Lane/LSU Back Down & a Texas-Ohio State Preview with Bruce Feldman, Plus the NFL's Continued Lack of QB Development

0:00Hey, we're still a listeners. You can find every episode on Apple podcast and Spotify. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon music. It's Fran from Chicks in the office. The weather is getting cooler and Abercrombie's fall drop has everything I need for the season. The best-selling A&F Sloan Taylor pant is a closet staple for me. I'm always wearing it to work events. Happy hour anytime I want to be a bit more dressed up. And the viral Dylan dress is easy, one and done perfection. But my fall uniform will always be denom pair with a handly sweater, a bra-free top. It's comfortable, effortless. It just never fails. Find your fall capsule at Abercrombie, shop in the app online and in stores. The Ryan Rassillo show is presented by DraftKings. We are available all episodes on Netflix as well. Today's show. Do you know who you're back at QB's? I'm going to help you with that. Bruce Feldman talked to a ton of college football coaches about who's going to win it all, who's going to win the high, who's the best player. And one thought I'm one of the guys we think

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2:04or trade with DraftKings predictions to get predictions dollars that expire in one year. Event contract trading involves risk of loss. Predictions offer Void in New York. Nonwithdrawable rewards issued as $50 click to claims every seven days for 21 days. One single use boost per customer per day expires at the end of the final select game win offered valid for select football transactions on the platform for which it's been issued. Terms at dkng.co-slash-offer limited time offer nationwide based on sports book predictions and free-to-play sports contest availability. Ferrys by state limited time offer. Already a week into the college football season, there's a lot of new stuff that I want to get to, but somebody that knows the sport really well joins us throughout season Bruce Feldman from Fox Sports, and also the athletic checkout his annual freaks list, which is a great kind of teaser to what

3:05you should expect from some of the top players, the freaks in college football, and he's with us now. What's up? Well, it's up Brian. Good to see you. All right, so let's um, let's start with kind of like what I was talking to you about off the air, you know, because we go back and forth a little bit and I read your previews. I read all these previews and everything's always fun positively, which is, you know, to be expected. I'm kind of used to at this point. I guess you used to have them spring training all the time too, but of the concerns we have of like contenders, like what do you believe is real? You know, like there's, there's a really part like there's a part of me. I'll use for an example, like material being healthy if it truly was his hand with Oklahoma's defense, like we may have to look at them entirely differently, not based on what we saw in the opening weekend, but if materials healthy, like they're a different team. Yeah, I mean, the people I talk to inside that program feel like they aren't just a little better on offense. They're going to be way better and it's not just material. Um, last year he was playing behind a really inexperienced young offensive line. Now a lot of those guys were talented or soft

4:09more, but they also added to really experienced guys from the portal have a lot of, a lot of game reps, a lot of snaps. That roads well, the other thing I've heard that people rave about inside the program is the impact Jason Whitten has made as the tight ends coach. And I think people can look at us, only a tight ends coach, but last year they were dreadful at that spot. Not only has Whitten helped them in terms of kind of developing the room and kind of setting the tone, but also they added three really good players, really good tight ends to that room. And they're big guys. I think it gives mature and Ben Arbuckle, the offensive coordinator a lot of different options. They also added Troll Harris, who's a bigger receiver as an outside guy. Last year they didn't really have that guy outside. We could win. They basically had Isaiah Sotainier, who's a dynamic slot. They had Dion Burke, who really is a slot. They were trying to, you know, when he was healthy trying to play him outside because he just didn't have somebody out there. And now they have that with Harris,

5:12like they said, you know, with the tight ends, it gives them a lot of versatility. And I think, mature tore it up when he was at Washington State. And obviously last year we didn't get to see, I think, the best of them for a variety of reasons beyond just the thumb injury I'm throwing. All right, Alabama. That's another team, off offensive line issues. You know, I think Kiela obviously is clearly full of every kind of talent you would want for a quarterback who can also run like he can. But I would tell you, like, I thought there were some issues that they had. And granted, maybe it's the first week. And it's not just the quarterback, but that's another group, another offensive line where if it's Bama, like there's a standard that we expect to see. And there's even I'd even add this like I think the board's terrific. And you're also following Saban. So you're following like the most detailed oriented guy going. But even against ECU, I'm like, man, they still make a lot of like stupid mistakes where it's just kind of loose. Like there's, there's not a tightness to this group. And I remember the Vandy game, you know,

6:15when you had defensive players like yelling at each other on Bama's defense and you go, I'm not used to ever seeing this. And granted, it's a little unfair post Saban, but I don't know. There's just a lot of stuff with them from that first game, even in a win where they put a 48 that I didn't like. Yeah, I mean, I think you also have to factor in post Saban in this year is different than what Saban had when the field was really tilted towards his program. And, you know, a handful of others, you know, Vandy doesn't become, you know, a 10 win team in a different, you know, 10 years ago. I mean, it's just a very dramatic change in the landscape of college football. But no doubt, I mean, I talked to coaches. We did a coaches survey a couple of weeks ago. And one of the coaches made the point, I like to bore a lot, but it feels like they're a pack 12 kind of team. There's a little bit of a softness there. And I think what they've tried to do on in the trenches is they got way bigger on the defensive line. They took one or work in, you know, bigger guys who has been really good for them. They added one of USC's new linemen.

7:19I think a lot of people go, well, there's more pack 12 guys or whatever, but they feel much bigger there. Yon's APR is a big time guy. They're loaded in the secondary, which, you know, they're big and long and and that should bowed well. But the other part of it, as you said, isn't just the running game. It's like, you know, because Kieland Russell was there leading Russia last week. Now, they're really excited about he, Jay Kroel, he's a five star running back was banged up in camp. I think they were pleasantly surprised. He was able to play as much as he was last weekend. And I think, as you know, now they got Kentucky on the road as an SEC game, I think we'll see a lot more of him. You know, they changed old line coaches and they brought in Adrian Clam. You know, I've been with the, been with the Patriots, been with the Steelers, also a guy who did a really good job in Oregon. And from everything I've heard, they feel like there are guys are coming off the ball better. But again, I think the biggest question mark a lot of people have is not just,

8:22can they run the football? It's will they run the football? You know, will Ryan Grubb, who didn't have a reputation for being committed to the run, certainly when he was the OC of the Seahawks. And he did a good job. We only had Pennix and they almost won the national title game at Washington. But that team wasn't really a really good, you know, running team or they really didn't hang their hat on it. And I think that's a question it'll be interesting to see because it's one thing to run it against Team Zero a lot better than it's another thing to run it against the other heavy weights of the SEC. And that remains to be seen. But again, the, you know, the cruel piece of it and also I really think Keelan Russell is is a big upgrade, even though they try to first round quarterback. I think people are going to look and go, okay, now they have an RPO game. The last two guys, it wasn't just high Simpson. It was Milro. They weren't comfortable in the RPO world, whereas Russell is. He can extend plays. I mean, he's still a really young quarterback, but there's an hit factor there that everybody who's been around them points to. Your coach's poll was it that it was what six of 12 votes for Oregon win in national title.

9:28Did it feel like the voters were voting because they thought it was like collectively Oregon's turn? I mean, it would have six guys vote for it means, I guess that many people are just kind of convinced that that's where they sit in the big 10, which I'll admit throughout the entire summer. I was like, I don't know, it's a coin toss for me in those three teams. I have no idea how to separate the three. Yeah, I think some of the Ryan is they had a a bunch of D line and come back. That doesn't always happen. You have a really explosive group of receivers. We know they're going to be good running the football or this in the backfield. I get it. They have to replace some offense alignment. But then there's the Dante more part of it. I think if you are going to buy in to any quarterback, who can lead a team to a title, you get into this category of like, are people really all in on arch? Do they think there's enough on offense around CJ Carr at Notre Dame? Julian Sain, yes, that offense should be terrific, but at the same time, their defense lost three elite players

10:28in the middle of the defense, right? And their schedule is brutal. They probably have the hardest schedule in the country. So, you know, again, I think it was a it was a sizable number who just saw who he said they picked Oregon. They'd spelled like it was kind of their time and they're probably more sold on Dante more than they are in some of these other quarterbacks in the middle of it. Your personal opinion of those three 10 or three big 10 teams, like if you had to pick the order of them, I would go Oregon, man, it's hard to go against Signeti. I would go Oregon, Indiana, Iowa State, I think at this point. Now, you know, we're going to find out a lot more about Ohio State this weekend. I think the thing to keep in mind with Indiana is they have a pretty cozy schedule. It doesn't really pick up momentum until like early mid October. So that gives them a runway. Now, Hoover, Joshua, were looked terrific in the first time out. They getting

11:29Kobe Martin, you know, who's a really talented running back, who they felt like they had a good one two punch with turbo richer in the transfer from BC and him. And then Martin got hurt in the game with like a I think it was either a shoulder or an arm injury before he even had a carry. And, you know, he may be out for a month plus. And so that's a that's a little bit of a concern, but we know there receivers are good and they're their defense is really good. I just to me, it's like hard to take against dignity at this point. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Ohio State perception wise, like if they lose to Texas and to me, I think to most reasonable people would be like, okay, well, they're scheduled so a little different week two than everybody else. And how geared up Texas is for this rematch considering how close that game was and probably cost Texas a playoff spot. It's just because of the schedule alone. Just if Ohio State goes into Austin, loses. And then it's like, oh, okay, well, now I really like those other big 10 teams that would be a massive mistake. I think LSU. So, temple, I guess was the last team to be kicked out of a conference

12:35that was like 25 years ago, but it was temple. And with Lane Kiffin determined to add players that were on pro rosters that ended up not making the rosters. To bring them back, you like three guys lined up for it. And then it sounded like the rest of the SEC was furious about this. And then they apparently earlier this week, even threatened to say, hey, maybe we'll kick you out of the conference, which none of us necessarily believe would happen. Then of course, after Lane blast Clemson, he says, imagine if we had pro players, because he just can't help himself with this kind of stuff. LSU, since late last night, his since like just given up, like, hey, we're not going to do this. So, we're going to move forward your thoughts on kind of the timeline of what Kiffin was trying to do there in Badrush. Yeah, I think part of Lane's kind of DNA is he does not think he's going to do what Lane wants to do until somebody puts his face on the skillet kind of thing goes, no, you can't. No, this isn't going to happen. And I think his inclination and his instincts are always

13:36to ask for forgiveness as opposed to asking for permission after he's done it. And if you look at his track record, Sabin shoved him out the door when in the playoff, when Lane had already got the FAU job, he was like, I don't want you know, you're a distraction. We don't need this for you. And they brought Sark up or promoted him up for the play call of the national title game. And obviously he got fired on the tarmac at USC. But so many other times Lane has been able to kind of squirrel his way out of, you know, a really dicey situation. And for everything we've heard is that the SEC and Greg Sanky are really disgusted by how he's created this side show. And LSU and it's also not honestly just Lane. It is the politicians in the state, you know, the governor and other, you know, political people. And it's gotten to be this soap opera. And it's really, you know, kind

14:36of, I think it's embarrassing for the SEC, you know, and you know, there's people you talk to there who are like, you know, they just had a dominant performance and really embarrassed Clemson. And yet most of the headlines are about what the hell was going on with Lane Kiffin, you know, and I think there were people I talked to on Tuesday morning at LSU who are like, man, he is playing with fire. He doesn't even, he doesn't even get it. And the feeling was he may not just get suspended for six games. He may get suspended for a whole year because if Sanky really wants to send a message to him and be like, no, no, no, I'm not laughing around. And I think that's the part where we don't really know how is this going to, where is this going to land? Because you can back off. But after you put out, you know, SEC, thank you was on a, on a stand in a court for three hours getting grilled. And it was like really awkward for everything I was told. So, you know, I'm sure he's

15:37a prideful guy. And they want alignment and they want people, you know, in their members to be on the same page and to be supportive of the conference, not to embarrass the conference. And to some degree, I think this side show with LSU, I mean, clearly didn't need those two guys, you know, was it like they already have, you know, as somebody, I was like, how good is the tie-down? I asked to somebody on LSU and they're like, well, he was their trade-as-green. Trade-as-green is more talented than him. But, and then the other defensive alignment, it was like, maybe you could have been back for the Ole Miss rematch. You know, we're talking about guys who didn't stick on NFL rosters, right? So, I mean, they're good players and they're definitely going to help from a depth, would have helped from a depth standpoint. But, you know, was it worth the trouble for LSU? Probably not. Yeah, I mean, they might be that good. Clemson also might be that bad. Do you have any idea after that first game? Yeah, I think Clemson is pretty bad. I think that what that game showed,

16:42you know, all schools miss on their evaluation from time to time. I think Clemson has missed more than, you know, in the last few years, they've always had staff shakeups and everything else. But because they do not have the luxury, I've not taken the luxury of being able to backfill their roster through the portal and fill into like gaps into position rooms, it's really come back to bite them. Like, last year they were really disappointing offense that had a lot experience on the old line and obviously club make it played for three years. This one does not have that kind of experience and they just look like they're not ready to play. They were just overwhelmed by LSU. Yeah, LSU is really talented and LSU, by the way, plays really fast and all the kind of the tempo there, I think, can overwhelm a team, especially in Death Valley. You and I both been there. That is the place in college football in terms of like it feels like Thunderdale, you know, and with a lot more booths. And I think there's just a unique energy there. In Clemson was not ready.

17:48And I would start to pivot from on this about them is like, heck, they could lose at home to build Bella Chicks from North Carolina team, you know, in a week. And I don't think anybody would have predicted that 10 days ago, even coming out of Ireland, but they just look so bad. And it's like they don't have some talent. They have some good receivers. Sammy Brown is one of the best defensive players in the country. Not just one of the best linebackers, but I think in the trenches, they are sorely lacking and, you know, Davos buy out is over $50 million. I don't know what's going to happen at the end of the year. He obviously had his press conference. I think it was on Monday or Tuesday, where he was very defiant in what people were talking to him like he doesn't tend to like admit mistakes where other people are like, no, that was a glaring screw up you made. And he just kind of, you know, maybe it's at times it's commendable, but other times it's like, hey, your head's in the sand on this. Everybody else sees it, but you.

18:52To beat Davo, you know, I've talked about this a little bit before, not specific even at Davo. And it's that you come in. And by the way, everybody was kind of like, what are we doing here? When he first got the job, it was like, yeah, Davos going to be the head coach, like, you know, Rudy down in Tuscaloosa. And so they get off to a slow start and then he's like the only guy that's even hanging with Sabin. You know, it's it's remarkable considering during Sabin's thing that they get him twice in the national championship game. So when you do that, like, why would you ever think you were going to be wrong? But the rules are so different. I think there's also like, how hungry could you possibly be? But then he becomes so miserable because all the time that he was doubted, he proved all of those doubters wrong. I think it's very hard for a person to go through what he went through and prove that he was the man and now have the like the same collection of people now doubting them all over again. I would think it's human nature that he's never really going to give in to thinking that he's necessarily wrong. The problem is like the

19:53results are showing you here now. Like the first, I broke it up like last 11 years. I mean, they were top five seven straight years. They were top three five straight years. And now they had one, I think in the last five years, they've had one top seven finish, including unranked and kind of what it looks like. It's heading towards in 26 to. Yeah, I, you know, I know I thought a couple of days ago, the in 2020, it was that, you know, I'm doing the 2019 season, I remember I'm at New Orleans, you know, in my hotel room about to leave to go get on a media shuttle to go, the LSU is playing Clemson in the title game. And I think I was doing fine-bong. And the question somebody asked me was, I think it was all I'm trying to remember who came from, but was if Clemson wins tonight has Davo surpassed Sabin as the best coach in college football. And I didn't think he was, I didn't think they were going to win because just having been around LSU on that run, I was like nobody's beating this team, nobody's beating Joe, Joe Burrow. But that was the, the thought

20:56process for a lot of people was Clemson, Davo's going to win his third national title and, you know, third time over the SEC. And this is the best team the SEC has to offer and he's going to beat them. And then all of a sudden, and it's not really all of a sudden because it's like he had a stretch before last year, where was a bunch of like ten and three kind of seasons, which were not bad years, but compared to where they were, they fell back. And I think the obvious question was, has Davo and Clemson won their last championship? And I think the reality is, even if he was getting still some really good recruits, it was like, yeah, right now, something's missing. And it's a lot of things. It was the portal. It was maybe the perfect balance of the staff that he had at the time and then got to, you know, Tony Elliott leaves, Venable leaves, Jessica at least, it's just, I think it just started to erode. And then you get stubborn and coaches are the most stubborn human beings on the place of the earth, especially football coaches, because they have 120 dudes to manage it in college

22:01and everything else. And I think that catches up to you, you know, and I think as much as he wants to listen, you know, as much as the inclination, maybe to listen to people in your staff, or whatever, sometimes you're wondering, it was like, all right, did everybody get complacent here? Did people catch up to what we're good at? And again, I don't think they're going to do what, you know, they're going to be 210 like Florida. Stay was a couple of years ago, but they can be five and seven pretty easily. I mean, they have issues a quarterback, they're bad in the trenches. I mean, and those two things, if you have the strength of your offense as receivers, and you can't get them to ball, that doesn't do you much good. Would Miami win the SEC? Oh, that's a good one. I didn't even thought about that. Right now, Miami, I think is more talented than even Texas, and because I think they have more talent in the trenches. And, you know, I don't know, I wouldn't bet against them.

23:04It's just, can they win the SEC? They couldn't win the ACC for 20 years. Now, if they're going to say they're going to win a much tougher conference, and you know, I joke about it, but there is something to be said for, you know, it's more than a two game season. People can rip Notre Dame all they want about their schedule. Miami schedule in the ACC is not good. But you watch them and you're like, man, men so really looks good. Mark Fletcher is one of the best running backs in the country. Malik Itoni is like a generational player in terms of like the impact he has in a game because he's unguardable. They have other good receivers. They're huge on the O line. And they're good on the back end. And I think Mario is put together a very good staff. It's just, you know, like, I feel like it's the level of consistency you need to go 11 and 1 in the SEC. It's a different ask than it is in the ACC where they haven't done it. So I'm going to say no just because they haven't won the ACC yet. So why should they win the SEC?

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25:09Do you I don't know if your opinion is the same as but I mean you talk to so many coaches who most people pick as they think is like the best team is a Texas in the SEC. It's a cop out to say we're going to find out a lot more this weekend but like we just haven't seen it from them. They're talented. You know I like arch. I really like Cam Coleman. They have two really good running backs. You know Raheem Biles is a big upgrade at lineback in the middle. The middle of the defense you have Colin Simmons is a really good player to get on the back end of the game special teams but you know I I don't know. Do we trust Sark? That's the you know that's the weird question asked is I think for so long he was kind of the trendy answer for like one of the best offensive minds in college football and then there's times where it's like okay there is talented as this team they're playing and there's like some head scratching moments in the red zone or different things where you're like okay does he get too cute what is you know where is

26:11this now I do think the the the mobility and the playmaking ability that that arch brings is a much different than yours you know he's he can be a problem for teams whereas yours yours was not that I just think you have a way more dynamic athlete and that always causes people problems. I think the the area that had been is Sark's kryptonite for the last couple of years I felt like was Georgia and this isn't the Georgia team that was like back to back titles but it was still a Georgia team that I felt like was more physical than Texas and just played with like an edge and that's the part where like okay this Texas gonna have that edge I mean you know like I feel like I'm almost there on Texas and yet I'm like I don't know it's just there's like an edge there where would I pick them against you know in a neutral site would I pick them against Miami I don't know

27:14if I would because I think Miami is the tougher team I would I don't know if I would pick them against Georgia because I feel like Georgia is just the tougher team but they're I mean I still think they're one of the most five most talented teams in the country and they've spent a lot of money on the portal and I think it's gonna show up this weekend. You think Texas Pizzo House State? I do because it's home and I feel like you know you look at the numbers with Sain. Sain is dramatically different like all quarterbacks are different one you know depending on the competition but like last year Miami got to him I think five times and you know he did not play well in that game and you know they scored whatever 14 points I don't think Texas is as nasty on the defense as Miami was last year but I think you know look I think they will be a problem for Ohio State's offense line you know Ohio State one of their tackles didn't have a great week last week against a much more inferior competition

28:16so I think that is a concern for them you know Sainz a really accurate quarterback with a proper release he's not super mobile either though it's not like he's well-houred back there or certainly like you know some of the other quarterbacks of Ohio State's and I think that might be a little bit of a concern on the road in a place that you know Texas is a lot more of a home field advantage now than it was like 10 years ago like credit to like their their university they upgraded like the energy and the way the place sounds and it feels more like a home field advantage than it used to and I think that could also play into you know communication issues and some of you know how Ohio State handles this okay all right so more of these coaches pulled responses here does anyone want their vote over on the biggest sleeper in the country with Michigan leaving away man now they there wasn't a lot of votes for any specific team they got the most I think it was

29:17you know three three right three the three of eight well three about three of eighteen eighteen um yeah so but I think a lot of that was hey they trust Kyle winning half and they trust Kyle winning him's culture with these athletes the biggest issue right now is what do you do with the quarterback who you know you spent um low eight figures on and he's not ready to play he's just not you know he he doesn't trust his eyes you don't know what he you know if he can read defenses at this point uh he he he's really um in accurate his feet are all over the place even then or even they stuck you think he would be excel at exceptional at in terms of in the run game just doesn't feel like he's comfortable with that at times um and I think he's feeling the pressure right now I really do because it was it you know the the Mulligan on the Hail Mary notwithstanding they did not play well he did not play well and all eyes are on him and winning him is now had to

30:21answer for it and was like you know he's a he's a starting quarterback for now I know they do like Tommy Carr she's a younger brother um I'm not sure she's gonna be honest read yeah I don't know if I don't know if uh Chase is ready to ready to roll for for Brent Benoval's business putting it on everybody's radar that's all um but I I'm not sure Tommy Carr would be ready for this I mean again going to play Oklahoma's defense when Brent Benoval's and it's also not like they have Ohio State's talent or they have Oregon's talent they don't on offense the O'Line is not what it was a few years ago the receiving core has never been you know great there I mean it's great you know whatever 30 years ago but it was like it's it's really you know kind of a above average but not not elite the few years ago they had really good tight ends I'm not sure it's there and they also you know the running backs are good but again the offensive line isn't you know isn't elite at this point or close to it and I think it's right now you have a program that is

31:24figuring out oh we got we're in transition it's a second year it's for for Underwood in a second system it's pretty different the coaching styles are very different and it's you know there's a lot of growing pains and I don't know how they come through the growing pains now because I would be surprised if there are top 25 team this year I really I don't think they're I don't think that was very flutty what happened last week against Western Michigan I kind of think that's what they are you know what are they hang their hat on I don't know if I said Bryce Underwoods of Florida State next year starting week one which what would you say whose coach in on the Florida State I don't know I mean I was like I used to try to pick less miles next team if you told me Bryce Underwood was at Rutgers and Brian Kelly's coach and thank you do you imagine the sideline interaction between the two of that when it's going bad I I don't know where

32:29you know like because obviously DJ you ended up in Tallahassee and he was like you know the one of the last super sized five star quarterbacks you kind of fizzled or did fizzled he kind of and then he ended up Florida State and that didn't go good or didn't go well and I I don't know how this plays out but I you know I would be surprised if he's going to be back next year it just like I think after a while if it keeps going in this direction nothing to show that we're going to get a fast change in terms of like he's going to pull out of it and all the sudden he is going to going to look like Sam Darnold or something or some other you know athletic quarterback who has toughness and and figures it out on the fly I don't know you know like I don't know how he kind of kind of stays there if it's just you know the coach is telling you I'm not I'm not going to be this patient with you I thought it was really revealing for winning him

33:32to go yeah yeah this is not infinite on this and I would say like on some of those third and 13s where he tucks it and runs like you're not going to you're not going to get there like I understand some guys do it like Reynolds for Clemson against LSU I think he was running around on third and forever because it was like whatever we're down 40 like I'm just trying to I'm trying to make sure we don't turn it over and Punt and Bryce will have some of these plays where he tucks it I'm like there's no there's no way there's in a competitive game like you're not going to get to the sticks on this one all right you're not in high school any you're not in high school anymore you have a 66 year old head coach who is planning on retiring and Allison he got us you know a second chance at coaching it and it's at a blue blood program with a lot of fleas on it and now all of a sudden you know how patient is he going to be at 66 I don't you know I don't think he's going to expect oh yeah you know in 2028 we can be dangerous I don't think I'm winning I'm looks at anything that way I want to ask you about this transfer portal gap which I've referenced a

34:35couple times here on the show on like longer term or ACC in big 12 coaches feeling being like man you know like sure text text seems like they can get anybody they want in you know there's there's there's talent dispersed you know Houston's grabbed a few guys clearly Miami can get whoever they want there's a couple guys there around the top but you know I referenced it I know you follow this kind of stuff is there any concern in the world of the coaches that you talked to where it's like me we were heading on two diverging paths here between what the two top conferences are getting in the portals thing now that this thing is kind of reset I think they're resigned that this is the reality and it depends on what school you're at I mean because like Miami and Texas tech they recruit like SEC programs you know from a story I'm working on for next week you know talk to a very credible source on this who said there are six schools that basically have $50 million

35:36budget two of those are not in the big big 10 or the SEC Miami and Texas tech are in there along with Texas LSU Ohio State and I think Oregon was the other one that's you know so you have you know essentially to you know two big 10 or three SEC and another two big 10 two big two SEC and then the other two are you know act like that and they are such outliers compared because I think if you go back to the rest of the let's say the ACC Clemson doesn't get after the people in the portal to begin with but Florida State when I talked to somebody down there you know about a month ago the point they made is we did not we were not aggressive financially in the portal we did not have that money to go after guys it's why you get asked in Daniels there's your starting

36:36quarterback and a guy who has like a six and 20 record he knows the start of and the thinking this person had was yeah they're saving their money up for something else which means to to pay off Mike Norville to get out of here because this is currently not working Louisville I think had one of the you know probably a top 20 portal class according to like the 247s of the world and you see what you know there are talented team you watch them on on Sunday against Ole Miss they went toe to toe with them if they weren't so sloppy you know I think they probably win that game but there's other aspects of the ACC you look at Boston College you know I had people this all season sound me like that job is one of the hardest jobs in college football now it has been left behind in the financial realities of the NIL portal world and you know as you know because you grew up in New England they were consistently good big nail had a lot of good years Tom O'Brien had a lot of good

37:40years even Frank Spaziani and Steve Adazio had decent years you know like Adazio had like felt like he was seven and five or seven and six every year not great but also not like what the L'O'Brien just did last year and what it feels like he's gonna do again and the point in that was and this is where I think it's the larger point do BC has some parallels with Northwestern and Bandy where the change really is different is Northwestern in the in the big 10 and Bandy obviously the SEC are getting big TV money that doesn't that's not happening in the ACC for Boston College and so that adds to it right and I think with the big 12 yeah you know like DYU also has the crumble cookie you know fortune and everything like that but a lot of those other places they're they're not built to be what Texas local home will wear Texas tech just got lucky that they that they're one elicis former offense align and made billions of dollars in the energy business and he's

38:45throwing it into the football program I think that's rare and you know this this is the reality everybody has when you know we talked to coaches in both leagues especially they kind of shrug their shoulders at it they'd like to have a Cody Campbell they don't and it's just like you know this is it and a lot of coaches if they were being honest we'll tell you they'd rather be in the NFL than they'd rather be in college because of how this calendar and everything else about it works but there's only so many NFL jobs I always wondered if you know it would be kind of a new money thing we're all of a sudden all of these boosters you know that love their program and then it's kind of like oh wow we can throw some extra money and now this thing's totally legal like let's go out there and get ourselves a really good quarterback and then you're hitting people up that are really motivated to do this for the first time is this all kind of like change course you know four or five years ago and then you're like oh we still stink so what's what's the point and my guess would be

39:47there's a lot of programs that are making phone calls to people asking like hey do you want to get back involved in the NIL thing and they may have gotten like a surge in the beginning and now there's very little interest for a ton of programs that the boosters are just like this this is sort of pointless like I'm just throwing money at something that we can't compete we can't compete with some of these other schools there is nothing more predictable than the college basketball cycle of some source telling one of the college basketball writers this is not sustainable you know like this is not sustainable and then it happens every year the prices keep going up I mean if even if the beginning you would say hey some of these programs are going to in five years have 50 million dollar budgets for just their football roster you'd be like well that's ridiculous like that's not going to happen but then sometimes I think well what is the value of the quarterback like if we put this much value on the NFL if you get the right guy like those numbers are just going to keep going up and up and up because it's like an open market and you just kind of keep bidding on these guys which again I think drives the top end prices but also discourages how many of the P4 programs where

40:50their alums are like this is pointless and they're getting less money in the next couple years and they were at the beginning of all of this yeah I think it's it's a it's the drug that nobody can quit you know if you think about it in that in that term now like some of the boosters and I think this is a big chunk of boosters struggle with the notion of hey I'm going to pay this player who maybe hasn't done anything you know 2.5 million dollars that to them is a shock to the system still and I think they're uncomfortable with that model they're more they're more fun with paying you know they're a head football coach 12 million dollars a year than they are would play paying a defensive end you know 800,000 you know because it's harder for them to see the the you know yeah maybe this guy turns into Alan Bailey almost none of them do but you know it's you're trying to thread an edel into this and I think we'll remember the guys who turned it around like like

41:52oh next was a big recruited offer and obviously coaches kid and everybody knew who he was and then he was kind of you know really up and down he got to Oregon system was really good flourished how did terrific you know second act and obviously you know when as a first round picking has done really well for the Broncos that is the exception rather than the rule there's more DJU's than their Arbonix's yeah Dante Moore second act has been really good but I you know think of it it through this lens a lot where you know every year I got to elite 11 it's not far from where we live and here and you see most of the best quarterback recruits in the country and the year that C.J. Hard and Dylan Riala were in that class there was 20 quarterbacks of those 20 a lot of immorality transferred twice most almost all of them are transferred once by the end of this class I think the only quarterback of the 20 who may end up finishing his career with a place he signed

42:56is C.J. Carr and I'm not saying that's the only reason why C.J. Carr is thriving but I think there is so much of an instinct where I got to playing now and if I'm not playing where should I go you know you have a better I don't know if it's a better chance to find a you know a chambles was kind of lightning in a bottle right he's just he was a division to quarterback who was like not playing a division to until the latter part of his time there and then Lane ended up with him I don't think Lane had any idea what he had until he was playing and Austin Simmons got hurt right and so you see some of those stories of the guys who break through at the third stop or at some point and that doesn't mean they're gonna turn out to be Caleb Williams and the NFL or Jayden Daniels or Joe Burrow because all those guys also you know ended up someplace else but I just think it's like so much harder to do the evaluations now because you're it's like speed dating you're doing all

44:01this stuff now you're adding money to it I mean I did some study I don't know probably like six years ago where I looked at like the previous 15 years of five star quarterbacks and I figured out that about 30% of those five star quarterbacks came close to living up to the height I'm not saying they were they were you know heisman guys or heisman finalists but came close to 30% that was before they started getting millions of dollars and TV deals and all this other stuff now I'm sure some of them were getting money under the table beforehand but it's still like that just made it so much more complicated because now we're putting the money and the expectations and all the stuff that has come with that in this day and age so not making excuses for football coaches but I just think it's a lot harder to to exist in this world now because because everything else has been throughout the window especially with thoughts like these last topic here with Bruce Feldman you asked the coaches who should be the highest paid player in college football all right

45:07Jeremiah Smith got nine votes coaches raved about Jeremiah Smith except for one big 10 running backs coach who said quote not Jeremiah play cover two over him and you take him out of the game I think he's closer to DK Metcalf than Jackson Smith and jigba and quote of what the fuck yeah look I think physically I get the the the DK comparison because you got a hulking receiver who's got really good size and and Jackson Smith and jigba is really slick and smooth and they're different kinds of guys I think that was kind of like the ooh moment of it um I there was two other coaches who were way more of you siff and why in their explanations to why Jeremiah Smith actually ran away with that poll from the coaches but there was one coach and I was like this is too good not to use um and again I'm with the other nine uh coaches I think he is by far the best

46:07player in college football and I think he he has been a remark like if you ask me who's the best receiver you've ever seen in college football I don't have to think very hard about it I mean he basically looked like Andre Johnson when he got to Ohio State the way Andre Johnson looked when he went to the Houston Texans you know and left Miami like he just such a man among boys and I get it if you think this is a way to slow him down because nobody's perfect and I think this is that that position coaches way of being like yeah you guys you know talk him up so much and he's not you know he's not like infallible all right well you know hopefully your team doesn't have to play him and do that I just think after two years like somebody would have figured out the cover two hat now you could say well you can't play cover two because of the talent that they're always gonna have and all that kind of stuff but I don't know I thought that was that was like a there's

47:09there's a zag for everything I'm convinced of that no matter what position we all kind of collectively agree on there's always someone that's like actually it's this hey you spent years talk you spent years working on a show with Danny you know there's a lot of things that looks like it reeks like Stanford Steve will surprise you every now and then like he'll just out of nowhere go I like Robbie Ashford better and you're like what you never said that I just like Rob referencing Robbie Ashford not on a roster this year hurting was a good baseball player back in the day yeah I heard about it every fucking broadcast and all the stops that he made that he also was an awesome baseball player the also part I mean honestly if there's somebody in his family like why does that guy still talk I was just fascinated about his journey fascinated about his journey you'd always come in if you talk about a baseball career but there you go check out this piece up on the athletic and more importantly check out the annual freaks list from our guide brisfilment thanks man thanks Ryan

48:13I got some pictures back from the Todd Graves suite at lsu founder of raising canes I can't wait to go down for Bama and some Texas toast and that might also mean the Texas game canes is also sponsoring PJ tour golfer Sam Burns lsu alum Louisiana native and a good friend of raising canes owner and founder Todd grays you may have seen the canes logo on his collar during tournaments this season ahead of the BMW championship Sam and raising canes hosted kids from first T end the boys and girls club of st. Louis for a meet and greet and golf lessons by Sam himself at a driving range in St. Louis and of course canes chicken fingers and canes sauce which I want extra up when I go deep when I'm like hey why don't you just make this seven fingers is the base model I'm not going to bring that up to Todd but I think all of us would appreciate it raising canes chicken fingers one love Netflix is expanding its NFL coverage in 2026 from week one to the first ever thanks giving Eve matchup in two Christmas day games and a playoff game in January week one of the upcoming

49:15NFL season will feature the leagues first ever regular season game in Australia on September 10 between divisional rivals the LA Rams and the San Francisco 49ers that will air on Netflix live from the Melbourne cricket ground Thursday September 10th at 8.35 pm eastern time 5.35 pm Pacific okay here's the thing all of us and talk about the Rams for obvious reasons they're loaded I'd say this is the first year a long time where I've kind of felt like man just don't know if the nighters gonna be able to hang they're a little dinged up they just lost a really good defensive player injury on top of everything else but if there's a kind of a reminder of like that shana hand make they thing is that you kind of feel like that matchup especially being on Netflix and being the only game the extra anticipation and the fact that it's being playing somewhere else it just kind of feels like one of those games at the end of you be like oh the nighters are still finding way to be in this even if the course of 17 games like I don't expect them to be in the same group whatsoever so that's kind of the attraction about these two teams knowing each other this well and the times you've been subribe it's surprised by the outcomes whenever the nighters

50:16or Rams get together watch week one of the NFL on Netflix the Los Angeles Rams versus the San Francisco 49ers live only on Netflix Thursday September 10th at 8.35 p.m. Eastern in 5.35 p.m. Pacific the NFL season starts tonight it's 2026 do you know your back of quarterback situation I do this segment every year or the years I feel like doing it for whatever reason it ends up being way more work than I think I think the original version of this I just read every team's depth chart at quarterback and I had some probably some zingers in there a little bit I don't know if I could do it I wrote it all down there's some math that I think is interesting on how this position is designed for the backups here this is quite to sell this would be a tease hey I did this segment wrote a bunch of stuff down may read it to you could suck that's next I guess I could do that um I some of the stuff just kind of surprised you because like there's no way that you're keeping track of all of it I know it's kind of the job but like I rarely am keeping track of all of this

51:18depth chart stuff but you run through it all right so Buffalo's good call Allen he's on a 16 I think he's in that chase Daniel like good hang group of backups 19 career starts my amy's get calm accord his third team zero starts Brady cook who I forgot had actually started four games last year I I straight up forgot that that's in the jets dolphins turf war there on that one new English got Tommy DeVito remember we were just talking about how he slept at home and she can cut that stuff eight starts his career I think up Aaron Morton rookie we have 12 rookies on quarterback depth charts 12 rookies right there are 16 quarterbacks on the depth charts that have never had to start in the NFL so you've got 12 rookies you've got 11 undrafted and I'll go through where their draft position is but 11 of these guys are totally undrafted that's of course some of the rookies there um Baron Morton's one of them Kade clubbics another one

52:22looks like the jets are like we're gonna have two guys we don't want anyone to take any a club Knicks snaps these are the depth charts as of this morning there's some IR trickery that's going on as well but maybe it's a development and also hopefully be bad enough to grab one of the quarterbacks in a loaded class in 27 Baltimore good friend Tyler Huntley um he's in the mix and then Joey Fajano from Yukon another rookie since then flacco leading the way leading all backup quarterbacks with 201 career stirrucks uh six teams for him Cleveland look out backup quarterback buffet we've got DeShawn which made all the sense in the world that you knew they were gonna just be like what if he has like a good month we can trade him for something which is not going to happen or the owner being like I paid this fucking guy so much money he's starting I don't care but I think all the other three guys are gonna start Sanders of seven last year Dylan Gabriel had six and then Taylor and Green I think all three will start games so I think you're gonna have four different quarterback start games for the Cleveland Browns this year Mason Rudolph back in the mix

53:23good hang club two teams 19 starts will Howard zero starts and then Aller a rookie clearly no starts as well Houston Davis Mills 29 starts and he's been in in house guys been there for a while grandmerts IR zero starts Colts Anthony Richardson a first round pick I'll get to that theme on the back ups a little bit later 15 starts for him one for Riley Leonard Jacksonville has quen yours three career starts and they're going Carter Bradley who's on the IR and undrafted and hasn't played in the game Tennessee Mitch Trebuski on his 1450 career starts that's a good number for a backup that's the other shocking thing about this exercise how many teams backup so just like yeah these guys have never played either we're good including a headliner team Mitch 50 starts for him he's only had seven starts in his last 50 not 50 years that would be a long time playing the NFL seven starts five years Denver Stidem four starts three starts for Sam Elinger two teams that's seven

54:27starts stittems fast and I'd never liked him in college I don't necessarily think he's that good and some of the smartest football people love Jared's to them so I just assume there's something that's happened in practices that I haven't like I'm wrong I guess I'm wrong but smart teams seem to like him how about smart teams Kansas City Chiefs Justin Fields 14 53 career starts Nussmeyer in the mix the fact that they took Nussmeyer like yep I'm right and then the fact they brought in Fields is like maybe all the fields that Fields Army's been strong and they don't know it's like World War Two they're just on an island they're like the war's been over man like no it isn't because if he plays if he gets one start starts dicing up everybody look out Vegas well Mendoza at the backup behind cousins this is a different kind of category altogether eight no conno 17 starts the chargers decide to go into the season with Tray Lance third team former top pick six starts I was shocked he had six starts Dallas Sam Howell third team seems like people like Sam Howell

55:3018 starts the Giants one of the OGs of the backup game now the last six years James Winston 89 career starts that numbers low like I was like James has only had 89 career starts the problem he's had six years of the last six years has only had 19 starts so there's your 89 Andy Dalton 169 starts he's your backup in Philadelphia 169 and they've got another guy with a 10-and-a-key with two starts there Washington commanders Marriota another OG 82 starts five teams then we get a Greek kid who's a rookie Baygent Chicago four starts Badgen case Keenum 66 starts 18s so some some start depth there behind Caleb Detroit Josh Dobbs 15 starts 17s that's about two starts a team Green Bay Tyrod in the mix 62 starts

56:32that's that's a high number but it's kind of like he always ends up starting wherever he goes he'll probably start a couple games this year for them Minnesota they have an interesting scenario here Kyler first round pick Jay-Jama McCarthy first round pick Carson Wentz first round pick 10 starts for Jay-J we've covered that six teams 99 starts for Carson Wentz what is Carson Wentz record over those 99 starts you want to take a shot at it 49 49 and one Atlanta Pennx 12 starts Cooper Rush is 13 16 starts for him Carolina running it with Kenny P fourth team for him 24 starts Haynes King rookie no starts New Orleans the Rattler 14 starts Zach Wilson his 13 33 starts Tampa Bay Jayland Daniels rookie Kansas wow I was like wow that's what they're doing I looked it up again this morning I feel like I have to be wrong about that the Rams behind Stafford zero starts for Stetson Bennett no games for Ty Simpson is that

57:40stupid all right San Francisco Mac Jones 13 57 starts and they get cursed for work they're zero games and then Seattle drew lock Jaylen Milro 28 starts for lock zero starts for Jaylen Milro so to look over this again 12 rookies on these depth charts 11 undrafted total so again there's carryover for an undrafted rookie that covers that first round picks the backup 15 that's the most it should be the most it's also very interesting how often the most seasoned starters are all first round picks not all but it's kind of the rule here not necessarily that well Flacco is yes wins is yes Winston Mario to Dalton and it being a second round pick in summary looking at all this stuff again here like what what does this mean I don't know I mean it's up to you I enjoy it there are 10 teams that only have one backup which is kind of that feels a little lower the other

58:40years that I've done this but it usually ends up kind of being like half the league have that third guide and some guys trying to figure out a way to keep the fourth guy on usually those teams aren't very good but sometimes the teams are just like figuring out a way to stash your guys that they love and like on the practice squad but 10 teams with only one backup which again feels like on the lower side but kind of in that middle half the league range because the third guy almost never plays the other development from this is how often like how many undrafted guys it's it's like there's more undrafted guys that are backups than there are second rounders there's two second round backups there's 15 first round backups five third round backups five fourth round backups three fifth round and then the six rounds where you go for backups there's nine of them and then there's five seventh rounders so the the problem I've always had with the position in a lack of development is that there's just going to be like 12 to 13 rookies next year that are going to make rosters week one they're going

59:45to be backups on these depth charts and they're replacing a good chunk of guys that never ever played and you had no idea if they were ever any good now granted in practice you probably get some read on it if somebody's like a great prospect you don't want to cut him even if he hasn't played in it games but this is kind of the bigger point that I've made for years is that I think the NFL kind of eats their quarterbacks because you just kind of you're on a roster you never play you never get an experience and then it's like yeah we're just going to replace you with the next guy that has no experience and then we're probably kind of him in three years too on top everything else the first round group the 15 guys that are still backups that would make sense because if you're a quarterback who's good enough to go in the first round that means multiple teams probably like to and they'll blame the other coaching staff or the offensive system or it's like man we had a high grade on that guy like let's bring him in so I'm not saying that's why Mitch Trebuski is still in the league Mitch is probably doing really good stuff like as a backup and they like him in the room but you know Zach Wilson being on a roster when it's looked like an absolute disaster every time

1:00:46he's been back there that's probably just because a few other teams would have had high grades on him anyway and when a Mitch has 50 career starts well as Mitch have 50 starts because he was better than some of these other guys that claimed out no he had 50 starts because he was like with the number two pick so you had to make sure you're right which is exactly what Chicago did with fields and why he had so many starts it's why Zach Wilson has the 33 starts because it's like we're going to make sure that we actually know that we screwed this thing up here and then you have you know the Winston's the Mariotas the Wences of well they've been in it they've done it for a while but I guess there's there's there's part of me that surprised there aren't more from that kind of group other former first-rounders 50 60 starts a case kingdom types or again case was not a first-round pick but it's like don't we want somebody and some of these teams just have no problem what's whatever going to the year being like we have almost zero experience at the backup quarterback position and if it ends up being mistaken then it's super easy for us to jump on and be critical of

1:01:47but it's not that abnormal for even some of these really good teams we're like yep we're good we don't care about having a ton of depth back there and we're talking about playoff contenders with NFL Sunday ticket and YouTube TV it doesn't matter who's coming over and it doesn't matter what team they love and need to see every play every game day changing moment of the NFL Sunday football action is right here you won't miss anything and you'll be the best host ever it's you and your friends watching four games at once it's every Sunday game regardless of where it's being played it's pure NFL bliss as it happens right in your living room every game every Sunday all in one place and right now it's just eight payments of $30 a month for new users sign up now new users pay $240 or eight non-cancellable payments of $30 a month first charge of purchase availability varies with NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games in YouTube TV for local and national games YouTube TV required digital only games excluded terms and embargoes applied device and content restrictions applied a multi-view commercial use excluded no refunds

1:02:48you want details fine I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolay what's up I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork I have every toy you could possibly imagine and best of all kids I am liquid so now you know what's possible let me tell you what's required life advice life advice rrgmail.com Kyle and Steve in the mix quick story although our threads been on fire lately these three guys chopping it up huge smile on Kyle's face didn't even want to say anything I guess or his audio saw and that's why he's so happy right now so we're taking this after we take Bruce by the way um which I guess maybe it'll be in that order but Kyle shout it up Bruce you he gave him like a little give him like an inch of just like Pekipsey and Kyle took a mile just took a mile I just said you know what you're right Bruce took the mile so we we're sure about this the Pekipsey has

1:03:51the longest suspended there's a couple of the world there's a couple of qualifiers elevated walking bridge elevated there's some shit that's like you know a little bit longer uh you know that's you know not raised but yeah raised we still got it I think smaller cities can get a little Alabama-ish with stuff that they claim that's all right it's like one qualifier okay elevated suspended bridge so if you can't maybe maybe I made up suspended it's definitely elevated it's definitely elevated it's like over a mile I don't know cross represent cross-round jewel this way if you're not gonna have this shit buttoned up all right we did this like a mile on the mouth yeah I know no it's fine because I'm gonna be right so you did say whatever dear intro I do feel like Kyle's right uh he's he's confident I'll probably like I think he's hurt and support so thank now you could say they've thrown in all these adjectives and yeah exactly what does that mean the more adjective is the less definitive it probably is but I don't deny Kyle being correct here they found a way to be correct and the longest elevated pedestrian bridge so two qualifiers

1:04:54it spans 1.28 miles 212 feet 212 feet above the water you could do some damage if you jumped off that one I Hartford may have to give up the Hartford has it tagged never but Kipsey has it we're never giving that up we got Bourdain to that's all that matters yeah the radio head I can't believe that long I didn't know that the entire time my my daily commute there for a few years one of my favorite albums the same time drive through history you know I had no idea I had no idea that Tom York was that depressed driving too hard for the inspired him to make an album cover so is it that'd be a billboard some people say our night you know yeah yeah one of the greatest bands of all time drove through our city and they were like this is so depressing we should recognize it later on with an album cover all right we have some emails we're gonna get that just saying yeah

1:06:00great calls to read so we were talking about the graduation stuff so that led to a couple boys from back in the day to reach out specifically one of my roommates and he's like hey do you not remember because I'm not gonna say the guys name he's like do you not remember so-and-so fake graduation story and I was like I do not feel free to spend as much time you need on this story so he reminded me because I forgot about this there was a guy who was not part of our friend group so that's why I wouldn't have remembered earning like that because it wasn't like a core guy he's like an associate yeah he was I would say he was associated but disassociated in a way he was like guys in college could all have their lanes of like that's weird or you're learning about new guys different parts of the country it's not just a prep school in the wingland all of a sudden you're like what the hell's that guy that guy that guy does what like Dirk Bentley freaked us out we all loved him like what the fuck is this guy's deal and honestly kind of worked out well it didn't kind of work out it absolutely worked out but there's now something unique about him that we're

1:07:01like a lot of this makes sense going back and looking at all of it right so shout out to him but there was one guy who I would say eventually kind of like ran this race that nobody else was in and he was kind of just around I don't know that that many people even liked him but he was kind of associated with things so then he was just a ways around so my roommate called me was like that guy his parents sent him money for tuition room and board after his first two years you know he was in the dorms and then the thing at UVM would be you've got him you've got it live off can't get out of your junior and the dorms forget about it it was like hey I'm trying to be a virgin bring him back close to class yeah yeah so this guy took his parents checks both semesters for two years lived all we're supposed to be his junior and senior year didn't enroll endorse the checks to himself and just lived high off the hog for a couple years run around and nobody like quite new

1:08:03including his parents so apparently graduation rolls around because this is another thing that blew my mind like one of my roommates freshman year we get started they caded your parents make reservations for graduation weekend four years from now what we're gonna hold out until we get some good good news like people are doing that it wasn't even specific to me I've just kind of yeah that's insane and it isn't insane it's smart and you know as soon as your kid gets accepted and you're sending the first deposit check you should probably do that so put the pressure on him like hey just so you know that's a non-refundable deposit on that reservation four years from now really at least so credits from you every year buddy need you to get them all every this guy was just operating as a civilian yeah living in a post-knowledge with other students living off of his parents checks and if he was out of state back then which I'm pretty sure he was you're talking like 10 grand in September 10 grand again in February and I think he was even working because I mean he wasn't doing anything else he was like working

1:09:05a little bit part time and so then four years later or excuse me two years after because I'm sure like when it's through the dorms it's a little easier to keep track of but like some parents are wild with this stuff where I'm sure some people listening like there's complete end of pay you go to college it's complete independence meanwhile my father would have been like where your bills what's going on just because I was obviously the first two and there's going to be no cutting any corners whatsoever I think I applied for like a cash advance student loan or something and he got flagged on it he was like absolutely not I was like I'm fucking broke this is awful so do you seem to want to ask my first my first question is these were just given blank checks be like hey this is for college like that's not how it worked for for me I don't know if it's how or for you Kyle like you just you didn't just like no there was no money in my hands that didn't have to be that's for sure yeah right if it did right there with you but I would say that you buy your book some of my stories here that you would hear where I got to school there were people that actually did have this kind of like whether they came from money or something it was like hey this is you having to have responsibility you're on top of you gonna pay a divorce decision ever so the

1:10:08parents have no idea it's coming up on graduation weekend he hasn't been in classes in two years so guess who's not gonna get his name announced this guy he then buys a cap and gown leading up he's telling other dudes like it's out I haven't been in class in two years you know like I'm sure his roommates finally figured it out and you're like man you got a light schedule this semester huh so they're like what are you gonna do he's like I can't tell him I basically stolen money from him for two years I'm a million credit shy like there's nothing even close I didn't I shouldn't even be here it's been a good hang I've had fun I've enjoyed my time but I can't tell him so I guess what he did was he clearly went out the night before graduation he bought his cap and gown his mother and father were there dressed up and he had a last name where he could play it where it's like around the around the diesel ease I'm out of here and he just went to him and faked like I'm so sick I'm so sick I have to go to the hospital like something's wrong with me something like that and they were like what and his name like it wasn't just around the bend be like we're here

1:11:12so he had planned the whole thing out apparently and they all left because his name wasn't going to be called and that's how we tricked his parents that's worse than our guy yesterday line about be the demon basketball player yeah yeah cuz now somebody's hurt yeah there's money victimless grab honestly is a pretty smart way to get out of it though for being honest the not now I understand how this guy kind of is he like a con artist like what are doing with this guy's doing today I have no idea is he just gaming people online I could see that yeah he was older than me and as soon as he was out of the mix there was a zero chance I was ever ever running into no one in our core group extended group satellite group there was no one that was going to have any interactions with him whatsoever the guy the called me was like how do you remember this he was like because of this one specific reason I was like oh that's right the fake sick thing works more often than you think you know like people will just be like oh shit are you sick I guess we got to go you know I think that's where you're the dad you go all right well we'll go to

1:12:13that just I'd like to see the official document yeah I'd ask a few questions that would be like hey I guess we're good now man got out of a good job although this guy clearly would lie and is resonated you graduated if you're capable of doing any of these things but you know you can't get it yeah the market just thin I got out of a dash situation one time I ever did it and it failed so I and I'll tell you honestly I would never do it again but I was going to be the one guy was three three guys me included out of Chinese buffet and one guy was like I'm out of here I was like oh come on man me and him got to split it and then he he goes and I'm like I well I definitely don't have three full buffet monies you know what I mean so then I go out the same door it turns out it's like a locked alley with no roof just between two buildings and like this plaza and that movies a lot the doors locked these guys are freaking out and and I guess the silent alarm went off next day I know there's a there's a woman screaming we're all stuck in here my buddy just

1:13:14fakes throwing up immediately I'm like this guy sick we're trying to go to the bathroom we're locked in the sally what the hell's going on and she like didn't want to believe us but she kind of was just like the bathroom's over there and we'd paid her whatever but like the fake sick thing I mean that could that could have been cops dude yeah great instincts on him to just double how did he be throwing up produce any volume to convince someone else he was throwing up all fake throwing up I don't know might be a language barrier thing that she was just like all right you guys aren't leaving but you know I don't know but whatever that was a close one never wanted to do it certainly would never do it again after that you're saying yes we all ended up paying well didn't you actually didn't want to do it I didn't want to do it but I was like I believe you I'm at this time it feels like my back's against the wall I don't got three $22 buffade chargers or whatever it was back in the you know we did an all-time move they came over the check and go the other two guys dying in dash I'm against it I'm gonna pay my third I can pay mine and then they go wait a minute that's the hack yeah three for one special who wants 66% off yeah all right let's

1:14:24read some emails here all right so this guy I don't really know what he did here and that's why I actually forwarded this email to Kyle and Steve which doesn't happen I know I'm very off a little head of Kyle well Kyle sort some and then I if I feel like it's relevant because this guy included some pictures and also some text message so I think we already know what this guy was trying to do because I don't really understand the email 6-1-185 gym stats 315 bench 275 squat top heavy in a 349 marathon basketball comp will be Jaylen Brown if you forgot how to shoot good slash or pass or but can't use my left hand to say my life I writing today because I have a problem over the last eight days I've MC two weddings super MC over here they both went well enough that numerous people left the event saying they'd never seen someone perform like that a guy was usually quite critical of me even said I gave a solid a minus to great detail I kind of love that yeah let's just dig into that for a second just personal nemesis you crush it a's across the board he throws

1:15:30a little minus in there to remind you that I don't like you but he wants to still be taken seriously as an analyst so he has to give you the a yeah nice yeah I remember like when I first started like ESPN first few years in a buddy from college who I wouldn't call his best friends I thought we were maybe a little bit closer but there's also some nemesis moments in there as well and he was like a couple beers in pulls me side because I got to say hate to say it but you're really good at this like thanks thanks you hate saying it all right anyway a minus guy checking in my issue is now multiple people have asked me about MC in their weddings would you I have trouble saying no to it's a lot of work and by the end of each event I definitely was way drunker than I'd be if I wasn't working if I say no I don't even imagine getting an invite to these weddings which I do enjoy not to mention my girlfriend wasn't invited either wedding which would have been nice to have support for when you're doing this sort of stressful role do I need to agree to these opportunities but insist my girlfriend gets an invite do I say no just miss out on the wedding fund or do I purposely

1:16:33bomb my next one so people quit asking but I still get to go all thoughts are appreciated photos below and some messages I got from my work as well as a pick of me and my girlfriend good looks like a guy sends a picture of he and his girlfriend on paddle boards and she's hot and this guy's like Brad Pitt fight club ripped I say this he just respectfully he looks like if Julian Edelman like was looks maxing if he's taking that little hammer just right cheekbones yeah I guess yeah and you might even be tall so like this is not an knock on jewels right now definitely looks tall I just sit down so yeah they wouldn't call him the flag squirrel they'd find another name for no but I don't I don't really know okay so you're awesome at mcng what next what do we need to do and then hey here's me completely ripped up next to my hot girl for a paddle board I don't really understand the picture man swan are invited you know are you guys with me here or I am I totally

1:17:35have yeah maybe it was just a creative you know sometimes emails with attachment standout you know maybe it's just a way of getting your resume in the door you know I mean yeah yeah yeah there is that there's a call there's you know it's called back to the to mention in the email I just have a power partner in a relationship and he's like you know what is right all right so we we're not gonna use this on the show but would you come if I sent this picture to you randomly when you were knocking it you got to start typing now I just I just sent a picture of myself showing off the shark gills to serrudy and Kyle is this is this a response to the Reese's video are you feeling insecure I didn't look at one comment on the Reese's video why what's the issue no I was just you know just you know it was a lot of the facial hair was aggressive you know people think I'm

1:18:36fat I'm convinced there's a lot of people out there that want to believe that I'm fat and it's okay because no matter why if I'm 175 there's a double chin you think there's that roamed picture going around yeah just look like a fucking slob in it and I'm not photogenic I completely understand and it's I've accepted it so I don't but the thing that I'm fat when I just sent you the content I sent you like our emailer just did I got your money in this one I think you should I think we should make this public I don't I don't know like I don't know like no no he's right our chat has been on fire lately and this is the thing which is the most on fire shit in the street you know that's bad we're not putting this we're not putting this one out there yeah hey you look good I will say you did mention to me what a couple days ago you're like the leanest you've ever been I was I got back I don't know what the hell is going on there were some check-ins on the scale where I'm like what is fucking happening to you right now and traveling stuff you know yeah but I it I hadn't really traveled in a few weeks and then something got back I got back like I don't know if it was

1:19:40whatever it was a very weird light fluctuation but that's it like 224 that picture so we're back we had a really like listen all right I don't know what to do with this email is my point like what do you really want me and I think you wanted to see us how how good you look to be to be totally honest and you do you look fucking awesome so there you go a plus no I'm not gonna take the cynical route here I think this is a normalized no this is like right in the crosshairs first of all a it must be awesome to do this at a wedding have like a guy's grandma be like you were amazing you know what I mean like that must be awesome to just like the the receiving line of people when you bring the house down and the you know now the party starts you they're married now everyone gets to like go do the thing and everyone coming up to you especially like sweet older people that's got to be amazing congratulations for that the other thing is I think what people want you to MC their wedding it's because you know them because they don't want like you know you know to go through somebody's priest that doesn't know the other one or however they pick these things they

1:20:42feel like we're trending towards like let's get a friend of ours to do this right that's the way others used because I don't think like we didn't the DJ just do that for the most part like that's the like right well then when he's saying MC is he talking about like the person who stands up there and marries them that's not what I thought I thought it was a guy who like just just getting people organized and call you know hey all right now it's time for the father daughter dance and you know then here's Kate cutting like he just kind of keeps things moving with a microphone that's supposed to be the DJ's job right that's so that's what I thought because that the officiate is the person who marries you those are two very different jobs I don't think that's what he's talking about gang I mean it just sounds like this guy is good at it he seems to like to go to wedding you think I'm right Ryan but how many people how would two people in in the matter of eight days be like hey do you want to do that take this job off my DJ's hands unless people are doing DJ's and they're just going Spotify playlist and it's like this will work I don't know I don't know no I think you're right sir but I to Kyle's point like I think it's really easy I mean if you're

1:21:46not getting invited to like let's put it this way in the way he explained it he crushes other people now want him to MC their weddings that he wasn't originally invited to without payment just a fucking plate of fish and steak and like that I'll that'll do it so I think you could say if you like the wedding fun okay fine like but I've got to bring my girlfriend I have to bring my girlfriend the wedding but they're like well that doesn't work because you're an employee we were really gonna invite you anyway so then why do you actually want to be there unless you're thinking like long term this is something you want to do maybe you're just in natural maybe you're just so good at this you're Andy Cohen and you can just be like here's the deal but he was at the wedding right like that's how it works yeah but now it seems like the word is out and he's just that good man if he doesn't seem like he's passionate about it either yeah I think it's one of the things you know good at but isn't like really he's thinking of bombing he's gonna tank if you're this good though at public speaking too and just being the man and you're that good looking like he feels like there's a higher calling for you but you need to be doing maybe you go looking worse you need to be do yeah

1:22:50yeah you need to be honest dude I'm about to move down all you would bottle in your town or that yeah but like you could at least get some jobs as an extra and how I would it feels like I think I think this is a polite no with a light explanation like you know what I really feel like this takes me out of the wedding I really love to just be here and support you guys and have like I think that it's a it's a respectful no with a small small explanation why two words or two sentences max you know and then if yeah I don't want you here then fucking good yeah good conversation but if you're already going without your girlfriend you're already leaving her for multiple weekends in a row it sounds like so come on it is funny you said definitely wage runker then if I wasn't working dude one one for courage one for fun you know what I mean like it's out of hand so have us a me when we go on stage congrats on the hotness stuff yeah yeah great apps buddy great great numbers two all right let's see here six one one ninety thirty one years old bench press three

1:23:52thirty five player comp bent Simmons with a better attitude but inferior angle craft my left jumper looks pretty good in the driveway too shout out and just you know face the franchise bent Simmons Sacramento Kings this time it's personal writing in without necessarily an interest in changing anything in my life but gradually feeling things sliding by long one here too so I appreciate the patience back story group in a mid-size midwestern city playing all kinds of sports eventually baseball in college after college I joined sort of Robbie Ashford after college I joined the military and moved across the country a few times spent time in some really fun cities having a great experience before getting out to take a corporate job in a great company careers going great promoting quickly and because of this trajectory I won't be moving anywhere soon here's the catch though I'd like to start a family do the whole domestic thing after spending three years here dating and meeting people and struggling to fighting someone I see myself marrying getting gates is not the issue well especially with those bench numbers you play some college ball it's just not typically gone anywhere I'm far enough away from any of my friends in college

1:24:55high school that the friend of a friend thing is unrealistic dating apps aren't my thing and work is also unlikely to produce someone because I personally would like to dodge shooting where I eat everything about my work and fun life here is great I'm just in a tough environment for dating um is a question so am I missing out on the easy win for guy like me am I just warped by the typical midwestern marriage timeline maybe I don't know I also just think like long term like them I've talked about it far too many times but I always thought like the midwestern girl thing it just was I personally have had much easier times with anyone that have spent like that's from the midwest although actually the western girls are more what are you what are you saying less friction there's less maintenance okay yeah although I could argue that one drags down the overall score so bad that maybe the numbers don't back that up anymore without ours or four but yeah

1:25:59yeah right yeah we'll drop the lowest quick score um side note of big cat knows anyone in the early 30s from this college stomping grounds my number is below okay we'll forward this to big cat so of college top of that yeah yeah I'll do it I'll tell you to yeah Kyle text him on top of all of that since I originally drafted this email a couple weeks ago wow so this guy's really been thinking about it and X reached out to me think similar player comp to last week's life advice with the alcohol issues we were together back when I was in the military we were living together with the intent to get married she was everything I wanted similar family goals former college athlete really fun girl to be around because of her alcohol abuse things with sideways she's cleaned up a lot of things from what I uh from what took us off the rails running marathons now working as a fitness instructor going back down her career path of her degree seems to have figured it all out since things went off the rails she even acknowledges all the things that she did and what it's caused and my crazy for considering her letting her come visit I started out as just a weekend of her doing the traveling but it's hard to say I'd stop at that

1:27:01not necessarily concise question but interested in feedback from the panel PS need more people to talk about the Pacers and Halibur and returning in 26 that Brunson ship is Mickey Mouse without the boogie man in his way um let's not go that far they beat the spurs but yeah Pacers in the mix as well so I mean this is a pretty common thing so why don't you guys go because I'd say you sound like you're on the edge of desperate and this girl's got some good signs not a lot of red flags I would say absolutely do this even if it is a slump us or whatever you want to call it like definitely do say in that I yeah I just think I'm a huge believer in a second chance that plays baller getting dates left and right I'm a huge believer in a second chance for obvious reasons so I think I think definitely explore that one definitely explore that one yeah I don't see a downside uh I guess unless you guys disagree like what if if it doesn't work out you're not you're not that close to her so like you could just kind of like wean off it a little bit and it just flames out and that's fine but but if you did used to if you loved her and you have the same values and it was the one thing

1:28:05that was the hang up she has then since fixed you're both single she's clearly interested in you if she's gonna travel to see you I don't really see the problem here you seem lonely and yeah again if it even if it goes nowhere it's not really the end of the world it's worth trying out and know if it ends up being a thing then yeah you got something you get some decisions to make in the future by the way my desperate comment wasn't about desperate for a date like he's got he's got all these things in his head like I don't even have anyone in line to maybe take the next step with this one you got some chemistry in a in a pass with so maybe I would say this would this would be a kind of a bummer I don't know if it is or not the case for him with like you've got like the moms or the grandmas being like well what's going on here you know if you got your own timeline in your head that you want to keep but if you got the you know the matriarchs in your you know in your life being like what's going on you haven't brought anybody home to Thanksgiving like three years how you know where am I going to get my grandchildren from like that would that's like way worse I hope that's not going to be thinking of a different thing though I would do you do you soft launch this to like close family and friends that you trust through obviously new her just say hey like thinking about doing this

1:29:07and if they're just like dude absolutely not you know and it's yeah did they all hate her and they never told you and they're just like great we never have to deal with her again but maybe maybe that tells you something but I don't know if if if she was like she sounds like she's kind of the one that got away a little bit like would you have broken up if it wasn't for that you know you were obviously way younger um I just don't see a downside here at time right because it would be one thing if you live in this like in the same town and you had to see her all the time after this didn't work out again but you you don't you actually have this incredible buffer if it doesn't have if it doesn't work I'm with you sir really I don't really see any downside to this I mean the only downside would be she comes visits you end up totally falling for all over again and then she's like I don't like the new you and then you were like oh cool I just signed up to get bummed out about something that I didn't expect so that's the only downside it doesn't sound like that's gonna happen whatsoever I'm everything you're saying this does not sound like hey I'm 31 I'm from the Midwest where are my kids I never had to deal with that I would have been just great I tell my grandmother's to be like what but I never no one ever was put in the pressure

1:30:12on your boy mom's no one cared no one was like what's going on with you so it had it happened I think I would have been good at deflecting that but that's not even the issue here with the whole thing so I guess you know I understand what you mean by the desperation thing I wanted to push back in the slump usher a little bit again because he played college ball also I wasn't I still have the Pekipsy walking bridge stats up so I the first three sentences of the email I just was kind of out of it because I was looking at more of this I'm just gonna close it out right now so I just want to make sure I didn't miss a critical part of the apartment again sorry I love up this Ryan things sounds like Ryan thinks that if you played college force like you are just swimming in it left and right though I don't know that that's necessarily how about that D1 guy you need to even play he's got a couple kids he's hosting barbecues guy's life is awesome yeah rest of your life just like I played college you're like all right when do you want to go out oh all right I gave a speech to a team once the college team and I was like there's nothing worse than

1:31:13when you play and some people are like did you play anywhere and you're like no I didn't I'm like every one of you in this room today for the rest of your lives you'll be able to say your card carry yeah that's awesome they were like hey this is a practice I I I think it's a absolute slam dunk yes try it back on for a bit spin around see how it feels how look goodness you know or you have confirmation of actually I never want to do that again and there you go closure or an opening thanks Tom thanks Kevin thanks to sirity thanks to Kyle full episodes available on Netflix the Ryan Racer show barstool sports