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An Awesome And Bizarre College Football Season! (PST Episode 588) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:00
Speaker 1: What's up, everybody. It's Jeff here. I wanted to let
0:02
Speaker 1: you know. This podcast episode was recorded on Wednesday, October sixteenth,
0:07
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. By the time you hear this, some
0:09
Speaker 1: things may have changed here or there, but we hope
0:11
Speaker 1: you enjoy the show. Welcome to the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:47
Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
0:50
Speaker 1: in the world, eleven and a half year strong. Got
0:53
Speaker 1: a great show for you this week and looking forward
0:56
Speaker 1: to getting into a bunch of these topics that we've
0:59
Speaker 1: got on our agenda here in the world of Philly sports,
1:01
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Phillies. We're gonna be getting into this team
1:06
Speaker 1: where they're gonna be going. If you go back into
1:08
Speaker 1: the podcast feed. This past week on the Table Talk show,
1:11
Speaker 1: we had our good friend John Staling this from the
1:13
Speaker 1: Hitting Season podcast. We had a Phillies post mortem about
1:18
Speaker 1: what happened to this team and where they're gonna be
1:20
Speaker 1: going in the future. We're gonna be talking about Rob
1:22
Speaker 1: Thompson and the fact that he's got a contract extension, yes,
1:26
Speaker 1: a contract extension, and the entire coaching staff is gonna
1:29
Speaker 1: be staying. We're gonna talk about that. We're gonna get
1:32
Speaker 1: into some Philadelphia Union talk as they are just about
1:34
Speaker 1: at the end of the road. Can they actually make
1:36
Speaker 1: it to the playoffs. We're gonna get into it, and
1:39
Speaker 1: then we're gonna get in some Flyers talk, then some
1:42
Speaker 1: Eagles talking. What we're throwing down on the table. We've
1:44
Speaker 1: got some college football talk with our good friend Ryan
1:47
Speaker 1: Roberts from A to Z Sports. He's gonna be joining
1:50
Speaker 1: us this week for our interview. I'm Jeff Warren. I'm here,
1:53
Speaker 1: my good buddy, Lennhunsicker, Len Man.
1:55
Speaker 2: How you doing, buddy, I'm just, you know, wondering if
1:58
Speaker 2: we're gonna have a poorest more them on the on
2:01
Speaker 2: the Phillies.
2:03
Speaker 3: Wait, this is our second.
2:05
Speaker 2: Take at at this sorry the show, because Jeff was
2:08
Speaker 2: having difficulty with a word.
2:10
Speaker 1: You have no idea how bad I had to concentrate
2:13
Speaker 1: when I just said post mortem just a minute ago.
2:17
Speaker 1: I had to concentrate so hard on that I'm saying
2:20
Speaker 1: pors more from I had no idea what I was saying.
2:25
Speaker 3: Words are hard.
2:26
Speaker 1: Words are hard, Yes, they are. Oh my god, how
2:30
Speaker 1: you been doing, buddy, You've been doing all right?
2:32
Speaker 3: I'm good. I'm definitely better than the last time I
2:34
Speaker 3: talked to you.
2:34
Speaker 1: So yeah, you weren't from Yeah yeah, so so yeah,
2:39
Speaker 1: I'm glad you're you're feeling a little more healthy. Lend
2:42
Speaker 1: you and I had to talk before we hit the
2:43
Speaker 1: record button about home ownership too. Fun times being a homeowner, right.
2:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's uh, don't do it.
2:51
Speaker 3: Don't do There's a reason why people aren't buying house anymore.
2:56
Speaker 1: It's a scam. It's all a scam pretty much. Oh gosh. Yeah,
3:02
Speaker 1: so uh yeah, just rent out there, folks, seriously rent
3:05
Speaker 1: and if the rent goes up, you know whatever. Just
3:07
Speaker 1: home ownership, it could be could be a real drag sometimes,
3:10
Speaker 1: especially if you have an older home too. I mean
3:12
Speaker 1: I lived in it. I lived in a home that
3:14
Speaker 1: was from nineteen oh three, Michelle and my first home
3:16
Speaker 1: nineteen oh three. There were some issues. We had a
3:19
Speaker 1: groundhog that ruined our foundation.
3:21
Speaker 2: It was terrible, yes, laugh, I got skunks, apossom, yeah,
3:29
Speaker 2: all manner of animals.
3:30
Speaker 3: So it's great, all.
3:33
Speaker 1: Right, nobody wants to hear about that. All right, let's
3:35
Speaker 1: get into some Philly sports talk here. And like I said,
3:38
Speaker 1: you know, Eric and I last week on the show,
3:40
Speaker 1: you know, the Phillies had just dropped that final game
3:44
Speaker 1: to the Mets, and we just kind of went off.
3:46
Speaker 1: We went crazy, and I'm saying, you know, ninety five
3:50
Speaker 1: games one during this season here in twenty twenty four,
3:54
Speaker 1: they've got a NAT, They've got an NL divisional title here,
3:59
Speaker 1: but it in the least, I should say division title,
4:02
Speaker 1: and it didn't mean anything in the end, and we're
4:06
Speaker 1: all thinking about what's gonna happen in twenty twenty five. Well,
4:09
Speaker 1: Dave Dombrowski held a press conference this week and he
4:13
Speaker 1: let us know that you know, not only is Rob
4:15
Speaker 1: Thompson gonna be back in twenty twenty five, but he
4:19
Speaker 1: is extended. His contracts extended through the twenty twenty six season,
4:24
Speaker 1: and Dombrowski also announced that the entire coaching staff is
4:28
Speaker 1: going to be back for the twenty twenty five season.
4:32
Speaker 1: He actually said, with regard to Rob Thompson, he's done
4:35
Speaker 1: a good job for us. He's been a very successful manager.
4:38
Speaker 1: There are very few clubs in baseball that have made
4:41
Speaker 1: the postseason three years in a row. He's done that.
4:44
Speaker 1: We've been a very good club under his guidance. So look,
4:49
Speaker 1: I wasn't one of those people that was calling for
4:50
Speaker 1: Rob Thompson to be fired. Quite frankly thought there should
4:53
Speaker 1: have been perhaps some sort of coaching shakeup. Perhaps I
4:57
Speaker 1: don't know, But then again, like I just said, as
5:00
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about this moving forward, they did win ninety
5:04
Speaker 1: five games, and yes, the second half of the season
5:07
Speaker 1: was not as bright and shiny as the first half
5:09
Speaker 1: of the season, but they did get to where they
5:12
Speaker 1: were at. And Rob Thompson is two hundred and fifty
5:15
Speaker 1: and one to eighty five in the regular season since
5:18
Speaker 1: he took over after the previous manager, Joe Girardi, was fired.
5:23
Speaker 1: There's something to be said, I think for that. Maybe, man,
5:26
Speaker 1: maybe I'm just like longing for some sort of some
5:30
Speaker 1: sort of positivity coming from this. I don't know, but
5:35
Speaker 1: it doesn't actually surprise me that Rob Thompson is going
5:38
Speaker 1: to be back, and frankly, it doesn't surprise me that
5:40
Speaker 1: he's actually extended here. What were your thoughts when you
5:42
Speaker 1: saw the news, Len.
5:45
Speaker 2: Maybe a little surprised that it happened so quickly, And
5:48
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess they have to make a decision
5:50
Speaker 2: because they're having a press conference, Yeah, you know, not
5:53
Speaker 2: long after the season ends, and you know that question
5:55
Speaker 2: is going to come up so it's like, Okay, I
5:57
Speaker 2: guess we have to make a decision on this, and
5:59
Speaker 2: they decide to extend him. I just the wound is
6:02
Speaker 2: still fresh, and people I think are still kind of
6:05
Speaker 2: looking maybe for that that pound of flesh, you know,
6:09
Speaker 2: like somebody, somebody's gotta somebody's got to pay for this,
6:12
Speaker 2: you know, And instead you're seeing somebody get extended, like
6:16
Speaker 2: the guy that's running the ship here, you're seeing him
6:19
Speaker 2: get extended. And then not only that, but the coach,
6:23
Speaker 2: like the I guess what surprised me about it is
6:25
Speaker 2: the timing of it, like so so soon after a
6:28
Speaker 2: disappointing exit. And then also I thought somewhere in here
6:34
Speaker 2: there would be a sacrificial lamb here or there somewhere
6:38
Speaker 2: on that coaching staff, and nope, the entire coaching staff's
6:41
Speaker 2: coming back, And that to me is surprising.
6:46
Speaker 3: You know.
6:46
Speaker 2: I I don't know if tone deaf is the right word,
6:49
Speaker 2: because again, I know I understand that there was a
6:52
Speaker 2: time frame where they had to make that decision, but
6:55
Speaker 2: I I don't know. I feel like people want some
7:00
Speaker 2: semblance of change, right like, and I'm sure it's gonna
7:03
Speaker 2: happen with you know, players at some point in the
7:06
Speaker 2: in the you know, off season, but for now, it
7:09
Speaker 2: just feels like, so far, okay, we like they also
7:13
Speaker 2: announced that Trey Turner is going to be shortstop next year.
7:16
Speaker 2: Trey Turner was statistically one of the worst defensive shortstops
7:21
Speaker 2: in baseball this year, and so it's just like, okay,
7:26
Speaker 2: Like there's very much a feeling of we're running it
7:29
Speaker 2: back like right after this, and that I think is
7:32
Speaker 2: gonna rubble out of people the wrong way.
7:34
Speaker 1: Well, I'm glad you brought up the Trey Turner thing.
7:36
Speaker 1: Two points for me real quick. With one with regard
7:38
Speaker 1: to Trey Turner, you know, the talk and in discourse
7:42
Speaker 1: around the possibility of maybe moving him to another position
7:46
Speaker 1: again because of what you said, the awful, terrible defense
7:50
Speaker 1: that we have seen from him, especially this year. I'm
7:54
Speaker 1: a little surprised, like you, that he is going to
7:57
Speaker 1: be staying at shortstop and that it was the decision
7:59
Speaker 1: was even such a such a quick fashion. You know,
8:03
Speaker 1: he could potentially play another position on this team. It's
8:07
Speaker 1: not out of the realm of possibility. But the second
8:10
Speaker 1: point I wanted to make, and I wanted to ask
8:12
Speaker 1: you this because I've been thinking about this with this
8:14
Speaker 1: Phillies team because you know, at the end of the day,
8:16
Speaker 1: like it's a good team with a lot of talent.
8:18
Speaker 1: I mean when you're talking about the bottom of the
8:20
Speaker 1: batting order, Yeah, you know there certainly can I think
8:22
Speaker 1: be some improvement there, really can. And go back in
8:25
Speaker 1: the feed and listen to the table Talk interview show
8:28
Speaker 1: with John Staalness and myself. John made excellent points as
8:31
Speaker 1: he always does with regard to the batting on this
8:33
Speaker 1: team and how they performed down the stretch. But just
8:38
Speaker 1: because I should say, you had a bullpen that we
8:42
Speaker 1: couldn't see what was gonna happen with, Like nobody could
8:45
Speaker 1: see that they were gonna fall the way that they
8:47
Speaker 1: did during the Divisional series, and the bats went so cold,
8:52
Speaker 1: went cold to the point though where they were just
8:55
Speaker 1: trying so hard. They were they were chasing junk, they
8:58
Speaker 1: were not being patient at the plate, and yes, that
9:01
Speaker 1: part of that is the hitting coach needing to convey
9:03
Speaker 1: certain messages to them. But here here's the ultimate question, though, Lenn,
9:08
Speaker 1: just because the team didn't make it to the expectation,
9:12
Speaker 1: the expectation was World Series this year. Just because they
9:15
Speaker 1: didn't get to where our expectations were Does it really
9:19
Speaker 1: mean that somebody needs to be accountable? You know what
9:21
Speaker 1: I mean? They did make the playoffs, they were one
9:23
Speaker 1: of the best teams in baseball throughout much of this season. Like,
9:27
Speaker 1: does somebody actually need to be fired or I'm not
9:30
Speaker 1: necessarily saying like run it back completely because I know
9:33
Speaker 1: that's you know, that's how you're feeling. It's how it
9:35
Speaker 1: feels in general. But like, does it need to happen
9:38
Speaker 1: all the time in sports? Does it need to happen
9:41
Speaker 1: where somebody needs to be fired if a certain expectation
9:44
Speaker 1: level isn't necessarily made when we really couldn't see something
9:48
Speaker 1: that was going to happen again, like the bullpen completely faltering.
9:51
Speaker 1: I don't know what are your thoughts about that?
9:53
Speaker 2: Well, I think the reason why people want to see
9:56
Speaker 2: changes is because, you know the trajectory over the past
9:59
Speaker 2: three years. Okay, twenty twenty two, you lose in the
10:02
Speaker 2: World Series twenty twenty three, you lose the round before
10:05
Speaker 2: that in the NLCS twenty twenty four, you lose the
10:07
Speaker 2: round before that.
10:08
Speaker 3: In the NLTS.
10:09
Speaker 2: It's it's you know, it's the same thing that happened
10:12
Speaker 2: with that those teams from you know, two thousand and
10:14
Speaker 2: seven to twenty eleven, except somewhere in there they won
10:17
Speaker 2: a World Series. They actually won something, Yeah, and then
10:20
Speaker 2: that decline started happening, whereas here there's been nothing. So
10:27
Speaker 2: I think that's where, you know, a lot of people
10:29
Speaker 2: are starting to get antsy and starting to get you know,
10:32
Speaker 2: we had a conversation right before starting the show about
10:37
Speaker 2: a fantasy basketball league that we're going to be in,
10:39
Speaker 2: and I am noted as not being a big, you know,
10:41
Speaker 2: fantasy anything fan. And I'm doing it because, as I
10:45
Speaker 2: told Jeff, my interest in the NBA is kind of waning,
10:48
Speaker 2: and the Sixers are a big part of that. Of
10:51
Speaker 2: you know, okay, this is that, you know, I can't
10:55
Speaker 2: trust them anymore.
10:56
Speaker 3: I don't.
10:57
Speaker 2: I don't have any belief even coming in this season,
11:00
Speaker 2: I don't necessarily believe that they're gonna do anything. I mean,
11:05
Speaker 2: they'll be a playoff team, don't get me wrong. Yeah,
11:07
Speaker 2: I don't believe in them anymore. And that's kind of
11:10
Speaker 2: where I'm getting close to being with the Phillies. So
11:13
Speaker 2: you know, there's got to be something done there because
11:17
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people are kind of getting
11:19
Speaker 2: that same thing of Okay, here we go this time
11:21
Speaker 2: of year, and the wheels are going to somehow come
11:24
Speaker 2: off because they always do, and it's happening sooner and
11:27
Speaker 2: sooner every year.
11:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I completely see where you're coming from. I
11:31
Speaker 1: really do. But like you know, as we move into
11:34
Speaker 1: that discussion though about where this team is going to go,
11:37
Speaker 1: and we're certainly going to be talking about it a
11:38
Speaker 1: lot on this podcast platform during the off season. You know,
11:43
Speaker 1: you and I talked a little while ago about whether
11:46
Speaker 1: or not the Phillies could potentially sign someone like Juan Soto.
11:50
Speaker 1: I mean, it's gonna be a six hundred plus million
11:52
Speaker 1: dollar contract in the off season for god knows how long.
11:56
Speaker 1: I don't know if John Middleton is going to really
11:59
Speaker 1: want to do that. I mean maybe, who knows.
12:03
Speaker 2: The thing is like he plugs in at a position
12:07
Speaker 2: where they desperately need help, which is the outfield.
12:11
Speaker 3: The outfield is not good offensive.
12:14
Speaker 2: You know, castianis is all right, but you know, marsh
12:18
Speaker 2: is a bench player. Sorry, he's a bench player, yes,
12:21
Speaker 2: And Rojas can't really hasn't shown that he can hit
12:25
Speaker 2: me at major league pitching, So I mean, you know, sorry,
12:29
Speaker 2: I mean the outfield needs to be addressed. And the
12:33
Speaker 2: other thing I saw a comment, you know, after the
12:36
Speaker 2: whole thing with extending Thomson, where somebody was like, this
12:40
Speaker 2: is a this is a this is you know, a
12:43
Speaker 2: message to the players. You know, we brought up, we
12:45
Speaker 2: brought the whole coaching staff back. You know, clearly the
12:48
Speaker 2: coaching staff. That's not who they're pointing the finger at.
12:50
Speaker 2: It's like, well, okay, all these guys have guaranteed multi year,
12:54
Speaker 2: three hundred million dollar contracts, yeah, or or you know,
12:58
Speaker 2: five years. You know, they've got a long contracts, is
13:01
Speaker 2: my point for a lot of money.
13:02
Speaker 3: You know.
13:03
Speaker 2: Oh, they're they're pointing at you. Well, okay, what are
13:06
Speaker 2: you going to do? I got a big contract for
13:08
Speaker 2: all this money.
13:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know what I mean.
13:09
Speaker 2: Like, so, it's not like these guys are in any
13:12
Speaker 2: danger of getting cut. It's not like, you know, anything's
13:15
Speaker 2: going to happen to these guys. So that that whole
13:18
Speaker 2: notion of oh the finger has been pointed at the players,
13:21
Speaker 2: well who.
13:22
Speaker 3: Cares, you know, you know what I mean. Yeah.
13:24
Speaker 2: So I think that's where where people like me are like, Okay,
13:28
Speaker 2: we're actually going to change something, or we're not going
13:30
Speaker 2: to do anything.
13:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's one guy. I actually ended our conversation with
13:36
Speaker 1: John Stalness again on the Table Talk interview show this
13:39
Speaker 1: past week. Lend wanted to get your thoughts on this too,
13:41
Speaker 1: because I think it's going to be one of those
13:43
Speaker 1: underlying I hope it's not necessarily an underlying storyline this offseason.
13:49
Speaker 1: I hope it comes to the forefront a little bit more.
13:52
Speaker 1: But the fact that a veteran like JT. Real Muto,
13:55
Speaker 1: the guy needs a little bit more rest here in
13:58
Speaker 1: his career, you know. And I think Rafael Marshaan what
14:03
Speaker 1: he showed us this season when he was up in
14:05
Speaker 1: the majors, like I think, I mean Garrett Stubbs, bless
14:09
Speaker 1: his soul, in his in his overalls and all that stuff.
14:12
Speaker 1: You know, he's a great locker room guy and stuff,
14:14
Speaker 1: great clubhouse guy, but you know, he doesn't need to
14:18
Speaker 1: be on this team anymore. With Marshawn, we saw some
14:20
Speaker 1: good stuff from him, and I have a feeling twenty
14:24
Speaker 1: twenty five could potentially be the year where we see
14:28
Speaker 1: that next Catcher of the future, as JT. Real Muto
14:31
Speaker 1: is gonna end up, you know, going off into the sunset,
14:34
Speaker 1: likely after the twenty twenty five season when his contract
14:37
Speaker 1: is up, I think that we're going to be starting
14:40
Speaker 1: and needing to see as well. We need to see
14:44
Speaker 1: a little bit less JT. Real Muto. He's gonna need
14:46
Speaker 1: some rest for sure if he's going to remain on
14:48
Speaker 1: this team this next year and really you know, transition
14:52
Speaker 1: into that next you know who's gonna be the next
14:54
Speaker 1: starting catcher for this team, and it could be Marshan.
14:56
Speaker 1: So I don't know what are your thoughts.
14:58
Speaker 2: There, No could be and Marshall should absolutely be on
15:02
Speaker 2: the team next year because you need to. And I
15:05
Speaker 2: don't think he's he's gonna you know, he's not gonna
15:07
Speaker 2: supplant real Mudos as the number one catcher next year,
15:11
Speaker 2: but you at least need to. I mean, I agree,
15:14
Speaker 2: if you want to keep Garrett stubbs On is the
15:16
Speaker 2: mascot in the clubhouse, by all means, go ahead. But
15:20
Speaker 2: that is the extent of what he can do at
15:23
Speaker 2: this point. He I mean, sorry, you know, it's just
15:28
Speaker 2: that's what it is. So yeah, I'd like to I'd
15:31
Speaker 2: like to see more of Marshan and you know, and
15:33
Speaker 2: then you can determine when real Mudo's contract is up. Okay,
15:37
Speaker 2: is this a guy or is he just a backup
15:40
Speaker 2: catcher and we need to go out and find number one.
15:43
Speaker 2: You know, maybe maybe he maybe he's just a number
15:45
Speaker 2: two catcher and those you know, you need those too,
15:47
Speaker 2: so you know, maybe that's his spot, but you at
15:51
Speaker 2: least need to see what he can give you and
15:53
Speaker 2: then see, okay, do we need to go out and
15:55
Speaker 2: get a guy. So that's that's definitely. I mean, to me,
16:00
Speaker 2: Stubbs is one of the easiest people that you move
16:03
Speaker 2: on from after this year.
16:05
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, I think that Mets fans are
16:09
Speaker 1: probably felt how we are feeling right now when the
16:13
Speaker 1: Phillies went to the World Series. I'm not saying the
16:15
Speaker 1: Mets are gonna go to the World Series, Lynn, but man,
16:18
Speaker 1: just watching the Mets doing what they've been doing, and
16:20
Speaker 1: I'm like, holy shit, man, I'm like this fucking team man, like,
16:26
Speaker 1: you know, just getting hot when they needed to get hot,
16:29
Speaker 1: just like the Phills did in twenty twenty two to
16:32
Speaker 1: get to the World Series. Man's it's driving me crazy.
16:35
Speaker 1: It really does. Like we've got that. We got some
16:39
Speaker 1: good people that have come on this podcast platform where
16:41
Speaker 1: Mets fans who've done the opposition territory show with us
16:44
Speaker 1: and stuff. But man, I just I don't like seeing
16:49
Speaker 1: them out there.
16:50
Speaker 2: It's you're one hundred percent right. They are the twenty
16:53
Speaker 2: twenty two Phillies.
16:54
Speaker 3: They got hot at the right time.
16:57
Speaker 2: You know, they came on at the right time, they
16:58
Speaker 2: came together, everything clicked for him. Now I'm watching Game
17:03
Speaker 2: three right now. The series is tied at one, but
17:07
Speaker 2: Game three Dodgers are up seven to nothing.
17:11
Speaker 3: They were up four to nothing.
17:12
Speaker 2: And then I saw Tani come to the plate with
17:14
Speaker 2: a graphic that said with runners for some scoring position,
17:17
Speaker 2: he's sixteen for his last nineteen. Then he hit a
17:20
Speaker 2: three run homer. He is It's incredible, incredible. I mean,
17:27
Speaker 2: you can't put enough superlatives on this guy.
17:31
Speaker 3: He is wild. How good he is, I mean just unbelievable,
17:38
Speaker 3: like really unbelievable.
17:39
Speaker 2: So yeah, I just wanted to throw that out there
17:41
Speaker 2: since we're talking about the Mets. I don't know if
17:43
Speaker 2: they're making it pass this around. We'll see maybe maybe
17:46
Speaker 2: it happens, but yeah, I don't know if I don't
17:49
Speaker 2: know if Game three is going to go their way.
17:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, well, I think that's going to do
17:52
Speaker 1: it for us for some Phillies talk here. You got
17:54
Speaker 1: anything else, buddy before we head onto the Philadelphia Union?
17:59
Speaker 3: Not really, just it's gonna be an interesting offseason.
18:03
Speaker 2: I do hope moves are made, but you know, yep,
18:06
Speaker 2: we're a couple of weeks away from them even being
18:08
Speaker 2: able to do anything anyway, so you know, just kind
18:10
Speaker 2: of wait and see with that.
18:13
Speaker 1: All right, folks, Well let's get into some Philadelphia Union
18:17
Speaker 1: talk here. Yes, yes, technically, folks, yes, the Philadelphia Union
18:21
Speaker 1: could potentially get into the postseason. They could potentially a boy,
18:28
Speaker 1: it'd be a seventh straight postseason appearance, but they have
18:32
Speaker 1: to beat Cincinnati this coming. I believe they play on Saturday.
18:37
Speaker 1: They gotta beat Cincinnati on Saturday. But they need a
18:42
Speaker 1: number of other teams to help them out to get there.
18:45
Speaker 1: This is where we are at, and I gotta be honest, Len,
18:48
Speaker 1: even if they do get the ninth seed, I don't
18:52
Speaker 1: see them going too far, even if they somehow do
18:56
Speaker 1: make the playoffs. But what's interesting is that our friends
18:59
Speaker 1: over at Ladelphia soccernow dot com they put together five
19:03
Speaker 1: different scenarios that are gonna need to happen for the
19:07
Speaker 1: Union to clinch a berth in the twenty twenty four
19:10
Speaker 1: MLS Cup playoffs. So with all these, Philly needs to
19:14
Speaker 1: beat Cincinnati. If they don't beat Cincinnati, they are done
19:17
Speaker 1: this season. Need Montreal to lose against New York and
19:23
Speaker 1: DC loses against Charlotte, or Montreal loses against New York
19:28
Speaker 1: and Atlanta lose or draw at Orlando, Montreal loses against
19:35
Speaker 1: New York, excuse me, and Philly owns the tiebreaker advantage
19:42
Speaker 1: over over Atlanta. Or DC loses versus Charlotte and Atlanta
19:47
Speaker 1: lose or draw at Orlando, and finally number five, DC
19:53
Speaker 1: loses against Charlotte and Philadelphia owns a tiebreaker advantage over Atlanta.
19:59
Speaker 1: There's a a lot of stuff there, dude, for this
20:02
Speaker 1: to happen for the Union at this point.
20:04
Speaker 2: Man, Yeah, I mean, when when you're needing this much
20:09
Speaker 2: stuff to go on, or variations of stuff to go on,
20:13
Speaker 2: I don't know.
20:15
Speaker 3: Now. The one thing I think that's pointing in their favor.
20:17
Speaker 2: I'm looking at the at their standings in the East
20:19
Speaker 2: right now, and it looks like Cincinnati is pretty solidly
20:24
Speaker 2: locked into third R like they they're not. They're not
20:27
Speaker 2: close to Columbus for second, and they're four points ahead
20:30
Speaker 2: of Orlando for third. So even if they lose in
20:32
Speaker 2: Orlando wins, I think wins are only like three points
20:36
Speaker 2: in the league.
20:37
Speaker 3: I'm pretty sure.
20:38
Speaker 2: So that happens, Orlando is still finishes behind Cincinnati, and
20:43
Speaker 2: I think.
20:43
Speaker 3: Cincinnati is locked into that third spot.
20:45
Speaker 2: So really, outside of conditioning and maybe you know, just
20:49
Speaker 2: wanting to keep guys, you know, in tune with what's
20:51
Speaker 2: going on, they don't have a ton to play for.
20:54
Speaker 2: So yeah, maybe they're they're not fielding their best lineup
20:58
Speaker 2: and maybe they're just kind of I don't want to say,
21:00
Speaker 2: going through the motions, but it doesn't maybe it's not
21:03
Speaker 2: a high intensity thing for them, and maybe that's something
21:07
Speaker 2: where the Union can at least take advantage of.
21:09
Speaker 3: That part of the equation.
21:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you know that's that's kind of maybe the
21:16
Speaker 2: biggest silver lining there.
21:17
Speaker 3: And then, like you said, other stuff has to happen.
21:20
Speaker 4: Yeah.
21:20
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Look, they lost what three to two against Columbus
21:24
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago. It's just been whenever we
21:29
Speaker 1: talk about this Philadelphia Union team, you know, it's just
21:32
Speaker 1: that the talent is just not there, and they don't
21:34
Speaker 1: have the talent to be able to step up in
21:37
Speaker 1: big moments. And we knew that this final stretch was
21:40
Speaker 1: going to be really important. They end up, you know,
21:42
Speaker 1: they end up dropping that game against Columbus. So you know,
21:47
Speaker 1: I'm sure during the off season we're gonna be talking
21:49
Speaker 1: about again the fact that this ownership needs to spend
21:52
Speaker 1: some money, they need to bring in some talent, and
21:56
Speaker 1: they need to keep the talent and have instead of
21:59
Speaker 1: having it go over to you as well. So that
22:02
Speaker 1: that's where we're at with this team. That's where we're at,
22:04
Speaker 1: and it's not gonna change quickly anytime soon.
22:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I mean the the Europe thing, I mean,
22:10
Speaker 2: I guess depends on money. Like I guess you could
22:13
Speaker 2: perhaps spend enough money on a player that you beat
22:17
Speaker 2: the deal that he would get over in Europe and
22:19
Speaker 2: you entice him to stay.
22:20
Speaker 3: Maybe money talks.
22:20
Speaker 2: But I think for a lot of these guys, listen,
22:24
Speaker 2: those European leagues are just higher caliber, more profile leagues.
22:29
Speaker 2: And if you're if you're a player that's being courted
22:32
Speaker 2: by a team in those leagues and you want to
22:35
Speaker 2: test yourself and be a competitor, I think that's always
22:39
Speaker 2: going to be more of a you know, of withdrawal
22:41
Speaker 2: than staying in the MLS, like, I feel like you're
22:43
Speaker 2: they're going to have to pay you significantly more to stay.
22:47
Speaker 2: There is my feeling on it.
22:49
Speaker 1: Well, I got to tell you too, at this particular
22:51
Speaker 1: point in time in the year in twenty twenty four,
22:55
Speaker 1: if you're in Philadelphia and you're watching or streaming anything
22:59
Speaker 1: on TV and all you see are election commercials, my god,
23:03
Speaker 1: you're probably gonna want to get the hell over to
23:05
Speaker 1: Europe as soon as possible.
23:06
Speaker 2: You know. If you watch any show right now, like
23:11
Speaker 2: any any show and game anything, and you go to
23:14
Speaker 2: commercial break, and let's say there's ten commercials in that
23:18
Speaker 2: commercial break, nine of them are political ads.
23:23
Speaker 1: I can't stand it.
23:24
Speaker 2: I wish I had a machine gun that instead of
23:28
Speaker 2: it's just fired out middle fingers, and I would just
23:33
Speaker 2: go on a rent, just springing and everybody like, That's
23:35
Speaker 2: that's where I am right now.
23:37
Speaker 3: I've I've had enough, Lenn.
23:39
Speaker 1: I'm a county commissioner, for God's.
23:41
Speaker 3: Sake, stuff, and you're tired of it.
23:44
Speaker 1: I am tired of it. Like I get it, we
23:47
Speaker 1: get it, we get it, folks. Pennsylvania is probably the
23:50
Speaker 1: most important state in terms of these two presidential candidates.
23:54
Speaker 1: My gosh, we get everywhere we turn. It is constant,
23:59
Speaker 1: and it's the saying. It's a few of the same
24:01
Speaker 1: ads too. I just if these MLS soccer players in Philadelphia,
24:05
Speaker 1: if they're getting a little tired of this seriously, and
24:07
Speaker 1: may this election may take them over to Europe just
24:10
Speaker 1: so they're getting get the hell out of the freaking
24:13
Speaker 1: what they're viewing. You know, gosh, I'm.
24:16
Speaker 3: Ready, I'm ready to go. Somebody signed me.
24:19
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, I don't have too much more for the
24:21
Speaker 1: union here, buddy, Do you do you have anything else
24:23
Speaker 1: you want to you want to add before we hit
24:25
Speaker 1: the break?
24:25
Speaker 2: I mean I want to see them do well. Yeah,
24:27
Speaker 2: I'd like to see them make the playoffs. But really,
24:30
Speaker 2: I mean, this is kind of you. You're fighting for
24:33
Speaker 2: the right to be the gum on the bottom of.
24:36
Speaker 3: Inner Miami shoe, right. You know they're gonna they're just.
24:40
Speaker 2: Gonna mow over whoever they play. So you know, it's
24:44
Speaker 2: it's what it is.
24:45
Speaker 1: I love that. I'm gonna use that in the future
24:47
Speaker 1: in many different ways.
24:49
Speaker 3: Go for it.
24:49
Speaker 4: I love that.
24:50
Speaker 1: But if you're new to listening to us, subscribe on
24:53
Speaker 1: whatever podcast platform you are on. You're gonna get some
24:56
Speaker 1: great content throughout the week on the world of Philly
24:58
Speaker 1: sports the sports world in general. You can also head
25:01
Speaker 1: on over to our website Philadelphia Sports Table dot com.
25:03
Speaker 1: Got all of our shows over there, and shoot us
25:06
Speaker 1: off an email. We'd love to hear from you, Philadelphia
25:08
Speaker 1: Sports Table at gmail dot com and shoot us off
25:11
Speaker 1: a subject matter in the world of Philly sports you'd
25:13
Speaker 1: like for us to get into. If we said anything
25:15
Speaker 1: that you agree with disagree with, we'd love to hear
25:18
Speaker 1: from you. And follow Len on the Twitter slash x
25:20
Speaker 1: at Len Hunsicker. You can follow me at Jeffrey Underscore,
25:23
Speaker 1: Warren and the Show at Philadelphia PST. The show is
25:26
Speaker 1: on threads. I'm on threads, mister jeff Warren Philadelphia Sports Table,
25:31
Speaker 1: and we're also on Instagram. Search us out there. We're
25:33
Speaker 1: gonna take a quick break to pay some bills. We'll
25:35
Speaker 1: be back in just a bit. All right, We are back,
25:38
Speaker 1: and Len, man, I am so excited to talk to
25:41
Speaker 1: you about this Philadelphia Flyer season thus far. Look, the
25:44
Speaker 1: team is one one and one. My god, they've got
25:48
Speaker 1: four road games to start the season. I mean, it's
25:50
Speaker 1: it's difficult enough for this team, but man, we're seeing
25:54
Speaker 1: some interesting stuff on the ice already, whether it's you know,
25:57
Speaker 1: the goaltending, what we've seen from Sam Air and Ivan
26:01
Speaker 1: Fidotov already, but seeing one Matve Mitchkov boy since he
26:07
Speaker 1: has put on the orange in black and he has
26:10
Speaker 1: officially been a Flyer and he's scored his first goal
26:13
Speaker 1: this week, a very bizarre, weird way to score his
26:17
Speaker 1: first goal. This nineteen year old has been beyond impressive,
26:22
Speaker 1: just his ability to read plays in the offensive zone
26:26
Speaker 1: while also simultaneously caring about what else is happening on
26:30
Speaker 1: the ice and where he can make an impact as well.
26:34
Speaker 1: It's just a pleasure to watch this kid. And he's
26:37
Speaker 1: only nineteen so far, it's been fun. The beginning of
26:42
Speaker 1: this Flyer season has been fun. Again. Going back to
26:46
Speaker 1: the goalies real quick. You know Sam Erson, we kind
26:50
Speaker 1: of know who he is. He wants to prove to
26:52
Speaker 1: the Flyers that he can be a dependable number one goalie.
26:56
Speaker 1: I think if he puts another really good start against
26:59
Speaker 1: top club like the Oilers, it's certainly going to help
27:01
Speaker 1: build this case as he's moving forward.
27:04
Speaker 2: For No.
27:04
Speaker 1: Tov had a little bit of an issue this past week,
27:08
Speaker 1: but so far from an enjoyment perspective. So far, so
27:12
Speaker 1: good for me, Lenn. What are you thinking.
27:15
Speaker 2: It feels like a lot of the vibes around the
27:18
Speaker 2: team right now are pretty positive.
27:20
Speaker 3: Yeah.
27:20
Speaker 2: I'm not going to sit here and tell you that.
27:22
Speaker 2: I can give you a good breakdown over what happened
27:25
Speaker 2: so far. The three games that have happened happened on
27:28
Speaker 2: like nights where I had to work, and you know,
27:31
Speaker 2: those games started at ten o'clock and my alarm goes
27:33
Speaker 2: off at one in the morning. So I've not seen
27:36
Speaker 2: anything yet.
27:37
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you the Calgary game, I could not
27:39
Speaker 1: get through it though.
27:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, well yeah, it looked like they kind of got
27:43
Speaker 2: pounced on early. Yeah, but you know, I've been just
27:47
Speaker 2: looking at clips and stuff like that, and obviously, you know,
27:50
Speaker 2: the Meechkov goals against Edmonton. It's an encouraging sign to see.
27:57
Speaker 2: And I'm hearing a lot of positive things about Lechak.
28:00
Speaker 2: So they play Seattle tomorrow night at ten o'clock, and
28:03
Speaker 2: I'm actually finally going to get to actually watch the
28:06
Speaker 2: team play, and I'm I couldn't be looking forward to
28:09
Speaker 2: it more.
28:10
Speaker 3: Like, I'm really excited about being able to watch it.
28:12
Speaker 3: And it's just fun.
28:14
Speaker 2: Like I don't know when the last time is that
28:17
Speaker 2: I've said to myself, I can't wait to sit down
28:19
Speaker 2: and watch the Flyers like that has not been a
28:24
Speaker 2: statement that I've made a lot in the past couple
28:26
Speaker 2: of years. So even if they lose, I think they're
28:29
Speaker 2: going to be maybe one of those teams that you know,
28:32
Speaker 2: even if they don't win, they're going to be fun,
28:35
Speaker 2: and at this point, I just I want that. So yeah,
28:38
Speaker 2: I'm super excited for this team right now.
28:41
Speaker 1: Isn't that what we want with a rebuild. Isn't that
28:43
Speaker 1: what any fan base wants with a team going through
28:47
Speaker 1: a rebuild. They want to feel those positive vibes, They
28:50
Speaker 1: want to be excited, they can't wait to watch certain
28:53
Speaker 1: games here or there, be able to just sit back,
28:55
Speaker 1: chill and enjoy it. Like that's part of what I
28:59
Speaker 1: think a rebuild is. Len we're seeing it with the
29:01
Speaker 1: Flyers here. We're actually it's actually happening, and it's happening
29:05
Speaker 1: under the leadership of one Danny Brier. I mean the look.
29:09
Speaker 1: Not a ton was done during this offseason. As we know,
29:12
Speaker 1: mitchkov coming over huge absolutely huge, biggest storyline, of course,
29:17
Speaker 1: but he helped make it happen. So you got to
29:19
Speaker 1: give Danny Briere, I mean so much credit. I think
29:22
Speaker 1: a lot of the Flyers fan base does give him
29:24
Speaker 1: credit for where this team is at. But man, this
29:26
Speaker 1: is this is actually, this is actually part of the
29:29
Speaker 1: rebuild that we're excited about with the positive vibes here,
29:33
Speaker 1: like it's actually had like it's coming to fruition here.
29:37
Speaker 3: Teams go through cycles.
29:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, so and there and there's there's you know, okay,
29:42
Speaker 2: maybe you have your times where nothing's going right and
29:45
Speaker 2: there's nothing to look forward to and the team stinks
29:48
Speaker 2: and there's no pipeline. That's the worst place to be
29:50
Speaker 2: in just having no hope at all, like nothing to
29:52
Speaker 2: even dream on. Where the Flyers are now on the
29:55
Speaker 2: cycle are okay, they're rebuilding, they have fun players, they
29:58
Speaker 2: have young players players I'm excited to see.
30:01
Speaker 3: It's it's the shiny new toy thing.
30:03
Speaker 2: And then you get onto okay, we're contending and we're competing,
30:06
Speaker 2: and you know, maybe there's you know, a championship or
30:09
Speaker 2: two in there and there and there's a run and
30:11
Speaker 2: there's that whole window and then there's the you know,
30:15
Speaker 2: or there's no championship and then you get to the
30:17
Speaker 2: point where the Sixers are and the Phillies are treading
30:21
Speaker 2: dangerously close to where I don't think it's ever gonna
30:25
Speaker 2: happen for this group. So so yeah, and then and
30:29
Speaker 2: then you get the point of, like after that comes
30:32
Speaker 2: if there's and hasn't been a championship at that point,
30:36
Speaker 2: and that goes on for a couple of years, then
30:37
Speaker 2: you're at the point of, Okay, maybe time to blow
30:40
Speaker 2: it up and start over, you know. And so it's
30:43
Speaker 2: all cyclical, and the Flyers are definitely at one end
30:46
Speaker 2: of that cycle. Sixers I think are at the other
30:50
Speaker 2: Phillies are close to the Sixers. Eagles are you know,
30:53
Speaker 2: probably still somewhere in there where you know, they're still
30:57
Speaker 2: in that competing phase like you know they could.
30:59
Speaker 3: I mean, it's not looking good right now for.
31:01
Speaker 2: Them, and we're going to talk about that in a
31:02
Speaker 2: little bit here, but you know, there's still kind of
31:06
Speaker 2: they're not at that point yet where like I don't
31:08
Speaker 2: think it's gonna happen for them. Yeah, I don't think
31:10
Speaker 2: the Eagles are there yet, So yeah, just I don't know,
31:13
Speaker 2: different teams in different places.
31:15
Speaker 1: Absolutely. With the Flyers though, Len like how I'm actually
31:18
Speaker 1: viewing that like from an overall perspective, I feel like
31:22
Speaker 1: the glass is half full. Over these past how many years,
31:26
Speaker 1: I have felt like the glass is half empty in
31:29
Speaker 1: a lot of areas With this Flyers team, various moments,
31:33
Speaker 1: certain points of the season, I'm feeling like the glass
31:36
Speaker 1: is half full right now, that optimistic feeling glass is
31:40
Speaker 1: half full for me, buddy.
31:41
Speaker 3: And that is what elite talent does. That's it's why.
31:47
Speaker 2: People were so excited when Embiid was finally over the
31:51
Speaker 2: health issues and starting to do stuff. I mean, oh, man,
31:54
Speaker 2: here's a guy that can be a top ten player
31:55
Speaker 2: in the league. You're seeing right now with Mitchikoff where
31:58
Speaker 2: you know it's probably going to take him a little
31:59
Speaker 2: bit of time to get there, but you can see it,
32:01
Speaker 2: you can dream on it, you can see elite level talent.
32:05
Speaker 2: And that's what we've been talking about with the Flyers
32:07
Speaker 2: for so long now, the fact that they're starved for
32:10
Speaker 2: elite level talent and now they finally have one. And
32:13
Speaker 2: then they've got another kid in Luchenko here, who I'll
32:16
Speaker 2: be honest with you, I didn't know who the hell
32:17
Speaker 2: he was when they drafted him. And when you look
32:20
Speaker 2: at when you look at NHL players, you know, okay, yeah,
32:23
Speaker 2: you may have a McDavid or somebody like that. Like
32:26
Speaker 2: if you go maybe in the top three picks in
32:28
Speaker 2: the draft, you know, chances are you're expected to maybe
32:32
Speaker 2: make the team as you know, right then and there
32:35
Speaker 2: as a rookie. But when you're picked thirteenth overall, you're
32:38
Speaker 2: that those guys go back to juniors, or they go
32:41
Speaker 2: to college, or they're they're not with the big club
32:44
Speaker 2: for a couple of years.
32:46
Speaker 3: He's there now, and.
32:47
Speaker 2: So that's why he's a guy I wouldn't watch because
32:50
Speaker 2: I want to see what is it about this kid
32:53
Speaker 2: that is you know, and maybe he does his nine
32:56
Speaker 2: games with the Flyers and then goes back to juniors
32:59
Speaker 2: that doesn't start as his ELC, but you know, I
33:03
Speaker 2: want to watch them. I want to see what it
33:05
Speaker 2: is about this kid that you know, Man, the thirteenth
33:08
Speaker 2: overall pick made it to the NHL right away. So yeah,
33:14
Speaker 2: I mean, and that's that's what having you know, good
33:17
Speaker 2: young players and exciting young players, that's what that does.
33:20
Speaker 2: And that's what like, you know, I've said this in
33:23
Speaker 2: the past. I'm sure people rolled their eyes and now
33:25
Speaker 2: they're really going to do it because the Flyers have
33:27
Speaker 2: some exciting talent. But if they didn't make the playoffs
33:30
Speaker 2: this year, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the
33:33
Speaker 2: world to me, because again, the next upcoming draft is
33:36
Speaker 2: supposed to be loaded, and it's supposed to be loaded
33:39
Speaker 2: in an area where with what they need, which is centers.
33:43
Speaker 2: So look, if they make the playoffs, cool, I mean,
33:46
Speaker 2: it'll be good for like, for the young guys to
33:50
Speaker 2: get some playoff experience.
33:51
Speaker 3: That'll be fine.
33:52
Speaker 2: If they don't make the playoffs, and if they can
33:54
Speaker 2: get a decent pick, that's cool too. Like me, I
33:57
Speaker 2: don't know, short of like massive injuries to everybody, I
34:02
Speaker 2: don't know that there's a bad result for the Flyers
34:06
Speaker 2: this year to me.
34:07
Speaker 1: And that's it's a great place to be. It's a
34:10
Speaker 1: great place to be. Yeah, all right, Well, great Flyers
34:14
Speaker 1: talk there. Let's get into some Eagles talk before we
34:17
Speaker 1: get to our break and then get to our interview.
34:19
Speaker 1: This week, when the Birds coming off the bye barely
34:23
Speaker 1: got by the Cleveland Browns, there was a lot of
34:26
Speaker 1: slop on the offensive side of the ball. Defense ended up,
34:30
Speaker 1: you know, bailing this team out. There's some good stuff happening.
34:33
Speaker 1: Coming into the game, they had six sacks. After this
34:36
Speaker 1: get they put five more sacks, like than they should
34:40
Speaker 1: have because the Browns are not a good offense at all.
34:43
Speaker 1: They have a terrible line and a terrible quarterback. So
34:46
Speaker 1: three and two on the season. We want to talk
34:48
Speaker 1: about what we liked coming out of the bye week
34:51
Speaker 1: from this team and what we didn't like coming out
34:53
Speaker 1: of the bye week from this team. I'll say, for me, Len,
34:56
Speaker 1: what I liked coming out of the bye week was
34:58
Speaker 1: the fact that Jailing Hurts didn't turn the ball over.
35:01
Speaker 1: He didn't turn the ball over at all. The Eagles
35:03
Speaker 1: are eleven and one. When Jalen Hurts finishes games without
35:08
Speaker 1: turning the ball over, the team will win games in
35:12
Speaker 1: general if he is not turning the ball over. That
35:15
Speaker 1: is the one thing that I really liked coming out
35:18
Speaker 1: of this bye week. For you, what was that?
35:22
Speaker 2: Just seeing those top two wide receivers back, Man, does
35:26
Speaker 2: that make a difference? Yeah, having those two back in
35:29
Speaker 2: the lineup. I mean, granted, I know they only score
35:32
Speaker 2: twenty points and you know, against a bad Browns team,
35:36
Speaker 2: you know, and I was actually I was working, but
35:39
Speaker 2: I was able to watch some of it.
35:40
Speaker 3: On the Fox Sports app on my phone.
35:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, there were definitely points at which like, man, these
35:46
Speaker 2: guys are just setting football back fifty years.
35:49
Speaker 3: You know, I had that thought a couple times watching
35:52
Speaker 3: the game.
35:52
Speaker 2: But you know, I mean, it's good to have those
35:56
Speaker 2: guys back, Brown and Smith.
35:58
Speaker 3: I mean, it makes all the difference in the world.
36:00
Speaker 1: It absolutely does.
36:01
Speaker 2: I Defensively, like you said, they they really they kind
36:04
Speaker 2: of stepped up. I mean, I know, you know, the
36:06
Speaker 2: Browns offense is beyond awful, but you know it's good
36:10
Speaker 2: to see them get pressure on a quarterback and just
36:12
Speaker 2: keep doing Even even Huff look like he finally had
36:15
Speaker 2: a decent game.
36:17
Speaker 3: You know, a guy that you know has done pretty
36:19
Speaker 3: much nothing up to this point.
36:20
Speaker 2: He had half a sack, he had a QB hit.
36:23
Speaker 2: You know, he seemed like he was in the mix,
36:25
Speaker 2: so that's encouraging.
36:26
Speaker 1: He was on the ground a few times. I'm really
36:28
Speaker 1: getting tired of seeing that though, just getting pushed to
36:32
Speaker 1: the ground and can't cant buy the tackle, and it's like,
36:34
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, we're consistently seeing this. But you're right,
36:37
Speaker 1: he probably had his best game of the season for sure.
36:40
Speaker 1: What what did you not like from this team coming
36:44
Speaker 1: out of the bye week and something you may be
36:46
Speaker 1: concerned with moving forward.
36:48
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, you know, for what I was just
36:50
Speaker 2: saying about the offense, they did struggle to move the ball.
36:54
Speaker 2: And the Browns aren't aren't you know, a bad defensive
36:56
Speaker 2: team that they're abysmal offensively, but they've got some decent
37:00
Speaker 2: players on defense. Yeah, but still at home, you would
37:05
Speaker 2: have liked to win with a week to prepare. You
37:07
Speaker 2: would have liked to have seen them be able to
37:09
Speaker 2: move the ball better than they did. It really wasn't working.
37:15
Speaker 2: That the running game felt like it didn't get on
37:17
Speaker 2: tracked at all. Say Quan really didn't have a great game.
37:20
Speaker 1: That's that's mine. That's what I didn't like coming out
37:22
Speaker 1: of the bye week that I don't think they actually
37:24
Speaker 1: had a solid and look the Browns defense. You know,
37:27
Speaker 1: you got Miles Garrett who's stopping running plays and he's
37:31
Speaker 1: getting into the backfield, pressure in the quarterback and stuff.
37:34
Speaker 1: You know that Miles Garrett is a problem. But I
37:37
Speaker 1: think not really having a concerted ground game this past week,
37:41
Speaker 1: that was something that was a little bit of a
37:42
Speaker 1: concern for me. That's what I did not like coming
37:44
Speaker 1: out of the bye week.
37:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then the Nick Siriani show.
37:49
Speaker 2: Oh god, yeah, or he's definitely not going to be
37:54
Speaker 2: coaching this team, by god by February.
37:59
Speaker 3: There's I would almost put my house on it.
38:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I I I would be hard pressed to
38:06
Speaker 1: say he's gonna be here next year. I can't. I
38:10
Speaker 1: don't what is he doing? I don't know. Maybe it's
38:12
Speaker 1: the pressure, seriously, maybe it's the pressure being one of
38:15
Speaker 1: thirty two head coaches in an elite co or an
38:20
Speaker 1: elite professional sports league. And maybe maybe some guys just
38:24
Speaker 1: handle it better than others. Obviously Nick Sirianni not handling
38:28
Speaker 1: it too well when the adversity comes his way. It
38:31
Speaker 1: really does stink, you know, because we were all really
38:33
Speaker 1: two years ago, we were high on Sirianni.
38:36
Speaker 2: We loved him, We really did well, and I mean
38:39
Speaker 2: I think even back then, though, I think you could
38:41
Speaker 2: you could see that he was.
38:43
Speaker 3: One of those guys like, let let's let's face it.
38:46
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, people feel how they feel about
38:48
Speaker 2: him now, but could you imagine if he was the
38:51
Speaker 2: coach of the Cowboys and they were doing well good?
38:55
Speaker 2: How much you think you hate Jim Harball now, he
39:00
Speaker 2: you would be coming out of your skin to kill
39:04
Speaker 2: this man.
39:06
Speaker 1: Absolutely correct.
39:07
Speaker 2: Yes, And in the there's people in sports like that
39:10
Speaker 2: where like when you're when you're they're on your team,
39:12
Speaker 2: you love them, and when they're on another team you
39:16
Speaker 2: cannot stand them. And I think he you know, as
39:19
Speaker 2: long as they're doing well, you know, people will be
39:21
Speaker 2: fine with him. But if he's not succeeding and he's
39:25
Speaker 2: doing this stuff, people are gonna hate him. And if
39:26
Speaker 2: he goes elsewhere, and particularly if he's if he's successful,
39:30
Speaker 2: people here are going to hate his guts. Yeah.
39:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, I completely agree with you.
39:34
Speaker 3: I do.
39:35
Speaker 1: Gosh, see how this plays out in the end. I
39:37
Speaker 1: will say moving forward, what I really am concerned about
39:40
Speaker 1: with this Eagles team. Uh, three guys didn't practice this
39:44
Speaker 1: past week, Dallas Goddard, Milton Williams, and of course Jordan
39:47
Speaker 1: Mylatta with the hamstring injury. My Lota said he's going
39:50
Speaker 1: to be missing multiple games. Fred Johnson was seen lining
39:53
Speaker 1: up at left tackle.
39:56
Speaker 5: Uh.
39:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, so it's gonna be. It looks like he's
39:59
Speaker 1: gonna be the starter on Sunday. Milton Williams is Uh,
40:05
Speaker 1: we'll see if he is upgraded towards the end of
40:08
Speaker 1: the week or stays under the did not participate category there.
40:14
Speaker 1: But you know, Dallas got I gotta say Dallas Goddard
40:17
Speaker 1: in the injury history he now has. I mean, he
40:20
Speaker 1: really is going down as a guy who was touted
40:22
Speaker 1: as you know, all the tools and the tools that
40:29
Speaker 1: zach Ertz didn't necessarily have, Like from a blocking standpoint,
40:33
Speaker 1: Dallas Goddard was supposed to be the whole package, and
40:36
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily think that's true at this point here
40:38
Speaker 1: because of the injuries, you know, the lack of production
40:41
Speaker 1: over the past two seasons as well, Dallas Goddard has
40:45
Speaker 1: been very disappointing. And I think the Eagles are really
40:47
Speaker 1: gonna need to look at the tight end position after
40:50
Speaker 1: this year, you know, and and what happens with that
40:54
Speaker 1: position here, because it's always been an important position on
40:56
Speaker 1: this team and Dallas Goddard just isn't getting it done.
40:59
Speaker 1: So those three guys, I'm gonna be keeping my eyes
41:01
Speaker 1: on this weekend. And if they're of course, Jordan my
41:04
Speaker 1: Lot is not gonna be playing. And I have a
41:06
Speaker 1: real problem with this Giants defense that has been on fire.
41:12
Speaker 1: They've already got twenty six sacks on the season, that's
41:14
Speaker 1: more than they had last year. When they're they Fred
41:18
Speaker 1: Johnson could be in for a very very long day.
41:21
Speaker 3: Yeah.
41:21
Speaker 2: There there's I think good reason to have concern with
41:23
Speaker 2: that game. Yeah. Yeah, they're They're gonna absolutely miss my lot.
41:28
Speaker 2: He's a good player with Godard. Like I said, it's interesting.
41:31
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, you look at what the what
41:35
Speaker 2: the Eagles need like and I know where it's ridiculous
41:39
Speaker 2: to make this statement now, you know, but in the draft,
41:43
Speaker 2: you know, you look at what they need and you're
41:45
Speaker 2: you're gonna be inclined to think defensive line and stuff
41:49
Speaker 2: like that. But I mean, tight end is something that
41:51
Speaker 2: they're I mean not like not they don't need it
41:55
Speaker 2: right the second, Like you can you can have Goddard
41:58
Speaker 2: on your team for a couple of years.
42:00
Speaker 3: I think you'll be fine.
42:01
Speaker 2: But you know that it's definitely something that if you're
42:03
Speaker 2: doing your forward planning, tight end I think is a priority.
42:07
Speaker 1: Yep, absolutely all right, buddy, you got anything else before
42:11
Speaker 1: I let you go here and before we get to
42:12
Speaker 1: our interview this week.
42:14
Speaker 2: Well, now that now that I mentioned it and it's
42:16
Speaker 2: popped into my mind, I want to give you a.
42:18
Speaker 3: Scenario, Okay to see okay.
42:21
Speaker 2: So let's pretend that okay, Siriana gets fired, he goes
42:27
Speaker 2: to the Cowboys. He leads the Cowboys to the super
42:32
Speaker 2: Bowl against the Chargers and Jim Harball, Oh god.
42:37
Speaker 3: A do you watch the game and be who are
42:40
Speaker 3: you rooting for?
42:41
Speaker 1: I'm always going to watch the Super Bowl. I'm always
42:43
Speaker 1: going to watch it. So, yes, I will watch the
42:45
Speaker 1: Super Bowl? But do I have to root for somebody?
42:49
Speaker 1: Do I have to?
42:51
Speaker 2: I feel like even if you're even if there's like
42:56
Speaker 2: you know, it's two teams that you either hate equally
42:59
Speaker 2: or or you or you don't care about, over the
43:02
Speaker 2: course of a game, maybe something happens. It kind of
43:06
Speaker 2: like pulls you towards. You know, I wouldn't mind seeing
43:09
Speaker 2: Team A when this game. Yeah, I feel like that
43:11
Speaker 2: happens organically over the course of every game.
43:13
Speaker 1: Yeah.
43:14
Speaker 2: So that brings me to the question who you got?
43:21
Speaker 1: Here's how I would look at it. I would look
43:23
Speaker 1: at it as I just can't with regard to the
43:26
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys. You can't. You can't but see what I
43:30
Speaker 1: would be rooting for. Justin Herbert, Somebody like Justin Herbert,
43:36
Speaker 1: who I think is a pretty darn good quarterback in
43:38
Speaker 1: this league. Sure he's not perfect, but he's had He's
43:43
Speaker 1: had a ton of you know, offensive coaches during his
43:45
Speaker 1: ten year thus far. I'd be pulling for a guy
43:48
Speaker 1: like Justin Herbert, and I'd kind of just I'd kind
43:51
Speaker 1: of forget about Harball. You know, he'd be on the
43:54
Speaker 1: he'd be on my periphery. I'd be like, that's all right,
43:57
Speaker 1: I'm rooting for the Chargers and Justin Herbert. That that
44:01
Speaker 1: That's how I would view it, Okay, Like he's not
44:09
Speaker 1: even there, Like Harball is not even like he's over
44:12
Speaker 1: here to the side. I'm going to root for Herbert
44:15
Speaker 1: and the rest of the team.
44:17
Speaker 3: So in a sense, you're rooting for.
44:21
Speaker 2: Harball to join the club that is inhabited by Barry Switzer,
44:27
Speaker 2: Jimmy Johnson, and Pete Carroll, the three coaches who have
44:30
Speaker 2: won a national championship in college and a Super Bowl
44:34
Speaker 2: in the NFL. Lynn think of how smart jim Harball
44:40
Speaker 2: will be if he gets in that club.
44:43
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that would be awful. It'd be awful.
44:46
Speaker 1: It'd be awful.
44:48
Speaker 3: That is, if that played out.
44:52
Speaker 2: That is a time when I would say, hey, you know,
44:55
Speaker 2: to my way, Hey I don't really know what your
44:58
Speaker 2: plans are here for the super Bowl, but I'm going
45:01
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go over Jef's house and watch the game
45:04
Speaker 2: because I have to watch him during this.
45:07
Speaker 1: Because it is a No One situation for me. My
45:11
Speaker 1: face is gonna get beat red consistently for an hour,
45:15
Speaker 1: for three hours, beat red, and oh my god, I
45:19
Speaker 1: won't be able to contain myself. You know me, You've
45:22
Speaker 1: known me for well over decades at this point, I
45:26
Speaker 1: won't be well. I won't.
45:30
Speaker 3: Oh my god, that would be.
45:33
Speaker 2: God.
45:33
Speaker 1: My face would be beat red for three hours. I'd
45:35
Speaker 1: probably have a heart attack. I'd probably have a heart attack.
45:37
Speaker 3: You would be an absolute mess.
45:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would seriously grabbing my right arm or left arm.
45:43
Speaker 2: I remember one time, this is when you were in
45:45
Speaker 2: your first house in the East and I got to
45:48
Speaker 2: your house and you were like super tense and worked
45:51
Speaker 2: up over something.
45:52
Speaker 3: I got it.
45:52
Speaker 2: I got your house and you were outside and you
45:54
Speaker 2: were smoking a cigarette and you had a full pint
45:57
Speaker 2: glass of wine which I don't know it was a
46:00
Speaker 2: full pint glass of wine, and you were like like
46:04
Speaker 2: angrily smoking a cigarette. And I was walking up to
46:07
Speaker 2: you just thinking what happened, and I feel like that's
46:11
Speaker 2: how you would be yes in that game.
46:14
Speaker 1: I don't even remember that, do you remember? I probably
46:16
Speaker 1: don't remember it because I had a Pine class of wine.
46:18
Speaker 1: I don't even remember drinking wine out of a Pine class.
46:21
Speaker 2: You were because I asked you and you were like twine,
46:25
Speaker 2: because I was like, it just never even occurred to
46:28
Speaker 2: me that anybody would drink wine out of that kind
46:30
Speaker 2: of glass. So I remember that. I was like, what's happening?
46:34
Speaker 1: You know, what's happening to this guy? Geez?
46:38
Speaker 2: But you were I can't remember what you were stressed out,
46:41
Speaker 2: I don't know, or tent about. Something happened, and you
46:45
Speaker 2: were like you were on edge.
46:46
Speaker 1: All right, boy, it'd be worse than that. Who knows
46:49
Speaker 1: what I'd have in a Pine class if this super
46:52
Speaker 1: Bowl that you've laid out here would happen, Who knows
46:55
Speaker 1: what I would.
46:56
Speaker 3: It is a doomsday scenario, it really is.
46:58
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, be jumping off the Ben Franklin, see
47:01
Speaker 1: you later, guys. All right, buddy, great way to end
47:07
Speaker 1: the first part of the show. There, great way to end.
47:09
Speaker 1: You got anything else before we head out here?
47:12
Speaker 3: There's nothing that I'm gonna come up with. It's better
47:14
Speaker 3: than that. God.
47:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, sounds good. Sounds good. All right, folks follow ing
47:18
Speaker 1: on Twitter at Len Hunsicker. We're gonna take a quick
47:21
Speaker 1: break when we get back. Got a great discussion coming
47:24
Speaker 1: your way about college football. Stick with us, all right,
47:27
Speaker 1: we are back. Let's get to some college football talk.
47:31
Speaker 1: Lots lots of interesting and bizarre things going on in
47:34
Speaker 1: the college football world. It's what we're throwing down on
47:36
Speaker 1: the table and now on the table. He is an
47:42
Speaker 1: NFL draft and college football analyst over at A to
47:46
Speaker 1: z Sports. Love A to z Sports and the content
47:49
Speaker 1: that they have been putting out over many years. You
47:52
Speaker 1: can follow a to z Sports on the Twitter slash
47:55
Speaker 1: x at a to z Sports NFL great great follow
47:58
Speaker 1: and the gentleman we have with us this week. You
48:01
Speaker 1: can follow him on the Twitter slash x at rise
48:04
Speaker 1: and draft. We've got the one and only Brian Roberts. Ryan, Buddy,
48:08
Speaker 1: how you doing, man.
48:09
Speaker 4: I'm good, Jeff, I'm good. Man. Football season is treating
48:12
Speaker 4: me pretty well so far. How about you?
48:14
Speaker 1: It's not been bad, you know, whether I were pro football,
48:17
Speaker 1: my fantasy I'm in five fantasy football leagues, by the way,
48:20
Speaker 1: and I I know I don't know how I'm keeping
48:22
Speaker 1: it all together, but it's fun. It's been a it's
48:24
Speaker 1: been a fun football season overall, whether we're talking about
48:27
Speaker 1: pro football, whether we're talking about college football. And it's
48:30
Speaker 1: really why I wanted to bring you on this week
48:31
Speaker 1: to talk about, you know, the fact that they were
48:34
Speaker 1: about midway through this college football season and we have
48:38
Speaker 1: seen a lot of surprises and I think it's refreshing.
48:41
Speaker 1: It's refreshing for us college football fans. And we'll kind
48:44
Speaker 1: of get into that in a little bit, but I've
48:46
Speaker 1: absolutely loved this season so far. I'm assuming you have
48:48
Speaker 1: as well.
48:50
Speaker 4: No, it's been really great because obviously I'm more of
48:53
Speaker 4: a college guy than the NFL. Right, But like NFL
48:55
Speaker 4: has been, you know, obviously entertaining. I watch every week.
48:58
Speaker 4: I mean I'm a football guy, so like I'm watching
48:59
Speaker 4: when anything's on, right, But college football I think has
49:03
Speaker 4: been especially cool because it's like when they move to
49:05
Speaker 4: a twelve team playoff, your initial thoughts are like, is
49:08
Speaker 4: it going to be is it going to be a
49:11
Speaker 4: field of you know, three great teams and then nine
49:14
Speaker 4: that like probably shouldn't be in that contention, and.
49:17
Speaker 1: That we talked about that the last time you were on.
49:19
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, it's been great because I really think, you know,
49:23
Speaker 4: I'm I'm a fan of great football teams being great ultimately,
49:26
Speaker 4: but like the amount of parody in college football right
49:29
Speaker 4: now with the transfer portal with nil, like, it's really
49:33
Speaker 4: even the playing field a lot, which I think is
49:35
Speaker 4: going to I mean, we've seen several big, big upsets
49:38
Speaker 4: so far this year, and I'm excited for the twelve
49:40
Speaker 4: team playoff because i think that it is going to
49:43
Speaker 4: be one of those years where five to six teams
49:45
Speaker 4: could probably win the championship if they like. It's wide
49:49
Speaker 4: open this year for sure.
49:50
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Well, let's start off the discussion by talking about
49:54
Speaker 1: my favorite college football team, the Penn State and Nneye Lions.
49:58
Speaker 1: Our listeners know I am in a um and wanted
50:02
Speaker 1: to talk about what we've seen from them this season
50:04
Speaker 1: here because I kind of think they're a surprise team,
50:08
Speaker 1: at least they are for me in terms of where
50:10
Speaker 1: they are at. I mean, I'm elated that they are
50:12
Speaker 1: ranked number three in the nation, but as I'm trying
50:15
Speaker 1: to look at things objectively with this team, I mean,
50:19
Speaker 1: for God's sake, they had trouble with Bowling Green I
50:22
Speaker 1: was at that game with my family and I'm crapping
50:24
Speaker 1: my pants in the stands, like, oh my gosh, they're
50:26
Speaker 1: losing to Bowling Green here that they pull out a
50:29
Speaker 1: squeaker against USC this past week on the road out
50:32
Speaker 1: in California. Then again, they have an amazing tight end
50:36
Speaker 1: as we know in Tyler Warren Drew Aller. It's a
50:38
Speaker 1: pretty damn good quarterback that we're seeing at this point.
50:41
Speaker 1: But I'm wondering, Ryan, do you do you think they've
50:44
Speaker 1: earned this number three ranking as we're here mid season
50:48
Speaker 1: or have they kind of gotten there due to a
50:50
Speaker 1: confluence of losses and some bad play from other teams
50:54
Speaker 1: here and there. What are your thoughts here with regard
50:56
Speaker 1: to Penn State.
50:57
Speaker 4: I mean, it's a it's a it's a combination of
51:00
Speaker 4: both of those things. But I would say, ultimately, like
51:02
Speaker 4: you're six and oh right, so like to know your
51:06
Speaker 4: preseason ranking was pretty high and Penn State is always
51:09
Speaker 4: good on paper. I mean, if we're talk about just
51:10
Speaker 4: like the natural talent level that's on each team. So
51:14
Speaker 4: I have no problem because I think that a lot
51:16
Speaker 4: of people hyper focus on the what the rankings are
51:20
Speaker 4: these times of years. Obviously, because we're getting like past
51:23
Speaker 4: that midway point and then the games are going to
51:25
Speaker 4: start mattering more and more. But like, ultimately Penn State
51:27
Speaker 4: is six and oh you know, sitting here right now,
51:29
Speaker 4: and if they're at number three, I have no problem
51:32
Speaker 4: with it. I'm more curious obviously a couple of weeks
51:34
Speaker 4: when we're talking about them against Ohio State and then
51:36
Speaker 4: now going down the stretch of the Big Ten schedule
51:39
Speaker 4: and what it matters most. So like I'm actually I'm
51:42
Speaker 4: not the guy that's like that is a stupid ranking.
51:44
Speaker 4: Why are that guy right here in October? Right Like
51:47
Speaker 4: I'm much down the stretch of the season, we're getting
51:50
Speaker 4: close to the conference championship games, that rankings the playoff committee
51:54
Speaker 4: starts putting out their rankings, Like that's when it really
51:56
Speaker 4: matters to me. So they they have earned it so far.
51:59
Speaker 4: Obviously there's a couple big hurdles that are still left
52:01
Speaker 4: that is going to show how good this team actually is.
52:03
Speaker 1: Absolutely yeah, it's I mean, it's interesting to see when
52:06
Speaker 1: you when you're looking at these rankings, it's interesting to
52:08
Speaker 1: see how six of the top ten teams ranked teams
52:13
Speaker 1: I should say here have one loss on their record. Again,
52:16
Speaker 1: like we were talking about at the beginning of our discussion,
52:18
Speaker 1: kind of a bizarre college football season. Why it's why
52:22
Speaker 1: it's interesting we're talking about teams like Ohio State, Alabama,
52:25
Speaker 1: Georgia who have one loss so far on their record.
52:30
Speaker 1: So I'm wondering, you know, which which team ranked in
52:32
Speaker 1: the top ten currently? Ryan has really surprised you most
52:36
Speaker 1: at this point in the season, either from a positive
52:38
Speaker 1: or even a negative standpoint, And why what are your
52:40
Speaker 1: thoughts here?
52:41
Speaker 4: I mean, Penn State's one of them, to be honest,
52:43
Speaker 4: I thought that Penn State for me, I thought they
52:46
Speaker 4: would be a good team, right, like a naturally good team.
52:48
Speaker 4: As far as they're always, you know, number three in
52:51
Speaker 4: the Big Ten. Maybe they're number four now because Oregon
52:54
Speaker 4: came in, Like they're always going to be in that
52:56
Speaker 4: contention though, They're always going to be about a ten
52:58
Speaker 4: win team because of the talent they have. But so far,
53:01
Speaker 4: I think that because I had major questions of I
53:03
Speaker 4: love Andy Koltooneki as an offensive coordinator. I love Andy Kultoneki.
53:08
Speaker 4: I loved him when he was at Kansas. I love
53:10
Speaker 4: I love him when he was at Buffalo. I really
53:11
Speaker 4: still like him now I mean, I'm watching Penn State
53:13
Speaker 4: film all week where they're where they're doing you know,
53:16
Speaker 4: like the crazy splits and they are doing unbalanced and
53:19
Speaker 4: Tyler Warren's snapping Football's incredible?
53:22
Speaker 1: Is this? I watched that play more than a few
53:25
Speaker 1: times this past week just because it's one of the
53:28
Speaker 1: most incredible college football players that I've seen all season.
53:32
Speaker 3: It was.
53:32
Speaker 4: I mean, Tyler Warren right now is basically just that
53:34
Speaker 4: that kid in high school that was good at everything
53:37
Speaker 4: is just like showing off because he could do actually
53:39
Speaker 4: anything on the football field. It's actually hilarious. So I
53:42
Speaker 4: think they're one of them for sure that I look
53:44
Speaker 4: at and say, like I I generally think that they
53:47
Speaker 4: have a chance, right Like, even if they don't beat
53:50
Speaker 4: Ohio State in a couple of weeks, they still have
53:52
Speaker 4: a pathway to making the bit the top twelve in
53:55
Speaker 4: these collegeotball playoffs, Like they absolutely have that. So I
53:58
Speaker 4: think Penn State has surprise a ton. I mean, there's
54:01
Speaker 4: naturally a couple like I didn't think LSU was gonna
54:03
Speaker 4: beat Ole Miss, so like them being as a top
54:05
Speaker 4: ten team is a little bit surprising to me. So
54:08
Speaker 4: it's really a fun year because, like I said before,
54:11
Speaker 4: the parody is so high. I mean, you're talking about
54:14
Speaker 4: the one last team. I was just listening to the
54:16
Speaker 4: College Football Inquirer with like Pat Forty and Dan Wetzel
54:18
Speaker 4: and those guys. Lost Ellinger and Pat Forty had said,
54:22
Speaker 4: you know, kind of technically speaking, we were talking about
54:25
Speaker 4: the power forwards conferences and then some of the at
54:28
Speaker 4: large is to be you know that that group of five,
54:30
Speaker 4: there's technically like forty teams that are still in contention
54:34
Speaker 4: for a playoffs, which is absolutely It's bananas, dude, It
54:38
Speaker 4: really is this time of year, because this time of year,
54:40
Speaker 4: we're usually like, all right, these are the top four teams,
54:43
Speaker 4: we kind of know who they are. Like this year
54:44
Speaker 4: it's so wide open. So those are a couple of
54:47
Speaker 4: teams that have generally surprised me kind of in the
54:49
Speaker 4: top ten so far. But I'm really interested to see
54:52
Speaker 4: again when we get to that rough stretch, is there
54:55
Speaker 4: a team that loses a couple straight. Is there a
54:56
Speaker 4: team that is maintaining it's it's gonna be a fascinating
55:00
Speaker 4: without trust, because it was always going to be a
55:02
Speaker 4: fascinating season, Like this is the data point. We have
55:04
Speaker 4: no idea what a twelve team playoff was going to
55:06
Speaker 4: look like. This is the first year until it happens,
55:08
Speaker 4: we had no idea what was going to look like.
55:10
Speaker 4: And so far it has been a very entertaining college
55:12
Speaker 4: football season. To say the absolute least.
55:14
Speaker 1: I cannot believe that there are forty teams at this
55:17
Speaker 1: point that could potentially be in that contention, you know,
55:21
Speaker 1: for the college That amazes me because I look at
55:24
Speaker 1: teams like, you know, Iowa State and Army are definitely
55:28
Speaker 1: two teams outside the top ten that have been surprising
55:32
Speaker 1: thus far. I think for many, at least myself. I mean,
55:35
Speaker 1: they and they have a great story for this year
55:39
Speaker 1: and this season. It's been fun watching them and following
55:41
Speaker 1: both of these teams. I mean, I personally think teams
55:44
Speaker 1: like Army and Iowa State continue to make college football appealing.
55:49
Speaker 1: While some have said, you know, we've talked about it
55:51
Speaker 1: before on your previous appearances. We've talked about the NIL,
55:55
Speaker 1: We've talked about the transfer portal and how it's really
55:57
Speaker 1: changed the entire system, and you know, rightfully so. But
56:01
Speaker 1: we're seeing, we're seeing that it might not be all
56:03
Speaker 1: that awful. So I'm wondering, you know, what are your
56:05
Speaker 1: thoughts on you know what these teams like Iowa State
56:08
Speaker 1: and Army, you know what they bring to the college
56:11
Speaker 1: football experiences. We can see we continue to see changes
56:14
Speaker 1: with this product over time.
56:17
Speaker 4: I actually had a deep conversation the preseason about Iowa State.
56:21
Speaker 4: You know, I'm not going to have myself on the
56:22
Speaker 4: back too much, but like that was my That was
56:25
Speaker 4: my big twelve sleeper this year was Iowa State because
56:28
Speaker 4: they because I think, I think the people that you
56:31
Speaker 4: don't completely get away from the transfer portal nil era
56:35
Speaker 4: because as we know, programs, I mean programs now are
56:39
Speaker 4: already quote unquote tampering with players to get them enter
56:43
Speaker 4: the transfer portal after the season.
56:44
Speaker 3: Right.
56:44
Speaker 4: That happens every single year. We know that that happens. Right.
56:47
Speaker 4: I think the schools that alleviate that a decent amount.
56:50
Speaker 4: That was a school like Iowa State who doesn't recruit
56:53
Speaker 4: at a crazy high level. What they do is they
56:56
Speaker 4: find the diamonds, right. They find Jeremiah Cooper these Fay
57:00
Speaker 4: out of Oklahoma, that was a three star that is
57:02
Speaker 4: now one of the best safeties in all of college football.
57:05
Speaker 4: They find Rock Obeck, who is an underrated quarterback recruit
57:08
Speaker 4: that has played his butt off so far this year,
57:10
Speaker 4: they find the Jalen Noel's, they find the Jade Higgins
57:13
Speaker 4: and get him to enter the portal from an FCS school. Right.
57:16
Speaker 4: So I think it's those schools that are developers that
57:19
Speaker 4: kind of alleviate that a little bit because they kind
57:22
Speaker 4: of have some guys that kind of go under the
57:23
Speaker 4: radar a little bit. And that's ultimately how because I
57:27
Speaker 4: think that the battle here for me and I've talked
57:29
Speaker 4: about this a ton I actually wrote an article about
57:32
Speaker 4: Lane Kiffin recently at a Z Sports. Where there are
57:36
Speaker 4: two foundational aspects to how to build a program right,
57:39
Speaker 4: and sometimes they mesh, sometimes they don't. But the good schools,
57:43
Speaker 4: in my opinion, utilize the transfer portal to find players
57:47
Speaker 4: they want, not players they need, right to find those
57:50
Speaker 4: guys that add to their roster. And then there's other
57:53
Speaker 4: schools I think of Ole Miss this year, I think
57:56
Speaker 4: of Michigan State a couple years ago under Mel Tucker
57:58
Speaker 4: that have said we're going to prioritize transfer portal over
58:02
Speaker 4: high school recruiting because we want to have a quick fix.
58:05
Speaker 4: We want to have a quick turnarounds. And it can
58:07
Speaker 4: work occasionally like it worked one year from Michigan State.
58:10
Speaker 4: But what happened after it didn't work is that you
58:14
Speaker 4: didn't not reruit high school well enough and now you
58:16
Speaker 4: think right right in one off season, and I think
58:19
Speaker 4: that that happens Ole miss was another one this offseason
58:21
Speaker 4: where they spend a ton of money this offseason on
58:24
Speaker 4: the transfer portal, but they haven't developed their own guys
58:28
Speaker 4: well enough to be a sustainable product. So a deeper
58:31
Speaker 4: conversation here is that I think that the good teams
58:34
Speaker 4: are still going to kick button high school recruiting and
58:38
Speaker 4: then add through the transfer portal in spots that they
58:40
Speaker 4: want to upgrade. Potentially, I think that there needs to
58:43
Speaker 4: be a mixture. But I really think that the NIL landscape,
58:46
Speaker 4: it's better that it's more transparent because it's still not
58:50
Speaker 4: all NIL. It's still a lot of pay for play stuff,
58:52
Speaker 4: which we know about, right. But I think eventually there
58:56
Speaker 4: are going to be some repercussions on some schools. I
58:59
Speaker 4: think that we're going to start to, you know, kind
59:00
Speaker 4: of clamp down on some of that you know, pay
59:03
Speaker 4: for play stuff. But I generally do love that these
59:06
Speaker 4: kids are making money, and I generally do love that
59:08
Speaker 4: they have opportunities out there, just can we legislate it
59:12
Speaker 4: a little bit more right? We put some can we
59:14
Speaker 4: put some operative opportunities to make sure that teams aren't
59:18
Speaker 4: taking full advantage because we have unfortunately seen that side
59:21
Speaker 4: of the right.
59:23
Speaker 1: If you don't mind, I want to piggyback off what
59:25
Speaker 1: you were just talking about with regard to those two
59:27
Speaker 1: options in the article that you recently wrote for as
59:30
Speaker 1: E Sports and you know, using Michigan State as an
59:33
Speaker 1: example to get into the weeds maybe a little bit here, Ryan,
59:37
Speaker 1: are we looking more at, you know, what the head
59:40
Speaker 1: coach brings to that, whether it's the transfer portal or
59:44
Speaker 1: the recruiting process from the high school level, or is
59:47
Speaker 1: it really inevitably the scouting staff that gets it done.
59:52
Speaker 1: And I'm wondering if there is going to be inevitably
59:55
Speaker 1: from what you were just saying, a correlation, you know,
59:58
Speaker 1: with regard to the scouting staff being able to kind
1:00:00
Speaker 1: of do both in a very effective way. And there
1:00:03
Speaker 1: it may be already being done. Probably is, But I'm
1:00:05
Speaker 1: wondering how important and critical the head coach is in
1:00:09
Speaker 1: terms of recruiting and the scouting staff, you know, really
1:00:12
Speaker 1: working in conjunction with each other.
1:00:15
Speaker 4: It's a great question, and I would even throw another
1:00:18
Speaker 4: team I use in that article is what's happening to
1:00:19
Speaker 4: Florida State this year? Right, where like you're tran support,
1:00:22
Speaker 4: the hall is not as good, so naturally you kind
1:00:24
Speaker 4: of trend downward, and we've seen that at a drastic
1:00:27
Speaker 4: level with Florida State. To answer your question, I think
1:00:30
Speaker 4: it's about prioritization, right, Like I think I think of
1:00:33
Speaker 4: a pie chart of all these things matter to how
1:00:37
Speaker 4: this pie is made, but like what matters more ultimately, right,
1:00:40
Speaker 4: And I think that for me, some of these programs
1:00:43
Speaker 4: have just prioritized too much of the pie to just
1:00:46
Speaker 4: transfer portal because let's call it what it is. In
1:00:48
Speaker 4: the world of media and hYP hyperbole, coaches lifespans of
1:00:55
Speaker 4: running a program is much smaller now, right, Like if
1:00:57
Speaker 4: they don't win in a couple of years, you're of
1:01:00
Speaker 4: a job. So like I understand why some coaches have
1:01:04
Speaker 4: leaned towards the quick fixes. I completely understand it. But
1:01:08
Speaker 4: I do think that the best coaches first and foremost
1:01:11
Speaker 4: get your own players in the pipeline, because this is
1:01:15
Speaker 4: the thing. Even if you're recruiting a lower end player,
1:01:18
Speaker 4: like we talked about Wowa State, right, finding some diamonds.
1:01:20
Speaker 4: The diamonds are more likely to stay with your program
1:01:23
Speaker 4: if you believed in them from the jump. Right, are
1:01:26
Speaker 4: just naturally more inclined to believe in you if you
1:01:29
Speaker 4: believed in them early. I've talked to several players on
1:01:32
Speaker 4: the FCS level, like Tucker Craft that now plays with
1:01:34
Speaker 4: Green Bay, that basically said, Alabama offered me six figures,
1:01:37
Speaker 4: but like Alabama wasn't anywhere to be found three years ago,
1:01:40
Speaker 4: So I'm not going to go play for Alabama because
1:01:42
Speaker 4: they didn't believe in me. Right, So, but I think
1:01:44
Speaker 4: that like this is a Mike Norvel conversation with Florida State,
1:01:47
Speaker 4: I think, right, Mike Norvel came from Memphis, didn't. I mean,
1:01:52
Speaker 4: who knows how good of a recruiter he is going
1:01:53
Speaker 4: to be a Florida State and low and behold, he
1:01:55
Speaker 4: hasn't recruited the high school level very good at Florida State.
1:01:58
Speaker 4: So I think there's some pushback that you have to
1:02:01
Speaker 4: have from just the general recruiting staff overall. They need
1:02:03
Speaker 4: to be good recruiters, especially at that type of a level.
1:02:06
Speaker 4: But more than anything, I think you need to prioritize
1:02:08
Speaker 4: like now, we're seeing college teams not only do they
1:02:11
Speaker 4: have scouting staffs, they also have like almost a pro
1:02:14
Speaker 4: personnel department where they are looking at transfer portal players.
1:02:18
Speaker 4: Then the other part of it is looking at high
1:02:20
Speaker 4: school players. I think you need that mesh ultimately, because
1:02:23
Speaker 4: I would say this, Jeff is like Georgia Alabama some
1:02:27
Speaker 4: of these other schools. Do they use the portal? Absolutely,
1:02:30
Speaker 4: they're gonna use it every year, But do they use
1:02:32
Speaker 4: the portal as much as some other schools Not really No,
1:02:35
Speaker 4: because ultimately they are building a sustainable product and for them,
1:02:40
Speaker 4: retention and high school recruiting is more important, which is
1:02:44
Speaker 4: why they are more sustainable, Like they don't need to
1:02:46
Speaker 4: go out and find the quick fix because they built
1:02:48
Speaker 4: a strong infrastructure. Right. So I think that for me,
1:02:52
Speaker 4: there needs to be that back and forth collaboration between
1:02:55
Speaker 4: high school recruiting and transfer portal. Both are important, but
1:02:58
Speaker 4: if you don't have one without the other, similar to
1:03:01
Speaker 4: Clemson's been dealing with the last couple years. Like Clemson's
1:03:03
Speaker 4: playing pretty good ball this year, but they've also been
1:03:05
Speaker 4: on the complete the other side where they don't take
1:03:07
Speaker 4: any transfer portal players. I think that's I think that's
1:03:10
Speaker 4: the wrong solution too. You need almost It's like an
1:03:13
Speaker 4: equality conversation of you need both in order to be
1:03:16
Speaker 4: a sustainable product these days, if you don't have one
1:03:19
Speaker 4: without the other, you're probably limiting your program a decent amount.
1:03:22
Speaker 1: It's an interest. It's an interesting business model actually what
1:03:24
Speaker 1: we're talking about here, it really is. But as we're
1:03:28
Speaker 1: moving forward here, Ryan, I want to get into some
1:03:31
Speaker 1: prospect talk with you, because I know you are following
1:03:34
Speaker 1: so many college prospects who may be going to the NFL.
1:03:38
Speaker 1: You know, we don't necessarily want to put the car
1:03:40
Speaker 1: before the horse here, But first I want to dive
1:03:42
Speaker 1: into the quarterback position with you, because you know some
1:03:44
Speaker 1: aren't a surprise. You know Texas's you know, quinn Ewers
1:03:48
Speaker 1: and Colorado's should should Ar Sanders. Of course, guys like
1:03:52
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt's Diego Pavilla who just upset Alabama and Kentucky Curtis Rourke,
1:03:58
Speaker 1: who who's has Indiana at six and zero. They are
1:04:02
Speaker 1: showing us some really good quarterback play, some really great highlights,
1:04:06
Speaker 1: and they're showing us that day could potentially be NFL
1:04:09
Speaker 1: quarterbacks of the future. So I'm wondering, should we just
1:04:12
Speaker 1: keep our eyes on the bigger names right now, or
1:04:15
Speaker 1: should we be looking at some of the you know,
1:04:17
Speaker 1: quote lesser known type of quarterbacks And who do you
1:04:21
Speaker 1: think we should really be keeping our eyes on as
1:04:22
Speaker 1: we're at the midway point of this college football season here.
1:04:26
Speaker 4: So quarterback twenty twenty five drafts has actually been a
1:04:30
Speaker 4: very interesting conversation because I remember obviously diving deep into
1:04:33
Speaker 4: it during summer scouting before the season, and it looked
1:04:36
Speaker 4: like a really bad quarterback class. I mean, I said
1:04:40
Speaker 4: this in the preseason. It was Carson Beck as QB
1:04:43
Speaker 4: one for me by default, because I just didn't believe
1:04:45
Speaker 4: in anybody else, right right, I'm just like, all right,
1:04:48
Speaker 4: I guess it's Carson Beck.
1:04:50
Speaker 3: Now.
1:04:50
Speaker 4: The good thing is is that, yes, a couple of
1:04:52
Speaker 4: guys have trended downward, like Carson Beck for instance. But
1:04:56
Speaker 4: what I was waiting for was we knew we had
1:04:57
Speaker 4: some toolsy kids in this class, right We knew Cameron
1:05:00
Speaker 4: Ward who is now down at Miami, that was at
1:05:02
Speaker 4: Washington State and incarnet word before that, we had some
1:05:06
Speaker 4: tools in the class. It was just about refinements, right,
1:05:09
Speaker 4: like can a guy take a nice step forward? And
1:05:10
Speaker 4: luckily we have seen Cam Woard take a step forward.
1:05:14
Speaker 4: We've seen Jalen Milroe down in Alabama take a step forward.
1:05:17
Speaker 4: We've even seen Shor Sanders to your point of taking
1:05:20
Speaker 4: a nice step forward, like he was good in twenty
1:05:21
Speaker 4: twenty three, but he's been worlds better in twenty twenty
1:05:24
Speaker 4: four like he has. So I think this quarterback class
1:05:26
Speaker 4: has gotten better without question, even with Carson Beck and
1:05:31
Speaker 4: a couple other guys kind of trending downward a little bit.
1:05:33
Speaker 4: I think this quarterback class is unequivocally better than it
1:05:36
Speaker 4: was in the preseason. Now, I still don't think it's
1:05:37
Speaker 4: a great class ultimately, but it's okay at least, Like
1:05:40
Speaker 4: I still think there's there's some foundational things to at
1:05:43
Speaker 4: least be excited about. For me, it was about the
1:05:46
Speaker 4: Risers this year, and it always has been the Risers.
1:05:49
Speaker 4: So right now I might be in the minority on this,
1:05:52
Speaker 4: but there's only two quarterbacks that I would consider taking
1:05:54
Speaker 4: in the first round, and that is Shredor Sanders and
1:05:57
Speaker 4: that is cam Ward. Like they're the only two I
1:05:59
Speaker 4: wouldn't take doors there. I wouldn't say Carson Beck there
1:06:02
Speaker 4: for very different reasons. Drew Alar is an interesting guy
1:06:06
Speaker 4: because I'm struggling with him if he is going to
1:06:08
Speaker 4: be a twenty twenty five guy to begin with, Like,
1:06:10
Speaker 4: I actually think he would be best served to go
1:06:12
Speaker 4: back for one more year under any Bolteneki because I
1:06:15
Speaker 4: could see him becoming the first overall pick in the
1:06:17
Speaker 4: twenty twenty six out of old drift. I can see
1:06:20
Speaker 4: that ascension happening.
1:06:21
Speaker 1: I'll just say really quick with regard to Darrill Lar,
1:06:23
Speaker 1: I mean the development that he has gone through from
1:06:26
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three to twenty twenty four, the fact that
1:06:30
Speaker 1: he is so coachable, it leads me to believe that
1:06:33
Speaker 1: he could potentially really be a very good NFL quarterback.
1:06:37
Speaker 1: Another year of development in this system I think could
1:06:41
Speaker 1: pay dividends for him down the road.
1:06:43
Speaker 4: I think he could as well. But he's going to
1:06:45
Speaker 4: have a very interesting decision because there were some pretty
1:06:47
Speaker 4: good spring grades before the season on al ar just
1:06:50
Speaker 4: based upon physical gifts obviously, right, Like he is going
1:06:53
Speaker 4: to be a deep conversation as we get closer and
1:06:56
Speaker 4: closer to players declaring right to that declaration date, so
1:07:00
Speaker 4: we'll see. But like, ultimately it's about the Risers this
1:07:02
Speaker 4: year for me, Like I'm I'm I didn't fatuate with
1:07:05
Speaker 4: Cameron Ward right now out out of Miami because he's
1:07:08
Speaker 4: had some uneven play over the course of his career.
1:07:10
Speaker 4: But like the highs he's had this year for Miami
1:07:13
Speaker 4: are the highest in this class. Like if you give,
1:07:16
Speaker 4: if you just isolate, like the twenty best plays for
1:07:19
Speaker 4: Kemera Ward this season, it is the best in this class.
1:07:21
Speaker 4: It's not relatively close. But the problem is that he
1:07:24
Speaker 4: is like he has like ten other players where you're like.
1:07:26
Speaker 5: Brother, like, come on, man, come on, need a little
1:07:30
Speaker 5: bit more of that middle ground, right, you need a
1:07:32
Speaker 5: little bit more of that, a little bit more of
1:07:34
Speaker 5: that that that floor, you know, let's praise the floor
1:07:37
Speaker 5: up a little bit.
1:07:37
Speaker 4: But so those are the guys for me. And then
1:07:39
Speaker 4: I think when you're getting into the day two, day
1:07:41
Speaker 4: three conversation, I mean, like you mentioned Curtis Rourke, who's
1:07:45
Speaker 4: obviously the younger brother of Nathan Rourke, who's a great
1:07:47
Speaker 4: CFL quarterback who's gotten some shot at the NFL at
1:07:50
Speaker 4: least in camps. But then other guys like Jackson Dart
1:07:53
Speaker 4: at ole Miss is a very interesting player for me
1:07:55
Speaker 4: as well. So there's some depth in this class. But again,
1:07:58
Speaker 4: most intriguing players for me this year are the risers.
1:08:01
Speaker 4: I want to keep talking about Cameron Ward, I want
1:08:02
Speaker 4: to keep talking about Jaylen Milroe. We'll keep talking about
1:08:05
Speaker 4: Shador Sanders. And those are the guys I think you're
1:08:07
Speaker 4: going to save this class a little bit.
1:08:09
Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's move on to the wide receivers
1:08:11
Speaker 1: here with our discussion here and who are making their
1:08:13
Speaker 1: mark in this college football season. At this point in
1:08:17
Speaker 1: the season, Ryan, are you seeing some clear dominant wide receivers.
1:08:21
Speaker 1: Who are you think are going to transition well to
1:08:24
Speaker 1: the NFL. Who are some of those players you got
1:08:26
Speaker 1: your eye on?
1:08:28
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think for me it's a three horse race
1:08:30
Speaker 4: to be wide receiver one in this class in my opinion. Right,
1:08:33
Speaker 4: and we knew two of them in the preseason. We
1:08:36
Speaker 4: knew who Luther Burton was from Missouri. We knew about
1:08:39
Speaker 4: Dynamite slock Hit. I keep comparing to the Golden Tate
1:08:41
Speaker 4: like he just gives me Golden Tate vibes, which is
1:08:43
Speaker 4: a positive in my opinion. And then you get tedor
1:08:46
Speaker 4: rowa McMillan who's going to naturally out of Arizona, that's
1:08:49
Speaker 4: going to naturally get like the Drake London, you know,
1:08:51
Speaker 4: kind of comps in this class as well. We knew
1:08:53
Speaker 4: those guys and both of them. Luther Burton was a
1:08:56
Speaker 4: little bit quiet at points this season, but he's had
1:08:59
Speaker 4: a couple of big games as well. Tedor Roh McMillan,
1:09:01
Speaker 4: outside of one game, has just been you know, their
1:09:03
Speaker 4: dude out in Arizona every single week and he's kind
1:09:05
Speaker 4: of that six foot five skyscraper. The other guy, though,
1:09:08
Speaker 4: is Isaiah Bond, who was at Alabama previous team is
1:09:11
Speaker 4: now at textas dude. I was so bummed that he
1:09:14
Speaker 4: didn't have a great game against Oklahoma because I was
1:09:16
Speaker 4: fully ready, Jeff after this week, if he had just
1:09:19
Speaker 4: a good game against Oklahoma, not even a dominant game,
1:09:21
Speaker 4: I was ready, that's whide receiver one stamp its we're
1:09:25
Speaker 4: done here. And he still might. He still might very
1:09:28
Speaker 4: well end up being that guy. I think that he
1:09:30
Speaker 4: is clearly in that top of the first half conversation,
1:09:33
Speaker 4: and I would not be shocked at all if Isaiah
1:09:35
Speaker 4: Bond is the first wide receiver off the board. But
1:09:37
Speaker 4: those are kind of the guys that are separating from me.
1:09:39
Speaker 4: We're getting other guys like Tay Felton out of Maryland
1:09:41
Speaker 4: that are kind of being risers in this class. But
1:09:44
Speaker 4: it's a I think it's a solid to good wide
1:09:46
Speaker 4: receiver class. I don't think it's as good as we like.
1:09:49
Speaker 4: Less dude, it is remarkable, like less, like four out
1:09:52
Speaker 4: of five whide receiver groups have been like near historic group.
1:09:55
Speaker 1: It's crazy.
1:09:55
Speaker 4: It's just crazy how much talent in it coming at
1:09:58
Speaker 4: the NFL wide receiver. I don't think it's that type
1:10:01
Speaker 4: of class. I think it's a solid class. I think
1:10:03
Speaker 4: it's a good class. But I think that those three
1:10:05
Speaker 4: up top are really kind of the guys that are
1:10:07
Speaker 4: separating himselves in this class in my opinion.
1:10:09
Speaker 1: Again, folks, we're talking to Ryan Roberts from A to
1:10:12
Speaker 1: Z Sports. Check out everything he is doing over there.
1:10:15
Speaker 1: Search out A to Z sports and follow him on
1:10:18
Speaker 1: the Twitter slash x at rise and draft. He is
1:10:21
Speaker 1: a great, great follow And as we end the discussion here,
1:10:24
Speaker 1: I want to talk about defensive players, defensive prospects, specifically
1:10:28
Speaker 1: edge rushers. I mean Michel Williams from Georgia James Pierce
1:10:32
Speaker 1: Junior from Tennessee, two of the top edge rushers as
1:10:36
Speaker 1: we know. But I'm wondering who you may think we
1:10:38
Speaker 1: should be keeping our eyes on from a pass rushing perspective.
1:10:41
Speaker 1: And I asked this as a Philadelphia Eagles fan who
1:10:44
Speaker 1: is desperately looking toward the twenty twenty five draft class
1:10:49
Speaker 1: already in terms of this team acquiring a young pass rusher,
1:10:53
Speaker 1: they desperately need it. But what are your thoughts on
1:10:56
Speaker 1: some of these young prospects that you've been watching this
1:10:58
Speaker 1: season and maybe make him transition to the NFL?
1:11:02
Speaker 4: Yeah? I like how you mentioned the Eagles. I'm in
1:11:04
Speaker 4: South Jersey, so my wife's a massive Eagles fans, so
1:11:07
Speaker 4: we watch every single week and man, Bryce Huff Rice
1:11:10
Speaker 4: Hoff brother, Hi, I don't know what's happening with that.
1:11:12
Speaker 1: The Eagles postgame, the Eagles postgame shows here on this platform,
1:11:16
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, as the folks know who are listening,
1:11:18
Speaker 1: I mean, we consistently are saying Bryce Huff is on
1:11:20
Speaker 1: the ground so much of the time, trying to get through,
1:11:24
Speaker 1: trying to get past tackle. Anyway. We could go on
1:11:26
Speaker 1: and on about this.
1:11:27
Speaker 4: And then the Hassan Reddick thing with changing agents lately.
1:11:29
Speaker 4: I don't know, it's been a mess, an absolutely mess.
1:11:32
Speaker 4: This is gonna make you very happy as a Penn
1:11:34
Speaker 4: State guy, I've actually had this take this week. I
1:11:37
Speaker 4: have been waiting for an edge to really take that
1:11:40
Speaker 4: next step this class because in the preseason, right there
1:11:43
Speaker 4: with you, I was I was a James Pierce guy
1:11:46
Speaker 4: in a Tennessee that's my dude. And I still really
1:11:48
Speaker 4: like James Pearce junior, but he's had a slow start
1:11:50
Speaker 4: to the year. Mikel Williams has been banged up and injured.
1:11:53
Speaker 4: Like those are two of the big names. I think
1:11:56
Speaker 4: Duel Carter from Penn State could end up being the
1:11:58
Speaker 4: first edge to He wasn't.
1:11:59
Speaker 1: Gonna say yeah, I wasn't gonna say it, but I.
1:12:02
Speaker 4: Think he might. Jeff I watched the first game of
1:12:05
Speaker 4: the year against West Virginia, and I thought he had
1:12:07
Speaker 4: He had a couple of flashy plays, but he also
1:12:08
Speaker 4: had his struggles against Wyatt Millan, the left tackle from
1:12:11
Speaker 4: Penn from West Virginia, who's a good player. He's gonna
1:12:13
Speaker 4: get drafted, probably top hundred, but he had his struggles
1:12:16
Speaker 4: because he was more athlete than nuanced football player early
1:12:20
Speaker 4: in the season, like he played mostly off ball linebacker before.
1:12:22
Speaker 4: That's so him transitioning to being a full time edge,
1:12:25
Speaker 4: it's still it's it's a massive change, there's no doubt.
1:12:28
Speaker 4: But I just watched the last couple games, and I
1:12:31
Speaker 4: will say this, like the Illinois game was one especially
1:12:34
Speaker 4: that like really caught my eye. He's coming, dude, he's coming.
1:12:38
Speaker 4: I'm telling it right now. Six three, two hundred and
1:12:41
Speaker 4: fifty plus pounds. Yeah, pretty good length. This kid's a
1:12:44
Speaker 4: rare athlete, absolutely rare athlete. The closing speed, the bend.
1:12:49
Speaker 4: He hit a ghost move this past weekend against usc
1:12:53
Speaker 4: which was one of the best pass rushes I had
1:12:55
Speaker 4: seen all season.
1:12:57
Speaker 1: Incredible.
1:12:58
Speaker 4: But finally the athlete is turning into production because I
1:13:02
Speaker 4: was waiting for it for two years because you want, dude,
1:13:04
Speaker 4: you don't have to be a have a good eye
1:13:06
Speaker 4: to watch Adul Carter run around on the football field
1:13:08
Speaker 4: and be like, yeah, that's different. That's that's really unique.
1:13:11
Speaker 4: But then the production is starting to match. Now he's
1:13:14
Speaker 4: up to ten tackles for loss, he's up to four sacks.
1:13:16
Speaker 4: He's being very disruptive in the past couple of weeks.
1:13:19
Speaker 4: If that is that ascension continues, he's gonna test like
1:13:24
Speaker 4: every other Penn State player ever tests, right, He's gonna
1:13:28
Speaker 4: do some freaky stuff at the Combine next year in India,
1:13:30
Speaker 4: and I'm glad that I will be there to be
1:13:32
Speaker 4: able to see it in person. Ultimately, So he is
1:13:36
Speaker 4: a guy that I look at and say, I think
1:13:38
Speaker 4: that that could challenge for Edge one. There's gonna be
1:13:40
Speaker 4: MIKEL Williams fans. I still have questions. There's gonna be
1:13:44
Speaker 4: James Pierce junior fans, including myself, but like, I still
1:13:47
Speaker 4: want him to gain a little bit more bulk and
1:13:49
Speaker 4: be a little bit more consistent as a run defender.
1:13:51
Speaker 4: But I look at Abdol Carter and I say, the
1:13:53
Speaker 4: way I can use him even if it's stand up,
1:13:57
Speaker 4: mush rush, spy, all these different things that you I mean,
1:14:00
Speaker 4: he was at an interception last year playing a little
1:14:03
Speaker 4: bit like a spy rush. This kit is a freaky,
1:14:06
Speaker 4: freaky athlete, and I feel a lot better about him
1:14:08
Speaker 4: in this class than I did. I was mocking him
1:14:10
Speaker 4: top twenty in the preseason because I'm just like that
1:14:12
Speaker 4: kid at that athletic is gonna go early in the draft.
1:14:15
Speaker 4: But right now, hot take. I put it in an article,
1:14:18
Speaker 4: so it's not super hot anymore. If there's a non
1:14:22
Speaker 4: quarterback needy team pick one and the team decides to
1:14:26
Speaker 4: stay there. I wouldn't be shocked if up dual carters
1:14:29
Speaker 4: in the conversation, but I would not if he's the
1:14:32
Speaker 4: first pick in the draft. He is a freaky athlete,
1:14:35
Speaker 4: he's a rare athlete, and he is really starting to
1:14:38
Speaker 4: figure it out right now.
1:14:39
Speaker 1: It is gonna be interesting to see where he goes.
1:14:41
Speaker 1: It's gonna be interesting to see where a lot of
1:14:43
Speaker 1: these prospects go. And folks, again, you can follow Ryan
1:14:46
Speaker 1: over on Twitter at Rise and Draft. He's a great
1:14:49
Speaker 1: great follow and check out everything they're doing over at
1:14:52
Speaker 1: eight of Z Sports at eight to Z Sports NFL
1:14:55
Speaker 1: on Twitter. Ryan Buddy, it was great talking to you.
1:14:57
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for taking the time. Love talking college
1:15:00
Speaker 1: ball with you. Come back on. We'll talk more in
1:15:02
Speaker 1: the future.
1:15:02
Speaker 4: My friend, anytime. Jeff, I really appreciate you as always,
1:15:05
Speaker 4: my friend, and.
1:15:07
Speaker 1: That's gonna do it for us this week. Make sure
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1:15:12
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1:15:15
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1:15:34
Speaker 1: and we'll catch you next time.