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Mac & Bone Show - Max Browne Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome back. Everybody's the Mack and Bone Show, WFNZ and
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the Queen City of Charlotte's. We gotta get We gotta
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: talk some ACC football here as we continue just counting
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: down the days until we get college football going. Got
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: a couple of big Week zero games we can talk
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  Speaker 1: about with teams here in our states in the ACC
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  Speaker 1: and our next guest, we're gonna be hearing a lot
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: of them and seeing a lot of him. He is
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: now the lead analyst on the ACC Network for this
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  Speaker 1: Saturday night primetime game. He and West Durham teamed up
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  Speaker 1: on Saturday nights. He is Max Brown, and he joins
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  Speaker 1: us here to talk some ACC football. Max, congrats on
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  Speaker 1: that prime time Saturday night gig man, how you doing.
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  Speaker 2: I'm good, I'm good. I'm fired up for the season
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  Speaker 2: to start. Honor to be sharing the booths with West
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  Speaker 2: this year and yet gearing up to the call before
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: the Storm Final a couple of weeks before we're head
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  Speaker 2: down for the next five months.
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  Speaker 1: It's gonna be awesome. Gonna be awesome. Now, I'll start
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: you off this way. We're hearing a lot of media thoughts.
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  Speaker 1: The coaches poll came out the other day, we're hearing
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  Speaker 1: a lot of the you know, projections that are out there.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Which ACC team Do you feel like Mike is not
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  Speaker 1: getting mentioned enough that you think could could surprise people
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  Speaker 1: with how good they'll be this year?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. I look at the two Bay Area schools, which
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  Speaker 2: they're the newcomers in the league, so they maybe not
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  Speaker 2: get the the eyeballs or the attentions of of of
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  Speaker 2: the average ACC football team. But when you're it reminds
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  Speaker 2: me the buzz that I hear behind the scenes, it
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  Speaker 2: reminds me of where Virginia was a year ago. And
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  Speaker 2: obviously we all know what happened with Virginia's eleven win season.
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  Speaker 2: And what I mean by that is just from a
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  Speaker 2: program investment standpoint, you know, stepping up to the plate
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  Speaker 2: and having a new degree of where they're at from
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  Speaker 2: an NIL commitment and resource commitment and the whole deal.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: And then I'm huge on Cows quarterback Jaron chiave Songo
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  Speaker 2: Pola Tele. I thought him his performance last year was
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  Speaker 2: the best true freshman quarterback play that I've seen since
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  Speaker 2: Caleb Williams whatever that was five six years ago. So
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  Speaker 2: he's special. He's a special talent and so I guess
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  Speaker 2: know if I'm ready to say one of those teams
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  Speaker 2: will contend for an ACC title, But I definitely think
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  Speaker 2: one of those teams will surprise their their their preseason ranking.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Max.
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  Speaker 3: One team that's not ranked, but they have their quarterback
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  Speaker 3: coming back, that's NC State and CJ. Bailey. What do
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  Speaker 3: you think the ceiling is for the pack year this year?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean with I mean c J. Bailey's ceiling,
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  Speaker 2: I think could be NFL first rounder. That's uh, that's
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  Speaker 2: where if he if he pieces all together, I think
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  Speaker 2: there's no reason that he can't be in that top
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  Speaker 2: end conversation and be, you know, the next great, the
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  Speaker 2: next great uh NC State quarterback. The concern I have
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  Speaker 2: is NCC just lost so much in the portal, and
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  Speaker 2: you know, for all these schools nationally that are you know,
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  Speaker 2: talking about what they gained in the portal, there's schools
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  Speaker 2: that are obviously on the other end of that, and
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  Speaker 2: NC State is that I will say though Dave Dorn,
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  Speaker 2: I mean he's established a culture there. They reload. They
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  Speaker 2: had similar concerns a year ago and they still met
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  Speaker 2: the moment. But I just I wonder where they're offensive
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: skilled players are at around CJ. Bailey. But anytime you
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  Speaker 2: got a premier quarterback, I think you got a shot.
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  Speaker 2: I'm intrigued to see what NC State does in the
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: secondary and defensively. They were decimated by injuries a year ago.
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  Speaker 2: Knock on wood. It's hard to think that that would
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  Speaker 2: happen two years in a row. But never count nc
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  Speaker 2: stay out expecting them to be, you know, in contention
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  Speaker 2: as we enter November. But in terms of whether or
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  Speaker 2: not they can actually win the conference, I think a
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  Speaker 2: lot of those depth concerns have to be answered.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: We're talking Max Brown. He is the new ant list
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  Speaker 1: on ACC network Saturday night primetime game and he's talking
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  Speaker 1: ACC football with us. Max. I've gotten to the point
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  Speaker 1: where I almost feel bad talking Tou tar Heel fans
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  Speaker 1: about their football program. There has been so much negativity
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  Speaker 1: and stuff, whether it's you know, away from the team
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  Speaker 1: with the Michael Lombardi situation. Now we have a health
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  Speaker 1: situation with Steve Belichick, and of course the first year
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  Speaker 1: last year in the struggles last year is there? I mean,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: are do you see as a football guy, reasons to
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  Speaker 1: believe that it could be a better year for Bill
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  Speaker 1: Belichick and company? This year or not really.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, the reasons to believe, at least from my perspective,
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  Speaker 2: is just the track record that Bill Belichick's had just
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: you know, but it obviously hasn't been in the in
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  Speaker 2: the in the college football ranks. I think they have
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  Speaker 2: a lot of work to do. I mean the take
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  Speaker 2: that I had last year was I thought year one
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  Speaker 2: was pivotal, not because you know, their jobs were on
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  Speaker 2: the line, but they had to take advantage of the
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  Speaker 2: momentum that the program had, you know, in September, in
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  Speaker 2: the whole off season, and they failed to do that,
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  Speaker 2: and so now the challenges they got to re spark momentum.
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  Speaker 2: And I think it's I think it's waiting to see mode.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, last year was a struggle for them. You know,
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  Speaker 2: they took so many guys the high school ranks recruiting
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  Speaker 2: wise last year. As we all know, that's tough, right
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  Speaker 2: because those guys need a year or two to get
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  Speaker 2: acclimated to college football. So how many of those guys
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: are ready to play right now? You know, That's a
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  Speaker 2: big question that I have. But I'm in wait and
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  Speaker 2: see mode. You know, I'm not going to sit here
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  Speaker 2: and kind of a guy that's got more Super Bowl
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  Speaker 2: rings and he can fit. On one hand, that being said,
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  Speaker 2: I don't think last year was pretty where it's it's
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  Speaker 2: very much proven mode in here too.
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  Speaker 3: How high up the list do you put Miami when
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: you're ranking the national title contenders?
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  Speaker 2: They got to be right up there, right, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I love what Oregon has out of the big ten.
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  Speaker 2: I think Indiana's going to be right back there with
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  Speaker 2: Josh Hoover at quarterback. And then the SEC I think
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  Speaker 2: will be a blood bath. But Georgia and Texas kind
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  Speaker 2: of being, you know, the tops the tops of the
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  Speaker 2: of the SEC, and I think you got to put
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Miami in that group for obvious reasons. They were there
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  Speaker 2: in that game a year ago. They reload, they go
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  Speaker 2: get Darien Mensa, who obviously had tons of success at
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: both Duke and Tulane, And that to me is not
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  Speaker 2: insignificant too. A quarterback that's already had success at two
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  Speaker 2: different stops. The confidence that I have and he's now
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  Speaker 2: going to have success that's the third up with better
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  Speaker 2: talent and better resources around them. I think that, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: if you stay is healthy, it's very confident in that.
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  Speaker 2: And you know what, Mario Christo Ball's done with the
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  Speaker 2: blueprint has building it up front first. That's how you
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  Speaker 2: that's how you turn it out year in and year out,
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  Speaker 2: where you're you're not worrying about, you know, building up
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  Speaker 2: the trenches again, as we all know, that's where it
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  Speaker 2: all starts. And so yes, Darien Mensa and Malakai Toni
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  Speaker 2: they're gonna get headlines. And I still think Malachai Tony
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  Speaker 2: has a lot of ceiling left to tap into into
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  Speaker 2: his game. But where my confidence in Miami comes from
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  Speaker 2: is the confidence that they're going to reload up front
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: because that's Crystal Ball's DNA and that's the that's the
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: recipe for winning games.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Hey Max, it was a rough week for Clemson. Uh
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  Speaker 1: out there nationally right they they got ranked twenty third,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: you know, which I guess would be good. But my god,
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  Speaker 1: the national media, anybody with a microphone or a or
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  Speaker 1: a uh you know, a column to write it seems
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  Speaker 1: like are pointing out, Oh, they're overrated. They're only there
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  Speaker 1: because their their name is Clemson. How do you feel
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: about Clemson, Like, do you think over the season they
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: can prove to be a rank you know, quality team
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  Speaker 1: or or do you have your questions about that.
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  Speaker 2: I have my questions, but I'm fascinated with Clemson because
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  Speaker 2: I could totally see a scenario where Clemson writes the ship,
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  Speaker 2: Christopher Zena ends up being a top signal caller in
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  Speaker 2: the ACC. And we're sitting in late November and being like,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: why were we reinventing the wheel? Like, look at what
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  Speaker 2: Clemson's done from a high school ranks standpoint. It's not
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: like they're they don't have talent or anything. And one
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  Speaker 2: of the big questions in the ACC right now is,
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  Speaker 2: all right, we talked about Miami at one who's that
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  Speaker 2: second school and most people are not saying Clemson. With
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  Speaker 2: that conversation, you get a lot of a lot of Louisville,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of SMU, and then Clemson. And my point is, well,
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  Speaker 2: wait a second. I know it was a struggle for
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  Speaker 2: Clemson a year ago, but again, it's still a guy,
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  Speaker 2: it's still a coach who's played or a coach at
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  Speaker 2: a national championship level. It's still a team with a
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  Speaker 2: lot of talent. It wouldn't surprise me if Clemson can
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  Speaker 2: get back there. Fascinated that they did not go into
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  Speaker 2: the portal to get a quarterback. I know Zena has
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: been there for a while. I know it's a big
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  Speaker 2: talking point within, you know, within the Clemson beat, But
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  Speaker 2: to me that signals, well, twofold one Dado is doubling
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  Speaker 2: down on his guns, which part of me kind of
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  Speaker 2: respects that. It's like, hey, we're going down with the
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: maybe the anti transfer portal ship like one way or another.
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  Speaker 2: On the flip side, it also tells me that's a
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  Speaker 2: guy that's been in the program for a very long time,
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  Speaker 2: and they're not just rolling out a quarterback just to
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  Speaker 2: roll out a quarterback. They stuck with him for a reason,
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  Speaker 2: and I imagine it's because he's done some good things
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  Speaker 2: on the practice field and he's just College football is
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  Speaker 2: loaded across the country with returning quarterbacks, so I'm fascinated
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  Speaker 2: by the guys that are not returning. Christopher Vizzina is
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  Speaker 2: one of them. Planning at a big time school with
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: a big time recruit coming to the high school. Just
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: very intrigued to see where his game nets out because
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: it'll obviously dictate the entire course of Clemson season.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: Of those teams were talking about that's a tier below Miami,
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: the SMU, Wouisville you're mentioningsen there. Do you do you
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: think Virginia Tech can get into that grouping in year
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: one under Franklin or is that gonna take a little
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  Speaker 3: bit of time.
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  Speaker 2: I'm probably a little bit more slow to roll than
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: other people on Virginia Tech. I've watched some of Ethan
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: Grunkmeyer a year ago. I thought the film versus Iowa
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: was was not great in one of his early actions,
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: and that was that was early action early on in
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: the season. He definitely progressed from there. But to me,
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: in terms of sheer quarterback play, you know, he's got
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: to take that next step for them to for them
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: to contend for an a SEC title. But hey, I
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: mean what Kamari Copeland, I saw him at Media Days.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: That dude, I don't even know how Taylor got to
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: shoot around him. And he's one of the one of
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: the better defensive line prospects that that I think will
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: be in the in the A C C. And just
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: what Franklin's done historically, you can never you can never
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: count those guys out. But I'm I still put them.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: You know, that next tier after the SMU probably Louisville
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: and Clemson because I'm still still in wait and see mode,
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: but excited for Virginia. I think the conference in college
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: football is better when they're playing at the level they
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: should play at, and it's only a matter of time
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: before James Franklin will get him there.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: He's Max Browned. Everybody watch him on the Saturday ACC
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Primetime games on ACC Network this fall. Thank you, Max,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: We appreciate it, Man, of course.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Thanks. All's appreciate you having me on.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: All right, Max, be good Man,