Quarterback Quests and College Gridiron Shake-Ups: Jerseys, Draft Dreams, and Controversial Rings

In this episode we talk go all over the college football map: from the sizzle of alternate jerseys to the seismic shifts in the transfer portal landscape. We're dissecting Nike's N7 initiative jerseys stirring the pot in fan circles, and we're tossing our two cents into the ring about NCAA's new rules. Think the college game is inching towards an NFL-esque future? You’ll want to hear our take. Plus, spring games have revealed their share of rising stars and we're spotlighting the ones you'll be hearing about all season long.

Quarterbacks, quarterbacks, quarterbacks—everyone's favorite topic, right? We're unpacking the quarterback carousel under Georgia's Kirby Smart, where elite recruits face the ultimate decision between development and playing time. The paths of past and present signal-callers under Smart's regime come under the microscope, as we debate the merits of bench-warming in a powerhouse program. And of course, the NFL draft looms large. We  discuss how trades could ripple through the ranks of college football's finest poised to make the leap to the pros.

Finally - let's chat rankings and conference affiliations. Ever ponder how they skew our perception of teams? We're peeling back the layers on this topic, exploring how a stellar team outside the limelight of the SEC might fare. And yes, we're engaging with you, our listeners, in the fiery forge of the comment section—your passion is what fuels this show. Remember, our discussions are as much about the heart of the game as they are about the X's and O's. So, plug in and let's get into it—it's all part of the rich tapestry that is college football on 4th & Wrong!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:23

Outro Music. What's going on everybody? Welcome back to Forth and Wrong the live pod here on our YouTube feed.

Speaker 2: 0:41

You get more and more shit in your background every single time that we meet.

Speaker 1: 0:49

This was here last week. It's a little more zoomed in this week. I moved the jersey over behind me so you could see it displayed in all its glory.

Speaker 2: 0:56

You didn't get the turquoise one that they came out with this weekend.

Speaker 1: 0:59

Not a big fan of the turquoise one. Honestly. I always thought that that was like a Alabama probably doesn't do this because they don't have many alternate jerseys, which I appreciate, but I thought it would always be like something that the recruits like to wear but they would never actually wear on the field, and that was the first time they ever wore it on the field. And I'm just I know the ultimate plan is probably to wear that in some game.

Speaker 2: 1:23

The teal one. I thought that was just for quarterbacks.

Speaker 1: 1:26

Well, it wasn't the game, but I'm saying I'm thinking they're probably like testing it to see, because they've never even worn them on the field. It's always been like a recruit photo thing. So I don't know if, like the players, wanted to wear them and so they let like the for recruiting pictures.

Speaker 2: 1:50

And, yeah, are legit, like the georgia one. The georg, the all-white georgia one is sick, like they should do that tomorrow yeah, but they. I don't know why they won't. Um, I don't know, that's that. I didn't know that y'all did that. That would be atrocious.

Speaker 1: 2:06

I saw you guys got rings.

Speaker 1: 2:09

Yeah, so to go back on the turquoise real fast, but I'll get to that. So apparently the turquoise color is a Nike deal with Native American tribes. Apparently it's the color that represents all Native American tribes. So anyone that has a Native American mascot, like our basketball team, has worn the turquoise jerseys, like in games, a lot. I don't know like it's probably something they have to do just to keep good relations. In seven exactly, evan grimes has it in the chat. It's called the in seven. Don't know what that means, don't know what it stands for. But there are other colleges that have the turquoise as well. I hope we never wear them in a game. Let's get to the rings. Rings are the rings. Are everybody's a little bit testy about the rings here?

Speaker 2: 2:52

Well, first off you know my stance. Let's welcome in everyone to the show. Welcome in. How are you doing? Look great too.

Speaker 1: 3:09

Thank you, I wore a short sleeve shirt for the first time in like I don't know six months. So you're not in baton rouge.

Speaker 2: 3:11

Yet I'm not in baton rouge. We haven't even talked about that. We got a lot to talk about we do.

Speaker 1: 3:13

It's only been a week job. I thought we did talk about that on here last week, though maybe I don't know we also, we didn't talk about our new ranking well, we don't need to. I think I put it out on social media for everyone to see, I think we're the top 157 college football podcasts on itunes. So and I don't think I've ever worked for a company that could say that they were at 157 when I was there, like I'm I am very happy for, for those of you that missed it, we found.

Speaker 2: 3:47

Chris Gordy is the one that sent it to me sure he appreciates you saying that I'm sure he does the. He's still in the Facebook group. So like I love Gordy, but I will never forget. Like right after we got like let go from sds, he posted, somebody posted was like dude, they fired marler and he was like, well, I mean, this is like the one time I like I've ever wanted to be like I got I quit fired, or like yeah, I didn't get fired.

Speaker 2: 4:17

I was laid off like that, like from stepbrothers. Yeah, you wouldn't know the difference, would you dad? But uh, someone was like well, what's his new podcast? And Gordy, without hesitation and I love Gordy to death without hesitation he throws up a link to a pod that I was on with him and he's like you can catch him here on Lockdown SEC and I was like what a fucking unbelievable move company, man company man before we get further into the episode, this is episode 7 of Forth and Wrong.

Speaker 1: 4:46

Today, april 22nd 2024. We got the NFL draft this week. We're going to talk about it. We got more spring games from this past weekend to talk about. We got some updates to the transfer portal Not as crazy of a portal as everyone was like Everyone's, like brace yourself, and it's like I think there's like four difference makers in the portal right now, maybe at most. Yeah and so, and many of them I mean not surprisingly, because it's the portal have maybe some issues that come along with them. For example, cormani mcclain, former five star recruit. Everyone lauded uh dion in colorado for landing him. His options currently are USF, ucf and Memphis.

Speaker 2: 5:26

No way.

Speaker 1: 5:28

Apparently.

Speaker 2: 5:30

That's what.

Speaker 1: 5:31

On3 said. Well there's a lot of secondary players, like yesterday.

Speaker 2: 5:36

So I'll take him and all of his baggage. I don't give a shit.

Speaker 1: 5:40

Yeah, you can finally find us on Twitter at 4thandwrongpod. That is the number four. Fourth and wrong pod, and on YouTube you can search the number four as well. Fourth and wrong podcast. Not to be confused with the word fourth and wrong.

Speaker 2: 5:56

Yes, we got that worked out, I think.

Speaker 1: 5:58

Okay, good.

Speaker 2: 5:59

Yeah, it was a nice guy. I think we just had a misunderstanding of what was going on.

Speaker 1: 6:02

Yeah, I was very confused. He was being nice but he was also coming at us and I was like we both have the same, I don't know. Anyways, I think it's worked out. You can catch replays of the show on YouTube If you're not watching live. We go live on Mondays in the offseason at usually 8pm. I'm going to put this one on me five-year-old now she's. She's like an 8 pm bedtime now she. So I can't quite make 8 pm. Same z's, uh. And of course, the podcast version can be found on spotify, apple podcast and wherever you listen to your podcast, go give us five stars. All right, let's get into it. You want to talk about the rings first?

Speaker 2: 6:38

everybody's mad there's like there's a ton of stuff that I want to talk about, I want want to talk about, so I'm going to tell you the stuff that I have on my list. I want to talk about Michigan and comparing them to other great teams of all time, and I'm gonna do I'm gonna do a little bit of a deep dive on that this week.

Speaker 1: 6:55

Okay, and I also want to talk about the fact that I don't we don't talk enough about how their new quarterback potentially his name is orgy. Yeah, that's, that's an interesting one. We have.

Speaker 2: 7:06

Honestly, we've toned down the orgy talk. Yeah and that's something I want to change this.

Speaker 1: 7:11

Yeah, well, this fall orgy's coming to ann arbor coming to ann arbor. Uh, I fucked that up anyway um.

Speaker 2: 7:24

So I guess throwing off here. Uh, we'll talk about some spring games. I was about arch manning, michigan, your ring.

Speaker 1: 7:31

Talk um oklahoma texas a and m had a spring game.

Speaker 2: 7:38

They did they did um we're missing a ton of stuff. Oh, you know, one thing I do want to talk about is jay jayden jaylen rashada.

Speaker 1: 7:48

Oh, jayden rashada. Yeah, we can talk about him as well. He's in the portal.

Speaker 2: 7:50

We'll get that to the portal talk yeah, portal combat, yeah, um, because I have a lot of feelings on that which I don't understand. Like we'll get to it, we'll get to it, but you start the show. You made the doc that I can never find. Um, because I'm technologically impaired.

Speaker 1: 8:06

And we'll start from there. We'll start. Let's start with a couple things before we actually get to the on-field. What happened this weekend? So the NCAA rules we talked about a couple weeks ago two-minute warning and the communication to the headset that is in place for this season Right, so that's a go. It's no longer a potential that's happening. So I don't really think the two-minute warning thing is going to change the game that much. I mean, do you?

Speaker 2: 8:37

It's going to make it less watchable.

Speaker 1: 8:41

So the rule already this past season was that after two minutes anyways, they actually stopped the clock.

Speaker 2: 8:48

So it's, I don't know, but because they stopped the clock, tyler, because On first downs they stopped stopping the clock after always having that as the rule. Yeah, they started stopping. They started not stopping the clock for reasons we don't know, because they needed to have the games go quicker. Because that's one of the main things people have always complained about with the College Football is that there's too much game. There's too much of a game I don't want to watch as much. So they had that go For sure. That went by the wayside, and now they're saying you still get three timeouts, but you also get a two-minute warning, which the original reason for.

Speaker 1: 9:28

Which is going to give us more commercials.

Speaker 2: 9:30

Right, which is the only reason they're doing it. And it's weird to me because it's like two things. It one shows for years and years and years. We heard from the NCAA that it was like oh man, I mean we can't just rewrite the rule book? I mean, can you imagine how long that would take? It would be crazy. And now they're like hey, by the way, can we have this done by August? Of course we can. Of course we can, because we're going to make more money with it. The other thing is it kind of feels like they, in a bad attempt, tried to Trojan horse this thing into effect by saying, hey, you're going to have communications with the headset, which I think is a great move. I don't understand why. I don't know why they they wouldn't do that in the first place but then also to say we're gonna do that, while also the two-minute warning, it's like just stop pretending that any of this is for the good of the game or the fan yeah, it's.

Speaker 1: 10:22

It's disappointing how fast it used to be. What we loved about college football was not only just like the connection you have with the school, perhaps if you went there, or just like the passion tree of the game, and it's just so quickly moving to the nfl model that, yeah, it's going to be basically one in the same. It'll be like the minor leagues of the nfl essentially, which it always has been in a sense, but it's like totally moving away from the college aspect of football right, and becoming more just the nfl at this point. So, um, eventually, my guess is the portal will be exactly like free agency. Maybe these kids have to sign like two-year deals with a school and then they get the portal.

Speaker 2: 11:01

It'll all move that way well, they already also came out this week with the. Or maybe it was like last week where the NCAA now says that you can transfer and be eligible immediately, no matter what.

Speaker 1: 11:14

Yeah, I don't really know. It's almost like the NCAA is just like oh, so you guys like don't want to listen to us on the NIL stuff.

Speaker 2: 11:22

We're just going to keep making it worse for you until you Right, well, oh, so you guys don't want to listen to us on the NIL stuff. We're just going to keep making it worse for you, right, right, well. It also feels like it's like if the incident relay is saying here's all these things we stood by forever and ever and ever, and all of a sudden it's like they're all going to be changed at once. It feels like there has to be some sort of breaking point to where things turn back around. So, for instance, if you're going to keep pushing and saying, alright, you know what, here's the deal, this is not legal, this is legal, you can do this, you can do this.

Speaker 2: 11:50

And, to be clear, we're not talking about the two minute warning and the helmet comes. That's totally different. I'm talking about the things that they stood by as like their fucking fake morality and values they stood on forever and ever and ever, now saying, oh no, this is fine. It does feel like they're doing it almost like an intentionally, or washing their hands like, well, who cares, there's nothing else, we're going to do about it. But I will also say I don't know what the tipping point is going to be, whether it's going to be like coaches and programs taking a stand and being like you know what that guy, or like this type of player. Taking a stand and being like you know what that guy or this type of player? I mean, there's a guy that LSU is going after right now. Potentially it's a defensive tackle and that's the only position they're going to go after in the portal. He's a three-year starter for Michigan State.

Speaker 1: 12:37

I cannot remember his name. I want to go for some DBs, I don't know, just a suggestion. But go ahead.

Speaker 2: 12:41

Yeah, they need it, but Just a suggestion. But go ahead. Yeah, they need it, but a defensive tackle for Michigan State. He's a three-year starter 6'3", 3'10", 34 career starts All the numbers are there. Fantastic, played in a Power 5 school and a Power 5 conference, all that kind of stuff. And this is the fourth time he has entered the portal. He's come back to Michigan State every single time, but it's the fourth time he's entered the portal. He's come back to Michigan State every single time, but it's the fourth time he's entered the portal. Dude, if that isn't exactly what I would have done. I mean, chris, it says here you entered the portal at 3.30 in the morning, right after you put up a fucking Taking Back Sunday lyric on your.

Speaker 2: 13:21

Instagram story. Yeah, that's me, what's up.

Speaker 1: 13:23

I lost a big parlay.

Speaker 1: 13:25

I need more in io money and you're gambling yeah, okay, first off, I'm not um, yeah, no, it's just, I agree, at some point they'll get to a spot where they're like, okay, this is far too out of control to for anybody to be able to control this. You know we're talking about the portal. You know there was this big lead up to this new spring window that opened up the day after we recorded last week and all the you know talking points were that it was going to be a crazy entry. We don't really see that. We saw some people go in Now, granted, there were a lot of big programs that had spring games this weekend that are now you're seeing people like florida state had like a couple guys go in today after the game, kind of realizing where they're at on the depth chart or whatever. Yeah, so you know there's gonna be guys from texas, usc, oklahoma, michigan that are gonna do the same thing.

Speaker 2: 14:18

maybe you'll get bigger names, but hasn't been too crazy, I would say um so I kind of wonder if, like I mean one, we all thought that that's like like I think is, we have a tendency to become like prisoners of the moment in general, right, especially with sports, uh, media and sports like fandom and all that kind of shit. But like I could see how, when january hit and you have the window, the portal open and all that kind of stuff, and then you have this crazy turn of events where you don't have an SEC team in the national championship, which is just, at the very least, different, seven days or so after the season's over, saban retires, which means the portal opens. Then you got to go fight, so then the dominoes all start falling. I think it's very easy for us to be like sure, something crazy is going to happen. It just so happened this time that Josh Pate was the one that was spearheading it. We all just believed Maybe it happens in the summer. I don't know. It has not been anything remotely as bad as we thought.

Speaker 1: 15:27

Is there a transfer portal that opens in the summer? I'm sure there is, but I think everyone needs it.

Speaker 1: 15:33

Yeah, oh yeah. He says for those just listening, it's not that crazy because you don't have kids going from SEC to SEC schools. That's true. It's going to be interesting to see what happens. So if you're a school like Alabama, well, if you can't pick the best league of talent, then move to other schools in the Southeast. That's what worries me. It's like okay, florida State, miami, clemson. I saw a guy from a big four-star recruit, o'lyman from Clemson, and I was like SEC schools, willyman from Clemson today, like SEC schools will just pick all other Southeastern schools. I mean sure. And then too, like if an SEC player wants to transfer, he's like, okay, well, I could go to stay in the Southeast and go to these schools. So it's an interesting dynamic that's added in the spring window.

Speaker 2: 16:24

What about the kid Parrish that went from Ole Miss to Miami? Now back to Ole Miss, like, which is stupid? In and of itself, but at the same time, it's like I tell you what the biggest takeaway I had and I was all over this shit when it was happening in to Bama in January is everyone was like that was the whole thing, the whole narrative, which was like it's. Ali's roommate.

Speaker 1: 16:46

Okay.

Speaker 2: 16:47

So that was the whole narrative. That was like oh well, you know, like Bama fans are just bitching and moaning about it because they're not able to get what's like. You know, these players right now Like shut up, shut up, you'll be able to do it again in April and blah, blah, blah, and it that's not the same, because everyone else is able to pick off your roster while the portal was closed. You were the only one that was like hey, by the way, like you know what I mean. So so then the portal doesn't open up fully. Back to you.

Speaker 2: 17:13

I think that'll be one of the first things that's changed with with Greg Sankey, because I understand why he was trying to do it. I think it is a tremendous backfire this year because of the thing you want, no matter what and this is going to sound stupid to a lot of people and it's going to sound real dumb coming from somebody that has cheered for Alabama his whole life but the thing you want more than anything in college football and I believe this is how they try to operate for the most part is a competitive balance. It's what you want in all sports. You want it to be somewhat fair.

Speaker 2: 17:46

Now, if it's a competitive balance between Power 5 teams or if it's a competitive balance between Elite teams that are going to compete for a championship Like, versus A competitive balance between Ohio State and Toledo. Sure, I wouldn't think that that is the same Like, same model that people are going after. But I do think you're trying to create A competitive balance between teams like Bama and Georgia, tennessee and Georgia. You know what I mean. I think that would be. I think it was an oversight by Greg Sankey in this one and it only affected one team and I don't think anyone's sad about that outside of Tuscaloosa, but I think it's very, very clear and objective to say that's exactly what happened.

Speaker 1: 18:23

Well, there are plenty of pretty, pretty big names in the portal right now that they wanted to, so I'll list them for you. Come on, mclean, that's one. We started there. We talked about him. Damian Martinez, running back from Oregon state all. American last year 2000 plus career rushing yards. It sounds like he's probably gonna go to Miami.

Speaker 2: 18:44

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 18:44

It's I always's probably going to go to Miami. Yeah, I always find it so interesting with these. I mean, it's so clear. They're like Jaden Rashad is hitting the portal, he's probably going to go to Georgia. It's like he just got in the portal. How do you know he's already going to Georgia?

Speaker 2: 18:54

Right, I thought that was crazy. Can we talk about that one for a second?

Speaker 1: 19:09

Yeah, so if you don story of jayden rashada, he's the kid who was committed to miami out of high school, decommitted, committed to florida.

Speaker 1: 19:12

There were rumors that they offered him like an 11 million dollar in il deal, 13, 13 million dollars, and it was like it was like all the front true, it was because it quickly became obvious him and his family that he was never gonna get that money. Yeah, so then I think, like, wasn't it in the fall? Or like when he showed up in the summer, like he just never? He like got on campus and then never actually like went to class to allow him to still, like, remain open as a recruit, and then he went to arizona state, played in three games, got injured. In those three games he had 485 yards, four touchdowns, three picks. So now he's in the portal. Sounds like george's his destination. You take it from here okay.

Speaker 2: 19:51

So, first off, I remember doing a story about this and it's so funny to me that florida was like this. This is like the very beginning of all. Right, this is going to be a bidding war and and and we were talking about this about a year ago, which is like all right, it's gonna be a bidding war. And we were talking about this about a year ago, which is like all right, it's going to be a bidding war, and you see how this is going. So it's going to be very similar to the NFL. It just makes the most sense that it would be right. So what are the positions in the NFL that get the most pay Quarterback? And then you talk about what Offensive linemen and D linemen and probably not in that order Receivers are there too now.

Speaker 2: 20:23

Right, so you're probably going to see teams pay recruits in similar fashion. Now it also reminds me of and Jay is bringing this up here $13 million. We're not joking. This is not like an exaggerated or embellished number. I did a whole fucking video on it. I'll find it and post it, but it was dead serious. I did a whole fucking video on it. I'll find it and post it, but it was dead serious. You ever seen the Shane Gillis sketch where he does the whole thing about when they were voting on the age of consent.

Speaker 2: 20:55

I think he's right, because that would be a tough day for the fellows. Imagine going up first on that one. He's like first up. Age of consent, rhode Island. And he's like Rhode Island votes 12. Ew, gross dude. He's like Rhode Island votes 12. Ew, gross dude. It's the worst one to go first on. That's what Florida reminds me of, when they were like you're a four-star, not the number one overall quarterback, not a five-star. A four-star top 100 quarterback. They were like how about 13 mil brother? He's like fucking done yeah.

Speaker 1: 21:26

Let me sign on the line that it does.

Speaker 2: 21:27

Sign right now. Now going back to this Evan, I want you to chime in on here, okay, or any other Georgia fans can too, but I want you to do it in an objective way, because Georgia getting this kid says one thing, and one thing only to me. It doesn't say anything about their roster to me. It doesn't say anything about them actually wanting jay, jay, jaylen, jayden rashada to me at all. What it says to me is kirby is and will always be tom petty, the pettiest coach in college football. There's no reason to go after this kid at all.

Speaker 2: 22:07

Unless you're wrong and they don't think, gunnar Stockton's the guy which all I saw after their spring game was like Gunnar Stockton's that dude. There was a small contingent of people on social media which is not real life, but they were talking about how that guy might push for playing time this year with Beck. Beck is going to be most likely a top 10 pick in the draft next year.

Speaker 1: 22:28

Yeah, two Heisman guy Right.

Speaker 2: 22:33

But that whole thing going to get Rashada, and I don't even know the point they're making. I don't even know the point they're making about what just get going to get rashada georgia, like in general.

Speaker 1: 22:47

I think you're talking about the fans. Um, yeah, I just it could. And if you're rashada, why would you? I don't know why you would go to georgia like if you were the starter at arizona state until you got hurt, right, and then you go to a school where you know you're not playing this year and then they have a pretty entrenched number two guy you already had a guy that was behind Beck transfer out. I don't know, it just seems like a weird move. Maybe he just wants to pick up the chip and then move on again. I don't know.

Speaker 2: 23:17

Who knows, it's a good spot to get developed. Maybe I will say this. I will say this Kirby Smart needs to thank his lucky stars for Carson Beck Because, by the way you signed Puglisi last year right, who was an Elite 11 kid, four-star quarterback, ranked 10th nationally at his position, 143rd overall.

Speaker 2: 23:47

You also got a kid next year in 2025. That is a let's see, he's a 12th. That is Ryan Montgomery. They just got a kid from him not that long ago. I feel like they got somebody from 2026. It was like the number one player in Montgomery's class.

Speaker 2: 24:01

Yeah, there you go In 2026, jared Curtis. He's the number one player in the country for that class. I will say this a bazillion times and I don't care how it sounds. I said think he was a high four star, right? Actually, I know he wasn't.

Speaker 2: 24:16

If you're a five star quarterback or an elite quarterback, what has Kirby Smart done to show he is going to do the best thing for your career? Now, before anyone gets mad, I am fully aware of the Stetson Bennett story. Stetson Bennett was awesome. He was the best quarterback on that roster. He should have played, probably should have played more in 2020. But awesome, he was the best quarterback on that roster. He should have played, probably should have played more in 2020.

Speaker 2: 24:51

But what did we see when he first started in 2020? And he's getting his feet wet, thrown under the bus, mainly by the fans, not by, not by Kirby and, and they and Kirby and what's his name? The old OC Munkin. They stuck with him and I thought that was awesome. I thought that was such a good, like deserved middle finger to like media fans, naysayers, all that kind of stuff where it's like hey, you guys all said we should start somebody else. We stuck by this guy through and through and he won us back-to-back national championships. Now again I say if you're a five-star elite quarterback, what is making you go play for a Kirby smart team? Because we have seen over and over again that he doesn't give a shit about those like about rankings or development. We saw it with Jacob Eason at the start of his career. We saw it with Justin Fields, we saw it with what's his name? Yeah.

Speaker 1: 25:35

JT Daniels. We saw it over and over and over again.

Speaker 2: 25:39

And two things can be true at the same time. They could be developing quarterbacks and doing a good job. Carson Beck has developed because he was there for two or three years without getting a lot of playing time and now he's in a system that he understands and blah blah. But if you're an elite recruit that's one of the reasons why dylan rayola probably didn't want to go there, because he wasn't going to sit there and wait for forever and that's, that's great, and that's again. Two things can be true at the same time. But if you're an elite quarterback, why are you going to Georgia under Kirby Smart?

Speaker 1: 26:09

Well, I mean, we'll see. I think, if Beck goes where we think he will in the draft, I mean, I think that's obviously a thing that you would look at as a recruit and say, well, they're developing their players to make it to the first round. Back-to-back, it would be two in a row- and if you're an elite?

Speaker 1: 26:25

and if you're an elite athlete, you probably think you're gonna be the best, no matter where you go, true? So I don't know, but I, I, I think you could just, in this day and age, stack as many talented guys on your roster and things will just shake out. You know that half of them will never play there and you just deal with it when it comes. And you know, just stack talent, and that's what Kirby's done the best at over the last five years.

Speaker 2: 26:50

And maybe it's something too that I'm missing or like not seeing the big picture on, because I do think for Rashad's sake, it's a really good move, because if he's not going to start this year, right, and this is a stopgap for him to go somewhere else, why not go there? I'm sure you'll get paid, but also go up against elite competition at that position and go up and play against the best players in the country, because there's not a better roster in all of college football than than at uga. So practicing against that every day, right, yeah, so yeah, I mean, I, I think, I think and evan makes a good point here too Good O-line, good talent around you. You're going to win. But Chris makes a good point. I will say this I think this is also a situation where you could switch the narrative of what Kirby's doing, because I think what the last two examples he's going to have Stetson Bennett, what he did, going from nothing to the NFL, and then Carson Beck, potentially being a first-round pick.

Speaker 2: 27:43

This is the kind of QB development I've loved forever. This is what they did with Aaron Rodgers. This is what you saw with Jordan Love. It is okay to sit as a freshman, develop and then get to the league or start in year, three or four.

Speaker 1: 27:58

Yeah, it's just a different ballgame these days.

Speaker 1: 28:01

These kids don't think that way currently. Maybe there'll be enough. Carson Beck's a great story, like he stuck it out. He got his chance and now he's. He had a great year last year and now he's stuck out one more year. Now he's getting paid to do that. Let's not get it twisted. But you know, hopefully this year, if he has a year he wants, you're gonna be competing for a national championship. You're gonna go first round. You're gonna be in the talk for heisman, yeah, and who knows if that happens, if he transfers because he's sick of sitting behind stetson.

Speaker 1: 28:30

So, um, anyways, a couple other guys that are in the portal that are big names you may remember from recruiting. Jacoby matthews, safety from texas a&m, is in the portal. Uh, the number one receiver for penn state, keandre lambert, smsmith, is a pretty hot item this offseason. Tyler Williams from Georgia he was a high four-star receiver freshman last year. Only played in two games, but very highly recruited. He's in the portal. Nigel E Kelly one of the top-rated edges coming out of high school went to Miami. He's in the portal.

Speaker 1: 29:00

So there are some guys. Jason Zandamela was a recruit that came in for spring and is already transferring out of USC, jason Zandamela. He was the number one O-lineman coming out and he's the number one O-lineman in the portal now. So there are a couple guys out there, but not as many as we thought. And you know, the big dogs have had their spring games, they know where their weaknesses are and I think most coaches are going to always think that their weaknesses are in the trenches. Those top O-line and D-line will probably get pretty big in IL deals. I would think you want to get into some of the spring game stuff.

Speaker 2: 29:37

I don't want to break down most of the game, I just want to A&M 20 starters were out.

Speaker 1: 29:46

Not much to take from the game.

Speaker 2: 29:47

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 29:47

Hunter Wegman did play in the game, but he's recovering from a foot injury and he was 5 of 14 for 47 yards. I don't know that it makes much sense. I do want to say one thing, a name to remember. Florida State thought they were getting this guy out of the portal, but former Purdue Edge Nick Skorton. He's going to be a dude. Remember the name. Five tackles, three and a half tackles for loss and a pass breakup in the game. So Nick Skorton from Texas A&M. Remember that name. I think he's going to have a big year. Texas. Everybody wants to see Arch Manning play. I don't think he disappointed. 19-25, 355 passing yards, three touchdowns, two 75-yard touchdowns. One to Isaiah.

Speaker 1: 30:35

Bond one to DeAndre Moore. But is Texas, like even the third string guy, trey Owens, 14-25, 228 yards, three touchdowns, like is the defense? Maybe a concern for Texas?

Speaker 2: 30:50

I don't think there's a takeaway from spring games anymore that I'm just going to react to, unless it's something I can use in my narrative to piss people off or build my own self-esteem. You know what I mean? I don't think so. The Arch Fanning stuff I thought he looked great. I saw my buddy, jd Piquel, posted something about how he was like. You know All that. Arch was only ranked this high. If he had a different last name he wouldn't have been the number one overall player that can go to die now. I still disagree with that, and mainly because of this. Arch manning was one of the top three to five overall recruits in the history of recruiting and the competition he played against was dog shit like like a real small private school in louis.

Speaker 2: 31:43

Right, I don't really, as somebody that's a lifelong native of Louisiana and been a huge fan of Louisiana high school sports as long as you've known me, tyler, and you know that to be true I still think that that was a big bump. People talk about the Bama bump or the UGA bump or whatever. The Manning bump for a quarterback has got to be pretty significant. That being said, he looks fantastic and I love that. And again, it goes back to something I love, and we just talked about Carson Beck, talked about Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love, and I really can't. There's got to be way more examples than just that and I can't believe that I'm having to like rack my brain for that because it's such a it seems to work out very well. So him sitting for what will most likely be two years I think you might see him get some playing time this year, but like I love it, like, like good for him, man. Like I tell you what, what I love about Arch Manning. Like, all this aside, he went and visited.

Speaker 2: 32:40

I think that the main schools you talked about were like Bama, georgia and Texas, and I said from the beginning I was like that kid should go to Texas because one, the NIL money is going to be crazy, and then two, he's going to get developed by Sark and that's the best offense you could be in. And he went and he sat and he waited. He heard all the shit talk from people, especially after last year's spring game, and all he did was work and I there's. There's really something to be said about doing something even your uncles didn't do, which is going to college, putting your head down and working your ass off until you, you know like you get to where you want to be, and that's what he's doing and look, let's be honest.

Speaker 1: 33:18

I mean I'm pretty sure that both of the last two years, quinn yours has gone out for multiple weeks mid-season. Yeah, I don, and you know those are obviously freak things that happen. But, like I guarantee, we see Arch at some point in the regular season having to play in a big moment and it'll be interesting to see what that looks like Because, to your point, spring games could be like skewed towards one side of the ball. They're trying to work on some things. They're playing very vanilla defense. You just never know. I very vanilla defense, you just never know. I'm not a Nexus guy like that. I'm not going to look at the coverage and be like, oh yeah, they're not hiding the safety, whatever. I don't know that kind of shit. Michigan it sounds like there's a quarterback battle. Alex Orji, we're obviously Team Orji, I've never been a huge fan of Orji.

Speaker 1: 34:04

It's not for everybody.

Speaker 2: 34:06

But I did love watching him on camera.

Speaker 1: 34:07

You know what I mean? Oh, right, right, you couldn't be, you couldn't play with Orgy, but you could watch.

Speaker 2: 34:16

Orgy. I love watching him and watching Orgy. I would say, as long as you're not asked to hold the camera while he's while orgy is playing or while orgy is on, like I feel like that that cause that would be, then you miss all the excitement and also it's gotta be like kind of like Ooh, what do they think about you? They're asking you to hold the camera for orgy. You know what I mean, right? Not athletic enough, no not at all.

Speaker 1: 34:46

Something for sure, yeah, 100 percent. Uh, florida State I will touch on this. I did watch a little bit of it before I went to the Braves game on Saturday, which is a good time. Dju, uh, he looks solid. I mean he's only been on campus since January so I think he'll probably look a little bit better as he gets more time in the system. But kind of reminded me just watching DJU at any point he, you know, he looked really good at times and he looked hesitant at times. We'll see Marvin Jones Jr transferred in from Georgia. Florida State fans always wanted him to go there because his dad is an All-American player. Mike Norvell said his progression from when he first came in to the spring game is the fastest he's ever had on the D-line since he got at Florida State five years ago. He was a former five-star. Didn't do much at Georgia. That should be interesting to watch. Db room is going to be loaded for sure. Then all the Alabama players look good.

Speaker 2: 35:40

I will say that, willie.

Speaker 1: 35:41

Benson looks to be our best receiver and he got carted off the field, so that wasn't great. So it's going to be, I think, a rebuilding year where they're going to be competing still for ACC and LA yeah, which is pretty new.

Speaker 2: 35:59

How long have you been waiting for that man?

Speaker 1: 36:01

Oh, I know because Jimbo had a way of building the roster where if, for instance, the greatest game of all time, florce bama francois goes down with a knee injury and then like the team's just absolutely terrible the rest of the year and it's just like he didn't, so yeah, I like the way the norvell's built the team up. Um, anybody else big? I know notre dame had a game. I didn't get a chance to watch it, um, f levy's first uh game action they.

Speaker 2: 36:31

It was like I think the score was like 63 to 57 now didn't blake shapen transfer there the baylor qb no blake shapen is the country singer. Oh yeah, yeah on the plane. He sings hell, yeah, yeah yeah, he didn't come home on a plane.

Speaker 1: 36:45

He sings hell right.

Speaker 2: 36:46

Hell right, brother. Oh yeah, that is somebody different. Who am I thinking of?

Speaker 1: 36:49

Dierks Bentley. No, no, no, no, it's Blake Shelton and Dierks Bentley. I was mixing it up.

Speaker 2: 36:56

Yeah, classic Dierks.

Speaker 1: 37:00

I believe it's Dierks I.

Speaker 2: 37:02

I'll tell you what I keep getting my dirks and my orgies mixed up not together, um, but sometimes, if you don't say what I'm saying, I so the only thing I saw from that was Levy like I love the fact that he came in. His focus is offense. That's clearly what they were after, and I think their quarterback in that game like went, went, fucking nuts like, yeah it was, it's blake shape and he's.

Speaker 1: 37:26

He's actually pretty good at uh baylor oh yeah, that is where he's from, okay yeah. So hey, maybe they'll surprise, put up some numbers on offense. Yeah, who's their d coordinator? I have no clue. I have no clue. They just, they just kept the same guy, zach garn Garnett. They're like I mean, dude, you could, he's at Ole Miss. I feel bad.

Speaker 2: 37:46

He went to Ole Miss, he did yeah.

Speaker 1: 37:50

That's a Kiffin move, dude. Yeah, of course.

Speaker 2: 37:53

What else? I'm trying to think of what else happened before? First of all, what else do we have on the docket here?

Speaker 1: 37:57

Well, we have the NFL draft this week. I know we're for the props you're gonna be there, whether you like it or not yeah, no, I'm gonna be there.

Speaker 2: 38:05

Okay, the bets are starting to come down and and some of the prop bets. I'll tell you one thing that I I have been watching with the most fomo of all time. You know the creed reunion tours. Obviously this year their first live performance in 12 years was on that. Like a cruise ship they did some cruise with like a bunch of like Tantric and Three Doors Down. Oh yeah, brother Dude. First off, scott Stapp was like playing basketball. He looks incredible. He looks fucking incredible and he was. They were like they had like a free-throw competition.

Speaker 1: 38:44

He had a rough go, he had a fucking TI saved his life. Yeah, man.

Speaker 2: 38:49

Because he yelled roll tight or something Incredible. Anyway, yeah, but I missed out on that. Lsu won the gymnastics national championship. I watched most of that for work. That was a tough like. That is a tough thing to follow. If you have ADD All fours, there's shit going on all at the same time.

Speaker 1: 39:11

Yeah, no, I can't. I never know what's going on. I don't know if you hear the crowd cheering, but you realize that they're cheering for something else. Yeah, I don't like it.

Speaker 2: 39:21

I don't like that either, but it was fun to watch, that's pretty much all I got besides the Michigan thing.

Speaker 1: 39:30

So if you had to guess, let's just call it on this show for the draft. How many quarterbacks won the first round? Do we know the prop?

Speaker 2: 39:37

No, I've not looked that up yet.

Speaker 2: 39:39

So I think the first four picks are going to be QBs Completely agree, I am the petty side of me is so excited for Michigan to have all these draft picks because I think I really do One. I heard so many people talk shit about how bad that Michigan team was and I feel like I have a stake in that, just because of who they beat in the semifinals. I will also say I think it's a fascinating case study and I'll get into it more later, but I do think JJ McCarthy is going top five overall.

Speaker 1: 40:16

I think that's plain as day. In fact, I saw today on social media that his betting odds to be the second pick went from plus 2,000 like plus 700 or something I just so.

Speaker 2: 40:27

I'm looking at it right now it is. It's a plus 900. Yeah, jayden daniel's at 330. I think that drake may at plus 275 is a. Those are some pretty good odds too, um also.

Speaker 2: 40:41

It's like it's also a peak evan grimes on it, as always. I love that, love that Plus 2,000, plus 900. His agent. This is like a soap train time where there's like he had some shit where he was on Twitter and he posted something Because Washington brought in like all four and they were like all right, let's just have all four. Side note Caleb Williams is going to Japan this week.

Speaker 1: 41:03

Whatever man, It'll be interesting to follow his career. It is.

Speaker 2: 41:09

Part of me hopes that he is just like a. Why am I yelling Part of me hopes that he is just like a? I'm great and I can have this, this like work life balance and that's awesome and you know, and that's and I can paint my fingernails and what the fuck ever.

Speaker 1: 41:28

But yeah, he came out and just balled out and was like the best player in the nfl. But it's just. You can barely see it work out that way.

Speaker 2: 41:35

It feels like rarely, yeah, and I I do think. I do think going to chicago will be good for him if he, if he allows it to be, because that's like a, that's a midwestern city, it's not la, you don't. You will be like a focal point, but you are not the guy for the most part, right like you, you still have other stuff going on in the city, other sports, it like. I think if he would, just if he goes and like doesn't try to be bigger than the scene or bigger than the team, even I think it'll be great anyway. Um, but washington brought in all four, apparently, or at least representation from all four, and that's jayden, daniel, drake may, jj mccarthy and then also keita williams. There's a possibility that, uh, that drake may goes at two and daniel drops to three, but so here's the thing.

Speaker 2: 42:22

here's the thing, and, and, and my new company, uh, 104, espn 104.5, baton Rouge. We're talking about this today. Thank you, we're talking about this today. The one thing I haven't heard hardly at all, and maybe it's just because it's not day over. Day before trades we keep seeing like hey, here's the order, and everything we've seen so far seems like it's Caleb Williams and then some combination of Drake, mayer, jaden Daniels, two and three and then JJ McCarthy at four.

Speaker 1: 42:55

So the Cardinals have the fourth pick and obviously they'd be trading out if McCarthy goes four. Right Two either the Giants or yeah, I think the Vikings have been rumored since they lost cousins and I think they have maybe two first-round picks. I can't remember, but so I don't know. Maybe it would make sense, maybe, maybe, shit. Maybe someone's trying to trade up to two to take jj mccarthy. I don't know why you would take jj mccarthy over jayden daniels, but well, and there's.

Speaker 2: 43:25

So I I think the thing we saw last year whoever had the 12th pick, that was traded for twice and houston went up to three to get will anderson from the 12th pick and they traded like a one, a one, a three and a four, or a one, a one, a two and a four. Now the coach and this is musconi was talking about this today um, antonio pierce is the coach of the the raiders. He was, he was a assistant coach at arizona state when daniels was there. So there's like a possibility that, like, maybe he trades up, cause it's not like the Raiders don't need a quarterback. I think that part would be interesting. It's also you don't like Garoppolo. Is he still there? Is he alive? Yeah, just go fucking be on the bachelor and call it a day man. So handsome, he's so handsome.

Speaker 2: 44:14

So, but the thing that, like, if you're a quarterback, I think it favors you to go in the top four from a financial standpoint, which sounds stupid. But if you hear me out here, like, like the, the number from like, from like the slot value at like one through four versus like five through six, or starting at five or six, is like a difference of like four to five million, or starting at five or six is like a difference of like four to five million.

Speaker 2: 44:40

It's pretty significant, so it may. At the same time, I feel like that makes sense to not trade up if you're one of those teams, because you're going to be paying more and you're going to be losing more on the back end from, like, the trade value of your picks. But we see it every single fucking year, which is teams are going to freak out and and feel like they have to jump up to go get these players use a quarterback yeah, yeah, well it's, and especially at the back end of the first round.

Speaker 1: 45:05

That's where all these prop bets always get hit, because if you get dropped, if they draft them in the first round, you get that fifth year on their contract, on their rookie contract, so you can keep that quarterback for an extra year and um, that's why I think I, I think pennix will go in the first round. They came out and said that his a lot of teams have a clean bill of health on him. He was really good at washington, really good, yeah and um, I think that you'll see him go back into the first round, maybe even mid first round. So then that'd be five qbs. I don't think there's anybody else on the list that could possibly slip in there, but I bet the prop's four and a half Dude you want to talk about.

Speaker 2: 45:46

It's just so fascinating the way Vegas does this. We just said we think McCarthy's going to go top four, right, yeah, he's plus 300 for JJ McCarthy mccarthy, minus 230 for marvin harrison. But I think that's strictly because, as of right now, yeah, the need is for the cardinals. So if you can jump on that now, that seems like a really good bet. Like a really good bet.

Speaker 1: 46:11

Yeah I mean the only thing I could see like, unless the cardinals love marvin harrison and they're like, well, we have to have him yeah some teams have to blow the trade out of the water and make it like something they can't refuse, but then they're not going to get Marvin Harrison because I'm pretty sure consensus is the Chargers are going to take the best receiver available. So whether you think that's neighbors at Doomsday or Marvin Harrison, but it's going to be, it'll be an interesting draft. I look forward to the draft. Every year there's always surprises. There's always I think most of the trades happen day of when teams kind of realize who they're, who's gonna fall to them and if they want to trade back or not.

Speaker 1: 46:48

Um, I'm sure a lot of these things are probably agreed upon in principle, probably for the draft, like hey, if we get to four and your guys on the board, here's what we're looking at, it'll be interesting. We will have a second pod this week to talk strictly about the draft and the props. Quickly, on the FSU ring, I'll give you my side of the thing. It's an ACC championship ring.

Speaker 1: 47:12

It's not a title ring or anything like that. The team that won the ACC championship went 13-0, and then they all opted out. If you look at every single guy that's going to get drafted this week from Florida State and the NFL, I think every single one of them sat out the game, wow. They didn't feel like that was a real game. I think most people didn't, and Georgia can take the game and put it on their record, but most people in Tallahassee don't really look at that game as a real game. I'm sorry.

Speaker 2: 47:47

I'm going to clip this and ruin your life with Georgia fans. It's so bizarre to me. The group that got the most mad about that was Georgia fans Right, and that's fine.

Speaker 1: 48:01

I mean paid, talked about last night. He was like I would.

Speaker 2: 48:03

I would have made the same thing on the ring yeah, by the way, like I wish this would have upstaged it, but of course it didn't, because it's not as newsworthy um eastern michigan also got their their rigs oh yeah did you see it like silver green middle with an E in the middle and it just says famous Idaho potato bowl champs. Hell, yeah, yeah, I don't know man, I think it was a real game because they played it. It's tough to lose by 60.

Speaker 1: 48:37

I also think that, like man, I think it was a real game because they played it.

Speaker 2: 48:39

It's tough to lose by 60. I also think that we said it when the thing came out there's not a worse matchup because Kirby is going to.

Speaker 1: 48:48

Yeah, he was going to but he knew the exact state that Florida State was in. It's a recruiting battle 100% of the time. They go up against each other on the trail a lot. There's no harm in saying that they should have done exactly what they did. But if you want to sit here and tell me that the same team that you watched crush LSU in the first game, go on the road and beat Clemson is the same team that played Georgia, you're mistaken. The team that did all that in the regular season was a 13-0 ACC championship team. They put it on the ring and the Orange Bowl. That doesn't count for anything. They decided to not acknowledge.

Speaker 1: 49:23

Well, and Jay says here in the comments you know, jay, you think that's a UCF claiming a national title. Yeah, you really think that's equivalent.

Speaker 2: 49:31

An.

Speaker 1: 49:31

ACC championship ring.

Speaker 2: 49:32

No, listen, it's not a national title ring Chris. It's an ACC championship thing. They went 13-0 to win the ACC championship. Well, I know it's not a national championship ring, because you guys didn't make the playoffs.

Speaker 1: 49:41

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2: 49:44

I will say that Jay made one good point and I think one First off. He's made a lot of good points in the comments throughout the live show, so I appreciate that he did say his reaction is exactly what would happen if we clip this, which is yeah you justifying and saying that game didn't count, or like, like in so many words, which is not what you mean, but at the same time, it's like I, I get what you're saying.

Speaker 2: 50:04

I would probably do the exact same thing as what you're saying. I think any fan base would, because here's the thing very proud of how the entire season played out. What happened, like, with like three weeks to go, is the wheels came off because one player got hurt. You need to stop. It ruined the entire rest of the season. I think all of us probably would have a similar reaction to you're in a. Do you deserve to go? I said it when it happened, even as a Bama fan yeah, you deserve to be in there over Alabama, you did. Georgia didn't deserve to drop from one to six. Bama probably deserved to also somehow be in because of what they did. Like, you can make a case for so many different teams, but you only had four spots and I think that a lot of us would have the same reaction. Now, is it UCF? No, ucf beat Auburn in a New Year's Six Bowl and then their AD, as a camera was passing by them, said National Champs. And they were like yeah, national Champs.

Speaker 2: 51:06

And they just ran with it. They put it on fucking Dodge Chargers on cruisers and shit like that.

Speaker 1: 51:13

You know I'm super proud that Jay is really happy about the Orange Bowl win. It seems like he is. The Orange Bowl is a huge, huge deal, especially when it's not related to the playoffs at all. Actually, if you could, Jay, tell me who won the other New Year's Six Bowls, Do you remember? Because no one fucking cares about those bowls anymore.

Speaker 2: 51:32

Sorry, oregon beat Liberty, you guys lost.

Speaker 1: 51:36

Yeah, you're right, oregon beat Liberty, you guys lost. Yeah, you're right, oregon beat.

Speaker 2: 51:39

Liberty, congratulations.

Speaker 1: 51:41

Congratulations to Oregon on that huge victory.

Speaker 2: 51:44

They covered almost every single bet I threw out there that day, not the tax slayer. All right, you and Jay need to calm down. Jay's making some good points. You're making some good points. Of course, I'm going to defend you, but I also can understand that you're getting upset right now. Let's just call it a day. I'm gonna go watch. I'm gonna watch um, what do you call it? Uh, spider-man with ali, and we'll save this for the next time. I I this is. I'll tease it by saying what do you mean with ali?

Speaker 1: 52:09

where are you right now? Where are you right now?

Speaker 2: 52:12

is ali in columbia no, she will be, hopefully on thursday so you said you're gonna go watch a movie with her.

Speaker 1: 52:17

What does that?

Speaker 2: 52:18

mean no, like virtually. I'll like well, I'll watch on my tv show, watch on hers, and then we'll text like something funny happened.

Speaker 1: 52:26

Yeah, because you know you can do that thing where you like, watch the same thing together and you're like on facetime through apple tv. Weird, I wouldn't do it.

Speaker 2: 52:34

No, no, I wouldn't do that, I just want to like there that there's like been a few times that she'll FaceTime me, and it's always when she has like gotten like a new outfit or is like going out somewhere and I'll just be like in my bed and I'm like I don't want to pick this up right now and her friends are like let me see Chris, and you're like no, no, immediately. Yeah just way up here. Um, anyway, so I'll I'll say this next time I'm really excited for the thursday show.

Speaker 1: 53:06

I'll start putting some stuff um yeah, now say it back tyler, jason loves you.

Speaker 2: 53:11

Yeah, congrats again on the orange bowl say it back, tyler life is good, you're right jay, he doesn't say it to me either, don't worry. Um. So listen, I'm gonna tease this for next time. I'm really excited. I'll start putting some stuff together for the show, like the live stream thing. We'll get a couple people to join in. Um, it might be something we just do. We're live. I'm like, take a break, come back, all that kind of stuff, whatever. Um, but uh, first off, jay, all all right, now we're going to pick a fight.

Speaker 2: 53:43

I threw out this question a while back and I'm very excited to see what happens on Thursday and Friday and Saturday with the draft, to see where it lands. But Michigan a lot of people, myself included, included shit on for most of the year. Right, we're going to look at this Michigan team and I want to do a deep dive on where they actually land in terms of, like the best champions that we've seen in the last 10, 15, 20 years. Cause, what you're going to end up seeing here, tyler, is they have 17 players that potentially could get drafted this weekend 17.

Speaker 1: 54:22

Is that a record, Chris?

Speaker 2: 54:26

Yeah, it would be a record. It would be over Georgia. I know Crazy. And then you're talking about a top five pick in the quarterback position, a 15-0 season, a team that had ranked number one in the country in total defense and top three to five in a lot of other categories and a 25.5 point per game point differential throughout the season, put a you know, darked out their helmet and put a question mark over it and said guess who this is? If they had an SEC logo on that jersey, I think it would be. We would talk about it in a much different light. But we'll get to that another day. We appreciate you guys joining in hey, leave a five star review.

Speaker 2: 55:10

Yes, please all right, you know what I'm going to play the video on the way out too.

Speaker 1: 55:14

Yeah all right, good night everybody. Outro Music.