8.21: Area Codes - Hour 2

taking over for the Cards and Mark Pope. I said it right. I thought I was gonna say Mark steps Mark Pope is the guy here in Lexing, well not here in Lexing, but you know what I mean. And I just think when it's new, there's excitement, and I can sense the excitement on both sides. Who knows how either of these coaches are going to end up doing, and you know, really different situations in regards to like

the shoes that have to be filled. Pat Kelcey, I mean there's no doubt he's going to be a massive upgrade from what we were used to in the last couple of years. That's as maybe the most obvious thing I've ever said on this show. And with Mark Pope. You know, I don't think anybody's worried about him being able to knock off Saint Peter's in Oakland in the tournament, but you know, can he keep the Kentucky status where Cali Perry had it to wear no matter what happened,

no matter who they lost to. If it was you know, what's the guy's name who went off Jack something Goldie, Yeah, if Golkie or the guy with the porn stashed it played for Saint Peter's. You know, like, even despite all that happening, cal would always build a roster that everybody collectively within college basketball would tell you it's going to

be good enough to win a national championship. Now, I think it became pretty stale in Lexington because that was always going to be the case as far as winning. The offseason expectations being high, a new hall of talent, guys that are probably gonna be taken in the NFL Draft, all that kind of stuff, but they just they had embarrassing losses. In the postseason and some embarrassing losses in recent years in the regular season as well. So again,

these situations aren't exactly the same. But again, as far as it being new and exciting, I think both fan bases are in the same position there. So again, despite it being August and football season now being here, I do want to talk some college hoops because we found out earlier today the field, well, we know the field.

We've known the field. We now know who's playing who when it comes to the Battle for Atlantis and Louisville will take on Indiana in their first game, and if they win, they'll play the winner of Gonzaga in West Virginia. If they lose, they'll play the loser of Gonzaga in West Virginia. So you're looking at two guaranteed games against power for power five. It's gonna be weird now because you can say power five in college basketball because the

Big East. It's power for in football. But I guess it's always been inconsistent because before the Pac twelve died, it was power five and football power six in basketball. But anyway, uh, I love this. You know, from a fans perspective, somebody who wants to see where my team stands every single time they take the floor. That's unrealistic because you're gonna still play teams like butt crack Tech or is it but was it butt cracked State?

sports basketball football. Just decide, okay, yeah, it's quite clear we are different than you know, the butthole texts and the butt crack states out there that I get it right,

we got it. There we go. Yeah. So anyways, you're always gonna have games like that, and honestly, when you have a brand new team, that's probably needed in Louisville, despite the competition not being very stiff down there in the Bahamas, they still benefited from playing, you know, those types of games against you know, another team different than themselves.

So from my end, again just talking about myself specifically as a fan, I love this, but I'm curious if Pat Kelcey is thrilled to see the schedule that he has. I get the sense that he will want to always embrace a challenging non conference schedule because he knows at Louisville that's what you should do. You should play in big games against good teams where there's value there and it's a big time atmosphere, right, I mean, I think, I mean Louisville playing a very weak non conference schedule

like every year just doesn't make any sense. And they don't by the way, And honestly, I mean this is a little bit of a stretch, but I'm gonna say it anyway, You're not far from the point where you've got to make sure you have a very challenging non conference schedule and you know, and you win a couple of games throughout that because you just don't have the ability in the ACC like you used to to just you know, you could have two games above five hundred

as your record in the ACC in a previous world, and it wouldn't be a shock if you're safely in the tournament with a decent seed, because you know, seventy percent of the games you play are against good teams that are probably gonna be in the tournament. That's not

what the ACC is anymore. So anyways, Love is always gonna have a tough and challenging non conference schedule, But this is the I mean again, we'll never know until you get towards the end of the year and you look back and see just how good these teams were.

But right now, as the schedule has officially been released and you look at you know, you look at everybody as far as what they're supposed to be this year, I don't think it's a stretch to say non conference specifically, this is one of the more challenging schedules that I've seen for Louisville. I mean again, we'll start with your second game of the season November ninth against Tennessee, who, By the way, I checked every preseason ranking I could find.

I looked at five of them. They all have Tennessee in the top fifteen. You got Bellerman and then Winthrop. Those are games you know you should win. You know I'm not gonna throw those out there as oh wow, those help support my case that this is a very challenging non conference schedule. No offense to those teams, but

they don't. And then you look at Indiana Indiana. I mean, I actually feel like Indiana in some of these rankings that I've seen, not to say they're getting disrespected because they weren't very good last year, they missed the tournament, and they are, you know, banking on their transfers being really really productive, just like a lot of other teams are.

But I think if you look at the roster on paper, I love what they brought in and the guys they brought back I think were guys that you would want to come back to Indiana if you if you're a Hoosier and they have one freshman who what's his name? The best President Tucker. He's believed to be one of the best freshmen in the Big tens. So like this is Indiana is top fifty team, top twenty depending on where you look, but there are a consensus, I believe,

top twenty caliber team, Gonzaga consensus top five team. Now West Virginia. They were really bad last year and they're a team that like they could beat you, trust me, but they're not one that, like on November twenty eighth, if that's who they play in that second day in the Bahamas, that's one that if Louisville wins, you probably have to just wait and see if there's really any value there. And I would bank more so on it not being looked at as like a resume win. Now again,

because they play in the Big Twelve. This is where I just nerd out on college basketball folks. Because they play in the Big Twelve. They could be a non

tournament team five hundred overall, not a threat. But because they play night in and night out in the Big Twelve, which is a really deep league, I'd be willing to bet that there is going to be some metrics out there, like the Ken Palm, like the net that think West Virginia is a lot better than they actually are because of their conference, So you actually can end up getting value there just from the numbers perspective. So you know that alone gives you I mean, those are those are

challenging games. And then you don't have a clue who you're gonna end up playing. I guess just looking at the bracket here, you'll end you know, you're either gonna end up well, I guess, could it be a variety of teams. Let me just pull up the bracketers. Yeah, so you know, let's say you, Let's say you. I guess there could be any of these teams in the

lower side, right, like, it depends on what happens. But the rest of the field is Arizona, who is another team that by all accounts preseason top ten, some say top five, and then Davidson Providence in Oklahoma. So I think with Indiana and Gonzaga sort of being in your pod, your pool, if you will, you've got a chance to play the two best teams in this event. Now, again, Arizona is probably gonna be ranked a little higher than Indiana, but I would trust Indiana's team a little more than

I would Arizona. Tommy Lloyd's a great coach. But you know, I just again, I'm not what I think of Indiana, to be honest with you really didn't have anyth dude, Mike Woodson. It's just I think their personnel is really good. I mean, I think they've got.

twenty year run. To kind of get a sense for him, he like, this is a year where you're gonna you're gonna decide as a college basketball fan what you think of him as a coach, right, Like you probably have an opinion now, but like year four will kind of solidify if he's either going to be a guy that has a long future in Indiana or a guy that like maybe fighting for his job at the end. Of

the year. But I think you take personnel alone and you put that roster next to let's say Mark Few, they would be viewed as a much more feared team in college basketball as of right now. And I guess that's just how it works, because again, Mark Vee has proven to be pretty good. Coach Woodson still is in the process of kind of, you know, showing what he can do with this in the college game.

I mean there's all kinds of these MTS multi team events that take place around Thanksgiving, and I love it, but I hate it in real time because nobody really reacts strongly about one way, Like because it's so early, people either downplay a loss as who cares or downplay a win like, yeah, you know, we'll see what it

looks like at the end of the season. Because like, for example, Louisville could lose to Tennessee but beat you know, but beat morehead Bellerman Winthrop that lose to Tennessee, lose to Indiana, and then let's say they beat West Virginia and then they end up losing to let's say they

lose to I don't know, Arizona. If somehow the bracket played out that way, they'd come home looking like a team with no win to speak of, probably and you know, losses to good teams, but you know, right, My point is that Indiana and whoever Arizona would not look as if they're getting any value because louisvill would be what

one game above five hundred. Yet when you've revisited at the end of December or whatever, or I'm sorry, not the end of December, the end of February, it may look like, Okay, Louisville is in the driver's seat to be a top three finisher in the ACC to where hey, Indiana's feeling pretty good. That's a win that has value.

So I get it. It's just, man, in a time when nobody really is watching college basketball all that much at the national level because football's going on, it just I don't know, I feel like, are anybody seeing this we got I mean, these are games going on in the Bahamas. You've got Indiana, Louisville, Gonzaga, Arizona. This is crazy and yet, like, unless you're just a dialhard fan of college hoops or a dialwheard fan of one of these teams, it just doesn't feel like people care that much.

And I get it. NFL's king at that point in Thanksgiving. I mean, look, this game will be played in the Battle for Atlantis.

Just because it almost has a fiel to where it's like preseason and nobody really cares because you know, in two months these teams are gonna be way different, which again that's valid, but I mean, these are big time programs, man, and when you do get to selection Sunday, regardless of what you just said about these games, when they took place,

they do matter, they have value. So again with Louisville, I love the fact that they're in this They're in this event, and I'm gonna want to see where they stand against Mike Woodson. I'm gonna want to see where they stand against whoever they play the next game, if it's West Virginia, if it's Gonzaga, and whoever that third

game is. But I gotta wonder if Pat Kelsey is either enthusiastic, and I knowing what I know about him as far as just how he's wired as a competitor, I would imagine he's not crying himself to sleep thinking he's a victim of this tough schedule, because what are you gonna do. You can't change it, but it is a very challenging schedule. Even if the circumstances weren't what they are with a brand new team, all new players that have never really played together other than in practice

and in that trip to the Bahamas. So as soon as they get back from the Bahamas very short break, they'll play their last game on Friday, and on Tuesday they're gonna host Ole Miss, another team that is consensus preseason top twenty five. Some have them in the top twenty nine. Everybody had them there, but they're gonna be top twenty five. And then you play UTEP know nothing about them. Then you play Kentucky in Lexington. I don't care about Mark Pope in their new team. I can't

imagine Kentucky won't be ranked then. But either way, you were playing kent in rupp Arena in a rivalry game. That is a tough game, regardless of where they're ranked at that time or whatever happens before then. That is a game that anybody with a brain would say, Yeah, that's you know, that's another good data point to throw out there when you're trying to emphasize that Pat Kelsey

has himself a very tough schedule. So again, we're just talking non conference here, and I can't think of a year where it'd be a little dip, Like if Kentucky had cal and they're coming off another a big run in the tournament, which I say, another that hasn't happened, that didn't happen for a while, which is why he's gone. But like if Kentucky had the same type of preseason love now that they typically would get for col I don't I'd have a hard time finding a schedule that

again as of you know, August, it's it's easily. It's easy to forget if you get to the end of the year in a schedule you thought was really tough ended up being not tough at all. But you know, all we can do is evaluate where we are today when I look at what is on the slate here for Pat Kelsey in non conference games, this is a tough, tough schedule, and I think they've got the piece to where they could be competitive and win some of these games,

maybe win a bunch of them. I don't know. But today when I saw that, it was Indiana first, and then if you get past them easier said than done, of course, then you'd probably play Gonzaga, a top five team like this is. And again I love it because from my perspective alone, and I know we've already had a couple of people said on the text line, you love this schedule, but are you gonna love it whenever

they get curb stumped. Well, I don't think they're going to get curb stump, but if they do, yeah, I'll be sad. But I you know, as a fan, there's never been a scenario where Louisville has played a really tough team and they've been humbled and lost, and maybe it's in embarrassing fashion. There's never been a time where that's happened. I mean, that has happened, but there's never

been a time where that's happened. And I thought to myself, Wow, I wish we would have had butt Crack stayed in here instead of you know, a top five team, Like you should want to play really good teams regardless, just because there's value there. And I don't mean just value as far as as a fan learning. Okay, did my team pass the test or not? But your resume and I just feel like it's always such a you know, from a fans perspective, I'm speaking as a consumer of

the product. Someone say I'm speaking from it, you know selfishly, but hey, I mean, I'm talking only for me here. When you play those nobodies, it's a waste of time in my opinion for me as a consumer. Now as a coach, you're like, hell, yeah, give me all these games against Winthrop and exhibitions because I need these guys to work on stuff against other teams. I need to

get these guys more reps together. It's a brand new team, so I'm looking at it from a totally different lens than what someone like Pat Kelsey would look at it as I mean, I mean, it's not that I'm like dreading a game when they play one of these teams, because that's not at all how I approach it. Anytime you get a chance to watch your team play, you should be you know, you should be excited and you know hopeful that they win. But it's just, you know,

it's it all two things. It always feels like a waste of time. And I hate when you do beat a team by twenty five and then you look down two days later at your net ranking or your Ken palm and you fell because the team you played is so bad. He'd have to beat them by like fifty four to really boost up your metrics. That to me is just so stupid. But it's where we are in college basketball with how they you know, how they value

who's good and who's not. And also, I guess, honestly, I have a little bit of PTSD because recently, like Winthrop teams like that, they beat Kenny Payne, you know

what I mean. So like just seeing a guinea Payne would lose to you know, a real team, it didn't stay as bad because you know, we knew we stunk, but you know it was going to be going, you know, viral in the college basketball world if Louisville lost to you know, UNBC like they nearly did in their opener last year, or to Chattanooga who got him last year went and Chattanooga came in and beat him.

on a h played on a National chamampionship team. So you know, that's why that's why this random Division two team was on the schedule because their head coach at the time was a Louisville alum. So usually there's connections there. I don't know of a connection with young Harris, but maybe there is one. And by the way, isn't it wild to know that Everck Sullivan outlasted Kenny Payne. Yeah he was. I'm sorry, sorry, Kenny, I said that wrong.

Kenny Payne outlasted him. Everck Sullivan was fired or forced out, I guess before Kenny Payne was, which it was kind of. I mean, they both got fired and moved on from however you want to look at it at the end of both seasons, but you know, their season ended a little bit soon. I remember seeing like that is wow, this guy actually came in and beat Louisville in an exhibition game as a D two coach, and they still

were so bad that like they didn't keep him. I mean, that'll be the best win they ever had against anybody at Lenola. Ryan. And by the way, when that team beat Louisville, I think people know this. I think it was like a known thing. Their two best players didn't play in that game when they beat Louisville, and they didn't just beat them like they one pretty comfortably. Now the other exhibition game, and I feel like this has got to be the first time that Louisville has played

this team in an exhibition game. Spaulding. Shout out to Spaulding, Spaulding will be your exhibition opponent. And it's rare that you see, you know, Division one, you know, power programs like Louisville play Division three teams in an exhibition. Now the connection here is obviously there's just they're just down the street. But Spaulding, as a Division three team, used to be nai whenever I was in school, and I believe they're still led by coach Gray, Yeah, who's been

coaching there a long long time. In fact, his son, Tim Gray, associate head coach, was a staffer for the Louisville twenty thirteen national championship team. So yeah, those are your exhibition opponents. Those, of course don't factor into what I've been discussing in regards to a loaded non conference schedule, because these aren't real games. But hey, let's not act like we don't look at these a little bit differently now than we did prior to the Kinny Payne era,

because you know, he lost to these teams. Kenny Payne does not have a winning record against exhibition opponents. It's crazy to say, but it's true. All right, quick break, we'll come back on the other side. Keep this thing rolling along. We'll revisit the Amari Huggins Bruce situation. I'm now ready to move on from calling it a rumor because there's clearly something here as far as it actually being able to happen him transferring back to Louisville to

join the team for the upcoming season. I guess it's possible, but I still feel like it's I'm leaning towards doubtful, but we'll revisit that. For those who missed it at

the beginning of the show, it's Coffee and Company. We are feel about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven to ninety sticking with college basketball here, we did talk a little bit earlier in regards to In fact, we've just spent a lot of time out at the beginning of this hour about Louisville basketball's non conference schedule, as we now know who they're going to be facing in their first game in the Battle for Atlantis, which is Indiana, and real quick before we move on to what I

was going to get to in regards to something John Caliperry is doing, there's no doubt like it's gonna take a long time for like, I think it's as long as Mike Woodson is in Indiana at Bloomington as their head coach. Anytime his name comes up for any reason or if there's ever any other potential matchup between Louisville and Indiana, all Louisville fans are going to bring up the fact that he tricked Kenny Payne. Did you see

how whenever like that that thing? Really it was. I mean I've not seen anybody sharing like the clip of it, but like as soon as the matchup was announced, it was Cards versus Hoosiers, a bunch of Louisville fans hoping, you know, saying they hope that he doesn't trick us again, or that I te Kelsey. Yeah, Pat Kelsey will be prepared for, you know, for any tricks that he might have. I mean, that was not I've never felt bad for

Kenny Payne. I would have. I would have felt very sorry for Kenny if he was that big of a failure as a coach and he had any any humility and he had any awareness. I mean, he literally still to this day believes that he was wronged here and that he was a good coach. And it's just insane that somebody can have a mind that operates that way, but not the less. Like that's the like if you just say, yeah, he went zone. We weren't expecting it. He went zone, you know, and we we didn't we

didn't execute. But he he's he laughed and said he tricked me, and like that's just like the one thing you can't do unless you're seeking to look as if you do not have any business being a head coach anywhere. And that's that's what he did. But anyways, uh, John Caliperry again, we talked about it yesterday because we now know Arkansas is going to make their make the trip to Lexington on February first, which is a Saturday, and that's gonna be a tough tough ticket to get. We

all know that. But Cali Perry, you know, he loves these big time games right where he gets a chance to maybe have a standalone game on a national network and you know, just use that airtime, use that exposure that you get on CBS or ESPN or ABC to really just you know, pump up his program and build that brand that he's that he's you know, and we got his brand, by the way, is him not UK not Arkansas him? So now he's just taking it to Arkansas.

And yesterday we just us the Illinois matchup. They're gonna play Illinois on Thanksgiving following an NFL game, which I happen to think is brilliant in regards to just viewership that's going to be there. And it's just another thing that Caliperi can add, you know, because here's the thing.

Because it's Thanksgiving and it's following an NFL game, the people who watch the beginning like that game will be very highly rated, and it may be really highly rated because it might be a great game that people are interested in. But even if it's not you following an NFL game on Thanksgiving on CBS, you're going you're walking

and you're waking up to a big rating. And at the end of the year he can still clout or shout about you know, I guess clouding is he can still have the cloud is what I meant to say. My mine's not working today too much, butthole text and butt stuff and we dove into the weeds way too early. Yeah, I fried my brain early on in the earlier in

the show that I typically do it. Anyways, you know, he can still say that he had one of the most watched games in the regular season and it wasn't a Kentucky and this proves that it's me and not UK. Like he would never say that word for word, but you know that's that's what he wants to be able to say and wants to be able to show. Well, now, I don't know how did they just now announce this.

Maybe they've known that these teams were going to be in the event, But Arkansas and Michigan are going to play each other in the Jimmy V Classic, and I'm reading here that they just unveiled, like who's participating. So December tenth at Madison Square Garden, nine o'clock, it's going to be a Michigan taking on Arkansas, which should be a good non conference game. Two coaches at two new stops. Obviously much different stories there for John Caliperry and Dusty

May but again no surprise, John Calla Perry. In order for him to continue to maintain the brand that he has with himself regardless of what program he's at. We bring in future NBA players, We give you the path to the NBA. We move the needle. We have the most watched games. And again, Kentucky basketball will always be a bigger a bigger draw than anything Arkansas is doing

that just you know, unless Kentucky's irrelevant. But like if Kentucky's really good and Arkansas is really good and Col's at Arkansas, Kentucky will still have a big or reach because it's Kentucky. But Arkansas. Again, this is cal doing some doing some things differently in regards to scheduling that you saw from you know, from Eric Musselman. So anyways, uh, let's go to the text line five OOT two six five three zero seven ninety is the Ellen n Federal

Credit Union text line. Members get more at Ellen and Federal Credit Union. You can learn more and open your account today at LNFCU dot com. All right, this text says, Nick, I believe you're the only Louisville guy I listened to that I've yet to hear talk about Isaac Brown, the true freshman at Louisville. You hear in anything like the others, Well, I'm not sure what the others are hearing. And I will say this, Uh, I can't speak for it what

anybody else is saying, but you are right. I don't know if I've mentioned Isaac Brown really at all, other than just knowing he is one of the more highly regarded true freshmen on this Louisville roster. Obviously, he was a big name on signing day because you know, he's a big he's a big time recruit from Miami. But two things. He was named a preseason Freshman All American by ESPN, which is pretty pretty rare for a guy

from Louisll. I mean, Louislle has had some good recruits over the years, but ESPN preseason first Team All American for you know, for freshmen, like it's you know again, Just to be clear if I didn't say that clear enough right away, this is the freshman All American team, So not in All American in regards to everybody in college football. But yes, that that speaks to sort of

the hype that he has. I think it also speaks to the fact that people are now not you know, when it comes to newcomers, the guys people are talking about the most that you want to see out there is it's mostly going to be big, big name transfers, or it's going to be freshmen that have this type of a resume. And yeah, I mean I won't I won't misleeg you as if I'm hearing anything like special

or crazy. But I did talk to somebody on Monday that mentioned, you know, he could potentially step in and be a guy that you see play some slot receiver with Colin Lacy out Now. I don't know, so if you want it, I don't think they're committed to like having him learn a new position because he's a true freshman. I mean, how much do you really want to put on a true freshman as far as learning and getting acclimated. I mean, it's tough enough it's a true freshman to

learn the one position you're going to play. But he's a guy that it sounds like it's going to be really, really hard to not have on the field. And I mean what I was told is that it may come down to the fact that they've got some good running backs with Murray's Turner. You kind of know what you have with Cheney for Miami the transfer. He's not a guy that's going to turn on the Jets and just beat everybody downfield for a touchdown. But he's a good

running back, a solid guy to have. But it sounds like by the end of November, this coaching staff won't be shocked if the guy that they want to give the ball to more often than anybody else when it comes to handing it off it is this freshman Isaac Brown,

because he's that good. I also was told that Jeff's comments about being underwhelmed about the offense and how the defense was kicking their butt all legit, meaning like the defense has looked really good and Jeff was being, you know, truthful when he talks about the offense needing to be better, but he likes his offense even without Colin Lacy. I you know, you never know, right because you just never know. But I'm now to the point where I'm not as

and I wasn't really that worried anyway. I mean I kind of talked about it on Monday, like him telling you back to back weeks that the defense is getting the best of the offense not something you want to hear. But I don't put a lot into that, but it was reiterated to me on Monday afternoon when I talked to somebody who again would know that he has really

high expectations for this offense. So you know, they could probably be playing better than you would expect in him still be very you know, not upset, but just you know, wanting more. And he's not somebody that's going to make any kind of any kind of comment or gesture or you know, not even with body language or facial expression. Jeff's not going to tease anything in regards to like something special he's got up his sleeve or a player that you don't know about that's going to be great.

But I do feel comfortable in saying that he feels like he's got personnel on both sides of the ball for this team to be pretty damn good. Now again, you never know, that's not me saying, hey, everybody, go ahead and book your rooms for Charlotte. We're going back to the ACC title game. But you know they ty Tyler shuck again. You got to see it when it's when the lights are on. He's been turnover prone when healthy at his other schools, but he's also been pretty good.

But I get the sense that he he just has an arm and he has you know, he's got the ability to read a defense that Jeff Brohm, you know, dare I say, salivates a little bit knowing that he can be vertical with this guy, Like they can take some shots down field. This guy's got the arm to do it. And they're gonna have some balance, not only with hopefully a good, you know, productive running running game that won't be as good as what they had last

year because that's a tough task to tackle. I mean, those two running backs last year were really really good. But they're gonna have better tight ends and that's going to be a bigger fixture within the offense to where they can you know, Jeff can pick and choose when he wants to take a shit or pull a trick out of the bag and you know, put one on the board. And you got to keep in mind, like last year, it was a fun ride for everybody, right,

a ten win season first year. I mean, you get a top ten win against Notre Dame when you know it's the fifth game for Jeff as your head coach, like everything aligns so perfectly to start the year that you really weren't, at least for me, Like I knew it was different than what I would would have expected. But like you got to keep in mind, think about Jeff last year. He's winning, but it's not how he typically wins, right, He's winning because his defense has really

been the anchor for the team. And on offense, you know, they were good enough, they were efficient enough, but they weren't. You know, Plumber wouldn't good on third down. We all know that. And when it comes down to it, if you had to envision Louisville, you know, needing a late drive to put one in the end zone to either give themselves a chance to win or put them over

the edge and actually win. When you were trying to visualize that as you're sweating it out as a fan watching this team last year, you probably were visualizing Gerard's Ordered breaking free, or Isaac Garrindo breaking free and taking one of the house, or one of those guys making some big plays to where Jack Plumber didn't really have to do a whole lot. He was already you know, first and goal from the seven because of an explosive play from one of those guys. I think now they

feel comfortable. Hey, we got we got some, we got some. We got some pieces here offensively to where we're gonna be able to drive here late and tie it up. Give us, give a chance, give us a chance to win, or maybe you know, drive down field and win the game. So I don't want to, you know, I don't want to put that out there as if like, hey, Louisville's gonna be elite this year, They're gonna win every game. Everybody calmed down. But whenever, and that's one thing I do.

You know, I'm not. I'm an introvert, So I'm not somebody that that's texting around asking for any information. And honestly, I don't. I don't. I don't know it's up people that would give me legit information. That's just I'm not. I'm not as well sourced as some others. But when you do start to, you know, to to get closer to the season, you get to yap and there are

some people that I still value my relationship with. It'll reach out and say, hey, you should know this, So you know, I to answer your question, You're right, I haven't talked about Isaac Brown, and I probably should have because they love him over there on Floyd Street, and he's gonna be on the field this year. Maybe he has some growing pains along the way, maybe it's a tough,

tough transition. But I can tell you this, I think if he ends up being one of the more known guys within this offense when it's all said and done this season, I don't think this staf is gonna be surprised at all. All right, let's take a quick break. We'll come back on the other side. Wrap up the four o'clock hour. I did not revisit the Amari Huggy Amurray Huggy Amari Huggins Bruce situation. So we'll do that here on the other side. And we got a lot more to get into before we wrap it up. We're

taking up till six o'clock. It is coffee and Company. We are fuel about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. That's right, it's coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. Again, don't forget, I mean, I don't know. It's not even about forgetting at this point. It's just about, you know, doing it not procrastinating, and I'm sure you already have, but if you have not, please sign up to become a member

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as a red shirt freshman. But you don't have to do that anymore. You can go get a guy that's played a lot. So I will give Pierce in his family his camp if you will, a lot of props for understanding and having some patience and maturity to understand that, hey, you know, the the clock for a quarterback at the high level is not what it once was, meaning you know you're not going to be needed to hit the field right away. You're gonna need to be patient. And

some kids don't want to be patient. And I don't blame him. They transfer, like Piers transferring would not have meant that anybody did anything wrong. It would have just been a reminder that this is different now because again, coaches, who coaches. Again, it's basketball, football, any sport. Honestly, if you're a head coach and you know you need to win in order to keep your job, right, that's part

of it. That's what you got to do. If you don't have to be young, you're not gonna want to be young, You're gonna go to the portal and want to go get guys who you feel like can help you right away. So coaches are going to continue to

do that. So I've heard nothing but good things about Pierce, not to say that he's been lighting it on fire, but post spring, if they had to go to a different quarterback, if Shuck got hurt or whatever it may be, maybe he's you know, something happens, they would they would go to Pierce Clarkson. I still think that they probably would. But I do know Harrison Bailey, a transfer who is probably four years older than Pierce at minimum. He started.

He's a victim recruit and he played at Tennessee coming out of high school. Five star kid by the way, picked Tennessee over like Alabama and some other schools. Didn't work out there for him. He transferred to UNLV, started some games there, put up some decent numbers. He walked on at Louisville last year, and you know, I believe I've heard that he wants to be a coach and he wants to learn from Jeff Brown. But he also again, I mean, I don't think that five star billing that

he had coming out of high school. I mean, it clearly wasn't justified at this point, but you know, he clearly has some skill and some talent to where they do like him a lot. So I think those guys are probably neck and neck, but I do think because they know Pierce has a chance to be the future here. If these guys are neck in practice, they're gonna go with Piers and they should. I mean I would again,

let's see what you got with this young man. So I think best case scenario for Pierce Clarkson this year, and really best case scenario for Louisville and Jeff Brohm is that you're blowing out and I mean blowing out Austin p and you're blowing out in Jacksonville State, and you know you've got a quarterback that's injury prone. Right, that's the story on Tyler Shuck. He's a guy who

has never finished a season healthy. So if you've got the game put away and there's a maybe a half left of football, you're gonna you should put him on the sideline, keep him healthy. Hell, maybe send him to the locker room. Just do whatever you can to keep this guy healthy. So at that point you should you

should get pierced some real reps. Now, again, it's gonna be in mop up duty when the game's you know, completely finished, and it's against inferior opponents than which he's gonna typically see if you're starting quarterback for a full year. But that's where you get him a chance to really cut his teeth in a real game, kind of show

some things, show what he can do. And let's be honest, you know, Louisville also should be able to I mean, I don't want to disrespect some of these opponents, but like Virginia may really suck this year, who's to say that when they're playing Virginia they may have a three, four touchdown lead in the fourth quarter, get pierce some reps.

So it's been a while since Louisville's had a season where they had a you know, games where they were blowing them out and they had a chance to go to a backup like last year they they at times would would you know against Boston College, that's a game that stands out. Obviously, when they played Murray State, they played ten quarterbacks. So David, I think, really this year, if Louisville is taking care of business against the inferior opponents. Pierce is gonna get a chance to get in there

and show what he can do. And I feel like in those reps that'll really give this staff a chance to decide, Okay, here we go. Do we want to go to the portal once again? Or are we ready to hand the reins off to this guy now that he's sit back for two years, learn the offense really kind of cut his teeth. And really only time will tell as far as as far as that's if that

happens or not. But man, the quarterback situation in the portal era is so interesting because you know, you may feel really good about Pierce Clarkson, really good, but if you are if you are a program that knows you have nil and if Jeff has another good season, there gonna be quarterbacks in the portal that want to come play for him because who wouldn't want to play quarterback

for Jeff brom right. So you know it's tricky because if you feel like Pierce can be your guy, but you're also going to welcome in this guy with a bunch of nil money because you know what he can do, and you're gonna let these guys compete for it. If this is a guy who's proven himself to be a really good college quarterback, Piers Clarkson would understandably probably leave,

and I wouldn't blame him. So, you know, I really want to give him a lot of credit because I think a lot of guys in his position, given the hype, given the expectation, and all the offers that he had, especially from the West Coast programs back where he's from, he's been patient and he's understanding that it's not his

time yet because things have changed in college football. And I think a lot of these five star quarterbacks coming out of a four star high four star, five star, depending on where you looked with him, they wouldn't stick around and wait because they would know, Hey, there's a lot of schools out there that don't love their quarterback situation. And I haven't proven what I can do yet, but you know what, I can still get that phone ringing off the hook because of where I was coming out

of high school. I'ven't put enough on film to show anybody that I'm not able to be a really good quarterback at the college level. So I'm hopeful that we see a lot of Pierce Clarkson in the second half against Austin p and against Jacksonville State. But we'll see, all right, we got another hour to go, in a lot to get to, so stick with us. Five o'clock hour coming up right here. It's coffee and company. Feel about Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety