RECRUITING SHOW: Future College Football Stars Going Off + Top High School Performers

0:00What's going on y'all on Budellate? And that's Andrew Iveens 24-7 Sports Director of Scouting in this is the cover for the recruiting show, man. Glad to be back here and talk with the recruiting and Iveens how you've been, man. Doing good, bud. This is, I don't know, kind of like Christmas morning for me this time of the year because all the guys we ranked, all the guys that we've spent so many years evaluating, you get to see them play actual football, kind of like that meme on my couch. Hey, I remember that guy. And with the transfer portal, it's also fun to go through some of these two deeps and box scores and learn where players journeys have progressed because it seems like every time you're like, wait, I had no idea that individual was there. So I'm fired up. High school football is underway. Obviously, signing day, a little over three months away. So doing good, man. Things are rolling, man. But checking all these depth charts coming out yesterday and today and then obviously as we go into the week and I'm like, okay, yeah, like that, I like that, like the guy that

1:02I feel like has the high ceiling is the one that won the starting job. Like that, that's an encouraging, you know, development for whatever team that is. And in some cases, I'm like, ooh, okay. Uh, all right. Maybe we'll downgrade there. We'll, we'll see. But you mentioned you've watched some high school football. I have as well on TV. You were actually, uh, I believe down in South Florida recently, uh, checking out some of the showcase stuff. So let's go ahead and hit our first block here and then let's go ahead and talk about some of these guys that like if, and I think like the goal for this show is largely, you may like if you're recruiting diehard, you'll get something out of this, right? But like for the masses out there, like this one is kind of a little more for the recruiting casuals. We're going to try to just help you kind of dip your toe into the recruiting waters because it is, you know, like the, like the, it's what drives college football. Ultimately, the talent acquisition process. Let's talk about some of these guys that have been killing it so far that you've had a chance to see either in person or on TV or just the stats are just too big for us to ignore. Let's start with a mere sears five star athlete Columbus committed to Miami. I mean, dude, I saw your tweet.

2:04Have you ever seen a better performance for high schooler in this game? Yeah, but I mean, that's like the question I always get, um, at neighborhood barbecues or when I'm with my wife's friends and they, they figure out what I do for a living. It's like, hey, yeah, I know I rank 15, 16, 17 year olds and then it's quickly, okay, which one's the best one you've ever seen? And the go to answers have been Travis Hunter. I saw him back in 2023 there, uh, inside the bins in Atlanta and he had a nuclear performance. It was like 13 catches, 232 yards. He caught a touchdown, he threw a touchdown, uh, had an interception on defense. So he's kind of example number one. Sage, well, one of high spent trophy number one over our, you know, high selection in the NFL draft. The second one would be Jeremiah Smith. Uh, that was much more recent, uh, took on Virgin Catholic when he's at Shamanah and Madonna Prep, you know, 17 catches, 321 yards, three touchdowns. He was unguardable. Um, and on Saturday, uh, a mere sears, he kind of enters that fraternity, right?

3:08Uh, a mere sears, he's now at Miami Columbus. That's the same high school that turned out for an Adam and Dosa, Cam Booser. Um, so they've had some legendary athletes come through there. It's right, right? In the heart of, of Miami, um, against number one ranked Bishop Gorman. This guy was the difference. He caught, uh, five passes for 67 yards and two touchdowns and he had three interceptions on the other side of the ball. And a mere sears is a kid that we had ranked number one in the class of 2028, right? So that would be, he's supposed to be a high school junior, but he has reclassified, uh, and this is, is now senior season and we've been trying to figure out, okay, how does this guy stack up with the rest of the class, the, the, the rest of the guys that we've had a ton of exposure points to and I think through three weeks of his senior season, I mean, we can go as high as we want to go. Um, I said it back in January. This kid reminds me of Travis Hunter and I feel even more confident saying that after

4:10watching what he did on Saturday, especially when you just consider biggest win in school of history. This kid is a, a program changer, uh, and he said it to Miami. Mario, Chris, the ball was there on the sidelines. What, what do you think like physically? Like we've seen a lot of guys that dominate the high school level and obviously doing it against lead competition, like, you know, doing what they did over the weekend, you know, it certainly is a good indicator, but like physically what makes this guy special, like the mental appears to be there. Yeah, but and I don't know if it's like a physical thing. Now, Amir Sears, he's over six feet, right? I mean, he's a guy that has cleared six one in the high jump. He's got these athletic markers you want to see, but to me and, and why I compare Amir Sears to Travis Hunter, you know, the ball skills certainly show up just that coordination, the timing, but I just think it's the reaction times. But I always thought, yeah, what makes Travis Hunter what Travis Hunter is, I just think he sees it a second faster than everyone else on both sides of the ball. And I think Amir Sears has a lot of that as well.

5:12I don't, it's the quick Twitch Fiverr, it's the ability to process. I don't think we talk about that enough with the skill players, right? You hear process. It's always, always quarterbacks and how they see the game, but Amir Sears, it's just one of those guys where he's moving a step faster than everyone else. And that's really what I think makes him who he is. The other thing is, is the competitive drive and the maturity for him. I mean, this is a kid, again, who's going to start college a year or a year later, we've seen this reclassification trend kind of explode in college football. It's long been a thing in college basketball, but now with the name of engine lightness and the revshare, everyone wants to get, get to that paycheck a little bit sooner. And the track record with that hasn't been great. There's been a lot of guys that haven't been able to adapt to college very quickly. To me, just being around Amir Sears, the second game I've seen from him in this now senior season, I think this guy's ready to go. I think he's got a mental edge.

6:13There's like a locker room speech making its rounds on social media, but so it's a variety of different things, but the biggest one is that reaction time. It's just special. When you see it, you know it. I think that's the case with Amir Sears. Travis had that too. I can pretty vividly recall being out of 7 on with you at IMG. We were sitting on something like, he's just baiting the hell out of these guys. The bait is just so tempting. He's playing so far off. The physical ability certainly will be the reaction time. Like you said, that makes a ton of sense. All right, let's pivot here. Five-star running back. David Gabriel George is going to Tennessee, pick them over Ohio State, pretty well publicized. Probably the first $2 million running back, which is kind of insane on its face, but also it's not like Tennessee plays back by committee, right? They're playing an up-tempo offense. Like they run a lot of plays. They don't sub in between plays. So if this guy's immediately one of the best running backs in the SEC as a freshman and gives you $182 hundred carries, that's money.

7:15It's a spin because it looked like dude. This dude is an absolute freak. What do you think sets him apart? I think everyone was introduced to David Gabriel George's two weeks ago when he played Thursday night on ESPN, Baylor vs. Brentwood Academy. I mean, he ran for 173 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries. Also had 78 yards receiving. I was texting a buddy who kind of knows recruiting, but isn't living it like myself. And he's like, what makes this guy special? And this is what I texted him. I was like, he's a full-speed violent finisher with rare juice imbalance for someone that's carrying 225 pounds. I mean, I have not seen a high school running back built like him in a while in a guy that moves like him and that violence consistently just throwing his body into contact. I mean, he gets the tough yardage.

8:17He finds yardage, but I was searching and searching and searching for like a player comp for DGG. That's what everyone calls him. And I've settled on Trent Richardson. I think Trent Richardson, at Alabama. The reason why I say that, if you remember Trent Richardson under Nick Saven, caught a lot of swing passes, right? They got him the ball kind of with a runway. And then he would create even more of a pass to the end zone. And I think the same thing with DGG. And it's interesting you bring it up, right? That $2 million price tag. DGG was one of the last five stars to make a decision. It was an Ohio State Tennessee battle. You know, a lot of, I don't know, a lot of different takes on social media about it. But I think you nailed it on the head here. There's a reason why everyone wanted this guy. And they think he could be a centerpiece for a college football, playoff championship roster. And when you get into game 14, 15 and 16, you want a battering ramp.

9:22You want a guy that is going to be able to consistently move the chains. And to me, that is DGG, the other thing, Tennessee. I know we're kicking off the 2026 season, but if you want to spin it ahead to 2027, when DGG would be a true freshman, I think Tennessee's going to be only school in the country with a 5 star quarterback, right, Phason Brandon, a 5 star wide receiver and TK keys. And then a 5 star running back in David Gabriel, Georgia. And Josh Heipull, you think about what he's been able to do with some of his offenses while in Knoxville. I mean, this unit is going to be primed to do some big things. 100%. I was talking to Felix at campus, Ken. I think you're a pretty big college fantasy guy as a, as I assume. I think a lot of the people watching this show might dip their toes in the college fantasy waters as well. And he was like, I see Journey Brown in that one amazing year he had at Penn State, like Cotton Bowl MVP, 200 plus rushing yards in that game, seven yards of carry.

10:26His career ended with cardio myopathy, right, and had to retire. He's working a NASCAR now. I didn't realize that. But again, kind of that like explosiveness, power through contact for a guy that does run up right at times. Like it's, I like the traditional out there. That's, if you told Tennessee they're getting traditional, they're going to take that like every single day, man, that's fantastic. And the other thing that's unique about David Gabriel George is originally from, from Canada, right? And we've seen some more of these Canadian running backs kind of, kind of break through. Obviously Antoine Redmond there at Rutgers, one of the best in the big 10. And then you got two in the NFL with Chava Hubbard and I'm going to miss, miss Chase Brown there with the Bengals, also Canadian. So I don't know what's in the water up there. A majority of them have played high school football in America, but there's something about this Canadian running back movement that they're turning them out right now. All right. Going from the SEC over to the big 10, Trey Taylor, number one quarterback, Nebraska

11:29commit, transfer down there, you know, to Nebraska, you know, from Illinois. Nebraska's holding up a high estate here. And also he is balling out this year. He is, but I was two nights ago, watched his season opener. So he's now at Miller and South. This is a kid that's originally from Illinois. Trey Taylor was the MVP of the Elite 11 finals. And he's someone that has moved to five star status for us at 24-7 sports. You see it, QB1 there. And we were really interested to see, okay, what does it look like now that, you know, he's in a new environment. He is learning a new playbook. First thing I'm going to say, bud, I didn't know Nebraska high school football. Did it like this? It was Miller and South against rival Miller, North over 7,000 fans there. Quite the environment, which makes sense, right? You know, Trey Taylor, Nebraska quarterback commit, you can go see him play. The stat line, I don't think is going to blow many people away. I mean, 16 of 31, 311 yards, two touchdowns in an interception, but he also ran for 101

12:33yards. He also ran for a touchdown. I would love to see the adjusted completion percentage here. A few drops from his wide receivers. I don't think they were used to catching passes from an Elite 11 MVP. But man, the more I watched Trey Taylor, and this is a guy that we loved him coming out of his sophomore year, completely took it to a next level as a junior. And then through this one game as a senior, he's playing his best football. I mean, he is someone that can do whatever he wants with the football in terms of just putting it to any level, to anywhere, back shoulder over the shoulder. He can get it where he wants. And I thought he showed some grit in this game, you know, almost lost a fumble early. Bad interception a few minutes later. And then he kind of found a groove. And you know, to me, again, that growth, I'm excited to see what he does at Miller, South, and the other thing is, I think this time next year, we're going to be talking a lot

13:37about Trey Taylor, much like we are with Jared Curtis and FaZe on Brandon. You know, he has what it takes to be a year one starter. Like that's where I view him right now. He's played a lot of football. I think he is short between the years. I kind of love the mindset, you know, one of these guys where I think you got to get around him and learn what he's about. And Nebraska, you know, we'll see what happens. He's certainly moved closer to Lincoln to get around Matt and Rool and that staff, but it's also a big year for Matt and Rool. So I think Trey Taylor's a name we're going to be talking a lot about here as we approach the early signing period. Yeah, I like that he's a son of a coach as well, like a guy who's grown up around the game. I think I see like a little just fields there, you know, like just the ability to get the ball to all spots. He likes some question about like the layering of the football, like just, you know, like that throw, I guess I wanted to see more of, but like when we were out there, lead 11 finals,

14:38he was kind of one of these guys like those of college level ball. And even some of these really good receivers at the finals out there in Portland, I was like, oh man, like they just can't, they can't handle this heat on somebody's operating routes. If they're not used to that ball being on them, you know, as quick as it was, like with Nebraska, I mean, they're, they're wind totals like five and a half for a reason that they have largely squandered a cakewalk schedule the last two years. And now the big 10s, like now it's your turn to play all the big boys for the next two seasons. So, you know, I think if, like I'm sure, pretty good, as the internet can look at their schedule and say, okay, like I believe in what the new staff is doing, right? Like kind of Matt rule 2.0 there. It probably made some, some misfires maybe with some his initial staff hires, but I like what they're doing and recruiting now, man. Like like Jamal rule as well. I seem to have hit on him. Lutus, we push him for the starting role there in Lincoln at running back a kid that got out of North Carolina last year. Yeah, I think there's some good stuff going on at Nebraska, but if they can hold on to Taylor, like that, that is the kind of guy that could be like a real program changer for you. I agree.

15:39And you're right. Like that's, that's the one, one note I keep coming back to needs to learn to kind of change speeds when, when the situation calls for it. But I'll add, I think what he is showing with his legs and the ability to extend plays, I don't know if we knew he had that in him from an early age. He has certainly found that element to his game. And you know, if he's at Nebraska or wherever, you know, it's not always going to be clean in front of you. So a guy that can certainly navigate not, not ideal situations. For sure. All right, let's hit our first break here on the flip side. We got something really fun planned. Let's call this remember some dudes and I'm going to break out some, some recent, after this year, got my signed auto, Keylon Russell, who won the starting job at Alabama. They're going to be starting the freshman quarterback there in Tuscaloosa. Really excited to see what he looks like. He's a guy I know recruit next to been excited about for a long time and kind of burst on the scene and just kind of kept improving what, what did you love about Keylon as a recruiter?

16:43Let's kind of do a little flashback here. Not only what we're expecting at him, but what we liked about him when he was in high school. Well, but I want to tell what the fraternities, what to do in Tuscaloosa on Saturday, but you know, the song by Stephen Wolf, Magic Carpenter ride. I think that needs to be blaring because when I go back to what Keylon Russell did in high school, I always thought he had a magic rug underneath them, right? Like he was a Thoudini in the pocket in terms of just getting out of sacks, extending plays, creating with his legs and he is a talented athlete, right? He's electric when he decides that he wants to take off, but at the same time, this is a guy that wants to win with his arm and you look at his career, Duncanville High School there in Texas. He went 42 and two as a starter. As a senior, he completed 69.3% of his passes. He threw for 4,100 yards, 55 touchdowns. That was more than any other quarterback inside the top 247.

17:47And the thing I'll never forget about Keylon Russell is, we had this kid ranked as the number 63 overall player in the country when he was committed to SMU. We saw him after his junior season. I saw him at a 7 on 7 and the big takeaway is, okay, this guy is a little bit different. So we shot him up in the rankings. Next thing you know, a month later, Alabama's offered, Oregon got involved there, Ole Miss when Lane Kiffin was there, Texas A&M. Steve Sarkieson in the Long Oarns even tried to throw their hat in the ring there down the stretch. But the player comp for me always was, Jaden Daniels, that's who I thought he was, just because of how he moved and how he threw the football. He's a guy that I think was one of the best in recent years at kind of feathering that fine line between Riskin reward. I think that speaks to his ability as a passer. He is confident in what he's able to do. So huge fan of Keylon always have been and got a chance to see him at the opening finals there.

18:53This summer, I was shocked by just how much bigger he had gotten. Good reminder that, hey, once you get these guys in a college strength program, you know, around the training table, they can add some size. I think he's going to be a lot of fun there in Tuscaloosa. I think he's in the perfect offensive system. I think there's going to be a ton of fireworks. And you know, watching these clips, I'm just reminded of the ability to avoid pressure. Like his balance when he's not actually has his base under him and the ability to have the ball control is kind of silly. That's not normal. I don't know if that's something you can really teach. You might need to just kind of have that ability or not. I mean, these are all practice clips. The clips of Taff was rolling before. So those were like one-footed throws and they're just dimes. That's pretty damn impressive, man. I do wonder, was this a real competition or did they make... Clearly they're going to have him compete for the job because Max has been in that system for quite a long time and are killing DeBora. But since Max decided not to transfer, did they kind of have to make it

19:57seem like a little more of a competition that maybe it really was or maybe it was really tight. Maybe you have two guys that are legitimately good. I remember, back at Tallassie, a long, long time ago, Jimbo was adamant that Coker was actually pretty damn good. They're like, yeah, sure. Right. And they picked James and James won the title as a Resurred freshman. And then Coker went and takes Bamber to the National Title game after transferring out. So sometimes you do have two studs in the room. I guess we'll see how that shakes out. I also... Can I say this? I was shocked in the Rose Bowl. Right? Tyson's who went out and Austin Mac came in. The 24-7 support scouting chat was going wild because I thought Keelyn was going to step on the field because you know how it is. But everyone's trying to defend their roster every offseason. I just thought we would see Keelyn over Austin Mac. But hey, I certainly get it. You know, to me, I'm not surprised by the outcome of that quarterback competition because

20:58I think Alabama has major concerns up front. And I think Alabama fans know this. You know, I was thinking about it this morning. What is the last time the Crimson tie didn't have multiple five stars penciled in as starters on the O-line? I mean, I look at the 2D. I see just one of them in Michael Carroll. And you know, you need a guy that's going to be able to move, especially with that schedule. And to me, I mean, just what Keelyn's able to do with this pocket field, pocket presence, pocket awareness. It's on a different level than Austin Mac. I was also happy to see him bulked up because if you look at to bore not really, but historically, he has been a pretty heavy Keebe run guy as an offensive coordinator, as a head coach at prior stops, you know, back at, you know, where he was before he washed it and also like back in the FCS ranks like he, he's a guy who would use that quarterback mobility. So I'm kind of serious to see like how much is it his scramble? How much of it is designed runs? Obviously, you want to keep him healthy, but you do have Mac there as well. So like you may want to go ahead and run some. Another guy stepping in as a freshman, true freshman now in the SEC,

22:03phase and branded man, when's the job at Tennessee over Mac entire? I'm not really a surprise. I don't think, but still had to go out there and prove it in practice. Why are we so excited about phase on branded? Because I think he's got all the tools, right? And this is the kid we had ranked as a four star prospect after his freshman season, where he didn't even start a game. He finished his career with a 35 and one record at Grimsey High School, one of pair of state titles. And Bud, what really stands out to me about phase on is during his senior season, game one, injures his thumb in overtime on a game winning touchdown run. And he could have shut things down and just prepared for Tennessee. But he did not. He actually returned in the state playoffs and guided his team to another championship. And that has always stuck with me just with where we are in college football and everything

23:06that's available to these athletes from a compensation standpoint. And we've seen guys opt out of senior seasons. We've seen guys try to get to the next level as fast they can. Phase on was a guy that he wanted to play more football. He wanted to do it for his teammates. So I think that speaks to his competitive nature. The other thing that stands out to me, this guy is tailor made for what Josh Hypole wants to do on offense. He is extremely athletic. He has coordinated a ton of RPOs. And I school the average 7.1 yards per carry. I mean, early on, we kind of said, all right, he reminds us of, of Hinden Hooker, who obviously had a ton of success in that Josh Hypole offense. But he's there's more to him as a passer. And he's very methodical. That that's the word I would use to describe him. A guy that protects the football. A guy that isn't going to put it in harm's way. But at the same time, he can be extremely efficient as a passer.

24:08You know, what's kind of unique having, I don't know, sat in this chair for a few years and got multiple 11 finals under my belt. One of my working theories, but is that 7 on 7 day at the elite 11 finals. I think it kind of tells you what these quarterbacks are. You know, they're running in a completely new offense. It's not their high school team. Everything's new to them. And they got 20 minutes to show what they can do. And if you go back to phase on 7 on 7 game, so that had been two years ago at the elite 11 finals, he was 17 for 20. A bunch of yards, multiple touch shouts. You know, the three incompletions, one of them was an interception. And the other two were drops. So he's a guy that has a process. He's very deliberate with what he wants to do with the football. And I think for a true freshman starter stepping in in a situation where there's already a lot around him. I mean, this guy is ready to go.

25:08And you know, he probably would have finished number one overall for us in the class of 2026. If it wasn't for that injury, I mean, we would have been standing on the table saying, hey, this guy is ready to go. But he got hurt. And you know, we were unsure what it would look like. So I think the fact that he is healthy, all the reports that have come out of Knoxville about him, you know, connecting on these long passes. If you're a Tennessee fan, you should be excited. And I think if you're in the fan of another school in the SEC, get you to learn that name because you're going to have to figure out a way to to defuse him. I mean, for sure. Like if you think back, like just I'm going through my mind here, I don't think 7 on is like an included or is like you stamped the guy as like a no doubt. Personally, I do, I struggled to remember guys who were legitimately bad 7 on, who ended up being really good in college. Excluding the guys who are the multi sport guys who had never played it before, you know, like the dudes who are legitimate baseball guys who aren't playing in the spring type thing, you know, I mean, I'm not putting on the spot here.

26:09I'm just trying to think like, is there anybody or like God, he was really bad at 7 on, then he crushed. There's probably a couple, but not many. Yeah, well, I more so, I just think you kind of learn a little bit, right? If we go back to the thing too, if you go back to DJ Lagway, struggle the process there in that 7 on 7 environment, what did he do last season of Florida? He struggled the process. You go to Camarri Ho Taylor, Camarri Taylor, first two days of the year 11, we're talking about the Mississippi State quarterback. It was not pretty. Get in the actual game, you threw eight touchdowns in 20 minutes, right? So it's very boomer bust and I think that's how you would describe Camarri Ho as he gears up for year two there in Starkfield. But no, I think you're right. I mean, it's hard to find a lot of guys that struggle playing on 7 on 7 that are getting it done on Saturdays and Sundays. Kind of the same thing with SACs too in high school. I gave you back to, you know, we just talked about Keel and I mean, avoiding the SACs there. Like that, that seems to translate a little bit. And like we see it translate college, the NFL very much like SACs as a stat

27:10that quarterback has at least some real ownership in. It's not just on the offensive line. You don't really see a lot of, it's hard to get high school stats on SACs, right? Like I wish we had like, we had real play my play data. We could actually probably put some numbers behind this. But like guys who get SACs a lot in high school tend to take a lot of SACs and college. It's, I do think there's something innate there. But the high school stats, right? There's been a defensive in that Max Prup said with 31 tackles this past Friday. I don't even think he played 31 snaps. So I'm still trying to, I'm trying to piece that one together. Got to work on our API there a little bit. All right, let's, let's hit a break here on the flip side. More guys you really need to know this time. Guys who've been making their college debut is pretty soon. Back here on the cover three recruiting show with Andrew Reibens, director of scouting for 24-7 sports. Let's talk about some teams that are relying heavily on some five stars that then, and some like highly rated four stars who they went after and got. And they are sticking them in the lineup to start. We saw the first group here this last Saturday.

28:12And I was looking like, okay, so Heinz is out and Anderson's out for USC looking at the death chart. Man, they had the number one overall recruiting class. And I, you got to be feeling pretty good about putting that put that number one stamp on there after seeing these guys play. I know it's San Jose State, but still like first ever college game. Some of these guys did not look like freshmen are supposed to look. Yeah, and you know, first off, but it's number one. It's a formula, right? In terms of how we get to the number one class. But I mean, credit USC and general manager Chad Bowden, what they were able to do last cycle. And every time he talked to someone there in Los Angeles, you started to hear more and more how much they liked this group and how much they were going to lean on this group. And I think with where we have gotten in terms of roster management and how you build these things out, there's a variety of different ways to get it done. And USC that they went heavy on the blue chippers. And they paid up for them.

29:16But I think this has a chance to be a foundational group. And look back at Miami last season. And some of those guys that were a big reason why they played for a national title. I mean, Ruben Bain, Francis Mauin, Noah, those were guys that Mario Cristobal had to get. And how big did they prove to be down the stretch? And you supplement with some free agents, some transfers, but you have to kind of establish a core. And I think for USC, they have it. And what's fun for me is you got all the NFL draft pundits, tweeting out, okay, Mark Boman, draft eligible in 2029 and Luke Waifull. It's like guys, you know, after the Navy All-American Bowl, we said Luke Waifull was mocked draft ready. But those are the two that jump out to me. I mean, Mark Boman, one of the best tightens I've ever scouted. Another kid that reclassified, played three years there at Matter Day and the Trinity League. I think all those Brock Bowers comparisons, they're absolutely warranted. And what had me so convicted on Mark Boman was

30:22what he did in the run game. It's so rare to see these high school tightens, you know, getting a three point stance and be asked to pave the way for their running backs. I mean, Mark Boman last year at Matter Day came down to Florida to play a game. And I'll never forget it was like third and sixth and Matter Day needed a first down. And what do you see, you know, you see Mark Boman coming around the corner, paving the way and they pick up that first down. So they love him there in Los Angeles, you know, not a ton of like statistical production in week zero, but he's certainly a guy that I think as the season progresses, these can be involved more and more in that passing attack. Luke Waifull, man, I was, I don't want to say this louder, but we just needed to see it to believe it. And that happened at the Navy All-American Bowl in San Antonio right before he went off to USC. He was MVP of that game. So we always say best on best setting, three sacks. No one could block him all week during practices. I say it, you know, check your

31:23brakes power. I mean, this is a power base player. And he's got a motor and he finds energy late. I think you saw that a little bit again, San Jose State. I compared him to one of the Bosa brothers. Yeah, okay. Pick it. Nick and Joey Bosa, what's funny? You know, Cooper Batagna was talking to an NFL scout that had been through USC just kind of making the rounds and they're like, man, that Waifull kid looks like a Bosa brother. So they held that player comp already and he's a guy. And then, you know, the other ones, but Trent Mosley, the receiver, he went off. I think he'd be the true freshman of the week. Kate and Justin Ryan. Yeah. The fit on Mosley for replacing what lemon did for them out of the slot. Like his ability to like understand and feel sped. I know he's like 20 years old, right? Like as a freshman. So, you know, like, I guess with a grain of salt, but they're going to get him for three, four years. That stood out to me. I was like, oh, man, okay, like they need that. I figured they would have a freak on the outside right to

32:23replace the lost outside. But like the losing McCoy lemon, like he did so many little things for them. Like we talked to Forens at a big 10 media day and he's talking about like they just couldn't really cover McCoy lemon. Like he just, you know, because they're so zone heavy, you just find the spots. And I know it's San Jose State, but then like he looks so comfortable out there. And he's a guy that throughout his high school career was injured, right? But finally got healthy for the playoffs as a senior. Had a few monster games and I'll never forget, but, you know, sit down with kind of my team at the buzzer. It's like, all right guys, who do we think could have a Malachi Tony type of impact next fall? And the first thing we came up with was Trent Mosley. And you know, we moved him into the top 247. We made him a four star prospect. So he's fun. He is he is electric. He is hard to tackle. I thought his catch radius really stood out there on Saturday. And they are big believers, but every time you bring up Trent Mosley, it's like,

33:25gotta keep him healthy. Gotta keep him healthy. So we'll see what it looks like. And to me, my personal favorite of all the receivers that they signed last cycle was Katie and Dixon, why don't I need a little bit of of car and L. Tate, probably a little more muscle to him. But man, I always thought like one of the best slant runners in the class. It just in terms of his positioning, how he attacks the football. And then you look up against San Jose State, he catches a nine yard slant for a touchdown. So that's already translating there. Speaking of a guy who was like, consistently injured in high school. And then when he play, you would, you would flash his smart Cooper. Like, could never stay healthy. And then finally, senior at Northwestern after he balled out at the Bama camp in 20, I guess summer of 11, right? And then he goes and the average is like 25 yards of catch or something crazy. And then obviously went on to have a pretty nice career. I mean, like, and they got Booby Feaster too. And Baker, I feel like there's another guy there. I mean, obviously they just signed him. So of course, they're still behind him. But like, I've heard good things about Baker. Like, man, I don't know if

34:28USC's a playoff team or not this year. I do think they're a much better team than they were last year. The schedule's pretty daunting. But like, you got to feel like things just feel different. I know it's hard. Like when I'm talking to the cover three audience, they're like, how does it feel different? They've had good classes before. This does feel different to me. Well, but even if it goes south this season, and when I was there this summer, like that Oregon game was mentioned multiple times, they are going to be very attractive to any candidate out there. If it's not Lincoln Riley because of all these young freshmen we're talking about, right? Like, you got that core nucleus. You got the spine of your roster in place. They just opened up a brand new football building and a new practice facility. So, you know, I think again, Chad Boedon, the GM there, he's got a vision and we're seeing it kind of all play out. All right. Now let's flip the page here to a team that is playing, you know, this weekend. LSU welcomes Clemson to town. If you look at this LSU, Jeff Chart,

35:30and a lot of freshmen littering his defensive line, which is not always recipe for success, but we think they might have success because these guys, they're built a little bit different. Big Rich, get you to that name Richard Anderson. He's a unicorn to me, right? I mean, he is six five three hundred and fifty pounds, but he moves like he's two hundred and fifty pounds. But the game for me with Rich Anderson was, Edna Cards took on American Heritage last season at some point there in the dome in New Orleans and Richard Anderson was all over the field with better than expected range. We also saw him at the Under Armour All-America game. Just talking with some people there, Bat Rouge, they love this kid. They think he is everything they thought he would be. I think we're going to see him saturday night against those Clemson Tigers playing a lot of snaps. And the thing with him is he's good when the tank is full. And I'm optimistic that

36:33LSU has been able to kind of expand that tank a little bit and improve the conditioning. So he's the one to me when I asked like, all right, who's going to be the guy? Rich Anderson, with the name that came up, but I also think, Duce Gerald, Lamar Brown, these guys are going to have to play as well for LSU. And Duce is a fun one. George's all-time leader in SACs. You go back to what he did in high school. You see Colin Till right there, same school as Travis Hunter, but he also ran for over five hundred yards as a running back. Kind of reminds me of Jorzan Newton. Remember him at Illinois? Yeah. Same thing in high school. He was also a little undersized three-tank, but playing some running back. So that was my player comp for Duce Gerald's. And then finally Lamar Brown. I mean, we always said, he could be DL1, IOL1 went both ways at lab school there, right? And LSU's backyard. Not surprised, maybe it's taken a little bit longer for him to

37:38adjust just because I didn't think he was physically in terms of the snap to snap as far along as maybe Rich Anderson was, but the sky's the limit with this kid. So it's funny just how this is all, I don't know, came to be, because if you go back to the early signing period, remember Lane Kiffen's higher. Who are the first few guys he's trying to meet with? It's Richard Anderson, it's Lamar Brown, it's Duce Gerald's. Those were the guys that didn't sign day one. It was drifting into Friday. You were wondering of other schools. We're going to get involved. So yeah, people can say, all right, recruiting doesn't matter, but LSU is going to play all three of these guys over 250 snaps this season. And that one came down to the wire. So they are the real deal. And I think by October, a lot of college football fans are going to know their numbers and going to know their names. Do you have a player comp for Anderson? Because I've got, yeah, I mean, T-Box is yours,

38:41man. Like I've never seen as anyone as wide as him move the way he does. Will fork. I like it. I mean, like, so now, Will fork was a three sport guy in high school, right? Football, wrestling. I believe still holds the state record for the shot put in Florida at 68 feet, which is pretty insane. Yeah. Yeah. And then also through at discus 180. So, you know, and one, wants to championship and wrestling as well. Like, because who wants to wrestle Vince Will fork in high school. But like, I was impressed with Anderson. Like, when I rolled up to Under Armour, you know, in Orlando, where he was at, I was like, the body was a little bit like sloppy looking, you know? And like you mentioned, LSU got his weight down. I was in pro. I think he was going to have to like tap out earlier. And like, he was still like maintaining his leverage and playing low, even when the guy was like clearly, and there's not a lot of dudes who are just, I don't know, come a fat dude, but like just, you know, he wasn't like real trim at the time. And

39:44yet like, he wasn't standing up. His legs weren't going dead on contact. Like, it was just like, okay, like this is, this is kind of rare to be that big and to still be twitchy and still bend. I'm telling you, that American heritage game, that is like the one for me. And it's why I think you got to watch the tape. Like, you got to see these guys and just the range, the consistency. And I know Mike Smith, the head coach at American Heritage, he was actually coaching the Navy All-American Bowl this year. And kind of asked him about it. I'm like, how did you, like, what was your guys' game plan? He's like, just run away from that guy. He's like, we had four plays at one point. And it was just go away from seven. Like, that's what it turned into, with some misdirection. But yeah, and I don't think what's talked about enough with these point of attack players is being wide, being able to eat up space and being very effective at it. And Richard Anderson, again, I said, like unicorn, just not a lot of humans walk in the earth

40:44as wide as him that moved the way he does. I mean, 53 tackles for a guy who I think visually looked over 350 last year to my naked eye is that's nuts, man. That is ranged to your point. Like, in 22 tackles for loss. So absolutely crazy there. We will see how Clemson handles those guys, you know, some guys and then we like to eclipse offensive line. But I guess we'll see how they handled them there in in Death Valley. Let's head our final break and we have a really fun second for you to finish this thing out. Back here on the cover three Recording Show, let's let's talk with Andrew Ivens here about a fun thing he brought up. Again, that we will see on what Sunday night, I believe, neutral site game there in Nashville, Lincoln Keenholes, debuting for Louisville, a guy who honestly kicked off quite a few interesting Recording and quarterback Domino's as we always like to say, Ivens of Flores yours, let everybody know why they didn't know about this guy. Kind of a blast from the past name who's now earned the starting spot for Louisville as they take on Ole Miss. Yeah, I've been waiting and waiting and waiting to see Lincoln.

41:45I actually thought when he goes out of Ohio State last season, I thought there was a chance he might edge out Julian Sain and you know, what do I know? But I think what's fun about him is there's a ton of layers to his recruitment. He was a long time Washington commit and he was from South Dakota where he did everything, right? This is a kid that hit 472 with six home runs as a junior. He was also at a 1-2-4-ERA on the pitching mound. He was an all-state basketball player. He also played some safety when he wasn't a quarterback there at TF Riggs High School. Same high school as Grace Able who is now with the Seattle Seahawks. So I said, at long time Washington commit, flipped to Ohio State on signing day after the Buckeyes lost a Prokul into Florida State. That's when Kaelin DeBore, who was the head coach at Washington, they made a move on Austin Mac. We just talked about him a few minutes ago and got him to reclassify in the role early and obviously Austin Mac is now at Alabama, QB2 behind Keel and

42:51Russell. So he's just a lot about this kid and he was a super late invite to the Navy All-American Bowl. That's the same Navy All-American Bowl where Carl Tate was in it. Caleb Downs was in it. Oh, and Dante Moore was there. I thought of the six quarterbacks. Lincoln, to me, was number two behind Dante. He threw two touchdowns in the actual game. One of them was crazy, just scramble in all over the place and just took a shot to the end zone. So I'm excited to finally see this kid just because I think it's a unique story. I'll never forget when you would watch his highlights and game tape of him there in South Dakota. You're like, what is going on in the background? There's like a mountain range. There's like a dog running on the sidelines. It's just, you know, I always said it was like, it was like your watch movie Red Dawn. Like one of those high schools, just in the middle of nowhere. And when the kids play in that level of competition, they better look like a future Super Bowl MVP and that was Lincoln.

43:55The other thing too, bud here, like Jeff Brahm, what he's been able to do with some of these transfer quarterbacks, I've just, I'm excited to see what it looks like in a game where they've had a ton of time to prepare. I think the other interesting thing here, I cannot really remember a Brahm quarterback who had this level of athleticism and mobility, you know, and he's at all off season. Like, think about it. It's Jeff Brahm. Like kind of a quarterback whisperer guy almost never has poor quarterback play. Typically has very good quarterback play. It's, I mean, above average is almost a gift. And like, this is the guy he picked, right? Like, that's a lot of risk because there's a lot of players that Louis the Wood out and got to put around him both on offense and defense and some guys, they certainly had to pay up for it to keep on the roster. And it does feel like this is an important year for Louisville. And like, that's, that's who he put his chips on. So it makes me wonder like, how good was this Ohio State practice film like for Kenos? Obviously, didn't get to play in games. And I'm curious like, what is Brahm able to cook up for this

44:59old-minist defense? Because I bet you'll go see more QB runs for Kenos in like the last three or four Brahm quarterbacks combined. I would have to think. I mean, this could be a lot of fun, man. Yeah, well, he's going to have to get away from from a Will Eccles there in the mid-hole. Yeah, and a really good lineback for old-minist and I think is kind of underrated, honestly. Yeah, I just, I can envision a scenario where we all wake up on Monday morning and, you know, Lincoln is all of a sudden we, we seem in mock drafts now. I'm just kidding. But in full star prospect, again, this is a guy that's got two years. Right? There was a lot, there was a lot to the recruitment. And it's just a very unique story and shows that, hey, we're going to rank the kids high no matter where they are in America. Oh, by the way, continuing on our little anecdote about Will Fork, he then stepped on Miami's campus as a freshman and set the school's shot put record as well. And he, that discous throw, we mentioned also was the state championship that year. But not by like 20 feet over everybody else because six, six, eight feet. Well, those are like Jackson Cantwell numbers, right?

46:03The number, yeah, Miami's offensive tackles, signing. I mean, I wonder if Cantwell is going to shatter those records. Is he throwing there? I don't even know. I mean, like that'd be cool to get to get Vincent Cantwell out there and see those dudes throwing that be, what did he throw? Yeah, 76 foot 11 inch, which is also a Missouri record because, of course, of this. Yeah. These guys are not built like everybody else, man. This is, this is different. I'm telling you, on, on, when everyone's watching on Saturday night, they see Rich Anderson, they're gonna be like, well, okay, we have, we have not seen this. Yeah, I don't, I don't know how you simulate that in practice either. Like that, that's just, that's, and we're talking about a freshman like this, man. It's cool. It's not like some transfer comes in, just 25 years old, you know, and, and, or back fresh from the NFL lane. But yeah. Awesome, man. This has been the cover three recording show with Andrew Evans. I'm, I'm Bud Elliott. Join us every Wednesday. I think we feel a lot of fun, guys. Appreciate you having me, bud.