The show goes on, and we are joined now by Max Chadwick from Pro Football Focus.
Of course, he is.
A college football analyst there. Max, Welcome to the show.
How you doing, what you guys doing? You know, we're having a great day here. It's Friday. It's fun day, it's fantastic day. It's football day.
Because every day for me is football day, and especially on Fridays, Fridays or football days you're a football guy. There's a I don't know, a story, a movement, a suggestion that they expand the college football playoffs from twelve to sixteen. Of course, this is coming probably from the folks in the Big Ten and the SEC. Your thoughts on the expansion of the college football playoffs, Yeah.
I'm not surprised, honestly, right, I mean it seems like college football. I mean, listen, it's all about money, as you guys know, and it's become that for It's been that way for programs forever, and now it's really become that way for players as well. And you know, ever since they extended twelve teams, I never thought they would stop there. So I know, the contract I believe runs out after this upcoming season for a twelve team playoff, so who knows how because maybe a sixteen team playoff
very very soon. So it's not surprising at all, honestly, And I actually I really don't think it'll kill college football like a lot of people think it would. You know, pretty much every other level of college football has even bigger playoffs than sixteen teams and they're doing just fine. And I mean a lot of other leagues have way bigger playoffs than twelve team as well, and they're doing
just fine too. So I really don't think a sixteen team playoff would kill college football, with a lot of people think it would.
The house first, the NCAA, they had some kind of pickups. The judges said, hey, go back and add language. I've got an issue with these players that are being cut from teams that these roster limits are, in my opinion, that they injure these players, even high school players who had scholarships rescinded.
Where does this send up? Is this is this something that there should.
Be a concern about right now, or or is it just that they're just trying to get all the final eyes dotted and teas crossed.
Yeah, it's interesting what happens in this case, right, it could be a seminal case in college football. I think it's been coming for a while, honestly, you know, I think everyone's kind of seen that and IO and everything have kind of changed college football and so for some ways in the worst, right, So they got to figure out ways to regulate it a little bit. So, Yeah, it makes sense if this case is happening now, and I think it'll hopefully bring some good changes to college football.
I wanted there's a couple of folks I want to talk about here locally at the University of Utah.
One Cam Rising.
So Cam Rising was a great player at Utah and took him to the couple of Rose Bulls and won a couple of Pack twelve championship. He has announced his essential retirement from football. Your thoughts on Cam and and him not pursuing football at this time and kind of what he's meant to the program here in Salt Lake.
Yeah, I'm not surprised by it, you know. Unfortunately, injuries has kind of absolutely tanked his career over the last few years. Honestly, right, I remember that that torn a CEO and the Rolls Bowl, and then a bunch of different aims that injuries has kind of you know, ended a bunch of seasons for him, So not surprised by it at all. I mean, obviously Utah has already moved on.
You know, the kind of writing was on the wall for Cam Rising at Utah when they brought in Devin dan Pierre from New Mexico is a very talented quarterback, so they're clearly moving on from quarter at quarterback. I'm sure Cam Rising didn't want to go through some more injuries as well, and I just don't know where he would have found a starting job in college football nowadays anyways,
So this is not a very surprising move. And you know, he was a great quarterback for Utah, right, He brought them to two Rolls Bowls, He won two Pack twelve championships with Utah, So he should be looked out very fondly by by Utah fans. Just unfortunate that injuries are unfortunately a big part of his career.
Yeah, it's always tough when when a player, because his Utah really felt like it had the quality teams the last couple of years, and uh and and not having a quarterback and really a solid guy to replace Cam I think a lot of people.
You know, man, what could have been?
You know, you could have you talk, competed and won the Big Twelve in their first year and gone to the college football playoffs?
And what would that look like?
And also for Cam, you know, moving forward, it's like, could he have been a program?
Do you think do you think Cam had an ability to play at the next level?
I don't think so. He always screamed to me like a college quarterback. You know, he's a guy who was very good in college football, but didn't have a necessary tool to be an elite NFL quarterback or even starting NFL quarterback. So maybe if he never got hurt, maybe he would have gotten a shot. He probably would have gotten a shot in the NFL as like a late round pick, as maybe a backup or something like that. But I mean, he was never a starting caliber quarterback
in the NFL. He was always a very good college quarterback.
Okay, I'm gonna stay with that line of questioning for just one moment. I hesitate to even ask this question, but oh well, we've already opened a Pandora's box. Let's do it, uh Shador Sanders. Of course, I'm fascinating. Here's this guy, you know, drafted in the fifth round. And sure there's sure a lot of of pub and and uh kind of attention brought onto a rookie fifth round
draft pick quarterback that usually doesn't happen. Uh, what's your what's your assessment of Shador where he went in the draft, and uh kind of what his his potential options are or or you know, how does he pan out moving forward.
Yeah, he's the most fascinating player in this year's draft, I would say, I mean, I thought he should have been, you know, a top ten pick in the draft. I thought he was one of the top quarterbacks that you can't even argue she should have been the top quarterback in the draft. I don't think he's had far off. So he was. He was very close to cam Ward. I think a lot of it had to do with just how he came off in interviews and just maybe his dad and general on the team's not wanting to
deal with that. So him falling the fifth round was not very much indicative of him as a prospect on the field. It was probably more due to external factors off the field. So, I mean, everyone, even even people who didn't like Shudarg Sanders as a player that much, they still would have told you, hey, he should be a top fifty pick in the NFL draft, right, he should be somewhere in the second round at least, right. Nobody thought he would have been a fifth round pick.
So falling in the fifth round that has nothing really to do with on the field stuff. That's a lot to do with his off field antics, I would say, and his father and who his father is too, So it's unfortunate for him. He's obviously got a lot to prove now in the NFL. But I mean, hey, Cleveland, that's a wide open quarterback battle right now. Right, there's not a clear answer at quarterback. I know the drafts Dalan Gabriel ahead of him, But all I'm saying is
I'm a huge fan of his game. I would not be shocked if Shoudre Sanders starts a lot of games for Cleveland this upcoming year and maybe he thinks his claim as the starting quarterback for the future for the Browns.
Yeah, it is.
It is a compelling dynamic that's gone on with all of this, and uh, you know, and you hear so many, so many stories and so many different opinions about you know, some people, you know, like you say, you know, I don't get it, and other people say, well, we never had him that high.
Now I have had person. You know.
I'm the color analyst for Utah football, and so I've watched a lot of Suret Schadeur over the last couple of years, and I've always liked a lot of what coach Prime has preached at at Colorado. I'm not put off by his self confidence and his self promotion it because I really think there's a lot of substance behind who he is as a as a person, as a coach, and uh, he just has a flashy way of of of sharing it.
Uh.
I have I have interviewed Shador the PAC twelve Media Days, and uh and I and I and I and quite frankly, I kind of can see where people would get that impression of him not very impressed with the interview I had. And I just you know, I had me rolling my ice quite a bit at a lot of a lot of the statements and comments and just the whole interview in general. And this this has been you know, several years ago, and and I just you know, at the time, I just kind of shook it off as Okay, well
that was really strange. Uh and then kind of hearing some of this, you know, maybe maybe that's that's how it is.
So it is, it's fascinating.
It's certainly a story that I think people are going to continue to watch.
So I'm gonna say, yeah. The other thing I would say too to that is like, Okay, they say, well, well, Dion had that kind of attitude too, and Dion ended up being, you know, one of the greatest players of all time. Listen to the difference between Dion and your Door.
Though.
You could be that as a corner, right, you could have the kind of attitude as a corner and be that kind of guy. As a quarterback man, you're the leader of the team, right, And I don't know shr Door personally, so and I think I think he actually I would take it him still in the first round, even with knowing some stuff off the field, but I think he can be a leader of a locker room. But there's no doubt about it. I Mean, he definitely didn't come off great in those team interviews and that's
why he fell to the fifth round. And you know, quarterbacks way different than any other position in football, where you kind of have to be a leader of men. And I think there's some teams out there. I'm not saying I was, but there's some teams that they're probably doubted whether or not he'd be a leader of a locker room.
I want to go back to Utah here for a minute, and Utah has two really good offensive tackles, Spencer Fano and Caleb Laomu.
And I actually saw.
A thing I read it a way too early mock draft of twenty twenty six, and they had both those guys going in the first round. What's the perception of these two tackles for Utah.
Yeah, a lot of people like both of them. I'm a big fan of Spencer Fino in particular. He was PFF's highest graded tackle in the country actually this past year. Now, the thing with Spencer Fino that I would tell people is I don't think he's a long term tackle in the NFL. I don't think he has a length to play tackle, and I don't think he's got the kick slide that you need a tackle in pass detection. He's a dominant run blocker. He could be a very very
good guard in the NFL. He by all accounts. He could be the number one interior office line and I think in next year's draft now, Lomu could play tackle in the NFL. I think he's way more of a project right now than Spencer fino Is. I'm a little bit lower on Lowmu, but there's no doubt about it. He's got he's got NFL tools, and he could become a first round pick if he develops. But as of right now, Spencer final is a way better player than Caleb Lomu. But Lomu I think maybe could play tackle
in the NFL. Well, I think Final pretty much. I would be pretty surprised if he played tackle the NFL. I think he's probably gona play gard in the NFL.
It's fascinating, and I know there was a lot of fighting to keep those guys that you know, there are a lot of suitors that were paying a lot of money or offering a lot of money to lure those guys away, which which brings me to my next question. It supposedly Texas thirty four thirty five to forty million dollars they've spent on their football team this year. Texas Tech spent a lot of money in the big twelve.
Do you see this trend continuing to happen? And I guess, really, do you see it happening because it's the way to success or maybe buyer beware a little bit. And it's not not any guarantee that you're going to have a great team.
I think it's the way it's just going to go. I mean, you have to spend money to be able to be a good team in college football nowadays. And there's no salary cap in college football either, so I know there's people saying, WHOA, this guy's not worth this, this guy's not worth that. I mean, nobody knows why anyone's worth because we don't have a salary cap, right So this is really the market price is a market
price out right now. So when there is a salary cap and I think eventually there might be one in college footble the way things are going right now, then we could say, Okay, this guy's worth this, this guy's worth that. But as of right now, I mean, if anyone's guess you know what you're worth it really what
you're worth is whatever your top offer is. So it's the way teams are going about business now, and there's no doubt about it that the teams that have the most funds and the most money to spend on players are getting the best rosters available right now. So I think it's it's just kind of the way it is. And if you don't have you know, significant anil resources, you're gonna have pretty much fall behind in colls football.
Now, we we kind.
Of live in the Big twelve country out here in uh In, Utah, And I'm really curious kind of now that we've had a couple of these signing open periods, we've had springball moving into the summer, it feels like every year somebody out of the middle of nowhere rises up in the Big twelve and wins it. Right, no one picked Arizona on their bingo card Arizona State to win it, you know, uh, they certainly weren't there, huge surprise, And it kind of seems that that's that's a trend
in the conference. Do you see that happening again this year? And kind of where do you see this conference shaking out?
Who?
Who are the who are the who are the real contenders in the conference and the and the pretenders.
Yeah, I think it's gonna be really fun year again in the Big Twelve. I don't think there's a clear favorite in the Big Twelve right now. I think that's the one conference once again that you can look at out of the Power forward and say, yeah, I have no idea who's gonna win that conference right now. I think Arizona State is still absolutely gonna be up there. You know, they brought back Sam Levity, who's one of the best quarterbacks in America. Jordan Tyson's back from his injury.
He's one of the best receivers in the country. I think Texas Tech is a really really interesting team this year. They spent a lot of money in the transfer portables offseason. They brought in a lot of really good transfers. I think they could have a really, really good team. I think Texas Tech's got to be a team to watch
out for. Kansas State's always going to be up there with Avery Johnson there BYU brought back a lot of their really good players from last year, including Jake Regsloff, their quarterback, and they had a really really good year last year as well. Baylor should be up there. Utah should still be up there with Devin Dan Pierre decided to watch what we could do this year two in
Utah is always a very well coached team. So again, those are like five or six or seven schools I just named right there that should be really good once again in the Big Twelve. And yeah, once again it is a wide open conference. There is no true were favorite in the Big Twelve right now.
Uh, I'm fascinating to see what happens with some of these big name NFL coaches that have come into college football? What what what do you think happens with with Bill Belichick? And there's a lot of kind of outside of football stuff, certainly grabbing a lot of headlines with him. And then uh, where is where is coach prime? After shador and and uh? And really is his other kids? You know he's he's Uh, I guess he's an empty nester as a coach now And does that impact him?
Where? Where? Where do you see these names?
And is this a trend that maybe continues to happen in college football?
Yeah, it'd be interesting. I think Bill Belichick's me a really interesting case study. You know, he's the greatest coach I would argue all time in football even and now he's going to college football after winning so many Super Bowls in the NFL, so it's gonna be fascinating to
see what he could do in college football. I know a lot of the story around Hi has unfortunately been some off the field stuff that's going on with with Poast Belichick right now that there's no doubt that he on the field, he is as brilliant as they come as an exits and know his mine and one of the greatest defensive minds we've ever seen in the sport. So really interesting thing what he could do with North
Carolina next year. They do lose a lot of talent though, so it could be a little bit of a rebuilding year for them. As for Dion, I don't really know what NFL team would be looking to hire him right now. I think he's where he is, that Colorado is a terrific spot for him. He's made Colorado relevant, which is a very difficult thing to do before he got there. Honestly,
they were a dumpster fire before he got there. I just don't know if you know, he would ever go to the NFL or if he would work in the NFL, you know, and that kind of environment. So maybe he goes to a bigger job in college football. Now that you know his sons are gone, both Shador and Shiloh, and and Travis Hunter has gone too. Maybe he looks for a bigger job, and maybe a bigger job looks to him to help them rebuild their program. But I
don't know if really fits the NFL. I think he's more of a college coach and he'll keep doing that as long as he wants.
To see I have a theory. I'd be curious what you think about it. With these coaches and and you know, why are they leaving the NFL and with A with a as you said, there's no salary cap. If you have the funding, you basically can go out and uh buy your team. You know, like as long as and and with a high profile coach, people are like, well I want to go there because I want to go to the pros. And the perception is these pro coaches know what it takes to get you to the pros.
So uh, Whereas if you're if you're an an NFL coach, you got to rely on the draft, you gotta rely on free agency. You don't have as much control over getting the players you want. Whereas you know, like if you know, if you're Bill Belichick and you have an open checkbook, you can probably go get about whoever you want, and and and and I wonder if that's is that part of the draw, Is that what these these coaches
are seeing, uh, that it's just kind of wide open. Uh, you know there aren't There aren't the restrictions like there are in the NFL.
No, I think you're onto something there. Honestly, there's really no restrictions in college football right now. So you can, if you have the funds, you could build the best roster possible if you really want to. Right there's no salary cap, like you said, so, I mean theoretically would never happen, But theoretically you could grab the best players in the air position in the country and build a roster and you know, not have to worry about a salary cap or and it's like that.
Now.
Of course, you probably wouldn't be able to afford that, but there's no limits to what you could do in college football nowadays, with the way ANIL is now. I will say for some NFL coaches, there's it's way more structured in the NFL. And I'm sure a lot of coaches enjoy that structure, right were guys are under contracts, right, you cannot leave your team unless your contract is finished or unlearn unless the team cuts you or trades you.
Right.
So now there's no contracts in the end and then nil and college football guys are transferring left and right every single year. So it's way harder to maintain a roster or build a roster in college football than it is in the NFL. I think that part of it. And the fact you get to be on the road all the time recruiting kids in the off season as well. There really is no off season in college football where there is an off season in the NFL. That's a part of it too, So there are probably some coaches
out there who enjoy the structure of the NFL. And the NFL is probably way more about the xes and o's than college football is. Where college football a lot of it is about if your coach got to be a CEO too, Right, You've got to be a guy that's going out there recruiting, going out there on the transit portal, you know, using your funds wisely as well maintaining your roster. It is way harder, i think, right now, to be a college football coach than it is to
be an NFL coach. Of course, the level is way better in the NFL, but there's so much extra stuff you got to do as a college football coach you don't have to do in the NFL. So that's why I don't think there'll be many NFL coaches going down to collegeball. I just I don't think many of them are interested in the wild, wide west that is college football right now.
It's fascinating to see how it works and what you can possibly do in maddening as well. I mean, Utah finished at spring practice and lost its top wide receiver. You know, it's over and like on the last day of this open NL post spring, and it's it's maddening, and you know, hopefully there's some semblance of normalcy that comes at some point, but who knows.
We'll see, all right, it'll be interesting, all.
Right, Max, I really enjoyed having you on the show.
Thanks for the conversation, and enjoy the rest of your day and this weekend.
Thanks appreciate you.