The Triple Option - Does Washington Have the Best Quarterback in College Football?

Episode Date: July 10, 2026

College football's 2026 QB race heats up — Arch Manning, Julian Sayin & Washington Huskies star Demond Williams face off at the Manning Passing Academy. Who comes out on top? Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II & Rob Stone debate after Notre Dame QB CJ Carr put on a show at the Manning Passing Academy, outperforming Arch Manning, Julian Sayin, and Trinidad Chambliss — raising the real question: is this the best college quarterback class EVER? Huskies head coach Jedd Fisch joins the show to break down why Demond Williams returned to Washington after flirting with a bigger payday elsewhere, what Big Ten football life looks like on the West Coast, and his deep ties to Philadelphia Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman. The guys close out with a friendly truce between football and futbol, tipping their caps to the US Men's National Team after their World Cup exit. Chapters 00:00 Show Start 02:40 Golfing with John Daly 06:25 CJ Carr Dominates 16:15 Top 5 QB's in College Football 27:30 Jedd Fisch, Washington Head Coach 48:34 Hats off to the World Cup New episodes of The Triple Option drop every Wednesday. Make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube and following on all podcast platforms. Also make sure you’re locked in on social @3XOptionShow on all platforms for highlight moments, bonus content, and to engage with the guys and the TO community. (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tripleoptionshow.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)   The Triple Option is presented by Wendy’s. Try Wendy's® New crispier than ever Spicy Chicken Sandwich. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://m-wendys.app.link/gm-spicy-chicken-26-display-banner ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Thank you to our additional sponsors NHTSA - Speeding Catches up With You. Paid for by NHTSA. https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/speeding #CollegeFootball #ArchManning #WashingtonHuskies #ManningPassingAcademy #FootballPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You were roommates with Eagles GM, Higher Roseman. What were those conversations like about your individual futures in Gainesville? Both of us had these aspirations of becoming the head football coach of one of them and the general manager of another. How he would come down on draft weekend with like a clipboard of picks. I'm like, what are you doing, man? And then next to you know, he's one of the best general managers in all football. Light it. The Triple Option is presented by Wendy's.

Wendy's invented the spicy chicken sandwich. and now we're reinventing it, making it crisper than ever before. Wendy's spicy chicken, we're so back. Welcome to another summer edition of the Triple Option Urban Meyer. Mark Ingram the second is with us. I'm Rob Stone. Today we are joined by Washington head coach Jed Fish. He's going to talk us what went through his star quarterback,

DeMond Williams, the offseason and all the issues around that. But he is back in Seattle. We'll tell you why Notre Dame QBCJ Carr has taken. taking the early lead in that stacked quarterback class. We put a bow on the U.S. men's World Cup run, and we talk plenty of other things. As always, remember to rate, subscribe, send us those questions. We love to respond to them. And we are found on social media at 3X option show.

New episodes drop on YouTube, wherever we get your podcast. First things first. I always look at the images of where my people are, my people. I'm finally home. I don't know where... I want to see his wardrobe. Imagine what that. Do you hang those shirts up or they just fold it up

and you pull out a sleeveless? Man, I just pull out the sleeveless, man. You know, I'm like, you know, I had on, you know, my son's, you know, baseball team, I'm here at Daytona Beach. They're playing the regionals. And so I had that shirt on, but it said, you know what?

I got a hat of sleeves. I got to have a gun soap when I come on to Triple Osham. I'm going to say this for people. I tell people Mark all the time. You're an awesome father, dude. I appreciate you. You are on the move all the time with their kiddos. Much respect for that.

Listen, I learned from two great fathers. You know, Stone is a tremendous father. You're a tremendous father. When I talk to your kids, they love and admire you guys and they're grown adults. So hopefully when mine are grown adults, they will love and admire me as your children do. Mark is such a good daddy. He took two of his kids to go see messy in the swamp that was Miami that day. We could talk more about that.

That was awesome. That was a hot day, but amazing one. about the best game of the World Cup, right, Stone? Oh, man, it was good. We'll talk about World Cup a little bit later. Coach, you are, I don't know, you're at some type of golfing thing is what I'm guessing. Yeah, I'm at a senior event here at Firestone, and I'm biased because I'm from Northeast Ohio. Firestone, this is so sad.

It's going to be like 75 straight years. There's been a PGA event. Tiger, I believe, won eight events here. Jack won seven. So it's historically, it's one of the best, but this is it. there's going to be no more PGA or senior PGA events here. They're just kind of moving out. You know, it's just since the area has kind of been beaten up a little bit just years ago with steel mills leaving.

But what a place, man. And, hey, Mark, I was paired up with John Daly yesterday in a pro-A-A. John Daly. That's been my dude for a long time. He's been trying to get me to be the coach at Arkansas since, I don't know, 15 years ago. He had a few cocktails one night. He called me up and started screaming at me in a phone to become the next coach. in Arkansas. Obviously, that's not going to happen.

How was that round, Coach? How did y'all play? You know, how fun is he? How fun is John Daly, man? Oh, he's the best. He, and I shared this with Robert earlier, I was with a bunch of the senior players and we're talking about John Daly. You know, he won the PGA, as he came in as an alternate, 1991. He won the British Open at the Old Corps, St. Andrews, in 95. And they said, I didn't know this. He is arguably more talented than Tiger Woods. You know, because you think of John Daly, you think of that big wind and shoot the ball down the fairway along ways.

But they said his hands around in green were better than anyone. He just wasn't, you know, Tiger was training and working like a nut. John was John Daly's being John Daly. But I'm going to tell you this, though, everybody loves John Daly. All the pros love him, all the fans. I love him because, you know, John Daly is John Daly. And he doesn't care. He is who he is.

That's why I love the guy. What's five, five and a half hours of golf with John Daly look and feel like? A lot of cocktails, a couple of cigarettes. A lot of great shots, a lot of laughs. We played with colleague, the race team. That's that host of Firestone events. So they gave us a third place belt. I just can't take in.

I'm not a third place guy. You're not a bronze guy. No, no. So, but it was, I'm going to do some really cool things in life. and hanging with John Daly, and this team was awesome. That's great. Good to hear. Good bowling community coach where you are right there.

Really? Yeah, a lot of bowling events there. One of the most famous bowling centers in the world is right there in that Akron area. A lot of Ingram fans here, though, Mark. There's Instagram fans everywhere, man. Ingram fans everywhere. When they fire out, and hey, I, Urban Meyer, when I'm knows, say, hey, you're with Ingram all the time. I wish they could say Stone, but they said, hey.

Come on, man. I'm right here. I'm right here. Coach right here. The people always, I love you guys, man. I love that we're doing this together because obviously we do the big new one together, but I have so many people that tell them that they follow the triple option and they're on the podcast.

And they're like, oh, I love Coach Martin. They're like, how does that I have time to do the podcast? I see him on the World Cup every single day. I'm like, I was just Whiffstone in Miami. The next morning, he's at 11 a.m. on a live show in Philly. I'm like, these two dudes are the best in the world. Rob is the best host. He's the host with the most.

He's the greatest. You know, I'm just blessed to have two of the best ever doing what they do in my presence, man. Yo guys inspire me. Are we done complimenting each other? Can we talk college football? We're not. Are we going to do World Cup for a minute? At the tail end, at the tail end, at the tail end.

We've got to talk World Cup. Let's talk college football, man. That's what the podcast is about. It's the triple option. All right, here we go. There are 50 days left until we have games on any given Saturday. So let's talk about some things going on off the field. The Manning Passing Academy, like what an entity that has become, by the way.

It's that yearly tune-up. It's the who's who of college quarterbacks. And this year, one name guys stood above the rest. It's somebody we had on not too long ago, Notre Dame, C.J. Carr. Our respected colleague, Todd McShay, said, quote, C.J. Carr was the MVP, and it wasn't even close. And this is not like a bunch of, you know, juco dudes. coming in or rising freshman in college. This is guys that include like Arch Manning and Julian Say and Marcel Reed, Trinidad,

Chambliss. Coach, you didn't attend the Manning Passing Academy, but you've had a ton of dudes go through. What has been their typical big takeaway from working the Manning Academy? Well, first of all, the Manning's are awesome for the game. They're great ambassadors. This goes back to the Patriot, you know, Arch Manning. And I've been friends with the Manning family and known him for so many years. So we were honored to send our guys to the event.

It's a great event. I never went to a person. I was invited a couple of times. Just couldn't do it. But our players loved it. Our players would go there and work it even after they were done with college. So it's a great event. I will say this, though, that this could be arguably in Todd McShay, who we all, I think he's the best out there.

This could be one of the best quarterback classes in modern history as far as guys coming out. But I'll say this about quarterback. quarterback play at the Manning camp. I think it's really important. In C.J. Carr, I've heard and saw nothing but really great things from him. But throwing a football is just a part of playing quarterback. And I'm going to share you a quick story. Jeff Petford, who back in my era as a young coach, he was a legendary quarterback coach.

And when I got hired at Bowling Green, I called him and said, can I come with you and watch you evaluate quarterbacks? I never really did that. So I flew out to San Diego. We did a Nike football camp. And I said, can I follow you around? I spent about four or five hours with him, taking notes the whole time. What are you looking at?

What are you looking at? What are you looking at? And I think number five was throwing the football. He looked at leadership number one. He looked at just the way he handles himself. He said, I'm going to teach a guy how to throw anyway. I'm not that worried about that. He goes, I want to see that quarterback position is so unique that, yes,

throwing is very important, but it's about fourth or fifth on the line. list of things that I look for. I'll never forget that and that changed my outlook and that's how are recruited quarterbacks because I'll tell you right now on Tebow I'm not going to you know you don't recruit 10 Tebow I'm just throwing you're going to recruit him for other reasons and I don't think we've ever had I've had great quarterbacks at every stop it was because we had a set disciplined approach to how we recruited quarterbacks and throwing is important but the manny quarterback camp unless changed they don't they're not getting hit when they throw You know, they're not trying to get first downs.

They're not, you know, there's Chase Young's and Nick Bosa trying to kill you at practice every day. So I think it's important, but again, you know, I think there's so many important things playing quarterback and throwing is one of them, but it's not the most important. So we have the Manning Passing Academy. There's also tight end you. I know like long snappers get together and have their own little camps.

So I'm sure kickers get together as well. But I'm not aware, Mark, of a running back equivalent. Is it time to fire up the Mark Ingram running back academy? Sponsored by Triple Option and Wendy's. Hey, that sounds like a summer activity. It is time. It sounds like it has a lot of, you know, a lot of feet here, man. It seems like it has a lot of potential here.

But it's actually surprising, man, that there is no running back summit, running back academy, running back university, whatever you'd want to call. There's some legendary backs in this game. And we've seen what tied in his youth, the Tidding U has done with Kittle and Greg Olson and Travis Kelsey. I mean, they're the gold standard right now. Obviously,

Manning Passing Academy has been around for a long time. But this is something I have discussed with running backs over the last years, man. I'm close with a lot of the legends. Marshall Falk, Marcus Allen, Jerome Bettis. You talk about Frank Gore. You talk about Derek Henry, Darren Sprouls. Just think of the Marshaun Lynch. Just think of the, uh,

Just think of the power there is behind the running back position and some of the all-time greats that have ran the ball and caught the ball and pick up pass protection, doing all field drills, doing financial education, doing NIL, branding, doing all these different type of things. I think we should all put some together. And it's something that we have talked about. And I think something is brewing in the future. It hasn't had feet yet.

It hasn't had legs yet. But I think this is something huge that could, I think it's a space that's untapped for running back. I think it's something that we need to get involved in. I agree. I think that's a great idea. Let's get that trademarked today, Mark. Let's make something happen. The RB Summit?

Yes. Oh, RV Summit? The RB Summit? Oh, you know. Hey, man, hey, I need, before we send this to on the Air one to sign the NDA, man, because, you know, I don't want nobody taking my ideas and stuff, you know. I'll sign it as long as I get my cut. Let's go back to the quarterbacks. We talked about this great class coach.

A lot of the guys in this class, though, are going to be multiple-year starters, right? Carr, Say and Manning, Dante Moore at Oregon as well. What kind of jump do you think the fans and the coaching staff should expect from these guys as they enter year two as a starter? Yeah, I'd, I'd, I'm staring at this list and this is the best quarterback

class that they all play to perform I mean you got guys like Trinidad and Shamblis Lenora Sellers these guys were Marcel Reed these guys were monsters and a couple of them kind of slipped last year but that doesn't change that they're still a talented group but I think the common denominator

of every great quarterback is a great group of players around them and I remember talking to Sark about this the year we watched last year you know everybody's all over Archmanion I get it you're a quarterback and you had that last name, get used to a pal, that's going to be the rest of your life.

However, when players aren't open, that's not the quarterback's fault. And the receivers against Ohio State really struggled. And I asked him that question. It was very untexted like the offensive skill. I read about them. We were ready because we did that game. They're very talented.

They didn't play great in that game. And so, again, the common denominator of every great quarterback that has a great year, he is surrounded by dudes. Julian's saying there's one guarantee in Columbus, Ohio. He's going to be surrounded by high draft picks receiver. Will Texas, will Oregon, I think they will. But do you keep that in mind?

If you're listening to this, the receiver, the quarterback with the best receivers in this group, you'll have the best year. Yep. And the one with the best protection. Right. Going with the best offensive line as well. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Because I don't care who you have back there throwing the ball or running the ball, coach. If you don't got nobody blocking for him, it'll be a long day. Now, I go back to this also, the schedule you play. I'm looking at the Notre Dame schedule, and I love Marcus Freeman. I love Notre Dame. Those cats are going to be favored by double digits until they get the November when they play Miami. And guess where they're playing Miami?

In Miami. Oh, no, no, no, no. They're playing them in at Notre Dame. In November, pal, in November. Yeah. And old cold wind blowing off that Lake Michigan might be cool and things down. At November weather, it's different for them down soft boys. be out there, shivor.

So C.J. Carr is set up for a potential trip to New York. Yeah. For sure. At least for the first couple months, right? And then take care of business on the back end. And again, coach, one of the themes we've seen over the last three years, just look at the national champions. They have won it with mature squads, with mature quarterbacks as well.

So I think if you're in South Bend or, you know, Eugene or Austin, you're like, hey, man, I'm loving the fact that my guy has been around already, thrown the ball, has taken his lumps, has learned, and has to come back stronger this year. And Dante Moore is, remember what he did. He sat behind the guy at UCLA, he sat behind Dylan Gabriel at Oregon, and then he's now taken over.

And he's been on our show. We love this cat. He's a grown-ass man. He's a grown-ass man. And he chose not to go to the draft, and he probably would have been a sure-fire first-round draft pick. So that tells you about the maturity of the kid, rule for the kid.

Great mind of Michigan boys. He's from Michigan and from a Detroit. So I rule for my fellow Michigander. Let's continue that conversation. Coach, I go to you. Give me, let's say, five dudes right now that you're really looking forward to seeing. That doesn't mean these are the top five in the NFL draft expectations right now,

but just five guys that have you curious, you're excited about or you have questions about. Well, I think you take the first four in my mind, Dante, Moore, C.J. Carr, Archman. man and Julian Sayan are the best quarter. The notables. Yeah, they're surrounded by high-level talent. Obviously, Julian Sanans got the best player in the country.

He's going to throw two. But they also got, this is going to be the first schedule they've had in a while. That's legit, legit, legit. They got a legit schedule. I'm going to throw this name in. Sellers at South Carolina. I fell in love of that player two years ago. I thought, I can't.

Now, he didn't play great last year. But, again, I don't know the whole person. background, you know, protection skill set around them. But those, the four, top four, I think you group them up and may the best man win. But I'm going to really keep an eye on sellers in South Carolina. All right. Mark, you barked out a couple dudes. You want to add a few more to it? I mean, you go with the notables. I mean, you go with CJ Carr, you go with Julianne, you go with Dante Moore, you go with Trinidad, Chambliss. But you go with Archmanent, but when I'm thinking about players where I'm looking forward to see,

I'm looking forward to see Marcel Reed at Texas A&M. The year he had, he was an exciting player, throwing the football, running the football, had A&M what, undefeated? You know what I mean? They went to toe to toe to toe in Miami in the playoffs. Like, I'm looking forward to Marcel Reed. I'm looking forward to Keeler Russell at Alabama. They haven't announced a QB1 yet,

but I think he kind of has the upper hair right now. Looking forward to Keel and Russell's seeing an excited freshman. We have Austin Mac as well, tall, a physical guy in Alabama. So I'm looking forward to seeing how that competition plays out of Alabama. But yeah, man, I'm looking forward to those guys, man. Mensa, right? He's at Miami, right? So I'm trying to see what they do.

They were just a couple plays away from winning the national title. So I'm looking forward to seeing all those guys and seeing how they affect their programs this year in a positive way. It's always a fascinating position, right, in college football. we're still, we're dealing with kids and you don't know what's coming, but the hype around this class already, here we are in July, and everybody's jacked up. And I'm telling you guys, like, just give me five dudes. I think we could give you like 20 that have really interesting stories and what's going to happen. I'm going to bark out five real quick. You guys have grazed on some of these. But remember, Mark, the first month of last season, Norman, Oklahoma, John Mateer.

Dude was Heisman candidate, right? And then he broke that hand versus Auburn. Surgery, missed time, never got back to where he was, even though he did lead the Sooners to the college football playoff. I think there was some hesitation. Like, do we re-up with this guy? Do we bring him back? But he is going back to the crimson and cream. Can he relocate that Baker-Mayfield-type swagger that we saw from him in the beginning

of the season? You just talked about Darian Mensa. Remember, this is a guy who was just kind of recruited out of San Luis Obispo, California, goes to Tulane. There he made great waves with the green wave, led him to a trip to Duke, and then he left Duke in a lurch, right? They thought they had him, and instead he's like, no, no, no, I'm going back in the portal. I'm going to Coral Gables. So this is going to be his third stop, and it's a Miami team, and we've talked about it. They've got national title written on them, right? This is kind of a national

title or bust vibe. I think that's going on in Miami. Indiana, three straight years with three different portal quarterbacks and each of them on paper at least is better than the last. Right. We had Curtis Rourke and then your Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza. And now it's the TCU transfer Josh Hoover. You know, can SIG, can his O.C. Mike Shanhan, can they keep pulling off this. The SIG man. But can they keep doing this one and done QB Carousel?

Like for me, it's dangerous. At some point, it's going to bite you. You want some stability. But who are we to argue? with what's going on in Bloomington. Hoover again. You can't hate on the SIG, man. No, no, no, not hating on the SIG.

I'm just, I'm amazed that they're able to do it year in and year out. And Hoover, like I said, on paper is probably the best of the three of those dudes. I saw him a lot at TCU. He is a bit of a gambler back there. He is prone to interception. But, you know, I think he was put in a lot of situations where he was forced to make, you know, long third down pickups or dangerous things just to keep his team or keep a drive going. can they continue that trend in Bloomington?

The one and done transfer quarterback phenomena. It goes against everything I've ever been taught and I believe everything about quarterback play. Quarterback play, the most important thing is learn the system and then get playing time and then you get the keys. Every quarterback we've had has done that. To come and just keep rolling quarterbacks through, but I mean, they're doing it.

And he's not, I mean, Oregon's doing. Oregon did it with Del and Gabriel They've done it with other quarterbacks. The thing is they're getting playing time. They're getting time. They're getting reps. It's not all in the same system. Now you get to a place where they learn the system

and the coach will believe in them with the right people around them. That's how they're able to thrive at Indiana right now. So it's just an unprecedented time that we're in, coach. And it's fun to watch. Everything I ever learned about quarterback play and having a quarterback ready to go, gone. Yeah. But not my business anymore.

No. And by the way, You're team it up, Coach. By the way, that concept is leading to national titles. Right. College football playoff invites. It's insane. We just had two of them, two of them.

We had Beck go from Georgia and we had Mendoza go to Indiana. Those are two treasks. They had a lot of snaps. National title game. Yeah. Ohio State quarterback. Yeah. So speaking of Ohio State, remember saying when we were walking,

onto the field for the Big Ten championship game, Ohio State versus Indiana, it was like, Sayan, Mendoza, Mendoza, saying, like, who's going to get our Heisman vote? And then Sayan struggled, lost the game, and he lost his Heisman shot. I remember walking off the field with you, Mark, and I was like, well, Mendoza's getting my vote now. Like, it's over. But he comes back. We had him on the show earlier in the offseason. There's an argument you made that they might even have a better or at least a deeper

wide receiver core right now in Columbus. Like it's insane how they just reload right there. The schedule is tough. But he's got a great shot to be the first Heisman winner in Columbus since Troy Smith in 06, 20 years ago. It's been two decades since the Buckeyes won a Heisman. And then the last one, if we're talking to Ohio State, you know who we got to talk about. Got to talk about Michigan, right?

The news, those assessments out of Ann Arbor around. Bryce Underwood, man, some concerning takes about him. Remember, outbid LSU to get his services last year, 2400 yards. A lot of money. A lot of money. 60% completion rate, 11 touchdowns to nine picks, did rush it for six touchdowns. Questions about his skill set. I remember going to those Michigan games and there would be like those five yards,

seven yard little plays that just need a touch and he's rifling things at his players. And the man has a cannon. He does. But you got to be able to taper that thing off from the different levels of throws. There you go. Kyle Whittingham, Urban, your guy. You know, I think when he finally saw him, I get the vibes that he looked at him. He looked at the coaching personnel that had past tense, had been set up around him and said,

this is not enough. You know, like we need to supplement this young man with better coaching more, more intensive one-on-one work if Michigan is going to be successful. Yeah, I've had a lot of conversations with Coach Witt about them. I'm not going to share some of them because that's between two good friends that work together. There are some concerns, but there's also, if God said, I'm going to go make me a quarterback, it's going to look a lot like Bryce Underwood. As far as size, athleticism, he's a great kid, he works at it.

Are there some things missing? Sure, he got thrust into a really, you know, someday they're going to look back at that situation, go, what in the hell is happening there? you know, it just made no sense. You're going to invest millions of dollars into a quarterback and then not have a full-time guy. You know, quarterback coaches with young quarterbacks, I mean, they're actually joined together.

You've seen that, Mark. Yeah. Dan Mullen, when he got, you know, whether it be Cam Newton, whether it been Timbo, whoever, you know, Dak Prescott, I'm sure, too, you turn and you bump into each other because that's how close a quarterback coach has to be with the young quarterback.

What are you looking at? What are you saying? I mean, it's nonstop. that position. Don't stop. And you trust a young kid into that environment. So I always take the side of the player. I'm going to say they'll develop them.

And like I said, if God said, I'm going to make me a quarterback, that's what they're supposed to look like. Hey, coach, I appreciate you, dog, taking the side of the player. I love you for that, man.

You're a real one for that. You're a real one for that, coach. He's always been a player's coach. He is. And that's why he had them dogs on his squad, too. I love it. That was never cutting corners, presented by Wendy's. Wendy's new spicy chicken sandwich is crisper, crunchier, more flavor pack than ever.

Wendy's, we're so back. And when we come back, we head to Seattle. We're joined by Washington head coach Jed Fish on the Triple Option, presented by Wendy's. Light it. Welcome back to the Triple Option. Rob Stone, Mark, Ingram, the second Urban Meyer. We take you now to Seattle, bring in the head coach at the University of Washington, Jed Fish. you guys just completed spring ball.

And coach has some questions about how that spring game went, right, coach? You mean like in 20, 26, you actually had a spring game? We did. In front of like people. Like you tackled and. Yeah. So you actually played a minute. You had a spring game where you actually played football.

We did. We had like four quarters and we had like people there. I think we had like 20,000 people, 18,000 people and tackled. And you tackled to the ground. To the ground. Yeah. Wow. Tackled to the ground.

Why that decision coach? You're old school, Jed. Because it's football. The only way to get good at football is to play football. You know, so the whole carnival experience that people are doing with their spring games doesn't really work for me. So we actually split the team in half. And, you know, straight up, starting left tackle with backup left guard, with starting center, with back up right guard all the way across,

and we played a ball game. Played a ball game. So that leads me to this next question, because I kind of, you know, we've known each other a long time. I followed your career. You coach for arguably the best it's ever been around the game of football.

It's like a who's who with Gannahan, Belichick, Spurrier, Brian Billick. That goes back a little bit. Is there bits and pieces, or is there one or two that you really, if we dig deep into the Husky program that you see it all over the place? I think you'd say offensively we are probably most similar to what we did with Big Vay and Shanahan.

You know, I still call it. So we're very much in that world of systematically. We're kind of like what I did with Sean and Mike. And then I would say probably culturally we have a little bit more hardball Belichick. to it that we were a little bit more serious about football in terms of how we kind of attack with our players. We're pretty much, you know, we're still tackling to the ground. We're still practicing long hours.

But we're kind of mixing all of it together. You know, I probably Sean's my number one influence. I thought that we had such good years together and I've known them for so long that I really believe that the way he runs his program is elite. So we kind of are similar to that. Coach, man, you guys have had a lot of ball players over there. Seven, Washington players got drafted to the NFL this year. What is your approach to balance college success and NFL futures?

Have you thought about that? Yeah, you know, I've spent, I'm 28 years coaching 14 NFL 14 college. Mm-hmm. So when we talk in our approach, program. Everything is about being a pro. That's our, did our slogan for six years, but it's, it's every day we talk about what the NFL does. We show them their NFL. I'm watching more NFL tape than college tape with our players.

We talk probably more about preparing for the combine, the draft, picking an agent, how to handle yourselves outside the building. We really make a huge emphasis on that and feel as if we have a great opportunity. I've been so fortunate to work for seven different NFL teams. So I feel like I know a lot of people in the league by now. So we're able to call upon a lot of different people for help and advice to try to really market our program and our players into becoming NFL guys. You know, what's amazing to me is a Big Ten guy.

And I know you're from the, I believe it, from the South. all of a sudden you wake up one day and the Washington Huskies are in the Big Ten conference. Yeah. And I was, you know, I'm so old school, I was really opposed of it, but this made the Big Ten, you, Oregon, U.S. and UCLA and the rise of the Big Ten Conference now is the number one in the league, I mean in the country.

Is it been good for Washington? Probably financially, but has it been good for it to have to get on that plane and go four or five hours across that country? Yeah, coach. I grew up in Jersey, but went to Florida, as you know, so I was a gator, you know. Gator. Multiple degrees, undergrad and my master's G8 for Coach Breyer. I remember that.

That's right. Would have thought of Washington as a big 10 school. You know, I think it was always the, you know, the PAC 12 was the PAC 12 or PAC 10, whatever it might have been back then. But I think it's great for us now. it's a challenge. We're a half share. We haven't had necessary the same financial support with our roster as other programs have had. We're still trying to kind of educate the Pacific Northwest outside of, you know,

Oregon's Nike deal. But for us, it's really about trying to get, you know, the donor base and the alumni base to understand the financial commitment to be in the Big Ten. And then it's a, it is challenging. It's a national conference. It's not a regional conference. So unlike, you know, the SEC where the flights are 40 minutes, you know, we're taking four and a half hour flights across the country.

We're, you know, playing one week in L.A. and the next week in Madison in a snowstorm. So I do believe it better gets you, it gets you better prepared for the NFL because, you know, when I was at the Patriots, we could be, you know, one week playing at the jets and then flying across the country and playing the chargers on a short week on a Thursday night. So I do feel we have that benefit, but it is a different world for the Huskies. I want to go another quick question about that because I dealt with a little bit. Did you, so I would always go east to west and we would go a day early to get them acclimated.

Is it the same going west to east or how do you do that? Yeah, the biggest challenge for us is that noon kickoff. Because that noon kickoff is 9 a.m. our body clock. So we go an extra day early there. I don't really think it helps too much, unfortunately. That 9 a.m. becomes a.m. pre-game meal. We're an afternoon practice team to begin with.

So that's been a tough acclamation. We played at Michigan this year. And it was 7-7 at halftime. And then I think we just didn't play really well in that second half. And we did at Indiana two years ago for a 9 a.m. kickoff and at Iowa for a 9 a.m. kickoff. And those three were probably our worst performances that we played all in our two years together. So it's certainly different going across the country, but we're still working at ways to acclimate of going a day, two days early. Coach, we talked about all the connections you have 14 years in NFL, 14 years in college.

But you were roommates with Eagles GM, Hyer Roseman. And what were those conversations like about your individual futures back in Gainesville when you was Gators? Yeah. Well, neither one of us at the time were affiliated with the football program, but both of us had these aspirations of becoming like the head football coach of one of them and the general manager of another. So we had multiple arguments about whose dream was actually crazy and who was actually reality. And it ended up both of us wound up getting reality. But those Saturday nights and Sunday mornings were some great arguments about like, man, you're crazy. Would you just go to law school and stop talking about this?

Like, what are you even, you know, how we would come down on draft weekend with like a clipboard of picks. I'm like, what are you doing, man? And then next to you know, he's one of the best general managers in all football. Thanks. Coach, how did you get into football, right? You didn't play it in high school. Instead, you were an all-state tennis player. So how did you somehow transition just into a love or appreciation for the sport

and now to being head coach of a Big Ten program? Yeah, well, my step, that was the head coach at Bergen Catholic High School in New Jersey. And Coach Meyer was certainly a test. That was one of the better programs in the, state, if not the best program in the state and a national brand. And so I kind of got brought up ball boying and watching film on my wall in our living room. You know, back then, it was 1986.

So, you know, I was waking up at whatever time driving, you know, drive it in for Saturday football games and then watching it being played on the wall in our family room off of, you know, 16 millimeter film or 8 millimeter film. helping him splice the tape. So that's kind of where the love came from. And then my dad said to me, what do you want to do for a living? And I said, I want to coach college ball. And he said, well, who do you think is the best at it? And I said, Steve Spurrier, it was 1994. And so he said, well, you might as well go apply to University of Florida and see if you can get in. That's kind of how it all happens. Wow. Well, I want to hit you with something that when this whole

NIL Transfer Portal, this world, arrived in college football. In my own mind, I would say, what if this happens? And it happened at Washington, your quarterback, people are, I don't know the whole story, but I kind of read from outside in, it's like, wait a minute, he got offered to leave, he left, you guys came back, can you walk us through it? And I love him as a quarterback, you know, and how you handled it, and the ability for you to adapt. and that's basically what you did.

Can you talk us through that a little bit? Sure. You know, we had the end of the year happened. We won our bowl game. We're kind of all spread out. You know, it's kind of like one of those tough deals. We had an early bowl game and we won 38 to 10 against Boise and then everybody went on vacation for Christmas break.

All the players got off and DeMond signed his contract to be a part of our program for another, you know, year and everything was great. and then we all came back for our first team meeting. And then when the team meeting ended, he called me and he said, coach, I think I, I think I need to go.

I need to go in the portal. And I was like, what are you talking about, man? And what happened was a program told him they'll pay him an extra $2 million if he goes in the port. And the kid's 19 years old. And,

you know, we were paying him a lot, but you had another $2 million on to anything. and he was like forced to put something out there. And then we spent about 24 to 36 hours going back and forth and talking about this is the right place for you. And you know, you have a contract and contracts mean something. And in the end, you know, he came back two days later. We didn't change anything.

We didn't give me any more money or anything like that. But what we did do is we talked to him about what a great opportunity it is to be a three-year player in the same program. and we got a chance to do someone super special. And what I told our team is, hey, this is like the NFL. Every now and then a kid's, a guy says, hey, I want to trade. And then you say, I'm not going to trade you. And then they come back and they love you. And, you know, or sometimes you have to franchise a guy or sometimes you have to put a certain

tender on a guy. And then you just keep it moving. And DeMond's come back and he's led our team. And he got the most amount of votes in leadership council last week. and I think he feels really good about his decision to return and got caught up a little bit. And some adults were trying to give him some advice differently than what he should be following. So I was asked to be on that commission with Coach Saban and Mac Brown. And I didn't really understand this whole antitrust exemption because without it,

there are no rules. And so you're telling us that a lot like when Coach Sweeney of Clemson said that some other coach went after his player when he wasn't in the portal. That happened. Oh, yeah. And did the NCAA get involved or did you just? Unfortunately not, Coach. There is no NCAA. There's no rules, coach.

Well, that was last year, right? And that sounds like full on tampering, coach. Oh, it was full on tampering, but it is what it is now. And, you know, I always say like when it comes to until they figure out the rules, until we know what rules to abide by, I think we're all working under this, you know, these ideas of like, we recommend you not doing something,

but it feels like it's just a recommendation at this point. And, you know, what they don't realize is how it affects the livelihoods of more people than they could ever imagine. You know, we got a full staff of, you know, 40 people probably work in our building. And, you know, 105 players. And all of a sudden, you let a program start,

call in your players and not being able to control it. And then that changes outcomes of games and, you know, your donors, your donors start getting, you know, pretty disappointed. And now, fortunately for us, Command is a, is a star. And he's a, he's a great person. And he's handled himself exceptionally well. I think he's grown from this. And he's going to get himself a great NFL career one day.

I hope we get to coach him for two more years. But, you know, I just think that. that hopefully the whole college football experience starts getting a little bit better with regulations. So we at least have some rules. Well, I'm going to turn it off to Mark and Robin a minute. But I'm going to tell you this, I admire the way you handled it because, you know, I've always been real defensive of players. Imagine that kid, someone telling them, you're 19 years old, Mark.

Two million dollars. Yes. And a fan base or someone wants to jump that kid's ass? No, no, I appeal to, at some point, they have to get tax exempt or antitrust exempt status so you can have a rule and enforce it rule. There are rules, but any rules that aren't enforceable, just look across society as chaos. I mean, that's, so I admire you for sticking with your player. I remember people coming out saying, how do you do that?

Shut the hell up, man. It's a 19-year-old kid. Exactly. I'll protect your player the best you can. Yeah. Ask them, would they leave their people for $2 million? It's nuts. Ask what they?

No, but yeah, I appreciate how you handled that too, Coach. But, hey, coach, man, I know this is your third year entering the season. When we look at the Huskies, man, what is the brand? What is the culture? What is the identity of the Huskies program that you want everyone to see? Oh, yeah. Well, yeah, we're going into year three. The first year was interesting.

You know, we had one returning, we had one returning starter from the year before when we got there. And I got hired mid-January when the portal was closed. So it was a little wild. We had 44 players for spring ball. And then we're able to build it up through a spring portal. As we all know, that's not how you want to build your team. But we say we're going to do it with Nash energy, Curry, Joy, and a lynch mentality.

So, you know, for the last. And then last year we got to nine wins, had a good year. and I feel like we'll be better this year, but nine wins were still a lot in the big 10 in year two. But we want to be Steve Nash energy. We want to have that. We want to high five. We want to pat each other on the back.

We want to celebrate every victory on the field. Every time we have a punch out, I want to see incredible joy. You know, ball finds energy is what we say. And then Steph Curry joy. Absolutely love the way Steph Curry plays the game. I'm a coach junkie. So Steve Curry is like the one guy that,

one of the guys that I try to read and listen to constantly about the way he does it. And then Marshawn Lynch mentality. You know, you've got to be, if you're not physical in the Big Ten, you're done. And if you can't run the ball on third and one, when they know you're going to run the ball or you can't score in the goal line when it's, you know, fourth and one on the one. That's why Jonah Coleman was such a great asset for us last year. that, you know, in 15 touchdown rushes.

But that's kind of the way we talk. So it's, you know, Nash Energy, Curry, Joy, and a lynch mentality. Oh, that our team picks that up. That's a lot of basketball coach, though. Why has basketball leaked into your football program? I think that, you know, it's a team sport, right? And it's more than being a basketball or a football. or baseball, whatever it might be,

there's a culture involved in every, in every program and every head coach wants their team to look a certain way. I just love the way growing up, the way Steve Nash constantly, constantly trying to make other people around them better. You know, he was a model of that, right? And he was always passing positive energy,

you know, back and forth. He was a conduit of positivity. So, I mean, I think there was a study one game. He had 236 high fives in one game. And, you know, I talked to our guys about like, how do we play like that? We got to do something different, right? Because we don't outpay players. We don't have the same roster.

You know, we had a, I was listening to what some teams were spending last year. And, you know, we were probably a quarter of that. So we have to do it with a certain love for one another. you know, you can't have a program like Florida did from 2005 to 2010 without a Marshaun Lynch mentality, but you also have to be able to love one another and you watch the way those guys would work. You know, I obviously followed the Gators considering I was a Gator. And you could just see that passion and that love and that joy that they had. And, you know, we want to have that as well.

It sounds like Will Ferrell and semi-pro love each other. What was his little catchphrase about love one another? Again, going back to the basketball. Hey, let's talk your program as we wrap this up right now. You mentioned you feel you guys are going to be better than nine and four last year. Really unique. You guys open up with a rivalry game, the Apple Cup, and taking on Washington State. You conclude with a rivalry game, Oregon, and the week before that is Indiana.

So you look at your schedule and how it lays out. How are you managing it? How are you going to tackle it? Yeah, you know, we kind of talk about each week in the offseason was a game, you know, so we had 12 weeks of an offseason program. Each week was a different mentality, a different game, you know, then we started spring ball. We had two, you know, non-padded practices and then 12 padded practices, and each one of those padded practice we considered a game. So, you know, we would say like the third, the first padded practice was Wazoo week. the last padded practice was Oregon game.

So we try to always get that mentality of like, we're not just practicing to practice. We're practicing to win this game at the end of this practice, did we or didn't we? We understand we got a lot of work ahead of us in this conference. You know, we host Iowa. We host Penn State. We go to Michigan State.

This year we don't have Ohio State or Michigan. Last year we had them both. But, you know, we got a heck of a scale. schedule, but we understand that. And we're a young team. We had six true freshman starters last year. We'll have another probably four to five true freshman starters this year. But all six true freshman starters came back.

So, you know, we have a very high retention rate. So, you know, we're going to be young in a lot of spots, but I think we're going to be good if we can stay healthy. Continuity. What a crazy concept in college football. Oh my goodness. Well, I'm glad you got it, Coach Fish. Jed Fish, head coach, University Washington. Thanks so much for spending some of your summer with us here on the Triple Option

presented by Wendy's. Thanks, coach. Light it. This spring, denim gets a softer, lighter update. Introducing Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg, a new fit that moves with you. It's everything you want denim to feel like for summer. Easy, breathable, and effortlessly cool. With a fit that creates natural movement and a wide leg that

feels modern, not overwhelming. Plus, that signature, wait, for this price, moment. Old Navy's drapy denim wide leg. Welcome back to the triple option presented by Wendy's. Now it's time for this moment, presented by NHTSA. Speeding catches up with you, paid for by NHTSA. There has been no bigger sporting moment this summer than the World Cup. The U.S. men's national team crashed out in the round of 16 to Belgium.

Mark and I have been soccer fans for a while. I don't know how long you've been a fan, Mark. How long have you been a fan? It's been about 20 years now. 20 years. Whoa, that's a long one. I started playing FIFA in high school and in college, fell in love with the game.

And then when I got a little bit of money, I traveled to World Cup in Brazil in 2014, followed the American team around. And then, you know, been kind of invested in the MLS since 2020. I've been to Premier League matchups. I've been to championship matchups in Wales. So for about 20 years now, I've been a football fan, and I love the sport.

We've had you for 20 years. Coach, we've had you for about 20 days. And you, like a lot of college football fans, got kind of pulled in, sucked in to this world of soccer. What was it that pulled you and what kept you around through the course of this tournament? Well, first what got me was you, you and Harley Lloyd and Lexi. you know, I just, I love you guys. I got to know you guys and I loved watching it. And then USA, if the USSA is playing anything, I'm going to watch it.

But I also, I'm going to say this, Mark, I know great teams and I know great athletes. That's been my entire life. It's phenomenal what those athletes can do. It's phenomenal when you see a team work together. And, you know, the USA did not play, you know, I'm here I am explaining to you about soccer. The last game, I just didn't feel it. The other games, wow. But I'm going to say this.

And I think I speak on behalf of a lot of college football fans because I sat with hundreds of them. I mean hundreds of them. I was in a couple environments where, and Shelly watched it with me. And she's obviously a huge college football fan. She became addicted like I did with the big crowds, the USA, but then also the damn game. I mean, my God, what those athletes can do, it's phenomenal. But you're going to lose me as a fan if they don't stop that. And what I'm talking about is to stop flopping around on the field.

And I know people joke around and say it's part of the game. Okay, fine. Then you're always going to be way behind the other sports. And I think that's unfairly the athletes that play the game. Because the athletes you play the game are great. You could solve that problem. If you go down and get out of the game. You're out of the game for a couple.

You know, that happens in football. If you're going to lay down on the ground, you have to leave the game for a while. So I know people can, I'd say that to people that I can see you guys. rolling your eyes at me, which is fine. No. Soccer's, you can't leave the field. Stocker's going to be fine with or without me as a fan. I get that.

Yeah, but you can't read the field, though, and they get back in. Well, unless the team's going to play with 10, you could play with 10 until your guy gets back on the field. But typically, if you leave the field, they're going to sub you out. You can't get back in. Okay. I don't. Once again, I got plenty of things that do in my life.

But if I really enjoyed watching soccer, I became a fan. I never was. But I'm a fan of great teams and great athletes, and I think it's unfair that everybody makes. Just look on the Internet. All people do is make fun of that crowd. Yeah. So stop doing that shit.

Get your out and play the game, man. They do it in NBA all the time. It's leaked more and more into NBA. You're right. You're right. They're not from the NBA coach? No, not like that, man. Not like that.

There's a couple games, Rob. There was every like every 20 seconds. Like, what are you doing? Yeah. Hey, I'm not defending it, Coach. To me, that's been an absolute blight on this sport for decades. And it is, it is for me, it's that one barrier that is preventing more and more Americans from accepting the sport and watching it. Because if you're new to it, I heard it.

Yeah. And you're seeing this diving and the rolling and this faking and the theater and the drama behind it. It's BS. It pisses you off as, I think, as an American viewer. It's, yeah. But, but, but, and I think this is more of Mark's point, like, it is. so ingrained in the DNA of some of these other nations that that's part of it. And the viewers kind of expect it. And I think that's almost like their telenovela. Like this is this is what

they want. This is what they expect. I hate it. I absolutely hate it as well. And you don't see it from Americans. Like if you're an American and you go down, you're down for a reason. And if you're not, then I'm with you. Get out. Off the field. I don't know how that changes. But I think, I think there could be some big brother type officiating, some real stern rules of like, hey, you're down and I stop play for you, you're off the field for two, three minutes, right? Like a power play almost. Yeah. If you think if you're that hurt, you know, but then again, it's like, well, what if the guy is hurt? Why are we punishing him and the player?

Because we can't, you know, like we don't have x-ray eyes. We don't have MRI eyes to look in and be like, oh, whoa, bro, really did tear his hamster. right we don't know these things but the thing is they they're trying to sell the foul right to get a card to get a free kick to get a penalty whatever the case may be but like if you go down there and you're rolling like you're in this cruciated pain like you have a compound fracture you can't get up and take the penalty like you can't get up and take the free kick or spread back on defense 30 seconds after you didn't get the call right yeah I get it so the last thing I want to add to is too and this is the other bitch you know that and once

And this is not fair of the athletes and teams because it was awesome. What's with the clock, man? Put the clock so it goes down and that's such bullshit. You know, you're sitting there watching. How much time's left? Well, it says 130, right? Or you have 90 minutes or something? 90 minutes.

And then it keeps going because of when's the game over? Stop his time. So there's my respect to the game, respect to the phenomenal athletes. Respect to the, what USA, our country did for the World Cup. I can't imagine any better than what Fox did and what everybody did. But there's a, you got a new fan sucked in. I hope I can watch it again. Yeah.

So let me throw this to a new fan, coach. You know, World Cups are every four years. Are you, are you, do we not see you for another four years? Are you going to be able to stick around for soccer for a little bit? Yeah. Are you going to watch some Premier League matchups in the fall? No. How about watching some MLS?

How about going to DC United game, right, Mark Ingram? Yeah, come support your boy in my business and in my investment, bro. I really loved watching. I really did. Yeah. I'm glad you liked it. I'm glad the nation has enjoyed it. It's not over yet. You know, we're in the quarterfinal round right now. Semis the final. We got a match today. Yes, you do. So what happens, Rob? What happens to the viewership now the USA's out? Is it serious hit? It's still growing. It's still setting records. It's insane. What the U.S. did was phenomenal off the field, you know, the fan base and engaging the nation and bringing millions and millions of more fans into the tent. to who accept it and love it and get it now, right?

Like, I feel like I've been saying to you for a while, coach, like, just come to a game. You'll understand it. And the beauty is you picked it up just via television. Again, I still want to get you to a World Cup game. Mark was able to. Mark, you and the wife and two of the kids went to see Messi, Argentina, Cape Verde, one of the games of the tournament. Man, I mean, amazing. You talk about environments post.

You talk about electricity. You talk about people stay. We're in our seats. people are standing the whole game. My daughter's like, I can't watch. Yeah, they're standing the whole game. They won't sit down. I'm like, babe, you got to stand on your seat.

This is part of it. It's part of the experience. You got to stand on your seat and watch. But, man, just going to those games, man, being the grain and the cultures, you see Cape Verde fans. They're sprinkled in the little small pocket behind the goal, but then you see the whole entire stadium. It's Argentinian fans.

And they played their hearts out, man. I was devastated that they lost like that at the end. But it was an amazing match, man. Argentina came back again. just what, two days ago, down two zero in the 78th minute. They scored three goals in 15 minutes. But I'm just so excited because I fell in love with the game in high school playing FIFA. You know, I didn't have an exposure like this.

I felt love playing FIFA, which drew me to going to matches and learning about players and going to World Cup games. But I'm just so excited that our nation got to experience that we have MIS, me as the new fans that love the sport, that kind of feel the energy for the sport. I just hope that it keeps, you know, I hope the momentum keeps building, you know, after the World Cup. Mark, let me ask you that, that energy inside Miami Stadium for that Argentina game, and I've been saying this for years, like college football and soccer, international soccer, like they're kissing cousins. They're very similar. Did it feel like an SEC type game, a SEC type atmosphere in there?

It did, 100%. I mean, just the, what's going on outside. the chance, the, you know, the fans, you've got Argentinians, you got Cape Birdians, what's going on outside, then you bring it inside, the chance. It's just, it's so exciting, bro. It's so exciting.

My kids are loving it. I'm loving it. My wife's loving it. My mom took my daughter to the Brazil game. That was in Miami. So, man, my whole family loves soccer and just to be a part of it and watch it and be in grinding the cold

and the love of the game, man. It's a beautiful sport. I'm glad that the country got to experience. I'm glad you were there. Coach, I have one last World Cup question for you. Because I'm curious your take on this. Again, as a new fan, right, as a new fan to international soccer, a new fan to the World Cup, this was the first time that we had these hydration breaks,

which effectively divided the game into quarters, right? So it's now turned into college football, right? There's four quarters, if you will. Did that bother you? Did that bother you? impact your viewing? Did you even care or even notice it? No, I actually enjoyed it. I never knew that was why they were doing it. But the people I was with who knew soccer, Ben, and I did explain that to me.

So I really didn't study it before, Rob. So the last thing I'm going to add, because you brought this out, is that if I coach soccer, there was so, when you see a team start to, you know, go down and they run plays where you can see how. actual development of a play, there's not enough of that. You know, there's too much of that. You're out there and they're just kicking it back and forth for, you know, 45 seconds and then they kind of slow down the field. But I understand you'll wear their ass out, too, the athletes. It's my favorite part of the game is the highlights around the goal, obviously, but when you can

physically see, it only happens a couple times a game, the team pushed down the field and create a play. And that, that's, I mean, I stood up when I was watching. watching that. But it just doesn't happen. It doesn't happen enough. Those are like counters and stuff. Like, you know, counters. Like, but yeah, I'm glad that you liked the coach. I am too. I enjoyed it. I love the athletes. Oh, man. I love the athletes. My God. What they're able to do with their feet, bro, and heading the ball and crossing the ball. Why did our, why did our goalie go out way out there? He was tripping, dog. And then he stubbed his toe. Like, bro, it was terrible. So that's a major F-up, right?

Yes, it was. To leave the goal like that. It was. And that's... And our captain gets mossed in a sport because you can't even use your hands. Like, he can... I know. I know. It was like... I'm just happy what the team did. I don't want to talk about that loss. I'm happy what they did,

bringing the country together. Bringing fans, bringing new fans. Let's keep the momentum going. Go USA. Good on you. Go USA. And good on you, Coach, for opening up your heart to soccer. We're glad you're part of family. Hopefully we can keep you around a little bit longer. That does it for the triple option. Follow, subscribe. Rate us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast as well as

across social media, 3X option show. Submit your questions in the comments to have them answered on the show. As always, thanks to our wonderful sponsors, Wendy's and Nitsa guys. We'll see you again soon.