Harballers. If you haven't joined Stitcher Premium yet, now is the perfect time. It gets you completely add free episodes of hundreds of shows like Comedy Bang Bang WTF with Mark Maren and Bitch Sesh a Real Housewives Breakdown. You also get twenty one thousand hours of exclusive content new exclusive originals like Freedom with hosts Scott Auckerman, Laura Lapkiz, and Paul F. Tompkins. They're launching every week for Premium members.
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Come that for me. I'm a man, I'm for I've heard so many players. I want to be happy. You want to be happy for date Edith State is that whoo whoo.
And down and tie. Welcome back to the solid verbal, Boys and girls, my name is ty Hildebrand, joining me as always my good friend over there in New York City. The man Dan Rubinstein sir, how's it going.
It's pretty good. The voice is climbing back, climbing there for a second. Yeah, in my journeys to Austin and had a wedding and was just you know, ty, you know me, I talk a lot.
You do.
Finally came back to haunt me. But the voice is making its way back to to elite status. So how you doing?
Hold hold on here? Pause? Yeah, how did you deal with a lost voice at a wedding?
Poorly?
That is not a good venue to not have a voice at.
No, it was a nice wedding. It was a college friend of Jody with an eyes and a really fun wedding. I had a nice hotel here in New York and a robust band. We had a big band at our wedding. This was an even bigger band, which is fine. I bring this is God. I shouldn't say this, but if this show is about honesty, I do now bring ear plugs to what I do not.
Because the orange ones that you roll up.
They are they're not the putty ones. They're sort of spongy. I got them from like write eight or something.
Don't tell me. They have like the George Seaffert strap around them to keep them together.
Oh you don't have no no, no good. They are not earplug croakies involved. But my hearing is like kind of not great, and so it's not a sign of protest of like these darn kids. It's an actual, like I'd like to be able to hear my grandkids if there still is an earth in twenty sixty three kind of situation. So I am. I am taking those measures.
So yeah, to that wedding. Because of my voice. I brought glasses because I have bad eyes, ear plugs because I have bad ears, and lozenges because I was losing my voice and screaming basic things at people at the table. This never grow up, everybody.
This is gonna be like that Space Cowboys movie here when we're doing the podcast in like fifteen years. Two old geezers who can't hear each other. I talk, can't hear nothing.
But instead of motorcycles, we will be driving sensible Swedish safety oriented.
No, they'll be driving us, Dan, get it right.
That's true. Oh okay, I can do that. We're both in sidecars.
Well, welcome back to the show. I hope that didn't depress everybody, but I'm tie he's Dan. You can find us at solidverbal dot com. Got a lot of exciting things that are happening. We've got a new website in development courtesy of our friends over at Superboss. We did announce, I guess two weeks ago, three weeks ago now that we're going to be doing a live show on August the eleventh out in Chicago. We are working and progressing very quickly towards naming a venue for that fantasy see
Things draft. We do have some other stuff that we have yet to announce that I think we'll excite people, not the least of which is what our shirts and other merchandise are going to look like. Yeah, when we have a chance to finally unveil that stuff. So a
lot of cool stuff happening here in solid Verbelville. Of course, the best way that you can say up to date on all of that is to follow us out on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram, and of course sign up for our newsletter, which you could find at soliverbl dot com as well as Facebook page the Newsletter of Intent. That is the place to go if you want all of the news about the merchandise and the tickets and anything else we will send it out there first.
And we swear that even though we're being vague about the live show in Chicago, we promise you what is happening on August eleventh. We promise you, if you are anywhere near Chicago or can be near Chicago, that we'd love to see you, yes, to have you there. There will be friends of the solid verbal, there will be family of the solid verbal. It is going to be I can say without hesitation, the biggest and best solid
verbal live show we will do to date. It is the Fantasy Things Draft which Ty and I it is an extraordinary time. We can't wait to do it again this year and get even more ridiculous with it.
So yeah, we encourage.
Everybody if you can make it to Chicago on August eleventh. We're blowing this thing out. We're very excited.
It's going to be a great show. I am super excited for it. I feel like we've learned a lot from our last three shows that we've done. We've done what four or five of them now, Yes, actual live get together type things, and yeah, we're well equipped for this one. We're excited. Chicago has been a long time coming, so certainly more information will be coming on that front. We will do our best to give everyone ample notice, but be on high alert. August the eleventh is when show is going to go down.
This is correct, This is absolutely happening. I can't wait, Ty, I can't wait, and I also can't wait for today's show, which, if you've already downloaded it and paid attention to the title, you know what we're doing. But we're going to say things anyway, Ty, What are we doing today?
So we're not going to be talking about the feats of strength between Mike Leach and a reporter from you at USA today. Excuse me? We are going to be talking about the coming college football season. Yes, we're going to be talking about actual content, Dan, hashtag content, hashtag blessed to be here this evening, talking about actual college football content for the twenty eighteen season. True story here.
I don't know the origin of this idea, Dan, but I do know that on my phone on June the first, at eight am, I had an alert go off for this very concept. Don't know where it came from. Don't know if it was you, I love it. If it was me, I have to go back and try and investigate. But I had an alert on my phone for the top the most significant pivotal people. Ooh, for the twenty eighteen season. What does that mean? Well, it can mean
of a whole variety of different things. But I think the way that I interpreted it was, if we look, if we do like a post mortem on this twenty eighteen season, after it's all said and done, and depending on how some things go or don't go, if we look back at the real important storylines, if we get back to the root cause of them all on some level, we're gonna We're gonna get down to the nitty gritty here, We're gonna get down to the pivotal people that are behind it all.
I hope you have a pop filter on your microphone for all the times you're saying pivotal.
I do have a pop filter. It's a steel one. Here go. Oh, it's a very important one. I pop a lot. I'm apologetic for it, but I've done as much as I can to prevent it.
Yeah.
But of course, what I'm saying is like, everybody knows that Tua, everyone knows that Kelly Bryant, everyone knows that Trace McSorley, that these guys are going to have a huge role to play, and how the twenty eighteen season plays out, there's no denying it, but is Trace mcsory will be really the most pivotal piece on that Penn State team? Or what about his offensive coordinator who's taking
over for Joe Morehead who left for Mississippi State. I think we're going to make a case on this show for some of the less popular names and the roles, the important pivotal roles that they play on their respective teams. That's where we're headed with tonight's show at actually next week's show as well, because we're not going to get a chance to get through all nineteen of these items if I know a number correct.
Yes, you do have the number correct. I've approached this and basically looking at which names won't necessarily be the biggest name some there will be some big names, obviously.
If you think about what potential stories are likely to end up splashed on the front page of your favorite publication or lead off this show or any other podcast you listen to, or radio show, TV show, whatever they talk about on Game Day, whatever is on a rundown on PTI around any of these things that in the mainstream and in the specific college football media world that we are going to say, oh, that's a big deal or this happened, and that's why it's a big deal.
And it's not necessarily, as you said, the biggest name, but it's the name affecting those storylines that we can anticipate cropping up along the way.
So why don't we start here since I already gave away the game on one of our items. These are in no particular order, by the way, but number one pivotal person in the twenty eighteen season Ricky Ronnie good Good. I like that start Ricky ron He, of course, is the new offensive coordinator for the Penn State and Nitney Lions. He takes over for Joe Moorehead, who took the head
coaching job down at Mississippi State. To reiterate what Joe Morehead did the last two seasons at Penn State, twenty sixteen, they averaged thirty seven point six points per game. Believe it or not, that number went up last season they averaged forty one point one points per game. Penn State has had a high powered offense, to say the absolute very least the last two seasons. They still have trace mcsorly, but they lose Saquon Barkley. They also lose DeShawn Hamilton,
who lit up the NFL scouting combine. There is some turnover across the board at Penn State. Not a ton, but enough to I think be notable. And the reason that I put Ricky Ronnie on this list is, Look, anybody can put Trace McSorley down. We know he's an important piece of that offense. But Ricky Ronnie, if he doesn't call the right plays, if he doesn't figure out a way to use Miles Sanders now in the absence of Saquon Barkley, if he calls a lot of bad
screen passes. I think that was part of the problem in the bowl game that.
They won against a really good team that they want sure m h.
If he does not assemble those parts correctly, this could really come off the swivel for Penn State because there's a lot more turnover on defense that I think we need to worry about as fans, and many of us are counting on that offense to really be the driving force behind some degree of success in the twenty eighteen season. If Ricky Ronnie can't assemble the pieces in short order. Here he will be the pivotal piece and the main reason why things don't go better in State College.
And there's other factors that I think affect that pick as well. It's a good pick, and you know, the loss of Saquon Barkley seems like, oh, that's going to put more pressure on him. He doesn't have Saquon Barkley's It's not just the loss of a singular, unique, at times generational talent. It's the loss of the gravity. That's an NBA term that I've only recently learned about. Even if this incredible shooter isn't making shots, the defense always has to account what is this guy doing?
Sure?
Is he ready to do something spectacular at any moment. And the way that Joe moorehead and that offense use Sequon Barkley last year, you know, splitting him out wide, you know, putting him in motion, moving him to the slot, whatever, there was always that gravity about him that opened things up for the offense. Now, I don't know if this
is more pressure or more of a relief. Penn State has recruited super well oh the past couple of years, and they've recruited quite well at receiver, they have talented running back. Obviously, since all of the issues with scholarships, the offensive line recruiting has improved, and you have that that dependable, you know, more so than probably ninety eight
percent of the country signal caller in trace mcsorly. So on one end, there is more pressure because he has to keep this train going and maximize trace mcsorrely, but he is working with better pieces and obviously Ohio State is out recruited Penn State, but I don't know that anybody else has in that conference. So there is a certain amount of luxury that he has as a first time offensive coordinator for Penn State. So I think it's
a great pick. I think you're right. It's a pretty pivotal year for Ricky Ronnie and the Penn State offense.
Again, anybody can pick trace mcsorly. He is very much a key cog in the works. But if Ricky Ronnie can't assemble the pieces around him, that will be a bigger story, no doubt about it. He has to do, at least on some level what Joe Morehead did Again. Twenty sixteen, Penn State was twenty first in the nation in yards per play, that improved to fourteenth last season under Joe moorehead proved marginally but up over six and a half yards per play. That's a tough act to
follow if you're Ricky Ronnie. I hope as a Penn State grat. I hope as a Penn State fan he's able to have some degree of success. But it is a tough act to follow. And even though Saquon wasn't always logging one hundred yard efforts, he still was a menace out there on the field to try and guard to account for it at all times.
Who is Do you have an all time favorite gravitational pole player and it could be offense or defense.
Just a guy that you always need to know where he's at.
Yeah, because we've had some edge rushers obviously, just the threat of Endominkan Sue in two thousand and nine, it wasn't really a gravity thing because you knew exactly where he was and what he was going to do. But I guess specifically offense or players that play in space, like Eric Berry is one of those players from a Reggie Bush on off Reggie.
Bush is I think the one that comes to mind most.
Yeah, I mean Florida's had a couple of those guys. I just Man's it's such a luxury if you have that guy.
All right, So Ricky Ronnie our first entry here in Dan, give me the pivotal people thing.
Pivot pivotal people.
There you go, number one in your new deep registered voice, think, yeah, where are we going next? Here?
Dan? All right, you want to go? Should I choose a pivotal person? Please?
Please? Do?
All right, I'm going to go outside, way outside of the power five system because in looking at you know, the conversation that what were we talking about last year later on in the season as it related to group of five schools and the playoff, it was essentially, should should you see F be in this conversation?
Right right?
You know? Is what UCF is? What they're doing impressive enough to warrant being ranked in the top seven eight nine deep into the season in the rankings. Well, there is one school that on their schedule has Memphis, Notre Dame, Houston and UCF, And I should mention Lee, oh wow, that's.
A loaded schedule.
Come on, come on, you think you're going to take down the mountain, hig Engineer? Now, absolutely not, not without a fight. So this pivotal person is Malcolm Perry, who's gonna be playing We mentioned him a few weeks ago, Yes, maybe for Navy, and so he shifts into a quarterback role. He played quarterback the last three weeks of the year last year and ran all over a couple of big schools, had a big game against Army in the snow, had
almost three hundred yards on the ground against SMU. But they moved last year's starting quarterback Zach Aby to receiver. And this year's Navy team if Malcolm Perry can actually throw the ball in a forward direction, which struggled with last year, but if he is able to be at least competent, if he can complete what fifty percent of his passes, which I don't think is asking too much. We saw what happened what is it now three four years ago with Keenan Reynolds and what a sort of
dynamic playmaker can do. I'm not saying Malcolm Arry is gonna be a hisman guy, but I'm saying, with his hands on the ball, Memphis, Notre Dame, Houston UCF like he is going to affect at least one of their season hopes and dreams m because that I mean, listen, you root for a team that plays Navy every year, and it has to be the most discomforting few minutes before kickoff every year because you just don't know what to expect, while at the same time knowing exactly what
to expect. And so for that reason, Malcolm Perry I think is going to change the dynamics of this season.
And it's interesting too, because there are a lot of I think considerations that we both had for this nineteen person list that you couldn't get past the quarterback position. There were other ones like Penn State, where if you go a little bit deeper, I think is apparent that there might be a better entry here. But I think you're right when it comes to Navy, just in the way that I've looked at them as again a fan of a team that's had to play them, It always
begins and ends with the quarterback position. Navy, we assume, and have assumed for a long time they don't play defense. They just they want to, but because their offense will suck the life out of you, they're really hoping that at least on their defensive side of the ball, you're just gonna You're gonna be stopped a few extra times, and that's gonna be enough to give them enough breathing room on offense to run the clock out, control it
for thirty eight minutes and that'll be that. So I think you're right here to put Malcolm Perry on this list, and frankly not someone else like you know, an h back on their offense. This is the right selection if you're gonna go Navy.
Yeah, and I included Notre Dame in that because they're not a Power five school, at least not fully. And I don't anticipate Notre Dame being a national championship contender. Fair but I certainly think. I mean, they have more wiggle room than these other schools. But those other schools, you know, every day, every game is a will we play on New Year's or not situation? Sure, and Notre Dame has the wiggle room. Off They can lose to probably not three, but they can lose a couple of
games and still make a New Year's Day game. But I am curious to see who specifically he targets with his surgical season ruining ability.
Well's let's stay there then with Notre Dame. Let's go to pivotal person number three.
Starting out with Penn State and Notre Dame.
Let's go to number three here. You mentioned Navy, and again, if we want to use the example we just mentioned here, you think of Notre Dame and I think the impulse is to go with Brandon Wimbush. All right, Brandon Wimbush completed a shade under fifty percent of his passes a year ago. We've made no secret on this show of the fact that Wimbush did not get better from start to finish. It was a big source of angst for Brian Kelly, Notre Dame, Notre Dame fans across the United States.
For sure.
I don't think Wimbush is the selection here. If Wimbush plays better than he did a year ago, he could be the piece that makes Notre Dame a ten or eleven win team. But it's going to take him a little while to get to a point where we're all confident if he does get better, or we're all confident in saying that yes, he actually has in the interim, until he gets there, it's going to be the defense
with like nine starters back from a year ago. The defense is going to have to hold down the fort until the offense comes around, because, let's face it, new starting running back Dexter Williams. He's had some experience at running back and he was explosive at times a year ago. But is he going to be healthy enough? Is he going to be frankly good enough to be that featured back in the offense? Only time will tell. They're losing some at wide receiver. They're clearly losing some while on
the left hands out of that line. With two of their starters being drafted in the top ten mcglinchy and Nelson, I think it's going to come down to clark Elite, their new defensive coordinator who takes over for Mike Elko after he left four Texas A and M. He's gonna need to hold down the fort as Notre Dame really tries to find its new way on offense here with
some new faces. I think it's even more important to note that their schedule is sort of void of teams that I look at at first blush and say, wow, that's going to be an offense this year, right, you know? I mean, Stanford could be much improved from a year ago, but I don't think anyone looked at Stanford and says that's an explosive offense. It's just they play defense and they like that.
I mean, they have the single most explosive player in the country on offense.
But yeah, I don't think Stanford as a whole is defined by their offense.
Okay.
I think it's more of a defense and down your throat kind of squad.
That's offense. Well, but it's running his offense. Tie on this hill.
I don't feel like they're going to score forty five points a game on him.
Fair, all right.
I think if Notre Dame plays solid defense, they give themselves a good shot even with a mediocre offense against a team like a Stanford.
May I ask you just a quick question both about specifically Brandon Wimbush and then big picture. Sure you saw a lot of Brandon Wimbush last year, and it's always fair to say, well, you know, first year growing pains, et cetera, et cetera. But he didn't necessarily get better over the course of the season.
I didn't see any of the growing and that's part of my problem.
But continue, right, and so my question as it relates to him and anybody else in A similar situation is is should we be making peace with what Brandon Wimbush is? And granted again, first year quarterback, but generally you like to see a progression. If you're going to ask the question,
if he's good, then what is Notre Dame's ceiling? Is what we saw last year enough to make a judgment or do you feel like there is enough talent and work to be done over summer that he can come out looking more like Tommy Reese?
Yes, that was mean if you told me, and maybe this isn't a direct answer, but if you told me now that Notre Dame was going to have a different starting quarterback in twenty eighteen, I'd be perfectly fine with that because I feel like we saw enough of Wimbush to know what he is, and because we didn't see any progression from start to find Ah a hell of a runner, Dan, a hell of a runner, dynamic on
the ground, no doubt about it. Clearly the best runner that they've got at their quarterback position on the roster, no doubt about it. But as a passer leaves a lot to be desired. And when the word got out that he couldn't throw and he couldn't be comfortable in that pocket. It changed the dynamic a great deal. It really truly did. I feel like we 's a known
quantity at this point. We know what we're getting. I am skeptical that he's going to get a lot better between the end of last season and the start of next. If you told me now that they were going to go to like filed your covic or Ian book, I'd be perfectly cool with that trade off.
Okay, since sports gambling is now legal in certain states more so than it was before. If you had to wager twenty American dollars, who is starting, aside from any injuries, who is starting against Pitt the first game of the back half of Notre Dame schedule.
If I'm betting money, I'm still going to go with Brandon Wimbush.
Okay, Well, and I guess if they were going to make a change, it might be after the pit game because they have a bye week before Navy and the Navy defense I would assume is somewhat friendly to a new quarterback.
If I were betting money, I'll go I'd go Wimbush. I still think it's Wimbushes to lose, But anyway, I don't want to bury the lead here, Clark Lee is I think the direction that we go with the pivotal people because Notre Dame needs that defense in any way, shape or form, whether it's Wimbush or somebody else, the defense absolutely needs to be solid. I think it can do a lot for Notre Dame, especially given the schedule.
We can argue about whether or not Stanford is defined by offense or defense, but I feel like a good defense keeps you in the game against Stanford. A good defense certainly keeps you in the game against a new look Michigan now with presumably Shape Patterson as your quarterback. Across the board, I don't look at Notre Dame schedule and feel like there's any team on that schedule that can blow them away with offense. So that means even more so the defense can keep them in games even
if they're not performing optimally on offense. So Clark Lee, Notre Dame defensive coordinator, everyone thinks he's a rising star. I would like to see that in practice in the twenty eighteen season. Clark Lee, Notre Dame defensive coordinator. He is a pivotal person. Twenty eight pivotal person number three. Good name Clarkley l E I g H l e A. Oh okay l e A. Yeah, you know I'm gonna go to I'm gonna go with a to a very
familiar person. And this I didn't actually put on our shared Google document, but I have a feeling you're going to be able to, uh.
To make do with this. And this is this is a big mainstream name. Even though I'm not a big you know, I like to be a college football hipster as often as I can be. I'm gonna go with Charles Chip Kelly Tie the Chip person number four. And it's not for the reasons I think that are I hope are not obvious. It's not because like, oh, Chips back and you know he could make UCLA fun. Blah blah blah. The reason I think ship Kelly is is a pretty pivotal person. I do do I I do
have phone blocking all the piece. The PAC twelve has a bit of a a branding issue, a bit of it don't say yes, I do indeed say And it's one of those what was the uh you know, I've
got a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell. Well, the PAC twelve has a fever, and the only prescription is an actual exciting storyline that's new and fresh and that will that is familiar at the same time that will make people want to whether they're on the West coast or the Midwest, or the southwest, or the East coast or wherever the south, that they will pay attention to the Pac twelve more than they have in years past and perhaps get good games in front of the
most anticipating audience. But in any case, it doesn't really matter if Washington's really good again. I don't even feel like it matters all that much if Oregon's all that good this year because they don't really play anybody early on, so there is no real early season excitement to generate buzz around Oregon. They're non conference schedules, particularly bad cal I don't believe in as a huge improvement team. I don't even really believe in UCLA is a huge improvement team.
But if they're feisty tie, if they do something early on, if they catch Oklahoma looking back at the FAU game, if that's like a crazy triple overtime game, which I don't necessarily believe will be. But even if Khalil Tate is once again total magic with the ball in his hand. Didn't seem to matter last year all that much. If usc is awesome, it's fine. It's expected. They have struggled to perform on the national stage. So there's going to be a lot of yeah, but what will they do
against a top team? But ty, if UCLA, and I imagine UCLA is going to be well prepared for all of their games, they might be out talented. I don't think they're going to be out schemed. If UCLA is enjoyable to watch and they can knock a couple of teams off by really good coaching and just good situational execution, whatever I think the PAC twelve becomes. And I already saw the schedule, this part of the schedule is out. UCLI opens the season at seven pm on ESPN, seven
pm Eastern, and that's against Cincinnati. Okay, I could not imagine in previous years UCLA Cincinnati getting regular ESPN at seven pm on opening Saturday night. So there's already attention and buzz around Chip Kelly's arrival, and so they are in a position to maximize that.
All right, So let me let me present the counterpoint, because I also considered Charles chip Kelly is the is the prescription that can cure the Pac twelve's fever? Really more offense with chip Kelly, more excitement with chip Kelly, or is it more defense across the board something that Charles chip Kelly doesn't quite have a reputation for.
Builder Are we gonna do Charles chip Kelly all year?
We might? I mean we could.
I'm okay with it. We should just make that decision now mid June. I'm okay with sticking with it for now. Okay, Okay, maybe it's just an offseason thing.
Is Charles chip Kelly truly what the conference needs because he brings excitement? Or will the conference benefit more from better defense across the board and then presumably better Bowl performance that follows now?
I think the best thing the Pac twelve can do is produce the best possible TV show every week, and I think exciting chip Kelly offenses because I really don't when people watched and enjoyed Oregon before elsewhere and this is not these are not my words, these are what you know. College football fans have told me that there was just something fun about watching Oregon. It's the style of offense uniforms whatever, and they happen to be really good and they won a lot of games, so that
made it even more fun. And I think you Sel eventually will win a bunch of games if sort of the optimism is correct. But right now, in the short term, this year, if chip Kelly, Charles chip Kelly can make UCLA good TV, that I think will be a huge boost to the PAC twelve.
All right, well, I am quite excited to watch Wilton Spate potentially run an oop de up offense finessa offense Dan.
There was so many things wrong with that sentence, Ty, so many things wrong.
Let's move on, let's stay actually a PAC twelve here. I want to go up to Washington, Dan, great, great salmon, presumably the favorite to win PAC twelve this year.
I would I would say so.
Yeah, A lot of guys back Jake Browning, Miles Gaskin back for I believe year eight for both of them. Now, yep, let's talk a little bit about the wide receiver position. Two years ago, Jake Browning threw forty three touchdown passes, most of which went to John Ross. John Ross now playing in the NFL, but after John Ross left, he still had a reliable target in Dante Pettis. But now Dante Pettis has gone as well, He's gone of the NFL.
YEP.
Jake Browning threw twenty four fewer touchdown passes in twenty seventeen than he did twenty sixteen, just by virtue of losing John Ross. Now Pettis has gone. If there isn't somebody who can step up at the wide receiver position, that could mean I think a great deal of unbalanced in that offense, in the force that is the Washington Huskies offense. So I ask you, Dan, if Chico mclatcher, did I say that right?
All time? Great? Oh, great name one a top twenty name in college football this year.
If Cheeko ain't there to be that force in the wide receiving core, who's it going to be.
It's a good question. I like their tight end a lot, but no downfield. That is an unanswerable question right now.
Chico and mcclatcher. Dan is a pivotal person, a pivotal player, pittal player in the twenty eighteen season. He needs targets in the passing game. He needs to help balance that offense with what I'd imagine would be a Miles Gaskin heavy scheme at least at the start of the twenty eighteen season. He went down with a broken ankle at the start of last year. He's a smaller guy, only about five eight, but he is to your point, a legit downfield, big play guy who can stretch defenses vertically.
He needs to perform at a high level. If not him, then I don't know who. At a minimum, Chico mcclatcher is a big cog in the works there for that Washington offense. I think he is a pivotal player, big cog.
And I was very careful saying that smaller dude, and there isn't really a proven big, literal big receiver like I mean, Dante Pettis wasn't big either, but and I think that's sort of the problem, Like there isn't that big body. And we saw a little bit of that
against Alabama. And this is something we've talked about in the past that one of the things that teams who are able to hang with and move the ball through the aregainst Alabama all have in common is that bigger receiver, effective tight end down the field, hybrid sort of guy. And Washington has a lot of interesting talent. Defensively, I think they're going to be probably one of the best five or six defenses in the country. Offensively, they have weapons.
I like Salve I think it's pronounced Salvin Ahmed. They're all purpose type weapon behind Miles Gaskin, but they're on the field at the same time. Sometimes I'm curious about and I think Chiao mcclatch is the right pick here because he does have a lot of experience. I'm curious about what this offense looks like where you don't have a lot of big, proven downfield threat, really experienced quarterback, but could we I mean a lot of misdirection, a lot of end a round type stuff, option type stuff.
Not Jake Browning is, That's not what he does, but he's mobile. I'm curious to see how they are able to scheme around their limitations and turn them into strengths.
Well, it may not be what Jake Browning does, but hell, we know it's what Chris Peterson does or what he has done at his previous top the Boise State.
Yeah. Absolutely, no, I am. I'm looking forward to the creativity, all right.
So Chico mcclatcher is our pivotal pivotal person on this list. We've done two in a row now from the PAC twelve. Dan, let's go to a different conference. Where do you want to go?
I'm going to go to the Southeastern Conference if I may. I'm going to select an offensive mind that isn't necessarily on the proven level of Charles chip Kelly.
Wow, it's hard to believe you could find someone.
But hard to believe. Uh, Derek Duley.
WHOA, You're going with a very strong head of hair there? If I don't sing with a very strong blackhead of Bob Diaco hair.
Yes, lot of black Bob Diaco hair and a lot of strong shower opinions if my memory serfs. Yeah, while at Tennessee. So he's a new offensive coordinator at Miszoo. This was an offense that was arguably and they didn't have the strongest SEC schedule last year playing in the East, but it was arguably the best or second best offense behind Georgia's last year because of how strong and how well Drew Locke came on the second half of the year.
They had a great receiver in Jimon Moore. It was really fun to watch in November and really seemed to turn a corner after starting out so horrendously. But with Josh Hipel moving on to UCF and by all indications and reports, they had the opportunity to hire an interview guys with more of a track record let's say, at offensive coordinator, college pro whatever, than Derek Dooley, who has most recently been fired by Tennessee and coached receivers at in Dallas for the Cowboys. He was let go not
retained in Dallas. And I don't know if it's a he's familiar with the SEC. He has head coaching experience, He's another experience mind in the office. But Barry Odom hired Derek Dooley to take his potential first round quarterback to the next level and either help or really hurt Barry Odom's own situation in Columbia. I don't know if it's going to go all that well. There is talent on offense, they have a couple of nice running backs.
They bring back experienced receivers, not the top guys. But I think it's going to be interesting, not just for Miszoo reasons, but sort of in the way that we talked about Malcolm Perry they have Georgia and I think they go to Alabama the first half of the season, so you'll get sort of a good sense of whether or not they're competitive. And they did score some points against Georgia last year. We'll get a sense of their
competitive nature or whatever. But in the second half of the season, when I think it's more fair to judge new coaches, and this isn't about Duley, they have Florida and Tennessee, both on the road, So in a strange way, Miszoo sort of as a probably decent team, they become an interesting bellweather for Jeremy Prude and Dan Mullen late in the season at home. And those are two teams that are certainly more talented than Missouo at this point
to see where they stand. So curious about it on two levels.
Well, a bright minded head coach will hire assistants that fill in his own deficiencies. Sure, and Barriotom may be looking at that Bob Diaco man here and saying, this is something I need in my arsenal. I don't know if you've looked at Barriotom's hair, but just throwing it out there, you know, I looked at missoo, and I was considering Drew Locke because Drew Locke came on like a freight t last year. The offense really as a whole did and of course they lose their offensive coordinator
now to UCF. I'm very curious in this selection. I too feel like Dooley is the right name to put on this list because his hiring was a bit confounding. He really truly was, and we can question the logic behind it. If Drew Locke comes out there and isn't able to ignite the offense the way he did a year ago, my guess is that we'll be hearing a lot about Derek Dooley in a negative context all throughout the twenty eighteen season.
It has some Brady Hoke to it, it really does. I don't think Barry odim by the end of last year, with how he turned things around, at least before the bowl game, I don't think he was in that same precarious situation as Mark Helfrich was. But the idea of bringing on a failed coach to coach a very specific thing that he didn't really have any recent experience doing. That's worrisome to me and almost ma makes me think Barry Otom do you think Barry Odom saw Derek Dooley
and just assumed he was Mike Shanahan. Do you think and like they just have this unspoken thing where Derek Dooley is like, yeah, he wants to hire me Derek Dooley, and Barry Odam's like, I can't believe we got Mike Shannon.
Say, Vince Dooley.
Vince Dooley. Well, I mean, Mike Shanahan at least looks like Derek Dooley. I mean, I am I wrong? Do they have at least they could they be cousins of some kind?
They have the same shaped head, I'd say.
Yeah, so I will see.
Speaking of the Dooleys, can I can I go to the state of Georgia here for a second place?
It's gonna be warm, but yes, for.
Our next selection here. So I think we're both player, we're both content going Derek Dooley, Oh yeah, Missouri offensive coordinator. On the topic of Dooley's let's go to Georgia, and obviously Georgia, you could go a variety of different directions. Directions for the Georgia Bulldogs. H Jake from is a very interesting name. Here, if only because he led the Georgia Bulldogs to the National Championship Game as a true freshman.
I think Kirby Smart's offense, if we know anything about what he's built in the early going at Georgia, runs through the running back position. We saw it last year with Nick Chubb and Sony Michelle clearly a dynamic duo at the running back position, and then as the year wore on, we saw a little bit more of DeAndre Swift.
DeAndre Swift from my neck of the woods up here in Pennsylvania had six hundred and eighteen yards, but more importantly seven point six per carry and really started to be a name that we talk more about in big game situations. It's just sort of a change of pace back.
Not a big guy, right solid I would I say, I think he's like five ten two fifteen like there is. He is compact, but I think sturdy.
Plays bigger than his size might indicate. The heart of that Georgia campaign was really through the running game, and I think now DeAndre Swift needs to step up and be that guy. They got some guys behind him who clearly we're going to see more of as the year progresses. But at least to start. If Georgia wants to pick up where it left off a year ago, it's going to be on the shoulders of DeAndre Swift. And let's
be honest, it's it's a tough act to follow. It's a tough schedule to be a running back in just because SEC defenses are bigger or stronger, are particularly along that defensive line. He's got his work cut out for him, Dan, And if Georgia can't be effective on the ground, it puts more pressure on from It puts more pressure on just that team as a whole. So DeAndre Swift running back Georgia is a pivotal person. He needs to step up.
He needs to assume the mantle that was left I guess in the wake of Nick Chubb and Sony Michelle.
Pivotal person. Yeah, I think that's a good choice. There is, as you mentioned, talent behind him. They recruited two blue chip running backs this past year, including so is Zamir White, Samir one running back.
Yeah.
Oh, Zamir White is a good name and hopefully he has good knee tendons because he tore his ACL in December. I want to say, but he is rehabbing, and if he's healthy, I assume he'll play some, especially with the new red shirt rule, but I don't think they're in any sort of hurry to put his knee in jeopardy.
They have Elijah Holyfields, Dalvin Cooast, little brother, James Cook, and the good news about this offense in general is I can't see a situation in which they are leaning on DeAndre Swift the way they leaned on Nick Chubb early on in his career, whether it was because of
Sony Michelle's injuries, whatever. I think they're going to spread the ball around and the return of Mcole Hardeman and Terry Godwin, and I think it's fair to assume Jake From will have more of the offense at his disposable, at his disposal, excuse me, and we'll just have a better command where they won't have to necessarily gut it out on the ground more often than not, that Jake
From will be trusted. You know, maybe Justin Field has used situationally there is room for more creativity now in year two of the From era.
I do agree with that one hundred percent. My only point, though, I think we know that Kirby smart wants to run an Alabama style offense. I think we know that about him at this point, and I.
Don't even know what that means in twenty eighteen.
Well, it's more of a pro style, more of a balanced offense, let's say, than some other schools around the country. And in order to do that, you need to be effective on the ground. So I think if DeAndre Swift can't be effective, he will be pivotal in that the offense. The balance of that offense now shifts more towards a passing game. And I was encouraged by what we saw out of Jake from in the National Championship. He clearly made all the throws and certainly down the stretch he
was very effective. But I know if I were a Georgia fan, I'd feel much better about what they can do knowing that DeAndre Swift is a productive member of that team.
Oh he's yeah. His first step is electric that such to the point, such, to the point, come on, Dan speak English, to the point where you have to worry about him on every play if you're a sure offense, because he turns four into seventeen pretty easily and has the potential, especially if defenses are on their heels to be pretty special. I'm looking forward to it.
Let's do two more here on our Pivotal People Pivotal People Part one show on this the Solid Verbal Collegeable podcast Soliverable at gmail dot com. If you want to weigh in, let us know what's on your mind. Dan, I did DeAndre Swift in the State of Georgia. Where you want to go next? Uh to?
Whoever my next pivotal person, excuse me, is whoever edited that Obama video for Mike Leech to watch? That is my next pivotal person because that, let's go with Pease potentially could put that Pullman coach to I don't know, peril in peril. I'm gonna go with an actual pick for a pivotal person. Let's go to uh Okay, I'm gonna go back West. And because you started with your alma mater, we're gonna finish with my alma mater. I brought them up briefly, but this is somebody that I
have concern is the wrong word. I just I am shruggy faced about Marcus Arroyo, the new Oregon offensive coordinator. So you went with the offensive coordinator, your alma mater, I'm doing the same thing. It's our show. We can do what we want.
Marcus, Marcus Arroyo, Marcus Arroyo, Yes, okay, So what what is your concern here about Marcus Arroyo. So my concern about Arroyo is Oregon is shifting offensive philosophies to what degree I don't know, but in the way Mario Cristobal has talked about it, he wants you know, he's recruiting bigger offensive lineman. He wants more of that ground and pound rather than that hurry up, Chip Kelly, no huddle speed speed speed.
I think Oregon is going for more power power, power. Not that old offensive lines were not, you know, bulldozers in their own specific ways, but the scheme with an experienced and talented quarterback without I think a lot of talent at receiver or tight end some but nothing close to where it was in like twenty twelve, twenty eleven,
and a defense that's improving. But Marcus Arroyo as a play caller, if you remember Willie Tagger called plays last year, if you remember the year before that, it's a different offensive coordinator was the Mark helfrich Era. I am not convinced that Marcus Arroyo is has I don't know how to phrase this tie. I'm not convinced of what to
expect from Marcus Arroyo in this Oregon team. And that worries me because since two thousand and nine are really two thousand and seven, when Schip Kelly took over as coordinator, you had a sense for identity, you had a sense of what to expect, and each year, each quarterback was
better than the last. And now there's just this enormous question about what this offense actually looks like with a coach that hopefully stays for longer than one year, right, right, So that's so my curiosity is pretty high if there's any question to me, Like, I think Oregon's pretty well
defined at this point. You know, they're not as talented as they need to be if they're going to compete for the conference, but offensively, scheme wise, all the only real reference what we have with Arroyo is the Bowl game, which was like a day after Christo Baul was hired full time as the head coach, and the spring game, and they're just his career is a lot of Bizzytion coach stuff, a little bit of NFL quarterback. He worked with Jared Goff, so that's at least a good sign.
But in terms of what a Marcus Royal offense will look like, it's a blank slate. There's nothing to say expect X, Y, and Z because of these three reasons. So who knows?
What is your level of comfort with where Oregon is at now entering the twenty eighteen season. Just overall, I think that they will be Their record will be better than they actually are, which is not something we say a lot.
But their schedule sucks in that they don't really play anybody good. It's a nice schedule. Everything sort of sets up ideally, given the road home splits, given the non conference schedule. Offensively, Royce Freeman is going to be a big hole to fill. The offensive line should be very good, skill positions, not exactly where they've been these past few years. And defensively, I like them a lot. They're going to be young, They're going to play a lot of young guys,
especially in the secondary freshman and sophomores. But I'm confident, given the current slate of quarterbacks in the Pac twelve, that they will be a top forty five defense, top forty defense in the country.
Interesting. Yeah, okay, well I said two more items. I guess we could list a Soliverable podcast on here if we really wanted to be self congratulativotal.
People from Pennsylvania.
Yeah, well, email a Soliverble at gmail dot com. I think that does it for today. I think our lips are parched enough. I need to make sure that we preserve your voice, sure so that we could do this again. But just to recap here, in no particular order, Charles Chip, Kelly Clark, Lee, Derek Dooley, Marcus Arroyo, Ricky Ronnie, Malcolm Perry, DeAndre Swift, and Chico mcclatcher. We've got a list of about ten others that we're going to unveil next week.
We're doing Pivotal People, Pivotal Players, pivotal personas here on the solid verbal again, just talking about the twenty eighteen season and some of the key players here in what we think is going to be a really fun season with a lot of cool storylines. If you've got any others that you would like to add, you can find us again at soliverblegmail dot com. Also on our website at soliverble dot com. Also don't forget to follow us
on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, We've got a YouTube channel. We're also on Spotify, We're on Stitcher, we're on tune in, and of course Google play podcasts, which now has an app, as well as Apple Podcasts. So anywhere find podcasts can be found, you can find the solid verbal Dan. What else do I need to make sure I check off here before we let the find people go? Anything?
If today's is the original, if this is the first part of Pivotal People, A lot of sequels have something in the name that set them apart from the original. Okay, and that's a that's a colon, So like Jurassic Park colon the Lost World? Right, So what if you could choose? Because we're in the business of hyping, of promoting, we want people to download next weeks to see who we're going to name in part two, give me a Pivotal People call in your move?
What what what ghost protocol? Well, no, we're all that's a good one. We're also we're also in the business of offering a tease, because any any true showman knows how to choose what's coming next. So I would just lead people with this. If this was Pivotal People Part one. Next week's will be pivotal people colon in protecting Patterson.
Oh okay, I just I was gonna go pivotal people, call in persons of interest.
I'm gonna go a little bit more specific and going.
Well, you want to alliterative with your pop filter, and I respect.
That, protecting Patterson, Dan, I'm not afraid of my pop Patterson. Yeah, all right, let's just leave it at that. Draw your own conclusions again, Tell your friends about the show. We'll be here all off season. We got much to break over the next days and weeks about our live show and merchandise and website. Whole bunch of fun stuff on the way. Thank you for listening to the show. We will catch you all in a week. In the meantime for myself, Ty Hildebrand and that guy over there, Dan Rubinstein.
As always, enjoy your week, enjoy your weekend, and stay solid peace.