Lane/LSU Back Down & a Texas-Ohio State Preview with Bruce Feldman, Plus the NFL's Continued Lack of QB Development

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Already a week into the college football season, there's a lot of new stuff that I want to get to, but somebody that knows the sport really well joins us throughout season, Bruce Feldman from Fox Sports, and also the athletic checkout his annual freaks list, which is a great kind of teaser to what you should expect from some of the top players, the freaks in college football, and he's with us now. What's up? Well, it's up, Brian. Good to see you. All right. Let's start with what I was talking to you about off the air, because we go back and forth a little bit, and I read your previews. I read all these previews, and everything's always fun positively, which is to be expected. I'm used to it at this point. I guess you used to have them spring training all the time too. But of the concerns we have of contenders, what do you believe is real? There's a really part, there's a part of me, I'll use for an example, Mattier being healthy. If it truly was his hand with Oklahoma's defense, we may have to look at them entirely differently, not based on what we saw in the opening weekend, but if Mattier's healthy, like they're a different team. Yeah. I mean, the people I talk to inside that program feel like they aren't just a little better on offense. They're going to be way better, and it's not just Mattier. Last year he was playing behind a really inexperienced young offensive line. Now a lot of those guys were talented or softmores, but they also added to really experienced guys from the portal, have a lot of game reps, a lot of snaps. That roads well. The other thing I've heard that people rave about inside the program is the impact Jason Witten has made as the tight ends coach. I think people can look at us or may have tight ends coach, but last year they were dreadful at that spot. Not only as Witten helped them in terms of kind of developing the room and kind of setting the tone, but also they added three really good players, really good tight ends to that room, and they're big guys. I think it gives Mattier and Ben Arbuckle the offensive coordinator a lot of different options. They also added Troll Harris, who's a bigger receiver as an outside guy. Last year they didn't really have that guy outside, we could win. They basically had Isaiah Centenio who's a dynamic slot. They had Dion Burke who really is a slot. They were trying to, you know, when he was healthy trying to play him outside because he just didn't have somebody out there. Now they have that with Harris like they said, you know, with the tight ends, it gives them a lot of versatility. And I think, you know, Mattier tore it up when he was at Washington State. And obviously last year we didn't get to see I think the best of them for a variety of reasons beyond just the thumb injury I'm throwing. All right, Alabama. That's another team off offensive line issues. You know, I think Keylon obviously is clearly full of every kind of talent you would want for a quarterback who can also run like he can, but I would tell you like I thought there were some issues that they had and granted maybe it's the first week and it's not just a quarterback, but that's another group, another offensive line where if it's Bama, like there's a standard that we expect to see. And there's even, I'd even add this like I think the board's terrific and you're also following Sabin. So you're following like the most detail oriented guy going, but even against ECU, I'm like, man, they still make a lot of like stupid mistakes where it's just kind of loose. Like there's, there's not a tightness to this group. And I remember the Vandy game, you know, when you had defensive players like yelling at each other on Bama's defense and you go, I'm not used to ever seeing this. And granted, it's a little unfair post Sabin, but I don't know. There's just a lot of stuff with them from that first game, even in a win where they put a 48 that I didn't like. Yeah, I mean, I think you also have to factor in post Sabin in this year is different than what Sabin had when the field was really tilted towards his program and, you know, a handful of others. You know, Vandy doesn't become, you know, a 10-win team in a different, you know, 10 years ago. I mean, it's just a very dramatic change in the landscape of college football, but no doubt. I mean, I talked to coaches. We did a coach's survey a couple of weeks ago. And one of the coaches made the point, I like to bore a lot, but it feels like they're a pack 12 kind of team. There's a little bit of a softness there. And I think what they've tried to do in the trenches is they got way bigger on the defensive line. They took one of Oregon's, you know, bigger guys who has been really good for them. They added one of USC's deal. I mean, I think a lot of people go, well, there's more pack 12 guys or whatever, but they feel much bigger there. Yon's APR is a big time guy. They're loaded in the secondary, which, you know, they're big and long. And that should bowed well. But the other part of it, as you said, isn't just the running game. It's like, you know, because Keelan Russell was there leading Russia last week. Now, they're really excited about DJ Crowell. He's a five star running back. He was banged up in camp. I think they were pleasantly surprised. He was able to play as much as he was last weekend. And I think as, you know, now they got Kentucky on the road. It's an SEC game. I think we'll see a lot more of them. You know, they changed old line coaches and they brought in Adrian Clam. You know, I've been with the Patriots, been with the Steelers, also a guy who did a really good job in Oregon. And from everything I've heard, they feel like their guys are coming off the ball better. But again, I think the biggest question mark a lot of people have is not just, um, can they run the football? It's will they run the football? You know, will Ryan Grubb, who didn't have a reputation for being committed to the run, certainly when he was the OC of the Seahawks. And he did a good job at, you know, he had panics and they almost won the national title game at Washington. But that team wasn't really a really good, you know, running team or they really didn't hang their hat on it. And I think that's a question. It'll be interesting to see because it's one thing to run it against team zero lot better than it's another thing to run it against the other heavyweights of the SEC. And that remains to be seen. But again, the, you know, the cruel piece of it. And also, I really think Keeling Russell is, is a big upgrade. Even though they try to first round quarterback, um, I think people are going to look and go, okay, now they have an RPO game. The last two guys, it wasn't just high Simpson. It was Milro. They just weren't comfortable in the RPO world, whereas Russell is. He can extend plays. I mean, he's still a really young quarterback. But there's an hit factor there that everybody who's been around them points to. Your coach's poll was it that it was what six of 12 votes for Oregon win a national title. Did it feel like the voters were voting because they thought it was like collectively Oregon's turn? I mean, it would have six guys vote for it means, I guess that many people are just kind of convinced that that's where they sit in the big 10, which I'll admit throughout the entire summer. I was like, I don't know, it's a coin toss for me in those three teams. I have no idea how to separate the three. Yeah, I think some of the Ryan is they had a a bunch of D line and come back. That doesn't always happen. You have a really explosive group of receivers. We know they're going to be good running the football or this in the backfield. I get it. They have to replace some offensive liners. But then there's the Dante more part of it. I think if you're going to buy in to any quarterback Who can lead a team to a title you get into this category of like are people really all in on arch Do they think there's enough on offense around CJ car at Notre Dame, you know Julian saying Yes, that offense should be terrific, but at the same time their defense lost You know three elite players in the middle of the defense, right? And their schedule is brutal They probably have the hardest schedule in the country. So you know again, I think it was a it was a sizable number who just saw who said they They picked Oregon they felt like it was kind of their time and they they're probably more sold on Dante more than they are on some of these other quarterbacks in the middle of it Your personal opinion of those three ten or three big ten teams like if you had to pick the order of them I would go Oregon Man, it's hard to go again. Sugnetty. Um, I would go Oregon, Indiana, Ohio State. I think at this point now You know, we're gonna find out a lot more about Ohio State this weekend. I think the thing to keep in mind with Indiana is they have a pretty Cozy schedule. It doesn't really pick up momentum until like early mid-October So that gives them a runway now Hoover Joshua were looked terrific in the first time out. They getting Kobe Martin You know, who's a really talented running back who they felt like they had a good one-two punch with Turbo Richard the transfer from BC and him And then Martin got hurt in the game with like I think it was either a shoulder or an arm injury before he even had a carry and You know, he may be out for the month plus and so that's a that's a little bit of a concern But we know the receivers are good and they're no their defense is really good. I just to me. It's like hard to pick against dignity at this point It'll be interesting to see what happens with Ohio State perception-wise like if they lose to Texas and to me It'll I think the most reasonable people would be like okay. Well, they're scheduled so a little different week two than everybody else And how geared up Texas is for this rematch considering how close that game was and probably cost Texas a playoff spot It's just because of the schedule alone. Just if Ohio State goes into Austin loses and then it's like oh, okay Well now I really like those other big 10 teams that would be a massive mistake. I think LSU so Temple I guess was the last team to be kicked out of a conference that was like 25 years ago But it was temple and with Lane Kiffin determined to add players that were on pro rosters that ended up not making the rosters To bring them back you like three guys lined up for it and then it sounded like the rest of the SEC was furious about this And then they apparently earlier this week even threatened to say hey, maybe we'll kick you out of the conference Which none of us necessarily believe would happen then of course after Lane blast Clemson He says imagine if we had pro players because you just can't help himself with this kind of stuff LSU since late last night has since like just given up like hey, we're not going to do this So we're gonna move forward your thoughts on kind of the timeline of what Kiffin was trying to do there in Baton Rouge Yeah, I think part of Lane's kind of DNA is he does not think He's gonna do what Lane wants to do and till somebody Which is face on the on on the skillet kind of thing goes no you can't no this isn't gonna happen and I think his inclination and his instincts are always To ask for forgiveness as a as opposed to you know asking for permission You know after he's done it and if you look at his track record You know save and shove them out the door When in the playoff when Lane had already got the FAU job He was like, I don't want you know you're a distraction. We don't need this for you and you know, they Brought sark up or promoted him up for the be the play call of the national title game And obviously got fired on the tarmac at USC, but so many other times Lane has Been able to kind of squirrel his way out of you know a really dicey situation and For everything we've heard is that the SEC and Greg Sanky are Really disgusted by how he's created this side show and LSU and so it's also not honestly just Lane. It is the politicians in the state You know the governor and other you know political people and it's gotten to be this soap opera and it's really You know kind of I think it's embarrassing for the SEC. You know, and you know, there's people you talk to there who are like You know, they just had a dominant performance and and really embarrassed Clemson and yet most of the headlines are about what the hell was going on with Lane kiffon You know and I think There were people I talked to on Tuesday morning at LSU Who are like man? He is playing with fire. He doesn't even he doesn't even get it and The feeling was he may not just get suspended for six games. He may get suspended for a whole year Because if Sanky really wants to send a message to him be like no, no, no, I'm not effing around and I think that's the part where we don't really know How is this gonna where is this gonna land because you can back off? But after you put out you know SEC Sanky was on a on a stand in a court for three hours getting grilled and it was like really awkward for everything I was told so you know, I'm sure he's a prideful guy and they want alignment and they want people, you know In their members to be on the same page and to be supportive of the conference not to embarrass the conference and to some degree I think this side show with LSU And he clearly didn't need those two guys, you know, was it like they already have you know as somebody I was like How does the tight end I asked is somebody on LSU and they're like well He was their trade as green trade as green is more talented than in him But and then the other defensive line that it was like maybe you could have been back for the Ole Miss rematch You know, we're talking about guys who didn't stick on NFL rosters, right? So I mean, they're good players and they're definitely gonna help from a depth would have helped from a depth standpoint But you know, was it worth the trouble for LSU? Probably not Yeah, I mean they might be that good Clemson also might be that bad. Do you have any idea after that first game? Yeah, I think Clemson is pretty bad. I think that what that game showed You know, all schools miss on their evaluation from time to time. I think Clemson has missed more than You know in the last few years they've always hit staff shakeups and everything else But because they do not have the luxury of not taking the luxury of being able to backfill their roster Be through the portal and fill into like gaps into position runes It's really come back to bite them like last year they were really disappointing Offends that had a lot of experience on the old line and obviously club they could play for three years This one does not have that kind of experience and they just look like they're not ready to play They they were just overwhelmed by LSU. Yeah, LSU is really talented and LSU by the way plays really fast and all the kind of the tempo there I think can overwhelm a team especially in death Valley you and I both been there that is the place in college football in terms of like it feels like thunder You know and with a lot more boots and I think there's just a unique energy bear in Clemson was not ready and I would start to to pivot from on this about them is like heck they could lose at home to build Bellatrix from North Carolina team You know in a week and I don't think anybody would have predicted that Ten days ago even coming out of Ireland, but they just look so bad And it's like they don't have some some talent. They have some good receivers Sammy Brown is one of the best defensive players in the country Not just one of the best linebackers, but I think in the trenches they are sorely lacking and You know dabbo's buy out is is is over $50 million. I don't know what's gonna happen at the end of the year He obviously had his press conference. I think it was on Monday or Tuesday Where he was very defiant in what people were talking to him of like he doesn't tend to like admit Bistakes where other people like no that was a glaring screw-up you made and He just kind of you know, maybe it's at times. It's commendable but other times it's like hey your head's in the sand on this Everybody else sees it but you To be dabbo, you know, I've I've talked about this a little bit before not specific even at dabbo And it's that you come in and by the way everybody was kind of like what are we doing here when he first got the job It was like yeah dabbo's gonna be the head coach like you know Rudy down in Tuscaloosa and so They get off to a slow start and then he's like the only guy that's even hanging with Sabin You know, it's it's remarkable considering during Sabin's thing that they get him twice the national championship game So when you do that like why would you ever think you were gonna be wrong, but The rules are so different. I think there's also like how hungry could you possibly be but then he becomes so miserable because All the time that he was doubted he proved all of those doubters wrong. I think it's very hard for a person to go through what he went through And prove that he was the man and now have the like the same collection of people now doubting them all over again I would think it's human nature that he's never really gonna give in to thinking that he's necessarily wrong The problem is like the results are showing you here now like the first I broke it up like last 11 years I mean they were top five seven straight years. They were top three five straight years. And now they had one, I think in the last five years, they had one top seven finish, including unranked and kind of what it looks like it's heading towards in '26, too. Yeah, I, you know, I thought a couple of days ago, the, in 2020, it was that, you know, I'm doing the 2019 season, I remember I'm at New Orleans, you know, in my hotel room, about to leave to go get on a media shuttle to go, the LSU was pointing Clemson in the title game. And I think I was doing fine bone. And the question somebody asked me was, I think it was all I'm trying to remember who came from, but was if Clemson wins tonight has dabbo surpassed Sabine as the best coach in college football. And I didn't think he was, I didn't think they were going to win because just having been around LSU on that run, I was like, nobody's beating this team, nobody's beating Joe Murr, Joe Burrell. But that was the, the thought process for a lot of people was Clemson, dabbo's going to win his third national title and, you know, third time over the SEC. And this is the best team the SEC has to offer and he's going to beat them. And, and then all of a sudden, and it's not really all of a sudden because it's like, he had a stretch before last year, where was a bunch of like ten and three kind of seasons, which were, were not bad years, but compared to where they were, they fell back. And I think the, the obvious question was, has dabbo and Clemson won their last championship? You know, I think the reality is, even if he was getting still some really good recruits, it was like, yeah, right now, something's missing. And it's a lot of things. It was the portal. It was maybe the perfect balance of the staff that he had at the time and then got to, you know, Tony Elliott leaves, eventable leaves, Jeff Scott leaves, it's just, I think it just started to erode and then you get stubborn and coaches are the most stubborn human beings on the, on the place of the earth, especially football coaches, because they have 120 dudes to manage it in college and everything else. And I think that catches up to you, you know, and I think as much as he wants to listen, you know, as much as the inclination, maybe to listen to people in your staff room or whatever, sometimes you wonder, I was like, all right, did everybody get complacent here? Did people catch up to what we're good at? And again, I don't think they're going to do what, you know, they're going to be 2 and 10 like Florida, stay was a couple of years ago, but they can be 5 and 7 pretty easily. I mean, they have issues of quarterback, they're bad in the trenches. I mean, and those two things, if you have the strength of your offense as receivers and you can't get them the ball, that doesn't do you much yet. Would Miami win the SEC? Ooh, that's a good one. I didn't even thought about that. Hoof. Right now, Miami, I think is more talented than even Texas and because I think they have more talent in the trenches. And, you know, I don't know. I wouldn't bet against them. It's just, can they win the SEC? They couldn't win the ACC for 20 years. Now that we're going to say they're going to win a much tougher conference. And, and, you know, I joke about it, but there is something to be said for, you know, it's more than a two game season. People can rip Notre Dame all they want about their schedule. Miami's schedule in the ACC is not good, but you watch them and you're like, man, men so really looks good. Mark Fletcher is one of the best running backs in the country. Malakitoni is like a generational player in terms of like the impact he has in a game because he's unguardable. They have other good receivers. They're huge on the O line. And they're good on the back end. And I think Mario is put together a very good staff. It's just, you know, like it's, I feel like it's the level of consistency you need to, to go 11 and one in the SEC is a different aspect than it is in the ACC where they haven't done it. So I'm going to say no, just because they haven't won the ACC yet. So why should they win the SEC? Look, we all know NFL Sundays are sacred. And so we found the perfect way to make sure we don't miss a single snap of NFL action. We're fully dialed into NFL Sunday ticket and YouTube TV. When you bundle NFL Sunday ticket and YouTube TV, you get every game every Sunday period. Best part, the multi view feature lets you watch up the four games at once. So you can track your fantasy matchups in real time. Watch your favorite players and keep tabs on everything across the league. It's the ultimate setup for the NFL season. Plus new users can jump in right now for eight payments of $30 per month. Go to youtube.com/NFLST and get it done. Don't be the guy guessing what's happening in the other games. Be the guy in the living room who sees it all. New users pay $240 or eight non-cancellable payments of $30 a month. First charge of purchase availability varies with NFL Sunday ticket for out of market games in YouTube TV for local and national games. YouTube TV required terms restrictions and embargoes apply device and content restrictions apply to multi view commercial use excluded no refunds. Do you I don't know if your opinion is the same as but I mean you talk to so many coaches who most people pick as they think is like the best team is a Texas in the SEC. You know it's a cop out to say we're gonna find out a lot more this weekend but like we just haven't seen it from them. They're talented. You know I like arch. I really like Cam Coleman. They have two really good running backs. You know Raheem Biles is a big upgrade at lineback in the middle of the middle of the defense. You have Colin Simmons is a really good player to get on the back end of getting special teams but you know I I don't know do we trust Sark. That's the you know that's the weird question asked is I think for so long he was kind of the trendy answer for like one of the best offensive minds in college football and then there's times where it's like okay there was talented as this team they're playing it and there's like some head scratching moments in the red zone or different things where you're like okay does he get too cute what is you know where is this now I do think the the the mobility and the playmaking ability that that arch brings is a is a much different than yours you know he's he can be a problem for teams whereas yours yours was not that. I just think you have a way more dynamic athlete and that always causes people problems. I think though the area that had been as Sark's Kryptonite for the last couple of years I felt like was Georgia and this isn't the Georgia team that was like back to back titles but it was still a Georgia team that I felt like was more physical than Texas and just played with like an edge and that's the part where like okay this Texas going to have that edge. I mean you know like I feel like I'm almost there on Texas and yet I'm like I don't know it's just there's like an edge there where would I pick them against you know in a neutral site would I pick them against Miami I don't know if I would because I think Miami is the tougher team. I would I don't know if I would pick them against Georgia because I feel like Georgia is the tougher team but they're I mean I still think they're one of the most five most talented teams in the country and they've spent a lot of money on the portal and I think it's going to show up this weekend. You think Texas pizza Ohio State? I do because it's home and I feel like you know you look at the numbers with sand sand's dramatically different like all quarterbacks are different when you know it's depending on the competition but like last year Miami got to him I think five times and you know he did not play well in that game and you know they scored whatever 14 points I don't think Texas is as nasty on the defense as Miami was last year but I think you know look I think they will be a problem for Ohio State's offensive line you know Ohio State one of their tackles didn't have a great week last week against a much more inferior competition so I think that is a concern for them you know sands a really accurate quarterback with a corporate release he's not super mobile either though it's not like he's well-houred back there or certainly like you know some of the other quarterbacks of Ohio State and I think that might be a little bit of a concern on the road in a place that you know Texas is a lot more of a home field advantage now than it was like 10 years ago like credit to like their their university they upgraded like the energy and the the way the place sounds and and it feels more like a home field advantage than it used to and I think that could also play into you know communication issues and some of how Ohio State handles this okay all right so more of these coaches pulled responses here does anyone want their vote over on the biggest sleeper in the country with Michigan leaving away man now they there wasn't a lot of votes for any specific team they got the most I think it was you know three three right three three yeah well three about three of 18 18 yeah so but I think a lot of that was hey they trust Kyle winning him and they trust Kyle winning him's culture with these athletes the biggest issue right now is what do you do with the quarterback who you know you spent low eight figures on and he's not ready to play he's just not you know he he doesn't trust his eyes you don't know what he you know if he can read defenses at this point he he's really inaccurate his feet are all over the place even then even they've stuck you think he would be excited it's exceptional at in terms of in the run game. Just doesn't feel like he's comfortable with that at times. And I think he's feeling the pressure right now. I really do because it was, you know, the Mulligan on the Hail Mary notwithstanding, they did not play well, he did not play well. And all eyes were on him and Wittingham was now had to answer for it and was like, you know, he's starting quarterback for now. I know they do like Tommy car, CJ younger brother. I'm not sure he's going to the street. Yeah, I don't know if I don't know if Chase is ready to ready to roll for for Brent Venable. Just putting it on everybody's radar. That's all. But I'm not sure Tommy car would be ready for this. I mean, again, going to play Oklahoma's defense when Brent Venables and it's also not like they have Ohio State's talent or they have Oregon's talent. They don't on offense. The O line is not what it was a few years ago. The receiving core has never been, you know, great there. I mean, it was great, you know, whatever, 30 years ago. But it was like, it's really, you know, kind of above average, but not elite. A few years ago, they had really good tight ends. I'm not sure it's there. And they also, you know, the running backs are good, but again, the offensive line isn't, you know, isn't elite at this point or close to it. And I think it's right now you have a program that is figuring out, oh, we got, we're in transition. It's a second year. It's for, for Underwood in a second system. It's pretty different. The coaching styles are very different. And it's, you know, there's a lot of growing pains. And I don't know how they come through the growing pains now 'cause I would be surprised if there are top 25 team this year. I really, I don't think they're, I don't think that was very flukely what happened last week against Western Michigan. I kind of think that's what they are. You know, what do they hang their hat on? I don't know. - If I said Bryce Underwoods at Florida State next year starting week one, which, what would you say? - Who's coachin' on the Florida State? I don't know. I mean, it's like I used to try to pick less miles next team. - If you told me Bryce Underwood was at Rutgers and Brian Kelly's coachin' them. - And could you imagine the sideline or interaction between the two of that when it's going bad? I don't know where, you know, like, 'cause obviously DJU ended up in Tallahassee and he was like, you know, one of the last super sized five star quarterbacks who kind of fizzled or did fizzled and kind of, and then he ended up in Florida State and that didn't go good or didn't go well. And I, I don't know how this plays out, but I, you know, I would be surprised if he's gonna be back next year. It just like, I think after a while, if it keeps going in this direction, nothing to show that we're gonna get a fast change in terms of like he's gonna pull out of it and all of a sudden, he is going to look like Sam Darnold or something or some other, you know, athletic quarterback who has toughness and figures it out on the fly. I don't know, you know, like, I don't know how he kind of kind of stays there if it's just, you know, the coach is telling you, I'm not gonna be this patient with you. - I thought it was really revealing for winning him to go. Yeah, you know, this is not infinite on this. And I would say like on some of those third and thirteenths where he tucks it and runs like you're not gonna, you're not gonna get there. Like I understand some guys do it, like Reynolds for Clemson against LSU, I think he was running around on third and forever because it was like whatever, we're down 40. Like I'm just trying to, I'm trying to make sure we don't turn it over and pun. And Bryce will have some of these plays where he tucks it. I'm like, there's no way, there's in a competitive game. Like you're not gonna get to the sticks on this one. - All right, you're not in high school any, you're not in high school anymore. - Yeah, you have a 66 year old head coach who was planning on retiring. And Allison, he got us, you know, a second chance at coaching and it's at a blue blood program with a lot of fleas on it and now all of a sudden, you know, how patient is he gonna be at 66? I don't, you know, I don't think he's gonna expect. Oh yeah, you know, in 20, 28, we can be dangerous. I don't think I'm winning, I'm looking at anything that way. - I wanted to ask you about this transfer portal gap, which I've referenced a couple times here on the show on like longer term or ACC and Big 12 coaches feeling being like, man, you know, like sure, Texas Tech seems like they can get anybody they want in, you know, there's one dispersed, you know, Houston's grabbed a few guys. Clearly Miami can get whoever they want. There's a couple guys there around the top, but you know, I've referenced it. I know you follow this kind of stuff. Is there any concern in the world of the coaches that you talk to where it's like, man, we were heading on two diverging paths here between what the two top conferences are getting in the portal thing, now that this thing is kind of reset. I think the resigns that this is the reality in it, it depends on what school you're at. I mean, 'cause like Miami and Texas Tech, they recruit like SEC programs, you know, from a story I'm working on for next week, you know, talk to a very credible source on this, who said there are six schools that basically have $50 million budgets. Two of those are not in the Big 10 or the SEC. Miami and Texas Tech are in there along with Texas, LSU, Ohio State, and I think Oregon was the other one. That's, you know, so you have, you know, essentially two, you know, two Big 10 or three SEC and another, two Big 10, two big SEC, and then the other two are, you know, act like that. And they are such outliers compared. 'Cause I think if you go back to the rest of the, let's say the ACC, Clemson doesn't get after the people in the portal to begin with, but Florida State, when I talked to somebody down there, you know, about a month ago, the point they made is, we did not, we were not aggressive financially in the portal, we did not have that money to advertise. That's why you get Ash and Daniels, as you're starting quarterback. And a guy who has like a six and 20 record, who has a starter, and the thinking this person had was, yeah, they're saving their money up for something else, which means to pay off Mike Norvell to get out of here, 'cause this is clearly not working. Louisville, I think, had one of the, you know, probably a top 20 portal class, according to like the two four sevens of the world. And you see what, you know, there are talented teams, you watch them on Sunday against Ole Miss, they went toe to toe with them. If they weren't so sloppy, you know, I think they probably win that game. But there's other aspects of the ACC, you look at Boston College. You know, I had people this all season, tell me like that job is one of the hardest jobs in college football now. It has been left behind in the financial realities of the NIL portal world. And, you know, as you know, 'cause you grew up in New England, they were consistently good. Bicknell had a lot of good years, Tom O'Brien had a lot of good years, even Frank Spaziani and Steve Adazio had decent years. You know, like Adazio had like, felt like he was seven and five or seven and six every year. Not great, but also not like what Bill O'Brien just did last year and what it feels like he's gonna do again. And the point in that was, and this is where I think it's the larger point. B.C. has some parallels with Northwestern and Bandy, where the change really is different is Northwestern in the big 10 and Bandy obviously in the SEC are getting big TV money. That's not happening in the ACC for Boston College. And so that adds to it, right? And I think with the big 12, yeah, you know, like the UI, you also has the crumble cookie, you know, fortune and everything like that. But a lot of those other places, they're not, they're not built to be what Texas and Oklahoma were. Texas Tech just got lucky that they, that they're, one of Lisa's former offense alignment made billions of dollars in the energy business and he's throwing it into the football program. I think that's rare and, you know, this, this is the reality everybody has when, you know, talk to coaches in both leagues, especially, they kind of shrug their shoulders at it. They'd like to have a Cody Campbell, they don't. And it's just like, you know, this is it. And a lot of coaches, if they were being honest, we'll tell you they'd rather be in the NFL than they'd rather be in college because of how this calendar and everything else about it works. But there's only so many NFL jobs. I always wondered if, you know, it would be kind of a new money thing. We're all of a sudden, all of these boosters, you know, that love their program. And then it's kind of like, oh, wow, we can throw some extra money and now this thing's totally legal. Like, let's go out there and get ourselves a really good quarterback. And then you're hitting people up that are really motivated to do this for the first time. Is this all kind of like change course, you know, four or five years ago? And then you're like, oh, we still stink. So what's what's the point? And my guess would be there's a lot of programs that are making phone calls to people asking like, hey, do you want to get back involved in the NIL thing? And they may have gotten like a surge in the beginning. And now there's very little interest for a ton of programs That. the boosters are just like this, this is sort of pointless, like I'm just throwing money at something that we can't compete, we can't compete with somebody's other schools. There is nothing more predictable than the college basketball cycle of some source telling one of the college basketball writers, this is not sustainable, you know, like this is not sustainable. And then it happens every year, the prices keep going up. I mean, if even if the beginning you would say, hey, some of these programs are going to in five years have $50 million budgets for just their football roster, you'd be like, well, that's ridiculous, like that's not going to happen. But then, sometimes I think, well, what is the value of the quarterback? Like if we put this much value on the NFL, if you get the right guy, like those numbers are just going to keep going up and up because it's like an open market and you just kind of keep bidding on these guys, which again, I think drives the top end prices, but also discourages how many of the P4 programs where their alums are like, this is pointless and they're getting less money in the next couple of years and they were at the beginning of all of this. Yeah, I think it's a it's the drug that nobody can quit, you know, if you think about it in that in that term. Now, like some of the boosters and I think this is a big chunk of boosters struggle with the notion of, hey, I'm going to pay this player who maybe hasn't done anything, you know, $2.5 million. That to them is a shock to the system still. And I think they're uncomfortable with that model. They're more they're more fine with paying, you know, their head football coach $12 million a year than they are with playing paying a defensive end, you know, 800,000, you know, because it's harder for them to see the, the, you know, yeah, maybe this guy turns into Alan Bailey, almost none of them do, but you know, it's you're trying to thread an edel into this. And I think we'll remember the guys who turned it around like, like Oh, next was a big recruited offer and obviously coaches kid and everybody knew who he was and then he was kind of, you know, really up and down. He got to Oregon, system was really good, flourished, had a terrific, you know, second act. And obviously, you know, when as a first shot picking has done really well for the Broncos, that is the exception rather than the rule. There's more DJU's than there are bone mixes. Yeah, Dante Moore second act has been really good. But I, you know, think of it through this lens a lot where, you know, every year I got to Elite 11, it's not far from where we live and here. And you see most of the best quarterback recruits in the country. And the year that CJ hard and Dylan Raiola were in that class, there was 20 quarterbacks of those 20. A lot of them were already transferred twice, most almost all of them are transferred once by the end of this class. I think the only quarterback of the 20 who may end up finishing his career with a place he signed is CJ car. And I'm not saying that's the only reason why CJ car is thriving. But I think there is so much of an instinct where I got to playing now. And if I'm not playing, where should I go, you know, you have a better, I don't know if it's a better chance to find a, you know, a canvas was kind of lightly in a bottle, right? He's just, he was a division to quarterback who was like not playing a division to until the latter part of his time there. And then Lane ended up with him. I don't think Lane had any idea what he had until he was playing and Austin Simmons got hurt, right? And so you see some of those stories of the guys who break through at the third stop or at some point. And that doesn't mean they're going to turn out to be Caleb Williams in the NFL or Jayden Daniels or Joe Burrow, because all those guys also, you know, ended up someplace else. But I just think it's like so much harder to do the evaluations now because you're, it's like speed dating, you're doing all this stuff. Now you're adding money to it. I mean, I did some study, I don't know, probably like six years ago, where I looked at like the previous 15 years of five star quarterbacks. And I figured out that about 30% of those five star quarterbacks came close to living up to the height. I'm not saying they were, they were, you know, Highsman guys or Highsman finalists, but came close to 30%. That was before they started getting millions of dollars and TV deals and all this other stuff. Now I'm sure some of them were getting money under the table beforehand, but it's still like that just made it so much more complicated because now we're putting the money and the expectations and all the stuff that has come with that in this day and age. So not making excuses for football coaches, but I just think it's a lot harder to exist in this world now because because everything else has been thrown out the window. Especially with thoughts like these last topic here with Bruce Feldman. You asked the coaches who should be the highest paid player in college football. All right. Jeremiah Smith got nine votes. Coach has raved about Jeremiah Smith, except for one big 10 running backs coach who said, quote, "Not Jeremiah, play cover two over him and you take him out of the game. I think he's closer to DK Metcalf than Jackson Smith and Jigba." End quote. Of what the fuck? Yeah, look, I think physically I get the the DK comparison because you got a hulking receiver who's got really good size and and Jackson's Smith and Jigba is really slick and smooth and they're different kinds of guys. I think that was kind of like the ooo moment of it. There was two other coaches who were way more effusive and why in their explanation to why Jeremiah Smith actually ran away with that pole from the coaches, but there was one coach and I was like, oh, this is too good not to use. And again, I'm with the other nine coaches. I think he is by far the best player in college football and I think he has been a remark. If you ask me, who's the best receiver you've ever seen in college football, I don't have to think very hard about it. I mean, he basically looked like Andre Johnson when he got to Ohio State, the way Andre Johnson looked when he went to the Houston Texans and left Miami. He just such a man among boys and I get it. If you think this is a way to slow him down because nobody's perfect and I think this is that that position coaches way of being like, yeah, you guys, you know, talk him up so much and he's not, you know, he's not like infallible. All right. Well, you know, hopefully your team doesn't have to play him and do that. I just think after two years, like somebody would have figured out the cover two hack. Now you could say, well, you can't play cover two because of the talent that they're always going to have and all that kind of stuff. But I don't know. I thought that was, that was like a there's there's a zag for everything. I've I'm convinced of that no matter what position we all kind of collectively agree on. There's always someone that's like, actually, it's this. Hey, you spent years, you spent years working on a show with Danny. You know, you know, there's a lot of things that look like. It wreaks like Stanford Steve will surprise you every now and then like he'll just out of nowhere go. I like Robbie Ashford better. And you're like, what? He never said that. I just like Rob referencing Robbie Ashford not on a roster this year. Heard it was a good baseball player back in the day. Yeah, I heard about it every fucking broadcast and all of the stops that he made that he also was an awesome baseball player. The also part. I mean, honestly, if there's somebody in his family, like, why does that guy still talk? I was just fascinated about his journey, fascinated about his journey. You'd always come in to talk about his baseball career. But there you go. Check out this piece up on the athletic and more importantly, check out the annual freaks list from our guy Bruce Feldman. Thanks, man. Thanks, Ryan. I got some pictures back from the Todd Graves suite at LSU, founder of Raising Canes. I can't wait to go down for Bama and some Texas toast. And that might also mean the Texas game. Canes is also sponsoring PJ tour golfer, Sam Burns, LSU alum Louisiana native and a good friend of Raising Canes owner and founder Todd Gray's. You may have seen the Canes logo on his collar during tournaments this season ahead of the BMW championship. Sam and Raising Canes hosted kids from first T and the boys and girls club of St. Louis for a meet and greet and golf lessons by Sam himself at a driving range in St. Louis. And of course, Canes, chicken fingers and Canes sauce, which I want extra up when I go deep when I'm like, Hey, why don't you just make this seven fingers is the base model. I'm not going to bring that up to Todd, but I think all of us would appreciate it. Raising Canes, chicken fingers, one love. Netflix is expanding its NFL coverage in 2026 from week one to the first ever Thanksgiving Eve matchup in two Christmas day games and a playoff game in January. Week one of the upcoming NFL season will feature the leagues first ever regular season game in Australia on September 10 between divisional rivals, the LA Rams and the San Francisco 49ers that will air on Netflix live from the Melbourne cricket ground Thursday, September 10th at 835 PM Eastern time, 535 PM Pacific. Okay, here's the thing. All of us are talking about the Rams for obvious reasons. They're loaded. I'd say this is the first year of a long time where I've kind of felt like, man, just don't know if the night is going to be able to hang. They're a little dinged up. They just lost a really good defensive player injury on top of everything else. But if there's kind of a reminder of like that Shanahan McVey thing is that you kind of feel like that matchup, especially being on Netflix and being the only game and the extra anticipation and the fact that it's being playing somewhere else. And it just kind of feels like one of those games at the end of the week, like, oh, the Niners are still finding a way to be in this, even if the course of 17 games, like, I don't expect them to be in the same group whatsoever. So that's kind of the attraction about these two teams knowing each other this well. And the times you've been surprised by the outcomes whenever the Niners and Rams get together. Watch week one of the NFL on Netflix, the Los Angeles Rams versus the San Francisco 49ers live only on Netflix Thursday, September 10th at 8.35 p.m. Eastern and 5.35 p.m. Pacific. The NFL season starts tonight. It's 2026. Do you know your back of quarterback situation? I do this segment every year or the years I feel like doing it. For whatever reason, it ends up being way more work than I think. I think the original version of this, I just read every team's depth chart at quarterback. And I had some probably some zingers in there a little bit. I don't know if I could do it. I wrote it all down. There's some math that I think is interesting on how this position is designed for the backups here. This is quite to sell. This would be a tease. Hey, I did this segment wrote a bunch of stuff down. May read it to you. It could suck. That's next. I guess I could do that. And some of this stuff just kind of surprised you because like, there's no way that you're keeping track of all of it. I know it's kind of the job, but like I rarely am keeping track of all of this depth chart stuff. But he run through it. All right. So Buffalo's good Kyle Allen. He's on a 16. I think he's in that chase Daniel, like good hang group of backups. 19 career starts. My aim is get Kyle McCord. His third team zero starts. Brady Cook, who I forgot had actually started. Four games last year. I straight up forgot that. That's in the Jets Dolphins turf war there on that one. New England's got Tommy DeVito. Remember when we were just talking about how he slept at home and chicken call. It's not that kind of stuff. Eight starts his career and they get bear more in the rookie. We have 12 rookies on quarterback depth charts. 12 rookies. All right. There are 16 quarterbacks on the depth charts that have never had to start in the NFL. So you've got 12 rookies. You've got 11 undrafted. And I'll go through where their draft position is. But 11 of these guys are totally undrafted. That's of course some of the rookies there. Bear Morton's one of them. Cade Clubnix, another one. Looks like the Jets are like we're going to have two guys. We don't want anyone to take any of Clubnix snaps. These are the depth charts as of this morning. There's some IR trickery that's going on as well. But maybe it's a development and also hope to be bad enough to grab one of the quarterbacks in a loaded class in 27 Baltimore. Good friend Tyler Huntley. He's in the mix. And then Joey Foyano from Yukon, another rookie since today. Flacco leading the way, leading all backup quarterbacks with 201 career stirrucks. Six teams for him. Cleveland. Look out. Back up quarterback buffet. We've got Dishon, which made all the sense of the world that you knew they were going to just be like, what if he has like a good month we can trade him for something, which is not going to happen or the owner being like, I paid this fucking guy so much money. He's starting. I don't care. But I think all the other three guys are going to start Sanders or seven last year. Dylan Gabriel had six and then Taylor and Green. I think all three will start games. So I think you're going to have four different quarterback start games for the Cleveland Browns this year. Mason Rudolph back in the mix. Good hang club. Two teams, 19 starts. Will Howard, zero starts. And then Aller, a rookie, clearly, no starts as well. Houston, Davis Mills, 29 starts. And he's been an in house guy. He's been there for a while. Graham Mertz, IR, zero starts. Colts, Anthony Richardson, a first round pick. I'll get to that theme on the backups a little bit later. 15 starts for him. One for Riley Leonard. Jacksonville has quen yours. Three career starts. And they're going Carter Bradley, who's on the IR and undrafted and hasn't played in the game. Tennessee, Mitch Trebuski on his 1450 career starts. That's a good number for a backup. That's the other shocking thing about this exercise. How many teams back up? So just like, yeah, these guys have never played either. We're good, including a headliner team. Mitch 50 starts for him. He's only had seven starts in his last 50, not 50 years. That would be a long time playing the NFL. Seven starts. Five years. Denver, Stidham, four starts. Three starts for Sam Ellinger. Two teams. That's seven starts. Stidham's fascinating. I never liked him in college. I don't necessarily think he's that good. And some of the smartest football people love Jared Stidham. So I just assumed there's something that's happened in practices that I haven't, like, I'm wrong. I guess I'm wrong. But smart teams seem to like him. How about smart teams? Kansas City Chiefs. Justin Fields, 1453 career starts. Nussmeyer in the mix. The fact that they took Nussmeyer, like, yep, I'm right. And then the fact they brought in fields is like, maybe all the fields, that field's army has been strong. And they don't know. It's like World War Two. They're just on an island. They're like, the war's been over, man. They're like, no, it isn't. Because if he plays, if he gets one start, starts dicing up everybody, look out. Vegas. Well, Mendoza is the backup behind cousins. This is a different kind of category altogether. Aadon O'Connell, 17th starts. The Chargers decided to go into the season with Tray Lance, third team, former top pick, six starts. I was shocked he had six starts. Dallas, Sam Howell, third team, seems like people like Sam Howell, 18 starts. The Giants, one of the OGs of the backup game now, the last six years. James Winston, 89 career starts. That number's low. Like I was like, James has only had 89 career starts. The problem is that six years of the last six years is only at 19 starts. So there's your 89. Andy Dalton, 169 starts. He's your backup in Philadelphia, 169. And they've got another guy with 10 of the key with two starts there. Washington, commanders, Marriota, another OG, 82 starts, five teams. Then we've got a Greek kid who's a rookie. Bajan, Chicago, four starts, Bajan, Case Keenum, 66 starts. Eight teams. So some some start depth there behind Caleb, Detroit, Josh Dobbs, 15 starts, seven teams. That's about two starts a team. Green Bay, Tyrod, in the mix, 62 starts. That's that's a high number, but it's kind of like he always ends up starting wherever he goes. He'll probably start a couple of games this year for them. Minnesota, they have an interesting scenario here. Kyler first round pick, J.J. McCarthy first round pick, Carson Wentz first round pick. Ten starts for J.J. We've covered that six teams, 99 starts for Carson Wentz. What is Carson Wentz record over those 99 starts? You want to take a shot at it? 49, 49 and one. Atlanta, Penix, 12 starts. Cooper, Russia's third team, 16 starts for him. Carolina running it with Kenny P, fourth team for him, 24 starts. Haynes, King, Rookie, no starts. New Orleans, the Rattler, 14 starts. Zach Wilson, his third team, 33 starts. Tampa Bay, Jalen Daniels, Rookie, Kansas. Wow. I was like, wow, that's what they're doing. I looked it up again this morning. I feel like I have to be wrong about that. The Rams behind Stafford, zero starts for Stetson Bennett. No games for Ty Simpson. Is that stupid? All right, San Francisco, Mac Jones, 13, 57 starts and they get curse work there, zero games and then Seattle, Drew Locke, Jalen Milro, 28 starts for Locke, zero starts for Jalen Milro. So to look over this again, 12 rookies on these depth charts, 11 undrafted totals. So again, there's carryover for an undrafted Rookie that covers that. First round picks the backups, 15, that's the most. It should be the most. It's also very interesting how often the most seasoned starters are all first round picks. Not all, but it's kind of the rule here. Not necessarily that well, Flacco is yes, Wences, yes, Winston, Mario to Dalton. It'll be in a second round pick in summary, looking at all this stuff again here. Like what, what does this mean? Well, I don't know. I mean, it's up to you. I enjoy it. There are 10 teams that only have one backup, which is kind of that feels a little lower the other years that I've done this, but it usually ends up kind of being like half the league, have that third guy than some guys trying to figure out a way to keep the fourth guy on. Usually those teams aren't very good, but sometimes the teams are just like figuring out a way to stash the guys that they love and like on the practice squad. But 10 teams with only one backup, which again, feels like on the lower side, but kind of in that middle, half the league range, because the third guy almost never plays. The other development from this is how often like how many undrafted guys it's like there's more undrafted guys that are backups than there are second rounders. There's two second round backups. There's 15 first round backups, five third round backups, five fourth round backups, three fifth round, and then the six rounds where you go for backups, there's nine of them and then there's five seventh rounders. So the problem I've always had with the position in a lack of development is that there's just going to be like 12 to 13 rookies next year that are going to make rosters week one. They're going to be backups on these depth charts and they're replacing a good chunk of guys that never ever played and you had no idea if they were ever any good. Now granted in practice, you probably get some read on it. If somebody's like a great prospect, you don't want to cut them even if he hasn't played any games. But this is kind of the bigger point that I've made for years is that I think the NFL kind of eats their quarterbacks because you just kind of, you're on a roster, you never play, you never get an experience. And then it's like, yeah, we're just going to replace you with the next guy that has no experience. And then we'll probably cut him in three years too on top of everything else. The first round group, the 15 guys that are still backups, that would make sense because if you're a quarterback who's good enough to go in the first round, that means multiple teams probably like you. And they'll blame the other coaching staff or the offensive system or it's like, man, we had a high grade on that guy. Like, let's bring him in. So I'm not saying that's why Mitch Trebuski is still in the league. Mitch is probably doing really good stuff like as a backup and they like him in the room. But you know, Zach Wilson being on a roster when it's looked like an absolute disaster every time he's been back there, that's probably just because a few other teams would have had high grades on him anyway. And when a Mitch has 50 career starts, well, as Mitch have 50 starts because he was better than some of these other guys that claimed out. No, he had 50 starts because he was like, well, that's a number two pick. So you had to make sure you're right, which is exactly what Chicago did with fields and why he had so many starts. It's why Zach Wilson has the 33 starts, because it's like, we're going to make sure that we actually know that we screwed this thing up here. And then you have, you know, the Winston's, the Mariotas, the Wences of, well, they've been in it, they've done it for a while. But I guess there's there's part of me that surprised there aren't more from that kind of group. Other former first rounders, 50 60 starts, a case kingdom type. So we're again, case was not a first round pick. But it's like, don't we want somebody and some of these teams just have no problem whatsoever going to the year being like, we have almost zero experience at the back of quarterback position. And if it ends up being a mistake, then it's super easy for us to jump on and be critical of, but it's not that abnormal for even some of these really good teams to be like, yep, we're good. We don't care about having a ton of depth back there. And we're talking about playoff contenders. With NFL Sunday ticket and YouTube TV, it doesn't matter who's coming over and it doesn't matter what team they love and need to see every play, every game day, changing moment of the NFL Sunday football action is right here. You won't miss anything and you'll be the best host ever. It's you and your friends watching four games at once. It's every Sunday game, regardless of where it's being played. It's pure NFL bliss as it happens right in your living room. Every game, every Sunday all in one place and right now it's just eight payments of $30 a month for new users. Sign up now. New users pay $240 or eight non-cancellable payments of $30 a month, first charge of purchase availability varies with NFL Sunday ticket for out of market games in YouTube TV for local and national games, YouTube TV required digital only games excluded terms and embargoes apply, device and content restrictions apply to multi view commercial use excluded, no refunds. You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari, 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine and best of all kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Life advice, life advice, rrgmail.com, Kyle and Steve in the mix. Quick story, although our thread's been on fire lately. These three guys chopping it up. Huge smile on Kyle's face. Didn't even want to say anything, I guess. Or his audio's off. He's so happy right now. So we're taping this after we tape Bruce, by the way, which I guess maybe it'll be in that order, but Kyle shatted up Bruce. He gave him like a little, he gave him like an inch of just like Pekip C and Kyle took a mile. Bruce took a mile. I just said, yeah, you're right. Bruce took the mile. So we were sure about this. The Pekip C has the longest suspended. There's a couple of the world. There's a couple of qualifiers elevated walking bridge elevated. There's some shit that's like, you know, a little bit longer, you know, that's, you know, not raised. But yeah, raised, we still got it. I think smaller cities can get a little Alabama-ish with stuff that they claim. That's all. All right. It's like one qualifier. Okay. Elevated suspended bridge. So if you can't maybe maybe I made up suspended, it's definitely elevated. It's definitely elevated. It's like over a mile. I don't know. I don't know. Crossed it up. Crossed down jewel this way. If you're not going to have this shit buttoned up. All right. We did this like a mile. Yeah, I know. No, no, it's fine. Because I'm going to be right. So you did say whatever deer intro. I do feel like Kyle's right. He's he's confident. I'll probably be like, I think he's heard the support. It's a thing. Now you could say they've thrown in all these adjectives and yeah, exactly what does that mean? The more adjectives, the less definitive it probably is. But I don't deny Kyle being correct here. They found a way to be correct. And the longest elevated pedestrian bridge. So two qualifiers. Spans 1.28 miles. 212 feet. 212 feet above the water. You could do some damage if you jumped off that one. Hard for me have to give up. The Hartford has it tagged. Never. But Kipsey has it. We're never giving that up. We got Bourdain too. That's all that matters. Yeah, the radio head. I can't believe that long. I didn't know that entire time. My my daily commute there for a few years. One of my favorite albums. The same time I'm driving through history, you know. I had no idea. I had no idea that Tom York was that depressed driving through Hartford that inspired him to make an album cover. So is it? That'd be a billboard. Some people say our one of the greatest bands of all time drove through our city and they were like, this is so depressing. We should recognize it later on with an album cover. All right. We have some emails. We're going to cancel that just saying. Yeah. Great call. So we were talking about the graduation stuff. That led to a couple of boys from back in the day to reach out specifically one of my roommates. He's like, hey, do you not remember? Because I'm not going to say the guy's name. He's like, do you not remember so and so's fake graduation story? I was like, I do not feel free to spend as much time as you need on this story. So he reminded me because I forgot about this. There was a guy who was not part of our friend group. So that's why I wouldn't have remembered earning like that because it wasn't like a core guy. He's like an associate. Yeah. He was, I would say he was associated but disassociated in a way. He was like, guys in college could all have their lanes of like, that's weird or you're learning about new guys, different parts of the country. It's not just a prep school in the wingland. All of a sudden you're like, what the hell's that guy? That guy, that guy just what like Dirk Bentley freaked us out. We all loved him. We're like, what the fuck is this guy's deal? And honestly, he kind of worked out. Well, it didn't kind of work out. It absolutely worked out. But there's now something unique about him that we're like, a lot of this makes sense going back and looking at all of it, right? So shout out to him. But there was one guy who I would say eventually kind of like ran this race that nobody else was in. And he was kind of just around. I don't know that that many people even liked him, but he was kind of associated with things. So then he was, he was just a ways around. So my roommate called me and was like, that guy, his parents sent him money for tuition, room and board. After his first two years, you know, he was in the dorms and then the thing at UVM would be you've got to, you've got to live off. Can't get out of your junior and the dorms. I can forget about it. It was like, hey, I'm trying to be a virgin. Bring it back to the class. Yeah. So this guy took his parents checks both semesters for two years lived off to where supposed to be his junior and senior year didn't enroll and dors the checks to himself and just lived high off the hog for a couple years, run around and nobody like quite new, including his parents. So apparently graduation rolls around. Because this is another thing that blew my mind. Like one of my roommates freshman year, when we get started, is like, hey, did your parents make reservations for graduation weekend four years from now? What? We're going to hold out until we get some good news. People are doing that. It wasn't even specific to me. I've just kind of like, that's insane. And it isn't insane. It's smart. And, you know, as soon as your kid gets accepted and you're sitting in the first deposit check, you should probably do that. So put the pressure on him. Like, hey, just so you know, that's a non-refundable deposit on that reservation four years from now. Really? At least two credits from you every year, buddy. You need you to get them all. Every year. This guy was just operating as a civilian. Yeah. Living in a post scholarship from his parents. With other students living off of his parents checks. And if he was out of state back then, which I'm pretty sure he was, you're talking like 10 grand in September, 10 grand again in February. And I think he was even working because I mean, he wasn't doing anything else. He was like working a little bit part time. And so then four years later, or excuse me, two years after, because I'm sure like, when it's through the dorms, it's a little easier to keep track of. But like some parents are wild with this stuff where I'm sure some people listening, like, there's complete independent, you go to college, it's complete independence. Meanwhile, my father would have been like, where are your bills? What's going on? Just because I was obviously the first two. And there's going to be no cutting any corners, whatsoever. I think I applied for like a cash advance student loan or something. And he got flagged on it. He was like, absolutely not. I was like, I'm fucking broke. This is awful. So really, you seem to want to ask my first, my first question is, these were just given blank checks, be like, Hey, this is for college. Like, that's not how it worked for me. I don't know if it's how it worked for you, Kyle. Like, you didn't just, you didn't just like, no, there was no money in my hands that didn't have to be. That's for sure. If it did with you, but I would say that you buy your books, some of my stories here that you could hear where I got to school. There were people that actually did have this kind of like, whether they came from money or something, it was like, "Hey, this is you having to have responsibility. You're on top of you. You're going to pay you a divorce decision ever." So the parents have no idea. It's coming up on graduation weekend. He hasn't been in classes in two years. So guess who's not going to get his name announced? This guy, he then buys a cap and gown leading up. He's telling other dudes, like it's out. I haven't been in class in two years. I'm sure his roommates finally figured it out. They're like, "Man, you got a light schedule this semester." So they're like, "What are you going to do?" He's like, "I can't tell him. I've basically stolen money from him for two years. I'm a million credit shy. Like, there's nothing even close. I shouldn't even be here. It's been a good hang. I've had fun. I've enjoyed my time, but I can't tell him." So I guess what he did was, he clearly went out the night before graduation. He bought his cap and gown. His mother and father were there dressed up and he had a last name where he could play it where it's like around the around the diesel ease I'm out of here. And he just went to him and faked like, "I'm so sick. I'm so sick. I have to go to the hospital like something's wrong." Something like that. And they were like, "What?" And his name, like it wasn't just around the bend, be like, "We're here." So he had planned the whole thing out apparently. And they all left because his name wasn't going to be called. And that's how he tricked his parents. That's worse than our guy yesterday. Line about being a demon basketball player. Yeah. Yeah. Cause now somebody's hurt. There's a lot of victimless crap. It's a pretty smart way to get out of it though for being honest. Now I understand how this guy kind of, is he like a con artist? Like, what do we know what this guy's doing today? I have no idea. Is he just gaming people online? I could see that. Yeah. He was older than me. And as soon as he was out of the mix, there was a zero chance I was ever, ever running into no one in our core group, extended group, satellite group. There was no one that was going to have any interactions with him whatsoever. That's the guy that called me. It was like, "How do you remember this?" And he was like, "Because of this one specific reason." And I was like, "Oh, that's right." The fake sick thing works more often than you think. You know, like people will just be like, "Oh, shit. Are you sick?" I guess we got to go. You know? I think that's where you're the dad you go. All right. Well, I'd like to see the official document. Yeah. I'd ask a few questions. It would be like, "Hey, I guess we're good now." Man. Got out of a good job. Although this guy clearly would lie on his resume that he graduated if he was capable of doing any of these things, but you know, you can't get a dad. The market. Just thin. I got out of a wife and a dash situation. The one time I ever did it and it failed. So I, and I'll tell you honestly, I would never do it again, but I was going to be the one guy. It was three guys, me included, out of Chinese buffet. And one guy was like, "I'm out of here." I was like, "Oh, come on, man. Me and him got to split it." And then he, he goes. And I'm like, "All right. Well, I definitely don't have three full buffet monies, you know what I mean?" So then I go out the same door. It turns out it's like a locked alley with no roof just between two buildings and like this plaza. And that movie's a lot. The door is locked. These guys are freaking out. And I guess the silent alarm went off. Next day I know there's a woman screaming, "We're all stuck in here. My buddy just fakes throwing up immediately." I'm like, "This guy's sick. We're trying to go to the bathroom. We're locked in the alley. What the hell's going on?" And she like didn't want to believe us, but she kind of was just like the bathroom's over there and we'd paid her whatever, but like the fake sick thing. I mean, that could have been cops, dude. Yeah. Great instincts on hand to just double how did he fakes throwing up? Produce any volume to convince someone else he was throwing up. I'll fake throwing up. I don't know. It might be a language barrier thing that she was just like, "All right, you guys aren't leaving, but you know, I don't know, but whatever." That was a close one. Never wanted to do it. Certainly would never do it again after that. You ended up paying. You're saying? Yes. We all ended up paying. Then you actually didn't want to do it. I didn't want to do it, but I believe you. At this time, it feels like my back's against the wall. I don't got $3, $22 buffet chargers or whatever it was back in the day. You know, we did an all-time move. If they came over the check and go, "The other two guys dying in dash, I'm against it. I'm going to pay my third. I can pay mine." Then they go, "Wait a minute, that's the hack." Three for one special. He wants 66% off. All right, let's read some emails here. All right. So this guy, I don't really know what he did here. That's why I actually forward this email to Kyle and Steve, which doesn't happen. I know. I like a little head to Kyle. Well, Kyle sorts them. If I feel like it's relevant, because this guy included some pictures and also some text message. I think we already know what this guy was trying to do, because I don't really understand the email. 6-1-1-85 gym stats, 3-15 bench, 275 squat, top heavy, and a 349 marathon. That's about comp will be Jaylen Brown if you forgot how to shoot. Good slash or pass or I can't use my left hand to say my life. I write in today because I have a problem. Over the last eight days, I've MC2 weddings. Super MC over here. They both went well enough that numerous people left the event saying they'd never seen someone perform like that. That's kind of awesome. It's usually quite critical of me. Even said, I gave a solid A minus. It's a great deal. I kind of love that. Yeah. Let's just dig into that for a second. Just personal nemesis, you crush it, A's across the board. He throws a little minus in there to remind you that I don't like you. But he wants to still be taken seriously as an analyst, so he has to give you the A. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. I remember when I first started ESPN first few years in a buddy from college who I wouldn't call his best friends. I thought we were maybe a little bit closer, but there's also some nemesis moments in there as well. He was like a couple beers in, pulls me aside because I got to say hate to say it. But you're really good at this. Thanks. Thanks. You hate saying it. All right. Anyway, A minus guy checking in. My issue is now multiple people have asked me about MC2 weddings, which I have trouble saying no to. It's a lot of work. And by the end of each event, I definitely was way drunker than I'd be if I wasn't working. If I say no, I don't even imagine getting an invite to these weddings, which I do enjoy not to mention my girlfriend wasn't invited either wedding, which would have been nice to have support for when you're doing this sort of stressful role. Do I need to agree to these opportunities, but insist my girlfriend gets an invite? Do I say no and just miss out on the wedding fund? Or do I purposely bomb my next one so people quit asking, but I still get to go. All thoughts are appreciated photos below. And some messages I got from my work as well as a pick of me and my girlfriend. So this guy sends a picture of he and his girlfriend on paddle boards and she's hot. And this guy's like Brad Pitt fight club ripped. I say this. He just respectfully. He looks like if Julian Adamin was like, was looks maxing. If he's taking that little hammer just right cheekbones. I don't know. Yeah. I guess. Yeah. And you might even be tall. So like, this is not an knock on jewels, right? It definitely looks tall. I just sit down. So yeah. They wouldn't call him the flying squirrel. They'd find another name for him. No, but I don't, I don't really know. Okay. So you're awesome. And I'm seeing what next? What do we need to do? And then hey, here's me completely ripped up next to my hot girl front paddle board. I don't really understand the picture, man. Just want to invite it, you know. Are you guys with me here? Oh, I am. I totally am. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe it was just a creative, you know, sometimes emails with attachments stand out. You know, maybe it's just a way of getting your resume in the door. You know, I mean, you know, there is, there's a call, there's, you know, it's call back to the to the mention in the email. I just outpartner in a relationship. And he is like, you know, what is Ryan doing? All right. So we're not going to use this on the show. But would you? If I sent this picture to you randomly, like I just did. I got to start typing now. I just I just sent a picture of myself showing off the sharp gills to Serrudi and Kyle. Is this is this in response to the Reese's video? Are you feeling insecure? I didn't look at one comment on the Reese's video. What's the issue? No, I was just, you know, just, you know, it was a lot of the facial hair was aggressive, you know, people think I'm fat. I'm convinced there's a lot of people out there that want to believe that I'm fat. And it's okay. Because no matter what, if I'm 175, there's a double chin. You think there's that room picture going around. Yeah, just look like a fucking slob in it. And I'm not photogenic. I completely understand. And it's, I've accepted it. So I don't, but the thing that I'm fat when I just sent you the content I sent you, like our emailer just did. I got my money in this one. I think you should, I think we should make this public. I don't know, I don't know why. He's right. Our chat has been on fire lately. And this is the most on fire in the street. You know, that's fair. We're not putting this. We're not putting this one out there. Hey, you look good. I will say you did mention to me what a couple days ago, you're like the leanest you've ever been. I was. I got back. I don't know what the hell was going on. There were some check-ins on the scale where I'm like, what is fucking happening to you right now? And traveling stuff, you know. Yeah, but I hadn't really traveled in a few weeks. And then something got back. I got back like, I don't know if it was, whatever. It was a very weird light fluctuation. But that's it like 224 that picture. So we're back. We had a really fun. Listen. All right, I don't know what to do with this email is my point. Like, what do you really want, man? I think you wanted to see us how good you look to be to be totally honest and you do. You look fucking awesome. So there you go. A plus. - No, I'm not gonna take the cynical route here. I think this is a normalized, no, this is like right in the crosshairs. First of all, A, it must be awesome to do this at a wedding, have like a guy's grandma be like, you were amazing, you know what I mean? Like that must be awesome to just like the receiving line of people when you bring the house down and the, you know, now the party starts, they're married. Now everyone gets to like, go do the thing. And everyone's coming up to you, especially like sweet older people. That's gotta be amazing. Congratulations for that. The other thing is I think what people want you to MC their wedding is because you know them, it's because they don't want like, you know, you know, to go through somebody's priest that doesn't know the other one or however they pick these things, they feel like we're trending towards like, let's get a friend of ours to do this, right? That's probably how they're used. 'Cause I don't think like we, doesn't the DJ just do that for the most part? Like that's like, right? - Well, he's saying MC, is he talking about like the person who stands up there and marries them? - That's not what I thought. I thought it was a guy who's like just getting people organized and call, you know, hey, all right, now it's time for the father, daughter dance and you know, then here's Kate Cutting, like he just kind of keeps things moving with a microphone. - That's supposed to be the DJ's job, certainly. - Right, that's, so that's what I thought. 'Cause the officiant is the person who marries you. Those are two very different jobs. - I don't think that's what he's talking about gang. I mean, it just sounds like this guy is good at it. He seems to like to go to wedding. - I think I'm right, Ryan. - But how many people? How would two people in the matter of eight days be like, hey, do you want to do that take this job off my DJ's hands? Unless people aren't doing DJ's and they're just going Spotify playlists and it's like this'll work. - No, I don't know. I don't know. No, I think your rights are ready, but to Kyle's point, like I think it's really easy. I mean, if you're not getting invited to, like let's put it this way in the way he explained it. He crushes other people now want him to MC their weddings that he wasn't originally invited to. - Without payment, just a fucking plate of fish and steak and like that, that'll do it. - So I think you could say if you like the wedding fun, okay, fine, but I've got to bring my girlfriend. I have to bring my girlfriend to the wedding, but they're like, well, that doesn't work 'cause you're an employee. We were really going to invite you anyway. So then why do you actually want to be there unless you're thinking like long term, this is something you want to do. Maybe you're just a natural, maybe you're just so good at this, you're Andy Cohen and you can just be like, here's the deal. - But he was at the wedding, right? Like that's how it works. - Yeah, but now it seems like the word is out and he's just that good. - Yeah. - If he doesn't seem like he's passionate about it either. - Yeah, I think this is one of the things he may be good at, but isn't like really. - He's thinking of bombing, he's going to tank. - If you're this good though at public speaking too and just being the man and you're that good looking, like he feels like there's a higher calling for you. You need to be doing it. - Maybe you gotta look inwards. - You need to meet. - Yeah, you need to be. - Run for office, dude. - I'm about to say moved out. - All you would bottle in your town. Or that, yeah, but like you could at least get some jobs as an extra and how I would feel like. - I think this is a polite no with a light explanation. Like, you know what, I really feel like this takes me out of the wedding. I really love to just be here and support you guys and have a, like I think it's a respectful no with a small explanation why. Two words or two sentences max, you know? And then if they're like, "Will I not want you here?" then fucking good. - Yeah, and that'd be good. - Good conversation, but. - If you're already going without your girlfriend, you're already leaving her for multiple weekends in a row. It sounds like so. - Come on. - It is funny. - It's definitely wage runker than if I wasn't working. - Dude, one for courage, one for fun. You know what I mean? Like, it's out of hands. So what happens to me when we go on stage? - Congrats on the hotness though. - Yeah, great apps buddy. Great, great numbers too. All right, let's see here. 6-1, 190, 31 years old, bench press 335. Player comp Ben Simmons with a better attitude, but inferior angle craft. My left jumper looks pretty good in the driveway too. Shout out and just face the franchise, Ben Simmons, Sacramento Kings. This time it's personal. Writing in without necessarily an interest in changing anything in my life, but gradually feeling things sliding by. Long one here too, so I appreciate the patience. Backstreet I grew up in a mid-size mid-western city playing all kinds of sports, eventually baseball and college. After college, I joined sort of Robbie Ashford. After college, I joined the military and moved across the country a few times. Spent time in some really fun cities having a great experience before getting out to take a corporate job in a great company. Careers going great. Promoting quickly and because of this trajectory, I won't be moving anywhere soon. Here's the catch though. I'd like to start a family and do the whole domestic thing. After spending three years here dating and meeting people and struggling, defining someone I see myself marrying and getting dates is not the issue. Well, especially with those bench numbers when you play some college ball, it's just not typically gone anywhere. I'm far enough away from any of my friends in college in high school that the friend of a friend who's done realistic dating apps aren't my thing and work is also unlikely to produce someone because I personally would like to dodge. Shooting where I eat. Everything about my work and fun life here is great. I'm just in a tough environment for dating is a question. So am I missing out on the easy win for a guy like me? Am I just warped by the typical Midwestern marriage timeline? Maybe, I don't know. I also just think like long term, like I've talked about it far too many times, but I always thought like the Midwestern girl thing. It just was, I personally have had much easier times with anyone that have spent like, that's from the Midwest. Although actually the Midwest and Wales are more, what are you saying? Less friction, there's less maintenance. Yeah, although I could argue that one drags down the overall score so bad that maybe that the numbers don't back that up anymore without ours or four. But yeah, yeah, right. Yeah, we'll drop the lowest quiz score. Side note of big cat knows anyone in the early 30s from the college stomping grounds. My number is below. Okay, we'll forward this to big cat. So of Kyle's top of that. Yeah, yeah, I'll do it. I'll take it to him. Yeah, Kyle texted on top of all of that. So I originally draft this email a couple of weeks ago. Wow, so this guy's really been thinking about it. And X reached out to me. Think similar player comp to last week's life advice with the alcohol issues. We were together back when I was in the military, we were living together with the Intenticant marriage. He was everything I wanted. Similar family goals, former college athlete, really fun girl to be around. But because of her alcohol abuse, things went sideways. She's cleaned up a lot of things from what I took us off the rails, running marathons now, working as a fitness instructor, going back down her career path of her degree, seems to have figured it all out since things went off the rails. She even acknowledges all the things that she did. And what has caused? Am I crazy for considering her letting her come visit? I started out as just a weekend of her doing the traveling, but it's hard to say I'd stop at that, not necessarily a concise question, but interested in feedback from the panel. PS need more people to talk about the Pacers and Halliburton, returning in 26, that Brunson ship is Mickey Mouse without the boogie man in his way. Let's not go that far, they beat the spurs. But yeah, Pacers in the mix as well. So, I mean, this is a pretty common thing. So why don't you guys go, 'cause I-- I'd say you sound like you're on the edge of desperate. And this girl's got some good signs, not a lot of red flags. I would say absolutely do this. Even if it is a slump buster or whatever you want to call it, like definitely do this. I don't do this saying that. Yeah. I just think-- I'm a huge believer in a second chance. That plays baller. It's getting dates left and right. I'm a huge believer in a second chance, for obvious reasons. So I think-- I think definitely explore that one. Definitely explore that one. Yeah, I don't see a downside, I guess, unless you guys disagree. If it doesn't work out, you're not that close to her. So you could just kind of like wean off it a little bit, and it just flames out, and that's fine. But if you loved her and you have the same values, and it was the one thing that was the hang up, she has then since fixed, you're both single. She's clearly interested in you. If she's going to travel to see you, I don't really see the problem here. You seem lonely. And yeah, again, even if it goes nowhere, it's not really the end of the world. It's worth trying out, and if it ends up being a thing, then yeah, you got some decisions to make in the future. By the way, my desperate comment wasn't about desperate for a date. He's got all these things in his head. I don't even have anyone in line to maybe take the next step with this one. You got some chemistry in a pass with. So maybe I would say this would be kind of a bummer. I don't know if it is or not. The case for him with-- you've got the moms or the grandmas. And I'm like, well, what's going on here? If you got your own timeline in your head that you want to keep, but if you got the matriarchs in your life being like, what's going on? You haven't brought anybody home to Thanksgiving in like three years. Where am I going to get my grandchildren from? That's way worse. That may be a thing of a different thing, though. Do you soft launch this to close family and friends that you trust through obviously new her or just say, hey, thinking about doing this? And if they're just like, dude, absolutely not. And did they all hate her and they never told you? And they're just like, great, we never have to deal with her again. Maybe that tells you something. But I don't know if she was like-- it sounds like she's kind of the one that got away a little bit. Like, would you have broken up if it wasn't for that? You were obviously way younger. I just don't see a downside here at time, right? Because if you want to think if you live in the same town and you had to see her all the time after this didn't work out again, but you don't. You actually have this incredible buffer, if it doesn't work. I'm with you, Cerudia. I don't really see any downside to this. I mean, the only downside would be she comes visits you and up totally falling for all over again. And then she's like, I don't like the new you. And then you were like, oh, cool. I just signed up to get bummed out about something that I didn't expect. So that's the only downside. It doesn't sound like that's going to happen whatsoever. I'm-- everything you're saying, this is not-- I'm not sound like, "Hey, I'm 31, I'm from the Midwest, "where are my kids?" I never had to deal with that. I would've been just great at telling grandmothers to be like, "What?" But I'd never, no one ever was put in the pressure on your boy, your mom's, no one cared. No one was like, "What's going on with you?" So it had it happened. I think I would've been good at deflecting that, but that's not even the issue here with the whole thing. So I guess, I understand what you mean by the desperation thing. I wanted to push back on the slump usher a little bit again as he played college ball. Also, I still have the Pekipsi walking bridge stats up. So the first three sentences of the email, I just was kind of out of it 'cause I was looking at more of this. I was going to close it out right now. So I just want to make sure I didn't miss a critical part of the email. Pre-looking at apartments again. (laughing) Sorry. - I love this Ryan things. It sounds like Ryan things that if you played college sports, like you are just swimming in it, left and right, though. I don't know that that's necessarily active. Well, how about that D1 guy? He didn't even play. And he's got a couple kids. He's hosting barbecues. Guys, life is awesome. Rest of your life, you're just like, I played college sports and I'm like, all right, when do you want to go out? - Oh, all right. I gave a speech to a team once at college team and I was like, there's nothing worse than when you play and some people are like, did you play anywhere? And you're like, no. I didn't. I'm like, every one of you in this room today for the rest of your lives, you'll be able to say. - You're a card carry. - D1. - Yeah, that's awesome. And you're like, hey, this is a practice. (laughing) All right, I think it's an absolute slam dunk. Yes, try it back on for a bit. Spin around, see how it feels. How good this, or you have confirmation of, actually, I never want to do that again. And there you go. Closure, or an opening. Thanks, Tom, thanks to Kevin. Thanks to Sirity, thanks to Kyle. Full episodes available on Netflix, The Ryan Russelo Show, Barstrel Sports.