michigan. Go look at it for Tyler Warren. My goodness, for Penn State, right?

They weren't getting that at Oregon. I made some comments, and this is follow me here. I made some comments last week. And they about Kenyon Sadiq, the target share, kind of some frustration. Those comments were not taken lightly, not appreciated. And I'm aware of the behind the scenes and stuff that went on and maybe the memos and this and that. I'm aware.

I'm also aware that what I said was absolutely true and people just didn't want it to be to come out. And I'm also here to say, I love Kenyon Sadiq. I said it last week when I was saying the things. I think he's a special talent. he's a first round pick. I think we all want to see the best of Kenyon Sadiq. And so maybe it helped to light a fire because people inside that building got pissed off. Pissed off at me, pissed off the information coming out, all of it. But maybe it helped to light a fire because all of a sudden that target share went to where I thought it should be for this kind of talent.

And this past week against Minnesota, he is a featured part of the offense. So let's just leave it at that. On tape watching him, fingertips, diving catches, catch first quarter inside the five-yard line. Awesome play. Displaying that athleticism. But they're going to him. They're trusting him. They're making him a

featured part of the past attack. Then the slant, the red zone bounces off of tackles, muscles his way into the end zone, but apparently on review, he was down. So they go right back to him. Touchdown catch. Next play. Contested back right corner,

Nice job separating quickly from the linebacker. So most targets he's had eight all season long. Seven was his previous high against Penn State. They had to throw the ball in that game, obviously, with Decorian Moore and Sadiq both getting their largest target share of the season there. But in all other games, four was the most targets he had had in a single game. He had eight in this game. after the comments, after the frustration,

after the week off with the injury, clearly Sadiq has got a fire lit. Clearly Sadiq has to be a guy that's a massive part of what they do moving forward. And as they try to make this run, starting with USC on Saturday, college football playoff, Sadiq's got to play like he played against Minnesota. They need that out of him. That's it for TAPTruz this week. Bruce is next.

I'm fired up because he's my blind spot with all the college coaching carousel so we're going to bring in Bruce now. This episode is brought to you by American Eagle. Gift, gift, hooray! Want to make the people in your life happy this holiday season? Then give great jeans with American Eagle. They've got everyone on your list covered, including you.

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They've got every style and everyone covered. You can check it all out at ae.com or just go to the store. As promised, good friend Bruce Feldman is here. Bruce, I need help with this stuff, man. I'll exit and oh yeah, and NFL draft and we'll scouting all the day long. I've got some contacts, but my goodness,

like you are always on top of a lot of things in college football, but certainly when it comes to the coaches, the programs, the backstories, kind of what's been going on. I just want to do some storytelling with you and find out some of the information that you're getting. Can you believe here we are in mid-November? And the names of these programs, It's like LSU, Penn State, Florida, Auburn, Arkansas, UCLA, Stanford, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech.

Like, I can't remember a year quite like this. And I guess let's just, let's start with this. If there's one thing that you're hearing right now, or there's some urgency in terms of what's going to, you know, come up in the next handful of days, what would it be? The Virginia Tech situation is they're expected to be the first one. off the board, meaning the first vacancy that gets filled. They've had their eyes on James Franklin for a while. They've been talking to James Franklin for a while. They basically, James Franklin from what we've been told, has been wondering, all right,

is Florida State going to open? What are the other options here potentially? And I think Virginia Tech came through it to wanting an answer basically by now. So by the time this goes up, he'll either have accepted the job or they'll move on. to either maybe Bob Chesney from James Madison or maybe they'll try to hope they can land John Somerall from Tulane, but he's also a, you know, both those guys have other options for sure,

but like John Summroll has definitely got an interest from Auburn and he's an Alabama native and did really well at Troy. Bob Chesney has, is drawn a lot of interest from UCLA. So this is where you get a lot of wires getting crossed and different things like that. And again, because Virginia Tech wants to move first, which I totally get it, that's why it's, they could be the first domino to fall. It's a dangerous game if you're Franklin, right?

Yeah, because you know, it's like that game of musical chairs. You know, if you, if there's something you really want, it doesn't come open or you maybe overplay your hand. Now the flip side could be i know i know some people are like yeah probably wouldn't be a bad thing for james to sit out a year yeah and kind of maybe recharge his batteries maybe take a little more time to reevaluate everything because you've just been in this grind for so long now everything that i know about him is he's not a big hobbies guy he's a big football yeah he doesn't golf he's not brian kelly you know it's like so i think he feels like i'm getting right back into this i'm getting right back on the horse And look, he has a lot of regional ties in that area.

The Virginia Tech Penn State jobs have quite a bit of overlap. And look, if he goes into the ACC, as you well know, the ACC is very getable. You know, you get it going there. There's no Ohio State in the ACC. There's no Oregon in the ACC. Whatever's happened with Clemson, it's not the same. So I could see why people are going, Virginia Tech. We know we know Frank Bieber won there.

You know there's some good. there's some good, uh, talent in the recruiting pool around there. We, they financially have upgraded their commitment. So, uh, this would be interesting. Shane Beamer obviously struggling. Is, is that a name that has come up with Virginia? I know like online and, in, in different circles, but is that, is there anything to, to that?

I didn't think there, I didn't think there was, Todd, just because everything he's always said is, I don't want to go, you know, be Frank, son, you know, as a professional coach, right? And to some degree, that's always going to be part of his identity. But I think in that regard, going back to Blacksburg, now what's, what's kind of nutty is just a year ago, he's going to a nine and three season. And as you know, like, it's not just Lenore's. He's got, you know, he's won some high level battles for some big time recruits. Yeah. And I think he's, he's, he's, I don't want to say he's definitely recruited better than Spurrier did, because Spruyer recruited well there too.

But I do think he has made them dangerous there. But you saw like kind of both sides of it this past weekend when they're in college station. They can play good enough where you got an edge rusher who can make a big play and force a big play. And sellers may not complete 65% of his passes, but they'll be big plays. Nick Harbor, you know, he's my like two-time biggest freak. You know, he's not getting caught.

So you've seen elements of that. But I think there's also some frustration around with people at South Carolina and going, this is what we're going to constantly get from him, where it's a lot of two steps forward, two steps back. You mentioned Brian Kelly. He's, you have this now lawsuit and everything going on with LSU. I have a relationship with Brian. I appreciate some of the things about Brian, but I also recognize that there are a lot of people

out there that don't appreciate Brian Kelly in certain. certain elements. All of that aside, how much damage did this do to Brian Kelly, this stop in Baton Rouge and how it played out? And what do you think is next for Brian? I think what it showed was,

like, I think Brian Kelly did a terrific job. Everywhere else he had been before that, certainly at Notre Dame. Not an easy job. It's not an easy job to stay on the horse there either, by the way. You know, it's like it's a different kind of shelf life. And so he bailed and he went to a place that he was a really bad fit and you could just see it coming. And then it turned out to be probably, I don't say worse than you could have imagined,

but it just didn't go well. They didn't have a top 10 season. They had a Heisman winner. But I think it was just getting a lot of stuff wrong in terms of the staffing, the recruiting, different things. Going forward now you have a guy who's 64. And what does he want to do? Right?

Because I think this is a different job as a college football coach than it was pre-Portle, pre-NIL, right? I just think it's, I don't want to say it's entirely a young man's game when Kurt Signetti is killing it in Indiana because he's almost the same age as Brian Kelly. But I think they're wired really different. Like the one job I could see him maybe at is if Mission Against State does open up. you know he's got a lakehouse up there i could see it um but after that i just don't see him like when when some of these group of five jobs you know end up popping open because guys end up leaving for other jobs whether it's toulane or usf or memphis or north texas i don't see brian kelly wanting one of those jobs right there's only you know there's only so many jobs i could

see him wanting michigan state maybe uh i'm not sure beyond that what he could get because, you know, if you're Penn State, I don't know how you sell him there because the recruiting is a big, is a big issue with him and how committed is he to do it at this stage of his career. I think that's, to me, that was as much of his undoing as almost anything else, was that and just you got to work at it and you got to, like this job is way more demanding. relationship development with the young men, it felt like that if you, if you want to summarize it, it felt like that was a big part of it, that there was a feeling of their.

Oh, yeah. I mean, we did a, we did two, two stories, one last year and one this year at the athletic on, on his struggles there. And one of them, you know, the starting center for two years there under Brian Kelly was on the record with us going, you know, he just really didn't want to have a relationship. You know, he didn't work. trying to and I this wasn't like this was a walk on who never saw the field this was the starting center he was like you never really talked to him you know it's just like there's other other guys I talked to for the story we did a couple weeks ago and it was like we got recruits on the phone you know they all want to be face time when I was around LSU in 2019 when they had that magical year

like you couldn't go five minutes without seeing some staff or come up to Ed Ogeron with a with a recruits face on FaceTime wanting to talk to him and that's a big part of the job And from everything I was told, Brian Kelly would be like, have them make an appointment. And they're like, make an appointment. I got him on the phone right now. You know, like that, that doesn't work anymore. Like, and it definitely doesn't work at LSU or one of these places where you're in big recruiting battles. And so, you know, that that's why I just think there's only so many jobs that I think he would fit at now.

And I'm just not sure how many of those jobs he would want. Maybe Michigan State, if it's open, I'm not sure what else would. would fit into that smaller box now. I don't really feel like I have to promote what Bruce does because he's an absolute legend in his space. But if you want to read, like the Freaks list is just one of my favorite reads all year long. And I know that that's shared by a lot of people in this industry and a lot of just in the audience.

But like the storytelling, the individual stories, some of the background that you're able to get, whether it's coaches, players, Bruce is a must follow. and the athletic is where you can get all of his, all of his information, all of his stories. But I appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah, of course, man. I feel like we've kind of buried the lead here.

We've got LSU open. We've got Lane Kiffin out there. We've got Florida open. And you and I both have relationship with Lane to a certain degree. And I know he lived out in your area for a while. He's absolutely loving all of this, right? And no, no coach leans. into all the trolling, quite like Lane does.

However, a decision is going to have to be made at some point, you would think. I hear less about LSU recently, and I've heard a lot about Florida, right? So take us through what your information is on, I guess both of those schools, but specifically with Lane, to start things off. Yeah, I'm kind of with you on what you just said about. I hear more about Florida than I do about LSU. It doesn't mean LSU is not a factor, right? LSU before Brian Kelly, the previous three

coaches all won national titles. Lane knows how good of a job that is, but it's also a super dysfunctional one. There's not a lot of alignment there. The governor gets involved. I mean, really gets involved. You know, it's like, and then people are like, is that really what the governor sounds like? You know, it's like, does Lane want that soap opera? I think

Lane's okay with soap opera. I don't think he wants the soap opera where. Well, he likes to be the star of the soap opera. Yeah. I don't think he wants to be in the supporting cast here. Right. So he's like, wait, is that going to go, is that guy going to be involved with me? You know, like, so I think with Florida, remember, he spent a lot of time in Florida. He obviously did well at FAU when he really revitalized his coaching career in Boka.

What's different now is, and I think Lane's interesting because the guy, you and I, you and both kind of got to know pretty well, you know, from the Pete Carroll days and on, that's still him, right? What you're saying is true. Like, nobody loves to troll and get on social media the way Lane Kiffin does. You know, it still kind of fits his personality. But I think he has evolved not only as a coach, but also as an adult. And you see this in terms of like living a cleaner life.

And, you know, now his whole family. It's not just his ex-wife and his kids, but it's like his younger brother, Chris and all their kids are really entrenched in Oxford and seem to be having a really like the time of their lives in this to all be together. You know, obviously it's well known that both his parents passed away not too long ago. And I think for them all to be connected, I think it's been cool for the Kiffins. Now, having said that on top of it, Olemus is set up really well in terms of in this day and age. It's way closer to the top of the SEC than it ever has been before because of the portal,

because of their commitment to NIL, because of Walker Jones, who kind of runs the thing, runs everything behind the scenes. For people don't know him, he's a former Ole Miss defensive back, who was a CIA agent working with Jimmy Sexton, and at one point worked at Under Armour as an Under Armour executive. So he's kind of been in his sweet spot with Ole Miss and his alma mater. and I think he's played a big role in helping Lane get this thing to the next step. I could see Lane staying at Old Miss. I could also see him going, man, I don't know if I could, like, I can get to the playoff at Old Miss.

Can I actually win it? Can I build a superpower here and build what Pete Carroll had at USC? Can I really do that at Old Miss? Or do I need to go to Florida to do it? I don't know the answer to that. I think we'll find out, but the question's going to be, as you know, like, look at their schedule, they're going to probably almost assured to make it to the playoff. So is Florida or whoever going to sit and go, all right, we're going to basically punt on this

year's recruiting class and the portal window because he's probably going to be really busy. And I don't know how that plays out. I mean, I know old miss would love to announce something before the egg bowl about like staying. I know you thought he was going to go to Auburn three years ago, but he didn't. And that worked out great. And he's still here. We'll see. I think you're right.

He loves being kind of the bell of the ball of the coaching carousel. There's a lot of big jobs, and there's not enough names out there to fill him. Yeah. It's interesting. I get it at Florida. If I'm Florida and not LSU, but if I'm Florida, I'm willing to wait as long as it takes to make absolutely certain. Until he has signed a deal at Ole Miss or has gone somewhere else,

until that moment happens, Lane would be the guy that I have to get. And then if it doesn't happen, then you regroup. And obviously you have a plan B in the waiting. If I'm Lane, it is a tough call. But my goodness, I just get the sense he's never been happier. And as a person who's been through stuff in life, and like when you kind of rebuild and you're in a happy place,

I don't know that you want to mess with it. you know what I mean? I think you finally start to appreciate where you are in life. And some things are more important than you thought they were when you were 27 or 37. You know what I mean? So that's going to be interesting. Yeah. I think that's the question is going to be too.

Like you and I are living, you know, relatively, you know, when I say like less complicated lives being like we don't have 120 players. We also don't have like when we're talking about alignment, like, yeah. It seems like it's okay at Florida. It doesn't seem like it's okay at LSU. But now all of a sudden you go into that, you leave behind a very good job for a lot of uncertainty. And quite honestly,

he knows he can get to the playoff at Ole Miss, right? So what limitations are there on Ole Miss? Yeah, the stadium's not as good as Tiger Stadium or the swamp. But you still have a pretty sizable recruiting pool and money there. So I don't know. I mean, logically, I would say, he stays. But logic always doesn't work

on the coach of carousel. Yeah, and especially with Lane, I think. So then there's LSU. Is it me? Because I'm not dealing with it every day. I'm watching players and get ready for the draft. But it feels like for such a big program and for all like the energy that happened

with the Brian Kelly firing, here we are now a few weeks removed. It feels like, things have been really quiet in Baton Rouge. Is that a fair assessment? And where do you think kind of this winds up headed? Is there kind of a list of two or three names or is it a wait and see? Are there specific guys that they're waiting for the season to end? I just, I don't get a, at first I felt like there's a clear picture. Like, we're going to throw a big thing at Nick, but Nick's not going to take it. And then it's going to be Lane Kiffin. But it seems like that's all

kind of quieted. And now I'm left wondering, just as kind of an outsider looking in, what's going on there? What's what is their mission with this search? I think it's the dysfunctioner of a place. Remember, they got this nutty, this lawsuit that nobody thinks they're going to win with Brian Kelly. That doesn't help anything. No.

You know, like I said, you have the governor involved. You have a new AD who's been around in Virgil's, but he's been around the program for 40 years. He's a former player who has Scott Woodward, the old AD's right-hand guy. I think there's overlap with the Auburn and the Florida searches, right? Like if I look at it, let's say if Lane's not involved, not ends up going to LSU, I could see them going, you know, Eli Drinkwitz has done a really good job at Missouri.

He's in the league. He's an offensive coach. They run the football. Like, I think this is a big thing. Like, it made old LSU people sick that LSU under Joe Sloan just, it was like, could they run the football? Will they commit to run? You know, it was just like not a thing, right?

They're a little like USC folks in that regard. Yeah, Lincoln Riley has cute plays, but they want old school people like that, want physical football, much like Notre Dame. Like that, you know, like that's what they kind of want. And I think credits of drink wits, you know, like every year they have some guy racking up 1,500 yards, right? You know, they find a guy.

I'm on Mad Hardy with three. 300 yards this past week earlier on this show. Yeah, it looks like Marshawn Lynch there, right? So it's, and they've had that with a couple of guys now. So I don't know, Eli's personality, LSU would be interesting. I don't know if he's a slam for a lot of people. I can't imagine it. The question I think on him is, does he feel like, all right, I'm at Missou?

I need to stir it up a little more. Oh, I'm going to go there. I don't need to do that stuff. I don't know if that's the case. Kind of like Sygnetti Year 1 versus Signetti year 2 at Indiana. Yeah, maybe, maybe. I don't know.

But I think he's definitely in play. I could see them having an interest in Brent Key, who's an Alabama native, done a really good job at Georgia Tech, also really physical football. I don't think it's a slam dunk that they would jump at him. I don't know.

I'm not as old that they would go after Clark Lee. He's done a good job at Bandy, but I don't know if they look at it. I think there's some thought of, well, he's done really well. They may win 10 games. They may get the playoff, but it was like, did they catch lightning in a bottle by hiring the New Mexico state guys? And also they brought Pavia. And Pavia was a program changer because of his just force of personality.

And everything he brought with it changed the whole culture. So that one, I don't know if they, I've always heard LSU money people would not hire a two lane or a group of five guy. John Summerall is a terrific coach. He's at Tulane. He played in the SEC, coached in the SEC. I've never met anybody who's like been involved in football who was not impressed by him. I would think I would not be surprised if he's the Auburn head coach.

I don't know if LSU would do it because, again, And LSU does some nutty stuff. And unless they're like backed into a corner, I don't think they're going to do the thing that may make the most sense. They're going to do the thing that sounds the coolest at the press conference. And then it just begs the question. Like if it's not Nick and it's not Lane and it's not some role and it's not Joe Brady. Yeah, I don't think Joe Brady wants to be.

Like he's not like he's not far from getting a head coaching job in the NFL. and just everything I know about Joe is he does not want to work in the NFL in college. He didn't want to work in college football that much when it was 2019 before the craziness of all the portal movement and everything else. I just can't see him wanting that lifestyle. I agree, but that's kind of one of the names when this first opened up. Yeah, it makes sense. And everyone was like 2019 and that, you know, magical year.

So that one's going to be interesting. And then there's Penn State. And I feel like I know too much of the kind of dysfunction and some of the issues going on behind the scenes there. And forever, it was Matt Rule and the ADs vacationing in Spain with Rule and their friends. And then all of a sudden, you know, rules back at Nebraska. And you start to wonder, what, first of all, what kind of job is this? And obviously, it's Penn State, but is someone racing to go up there with some of the things that are kind of in the backdrop and have to recruit there and try to go up against Ohio State and Michigan? And now the expanded

Big Ten. And then you kind of look at like Brian Hartline would be my number one choice, but is that a move that he would want to make? What are you hearing on Penn State? Yeah, I think so. You know, the Pat Craft, the AD, he worked with a role together at Temple. So that made that made sense. Yeah, of course.

And then obviously, Signetti, they locked him up quick. Mike Elko this weekend, you know, a Northeast guy. I think that would have been a great hire if they could have pulled that off. I don't think they got close to it. But, and now you're getting in the part where I'm going to say it's like really reaching, but the names I've heard that they've had interest in or, you know, some have kicked the tires on a little bit. Brian Dayball just recently fired from the from the Giants, as you know,

not that far removed, though, from helping Nick Saban won a national title at Alabama. I would actually like that higher. I would like Fitzgerald and I and I would be really interested. Dayball, I mean, I don't know the recruiting and handling, managing all of that. I'm not saying positive or negative. I just think that there's an unknown despite some time in college.

But Pat Fitzgerald is another name. Like both of those guys would make sense to me for different reasons. Yeah, I think the key with both of them, especially Fitzgerald is what staff is he putting together? you know, he's, the, he did an amazing job at his alma mater, but the last two years he was there, there were four and 20. And I think, you know, like, he's obviously shown he can do more with less,

but now does that mean that he's going to be able to overtake Ohio State? Like, Heartline is interesting because that, yeah, like, yes, you would be weakening Ohio State. He's proven to be an elite recruiter and an elite developer of receivers. But this is a big job. And it's different than Ryan Day getting taking over for Urban because when Ryan Day did that, this is not a not to diminish anything he's done. But he was able to keep Mickey Marotti who ran the strength and conditioning program. He was able to keep Mark Pantone who ran the personnel side.

Those are two huge pieces that you have. have to have in place and they already had those things running at you know full blast and then off you know keeps larry johnson the de line coach kept a bunch of other good assistants so if you're a heartline yeah there some of those things are there from james franklin but i don't think you're you know it's like you're starting from scratch essentially and you know to be a first time head coach you are really really in the deep end of the pool here like i i don't know how how you know how you're you know, it's just a big gamble on that. Like it's, it's, if you told me he was going to be the first time head coach at,

um, at West Virginia, I would be like, okay, you know, like I could, that's a good, that could be a good hire for. Yeah. But it's like, but Penn State is so much of a bigger job and you're like really on the high wire now. And like every mistake becomes glaring and you get in a hole. I'm not saying he has no chance at the job, but it is, it would be a pretty big gamble to hire a first time head coach there who honestly does not have that you know like he has the court he's

he's the offense coordinator this year but he's also the offense coordinator where the head coach was was the offense coordinator too so it's like i don't say you're working with a net there but like it's a gamble and i would say this for almost for pretty much any first time head coach yeah he's never been the head coach to get a pen state job or to get an lSU job or to get um you know florida because Look, Will Mustchamp was a hot assistant coach a long time ago. He went there and he didn't go great. You know, it doesn't mean, you know, Bob Stoops killed it at Oklahoma on his first job. And Kirby obviously did it Georgia.

What's a little different is, I'm not saying you can't do it now. I do think it's a little harder to do it where it's a new place. Like Marcus Freeman took over for Brian Kelly, right? And he built it and he grew into the job. But I think it's just that it's just a lot more stuff. stuff is going on. There's a lot more stuff you have to manage now because of the portal and because of the transient nature of college football. And it's just harder to build a culture like that. And there's so many moving parts. That's why I think the first time head coach

had a huge job is something that if I was an AD, I would probably be a little reluctant to do. All right. So if I had to put you on the spot and say Virginia Tech will be the first to announce, whether it's Franklin or that Franklin, it's not Franklin. If you had to guess which one of these bigger jobs will be the next dominole fall. Are we calling UCLA a bigger job? I don't know.

No, but if you get some information. I wouldn't be surprised if UCLA went from there. You know, like, again, it's been open for a long time. You're also, like, the things that are a little complicated, let's say Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State is looking at a bunch of good group of five head coaches. Eric Morris, the head coach at North Texas. Colin Klein's, the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, former, you know, K-State star. You have Alex Golish from USF.

I don't know if the guys in the mix for that jump at it if they're sitting there going, well, Baylor might come open or, you know, something else that, like, some of those guys think they can get. I would guess if you're Auburn, ideally, they want to, they would love to have a hire, like, the day after the Iron Bowl. That's not that far away. No, a couple weeks. Yeah, I would think, you know, again, with Auburn, like, Eli,

I'm not saying he's definitely going to leave, but he's not going to be in the playoff. Like, you could make that move. I don't think there's no way Lane Kiffins in play for that job. Now, Georgia Tech, if, you know, and same thing with Clark Lee. Technically, both Georgia Tech and Vandy could still be in playoff consideration. So I feel like there's a better chance of Auburn filling earlier than LSU or Florida. So if I had to edge, I'd go, okay, maybe UCLA, maybe Auburn, you know, come up in the next two weeks. And typically what we've seen in the last few years, guys are bailing from college to go to the NFL.

Anything on like Tommy Reese, who's the O.C., the Browns or Zach Robinson OC for the fact. I've heard Reese maybe UCLA, I've heard Robinson, maybe Zach Robinson. Oklahoma State. Is anything there? I think Zach Robinson could be in play there. Now, he's never been a college coach. You know, obviously spent a lot of time with the Rams, with McVeigh. and but he played at Oklahoma State. I've heard his name in there.

It's not, the other thing that's, that's worth keeping in mind is, it's like, you know, some of these guys are like one step away from getting an NFL head coaching job. Like with the Falcons,

it's not going great right now. So I don't know if he's looking at it going, you know what, I can go back and be a coordinator five years from now. If I don't love being an alma alma mater, Tommy Reese has, you know,

has spent a lot of time in Southern California. I could see him doing, you know, because obviously the Browns are a mess, right? But I could see him being interested in it, but he's, you know, kind of ping pong back and forth from a bunch of different places. I know he's really well thought of by a lot of folks inside of football. Man, the UCLA job is a tough one, though. Like, because what's going into it, and you know a lot of the stuff because you know people who've worked there before. but like you have a really weird situation with the AD Martin Jarman who nobody locally is happy with and his reputation among the football community is probably worse than it is even with the UCLA fans

and he's I think his buyout is like $7 million. So even if you know Casey Wasserman who's the big donor, you know the football building's name after at UCLA, even if he tells somebody, hey, you know, we're just going to reassign Martin. Like, really? Are you going to like, is he going to be the, the AD for other sports, but not football? Like, I don't know how that works. And I just think that UCLA, as the coach at UCLA, they're going to want you to be P.T. Barnum and raise a, you know, like, do stuff that a lot of head coaches don't do.

They just are not out there constantly trying to go raise funds and do that. Like, that sounds great in theory, but that's not how it works. at most places. And so is that the job? I don't know. You know, like, again, I don't know Tommy Reese well enough to know, to cease sit there and go,

you know what, I could kill it there. And then, because remember, you're in the Big Ten, you're, you're got these, you know,

kind of nutty travel, you know, schedules from, you know, kind of disconnected from it. You're, like, this isn't when Jim Moore

had UCLA when USC was in the middle of heavy scholarship reductions. USC is not like what is with Pete Carroll, but they're way better resourced than UCLA. So I don't know. I think that job is a tough one. If you're already in the NFL, I don't know why you jump into it unless you have a real special connection to it.

Bruce has been absolutely awesome, man. Like we just went through the entire nation and all the coach. I can't thank you enough. You're going to have to come back on the shows. I wanted to get to the freaks list and start talking about the draft. We have plenty of time before April to kind of dig into that and pick your brain on some of the stories and the backgrounds. And so we'll have to have you back on. And that's a great thing for us.

And hopefully you view it the same. I do. And I think I've told you this offline. I'm like a big fan of what you guys do on Instagram. I think the videos are just really, they're just really smart and they're fun. And they like, like, I've never thought I'd be like a big content. consumer on Instagram, but that's the way I started finding a lot more stuff now. And I just think they're really digestible. Whoever your group is doing it is really killing it on that. So that's

been really awesome to help kind of promote your your product. Yeah. I mean, we, Alicia's sitting here in the chat right now. And she's been a huge addition to our group. And we've got, we've got John and we like and Marissa is putting it all together. The only thing I do is I rant and I rave for like seven, eight minutes. And then they, cut it up into something that's concise and actually digestible. So they make me look great on those. But it feels like it is an authentic, hey, two guys just talking, two informed guys are talking about a prospect and it's fresh and it's just like no BS and it's like it cuts through. And for whatever reason, that doesn't happen most times. And it's cutting through on like, you know, when I sit on my

phone, whenever it pops up. So hats off to you guys. I appreciate you saying that. that makes a lot of people here happy. So great talking to you. Have an awesome Thanksgiving and holiday season. And we'll get you back on, I'm sure, during the college football playoff run and then leading up to the draft. So I look forward to talking to again, buddy. I appreciate it.

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