Welcome to the solid verbal.
I'm that for me. I'm a man, I'm forty.
I've heard so many players say, well, I want to be happy.
You want to be happy for day Edith State is that? Whoo whoom and Dan.
And tie welcome back to the solid verbe boys and girls. My name is ty Hildebrant, joining me as always over there in beautiful New York City, the one, the only. To Andrew Rubinstein, sir, how are you?
I'm outstanding, Ty, I am. I wouldn't go as far as saying reinvigorated. But today is not only National Signing Day, maybe the late signing day. I don't think we should be calling the first one the early one. Maybe that's just signing day in today's straggler signing day. But I feel pretty great. I mean, there's a lot in the news to discuss. There's a lot of big picture recruiting
stuff to discuss. How that relates to maybe some new hires, maybe what programs are looking like for spring, summer, fall, or I don't know, I'm feeling a jolt. How about you?
I am feeling a little bit of a jolt as well. To be perfectly honest with you, as you know, if you've been listening to The Solid Verbal for any period of time, we're going to be with you all off season long. Just because there aren't games doesn't mean there's not going to be a podcast. As you said, there is a lot to discuss today. We're going to talk through a bunch of Signing Day storylines and some other storylines that have popped up seemingly out of nowhere here
in and around the world of college football. Don't forget though, if you do like the show, if you are interested in college football content as we are year round, going out to our website at solidverbal dot com. It's free, it's easy, it's quick to subscribe to the show so that you get all of our content automatically downloaded. You can go on out and find the Solid Verbal pretty much anywhere you get your podcasts, so it's nice and easy for you. Subscribe to the show if you haven't already.
If you feel ever so inclined, going out and leave us a review or star rating. All that stuff helps. And finally, if you really are super verballer, sign up for our newsletter. Yeah, it is on our website and the main purpose for that newsletter is to give our subscribers early as early as we can alerts on when we're going to be doing live shows and where, which, by the way, we have started planning out far, far earlier than we did last year, so we will have announcement sooner this season.
Can I throw a strong verballer ephis real quick?
Please?
You say, if you're a strong forballer, subscribe to the newsletter. All of that is true. I'm gonna say, if you want to be the strongest verballer, go to your local mall, find an Apple or a Windows store and subscribe all of those computers.
Good call?
Do that? Good call? I think the algorithm loves that.
Yeah, it may also be illegal, but who's keeping tracking it? Right, Shani ignorance, ignorance, We do have some bread. How about this news yesterday? Yeah, about the Michigan State coaching situation, Mark D'Antonio stepping down. Okay, that's a bit of a development. Somebody alerted us out there on the Twitter sphere that we had mentioned this maybe in the preseason, that it could end this way. I don't think we saw it ending quite this way, certainly not at this juncture in
early February, which is not at all the template. But now Michigan State very quickly trying to hunt down a new head football coach. I saw some names mentioned, most of them I thought were very bad ideas, and now here we are where they're they're left having to pick up the pieces and figure out their next move.
What you have one specific name? I think Pat Shermer, formerly of the New York Giants is the bad idea because the other names I saw have been recently pretty successful in Matt Campbell, Pat Nardouzi, Yeah, Okay, Luke Fickle.
I think Luke Fikele and Matt Campbell would be terrific. I don't think either of them want the job. If I saw correctly.
Matt Campbell allegedly was approached and was not interested. Luke Fickle it's less clear. It may take a lot of cash to get Luke Fickle, but he's got a good situation Michigan states. It's at the same time a good job with the absolute right dude, with the right timing, as I think Mark D'Antonio was good enough to take advantage of, especially in that twenty thirteen fourteen to fifteen zone.
But also that's a tough division with Penn State. As talented as they are, obviously, Michigan Ohio State are going to be incredibly tough outs moving forward. That's a tough ask. Still a good job, but yeah, yeah, interesting timing. I mean, there's never really great timing. And you know, there's always speculation that sometimes coaches do this so that they have to give the interim tag to their chosen coordinator or favored assistant. In this case, I think it's the defensive
coordinator Tressel for Michigan State. He's the interim as of now, and we'll see what happens moving forward. He collected a four point three million dollar retention bonus based on a contract he signed a while ago. He collected that bonus January fifteenth. I want to say, can't blame him for waiting to take that bonus. It's never gonna look the best,
but nothing ever really does when you step down. And there's there's some smoke around this ongoing situation, a legal situation with a former staffer, Curtis Blackwell at Michigan State, and D'Antonio and his outgoing presser said it has nothing to do with you know, potential NCAA type accusations. Who knows, but that's that's Stantonio's word, and so we'll see potentially
a very good job. Michigan State reached very high heights, even low heights in the playoff appearance they made against Alabama, but an interesting job, nonetheless, because that is a division that plays a lot of huge games.
I don't like the Nardoozi move. I know he was a bit of a cult hero there because of his defenses, but I haven't seen anything at Pitt that leads me to believe that Michigan State would get anything other than what they just had. And I think they do need to take a step in a different direction because the offense has been stagnant and Nardoozi doesn't inspire me in that respect. The Pat Shermer one is the one that, as a recently aggrieved New York Giants fan, right, does
not make any sense to me. I know there's a bit of a tie there, and maybe Pat Shermer has played at the highest, most elite levels of the National Football League, but dude, if you can't get the ball the Saquon Barkley, that does not inspire me either. So I hope for their sake they go in a different direction. Because neither one of those guys, to me, stirs it. It just doesn't go.
I might be a little inspired by Jim McLaine in the turnaround job he did in year one right there, same state.
He's familiar with the area.
Yeah, I could deal with that Michigan the year before Central Michigan. Now let me Yeah.
I mean the two that stuck in my crawl were Nardoozi and to a much greater degree. But you can have a case for Macklewaine.
You have an anti pat bias right now, I.
Do I do.
The other somewhat large bit of coaching news. I don't know how much we just did. We discuss this last week Bo Polini to LSU maybe in passing. In passing so he joins uh the LSU coaching staff. There hasn't been too too much in the way of coaching carousel stuff. I saw Joe moorehead was introduced into the media for the first time today as Oregon's new offensive coordinator. I'm
pretty excited about that. TI. I don't know if we've had a chance to discuss that, because I talked coaching carousel stuff with Andy Stables a couple weeks ago.
I think the last time we broached the subject, it was still kind of an outside possibility, but maybe he was playing foot Sea's a bit with Oregon as potentially his next stop. Are you excited about the move?
Absolutely, one hundred percent, absolutely excited. It's a much needed boost of creativity to me seeing what he was able to do as an offensive coordinator at Penn State, and I understand some of the issues at Mississippi State. I don't know if it was necessarily an offensive creativity issue, and as much as it was, quarterbacks didn't seem great slashed, very green, and it seemed to be some interpersonal locker
room issues there at the end. The defense certainly took a huge step back, especially against the past, and maybe we'll get into that some more as we talk about signing day. But I am very excited by that. And you have formerly Tommy, then tom back to Tommy, now meet Thomas Reese calling the offense at Notre Dame.
Well, we almost did an emerger pot to talk about the Tom to Tommy reconversion, which I'm very excited about. And we will clearly get a lot of mileage out of whether we stick with Tommy or decide to go very very formal with the Thomas. I don't know if we've settled on that internally yet.
Did you see who ASU now will have calling, or at least co calling their defense.
I did catch wind of Marvin Glue with Dan.
Yes, Syracuse hires away Tony White running the three three five for ASU, and it's Marvin Lewis Antonio Pierce co defensive coordinators for Arizona State. And I know we're going to talk some more ASU later, but man Herm Edwards, Marvin lewis there, it is there, it is the Arizona can make this stuff up, all right, let's good. I like it. I like big names, recognizable faces.
We can get into some other tidbits here as we go through, Yeah, and talk about what's going on on signing day, Dan and Tiger. You're up for National Signing Day twenty twenty signing Dan, Yeah, Trs are out and about. They're trying to construct.
Hence what you're hearing underneath tie.
Yes, trying to construct their their next rendition. We have, as per usual, try to put a little bit of a creative spin on this, so it'd be very easy and not that novel to go through the top ten classes the top twenty five classes and talk about some of the highlights, the low lights, surprises, late gainers, that sort of thing. Instead, we're trying to look at it
from a little bit more of a holistic approach. Now, we already did an interview back in December, you did an interview with our friend Brandon Hoffman in which you guys talk specifically about some of the tactics, some of the strategies, some of the names to watch now as we move forward. But recently, as you know if you follow college football, they changed up the timing. This signing day, the one that we're accustomed to making a big deal about in February as of like two or three years ago,
is no longer quite what it used to be. This is kind of like the second signing day period. Where we're at now is most of the big names of sign There are a couple that we're going to talk about here that have certainly influenced rankings, and congratulations to the Georgia Bulldogs on getting that number one spot this year, But it just has taken on a much much different complexion, and from our standpoint, it's really given us, i think, a better chance to digest what has going on in
the world of recruiting. We're not sitting here looking at this all day throughout today trying to figure out where things stack up and how they fall. We've sort of known for a while. Today was really just the icing and the cherry on top, and now we can provide some analysis and look at it in terms of that construction. Is that right?
That's all sounds correct, Although when you said icing cherry, I thought it's the hot honey on top of sizzling pizza cheese. So I believe we have six categories and we are vaguely connecting them to the idea of construction. In past off seasons, we've done scheme theme Month, we
did the Two's Crews. So I think we're gonna because college football and recruiting is largely about construction and remodeling and renovating, maybe demolishing your program and starting things anew, whether you have you know, termites in the floorboards, whether you're adding a wing to your mansion, whether you are, you know, really trying to maybe have an open floor plan, open things up, look through the window.
Tie.
We are going to build a house out of the class of twenty twenty, and we are going to try and hit all elements or some elements of building said, recruiting and program, construction, house, and we can start wherever you'd like, but we have this. We were trying to
hit more teams than just you know. Okay, Tennessee jumped into the top ten, which they did, by the way, they did get to Malachi today they jumped up to number ten, and Oklahoma, normally a top five seven program in recruiting rankings, I think fell out of the top ten. Oregon had a nice day, Miami had a nice day, certainly, text A and M. I think Georgia finished with the number one class officially. Clemson put together an unbelievable class. But these are things that I sort of discussed with
Brandon before. So let's go let's zag and talk about the construction elements we want to hit.
Let's zag, but just for important context, if you're picking this up midstream and you want to know, well, where how did the top ten shakeout? Okay, we don't have to focus too much on this, but Georgia, Alabama, Clemson, LSU, Ohio State, that's your top five, followed by Texas, A and M. A class that I want to talk about
in a little bit. Auburn did very well, Florida at eight, Texas at nine, reeling in two big name quarterbacks, and as you said, Tennessee bubbling up to number ten having themselves a nice day.
Yes, and some teams who were able to translate some on field success into perhaps an improved And we talked about this. I talked about this with Brandon a little while ago. Utah jumped up to number thirty. I would imagine Baylor would have had a better class had they not had to go through a coaching change. Virginia, which ended up in the ACC Championship game. Not a great class,
but they finished in the top ten of the a SEC. Otherwise, it's a lot of I mean, Wisconsin, I think had a nice class, finished I think fifth and the big ten, which they never really get it done in February. They seem to get it done in the fall. So good for Wisconsin stringing together some more blue chips in this class, perhaps than usual. And I think I'm ready to get into this construction. So why don't we start here.
Let's let's focus on the teams that are already coming to town with an embarrassment of riches. The teams that you know they've already got the mansion. They're adding on a selarium or some sort of luxurious doomsday bunker home theater.
Yeah, doomsday bunker. Yeah. These are the billionaires of college football. What are they doing? How are they adding that? These are the.
Super yachts with the helipad. That's what That's what these programs are. So yes, let's start with the Clemson Tigers. Now, Clemson did not win this cycle, not technically they finished third, but they loaded up on defensive line again in a way that of screams what we saw last year, and that to me is terrifying if you happen to go through and look where just in general, some of their recruits rank, according to twenty four to seven relative to
some of their previous classes. Three of their top eight all time highest rated recruits came from this cycle.
That is one percent correct, tie. I think it's what Miles Murphy along the defensive line, Brian Brezie, if I pronounced that correctly, who I think might be the number one overall recruit in the country. Yes, And dj Uyanga Lalay right by.
This all year, that's gonna be trouble.
He is one of many Californians and West Coasters who have looked at Pac twelve teams and said, I'm going to go East. You're going to go and play for teams that more people watch.
By the numbers, Clemson did very well along the defensive line. They clearly added to what was a young core this past year. But they also stocked up on offensive line. You know, they've really made a lot of halong that offensive line as well. It's important to protect their star quarterbacks. And by the numbers, more offensive linemen coming into this class than any other position, which is I think notable.
All right, who else is adding helipads? Alabama? Alabama's already got like four helipads. What they've done at the running back position, what they've done at linebacker again is nothing short of incredible. Yes, the highest rated players in their class aren't even at the running back position. But I'm looking at Jace McClellan, an exciting prospect out of Texas.
I'm looking at Royd L. Williams, exciting prospect out of Alabama. I'm looking at Jackson Bratton, a great name inside linebacker from Alabama. These are all four star kids. By the way, the list goes on and on here. So I'm excited about Alabama to the extent that I can. At some point it becomes old hat. But again, Nick Saban does it. He goes out, He gets the positions that he needs to keep this thing going in the direction that it's been.
Yeah, the linebackers and the edge players on you. It's a defensive hyper loop. Is that what Elon Musk is trying to build. Yeah, yeah, it's a defensive They have the helipads. It's a ridiculous class. Bryce Young. We can talk about later with another construction question, but yeah, it's a ridiculous class. They were passed by Georgia because they put together. They don't have quite the helipad situation, but they close strong, and I think it's what Kelly or
Khaley ringo. Yeah, the corner out of Arizona, another one of those West Coast players who decided to uh to head east. He headlines the class. But everywhere everywhere, I know they got a quarterback. I know they are fortified along the lines. But man, this Georgia class too, number one in the country year after a year, even without I don't know how much attention you paid to the Zach Evans situation there running back from Texas who looks like his recruitment. It's gonna be like a Bryce Brown
Terrell Pryor situation. It's going to go into the spring and just weird smoke around the recruitment. Georgia let him out of his letter of intent in December, so we'll see where he and where he ends up. But another what incredible class for Georgia. I'm assuming number one.
Turning to Ohio State two gigantic wide receiver recruits now. The first one is a gent by the name of Julian Fleming from southern Columbia. Here in Pennsylvania. I have a good friend who had the opportunity to see Julian Fleming up close. He is ridiculous. This is an incredible signing by Ohio State. To be able to see a kid like this play in high school in the flesh is sort of an experience. He's a five star, He's a number one wide receiver in the country. And that's
not even the full story. For Ryan Day. Also Jackson Smith, nijigba is that how I say it?
I hope not in Agiba. I don't know. My guess would be in Agbar, but I don't.
Know Rockwall, Texas another five star receiver, the fifth rated wide receiver in college football.
Come yes, and imagine, imagine you're CJ. Stroud, who was sort of a late comer to the recruiting scene. He won the Elite eleven from southern California, another West coast or heading east, and you're looking at where should I go? Then you watch what Justin Fields is doing on the field, and then you see Ryan Day and specifically Brian Hartline, the young the new receivers coach for Ohio State. You
know everybody remembers him playing, but he is. I think he won twenty four to seven's Recruiter of the Year and he brings in two five star receivers in your same class. How do you say no? How do you say no to that type of opportunity? You get to sit behind Justin Fields for a year. It's it's a terrific situation at the top of that Ohio State class. And another West Coaster g Scott from the state of Washington heading east to play at Ohio State as well, just Rich getting richer for Ohio State.
Oregon. Your ducks finished with the twelfth overall.
Class something like that. Yeah, they take the pack to and have the best recruiting class in the back.
How do you feel about the pieces they added? I know you're pretty high on the linebacking corps.
Yes. Noah Sewell, who is the younger brother of Piney Seol, the Outland Trophy winner, looks to be ridiculous. He's at like, you know, he's playing to sixty five linebacker and moves crazy well justin flow is being compared and Brandon Huffman talked about this to a like a vontez Berfeck type, So just an out of control, good middle linebacker. And yeah, they're defensive class. They added a four star defensive tackle today from I think the state of Alabama. But their
class is very good. They had two quarterbacks, one of whom was pretty highly regarded, Jay Butterfield from northern California, who's a Stanford legacy. All in all, it wasn't the twenty nineteen class, but the twenty twenty Oregon class looks to be very very strong at the top, especially on defense, which this is a defense that returns so much next year and they will have some pretty scary depth there, especially in a downpac twelve.
Is Jay Butterfield gonna play.
Tyler Shuck looks to be the favorite. They seem to like him. He was justin Herbert's backup this year. He got into some garbage time. He played well against USC in that blowout game. I could see him impressing. I think he's already enrolled, so that's at least a good sign for picking up the offense. But unless they add a grad transfer we don't know about. I know maybe there was some interest in kJ Costello before he headed to Mississippi State. I would imagine Tyler Shuck is pretty
head and shoulders above the pack. Right now.
The other program here that I want to call out before we talk about some of the more tactical stuff. Oklahoma. Yes, Oklahoma's been in the playoff now a couple of years running. Oklahoma seemingly went out and reaffirmed its commitment to its offensive line. Yep, it's defensive line and its defensive backfield.
Smart smart to address that secondary. At last time we saw Oklahoma wasn't perfect.
Oklahoma eked out by Texas, so they didn't win with the Big twelve's best recruiting class. But you know, Nate Anderson Andrew Raim along the offensive line, to guards, to interior linemen to help bolster what Lincoln Riley's trying to build. It's again another situation where they already had the best offensive line in the Big Twelve a year ago. Add more beef to that line, keep the train rolling.
Yeah, I think it's going to come down to what they added on defense. I know they look to the j C ranks for an interior defensive lineman to help get some pressure. I know they have a pretty good safety in this class. But yeah, Oklahoma, We're not going to question what Lincoln Riley's been able to do on offense. It's building that complete team that's the lingering question.
So I guess on the flip side of teams such as the Clemsons and Ohio States in Alabama's of the world, we didn't even touch Georgia. We can talk about them in a little bit, But what are some teams on the opposite end of the spectrum, Dan Like, if we're thinking of this in terms of construction, what are some teams that have effectively raised their previous infrastructure and now
they've got to start a new new foundation. Maybe they had a really bad termite infestation, like who has to start over and who has given you reason to believe or not believe in the strategies that they deployed here.
The bottom of the Power five area of the sport is pretty bleak. It's not great, I mean, other than maybe Arkansas. Arkansas was pretty horrific last season, and I think there's some reason to believe based on the hire of Sam Pittman and the coordinators he was able to hire, and their proximity to talent, I think I feel better about Arkansas. We can talk about new coaches that we can talk about down in the dumps teams and sometimes that's both, but especially Arkansas, the jewel of their class
is Miles Slusher, the safety. They recruited well up front, which I imagine Sam Pittman will continue to do, but they're really Their big recruit this year was Felipe Franks, who comes in from Florida. And I'm a fan of the fact that twenty four to seven has sort of included transfers. I don't know if they give all the transfers new star ratings, whatever the case is. They've brought in a couple transfers. Last season. They had a top twenty five class and brought in a couple good pass catchers.
This year, Arkansas focused upfront on defense, which from what we saw of Arkansas defense last year, seems pretty smart. They need, I mean, they need to focus everywhere. But if the teams that truly have termites man Kansas is at the bottom of the Big twelve. They focused on receiver and offensive line. They didn't bring anybody in all their transfer and transfer portal situations are outgoing. Arizona is the bottom of the Pac twelve right now. They've focused
on wide receiver, offensive line, and defensive back. They bring in an all purpose back in Frank Brown from Texas who's promising. Brendan Schooler was a starting receiver at Oregon. He joins his brother at Arizona, albeit on the opposite side of the field. They lost a lot of bodies to transfer from their secondary and twenty nineteen wasn't much better, So I don't know if the outlook is all that good.
I don't think there's all that reason for optimism unless you're a big believer in the new coaching staff at Arizona Vanderbilt. They just, you know, their ad steps down yesterday. Derek Mason has brought in the last place class in the SEC. They focused on an offensive line. They lost quarterbacks plural, so they brought in quarterbacks plural. There's not a ton of reason for optimism there. Maryland's might be the worst situation of all. They lost a ton of bodies.
I'm seeing seventeen eighteen guys in the transfer portal because Tyrrell Pigram has entered the portal. Last year's class wasn't anything special. The big jewel though, of all these classes that perhaps are representing programs that need to rebuild founds in a major way. Rackem Jarrett, local five star receiver, talked about him a little bit with Huffman, but their focus this year was on the the offensive line receiver
headlined by Jarrett, and defensive back. So of the teams that really, really, you know, needed to bring in fresh bodies and sort of find a reason and maybe convince higher level recruits that you can play right away. You can be the reason for the turnaround right now. Those four schools to me, and we can get into Rutgers as well, because they hired a new coach. They're you know, tearing things down to the studs. There's some optimism with Greg Ciano because of how well he is versed in
the state of New Jersey, a pretty talented state. Chris Long is the headliner there. I think he's listed as an athlete. Looks like he'll play receiver, but you know that's always up for you know, we'll see what happens in camp. They were very active in the transfer market, and I'm including all of that here because they bring in Peyton Powell, a former blue chip quarterback from Baylor.
They bring in Michigan into defensive lineman. Michael dwumfor Brendan White played a lot at the end of twenty eighteen for Ohio State at safety, sort of lost favor in this new defense the twenty nineteen Ohio State. But you know, greg Ciano has his familiarity with him and brings him
to Rutgers. So I would say, weirdly enough of the teams that really look like they were heading in a very terrible direction, Rutgers, I think they're The temperature of bodies there is warmer than the other places.
Interesting.
Yeah, that's that was my takeaway. I think I like the staff he hired. Sean Gleeson comes in from he was Princeton and Oklahoma State. Now he of course is familiar with that area. So I don't love that they're in the Big Ten East. But in terms of fielding a competitive team compared against those compatriots, yeah, I.
Think it's Rutgers interesting. Okay, Yeah, I focused a lot of my time looking at teams that seemingly have a window. I like this, seemingly have a window to make a jump, Like maybe the house is in order for the most part.
Yeah, get a.
New throw, maybe paint a wall or two, but by and large, you got key pieces in place.
Right.
Other divisional opponents have some issues or some questions.
Maybe we're regrouting. We are just like simple stuff, changing a few light bulbs, uh huh, immediate issues that needed to be resolved, perhaps through recruiting. But teams that seemingly are in a really.
Good place now as we enter the twenty twenty season.
Going in the right direction, and because of what's going on in their division. You know, a team atop the division losing a bunch or a new coach for a key rival, something like that, you have windows. College football is about taking advantage of windows.
Right. Let's start with Texas A and MDN okay. So this is an outstanding recruiting class. They finished sixth in the nation and it comes at an exciting time because the Aggies lose what three starters from last year. Most of the team is back. Jimbo's in a good spot where he's got a really good team coming back, and while you're always looking for those immediate impact guys, he's in a spot where he can look to build depth for the future without really compromising the present, which is
a good spot to be in. Jooj The other key point here the SEC West is good. It's always good. It's not without its share of questions. In twenty twenty, Ward knows the schedule for A and M isn't nearly the Murderers road was last year. It's still tough, but
it's not the gauntlet it was in twenty nineteen. There is a chance, and I hate to go like all Missouri here and jinx them in early February, but no, there's a chance that they're nine to one or ten and zero headed into the last two weeks of the year when they're on the road at Obama and then home against LSU. What I like about what Jimbo did here. First off, he has seemingly focused on past defense. It
was really bad two years ago. It didn't prove last season, but now he is very very out there and trying to solidify the back end of that defense. Two four star safeties Jalen Jones Antonio Johnson, they both can come in and help with the back end of that defense, and perhaps right away, So that to me is maybe a plug and play situation. We'll have to wait and see about playing time, but certainly some bodies that can help. Otherwise, he made a real concerted effort here to add depth
to the offensive line. And we've said it once, he said it a thousand times. It's essential in the SEC to have really good offensive line play. He focused in particular on the interior offensive line. Yes, I don't know if either of those will be enough to spring them to a twelve and oho season, but I like the fact that he's able to add depth for the future and at the same time maybe some guys who he can plug and play. Now. I think he did a good job.
Yeah, I had one of the things last year, maybe the biggest thing last year was just generating bigger plays on offense. And they did well at receiver. It's I think they had a quarterback last year and it's at Hayes King Haines King this year for Texas A and M. If you have the class in front of you, so they bring in a blue chip quarterback of the future to compete for that job once Kellen Mond exhausts his eligibility.
And also Jimo Fisher did a really nice job expanding the recruiting footprint of Texas A and M. You see where they they've brought in commitments from, and it's really I mean a big guy from Illinois, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, Arkansas. So they're not relying even though you know, East Texas is a very fruitful area for recruiting. They went out and seemingly found the best players for them no matter where they were. They went into I think Georgia, they
went Maryland. So really good job for Texas A and M and the specific window and you mentioned it having an easier schedule. But which quarterbacks right now are proven to be dangerous in the SEC West? Mac Jones? Probably? Yeah, probably probably Mac Jones. Is that the entire list? I'm not terrified of Bonix right now, maybe he evolves into that kind of quarterback. The old miss quarterback situation is up in the air with where Lane Kiffin goes. Mississippi
State certainly up. Yeah, I mean it's it's going kJ Costello in an air raid is certainly interesting. But this is a new quarterback, new system, new school, So, especially with his injuries from last season, I can't say I'm confident that it's just going to be a turnkey situation. I feel really good about the window. A and M has to sort of take another jump up whatever whatever that ascension looks like.
Yeah, and to your point, recruited from thirteen different states here. You compare that with ut only two states Texas and Arizona. Got their big gun from from Arizona. We'll talk about that. Yeah, yeah, Bijan. But otherwise H, A and M. I think is in a good spot. Penn State, let's talk about Penn State for a second. Yeah, generally speaking, in a very good spot. Recruiting has been strong. We saw it last season. They were able to get contributions from a bunch of the
young guns on the roster, sure, which which is nice. Yeah, the immediate needs here at least from my vantage point, are in the passing game, both in creating it and in stopping it. Now they do bring back Pat Fryarmouth. He's gonna still be around this coming season, so he's last year, I promise you, baby. So that's a good starting point. Johan dots in his bat back that helps too. But Kja Hamler's going pro. They're having some guys transfer out.
I just feel like the wide receiving core is very thin, so could a freshman like KeAndre Lambert from Virginia step up and make an impact. He's a name that some have pointed to with someone who could step in, But it doesn't feel like there's a whole lot of depth beyond those top two guys. And I said on a previous show about how Sean Clifford I really liked him in the beginning of the year. By the end of the year I didn't quite feel as rosy about his chances moving forward.
But a new offensive coordinator, there's a window to certainly surprise people and improve on offense. There.
Yeah, I think there's reason for optimism. And there were many points, to be fair, where his wide receiving corps just did not do him any favors correct.
It took Jowan Johnson going to America's school, the University of Oregon, to really hone his craft. I get it.
So I'm curious to see if some of the bodies they bring in at receiver can help kind of take that offense to the next level. And defensively, look like we saw some breakdowns against the past last year. They were super banged up the corner. But they do have some options coming in on the back end of that secondary, Enzo Jennings, So I think it's an early commit Tyler Rudolph, some guys that could play again back end of that secondary.
They really needed help there and we saw it in a game like in Minnesota where Frankly, they couldn't stop the pass Minnesota's passing. It was just too much for him. Yeah, and they need to have some solutions there. But there are questions maybe like outside Ohio State in the Big Ten East.
Yeah, and even Ohio State, you don't have to block Chase Young in twenty twenty, that's enormous. You don't have to throw into a Jeff Hafley defense with those dudes in the secondary. For Ohio State, that's large. Shaye Patterson gone, Michigan's defense new look, Michigan's offense new look, Donovan Peoples, Jones gone. There's a lot to be I mean, Michigan State. We have no idea what Sparty's gonna look like in twenty twenty, who's coaching them, what systems they're gonna be
running on either side of the ball. So Penn State's window outside of Yeses Fields and Ryan A are still in Columbus. But even I can't imagine Ohio State's defense, even if they're excellent, looks what looks like what it did in twenty nineteen. So there's a window for Penn State if Sean Clifford and Kirk Shiraka can make beautiful, beautiful offensive magic together.
Let's talky about ASU. You mentioned ASU earlier. ASU a seven and five regular season eight and five after winning the Bowl over Florida State. Three of their five losses were one possession games. It was a gritty team in general. In general, I think ASU under her Edwards has been a really good story, way better than we expected after that weird press conference a couple of years ago.
I think that's reasonable.
It goes without saying another solid class this year so things are going in a good direction, especially given that they've got Jayden Daniels that they can build around again freshman quarterbacks, seventeen touchdowns, only two picks as a true fresh and he has a lot of the tools that you like. There's reason to be.
Excited there, for sure.
I guess my bigger picture question, and I struggled with this, is whether we feel ASU is truly complete enough at this juncture to take that proverbial jump, like how open really is the window? Because I don't remember a moment outside of like September or maybe mid October where on the show you and I were talking about ASU as a genuinely good team that we weren't at all skeptical about.
I mean, I wasn't thrilled when they beat Oregon and knocked him out of playoff contention in Tempe that Saturday night. I mean, I think my disappointment was a backwards compliment to how well they played and made those key passes in those key moments that night. They lost four in a row before that win over Oregon at home in the Desert. But no, I think it's more of what ASU has done in hiring. They've recruited well in southern California.
Now that there's that USC, UCLA recruiting vacuum for a number of reasons, and I think they're just one of those teams with now USC certainly looking really good on offense but making changes on defense, Ucla not looking like a contender. Utah should be once again very good, but they have to make a change at quarterback. I guess it might be Jake Bentley this year. We'll see who ends up starting and winning that quarterback job for the Utes.
But in terms of opportunity, in terms of window, in terms of talent level, and now in year three of the Herm Edwards era, I don't think they have a tough September. They have BYU before they have SC but it's Oregon State, UCLA, Colorado, Wazoo. With a new coach, cal should be pretty good. I know they're in Eugene, but they have Utah at home, and Arizona is kind of a and by kind of I mean a complete mess in Tucson for the Territorial Cup. So schedule, quarterback continuity,
recruiting improvement. I think it's a really nice window for ASU. I really like LV Bunkley Shelton. I know you like Johnny Wilson, so Elijah Badger a pretty highly regarded recruit. They did well on offense, they did pretty well upfront on defense. I think I think AC was definitely a window team.
I yeah, so you mentioned Johnny Wilson. I like Johnny Wilson, big kid from your old stomping ground in southern California. But I like the two tackle transfers coming in from Stanford and Texas, A and M. They need the help up front, they really need the help up front. And Herm. I think when you look at the class, regardless of whether or not you feel there's a legit window here, Herm definitely made an effort to bring in some athletes to give the offense a boost and just improve it
in as well rounded a fashion as he could. So I think he did a good job. We can debate the merits of that window at some other point in time, but by a larger pretty good job. In let's face it. A side of the conference that has so many questions. We could do podcast upon podcasts talking about the questions of the PAC twelve South.
Sure, let's keep looking at windows. We've got a big round house what a roundhouse is called an igloo? Well, iglo, Yeah, I think a yert. I'm looking that up.
So we have to have more window teams acc window North Carolina. You're right, North Carolina, North Carolina. I'll say it again. I think I said in the preseason that if North Carolina got to four wins it would be a crazy revelation. M hm and well and behold, Daniel, this is a team that finished with six eventually won the bowl game. Yep, and now they sit ahead of Florida State. They finished third in acc recruiting, behind Clemson and just a bit behind the Miami Hurricanes. So by
all accounts, they did very, very well. It helps to have Sam Howell leading that charge at quarterback again, the signal caller that you can build around. I saw an effort here to boost defense. Yeah, yes, I think it's a really good class in that respect. Desmond Evans and Miles Murphy to four star defensive ends. They bring in a four star tackle, they bring in two four star safeties. Mac Brown knows that he needs to get better as
a defensive entity. It can't all be on the arm of Sam Howell, and though he did add some pieces along that offense that can help. What he did on defense is definitely pretty striking.
Yes, I am excited for North Carolina football moving forward, and it's been a little while since I was able to say that. But with Virginia losing Bryce Perkins, with Pitt's offense not really looking like it's going to do much, Miami is still a huge question mark, even with de Eric King, but that's a new system, new coordinator with Rhet Lashley Duke seems to be not heading in the right direction. Georgia Tech is going to take a while
longer the division for them. I mean, we'll see what happens with Virginia Tech, but there's transition there among that coaching staff. The window is right there for North Carolina if Sam Howell, If samhow improves from being one of the best I don't know, three freshman quarterbacks in the country last year, depending on how everything falls for you
and Keton Slova's is in that conversation, Dylan Gabriel. But yeah, they should be winning what you said they Their record this past year was six A, six plus a winning the ball.
That's correct.
Yep, they should be winning nine games next year. Yeah, I don't have their non conference schedule in front of if they if their defense can improve, especially what against the pass, and I don't even love all the quarterbacks they'll be facing, they become a pretty dangerous team.
Last window team here that'll throw out. Texas is back. Baby, they got that window. They have that window. It made changes. Texas is back. They made some changes. They won the Big twelve recruiting race by a nose over the Oklahoma Sooners, right, and it was It's an interesting class the way they went about formulating this. So the their top prospect, as I mentioned earlier, Bjean Robinson, a running back out of Tucson, Arizona. Yeah,
number one running back in the country. But beyond that, they went out and made a very concerted effort to try and secure a quarterback of the future. So Sam How not going to be there forever. Sam How could get hurt tomorrow even though he's been pretty durable. Hudson Card and Jaquindin Jackson, Yeah, are.
The Hudson Card.
Yeah. There are two four star quarterbacks that they were able to reel in from the state of Texas, in addition to the other like sixteen recruits that they got from the Great State of Texas. So that's all notable. I think that bubbles to the surface and it definitely stands out on the top line. But they need defense. This is a class that you can only construct if you know you need defense. I don't know how else to put it in. I'm looking at how they did this,
how they broke it down by the numbers. I see a lot at defensive line, linebacker, defensive back, Yeah, even in the trenches on the offensive line.
Yeah, they focused at offensive skill these past couple of years and even felt like they focused on the secondary a couple of years ago with a ridiculous class and strong at safety this year. And they have a window, I mean essentially, because we don't know what to expect out of presumably Spencer Rattler at Oklahoma. We have a number of second year guys in the conference. Sam Allinger's
back for his seventeenth year. If there is going to be a season in which they put it all together, and the guys that you are mentioning these are probably rotation guys because all healthy Texas has a good amount of talent on both sides of the ball. But the window is there that even if these rotation guys work out as true freshmen. They should be in a really good spot. I'm not sure who you're terrified of right now.
With Baylor, who was really really strong last year. They're working in a new coach and we'll see what this offense looks like. Defense, they should be very strong once again, I would imagine TCU I don't feel great about right now. West Virginia I think still has a ways. Kansas State, Texas has a such like their window is so obvious, which should be terrifying for for Longhorn fans.
What else do we got here?
So we've alluded to some teams with new coaches, new building crews, tie just learning the architecture, looking at the blueprints, figuring out their own blueprints. They have to know where beams are going at this new place. They have to know the plumbing, the electricity. They're learning on the job.
They haven't had much time to piece together these classes, but I think it's important and we talked about this once again a couple months ago when we did our early signing day show Ole miss lower part of the SEC. In terms of recruiting class under Lane Kiffin, they focused on the trenches and in the secondary I know You'd love to call them demon clowney, but it's demonologize tie. I know, and I think promising thing for ole Miss is one The defense took a nice step forward last
year under Mine McIntyre. It's Dj Dirkin at least as the co defensive coordinator, and even with all of the legitimate baggage he brings along with his name, they should have a good defense. He's been a good defensive coordinator along the way, or they should have an improving defense. Last year was a huge class, like thirty thirty one guys under Matt Luke, and it's around the same talent
level this year. Jerry and Eely obviously made an early impact for the Rebels, and they've been pretty pretty active on the transfer market. Brought in a couple tight ends safety from Georgia. They convinced some of their guys that enter the transfer portal to come back to Oxford. So
ole Miss pretty good. I think Lane Kiffin should probably continue to do a good I would imagine top eighteen classes for Lane Kiffin moving forward, considering his record as a recruiter and what ole Miss is at least near recruiting wise, staying in state. Mike Leach pretty similar. The jewel of this class probably a manual Forbes. They need all the help they can get in the secondary for what we did or didn't see from from the Dogs
last year. Jordan Davis I think is a Juco guy, and it was again, if they can pressure the quarterback, that's better than what they were able to do for much of twenty nineteen. kJ Costello is the big recruit. We alluded to him earlier. That's the big recruit form Mississippi State this year. How quickly can he get comfortable in what everybody that has played for him has said is the most simple offense imaginable the air raid Mike
Leach's version of the air raid. And Felipe Franks also in the conference going to Arkansas, So at least there's somewhat recruiting wise interesting quarterbacks heading to the SEC West and Scott Lashley another guy coming in, a former Alabama blue chip offensive lineman to fortify Mississippi State upfront. Will stay in the SEC missoo also the lower part of the SEC. But Ty, if you can please play Eli Drinkwitz absolutely losing his markets.
Oh this is great.
Yeah, So that is that is id tie. That is pure, unfiltered id over a. I don't think he's a blue star corner, but a corner who chose Maszoo and had some laid offers from big places and so I respect it. Tie. It was the adult version of do you remember the video where the kid gets the Super Nintendo for Christmas? Oh? I mean it was a little Howard Dean in there wasn't there. It was Howard Dean put into a blender with the spirit of whatever that video it was Super
Soaker or a Supernintendo was something super. Yeah, Yeah, I love that. Eli Drinkwitz is amped on this signing day. They bring in Damon Hazelton, which I think is something he led Virginia Tech and targets and touchdowns last year. At receiver, it was not a great class last year. They brought in some defensive back, so this year's class was pretty even all over the place, pretty spread out. They did focus a little bit on receiver, so I suppose we'll see Missoo has a lot to work on after what
they finished looking like last year. Washington is on the other end of things, Tye. We've talked about Jimmy Lake a little bit, but this class was really strong. From the Huskies and from Jimmy Lake. I'm still a little bit out on the offensive coordinator higher John Donovan. You probably have more thoughts about that than I do. But Savelle Small's ed rusher who looks to be a nationally elite edge rusher. I know he disappointed a little bit at the All Star Games, but looks to be another
great Washington defensive player. Jalen McMillan, I know everybody in the country wanted at receiver. Ethan Garbers is the younger brother of Chase Garber's. Yes there is another, and that Washington quarterback job is pretty open. Jacob Sermon, Dylan Morris, Chase Garber's, we'll see. They all sound like West Coast quarterbacks to me. They did lose out on kJ Costello. That's a name that we have said a lot this episode.
Last's class was also incredible, especially upfront on defense. So just from a pure s talent talent standpoint, excuse me. The Washington building crew, they have an understanding for the neighborhood, for permits, for laws, for gardening, whatever needs to happen at Washington.
Let me let me fast forward jump in over some of the other teams I know we have listed. Yeah, Florida State. Yes, Florida State, as we mentioned earlier, came in behind North Carolina in terms of ACC recruiting. We know there's work to do there. What did you see from that building crew?
Obviously late for Mike Norvell coming into the process, not there for the early signing period, but a pretty good but not great. I think they finished fourth in the ACC twentieth nationally at least in that area. The focus, rightfully so, was on the offensive line, a little bit on receiver Chubb a party I think is the headline name along with the Morey Tates. Purdy is the younger brother of Brock. He was committed to Louisville forever and
he flipped to Florida State late in the process. It was an active year in both directions from Florida State, both coming and going. They lost a couple of blue chip receivers or pass catchers and a tight end to who left for Georgia and a receiver who went back to the West Coast to Oregon State. But they bring in Jayshawn Corbyn from Texas A and m The class wasn't where it was last year, but I imagine with a full cycle, Florida State should at least be back
in that top dozen conversation. Okay, interesting I mentioned Rutgers Boston College. There's not too much talk about They focused on the offensive line. We'll see, and Wazoo is the I think the lower part of the Pac twelve in terms of talent. But Jaden to Laura same high school as to a tongue of Iiloa Marcus Mariota in Hawaii, So that makes sense with Nick Rolovich being a good fit, although he signed I think before Nick Rolovich took the job.
So nothing too exciting transfer wise. It was the worst class in the conference in twenty nineteen, so if they can at least get to me, maybe it's just a tough place to recruit to in terms of available talent, high end talent, but you know, ninth or tenth in the conference, we'll see, I think it can be pretty dangerous.
So one thing that we kind of alluded to here, yeah, is turn key solutions.
Yes, always nice when you can just walk in and there's your house.
You can walk in, there's your house. And we have seen this, I think slowly develop over the course of the last ten years certainly in the time that we've been doing this podcast. But freshman quarterbacks are coming into the college ranks much better prepared than ever before, and so to have freshmen standouts like we saw this past year a good number of them. Really, it's becoming far
more common. It's always exciting, but it stands to reason that some of the names coming in this year, given the fact that we've got questions around college football at many starting quarterback positions, some of these guys could be in a position to really make an immediate impact. So give me, give me three names. I have three and
a half. I'll say on my list of freshman quarterbacks that you look at the situation, you look at what they bring to the table, and you could say, yeah, I could see that quarterback either coming in and outright winning the job or winning the job by say week four or five. You got any names that jump out.
To you, There's nothing super obvious. Bryce Young is. Everything I've heard about him is he's twitchy, he has that special potential. Maybe he's a little bit like Kyler Murray. He's not huge. He's gonna get that comparison because I think he's under six feet tall, But He's still finished
as the number one quarterback in the nation. And while I think mac Jones gave Nick Saban and the offensive staff every reason to think that he can win a lot of games for Alabama, he's not obvious obvious obvious, like you know toul was before him when healthy. So I think Bryce Young is certainly he's going to see the feet in some fashion. There are quarterbacks that I feel, if they are thrust into a situation because of injury or something happening to a starter, will miss limited beats.
You know. It's dj ouyong Lele Well, I'm just Dju for Clemson, who's just built like a tank. He's like six five, two fifty. You know. Luke Dody is interesting to me at South Carolina because Ryan Halensky wasn't amazing, you know, being thrown into the fire as a true freshman. So we'll see there and physically I don't think he's huge, but we'll see he's well regarded. Ethan Garber's is a name that I know, our friend Yogi Roth really likes a lot. And it's tough to expect a true freshman
to just win a job outright immediately. It happens we've you know, Sam Howell is a best case scenario, Dylan Gabriel a best case scenario beating out Brandon Wimbush last year. But there's nobody that I think is going to that is so good right now. And I guess, you know, Chabba party, we'll see. It's not like anybody at Florida State is incredible and has a lock on that job. But there's nobody right now to me that says, okay, they are immediately displacing a presume starter or somebody who
has been waiting in the wings. But you know, at the top of this class, there's enough talent there at quarterback where yeah, if something happens to a starter, they can come in and uh and move the ball.
So Bryce Young is the one that jumps out. Bryce Young, as he said, he's a slighter build, five to eleven. He's headed to Alabama, and of course Mac Jones is there. Mac Jones is gonna have a thing or two to say about who gets that job. But you could see a situation where they play Bryce Young because he does bring an interesting skill set. From everything I've read about him, he is pretty much unflappable. M He does have a slider frame, but he seems to play his best when
the pocket breaks down. Like most of these quarterbacks, his deep ball could be improved upon. But the comp that I saw was Russell Wilson. Wow, and that maybe a smaller version of Russell Wilson at this point he needs to fill out. He's only eighteen. But yeah, nonetheless, that's all. Yeah, that's a pretty good comp if you're getting that kind of quarterback. So it's tough to take a guy like that into a situation like Alabama where he does have such a good supporting cast and not at least think
about it. Yeah, that's intriguing to me. Another one here that I'll throw out. We even talked a lot about Georgia even though they got the number one class.
And Jamie Newman Jamie Newman as well.
Jamie Newman comes over from Lake Forest. He is a transfer, but Carson Beck is their prize quarterback in this class. He's a four star. He was mister football, as they all are in the great State of Florida. Hails from Jacksonville. He's a different quarterback, right. He's not Bryce young at all. He's six four and a half two twenty six. He's a much bigger kid. The comp I saw for him was Deshaun Kaiser on twenty four to seven.
Okay, big arm.
And I wrestled with that little bit, and I was wondering, if you put the Sean Kaiser in that Georgia offense, how would they do.
Hey do pretty well.
I think he's got a pretty good supporting cast already. Obviously the recruiting has been there, and if the Jamie Newman thing doesn't work out, you could definitely see a situation where Kirby Smart hands the keys over to someone who's going to do enough to get the ball to playmakers and turn the ball over to defense and win a lot of football games. So that's an interesting situation because there's a supporting cast.
Yeah, absolutely no, He'll have good receivers. George Pickens obviously highlights the situation in Athens and the other advantages. It's not like an offensive coordinator comes in with his guy preconceived notions. Todd Monkin is new. This is a new
offense we're assuming for Georgia. And I'm actually going to stay in the state because of Jeff Simms and he was committed to Florida State now Georgia Tech, And if you watched Georgia Tech football last year, you didn't come away thinking, man, do they have passing figured out?
Yeah? No.
And Jeff Simms, the four star quarterback I think from Florida. He's skinny, but the ball flies off of his hand. I like watching him a lot than the limited amount of tape I've seen on him. I think he'll at least compete. I think he has an opportunity because of how much they're still overhauling the offense in Atlanta to see some time.
The one that I am super intrigued by is Harrison Bailey at Tennessee. Okay, so Tennessee still has Jared Guarantano obviously, and Jared Garantano has been all over the map. Sometimes he's been really good, other times he's been really bad. I don't know if this is a situation where Harrison Bailey comes in and plays right away. I don't think it is. But he's a four star kid out of Marietta, Georgia. He's got prototypical size. The comp I saw was Kyle Orton,
who's really good in college. If you remember Kyle True, he absolutely was. He by all accounts is the kind of guy who could thrive in a situation where he's playing off a lot of play action. And it seems to me like that's a spot at Tennessee that that could suit him well. If it falls through with Guarantano and if Harrison Bailey is given an opportunity, that's another
situation where really good recruiting class. There's a lot to like about the way Tennessee played second half of the year last season, and that's an interesting situation to me as someone who could come in.
Yeah, and big dude, physically he seems to be there. It's how quickly can you pick up the offense? How quickly you know, just being thrust as into the starting quarterback at Tennessee. It's a lot to ask Yoh for Shan Georgia playing Florida, Yeah, this is this is a lot playing South Carolina's defense. I wouldn't envy a situation like that, no matter how physically ready he may seem. I think Jarrett Garant Guarantano has that that job on lock. But we've seen bad Jarrett.
Yes, it's exactly.
It's ugly. It's really ly, so we could I could see reps be it in garbage time, be it against some smaller teams early, sure we could. We should be able to see something from him, even though there's a couple of a couple of guys ahead of him right now in the depth chart.
Now the name and I said three and a half. The final name I'll throw out here. I really want to say Deuce Hogan at Iowa.
Yeah, just because his name is Deuce Hogan.
I don't honestly believe that this is going to be a situation where he's going to do anything other than red shirt.
I want to move on to teams because I have a natural transition from this discussion point that are desperate Oh no, or updating and remodeling. Ty, you you've been in houses. I've been in houses. You walk in You're like, oh, you love nineteen ninety two. You really loved what nineteen ninety two look like where it's just white carpet and
weird mirror placements and there's a sunken living room. You know what I'm talking about out Tie, just desperate for the property Brothers or Fixer Up or one of one of our favorite shows on was HGTV Need some Ship Lap. Let's start with some remodeling because let's start with Michigan State, whose offense was terrible. It's a big question mark at this point because we do not know what to expect
out of this Michigan State team. We know that they focused on receiver that you know, a lot of receivers and running backs are out. They lost offensive skilled to transfer guys. Darius Snow is the jewel of the class. But this this is a Michigan State team who recruited well enough when they were winning games, they you know, whether it was Malik McDowell, whoever, where they were getting three, four or five six blue chips eventually in a class.
There were zero in this year's class, lower part of the Big ten, So not a lot of optimism for immediate retooling, remodeling and renovation in East Lansing. But UCLA u CLA is a little bit interesting to me. They bring in a blue chip quarterback. They weren't great at quarterback last season, even though we went into it in a promising way. The focus in this class was upfront on defense, which it probably should have been. Damian Sellers
great linebacker. Looks like I watched a little bit of his tape from Arizona quarterback from New Hampshire, the Granite State tie. And his name is Parker McQuary. And where is granite mined? Tie in a quarry?
Yeah, that's right.
That is a fun fact that only Tom Hammond.
That is true. True.
UCLA desperate for some renovation remodeling. Will see what happens in year three. But at least their recruiting is improving from where it was as they lose a ton of guys. They lost the O Howard's Oklahoma unfortunately he gets hurt. NC State. At least they finished in the top half. I think they finished number six in the ACC. They went hard after receivers. They revamped their coaching staff. Porter Rooks is the jewel of this class. They don't bring
any transfers in, but twelve guys. Twelve guys will not be in Carter Finley next year. I guess that's probably headlined by Matt McKay, who I think a lot of people are optimistic about it. Quarterback. He goes to Montana State. So I'm not feeling great about NC state renovation. TCU third in the Big twelve. Your beautiful, beautiful purple horn Frogs tie. You're ready, right, I've been ready ready since two thousand and eight. A lot of receiver, a lot
of offensive line. They bring back Doug Meacham to take over the offense he once at least co coordinated. Justin Rodgers is out, Michael Collins is out. So it's a good class. It's third in the Big twelve. I'm not previewing TCU right now, but in terms of at least some optimism, there is reason to feel pretty good in Fort Worth, and that's to me, is the jewel of these renovation cases. I don't feel good otherwise about I mean, Missoo is desperate after last year. We went through their
recruiting class and it's pretty good. I mean the Eli Drinkwitz fa or is elite. But I think of anybody's houses, of anybody's homes, the horn frogs have the best chance to D sync that living.
Room, all right, D sink the living room.
Dcink the living room. That's all I ask. A sunken living room is rough. Okay, Well, how do you feel about Notre Dames class? What is there anybody from Notre Dame's class that makes you and you can play it one more time, have a reaction just like Eli Drinkwitz did. Yeah, it did. Is there anything like a singular commit or class Yeah.
Anything that gave me the full drink wits.
Yeah.
I gotta be honest, it's it's tough to sort of compose myself after the Kyle Hamilton get last year. Like, I'm still kind of okay, I'm still sort of in the in the glow of that one. I have a very unnatural affinity for Chris tyree Purpose, who I think that's from Virginia. Not a big kid, but really exciting someone who could give them some explosiveness. I really like that.
What I like about it running the ball well these past couple of years.
Yeah, but there's a bit of uncertainty about which direction that running game is headed. We saw questions on that front last year. Of course, they had some losses that they had to replace and injuries that they needed to deal with. So now as they kind of shift from Chip long over to Thomas Reeves, of course it's a question of, well, what does that running game look like? And I feel better knowing that they have some other weapons that they that they can use. They did go
heavy at receiver though, and I think that's important. Notre Dame has done very well at the receiver position the last couple of years. It is a position they need to restock. So I'm excited to see guys like Jordan Johnson who comes up from Missouri. Excited Xavier Watts, who is maybe only a three star but someone that I've read a lot of exciting stuff about as well, even
at tight end. You know, their biggest recruit was a gentleman by the name of Michael Meyer, who is somehow only eighteen, but in his photo looks like he might be thirty eight.
Yeah, it looks like JJ Watts's uncle.
He's incredible from Kentucky sixty four two thirty four. He's a five star tight end. I like the fact that they went out they got some of these guys that can make an impact on the offensive side of the ball. They didn't do it so much in a way that it disadvantaged other aspects of their recruiting class. They did pick up a couple offensive and defensive linemen, but I think by and large, when you look at this there was clearly a focus on adding some receiver options, and
I like that. I think they did a pretty good job. Not as high a class as they've had in recent memory, but I think pound for pound a pretty good one. I think they were like number seventeen or something overall.
I also saw they brought in a starting receiver from Northwestern. I think he probably has to sit out a year. I don't know what his transfer status is. Isaiah Pryor from Ohio State safety transfer yep to Notre Dame and Brandon Huffman talked about. I think it was but Tosh Baker, the offensive lineman he loves from Arizona basketball player as well. Tall guys should develop well six Notre Dame, big dude. So good class for Notre Dame, very good. No more Chase Claypool, right, he's done.
Chase Claypool is going in the NFL. Yeah.
Yeah, So they need to replace a good chunk of production there.
Yeah, so we'll see. But I think by and large they did. They did a really good job. You know, Notre Dame won't be without its fair share of questions going into twenty twenty. But this is not a class that you're going to look at and say, oh boy, they're in trouble. This is this is a pretty good class.
They will be without Phil dr Kovic, who transferred to Boston College. They will be without Filedderkovic also tie before we sign off, how many corrections do you think will be made by people listening to the show via email or Twitter or solidverble dot reddit dot com.
Uh, about six and a half, That's what.
I was thinking. I was right around a touchdown, that we pronounced a name wrong, that we got a position wrong, that we you know, somebody has torn their acl so clearly they're not going to be an early impact guy this coming fall. I would maybe we need an old stat boy type person, the stat boy PTI used to have because on these recruiting shows, woof six and a half is if we're under six and a half, I would consider the show to be a success.
That sounds That sounds about right. Okay, now taking applications for stat boy.
Yeah, or stat girl, stash stack girl, stat gal, whatever you want to call yourself.
All right, Well, that's National Signing Day it is. We will talk more about this as we progress forward. Lord knows, there's plenty of news to discuss. It doesn't seem to ever end, even though we are now squarely in the college football offseason. So we'll be back in about a week Yeah, talk through more of what's going on. We've got a lot of stuff planned. As we sat at the top. Subscribe to the show so you get everything delivered to your podcasting app of choice automatically. You can
also sign up for the newsletter. Again, as I said at the top, we are starting to think about live shows for later this year. What's up Ketch You can Yeah, if you want to be notified early and often about those, get yourself the best chance of tickets. You can sign up for the newsletter. Just go to soliverbo dot com. Fill out the newsletter formed, just give us your email. We promise we're not gonna spam you. It's not.
What is our number one? Because we discussed this and we know where our downloads come from, yep, so we knew when the National Championship game was in Atlanta, for instance, We're like, we have a solid chunk of people in or around Atlanta that we think might show up, and they did. We had an amazing crowd in Atlanta. Or Chicago had a great crowd. Dallas Fort Worth area had a great crowd. We've really we've we've been strategic. What is a city that is probably nowhere near our most
listened to city or town or whatever. But there's a robust little following like are we huge in Missoula? Like, at least compared to other podcasts I'm not doing, like do you like is? Do you do? You always see like, oh, we've we've got like a steady eighty three people listening in Paris, Texas.
Well, I don't. There's something surprising. So I'll say this. I don't have in front of me the full list, okay, of of where we're downloaded, but I do have a top twenty five okay, and the top twenty five has had some some interesting results over the span of the last year. The one that jumps out to me as being one of our most downloaded cities is Philly.
Oh okay, love Philly.
Now Philly doesn't exactly fall into the you know, small town motif, so to speak, but Temple Zone Philly has done really well for us, and Philly is obviously very close to me, So that would be an intriguing spot. Dark Horse, Yeah, an intriguing spot. Some of the other ones that I find of interest, I've heard good things about Nashville, Tennessee.
Yeah, it's I've been there. It's a good time.
I've never been to the Pacific Northwest. I've been to Portland, Oregon, but I've never been to Seattle. And Seattle does pretty well. Okay, that's another one and one other one that I'll throw out here just off the top of my head because I can't seem to get this to load. We had a really good time in Minneapolis.
We did have a great time in Minneapolis. Facts only, so just some places that are of interest. But Philly, if i'm if I'm thinking.
Put off the cuff here, Philly is the one that surprises me, maybe because it is known more of a professional sports town than a college town. But yet we get a ton of downloads from there.
Okay, so we like there's no Yeah, I want to know, like what market number one oh four is?
Yeah?
Are we big and broken Bow Nebraska? Are we big in Overland Park? That's just Kansas City, though.
We're big in Spartanville, South Carolina.
There's one that would be oh see, that's great, great to know playblow Colorado.
I will find these you know.
That El Segundo Yell? Okay, all right, I would go to flag Staff. There's a pizzaria. I really want to Honestly, if we could do a show at Pizza Cletta in Flagstaff, I'd be thrilled.
All right, well right in. You know, sOliver bloodgmail dot com. Let us know where you want to see us. We already have pretty good data on where our people are at, but we're always up and open minded for new suggestions. So Soliverblodgmail dot com or any of our social channels is where you can hit us up and let us know what's on your mind, where you might want to come and see a live show. As we are planning that stuff out for probably later July, early to mid August,
some time in that time block. We'll be back in a week. We'll talk more college football Dan. In the meantime, hope you enjoy the rest of your evening and all.
Of your week. Thank you you too, Ty.
I will talk to you soon. I will talk to all y'all pretty soon here as a college football offseason plods forward. For that guy over there, Dan Rubinstein, for myself, Die Hilton Brand. Thanks again for tuning in, Cat y'all soon, Stay solid, hey,