Dane Brugler's updated Top 50: Arvell Reese, Ty Simpson top the list

0:28Welcome to an all new episode of Building the Beast. put out his initial top 50 in August. We broke it down then. Now we look at the new list. What's changed? What hasn't? Who has risen? And believe me, there are a few big climbers in this updated top 50. Really fun conversation with Dane. Of course, we hit the quarterbacks, but in addition, took a look through everything else. What is new and interesting about his top 50? Really great episode. Let's get into it.

1:00And joining me now, as he always does, my friend, my counterpart, my Sherpa in this draft process. And Dane, buddy, I'm excited for this one, man. I look forward to your top 50s, your draft boards. Obviously, the Beast will eventually come out, which is a draft Christmas experience. So we've got our midseason top 50 today. Lot to dig into. let's start with just a simple question is it more like of a relief to hit a milestone like this or is it anxiety inducing when you put your opinions out into the world so publicly like this you know it's both because obviously you're you know there's total transparency in this process and so this is a one of the milestones one of the checkpoints of the entire year where it's like okay we had the top 50 in August and I mean, realistically we could do a rankings every week, but those would be so up and down and you're being, you know, you're reacting to some of each game and it's just not the right way to do it.

2:08And so by not doing rankings until now, okay, we have a full two months of tape worth to digest and figure out and really pick through. Um, and you know, doing this from a very generalized point of view where there's not a specific scheme I'm scouting for um you know because some of these guys uh ruben bain is going to be an edge rusher for some teams he'll be a three technique for other teams you know like and so like that's that complicates how you how you look at these guys but from a very generalized point of view try to get these guys stacked in a way that i'm not really accounting for positional value i'm just trying to okay i'm trying to put together a rankings where in three years from now if i look back at this list, I can be proud of, okay, you know what?

2:57I just stacked the best football players because that's what I'm going for. I want to stack the best football players based on their traits, based off of what they've put on tape so far and how they project to the next level. And so there's still tape to be watched. There's still more that we, more work that we have to do, you know, between now and April, obviously. But for now, I feel good about where we are in this process. You know, some of these guys on this top 50 won't be in the draft. They'll go back to school. And, you know, that'll be another big update as we try to figure this out. So, but I think this is a good point to have an update.

3:34And I feel good about where I landed with this top 50. Fun little nugget Dane tried to bury in there, if you weren't paying attention, about one of the highest risers in this draft class at edge, Ruben Bain, potentially being seen at another position, which I just, I wanted to, I wanted to call that out. I picked up on it. And one of many fun conversations that we can have. Okay. So let's dive into this. The top 50 came out on Tuesday. We're not, we're not premiering it. So I don't feel a ton of need to sort of be, be coy or, or slow play putting it out there. Like if you want to read it, you can go find it on the athletic.

4:12You can read along with us and tell us what you agree with or disagree with, but just a quick snapshot. So there's, there's 22 new prospects from the preseason top 50. There are four quarterbacks in this version of the top 50, which are vastly different for the most part, a couple of them, not so much, but some two, two new names that shouldn't surprise you. If you've been following along, Dane gave me a quick conference breakdown, 17 players each from the sec and big 10, which makes a ton of sense. If you're paying attention to the programs that are kicking ass in college football this year, seven from the ACC six from the big 12 Notre Dame has two guys on this list.

4:57They play the same position funnily enough. And then one G five prospect from the university of Toledo, which I think Dane called that out in the preseason as well. So plenty of stuff holding true, even as we find surprises during this college football season. So I guess let's start where else would we start, but the top, but like, I mean, you gave it away in last week's episode and I don't think anybody that follows your work day and would be surprised Arvel Reese jumping from a non top 50 prospect in the preseason to the number one prospect overall. We've talked plenty about him and, and, and we can talk a little bit more, but I got to tell you, you sent me an early copy of this on Monday to prep for the show.

5:44And I yelped, I scared my fiance half to death with how excited I was to see the number two name on this list. And that's one of the quarterbacks who we knew who he was coming into this season, but he certainly wasn't getting as much hype as some other guys. and he jumps all the way from a non top 50 prospect to number two on your board. That would be Ty Simpson at a university of Alabama. And I got to tell you, but yeah, I'm in this, this got me really excited because I respect your opinion so much. And, and there are plenty of people high on Ty Simpson, myself included, but to see you get there with him, I love it a lot.

6:26Cause I, I just, I think the world of what this guy's put on tape so far. well no and that makes me feel good because you're our resident sec watcher um and you have a good mix because you're a midwest guy now that's right i mean you're you're shoveling sidewalks and like you're you're all about it now which is awesome to see but at your heart you're still an sec guy and so i know you've seen a lot of ty simpson this year and how could you not be impressed you know like it's just he the way he because it's not about necessarily just looking at the production that matters but it's more about process and traits and this is a quarterback who you look at the execution you look at his operation it's everything is so clean and just by the book what you want to see that it's it's hard to bet against him and look we've talked about it right the elephant in the room will be the lack of experience and teams will have to come grips with his unique situation where this is a guy that grew up in a division one program you know his dad being a 20-year head coach at fcs level so he grew up in a quarterback room he grew up in a practice field grew up in a locker room like he's kind of been groomed for this and so it's not a big surprise that he has been this good this quickly but you know there's just there's no substitute for experience but how much of a pass do we give a quarterback like this who faced a lot of good talent during practice at the last three years at Alabama.

7:57This year in the SEC, it's not like he's playing. It's not like Trey Lance situation where FCS, this is a quarterback playing big time competition this year in the SEC and has Alabama poised for a playoff spot. Now we'll see how he finishes. But all these things take into account how he's just a more unique one year starter than, say, a Mitchell Trubisky or, you know, a lot of these guys that have not worked out who were the one year guys. And so while ideally, yeah, you want to go with more experience, a more filled out resume that might not be the case with Ty Simpson. And it's, it's really interesting because he's already, he's going to be turned 23 years old here soon.

8:38He's already a graduate. Like if he went back to school, I don't think that surprised anybody. It'd be, it'd be good for him, but it also wouldn't be surprising if he declares. And that's NFL scouts do believe he will declare. um now i'll just nfl scouts they think that it is going to be basically a two quarterback draft and we'll have to wait and see on that because you know i remember back i remember scouts telling me sam darnold was going back because he wanted to he wanted he loved usc he wanted one more year he ended up declaring like so these things change all the time especially with nil but scouts feel like this is gonna be a two quarterback draft with simpson and then fernando mendoza uh dante Moore is playing well, but you know, he's, it's obvious at times he's just 20 years old.

9:23Oregon can cut that check where he's going to be well compensated to stay for another year for the ducks. Lenora sellers will be a wild card because he'll have options about staying or going or playing elsewhere next year. The other factor here is NIL, you know, last year we saw, sorry, I'm going off on a tangent here, but while we're on the topic of quarterbacks, Oh, I love it when you just read my notes for me. Like, you know where this is going. You know what I'm going to ask you. I mean, it's when the subject of quarterbacks in college football and prospects, it's the subject has now expanded to the NIL space.

10:00And it's the wild, wild west. And, you know, last year we saw Carson Beck and Quinn Ewers both declare. And then Miami came calling. Ewers passed. He felt like he was ready to go pro. He passed on those NIL offers and stayed in the draft. Beck saw it in his best interest to take the money, transfer, go back to school. This year, Brendan Soresby could be that guy. Obviously, Sellers could be in that mix. Sam Levitt, Josh Hoover, Byron Brown. There are a few others that are thinking about going pro who could strengthen, strengthen this class, no doubt. But once that quarterback market and the NIL shakes out, it's going to change all of this.

10:39And so Miami is probably going to be in that market again. Texas Tech could be in that market. maybe LSU potentially. So plenty of other schools that be looking at these quarterbacks and really influencing who are the quarterbacks that will be in the 2026 class. So let's take this line by line with the guys that are here. So Ty Simpson comes in at number two. He, he debuts in this ranking at number two, Dante Moore, another new quarterback jumps all the way up to number 12 after an impressive first half of the season, three quarters of the season, whatever. Excuse me. I skipped over Fernando Mendoza.

11:13Forgive me. He jumps up 13 spots. He was 20th in, in your preseason top 50, which I feel like there's, there's this, I don't know. I feel like there's this perception that Fernando Mendoza came out of nowhere. I'm like, absolutely not. If you were paying attention to this thing from the beginning, he jumps up to seventh overall, obviously a Heisman contender firmly in this sort of conversation. And then Lenora Sellers is the fourth and final guy in this list. He drops, he drops eight spots, but is still considered a top 20 prospect. I I'm going to go. Okay. So you, you touched on a few of these here already, but Dante Moore, it's his first go.

11:53It's not his first year as a starter, but in this Oregon situation where you've got a lot of things working in your favor, I think it's a great point to mention that Oregon is, and I don't say this to throw shade. I love that schools can pay players, but Oregon is well suited to keep him in school unless he does everything he needs to do. I mean, if he if he were to like win the Heisman and Oregon wins the national title, maybe there's nothing keeping you here. But otherwise, you got to like Oregon's odds of holding on to somebody like that. And then I'm curious for your thoughts on sellers where it obviously hasn't been as amazing as we were hoping heading into the season.

12:32It's also very obvious that South Carolina is outmanned in a lot of the games that they play. Clearly, you still like the guy enough to view him as a top 20 prospect. And so if that's the case, I get that schools have a lot of money in their NIL coffers. But if NFL teams agree with you, how surprised should we be to see sellers try the pros anyway? I think it'll depend on how he finishes because, you know, we just getting the feedback from scouts on sellers. They're kind of just in a holding pattern. You know, they're not sure what to make of the situation in South Carolina because you have to kind of divorce the quarterback from everything else to figure out how much of this roller coaster season for the Gamecocks has been on the quarterback.

13:22how much of it has been the fact that he's just not getting a lot of help out there from the offensive line from his weapons and you know they already fired the offensive coordinator um you know it's it's tough because when your quarterback is Lenore Sellers is getting paid a lot of money to to be the quarterback at South Carolina uh and obviously the wins have not followed this year especially after last year was such an encouraging year for that program um but it's so scouts are kind of in a holding pattern where it's like we see the talent and he makes impressive throws i mean you every name a game and i can point you to a couple of throws where it's just like yeah that's nfl stuff uh like he's further along now than anthony richardson was when he came out of florida and i get that's not necessarily a ringing endorsement with the way richardson has worked out but we're still talking about a prospect here we're talking about a guy that teams are going to have hope for and sellers is you know not ready to just drop him out of the top 50 altogether but you know kind of putting them in a holding pattern where just not quite sure what to do with him yet because the talent is obviously there you there's a lot of encouraging things about what he's doing on tape but it's just the the production has been inconsistent and the execution been inconsistent and that makes it tough to figure out what to do with him um in terms of our ranking and to be honest with you it i wish i could do rankings where it was just there's quarterback rankings and then non-quarterback rankings it's hard to weight that position against everything else right exactly it's it's a weighted position exactly so how do you you know how do you put how do you rank a Lenora Sellers with uh you know a a tight end you know like how do you possibly uh you know compare the impacts of those two positions and so that does make it tough but for these purposes, yeah, sellers drops a little bit, but I mean, a part of me is hoping he does go back to school, uh, whether that's at South Carolina or somewhere else where he can develop and take that next step.

15:23And we'll be talking about him next year. Let me ask you this real quick, and I hope I'm not putting you on the spot, but while you were doing this, these are the four quarterbacks that made the list. But if you're looking at the rest of the landscape and it's kind of tricky, right? Like Sam Levitt got injured. He's shut down for the year. John Mateer has been dealing with an injury. It hasn't been so great for him since he came back from the injury. Uh, I mean, Garrett Nussmeier, we've been over his struggles going as far as to get benched against Alabama the other night, arch Manning. It feels like it just, it feels incredibly, incredibly likely that he's not part of this class.

15:59Are there any other quarterbacks? You mentioned Brendan Sorsby, uh, Jaden Maiava at USC. Are there any other quarterbacks that you either thought about or that you could see factoring here when it's all said and done like was there anybody else that was on the on the fringe of your radar honestly not really I mean I I do really like swords be a lot like I I think he's right now in that third fourth round range and rising but I I think there's a good chance we see him go back to school and field some calls and you know whether that's tennessee whether that's miami lsu i don't whoever that ends up being um and have a chance to move up a level no offense to cincinnati but move up a level and then uh you know potentially be a guy we're talking about as a first rounder next year so soarsby is the really interesting one um but if we just talk about the senior class like i don't know like it's hard to really feel great about any of these guys uh it's kind of like last year where well i guess then we had tyler shuck last year but besides shuck um and jackson dart you know like that next senior were you know dylan gabriel you know he ended up going top 100 but probably shouldn't have um you know i this year's senior class is just a lot of these guys have disappointed you know drew aller unfortunately doesn't have the second half of his year to prove that he could be something even though he has talent and we've seen him take or make improvements that was taken from him because the season ending injury.

17:33So we're left projecting there. So no, I mean, this is a, this is a senior quarterback class that really has not lived up to expectations, my expectations, NFL expectations, fan expectations. So that that's been a disappointing part of this draft cycle. Aller and, and to a much lesser degree, Nussmeier, cause Aller's just like physically a much more talented guy, but those two guys, It's going to be interesting to see what NFL teams think about them and how highly they might go, which will just basically be a bet on talent and what you've seen at times, because it's certainly not going to be based on anything that we saw this year.

18:14Nussmeyer was the highest graded senior prospect coming into the year for multiple, multiple teams. And this isn't a. I know I'm going to be I'm going to be 60 years old. sitting on my stoop explaining to the neighborhood kids that junior Garrett Nussmeyer was, was him. Like I, like I, my eyes weren't lying to me and I, I don't know, maybe somebody will write a deep dive on what the hell happened. This also is a great senior group. Um, I think in my top 30, there's only three seniors, which is a little surprising. Um, you know, usually we have more than that so um i think so yeah david bailey for the past rusher from texas techs the top senior uh and then uh mansour delane uh corner lsu and then sunny styles uh linebacker ohio state i think those are the only three seniors that made the top 30 so overall this is a class that needs the underclassmen to uh make this a little more exciting class before we take our first break Do you have any I'm going to move on from quarterback after this.

19:24Do you have any other quarterback related thoughts you want to get off your chest? No, I mean, I do think that Mendoza has, you know, we like you said, we thought he was a good quarterback prospect coming in, even though we had not seen him take a snap in Indiana. We saw enough at Cal where it's like, all right, this is a first round player. This is an NFL starter. now is he a low-end NFL starter mid-level NFL starter high-level NFL starter that's what we're trying to figure out because I think we feel good about the floor with Mendoza but what's the ceiling that that's where I think the hang-up is and he's done everything he can this year now against Penn State for three quarters it didn't look great you know especially that second half interception that he had and but what he did on that final drive just is is kind of points to a lot of things that about Mendoza, the way he sees the field, his ability to understand where the void or where the vulnerable matchup is going to be pre-snap, and then just the poise that he had down the stretch.

20:25I mean, remarkable catch from Omar Cooper Jr., who, you know, how about our guy Omar Cooper Jr.? But Mendoza deserves credit for that. And so I still think we're questioning the ceiling and trying to feel good about what that Mendoza ceiling is, but I feel good enough about that floor where I was able to put them up a few spots compared to where I had him, uh, in August coming into the year. I really love the poise that, I mean, obviously he showed a tremendous amount of poise on that drive in general, but to miss a big play in the slot at one point during that drive. And like, especially with college, the sack, it started with a sack.

21:06Like that's, that's hard to like, I don't know. I mean, most of us would to curl up in a ball and said all right you know white flag but man he battled back I give him credit for that multiple things went wrong on that drive and I found myself thinking like oh that was that was your shot it's over now and and clearly that wasn't the case it was very impressive display of resilience I will say though we can't ignore the first three quarters like that is a part of his evaluation part of you know I don't want to make it sound like you know because a lot lot of people are saying oh that was his heisman moment and well i mean yeah i mean i one scout said well it's like he lit a house on fire and then put it out himself to be the hero like it wasn't that drastic but uh you know like it three quarters first three quarters did happen but so did that fourth quarter and all of that matters in the the total evaluation the stuff the stuff you say in text versus the stuff you say like when you're officially evaluating you know i i love the difference there.

22:06I just, I very quickly, I'll just stand on my soapbox and say, when we talk about guys that don't have a lot of starts and I'm going back to Ty Simpson here, cause he's my guy. Uh, typically you're talking about like, Oh, well there's flashes of this and, and, and single play examples of that. I mean, Anthony Richardson is the poster boy for why this scares the bejesus out of you where it's like five snaps in a 60 snap game. He does something incredible and he's got like the, the explosive run for a touchdown and he makes one throw that takes your breath away. And it's like, Oh, but I just, I need that more often.

22:45And he just needs to get more reps. Ty Simpson does his thing every freaking week, man. And like the way that he plays quarterback. It's not about inconsistency or like flashes. Like he's just consistently the way that he wins and the stuff that he does, like the way he diagnoses things, he makes the smart play. He can make the layered throw. He can lead his receiver. He can change his footwork in the pocket to get away from pressure. He is a plus athlete when it comes to moving. Like he can get you first downs with his feet. I, I, I don't want to be too effusive because I'm not trying to say this guy's a future all pro definitively, but he plays in a way that suggests that the light bulb is on, I guess is what I'm trying to say.

23:35And so like, I understand that he hasn't played that many games, but I am, I am not, I'm not daunted by that at all. Me personally. I love the fact that he has one interception and is he's not a conservative thrower he's got one interception while ripping balls all over the field every week he is not afraid to throw the ball into coverage where his receiver should end up being not there yet but he'll eventually get there uh he is not afraid to throw it and so he trusts his receivers and so far they have not let him down now he again We're going to have this conversation with Julian Sand next year, and we have it with every Alabama quarterback.

24:18You know, like the offensive line's playing well, and he's got good receivers to throw to. And yes, I get all of that, but this isn't a case of the supporting cast propping up a quarterback. This is a quarterback who is making throws and decisions down the field that are leading to big plays, extending drives. I really like what he's doing with his eyes. Like he's holding safeties and he understands what he needs to do with with motion. He understands what in terms of man and zone, he understands, you know, how to work left to right. Some of the hardest things to do for quarterbacks is eliminating things quickly.

24:54You know, because, you know, you want to go to a certain read, but guys linger and they lurk. And but he is so quick to go left to right and understands the timing. OK, that's not there. That's not there. Boom. Hit my third read. you know he'll he'll get to the backside dig he'll he'll find that open receiver because he has such a good understanding of what the defense is trying to do and where in a vulnerable matchup is and so yeah I mean I a lot of it is mental and that's to your point it's when you have a lack of starts and you don't have those in-game mental reps it's tough to get those once you get to the NFL and everything is really, really hard, it already feels like he has an advantage in areas that don't come unless you have experience.

25:41And so it's just a really unique situation of a player because there's no denying it. It's fact. He does not have many starts. And when you look at the last 10 years, there's just not anybody that's really succeeded who was a high traffic and didn't have that many starts. So this would be an outlier. And it's hard to bet on outliers. you know the Panthers bet on an Alabama quarterback who was an outlier a couple years ago and that's not going well with Bryce Young so I totally get the concerns but I'm with you I'm betting on the player I'm watching on film what he's putting on tape and saying like this is a good football player because the process is there it's not even just about the stats it's about the process his operation of what he's doing and like okay that that translates oh so does that that looks So all of that process is what gets me excited about Ty Simpson.

26:31He plays like he has the answer sheet to the test. And I don't know what that means for the next level. But like, I think people use a lack of starts as a way of saying that he's not 100 % sure what he's doing. And that's just that's not what I see when I watch the guy. But so very, very excited to see him at the top of your list. We'll see where it goes as this. I mean, it's really going to start ramping up here now that, you know, the draft order is coming into focus and people are paying closer attention to this stuff. I'm excited to see where it goes. All right. That is I think I said I was going to be done with quarterbacks seven minutes ago, but we are done with quarterbacks now.

27:11We got 46 other guys to talk about on the top 50. We'll do that on the other side of this break.

27:19All right, Dane. We talked. I mean, two huge risers at the top of this thing. Fernando Mendoza also rises into the top 10. And then our guy, Carnell Tate jumps up 21 spots from the preseason top 50 to be a top 10 prospect. Other than that though, very, very chalky at the top of your pre at the top of your top 50. When you look and see, you know, Caleb downs rises one spot into the top three. Keldrick Falk out of Auburn is still hanging out here as your top rated edge. Jeremiah love officially a top five prospect in this draft class for you. And then you see some other guys, Jordan Tyson still hanging around here as well as Jermod McCoy, which I wanted to ask you about that.

28:03A Tennessee cornerback who has yet to play this year, still a top 10 prospect. So a lot of stuff for as many unexpected as we have a lot of the guys that you felt good about heading into the season are still playing at that level for you. yeah and i think that this is a this is a draft we're just tough in the top five to top seven you know i don't feel this top 10 is this top 10 is is tough isn't it it is it and you know i it's relative to other years where you know i think it's pretty clearly like oh okay penne soul's in this draft and patrick shertan's in this draft and jamar chase like these are all clearly top 10 players and like some years are easier than others this year uh is definitely a little bit tougher uh i you know like i don't i'm not going to necessarily put positional value factor that into like a top 50 like obviously that'll show up in a mock draft but for this you know caleb downs is one of the best football players in this draft and so yeah i'm perfectly fine putting him at three while also knowing he is not a top 10 lock in this draft uh because of just the way the NFL has told us they draft safeties.

29:15Jeremiah Love at number five, he might not be a top 10 lock based off of there's always so many teams that are going to draft a running back. And there's a decent chance one of those would maybe not be in the top 10. So Jeremiah Love could definitely fall. So but at the end of the day, these are really good football players and really good prospects. Keldrick Falk is a little bit tough because the way Auburn uses him, like they don't ask him to just go attack. and so the stats are never going to look great with him but man the traits are exciting and he's the young one of the youngest players in the draft and so i'm not like is he playing up to a guy that should go top five i don't i can't definitively say that but i'm still betting on those traits uh and especially compared to some of the other players in this draft um but i am a lot more encouraged by some of these receivers and you know you mentioned carnell tate jordan tyson's still wide receiver one holding on to that i mean a hamstring injury is pretty much the only thing that has slowed him down uh this year uh now we'll see without his quarterback how he he'll finish this year at arizona state um the tackles have not you know we there was we had some promise for the tackles that hasn't lived up to it um spencer i'd go as far as to say the the offensive of tackles are some of the across the board, they're some of the biggest fall off fallers on this list.

30:38So yes, Spencer Fano, not a huge drop, but he goes from eight to 11 in your updated list. Caden Proctor, a guy that we've talked about a ton falls to 18 from a, from the preseason number three spot. So again, still, still a good football player, but not living up to, to what you were hoping to see heading into the season. the other uh utah tackle caleb lomu is one of the biggest fallers in this thing he falls to number 41 down 26 spots scouts expect him to go back so i don't he might be a guy that we're not even don't have to worry about this draft cycle and he should go back he is a redshirt sophomore tackle with a ton of promise but man he needs to get stronger and usually guys that need to get stronger you don't usually see that happen at the next level so hopefully he goes back to utah gets stronger and we're talking about him as a potential first rounder next year but yeah to your point i think it's we had a lot of uh hope for this tackle class and it's just i don't think it's played out i mean i uh our miami right tackle is going to be a guard for some teams francis for others yes so it'll be it's it's for teams because i know there are several teams hoping to see a tackle in this year's top 10 maybe we see Fano go that high it's definitely possible but it's not going to be there's no Joe Alt level prospect this year um you know it's not going to be like the year where we had Andrew Thomas and uh you know uh who's our Iowa tackle now with the Bucks Tristan Wurfs yeah yeah we're not going to have that level of a tackle class this year that helps not come in for teams what I'm hearing and what I'm just seeing when I look at this I'm looking forward to it I feel like this could be disappointing for fans of teams that have a big pick or or you know the one of the themes of this year's draft is looking like it's going to be teams that have a lot of picks I think like there's four teams with multiple first round picks right now I don't want to say it's lacking because like Arvel Reese is amazing and Ruben Bain has had a phenomenal season and we're excited about the receivers but the easiest way to do this like the most elementary way to look at a draft class is you're like all right where are the pass rushers where the receivers where are the corners and and obviously throw in quarterback and and okay so you said scouts are looking at this as a two quarterback draft, I'd love to know what scouts are thinking about, like who they're excited when it comes to the premium position, like who gets you outside of maybe Arvel Reese and I'll throw in Ruben Bain to like who gets your juices flowing at the big, big money positions.

33:25Cause it's easy to say, don't draft Jeremiah love or Caleb downs too quickly because of the position they play. But if they're head and shoulders better than an edge prospect or a corner prospect, it's going to lead to some fun conversations for us. Yeah, and I think that's that's kind of the issue with this class is, you know, you talk to scouts that are West Coast scouts and all right. You know, who do you think is the best guy in your area? And it's like, well, thought it was going to be Fano, but he's been he hasn't looked like a top 10 pick. So, but I still, I guess it's him because there's nobody else.

34:03You know, you talk to Southeast scouts who are an SEC country and it's like, okay, well, it's kind of an off year for Georgia. You know, really like CJ Allen, Kristen Miller is a good defensive tackle. He's he'll be a solid rotational defensive lineman for a lot of years, but there's not that one or two years. You know, Jalen Walker and Mikel Williams and, you know, the freaks that Georgia usually puts out. um so you know i think just yeah it is a draft that might not be as top heavy um and i don't think it's any i've mentioned this before but i don't think it's any uh coincidence why a team like the jets were perfectly fine taking 2027 first round picks because they're looking at next year and i get it it's cliche to say oh just wait for next year's draft like it's it gets set every year it was said about this draft i am i am i'm officially i am becoming like black pilled on the wait for next year's class thing.

34:57And it sucks because I'm sitting here looking at this and I've been following along all year. I'm with you every week. I am not crazy wowed by what this draft class looks like so far, but I, I can't just every year be like, wait for the next guys, because this was supposed to be a class like that. Like this, we did this last year. I feel like we do this. You're right. We do this every year. And you know, I saw somebody, I don't even remember who said it. So I'm not even trying to single anybody out, but people, people are like, Oh, well, Jeremiah Smith is in next year's class. And that's great.

35:34Jeremiah Smith is the man, but people are like, don't forget about Ryan Williams. And I'm like, have you watched Ryan Williams this year? Like he's a good player, but are we giving up capital in this draft class for that? Like I, I have a feeling that the reality of every draft class is just going to be a little bit more disappointing than we want to believe a year ahead of time. Unless, you know, every decade or so, you're going to get a 2021 or a 2011. I get that. But for the most part, I'm starting to think it's overrated. And I think that's fair. But I do think that's OK. Just talking about 2027 guys like Dylan Stewart at South Carolina, you know, like he would be he might be number one.

36:21in this class if you were eligible like Leonard Moore at Notre Dame he looks he looks legit at corner so it feels like there are definitely in terms of guys that you think are top 10 players it feels like there's more of those guys next year but this draft I mean I like the talent in this top 50 it's just I struggled with you know one through seven you know feeling great about those guys early but you know i look at you know kenyan sadiq at 17 or um you know makai lemon at 20 cj allen at 24 um you know and i think this year we haven't had as many well i guess that's not true we've had some risers we you know arvel reese is the prime example um maybe there's still an armand membu out there that we haven't necessarily you know because armand membu for me i did not watch him until it was it was thanksgiving last year because i didn't know that he was coming out like i i knew that missouri had this really talented underclassman but i had not got to him yet and then i got word that hey he's gonna announce this week he's coming out all right i'll finally get to him i was like all right yep this is a first round player and you know and i remember i remember that day tweeting it and texting brandon thorne and being like dude you You got to watch this guy because he's awesome.

37:37So maybe we'll have one of those guys this year. You know, Brandon Cissé from the corner from South Carolina. He's been in one of those guys where he wasn't on my radar coming into the year, but he started to get some buzz with scouts and checking them out. I'm like, all right, this guy is a legit athlete. He's got cover skills, NC State transfer. There's a lot of talent here. So Brandon Cissé, boom, shoots off the board. But I think so overall, this is a this is a decent draft. It's just not very top heavy. Let's OK. Two positions exemplify this, I think. And I mentioned I wanted to talk about one of them.

38:16Let's talk about corner. Just looking through your list right now. OK, I mentioned your mod McCoy again coming back from an injury. Hasn't had a 2025 season to speak of. And then a lot of these other corners and Avion Terrell falls a little bit. but still after he was 16 before the season, he's 21 right now, still plenty, plenty good. And then we start talking about newcomers, newcomers. You mentioned Mansoor Delane coming in at number 19. You just mentioned Brandon C say newcomer to the list at 25 for South Carolina, Colton hood, the other Tennessee cornerback at number 34. I think that's it for cornerback, But yeah, like there's definitely there's a grab bag of guys here in starting at number nine and going to number 34.

39:09A talk to me about McCoy and what that optimism looks like and then help me sort through the rest of these guys. And it's such an important position. I got to believe you're going to have a few guys go in the first round. How do you think that stacks up at this point with whatever it is, three, four games to play? Yeah. Yeah, it's always tough when you're dealing with injuries to at this point in the process, like we'll get more clarity on the recovery process. And the thing with Jermon McCoy, his injury happened in January, so he should be full go for the draft process. You know, so we'll have a 40 on him.

39:48We'll have testing information. And so that will and obviously the medical evaluation. So by the time March gets here, we'll have a good idea. like we will feel more confident about where we're putting uh jermon mccoy so right now i just feel like there's no no reason to like i'm just gonna go based off the 2024 tape you know it'll play itself out based off of the testing and the medical information and all that stuff that we're gonna get in the spring but based off the 2024 tape i feel comfortable putting him right there at nine top 10 potential player and based off of the information that comes out i can inch him up and down um so mccoy is just kind of like a holding pattern where okay 2024 tape says that's where he should be now a guy like caleb banks who was the top 20 and he was 19 coming into the year yeah he was a defensive tackle from florida he was one of your biggest followers and then and yeah i mean he got injured in september and and whereas i don't think he played a healthy game this entire year so i'm sure he played like what half of the lsu game i think it was yeah i mean He came back.

40:54I think he like re-aggravated his injury in the loss to South Florida. He tried to go against LSU and it just didn't work out. So like not only has he not had much of a season, but the times he was on the field were hampered by injury as well. Right. So like in his case, he was a follower because his preseason ranking was based. A lot of it was based on projection. It's like, okay, I really like this guy's talent. And I think he's going to ascend as a senior. So I'm going to bump him up in my preseason rankings. All right, well, obviously that's not going to happen with him injured. So I'm bumping him back down to the original grade based off his 2024 tape, which is more of a second rounder, a guy that still is a really talented guy.

41:35And, you know, six, six over 300 pounds, 35 inch arms, really disruptive. And there's a lot going for him. But the inconsistencies are going to put him more towards the bottom of the top 50 rather than the top half. So, and again, it's always tough with injuries this, at this point in the calendar where we just don't have clarification. But back to the corners, Delane, no, I, it's, when he starts to get picked apart at the combine for the arm length and the 40, just throw on the tape and, you know, like, and you've been the president of this. Yeah. Let me just, I try not to, I try, I not to be too selfish about my LSU diploma.

42:18I try to leave that at the door. I know I don't always do a good job, but I try to, I just want to know. And this is a sincere question. Cause like if, if I was confident that Delane was going to have better measurables and stuff, I would be pounding the table for him to be a top 10 prospect. Like I think his performance on the field has been that good. So my question for you is just how high do you think his ceiling is when all of that stuff starts happening? And it sucks to admit, I really do think cornerback is a position where the underwear Olympics kind of matter, man. Like your straight line speed and your change of direction and how long your arms are.

43:00Like it matters at corner more than it matters for a lot of positions. So how much do you think that stuff will hinder him in the in the long run once we get to that part of the process? I think because some teams just have really strict parameters about size and speed of that position. So, you know, when his arms are not over 31 inches, OK, that he's not going to be a first round pick for several teams. That that's what that's what they want. And so now a team that doesn't have those strict parameters could love him and take him 14th overall. all you know like that's definitely possible but when the the pool of potential landing spots starts to dwindle that's where the odds of going top 20 start to go down um with a corner like this who the tape is really really good but you know he's 5 '11 190 pounds shorter arms and the speed is good not great but again i'm gonna trust the tape because this is a good football player he i could not keep him out of the top 20 of my rankings but for some teams that that's just how the case will be and we have to mention avian terrell and this is too as well because he is not a bigger corner he is a smaller guy and there are times when you know as aggressive and violent as he plays he's just he does look small at times on film and that will be an issue for for some teams and so both delane and terrell are going to be tough for for some teams that have those strict size parameters at the position just put the good football player on my team and And I and like I said, I think corner is a position where you stopwatch position.

44:39I think you have to keep that stuff in mind when you're talking about like a top 10, top 15 pick. But first round back into the first round. Yeah, I'm good. I'm good. Trust in the tape there. Can I ask you, who was the guy on this list who surprised you the most, either because he was so high or because he was too low or maybe just was very different than what you thought it would be or if there was a guy like that to be honest with you the the one that jumped out at me most I've already brought up because uh Jermod McCoy it scares the shit out of me to just go off of last year's tape and kind of what we were talking about is like, yeah, it's easy to get excited about a guy from a year ago and just, and just trust that the progress is going to be linear and he's going to be better.

45:33But we're sitting here talking about how that hasn't been the case for a ton of good football players. So that one scares me a little bit. And that one kind of, it made my eyebrows raise if I'm being totally honest with you. Yeah. And I think that's, again, that's a case where we'll have good answers before the draft. So, you know, if he say he chooses not to work out at the combine, all right, that's not going to help him. You know, like we have to see him out there moving, looking like the athlete we saw in the 2024 film for him to hold on to that ranking in the top 10 where I have him. So we'll have time to figure that out and feel better about where exactly to put him.

46:14The rest of the, to be honest with you, it's, it's fun talking to you every week and then seeing your thought process, because when you're going through this, the updated top 50, you're, you just start seeing a lot of names that, that you've talked about your, your guard from Penn state is right here debuting at 28 overall Amari Washington right behind him made the cut at 30th overall. I did see Cassius Howell 35 overall. And again, that's a position where measurables and arm length and bend and all that stuff is going to come into play. But I'm fascinated by that conversation where there's a lot of reasons to suggest a guy with Howell's build might get dinged, but you watch Texas A &M play and it's kind of like, yeah, I think I want that guy on my team sooner rather than later.

47:09yeah how's tough because yeah he is a fun player he's uh you know the burst off the ball the way that he can uh just the ankle flexion and he's put his foot in the ground make a sharp turn around the corner flatten to the quarterback um yeah it's he's a really talented dude uh and it shows up on tape it shows up with his production i just i need to see more out of him than just being a high side rusher you know like i want to just i want to see him make some better plays in the run game um like i don't think he's a better prospect than like say nolan smith was coming out of georgia and nolan smith went in the late first round so you know like that's just frame of reference that's kind of where how i've got him as more of a a second round grade a guy trying to get into that first round and you know maybe he'll end up there when it's all said and done but you know he's 6 '2 250 shorter arms like you know that the athleticism should be good at the combine like he should test well but um yeah i think he's he's gonna be looked at as a dpr for you know several teams and that just that won't be a fit for what they're looking for in you know the top 25 top 30.

48:21a couple more points to hit before we're done here but we're going to take our second break real quick a couple of things i wanted to hit on with you dane and this goes back to the conversation we were just having about the quality of the draft class as a whole and maybe the depth of it even if the top 10 or so isn't as star-studded as as some years we remember and we've hit on this before but your top 50 really throws it into contrast which is that the receiver class has given us some stuff to be excited about right and we talked about that before the season, like who's going to step up other than maybe Jordan Tyson and really excite us as a prospect.

49:06And your answer is a lot of guys. We already mentioned Carnell Tate jumping up into the top 10 of your updated top 50 Makai Lemon, who Dane has loved throughout this process, a 16 spot jump into the top 20, a newcomer, my guy Denzel Boston at 22 overall. And that you talk about names that surprised me. this was a good surprise where it's kind of like, man, I really, I love the guy up at Washington, but do I love him too much? And then I see you put them at 22 and I'm like, all right, I'm on the right track here. This is great. Casey Concepcion out of Texas A &M is another newcomer. Chris Bell falls a little bit, but he's still here.

49:47Jeremy Bernard joins the list. So what I think, I think at the end of the day, you either had six or seven in your top 50, which maybe that's not surprising with how many good receivers tend to hit the draft every year, but considering that there was a little bit of uncertainty, it is fun that so many guys are putting good stuff on tape. And like, I'm, I am excited about this receiver class when in August, I wasn't sure if I would be. Yeah. And they're all different too. Like they offer some different things. Um, like Like Kyle Lemon and Denzel Boston are ranked pretty close together, but they do very different things.

50:25And Boston's interesting because he's more of that traditional X receiver where he he will win at the catch point. He doesn't need a ton of separation. He's got that my ball mentality. And I think he's his quarterback is young and got potential, but he's at the end of the day, I think an inaccurate quarterback. And so he's having to rescue a lot of throws. He's putting that on tape where you see the tracking, you see the catch radius. But he's also not a guy that is going to create a ton of separation. He lacks suddenness out of his breaks and not necessarily a burner who's just going to separate easily versus man.

51:04So when he has face press, I think it's been a little bit mixed with just getting off that press coverage. And that's something that a lot of college corners struggle with when they get the next level. but Boston is, you know, he can work inside outside. There's a lot to like about him, but he's very different than what Makai Lemon offers or Casey Concepcion, or, you know, we've talked about Chris Bell quite a bit, but yeah, the receiver position is, you know, teams are always going to look for those explosive options at receiver. And I definitely feel a lot more optimistic about this group than what maybe we thought about this group coming in.

51:39A lot of these guys have hit at a, you know, hit their high expectations or even exceeded it um carnell tate definitely being you know one of the prime examples of that where it's if we're a taller receiver he's very deliberate and detailed and you know he missed purdue because they said some tightness uh before the game hopefully that's not something that pops up because ohio state needs him the rest of the year for them to uh you know, beat Michigan, go to the big 10 championship game and then the playoffs. And selfishly, I just want to see Carnell Tate, see how he finishes as strong as his first half of the year has been.

52:19But yeah, overall, this receiver class has been a lot of fun. This is a hard question to answer, but I love putting you on the spot, so I don't care. And I know like a top 50 board is not, it's not a mock draft and you don't have grades on these guys that you're making public right now anyway, but you have six receivers in your top 32. And like I said, I know this isn't a mock draft and I know that, you know, quarterbacks and other positions are going to get drafted out of whack and kind of change the math here. But for a, for a class that we had a lot of questions about coming in, I mean, it, it sounds like there should be a fair number of guys that could go in the first round part of that is what we just mentioned how the receiver class i think is playing better than we expected um part of it is just the lack of other positions really stepping up and like you know like like we said the tackles have not uh like you know coming into the year we had high hopes for uh drew shelton from penn state because the athlete that he was but i just he doesn't play with power he plays way too soft like i just i could not it wasn't even a conversation about putting him in this top 50 um isaiah world at oregon you see traits but why does he have so much bad tape you know like there's just there's there's things about a lot of the tackles that just have not played out the way we thought and really you can go position by position about guys that were in the uh initial top 50 that just have not lived up to it and maybe some of those guys can finish strong and get back up into this top 50 but for the most part other positions that have struggled it's been the opposite with receivers and so i think that plays a part where maybe some guys have dropped out of the top 32 top 35 where the receivers have have pushed their way up the board is this going to be a draft where people are trying to sell themselves on inconsistent or underwhelming players at more important positions.

54:25And I'm sitting here pulling my hair out because less important players are better overall or have at least played better overall to this point. And I know part of this is about projection, right? Like you're not a finished product in college, even if you're the best prospect ever. I get that, but that's tough for me to square. Like I, I maybe I'm a coward, but I'm more comfortable taking the more complete picture. Maybe that's why I'm not a decision maker, but that's what it feels like you're telling me. Yeah, I think people have to remember the word prospect and the word player are not synonyms.

55:03They're two different things. And, you know, that's when you talk about the draft and talk about prospects, that that's what I deal with, where it's, you know, OK, I'm watching film to watch players, but I am grading them as prospects. It's not what they are. It's what you think they're going to be and grow into. And I really isolating the traits and understanding, okay, this will translate well. And, um, but you know, like that, that'll happen every year with every draft where, uh, a player that doesn't have the production, uh, is still drafted early. And, you know, we don't know until maybe three years down the road if that was the right move or not.

55:40But yeah, this year, like, you know, Caden Proctor is going to be really interesting because the left tackle from Alabama had a rough start to the year, started to fix it a little bit, but it's still been up and down where, I mean, you can throw on every tape. And this is true for most offensive linemen, but you can throw on every tape. And there's going to be times where it just he looks stressed. He looks like he's thinking way too much about hitting his landmarks. And he's just he's not playing at the high level we know he's capable of playing. but you just don't find 360 pounders with his mix of explosiveness and power and just overall ability and so Caden Proctor is a guy that some teams or some scouts look at him and say yeah I think he's you know I feel comfortable with him as a second round guard others look at him and say he's gonna go he's gonna be a top 15 pick because of all these tools that you know his best football is ahead of him and he'll continue to get better and better and better.

56:36So yeah, I, this it's, it's not just germane to this draft. It's going to be something that happens every draft where teams will focus on traits more so than, Hey, this was just a really good football player in college. A couple of quick questions I wanted to ask you before we get out of here. I think it's, it's worth mentioning the number one prospect from your preseason top 50. That would be Peter Woods at Clemson. He falls to 13th in your update, which I'll be, I'll be very honest with you. I haven't seen a ton of Clemson football since the first two, three weeks of the season, when it kind of became obvious that they were not the team we thought they were clearly not falling too far in your estimation, but where do, where do things stand for him?

57:19What have you seen from him? You know, for a guy that had headed into the season as your number one overall guy. and i'll just throw tj parker in this mix too the defensive end from clemson who was i think like ninth overall maybe in the top 50 coming in now he's 27th so like both these guys like you see start with woods like you see for a guy that size his his his movement skills and he will track down the football like there's just it pops on every single tape but he's just not making enough of an impact like it's just it's not factoring into the success or failure of the play um and so it's like all right i see you have the talent and the tools but i need you to become more the sum of your parts and see how that plays out in on a snap to snap basis and so with woods talent is not a question with this player it's just what is the overall impact of how he impacts the game that and that is tough to to kind of reconcile the two tj parker um you know you see size you see length he will force his way to the pocket uh but another guy that's just why for a guy that was so productive the first two years at clemson he his first two years he combined for like 33 tackles for loss i think this year it's just not even close to that like it's just the production has not been there and it's hard to how much because you don't just ignore what he did his first two years but you You can't ignore what he's doing now as a junior.

58:51And so it makes it tough with, with these two Clemson defensive linemen who are clearly talented, but it's just not showing up on the stat sheet and it's not showing up consistently on tape. Before we get out of here, one last one for you. And I, the top 10 kind of speaks for itself. Yeah. I don't think at this point, I'm going to ban you from saying Arvel Reese, you're not allowed. You're not allowed to say that the fact that he's number one on this list speaks for itself among other guys who's who's kind of your guy like the guy that you're excited about maybe you think they could rise even higher as we go or you just love watching them like who who are your guys on this list not counting arvel reese uh mckay lemon definitely falls in that category he's just a good football player like i just think he's a winner um i'm really intrigued the Brandon Cissé, the South Carolina corner, just because I'm the cover talent and the athleticism is really awesome.

59:53So I think he's a guy that, you know, just stock up with him. I'm glad I I didn't think I'd have a second running back in this top 50. But watching that Notre Dame offense, Jadarian Price, man, he he deserves to be in this top 50 because of he just he gets overshadowed by jeremiah love i mean obviously the jeremiah love is a home run threat every time he touches the ball the explosiveness is just it's so much fun and that's why he's so high on this top 50 but man price he might actually be better in terms of vision patience tempo like he might be better than love in those areas he's just not the athlete that love is not but he's still a good athlete and you know that's why he's averaging over six yards a carry that's why he has two uh i think three kick return touchdowns in his career at notre dame so special teams impact as well so i'm i'm glad that found space for jadarian price on here um kind of mentioned jay gold day too right i mean i he's been a guy i've been talking up all year and you sure have yeah he's someone that earned his spot on this top 50 um so yeah there's a lot of guys that uh you know i feel really good about that maybe were surprises or just played better than we expected uh but yeah guys that i'm happy to stamp with you know kind of my uh my approval through this process i'm really proud of myself for bucking my own conventions here because like i have a long-standing thought that and i know it's been proven wrong but just in general edge is a position where I'm like, you either have the traits to go high or I'm not interested.

1:01:43Basically, like I said, I know that's a flawed thought process, but that's typically how I feel. But looking at your top 50 and I'm not doing anything for my sec Homer allegations here, but the, the flawed sec edge rushers at the back end of your top 50 are all very fun players. Like we've talked about Zion young. We already talked about Cassius Howell here today. Our Mason Thomas, also an incredibly fun player. Like there's a lot of edge rushers at the back end of this thing that I get really excited to watch. And like every week I see them do something cool. And I don't, I don't typically feel that way.

1:02:22I've, I've got an eye on that. That's exciting. Have you watched Quincy roads at Arkansas? I mean, I mean, there's not a reason to watch Arkansas's defense. I was about to say, so I know he's on the list, All I know about Arkansas's defense is that they are impossibly bad. So I am. Please tell me more about what he's doing that makes him stand out, because I imagine that is hard to do on that unit. 6 '6", 275, big, big man, long, and he has better movement skills than you would expect for that size. And so he'll break out a spin move. He'll try to work high side. but it's really just he will overpower blockers at times with that length and he'll line up inside he'll line up outside and so I think it's just this is a guy with an NFL body still learning how to use all of those talents in unison to be a more cohesive efficient pass rusher but it's just hard to find guys that size that have his talent and so that's why you know he's he belongs in this top 50 and I think he's he's on the rise that's what building the beast is all about is the idea that an NFL top 50 caliber prospect is playing on one of the worst defenses in college football I mean if you turn on Arkansas on a given week they're giving up 35 plus points but that does not mean that they don't have talent on their roster love it second second in the SEC and tackles for loss, I think, with 14.

1:03:55So it's not just traits. It's showing up in the stat sheet as well. He's going to give LSU's offensive line hell on Saturday, I promise you. But, I mean, everybody gives LSU's offensive line hell, so that's okay. Wonderful look at your top 50, Dane. Please, if you haven't, make sure you go give it a look. We'll be referencing it for the rest of the season until we update this once again. Plenty more college football left on deck. We've got plenty more in store for you all. Like I've said before, now that the draft order is starting to take shape, we want to incorporate that into our coverage a little bit as well.

1:04:30Now that we can kind of take educated guesses about what the top of the draft might look like. So please tell a tell a Jets fan, tell a Browns fan, tell a Dolphins fan, tell a Saints fan to come check out building the beast. We'll be here next week. Until then, for Dane, I am Dave. We appreciate it. We'll talk to you all soon.

1:04:58We'll see you next time.