Law & Portal SVU: Jaden Rashada sues Billy Napier & Post-Spring UGA Updates & Predictions w/ Insider Graham Coffey

The show starts with a recap over the massive news of UGA QB Jaden Rashada suing Billy Napier & UF Boosters for NIL fraud. We breakdown how we got here, what this means for both sides, and what this landmark case could mean for the future of CFB Recruiting & NIL.

Next, Chris Marler is joined by UGA Insider Graham Coffey from Dawgs Central & The Players Lounge for an in-depth look on all things UGA after Spring Practice. 

The two discuss…
Kirby’s handling of NIL era recruiting & the Rashada situation
Confidence Meter Ratings for every game on UGA’s 2024 schedule 
What non-SEC team poses the biggest threat to UGA winning it all
Early thoughts on playing Bama in the Kalen Deboer era 
Breakout Players for 2024
And, Graham’s favorite moment during the Kirby Smart era/dynasty 

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:34

Thank you. What's up guys? Welcome into the Tuesday edition, tuesday, may 21st edition of Forth and Wrong Daily. You can't hear me, electric SART. We're joined by a very special guest. There's a lot to talk about today.

Speaker 1: 0:55

I've got a lot to talk about today. I appreciate you guys in the chat, the usual suspects Willie Gray, evan Grimes, Corbin Maddox how are you? Do us a favor, like and subscribe not necessarily in that order to the YouTube channel. It would help us out a ton. I appreciate you guys doing that all last week and sharing with your friends all that good stuff. How can you not hear me? Can everyone else hear me? Give me a thumbs up on that, graham cannot, though. Graham, I don't know what to tell you on that. I think you just did hear me. What about now, graham? Okay, all right. Well, evan, I appreciate that. Graham, why don't you sign out and sign back in and see if that works? Uh, or maybe throw um the headphones and rice, I don't know, but I appreciate you guys joining us. Welcome in.

Speaker 1: 1:52

So I was going to say a lot to talk about today. Like a lot to talk about today. Um, not necessarily something I saw coming. I don't think any of us really did. Uh, but a lot to discuss, that's not. That's arguably worse. Um, a lot to discuss, that's not. That's arguably worse. A lot to discuss today, and a lot of it is going to be about Georgia. We had planned on doing a show with Graham that was going to be Georgia focused.

Speaker 1: 2:18

And then the news this morning from our good buddy, john Talty, that Jaden Rashada, former Florida commit, former four-star quarterback and if you remember his recruitment it was kind of crazy because he had a ridiculous number thrown out to him while he was at Florida. I remember doing a video for this for SDS last year and it was about the fact that Florida not only offered him a ton of money but they offered him $13.85 million. If that sounds like a lot to you, it's because it is. It's more than some first-rounders make, I'm pretty sure. And I think when it happened it seemed like it was one of those things where it's like, well, this is all very new, maybe this is normal, maybe this is the new thing.

Speaker 1: 3:00

I'm not sure what the timeline was, but I know Nico from Tennessee. He got 8 million, but at the same time it seemed like most of those were possibly rumors as well, and 13.85 seemed very big Again, not for the number one recruit in the country, not for a five-star, not for the number one quarterback in the country. A four-star top 50, number six overall quarterback in the country got more than any other recruit in the history of recruiting, including Cam Newton Graham. Welcome to the show, thank you Good to be here.

Speaker 2: 3:35

Sorry about the technical difficulty there.

Speaker 1: 3:38

Yeah, not as sorry as you're going to be, but that's fine. I appreciate the effort. Listen, you are an expert on all things georgia. That's why I want to have you on here and this news today. Like I'm fascinated with the entire story because the the backstory of it and like the stuff that was happening behind the scenes. I know that you know some uh of those things that were happening that not a lot of people do, so hopefully you can shine some light on that. But then also, like we've never seen this before. Like we've seen a lot of things. We've seen empty promises from coaches. We've never seen this before.

Speaker 2: 4:11

Yeah, I think, regardless of how you feel about Rashada and some of the things that went down in his recruitment between Miami and Florida, like if you are somebody who wants NIL to get fixed.

Speaker 2: 4:23

If you want to see us get to a resolution where some of this player movement slows down. I think today's a good thing, cause I think this is a step in the process. I am not, you know, when it comes to like is he going to win the case or any of that. I'm not a lawyer, I don't know. But I've seen some people that have been like, well, this is a distraction for Georgia or one thing or another, being critical of the situation.

Speaker 2: 4:51

If it was me or if it was my kid and we're talking about this amount of money I'm pretty sure that I'd be out seeking recourse as well. So I don't like some of the criticism necessarily of how this is going down, like I'm not surprised this happened. And when he committed to Georgia, I texted somebody that day and was like it's gonna be really interesting when you know Georgia has a player on their roster who's involved in some sort of legal situation with the University of Florida. I didn't think or know that he was going to sue Billy Napier specifically, but I'm not surprised this came down the pipe.

Speaker 1: 5:26

Yeah, I mean, like, I think it's one of those things where it's it's interesting because, for a number of reasons, right, but it's also interesting because we've never everything is so new and everything's in its infancy.

Speaker 1: 5:37

And it's in the first thing I thought of outside of, like you know, picking my job off the floor was Kirby Lane Saban.

Speaker 1: 5:46

They all said that like, like, there needs to be some regulations, like, like this is going to be an issue and the casual fan sat back and said, like you know what, like, they're just complaining that they don't want to see kids get paid and when you don't have some sort of like governing body or like just a mature adult, just a mature adult in the room to say, hey, don't do that, which the NCAA could never do, this is one of the things that happens.

Speaker 1: 6:11

And I thought one of the things that was interesting too is if he's suing Florida because it sounds like he was promised not only the 13.5, but he was promised a million on signing day alone, right, and this this is this is a kid that he's from California. He got recruited by Miami and promised $9.5 million from them and then Florida came in and I don't know if this was just like a dick measuring contest. They were trying to beat one of their almost rivals, so they threw out $13.5 million. But when that happens, then you start scrambling and it's like that is a lot of teams, even the sec, like their entire nil, and go ahead no, yeah, yeah, you're right, it is.

Speaker 2: 6:52

Uh, and I mean I think that's the interesting piece of this is how much was this? You know what time span was this contract supposed to be over? Like if rusty harden took this case, who you know? If you're not familiar with him and you're watching like, go Google him. He's represented Roger Clemens in his perjury case against Congress and won.

Speaker 2: 7:15

Like he's represented a lot of like really famous athletes Scottie Pippen, rudy Tomjanovich, like all these people, rudy Tomjanovich, like all these people, I don't think he takes this case if there's not some piece of paper or something that that leads him to believe that he can win it. Now, maybe it's just winning it in the court of public opinion, but I will say that I do know for a fact like this situation this scenario is not specific just to Rashada and it's not specific just to Florida.

Speaker 2: 7:45

So what I'm very interested is like is is this the damn breaking? And we're about to go through a year or two period of like a bunch of current college players suing schools and coaches?

Speaker 1: 7:59

I mean, yeah, I mean I didn't. I haven't even thought about that part because, like, when you say that, like it opens the door, like what is, has a lot of this been? It's been not necessarily a money grab, but kids trying to profit off of their own name, image and likeness and make as much money as possible, which is like, again, nobody here has a problem with. But as soon as you crack open that door, it wasn't going to be long until somebody fucking, just damn damn kicked it in and was like you know what? Like here's all of the things that we want instead, and like I think that I think you are going to see an uptick in this. You, you said this earlier this there's, like this is not the only incident of it at all right, like like teams getting, like like empty promises of I didn't realize it that it was going to be just on signing or especially on signing day as well, which makes sense.

Speaker 1: 8:46

I think the cause and effect of it, like one cause and effect of it is, if you have, billy Napier reportedly called and said, if they, if Rashad has signed on signing day, he was going to get 1 million as a signing bonus right there. And you know we've in the past we've seen playing time like throwing out there more than anything, right, and obviously he commits, he never gets the million dollars he never. I don't think he ever said, put on campus at florida, ends up signing at ergo state. But like if, if you throw out that number and then you have a kid say it are you know what? You promised me, this I'm going to, I'm gonna, I'm gonna sue you and it's not in a contract. It almost feels like a back and forth power play of like all all right, well, now we're going to start having contracts and if we're going to have contracts now we're getting closer and closer to more NFL type stuff.

Speaker 2: 9:31

Yeah, well, and I think this you know situations like this have led to some guys getting contracts. Jeremiah Smith, who signed with Ohio State on early signing day back in December, was the number one overall player in the country, according to some services, who was a wide receiver, like a really talented kid. You've probably seen clips of him on Twitter falling out in spring practice and whatnot, but his letter of intent was kind of delayed in terms of being delivered to Ohio State and it started going on into the evening hours and a lot of speculation started happening of like is he going to go to Miami, what's going on here? And the reality was that he had a NIL agent, who you know is an attorney, going over the paperwork with Ohio state and making sure everything was square before he sent that letter in and kind of closed the door on his outs. So I think players are getting smarter, especially top players.

Speaker 2: 10:29

But yeah, I'm curious to know what the background is on some of this with Rashada.

Speaker 2: 10:35

Like, besides, just you know, billy Napier called and said we're going to offer you a million dollars. Like, I would think, with the amount of money we're talking about, there had to have been some paperwork at some point in time. But it is really interesting just because it you know at the time that this was all going on. We were in a situation where NCAA rules were basically such that, you know, it was supposed to be just the collective dealing with just the kid and not the coaches and I have zero doubt that tons of coaches were talking figures with different players. But to kind of get caught in, that is a bad move by Napier just because you are in a spot now where, look, things aren't going great for him in that tenure and it just looks sloppy, really like if you're in a spot to say, hey, we're going to give you a million on signing day, blah, blah, blah blah, and you didn't come through with that, I think everyone else that you're recruiting right now is going to start questioning the validity of your word.

Speaker 1: 11:39

Basically, yeah, I think the only not the only maybe, but like the the most positive optics you could have and like the only positive. Like where they're going to try and to like make the other side look bad and they're going to try to make this kid and his family look greedy, and that's you know. Like, because once, like lawyers get involved, it becomes even dirtier than recruiting, which is difficult to do but will absolutely happen. I think the one positive piece of PR from this is listen man, a year after this happened, he still goes out and gets DJ Lagway who, through everything that happened in that class, stayed committed, enrolled early and by all means she gets some playing time this year. And it almost seems like the bullet dodge from this like for Miami. For one is incredible, because Miami would have thrown out that money for sure.

Speaker 1: 12:45

The other part of it is it was such a weird window of. Is this going to be what the new reality is? Because we've seen in the NFL all the time the fucking Falcons just did it with Kirk Cousins. Overpaying for quarterbacks is nothing new. The 13.85 is kind of crazy. You brought this up. Somebody said it was going to be a distraction for Georgia Zero. Part of me believes that. But what is the mood around Georgia, the program in general, about Rashada and then also, if there's anything about this specific thing, because everyone had to know Kirby signed off on it, because of course he did what's the mood about this incident with Rashada and Rashada in general? Well, there's the mood about this uh issue or incident with rashada and then rashada in general well, there's okay.

Speaker 2: 13:27

So there's two angles to this. First, with rashada in general, I think like I see people saying it's a distraction, blah, blah, blah. Those were the same people who, I think, were also kind of like not believing that he was going to end up at georgia in the first place when yeah when some of the the buzz started with him being connected to UGA out of the transfer portal.

Speaker 2: 13:48

So I understand where they're coming from, but it's like he's a backup quarterback. Your starting quarterback is not going to miss practice to go sit in the deposition. I don't think there's a ton to worry about here. The reality is that the moment where it could become a distraction of any kind would be if Billy Napier survives this season and Jayden Rochelle is the starting quarterback at Georgia in 2025, then that gets interesting right For people like us.

Speaker 2: 14:17

I think it's great drama. There's a lot of interesting content to be created. There's a lot of good angles there. I think there's an interesting angle here with Kirby Smart, who built Georgia kind of in this sort of slow burn, even though they were in the title game in 2017. There was this buildup from a recruiting standpoint right.

Speaker 2: 14:44

I don't think you would argue that and you sort of built this up and you start winning national titles and that should be the moment where the recruiting goes to kind of galactic levels. They signed the number one class last year. I'm not saying things are going poorly, but if Georgia had signed all the kids that they were in on last year like just from a perspective of NIL maybe didn't exist. The class that we're talking about would have been beyond that Texas A&M class that was the highest rated ever. It would have been insane.

Speaker 2: 15:16

And I think there is part of Kirby that is rightfully pissed of. Like I built this and now I'm having to deal with some of this bullshit from the NIL standpoint and just some other tomfoolery that's going on with tampering. I think some of these frustrations for him go all the way back to Justin Fields in terms of player movement and how our coaches are sort of scouting Georgia's roster. And you look at the past year or two right, like you had the Amarius Mims Florida State situation. You had him also connected to Tennessee.

Speaker 2: 15:52

Like Georgia has kind of been adjacent to some stories like this where it has become public that certain programs have maybe been engaged in improprietous activities around their recruiting, and I do wonder you know what the sequence of events is here. Okay, like I'm going to be honest, I don't have. No one has come to me and said Kirby smart, you know, wanted this to happen or anything like that, and I and I don't think Kirby smart could in good faith keep this from happening, even if he wanted to. So I'm not trying to say I know what his feelings are on the situation. I'm not. But there is an interesting angle here in the timing of Rashada was at Arizona State for a year and he hops in the portal signs with Georgia and 25 days later Rusty, freaking Harden is filing a suit in federal court against Florida's head coach.

Speaker 2: 16:47

Like you know, I think that Kirby is trying to preach a lot of the same things that Saban was around trying to rein this stuff in, and I think in some cases like he's willing to sort of blow the whistle in certain situations that he feels like maybe have been wrong, because I'll just say this is not the only kid who. There have been players who would have signed with Georgia if not for last week of the recruiting cycle. A coach calls them up and says we'll give you X amount if you sign on Thursday with us, and then that kid you know, never sees that money and his career maybe hasn't panned out to this point.

Speaker 2: 17:28

So it's just an interesting angle to consider. In my opinion, no.

Speaker 1: 17:32

I definitely get that. I mean like one of my favorite. It wasn't at the time, but it has now become in hindsight. One of my favorite things that's happened with all this was the NIL stuff.

Speaker 1: 17:41

In the offseason, when coaches would talk about it like multiple times, saban would say something and the overwhelming reaction was that he is complaining about, he doesn't want players getting paid, and I definitely think that like this, this is like the, a majority of what drove him out of the game, because it's like it's just so much to deal with, especially if you're fucking 72 or 73 years old.

Speaker 1: 18:05

But like the, the thing that would crack me up is he would say it in like a day later, kirby would say the same thing, oh and like then you wouldn't hear much of anything, or like, or kiffin in the same way, but like, I think the thing with kirby is it's got to be frustrating to him because I I think if there were no like, if we were playing by the old rules, especially with Saban being gone, that would be a. I don't know if it would be a similar run, because that's a crazy run that Bama went on, but you know, I think that it would be a clear like head and shoulders above the rest of the country situation with Georgia and Kirby Smart. I think this like pissing him off in any way, whether it's dirty recruiting or negative recruiting, or like the the line, all that kind of shit. Like that is a I mean you're, you're playing with fire, like there's just no reason to do that, cause he will beat your ass in the recruiting trail or on the field, it doesn't matter to him.

Speaker 2: 18:56

Like or in a courtroom Maybe.

Speaker 1: 18:58

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 19:00

Also true, let's see. We got a couple questions here in the chat. Let's start with this one from Trisar. He said why haven't you been in my spaces recently, chris, in Georgia? So I want to set one thing clear for sure that's not me. That guy's a piece of shit. That guy's the worst. He's like one of the worst human beings. So that's not me at all. I'm just Chris, who used to live in Georgia, and also not a noted piece of shit.

Speaker 1: 19:22

Graham, we've got. We talked about your rankings last night. We might close with it, but I do want to keep this UGA specific Couple of questions. One, when you look at big picture right, we talk about the schedule. I want to, I want to take you through the schedule. I want you to give me an actual number, a level of confidence you have of Georgia winning those games, because it's going to be tough, I think, for for Georgia or anybody now to go undefeated in this day and age right off the bat. So give me a between zero to a hundred level of confidence for each of these games.

Speaker 2: 19:56

Clemson uh 88. Look, that's gonna be the lowest one. No, I just don't think they can score enough points. Kentucky 96. It's on the road, Graham.

Speaker 1: 20:14

You don't get that, that's the thing.

Speaker 2: 20:16

That's why it's not 100. You said Bama. Yeah, I think that if we're talking, I'm treating this like percentages, basically, since you gave me 0-100. I think probabilistically Georgia, let's say like 76 maybe, I don't know, Graham, I'm not going to get mad at you about this.

Speaker 2: 20:47

No, I mean like I do think that there's a lot that I don't know about what that team is going to look like under Kayla or offensively, like there's a scenario where he figures out some things to do with Jalen Milrow that Tommy Reese never did Right, like that shocked me. So I think that that one is the game on the schedule, everyone's kind of pointing to Texas and Sark. I think Bama's probably the tougher test between the two, just because you still have a lot on the line of scrimmage at Bama that Sark maybe hasn't quite built up yet.

Speaker 1: 21:24

And also lost in the draft too Between Auburn and Mississippi State, I'm assuming both hundreds.

Speaker 2: 21:31

Look, man, I mean Freeze is a good enough. Mississippi State is definitely a 100. Freeze is a good enough offensive mind to scheme some things up and create some level of doubt there. But unless some quarterback revelation, unless some kid they signed as a freshman emerges and takes that spot from Peyton Thorne, it's hard to see any realistic scenario barring something bizarre where Auburn would win that game.

Speaker 1: 21:58

All I asked for was a fucking number, graham, I'm sorry 97. Go fuck yourself. You kind of alluded to this one. It would be higher than the one at Bama Texas 80. Florida 100. Ole Miss A sneaky good game here, God, you guys are playing UMass Dude did UMass, who made their schedule Because they play multiple SEC teams? That's going to be a bloodbath. Ole Miss Tennessee.

Speaker 2: 22:33

Ole Miss, I'm going to say 90. I don't buy it.

Speaker 1: 22:41

And in Tennessee, in Tennessee.

Speaker 2: 22:49

I'll say 80, or I'll say 90 for them as well. What if it rains 99.9.

Speaker 1: 23:00

All right. Here's my question for you. After that, like I think a lot of people to have georgia going less than 11 and one feels crazy at this point, which has a lot of other program that kirby's built. If there's a team outside of the sec that that could actually challenge georgia, like, like I feel like ohio state is there. I just think that when you start breaking down, like the, the actual coaching staff, and like like the one thing that no one is bringing up, georgia, um, the, the plethora of things that like are, are like in their favor this year, the continuity of the coaching staff I know they lost a couple of guys that went on to become head coaches, but like you return to your DC, you return to your OC, you return so much in that room, in those meeting rooms. I feel like that's something that's undervalued Besides Ohio State, is there anybody you think that can compete with Georgia on a neutral field?

Speaker 2: 23:58

I think there's teams that you can't rule out entirely. I just set up my spiel of Alabama 76% 1-4 is not a crazy number. Probability-wise, things that have a 1-4 chance of happening happen all the time. I think Ohio State is the one that everyone is pointing to, but I also am not sure. Look, let's put it this way, if you're looking for the characteristics of who is going to really really challenge Georgia, right, like historically speaking, it is somebody that has a quarterback who can stretch the field vertically and it has multiple wide receivers that can pull down like 50, 50 balls and tight man coverage on the outside.

Speaker 2: 24:56

Like that is the thing that there's not really a defense for. So when I look at Ohio State, the wide receivers absolutely check the box. I don't know that I'm at that spot yet with any of those quarterbacks Like Will Howard. They can do some cool things in the run game but I've not seen. Will Howard tear anybody up in the?

Speaker 1: 25:16

vertical pass Plus Ryan Day.

Speaker 2: 25:18

That's never been a part of his play calling ever Right correct, yeah, ryan days like that's like that's never been a part of his play, calling ever right, correct, yeah, and I mean like it's just hard for me to, because I I think this Georgia defense is gonna be better than than people really think, like I think that some things are gonna click for them on the defensive line, that that didn't last year yeah, um, and it's just hard for me to feel like, man, they had CJ Stroud and all those dudes and still didn't get it done.

Speaker 2: 25:47

It's just hard for me to say I think Georgia's corners are going to be as good a pair, or really as good as three or four corners as Kirby Smart has ever had.

Speaker 1: 25:57

Really.

Speaker 2: 25:58

Yeah, I do believe that that rings true for me. It just feels hard for me to feel like Will Howard is going to solve that equation. Yeah, I also look at the whole spectrum, though, and I don't know if I'm going to sit here in August and say I think Georgia goes 12-0. There just feels like too much going on the road and too many fluky things happen in this sport to just say.

Speaker 2: 26:30

I think I'll pick them to go 11-1, even if I would go down the schedule and pick them to win all 12 games individually while breaking down this matchup I could see somebody like hitting.

Speaker 2: 26:44

you know there's always surprise teams that pop up out of nowhere. If Texas can figure some things out defensively, like with what they have offensively, that does fit the profile more of what we're used to seeing Right. If Georgia problems, bama, you know, I think that they'll probably be better offensively, but I'm just not sure exactly about the scale. They'll put up more yards.

Speaker 1: 27:10

I would think I mean like they would have to.

Speaker 2: 27:13

What's the wide receiver like situation on the outside for them going to look like? Do you know?

Speaker 1: 27:19

So it's more of a family unit now. So they're all on the inside, so they're all. They're all really close and tight-knit, um uh dude I don't know.

Speaker 1: 27:27

Like here's the thing a thousand percent spring practice happened like right around as I got laid off. I enjoyed not being so locked into spring ball, like like for my own mental health, because it's like it's just so difficult to keep up with, like with everything. I do think that the starting three receivers are going to be the kid from Washington that showed up in the spring game, kendrick law, I think, kobe Prentice, and then in Kendrick law he had like several big moments. He also had like several big plays that were called back touchdowns and then and then Brian Williams coming in.

Speaker 2: 28:03

He was good, he was incredible. I could see that working in a way where, look like Milrow last year, what was he best at? In my opinion, it was throwing deep balls. Right, I could see them hitting some plays. Look, you saw what happened. Could see them like hitting some plays. And look, you saw what happened when Georgia had some turnovers in that SEC championship game in their own end Like, yeah, there's, it's, it's just a thin margin of error in talking about teams that are this talented on the lines of scrimmage.

Speaker 2: 28:39

But yeah, I'm curious if, like Oregon with Dylan Gabriel, does something click there, maybe or I don't know. You know, I think that it'll be interesting to see if there's anybody that really like comes out of the new Big Ten besides Ohio State. Yeah, it doesn't feel that way, but yeah, I think Georgia should, on paper, win the whole thing. I'm also just 17 games potentially is a ton.

Speaker 2: 29:11

And injury luck, I think, really derailed Georgia last year. If we're being fair and objective, we're not going to do that? I know we're not, but still I think yes, if Georgia is not in a situation where they lose two basically first-round pass catchers again, then yeah, they might do it all and run the table.

Speaker 1: 29:37

I'll say this.

Speaker 2: 29:38

I was down on the field before the spring game and I was watching the nine 300--plus pound defensive linemen warm up.

Speaker 1: 29:46

They all were on 4-8.

Speaker 2: 29:48

Yeah, I mean it did. Anytime you're at field level with Georgia's roster, it feels impressive. I was down there last spring too, but this spring. I don't know why I just got this different kind of vibe looking at some of the dudes.

Speaker 2: 30:04

I did have this moment of they're going to win a national title this year. That was kind of the weird gut feeling that crept in, because you know how it is when you're covering a team. Everything's so granular. That spring practice it's like well, can they figure out this issue or that issue? There was this moment where you saw all these guys and it just kind of like overrides all of those questions. And it's like well you throw this much talent at any problem, you're probably going to solve it.

Speaker 1: 30:32

And the thing, dude again, the thing is that people don't understand is like if you throw that much talent at anybody, it's going to be difficult enough. You also still have the best coach in the country and, and like I think it's, it's going to be really fun to watch Kirby over the next couple of years because, like I, it's one of those things I think where you look at like you know what's that saying? Like we don't know. We're in the good old days.

Speaker 2: 30:54

Yes, Until they're gone yeah.

Speaker 1: 31:02

Yeah, and so it's a great song with Macklemore and Kesha. You guys should check it out. It's the office. It's also true. You look at the 2015 Bama team and coaching staff and you're like there's 2016, 2018. There's still times I'm like how the hell do they ever lose a game? But I just think that with where Kirby's at in his career, he's already got it figured out. He's got it figured out earlier than saving did, from like a year, like a like his tenure standpoint. He's still younger and I think one of the things that saving always preach was like you never waste a loss.

Speaker 1: 31:29

You just you never waste, a loss and things that could be good for motivation. And since he has taken over that job in athens, there's not a time that has played georgia and I've said I, I want to play them again. I might've said it on Twitter when I was drunk or being arrogant, but like that's. That's the thing about Georgia is like they, they. Just the margin of error against Georgia is way smaller than the margin of error it is for Georgia to run the table.

Speaker 2: 31:55

Yeah, I definitely agree with that, and there is a element I've argued this mostly behind a paywall over the last couple of years because I think if you say it out loud then people kind of miscontextualize it and think it's crazy. But there are clearly times to me where Kirby Smart and Georgia and their staff are using SEC games as practice. It's like, oh well, we didn't do this well the last couple of weeks, so we're going to do this 10 times over today and and make sure that it's you know it's good.

Speaker 2: 32:31

And all of that and it. There are times where like that, that Kent state game in 2022, it was like they are turning the sliders up to the ultimate degree of difficulty that they can get from Stetson Bennett right now and you know it was interesting to watch and I think that's why they ran the same court like three times.

Speaker 2: 32:49

Yeah, and Kirby says this all the time, like I remember him saying it last year after game one when they played, I think UT Martin, whoever it was, somebody was like you know well, kirby, do you feel like you guys are on track, or whatever.

Speaker 2: 33:04

And he was like the team that is going to be standing at the end of the year when this is all over is the team that's going to get better, the best between now and the end of the year, and I think that he does a really good job of managing that along the way.

Speaker 2: 33:18

What's going to be interesting for Georgia this season is that, unlike last season, the schedule is hard enough on its own. I am curious with some of these lesser opponents, do we see Georgia open it up a little bit and let Carson Beck go out and throw for 300 yards, if he can, in the first half and be up by five touchdowns at halftime, so they can get these guys off the field and rest them, because, oh, we go to Bama in two weeks or we go to Ole Miss in a week. I think that's very realistic and if that happens, then I think we'll be talking about this kind of offensive renaissance or whatever. At Georgia People will be praising the offense and the numbers when in reality I'm not sure it'll be too much different than what they were doing before. But the throttle will just be kind of opened up in a new way.

Speaker 1: 34:12

I'm fascinated to see how basic he runs the defense in the first three games before that game against DeBoer and Tuscaloosa.

Speaker 2: 34:20

Yeah, because DeBoer and I think Kirby respects DeBoer. I don't know why he wouldn't obviously.

Speaker 1: 34:25

I mean that's good, because you don't for sure. But I mean that's not true.

Speaker 2: 34:28

I don't understand why people think that or why you think that I do respect him and I think that Kirby of all like Kirby respects the hell out of Sark. No-transcript. That doesn't mean that, Like I think, part of that Is that Kirby Respects him so much Like Georgia Respected Ole Miss Enough last year To To really kind of Show up and put their best foot forward In a way that. They maybe don't always.

Speaker 1: 35:23

Dude, I know, I know it's going to be like a 20 minute thing, Do you? Do you have like five more? Yeah, totally, I've got all the time you need. I've enjoyed this a lot, man, I appreciate you coming on. Thank you for having me, Of course, man. So the last couple of things I want to say about Georgia stuff in general. Right, Like we, we talk a lot about the X's and O's, no, but like there's very few people that get that from an X's and O's standpoint, like get the game.

Speaker 1: 35:47

I feel like as well as you, and then you know, doing the stuff we've done in the past with Josh and dog sets and all that kind of stuff. There's just there's so as much as I argue with Georgia fans, there's just really really do love and like learn from and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2: 35:59

And also like I love Athens.

Speaker 1: 36:01

So sure, three questions to close. Okay, no-transcript. What? Give me a breakout player that, like I saw players lounge post three different graphics with like five players a piece is like 15 potential breakout players this year. Give me like one player that you think will have a a breakout season or might be like a household name by the end of the year. If you want to do offense and defense, that's fine, but just like who do you? Who's like standing out to you right now?

Speaker 2: 36:33

I think that, like you, you know that Michael Williams is Michael Williams.

Speaker 1: 36:41

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 36:41

I think that someone's going to emerge on the other side of that defensive line to make them really like hellacious and obvious passing situations. It could be Jalen Walker, who you, you, you know we saw have some, some good moments in the sc championship but like only rushed the passer 120 snaps, I think last year like yeah, um, it's either gonna be him or damon wilson on defense. In my opinion, one of those guys is gonna become a really good like pass rusher and I think, ge think, Georgia is evolving on the defensive line.

Speaker 2: 37:16

From a philosophical standpoint, it started really in bowl practice last year. Mike Kell is a freak. He could be a 12-sack guy but the last two seasons they played him as more of a defensive end, shaded inside and controlling with gap responsibilities. In the run game and against Florida State you saw them move him out to a stand-up pass rusher on third downs and the dude had six pressures and two sacks. I know that offensive line was patchwork but still it was different looking and I think that you're going to see him doing that and you're going to see another former five-star pass rusher doing that on the other side and I think that Georgia, from an edge rush standpoint, will probably be as formidable as we have seen them under Kirby Smut. Okay.

Speaker 1: 38:09

Favorite bar and or restaurant in Athens? Ooh, oh, my gosh man. I forgot, you got KJ Bolden.

Speaker 2: 38:18

Yeah, kj Bolden is possible. That's a good one as well. I think that Dan Jackson May win that job Just because he's so high floor. Or at least start the season there At safety. Man favorite, there are so many good ones in Athens, high floor, or at least start the season there at safety. But, man favorite, there are so many good ones in Athens that I don't want to. I don't want to offend anybody, but the last resort remains a classic favorite for nice sit down dinner.

Speaker 1: 38:48

Yeah, all right.

Speaker 1: 38:49

Yeah, all right. Last one, at least I I'm going to. There's a few people that know me better in, like this world probably, than you in general, like those of you guys that don't know me me and Graham in we we sometimes make her on Twitter and stuff like that, but we're actually one of my, one of my closest friends and we we got really close after 2022 with all this stuff I was wondering, just became a really, really good person that I'll always be like grateful for on that. That being said, you know how emotional I can be. Uh-huh, I don't well, fuck you for that response. Um, I don't want to hear the keely ringo thing, but during this run, like you and I have shared and you've told me, like your like war stories of like the worst you know losses and stuff like shared and you've told me your war stories of the worst losses and stuff like that. Like Georgia, since you've been a fan, sure, what has been your favorite moment? Not the Keeley Ringo thing, I don't want to hear about that and I'll let you think about it for a second because I'll give you mine. I think the ones that stand out the most to me. But during this run with Kirby. What's been your favorite moment For me? The out the most to me. But during this run with Kirby like what's been your favorite moment for me, the two that stand out are when they were playing Kentucky two years ago or three years ago.

Speaker 1: 40:01

Now, in 2021, ranked opponent, like 330 matchup, like that was like a big deal. Chris Rodriguez is leading the SEC and rushing at time they come in it's it's kind of close. At first, I remember at one point when it was like you guys pinned them deep on like a punt inside the 10 yard line, stopped them on third and one they had to punt. So you got the ball back inside, like like on their side of the field and in two straight drives you went five plays for 75 yards. After that you guys scored there. But the next two drives you went five plays, 75 yards a piece. One drive it was all runs. The other drive it was all passes and it was like kirby just fucking, we can do anything um, yeah, yeah the other one.

Speaker 1: 40:39

I talk about this a lot, man, and it's just such a cool moment and I'm not trying to throw you under the bus, but I remember your tweet specifically that that game against bama in the national championship game, when it was like how the fuck are y'all here again? Like, like, how is this happening again? And I remember you like maybe it's not a bad idea to bring in JT Adams at this point because nothing was going on in offense. I couldn't get anything going.

Speaker 2: 41:02

And Kirby going out there. I was sitting in the stands in the third quarter like oh yeah, Go ahead, you're fine.

Speaker 1: 41:10

But Kirby, going in to that situation, everyone in the country like after what just happened two games ago, everyone in the country kind of waiting for Georgia to Georgia. And not only did they go out there with Stetson again, but they had four straight plays on the go-ahead scoring drive or touchdown drive, all passing plays. I thought that was one. Even as a Bama fan, I thought that was one of the coolest moments I've seen from a coach Like one being like so present in the moment, to not like freak out, then also like sticking with his guts, sticking with his guys. Like there's just a few coaches I feel like they can do stuff like that, like Kirby did. But what is your favorite moment?

Speaker 2: 41:51

that, like Kirby did. But what? What is your favorite moment? Yeah, I mean so I'm sure you experienced this with with Bama, you know.

Speaker 2: 42:06

I've been really fortunate to turn college football and covering it from a hobby into a full-time career and, like I, I wake up every day and I'm extremely grateful for that. And it is, you know, that has happened because people like you, you know, retweeting my stuff, or people in the chat, you know, like whoever it is, like every like little bit of engagement matters, as you know, and and so like I think that has changed. You know, just being so immersed in it has definitely like changed the emotional relationship with.

Speaker 2: 42:36

Georgia football right, because, like, how could it not? At the same time, there are these moments that overwhelm and that are so like you know, there's just so much charge to them that it's hard not to see them from that fan perspective, and there's a few that, like do stick out to me. One of them is the kind of what you might call the first game of this run. Like, if you remember the off season leading up to the 2021 season, nil became legal Right and Josh and I Josh Hancher, dogstats and and I we were doing the DogSports live show at the time. We talked and we were, like, man, wouldn't it be funny or cool if we gave some dude on the team a few bucks to promote our shit and send a few tweets out? One day, I'll tell you all the stories of, like different people that we talked to like josh really wanted to get much champs kid and like have like the walk-on lifestyle kind of thing and uh.

Speaker 2: 43:44

But we ended up working with chris smith, uh who oh yeah yeah, and like kind of at the time I I don't think anybody really knew that he was going to end up being an All-American safety two years down the road and all that.

Speaker 2: 43:59

But he had stuck out to me and he was a guy that we had shouted out on the show a lot late in 2020.

Speaker 2: 44:05

And I ended up working with him, ended up talking with him, getting to know him and his family a little bit Really really kind, genuine people and I go to Charlotte for the 2021 season opener and I go with my mom and my dad and meet a bunch of like very online Georgia fans that weekend and that was really a fun experience.

Speaker 2: 44:28

But, as you know, like that game is tied late in the first half half and he jumps around and runs back the only touchdown of the game on a pick six and like it was really cool to have that kind of like moment of hey, like I know how good of a guy this is, this is a really good kid and to like see him have that moment on that kind of stage biggest game of kind of the opening weekend was, was just like there was some emotion there. That was really, you know, kind of overwhelming in a way that and I would say the you know the 2021 title Honestly was. So there was so much happening. Truthfully, I couldn't really take it all in At once honestly, my brain couldn't really process it In the moment.

Speaker 2: 45:29

The 2022 college football playoff game Against Ohio State that game. I was in the moment the 2022 college football playoff game against Ohio State that game. I was in the end zone where AD Mitchell kind of caught that touchdown pass to take the lead late, but I will never forget sitting down. I was there with my mom and dad came down to Atlanta for the game.

Speaker 2: 45:52

One of my really good friends, more of a cousin than a friend. Childhood buddy, we sat with them. My mom, late third quarter, early fourth quarter, she's texting one of her cousins who's a huge Ohio State fan lives in Youngstown Ohio and is congratulating them and all of that. It was kind of just this like, hey, it's been a good run. At least they won it last year.

Speaker 1: 46:17

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 46:18

And then there was this surprise of like, all of a sudden, arian Smith's running at you. And this is a football game, right. But watching that whole swing of emotions to you know the game is over to. Oh you know Georgia's got a shot to Georgia's going to win to. Oh God, now they're in field goal range. They're going to lose. That whole pendulum swing of that last half quarter was just so much fun to be part of.

Speaker 2: 46:46

And when that kick sailed wide I remember kind of just looking up and taking in all the people. But the coolest part about all of it was like the Happy New Year sign starts flashing on the scoreboard.

Speaker 1: 46:59

And like.

Speaker 2: 46:59

I had no idea that it was. It was midnight. So yeah, man, I mean not sorry to get long winded on it.

Speaker 1: 47:05

No, you're good.

Speaker 2: 47:06

That was cool to experience. You know, my my parents met at Georgia. They, they were at the 1980 title game together and all that. Um, I remember my dad, like before the 21 uh title game against fama, like I was in indianapolis and we ran into somebody and uh, they were kind of talking about how like they weren't sure if they were going to come and spend the money and he was like well, shit, like last time we did this was 40 years ago.

Speaker 2: 47:31

yeah, if I wait another 40 years, like if they were going to come and spend the money, and he was like well, shit, like last time we did this was 40 years ago. Yeah, if I wait another 40 years, like I'm not going to be here for it, you know. So um it was cool.

Speaker 2: 47:41

It's been cool to like have the experience of covering some of these games. You know, from the press box and you're you're with people who you know love Georgia and and you're you're kind of around that and surrounded by that, yeah, that's it's. It's been special all along the way and I think that you said it really well where, like think that you said it really well where, like, I I hope that georgia fans really take time to enjoy what's happening because like, yes, georgia is the favorite for 2024, like we just talked about, but like they were the favorite last year too.

Speaker 2: 48:26

You know, um? You just it's never guaranteed and, especially with this expanded playoff, it's gonna going to be really hard to win titles. It's going to be easy for things to go wrong.

Speaker 1: 48:39

I think it's such a good point. I think one of the things that I have Are you watching the SC Baseball Tournament? Not, at this very second. Whoever A&M's head coach is, he looks just like Brian Harsin. He looks like fat Brian Harsin, because the guy whoever A&M's head coach is, he looks just like Brian Harsin.

Speaker 1: 48:53

He looks like fat Brian Harsin, no. So I think that's one of the things that I honestly didn't expect to see out of Georgia fans. I didn't think you guys would appreciate the moment, and I'll tell you what one of the things I, as a Bama fan that I didn't enjoy every. I remember getting a text from Kristen last year during like, like October, and she was like you really need to enjoy this season, like really interesting and I was like why are you saying that?

Speaker 1: 49:21

and she was like you just really need to enjoy the season. Uh, dang it. And I just think you know that's a run where you played like yeah it's a run where you played in nine national championships in like 12 years and won six of them, and it was like so much fun. I think one of the things that's really been fun for me even as somebody that does not cheer for georgia.

Speaker 1: 49:43

Um, look outside of just making so many good friends that are georgia fans and, like you know, being able to interact with them on the show, like you said, like being able to cover, like the coolest thing even from a non-georgia fan to have watched is, I think people forget about how, like that, getting over that hump as a fan. It's so the release and like the feeling there is no. I have goosebumps now thinking about it, like there's just no better feeling about it and I think, for georgia fans with like all of the heartache also, I saw this everywhere on twitter after that 21 game, which was like second 26 can't hurt me anymore.

Speaker 1: 50:17

2020, 2012 sc championship game like, like none of those things it because and there's no, there's really not a team that came closer than georgia, that many times and, like I, I think it's just been so fun and cool to watch like this whole thing blossom like in its infancy, like stages of of what has become the best program in the country.

Speaker 2: 50:41

So it's it's been really cool to see um yeah to just to echo the last thing I'll say on this. Uh, you know my I I keep bringing up my dad just because, like my dad, it's not. It's not a fun trouble for me Well it's, it's a nice, it's a lens for me to, because, like he has historical perspective of somebody that's followed the program for 50 years and he also, like, remains a fan, you know like he's not, you know his relationship with it hasn't changed in the way that mine has by doing this for a living and it has been nice because he sort of grounds me in certain things.

Speaker 2: 51:20

But I remember before the kickoff of the Georgia-Clemson game in Charlotte to start that 2021 season, you could kind of feel the energy.

Speaker 2: 51:29

He looked at me and he was like it's fun to play in big games that matter and so many college football games they're great and we watch them and we gamble on them and whatever, but they don't really matter.

Speaker 2: 51:45

And Georgia has gotten to play in so many games over the last three years that matter and they've won a lot more than they have. And I think that is the beauty. And I think as a kid who kind of came of age in the late Ragoff, early Jim Donnan, into the Richter era, I didn't see Georgia play a lot of games that matter until I was almost in high school. A lot of games that matter until I was like almost in high school and it's it's just been really cool to get to go to all these playoff games and SEC titles and all of that and like just kind of be in the middle of of that, because like covering Georgia right now is in a lot of ways like you, are you kind of through that, you sort of run into covering the rest of college football because, like you know they keep bumping up against all the other contenders and and this year is going to be, I think, like the most chock full schedule that they have had of games that matter you know and like.

Speaker 2: 52:49

Clemson is Clemson's kind of getting brushed aside as like this sort of you know, undercard matchup, but like that's still a really good program and like that's still a great rivalry. It sucks that they're kicking it off at noon, but like that whole game, man, like if you took it and put it on the 2023 schedule, it would have been probably the you know, probably the biggest game on the schedule last year.

Speaker 1: 53:17

There's no chance, no chance.

Speaker 2: 53:20

What are you talking about?

Speaker 1: 53:21

The Ole Miss game would have been bigger.

Speaker 2: 53:24

Last year. Yeah, no, I'm talking about if you put that opener, if you put Clemson as the opener of the season last year and you kind of think about it from that perspective and you look down the rest of the 2023 slate, at this time a year ago, people would have been like that's going to be the game that maybe determines a lot for the year. Georgia would have been a favorite and all of that. But I'm just saying in a normal year with a schedule that didn't include road trips to Austin, tuscaloosa and Oxford, I think that this Clemson game would be hyped up and the schedule is so jam-packed for Georgia this year that it's not really even something people are talking about.

Speaker 1: 54:09

That's fair. They're mainly not talking about it because there's at least a third of that roster that looks like me and you so um yeah, dude, I love dabbo being like.

Speaker 2: 54:19

We got 125 guys that went through spring practice like well, dude are you know, how many of those guys are like walk on ass dabbo stories that are. You know that you're hoping to merge as like the ninth receiver in the rotation. It's just yeah, that's a whole other.

Speaker 1: 54:36

Yeah, no, we talked about this yesterday. If Scottie Scheffler would have won the tournament this past weekend after getting arrested, it would have been probably the greatest white athlete achievement of all time Like white sports achievement of all time. So maybe we'll just do that on another episode. But listen, I've kept it going too long. Man, I really really appreciate you coming on. Let everyone know where you can find your stuff for one. We'll do it again soon, and I feel like there was something else I was going to tell you, but I can't remember what it was.

Speaker 2: 55:07

Yeah Well, first off, thank you for having me Always happy to talk football with you. You and I talk football a lot, so it's fun to do it in a way where other people get to consume it too. But, yeah, check me out at theplayersloungeio. You can come to the Georgia site specifically, and I write a lot of articles there. If you come into the Dog Central forum, you'll find all of the intel and info and good stuff that you know would be maybe considered the insider material or whatnot. So would love to see you guys there. And yeah, please subscribe and, as Evan said, you know $9.99 a month, but if you go on Twitter and you send me a DM, I'm happy to send you a discount code so you can get in there for a couple months for free and check it out and make sure you like it before anyone charges you for anything.

Speaker 1: 56:08

Awesome, dude, I appreciate it. Make sure you guys. Well, one thank you for joining us, we appreciate it. If sure you guys, uh, well, one thank you for joining us. Um, we appreciate it If you were not watching live. Um, we did the Monday live show with Tyler and me. Uh, our weekly Monday night show. Um, obviously, the night with Graham. Wednesday, tomorrow, on the of the 22nd, we have Duke uh, duke, the scoop from on three. We'll be talking some stuff.

Speaker 2: 56:30

Yeah, he's, he's awesome.

Speaker 1: 56:40

I dude, always always been a big fan of that dude. Um, super, super nice guy. I was almost offended watching people actually get mad at him for his takes, his takes like now that he's like with on three and getting more and more publicity. I just it all comes with the job. But anyway, make sure you guys stand for that. We have not figured out a guest for th, but we will figure one out, or Evan will tell me what to do, yeah, and we will talk to you all then. We appreciate it. Thanks, guys.