Latest / Dawgs Down South / Episode 104: Brendan Sorsby News, Recruiting, SEC Summer Preview, Arkansas and South Carolina

Transcript

Episode 104: Brendan Sorsby News, Recruiting, SEC Summer Preview, Arkansas and South Carolina · Dawgs Down South

• Ted Turner: So Colin Coward, right, comes out and he hits he tries to hit Georgia dead where it hurts. Okay. Now, why is this great for Colin Coward? Number one, never had any respect for it. I think he he preys on sports banter to create narratives that are negative and he tries to get clicks, likes, follows, and All right. So moving on. Obviously, this is ⁓ we have we have hit me and Fish hit ⁓ we hit Kentucky last week and we hit Auburn last week. And then a couple of weeks back, I kicked everything off and I started off with Mississippi State as well as Missouri. So tonight we're gonna cover ⁓ a few teams, starting with the first team we're gonna cover is Arkansas. All right, let's hop in. One more one more ⁓ strategic ⁓ little sidebar to hit tonight before we hop into a couple of teams to continue our SEC summer preview. ⁓ lot of talk around ⁓ college football and the SEC about Georgia and and even just even fans, right? ⁓ talking about concerns about this twenty twenty seven class and And here's the last thing I'll say about it. The the the reason why I'm I think a lot of people are very adamant about this decision, right? Has zero to do with Texas Tech, by the way. Nobody's nobody's scared of Texas Tech. Okay. Texas Tech plays nobody. ⁓ their schedule this week is and the schedule this year is mediocre at best. ⁓ All right, and the second team ⁓ that we want to talk about ⁓ that plays Georgia this year and is part of our SEC preview is gonna be South Carolina. So, South Carolina we're gonna spend a little more time on tonight. Why? Because a lot of people are saying Shane Beamer is on the hot seat this year. Matter of fact, a lot of people have him as number one as far as SEC hot seat, right? So what Welcome, welcome, everyone, to another episode of Dogs Down South. I'm your host, Ted Turner, and we are continuing our summer SEC preview tonight. But before we hop in, I think I want to start tonight with some of the hottest news that I'm sure everybody's heard about. But have we really looked at this in the layers that it has unfolded under, right? Brendan Soresby, right? Texas Tech quarterback. ⁓ all of a sudden they're big and bad because they dropped, you know, 70 to 100 million dollars in the past two years on rosters. And so all of a sudden, you know, they're back. ⁓ you know, you got embarrassed in the college football playoffs this past year. Absolutely embarrassed, by the way. ⁓ but the biggest thing is is that this this is the potential of being something that threatens pro sports leagues to where they don't take it seriously anymore. was the big deal with South Carolina last year. A lot of people looked at South Carolina and was like, Man, you got Lenora Sellers. A lot of people look at Lenora Sellers as one of the most ⁓ talented quarterbacks in all of college football. I mean, I think he has freakish athlete athletic skills, really strong arm, ⁓ good, you know, great, great size ⁓ for a quarterback that has ⁓ some legs on him. ⁓ so prototypical The fact that Georgia's, you know, ⁓ was as low as twenty, I think it was twenty-three or twenty-two ⁓ before the end of last week. ⁓ but obviously had some wins, right? ⁓ biggest recent win was landing ⁓ Colton Nussmeyer, ⁓ highly regarded Texas signal caller. You might ⁓ know that name from ⁓ former LSU quarterback Garrett Nussemeyer. ⁓ many recruiting analysts believe this commitment could help Georgia tremendously. ⁓ Just like everybody else does, but the way he goes about doing it is in a way of dragging sports and college football teams rather than reporting on them. What I mean, reporting on them is what we're called to do. Even right now, we're reporting on all this stuff. Are we giving our opinion? Yes. And he's solely do that opinion. But I feel like you're coming at it in the wrong direction, and I think you're gonna probably eat these hearts. Let's look at it. He took issue with ⁓ George Now, Arkansas happens to be ⁓ the first SEC opponent for Georgia ⁓ this year. So they they open up SEC play on the road ⁓ in Arkansas. Now, Arkansas obviously coming off a little bit of a of a a lot of wild ⁓ stuff on the in the offseason. So ⁓ Ryan Silverfield, okay. He's been called Silver Fox, ⁓ Silverstone, ⁓ You know, the big news Monday was that The judge's name was Ken Curry of the ninety-ninth district court in Lubbock County, Texas. ⁓ that they can't ban players. I mean, some of this some of these guardrails that have been set up in the pro sports have literally been so that like we can have the integrity of the sport still there, right? I mean, how would you like to know that you go out and you play a game tonight and you lost and you really don't know if you lost because somebody had a bet out there? I mean, did did Jeff did did Jeff miss four? you know, attract more elite offensive talent over the next year. So this is a great this is a big get for Colt for ⁓ for for Georgia. ⁓ so that moved it up to you know, I I think that moved it up to thirteenth nationally. ⁓ and weirdly enough, they're sitting at thirteen commits, including several highly regarded in state prospects continuing. ⁓ you know, Kirby's strategy is locking down Georgia talent, right? He feels like if he can lock down Georgia talent no matter you know, dual threat guy coming in possibly to the NFL as early as next year, right? So I think one thing South Carolina wanted to do immediately was to go, all right, how do we bolster this offense right off the bat? They go out, Shane Beamer gets Kendall Kendall Browse from as their OC ⁓ from Baylor, if I'm not mistaken. And so immediately that's a huge get. ⁓ and then You name it, I've heard it. But Ryan Silverfield is his name. He comes over from the University of Memphis. and this is a team that is only bringing back about 25 to 30 percent of overall productivity that they had last year. Okay. ⁓ it's a rebuilding year. ⁓ as much as Ryan Silverfield wants to say it's not. Georgia's boycott as a massive overreaction, an example of the college establishment making a scene instead of focusing on their own locker room while also referencing USC leaving the Pac 12. ⁓ this is semi-victimless, right, Coward said. This is not a pro athlete doing something illegal. I I beg to differ. I beg to differ. They make money that is well above what an amateur athlete has made ever in in any college sport. Per se made the wrong kind of history, I would say. ⁓ I mean, if he was going for it, it I I don't know if he if he hit it maybe out of the park like you wanted to, but so if if we haven't heard and been under a rock, he allowed Texas Tech's transfer quarterback to become the first known athlete in a major sport to admit to gambling on his own team at Indiana University in twenty twenty two and still be allowed to continue playing that sport. ⁓ three pointers tonight on purpose or was he just having an off night? How do you know? Right? And if I'm a coach, it's like, what are we doing anymore? I mean, we're talking about team chemistry. We're talking about winning basketball games. We're talking about winning baseball games. But at the end of the day, I don't know if if I don't know if Craig is I don't know if he struck out four times a night because he's in a slump. All the bad news starts to break out. They went out and they got Jacarius Peak. ⁓ they went out and they really spent some money on NIL with this offensive line to only have a few of them go and be and participate in ⁓ intramural or ⁓ just team building sports and some of them getting injured. ⁓ and not a lot of information coming out about these particular players. How many stars are behind them? He feels like he can bring them in. And any any of these kids who have the heart and the willingness to go out there and work hard, he's betting on coaching. ⁓ and he is strategically using NIL money to give it to people who want to be at Georgia. ⁓ you've seen that time and time again. He hasn't butted his head his head into some of these high dollar meetings. Some of you might say, Are we are we at a point where the GM ⁓ it it it definitely is a rebuilding year for Arkansas. When you look at Sam Pittman, when you look at Bobby Petrino and when you look at what, ⁓ in my opinion, I think that that they did a really good a really good job with the past few years and just weren't able to win this put it all together and win games. I think when it boiled down to it, I think it was missing a little bit of a tick of discipline. ⁓ Athletes are making more money than they have ever made in college sports, whether it was under the table or above the table. Period. That's one that's one comment that's that's not correct, in my opinion. ⁓ there's victims, dumb college kid, he'll wear it forever, cost him millions of dollars, probably doesn't get drafted, and will be, in my opinion, overturned by the Texas Supreme Court. But when I see all these schools out here, Apparently currently belie ⁓ Curry believes that the harm caused to Soresby, ⁓ he would be deprived of the ability to benefit from the elite coaching, training, resources, camaraderie, and ⁓ regime that only being a member of Division One College Football ⁓ can provide. And and he believes it's more damaging and will cause more long term effects if he can't be a part of that and be on his own team. ⁓ Because he needs to make sure and make that money so that we lost tonight so he can make that money on that game. And Craig may have only bet one time, two times, three times. But do you honestly think forty times, do you think this guy made a mistake? I think he knew he was getting away with it. And then he did it again and again and again and again. And he never thought he would get caught. And he got caught. And now the repercussions from it are ⁓ why number one is because either all is going well or we don't want to hear all summer long and through media days and coaches and coaches ⁓ meetings that, you know, here we go again, South Carolina's pretty much by the time they get to game four, Shane Beamer won't be their coach. ⁓ and that could still happen. But I will tell you that they stand a chance of having a lot better of an opportunity to not ⁓ be in that situation. throughout the entire team was Sam Pittman, who may have lost some ⁓ what's the word I would call for it? He he may have lost some I don't know, positive momentum the last couple of years because he knew he knew his job was on the line. He knew he was on everybody else's ⁓ hot seat conversations and you could tell it was getting to them, right? And then I and then not to mention on the top of that, you know, you look at a defense who continue to struggle. Topic needs to come up at Georgia, right? ⁓ Georgia, one of the few SEC schools that doesn't have ⁓ a GEM, a GM, and ⁓ and Kirby continues to work and do that part himself. ⁓ but but I just say I trust Kirby in this, right? I trust, I mean, Kirby is still one of the most trusted coaches in the college game. He's very respected by all the SEC. He is, if not, We will not schedule them. ⁓ boy, Georgia football really? I mean, you know, I'm a USC homer, right? At least you think so. ⁓ I mean, all these schools, this is still reporting what Coward said, have skeletons and skeletons in their closet. All these schools have skeletons. I mean, didn't USC basically engineer the end of the Pac 12 conference? Pac twelve is like, I love the Pac 12 football. USC is like, yeah, we're leaving and taking the Bruins. Excuse me, I beg your pardon. What? Is what he refers to. So I mean, and then he says Georgia, he goes on to say, Georgia. But I would venture to say that setting a precedent that someone can bet on their own team, the cardinal sin of being an athlete, whether it's pro or can you can pretty much call college sports pro now that NIL is around and receive zero consequences besides missing games against Abilene Christian and Oregon State. By the way, we're gonna we were not gonna play you much anyway in these games. So you'll be here for Houston. Cool? Cool. It's a joke. It's a joke. It's not funny. It's killing college football. I never, ever thought I would be sitting here listening to judges in counties make decisions about eligibility of college athletes. the best coach in college football. He's definitely top three. And I'm only not I'm saying that from other people's lists, not just mine. Right. He's on my he he's definitely on the top of my list. But ⁓ I think when you look at other people's lists and other people obviously they have their their team biased. ⁓ you know, I do I do find it hard for people to put Signetti up there and some of these equations 'cause it's like, man, like I get it, you know. But I mean Obviously, ⁓ when you look at, you know, the respect level that I have for this roster is incredible. I mean, you have you have players like obviously we talked about Lenora Sellers, ⁓ just a freakish athlete, man. ⁓ a Nick Harbour, I mean, geez, man, six five, the kid runs a four three forty. Maybe it's less, maybe it's more, I don't think it's more. ⁓ Brady Hunt, the big tight end, and like we talked about, you know, presumably you look at Jerry Jacarius Peak starting at tackle, the other guy. And be at the bottom of the SEC at about every single statistic on defense that you could possibly fathom. ⁓ will not help the equation. But this will be a this will be a team this year that's gonna have a lot of new names. ⁓ Arkansas is gonna be looking very closely and trying to figure out if they can find some mojo. ⁓ so sports riders around have them rank fifty-ninth overall. Football going all Pope Leo and Pat Boone. Spare me. I mean, spare me. Take a deep breath. We ⁓ But he'll be there for the Big 12 opener against Houston is absolutely inexcusable. Right? College. Okay, let's let's dive in a little bit. College is supposed to be the second tier of growth and development for young men and women. Supposed to give them a little more independency, start to make decisions on their own, learn more key skills, skills in the areas that they want to learn to. He he's basically referring to how how wrong it was ⁓ he should be punished, but he's gonna wear it forever, is what he said. Now, and then he Colin Coward goes on to talk about how Georgia had, you know, eight arrests this past year and they should have an autobahn, you know, in Athens and all these other things. And it's like Colin Coward is never like Georgia, by the way. Okay, just gonna throw that out there. Also, at the end of the day, ⁓ I highly believe that He still doesn't have the accolades that Kirby has. He may get there, but he doesn't have those accolades. ⁓ so what can we say to kind of set to kind of get the blood pressure down a little bit of people that are concerned about this class? Okay. Number one, ⁓ you know, Georgia hosted a lot of major recruiting ⁓ talent the past few weekends. ⁓ numerous four and five stars were on campus. Don't we have enough on our plate that we're jacking up right now in the world? We don't need to be butting our heads into NCAA sports. Period. Ridiculous. And I'm done with it. ⁓ you got Shedric. ⁓ Shedrick's last name is Barrett, right? ⁓ in the SEC ⁓ most sport writers have them at dead last. ⁓ I for some reason ⁓ I I think I had Mississippi State dead last, but I think maybe I'll go back and I'll rekindle this because I when I made my list, maybe I was kind of I was maybe asleep, but I do think that this Arkansas team is way less talented than Mississippi State. So this is gonna be my bottom of the cellar. ⁓ grow into whatever they want to be in life, right? But I don't know if we are giving them what they need at this level anymore. ⁓ meaning sports is only a part of college. Okay. And I know the the the the good news is is that we all love college sports. The bad news is is that it's still college, right? Kids are trying to go get a degree. Some people go into debt years and years and years to get the type of degrees Yes. And so you look at this line, these are two guys they went out and got. ⁓ they rekindled this line 'cause this this line this this was a lot of the reason why South Carolina was held back last year, right? ⁓ I mean Lenora Solars was running for his his life, you know, the whole time. ⁓ and then obviously flipped to the defense, the big the big name that will that will come off the board this time next year. Well, I should say this time, but a little earlier this time next year will be Dylan Stewart. In the great big scheme of things, when things happen, when crimes are committed or ⁓ JJ Mayfield, Tyler Ada Tyler Alexander, Carlos May. ⁓ George is pushing hard. A little bit harder for defense in 2027. O line is gonna need some depth there. ⁓ and they're and you know, George is trending upward, but you know, George's never been the type and and most of these times these these people these these teams in the top ten, one one five star or one four star flips, and they go from two or three to nine or ten. You did something that doesn't line up with the rules of the NCAA or the even your team rules, right? Don't go to class, you don't make the grades, all these. I mean, remember when grades were a thing? They're not anymore, right? I'm pretty sure that either athletes have gotten their crap together or do we really think that? I mean, a lot of them have. But we also know that teachers are looking going, If I want my job, I might want to pass these athletes, right? I don't think they have that problem anymore, right? But like SEC team this year, Arkansas. ⁓ I I have a feeling it's gonna be hard to find wins for Arkansas. Very hard to find wins. ⁓ but let's talk about some ⁓ returners that are coming. So on offense, you look at KJ Jackson taking over the talented sophomore, taking over at the quarterback position for Arkansas this year. ⁓ some other big names, CJ Brown at wide receiver. A lot of these names are new names to Georgia. I mean, sorry, to Arkansas in general. that some of these student athletes get that they get for free, ⁓ and that some don't take seriously and some don't even use the money that they're given or the degree that they're given to go on and do anything else other than not show up to class, play football, and focus on going pro in the sport they want to, which they are they totally can, right? ⁓ he's gonna be ⁓ he's poised to have a great year this year. ⁓ you know, you got ⁓ J.R. Johnson, you got Justin ⁓ Oberconway. I mean, ⁓ I don't know if I pronounced that name right, but ⁓ you look at Peyton Williams and then ⁓ Judge Collier. So you look at this this this team from top to bottom, and they have so many weapons, ⁓ in my opinion. I think South Carolina, I mean, you you heard you heard Shane Beamer though, man. He's like, we could be, we're a playoff team. We can get it all together, we're a playoff team. So it's just all about like what you have already bet on. And also you don't have any any LOIs yet. You don't have any letter retents yet. So everything that's being bet on right now and called, ⁓ well, so and so is number one in recruiting. Well, yeah, until they sign, that's not locked. That's just a projection, right? ⁓ but several of all these recruits reportedly left Athens the past few weekends extremely impressed. Kirby and his staff. I'm pretty sure that when you look back at the culture of Georgia football, that Georgia has suspended, kicked people off or kicked players off the team, and done what needed to be done to discipline these players in the right way. Which, by the way, what would you like Georgia to do? Because apparently you can go out there and you can bet money on your own team and justifiably continue playing without any rules being broken. But at the end of the day, we're doing them a huge disservice by letting them by letting them go, ⁓ by the way, we're supposed to be teaching you these things, but really what we're teaching you to do is how to get by in life when maybe your word is a little bit bigger. There's a little bit more money involved. ⁓ man, I can't tell you how many opportunities we had with this situation. Not trying to hurt a kid, right? Obviously he's gonna get help, and he's gonna he needs to get help. ⁓ because a lot of this roster turned over when Sam Pittman left. ⁓ also you look at Jaden ⁓ Platt, big tight end, ⁓ big junior tight end names to realize on the on the on the offensive line, center Caden Kittler, and then ⁓ Kobe Branham, the right guard. When you look at defense, Quincy Rhodes Jr. stands out the big defensive end, 6'6, 277 senior. ⁓ unfortunately for South Carolina, I don't know if that's true. ⁓ you know, Nashley right now they're they're ranking forty-fourth ⁓ amongst a lot of the the outlets. ⁓ and they're picked to finish around ⁓ thirteenth. ⁓ I think Lindy's has them at thirteenth tied. and then I think Athlon has them eleventh or twelfth. ⁓ I'm not sure. ⁓ And the University of Georgia does. They they just get it when it comes to getting players on campus. They believe if they can get you on campus, they can they can get you signed. Okay. Now, in the in the in the for the sake of the N I L and the era of N I L, ⁓ it's a little less guaranteed. You know, people can swoop in at the last minute. And, you know, people are wondering why we had a kid that ⁓ So why wouldn't Georgia's players just keep speed and keep getting arrested? If they were going off the rules of the NCAA and I don't know, maybe even thinking they're above the law, in this day and age, they probably would be correct. But at the end of the day, like Kirby Smart's not going allow that, right? But the fact, the fact that the University of Texas take and the coaches go, We we agree with that discussion. We're going to give them a two game suspension. Really? And the university should help him. They've committed to him in way more means than football. They've committed to him as a person. And they should commit to getting him help. But not at the expense of looking and going, the only thing that's going to help him is play football. Right. And, you know, you look at you look at some of this stuff and you go, you know, what's what's such a big deal? Right? Let's let's hop into that and then we're gonna talk about Colin Coward and and and Josh Brooks and This is a this is a if if you have some positive momentum, the defensive line is returning a lot of depth ⁓ from last year. A lot of ⁓ it's a couple seniors, a couple juniors on this line. The defense, in my opinion, has a chance to be better only because the fact that that most of the depth they have coming back is on the defense, and most of them that are coming back stuck it out. And there are a lot of juniors and seniors that are gonna be starting on this defense. ⁓ I mentioned Quincy Rhodes Jr., the big defensive end. But as we look at the schedule, even with all this talent, it's just hard to find some of these SEC wins. ⁓ you know, when you look at the schedule that's coming up this year, you know, you got Kent State, you got Towson, you got Mississippi State at Alabama, you go you got Kentucky at home, you go to Florida, go to the swamp. You're at home at against Tennessee, you go to ⁓ Oklahoma, home versus Texas A and ⁓ at Arkansas, Georgia, and then at Clemson. ⁓ man. you know, committed to Florida State despite having a an offer from Georgia, ⁓ several recruits going to Texas, Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, you know, and you know, they're we're recruiting Georgia big, but at the end of the day too, like a lot of them are getting they're just extremely high dollar amounts to go to these to get offers to go to these schools. They haven't signed they haven't signed anything, right? ⁓ Two game suspension. Wow. Not that we're out to hurt, you know, Soresby. We're not out to hurt him. Like what we want from him is him to get help, him to understand that was wrong. And to go back to what I first said is it's a college athlete that we need to teach what's right from wrong. But instead, we're just teaching him you can go do wrong, and no matter what is going to be right. ⁓ I think it's a crock of crap. And some layers of this whole thing, but you know, when you look at Soresby, ⁓ Soresby placed 40 bets on Indiana football while still underage and approximately 90,000 in sports wagers using other people's sports book accounts and will be back in time for the Red Raiders Big Twelve opener against Houston. That's the huge get right here. Listen to that, right? You look at Pete Rose, who died before the sport would even forgive him. ⁓ you look at linebacker Bradley Shaw, ⁓ 6'1, 227 Jr., but a lot of these names are names that you just kind of scratch your head and you go, Man, I I I don't know a lot. I don't know a lot about this, right? Top newcomer, Chris Marshall. ⁓ you know, I've always said this for Arkansas. That's what they've been missing in the past few years is it's like a big receiver connection they can have, right? And and this this name Chris Marshall comes to mind. ⁓ th this is this is it's just a daunting schedule. Like I'm finding it hard to get more than one win in SEC play. If I had to name the team I think they will beat in SEC play, and the only one I think they will win in SEC play would be Kentucky. ⁓ but I do think they'll beat Kent State, Towson, ⁓ maybe Mississippi State. ⁓ but there's a lot of question, a lot of people. But you gotta look at when Kirby wins these in state battles. ⁓ and I'm gonna pronounce these names, probably butchers them, but you know, two big gets, ⁓ Joachim Guda and Oilawala Tao show that Georgia's still I mean, still dominating many of their in state prospects. ⁓ Ga Guda, if I'm calling him right, is is a very highly talented ⁓ how Georgia will use him, whether it's at an at an edge rusher or a linebacker, probably a linebacker. I think it's ridiculous. And I think Colin Coward needs to apologize to Georgia. I think he needs to apologize to anybody that he's brought into this whole mix and understand that it's people like him that will speak out and be on the front page of every news media outlet and every TikTok page and every podcaster's comments tonight and yesterday that are sitting here going, You're the reason why. For betting on his own team. But a Big 12 quarterback, two game suspension. What are we what kind of precedent are we set, right? Former Iowa defensive tackle Noah Shannon. This is a story that may be out of nowhere. You may not even know who this guy is. Saw his college career ended because he placed one legal bet on his school's women's basketball team, believed to be for less than a hundred dollars. Less than a hundred dollars. Okay. ⁓ you know, big play guy ⁓ from Marshall. ⁓ you know, has some disciplinary issues that happened at Ole Miss as well in Boise State. So he's moved around, right? But he is a name, you know, athletically, you look at and comes in if he has everything together, ⁓ can make a huge difference. But ⁓ this is gonna be a team this year that's just gonna be trying to find their way, right? ⁓ you do look at NIL and you and a lot of times you look and you go, man. already kind of lean towards Mississippi State winning that game. ⁓ but but but I would say two games just because I have Mississippi State struggling to find a win at all. ⁓ I would say two games and the reason being I like this defense ⁓ against Mississippi State. And so ⁓ and then at Clemson, you know, who knows? ⁓ but the big the big take on South Carolina is is like, you know, ⁓ is gonna be huge. ⁓ but at the end of the day, I mean the biggest recruiting question right now is whether Georgia can recruit at an elite level still, if they're still doing it, and they are, and they can. ⁓ the question is whether Georgia can reclaim the clear cut number one recruiting spot and continue to compete with Texas and Alabama and Ohio State, Oregon, who are spending like heavy NIL dollars and making, you know, life harder on everyone out there. It's making it's not just Georgia, right? You're just another slither of why NIL and college sports is out of control right now. And you are sitting here bantering about, well, he just made a mistake. No, he didn't make one mistake. He didn't make two mistakes. He bet 40 high on Indiana football. 90,000 in sports wagers. It wasn't a hundred dollar bet on prize picks. So let's look at another layer of this. So then, so Georgia, where does Georgia come into this? Josh Brooks, A.D., University of Georgia. I love Josh Brooks. ⁓ and what a great job he has done taking over ⁓ the reins and things he has is brought to Georgia and how he's extended ⁓ his footprint on the University of Georgia and the SEC as well as all college football has been incredible to see. But he said it and he quoted it. He said, somebody has to lead through this. It's a very it's a very opportune time with in a f in f with NIL to have coaches come in and have these new teams and go, Well, I can just go out and buy me a new roster, right? We we no longer have to go out and figure out how to make recruiting better and get get our name out there and and win some games so that we can be trusted again to if you come play for the University of Arkansas, you know, you know that you're gonna win X amount of games, go to a bowl, possibly vie for an S C championship. Well no. That's not really that's not really the pageantry of college football anymore. the most part like Beamer is a likable coach. I think I think the talk around South Carolina is is that Shane Beamer does a great job. He's he has great camaraderie with his team. Players ⁓ love him and ⁓ his family's very close to you know the University of South Carolina. They love it there. They're very ⁓ they're they're his his wife and him are are very Forty times. You don't think on the twentieth time, the twenty-fifth time, the thirtieth time? Come on. Let's stop let's stop making excuses. If these if these guys and these and these gals in sports and college football want to be paid for their name, image, and likeliness, they're gonna have to start performing and to start acting like professionals in what they do. ⁓ you know, I think Georgia's still recruiting at a championship level. ⁓ I think we're still gonna be competitive and I think we're gonna be fine. So, ⁓ to answer your question, like, you know, slow a little slow start. ⁓ but also, you know, Georgia is I think they're in a year where they're they're they're recruiting more ⁓ cupboard based talent. How do they how do they rekindle the cupboard but also not go after some of these guys that they gotta go after because you can't turn down And this is this is a time where I feel like we need to step up and I personally as an AD need to lead. So he goes, There will be no none of our sports teams will be playing Texas tech. We're not doing it. Doesn't matter what sports. It doesn't matter if it's equestrian, swimming track, football, basketball, we're not playing Texas tech. Okay. ⁓ a little bit later on Nebraska comes out and then you hear these murmurs of all these other ⁓ I I I would tell you that Jerry Curtis went to play for Vanderbilt for playing time and money. So lots of money. ⁓ and promises. R a lot of promises. and I have a feeling that if Vanderbilt didn't promise everything to them, they wouldn't have gotten him. And I got a feeling they knew if they didn't start him this year, he wouldn't hang around long. So they're hoping to just go ahead and put the miles on him. ⁓ but what they have to be scared of is if it all fails ⁓ around the team a lot, his family is. ⁓ and so this is a this is a relationship that will hit hard if it ends. Okay. ⁓ Beamer's poured a lot into South Carolina and I just feel like, man, there was a couple opportunities he had and they just didn't pan out. And I don't know if I've ever seen a better opportunity that he's had previous to this year. But I don't think that opportunity as That's just all it is to it. a four or five star blue chip recruit ⁓ that you can get on campus and get on your roster. schools that are like, well maybe we should play ⁓ You know, you got Big Twelve teams talking about not playing them. ⁓ the NCAA has has come up and said they're not done. They're actually filing another ⁓ injunction, ⁓ if you that's what you call it, ⁓ back towards this this judge here in Lubbock ⁓ to try to I think the NCAA really feels like with this now, this is like this is the biggest punch in the gut, right? You look at everything that's going on with eligibility purposes, playing five years and six years And he goes, maybe I'm out of here. Let me see if I can go get me a with if I go get with a quarterback whisperer for my junior year and then go blow up somewhere my senior year. ⁓ and don't and win it win big games for another team out there, but not you, and then go to the NFL based off of that resume and not Vanderbilt. But Jerry Curtis, not to talk about Vanderbilt because we're not talking about Vanderbilt tonight, but ⁓ you know, that's that's kind of where NIL is and what we're doing. So when you look at Arkansas, you look at last year's schedule. Is as good this year. The only thing I would say the wild card is is how good can Kendall Browse make this South Carolina offense? That's the question. I think this defense will do enough to keep them in games. But how good Kenlin Norris Sellers and Nick Harbor and this South Carolina offense be? And how healthy is this offensive line? And that's the key question because ⁓ And all these things going on with NIL and the the mockery that NIL has made the college football sport already. ⁓ you know, when you look at some of this stuff, I think you see the NCAA trying to get back and garner some of the respect that ⁓ it feels like it's lost. So Josh Brooks steps up, right? And then obviously from there, Josh Brooks and Georgia become a target from this, right? You know, it was tough, tough, tough to find a win last year, right? ⁓ you know, they did they did eat they were able to beat Alabama AM, Arkansas State, but then they went in and they played Ole Miss close. You know, they lost to Ole Miss but played ⁓ close. Lost ⁓ at Memphis, but played ⁓ close. Notre Dame struggled. No ⁓ Tennessee close, played ⁓ close. Texas AM played ⁓ close. A lot of close games last year. Even when they're healthy and everything's clicking, I'm questioning two wins in the SEC. And I don't think two wins is gonna get Shane Beamer another year. Now total, I think that would put them I mean, does it make them bowl eligible? I mean, if they were to beat Kent State Towson, that's two, Mississippi State would be three, Kentucky would be four. they would have to become bowl eligible, they would have to beat ⁓ ⁓ but just couldn't produce wins. But I feel like those games were close because I feel like Pittman and Petrino were feeling a little bit of the top end of what their recruiting looked like. ⁓ they were dealing with a lot of ⁓ much better talent that had grown a little bit after year one of some of them ⁓ coming over to Arkansas on the portal. ⁓ and if it was gonna be a year for them to kind of strut their stuff, it was last year. But the best they could do was come close. Now this year, a little bit different story. I mean, they open up North Alabama. So let's talk about why now Georgia has become a target ⁓ in general. Florida at Florida or at Arkansas get ⁓ five or Clemson at Clemson. I don't think they're winning any other games. They're gonna be borderline. I think they're gonna be five games. I think I see five wins for South Carolina. And I don't know if five wins is if that cools your seat at South Carolina. I just I really don't. ⁓ it's tough. It's very tough. They go to U to Utah. ⁓ and then you look at Georgia at home, Tulsa at home, at Texas AM at home versus Tennessee, then at Vanderbilt, Missouri at home, at Auburn, South Carolina at home, at Texas, and then LSU at home. I I struggle to find a lot of wins and I struggle to find an SEC win again this year for Arkansas. Okay. ⁓ And the SEC is daunting this year, especially going to a nine game SEC schedule. ⁓ and it's not gonna be easy. It's not gonna be easy at all. Teams like South Carolina, Mississippi State, Kentucky, some of these teams we're talking about Arkansas before we get into the meat and potatoes of the SEC. ⁓ some of these teams we're talking about, unfortunately, are going to be at the bottom. ⁓ and they would have to have borderline bad bears. And I know we're to pick these games throughout the year, but my take on Arkansas is this is going to be a team that continues to rebuild. ⁓ it's going to be a team that's going to rely on development. Can Ryan Silverfield come in and develop some of these players and get the get the best out of them and start to, I guess, garner some trust. No matter what money you throw out there, you you got to be able to garner some trust that the players that do want to come and not only make Bad news bears moments ⁓ out of the blue, out of left field to prove me wrong. ⁓ because I think the common denominator, at least with every team but South Carolina, is roster struggles. ⁓ and being able to feel, even though, you know, Mississippi State likes what they have, Kentucky Live. I mean, they they they're all gonna like what they have, but at the end of the day, once you start competing against other teams, you know where you're gonna be. And is coaching and strategy a part of it? Absolutely. a good amount of money, but also want to ⁓ have a great college environment and play in front of a great college environment, ⁓ that is still important to some players, right? Most players. ⁓ that's in the kind of the the back burner for them is to go, I I still do want this entire experience. And so if they can create that, ⁓ that's huge. Biggest question is like, what's a win this year for Arkansas? ⁓ you know, in my opinion, a win But when we look at how it all lines up with talent, there are some times when you just look out there and you go, man, there's just more talent out there right now. And they're doing a great job, but it's just hard to continue to to to hold these this other team down because the talent is lopsided. But for Shane Beamer and a guy who worked at at Georgia ⁓ for a while back, and you know, we we want to see Shane Beamer succeed. ⁓ but something's gonna have to click different this year to ⁓ for me is is trying to pull one of these home games off, right? ⁓ maybe a South Carolina at home, maybe a Missouri at home, right? ⁓ And I don't know, can you can you how good is Auburn gonna be? Can you go on the road and slip up and beat Auburn? I don't know. I I think it's highly unlikely, but that's what they're betting on. Because I think the only games you can guarantee are North Alabama, maybe. And I don't know if these are guarantees, guys. North Alabama and Tulsa. I don't know if you can guarantee Tulsa, right? So this could be a long season for Arkansas and in my opinion, ⁓ put some of these W's in front of these games that I'm just looking at going now, I I don't I don't think they have a chance. ⁓ but could Kendall Browles get enough going with this offense that Lenora Sellers can get comfortable and you can pull that talent back out of him after last year and get Nick Harbor going the right direction, get this offensive line healthy and get them flowing at a high pace, maybe I can see that turning South Carolina to a seven or eight win team. you know, Georgia getting them first opener on the road ⁓ will be interesting. Looking forward to it. But yeah, my my bet on Arkansas this year is don't bet on But I still don't think South Carolina is playoff ready. Like even on if all those things come to come to pass, I don't think they're a playoff team ⁓ like Shane Beamer Shane Beamer is is hoping. So that's it. ⁓ hope you guys enjoyed it tonight. We covered a lot of topics and we're continuing throughout the the summer to continue to preview all the SEC teams, first off that are playing Georgia, and then lastly, ⁓ we will get to all of them, including Georgia. ⁓ and then obviously once ⁓ You know, we get in closer to when ⁓ fall camp starts. We'll be highly covering that and involved with that. and ⁓ yeah, we're counting down the days. I think I saw a thing that yesterday ⁓ other day, that was ninety-two days. So we are I think we're either ninety or eighty nine days away from kickoff. And we're even closer to SEC media days as well as ⁓ ball camp and ⁓ and and man, I and I just can't can't wait, man. ⁓ if you haven't already done so, please make sure you go drop a like and follow. ⁓ we are on YouTube, Dogs Down South. ⁓ 24 hours later, Apple Podcast. We would appreciate your like and your follow over there. Go check us out over there. There's tons of episodes that we've already posted, including our 100th episode, ⁓ our inaugural 100th episode of Dogs Down South, which we're grateful for everyone who follows and who listens. So thank you so much. ⁓ and Also, like I said, if you haven't checked out episode 103 and 102 that started our summer series off, where we previewed ⁓ four other teams, but go check those out. ⁓ but yeah, we'll be we'll be hitting it the rest of the summer. Looking forward to it. I hope everybody continues to have a great summer. and until next time, as always on Dogs Down South, Go Dogs.