Building the Beast: First 2025 impressions of the draft-eligible quarterbacks

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1:12Welcome to the second episode of Building the Beast. And guess what? We got football to talk about. We already previewed the show. You know what we're here to do. Every week, Dane Brugler and myself are breaking down this year's college football season in regard to the 2026 NFL draft. We are trying to build the beast, Dane's wonderful annual draft guide. That is the goal, and we have got a whole week one schedule to go through as we identify who to know, who to be impressed by, who to keep an eye on during this 2025 college football season. And there is a lot to get to after a loaded week one.

1:48So that'll do for an intro. Let's jump into the show.

1:57You know, Dan, it always feels a little surreal. It's a seven-month wait for the season, and then it gets here. There's so much anticipation. And you look back on it, and you're like, damn, did that just happen? I can't believe we finally have stuff to react to, actual results to inform our opinions. How'd the first weekend treat you? Uh, it was fun. Uh, first time in 36 years that we saw four top 10 teams lose on opening weekend. Um, which is, is always fun that we see that immediate shakeup. I know people get upset because of preseason rankings and all that. And we shouldn't have them until October.

2:33Chill out. Like it's, it's for TV. It's for, you know, to talk about these teams, um, as you try to blindly rank them over the summer. But in terms of prospects, I think a lot of players stepped up. Some players let us down. And it's going to be an interesting quarterback class. I think there's excitement over it because it's so much better than we had last year. But it's still not a great class. I think if you're looking for your quarterback savior in this draft class, you're probably going to be disappointed. I'm not saying you should punt. You know, there's several guys that we're going to talk about today and throughout the year that are promising and guys that we can get excited about.

3:17But, you know, it's just, you know, the Caleb Williams, Drake May, like it's just not that type of quarterback class. And so but we'll get into it. We try not to overreact too much to week one. But at the same time, yeah, I think there's plenty we can take away from what we saw in this opening week. that is always the fun thing about the draft cycle is like in may we say well hold on to your hats for this 2026 quarterback class it's going to be way better and then those guys have to go play 12 to 15 games and their warts are going to get exposed the same way as everybody else and the the real version is usually not as great as the idealized version we see in may but to your point four top 10 teams go down over the weekend obviously number one texas loses at ohio state clemson loses to lsu notre dame lost the sunday night game to miami and of course alabama with a i would call it shocking performance maybe not shocking that they lost but shocking that they got dominated a little bit by a florida state team that they were two touchdown favorites over so we're going to touch on all of that and I'm glad you framed it that way, Dane, because I came up with what I think is the great, a great way to look at this first weekend, which is after one game of results, are we panicking?

4:40Are we going to pause and let it play out or are we planning the parade already? And that can go for some of these teams as well as some of these prospects. We wanted to hit on some of the biggest names. Some struggled, some were great. Just go through the range of emotions and how we should feel. And I don't care how you feel about it. To be honest, I think we have to start with Texas quarterback, Arch Manning. Obviously all eyes were on him at the horseshoe on Saturday and it, it didn't go so great. He kind of salvaged it with a, a more productive fourth quarter. Although we can get into some of the misses from the fourth quarter as well, but the guy went into the final quarter of his starter debut with 38 passing yards.

5:22The Longhorns go down 14 to 7. The offense looked anemic. Arch looked uncomfortable. I don't know. Was it as bad upon further review as what social media would have you believe on Saturday? Because that was the other thing. With the amount of hype on Arch Manning, the pushback on what we saw was extreme. Should it be that extreme? Should we be panicking? I'm not panicking on Arch overall. all i think in the long run he'll be just fine as he develops um but in terms of arch being part of the 2026 draft class and being that no-brainer top pick it's absolutely fair to panic uh we always assumed he was going to go back to austin for a senior year uh and that in the experience was a big reason why and that showed in the opener and i think that's just going to fuel the fire of why he probably won't be part of the 2026 draft class.

6:18And so I think you look at what we saw on Saturday, I think most expected struggles early, two career starts, never completed a pass on the road. Arch just didn't look ready for that type of stage. And if you go back and watch his start against Mississippi State last year, that's what really sold me on him being a big time talent because he was so good with his rhythm. it all looked very natural for him. Obviously, going to Columbus against an Ohio State defense is very different, but his inability to find that rhythm or play with any type of timing was the big story. And I'm not going to kill Arch because, especially when you think about, when you watch the All-22 of this game and you see what Matt Patricia, offensive coordinator for Ohio State, or defensive coordinator for Ohio State, what he was doing, I mean, good luck.

7:11And think about it. Patricia has never been a college defensive coordinator. So what tape was Texas watching this summer to prepare seven Patriots tape from seven years ago? I mean, what were they watching to get ready for this? So a lot of what Arch was seeing was brand new. And it's not like he was missing a lot of open receivers because the coverage was awesome. Now, did he spray the ball? Yes. Ball placement was not great. The mechanics just fell apart throughout the game, especially as he started to press. But I also think Texas got thoroughly outcoached, and that's a credit to Matt Patricia and what he was doing on defense.

7:51So, look, Texas has San Jose State, UTEP, Houston State all at home the next three weeks. So, Arch is going to get those valuable reps that he needs before the SEC schedule comes. And so I think in the long run, he's going to be just fine. But in terms of teams, whether it's the Browns, the Saints, whoever being excited about the potential savior coming for them next draft in the form of Arch Manning. Yeah, it's definitely fair to panic on that. This isn't how NFL teams look at it, obviously, but just in terms of public perception. And I think for a guy like Arch Manning with that last name and the amount of advertisements, I mean, the guy had three national commercial spots like during this game that goes along with it, whether it's fair or not.

8:42I'm curious to see like what level he would have to reach to sort of alleviate this performance, you know? And again, Texas won't be on a stage like this playing an opponent like this for at least a month or so. So I'm I'm curious to see how good it has to look for people to kind of let this one go, because I think everything he does, at least over the next few games, is going to be. Yeah, but he looked completely lost against Ohio State. Like, forgive me if I'm not impressed by big stats against UTEP. Well, and that's so last thing I'll say about Arch is it's it's so easy to overreact to this one game.

9:22But I mean, we can go back. Look at I mean, I don't have to tell you this, but watch Joe Burrow's first few starts at LSU. You know, like he was completing maybe 50 percent of his passes like it did not look good. Jane Daniels, his third season at Arizona State, it was it was rough. So, I mean, there are numerous examples of successful NFL quarterbacks who started slow, who showed their inexperience, looked like guys that needed to get better. development's not guaranteed but it's still important to keep an open mind on all these young quarterbacks throughout the season and not just bury them because they didn't live up to their full potential in that first huge test of their college career I said it at the time I know people want to make fun of Matt Patricia because of how his tenure as Detroit's head coach went, that guy ran a championship level defense for several years.

10:19And so dropping him into the college game with prospects like Ohio State has, by the way, which we'll get into some of those guys. But when when a guy with the mind for the game like Matt Patricia gets to use Caleb Downs to work against a quarterback making his first big time start, I'm really not surprised, nor am I alarmed that it went that poorly. I will say two of the two of the misses in the fourth quarter with Arch really did concern me, though, like the the third down miss in the low red zone, like when they had a chance to get back in the game, it looked like a mesh concept where he just he had his guy open and just he the mechanics were all wrong.

10:59He could not lead his receiver. I was like, I don't need you to be good, but that is a throw that I think you're capable of making even in these circumstances. I mean, it came open for you. So that set off a little bit of an alarm bell with me. But but by and large, I'm more than more than happy to just press pause on Arch and see where he is in a few in a few weeks. Yeah. And I think, like I said before, it all comes back to his inability to find the rhythm. And when he can't find the rhythm, the mechanics fell apart. His feet were not on the same page as his upper body, his eyes. And that just threw everything off with his accuracy.

11:35And so is it going to look like that in November? I'd be very surprised. Now, if it does. Yeah. All right. Let's maybe we just don't need to talk about Arch Manning as an NFL prospect anymore. If it's if we're still having this issue in November. But it's something that I think will get better over the next few months as he gets that valuable experience under his belt. So the nightcap on Saturday was another matchup of top 10 teams. number four Clemson falls at home to LSU 17 to 10, just a chess match of a game really. But two of the big quarterback prospects also featured in this matchup. Cade club, Nick, are we panicking?

12:17Are we pausing about an up and down performance against a feisty LSU D? And on the other side, Garrett Nussmeier, are we, are we ready to throw the parade? Forgive me if I am, but that's why I defer to you, the expert. so all right we'll start with club neck and you know just when i when i do like my pre-season top 50 draft board i tend to lean optimistic when i rank quarterbacks um obviously i did it with arch he started at number two overall um yeah i did it last year uh shador like i was never i've never been a big shador guy uh but he started at number 18 overall for me on last year's top 50 because i I thought that's where he could end up for me if he made some of those key improvements.

13:02That didn't really happen. And he dropped out or he just should or dropped with every ranking that I did last year. But all the quarterbacks in this year's early top 50 were based on them answering some of those key questions and developing in 2025. Like Lenore Sellers, and we'll talk about him in a little bit, too. But he still has got a ways to go. But he's still a top 10 prospect for me because of where he could get to. um and so with club nick i've never been a big club nick guy i like him he started at number 30 for me on the top 50 because that's where i thought he could get it with some of those key improvements this year i just we didn't see any of those key improvements against a tough lsu defense the he made some gutsy throws i really like his athleticism but and i think we also have to point out how he was missing his top receiver antonio williams uh for almost all the game he played i think five snaps and then he had to exit with a hamstring injury but my main concern with club nick from the 2024 tape all the panic moments and we saw that again and this type of game even though it was at home he would bail from the pocket uh before he needed to he'd make these uncomfortable decisions and we put uh i mean he he there were several times where he put throws in harm's way one was picked off a few others could have been again his athleticism his mobility They're assets for him and something that I really like about his game, but he tends to rely on it way too much.

14:29So I'll put it this way. I think club makes a really solid player, but he has a lot more fans on Twitter than he does in the league. I just I was hoping to see more from a guy as a three year starter starting at home, you know, like he like you said, I mean, he was he was bailing from pockets. He was not coping with LSU's pressure. Well, I would even say the big my biggest takeaway from this game, Dane, and you prepped me and the listeners for it perfectly when we talked about Clemson's defensive front with with Peter Woods at D tackle and TJ Parker at edge. LSU had a plan for mitigating Clemson's front and Clemson just didn't really look like they expected LSU to be able to pressure their quarterback.

15:14And they were very mistaken about that. And so Clubnick was dropping back, just traditional drop back a lot. And the pocket was not holding up. And even when it was, I thought Clubnick didn't trust it. And then Garrett Nussmeier, A, used his mobility fantastically to get away from pressure. But also, they just were not letting him stand in the pocket that much. It was a lot of screens. It was a lot of quick throws. I thought they had a wonderful plan, even if the statistics are not gaudy at all. 28 of 38 for 230 from Garrett Nussmeier, but they just had a plan to get the ball out of his hands and not let those D linemen wreck the game.

15:54Yeah. And I don't want to say that I'm necessarily planning the parade with Nussmeier because, you know, I thought he played exactly how I expected to, you know, and it was it was like you said, it was far from a perfect game, but he looked good. And what I love so much about his tape last year and then what he did on Saturday night was it just he's doing actual quarterback things and executing. You know, he's setting protections. He's negotiating muddy pockets. He has a really good feel for all of his reads and then how to access them. So the release really quick. It's tight. The ball explodes off his hands.

16:30And just watching that tape against Clemson's defense, that's really, really good. Nussmeyer just had a lot of answers, a lot of solutions for what Clemson was throwing at him. So, yeah, he started Nussmeyer started the year at number 10 overall in my early top 50. And nothing really happened to make me come off of that, you know, to really push him up or to drop him from where I had him coming in. So Nussmeyer, to me, is the top senior prospect this year overall, all seniors. and he's going to be right there in that mix to be one of the top quarterbacks. You know, we'll see who these underclassmen declare, but Nussmeyer is at the top of these seniors.

17:14And so there's just a lot to like about his game. Even if I don't look at him and say, oh, easy slam dunk, top five pick, top three pick, he's going to be an NFL starter. I mean, if Tony Romo and Baker Mayfield had a baby, this is kind of like what it would look like. That's how he plays. I'm clipping that out. That's great. His skill set, the way he the way he plays. I think that's that's what Garrett Nussmeier is flaws and all. His his plan after the play breaks down. I mean, like obviously, like he knows what to do in structure, but he always seems to have a plan when the play breaks down and execute it really well.

17:53Like there was the cross body throw when he escaped pressure. I believe it was in the third quarter of that game. He had a couple just nice bait, like stepping up in the pocket. And it's easy to call it a check down, but like evading pressure and finding the running back essentially while getting tackled by a defensive lineman, just a lot of really heady stuff like that, where like, there's just no panic in his game, which is impressive when you remember that you're on the road playing in front of 90 ,000, whatever Clemson stadium holds. I'm curious for your thoughts on the next guy. He played Sunday afternoon.

18:26I don't want to give away any of my opinions about Lenora Sellers game against Virginia Tech. 12 of 19, 209 yards and a touchdown. 13 carries for 25 yards and a rushing touchdown. South Carolina gets the win against Virginia Tech. I mean, I don't think we could say panicking, but are we pausing or are we planning the parade with Lenora Sellers? Would you say you're a buyer for Sellers? or let let me let me let me put it this way if that was week one I'm buying all the stock that I can because like if you watched this entire game and the highlights are incredible and we can get to them but if you watch this entire game like you can see stuff that he needs to work on like the accuracy wasn't always there not every throw was amazing I'm not saying he's like he should go number one overall or anything yet at least but like if that was week one against a pretty good team i'm excited for what the future could hold i'll say that yeah and this is why seller started the year uh what number seven overall in my top 50 um and i think this this performance was kind of similar to nussmeyer where it wasn't a perfect game by any means but it was a step in the right direction it was what you want to see from a quarterback who's getting better and better.

19:47And it's a great starting point for the season. And I know this sounds hyperbolic, but Sellers is the strongest quarterback I've ever evaluated in almost two decades of doing this. And I say that with all due respect to Cam Newton, Jalen Hurts, whoever else Sellers, he just has a rare combination of explosiveness, power, body balance. And so that dual threat ability is still what you love about him. You know, if you take his five best plays from Sunday's game, probably four of them are him running the ball. And so that's still the main selling point with him is that dual threat ability, what he can do.

20:27And so how he develops as a passer throughout this year will be ultimately the decider if he comes out because he's still young. He just turned 20 years old, very young player. And then if he does, okay, does he go number one? Does he go top five, top 10? So he still has plenty to prove, But I and you want to see him read things out. You want to see the timing of the progressions work. He just needs to stack good outings here. And I think this was a really good start for him. So, yeah, I think he's he did. It wasn't a perfect performance, but I think he did enough where you're coming away watching that tape and saying, all right, I feel good about Lenora Sellers moving forward.

21:09I think that's a great thing to point out is, yeah, the major plays for the most part are with his feet. He had a 64 yard touchdown to Nick Harbor. I mean, it's an impressive display of arm strength. I don't know if it's anything beyond that. You know, it's a it's a throw that I expect a good college quarterback to be able to make. But I've only seen a couple of guys in my life who can shrug off a blindside hit from a defensive lineman at this level of football. And Lenora Sellers did that. And yeah, when you combine that strength and athleticism with the arm talent. Yeah. I mean, for how we talk about this guy, I think I thought Sunday was like as good as you could realistically expect.

21:49You know, like I'm not asking the guy to go out there and throw for 500 yards and rush for 100. Like this was a very nice starting point, I would say. I tell you what, I South Carolina football is must watch each week with Lenora Sellers. I think last year I called him the most entertaining quarterback that I watched. This year he has a chance to be the best quarterback that we watch in college football. He is that type of good, that type of talented. And like I said, he just turned 20 years old. This is a young player. So just like with Arch, just like with some of these other guys, we've got to give them a little bit of grace as they figure out the learning curve.

22:28And they're going to hit some speed bumps, and that's OK. But at the end of the day, are they doing what they need to do? So they're each outing, they're getting better. And so I think it was a good start for sellers. All right, that's it for quarterback talk. But we have some other major prospects we want to talk about, whether we're panicking, whether we're partying about the week one that they put on tape. We'll do that on the other side of this break. Today's episode is sponsored by the ASPCA Pet Health Insurance Program. Question for any pet owners. Of course, we all love our pets. but do you ever think about just how much joy and energy your pet brings to your household?

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27:59all right dane handful of major prospects guys that we talked about in the preview episode top 50 players on your preseason top 50 had some good efforts had some not so good efforts and i want to start we mentioned it one of the most surprising results of week one alabama just got smacked in tallahassee by florida state kind of again not just like the The score itself is surprising, but the way Alabama got beat is something else. And that's why I think it's a good point to talk about Alabama offensive tackle Caden Proctor, who had a rough day at the office. I mean, that's not unique, though. I think just about everybody on Alabama's roster had a rough day at the office.

28:42But what did what did you see from Caden Proctor? Yeah, I'd be interested to find out the traffic data for how many people Googled Kalen DeBoer buyout. because that's if it's going to look like this. Yeah, we might get to that point during the season. So I'm not ready to panic with with Proctor, but I totally get it. If some people are credit to Florida State, you know, I think, you know, we not just us, but everyone's talking about Alabama when credit to Florida State, the way they played, the way they were prepared, the way that they executed. It was awesome to watch. they got consistent pressure against Alabama's offensive line uh Proctor was really strong in the run game uh but his pass pro was really inconsistent and so the way that we can break it down he just there's too much rare stuff with his body composition the movements the power where I'm not gonna bail like I'm gonna ride this out as far as I can with with Proctor uh because most of his issues are fixable, but they just need to get fixed.

29:49We need to see development from him this year. So the number one concern on the Florida State tape was all the oversets. Too many times his pass set depth, it just wasn't matching the depth of the quarterback. That's something he needs to button up because you don't want him trying to react to rushers in space. You want him to achieve the correct landmarks. So he's staying in between the rusher and the quarterback. And it's something that, you know, we really have to pay attention to with Caden Proctor the rest of this year? Does he understand, okay, you know, with this play call, my quarterback is going to be at this depth.

30:23And so I need to, you know, set inside out. So I'm protecting against that inside move. Those depth points and the landmarks, that's something that we have to pay a lot of attention to this year with Proctor. I bet quite a few teams, Alabama and Texas in particular, are wishing that they had gotten to open with their week two opponents. And maybe we save these games for week two and get a little tune-up out of the way. But what's done is done. We'll see how Bama rebounds. I'm not ready to panic as much as the internet is telling me that I should be about Alabama. I mean, clearly, this is not the Alabama that we're used to, but it is a long season with a lot of opportunity for improvement.

31:07Even if they're not the Bama that I remember, I'm not ready to say that they're hopeless. Just yet. Yeah. I'm sorry. Go ahead. I say Ryan Williams just didn't look like Ryan Williams. He had like three drops. And then, I mean, hopefully he's OK. He had a concussion late. They're missing their top runner, Jam Miller. So, yeah, I mean, I think I think you're right. Like Alabama's got talent on that team. It's just a matter of I do wonder as part of this, like NIL and their depth just getting wiped out, you know, something that Saban Saban always had the next guy up, you know, because that depth was, was such a big part of that program, the way they recruited.

31:49Now it's just, you know, you're showing, you're seeing some cracks in that depth and because of NIL and maybe that's just how things are going to be moving forward. So it's just something to watch with his Alabama team. It's funny because Alabama is in the conversation. Like there there's one, I think one other program that's really in that conversation of just reloading and rolling over every year, no matter what you lose to NIL or the draft or whatever. And it definitely wasn't pretty, but Ohio state gets the dub against Texas. And I laughed because look, we all, we all know about Jeremiah Smith.

32:24I'm not quite as focused on him just because I know he can't be part of this draft class, but I laughed because we talked about Carnell Tate going into the season and certainly not a gaudy stat line. But when you make the biggest play of the game in the passing offense with just a wonderful touchdown catch, even if the box score doesn't look great, I think that's that's a fantastic starting point for a guy that you're really focused on as, you know, somebody who could jump up and be a big part of this receiver class. Yeah, and Ohio State's breaking in a new quarterback. They got really conservative, especially in the fourth quarter, as they were trying to avoid that back-breaking interception or mistake.

33:08I think that we will see this Ohio State passing offense really start to open up as we get through September. But yeah, I mean, Cardinal Tate, you go over the last four years, there have been five Ohio State receivers drafted in the first round. They're going to have another one in 2027 with Jeremiah Smith. We know that. Question is, will they have one in 2026? And that's where the Carnell Tate enters the discussion. And like, he's a good player. I don't think the tape says like slam dunk first rounder, but he's a good player trying to prove that, hey, he belongs in that top 32 in a wide receiver class that is, you know, There's a lot of players kind of jockeying for that top three, top five.

33:55He had, like you said, he had only two catches, so the box score doesn't look great, but he made them count. The first was that third down conversion that showcased his hand strength along the sideline. And then the second was the 40 yard touchdown that was very much under thrown. He was able to adjust, come back to the ball, impressive double grab over the DB. So with Jeremiah Smith getting so much attention this year, the opportunities are going to be there for Carnell Tate to, you know, really get better and show why he belongs in that first round. So it was a good start for him. Three prospects from that Tiger on Tiger matchup I wanted to hit on Peter Woods.

34:38I'm certainly not panicking about Peter Woods. Like I said, I thought LSU had a phenomenal plan for just mitigating Clemson's pass rush. And he still finished with five tackles and a run stuff like he was still all over the place. He looked very disruptive, even if Clemson's D line wasn't able to take over the game the way they probably wanted to. Yeah, I don't think the box score scouts are going to love, you know, Woods being the number one player on the board and all that. You know, he named his sacks and they didn't have the God he tackled for lost numbers. Um, but he was really good on the tape.

35:14I mean, he consistently saw four hands, double teams. Like you said, LSU had a plan for trying to make everyone else beat them and not Peter Woods. He was still really disruptive versus the run, getting off blocks, making stops. Um, you know, a few, there was a missed tackler too, uh, that, you know, you want to see him clean up, but Peter Woods played like the player that we expected to, you know, when I put him at number one overall in my, my early top 50. So, you know, I, TJ Parker was a little more up and down. Torell at corner had some good moments, but also some bad moments. So the rest of the Clemson defense I thought was a little streaky, but Peter Woods, I think he was at it as advertised.

35:58You know, I think part of the reason I, I had misgivings about this game as an LSU fan, is I just wasn't sure what we would get from Whit Weeks and Harold Perkins, both guys coming off of injuries, both guys, I mean, needing to shoulder big loads in this defense. And week one was very impressive for both of these guys. Like, again, if that's your starting point for returning from injury, I mean, they were both all over the place. And so Whit Weeks made my top 50. Harold Perkins did not. I thought he was one of the last like five that I was considering. But, you know, obviously we know about the athlete with Harold Perkins.

36:40We've been talking about it since his freshman year. But the big question was, OK, what's his role? You know, like that's fine. He's a really good athlete. He's fun to watch run. But what's his role where it's going to really translate the football production? And we saw that Saturday night at Clemson where playing more of a traditional linebacker role. I mean, he's kind of a star linebacker. There's some nickel in there. He was really, really good. Now, there's still times where he'll get stonewalled by an offensive lineman. He's not a big guy. But when he's out in space and can run, he's chasing down the ball carrier.

37:20His delayed blitzes were awesome. I mean, that that that pursuit speed, the closing burst is still it's special. It's why we've been talking about Harold Perkins for as long as we have been. So I'm just I'm really interested to see him the rest of the season in this more defined role and how that continues to evolve and how we project that to the next level. But I thought this was a really outstanding first step for Perkins as he tries to, you know, and also have to mention coming back from the ACL injury. Like he did. He looked like the Perkins of old. There was no concern about the injury, maybe slowing him down a little bit.

37:59And then with Whit Weeks, instincts, play speed. I mean, if you if you want your linebacker to have those two things, he's got it in spades. Another guy that's not very big and can get hung up on blocks here and there. But he was also at his best when he was downhill. some of those blitzes and going through the a gap or running to the outside i mean whit weeks was was awesome as well so but these two linebackers um now i don't think it's the best linebacker tandem in the nation we'll get to that in a little bit but i think it's right there at number two as just that that speed that they play with is a lot of fun lsu's defense looked like lsu's defense for the first time in in quite a while and those two guys were a big part of it and they're doing it with like with some no names on the defensive line right like i know you know some of the guys on the defensive line but the average college football fan cannot name me an lsu defensive lineman uh right i mean like it's it's it's a group of obviously talented players but they're they're not doing it with that like that one guy that's stands out as uh you know maybe a top 10 pick or even a first rounder.

39:13I did not expect it. Let's just say that even, even knowing that they had spent some money in the transfer portal, I did not expect that sort of disruption. Uh, but it was a very welcome surprise Friday night. One last guy we wanted to highlight and I'm not surprised when Auburn runs for 307 yards and four touchdowns, it makes a lot of sense that you want to highlight Auburn center Connor Liu because they they got whatever they wanted on the ground against Baylor and I and I I'm sure Connor Liu was a big part of it when you watched it back yeah no doubt he's the only interior offensive lineman who made my top 50 I had him in the top 25 he's a guy that I'm really excited about and he's not like he's not overpowering with the way he plays, but he just doesn't look overmatched.

40:04He understands positioning. He's very quick to recover. I like his movements in the run game. He's really effective getting to the linebacker level and taking those guys out of it. A lot of those Jackson Arnold big runs against that Baylor defense came because of Connor Liu, whether at the line of scrimmage or at the linebacker level so i mean he just he is a really easy guy to like an easy guy to appreciate even if he doesn't maybe uh have any traits that are overwhelmingly elite or you know anything that stands out as like oh this is what really separates him it's just it's everything it's the fact that he uh you know doesn't really have any glaring weaknesses to his game and that made that and that's when you about an offensive lineman, that's, that's okay.

40:55I don't need my, my offensive lineman to be the biggest in the league, the most powerful, just someone I can trust and not worry about making mistakes. And that's Connor Lou. So he's, he had a good debut this season against Baylor. I dream of a day where we respect sinners the way that I want them to be respected, because like it said time after time, it's a position where it's like, oh, you can find that guy later. Do you really want to spend a top 20 pick on a center? There will be a center available in the third or the fourth round. And like, that is true, but the best offenses, the offenses that I have the most fun watching almost always have a really, really good center.

41:41Like whether you want to talk about Tyler Linderbaum, Frank Ragnow in Detroit before he retired, obviously the Eagles found Jason Kelsey and Cam Juergens outside of the first round. But if you could redo those decisions, you'd probably draft both of those guys higher. So I don't, I don't get the annual angst about center. Like if a guy's really good, he's worth taking. Yeah. And to your point about the lions, like now with right now, no longer there, you know, they seem to have a pretty decent plan in place to try to replace him, but it's easier said than done. And, you know, it'll be interesting watching that lions offense this year with one of the best ground games in the league.

42:24Uh, but with rag now, not there, it'll be interesting to see what that looks like. So we've been talking about guys that played in marquee matchups, and that's why I think it's okay to panic or throw a parade when you're watching somebody play poorly or play well against top 10, top 25 opposition. I'm calling this segment. And it's early, but because these are much harder guys to get a gauge on, because let's face it, a lot of teams opened against Cupcake University, Directional State University, whatever you want to call them. There were a lot of lopsided matchups. So it's harder to get a gauge on some of these guys.

43:05But I wanted to highlight some some really nice performances that maybe didn't come against the best opposition. And I think it's worth starting with Arizona State because we talked about Jordan Tyson and I know it was northern Arizona, but 12 catches for 141 and two touchdowns. That's pretty damn good, Dane. Yeah, I mean, really, aside from I think he had a fumble. Besides that, it was a really strong performance from Tyson. He lined up inside outside. You saw him get involved in the screen game, so catch and run opportunities, tracking the ball downfield. He was exactly what you wanted to see for a guy being touted as the possible wide receiver one in this draft class against an inferior opponent.

43:54And so, you know, you don't want to get too excited against that type of opponent. But at the same time, it's like, all right, well, this is what you expect to see. So Arizona State, they did not let up. They kept putting the ball up in the air. Sam Levitt, you know, he what I loved about his 2024 tape was how he took care of the football 2025, at least in the opener. He took a lot more chances. There were a couple of those balls that are getting picked off against better opponents. But I really like to see him open things up where it wasn't OK. One read, drop my eyes, use my legs. He's so creative.

44:32I just Sam Levitt is such an easy quarterback to to really appreciate because of the way he plays. And so Arizona State, I mentioned this like with South Carolina, Arizona State is going to be must watch anytime they're on TV this year because of that connection. Sam Levitt to Jordan Tyson. And yeah, we saw in the opener. Sam Levitt, 257 passing yards to go with 73 rushing yards, three total touchdowns. i'm so glad i have you you're the goat because you found a way to see this because i tried to turn on the arizona state game on saturday night and the feed didn't work like there was no there was no video of this game i think it was you know there was some sort of technical issues so of course leave it to dane to go find the tape later which i deeply appreciate so i tweeted out um a couple of tyson's plays uh from the game um i mean he's just yeah like i said uh no regrets putting him at wide receiver one to start the year so eager to see if he um you know or just you know keep that up throughout the year uh it's a like i said it's a receiver class that's pretty wide open carnell tate and um there's a few other guys that are fighting for a chance to be in the first round tyson's definitely at the top of the list as we get going elsewhere uh on the west coast among former pac-12 teams oregon edge mateo uyangalale had two sacks it's against montana state.

45:58I don't know if that does anything for you, but Hey, two sacks against Montana state's better than no sacks against Montana state. There you go. Uh, and we'll talk about another Oregon, uh, defender coming up here in a bit. Uh, but yeah, I mean, I think you're right. He, he looked like, again, you wanted to expected to see against a good FCS opponent, like Montana state's not just, uh, another program. They are a really good FCS opponent, but he was, He showed athleticism. He showed power at the point of attack. I mean, he was dominant. And so now let's see him do that. I cannot wait to see in a couple weeks Oregon goes to Penn State.

46:39That's going to be a must. There's going to be a lot of NFL scouts at that game because Penn State's loaded with them. Oregon's loaded with talent. I think that Kenyon Sadiq at tight end on offense had a really impressive touchdown. He was awesome as a blocker. I don't think it gets nearly enough attention with his blocking. Sadiq, the top tight end this year, he's he's just big time. So, yeah, both these guys, Uyengle and Sadiq are top 20 guys for me. There's another edge rusher I wanted to highlight. I would be over in Illinois. I would be Gabe Akis, I believe, is the pronunciation. There's a J there, but you don't pronounce it.

47:21Yeah, and he's a player that he's been on the radar for a while now, and he is just consistently productive. I mean, since his freshman year, he's been doing it. And I mean, he had a strip sack against Western Illinois. But yeah, just he looked how you would expect him to look. And so now as Illinois gets into Big Ten schedule, I want to see him keep it up. But yeah, I think he could definitely cement himself as being that day two pass rusher that everybody likes. One more guy I wanted to highlight, and I'll jump back out to the West Coast. I didn't see this happen on Saturday night, but as I'm like going through getting ready for the show on Sunday, Washington beat Colorado State 38-21 was a close game until early second half.

48:12Washington eventually pulls away and wins by 17. Jonah Coleman, who you highlighted as a name to know in this running back class. And remember, we talked about this is a position outside of Jeremiah Love where we're just waiting to see what pops. We're waiting to see who steps up and fills the void after so many guys went pro. Jonah Coleman of the Washington Huskies, 24 carries for 177 yards, two touchdowns, added a catch for 22 yards. if you're on social media go find the clip of him get going to the house from 40 yards out he didn't wind up scoring I think they they called him down at the three and he wound up scoring a couple plays later but the burst the vision the physicality that this guy shows and yeah I mean Colorado State it I mean it's it's uh it's a G5 school it's not like you're playing little sisters of the poor but I'll be curious to see how he does against big 10 competition after seeing this performance because holy hell yeah i mean he is short stocky rocked up i mean he's 5 8 227 i mean he is a not an easy guy to bring down but uh the vision that he plays with like you said the lateral quicks really good jump cuts um i you know he whenever you give him that little bit of a crease he will give you the burst to get through it so um you know not only does he run with some power but he has the the run burst and i as a as a receiver i think he has adequate hands um pass pro is actually pretty consistent so i don't think coleman is gonna have maybe some of the juice to be a first round pick or maybe in a second round pick but he's just gonna be a guy that uh is drafted uh and is a solid pro um he's gonna help fill out a running back room in the nfl All right, we're going to take one more break, but don't worry.

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53:06Dane, I knew we were going to talk about this guy the minute Ohio State Texas kicked off because he was all over the damn place. And on a team with this much talent, I'm sure there are plenty of people that were in on linebacker Arvel Reese ahead of time. I I'm fine saying he was not on my radar. I was looking at three other guys. I'm trying to watch Caleb downs and you just keep zoom zoning in on Arvel Reese who finished with nine tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss. He's credited with four pressures. This Buckeye defense, what a performance. They were so much fun to watch and Reese looked like he was at the center of all of it.

53:48Yeah. I'm, I'm, I'm trying not to overreact here, but if this is the Arvel Reese we're going to get all season he'll be the first linebacker drafted uh pretty pretty easily um and in a lot of ways linebacker that's kind of the key to Matt Patricia's defense you know you go back to his time in New England and the way Dante Hightower was utilized or Kyle Van Noy um the corners are going to cover the defensive linemen are going to win in the trenches but it's the linebackers that are you know where you can get creative and you can really weaponize them And that's exactly what Patricia did with Reese against Texas, because you saw the different types of blitzes.

54:28He was covering out of the backfield. He was making plays against the run six for 240 pounds. He's got the power where you can jar blockers, but he's got bend. He has speed so you can chase down the ball and Ohio State. They don't they don't have that. You know, the obviously don't have a Bosa or Chase Young, but I would say they don't even have like that Jack Sawyer this year. Who's just that consistent pass rush threat. Kenyatta Jackson maybe could be that guy this year. He got hurt against Texas. We're not sure just if he's going to be held out very long, but that the answer for Ohio state's pass rush is going to be Arvel Reese because he does look like a defensive end.

55:14He has that type of size, but the different ways they utilize him, the versatility that he shows. It's just it's a lot of fun to watch. And Sonny Stiles is the same way he is. They are both Sonny Stiles and Arvel Reese. They are both over six, four and 240 pounds freak athletes. I mean, it's just a rare duo that I don't know. We've really seen in college football before and easy for scouts to get excited about these guys. It just feels like and this is we talk all the time about defense trending in this direction, And it's a hard thing to do, especially at the college level. But when you just have aliens who can do a little bit of everything and you can deploy them in half a dozen different ways, I mean, you're going to make life hell on most of the offenses you play, especially offenses that are breaking in a new starter quarterback, as we saw on Saturday afternoon.

56:07Another guy that I definitely wanted to highlight and I would look, I didn't write this down. Dane wrote this down. So it's not me trying to pump up my squad, but I do think of all the, of all the winners coming out of week one, I think you do have to mention LSU corner Mansoor Delane. He's a transfer from Virginia tech. He's, he's a guy that LSU brought in to have this type of impact, but jumping in the transfer portal and delivering are two different things. And Saturday night against Clemson targeted eight times, allowed one catch, two tackles, two pass breakups and obviously got the big interception on Cade Klubnik.

56:46I would say the early return on investment for LSU's expenditure in the transfer portal. Very, very good. That's a perfect way to put it. Yeah. I mean, and I liked Delaney quite a bit at Virginia Tech at this time last year. He was actually in my early top 50. So it's not like Delaney just came out of nowhere, but you can understand why LSU made him such a priority this offseason. I I mean, Ohio State wanted him. There were a lot of teams in the mix. LSU went above and beyond. And like you said, that investment based off one game looks like it was definitely worth it. He's interesting because he's not super toolsy, you know, for a corner like he's not.

57:27He's 5 '11", 190. So solid size, but not great. He's got short arms right around 30 inches. He probably run in the 4 '4", 6", 4 '4", 7 range. So the speed's good, but not elite. So the traits don't necessarily just jump out at you. But what does jump out the instincts, the competitive reactions to route runners. And he has a just a really good feel for coverage. So this is just a good football player. And I don't know that he'll maybe get into the first round, but I think he's going to be at worst a day to pick. And he will be starting in the NFL at this time next year. I was going to say, he sounds like the guy who, if you don't have those traits, if you don't have that measurables, go put 12 games of consistent tape out there for people to see.

58:17And if, if evaluators can trust that you're going to be that guy on a regular basis, they'll probably be more over, more willing to overlook the fact that your arms are a little bit shorter or you don't, you're not as tall as their archetype would prefer that type of thing. Yeah, those are the guys that make it, right? That you look up and they're still in the league 10 years from now because they're just good football players. Even if they don't light it up on the stopwatch or with the measuring tape, at the end of the day, the job of GMs, just find good football players. And I think he falls in that category.

58:52I know you're excited to talk about this guy because you highlighted him on Twitter. That would be Oregon D-tackle Amari Washington, which again, the Ducks played FCS competition, but I don't, I don't know. I don't know how much that affects your opinion. Cause I feel like you're pretty excited about this guy. Yeah. I was talking to Bruce Feldman back in July about some of these players as he was working on his freaks list. And he kept bringing up Amari Washington because of the testing numbers he was getting from the school. And, you know, he had played a little bit last season, but he was obviously the backup with Harmon Jamari Caldwell both guys were you know top 100 draft picks um so but with those guys now in the NFL Washington made his starting debut on Saturday and holy cow man um he backed up those crazy numbers that put him top five on Bruce's freaks list uh and again caveat Montana State really good FCS program still an FCS program but if you just watch the burst off the ball the lateral quickness, how fast he was in the backfield, guys that are 320 plus pounds.

1:00:01And that's what he's listed at. I'm not sure how heavy he is, but he's listed at 320. Guys that size shouldn't be able to move like that. So this is a player with legit first round traits. And I cannot wait to watch him the rest of the season against some better competition. Like I mentioned that Penn state game coming up. Cause if he continues to live up to the traits with, with his play, this is an easy first round guy. So now it's just a matter of him developing as a football player. One guy I wanted to make sure we highlight, and I mean, the stat line, it's not anything otherworldly, but go back to that Florida state performance against Alabama, Earl, literally Earl, little junior man, just like a game, a game where you watch a guy and you're like, how's this dude playing three different positions?

1:00:51How is he everywhere? Finished with nine tackles. And I'll say it one more time. The edge that Florida State had, you know, Earl Little Jr. Transferred over from Alabama. I'm sure that factored heavily into his performance. But FSU played with their hair on fire for three and a half hours on Saturday afternoon. And maybe I overlooked the Knowles, and I apologize for that. You know, they go two and ten last year. They only had one guy on your preseason top 50. So maybe my expectations were too low. but several guys on this Florida state team jumped onto my radar and Earl little jr. For sure was one of them.

1:01:27Well, and I, yeah, and I don't mean, I don't blame you at all. Cause I was the same way. Like Earl little wasn't a starter last year. You know, this was a, he was a special teamer. Like that was his main role. He saw a little bit of time at nickel played some at safety. But you know, he, he had a good first, uh made a first a good first impression uh with how he played uh on saturday so that's florida state definitely there's a few guys on the defensive line daryl jackson was awesome um in the middle um they had a few freshmen were stepping up at pass rusher so florida state without a doubt on defense um it just you have my attention and and castellanos at quarterback i I mean, Florida State is going to be a fun team to watch this year.

1:02:14No doubt. One other ACC team or ACC defender that I wanted to bring up to from Sunday night, Reuben Bain, the Miami. If you hadn't done it, I was going to. I wrote it in my notes and I was like, oh, I'm sure Dane will be down to talk about this. So I'm not surprised at all. He was such a tough guy to study this summer because his 2023 tape as a freshman was really exciting. But then last year he was banged up. He just didn't look right. He struggled to bend. He struggled to flip his hips, to work up and down the line of scrimmage. The effort wasn't always there. So it was like, OK, well, how much of this is just natural inconsistency?

1:02:55That's just who he is. How much of it is the injury? I mean, he was a hard he made my top 50, but I wasn't sure just how high should I be on this player when I'm banking on flashes from his freshman year. But based off of his first game and now as a junior. year yeah i mean this is a he looks like a first round player uh so explosive and his body tight he is so thick and dense but he has the get off of a smaller player um so he's really good against the run you see the physical hands the way he can get off blocks but then the way he can disrupt the quarterback what they him and akeem mesador uh the other defensive line from miami number four and number three, what they did in that final drive to Notre Dame's tackles was just obscene.

1:03:40I mean, Notre Dame's tackles looked like they had no answer. They were gassed playing in that heat with that humidity late in the game. And Notre Dame's offensive line was not fresh. Miami's defensive line was led by Ruben Bain. So, yeah, he made a strong first round kind of like, hey, don't forget about me. I belong there. And if he keeps it up the rest of the year, he's going to get there. Notre Dame's right tackle was so he was so badly beaten that I feel like he was he made a decision in the moment where he was like, I'm just going to try to block this guy with my butt and hope for the best because he got that badly turned around.

1:04:21It was obscene is a great word for what Miami did on that final possession. Yeah, I fell for CJ Carr, a freshman making his first start. And, you know, he did what he could. He was far from perfect, but that last drive was certainly not on him. As I texted you, I was like, yeah, Ruben Bain called game. And yeah, it is valid. It's definitely worthwhile to mention Mesador. What's your projection of him? I mean, how should we be thinking about the two of these guys? Bain obviously looks like he could have first round potential. What about Mesador? mesotor has been tough because i mean this is what a sixth year now um i going into last year had a draftable grade on him and then a foot injury just kind of like wiped him out he did not and like the feedback was if he's not 100 he doesn't want to play um you know or you know he just it these injuries really take a toll on him um there are questions about okay is he a defensive of end is he a defensive tackle and so seeing his performance last night was really refreshing because it's exactly what he needed to reintroduce himself to NFL teams who maybe were a little doubtful that because he came into this year with more borderline draftable grades just based off of what happened last year but based on what he did in that first season or in that first game uh against Notre Dame yeah he's right back on the radar even though he is an older player he'll be a 25 year old rookie next year.

1:05:56Um, the medicals will be important. Um, but if he keeps this up, yeah, Mesador will be a guy that gets drafted and will be a really interesting part of a defensive line rotation. I'm really excited about this Miami team. Like you have edge rushers that can do that. Obviously we saw some wild plays from their receivers on Sunday night, Carson Beck. I thought it was up and down. Like I'm not, I'm not ready to move him back to the top of the first round conversation or anything like that but he certainly showed that he's he's he is a guy worth watching he is a guy worth being excited about and Miami's got a Miami plays Bethune Cookman week two so nothing super enticing but right after that it's South Florida Florida and Florida State all in a row so this Miami team is gonna they're gonna have some good opposition here and if they handle it well we could I mean they could be right in the thick of the national consciousness as if they aren't already having just beaten Notre Dame.

1:06:55Yeah. And my number one concern with Beck has been just the inability to find those second reaction plays. You know, he's not a big mobile guy who's, you know, that's just not his game. And so he works really well from the pocket, but hopefully, you know, in that offensive line, credit to them for keeping him upright for most of the game. That's going to be always be my hang up with Beck, but to your point, he, he did a lot of good things that, you know, things were scouts are down on him, no doubt. And after last year, when I get it, um, but it'll be interesting to see how this year plays out for him.

1:07:34If he's able to resuscitate that draft stock and maybe get back into that top 100 conversation, it's, it's definitely not impossible. You know, don't, we can't stay closed minded to that possibility. It's a long season, man. Uh, this, this was just a taste, but there's so much to look forward to so much more coming. I did. I just wanted to quickly highlight some of the best of week two. I think it's fair to say it's, it's not the juiciest college football weekend of the year, but Hey, you can find good stuff if you're willing to look for it. And okay. So, I mean, right off the top of my head, Michigan, Oklahoma, I think is the big headliner.

1:08:14I know he's not draft eligible for a long time, but it'll be an interesting early look at Bryce Underwood, who, if you're a draft aficionado, I'm going to go ahead and say, you should probably learn that name. And then obviously it's a showcase for John Mateer who play well against a team like Michigan in prime time. And certainly the type of thing that puts you on podcasts like this one. Yeah. And I think that's the, I'm really eager to see the new look offense for the Sooners. John Mateer can be a roller coaster at times with his decision making, but he's a fun watch. Super competitive. Scouts want to see that Mateer to Dion Burke's connection get going.

1:08:53And then here's a name to watch. Jaron Kanik, three years as a reserve linebacker for the Sooners. They moved over to offense for a senior year this year, as in like kind of an H back tight end in the opener. He had five catches, 90 yards, including a 48 yard or so. This dude has some legit wheels for he's listed at six to two thirty five. So just just a name to file away as off the radar for Oklahoma. And then, yeah, for Michigan, two guys that I'm really watching closely running back. Justice Haynes transferred over from Alabama, averaged a cool nine point nine yards per carry in the opener.

1:09:32he's got some juice for a 210 pounder and then on defense derrick moore at defensive end has day two grades from nfl teams um six three and a half 265 pounds might run in the four sixes he's a little stiff but has a real feel for counters how to set up blocks or set up blockers i want to see him take that next step now as a senior and it'll start in this game another sneaky good game arizona State and Mississippi State played a banger in the desert last year like a really a sneaky good game they do the return game in Starkville this year Mississippi State Arizona State obviously a much better test for Sam Levitt and Jordan Tyson than what they got in week one and I'm going to defer to you but I got to believe Mississippi State has has some NFL guys on the roster I mean it's an SEC school after all yeah I think the the one I like the most their safety, Isaac Smith, um, you know, six foot 220 pounds.

1:10:32Um, I eager to see him, but yeah, this'll be a really good test for Arizona state. That offense last year against Mississippi state was probably Sam Levitt's worst game. So it'll be good to see him. Now the games in Starkville, those cowbells will be ringing, uh, but it'll be good to see him go up in that type of environment. Um, this is a team that I don't know. I mean, we watched them last year in the playoff and the big 12 championship. They didn't seem phased away from home. So I think they'll be just fine. But like you said, this will be a much better test. I don't think USF against Florida would have really registered for me a week ago, but then USF smacks Boise state.

1:11:11I mean, 34 to seven, one of them, honestly, one of the most impressive performances of week one, all, all teams considered and their reward for that very big win, their first ranked win in a decade, by the way, is that they get to follow it up with a trip to the swamp. So we'll see how that goes. But again, Florida, Florida was another team that played lesser competition in week one. So at the very least, this will be a step up for them. Well, I don't think there's another team in the country who has a tougher first three weeks in South Florida. They have a ranked Boise State team in the opener, which, like you said, they won Florida this week and then Miami in week three.

1:11:48So they've got some chance to pull some upsets here. and they Byron Brown at quarterback is a super interesting player because he looks like a linebacker. He's big. He's athletic. He's got wheels. He's got a rocket arm. The mechanics, they tend to fall apart pretty quickly. The consistency hasn't been there with him, but the talent is awesome. And so I'm eager to see him against a an SEC type of defense. And then for Florida, hopefully we see defensive lineman Caleb Banks. He wasn't able to go in the opener. They held him out with an injury. So hopefully we'll be able to see him back out there.

1:12:24He's a potential first rounder when he's when he's all good. Lastly, for me, you can roll your eyes if you want to, but I want to, I want to see Arch Manning and I, Texas plays San Jose state. It is not a juicy matchup. It's a game that I expect Texas to win. We said at the top of the show. I don't think arch can win back over anybody by beating up on San Jose state, but for the love of God, please do that. At least like look the part against San Jose state and give me some optimism that this isn't a real problem. And we don't have to have like much more serious conversations about arch. Cause that's, that's how I'm going to feel if this doesn't look good.

1:13:06Well, and another reason to watch that game, San Jose state, they have that they have their own quarterback uh walker eggett um who is a senior uh fifth year guy six three uh good size not not an amazing athlete but he throws a pretty ball so i i like to watching um you know some players on defense over the summer he's a player a quarterback that really stood out as he's got something so just you know both these quarterbacks worth watching in the texas san jose state matchup So a San Jose state team that made a bowl last year and has an intriguing quarterback. Oh, maybe, maybe there's something here.

1:13:47Maybe this is better than I'm giving it credit for. That's definitely something I want to have an eye on as we roll in to week two. Before we get out of here, Dane, we do, we're, we're going to spend time talking about the, the 2025 rookie class in the NFL. We're not just completely going to ignore those guys once they get to the league. I think every few weeks we'll, we'll probably do some kind of check in on, on who's impressing, who's, who's not so impressing all that good type of stuff. But for the meantime, as we get the season rolling, I'm doing my rookie predictions in our preseason award show later this week, but I did want to give you the floor.

1:14:25If you want to talk some offensive and defensive rookie of the year in the NFL this season. well yeah i'm eager to see a lot of these guys and um you know especially i was doing a fancy draft the other day and i got tyler warren in like the ninth round and i felt weirdly really really good about that even though the quarterback situation is what it is in indianapolis uh but they're gonna get they're gonna feed tyler warren so i i part of me wants to go that direction for offensive rookie of the year um i think i just have to take chalk right and go uh ashton genti with the Raiders. I mean, maybe Cam Ward has something to say about that by the time, you know, we get to the end of the season, but, you know, they took Gentile five overall for a reason.

1:15:05They're going to lean on him quite a bit. And, you know, he, he showed at Boise State, he can, if you want him to carry the ball 350 times, 350 times in a season, he'll do that and he'll still be effective. So I'm gonna go with Ashton Gentile as my offensive rookie of the year And then defensive rookie of the year. Again, I wish I was a little more brave with or gutsy with my defensive pick. But I got to go Abdul Carter. You know, he looked unblockable at times during the preseason, during camp. He just, you know, he went as high as he did for a reason. So now, again, maybe maybe Travis Hunter will have something to say about both those offensive and defensive rookie of the year.

1:15:49but um i think i'm gonna go with genti and abdul carter for my my preseason picks it's so hard to to go against carter because we know sacks are king like if you can get sacks you're gonna dominate the conversation it's just easier for edge rushers to win these types of awards if they're good and carter should have not i mean not only is he amazing he should have really favorable looks with the other pieces of that giants defensive line so it's hard to go away from that. It's, it's no disrespect to cam ward or Ashton Gentry, but I personally just, it's more fun when an unorthodox guy kind of comes out of nowhere to win rookie of the year.

1:16:28Obviously Tyler Warren isn't coming out of nowhere. He's a top 15 pick, but that's a, that's a little more interesting to me. Like I said, I'm, I'm rooting for cam and Ashton, but that would be really fun. And I think you're right. The quarterback situation is not inspiring, but a bad quarterback's best friend is the tight end so maybe team i like your thought process at least maybe i mean a lot of i mean again it's it's hard to go away from a quarterback again like if the titans are even if the titans are even decent cam ward is a good choice and obviously genti is going to touch the ball a lot but yeah tyler warren colston loveland tetteroa mcmillan any of those guys yeah it gets it gets my it gets me a little more excited when the offensive rookie of the year is kind of a an out of nowhere guy, you know?

1:17:17So we'll see how it goes. Dane, this was a lot of fun. We will be doing it every week during the season. It's a little different this week because of the holiday, but we will be dropping these on Wednesday, all college football season long. Please make sure you're tuning in, finding us in your feed, give us a download, find us on YouTube, however you prefer to do it. We appreciate it. And we will talk to y 'all next week.

1:18:13We'll see you next time. slash five for details.