Welcome to the solid verbal hull that for me. I'm a man, I'm for I've heard so many players say, well, I want to be happy.
You want to be happy for a day?
Edith Steak is that woo woom? And then and Tye, welcome back to the Solid Verbal boys and girls. My name is ty hilden Brand, joining me once more, the one, the only Dan Rubinstein out there in Chicago, Illinois. How you doing, man?
Long time?
He'll talk. I can't.
I don't know if we can license anymore. I don't know again because I was about to start singing. And it's a cover version. It's not playing the actual it's a terrible cover version. But I have I've waited here for you, Tie while I've been attending to business. That's more important because there is a second solid baby.
Hey, Youngratue.
I'm pretty good and pretty tired, but pretty excited to be back after what Andy Staples and Matt Brown too feer friends of the show filled in for a couple of fantastic shows. So I'm no worse for the wear. In fact, I am better for the wear because I have a healthy baby boy number two. I kind of joked about it talking about a family band that I wanted to start, that I should have another kid. We're a little bit of ways away from that. But healthy baby, Solid baby number two boy. So I'm a boy dad
in a big way. And I got to tell you, Solid toddler not super interested his little brother, so not dealing well.
Now.
I mean he's like squarely in the terrible too. So you know, everything is a change and difficult, but at the same time pretty fun. So yeah, got two little guys in the house and can't complain. Everybody's healthy. Everything went smoothly in the hospital. We were actually we actually went in to be induced because Jody with and I was beyond ready. And they sent us home and they're like, eh, there's no room, no room at the end, come back
in a few hours. And so then they called us and we went back and everything went super well, and so we in the shadow tie the Shadow of Ryan Field is where Solid Baby number two arrived.
Born the same day as Mamma H's birthday. No less, that's true, the nineteenth Yeah, correct, So if you are looking to steal Mama H's identity, that's right, you've gotten one step closer. I get. I guess the operative question here. Since this is the first a lot of folks are hearing about this. Did you know about this in advance or did it just happen.
Just sprung up on us. I thought Jody was looking more broad. Didn't have any clue, none in the least. No, we knew.
That's good.
Jody was pregnant. Yeah, to answer your question, well, Jody was pregnant, and we were very fortunate that through all of the moving and through all of a very pretty trying last year, everything went well on that end. So that's good. I'm thrilled to be a father of two.
You know, when you busted out the acoustic guitar in the beginning, I thought you were going to break out into song, because every band in the history of bands has the band leader who writes the song about the newborn.
Of course, I have not done that. If anything, I just am spending more time in the basement with the solid toddler, looking up random blink onin eighty two and apparently Foo Fighters tabs and tuning my guitar down to accommodate my spur of the moment guitar tab needs.
Whatever you can do with power chords and a g in a C and a D.
You're good, it's plenty, It's plenty.
Well, welcome back to you, sir, it's great to have you back. Congratulations, I'm glad everything went well. Thank you, and welcome back to our trusted verballerhood out there on the intersphere. Hello, I am Ty, He's Dan. Don't forget to subscribe to the show. We've got a Q and A show coming up on the Thursday release of the podcast. As you know, we do twice a week in this year off season. At some point, as we get closer to the actual season, we'll switch back up to three,
but for now we are sticking with two. You can also going out to verballers dot com because at verballers dot com that's where you can find our Patreon where you can find the tears by getting some bonus content and some other fun stuff that we give you access to if you decide to pledge. Yes, follow along on social media as well, Daniel, I guess we're doing a bit of a baby theme show today, aren't we.
We absolutely are. If I can't use my baby for content inspiration, what is the point, Tie, So, I don't know how much news you want to I mean Alan Bowman, if you want to play the song, if you have your voice zoomed breaking abbreviated breaking, not bad, not bad. Eric Gilbert also back in the transfer portal. Little dip dip of the toes in Gainesville just went in the beak.
I'm not sure exactly. Hopefully more will come out soon about what exactly did or didn't happen in Gainsville for Eric Gilbert, but he's officially back in the transfer portal. VI All Everything combo tight end receiver who ended up at LSU from the state of Georgia, went to Florida and now is back in the transfer portal, So potentially we'll see what happens in terms of who might be
getting an interesting pass catcher. And Alan Bowman, who had a promising start, took his career at Texas Texas quarterback and dealt with a number of pretty significant health issues including lung issues, collapse, lng issues, airlifting issues. He found his way now to Ann Arbor to add depth and compete for the starting quarterback job that is presumably open. Kate Cunningham, JJ McCarthy, the incoming freshman now Alan Bowman battling for the starting job there, which is not a
great sound battled. Now. So Joe Milton, of course started last year and he is now in the transfer portal himself, and it just doesn't sound like the quarterback room has ever been fully solved at in an arbor, at least since the glory days of Jake Rudoch. So yeah, I Alan Bowman kind of looked like a shell of himself. I hope a change of scenery is good for him, good for Michigan. I hope it works out. But I don't know. When you're banking on that kind of thing.
It's things seem dire to me. And I know Michigan fans, you know, want to have hope and be optimistic, but man, I don't know, it looks like you're adding up a lot of dimes and trying to convince everybody you have a dollar. So that's definitely not an idiom, and that's definitely something I invented poorly just now. But I don't know, that's just how it sort of how I feel about it and hope it works out.
Yeah. The other news, it's of course very sad and tragic. But I'm guessing you saw the news about Lewis Nicks.
Oh my goodness, yes, awful.
Awful story. They found him dead on Saturday, a few days after he was reported missing, down in Jacksonville, Florida. Just twenty nine years old, A big personality, a big part of some really solid Notre Dame teams, and a fan favorite. So when the news, well.
Loved among the coaches and players and South Bend. Oh yeah, really really tragic. I'm sure details more and more will come out, but yeah, had been injured. I think he was shot in December in Florida, and so it doesn't sound like things were going all that great. And man, I just hate to see it. It's sad stuff, that sad stuff.
Immediately upon seeing the news, just slogged onto Twitter and saw a lot of what the Notre Dame faithful had to say about Lewis and sad stuff. Hate to close it out on a sad note here, but it is news and I certainly wish his family well. Okay, with that being said, we have two choices here for our sounds to intro some of these different things that we're going to discuss.
You, we've got a not an easy transition. We should mention this is as good as we can do. This is as good as we can do something awful to something more off season, Drilly, We've.
Got option A, which is more standard. Now that is not your baby, it's a baby I found on YouTube. And then we've also got this one. We want to get a little bit more poppy with it. We can go either one. You could tell me as we go through our game, what's your feeling, Moro, since you are the man of the hour, the father of the hour, Dan Rubinstein, our game today is called in their infancy?
Yes, correct, Well, I guess I guess we could use it. Feels like the Justin Bieber baby is more optimistic and the crying is more pessimistic. Right, So could we not assign situations their own baby? Sound?
We could? It's our damn show. We could do whatever we want. Sure what we are doing here we are taking a look at coaches that started their journey in twenty twenty. Obviously a weird year in twenty twenty. As we move forward into twenty twenty one, I'm going to get an opportunity to see more of what they can do.
But we've got a long list of coaches here who are about to enter their second year with their current school, and I guess we probably won't have time to go through all these maybe we will, but we're going to pick a few out of the grab bag here and break down where they're at, how things are going. Their ten years are obviously still in their infancy, get it, And we're going to see if the program's growing old and strong or if it's just sort of in that
developmental phase still. Let's sound about right.
That sounds absolutely correct.
So you get first, pick your first showback, new father of two, I should say, yeah, where we going first.
Let's go Lane Kiffin. Let's go at the biggest name on the board in terms of and we should mention that when we say in their infancy, it's pretty clear that twenty twenty was not a normal first season for coaches because it was a normal It was not a normal anything season for any coaches in any situation across
the country. We all know this by now. That's sort of an old hat way of looking back, but for new coaches it was especially tough, with abbreviated to no spring practice and workouts being very different and the season being up and down depending on just whether it was going to happen or not. Depending on the power conference that these coaches are coaching in, and then the very different way of scheduling fall camp and the season, and
on again, off again scheduling situations. So it was an especially situation for brand new coaches trying to get to know their team and their recruiting and their new town, moving families and everything that comes along with being a first year coach. So of all these coaches, I think Lane Kiffin at ole Miss is the biggest name, perhaps in the biggest division in college football, the SEC West. So let's start talking about ole Miss in its infancy under Lane Kiffin. I am looking at this with I
think rose colored eyes, rose colored glasses. Whatever, I am high on ole Miss. I know the situation is difficult in that division, but based on the recruiting, based on what quarterback looks like moving forward, I am, and based on the results. I mean, you take the Auburn game and you flip it to ole Miss if you would like to. Because of the ending and controversy they're in with that game, I believe Ole Miss would have one five of its final six. So momentum seems on the side.
Whatever you believe in momentum of Ole Miss and recruiting quarterback and hopefully defense. I mean that's gonna be the big question mark given where all Miss was defensively before Lane Kiffin arrived. But to me, it's trending upwards. I see healthy growth rounding into shape. But the weight gain is the hair. Every check mark is coming in next to the appropriate box.
To me, Well, here's the thing. When Lane took over, one of the things that you could point to was his knowledge of offense, and the other one was on the recruiting trail. He's a gifted.
Recruits going to recruit.
He's going to recruit. Year one in the twenty twenty class, Lane Kiffen finishes twelfth in the SEC sixth after this past cycle.
Yeah, and that's with like no time that first class, the twenty twenty class because of the early signing period. It's kind of an impossibility. It's an impossibility. But the important point here in looking at a number of these other coaches that he is going to be compared against, a lot of them didn't go up in terms of rankings, They didn't improve, some of them stayed static. Lane Kiffin went from twelve to six. Weird year blah blah, blah,
but still noted improvement. Secondly to the first point, they.
Scored a ton of points this year, Dan, They were fun as hell to watch. They got knocked around a little bit against just a brutal first half schedule that had Florida and Bama and Auburn, and you know, Arkansas was tougher than expected.
Well through those the.
Ton of interception game was the Arkansas gau five or six picks. Yeah, they beat some good teams in the second half. They beat Mississippi State, they beat Indiana in the bowl game. Maybe I shouldn't be lumping LSU in with a quote unquote good team, but they're still talented. They could have beaten LSU, which would have been a moment for Lank Kiffin. That was a low key great game. Yeah, so five and five was what Kiffin finished at after bowl season. I think that's a hell of a job
in year one for the Lane train. I'm with you, man, I'm super bullish on on Lane Kiffen.
Something fascinating to pay attention to is also when we talk about recruiting, we now have to especially consider transfer recruiting, losing transfers, bringing in transfers, and certainly what it was what Kenny Oboa from Temple was an immediate contributor at that sort of tight end receiver spot. So what Ole Miss does in the portal is going to be interesting moving forward. I know they added a few guys last year, lost a few guys this year. We'll see the quarterback
room gets a little thinner. But it looks like obviously they have a quarterback of the present and it looks like they have a quarterback of the future. So it looks like in terms of their I think twenty four to seven calls it scholarship distribution, they're in a nice place. The defense needs to get a lot better, but there's time and the expectation right now is that the the roster will become better and better stocked with talent. So yeah,
I am especially between Ole Miss and Mississippi State. In state, I mean, I gotta lean Kiff at this point. Oh yeah for sure. Okay, yeah, so we're feeling good.
I want to go to.
Where you want to go. Let's go to a different conference or we can stay in the SEC.
I want to go to Meltucker.
Okay.
Mel Tucker takes over very late in the cycle for Michigan. State comes over from Colorado. Michigan State finishes with the tenth best class in the Big Ten, which does not have ten teams anymore. Right, this past cycle stayed static, finished tenth again. This is a team that went two and five in YR one weird year. We assume twenty twenty was weird. Yes, of course, beat Michigan on the road, Dan, I know Michigan was not quote unquote. Michigan was right
there with Rutgers, Tie was right there. But beating Michigan on the road was a big deal for Mel Tucker and y're one. You don't have a whole lot to be excited about, but that's something that you could point to, something that you could try to use on the recruiting trail. Michigan State as a defensive entity was still very good this past season. Couldn't do much on offense. I think they need to improve there. I think they know they
need to improve there. But as defensive entity, they were pretty good.
I know the numbers and some of the advanced metrics like Michigan State, but we're still talking about an Ohio State team gashing Michigan State, Iowa Iowa gashing Michigan State it's it's tough for me. In the second half against Penn State, I think that was what a Johan Dotson Parker Washington Clinic.
Right.
They were up twenty one to ten at halftime and then just got totally demolished in the second half. So giving up forty nine to fifty two and nearly forty to close out the season. I know they beat Northwestern in there, get shut out against Indiana. Yes, the defense was the clear bright spot, but I wouldn't go as far as very good.
Defense was demonstrably better than the offense. And if we're looking for bright spots, yes, in terms of advanced analytics, they were twelveth in defense. I'll admit that's tougher number twelve. Yeah, that's tougher to swallow. But on a per play basis, sure that was the bright spot. They need to get better at not turning the football over. It was a
huge problem for them this season. They were among the worst in college football, had a minus nine turnover ratio, which is just not going to help when you're a new team with a new coach trying to get some momentum. Turnovers kill that. So they need to do better in that regard, but I think I still feel really good about mel Tucker. You know, he was a guy who
obviously went to Colorado with much acclaim. Michigan State ponied up gave him the big bucks to come up to East Lansing very late in the cycle to try and work his magic. So it feels like he's a guy who is building momentum even though the results may not be there. Again, we're twenty twenty.
I don't think I'm super high if I'm using quarterback of the future recruiting what they look like to a minimal degree in twenty twenty as some sort of barometer, some sort of litmus test, whatever, I don't necessarily see a quarterback of the future. Do you know how many Michigan State commitments the Spartans got out of the top fifteen players in state in the class of twenty twenty one top fifteen. Zero of the State of Michigan's top
fifteen players are going to East Lansing. It's not everything, but it's something. They lost commitments to Michigan. It's just it's not an amazing place to be right now. And so he Meltalker has recruited pretty well, has a good history of resonating with players on the trail. I'm just I'm looking at this team and I'm trying to find a reason to think, yeah, they can eventually be a top forty offense. I don't see the a game changer
at any clear skill position. And I just I wonder because right now the Big Ten with a what we presume to be still average to down Michigan and Wisconsin and Penn State after Ohio State, there are no sure things. I mean, I suppose depending on how much you believe in Iowa or Minnesota, whoever. But Indiana. I always believe in Indiana. L el but I don't know this. It feels like there needs to be more reason for hope because I don't know, it seems as open as ever
to say, yeah, they can go eight in four. The Big Ten is at a place between the new coaches, between the misfires at coordinators, between the perhaps one year success blips of certain teams. I just I'm disappointed in Michigan State isn't moving in a direction to make their own fans feel more confident. To me, I don't know, what do you think?
Yeah, I mean, I'm not too put off by the fact that they're only signing three stars and that maybe.
Well, no, there's a trail. There's three stars, and there's higher level three stars. Finishing tenth, eleventh, twelfth out of you know, not that many more teams in the Big ten.
Is that's a problem?
Not great?
No, it's not ideal. I'm not put off as much by the recruiting stuff. I take your point, though, about the offense and trying to revamp that and turn things around. Mel Tucker's a defensive guy. I think he's going to put a good enough defense out there. But the problem, at least over the last five years for the Spartans has been offense had not been able to put it together. I guess the looming problem for mel Tucker is in looking at this schedule Dan coming up in twenty twenty one.
If we're taking wins and losses as a measure for momentum, first half of the schedule at Northwestern to open up the year, not the easiest game in the world. At Miami week three, They've got a game against Nebraska in there. On the road at Rutgers and Indiana. Now, look, no one's saying these are juggernauts, but that's the easy part of the schedule. Yep, that's the easy part of the schedule.
Because after the bye week, going into Halloween weekend, we've got games against Michigan at Purdue and Maryland back to back weeks at Ohio home against Penn State back to back weeks to close things out. It gets a lot harder. So they got to get their house in order very early on through those first seven games or so if they're going to try and establish any kind of real momentum going into the latter part of the season, because that's gonna be a tough stretch. Michigan's not gonna be
as bad as they wear a year ago. Ohio State Penn State will be again loaded for bear and ready to go. Even if they're not as good as they were a year ago. In the case of Ohio State, they're still gonna be pretty damn good. So it's just gonna get harder and they got to figure it out. I'm not uber confident that they can do it, but I guess I'm just biased because I like Bell Tucker. I like the higher at Colorado, I like bringing him
up to Michigan State, albeit under weird circumstances. I'm willing to give him a bit of a free pass in a goofy years see if he can turn things around now in twenty one.
Yeah, I just don't know. If I'm a Jay Johnson guy the Sparti offensive coordinator. I just Michigan State, even when they succeeded, because we're always going to have to look at the Spartans in the context of the Mark d Antonio era for the foreseeable future. Because the blueprint was there to win the division, win the conference, go to Rose Bowl, whatever, so it's more than doable. They went to the playoff tie. This is not a program
with no hope because they've done it. They've won, but they did so with smart offense, efficient offense, and defensive excellence.
And that wasn't including recruiting. So I think it's fair to say, you know, recruiting is not everything with them, but in terms of trajectory and what their offense looks like moving forward, they lose Rocky Lombardy, they add Anthony Russo you know, there was a lot of movement in the transfer portal in the secondary, which either means that they're active and they're attractive to people looking to reinforce the defense or they're scrambling, and you know, I assume
the truth is somewhere in between. But yeah, I would hope that moving forward, Michigan State can appeal to some sort of promising young quarterback who thinks he has an opportunity there to turn things around. But yeah, right now, it's it's a steep, uphill battle. So I am. I can't find a reason I will play. I will play the other baby? Sound okay? Yeah, what I'm saying.
That could be a happy cry. We don't know.
They could be.
That could be, but doesn't sound it? All right? Dan, I want to move. Let's talk about Mike Norvell.
Let's do it. Grnoles fourth in.
The ACC in recruiting in the first cycle, fourth in recruiting in the ACC in the second cycle under Norvell. A three and six finish overall. Beat North Carolina. Nice win, right, good win?
Yeah? An amazing first half anyway.
Yeah, beat North Carolina, landed Mackenzie Milton through the transfer portal, an immediate position of need at quarterback. I think, answering some questions, that's good for a Mike Norvel system. But I feel like I could go either way on this. We need more data on Mike Norvel in Tallahassee is what it ultimately amounts to. But this is not a program that has established a whole lot of momentum over
the last five years. I feel like we're still talking about some of the deficiencies there that we were talking about five years ago. We have Bud Elliott on the show talking about how bad the offensive line is, or you know, that offensive line problem hasn't really gone away. Have been able to solve that one. It still do a little better, It's gone a little bit better, but it's still not what I would consider solved. So we've got a program here that we know has limitless potential.
It's in a great recruiting hotbed, a ton of history, I think, a good coach to lead them to greener pastures, but kind of an incomplete with what we saw in year one. If you look at it at face value, three and six is not something that is all that palatable, not anything that would indicate any kind of continued momentum and success.
I am optimistic. I'm a Florida State optimist right now, because one, they have already landed a couple of absolute studs. So if they can hold on to them from the twenty twenty two class. That's an increasing I think it's the number one player in Georgia, one of the top corners in the country. I look at quarterback recruiting in terms of Okay, we've got Chubba Party, which is the
clear quarterback of the future after Mackenzie Milton. Let's hope Mackenzie Milton's lower body is okay and he's able to step into throws and plant and look as accurate as he did way back when under Scott Frost. And he was also fine under Josh Hypel, but that the Scott Frost season was special. So I am I'm trending in a good direction with Mike Norvell. I think the offensive line will continue to improve. They're young, a lot of their talent is young, and so we've been saying that
for a long time. But I think we've now reached the point where the locker room is going to be a series of better fits at various position groups. Because we're talking about Jimbo holdovers into Willie Taggart holdovers into Mike Norvell new guys and sorting out that that dynamic within the locker room it's going to be tricky, and so I think we are getting to a good point. Of course, Chubba Party hurt himself and we'll have time now if he is indeed the real deal to develop
behind Mackenzie Milton, we presume. I am just I'm optimistic. I like the skill position guys, I like the younger guys there. They need to have an amazing, bonkers class this year because I think the last two years they finished fourth in the ACC. They should never ever, ever, ever, ever finished below third in that conference. You wanted some
combination of Clemson in Miami with them. North Carolina should not be out recruiting Florida State in any year, how charming and wonderful mac Brown is on the trail, Florida State should be ahead of North Carolina each and every year, and so I am cautiously optimistic that they will be. That this is going to be an excellent class for the Knowles. So I'm a believer. I am an absolute believer in the Mike norvel Era. Yeah.
The other thing, Florida's state was kind of in disarray when he got there. Of course, it's kind of in disarray. That's why I got there and while he was there. Last was a tough off season. It was a stately tough off season, very tough offseason. But he got there and it was a program very much in disarray. That's why they hired him in the first place. So it can take a while to build these things up, and especially given circumstances. I feel like that's a qualifier for
each of these coaches that we're going to discuss. But I think I share your optimism. I like the hire when they brought him down. I didn't think they overthought it. They brought in a guy who could certainly help revidalize offense. And as you said, I think the early steam on the recruiting trail is all very positive. So I think I'm feeling I think I'm feeling pretty good about this. I was pretty high in Florida State too, and I think we did one of our look ahead episodes a
few weeks back. I'm pretty high in Florida State.
Good same page, and there's I mean, you look at what the line looks like moving forward. You are the defensive line. Excuse me, I mean interior. We'll see, we'll see. I don't know if there's there are immediate answers on the inside. But you look at what the linebacker position looks like moving forward, especially you look at what they've done on the recruiting trail at the secondary positions, I mean that corner at safety. They're in a nice spot.
They're in a nice spot. I know they've lost a couple guys, but I think that speaks more to the uh the evolving nature of having three coaches in not that many more years.
Speaking of being high, Oh no, talking about your boy, Jeff Halfley, You love Jeff Haick.
Oh yeah, you loved I think so.
Yeah. Jeff Hafley went six and five in year one for the Boston College Eagles. Twelfth in recruiting in the ACC's first cycle, went up a few pegs to eighth after this most recent cycle helped develop Phil Jerkovic, who came over from Notre Dame. Had a good season seventeen touchdowns to just five interceptions. I thought BC was pleasantly a surprise this past season. They played hard. They were right up there against teams like Clemson Lawrence without Trevor Lawrence.
But still that's meaningful for Boston College year one under halfway to be that close against the Clemson team, even without Treyl Lawrence. That's a big deal, very close against North Carolina as well. This is a team that got up for some of the biggest games on its schedule, and that is one of the intangibles that I like to look at when we're looking at any new team in their new coach. We're looking at any team with
their new coach. If there is that tenacity, that pluck when they're out there on the field, I think that's a positive sign. So I'm pretty optimistic here.
Yeah, outside of the game against Virginia Tech, I mean it was win loss, win, loss, win loss, snip snap, snip, snap all season long, So they were they were a contact hitter, they were putting the ball in play. They know, when I say the Virginia Tech game, they lost that game comfortably. But otherwise, I mean, they had the strange win against Louisville. But the games that they did lose, they weren't blown out in and that's a nice encouraging sign.
Filled Jerkovic was interesting. What do you call him? Herky Jerky? But you know, there's no clear quarterback in the future following filed dr Kovic, but I like the staff. He's put together, even though the defense was kind of a nightmare at times. I'm somewhat confident in Jeff Haffley in
his ability to simplify things and get that defense. And recruiting is is interesting, right, They're Boston College is never gonna be a top five class in the ACC just by the nature of being where they are geographically and the states that surround Massachusetts. It's just going to be
an uphill battle recruiting. But if we start seeing more and more of those high level three stars, if they're getting those guys from Ohio and from New Jersey, and you know, winning those battles against similarly sized and programs with similar expectations, then they're going to be They're going to continue to be a hard out and those games like losing by whatever it was, ten to eleven points to Virginia or losing by four or five points to North Carolina, They're going to be able to beat those
good but flawed teams every now and then. So I am I'm up on BC, but it is going to take two and a half years to I think fully realize what Halfley can get the Eagles team to be.
Yeah, even if they continue picking up an extra win each season if they keep playing hard the way they did that to me would be a big upgrade. Not to say they didn't before, but it just felt like it took on a different feel in twenty twenty. Defense needs to improve, we know that, but offensively, I just I admire the way that they played under Halfley. Seems like there was a plan, like it was going somewhere. It all felt like very cohesive, which I can't say
as much about the previous regimes. So I was hugely optimistic about Halfley in year one. Definitely a little biased because of fielder Covid coming over from Notre Dame, but I think if you're a BC fan, you got to feel pretty good about this.
You know what I also like about Boston College. They were a pretty good special teams team that they could find hidden yards, they could find hidden points. That's if you go back, what two three years now to that Syracuse team who played well in the ACC despite not having killers all over the place on the field, they
were a good spe teams team. And that's how you tip those three five six point losses into wins by picking up those extra yards and turning them into short fields and you know, flipping the game in interesting ways. So that's that's another reason, the sort of hidden stuff I like about Boston College.
I'm with you, So we're good. We're feeling good. Feeling good about this all right? Why your boy Jimmy Lake, My boy? Yeah, Jimmy Lake had a four game slate this year for Washington because the PAC twelve only played a handful of games. Second in recruiting to close out the first cycle sixth this past cycle, Jimmy Lake took over from within. So when Chris Peterson left, Jimmy Lake was promoted. Had a familiarity with the program. Defensive minded guy, right Dan, I.
Would hope, so as a defensive coordinator.
Yeah, so now he's stepping into this new role. Did we see enough out of Washington in year one to really make any kind of assessment here?
I mean, the PAC twelve is especially hard to figure out because Washington played four games in twenty twenty and didn't start until what November? So I don't know what you can possibly take from Washington that seriously in either direction. I mean, they go three and one, they're not able to play in the packed TLAL Championship games. To Oregon
steps in. There are certainly things to really like about Washington and the way the defense plays and the talent that's there that he helped to develop when he was the coordinator. The thing I'm concerned about is you mentioned the recruiting
numbers and the drop off. So Chris Peterson retires. I believe it's what late November early December twenty nineteen, so that class is pretty much done signing days two weeks later, and Jimmy Lake does a good job, you know, keeping things together for that class, finishing strong on the actual signing day, and that they finished what number two you said in the PAC twelve the class of twenty twenty yep. So that's crazy encouraging that Washington was able to attract
talent there. And I was pretty bullish on Jimmy Lake himself, a big personality known as a good recruiter, and you know, he was one of the guys you could always count on after the Apple Cup, just explaining, hey, Mike Leach does the same thing every year, and so we just keep doing the same thing every year and it keeps working. He's a great quote, he's a you know, big personality.
I figured it would continue, but it looks like, you know, changes within the recruiting department, and you know Oregon coming on the way that they did as a recruiting force and USC bouncing back as a recruiting force in southern California. Washington is now at the point where they're having to defend their recruiting class and the steps back that they took as oh, we found a lot of diamonds in the rough, which is fine if they did, and it's fine to have that strategy, but if your goal is
to win the Pac twelve, not going to work. As down as the conference is. Jimmy's and Joe still matter, and they should matter to Jimmy, and I'm sure they do, but that to me is a concern. Quarterback of the future seems to be there in sam Hewart five star legacy in state coming in this year. And I don't think I was a huge fan of Dylan Morris. He was fine. I just I don't nobody really pops for me. I like Kate Otten at tight end, but nobody really pops for me on that offense. Ty Jones was their
leading wide receiver. He left for I believe Fresno, and he had his own issues at receiver. So it's I'd like to see more in terms of game changers on offense. And then you look at the game that they lost, and again four games. This is you know, they could have lost this game and gone on to win eighth straight or whatever, but they were just kind of bled out by Stanford, a not amazing Stanford team. However much you want to believe or not believe in twenty twenty
pack twelve results, I don't know. The offense left me wanting for more. And then on the recruiting thing, recruiting John Donovan and Bob Gregory, are they battling a lot of teams for those coordinator higher I don't know. I don't know. Maybe they were, but they hired Bob Gregory internally.
You know where I stand on the John Donovan thing. I still have antsd from his time at pinn State.
Yeah, I'm left in a sort of fox moulder. I want to believe, but I'm searching. I'm searching because you look at the strength of Washington in terms of talent groupings, it's clearly been in the secondary and they had ZTF this last year was not an incredible front that they were pushed around but ZTF is one of the great underrated Havo guys in college football. He was incredible from
the edge. But to have the guys drafted that they have had a Buddha Baker and all those you know, Marcus Peterson like obviously he got kicked off the team. But that's where the brand of Washington has been recently and they have just haven't turned it into success. On the recruiting trail, you look at this past year, not at all. There no blue chips in the secondary. So it's concerning to me. So I am I want to believe.
But outside of Sam Heward being just Bonker is incredible, I'm not sure what there is to buy in on.
Can we even buy in on Sam Hewart being.
Sure? I mean, big arm, five star quarterback, I mean the measurables and the belief in his potential is there. I don't know who he's throwing to that's going to be the next second coming or whatever of John Ross or I don't know who that person is. But yeah, if Samyward is incredible, he's gonna have to do a lot of it himself.
My only point is there have been a thousand quarterbacks who had big arms and he named Jake Tye.
There all named Jake, and this is the Sam.
Yeah. Now I'm I'm I'm going to I'm going passing this picture.
The good news we should say is they return a ton.
They do.
It's coming here. But in terms of long term projection, I'd like to see a big bounce back recruiting class before I fully buy in.
All right, we got time for one maybe two more. You want to pick a name out of the hat here, Dan, we can, we.
Can rapid fire these as well. I am. I am. I think lukewarm on Carl Durell. I think the transfer portal stuff is interesting. Lost a couple of key guys, bring in a couple key guys, we'll see. But to do what Colorado did, and I know their opponents weren't all that impressive, but I know they just they took advantage of mistakes from teams like UCLA and they get
blown out by Texas. It was an ugly, ugly Bowl loss, but I'm impressed with the resilience considering what they did or did not actually have a quarterback that they won like they did. I think that's a good reflection on Carl Durell. So I'm gonna say luke warm, not luke cold. On Carl Durrell. I don't know if you have any thoughts there.
Well, I mean I thought they actually had a pretty good showing to start out the year. Again, it's tough with the Pac twelve. They didn't play a whole lot of games, but they started four. And oh and I remember on the show talking like Colorado, Colorado look at
a lot better than expected. That being said, the Carl Durell hier to me as just like a passive observer, felt like he came out of left field, and even a couple of weeks into the year, it was like, oh yeah, I had to remind myself that Carl Durell was coaching again. So that's not to say that he can't and won't do a good job. But again, I kind of in the Washington camp here.
He's a really nice commitment for the class of twenty twenty two, a blue chip I think linebacker from Texas. So there is something And you have to remember with Carl Durell the point of the process in which he was hired. Mel Tucker was hired late, late late in the process because of the timing of Mark d Antonio's retirement, so he's already starting way way behind. So that's why, just to me, in year one, given all the craziness, it was pretty impressive.
Totally all right, how about Sam Pittman, Dan, Yeah, woo okay, three and seven. But the fact that this season was not a complete disaster would be the first bright spot. Second bright spot is they were plucky as hell, Man, They were plucky as hell. They beat Mississippi State, They could have beaten Auburn, They played well against Ole Miss could have beaten LSU, which would have been a big deal. They could have beaten Miszoos. So there were a bunch
of could have beatens on that schedule. And again, I just come back to the fact that because they weren't a total disaster, it was a huge step forward. They got a pretty good year out of Felipe Franks. You know, recruiting has improved from your one to year two under Sam Pittman. Really one of the bright spots in the SEC. If I'm being honest, I was so pumped to see the job that he did. Near one.
The question with Arkansas is the ceiling because obviously Sam Pittman has resonated on the recruiting trail. Obviously, he has resonated in coaching, hiring circles, and in the portal they've succeeded obviously. You know, the biggest mark was Felipe Franks coming over and being a reasonable success for the Hogs. They look like they may have a quarterback of the future. I think kJ Jefferson is fine. I hope he keeps resting. There's also I think it's Malie Hornsby is the other option,
the young quarterback option. So hopefully one of those guys works out. It looks like an open battle there. They may have the best receiver in the SEC. I mean where this is more team than Sam Pittman, but I I mean Trailon Burks, it's just something else. So there are immediate building blocks to feel good about with where Sam Pittman has Arkansas. The problem is who's trending noticeably
downward in the SEC West. I think LSU finished the season on a high note, and I think that was probably going to be a one year blip of embarrassment. And then TeX's A and M looks like they're still trending upwards. Alabama, the Mississippi schools look like they're in a decent place, even as Mississippi State closed out that most of the season in ugly fashion. I still think they're going to improve, and they look like they have
a quarterback of the future. So it's just I mean, Arkansas fans do and should expect winning records in bowl games, because that is reasonable to expect at a place like Arkansas's down as they've been recently, given the proximity to recruits, they should be a bowl team much more often than not. But the question is where those wins coming from? Where are those wins coming from? So I am optimistic, but I'm still looking for some of those pieces to the puzzle.
I'm still I mean, I love Barry Otam and he's making a ton of money in Fayetteville, and for good reasons, one of the absolute best defensive coordinators in college football. But where are those ws? Where are we finding them? That's the tough part to me.
Yeah, well that's the problem, isn't it.
Yeah. I mean we can talk about being like down on Jimmy Lake. I can find w's for Washington, I absolutely can. It's just tougher with Arkansas and they were there, They're right there and for a year zero nightmare of a twenty twenty if you were to tell Arkansas fans, you're going to hire this guy who hires good coordinators, brings in a legit quarter back, and you are competitive with teams much more often than not. I mean you're talking about a celebration orgy, that's all. Yeah, I mean,
I mean socially distanced. Socially distanced. So it's very encouraging so far. That's where I'll leave it.
Yeah, you take that, you absolutely take that.
Yeah.
What about Greg Schiano.
Rutgers man, I'm such a sunshine pumper today. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's having another kid, maybe it's the loss of sleep. I think, as we mentioned with the Big Ten earlier, where after Ohio State and maybe after Iowa. I don't know what you can depend on right now in the Big Ten. If the New Jersey recruiting continues, if they're able to get more high level three stars, if we agree that we like Sean Gleeson at offensive coordinator, there is a formula in the East.
If Rutgers finds a quarterback of the future, which I don't think they have right now, the absolute peak of defensive excellence and decently efficient offense is going to a Rose Bull it's Michigan State, right, Yeah, because Michigan State didn't get to the Rose Bowl on the backs of top twelve recruiting classes a year and in year out. It's identifying and developing and New Jersey while not Michigan
in terms of a recruiting home state. If you do pretty well in New Jersey and in the Northeast, you out recruit Boston College and schools like that that you're competing with. I don't know, Ruckers can be a bowl team, and if Rutgers is a bowl team, Greg Ciano is in bronze in front of the stadium and thataway. I don't know. If the recruiting has improved. They're competitive, they were this close to beating Michigan goes to OT. I don't know. I'm there's very little reason in a vacuum.
They're eating the portal very hard. I don't know if then quarterback emerges. If we're not even talking about excellence at quarterback, we're talking nineteen touchdowns, nine interceptions, sixty one percent through the air, something like that, you're winning games.
I mean, I feel like we graded on a curve when you're talking about a team like a Rutgers or in Arkansas, because these are programs that have been down and out really bad, really bad over the last five years or so, and so you know, at least in the immediate short term, it's going to take a little bit to ramp these programs up. To what degree that remains to be seen. But at least with Shiano, we know that he knows the lay of the land. Sometimes
it's really overvalued. In most cases it is in this case, I don't think so. I think Shiano is coming back to the place that he knows. He obviously built a pretty successful program there previously and that helps. And look, they were more organized this past year. They were not to use a phrase that just said about Arkansas a total disaster. They put it together. They were very close to beating Michigan, could have beaten Michigan in that game. So I think there were bright spots.
I can find you six wins on the twenty twenty one schedule. Yeah, so I'm looking at it right now. Temple Syracuse, Delaware. I mean shout out to the Blue Hens obviously, of course, and always Michigan State, Illinois, Maryland and whatever the Hell, Wisconsin, Indiana, Penn State. There's all sorts of toss ups. What does Northwestern look like with a new quarterback? I A decently efficient Rutgers team with a couple of breaks is a ball team in twenty twenty one? That's crazy.
So I feel pretty good. Sunshine pumping March one. I give you one final coach if you want, I would love one. Let's talk about David Randa. Can you do the voice post? Oh, I would love to. I'm Dave Randa. Let's talk Baylor two and seven at Baylor.
We're skipping Mike Leach, or ski about Mike Leach, or.
Skipped on Mike Leach.
Yeah?
Uh, Dave Randa.
M hm.
Let's talk Dave Randa. Two and seven at Baylor. The recruiting did improve from year one to year two. I was not high on the Bears going into last season, and boy was I right about that.
For the most part. Yeah. I was higher and I was wrong. Oh well, you know they were.
Charlie Brewer again just kind of running for his life. That's been the story of his college career. Zeota quarterback, Utah quarterback. Thank you, literally running out of Baylor. Yeah, Randa, I feel like still has really good long term prospects. I like the that he's put around him. I do think it's going to take some time to ramp that program up. So this is another situation where I don't
necessarily think that year one was very representative. I know all of these schools were in the unenviable position of essentially starting over amid a pandemic, not being able to get some of those organized team activities together, meeting face to face, going over playbooks on the field instead of
on zoom calls, so on and so forth. I get that everyone here was in a very similar situation, but it was such a reboot that I felt like Baylor really would have benefited, like it's obvious, but would have benefited so so much more and maybe gotten off to a much better start if they actually had that face time with the new coach and new coaches. So I remain high on Baylor. I'm certainly not high on last season, though last season was a mess.
I am I think once again up on Baylor, and the reason is to me, you look at their schedule, you watch their games, and I rewatched some of the latter parts of their year. Now, if they could only play schools in Kansas. That would be amazing, they would be set. That was their only wins in twenty twenty.
But the fact of the matter is with what they had to replace on defense, with how much of a nightmare their offense was essentially for all of last year, the fact that they were battling against Iowa State, against Oklahoma, they made things very, very difficult for Oklahoma. I'm sure the Oklahoma State loss they got just demolished by the Pokes, but you know, the Tech loss, I mean, you know,
it's heartbreaking. But the fact is they were competing, they were fighting, and it clearly wasn't working out with Larry Fedora, and they made a change. They did not let something fester. David Randon did not let if that was just a bad mix, whatever it was, He's not gonna like, well, let's see if it improved, Like okay, if it's a bad mix, do it now if you know you're going to do it eventually. And he does. He makes a change of offense, change at offensive coordinator. So I'm I
think I'm just I'm in on Dave Randa. I think he has been thoughtful about waiting for the right place and in terms of quarterback of the future, we'll see they've got well regarded guys at quarterbacks, but it's not clear that somebody is that guy moving forward and that you know, that guy can be developed by this specific staff in this specific system. But even when they were succeeding two years ago with Matt Rule, it wasn't on
the back of an explosive offense. So if they if this offense is good enough to service the defense, which we assume will continue to improve, I think I'm good with an up and up Baylor. Yeah, I am all right.
We will talk at some other point about a couple of the other coaches that we left drink wits. Yeah, each.
I don't know I'm saying it like that, but I I am all right.
Well, right in, let us know your thoughts soliverable at gmail dot com. Don't forget to check out for Ballers dot com again. That's the Patreon where you can find some of the cool bonus stuff that we are about to start ramping up. Daniel, Yeah, did.
You have any questions about the birth? Did you have any other follow ups? How's Jody with an I feeling pretty good all things considered. I mean, she was incredible in the hospital. I am just in awe of what women go through to have a kid.
Are we playing the food Fighters again? That's we're playing food fighters? I am, Yeah, I am.
This is more of a finger picking version, right, can you finger pick on that?
I can't.
Yeah, don't you hear me doing it?
I hear it, but I I can't tell if it's a recording. It sounds wonderful.
No, that's me so yeah. I mean it's it's a miracle, right, it's it's a childbirth. It's incredible. And I recommend it to everybody who's interested in having kids. I recommend being the dude. You just eat some food and encourage and coach. That's the move.
So now you're gonna be switching up from the zone defense where you've got numbers to manned a man, have you and Jody with and I prepared for that.
It's almost a double team with the solid toddler at over two years old, now just running a muck. I think the solid baby is mostly just being ignored. I think it's you remember the Memphis Grizzly player who just was a defensive specialist and everybody left him alone? Was his name? I think that's it's Tony. I'm totally blanking and I remember watching it in Awe Memphis Grizzly Tony Allen, Tony.
Allen, Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're going to feed the solid baby. We're going to attend to his needs. But also we're not going to be in his face like we were with number one, be like oh look at that heck up, Oh god, that's sneeze.
No, it's chasing the toddler around and checking in on the baby every so often, so he's getting the Tony Allen treatment right now.
Okay, Yeah, Well, I'm glad that everyone's doing well, and congratulations to you guys. It's really nothing like comparing a newborn to a defensive specialist. That's what we do here, Dan, you know that.
Yeah, yeah, in a different sport entirely from what we talk about on the show.
For that guy over there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein. For myself, Tie Hillo Brand, thanks so much for downloading, for listening, for playing along with our madness. We will be back on Thursday. Q and A coming your way. Get those questions in. We'll post how on all of our social media channels in the meantime. For that Guy, Dan Rubinstein and myself Tie Hildebrand. Thank you so much. Talk to your students, say styling Hellllo. Peace,