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PAC'd 12 | 2026 Football Superlatives | Volleyball Preview · PAC'd 12

• PAC'd 12: Welcome back to Pact twelve. It's a very special episode 'cause the first episode that we are all in the studio, it's me, Solomon Nash, with my guys, Brad Beerman and Caden Besson back here with episode four. How we doing today, fellas. I'm feeling great, man. This is gonna be an easy episode to edit without having two audio tracks to link up and and and cut out. But I'm excited to have you back, Caden. It's been we've been missing you, man, and I'm really excited now that you're here that we're officially in Pac Twelve season. Yeah, it's gonna be easy to not talk over someone because I can actually see your faces. That definitely helps a little bit, but it it's great to be back and get this thing rolling for real now. Yeah. Absolutely. It's a great day. It's a wonderful time to be alive. It's August twelfth, Pac twelve day. I just made that up right now. I like it. But the pack the Pac twelve is bringing some new news this week. Announced three new broadcast scenes. For USA Sports and in studio coverage team. That includes Nate Gatter, Ryan Leif and Lauren Green as the first team. Ted Robinson, Darius Walker, and Dalen Cuff are the second unit. And Guy Haberman, Alex Brink, and Kate Harrison round out the commentary teams. The studio coverage team also includes Lisa Kearney, Eric Coleman, and Darius Walker. We'll check in live for whatever they are. How we feel about this, y'all? It seems like now we're fully into the swing of things and now we got new Team for the streaming and studio teams in the department coverage teams. It's nice to see It's nice to see that we have like all this stuff getting put together 'cause it just feels real now, right? We know the guys who are gonna be, you know, talking to us every weekend, so I'm very excited about it. Yeah, Ryan Leif is a huge color guy. I I listened to a little bit of Nate Gatter and his NFL radio play by play is like second to none. ⁓ I know this is just USA's team. ⁓ of course we've got the CW as well. ⁓ but I I like it, right? I I like to be able to know these people beforehand as well. And yeah, I think we've got good teams. being put together to bring us nationally televised football all season long. Absolutely. It should be a wonderful new addition to the Pac twelve. It should really help make it feel more alive, especially now. I'm actually inter interested to see how USA is gonna cover it, especially now that we have the other sports strictly on YouTube. They announced this week that the volleyball and soccer games are all gonna be streaming on YouTube. So I wonder how they're gonna, you know, balance all of those different sites and streaming services. Yeah, I'm interested by that. but I'm I will say I'm happy that like they're keeping it free. ⁓ for for people to consume, especially, you know, with sports like volleyball, women's soccer, even men's soccer, they don't you know, they're probably not gaining a lot of eyes on ESPN plus. So it's nice to have like the opportunity for more people to get the the chance to see these teams play. Yeah. Think about what they did by putting these fall sports, right, that are not football on YouTube. They did the fans a favor. Right. If you're a fan of any of these schools, guess what? You don't have to get a new streaming subscription. It like how rare is that in this day and age to not have to do that, right? They did the fans a favor and then if you look at it from a fan perspective, right? I I watch pretty much every Texas State game that is away, especially when it comes to conference. And knowing I can just pop it up on YouTube. Like that is a huge relief off my shoulders. ⁓ knowing, you know, I look I'm unemployed, or I don't want to get a new streaming subscription. it's really cool. And I think it opens the door for something else though, actually. ⁓ YouTube has starting to pick up like there's some NFL broadcasts on there earlier in the season. Right. There's some real traction on YouTube, right? Owned by Google. That could be an entryway for the Pac twelve to do something no one else has ever done and get money from Google and YouTube to have some of these sports on YouTube. There there's potential there to do something that hasn't happened yet. And it looks like a very fan friendly option. Yeah, that's an interesting point, especially Ken's the YouTube, Google scene. 'Cause a lot well like the old Pac twelve, it's a lot of California teams and all those big tech companies, they just they live in California. So I know the Pacific West Coast kind of pipeline, maybe they'd be more in maybe they would actually sponsor the Pac Twelves. This is around the area. It's it's not a the most money compared to like a Big Ten like Silicon Valley. But like you know it's local, it's right there, man. A team like if you get like a I don't know, a cow back or a Stanford. Yeah, I mean could you imagine like if the Pac twelve and Google struck a deal and then there was like just a pack twelve category on YouTube T V and you could watch every Pac twelve game all on YouTube TV? Like there's potential in that. I I don't Pac twelve network, bring it back. Yeah, it's impossible to predict, right? But I mean there's certainly potential there and we could see how that goes. Maybe ⁓ YouTube appreciates the type of traction that maybe the Pac twelve brings. I know we're talking about volleyball and soccer, not the biggest sports, but then again, you you just never know. It's something brand new and it could go north, it can go south. But it's great that they at least are doing something right now and it's free. That's the greatest thing about it. Everyone's brokering college. It's a great I it's a great deal. So now moving on to a little bit, some other couple housekeeping things. Pac twelve of the Mal West Conference finalized settlement over poaching exit fees. This is actually something new that I didn't find out till recently until y y'all shared it with me. So not too in touch with the situation, but from what it seems ⁓ Caden Brett, if you got any ⁓ just break it down for us. What exactly is the situation going on with the poaching food? I don't have much. I just thought it was inter Yeah, sorry. I'll just I'll sorry to cut you off, Caden. I I know you were probably about to explain it. ⁓ I really don't know much about this even after reading the article. It's still a little confusing. ⁓ it just seems like maybe I don't know, in short, maybe just the Pac twelve was maybe reaching out to teams that they weren't supposed to be about to say it really seems like like the Mountain West kinda looks salty. Right. And it's also like they they stripped like five or four or five teams right from that conference, right? So I understand the saltiness. Sorry I didn't do a little bit more reading on this before we talked about it. But yeah, it just kinda seems like it was Just one of those frivolous lawsuits that's like, hey, you know, you're you're taking all my all my teams, what gives? Yeah. We're getting in the lawsuits, and that's not my cup of tea whatsoever, but basically, ⁓ a lot of money had to be paid to the Mountain West for taking so many of their teams. ⁓ I mean, even Colorado State and Utah State and Boise State filed their own separate lawsuits against the Mountain West. ⁓ wow. ⁓ trying to avoid paying the exit fees, basically, is what it was. ⁓ but you know, you sign a contract and there's extra. exit fees on there, I mean you know, you kind of have to uphold it. And then next on the agenda, we have a thing that's been taking over the nation recently. It's a big topic. It's the sponsorship patch on uniforms have hit college football. And tons of teams already have kind of dipped their toes into this. And a couple of them from the Pac-12 as well. Fresno State has a patch from the Wonderful Company. And Washington State has their patch from Colville Tribes. And a couple other schools are in the conversation as well. But what are y'all's thoughts on all these teams? A couple big names. schools as well and then we've seen the Big Twelve have the conference sponsorship with the Monster Energy. But what are your thoughts about all these sponsorships h hitting college football? It's obviously like Nobody wants to see more advertising, like especially like on things like football jerseys, jerseys, anything that like kind of represents a school, but we're just in this new age of college sports now where unfortunately money has to be made if you want to pay these athletes and if you want to compete at a high level. So this is part of it. ⁓ and I I wish more teams would jump on it now, especially since some have already started. Because it's just like why why hold yourself back? You know, like I understand like the tradition, like maybe it's like, yeah, I don't want money in college. sports. Too bad, so sad. It's part of the game now. Like let's get these sponsorships on these jerseys and I don't know. I just think it's a it's a really good opportunity for a cash grab for NIL, facility upgrades, anything you need. But yeah, I just wish more teams would would jump on it. That's all. I I think teams are hesitant just because this is the year one of it. They want to see how it goes and maybe see, okay, maybe we can go do something this next season that gets us more money than what's on the table right now. Right? 'Cause I imagine the value only goes up for Jersey Pats sponsorships anyways. But yeah, I think more teams should hop it. I believe I saw something like twenty percent, if not less, of college football teams. It might have just been twenty teams out of what the hundred and thirty, forty something, right? It's only a handful. And they're not jumping on it. And it it's weird to see. And I know I wanted to bring up one company that because I've been reading the newsletter about it because I really wanted Texas State to hop on it. And I believe that they at least had a conversation. Obviously, nothing's probably gonna happen, but it's Snapback's. Sports. ⁓ wow. Interesting. What he's doing is they've actually upped their offer from what it originally was. They were throwing a hundred thousand dollars out there and you know they would have their logo on your jersey, but then they were gonna focus a season full of content on your team. So there's value in what the content generates in terms of revenue for your school there as well. And they talked to UTSA, they talked to Rice and were about to ink a deal. Their A D just left for Purdue though. They're talking to smaller schools like U L ⁓ as well. And I think for schools that are in this new Pac twelve, it would have been the perfect opportunity for the value in the content as well. you'd get more than a hundred thousand. It's not a lot, but it it's something to increase your brand and not just money. So it's interesting 'cause that's a different perspective of hey, we're just gonna give you money to wear our patch. Right. It it's a whole different ballgame. But I I do think more people should jump on it. ⁓ I if you want money, y you might as well take an offer. Big twelve took monster Likely because it was the biggest offer they had on the table, right? And people hated ⁓ for it, but I mean what they got twenty million. That's what I'm saying. Laughing all the way to the bank. It's better than nothing. So You guys are entirely right. We talked about the big twelve monster. I know Ohio State just inked the deal with Chase, like they're set seven seventeen mil year. We're a dame with SoFi. It's like it's it's insane that those are some of the biggest names in college football ever. And they're they're inking a deal. So I think it can't it can hurt if you're a U T S A, a Texas State Get get you some money, man. You gotta compete with these if you really wanna be formidable in this college football world, man, it's a game about money. It's it's never been more apparent now. And and I remember what I was gonna say now, sorry. I was gonna say that Caden on on your idea about the Snap X sports where they're documenting, I think that's kinda just like the new wave of media now too, where it's like we're seeing the Pac twelve as as we already talked about, gravo gravitate away towards media days and switch more to like digital podcasting where they can kinda control what's being said, the narrative and everything. It's the same thing with Snackback where it's like short term content, YouTube videos, TikTok reels, that's what sells your team now, especially to a younger fan base. And if you get as much exposure out there as possible on a on an internet that's completely free, you're you're d I feel like you're just printing money at that point, you know? Maybe maybe I'm looking at it a different way. I just think that like with the new wave of media that like maybe it would be smart for a team to maybe be first, you know. I can't tell you what content usually generates in terms of revenue because that's just not my ballpark. But I know that maybe you know, you take their hundred thousand and they make you fifty K off their content. But I mean what what if there's someone out there that is watching and and they become a fan and then what if there's donors that pick up on this or alumni I should say, rather than donors, they become donors instead of just alumni, right? There there's just a lot of possibilities there. Mm-hmm. It would be really funny to see a team with a snapback sports patch on their dude. It's just a little it's just a little hat. It would be it w if it was like a little yellow hat, right? But man, that'd be cool. I actually did not know about the snapback sports team, but that'd be really interesting. I know the founder went to UT. Yeah. So I know dude, I've been Snapback sports fan since twenty nineteen. So I actually subscribed to the newsletter to find out more about the conversations because I was looking for Texas State's name and I it was disappointed. He's down. Hey, Snipberry, you wanna come mess with the real man? We right here, bro. So let's talk. Let's collapse. Come on, Jack Casey and All right. That's gonna do it for the housekeeping things, unless we got anything more we wanna say. But we're gonna roll into the sport major sports talk now. For the agenda, we got football superiors as we're building towards the football season and we are now entering s women's soccer season, so we're gonna cover little preview of that and go over the teams right after. But for four our football superlatives, Brad, do you wanna take us through what exactly our our superlatives are gonna be for the day? Yeah, so we ⁓ we we we talked it out, we've been we've been planning this for a few weeks. We talked through ⁓ awards that we're giving on the show, like that you know, obviously highlights who we think is gonna be the best offensive player of the year, defensive player of the year. We have freshman of the year, impact transfer, and coach of the year. You know, nothing that like these normal lords wouldn't give out, but we're just doing it pack twelve style. Yeah. Yeah. But ⁓ if you want me to start, I'll go ahead and start unless one of you guys want to go ahead and take a look at my first award for preseason offensive player of the year. Lucky Sutton, running back, San Diego State. ⁓ I spent a lot of time talking about Dylan Riley last episode from Boise State. ⁓ I did not give Lucky Sutton the time he deserves, and this is what I'm gonna and this is how I'm doing it now. So he was the twenty twenty five Mountain West first team running back. A little bit of stuff that's interesting about him. He's twenty two years old, going into his ⁓ I think it's a medical senior. year so technically a fifth year. ⁓ he's a little older, ⁓ but he did not break out for the Aztecs until last season. He had two hundred fifty four carries, twelve hundred and ninety seven yards and ten touchdowns. And ⁓ like I said, for being a little older, he has some gas in the tank. He hasn't been beaten down and taking hits for years. His last year was kind of his first year as the lead dog, so He isn't and he also isn't in a running back committee like ⁓ like Dylan Riley or the duo Fresno State. So he controls his backfield and he's gonna get an insane amount of touches. And San Diego State is arguably the best team in the Pac twelve. If they win the conference, I think it'll be on the back of Lucky Sutton and obviously their incredible defense. But I think Lucky Sutton's gonna have a big year in the Pac twelve and I think he will win Pac twelve offensive player of the year. I think me and Sol are on the on the same wavelength here for offense. I mean it's almost impossible not to say Brad Jackson and that's honestly without bias. ⁓ that does come from having seen him play a full season, but ⁓ I mean, even everyone else that's voting on first team, second teams, all this different stuff, all these awards watch lists, I mean it's just Brad Jackson all over the place. ⁓ I imagine he takes even bigger leap going into year two. He's got his two best weapons back. Yeah, it's a very high powered offense. ⁓ it's almost impossible not to say Mr. Jackson takes offensive player of the year. Yeah. I I had a hard time going through these awards and not picking Texas State players, obviously. Like you said, you said it we're w we we see it every single day. We're it's right in front of our eyes. How could we not think that? But I I couldn't agree with you more. I think Brad Jackson is as of right now the best offensive player coming back into the Pac twelve and I think it's it kind of his award to lose, but we'll see. It's really funny. I'm actually on both of y'all's side. I had like I had two names. I couldn't decide, but I said either Brad Jackson or Lucky Sun. That's crazy. So you have to pick one. I do have to pick one. And I think I'll go with Brad Jackson just 'cause he has the he has the quarter he has the quarterback, you know, the bias in there. Just 'cause you know, quarterbacks win these awards. They do. Yeah. It's just it's just how it goes most of the time, unless he Lucky Sun has like an Ashton Jensy season. But I don't know, like Brad Jack, even then he has like the running aspect too, man. Like he there's a good chance he just goes for like thirty five hundred and then a thousand he could go a thousand yards on the ground. I think so too. It's also a lot harder to pick because there's schools like Washington State that is gonna have a very good offense this year, but it's brand new coaches a new look offense and someone can always come in and surprise. Like I mean, I imagine, you know, if fingers crossed Caden Caden Pennett gets the starting job. Like he makes a lot of noise offensively, but there's a little bit of just un known with you know ⁓ Colorado State as well, Oregon State, ⁓ what those offenses are gonna look like and it makes it harder to pick from a few of those schools and you can't throw ⁓ out the window but you just have to let it play out. Yeah, even hindsight will be twenty. Sorry, so h hindsight will be twenty-twenty at the end the year, but right now it it's obvious that Brad Jackson's the best player. And I was gonna say, even with like transfers, it's hard to predict, even with like players like Jackson, like we always hear about sophomore slumps, like there's a chance he has a down year, or if Lucky Sun, it was just like like a a fluke season. That's true, no one had any tape on him. But it's like you never know what's gonna happen. But I I think offense play of the year, we're all in the same kind of boat. It's either between Jackson or Sun. Wild card pick for me is Dylan Riley from Boise State, but I've talked about Yeah. All right. And then defensive player of the year, Brett, do you got a defensive player for your superlatives? I do. From Boise State University linebacker Jaden Virgin Morgan. Okay, I'll tell you where this is going. What do you mean? You're not gonna believe who my deep. no, no way. Who's yours? Did we all go a Boise State linebacker? I didn't go the same guy though. I think I know who you went early. Who did you go to? I went with middle linebacker Bowen Phelps. I was gonna go him originally. Interesting. But I saw the stats Jaden Virgin Morgan. Put up last year and I just like, dude, he's good. He got a fifth year. He can go beast mode. Bowen Phelps is probably not the defensive player of the year, but stand on your ground, man. For a little bit of parody, I mean this dude was Athlon Sports preseason all Pac 12 first team. Phil Steele preseason all Pac twelve, third team. Middle linebacker, he's a senior. He wears number one for crying out loud. If we've we're getting a linebacker a single digit number. He's gotta be cold. Yeah. He's gotta be special. I'm gonna just go ahead and put my trust in him. So I mean we'll see. He was nominated for the Burlsworth trophy last year too. That's a pretty big deal. And I did look around that he has impressed in camp a lot and he's like shown as the defensive leader. So it's it's not a bad shout out. Six one, two twenty five, rocking number one. He's Tatted up. That's a linebacker. That's a linebacker. Yeah. If I've ever heard it, man. Yeah. I low-key cut you off, Brad. No, you're fine, bro. You're tussing. No, because we that that was interesting that we all kind of have the same brain, it seems like. Yeah. But Caden mentioned ⁓ forgot what his name was, his his ⁓ awards. I'll go ahead and give you the preseason honors for ⁓ Virgin Morgan here. Athlon Sports preseason All-American Four team, Bronco Najersky Trophy preseason watch list, Lombardi Award preseason watch list, Shiners East West Bowl, 1200. 2020 Pac-12 preseason impact list, the Phil the Phil Steel preseason all Pac-Twelve first team, and the Athlon Sports preseason all Pac-12 first team. It's crazy, guys. He deserves it. That's what I'm saying. He he's nominated for a million of these awards and for good reason. First ⁓ first team Mountain West, 2024, second team in 25, 27 solo tackles, six sacks, two force fumbles last season. Stats were pretty similar ⁓ the year before, but he he just had ⁓ four more sacks with ten. ⁓ Coach Spencer Danielson preaches about his upside leadership. ⁓ and obviously, like you said, Sully, he has a fifth year. So these older guys coming in, it does make a difference in college sports. It's not like the NFL where like if you're a little older and you're a rookie, it's like, yeah, like you might make an impact faster, but it's still whatever. In college, if you're twenty two, twenty-three, you are you are a grown man, like playing amongst boys. So yeah. I think that really is gonna make a difference. And the Broncos too, man, they just have a lot to prove going into the season. In even if everything is going right for them, ⁓ but look no further for Jane Morgan or sorry, Jade Virgin Morgan, ⁓ to be the reason for that. And Bo and Phelps. And Bo and Phelps. Yeah, this is a Boise Boise State defense is like pretty, pretty good. It's really good. But it's Boise. You expect that. I also did like how you mentioned that the older the better. We just saw Indiana, like that exact formula. They proved it. You have those twenty two, twenty three year olds, they're gonna walk ⁓ down. You wouldn't they're gonna wanna You wouldn't think something like seven hundred days age gap between somebody like makes a difference. It absolutely makes a difference. Imagine what you can accomplish in one day and then multiply that by seven hundred. There you go, man. You get a lot done. That's what I'm saying. National championship written all over it, man. All right. Well, I guess we could just move on over to the next category then. Is it freshman or recruit? Which one did we agree upon? Freshman slash recruit of that and we won't even say of the year, we'll just say one that we're like look looking out for because we don't know if any of these guys are gonna redshirt, right? Yeah. That'd be pretty embarrassing. But anyways, my freshman of the year, ⁓ again, not going far, Boise State University, Ray Sean Jones, wide receiver out of Idaho. He was a three star coming out of high school, had a breakout spring practice. ⁓ he was the biggest talking point out of spring practice. It wasn' just like he was mentioned. He was the he he was the story going into spring ⁓ leaving spring practice, sorry. ⁓ and the biggest talking point coming into fall camp. ⁓ he's already being talked about as the number one receiver going into the first game against Oregon as a three star true freshman. ⁓ but it just kinda shows I I talked about it in the preview a few weeks ago. Boise State is very, very thin at receiver. Yeah. So a lot of different ways they could go here. They have a very good tight end. I forgot his name. Forgive me, I'm sorry. ⁓ but he'll he'll be he'll obviously get a lot of targets. They have a few receivers. That you know, w we'll see. ⁓ it it's gonna be a a receiver by committee, it seems like. And I think Ray Shawn Jones, if he keeps making the impact that he's made, especially coming out of spring camp, fall camp, i if he keeps making that impact, he will be ⁓ an immediate contributor for Boise State. And I mean, I feel bad. I'm just being super homer right now, but You know, I'm sticking to what I know. ⁓ Lakhillon Graves coming out of Kilgore High School, just playing the state championship. ⁓ you know, whenever he was getting recruited and committing, ⁓ GJ himself was talking about, you know, Travis Hunter Pac twelve, like is this the kind of guy we're envisioning for Lakheleon? He's listed as a wide receiver, but he played D B as well in high school. He very, very talented guy. ⁓ and you know, he I may be embarrassed by saying this because he may end up redshirting with, you know two thousand yard receivers coming back. ⁓ he may not play that much this year. But I do think Or he may just play on defense. Yeah. That's for sure. But you know, maybe he he comes out and ⁓ he just surprises. It's always possible with guys like this and you know, I just think he was a recruit that is a step in the right direction, recruiting wise for Texas State as well. Felt like recruiting took a leap when he jumped and came to Texas State. So Yeah, like Keeley on Graves, ⁓ i if he sticks around for two, three years, I mean, he's definitely gonna be a guy to watch out for even more so. And for me, I also went with ⁓ Rashawn Jones from Boise State. Dude, ⁓ dude I've been seeing all the the fall cam reports, the spring cam reports too, bro. He's looking like a dog. He's awesome. Yeah. He's and they're they're I did see that they're fully confident him being the number one guy. Even that's crazy as a three star freshman. I don't know if that's what I'm saying. And they have another four star coming in as well who's I think sixth or seventh on their depth chart right now and he's projected to red shirt. So it's it's just crazy that like in the same class, you know, you have this guy who wasn't Really is highly touted as this other guy. And and and here's the three-star breaking breaking ground and becoming like an immediate impact on his team. So stars are just lying to us, dude. I have to man. I just don't know how I can trust these star ratings anymore. But ⁓ it is what it is. But we will see what what Rashawn Jones does. Hopefully he doesn't get red shirt. It's looking like he's the furthest thing from a red shirt, but you never really know these days. But we're gonna move on now. I think the next one is coach. Or what's the next super we could do coach, yeah, or we can Do impact transfer, either one is fine. Do transfer first, actually. Let's do transfer. Okay. I like you think we're me and K and I have the same answer. You think? Wait. Is it a Texas state player? No. No. ⁓ okay, good. Okay. So mine's different then. ⁓ so from staying home here in San Marcus, my impact transfer this year ⁓ is Philip Bradford D lineman. ⁓ I already know exactly Bobcats, man. and let's just talk about the Bobcats for a sec. Talk about a team that couldn't get their crap together on defense last year, man. So frustrating to watch, and it was super embarrassing like watching that defense last year. But Will Windham comes in, brings a new energy to this defense. ⁓ and he brought Philip Bradford from McNeese to anchor this defensive line. Forty total tackles, fifteen and a half for loss, five and a half sacks, and two interceptions for the McNeese Cowboys last year. As far as like FCS numbers go, that's pretty dang good, and I imagine it'll translate pretty well once he moves up to SBS. ⁓ in Texas State, I just want to say something about Texas State. In some circles around the Pac twelve, and maybe it's just because my Twitter algorithm only has people in Sam Marcus right. I feel like they're getting picked a lot to win the Pac twelve. And like I'm not necessarily like disagreeing with them per se. But like I d I just don't know if any if these guys who were picking them watched this defense last year and just aren't absolutely traumatized by like how bad Dexter McCoy like traumatized like a fan base, you know? So like obviously until it happens, I can't say definitively it's gonna happen. I still don't know if Texas State makes that big of a leap going into the first year in a new conference that's already significantly better than the one you came from. But we'll see. And I I think if it if it is Texas State that's on top, I think Philip Bradford will be at the front of that. And Philip Bradford, by the way, six six three ⁓ eight. Yeah, an absolute monster menace of a man. Lumberjack right there. ⁓ keep that in mind. ⁓ and for me, recruit or transfer, excuse me, Haas Henney. ⁓ yeah. Quarterback Colorado State. Really? Yeah. From TCU. That's a god okay. I wasn't expecting that. Yeah. I why Haas Henny? I don't know. I he's coming from a big twelve school. ⁓ Colorado State jobs wide open. ⁓ it's a brand new looking program. I I just I just maybe a little bit of CFB bias as well from playing with Hoss Henny a little bit. But ⁓ I think he comes in, he takes a job, no problem. And he's surprises in year one and at least helps Colorado State win one or two more games than they're predicted to win. Yeah, that's a that's a really good pick. That's a that's probably the most random pick. I was likely W name too. That's a all time pick. Well, my guy, we talked him out of a little bit earlier and he's also in a quarterback battle, but I went with Caden Pinick just 'cause I mean, come on, the tape is just so crazy at UC Davis, man. He's really just like a FCS like Kyler, it's almost seems like sometimes. Three thirty two hundred yards, thirty two touchdowns, ten picks. He still has to deal with Julian Duggar, who's a sophomore, who's like the only returning quarterback on the roster, who has yet to really get a ⁓ his chance to prove himself in his own right, but I don't know, man. I think Caden Pennick just could be something really great. If he ends up winning this quarterback battle, I think he can bring back the coups. I I I really do hope he just gets the start, man. Caden Pennick could be the guy. I was worried to say him just because that battle's a little bit tougher. I think. I think he's got a lot more work to do than Haas will have to at Colorado State. But yeah, I mean previewing Pennick, I can't believe I came across a dude like that. I mean, that tape it literally gave me flashbacks of two thousand twelve Johnny football. I mean Caden Pinnick is legit. He is fun. He's a lot of fun. I shouldn't say legit because he actually hasn't played in a in a FBS game yet. He's he's legit enough what he's done. Exactly. Exactly. He D won now. He D Do guys ⁓ got anything else before we go to coach of the year? I a coach. This is where it should be interesting. Coach of the year. So I think ⁓ so I will tie this into who I think is gonna win the Pac Twelve Championship because obviously like I don't think you have a coach of the year without a team winning the Pac twelve. Unless like of course it's like Colorado State where they just come out of nowhere from the salary, you know, and but we'll see. ⁓ my coach of the year from Fresno State, Matt Ents. ⁓ talked again talked about him in the preview. I I'm noticing throughout these we're picking a lot of players that we previewed in our in our football preview, which is totally fine. It's good 'cause we we we did a lot of research on these guys. We fell in love with them, so it's understandable. So but Matt ends for me sixty and eleven at North Dakota State. This is his second year now. First year at Fresno State went nine and three. For a team like Fresno State to go nine and three in your first year, I think that's pretty good. ⁓ the Bulldogs retained a lot of good players and they added a lot of quality in the portal as well. And and ⁓ the big thing that has me holding my breath though, ⁓ is their mystery at quarterback. Yeah. I think they're good everywhere, but again, we just don't know who's gonna be taking those first team snaps. Sorry. We don't know who's gonna be taking those first team snaps week one. But I will say I think what kind of like puts me at ease is Matt Ents is coming from North Dakota State, where he coached guys like even before he was a head coach, Carson Wentz, Trey Lance. East and stick, like some really good guys have come out and played good quarterback for North Dakota State and helped them win FCS championships. So I have no doubt that that kind of development can be brought over to the FPS level, especially at a place like Fresno. I'm gonna go the complete opposite direction in terms of why I picked my coach of the year. Because there's no rules. This is a safe place. Yeah, safe place. We can say some crazy things sometimes. ⁓ man. Well you've I'm not going based off a Pac-Twelve championship. I'm just going based off of real improvement and going from maybe bottom to middle of the pack to potential noise maker and you know a team that can stir some upsets throughout the season. I'm going Bronco Mindenhall, Utah State. Shut up. When I saw that rock break on the Pac twelve conference Instagram, I was all in. I I love that. And and even just some of the quotes I've been seeing from him. I I love the culture that he's establishing there. ⁓ I don't think Utah State is gonna really get that close to a Pac twelve championship this year. But You know, I I think they could surprise a Fresno State. They could surprise ⁓ a a Texas State, San Diego State, and they could make some noise and just make this conference all the more wild when we get down to, you know, that flex week. Yeah. We fully support Bronco Mendon Hall in this show. He's a great Bronco Menon Hall. I love the culture he was bringing as well, man. I was it was this is a hard one for me 'cause I did go the Brett route where my coach of the year also is a champ, but it was between two teams and I think It it boils down between Fresno State and San Diego State, in my opinion. But I just think San Diego State lost way too much in the defense. So my coach of the year is also Matt Ents and my champ is Fresno State. They just got they're just like the most they're the most well rounded team here. It's we talked about they don't have a quarterback and also the biggest question with San Diego State is their quarterback just 'cause injury. But also Utah State doesn't have a so many of these Pac twelve teams is they don't really have a quarterback. So it's kinda hard to like really like get get behind them fully c without the most important position in football. But man, this Fresno State team. They just have everything else and they can do it at just such a elite level, man. And like obviously Boise is the favorite, but I just I don't know. I just don't I'm just not fully bought into them either. I I was gonna interrupt you so sorry. Are we are we what are we missing about Boise State that everyone else is saying that w us in this room are not? Because I feel like we're not necessarily haters. Like I'm not saying that Boise State's gonna be bad, but like I feel like overall we've been pretty low on now? Yeah. Like obviously like we first episode we talked about Maddox Matson and the preview again we we we talked about all these question marks that they have ⁓ with new people coming in. I just like but they're still the favorite. I I just feel like there's more questions with Boise State than there are these other teams. And maybe they're just because of the name, like they're getting like the you know, they're getting the favoritism a little bit. I get what you're saying. But maybe I don't maybe I don't know. I don't know. I just maybe I don't know but. I get what you're saying. It's gonna it's gonna it's either we know ball, we don't know ball. Right. 'Cause we're we're all on like the boisey kinda overrated fence. I just think that they've had better teams. Like just even in the past like three or four years. And this team is just it doesn't really like do much for me. And like nothing stands out for me. And like their but they're their defense is really good. Yeah. But it's like that's just 'cause they're boise and you get that talent, you recruit that talent. You're just a better program than these other programs. And the which is true, which is probably why they're the favorite. But I just feel like this is a team down the stretch. Or if they're need to win a game and they're probably just not gonna do it. But I could be very I just have a feeling too that they're gonna drop a game late that's gonna be like incredibly important that they weren't supposed to drop. Like I don't know, I don't have the schedule in front of me right now, but Halloween night probably. Actually I I do have it in front of me. Late in the season, last three weeks before the flex, Colorado State, Oregon State, two games they should win easily, and then San Diego State. But that's what I'm saying though, is like you said They should win easily, but that's what I'm talking about. That might be the game. That might be Colorado State's coming out party. I'm I'm maybe seeing a Haas Henney legacy game or a Malik Murphy legacy game. I can see it now, man. Chills. Which one of those are the any of those on the road? ⁓ let's see, what's the key here? ⁓ Colorado State's on the road. Okay. That's that's where the money is on that one. And their flex week's on the road too. They could get, you know, say say going into the flex week, what, that'd be their twelfth game, so They could be nine and two and then they could get matched up with someone that's at the bottom of the pack twelve, try to give them a free win, boost their CFP hopes, and i they could run into like a Colorado State or again and then lose the second time around. So ⁓ their flex week is actually gonna be on the road though. It's already determined. I just think I just think especially in football, especially college football. If too many people have you as the favorite, it's just not gonna go that way. I don't think I don't think it ever goes that way. It's the same thing about Texas State. Everyone's saying that they're asleep for school every year and then they drop four or five games that they shouldn't have. And it makes, you know, it makes seven and six, eight and five feel not as great as it should be because and I see that happening this year as well. Yeah. ⁓ so it is a little nerve wracking from like a fan perspective. But I think with boys. It's that time of year though, man. Yeah. Exactly. We gotta overreact a little bit. And we can overreact on Boise not being as good as everyone else thinks they can be. I think it's just their culture has always been winning and so people expect that to continue. But ⁓ I do also lean with y'all on San Diego State and Fresno State having, you know, a chance to go take it. But it is still Boise's to lose, but I think that do we have one more? 'Cause I know I also did upset if we still want to do that one. I I don't yeah, ⁓ most likely upset for ⁓ so week one. Again, I'm staying on my Fresno stuff. I think the Fresno State Bulldogs could upset the US C Trojans. You need to get the Fresno jersey already, man. I know. Fres Fresno had incoming, y'all. Don't worry. But I just think that like and not so much about Fresno. USC has a very weak defense coming back this season. Yeah. And their quarterback, Heisman Favorite, I forgot his name. Myava. Myava, thank you. ⁓ not I'm not high on him at all. Never be high. Again me I don't know, man. Maybe what I don't know what I'm missing with some of these teams, but USC's defense is pretty pitiful as history ⁓ tells us. Fresno's got a pretty good team coming coming up the up the pipeline. Again, it's ⁓ sound like a broken record. It's just gonna be who's that quarterback taking those snaps, week one. Well, I mean Lincoln Riley teams outside the big twelve haven't been that great either. So there you go, man. Especially defensively. Yeah. ⁓ I'm gonna go San Diego State. I I think week two They're on the road at UCLA. ⁓ you may not think that's super much of an upset because UCLA, you know, what happened last year, that was a crazy season for them. ⁓ but I think, you know, anytime ⁓ this new Pac twelve, which is not considered power yet, goes into a big ten school, ⁓ I think it's considered an upset if they do pull that off. So I think San Diego State beats UCLA week two. I'm gonna just kill myself. That was also my upset. Wait, which one? His? Yeah. Okay. I I was like thinking about that was like when I was previewing San Diego State, I was just looking at the schedule and I was like, this game really did catch my eye. It was either that one, I feel I think they also played Troy too. They had like a really good non-conference. But I saw that one and I was I thought the same thing. Like it could not be an upset. But I mean it's a Big Ten team. It's a whole new coach. I think it's an upset. And it's like it's still UCLA and it's like I just th all these JMU guys following Chesney coming over, I just think San Diego State could be equipped to handle that. Low key. Yeah, I'm with it. I think Washington State they mean they get three shots at a upset in non conference. They got Washington, Apple Cup week one, week two, that's on the road, and then ⁓ week one was, and then week two's also at Kansas State, and then week four they host Arizona. That could definitely be Kansas State. Yeah. Yeah. But is that an upset anymore? kind of fell off. A big twelve team, I guess. They still have Avery Johnson. You always just think about it as the metrics. Like it is a big twelve team going against Washington State. Yeah, it's it's a pretty historic like it's a pretty historic school. So like yeah, like sure you don't put them in the same vein as like Alabama LSU, like those big time schools, but still like you you don't take a school like Kansas State lightly still. Monster Energy versus old trapper jerky. There we go, man. See? They got that monster money now. So it took me if if Utah State had a quarterback I would have a hundred percent picked them to be Utah. Really? I'm not I don't like Utah. I'm not a big Devin Dampier guy. I'm not high on I also lost Kyle Winningham too. I'm not high on him, but they always just seem to be solid. Yeah, they do. I don't know. I'm just feel like this year, this year they fall. Maybe 'cause their coach is gone. But I just feel like Utah's just gonna be pretty irrelevant to There's gonna be a gap year and it's gonna be that. I I saw like we saw the the max of what they could be last year. After seeing Devin Dampier just absolutely just Shit the bet against tech. That was just that was crazy. That was just such a wild game. I've been a little biased in my picks, but you know I'm not a homer because I didn't say Texas State beats Texas week one, all right? I I know better. That was the most obvious I know better. It was staring me in the face. Malik Murphy beats Dante Moore. you guys want to get on the volleyball now? Yeah, that will do it. For superlatives, it is now volleyball season, man. It's a great time to run live. Weekend starts. Well, some schools start this week. I know Texas State got their opener on Saturday, but a lot of school is still in their exhibition. So, you know, still kind of figuring stuff out. But it is now volleyball season. And it's going to be l interesting considering a bunch of these schools. You don't really think about their volleyball teams a lot. But or at all. Or at all, yeah. Considering like their RPI, you a lot of these schools don't think about them either. But we're gonna talk about some of these teams and ⁓ boy. And we're probably gonna break it down like we did for the football reviews. We're gonna just gonna go we each got the same teams the last time, so Caden has Oregon State and Washington State. Brett had Boise State, Texas State and Fresno State. And then I have Utah State Colorado State and San Diego State. Okay. So it doesn't really matter who goes first. If we still want to go alphabetical, we can, but whoever wants to take the wheel by all means. I'll I'll start first since I got Boise. ⁓ I do just wanna mention the the rankings this year looking a little different than how it ended last season. So as of right now, this is kinda where I got the preseason volleyball rankings. There's only one person who made a graphic, made the rankings and gave like bullets for each, and it was on Facebook. So That's really funny. Take it take it with a grain. I could not find anything about college volleyball anywhere. It's an untapped market. Yeah, it is. I guess I just gotta keep looking, I guess. But just just tap in this season for me, all right. I got it. It's all on YouTube. All right. Just tap in. It's all on YouTube. Just tap in, take it in, and then when the tournament starts, take it also in. All right. That that free YouTube. Great sport. It's a great sport. I remember I was catching myself just watching games free time before like during just midweek. Let me see some midweek volleyball. All right. Well let's let's start off. ⁓ Boise State, led by Sean Garris. He is the longest tenured coach in the Pac twelve. He's entering his eighteenth season. He was the twenty twenty five Mountain West Coach of the Year. Only three players ⁓ who played sets last year are returning from last season. Kendall Hastings, Sidney Drevis, and Giselle Payton. ⁓ the rest of the team is transfers, ⁓ red shirts from last year or freshmen. So An entirely new squad, Boise State's bringing in and they're gonna they're gonna it's kind of like a youth movement. They got a lot of red shirts from last year that I think they're gonna lean heavily on to take snaps warm. I said snaps. We're not talking about football, so get your head in the game, buddy. Impact transfers though. ⁓ Malia Barlow, 133 assists, 133 assists, sorry, twenty six aces, four hundred and thirty digs as a junior at northern Arizona last year. They also have Teya Maeva. ⁓ who led Syracuse as a junior last year with a thousand and four assists and ⁓ nine point two assists per set, posted forty or more assists in eight in eight matches, tallied seventy seven assists in eight sets against Siena and Saint John's, recorded a season high fifty four assists against B Boston College, and ⁓ collected a season high five blocks against Wake Forest and picked up sixteen digs school record for Syracuse against N C State last year. So Again, do I know anything about volleyball? No. All those numbers sound pretty good though. Hey, at least you did the research, right? That's all that matters. You could have said no, it's not my thing. I I I didn't want to do that. We're we're in the Pac twelve spirit. I can't tell you how I'm gonna be in November, December when we got football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, all that going on. But as of right now, we're dialed into volleyball. ⁓ and that's my Boise State preview. Do you guys got anything on Boise State before we move on? I'm kinda mad we started the show a little bit late. I really was hoping that we could still catch that what like goth girl that was in the Boise State volleyball team. She was so lit. But this is a team that was that had a really good season last year. It won 2011, but the Mountain West was surprisingly kind of cracked at volleyball, at least top heavy. It was. At the very least. So they're just kind of just looking to continue what they're doing and hopefully just get that lucky break. And ho I know Utah State. is the favorite right now. And then last year, ⁓ my god, I can't remember the team who was good but kinda I guess Texas State. Actually was Utah State ⁓ you're talking about the Mountain West, sorry. Yeah. Utah State was the team who was really good last year. They kinda fell off a little bit. So Boise State's probably just gonna look to just step on over that. But it's gonna be it's gonna be hard to tell. All these a lot of these teams I've noticed it's probably gonna be a theme that just a whole new teams. A lot of just resets it feels like yeah, I I think that's gonna be the the crux of the story for ⁓ everyone's preview today. Go on next school whenever you guys are ready. I should I'll just throw us Oregon Steak while I'm looking at it. ⁓ the team they're nineteen and nine last year. ⁓ they're put fifth in terms of RPI in this new pack twelve. A little bit of surprising. I thought they might be up there, but of course Boise's just in front of ⁓ That's just what Boise does. but ⁓ they're led by Lindsay Bahonick. She's in her fourth year. ⁓ a team that was actually pretty good last year. I mean, nineteen and nine is a good record. They didn't make the tournament though. ⁓ they returned some really good players. I think this team can make some noise. Alana Mars, the middle blocker. She was West Coast Conference freshman of the year, first team all conference and all conference freshman team. ⁓ she was very good. She had top ten marks in the conference for hitting percentage, solo blocks, assisted blocks, total blocks, and blocks per set. And while her hitting percentage set a new program record by a freshman, and it ranks the highest for any athlete in a single season ever. So Alana Mars She's gonna make a lot of noise. She's gonna hold things down ⁓ for this Oregon State team. And so she's just a big piece to be returning, especially considering, you know, freshman of the year in the West Coast Conference. She could have left. She stayed. That means something. It does Kama Goldstein, the Libero. She played fifty eight sets through twenty one matches. ⁓ she's averaging over a dig a set. ⁓ she actually had fourteen service aces, which that that was a little interesting. ⁓ that's a good returner to have as well. I mean, you know, you've got to have Someone to hold things down defensively on your half of the court. I think Kama Goldstein and she's a girl that's gonna be able to do it. ⁓ AC Freelick. She's an outside hitter. And I kinda went through and I just looked at all the bios and there was a bunch of players on ⁓ Oregon State and Washington State that just didn't have bios. So I just kinda forewent them since I didn't really have any information. Same thing with the Boise State. Yeah, yeah. I don't know what's up with that, but ⁓ you know, I was just looking at If there was a bio, if there was anything that stood out. So AC Freelick, the outside hitter. She transferred from LSU. She played three years there, but she got limited playing time. There was something that got her to the SEC out of high school, right? And coming into this new Pac 12, I think she can be very dangerous dangerous offensively, ⁓ at at the top of the net for the Beavers. So AC Freelick, that's another girl to look out for now. ⁓ Oregon State had a lot of like a lot of Players that like just repeated positions. I'm like, they had a lot of depth is what I'm saying. ⁓ is what it felt like, especially for their hitters. But Jackie Matthias, I expect her to be the setter. They actually brought in a transfer setter. ⁓ but Jackie Matthias played all 101 sets last season. She didn't take a set off. So for her, I think that's a good thing that they brought in someone else to give her some a little water break, right? ⁓ but you know, she's probably gonna be the setter for the Beavers. And then Amaya Tolentino, outside hitter. She came from Jack State, but she had two hundred and thirteen kills and fifty five blocks in her freshman season. ⁓ wow. She obviously killed it in I imagine that's gotta be C USA all the way around at Jack State. ⁓ so Amaya Tolentino, she transferred, she makes a jump in into a bigger conference and she's looking to make noise at the net. Taylor Trehey, she's a opposite hitter and ⁓ all I got she just had good numbers at George Washington last year, right? ⁓ I I really liked what she did there last year. We love what we see on paper. Yeah, I know. I mean Look, I may be box I may be box score watching, all right, but I felt good about what I saw. They're pretty good box scores. It's a good box score, I'm gonna let you know. So yeah, ⁓ Alana Mars is gonna lead these Beavers. ⁓ and I think it's a team that, you know, yeah, is projected middle of the pack, but it it's a brand new season, brand new conference. It's it's like with every sport. It's gonna be hard to predict. I kind of like how it's shaped up though. I really like the pieces they do have, especially bringing in like an LSU thing. SEC type player and then That's big time. Even you're getting some win from somewhere. From Jackson State. I saw some transfers from Wake Forest and then J ⁓ George Washington as well. I think this team could look he'd probably surprise. It's gonna be interesting to see going from like the West Coast conference to the Pac Tove, especially with all these ballot West teams coming in. I think Oregon State could probably hold the road though. It'll probably just boil down a lot of these teams is season's just gonna boil down how they do in conference, I feel like. Then I guess I'll just go now. I'll go Utah State 'cause it's probably the most interesting team that I previewed. ⁓ well researched I should say. Keith Smith takes over the Raids in this first season with the Aggies after log type coach Rob Neelson ⁓ took the BYU job after the Aggies with twenty four and eight and this squad ⁓ broke program records last year, went undefeated in conference, eighteen and no, and what the not only the about West tournament championship, but a t a game at the NCAA tournament, I believe they beat Tennessee in that. So this is a team that had an amazing season last year, but unfortunately all that is then it's a no new team, new reset. As the squad is completely basically wiped, only five players returning with the rest graduating or transferring after the departure of the head coach Rob Nielsen. But that's why they brought Keith Smith, he has a he's a dude with a team USA talent. or T B US T experience as a coach and was a really good player as well. He's known for his recruiting and talent develop and that's what the Aggies are depending on for this upcoming season. This is a team that brought a lot of key transfers, including Sammy Blackett, a junior ⁓ outside hitter from Utah Valley who in her two years there had over seven hundred kills in her past two seasons, including over three hundred thirty in her freshman season. And they also brought in Addie Cook. A sophomore outside hitter for Wyoming who had over two hundred kills in her freshman season in the Mountain West last year as well. So this is a team who is looking to try and see how it long it's gonna take for these new additions to gel with their old season veteran players. But you can't r as much as you wanna expect for success, it's gonna be probably a rough season. I see them probably being the middle of the pack team, maybe bottom of the barrel. But if Key Smith can develop this talent a lot faster and get him on schedule. Thousand eight and ten, but they could be back competing quicker than people could think though. It it helps that he comes to a team that finished twenty one last year in the top twenty five RPI rankings. So I think it's a it's a good start for No better place to be if you're a new coach. Absolutely. All right, Brett. You wanna just take it over again? Yeah, sure. I'll go to I'll go ahead and go to Fresno State. This one's not gonna be long, boys. Seven and twenty two last season. Wow. If we're if I don't I don't like to to pit anybody ⁓ in the basement at the bottom of the the bottom of the standings, ⁓ but this is where Fresno State will be ⁓ for the coming year as well as last year. Fourth year led by ⁓ Liza Rosen. ⁓ it's a rebuilding squad. They've they floored seven freshmen last year who all played meaningful games for ⁓ returning of those Gabby Lombardi, Michonne Saylors, Brooklyn Washington, and Addison Williams. ⁓ all looking obviously to use the experience they got from last year, carried into this season. They did get a few new transfers. As far as the numbers I was looking at, nothing that was like a massive impact and nobody that's like ⁓ man, like this this person could this girl could switch the program around. It's no, it's just unfortunately it's they'll be better than seven and twenty two, maybe. Maybe. Maybe, but ⁓ I don't have much to say about Fresno. ⁓ I hope I'm wrong. Obviously like that's that's what we have to to come out of this is like I hope I'm wrong that they're bad. I think they I don't think I am wrong though. I think they're gonna be very bad and yeah, I I don't have much more on them because it's just I didn't wanna really waste the time talking about volleyball of doom and despair over in Fresno State. Talking about the Cleveland Browns of college volume. Some Fresno State fan is gonna be so happy that we were gassing their football team up and then like the exact same episode. Yeah, I can't waste time. What this got any questions, I guess I can answer ⁓ But let's just ⁓ The pit of zoom in despair is probably where they're gonna be. Let's not dig into the you know last place team. Yeah, let's not get let's not get into it any further. Yeah. Good luck. Just cast those non conference games. Yeah. You don't have a choice. You kinda have to. All righty Kate, what you got for us, man? Alright, we'll go Washington State. Only other team I got. ⁓ twenty twenty six preseason. They're placed second in this new pack twelve, Corey Schroeder in her second year. a pretty solid year last year, I think. ⁓ could have been better. They went seventeen and eleven. ⁓ but they were very competitive in in the West Coast Conference. ⁓ they're bringing back some really talented girls. They actually have a lot of players from Canada or have experience playing in Canada, which makes sense. Pullman is so you know right there next to Canada, but ⁓ Eliana Tia, she's outside hitter, twenty twenty five West Coast Conference all freshman team. She won West Coast Conference player of the week three times last season. She's gonna be very dangerous at the net. ⁓ I imagine she leads the attack for Washington State this season. And then Maddie Cervella, outside hitter. A lot of outside hitters. This is another thing. They've got a lot of depth offensively. ⁓ and you know, it this is volleyball, right? ⁓ players can rotate. They can play other than just ride at the net, but Washington State's gonna have a very good attack with these outside hitters. Again, Matty Cervella, she had a really strong season with Fresno State last year. So she was probably one of, if not the best player, with the Bulldogs last year. She said, I'm tired of this two hundred and sixty fifth RPI, right? I'm tired of last place. She's going somewhere that is positioned to potentially win this new Pac twelve in volleyball. And then Mary Healy, she's another outside hitter. She played in every match last year. She plays with the Canadian national team. ⁓ she brings back a lot of experience along with Eliana Tia. I think they pair up very well and then bringing in Cervella. It's just gonna be very, very dangerous at the net. If you don't have good middle blockers, like you're gonna have a rough day. If your Libero's not digging it well, Washington State's they're gonna give you hell. ⁓ Matt Maddie Joswick, the setter, she appeared in every match last year as a freshman. So for someone that got all that experience at eighteen years old, I think Maddie Joswick comes in and ⁓ she just continues to get those reps and only gets better from year one where she got all that experience. ⁓ another middle or outside hitter, excuse me, Emerson Matthews, she played at Buffalo last season. She had three hundred and sixty six kills. ⁓ my gosh. ⁓ my God. Yeah. That's a lot. Yes. If if you're not tapped in, three hundred and sixty six kills in a season. Anything like above like two fifty is like a pretty good season. Three sixty six that's insane. Yeah. So ⁓ you know I just named through ⁓ Yeah, I just named three outside hitters that are all going to be very good. ⁓ two of them returning. Another really good transfer. And then they've got Emerson Matthews, who just was amazing in Buffalo. ⁓ so Washington State, they're just gonna be looking to score as many points as possible. specifically with their attack. But I do got a middle blocker in here. Naomi White. She averaged one point six nine kills per set. She's also hit three forty two to go with over a block a set and she's transferred from Portland State. So as a middle blocker, I mean she's shown the ability to come up at the top of the net and get a kill and actually attack and also to be able to block. ⁓ I mean, hitting three forty two, right, or swinging that, I mean is very good. ⁓ you know, the amount of opportunities you get in a volleyball match, ⁓ it is easy for it to go down with the amount of, you know, just digs and stuff like that. So Naomi White did a little bit of everything last year, and now she makes a jump into a new conference, maybe a bigger school for her. ⁓ but yeah, Washington State 17 and 11 last year. So far in 2026 preseason, they are second in this new Pac-12. So I think gotta be one of the favorites, especially with that offense and all all those outside hitters. Yeah, I was just gonna say this sounds like a team that you could easily get behind and really support. ⁓ all those pieces sound like really, really good, actually. This is a team you could easily I think could win it all. So it's not surprised that they got him picked second. Shout out Wazoo, man. I I'm with you there, man. It's ⁓ there's a big gap right now from the top and the bottom of this ⁓ Pac twelve volleyball conference. So when you have like the teams at the top who are a little closer together and maybe will give us like some some good games coming up when conference play comes around, it's ⁓ it's gonna be fun to see how this Pac twelve shakes up. And they had like eight players that had no bios at all. That's crazy. So you what? I may be missing someone very important on that team, but we wouldn't know. We wouldn't know. I'm sorry that some SID out there is just not doing their job, all right? We need a new SID for volleyball is what I'm hearing. So many volleyball SIDs out there. Y'all hiring? They're dropping the ball, man. ⁓ God. I'm unemployed. Kate said anything, please. I'm gonna talk about a team who kind of well not kind of. They absolutely just co crumbled. Towards the end of the season. San Diego State, 15 and 16 to end the year last year. Brand Hilliard enters year seven and he has a fresh new team, about seven returners, four new transfers. And to top it off, he has six incoming freshmen. So I assume a good half of them will have a good playtime, including one of those freshmen is Logan Carey, who was the Colorado High School Player of the Year last year. She comes into the squad. And then his main return to lean on is the senior outside hitter Ella Shabort. It's a weird name. Who led the k team in kills last season and a sophomore, we talked about getting those digs. It's a sophomore, ⁓ Libero Zara Stewart, who was a monster with dicks. She had over four hundred and fifty digs ⁓ last season. So she's just an absolute monster. Just in her freshman year, by the way. Jesus. And this is a team who has a lot of questions. Like I said, they were pred they have success in the past. The year before they won twenty games. But literally last year for no reason, the second half of the season was a nightmare. Just lost so many games, especially at home. This is a team who went four and eight in their own home courts. So I'm not sure what happened. I'm sure they're just not looking to repeat that. So a lot of new town that's looking to try and help them in. But it's gonna be hard to see how these freshmen mess with the returns. L there's gonna be more new than returns and but there's just almost as many freshmen as you had last year just returning. But the four new transfers could also be help them out a lot too. This team looks like it could just kind of stay in the middle of the pack, though. I think if they overperform, they can make some noise. I mean, if a fifth if ⁓ five hundred's a bad season, it could only go up from here, I can see. But you gotta improve at home. That's the first order of business. If you can't take care of it at home, you can't take care of it anywhere. Agreed. Yeah, and then having Brandon Hillard in his seventh year, they obviously believe in what he's doing. And he's had success there, so ⁓ that plays into their favor as well. ⁓ that culture is definitely established through seven years. All right, Brad, which is it? We got the last two teams now. Let's do it. Texas State volleyball led by Sean Hewitt in his sixth season. So all players returning from last season, whether they they had that they played or not. ⁓ Ali Adar ⁓ Adair Ali Adar, sorry. Adair Adair. Ali Adair, Dylan Gilke, Brooke Benke, Amina Campbell, Brittany Finley, Kalen Emmerling, Anna Blaine, Isabella Andrews. And Nera Tanko. ⁓ and the reason I I list all those names, I find it incredibly significant as I was doing this research. ⁓ even if it's players who didn't do a lot, ⁓ Sean Hewitt did a great job retaining players. A great job retaining, and and he even has some impact transfers who are gonna come in. Grad student Jasmine Perkel from Robert Morris, ⁓ six most digs per set of any player in the country last season, recorded five hundred and eighty-two digs. Twenty service aces and a hundred and five assists and had double digit digs in all but two matches last season. So she's gonna come in and immediately ⁓ pick up a huge workload for these Bobcats. India Bennett also from the portal, another grad student ⁓ from southeastern Louisiana. She was the twenty twenty five All Southland first team player and two time Southland Conference defensive player of the of the week. So bringing in a lot of seasoned experience ⁓ to this Texas State volleyball team, stacking it on top of Already some pretty decent players like Anna Blaine ⁓ coming back and that was the that's the only one I can name. So ⁓ but yeah, I I'm really excited for the Bobcats this year. We're obviously gonna get like a ch a chance to watch a lot of them this year. So I think that if you're looking for a dark horse in this volleyball conference, ⁓ a team that has a lot of question marks, but I think a good coach, a good base, some good consistency, I think Texas State is a a school that you can't go wrong. I mean, they went toe to toe with Arizona State last year. It's a very good volleyball. I remember that I was there. Texas State, I mean, they won the Sunbelt two years ago, right? A little bit of a down year last year, and it wasn't anything to do with the pieces they had. It was more so just everything meshing. ⁓ I think the the big question is ⁓ who's gonna replace Samantha Watch? ⁓ she she was the best player on the team. She goes to Vanderbilt who's actually starting their own volleyball program ⁓ for the first time. ⁓ But ⁓ Anna Blaine was phenomenal. She stepped in and she Dylan Gilkey was nursing a injury on her hand actually. Yeah. It's pretty hard to set when you know you're wearing a cast. She somehow came back and did it. She was still sitting with that thing on. It was crazy. Anna Blaine did a really good job. I imagine ⁓ her and Gilkey are just in and out all game long. Britton Finley, Kaylin Emberling, they saw a lot of work early in the season whenever Coach Hewitt was just mixing things around, trying to get somebody to lock in, basically. ⁓ so I think they've got pieces returning that. We'll contribute very well. Brooke Binky's a big returner. Yeah, there's just like Kane said, there's gonna be a lot of questions. Samantha Watch is the biggest name there, but you still had ⁓ my gosh, she went to Ole Miss. What was her name? Nina Moore. Yeah, Nina Moore was Nina Moore. Louisville. She went to Louisville. I thought it Ole Miss. Might be maybe both. I'm a little bit. I vividly remember her going to Ole Miss. She was disgusting. I'll look it up. Go ahead and keep going though. ⁓ but yeah, she went to She's at Louisville. She went to Lou? I swear she went to the sib. Daniel Lane. Damn. Do your job, man. Dari Lane. Okay. ⁓ but then they also lost Maggie Walsh, and I believe they there was another person they lost too. But there was a a good plethora of players that are just gone, either transferred or graduate. Majority graduate. But considering that Sean Hewitt did his thing in keeping players that, like you said, weren't exactly The best. But a lot of them are young. I know Ali Adair, Dylan Gilkey, Anna Blaine. Alan Blaine Anna Blaine was, I believe, a freshman last year and she stepped up huge. She was a big contributor last year. And Kaylin Emmerling also showed signs. But I think this is a team it's just really the biggest question just about the attack. It's just so hard to replace players like Nina Moore and Samantha Wunch. And you gotta do it in this exact next season. But I am a little bit more optimistic just 'cause I know Sean Hewitt. He he runs a tight ship. He he expects the utmost best from his volleyball program. And seventeen and twelve is prob is a bad season in his eyes, even though they did make a run in a little for some points of the season, but that's not the standard he upholds. But there's just a lot of questions. It's just gonna be a question how much they how good can they Joe? He's a dude that benched all his seniors last year in in non conference just because they weren't playing good. And so He's not afraid to put the foot down. They also lost Jade Defree from France. She was that's the other one. Jade Defree. Very good. Very good middle blocker. So ⁓ they'll have to replace her as well. I was just watching a real. She posted a real 'cause she's on a French team now. She posted that's all so cool. It was just I couldn't remember. Thank you, Caden. But yeah. I think I still like this Texas AT, but it's it's probably gonna be another year. Seventeen and twelve is nothing to like sneeze at, you know, like that's and you're still bringing back a really good team and some really good transfers. So nowhere to look but up, I think, for these bobcats. Year. And then speaking of looking up, this is a team who I think is the favorite to win it all. It's the Colorado State Rams. Last year they went twenty one and nine. This is Emily Cohen's fourth year at the helm. The Rams in the recent years have had their winning ways. They're dominant in the Mountain West. Coming back coming off back to back Mount West championship appearances. They didn't win it last year, but they won it the year before. But unlike Utah State, they have their team coming back. They have nine returners. That's more than half the team. Five incoming freshmen and only three transfers. So this is a team who has all their quality people coming back and they're ready to lock in and hopefully take the Pac twelve chip. The returners include Haley Jameson, outside hitter. The Rockwell Native had over three hundred kills last year and started every game as a freshman. And then you have Maria Brenn, the junior outside hitter who had the second highest kills on the team last year. with three hundred and twenty three, but the one who led was senior Eve Wilson with three hundred and fifty and she had second block she was also second in blocks at one hundred and twenty nine. Is a team who is pretty much stacked everywhere you want on a volleyball court. They have the offense, they have the defense, they have the coach, and then even the freshman they bring in shell promise as well. This is team who just looks like they're tight knit and they look like they're gonna know what they want to do on day one, which is dominate. So I think it's a it's a no brainer. Colorado State should be the favorite and I believe that they are they are the favorite, yes. Yeah, this season. Am I seeing this right three players with over three hundred kills last year? Yeah. So it's theirs to lose. Colorado State and Washington State will be a very good matchup. See who can get the twenty five first. I wanted Colorado State. We talked about Arizona State. Arizona State eliminated Colorado State in the N C double A tournament in the second round last year. They made it to the second round. That's impressive. That's what I'm saying. No wait, no, that was Utah State. I'm lying. I'm sorry. That was Utah State. I'm such a chud. But it's cause I got him mixed up. But you know what I mean. There's there schools who can very well dance in the big dance. And there's they're gonna look to try to do that this year. I will say, ⁓ what we have one more left or just look out for Fresno. We left out the Zags We left out the Zags, but they're just there with Resno State, so I don't think it's a bad list. I forgot they even they have other sports besides basketball. They're head coached by JT Wagner. ⁓ and that's all you need to know. So they were two hundred and seventh in RPI last year. Dude, when you said Fresno State's RPI, I've never even seen an RPI last That's insane. I didn't even know you could get an RPI that low. Like that's like the teacher made a new great school to tell you more. What schools do you gotta be scheduling? To get an RPI that low. And you're still seven to twenty two. ⁓ You're still you're still going neck to neck with the JUKOs like that are around your area. They're playing the East Texas AMs of the world or something. That's what I'm saying. It's so But if you're a Gonzaga fan, I'm sorry. You just you gotta wait till basketball season. No, don't worry, we'll have a keep a lot of time for you then. Keep it a trail, man. Basketball season, that's all y'all, man. But I think that's it for what we gotta talk about today and just a little bit of wrapping up now, unless we got any final words you want to say, gentlemen. Thank God we're all back in studio, man. ⁓ yeah, it's sweet. Ten days away now as of right now. ⁓ it's Wednesday, August twelfth, as we're filming. This episode will be released Friday. We'll be eight days away from football when this episode comes out. From week zero, North Carolina TCU in Ireland. So yeah. It's coming and it's coming fast. You guys enjoyed the volleyball preview. We'll have soccer coming up next time and ⁓ we'll see we'll see what else we'll have to talk about. All right, my yeah, I'm about to we talk about football season. My season starts on Saturday. That's what I'm saying. That's I'm gonna be producing that game. I will be ⁓ running camera at Tech State volleyball this Saturday. I'll be I'll be calling the game, so that'd be fine. We're all gonna be working the game. That's great. Yeah, in some capacity. Yep. Well thank you so much for listening to this episode. Make sure you follow us on our social medias, PACD twelve, on Twitter, X, wherever, Instagram, wherever you get your social media. This episode, as Brett said, will be up on Friday, Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts, it'll be there. Thank you so much for listening from Solomon Ash, Brett Beerman, and K Bessett. Thank you for listening to Pac-12.