New Coaches and New Beginnings

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Come 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 day at the steak? Is that woo woom and down and tie? Welcome back to the Solid Verbal, boys and girls. My name is Ty Hildebrand, joining me as always my good friend and colleague and co hosts of many years over there in New York City, Dan Rubinstein, sir, how are you?

I'm all right, Ty, life is all right. I just I went to a museum today, Okay, I saw a whole bunch of great artwork, went to MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art, saw great photography. I'm excited about today's show. I like a good check in ty, And we haven't spoken to Andy Staples. We really haven't had any guests on in a long time, just because there's so much

Wake in the morning and you step outside, Dan, take a deep breath, you get real high on Today. We're gonna talk about new coaches. We're gonna talk about new beginnings in the college football world. We've got a long list, as you know. Oh, the coaching carousel spun mighty quickly this college football offseason. So we're going to try and address at least the most prominent positions in the Power five that were filled with Andy Staples. Again, we're going

That all sounds right to me, that we're doing audio grams. I think that's what they're called Twitter and Instagram. And you know what I just learned, Ti, I learned that you can join somebody else's like you can request to join I believe somebody else's Instagram live feed. Oh and it split screens. It really so now you'll truly never have to leave, Oh the beautiful Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania.

So we should start doing Saturday morning feels like a good time? Does that work?

I literally I've never done this. I literally believe, and I hate the word literally, I apologize for that usage. I believe you go live on Instagram on your phone and then you can or somebody watching can request maybe they have to be your friend. That would make sense. So if I went from the solid verbal account, you could then tune in and call in and suddenly it's a split screen I think, not a side to side in the way that we're used to in sports television,

Right, I'm down with that. Yes, very good.

Well.

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Do you have a favorite collar style? Ooh, let me go through all of the names.

No, not all.

Don't go through all the names. Okay, I'll go through some of them quickly. Please.

Are you a soft ivy? Are you a roma spread, a roma, a cutaway, A Londoner, a semi spread? Are you an English spread? Londoner? And English spreads a little bit different? President spread, a president spread, president cutaway. I ask all these things tie just to prove that there are so many options to go with because you know what next. Shapes are different. Some next look better with different collar styles. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that I'm gonna look exactly the same as Merton

I don't know.

I just made that up.

I think I went semi spread because that sounded the sexiest.

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I thought you were going to rhyme something with fit ya now, because you said it with like a bit of a cadence.

I tried, I tried I couldn't. It was.

If that doesn't fit you, called proper cloth and they'll hit you with it with a good deal. Bring proper cloth with you. Ah, there it is, we'd ty. The rhythm we have on this show is exceeded by by many people.

That is dead. I cannot lie anymore. All right, Daniel joining us now from a makeshift studio if we've ever had one on the podcast our good friend from Sports Illustrated on Pristles.

Yeah, Andy, how are you? I'm good? I mean, this is probably the best I've ever sounded. Sitting in a rental car in a Walgreens parking.

Lot, Describe this setup for the people listening at home.

All right, this is this is how the sausage gets made.

So I have a work phone that has Skype on it, but nobody has the phone number, so nobody can call it and knock the Skype connection off. We are using the Skype as a backup because I am also talking into a stick mic, which the people who are coming out of Walgreens probably think I am insane, but talking into a stick mic that is plugged into a task Cam DR forty linear PCM recorder that should produce theoretically studio quality sound.

This is probably the fifth or sixth different method that we have connected up with you to get your audio over the course of the solid verbal.

Yes, now, I have done several podcasts like this in this manner before, but this is the first time I've done it on the solid verbal, and of course it's my favorite and the first and the best.

So I'm honored.

Where is the weirdest place that you've recorded from? Because Dan and I have done one from a hot tub, We've done one.

There's a there is a the Illyweed game answer to this that you just don't want to know about it.

But where is the strangest place you have broadcast about college football?

Oh?

That's a great question, and I think I've ever done it from a pool. I've recorded a podcast like in a cold tub area where guys were training for the draft.

It's good answer, and nothing got soaked, thank goodness.

So we are talking new beginnings, new coaches, and I mean, these are people that have been on the job for maybe two and a half months, and so there's only so much you can accomplish in that time. But we wanted to take ty and correct me if I'm wrong. A sort of holistic view of a very much non

Hi, That sounds right.

Yeah.

We often find ourselves talking about new coaches at some point during the off season, and as Dan mentioned, most of the time, it's not till like May or June, after they've been on the job a little bit longer they've had a chance to kind of set some roots. We are doing it bright and early in the off season this time around spring, just because, as you know, Andy, this was a very active coaching carousel season, especially when you compare it to what happened last year. I guess

I'm not sure how active it was. I know it was a bunch of huge jobs. I think that we're looking at the fact that Florida turned over Florida State turned over big, big jobs, and you know, we weren't sure going into the season that those were going to turn over Texas A and then we thought might turn over. But you know, the idea that Jimbo Fisher would leave Florida State for Texas A and M didn't sound like something in the realm of possibility in August, and then

Fair enough, So let's start here. We mentioned Jimbo Fisher. He's coming over from Florida State. Obviously blockbuster move for Texas A and M. It did seem that no price tag would be too high, and fairly or unfairly, he will be compared against that seventy five million dollar figure. He hires two very solid coordinators, I think, particularly on defense. He inherits a younger team take a couple of years to sort of get into their own rhythm and reach

I'm not sure we can look at that right now.

I'm not sure there's a way to gauge his success right now because they you know, in terms of recruiting, they had commitments already, guys that were committed to Kevin someone pretty much stayed committed to Texas A and M. They've got a very hard schedule, and so it may take a little while before we can really gauge what Jimbo Fisher's even doing there, because, like Clemson comes into College Station in September, this is not going to be easy for him, and I'm just it's one of those

So it's one of those deals.

Where Fisher's in a little bit of a tough spot early, but if they're going to be a little bit patient with him, I do think he can give them what they want eventually.

So there's an easy transition here because obviously the school that Jimbo Fisher leaves in Florida State makes a splash higher with Willy Taggart, who comes to Tallahassee after a year in Eugene.

And it's sort of an interesting dichotomy too, because Jimbo Fisher and his last year at Tallahassee was seen as being particularly stubborn on offense, and Willy Taggart's career really took off when he stopped being stubborn on offense and revamped things. So with Willie specifically, it seems irrefutable. He's a turnaround artist. He's done great things for a number of programs, re energizing, recruiting. He should do super well

It's just proved this can work.

And I actually think people are very excited and intrigued about what that offense is going to look like with Florida State type talent, because Willie Taggart's offense is is you know, he ran the West Coast before at Western Kentucky, and when he first got the USF, he's basically the third Harbor brother, and his offense looked an awful lot

Thrower in the world.

Justin Herbert is a great passer NFL quarterback and he also put a big numbers in it. So really interesting situation in spring practice with Florida State because you've got DeAndre Francois coming back from injury. You've got James Blackman, who replaced DeAndre francois quite capably toward the end of the year. And they're both, you know, guys who could succeed in this offense, but could succeed in different ways.

Fair Let's keep the chain going. Mario Christobal is now the head coach of Oregon after taking over for Willy Taggart, who left he's understandably, he's trying to model the way Oregon is run after his time at Alabama, or an SEC power, a generic SEC power whatever, from recruiting processes is if that's the word strength and conditioning, day to day scheduling, he's you know, everybody says he's a very organized guy. He's out three steps ahead of everything. Do

They're transferable if you can get the same kind of players. And that's the tricky part with Oregon. It's not can you get the skill players. They're gonna have the skill players they need. Can you get the guys in the offensive indefensive lines that can make you competitive with Washington,

Has the eye for that.

He knows what he's looking for, especially along the offensive line. The tricky part is convinced those guys to come to Oregon because they have tons of options. The kind of players you need to be successful at those positions have tons of options and for the most part, because most players tend to stay close to home, they'll stay close to home because that's what recruits tend to do. So you've got to be able to convince them that it's it's in their best interest to come to Oregon and

It's harder for almost everybody else.

Including basically every school in the Pac twelve, to get those kind of players ready made. You will get them occasionally, I mean Oregon got one of Eric Armstead. It's possible, but it's not easy. So that's the challenge for Marie Cristobal. I think probably the the best thing he did was they found a way to get Jim Levitt to stay, because that defense improved dramatically under Jim Levitt, and if you can continue that kind of improvement, because the offense

All right, Andy, you mentioned Chip Kelly. We got to talk about Chip Kelly. He's back in the college game. The Pac twelve as a whole a much different conference than the one he left, and specifically in terms of UCLA, they've made a commitment to infrastructure. It seems like the administration has brought into a much different degree, which Chip Kelly are we going to see at ucl Is it going to be the guy who took Oregon to new heights.

I am really curious about that time because I don't know what exactly is going to happen here. Because when Chip Kelly was winning PAC twelve titles at Oregon.

Everything was new. What he was doing was revolutionary, and everybody else was trying to catch up to him.

Now everybody else has caught up to that because everybody else copied it, so.

Everybody's gotten a look at it.

Everybody has kind of figured out, well, this is how you stop that offense or this this is how you manage it. So how much has he evolved? You know, you look at what he did in the NFL, and it's interesting because I think I.

Think the Eagles went the Super Bowl.

When you look back now, you're like, you know what, he wasn't so bad in Philadelphia. It just you know, they wanted to win more than they were winning. But he seemed to be on track a little bit there, but San Francisco is a completely different animal. But you know what did he pick up there in terms of dealing with defenses that kind of could weak to weak,

Had at Oregon. Well, I think that would be very helpful in your office. Now, the other question is do they have the quarterback they need to run it.

Is it going to be Devin Monster, who played a little bit in relief of Josh Rozen, or is it going to be a younger guy.

Is gonna be one of the other guys?

We don't know yet that That's the other question is does he have a guy who can run that offense very well?

I don't.

I don't even know that it has to be perfect because you think about it, Jeremiah Masoli looked great in that offense, Darren Thomas lookedret in that offense, and then they got Marcus Mariota and it really took off.

So it can work.

He seems to be pretty pretty capable of making it work with just about anybody, you know. I put Dennis Dixon and Marcus Mariota in another class from Jeremiah Massolian Darren Thomas. But the offense was still very effective with Massolian Thomas running it.

All right, Andy, you mentioned the word revolutionary, and when I think revolutionary, I think Herm Edwards, So you know Herm. Herm said some really weird freaking things since he got that job at ASU. And look, a lot of us have magnified it. We've portrayed it in a negative way, certainly in a humorous way on this show. But you know, look, the recruiting class kind of came together, alright. The PAC twelve as a whole, specifically in the South, is a

They're not changing the process or the model. Yeah, where do you come down on this whole thing? Nick Saban has had an NFL style front office at Alabamas's the second he walked in there eleven years ago.

This is the model though with average players.

Yeah, exactly.

You know, they think they're being revolutionary, but the thing about it is they're just copying what every good program has been doing for the past ten years, where you have that kind of evaluation process. I think with her Edwards were being a little bit hard on him. He was kidding when he was talking about, Oh, it turns out you have to recruit the parents too. I think I think he was making a joke there. I think Herr Edwards not a dumb guy. He knows you have

Well, if you listen to his opening press conference, he's willing to try it all, try and be different. Yeah.

The trying to be different that they were doing then has already been h has already been for not so yeah, Okay, he's.

Gonna be different in a different way.

Now let's stay in the great state of Arizona. We'll talk about Kevin someone a much different situation because rich Rod, as you know, unceremoniously fired on the third of January. While he was there, he brought a lot of excitement to the program with his system. They were certainly dangerous to play, they put up points. They didn't always or really at all play much defense, but an excitable team nonetheless, Now you bring in Kevin someone kind of has the same track record over at A and m a lot

It feels very similar.

It feels like you're getting a lot of the same and look, Kevin someon and Ritrodriguez shared a lot of stuff over the years, so I don't think the offense is gonna look all that different at all now, Kevin, someone inherits Khalil Tate, knowing what Khalil Tate can do. And remember it took them about a month of the season before they figured it out with the old staff.

So from there we'll go to an offensive mind who doesn't inherit really any quarterback that we know anything about, and that's Scott Frost at Nebraska. We know he is going to put together what looks like with his staff, a really really good offense, if not a great offense eventually. I think people think that, I don't know, this is like, you know, the second coming of the Messiah. Though there's added pressure for him that he doesn't that other coaches

I think he does know what they need on the lines of scrimmage to make it work. And you've heard you've heard him say that a lot since he's been there. You know, he's basically said, skill position is not going to be the problem. We got to get those linees. Take what I said about Oregon, you can just transplant it.

The job right away.

You got Gebbia there, who had red shirted last year, he might work, you know. I think they would have loved to bring Mackenzie Milton with them from UCF, but it doesn't work that way, so we'll see again. This is when I had advised patients on I don't know that they're gonna, you know, light the world on fire their first year, but I do think they understand the situation they're in. And I also think they understand what the realistic expectations should be at Nebraska, and I think

I just I don't know that he's going to pull it off in year one.

That all seems reasonable. So we'll go from the smoothest and most seamless and feel good transition to a new coach with Scott Frost going to Nebraska too, the most turbulent one. So Jeremy Prewitt eventually ends up in Knoxville, and everybody seems relatively pleased early on with you know, a bunch of hires that came together pretty nicely. He has a very specific background of exclusively coaching defense in the SEC, which seems like.

That, well, there was a year in the ACC, but Florida State's basically an SEC.

They're pretty much the exclusively coaching in the South for powers, which seems like a pretty good background in terms of familiarity with personnel high school personnel coaches recruiting. Yes, the one year at Florida State, a couple of years at Florida State notwithstanding, whatever, So where do you think the vision and ability of Jeremy Prewitt zags where Lane Kiffin, Derek Dooley, and Butch Jones zigged.

The strength of Jeremy Prewett is his ability to identify talent and get it to sign with him. That's his strength. Now here's the thing. He was doing that at Alabama, Florida State, and Georgia. It's probably a little harder to do that at Tennessee because he knows what he needs, and so he's going to go head to head against Nick Saban, He's going to go head to head against Kirby Smart, He's going to go head to head against Willie Taggert, Dan Mullen, head to head against ed Orgeron.

But you know, the USC has adapted. They don't just go under center and run that.

They're mostly out of the shotgun and they'll eat up the tempo every once in a while. It's it's kind of you know, pro style evolved, and that requires a really good quarterback. So we'll see if one of the guys on the roster fits that bill or if they need to recruit somebody. But that that's kind of the biggest question right now. You know, as you say, there's news that the Trey smith Is has got a medical

That's not necessarily a bad thing.

And if he's if he's a little bit better game day and look the way he calls defenses, he's a really good defensive play caller. So if he's if he's a little bit better game day coach. And I think I think Jerry Pruit's a lot smarter than he lets on. I think he's perfectly happy with with people thinking he's like, you know, redneck defensive coordinator. He's happy to let you think that. I think he's I think he's a pretty intelligent guy. So I'm really intrigued by what he can do at Tennessee.

It's a hard job.

It's especially hard given the circumstances of the coaching search.

But if he can get the guys he's.

Targeting, they will get better and they will be a you know, competitive in the SEC East. That the biggest problem though, is it's going to be hard because Florida got a guy that understands what kind of players you need to win in the SEC. Nick Saban is still there, Kirby Smart is building a monster. Will Muschamp knows exactly what kind of talent it takes to win in the SEC. So that's a lot stacked against Jeremy Pruett, even though I think he probably has the skill set to be Okay.

Let's stick with the guy in Florida who also moves SEC west to east and Dan mullin. Is it just mad libs at quarterback for Florida? As soon as you fill in that blank, you'll get something good and weird and interesting for the Gators. His track record sort of suggests that he will do a better job developing a quarterback or building a program around a quarterback than Jim McElwain did with the asterisk of Will Greer. So is

I don't think it's that simple. You know, you look who they had when he was at Florida and when he was Atsissippi State. The best quarterbacks were the ones that he went out and found or you know, cruited because they fit his style. It took Chris Leek, who's a pretty good college quarterback. It took maybe a season and a half for him to really be comfortable in that offense, and they eventually got it going. But they were uber talented around him too. You know, t Bow

Mullen's replacement, as you know, at Mississippi State, is another guy who's very bright when it comes to x's and o's, and that's Joe Morehead. He comes over from Penn State, did a great job there, did a great job at Fordham before he ever got to Penn State. I think we're all kind of excited Andy to see what he brings to the equation now in Starkville. But the real question now, as ever with Mississippi State is how much

It does still exist?

And remember they hired a really bright, offensive scheme guy through a place, a really bright offensive scheme guy who had been more successful there than just about anybody had been. So the thing I think is really interesting about Joe Moorehead is he was a very good, very creative coordinator at Penn State, really good at building off of what he had, not saying this is my system and it

Now.

I don't know that they're going to be a year in year out of CC West contender ever, because that they play in the same division as Alabama and Auburn and LSU and Texas A and M and it's just that's probably asking too much, But can they have a really good season every once in a while. In his next season, potentially one of those seasons, Yeah, I think they can do that. And the other thing that's interesting about Morehead is he was a great coordinator at Penn State.

Here?

Those decisions he's already made. You know, he's already had kids come in and say, Coach, I'm flunking out. He's dealt with those problems before he knows how it works. I think that puts him a little bit ahead of the curve of some of these other first time head coaches.

Let's stay in the state of Mississippi, a much different scenario over at Ole, miss kind of in a rebuilding phase now after the Hugh Freeze era got to deal with sanctions shorthanded in terms of scholarships, they're gonna have to deal with guys like Shay Patterson who want to transfer out. I feel like we've seen this movie before and every time it's very difficult to both dig out from whatever penalties you've got and still find a way

I think he knows what works there.

I just don't know that he's going to be able to do it while they're under the sanctions and dealing with us. So I actually I've talked to Matt Luke and he said that the recruiting piece of it feels a little easier now that they know what the penalties are. Interesting, you know, before when they didn't know and they were just under this cloud constantly, he felt like, you know,

But now they know.

Now they understand, especially going forward when you're talking to class of twenty nineteen guys, the bowl band will be over, you know, they'll be They'll be limited by, you know, by scholarship sanctions, but not completely gutted by them, so they should be able to start digging back out of this thing. The other part of this is, right now, even though they are banned from a bowl game, and I know they're trying to trying to take care of that and see if they can appeal it, but probably

But Tamu came in and was very effective and he was good. Yeah.

I mean, so imagine how good high school football in Hawaii was when these three quarterbacks were all playing at the same time, Jordan Tamo, Mackenzie Milton, and two a tongue of Iloa, Wow, all.

At the same time.

Amazing.

So yeah, and I think Tamu was one of the one of the bright spots of last year, uh overall in the country. And I think he will kind of ease ole missus way through this period having a recurt Now, if he gets hurt this is that's a little bit different story. But we'll we'll see you with Matt corral because he's a guy who was very highly rated, but then he was committed to Florida with McElwain, Mullen gets the job decided, you know, they kind of decide they're

He's as good as advertised, he could be really good.

So I don't think Ole miss is in a terrible situation, but I do think they're gonna suffer from the sanctions a bit.

And you know.

The fact that they've had this cloud over them for the last few years, I think is going to kind of come home to roost at this point. So Matt Luke's gonna have to weather the storm and the fans are gonna have to be patient with him. But I think that's kind of understood with the situation.

He walked into let me.

Close out the SEC West and we'll move over to Arkansas, where, look, it's it's tough to envision a more different offensive scenario under Chad Morris than with Brett Bielima. They run two vastly different systems. Morris comes over now, and look, it's

Yeah, the one, the one you're scared could beat you or could derail a championships.

Yeah, exactly right.

Yeah, if this works, that's that's what they are.

And this is the sort of the question since Arkansas left the Southwest Conference, it's always been, well, you know, can we really recruit in Texas since we're not a member of the Southwest Conference anymore? And you're gonna find out because Chad Morris, former SMU coach, former Texas high school coach, if he can't recruit in Texas.

Nobody can.

But my guess is he will have success recruiting in Texas, so you know, he knows exactly what he's looking for. Schematically, I think that offense is going to give people problems. Again, I don't know that they'll be able to get the kind of horses on the d line that they really need to be competitive year out, year in and you're

So what they were in the back half a few years.

Ago, yeah, or what they were under Bobby Patrino, I mean right, different different style obviously, but they were they were solidly the third best team in the SEC West. Uh. Right there at the end of the Patrino era, where the kind of when he got on the motorcycle, they were solidly the third best team in the SEC West. And you know, third fourth best in the SEC West be capable of beating the best every once in a while. That's what you can hope. You know that that's what

Fair and last and least, I'm I apologize that was me and Oregon State fans. That was what UN called for. I did not mean to have it sound like it did. We had a question last week actually about whether Oregon State peaked in the two thousand and I think one festival that Chad Johnson, t J Huschman Zada. The answer is probably yes, if we're going to be fully honest.

But then a couple good Thursday nights against USC they did part of that decade.

I really hated that. I liked watching the Rogers brothers as much as I did.

They were fantastic, they were so wonderful. Yes, So now, obviously since then the conference has gotten more competitive, there's a whole lot more money, better coaching. So does Oregon State under Jonathan Smith need to I think a good word is differentiate. Do they need to start thinking about what they're doing in extremes in terms.

Of well they should have been thinking about that, but it's too late to hire an option coach.

Now, it's too late to hire Kenna Modololo, which they definitely should have done.

No, I mean, when you're Oregon State, you should absolutely do something completely psychotically different because that's your only shot. And you know, we'll see what Jonathan Smith can do that. Obviously, the offense he ran a Watchington is not that different than than anything else, So I don't know how that's going to go. But yeah, that's a prime, you know, prime option type candidate, and for whatever reason.

They didn't, they didn't think that'd be a good idea.

I don't know.

If somebody said.

Well, you know, you can't ever recruit a five star quarterback, Well, I don't know how to break this to you, guys. You aren't going to do that anyway, and at least if you ran the option you wouldn't need to. But yeah, I think they should try very hard to differentiate themselves.

And I'm not sure that that's what they're playing.

As fair enough. So where are you right now? So you are outside the Orlando airports?

Yes, correct?

And where are you going?

I'm going to Indianapolis for the combine?

Have you done the combine before yes, I have, So what are you looking for to? Who are you looking forward to?

Sing? What is what is the plan?

You know, you get to talk to the players, which is good not for the NFL aspect it, you know, that's what a lot most of the people asking the questions are there for. So they ask questions like, you know, the reporter recovers the Browns, goes, have you talked to the Browns? And the guy goes, I talk to everybody. I'm going to talk to everybody when I'm here, And that's what everybody says, because everybody talks to everybody, So don't ask if they've talked to a specific team because

Right, do you have a pet term like loose hips, like wingspan, functional athleticism. Do you have a favorite that you'll be using?

Bubble? Bubble, combine?

Turn?

There is bubble? Huh?

You know what the bubble is? Right?

Of course? Explain it? Go ahead.

You don't know what the bubble is.

I know what the bubble is.

I don't think you do. I don't know.

If ty, what is your guess? My guess? My guess for the bubble is sort of like a tweener, a guy who's kind of in between rounds or.

You know, no.

Tournament bubble in terms of NFL scouting is a guy's ass.

Okay, the bass?

Does he have a big bubble?

I stand corrected. I was confident that I had that correct does as soon as.

I heard he was a big bubble and a and a solid bass? Or you know, does he does he have no bubble? And and you know he might get knocked knocked off his bass?

Andy said that I was like, he's talking very specifically about a backside.

Well, I stand corrected.

I just I'm glad we got to drag that out as a bit thank you that anything else, but yeah, thank you worried you were going to say the correct answer and I was gonna feel really stupid for dragging it out.

This is actually, this is a really good opportunity. And Sports Illustrated gets some flak for the swimsuit issues, So here's a chance for Andy to sort of even it out and do like the best butts of the combine.

I could do that.

I don't. I don't see a reason you couldn't, because.

Guys who would prefer their butts not be ogled on a national website.

I mean, this goes, This goes on the resume forever. Best it does, top five butt it does. But yeah, I will see what's funny? Is there already are bubble critics out there?

Oh my god, you guys that you.

Know may not gets really into the bubble. He'll talk, he'll talk a lot about the bubble.

So is there like because all bubbles are not equal in terms of football bases and foundations. So even though something is big, is there's a difference speech like a difference between two good big bubbles.

The bubble, bobble as it were, the bubble bobble.

Imagine you've ordered an old fashion you know, like a double old fashioned glass that that kind of wide squat glass. Sure, if you can set that on a guy's bubble and it'll just stay there, that's a good bubble.

That's a bubble shelf tie. Yeah, that's what you're looking for.

So we could not if we asked Bruce Feldman to come on today, we could not have gotten that kind of insight.

I think you probably would have. Bruce knows about the freaks. He'd be talking about some freak bubbles.

That's true. Freak Oh my god, that's a tie. That's our band name moving forward.

Freak Bubbles. Yeah, freak bubble. Andy Staples, Yeah, yeah, same page, Andy Staples from Sports Illustrated. Enjoy the combine and come back soon.

All right, any time, gentleman.

Okay, Dan, there you go, a lengthy but meaty conversation with our friend Andy Staples from Sports Illustrated.

That would be a way to describe somebody at the combine. Lengthy but at the same time meaty beat you could you could probably accurately describe an elite tight end that way.

Absolutely, Okay, So I'm excited to see what he has to say about the combine. Check him out. He's all over Twitter, does great work for Sports Illustrated. Been our friend Gosh as far back as I can remember with this show, and it's good to have him back. Appreciate the conversation.

Yeah, So we have scheme theme coming up starting in March. We still have some big plans moving forward after March. We want to talk to We've we've had some conversation with schools about coaching stuff. So we're gonna get weird with I know we've already talked about what are we going to.

Do with Bill Barnwell at the end of summer.

Did we talk about late nineties Internet, Internet chatting and internet overall friendships? So, yeah, I'm excited for what we have coming forward.

With that being said, the show is not going anywhere, and I did want to take some time here at the end to address some of your news that broke. As many people have wrote in asking concerned what is going on with you man.

I'm glad you asked, because I do want to clear the air because there were a lot of people that asked in light of some news that the soliverbal continues and continues stronger than ever. We're very excited about the twenty eight seen season and beyond. But yes, if you saw on Twitter, and I know not everybody's on Twitter. I don't think I posted this on Facebook or anywhere else. Last week I was part of the espianation and Vox

I was a host and producer. It was collaborative.

Everyone, you know, for the majority of those years loved coming into work and working together, et cetera, et cetera.

Whatever, But.

Nothing lasts forever, ty, No, you know this, Yeah, and I learned a ton from a lot of people. I made a ton of fun things, hopefully that people liked. With especially with the college football team. A lot of people we've had on this show and hopefully we'll be back on this show. Spencer Hall, who he had on before I went to eSPI Nation. Of course, Jason Kirk I think is the best college football editor that exists. I mean the amount of content he's able to come

Tie.

You get a Slack message telling you to bring up your laptop and it's to a conference room and a like a carefully scripted message that my position is being eliminated. So that's one of those things, Tye. And it's very cool to hear from everyone immediately thereafter, and it's cool to have received a lot of support from a lot of people who've wanted to work with me moving forward, which is very cool and nice. But everything that comes of this is you know, solid verbal leads the way.

I know the passion, I know the pride you put into your work. I think you're immensely talented. If you weren't, we wouldn't still be doing this. So look, no one's going to hold you down. No one's ever held you down. I think the twinkle in your eye that was there back in two thousand and eight when we started this is still very much there now in twenty eighteen, and just for you personally and for us collectively, I'm excited to see what comes next. So obviously you've got a

I appreciate that tie and shout out to my Wake college football co host Richard Johnson. I swear I will still watch college football, hopefully if you'll watch it with me. But uh yeah, it's it's definitely a bummer. It's definitely a strange time, and I very much like working and it's strange to go to a museum in the middle of a Tuesday. But you know there, you know it's a it's a fun time in its own weird way.

The main takeaway if you listen to our podcast is we're not going anywhere. It's still going to be Dan and I. We still ride with Brandon McKissick. We ride. All the usual tropes still apply here on the podcast. Yeah, as we move forward now into March, we're excited about scheme thing and for the long slog ahead through the college football offseason, which we promise we'll try to make as fun as possible. We agree on that note. For my good friend Dan Rubinstein, for myself to Hildebrand, thank