Building the Beast: Austin Simmons and C.J. Carr get their turn in the QB Corner

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1:59Go to study.com slash podcast and get 10 % off your first month. That's study.com slash podcast. Welcome to an all new episode of Building the Beast. I am your host, Dave Hellman. Really fun show for y 'all. Myself and Dane Brugler touched on everything. Some quarterback talk at the top. Got into the edge rusher class a little bit. previewed a loaded college football weekend and we're introducing a really exciting new segment we're calling the green room loaded show let's get right to it

2:41well dan i think this is a really fitting moment in the life cycle of the draft because i think it was right around this time last year when I said okay man we gotta we gotta put Arvel Reese to the side he's amazing but we need to talk about some other players and he was your guy in the 2026 draft and lo and behold as we record this he's coming off easily his biggest moment of his rookie year for the Giants a couple days ago I believe he made your quarter way through the season all rookie team, if I'm not mistaken. He did. And that just went up today on The Athletic. And I was kind of frightened the linebackers because there's that's been a really stacked position for rookies.

3:29Just when you talk about Rodriguez and Hill for Tennessee, he's racked up the tackles. I mean, and Sonny Stiles, what he's done for the commanders. I mean, so I think it's but what Arville Reese did on Sunday against the Cardinals was like, OK, yeah, this is he's he's the first team all rookie team. Now, I do expect that to maybe fluctuate as the year goes on just because there are so many talented linebackers in this class. And some positions are harder than others. But yeah, pretty cool look to just see quarter of the way through. Who's done well? Who hasn't? Who's lived up to expectations? So people can check that out on The Athletic.

4:04It is genuinely what I love the most about the draft process is if you stick with us, of course, you're going to learn about the Arvel Reese's of the world. I mean, everybody knows who Arvel Reese is by the time you get to the spring, but I just love learning about players. And I love the sense of satisfaction of one year later going, oh, wait, yeah, that guy. We talked about that guy. I love that guy. And it's happening all over the league. It happens every year. It is, it's the most fun way to familiarize yourself with the NFL is to just know who these guys are when they get to the league. So no matter who drafts them, you got a reason to be excited about how they do.

4:45So it was over the weekend in London, right? With Mr. Kelly McManus. I tweeted at you. I sat up in my seat when they said who was coming in. I was like, holy shit. They told me about this guy sometime in February, I think. Seventh round pick out of Rutgers. And he had a couple of nice shots down the field. That's why he got drafted. that's why he was in there is because he is not afraid to chuck it down the field and there was at least two completions that were two of the best deep balls you'll see over the weekend that's what we're here to do we're here to inform you not just about the arvel reeses of the world but the eighth and callian mcmanis's as well and we're gonna keep it pushing so i know we've been doing it a lot this year and i'm not going to apologize because there's a lot of quarterbacks worth talking about in this draft class that was one of the selling points for 2027 but the fun thing dane is the conversation is leading us in places we maybe didn't expect and that's why i want to do our quarterbacks corner at the top of this show with a name we've mentioned and a name i'm getting more and more excited about austin simmons had another really cool week dane how do we how do we feel about it austin simmons of missouri if you're not familiar we talked about him a few weeks ago he had a really nice game against Kansas.

6:07And we said, okay, that's cool, but that's Kansas. What are you going to do in the sec? What are you going to do against NFL caliber opponents? And I'll preface this by saying there are stronger tests yet to come. The, uh, Florida was bottom four in the sec and yards per game going into that game against Mizzou. I think, you know, Missouri still got to play Texas and Georgia this year. I think there are even bigger tests coming for Austin Simmons, but I wanted to check back in because we said, do it against a higher caliber of opponent. Florida certainly qualifies. And Austin Simmons, once again, looked like a guy we should be talking about.

6:47Yeah. I mean, I think, yeah, you set it up perfectly because every week it's like, okay, that interest level, it's, it's, it's a stock going up, up, up. And watching that Florida tape, he had seven, eight throws that were legitimately just really impressive. Second quarter showed anticipation on a sail route, just delivers before the receivers, out of his break, before he's looking. Just perfect. And he had to do it to fit it in between the coverage. The go-route touchdown that I'm sure a lot of people have seen was awesome. Later on, and I tweeted this clip, he works to his left, doesn't like it, works to the middle, finds that backside dig, throws a 25-yard pinpoint strike just as he's getting walloped in the pocket.

7:30So he's doing like, I think you see the arm. I guess the first thing that jumps out to you with Austin Simmons, piss missiles all over the tape, right? The release. I really love Tom Brady. I know. I'd heard that term a million times before Tom Brady, but him saying it on national TV has really launched it to another level in our lexicon. And I really appreciate him for that. He's brought it back and I love it. But that's the first thing you notice with Simmons, right? A former baseball player where you see the easy velocity, the RPMs when he fires the ball. But there's anticipation, too, to what he's doing.

8:05There are examples of him delivering accurately on the move, especially to his left because he's a lefty. So there's still plenty of things that he's working on. He's developing his timing, his touch. Some of the mental aspects of the position are still being worked on in real time here. And to your point, there's, you know, Missouri has A &M, I think this weekend at home, I believe. But then they have Texas, they have Georgia, Oklahoma. So there are plenty of tests that will pretty much determine if he's going to be a 2027 guy or a 2028 guy. He's still just 20 years old. He's a guy that reclassified, you know, like we've talked about before.

8:45So still young. but if he continues at this pace absolutely we'll be talking more and more about him as a legitimate 2027 uh type of prospect because there's just a lot to like about him in a weird way i was kind of encouraged to see that it looked harder against florida like you know he he struggled with the pressure they brought a little bit there were some errant throws i thought he bailed out of at least a couple clean pockets over the course of the game. But like, it's a progression, right? And it was cool to see him coping with that and learning from it. I guess if it just looked effortlessly easy, I guess that would be really encouraging in its own way.

9:26But I like seeing him grow and see new things and learn from that and make a better throw the next time after maybe putting too much on it or throwing it too early. My favorite throw was the rail route that he threw to Caden Lee. Holy crap, dude. He was Lee motioned into the backfield and then they sent him behind the quarterback and it started out looking like a swing and he carried it up into a rail and the nickelback followed him and did a pretty good job taking the throw away. And Austin Simmons just bent it around him like he bent it around the DB into Caden Lee's hands. it's like a 20 yard gain just a beautiful throw you can go find it if you pull up the highlights on social media his his I said it last time we talked about him his audacity and his willingness to do stuff like that it's really fun and the arm strength the anticipation he's got good accuracy for the most part like I said it wasn't perfect but for the most part really good this was this This was just a really encouraging day.

10:32And I'm excited that we get to keep following this instead of maybe backing off a little bit. Yeah, I think accuracy is definitely, like it's not, I wouldn't call it like the main strength of his yet because the ball placement needs to be a little bit better, but he's putting it on his guys. You know, they might have to adjust for it here and there, but I don't think accuracy is an issue by any means. I think it's more of a strength than a weakness so far. and so when you can unleash it like he can and still be accurate you you've got my attention I think that talking about his confidence is perfect because that's what part of what makes him so productive is now the game was at home wasn't in the swamp but still for him to play like he did with that type of confidence on Sunday or on Saturday against the Gators was awesome I cannot wait to see him all of a sudden Missouri is like okay this is must watch for this offense just to see how he can perform against some of the tests coming up.

11:28You said it, A &M is at home this weekend, but at Ole Miss and his old teammate, Trinidad Chambliss, in a little while. That's two weeks from now. And then Georgia's a road game as well. So we said it after the Kansas game. We're going to get plenty more opportunities to evaluate him in a lot more environments against tougher competition. I wonder if Lane might be just, hey, maybe I should have put the full court press on more to get Austin. You had to bring that up, huh? Well, hey, it's the way he's been playing. Because, yeah, with the quarterback transfer portal, it's like a game of dominoes.

12:11Like, okay, if this quarterback goes there, then this one's going there. But sometimes you can't wait. And Missouri was on it. They snatched up Austin Simmons, and by the time LSU was looking for, okay, okay, Chambliss is staying at Ole Miss, and so we have to go to this option, and hey, it still might very well work out with Levitt for the Tigers. But, man, Simmons would have looked good going to LSU in that offense. I asked around about that, and what I heard back was, I mean, remember, Ole Miss got to the college football semifinals last year, so they were playing well into January, and I think, I think Lane Kiffin was very interested in getting Trinidad Chambliss to LSU if he could.

12:52And when that fell apart, your options are kind of limited at that point. I think Austin Simmons was already committed to Missouri by the time LSU realized that wasn't going to happen. So you wind up with Sam Levitt, which it could work. But I know right now who I enjoy watching quarterback play more to this point in the season. So it stings a little bit if I'm being honest. That's fair. I want to stick it in quarterback corner. Another guy, which, okay, that's two games of Austin Simmons. This guy, we mentioned him before the season, but this is the first time we're really bringing him up in the flow of games.

13:29And that's CJ Carr at Notre Dame, who you wanted to talk about after their win against North Carolina. And Notre Dame should beat North Carolina, right? A clear difference in overall talent on those rosters. But it's still impressive when your young quarterback, accounts for five touchdowns going up against a Bill Belichick-led defense. CJ Carr was just locked in for this entire game. And it's how he's looked all season. But because this is really maybe their first real test against a real defense, it was more notable at this point. So there were back-to-back throws on his tape that were just outstanding.

14:08He had a 30-yard post where he starts to his right, which affects that middle field safety with his eyes, And then just he works back and layers a perfect ball to Jordan Faison right before his head hits the post. I mean, it was just a perfect throw and a perfect execution. And then I think the Irish must have got a turnover then because Carr gets it back at the 12-yard line. First play, slot fade to Jaden Greathouse, drops it in the bucket, really nice accuracy, but not too much loft. That way, you know, before the help can get there. The receiver made a nice play on it too. But credit to Carr because he, just the execution, the operation, it's very buttoned up.

14:55And that was a big reason why he was quarterback three for me entering the season was, okay, he does, the physical tools are good, but they're not great. But it's the way he operates. It's the way he executes. That's what's going to make you an NFL quarterback. Now we can debate the ceiling and all of that, because the tools aren't amazing, but they are certainly good enough. And to go up against a Belichick defense that's at least well-coached, if nothing else, and play like he did, I mean, that's exactly what you want to see, especially for a third-year guy, second-year, basically a one-and-a-half-year starter now.

15:33For him to go up against a defense like that and just have a day, and especially when the last month they haven't really played anybody as Purdue and Rice and Wisconsin. Sorry, Beller. But look, this is their first real test going up against a defense, and there will be more tests coming up, BYU, Miami. But to see him go out there and play like he did was certainly encouraging. I was going to say, how dare you write off Wisconsin's big win against Penn State? But then I remembered what happened to Penn State last weekend, and all of a sudden that doesn't look quite as impressive either. I couldn't get my hands on tape of this CJ Carr game, but I just went back and watched.

16:14I just rewatched the game to see what I could see. And through the first few minutes, I was like, okay, I wonder what Dane wants to talk about. I'm not really seeing anything that blows me away. And then I got to the post for the touchdown and I was like, okay, this is a good starting point. I mean, he had two or three like really impressive throws in this game. And I came away for a young guy. He's 21 years old. Last year was his first year. I thought he had nice touch and I thought he had a good understanding of when to throw the ball which type of way which is not always something you can count on from a young guy I wanted to ask you like athletically you just mentioned his tools athletically how how good of an athlete and like a mover do you think CJ Carr is because I couldn't help but notice and I get it he's he's a young guy.

17:08I understand that. But a lot of times I felt like I was watching a point guard play iso ball where he was just standing back there and waiting to put a move on somebody to open up a throwing lane or a running lane. And I just found myself thinking, is that something that I can count on working later? Because I'm not 100 % sure. What do you think? No, and I think that's fair. I think and with Simmons too, because Simmons, he's a good athlete, but not a great athlete where that's going to be maybe necessarily something he relies on. But in same thing with Carr, who can he can move around a little bit, but it's more of the quarterback operation that I think really impresses you more so than like just the quick decision making, the understanding, OK, the safety's here.

17:54So, OK, I've got man to man here and I know I can do that. It's just the way his mind works, the way he can break it down in real time, pre and post-snap and just it doesn't he doesn't look overwhelmed out there I think that's what draws you to CJ Carr more so than oh he's just he's a a big strong athlete who's going to run a fourth four and you know it's it's less of the physical tools it's just does he does he hit a certain bar does he reach a certain bar in those areas where okay he's good enough and I'll bet on the guy that as good enough traits physically, but mentally and the way he can execute, that's what is really going to sell me on this guy.

18:33And so, um, I, and that, that was the kind of the question mark coming in. And I still think that's part of his evaluation. It's still something that you want to see as we go through this year. It's also why he might be a 2028 guy and not a 2027 guy is as he continues to develop and get better in the, some of those areas. So yeah, I think, I think Carr is, he entered the year as QB3 for me. I mean, he's still kind of in that mix where there's no reason to drop him by any means. So it's just this quarterback fluctuation in the rankings. It's interesting as we get into October now, how it's going to continue to move around as we see these quarterbacks go up against some tougher opponents.

19:14The interesting thing for Carr is, at the risk of sounding like an SEC apologist, I mean, I don't think it's breaking news to say Notre Dame's schedule is not a gauntlet. And so, I mean, you got at BYU in a couple of weeks. That's definitely interesting. But for NFL evaluation purposes, we're circling the Miami game in bright red ink because that's the best test that he's going to get to give us a great idea of what he looks like against that caliber of opponent. No doubt, no doubt. And we've talked about it with Darian Mensah, you know just Miami not playing murderers row schedule especially in terms of the defense that's actually it's that's fair for both of them Darian Mensah and CJ Card who wants to look like an NFL quarterback in your best game on the schedule go yeah I mean what November 7th is I think that's what the Miami that is correct yeah so it's that's circled in red ink on the calendar hopefully both teams are relatively healthy by the time we get there but you know Notre Dame still has, they have to get past BYU before we get to that point as well.

20:20And BYU is a good team, arguably the best team in the Big 12. So yeah, definitely some bigger tests coming. What he did against North Carolina isn't, oh yeah, this is a top 10 pick. You know, CJ Carr type of performance. It was, okay, you're doing good things. You are doing what you need to do to stay on the radar of a potential first round quarterback. One last thing we wanted to mention. We did not have a show last week. I had a family emergency. Everything is fine, but we just didn't have a chance to talk about it. And so I wanted to bring this up. Oregon had a bye week after their big win at USC a couple weeks ago.

20:57Obviously, Dante Moore was knocked out of that game by a really brutal hit. He suffered a concussion. He was in the protocol. Dan Lanning said this week that he was back at practice. We're recording this on Tuesday. I have no idea what that means for his availability. It's at least encouraging to hear that he's practicing, though, because that was a really nasty situation for Dante Moore in that game. Yeah, I mean, it's good that, yeah, he's in pads, he's in a helmet, he's throwing the football. My guess would be they're going to be pretty conservative about, you know, just bringing him back onto the field.

21:34So I won't be surprised if he sits another week, but it's just good to hear that he's progressing, and hopefully it's not too long before we see him back out there. Oregon's in good shape in terms of their backup situation with Raiola. UCLA, that's going to be a tough game for them. I'm not saying it won't be, but at least they're better suited than other programs in terms of their backup ready to go. UCLA is a tough-looking opponent, but my goodness, Dylan Raiola looked like the guy that we heard about coming out of high school you know, pre-Nebraska, just a phenomenal performance for him stepping in when more went down.

22:15No question. And I think we've – he was – coming out of high school, he was a five-star, right? He comes to Nebraska, and he's doing some fun things as a freshman. And it's like – I mean, I was guilty of it, you know, saying, look, this guy's going to be a future top pick. But then, okay, he regressed a little as a sophomore, Moore didn't really live up to what many expected, made the surprising decision to go to Oregon, knowing that Dante Moore, if he returned to school, was going to be the starter. But, you know, he's getting his chance. And credit to him, he played well when he was pushing action against USC.

22:56And if he gets to start this weekend against UCLA, Oregon, there's not a gigantic drop-off. And I think that's something that a lot of college teams struggle with, because if you have a good backup, chances are he's getting paid to go somewhere else to be a starter. So a lot of programs just don't have that backup ready to go. Oregon's one of the few exceptions. And Raiola, I don't think that this is necessarily going to push him to the 2027 draft. I think he still plans on being in Eugene next year, barring something else happening with Dante Moore this year that keeps him off the field. but I think it's just it's good for him to go out there and say hey don't forget about me you know like that I can do some good things too there's no right way to do this I'm not casting aspersions or being critical but Oregon is a a bright example of how it can be a good thing to sit in a stable environment I mean we saw it with Dante Moore last year Dylan Raiola early very early but like a good first impression in that situation.

23:58We'll see what it looks like. But I'm impressed by that, the way that like Oregon A not only is able to convince guys to come and take a back seat for a minute, but it can really work in your favor if that's the way you decide to do it, at least, you know, with that infrastructure that they have in Eugene. Okay, that is all of our quarterback talk. We're going to talk some edge rushers right after a quick break. Football season has arrived. And with the U.S. Bank Smartly Visa Signature Card, you earn an unlimited 2 % cash back on every purchase, including at the stadium or at home watching on a brand new TV.

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27:06All right, Dan, let's get into another topic we wanted to hit last week. Still very pertinent right now. And that's some of the big names in this edge rusher class. We wanted to talk about a few under the radar guys, check in on a few guys who are excelling and starring at their position. But I do think this conversation needs to start with the Dylan Stewart situation, which, like I said, it's it happened a couple of weeks ago and we didn't have a show, but it is still very topical. We just heard on social media, Pete Thamel said Dylan Stewart at South Carolina is back at practice. That presents a bit of an interesting situation.

27:44So to catch you up, Dylan Stewart had a tough, tough day against Alabama two weeks ago. Threw some punches at opposing players. Very frustrating lopsided loss for South Carolina. Talked back to some coaches. Generally looked very uncoachable in the moment. And SEC suspended him for a game. So unavailable for last week's loss to Kentucky. But on top of that, Shane Beamer suspended him indefinitely. So the SEC suspension for Dylan Stewart for throwing punches and disorderly conduct, that's over with. Now we wait to see if Dylan Stewart, who is arguably the best edge rushing prospect in this class, is going to be invited back to the South Carolina program.

28:30I'm guessing the fact that he's practicing this week means he will eventually come back. But what's the timeline look like, I guess, is the question. Yeah, it's a good first step, I guess, for him to get back on the field and repair his draft stock. Now, obviously, whenever you talk about a player with quote unquote character questions, I think it's important not to paint with a broad brush, right? Everyone's got their own things going on. There's different motivations behind each. There's different things going on in each individual life that will affect things on the football field. And with Dylan Stewart, he had the back injury last year, was sidelined for much of the offseason.

29:18He didn't play in the first few games and then came back two weeks ago on a pitch count. I think he had 14 snaps. Looked good. played well against Mississippi State on those 14 snaps. And then, so it felt like he was progressing and that's exactly what you wanted to see from him. And then last week against Alabama was when everything fell apart and he was not with the team last week. And so you didn't know what was going on with Stewart and his future. Would he just leave the program altogether? Would he look to transfer somewhere? Would he just start preparing for the NFL draft? But the fact that he's back at practice, Now, we don't know what this means for this weekend's game against Florida or the weeks after that, but at least it's a good step that he's back on the field.

30:05I think that talent-wise, because I say this a lot with prospects, but if the tape was all that mattered, NFL scouts, they'd have a much easier job because the tape, the traits, okay, Dylan Stewart's a top 10 pick. but when you focus on what happened against Alabama and how that all transpired, the medicals as well, factor all of that in and it becomes a much more complicated conversation that we don't have all the information right now to really say, oh, well, he's definitely this or he's going to fall or it won't matter, whatever. But, you know, like I said, every prospect's different. Every character situation's different.

30:46So we'll have to see how this plays out here the next few weeks and months as hopefully he can get back in the good graces of that coaching staff and that team. And, I mean, South Carolina's got a tough situation where who knows if that coaching staff is even going to last the next few weeks. So there's just a lot going on with that program and their star pass rusher. It's an interesting place to be because as far as I'm aware, and if you know more than me, please correct me, like, this Dylan Stewart conversation, there's There's nothing like criminal at the very least off field that contributes to this.

31:23Am I am I off base with that? Right. And I think it's because, yeah, every character situation is different. Like I said, so like with Jalen Carter, when he was coming out of Georgia, like there were things that happened with not criminally, but with. Yeah, criminally, I guess he was charged or he was arrested, but based off of what happened off the field. So like that, there was that going on. And then you have other prospects like, what's another good situation trying to think? Oh, James Pierce, you know, coming out a couple years ago where it wasn't necessarily things that were in black and white, like, okay, this is what he did off the field.

32:07it was more like, okay, questions about makeup, questions about reliability. And then once he did get to the NFL, that's where, okay, now we have some, you know, got more serious with what happened. But the Falcons still took him in the first round. Jalen Carter was still a top 10 pick. So each one's a little bit different. And obviously the more talent you have, the more leeway there will be in terms of how many chances you're going to get and how early teams will be willing to draft you. And so, again, with Dylan Stewart, We just don't have enough information yet about everything to say for sure that, oh, yeah, he'll still be a top 10 pick or, yeah, he's going to definitely fall a little bit.

32:45I just imagine it's a situation where the truth can be in the eye of the beholder because I know like people are in such a rush to blame NIL and like the money that these guys make now creates entitlement. And that's why you don't listen to your coaches. Like, first of all, you have no idea how accurate that is. Second of all, to your point, if this is one of the best players in college football, and this is a South Carolina team that has had way more than its share of heartbreak to this point in the season, and the coaching staff looks like it might be on its last legs. considering the talent at hand, I can easily imagine a lot of conflicting opinions about what this looks like.

33:27And yeah, the truth of the matter is I think it's going to take work on the part of NFL teams to drill down and say, is this a passionate, talented guy stuck in a bad situation or is there more here that we need to be concerned about? I guess for our part, I am encouraged that this isn't the end of the story. I wouldn't, I actually, I was texting somebody the other day and I was like what do you do if Dylan Stewart has 14 snaps to go on heading into this draft cycle and he decides to come out and I essentially got back a shrug and so yeah I think NFL teams are probably just hoping this can play out a little bit longer a so you have more tape of him playing football and b to get a better handle on what this situation really is yeah and after this all went down, I reached out to a handful of scouts and I, you know, they kind of said a lot of the same things where it's, um, like one said that they, he didn't think it was the first strike.

34:26Like usually this is something that is brewing, right. Where it's not like everything was perfect. And then one day this happens. So what, what does that look like? How, how far do we need to dig to get to the bottom of it? Um, is this a, was it a situation where the coaching staff was just kind of tired of him and whatever, and it just all exploded? Is there something deeper? Again, yeah, there's a lot we have to figure out. But hopefully he can just get back on the field, play football, and hopefully he's getting the right advice behind the scenes. Just his advisors, his family, they're, you know, helping him go in the right direction to get things back on track.

35:08Because, again, really good player that you want to see it work out for him. something to keep an eye on heading into this weekend, whether he gets back in time for this game against Florida, or even if he doesn't at least have an opportunity. I mean, we're only just now reaching the halfway point, plenty of opportunity for him to play. Hopefully that works out for him. We did want to hit on a couple other edge rushers that are catching our eye over the course of the season. We got three or four names, Dane. I'm just, it's, I'm going to give you the choice. Where do you want to start? um what name is the hardest to say say start with that one I uh okay well if you're asking me that then I think we got to start with our Florida guy which is one of the coolest stories I've heard in a long time Emmanuel Oye Badejo I think is how you say it that's pretty good yeah I think I think you nailed it it's I and you nailed it in terms of this is one of the cooler stories just in college football in the draft process.

36:08Honestly, this is my favorite part of doing this, is just learning about these guys and all these different paths. He's from Manchester. He's from England. Grew up playing soccer, basketball. Never touched a football until he was 19 years old. He was going to school for pre-med. A coach found him and kind of introduced him to football. They put a highlight package together. Makes it all the way to Alabama, where Jacksonville State, rich rodriguez gives him a chance in 2024 and then this past season uh goes into the portal and i think every sec team wanted him uh he goes to florida mostly due to the coaching staff and gerald chapman's a really good defensive tackle coach defensive line coach um and he's just so unique because he's his build his god-given athleticism um is he unique because he's 6 '6 300 and moves much faster than that suggests is that is that what you're getting at and it's not an exaggeration because the verifieds on him from the spring from a scout 6 '6 and an eighth 298 pounds 35 three-eighths inch arms uh and he's gonna test really really well like i i bet at least a 4 '7 in the in the 40 at 300 pounds like it's just a really freaky guy and on tape he or on paper he's a defensive tackle right just when you look at the measurements but then you watch him on tape and he's mostly an edge rusher and he doesn't look out of place with because of just his natural gifts.

37:38It's really interesting to watch him work. I think that he has the athleticism to eventually become a two-way rusher, but you see the inexperience in terms of setting up his moves and working in different ways to beat the blocker. But it just feels like, I probably regret saying this, but it feels like there's almost too much talent here for him to fail and I just assuming he continues to work which all the feedback I've gotten it does he's a go-getter like it's it's assuming that he will continue to put his best foot forward is as long as he continues to work and learn he's going to get more explosive in terms of shedding blocks he's going to be more uh efficient unleashing a rip move or a club move so I think there's enough splashes on tape where you see the development and you feel like, okay, this guy's going to stick.

38:31I'm not sure about what the ceiling looks like, but there's too much talent for him not to make it at the next level. I mean, it's for somebody else to figure out where he gets drafted. But yeah, like I'm comfortable taking a chance on this caliber of talent. I mean, you talk about where, right? Like, yeah, sure. But how early do you have to do it? I don't know. but after a certain point, I get exceedingly comfortable. And like I said, I'm not trying to project around in October, but just go watch him, like go watch him against Missouri. Yeah, like he bends that corner pretty good for a guy listed at 6 '6", 300.

39:09And I mentioned Austin Simmons was dealing with pressure a little bit and you could tell that he felt it. Well, that's probably why he hit the shit out of Austin Simmons and almost forced an interception. and he he's been he's been very fun to watch and like you know florida opened the year with a couple games against you know directional university so i didn't know what to make of it but he produced against auburn he produced against missouri so similar to austin simmons like we're just checking boxes here like all right are you going to keep producing against not like like decent to good football teams because i'm i'm pretty interested in that the nfl drafts traits It's plain and simple.

39:49If the draft was tomorrow, I feel comfortable saying he'd be a day two pick. And it just because, again, there's just things that he can do that you can't coach. And as long as he is coachable, which, again, all signs point to him being more towards that. Like, you just never know with a guy that's been playing the sport for only a couple of years and he didn't grow up dreaming in the NFL and sleeping with a pillow under or a ball under his pillow. So like, you know, like he's very new to the sport. And so you have to make sure that he loves it and he's going to do everything he can to get there.

40:23But as long as he checks those boxes, yeah, he's going to be a day two pick. I'm glad you said day two because, yeah, like based on what we've talked about, maybe round one right now, not to say he couldn't get there. But right now that feels scary. But like eight months from now, yeah, top one. But even like a top 100 pick on a guy who looks and moves like that. Okay. That's not that hard to talk me into at all. Florida between him and Caleb Banks, Florida's the runaway leader for where do you find these guys? Which in this case, I guess the answer is England. All right, let's move on to a guy that I wanted to talk to you about.

41:00A guy that he was firmly on the radar heading into the season, but he's playing up to that billing. Bubakar Traore, another Notre Dame guy. Fantastic start to the season. And I was able to watch him against Michigan State, but he made at least a couple big splash plays against North Carolina as well, right? Yeah, he did. And Purdue was really good. He doesn't have that overwhelming size. I don't have the verifieds, but he's listed at 6 '5", 250, which feels a little generous. But he's just so active. He's a gnat at a barbecue. Just the way he can win with speed, he can convert speed to power. He's a really good space athlete.

41:43And so you get him out in space and he will more than hold his own. He was already in my preseason top 50 and he's only helped himself. And then you have Bryce Young on the other side. The NFL is about to have two Bryce Youngs. This one from the Irish is the son of Hall of Famer Bryant Young, the big defensive tackle. He can play. And so I think on paper, this weekend's game, Notre Dame, Stanford, it's probably going to be an Irish win. not something that you're going to really make a point to watch. But Stanford has one of the best left tackles in college football, Nicky Prongos. So I'm eager to check this one out.

42:18Prongos is another fascinating story. He only played a few games of high school football, walked on at UCLA, really developed his game, developed his body. Now he's, like I said, one of the best offensive tackles in college football. Came back from an injury last week and was playing at a high level. So definitely eager to see that matchup when these two teams meet on Saturday. The thing that stood out to me about Traore is he just he seems like a really strong, powerful guy. And he also seems to have a plan. Like I know he had a nasty spin move against Michigan State that it caught a lot of people's attention.

42:55But he also, you know, swim moves. He's good at getting guys hands off of them. So hearing that he'll have like an NFL caliber test against Stanford, or at least we hope, depending on how Notre Dame wants to play it. That gets me intrigued. One more guy I wanted to hit, Kenyatta Jackson. Now a guy that's near and dear to your heart over at Ohio State. Yeah, I think he's a guy almost like Arville Reese last year where he's not, I don't think he's necessarily going to blow up the box score, but in different positions obviously than Arville Reese. but you watch the tape and the way Matt Patricia uses him.

43:37It's like, okay, one snap, he's at the four-eye, he's stuffing the run. The next, he's rushing from outside alignment as a six or a seven, and he's able to work the edge. The next, throwing the Iowa tape, he's dropping into space, and he looks clean in that pedal and drive and doing stuff in the flat. So I just think there's a lot. When you have a guy that has that type of body, 6 '5", 265, 35, 34-inch arms, looks like an NFL player, and you can line him up and down the line of scrimmage, that's just somebody that's going to make it. He's another guy that I don't know how high he's going to go.

44:15He won't go top 10 like Arvell Reese, but he's at least knocking on the door of being a first-round pick because every team is looking for defensive linemen that look like him, play like him, and give you that position flex. Set the tone right off the bat in that win against Iowa with the strip sack. And I know he tossed aside a tight end on the play. It wasn't any spectacular win, but, I mean, just got after Iowa from the word go. Yeah, and I think if his arms are 32 inches, not 34, maybe he doesn't get the strip sack. You're right. And length matters. And when you're that big and the motor that he showed on that play, because he never gave up.

44:54He worked off the tight end and then had to go all the way to his right, close to the numbers, that's where he got the strip sack. That is how you start a football game. And that's why he came back. You don't see a lot of fifth-year seniors, at least guys that have a chance to be first-round picks in college football. Usually those guys are three and out, four and out. But he came back to be a captain and to really take his game to the next level. And I think he's done a nice job of achieving what he came back to do so far. A couple edge rushers worth knowing. There's a bit I want y 'all to know about when we come back from this break.

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48:39Dane, I really love this concept we came up with. because a tricky thing about doing this show is knowing when to shut the hell up about a guy. And I joked about it with Arvel Reese at the top of this show where we could have talked about what Arvel Reese did every week for the entire season. But after a certain point, you're just like, what do you want me to say? The guy is good. The guy is going to get drafted highly. Do we need to relive every play that he makes? And if you didn't pay attention to college football last weekend or really this entire year, that's absolutely where we are with jeremiah smith and it i mean it has been forever but we are officially coming up with a concept to help us deal with these sorts of players we're calling it the green room the nfl invites a couple dozen players to the green room at the nfl draft every year the guys that they feel good enough about to say hey come hang out behind the stage and wait for Roger Goodell to call your name.

49:38So we get the cool moment. That's how confident we are. You're going to be a first round pick. Well, that's what we're doing here at building the beast. We are introducing a green room where once you're in, we don't have a whole lot else to say. And in light of that, I think Jeremiah Smith, obviously is the name we need to start with because after an 11 catch 200 yard, two touchdown day against Iowa. I mean, we could have given him the invite in August if we wanted to, but we are officially... Of his freshman year. Of his freshman year, seriously. We are officially... Two years is a long time to sit in the green room, though.

50:15Like, I don't know, but here in early October, Jeremiah Smith, we are inviting you to the Building the Beast green room. We don't have any more questions, man. Yeah, and I love this concept. This is going to be a lot of fun. You know, we're paying homage to what you guys do on the athletic football show with, you know, bringing, inviting teams to the table in terms of playoff teams. And like, it just, this is going to be - This is our first round pick table. Right, yeah. This is going to be, it should be exclusive, right? It shouldn't, we're not just going to invite 10 guys right off the bat. This is someone that I want to, we want to make sure we're 100 % confident, absolutely first round pick.

50:57So there's no better place to start than Jeremiah Smith, where I'm to the point with him where he might be hyperbole proof, where you want to say he's the best college player you've ever seen? All right. There's at least a case for that. I'm not going to argue with you. You want to say he's the best Ohio State prospect you've ever seen? Okay. I have no problem with that. There's at least a case. I had a big grade on Nick Bosa. Go back to Orlando Pace. But there's at least a case that Jeremiah Smith could be that. So you run out of things to talk about with him, but he makes sense to be that inaugural invite to the green room.

51:36You know what Jeremiah Smith's stat line is today? On the season? Yeah. I know he leads the country in every category, so it's like, what, 44 for 8, 50, and 9? Something like that? You're off by 25 yards, but yeah, 44 for 8, 23, and 9. Yeah, not bad. He could theoretically— Yeah, we're not even at the midpoint of the season. He could theoretically, if he goes off against Maryland, which feels entirely possible, he could be sitting on 1 ,000 yards at the midpoint of the season. Okay, I whiffed on this because before the season, I really thought he had no shot at the Heisman or maybe even the Bolitnikov because certainly teams were not going to be dumb enough to single cover him.

52:22Like, you triple cover him if that's what it takes. Whatever you have to do. They're doing that. It just doesn't matter. Yeah, sometimes they are. But it also Illinois' defensive coordinator two weeks ago said, all right, I quit. I'm done. This is I want no part of this. But like, yes, there are examples of where they there is double coverage, even triple coverage. But it is really bizarre to see when he is single coverage. And if you're Julian saying like that's the read, if you see that it's single coverage out there. OK, snap the ball and you're going to go make a play. And that's pretty much the read, which makes it easy on the quarterback.

52:58He had a bunch of, yeah, and he gets single covered. He had a bunch of huge plays against Iowa. The one that really stood out to me, he had an 18-yard gain at the sideline on a little corner route. And like Iowa's safety was on top of the play. Like he was bracketed to hell and back. And I mean, credit to Julian saying it was a really nice throw, but Jeremiah Smith just took it from two players. What would you say were his stats right now? 44 for 8, 23 and 9. OK, Cardinal Tate, all of last year, 51, 8, 75, 9. Like he's almost passing what Cardinal Tate did all of last year, which is crazy. I know like stats are not an indicator of NFL success, but these I mean, these are just goofy numbers.

53:43I can't do that in my dynasty on NCAA football. Yeah, that's crazy. from here on out if if you don't think we're talking about jeremiah smith enough it's because he's already in the green room he's just chilling he's got his agent on the phone he's just waiting to hear who's calling him all right you did say you wanted it to be exclusive but we did settle we settled on one more name to add right now and we can add to it as we go but as of right now the other name that we are comfortable putting here one more notre dame guy it's a theme for the show Leonard Moore, the cornerback, I don't think anybody's surprised to hear this either.

54:20Yeah, I don't think so. I mean, I think he just, he combines so much of what you want at the position. Length, I won't say size because he is a little bit leaner than ideal, but he has length. He's tall. He has speed. He has the mental component of what you want at the position. He has production too. His first two years at Notre Dame, he combined for 25 passes defended and seven interceptions. So he's, you know, checking those boxes as well. There's just, there's so much to like about him that it's not going to be a hard sell to give him an invite to the green room. Ironically, UNC was his worst game of the year, but it's the first time in five weeks he's given up more than 16 receiving yards.

55:04And he also suffered a concussion, which, so we'll see what his availability is. He's in protocol right now. I don't know if he's going to play against Stanford, But if your worst day of the year is giving up 50 yards in a rainstorm at UNC, and by the way, he still had two or three really sick plays in that game. Like, he had a play where he got a PBU on a slant where he just, like, he gained ground back on the guy. The way he closed over the middle of the field. Well, in the first play of the game, he gave up a catch. There's not a corner in America that was going to. It was just a perfect throw where the receiver had to dive for it.

55:47Like, there's just no defending that. So, yeah, it was for that to be his worst game of the season says a lot about how well he plays. I should say, yeah, worst game of the season is firmly in air quotes like Leonard Morris. Yes, yes. You're in the green room. OK, so I'll I'll be very I'll be very self-aware here because we pitched this last week before we knew we weren't going to have a show. And I was ready. Like I had, I had Jaden Baugh written down on the ticket. I was like, Jaden Baugh, here's your ticket to the green room. I'm ready. And now that we didn't have a show and I saw him run the ball 12 times for 13 yards against Mizzou.

56:28I still feel good about Jaden Baugh, but I'm, I'm going to hold on to that invite for at least one more week. Like, I don't think we need to put him in the green room just yet after that game in Columbia. I'm fine with that. I mean, I think Baugh is a first round player. but I support your decision, too. There's no need to rush it. Jaden Baugh will have plenty more good games. I'm fighting against my instincts, because you know I love to just fall in love with a guy in the span of about 10 days, and so I'm fighting my instincts here, although Jaden Baugh texted John Summerall this week to apologize for not being better, and that got me really excited, too, where I was like, okay, we might get pissed off Jaden Baugh here over the next couple of weeks.

57:13Poor South Carolina. They can't catch a break. He might get invited next week, but we'll see. So he's next on my radar for this honor. Is there anybody else for you? I mean, there's plenty of guys that we're confident are going to be first-round picks, but if we're trying to set it in stone, who's on your radar? I think two guys at Texas that maybe could solidify it this weekend in the Red River shootout against Oklahoma. Colin Simmons, pass rusher, who two weeks ago had a ridiculous day against Tennessee with five sacks. Now, some of those sacks were very generous when you're playing a freshman quarterback.

57:53Some of it was a little fake. Some of it was an 18-year-old quarterback running into his arms. But, I mean, still a phenomenal day. Right. But I think that Simmons and then Cam Coleman at receiver would be the two guys maybe next up for potential invites that we could be talking about the next few weeks. I guess it's worth saying, too, when we talked about Dylan Stewart, I mean, Colin Simmons obviously had the gaffe where he peed on the quarterback in the middle of the Tennessee game. Obviously, an incredibly stupid thing to do. I don't know. Well, I was going to say I trust Texas to rectify it, But Texas keeps having these gaffes.

58:36Hopefully, hopefully the week off helped them out in that regard. But I'm not down on Colin Simmons abilities at all, as long as he reigns in the celebrations a little bit. Yeah, I mean, it'll be a talking point for a little bit with Simmons, but not something that's going to be an anchor for as long as he, you know, learns from it and doesn't do stupid things again. So that's that's it for the green room. I'm excited to see where this goes. I can't wait for the day where Dane logs on and says, we're putting somebody in the green room. Because like I said, I'm the one that's prone to get carried away.

59:14So I'm ready for the day where Dane is like, nah, we're doing this. But in the spirit of the, okay, so you mentioned Texas having a big game. Before we get out of here, let's quickly go over what looks like a much better weekend in college football. I mentioned Texas, but we can't start there as much as we might like to because Red River is a lot of fun. You got to start with Georgia, Alabama. Once again, 5-0, 5-0, number two versus number six, easily the headliner of a big weekend. Yeah, and there's so many places where you could start in terms of the matchup you want to see within this matchup.

59:53Whether it's, you know, I think, well, for me, I think it's the Alabama receivers against that Georgia secondary. Like, I want to see Ryan Coleman-Williams go up against Ellis Robinson at corner, who's one of the top corners in the nation. K.J. Bolden at safety. What can he do working downhill against receivers and against in the run game to stop? Because when that Texas run game, or excuse me, when that Alabama run game is not going and you forced and you put pressure on the quarterback, that's what I want to see to, can Alabama overcome that? And Russell's been awesome. 2028. I do want to say, so we gushed about Kamario Taylor enough that we should say officially, Keelan Russell, we see you.

1:00:41We appreciate you. We are very excited. He's not draft eligible, but what a performance against Mississippi State. I can't wait to see how he follows it up against Georgia. Incredibly fun player. I mean, he's him and Jeremiah Smith have to be the Heisman favorites, I would think at this point. Now that could change in a week. You know, Georgia shuts him down. He's still like you said, he's a young player, but he was a five star, all everything coming out of Texas. and it's coming together for him, both with his arm, with his legs. And so I just eager to see what it looks like against Georgia. But I also want to give credit to Gunnar Stockton on the other side for Georgia.

1:01:22I was not, I'm not a big Gunnar Stockton fan in terms of him as a prospect. And now Georgia has not played the hardest schedule up to this point, but 76 % completions, 13 to one touchdown or reception ratio. He is looking a lot more like a real quarterback back there. And so if he can keep that going against Alabama, then all of a sudden we need to have more of a conversation about what Stockton can be. Alabama's edge rushers, Yonsei Pierre is a guy, we didn't mention him earlier in the show, but an edge you absolutely shouldn't be familiar with. He'll be going against Georgia. And then Devin Tompkins, I've been really impressed with what I've seen from him with Bama.

1:02:05He was phenomenal against Kentucky a few weeks ago. So big matchup there. We mentioned UCLA at Oregon already from the Dante Moore side of things, but you mentioned to me UCLA's got at least a couple of guys that we should be aware of. Obviously, if you don't remember, Nico Iamaleava is the quarterback there, and he's off to a pretty nice start. Anybody else on UCLA we need to be familiar with? uh quite a few guys actually which is it's fun to watch ucla again uh which is really cool um but i'll i'll stick it with uh two transfers for the bruins this year uh that have really boosted their draft stock uh wayne knight the running back who followed bob chesney from james madison 9.1 yards per carry that's second best in college football nine rushing touchdowns also second in college football.

1:02:58He's kind of like another former UCLA running back, MJD, because he's short. He'll literally be about 5 '7", probably under at the combine, but he's not small. He's got some thickness to him, and he's patient. He's got shifty feet. He's a hard guy to tackle and get on the ground. Then on defense, Sammy Omisogo, I think that's how you say it, linebacker, transfer from Oklahoma. He's really blossoming as a senior. He was a rotational player with the Sooners. Now with the Bruins, he is really coming into his own. He leads the team with 40 tackles, seven and a half tackles for loss, four forced fumbles all in the first four games.

1:03:36So he's blossoming at the right time for NFL scouts. We mentioned Texas OU, plenty of other guys to watch in this game. I don't think we brought up, we've brought up the tackles before, Gooseby and Siani for Texas. This is not an ultimatum, but I'm ready to see Arch do something really kick-ass. I'm ready for like an Arch game that makes me point at the screen. We made it an hour into the show without mentioning Arch. That's a good step, right? That's growth. And it's appropriate, but I think to your point, yeah, this is where, okay, Arch has to turn it on. He has to be more than a caretaker, has to be more than someone that turns it on late like he did against Ohio State.

1:04:24And he's going up against Oklahoma has not been a good team this year, but they have a good defense. They rank fifth in all of college football in total defense this year. So if Arch is able to have success and be productive against the Sooners and Brent Venable's crew, that will say something. So this will be a big game for him. Indiana's at Nebraska this weekend. Easily the biggest test of Indiana's season on the road against an undefeated Nebraska team. Charlie Becker, Nick Marsh. Interested to see how they deal with that. And then the other one I wanted to bring up, and I'm not doing this for me because I'm terrified, Dane.

1:05:03LSU's on the road at Kentucky. We've talked plenty about LSU's guys, but this is a better Kentucky team than I think. the average person would think and like they have i mean they have at least a couple of real deal guys to to be on the watch for yeah i mean you ask an average college football fan to name as many kentucky players as they can i don't maybe they get to one or two but they've got legit talent on this team and um lance hurd a left tackle is a lot of fun he's a former louisiana or he's a former LSU five-star. He was the top recruit in Brian Kelly's either first class or second class.

1:05:46Correct. And he lasted one year, and I think a big part of it was NIL-related, and he was blocked by Will Campbell, who was his high school teammate, by the way. Can you imagine? And I went back and I watched some of the high school highlights of Will Campbell at left tackle, Hurd at right tackle. I mean, good luck. Some of the opponents they had, they had no chance. But he was blocked by Campbell at left tackle, Emory Jones at right tackle. So he goes to the portal, goes to Tennessee the last two years, starts at left tackle both years, and did a fine job. I think coming into this year, I had a third-round grade on him.

1:06:22There's a lot of sloppiness to his game, but you could see the talent. You could see why he was a five-star guy. For Kentucky this year, he's playing much better. He is taking his game and playing with more consistency, which is great to see. He's the meanest run blocker in college football. I feel confident saying that. But he also has tools where he's got size, he's got length. Oh, and I need to, I mean, he's a big guy, but take a guess what his arm length is. Jesus, I don't know, 30, 34 and 7 eighths. Yeah, you're close. It's 36 and a quarter. And that's verified. That's verified. Wonderful.

1:07:01He will probably have the longest arms in this draft. And when you combine that with the anti Will Campbell, if you will, pretty much. Yeah. In terms of the length, at least. Yeah. But the way he moves, the way that the mentality that he plays with. Yeah, he is somebody that I can't wait to see him in this matchup go up against a undersized, quicker pass rusher like Princewell Uman Mielin, who I think is eight sacks, which leads all of college football right now. So that'll be a fun matchup to watch in LSU-Kentucky. The other guys know Slouch. Jordan Ross is playing pretty well for LSU too. But if you need a left tackle, watch this game.

1:07:45Lance Hurd and Jordan Seaton, I have a feeling our names will be talking about in the spring. One more player to watch in this game for Kentucky is Rodriguez, the tight end. He is a lot of fun. He's a really good tight end in a class that, depending on which underclassmen come out, could be a pretty good tight end group. And he's one of the guys near the top of the list. I embrace for the possibility that LSU loses to a basketball school on Saturday night. I'm really impressed by the job Will Stein has done there at Kentucky so far this year. But win or lose, we will address that next week. Really fun being back with you, Dane.

1:08:23Really great show. Appreciate you. Appreciate y 'all for listening. Enjoy the college football. We will chat with y 'all next time. Thanks for tuning in. Make sure to hit that subscribe or follow button so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed what you heard, please like, comment, and leave a rating. We'll see you next time.

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