All right, let's get it started. Shall we welcome in to a Tuesday edition of Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talks seven ninety. Appreciate you hanging out with us. We're gonna take you up till six o'clock, so take us with you wherever it is you're going in these next three hours. You can listen live on the iHeartRadio app listen live at seven ninety Louisville dot Com.
A loaded show today and I am solo here, so we'll have a couple of guests gonna join us, but you will have the opportunity to be a part of the show. So I'll start by letting you know who will be our guest today, and it's people you are familiar with, friends of the program. As they say, we'll be talking coming up here shortly with Zack Barnett, a FootballScoop dot com, get his thoughts on the college football
playoff bracket. You know, the more I think about it, I don't think the committee is really getting a whole lot of criticism, and I don't think that it's it's deserved. I mean, there's not a team that got left out that you feel like belongs in. And I want to say that there's not a team that got left out that you feel like if they did get in, they'd
win the national championship. And I do believe that, but honestly, I'm not really sure how much parody we actually have, Like part of me says, this thing's wide ass open. But then I also just still believe that there are certain teams out there that if they turn it on, then you know they're gonna run away with it. And I'm talking about the Oregons, the Georgia's, but you know, George is now without their starting quarterback, which actually may
benefit them depending upon who you talk to. So again, we'll talk to Zich coming up here, probably in the next twenty minutes or so. But I'm fired up for this college football playoff. I'm ready for these games to start right away. And has mentioned I think the committee did a pretty good job. I mean, I think you could make a case that some of the teams are seated in spots that maybe don't make a ton of sense, But as far as who got in, I think they
got it right. And to go back to what we were just discussing, you know, there's not a team that's left out that I feel like would win the whole thing if they got in. And that doesn't mean that, you know, if you should. If you can't win the
national championship, you don't belong in. But like, it's hard to claim that you were robbed of a national championship because again, like the teams that I think can realistic can realistically win it are the teams that are are still alive and will have the chance to prove that. But there's no team that got left out that can't look in the mirror and realize it was their own doing. They didn't get screwed over by the committee. They didn't. You know, it wasn't as if the committee was biased
towards their conference. It was that they didn't get enough done on the field. And that is always going to matter, and it has to matter. And you know, Alabama, don't get your ass kicked at Oklahoma and you don't have to worry about it. If you're Miami, don't don't blow one against Syracuse. If you're South Carolina, you know, you don't really have a bad loss, but you also didn't
do enough good and you have three losses. I mean, ole miss lost to Kentucky at home, the Kentucky team that was the fifteenth best team out of sixteen teams in the SEC this year. So we'll get Zach's thoughts on the committee and what he expects to see in this twelve team college football playoff that, of course, will ultimately determine who is the national champion in college football. Speaking of college football, if you're not in the college
football Playoff, actually, let me back up a second. I was going to say, if you're not in the college football Playoff, then you probably do not give a damn about whatever bowl game your team is going to. You're worried about what is your coaching staff doing in the portal? Are they keeping players that you want to keep? Are they setting up visits with guys in the portal that you want to be added to your team? So again,
that is certainly true. But I think even if you are in the college football Playoff, like right now, like if you're a coach, you still need to be monitoring that. I would say you probably feel pretty good about not losing guys while you're still playing for potentially a national championship.
I mean, I suppose, in fact, I know there are at least some guys that are still you know, they were on teams that are in the College Football Playoff, but they've already decided to enter the portal because they want to get I guess the head start on being
contacted by other schools and whatnot. So I think regardless of where your team is, if they're bowling, if they were so bad they didn't get to go to a bowl game, or if they're in the College Football Playoff, I feel like every fan in the country is just trying their best to keep up with what's going on in the portal. And it is I mean is it's chaotic, it's never ending. We also live in a world now where you really don't know what to believe when it comes to things you see on the Twitter wire. So
I'm trying my best to keep up with it. And I do feel is if I've got a pretty good understanding as far as what's going on with Louisville meeting you know, Jeff Brahm and what he want to do, and we'll get into that coming up a little bit later on, because I do feel like we know which quarterback Jet Brom wants to get. I think you're going to see potentially the same scenario as you saw last year.
And what I mean by that is Jeff Brom will see who's available, he will get in contact, make his pitch, schedule a visit, probably do whatever is done from the head coach's position to figure out what he can do, what they can offer when it comes to nil, and then try to lock it down and get it done. And last year, that's exactly what happened with Tyler Schuck. I'm pretty sure Shuck committed before some of the other
big names even hit the portal. So right now, all sounds point to Miller Moss being the top target for Jeff Brom at the quarterback position. He's going to be visiting Louisville, I believe later today, maybe tomorrow, I'll get specifics. In fact, it actually may even be later this week, but we'll get you squared away as far as what
you need to know about that. He's not the only guy visiting Louisville that is in the portal, but obviously the quarterback position very important, and the portal just opened yesterday, so it's still very early in this process. But I wouldn't be surprised if the vast majority of power for programs are going hunting for a new quarterback in the
portal this offseason. Even if you return a starter, unless he was like really really good and you felt like you know, he was somebody that could get you in a position to win your league, You're probably gonna keep your eyes open in the portal and try to go get somebody else. Having a really good quarterback can be
a game changer for football programs. Coaches know that. So, like, even if you have a guy that's pretty good, if you know there's somebody out there in the portal that's available that is just maybe slightly better than the guy you have, Like, I wouldn't be shocked to see coaches trying to go bring in a better QB. So clearly, Jeff Browm's gonna have some competition when it comes to
Miller Moss. But I'd say what he did with Jack Plumber and obviously what he did with Tyler Shuck this year, I think it would make Louisville a very attractive spot for a guy like Miller Moss. Now, when it comes to the portal, I tell you what, I'm always transparent when it comes to information. I do and don't have. I have no clue what is going on with the Kentucky players in the portal, Vince Marrow in his situation.
But last week, you guys, remember, right, we talked about the rumor about Vince Marrow potentially leaving Kentucky to come to Louisville. I never felt like it was real at all, never felt like there was any truth to that. I mean, I could be wrong again, I don't know anything, but that just never made any sense in any way for either side, meaning Vince Marrow leaving Louisville to come to
Kentucky and join Jeff bromstaff. However, here we are over a week removed from that, and there's another report out there, this one from Rivals. Their national recruiting director says that Dane Key is set to visit Louisville, and Louisville is one of the schools that's pursuing him the most. The
receiver for Kentucky Lexington kid Dad played at UK. I mean, him leaving Kentucky really seemed like the ultimate sign that things are not going well for Mark Stoops and their own in Kentucky's fans don't even seem to blame him for leaving and wanting to play for a program that is, you know, clearly heading in a different direction than where Kentucky's football program is heading. So I still have no
clue what's going on. But again, Rivals, they're a pretty respectable outlet when it comes to coverage of a lot of things, including football recruiting and whatnot. They claim Louisville is in the mix to get a visit from Dame Key and that there's still I guess some belief that
maybe Vince Merrow ends up on Jeff Brom's staff. So despite it coming from a reputable, legitimate source, you know, an outlet that breaks this kind of news that covers this industry college football, I still have a hard time believing any of it's real. But we shall see now
for what it's worth. Jones did come out and say that from what he's told, that there's no visit in the works for Dayne Key at Louisville, which I tend to lean on the side that the Vince Marrow stuff is nonsense and that Dayne Key would not consider Louisville. But again, as I said to start this whole conversation about Kentucky, Vince Merrill, the big Dog and Dane Key like, I have no clue, I have no information at all,
but man, that would be wild. I mean, day key, it would be nice to get him if he wanted to come here, but he's gonna have options to go just about everywhere, and I just have a hard time seeing him coming to the rival. But you know, Jeff Bram is a guy that I think playmakers would want to play for. And there's no doubt he's good enough
to play here. And if it would make the rival upset even more so than the butt whoop in Louisville handed him a couple of weeks ago, then hell yeah, I'm all in a r. A little bit later on, we're gonna talk to cl Brown of the Courier Journal, our weekly chat with cl looking forward to getting his thoughts on a lot of things, including this Louisville basketball team. The roller coaster ride continues. I'm telling you this season has been an absolute roller coaster, at least for me. Now.
Everybody reacts to games differently. Everybody what you may view as an optimistic sign, others may not see any reason to be optimistic, and vice versa. As far as pessimism, Like everybody is entitled to their own opinion, and I know everybody sees things in their own way, but I'll lay it out once more. The roller coaster that I'm referring to is the highs and the lows that you've
had this season with Pat Kelsey's team. You get off to such a good start when it comes to just you know, him getting the job, winning the press conference, building a roster, getting fans excited once again. The Bahamas trip was really awesome to see. And then in the second game, they have a wide out, a really well attended game against Tennessee at top fifteen team. Now they're the number one team in the country, and man, I felt like we were back. And then the game started
and they got destroyed and that was very deflating. Right. So then you have a couple of Patsy's on the schedule, no offense development, but they're not a real threat, and neither is Winthrop. So you go to the Bahamas not really knowing what to expect. You played one good team at that point and they embarrassed you at times out there, so you know, expectations probably aren't really high. Well, then you go and you win two out of three and I still choose to believe that you came back with
some real momentum. You beat Indiana, you beat West Virginia, and then you fell short against Oklahoma. But then you get back and you find out Case and Pryor's out for the year, Corn Johnson's out for the year. You then have to turn around and play Ole miss at nine o'clock on a Tuesday, which of course was last week, and that didn't go well, so you know you're back
down again. And then I'm not going to claim that the first thirty minutes of the Duke game were anywhere close to It wasn't as if that you didn't win the and you lost by eleven points, but the first thirty minutes to see them compete the way they did make shots and really not look like they don't belog on the floor with the really talented Duke team despite being so shorthanded, like I chose to look at that
as an encouraging sign. So again, the roller coaster. It didn't go all the way back up right, because you know, you lost the game, But I wouldn't have been shocked if they lost to Duke by thirty just given the way things had been going and you know, given how good Duke is. So we'll talk to cl about Louisville basketball coming up here a little bit later on. And they've got UTEP tomorrow night, which is actually a decent team,
kind of for who they are. They're a Conference USA team, and it's a nice, I guess, a nice little tune up before you hit the road and go to Lexington on Saturday to take on Mark Pope. And of course it'll be the first ever Louisville Kentucky rivalry matchup with these two guys coaching the programs, and man, it doesn't. First of all, the game is earlier than it usually is, but it also just doesn't really feel like we're days
away from this game. And I'm sure you can probably guess, but I'm not feeling super confident about that matchup right now. I mean, you're going into upp Arena. Kentucky has proven to be a really, really good team. They've got wins over Duke and Gonzaga, and you know, they're talented, and
Louisville is very shorthanded. You know, I think even if Louisville was at full strength, they'd still of course be underdogs in this game because Kentucky's at up, and Kentucky has has proven to be pretty good this year, but knowing how you know limited they are, and knowing that Kentucky can rely on more depth, I mean, it's just, you know, it's not a game that as of right now, I am expecting Louisville to win. Doesn't mean they can't win. It's just gonna be tough to beat those kind of
teams with the roster that you currently have. You're just very limited with how many guys you can play. So you know, Kentucky is certainly one of those teams that I just have a hard time right now seeing Louisville Bee being able to beat because of how how limited they are. But we'll get some early thoughts on this matchup when we bring in cl Brown. Some other things we will get into today. Something you don't often see.
The number one player in America when it comes to college basketball recruiting, decided this morning on First Take with Steven A. Smith to commit to BYU. And I've got a lot of thoughts on that, and we'll certainly get to it at some point throughout the afternoon. And I don't know how much it's going to be a topic on the show. I'm not sure what I can add that you guys haven't already probably read about, but I
am so can I say fascinated. It sounds awful to say that I'm fascinated by somebody who who murdered someone, But like, I also know that true crime is the most popular genre right now when it comes to content just about anywhere, television, podcast, that kind of stuff, so I'm not alone. But just reading everything that's out there
about Luigi Mangione, it's crazy. I mean, he's not the first guy that has a background and upbringing that you would never suspect would lead to him, I mean, murdering somebody. But there's got to be so much more to it than what we already know. And all we know is what people on the Internet have been able to dig up. But it has fascinated me in a major way, and I can't I can't stop reading about it at every
at every turn. So again, I'm not sure what we do with that on the show today, but I know it's one of the most talked about things on the planet right now, and as of right now, I guess it's not officially official, but it certainly sounds like Bill Belichick really really wants to coach college football. He really really wants the North Carolina job, and those that cover North Carolina they believe that they're going to give him the job, which to me, this just doesn't make any sense.
But he is one of the best coaches of all time. It's just you know, what I would would would love to know is what about the college game right now is giving Bill Belichick the itch to just, you know, start all over. I just don't. It doesn't make I mean, I still have a hard time believing it. But then again, those that cover college football, and especially those that are close to Carolina, I mean, it's a real thing now. Again, it's not official, but it sounds like it won't be
It will be official before too long. So we'll see maybe that happens before we end the show today. All right, if you want to join us on the show, your best bet is to text in BYBO two six five three zero seven ninety the Ellen N Federal Credit Union text line, and we'll open up the phone lines a little bit later on. But on the other side, we'll bring him in. The one and only Zach Barnett Football Scoop dot com right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
All right, welcome back in coffee and company. That's us Fieldbeth Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. Let's bring him in. He is Zach Barnett, a FootballScoop dot com. He's joined us throughout the college football season, and now we are here, not the end of the season, but we've got the twelve team playoff, and I'll just start
by asking you to give the committee a grade. How do you think they did as far as putting in the twelve teams that they chose to put in and where they seated them.
That's a good question. I think I'd give them a B minus two C plus. I mean, I guess they get in a for their stated goal of protecting the system, and I think that the way the season played out, it left them with an obvious choice of if we demote s m U, then the entire system, uh be that conference championship games are going to go out the wayside immediately, and that that's not the goal here, That's not the point, and it's just kind of the situation
that was handed to them. So if you view, you know sm U, their their selection over Alabama as a choice just to protect themselves and the system, and they made it happen to think SMU is more deserving than Alabama. And I think the Alabama conversation is looking at it from the wrong angle. And I think the way this system worked, everybody's kind of looking at it being like this Boise State, they deserve to be in the field, but do they really deserve a three seed? Probably not.
I mean this thing was modeled after the NCAA tournament and Nicks. As you well know, the Summit League champion is not guaranteed a top six seed or anything close to that. They're guarantee the spot in the field. So that seems to be a somewhat easy tweak. But that was outside of this committee's purview.
Yeah. I think as we got closer to selection Sunday, I think when you would see how they would give us the top twenty five throughout the season, those weekly check ins, and then you'd see how it would actually be put together on a bracket, I think from really the beginning it kind of made sense. Okay, maybe we wouldn't do it this way because we should probably just have the twelve teams that we think belong and then seed it who we think is the best four, which
would then would then get the buye. But I mean, I really don't think I think the committee as far as who got in, I don't think there's anybody that's left out. As far as the teams that were talked about, Miami, Alabama as you mentioned, maybe South Carolina, maybe Ole miss Like those teams, all of them have to look in the mirror. They can blame the committee. They can talk about how strong their league is, those of those teams
that I mentioned there that are in the SEC. But like, I think it kind of played out in a way as far as who got into where the committee didn't really. I mean, I guess they could have put Bama in and people would have just lived with it, but they didn't. And I think it, you know, the more time that passes. It's only been a couple of days, I mean, I think they got it right at the end of the day.
Yeah. And one other note on the way the feeding of the teams is obviously this this this format was the sited when we still have five quote unquote power conferences, and it was a six plus six uh situation where you would have had the automatic dates for the top six conference champions, and the bracket was probably would seem a lot more balanced if you still had a Pack twelve. That's just seem Oregon I had won the PAC twelve, Texas won the Big twelve. We'll say Ohio State won
the won the Big ten in Georgia won the SEC. Well, there's your top four seeds, and those are probably the four best teams in the tournament, so that would be fair. Notre Dame probably would be the five. In that scenario, Clemson gets in and boys to take it, and you have a lot more equitable bracket. And obviously that's something that no one could have foreseen and it's not the
committee's fault. And as in regards to Alabama, I just I had to get up and walk away from the show on Sunday because everyone was so b roast over Alabama not getting in. And the fact of the matter is the committee did value they had some good wins, and the committee value If not for those wins, Alabama would have seventeenth, a nine to three team with two ugly losses. One of them. I mean, that Oklahoma loss is as bad as it gets. That's like Northern Illinois bad.
So I think the committee did value them and just Alabama wasn't given preferential treatment. And when you're a lifetime of preferential treatment, equality feels like oppression.
Who of the twelve teams that got in do you feel like has the biggest gripe that you know they they were maybe the best or one of the best teams, and just because of the structure of the format here, like they actually don't have that, you know. I think Penn State was a team that I'm not even sure how good they are, but man, they've got a pretty sweet drawl. When you look at how it played out.
There's some other teams not so much. Who do you feel like is looking at their path and thinking, man, something just doesn't add up for us.
Yeah, I think I think Oregon has a right to be a little bit myth and how things fell out for them, considering they're the unanimous number one team. You look at the bottom half of that bracket and it seems wide open. You have the three seed Boise State, which has the best player in the tournament, but outside of that, probably the weakest overall team at least they recruit it that way, you have a Penn State Notre Dame,
who are good, not great, flawed teams. And then you have Georgia, who's more likely going to be playing without their starting quarterback in this tournament, and obviously that's out of the committee's control. But that half of the bracket looks very inviting compared to the Oregon half, where you're going to have either Ohio State or Tennessee top five team teams they could go win this thing, it seems
if things fall their way. And then you have Texas, who I think is maybe the second best team in this tournament, certainly top three in a semi final game. That it's not the way that anyone draws up a path as one team, but that's what happens.
Zac Barnette, fooballscoop dot com is our guys, joining us here on Sports Talk seven ninety. When it comes to the games, here were the first round games the teams that don't get buys. I mean, it's just awesome to envision what those atmospheres are going to be like when you've got teams hosting somebody for a college football playoff game, Ohio State and Tennessee, Texas and Clemson, Penn State, SMU
Notre Dame Indiana. Of those which I think all are going to be good games and it should be awesome. What do you you know if you could go to one, and maybe you are going to one of them, I'm not sure, what do you think would be the best the best matchup of those of those first games we're going to get.
I think Tennessee at Ohio State because that's the most even matchup, the best matchup, and also it has the potential to be great theater. If Tennessee walks in there and gets up to a fourteen to three lead or something like that, I think you could see the environment turn on the home team and Ohio State start to feel the tension and the nervousness within the building, and I think you can get real uncomfortable for everyone there,
real fast. I mean, if they had a secret ballot among Ohio State players and coaches, I think they probably would have chosen to go on the road because then you're you're you're getting the the you know you're gonna get a hostile environment, and so you're you're prepared for that. But the way they lost to Michigan, that's where the least everyone saw this Ohio State team. If if they go out and play great, then it'll it'll assuage the
tears from Michigan lost. But if they don't, then that it's going to be some toxic wind swirling.
So is there a chance that Ohio State would move on from Ryan Day, like if they somehow got embarrassed here? I mean, is that is that something that could happen?
Uh? So, the the quotes that have been out there from from Ohio say ad ross byork Is that he's our coach was for him, but he's also said for now and I think he's mended. You know, ross Brook is a businessman. I think everything he said has has been very calculated with the purpose he's rooting for. If Ohio State goes on and wins the national championship, which this team team could do, he doesn't want to have any quotes thrown back in his space. Yeah, we're not
really sure on Ryan Day. But at the same time, he's he's also smart, not unequivocally stating he will be back tattooed on my forehead. Riot is going to be our head coach in twenty twenty five either, because I mean, this is a team, this was a super team. This was the team. This is a national championship or bust team.
And if they go don't even make the big team championship, go ten and three, lose their last two games, lose them both at home to this medio for Michigan team, I would be surprised.
To be back on well, and it wouldn't be true to say that, like it couldn't have gone worse for him, because they had a good year. They're still alive and potentially could could win the national championship. I don't see that happening, but you know, I kind of feel like there was already a lot of outrage and just disbelief from their fans as far as how things ended with that loss to Michigan. I mean, that's the one time
you really can't lose to them, and it happened. I think the second adversity hits and maybe they start to kind of crumble, that's when you hear noise louder than maybe you've ever heard from Ohio State football fans that they want they want to change. And that's why I asked, you know, could it could it be possible if that happens, Like where do they turn? Because if that job opens up, I mean we may see, you know, we may see a coaching carousel kind of thing that we weren't anticipating.
Yeah, I mean, I to be honest with you, I don't have any immediate names of where Ohio State would turn they would want. Yeah, I'm not one of those guys that job opens immediately have five names for you. I do know that a lot of people would want that job for all the obvious reasons. And I mean a lot of people said the same things about Texas and how you know toxic it can be and all that stuff, and they got the right guy. Now, all all the orders are running in the right direction on
the ship. So I say the same way, and I think if they go out and lose, it'll be a place where we need to reset. But pretty quickly they'd get on board and they'd be a top five team immediately next season.
So we've got Scott Fross going back to Central Florida. Barry odom is going to take the job at Purdue North Carolina. I mean, what do you make of this Buil Belichick stuff. I mean, it sounds like there are reports that it's happening, although it's not officially official. I believe those that cover Carolina are in fact getting good information, But I just still for some reason, I just I keep thinking, is this real? Like? Is this made up? Is somebody trolling us out there? I just I can't.
I just don't see the compatibility here. I don't know why Bill Belichick would want so badly to get an opportunity in college at a place like North Carolina. What are your what are your thoughts on this whole thing? And and and maybe you can make some sense of it. For me, he's one of the best coaches of all time. But as far as like just to me, this just doesn't make a lot of sense for either side.
Yeah, I think you have a lot of different leverage players going on here. Simultaneously, there's been reports that the North Carolina power structure is at odds with itself. And you have the Chancellor and the a D on one side, and uh, I guess the president of the Board of Trustees and some donors on another side. Uh, and then the some of the and that side didn't want Mac
Crown out to begin with, but he was. Mac was fired while the AD and the chancellor were MAUI for the basketball tournament, so you have a lot of hurt feelings over that, and then you have Belichick, and all this reporting is like, you know, Belichick's accepted the job if they've offered it. He's willing to accept if they offered the job. But that's not it's not really how this works. Guys, like he's got to be offered the
job before you can accept it. So it definitely seems like Belichick's trying to leverage North Carolina into an offer, and to me, it seems like he's got maybe half the power structure in but they're trying to pressure the actual people who work for the university to expend the offer because only they have the power to do. So that's my read on it, and my other read is at Belichick at the same time positioned himself to say, well, if North Carolina doesn't work out, some other college will
hire me. And if a college doesn't hire me, then also get an NFL job. And I also think he's trying to approach this with obviously I'm seventy two years old and not be your head coach forever, but I oh, by the way, I have a son who's uh happened to be a college defensive coordion. Why don't you go in ahead and we'll name him my replacement before I even coach my first game.
Yeah, that's one that I hadn't really even heard about and thought of until a little bit later on in this process when his name was floated out for the job. But that one, that one actually is something I can see. Okay, Yeah, if that's if that's really maybe the root here as far as what he's trying to do, then I can I can make some sense of it. But man, just imagine telling somebody, you know, eighteen months ago that Bill Belichick would be a finalist for the North Carolina job,
and like it may actually happen. It just seems it seems crazy. So do you one more question for you, Zach? Do you think that we'll see other power jobs open up in this in this cycle? It doesn't mean usually by now it's already happened if there was going to
be a move, But obviously things can change. And and another thing to keep in mind that some coaches probably are are probably safe another year or so as these schools try to, I guess, get a feel for what it's going to look like for them when they have to start paying at leads themselves.
Yeah, I think I think that's obviously a lot of it is. You're we're at a year where most of these changes seem to start in the SEC, and we're at any a point in the cycle where it doesn't really make sense for a lot of these schools to move on. Then obviously the house payments coming on, everyone's just kind of taking a wait and see approach with that. Although we did see it's still been business as usual.
Like Purdue fired Ryan Walters and then just today they're given Barry Otum six million a year, which is two million more than they paid Walters. So if they're worried about outlining another twenty plus million that they didn't normally have to pay, then they're not acting like it.
Yeah, I think the SEC and the Big Ten throughout whatever this looks like, when it comes to the house settlement, they're going to you know, we already know it, but I think it's going to be kind of evident that they can print money compared to some of these other schools that just aren't in that exact same situation. I lied one more quick question for you, just because it's crazy. We've got the twelve team playoff. There's a lot of
excitement there. But I feel like college football fans like myself and you always see as everybody talking about the portal. I mean it's constant. Are we to a point now? Are we there yet where you can say that there really isn't any player in college football that hits the portal that you can say that you're completely stunned by, because I think we're kind of getting close to there,
but just wanted to get your thoughts on that. I feel like everybody should just be well aware that, no matter how much you think your player loves where he is, if he gets more money, if he gets the itch to leave like these players are going to do it.
I'd be pretty stunned if Arch Manning hits the portal at Texas, just because he's such an institutionally important player at that school as he would be. He's arch manding, he's a crown prince of the entire sport, so for him to leave things that have to screw up royally punt intended. So I don't foresee that happening, just to be clear. Yeah, other than that, I think it surprised for stunned, Probably not you know, the other names, the
other franchise quarterback games. The guys that you assume are being taken care of handsomely, they're guys that are that immediately become remind of guys that are all about to move on anyway. So that's the one that comes to mind immediately.
Yeah, I just I think eventually we'll get there whenever. You know, maybe a few more years have passed, but I just think we still have guys that hit the portal, and fans want to point the finger and blame somebody. How did we lose this guy? And I think right now, you know, there are some real reasons why guys leave, because the program is struggling, because there's a coaching change,
because the NIL situation is not great. But sometimes guys just decide to leave because they can and they want to. It's not because the coach did something wrong. It's not because the check didn't clear from nil. You know, players just have the ability to do really whatever the hell they want, and we have I've gotten to that point pretty quickly, Whereas hundreds of years seemingly before it was the players had no control really over anything. So I've
been fascinated to see the you know, college fans. We're a college market here in Louisville that you know, are just slowly but surely adjusting and realizing that this is now a much different world than it once was. But Za, you are always gracious with your time. Keep up the great work. And if I don't talk to you again before the holiday, have a very merry Christmas, my friend.
How good you as well?
Take care. That's Zach Barnett of FootballScoop dot com. Good stuff as always, quick break, don't go anywhere, keep it locked right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. All right, welcome back in as we wrap up the three o'clock hour here coffee and Company. Phil Beth Thorton's on Sports Talk seven ninety. Make sure you guys support those who support us. Thornton's. If you've not become a member of the Refreshing Awards program just yet, I mean you're way late.
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We are proudly fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talks seven to ninety. So some breaking news here that is worth mentioning as we wrap up at three o'clock hour. Not really surprised news, but certainly an update that is worth sharing. We now know that ja Corey Brooks is headed to the NFL Draft, and I saw the graphic that he posted, which is really what every player is doing to make some kind of an announcement. Right It's the vertical portrait graphic that has some usually they've got
some pretty good graphic design elements. And then, of course, you know, a long message that I'm not sure many people read. I did read ja Corey Brooks's message, though, I feel like that, you know, that's the least I could do, given the fact that he's he was a really special player here for just one year, and I wasn't quite sure what he was announcing. So he's going to the NFL Draft, which I assumed he was doing
that anyway, because he's out of eligibility. So my guess is that he is announcing this today because he just wants people to know that he's not going to be playing in the bowl game, which I mean, it's still kind of I will say this. Fran Brown, the coach at Syracuse, I give him a lot of credit. You know, he's still trying to run with the old school mindset of like we don't opt that around here. We play football, and who knows, maybe Syracuse turns into a team that
doesn't lose a single player to an opt out. I doubt that's the case, because if you know you're transferring, I don't know why you play in a Bowl game because you're gonna get a late start, and it just I mean, if you get hurt, then you went out there and you know, played for your team. But if you like already know you're moving on, it just seems kind of silly. But maybe some guys won't won't decide until the bowl game's over as far as what they want to do, if they want to stick around or
hit the portal. But you know, I don't want to act like guys are just for sure, not like, for example, like Tyler Shuck and Jea Cory Brooks are guys that I felt like there was no scenario they would play in this Bowl game against Washington in El Paso. But maybe that's unfair of me to assume that they wouldn't
just want to play, because you know, why not. But ja Corey Brooks, again, I don't get the I don't get the sense that he has that he has announced well I guess I can just read it word for word, but he doesn't have any eligibility left, so I'm not really sure where you know, what the announcement is that he's going to the NFL Draft, And by the way, I do think he's gonna end up being a good
player in the NFL. I mean, you never know, I think at receiver unless you've just got some ability that that you know, nobody else on the planet has, like Jamar Chase continues to show each and every week for the Bengals, justin Jefferson. I mean, there are some special, special guys, but I think there are many guys in the NFL at receiver that last for a while and have have long careers, and it's really just because one they're talented and they and they you know, they're they're professionals.
They show up, they get the job done, they take advantage of opportunities. But it's really timing and situation. So that'll be a big factor for Jacory Brooks. But you know, he was a really successful receiver at Alabama and was catching touchdown passes from Bryce Young as Alabama was, you know, one of the best teams in the country, and then he gets hurt and then last year really just kind of lost opportunities because of the injury and he ended up in the portal. Jeff Brown was able to get
him here on campus for a visit. Got the nil situation where it was you know, clearly good enough for Jacory Brooks to make the decision. And you know, he's one of those guys that I feel like he'll be an early example of somebody that, like, you know, you consider him a former Cardinal because you know he is he was a good player here, but he only had him one year and look, you'll take it right, one year of Jacorey Brooks is better than no year's with
Jacorey Brooks. But you know, if he's really good in the NFL, like he becomes one of the better receivers in the league. Which I'm not saying that he that he that he will end up having a career like that, but you know, he'll be somebody that you kind of wish you'd have had for longer than just just one season. But yeah, Jacory Brooks is is going to the NFL Draft. And also, I believe we have our first commitment in the in the portal for Jeff Brown and it comes
from an offensive lineman perdue transfer. Let me make sure I'm getting the name correct here, Mahani, I'm sorry, Mahammi Mussa. He is an offensive lineman started every game last year for Purdue. Obviously, he's got some some big tenis experience, and you know, you have I think the core of your old line coming back.
Now.
You're obviously gonna lose some guys to graduation, Michael Gonzales and some others. But you know, I've already seen some noise out there about Purdue players in the portal and why Louisville would want them because Purdue was really, really bad last year. And you're not wrong. Purdue was really bad. That's why they fired Ryan Walters after just two seasons.
But I continue to trust Jeff Brahm's ability to to to evaluate talent and these guys that are leaving Purdue, including a defensive back whose name I can't think of right now, but you know, he was the I think he was. Was he the Big twelve or sorry, was he the Big Ten Rookie of the year, Freshman of the year, maybe he was All Freshman team? Yeah, theeneman
he is. He's a defensive back from Purdue who didn't have as good a year this year, but last year as a freshman, was one of the best freshmen in
the Big Ten. So I think Louisvill's involved there, and obviously they've now landed one guy from Purdue so I trust that if Braun, I mean Broun would know these guys probably better than than most that are recruiting them in the portal, because these are guys that committed to Jeff at Purdue and then just didn't get a chance to play for him at all, or didn't play for him for that long because he ended up coming to Louisville. So I'm not at all bothered by taking somebody from Purdue,
despite Purdue being really, really bad last season. So all right, we got to get to top of the hour break here. We got two more hours to go, so I encourage you to stick around. We'll talk to C. L. Brown of the Courier Journal. We'll do that coming up probably around four twenty or so. And we also what I want to get you on the other side, now, this UTEP team, you know, they're well aware that Louisville now
is not what Louisville once was many years ago. I mean, Louiver clearly is in a much better situation now than they were during the Kinney Payne era in the end of the Chris Mack era. But UTEP, I mean, if they were looking to give Louisville some bulletin board material right, something to motivate them for this UTEP game tomorrow, because
I obviously it's the game before you play Kentucky. You know, I don't really blame you TEP for looking at Louisville as an opportunity for them to go get a win against a power program at their place, because again, many teams have done it in recent years. But this isn't the same Louisville team that you know was coached by
Kenny Payne. So but with all that said, I think this is a rare game against a a non power program that you know isn't going to challenge you like Kentucky or Duke or Ole Miss the teams you've played recently. But they're better than Winthrop, They're better than you know, better than you know Bellarman, those kind of teams. So again, we'll talk, we'll talk some hoops on the other side. Stick around, two more hours to go. Right here, it's
coffee and company. Phil about Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety