PMS 2.0 1523 - Sweet 16 Night 1 Recap, Night 2 Preview, Iowa Head Coach Ben McCollum, Coach K, Daniel Jeremiah, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Jordan Reid, & AJ Hawk

22:40Pat McAfee:We can't wait to watch it all. I love the messaging. And as you were speaking over there, Ty, who had, I don't know, of 45 Jack and Cokes last night celebrating your head, which is nodding his head like this. I thought he was from Iowa. He didn't have Bush Light. Well, you know, liquor before beer, and you're in the clear. Sir. Yeah, you know that. Go ahead, Ty. Coach, yeah, no, Pat mentioned it, and I have no problem saying it. I can't remember. I am so emotional. I was crying last night after the game, just because it's like you just, when you got hired, everyone in the state was so excited, but you still you know what limits are in place at Iowa with basketball.

23:18And, man, in terms of just everything I've experienced in my sporting life, my entire family, my brothers talking about it, like last night was one of the best nights of my life. No bullshit. Cannot wait for the next one. Hey, that's awesome. First and foremost. Thank you for delivering that to our boy. Thank you. Thank you for that. But I am curious, what was the message at halftime? Obviously, Tate Sage hits that huge three to kind of give you guys momentum going in. And the rebounding woes that were kind of there early, like those completely dissipated. And you guys, I mean, you were making shots, but you looked like a different team in the second half.

23:56What did you tell the guys to kind of, you know, get them back on track? Because Nebraska was shooting lights out. And it was one of those things where if we weren't responding, there was a chance that they were kind of just going to run away with that one. I mean, I thought they were dictating what we were doing. I thought they imposed their will on us, meaning when they came down offensively, we were chasing, trying to predict what they were doing rather than telling them what they're going to do. And so at halftime, it was more just, hey, we went over this. We understand the scout. It was simple mistakes that we typically don't make.

24:32And we made a ton of them. Now, fortunately, we spent about three days working on our offense, making sure we could score on them because we couldn't score on them the last few times. So that was dialed in, but, you know, I will make that mistake again. We need to make sure we work on both sides of the ball. What a win.

24:49Pat McAfee:It worked. Unbelievable. I mean, what a ride. I had a March Madness feeling on a Thursday night, you know, like that is a beautiful thing. And you didn't even get a chance to see the Purdue-Texas game that was happening right alongside of it. I mean, it was – last night was great for college hoops. And I don't know what the ratings are going to be, but I assume it's going to be ridiculous. Your teams are fun, Coach. Your teams are very fun. Now, you're also very new. You're an old school guy. You're new to our world. Obviously, you've been coaching in basketball world for a long time, but new to the national scene, we'll say.

25:19Pat McAfee:Your team's having great success. Seems like it doesn't have all the notoriety everywhere else. And you're a Big Ten team. It's starting to draw some comparison. Tone has a question for you. Yeah, Coach. Obviously, you're a coach, and sometimes coaches just live in a bubble and have no idea what's going on in the outside world. So just letting you know that before I ask. But the internet is comparing you to Coach Signetti of IU football and his run of going from smaller schools and winning and winning and winning, getting to IU and having immediate success on the greatest stage. I'm not sure if you've seen those comparisons on the internet, but it is a huge compliment.

25:56Just want to know if you had any thoughts on that. Yeah, I mean, probably a huge compliment. I don't really pay attention. I think the second you start to read clippings about yourself, you're going to have issues. Yeah, I mean, if I can win to the level that he's won at the Division I level, I mean, that's a heck of a deal. I'm more of a Kirk Ferens fan, though. Hell yeah. All right.

26:21Pat McAfee:Good answer, good answer. I'd probably rather be compared to him. No offense to Signetti. He's obviously a fantastic coach. I don't want to get into what you just said right there. I don't want to do this, okay? I don't want to do this. Me and Dan Orlovsky had a moment the other day. I'm not doing it again. Coach, congrats on a huge win in the Sweet 16. and the Big Ten prop. You know, a lot of great Big Ten basketball going on right now in this tournament. And then obviously with football, you guys feel it, right? I think we talked about this last time. Last time it was a Big Ten showcase there in that first game and it was obviously going the way it was going.

26:52Pat McAfee:Best league in the country. Has it prepared you, you think, for this tournament? And how do you feel kind of going into the Elite Eight now? What all do you kind of scout? Are you doing a lot of self-scout right now before it all gets figured? Like how do you kind of go ahead with the team at this exact point? Yeah, we do a lot of scouting them. So, like last night, I downloaded all the Illinois clips from however many games and then, you know, watched it throughout the night, watched it this morning up to this point, and you just try to figure out exactly what you can do to be able to punish some things.

27:24And, yeah, not a lot of self-scout right now. We just need to make sure that we're dialed in and play better defense than we did last game.

27:31Pat McAfee:Those itches are crazy. There's an itch here. There's an itch here. And those agents seemingly are everywhere. And they got an Indiana kid from, like, right here, the kid with the ponytail. Oh, yeah. He's from right here. Oh, Gabe Davis. He's a good player. He's a good shooter. He's a really good, tough kid. Yeah, I'm happy he got out of Indiana. I mean, this guy's unbelievable. I was watching their entire team last night because, obviously, Houston talks about how physical they are and everything like that. They weren't rattled at all. The Big Ten last night was a showcase. It was a Big Ten showcase last night, actually.

28:04Yeah, it is tonight, too, because Michigan State and Michigan are playing.

28:07Pat McAfee:Oh, man. Greg Sankey's down there right now with the SEC microphone going, we got teams. We got teams down here. They are on their way. Petiti's saying, where are they? Fascinating times. Big Ten's lucky to have you, Coach. Legit. Very, very, very lucky to have you. It has been very cool to get to know your story. They've been telling it very well. I know you're not listening to your press clippings. They're talking about you being maybe the greatest of all time in D2. You could have won four, I believe. Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, Coach, you should have won four if it wasn't for that thing in 2020.

28:39We won four. No, four straight. Four straight. Sorry. Four straight. Yes, sir. Yeah. But, you know, that is in the past now. Let's talk about right now. Your team is clearly very gritty. You know, it's fun to watch because it's basketball, but you're damn near playing football out there because of how tough your guys are. Tate Sage, Ty mentioned it. After you chewed the entire team out, or at least in that little timeout, Tate Sage went on to have 11 points, a couple boards just in the first half after that. How do you know when you're recruiting a guy or if you're just getting to know a player, whether they can take a Ben McCollum ass-chewing?

29:16Because clearly it does really kind of get to you, especially when you're a fiery guy. I could see some of those kids kind of going into themselves maybe, especially in today's day and age. But how do you know whether a player can play now an Iowa brand of basketball? yeah I mean it's a lot of work I mean that's what we try to evaluate first is you know parents you know I guess the parents that they're raised by and then just to feel when you get to know them and to meet them we we do love them just as much as we we come at them with that same intensity meaning we we love them just the same and we come at them with that same amount of intensity on that end of the spectrum too.

30:00But yeah, it does take a certain kind of guy. I mean, I grew up in small town Iowa. I naturally just love toughness, love grit, love effort, love energy. And I want my team to do the same thing. So that's probably the number one thing that we evaluate. I think the kids that can't handle it a lot of times are probably, we've said this before in other interviews, is moody kids. I just can't do moods. Um, you know, if you're up and down, you're not like, you don't have to be excited about life every day, but you know, you gotta be ready to go. And, and, you know, the guys that come in, it's like, you know, woe is me.

30:37It, it doesn't usually work for me. And so we try to find those ones and, and those kids want to be coached hard. Like those kids and their parents want them to be coached hard. That's the other thing that we don't realize is I've got really good parents. Those parents allow that, you know, and they don't have any really control over it, but But they have my back in those situations like, well, coach told you to do that. You should probably do that rather than –

31:03Pat McAfee:Hey, we can get out of here. Coach is being mean to my kid. Yeah, I can see that. Especially the people around college athlete right now, very important. Very important. I mean, there's deals happening at other schools by people in the circle where the player doesn't even know what's happening, and it's probably obviously very illegal. Parents potentially hearing some things, hearing some things, hearing how you're talking to their kid, let's move on. I think what you just said there is a good observation, but also something that isn't talked about enough probably in this entire thing. Correct.

31:30Yeah, I mean, your circle and who you go, because there's going to be times when it's like, you know, a kid's going to sit there and say, man, I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I like this. And probably Bennett Search did his freshman year. But, you know, he calls dad and dad says and mom says, okay, well, go ahead and tough it out, boss, because you ain't going anywhere. and that's a good message for parents to give their kids, but that's also why kids need to choose the right program for the people that are coaching them so they can trust those people, you know, rather than getting sold on either NIL or whatever it may be, because ultimately it's still about trying to become the best human that you can be.

32:13Now, I know there's an NIL component and there is a money component and there's something to that but if you can add the fact that hey we want to go to a place that's going to make me a better man first money second a lot of times then you can coach those kids with that kind of intensity i will hoops man ty just dropped a

32:31Pat McAfee:tear right there ty said damn that's my guy now uh starts here starts said a hilarious quote here he slammed his whiteboard and broke his marker on the floor ink went everywhere he was just telling us we sucked into we're soft you got to earn that relationship with the boys though like you got to earn that relationship like i don't want to i don't want to compare our lives because i'm not coaching people but obviously like having the conversations with people here that uh i don't want to say i employ i uh you can say yeah but it is a weird way to describe the relationship though but it is like having you have to earn these things you know like you can't just say like hey you're fucking up like you have to and how you approach people i'm not the greatest with some is good and that mood thing hilarious what you just said there it's like i think delivering a message from a leadership position can be done in many different ways but it feels like there's been one way throughout of the entire history basically of sports that has worked every time if it does feel like there has been a particular blueprint that is since the beginning of time i I think that kind of threw it all.

33:36Pat McAfee:Accountability is a massive piece of that. I love that you are looking for that first, seemingly, before everything else, Ben. The more I learn about you, the more I like. Now, I do have to ask it. Can we grow that out? Can you grow that entire thing out? Can we get that? All the way down. You know, I used to have a full head of hair. You're talking about my hair growing that out? Hulk Hogan style. Yeah, what Hulk did? You know what Hulk had with that thing? Party in the back. Party in the back. Absolutely. If you win it all, I think this is something you should commit to. I think this is something you should commit to.

34:13Well, you have to talk to my wife. Fortunately, I've been married for quite a while, so I don't need to look great anyway.

34:20Pat McAfee:Everything you're doing is working, brother. You just keep doing it. But if you do want to start a playoff beard or something with that hair, we would be supportive. I just want to let you know. Thank you for being supportive. I appreciate that. Thank you guys. I'm sure you would be. Coach, you're the man. Thank you for allowing us the conversation. Congratulations on the big win. I think Ty has one last question for you about life as an Iowa Hawkeye basketball fan. Yeah, Coach, obviously everyone's going to talk about Bennett Sturtz and Big Al, and rightfully so, because they've been so good.

34:46But, like, do you have premonitions almost going into games thinking like, hey, I don't know why, but I think this guy's going to have a big night tonight. Like, Tate Sage in the first two Nebraska games played 15 minutes total at two points, three rebounds. Last night he plays 29 minutes, has 19 points and eight boards. Tavian Banks obviously was huge against Florida and not so much last night like is that all just in the feel of the game or do you ever going into a game feel like you know what he may have not played a bunch last game or whatever the case may be but I feel like he's gonna have a huge night tonight and we're gonna need to rely on him to win yeah with this team it's more feel and matchups you know usually you kind of have an idea obviously I'm pretty sure Bennett's gonna play you know well um going to the game um and so then it's just okay what's the matchup say to do um who's completely ready to go because we're a group that has to be at 100 percent like if we're not at if we're at 97 and say hey we want to play at 97 and run at 97 it's just not going to work for our group so i gotta have dudes that are out there at 100 and and we have a lot of dudes that like that.

35:58We have a lot of dudes that like you know, they like to fight. Not actually fight, but they like to fight in the games and so we just got to figure out which ones are there.

36:10Pat McAfee:Good luck. Why not Iowa? Why not? I don't know if Ty's liver can handle it. Oh, it certainly can. I got three more games in me without a doubt. No problem, Coach. Yeah, he's been training his whole life. Ty, are you going to come back to brothers if we make the Final Four? Is it brothers? No, you guys are coming to Indy. I'll be boots on the hardwood if you guys make it here. I think you're just talking about after the winter. I saw the Union. Is that what the name of the place is? Yeah, I haven't frequented them, so I don't know. Look at this place, dude. Ty probably has. Oh, yeah. What's that?

36:43Pat McAfee:Look at this place. This is your bar in Iowa City last night. I don't know if you saw this video or not. I mean, that is what college experience is supposed to be like right there. Yeah. Like, literally, what sports bring to colleges and the experience, the tailgating. We talked about this literally whenever we saw this video. I went to West Virginia at a time where our basketball team was really good. Football team was obviously really good. Rifle team was starting our 21 national championship. I mean, it was good times. And I think Bin Laden got killed during that time. There was a lot of happenings.

37:11Pat McAfee:And, like, our campus was alive. And it was like enrollment went up. Everything goes up. It was just, like, great times back then, like good times. Sports can provide that. And I think, like, the schools that understand that and embrace that are normally going to have a better college experience. That is a moment they'll never forget, that union moment. And I assume that was everywhere. And congrats to you guys for providing that. And I hope you can continue to do so, you know, because football teams got – Doing just fine. You got the odds stacked against you. You got Signetti in your guys' car.

37:45Pat McAfee:Yeah, yeah. You got Ryan Day. They're going to be all right. They're going to be all right. We got this. They're going to be all right. Okay. Hey, maybe. Maybe. Especially with what's going on in basketball. I don't think anybody would expect this. It's basketball season right now. We'll address that when it comes. We're trying to go win a national championship right now. Why not? We appreciate you, Coach. Good luck the rest of the way. Thanks, guys. Appreciate you. Yeah, Coach McCullough. Yeah, Coach. I love that guy. Me too. He's been great to us here in his quick career with Iowa. We've talked to him more than we've talked to him.

38:18Pat McAfee:Any college basketball coach? Yeah. Active. Yeah. Well, Izzo came on, right? Didn't he come on once or twice? Hurley, I guess. There you go. All the same style seems like. Yeah, very similar. Isn't it interesting? You think football team is going to benefit from how the basketball team is playing, Toshman? You think maybe there's a little bit of an ooze that radiates through the athletic department over there and gets that football team back on track in a Big Ten that is absolutely stacked. I mean, just full throttle from top to bottom. And in hoops, it's the same exact way. Yeah, I mean, we'll see.

38:53Again, like I said there, I'm three games away from winning a national championship, so I'm really not thinking about football right now. But what I hope it does is kind of wake up everybody who is potentially an Iowa alum who's got a bunch of money. Like, now is the time to donate, okay? We got the best fucking coach in the NCAA, okay? Kirk is Kirk. He's going to send guys to the NFL. If you have a lot of money, you know, just burn a hole in your pocket. Connor, he's talking about himself, right? I don't. I don't. I have two kids. I got another one on the way. I do not have a bunch of money burning a hole in my pocket.

39:26But your first baby is kind of Iowa Hawkeyes. Yeah, exactly. Well said. But, you know, I'm not talking about myself. I'm talking about guys like, you know, maybe Ashton Kutcher. Oh, we're using names. Who is making$25 million, you know, an episode of Two and a Half Men. Well earned, by the way.

39:42Pat McAfee:Well earned, absolutely. But we know what it takes now to kind of get to that next level. Pony up. If you got the cash, pony up. If you got$5. Yeah, exactly. We'll put$5 to good use. We'll get good power forward for you for the next two years or so. Where's John Deere at? You know, that's what I want to know. That's a good question. How about all that sweet corn? 2.8 billion bushels? That's a lot of bushels. Can we get at least a bushel or two donation? That's what college sports is now. Exactly. We don't think that's good. It's wrong. We want to let you know. It's reality. This is really – joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who is a great of all time at his profession.

40:19Pat McAfee:Five-time national champion. He's become a phenomenal conversation on this show. We'll see if that continues. We'll see if that continues. Ladies and gentlemen, Coach K. Yeah, Coach! How you doing, Coach? Thank you. Yeah. Boy, that was a great conversation with Ben. Okay, tell me about him. Tell me your thoughts about him. I'm sure he'll be excited to hear this whenever he hears it months from now. I told you. I'm not sure how much you remember. But no, I'm still learning about you. Okay. I think you have to be given a Scott a report multiple times, not one time. But I told you that my Duke teams played against Ben's Northwest Missouri State team twice.

41:04Oh, yeah. I remember you doing that. The Division II national champion, we always played an exhibition game against that team the following year. Actually, you know, like in the NFL, when they said, we're going to Disney World, we started a tradition where the Division II champion, after they won, said, we're going to Cameron.

41:29Pat McAfee:Let's go. That's awesome. So, heck, he almost beat us one time. And I love the guy. So I've been following his career every once in a while. I'll touch base with him. I have not done that this year or this spring. but I really admire all the stuff he's talking about. Every coach in the country should hear that, you know, at all levels, you know, where you hold people accountable. And then you do, you know, the establishment of a relationship is the start of it. Like if I was recruiting you, wow. Welcome to the Thunderdome. No, I have to use. No, the very first thing I tell you is, look, I'm going to be one of the only people in your life that will always tell you the truth.

42:21Hell yeah. Always. And I promise you that from now forever. And two things. When we talk to each other, look each other in the eye and tell the truth immediately. And what will establish is trust. and the speed to trust. So it's not just the way the message is put across. It's how quickly will you trust the message? And what he said is terrific. I mean, just terrific.

42:56Pat McAfee:How do you feel about his mannerisms? I loved he was telling the boys that they were sleepwalking out there. And he was obviously completely locked in, does not care that he's on TV, but just literally utilizing every aspect of his being to motivate the boys feels like he was born to be a basketball coach it feels like he loves it and he feels like one of the old school guys is that kind of what you took away from it obviously and i wish that we would stop calling it old school and say should be how it should be yeah you know and again you don't have to necessarily be yelling and screaming or you know i curse probably more than most people and uh not necessarily the people, your team, but...

43:38Thank you. We appreciate that. But be honest and in the moment. And to me, the way he coaches is real. And we should like real more and not fake. And by the way, the kids should be listening to one voice. and that coach's voice or the voice of the program, not the other voices. You know, people want, you know, getting in your ear and all that. And it looks like he has that. And that's why they won. That doesn't mean Nebraska didn't have it either because he's a good coach. But we should teach that more. Yeah, life should learn that, I think, more. you know yeah and you know he made an interesting point about parents and and uh parents need to have your back although he did i don't know if you caught it he said well it didn't really don't

44:39Pat McAfee:matter yeah yeah oh yeah i caught it as soon as he said it i was like because he i was like well that's quite an omission there you know that the parents are have to be in it doesn't really matter though he was him correcting himself like if there was to be a situation we would certainly not do that so this is a necessity but i did appreciate how he talked and i also appreciated the fact that his team won a hard-fought game. I mean, Iowa-Nebraska was a big game. Purdue-Texas, fantastic last night. Obviously, Illinois and Arizona have done their thing. What's your big takeaway from last night's Sweet 16 action, Coach K?

45:09Well, the Big Ten, right? I mean, there are 12 teams remaining, and five of them are Big Ten teams. Come on. One Big Ten team is going to make it because Iowa and Illinois are going to play against one another. You know, for me, I like when I'm watching a game from timeouts or after halftime adjustments that are made. And I thought Iowa made a big adjustment at halftime just as far as increasing the attitude, you know, and what they're going to do. The most impressive team was Arizona. You know, they have eight dudes that can score. They had six guys who scored 16 and more. and you talk about old school you know this thing about the three-point shot which i'm a proponent

46:02Pat McAfee:for the three-point shot okay that's good news that's good no but not where it's your only weapon uh arizona you know for the year about only about a quarter of their shots are threes i think they only shot eight of them last night they scored over 100 points so uh he he tommy coaches his way. And they have that mix of international, there's so many good international players playing right now, young and then old. They're really deep. They have the most international players. And I've really enjoyed that game. I thought the Texas team really had an amazing run. And, you know, Purdue on the last play, real interesting thing.

47:02You know, a lot of people would call a ball screen, you know, right at the end for Braden Smith. They kind of faked the ball screen. And the guy who faked it then rolled, and he was actually the guy, Kauffman Wren, who tipped it in. and so he didn't get the pass off of a typical roll on a ball screen. He faked it and went around, and he got the tip. Those are the kind of things I love watching, like adjustments.

47:36Pat McAfee:I like the play call there, actually, and as you break it down, I see a little roll through. Okay, let me carry you into a little bit of a dead space over here. We got an ISO now all of a sudden over there, and then he stays alive. Look at you. Look at you talking basketball for credit. Hey, I like what they're doing on the wood. I like what they're doing on the wood out there. But also Purdue from the state of Indiana. Obviously, Purdue and Indiana people aren't the tightest. And Indiana people would never publicly say that they're ever cheering for Purdue. And Purdue would never say it about Indiana.

48:03Pat McAfee:Purdue people are definitely like, okay, Indiana's national champs in football. Why not Indiana's state represent here in basketball as well? They got a great point guard. Their coach is also vet. She's a great coach. It's all good coaches, it feels like. Coaching really matters. Is that why you guys get the big paychecks? That's why you guys get Vils named after you? How much does coaching, because you talked about the halftime adjustments McCollum made, and Sturz came out and said that he caught us soft and said we sucked and just all this stuff, and then they came out in the second half. Ake went everywhere.

48:33Pat McAfee:And they've got to go crazy. Painter obviously gets the massive win. It feels like there has been some real coaching coaching. It matters even more now as we get down the stretch, or is this more players just making plays here as we go forward? No, coaching, of course, and teaching are critical, you know, are critical, but also not to overcoach. And not just coach X's and O's, but coach, you know, get the feel of the team right now, what they need. Are they satisfied? Are they content? You know, are they hungry? you know uh those adjustments and and how you before you ever give a a game plan or even after you give a game plan how do you make those uh adjustments you know uh ben talked about moods uh that was a cool thing he was talking about uh when i say mood right now it doesn't mean they're in a bad mood but they are we all in the same mood and and seeing how they do that matt painter is one of the top coaches of all time in the Big Ten.

49:43And he seems always in control. You know, he doesn't look to me like he gets his message across the same way that Ben does, but it's the same message. You see what I mean? Yes, sir. Like what we're talking about is the same message. How you get that across has to be your personality and the personality of your team.

50:08Pat McAfee:Mike Vrabel said, what I've learned through coaching is that we don't all have to have the same personality, but we all have to have the same mentality. And I think that's a good way to kind of describe it, especially with how different ways go about winning things. And you talk about Painter always being in control. He's had gigantic human beings on his team. It feels like there's some cyclicality going on in ball. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, it does, Coach. When you're watching these games, It feels like a majority of these teams have good to great bigs. And it felt like the game, you talked about it with the three-point shot earlier.

50:43It felt like the game maybe went away from the bigs a bit in the last few years or maybe five years or so. But it feels like now it's coming back to getting the bigs involved and you have to have good to great bigs to go far in the tournament. Do you agree with that or no? Yeah, no question. And multiple bigs, that's what makes Purdue good. They have two bigs playing at one time. Michigan State tonight, they have two really good big guys. And Carr, who is a 6 '8", really strong dude. That's why it's important for our team, Duke, to get Nagambo back. And he'll be playing. And if you have multiple bigs, you can have a fresh big in there all the time.

51:32and your rotation is important. I think when we hit a few speed bumps, we were playing the first couple games like we were when we were healthy. We're going to get that back because I think Pat will play tonight. I'm pretty sure that Caleb Foster will get minutes tonight. So that'll be good. But the big guys are huge. Look at Arizona. They got strong dudes, man. And they have multiple guys. You're going to see one of the best ones, St. John's, this big guy, I think he's Big East Player of the Year. For our game against them, if we can get him in foul trouble, that would be a...

52:25Pat McAfee:Okay, so you're coaching that up. You're saying, hey, obviously we would like him to not have as many minutes tonight. That would be fantastic. The best way to defend somebody is to get them in foul trouble. Like when I coached, there were some coaches that when you get too early fouls in any game, they take you out and don't put you in. Well, if I knew that that was a guy's strategy, especially if it was a perimeter guy uh the first four minutes we try to drive him you know you know try to get his hands on us because sometimes too early in the game an official they call a few more fouls early set the tone and so and then say boy you guys did a great job on on that guy well yeah his butt was his ass was on the bench yeah i love to hear that That's chess.

53:21Pat McAfee:That's actual chess. Let's remove this piece. Okay, let's remove this. What's the best way to stop? He might get a couple early, but let's drive him. Let's see what these refs are going to do. They'll make the decisions later. What players are you doing? You're picking, obviously, the players to do that too, right? Because you don't want your guys getting fouled. Yeah, yeah. Also, you might put something in for that game that would be a little bit different from your normal action. a new thing or a couple new things that would isolate that guy. That's not part of the scouting report. You actually put new stuff in, not a lot, and that's another adjustment.

54:02And so it's cool to watch and see how people are doing that from timeouts, game to game. like Connecticut with the kid Reed in the first game of the tournament. He goes 31 and 27. Well, that didn't just happen. Danny Hurley did something where he saw that going to him more than we normally do would benefit us. He hit the jackpot. Yes, he certainly did. The next game he scored 14 and whatever, and he played a good game, but they didn't go to him the same way because Danny saw something else. I mean, not that I called Danny and talked to him about this, but I like watching how the tournament progresses and how the guys who are winning, what they do the next game, what changes do they make.

55:04I love hearing that. I think I wish all the TV people would look at that, you know, try to get the fan involved in that type of thing a little bit more. I think in football they do. You know, again, there's more time to do it between plays and that. Yeah, we're circling things that are happening, why they're doing stuff.

55:27Pat McAfee:Like we have obviously different packages of people coming onto the field, coming off the field, different sets and everything. And that's a part of the strategy. That is football coverage. basically. They're in 12 personnel right now. They're doing this. They're doing this stuff. And then the analysts have enough time to be able to break it down. What you were just saying right there, that's incredible. I love hearing like, oh, this guy's a good player, huh? Alright. We'll get our sixth guy here. Fifth guy, sixth guy. You need to go to his left hand. He gets a little handsy whenever he's over there.

55:53Pat McAfee:He's a little late with his feet. Let's go. We're trying to get him late with his feet? Hands late? What are we trying to get? The whole damn body, if you can. But hands are hands are the biggest centers in fouls, you know. Or, you know, arms. Like, you'd foul out in a second. I got the feet. The way you have no control over your arms. Yes, I do. You know where they're going? Boom! Ball! Boom! Bang! Ribs! Elbow! Ribs! Elbow! Strip! Oh, he gets by me. Classic. Boom! Punch out the back. That's an automatic. foul. No, I'm getting the ball. Going behind is an automatic foul. No, I'm not hitting the elbow at all.

56:42Pat McAfee:I'm not breaking my hand on the elbow. The elbow's pretty automatic, too. No. The elbow leads to flagrant. Think about this, coach. You would lead the league in flagrance, I think. Well, with my mouth, with the ref, potentially. Is that what happens? Because I don't like the calls that they're already making, I can tell, because the way you're judging me, so I assume the refs are going to be doing the same. These big calls you could get around, though. I'm going to lock it down. And I'm always going to hand-hand. Pop wood. Always, always. Maybe a fake. Faint to the. You know, instead of hands to the face, fist to the.

57:14Pat McAfee:Yeah. Just a little bit. Pump fake. Then bang. Then swat. Yeah, I mean, coach, you don't understand what's potentially happening. Then bang, we're getting the ball. Boom. Outlet. Look at that. That's a full court. Ever shortly, Caitlin Clark used to do at Iowa. Bang, we're in the thing. Boom. On defense. Now we're back. Now we're guessing what we're doing. Let's play the ball. Oh, I'm going to let that. I'm going to let that. I love that you slapped the floor. Yeah, I bop wood. You do too, right? Isn't that kind of your style? You bop wood, yeah? I do. Yep. Yeah, you do. You slap that wood. Bang!

57:48Just like tonight, make sure you stay up all night and watch these games. It's a Friday.

57:55Pat McAfee:I got a funny feeling about it. In the East, St. John's and Duke's going to be an incredible game. And then you follow it up with two guys. And obviously Rick Pitino has won national championships. And then you follow it up with Hurley and Izzo. You talk about physical, intense, two intense physical games tonight. It's going to be, that is a Final Four. You know, that East region is a Final Four. Not that the Midwest is bad. But it'll be interesting if the kid from Alabama is allowed to play. Alabama has come out and said that there is no status change with the team. So I think he'll probably be there, but I think they have said status with team is unchanged or something like that.

58:48You know what, though? Nate Oates has his own style, and he's a terrific coach. For the year, half their shots are three-point shots. you know and the the last game 42 out i think it was 68 shots were threes so yeah you know you know the three-point shot can kill you both ways but uh that'll be a tough thing for michigan and they come down they don't take uh what you would call necessarily all conventional shots they take some shots it says oh i didn't think he was going to shoot that Yeah, yeah. And I didn't think he was going to hit that. Yeah, well, he's doing it again. So can we stop it? Yeah.

59:36Pat McAfee:He's pulling up from the logo. Yeah, we would like to stop that, though, because it's falling, is what you're saying? Yes. And I'm interested in the Iowa State-Tennessee game if Jefferson plays for Iowa State. You know, he's a guy, you know, they shoot ball really well and they play great defense. but so does Rick Barnes, Tennessee team. To me, if Jefferson plays, I'd give a nod to Iowa State. Otherwise, I think it's a real toss-up game. And Jefferson is a man. Not that the other guys are, but he's the man for them. All right, Coach, we have about a minute and a half left. and if we didn't ask you about the UNC job, we'd be doing a disservice to journalism.

1:00:33Pat McAfee:So if you have a quick thought, how do you feel about the UNC job being open and are you going to go coach them? Yeah, well, that would really, one, they would not want me to coach them. The second thing is, the second thing is, I'm through with coaching. So, you know, But Hubert Davis is a good friend. Actually, his wife, Leslie, her father, who passed in the last year, was one of my teammates at West Point. And so I think Hubert's one of the great guys. I'm sad that that happened. I think every coach in the country has empathy for him. You lose a player the caliber of Caleb Lewis. He's a top five pick in the NBA draft.

1:01:34And you don't have him the last few weeks of the season. That's a big thing. That's a huge thing. But look, they can do what they want to do. I just have a lot of empathy for Hubert and a lot of respect for him. And it's one of the great programs of all time in any sport. And so I'm sure they will get a coach that is worthy of that position. It's one of the big time positions in sport.

1:02:09Pat McAfee:Yeah, Duke UNC special for college basketball has been for a long time. Will it continue to be with the Big Ten just basically becoming basketball? Probably not. Hey, Coach K, is that? Go ahead. The Big Ten, we talked about them not winning a basketball national championship, I think since 2001. But now five of the 12 are Big Ten teams. I'm not good at math. That's almost 50%. This is the opportunity. They have one team in the Final Four already. It's either going to be Illinois or Iowa. And by the way, Illinois is undervalued some because in the last month or so of the season, their only four losses were all in overtime by one possession.

1:03:06They could have been undefeated for a long period of time. And you talk about a good, tough coach. Their coach, he's come from the JUCO ranks. you know he you know they didn't fly private airplanes and whatever they had bus stops you know so he comes from that school and they played terrific defense against Houston last night

1:03:38Pat McAfee:we love the teams that are still left and we appreciate the hell out of the fact that you're joining us throughout this entire tourney we'll talk to you next week on the other side of this Sweet 16 who's going to be making it to the Elite Eight, who's still alive to make it to the Final Four? And who's going to be a national champion like this man was five times? You're the best. We appreciate the hell out of you. Alright, thank you guys. I didn't get any questions from your team. I know. How much hair dye did you put in this morning? Your hair looks great. You know what? One last thing. I did pluck out the one gray part of my her eyebrows.

1:04:20Great USA ring. Yeah, you didn't want to represent. Yeah, I didn't want to represent. I didn't want you to notice that. As much as you were looking at my eyebrows.

1:04:27Pat McAfee:Hey, let's see. How many other rings do we have on there? Just one? Yeah, might as well, yeah. No big deal. To hell with it. I'll have a couple others on tomorrow. You're the best. Coach K, you're the best. Yeah, go! He's the greatest. We pushed the out two times throughout that thing. Had to. There's Coach K. He's the greatest. He is the greatest. Yes. He's awesome. Our FaceTimes with him are awesome. I mean, they are... He's been a great asset to our lives. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice, it might change your life. We're back on the other side with Move the Sticks and AJ Hall. Hell yeah.

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1:06:29Pat McAfee:Or will the shoe come earlier than midnight for the Cinderella story? That is the Iowa Hawkeyes. We talked to Coach McCollum this morning, aired it in the last hour. He seems awesome. D2 national champion four times. Could have been five times if they would have had the COVID year. They didn't have hoops that particular year at Northwest Missouri. He won in 2019, 2021, 2022. We assume that team during 2020 would have gone. Go ahead. I believe they were undefeated and then the tournament just got canceled. So we assumed that that team would have won as well. So he would have five total D2 national championships with four straight, which is impossible in basically anything, let alone the level, because you're playing with that level of players as well.

1:07:08Pat McAfee:Everybody's playing with the same level of players. So whenever you're able to win like that, it's obviously something that attracts some people. Then you go to Drake, then you go to Iowa, and all of a sudden we're doing something that Iowa Hawkeyes fans haven't seen since I was born 38 years ago. So special time in Iowa, but it's not just there. Arizona had a big one last night. Illinois had a big one last night. Purdue continues their magical run. Who will punch their tickets to the Elite Eight tonight as games are on at 7-10, 7-35, 9-45, and 10-10? Come on. We can't be old all the time. Tonight's going to be awesome.

1:07:46Pat McAfee:10-10? Come on, man. That is subject to change. That could be 10-25, 10-30. That is anything. but we will stay up and we will watch because College Hoops has been magical and we've only got a few games left. The Talks of Tables here at Boston Conner, at Ty Schmidt. Ty, congrats to you. Con man, March Madness has been magical. Yeah, it's unbelievable, especially yesterday having two games that kind of went down to the wire. That's what we were talking about earlier that is tough is because the later games both stunk. So it's kind of like, hey, why are these on at the same time? Were the early ones, you know, both are great.

1:08:17I'm honestly hoping for one blowout in each slate so that we can kind of zero win. You know, I'm hoping St. John's and Duke goes down to the wire. But, you know, Alabama's been cool. Michigan, go ahead, you know, just run away with it. And then in the second time, the second slate as well. You know, Michigan State, UConn, let's bring that down to the wire. Tennessee, Iowa State, why don't one of you guys just step up and blow the other one out, okay? I really don't care who wins in any of these games, actually, aside from St. John's. I need St. John's to win or else my entire bracket's busted.

1:08:48But, look, let's just try and – Please talk to Coach K. Yeah, okay, and I love Coach K.

1:08:52Pat McAfee:And they got a guy coming back. I think he broke some news. Yeah, yeah, which is sweet. But Coach Case lying about his hair. What happened? Did he break the news that the guy's coming back? No, he played in the round of 32 and is listed as questionable. There's another player, Caleb Foster, who has not played at all, who might be back as well. He said that. He said he expects him to get some minutes tonight. Yeah, that's the guy. He broke that news. Did he break that news? Yeah, he did. Yes, he did. Dumbass sitting right here. That's all right. You have a lot of things going on. I like the self-accountability that quick, though, publicly.

1:09:20Pat McAfee:That was in both years, right? Not just my writing? No, no, no. I heard that. I like that out of you, Bruce. I do think he broke some news, but my conversations with him off air, in between the rounds, him talking about how much is adding one more body or like a specific type of player, how much it helps literally everybody else and everything else. So listening to him describe why that's such a big deal, not only for his team but for all these teams, it's interesting because the wear and tear of a season is long, but they're getting guys back now as the tournament continues to roll on. And it's like one or two days can really do a lot for people.

1:09:51Pat McAfee:It is crazy how basketball recovers, but I've enjoyed the hell out of this part, Trebentis. Haven't won a bet. Got all the picks right last night. Didn't have any money in my account. I got a great one for you today. I don't want to hear it. No, no, no. I need to hear it. Look, it was a tough start to the baseball season on Wednesday. I think Aaron Judge might hit a home run today. All right, one half of the hammer. Don. You heard the rule. Cowboys. What was that? Don. No more team rides in this office. Team rides dead. And after tonight. Run it back, man. Judgey. Let's just think about it. Against the lefty?

1:10:27Pat McAfee:Come on. What is that, plus 20 ,000 for Aaron Judge to hit a baseball? I put in a six-leg home run parlay for 125 ,000 this morning if anybody wants to get on board. Yeah, I saw you texted that into the group saying, hey, come follow along. Hey, bud, how about no? How about one? I just need one. 213 for Judge to hit a home run tonight. Oh, my gosh. It should be minus a parlay. Sorry, plus. A thousand. I should have said that. Let's go to an attic in Ohio. Ladies and gentlemen, a man who's a college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, and a depressed Cincinnati Reds.

1:10:58Pat McAfee:Loser! Ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Hawk. Yeah, baby. Hawk. Oh! You look, jeez. You look really good. Oh, you see me? I got sprayed. I got sprayed. You see me? Oh, yes. I did. Okay. It looks good. Yeah. Holy hot. I said go light on my face, but it looks like kind of dark on my face. Yeah, they never go. Yeah. They never. That never happens, especially anytime. So what do we got? A wedding? You look. Are you modeling? You look unbelievable. I mean, I might go into modeling now after this, but no, we got a little trip set up with the kids. And I saw somebody on the internet talk about, like, you're not allowed to get spray tan or whatever.

1:11:29That just guaranteed me. I was like, yeah, I'm getting spray tan.

1:11:32Pat McAfee:Okay, so I appreciate the fact that that is what really drove you to get a spray tan is that somebody on the internet said you shouldn't get a spray tan? Not directly to me, just in general, I guess. Like, guys shouldn't do it. I said, okay, well, cool. So as you know, I'm a spray tanner. Have been for a long time. Nice. Have been for, you know that. You've seen me dripping, actually. I've seen you in Orlando, I believe, with like the – you got a serious spray. Which I think you potentially might have got here today as well. And I don't know if – you know, because they tinted or – How long did it take Bob to spray you?

1:12:03Pat McAfee:Yeah, and was it handheld spray? Did Bob have two guns? Surprisingly, Bob's wife actually does spray people. She didn't spray me, but she does spray people. I'm sure Bob has dabbled in the game as well. Certainly. Yeah. Right quad. Need to get a good little shading. Give me some shading on the bottom there so I get that teardrop tattoo. I want to let you know, you look fantastic. Whatever you did was great. I do think my entire body had a fungus reaction. Remember that? Yes, I do. Yours came out orange, too. That's also potentially because of my particular pigment color. I have a lot of people that say, hey, where's sunscreen?

1:12:41Pat McAfee:It's like, I'm a red. I'm red. I am a red person so if you mix that with the wrong spray tan it'll tell you you know it's like I'm doing it with my daughter right now we're painting you're mixing colors together chemical reaction yeah there's a couple places that are good for my particular pigment of white and then there's a couple places that really make me look like an asshole and then there was one particular place that was really in a pinch had to go didn't know I had to do something just kind of went in there and went willy nilly on that thing did all the things and then did the thing and then fungus my whole body Yeah.

1:13:14Pat McAfee:You remember that? I do. That was like four weeks of having a fungus on my body. Yeah, itchy and all over. Yeah, I had to get like steroid cream. I had to do this entire thing. I was like, oh. So I've been a little bit gun shy with spray tan. Let's hope the same thing doesn't happen to you, AJ Hawk. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who's in the middle of his Super Bowl season. Obviously, he is a football pundit all year round. He's a color commentator as well. But whenever we want to talk to this man, it's whenever he knows more than everybody else. And it's about draft season. Ladies and gentlemen, from NFL Network and front of the program, Dan Jeremiah.

1:13:47Pat McAfee:Yay! No spray tan for DJ. I get it. It's not the draft yet. No, by the way, Taylor LeJuan still has the best combine spray tan of any prospect in the history of the combine. That's a good idea. It was incredible. It was incredible. I'll tell you, you can't tan it, they say. And if you can just spray that thing on, you certainly do that. And I do respect that Taylor LeJuan's the one. Yeah. It's awesome. Remember, he's got a right-hand man. He's got a right-hand man. He's got a tattoo of a little man right there. Yeah, that is a good thing. Look at that. Shave the arms, too, obviously. Shave it up.

1:14:21Pat McAfee:Let's go ahead and spray tan that thing. If he would have put a little bit of hair conditioner on the arms, just kind of lather that thing up a little bit, the hair as well. Which he might have. Hell, he looks unbelievable. Became what, top 10, top 5? Yeah. He had a phenomenal workout. That thing made him run a little bit faster, I think. That thing, yeah. I like that thing. Let's talk about that thing that is the draft in Pittsburgh. We cannot wait for it. April 23rd in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will be round one of the 2026 NFL draft. We cannot wait to get to Pittsburgh and for Pittsburgh to showcase how big of a football town it is.

1:14:58Pat McAfee:From then, from that moment, and now, everything in between, how much should we be believing? How much should we be believing right now? And, DJ, what are your thoughts on how far in we are to a team making a decision? Obviously, you've been a scout. You're into this shit now. you do TV. Are teams knowing what they're looking at right now? Or when do we get to that kind of point of the entire draft process? I think if you're picking up their high, I think if you're in the top five, you kind of know who your top five guys are. It's not that, you know, it's not that complicated. Everybody's had a chance to key decision makers to watch those key guys stacking those up.

1:15:31You know, if you're, if you're in the bottom of the first round, we would always have meetings in early April. And our last thing, if, you know, if we were picking 26, you know, Ozzy would say, okay, here's the 10 players we feel like our pick's going to come down to one of these 10 guys. So everybody in the room, if you haven't already watched all of these guys, maybe you've watched six of them, maybe you've watched nine of them, but let's just finish it up so we can have that last little discussion to stack those last few guys. So that can go on over the next couple of weeks. But if you're picking up their high, I think you kind of know what direction you're going.

1:16:02Pat McAfee:Have they separated themselves, the top of this draft, from the rest of the draft? you know obviously we all saw it you saw it we all saw it we're a part of it we're there dan or you know the you know you know you know the whole thing and his take that ty simpson's the best quarterback in this draft is from his film study and his his thoughts on what an nfl quarterback will be with the traits that ty simpson has we love ty simpson we we would like to let that to be known we love ty simpson uh dan or lovsky started saying things about fernando of Mendoza to kind of justify what he was saying, you know, and then everybody just kind of picked him apart for that.

1:16:38Pat McAfee:And that's going to happen. You know, you live in the paint. Every once in a while, you're going to get dunked on. That's going to happen with Dano. It's happened to us before. He's kind of in the middle of it. He'll move on. But his point, I think, remains. Like, he really likes Ty Simpson as an NFL prospect. What are your thoughts on the quarterback class this year? And what are your thoughts on Ty and Fernando's kind of potential over the next couple years as NFL quarterbacks, especially with Las Vegas' free agency, where they spent a lot and got a lot of good pieces. What are your thoughts on both of them, basically, and the conversation right now, how it's going?

1:17:13Yeah, there's a lot there. I mean, first of all, I'll start with Dan, because Dan and I are buddies, as you guys are, and texting all the time over the last month. And this is something, as you know, he was kind of building up to this and doing all the work. And I just told him, look, if you've done all the work and watched everything and you believe that way, then absolutely stand by your opinion. And that's what he did, and that's what he gets paid to do. So I thought it was a good conversation you guys had. It mimics what happens in the room. You'd be surprised. You'd think there's some no-brainer, there's no discussion or debate, and you'll have somebody in the room who feels differently on just about every single player.

1:17:48So that's a little bit of what goes on in the draft room. Now, for me, I've been a Fernando guy from jump. What he has is exceptional. You know, you talk about the size, the intelligence, the arm strength, the accuracy, all that stuff is excellent. You know, the criticisms, the two criticisms I've heard the most have been the RPOs in the offense. And then I would say that, oh, he can be a little bit robotic and he's more of kind of a drive thrower than a layer thrower. Whereas Ty Simpson, you know, can get balls up and down, you know, that type of touch and the feel on some of those throws. Well, look, I've called every single one of Justin Herbert's games in the NFL.

1:18:27And Justin came out. Those are the exact same criticisms that people had of him. He was, okay, maybe he's a little bit stiff. He's a little bit robotic. And then they threw a ton of RPOs at Oregon. But you can't get caught up in grading the offense that he's in or grading what he's being asked to do. You have to grade the skill set and what he does in big moments. And if you've got a second, Pat, I can rip through a couple here. Yeah, we do got a few seconds. style.

1:18:53Pat McAfee:I think about it. Okay. I, you know, if you're going to coach Kate and me, I'm like, you got somebody more important on the horizon. I can trim this thing down a little bit here, but this is third and seven plus throws. This was last year. I highlighted a couple of them. Iowa 136 to go in the fourth quarter, 13, 13 game reads that reads the blitz, hot route slant, touchdown, Oregon third and eight, six minutes to go. Fourth quarter, 2020 game back shoulder TD to take the lead Penn state to throw. Everybody knows about 41 seconds left down by four Ohio State third and eight eight minutes to go third quarter down 10 to six back shoulder touchdown like that's just a little glimpse of it and then you go pull the red zone numbers and he's 27 touchdowns no picks so I can make a strong argument for why he should be the first pick in the draft I think everybody can and I think Dan's realizing that in real time you know I think he is because I think he did fall in love with Ty let's go with to Ty Simpson as well because we know incredible leadership i think everybody talks about he doesn't have a lot of starts but he was playing against alabama every single day in practice uh you know through multiple coaches and having multiple situations was able to win them some games does have a pretty ball very fluid athlete i think you could say uh the only issue what took a couple shots doesn't have a lot of starts any six foot one which i i is not as small as you know what a 510 or 511 would normally look like in the draft season process.

1:20:16Yeah, this is the part that I don't like about this gig and the process. Don't tear him down.

1:20:22Pat McAfee:Talk about what he has that's good. No, no, no, no. To me, it's just you love one player automatically means you hate the other player. And I think we're drinking from the same cup here of saying we like Ty Simpson. I think Ty Simpson's a good player. Ty Simpson, you talk about the footwork, the release, all that stuff is excellent. You can tell he's a son of a coach. He plays the game that way in terms of how he sees things. He processes. You see him make some of these touch throws. The throw, and Dan highlighted against Missouri, is probably one of the best throws that you'll see in college football last year.

1:20:54It was excellent. But the job is not just identifying what they do on the field. It's called an evaluation because you've got to place a value on it. And you can't ignore the fact that you don't have elite size, that you've got 15 starts, and that there's concern about how you're going to physically hold up because your body wore down. I know he got sick, but his body did wear down at the end of the year. So I like him. I just value him with that risk assessment as a high second-round pick. And if somebody wanted to do it late in the first round, I can understand that. I can get behind that. But that traditionally, that has not been something that's been valued as a top 15 pick in a draft.

1:21:33So that's where I like him. I just value him a little different.

1:21:36Pat McAfee:Got it. And obviously all you need is one team, one GM, one owner. Oh, 100%. Arizona makes all the sense in the world to me. If I could pinpoint one team, it's Arizona. Now that coffee's too rich. I cannot see that happening. But then they're picking at the top of the second round. So if they wanted to come back in to the bottom of the first round, I mean, I think it would be a pick I could totally get behind. So I like him. I think he's got a chance to be a good player. There's worrisome trends, and we can go all the way through them. Cam Newton being kind of the only guy, you know, since 2011 with under 17 starts.

1:22:11And Cam Newton's a cyborg. Like, that's not a normal human being.

1:22:15Pat McAfee:He was awesome to watch. The first time you see him on a football field, it's crazy. Oh, my gosh. No, that's stupid. I saw him at the combine walking around. That's their fucking quarterback right there? Yeah, right. I had the same thing, dude. First time I saw him at the combine, it was just like, I was like, I've never been speechless looking at another dude except for the tan that AJ's got going on right now. That was the moment. Agreed. On all that there about Ty and Fernando, AJ looking phenomenal. I can't believe it. I can't even look at that. Have you showered yet? Yeah, no. You haven't.

1:22:48Pat McAfee:Yeah, I have. So, that's so big. Now that I see myself on camera, it's a little darker than I expected. No question. I'm okay. Hold on. How many hours did you let that thing settle for? That looks like you did. Overnight. I got in and then showered super early this morning. Settled anyway. Oh, white sheets? How did we do that? Did you put towels down? What did you do? Long sleeves, towel on the pillow. Oh, yeah. AJ Hockini. He's 12 hours into this. You took a shower this morning. Normally it goes in the shower. Nothing. It was clear water on the ground in the shower. That's unbelievable. You look good, bro.

1:23:20Pat McAfee:Blending in with the books in the back. Yeah. I know. I know. I caught myself a few times. It is kind of weird. This might just be what I do. Every week I'm probably going to have to get sprayed now. But, DJ, getting back to football. How about you looking at yourself saying, age? Age. New look. You look good, dude. How about those teeth, dude? Unbelievable. You look unbelievable. When I catch a glimpse of myself, it reminds me of when the bodybuilders get sprayed way too dark for a competition. You see them and you're speaking to them. But either way. You're not too dark. You look perfect. Okay, anyways.

1:23:47You look perfect. Thank you. I appreciate that. DJ, Fernando Mendoza, are the Raiders 100 % locked in on him? Are you getting any kind of read from that building? And also, do we see anything happen in that top five? A team comes up, a team gets out of there. Any kind of shenanigans happen in that top five? Well, I mean, look, I've been talking around to people, not with the Raiders, but other folks. It was, you know, Fernando Mendoza is working with Brian Greasy right now, and it's not so much that they're working on footwork. They're installing the Raiders offense. So he's nice. I mean, he's full speed ahead.

1:24:20I think this is the same thing that happened with Burrow, where you can use this time to really try and learn a lot of the core verbiage and concepts along with an offense. So it feels to me like I would, I would shock, stunned, astonished if he's not the first overall pick. I don't see that going any other direction. So that's where it is at one. And then after that, you know, it looks like the Jets, everything I hear about the Jets is that it's 27. You know, that's kind of the destination for them. Everything's building towards 27. They have those picks, those three first round picks. this year is trying to build trying to build somewhat of a foundation so that that quarterback can come in there and be you know successful in 27 i don't see them as a quarterback team at two or 16 i think they take you know i i i would think that carnell tate if they were picking maybe four or five that he would be in the mix there but i think where they are at two it comes down to you know whether or not you want arvel reese or bailey and then at 16 i would think a receiver probably

1:25:18Pat McAfee:for them okay you just mentioned a man there arvel reese if you're trying to build a foundation not a bad idea. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, DJ, obviously when you're projecting for Arvel Reese, he was mostly off-ball at Ohio State, did play some edge, and then you get comparisons to Micah because he did the same thing at Penn State. And I've heard you talk on your podcast about Dan Quinn and what he did with Micah every day after practice in the transition. Does he definitely project to an outside, you think, in the NFL and with the Jets because they are projecting for the future and not so necessarily this year.

1:25:54Is that why Arvel kind of fits right there? Yeah, that's why I ended up switching him and putting him in there because I had Bailey. I think Bailey's more ready to go as a rusher like day one. He's polished. And, you know, it's not like you're sacrificing all this athleticism. He's super explosive and twitchy and all those things. Arvel Reese has more in his body. Like there's just more potential and upside there. He's got a little more snap, a little more power. He just doesn't have quite the plan at this point in time that Bailey does as a rusher because he's been spending a lot of time off the ball.

1:26:23So I could see some teams, you know, hey, we want to use him in this hybrid role. We're going to play him off the ball and then we'll let him rush some on third downs. Usually when you get guys like this, it almost always ends up with them being edge rushers eventually. And so that's where the timeline for the Jets for me was like, OK, if it's 26, it's Bailey. But if you're picking a guy that you want to get the most out of as you go off into the future in 27, I think you can make the case for Arvel Reese there.

1:26:49Pat McAfee:okay i love that that photo coming out of the pro day not rude it was rude come on very rude i didn't see it no me neither yeah it didn't come across mine bobby carpenter is the one that uh introduced it to me so if you're judging a guy off a photo from pro day and not watching the tape you need to oh is this the bag drill stuff yeah yeah what are we doing yeah i don't know I don't know. Yeah. Like, just stop. Yeah. Just stop. Yeah, it's amazing. Now, granted, on that note, gives Arvel Reese even more chip on his shoulder work. That's right. The whole thing. I think all these things end up having a good positive.

1:27:26Pat McAfee:But it was fresh off of what Bain was doing, too. We watched Bain at a different camera angle. This one's from the ground, by the way, looking up, as opposed to from a different angle as well. So I'm not saying that maybe it's camera angle. But then you see this one with Bain from the front whenever he's exploding through the other side. which one are you taking you know that's kind of how the internet immediately does it's just the world that we're in but i do appreciate the fact that arvel reese just had an entire new heaping of just like yeah you stink dude okay we'll see how that goes that's always good for elite athletes let's stick with the ohio state buckeyes go ahead ty schmidt yeah dj what are you hearing about caleb downs at post combine there was a thing coming about uh his like knee and I think that was largely bullshit maybe, but then we didn't really see him do that much at his pro day.

1:28:13What do you think his floor is for where he's going to get picked? A lot of people we've talked to have basically said first time he set foot on campus at Alabama, hey, that was a gold jacket guy. A lot of people think he might be the best overall player in this draft class. What do you expect for him? It's a tricky one, and I like him a lot as my player. I think he's my eighth overall player on my list, but the safety position is tricky, man. Like Derwin didn't go in the top 10. If Hamilton didn't go in the top 10, if even Wari fell to the second round, which is insane. Like, I don't know that you just say like, it's a lock, just lock it in.

1:28:52He's a top five. He's going to go guaranteed even in the top 10. I would say the floor for me is probably Cowboys at 12, you know, maybe more in that range. But it's just, I don't think you can look at and say the fact he's not, he's not six foot four he's not 220 pounds he didn't have you know six seven picks like some wow wow production he's just a darn good like just consistent you know everything he does is right and he's a force multiplier in terms of the communication and the leadership and all that stuff it's just the safety position can be a little fickle on draft day so um i don't quite just put that in ink that he's going in the top five or the top 10 even though i have him as a top

1:29:29Pat McAfee:10 player you added uh a little nuance there you said on draft day so they can like a safety then on draft day push comes to shove we go we're taking four five over four three five right now that's what we're doing right that's what we're that's what you're alluding to basically with the safety position as a whole well i think you're just looking at it and saying man look at what these pass rushers are going to cost us on the open market look where that market is right now oa didn't start for the chargers last year and they got 25 million is their third rusher so You're looking at that saying, well, we can save, we can go get one of these pass rushers early.

1:30:01Not only do we get a good player, but also there's a cost component to this whole thing, whereas safeties just haven't been valued in terms of how they've been paid that way, so that can impact some of the thinking.

1:30:13Pat McAfee:Let's save the salary cap with young contracts here with our top picks as opposed to going to get the premium contract up here that we have to get. That's why I like rookie quarterback. Yeah. Oh, it's the best deal going, man. That deal is such... It's a wild card. You just got basically a wild card dealt to your hand. Here you go. If it works out, you are in cap heaven right now. But if this guy's ass, and you were preparing for that, and then you spent a bunch of money on the roster, and then you gotta go pay for a quarterback as well, you can't do it. You just can't do it. Look at all the fun that New England had in free agency last year.

1:30:53like they got the quarterback cost them nothing you can go out throw out all kinds of money got messed around and got themselves almost to the finish line now on that note you can also get

1:31:01Pat McAfee:a guy who's already being talked about as a goat get him on a deal for like eight years and have it be under pay every single year and he comes back 100 days after a surgery and he's spinning the pill yeah that's true you could do the patch for homes angle as well matthew stafford got a good deal out there and they were but you know money's gonna be big i uh i appreciate the fact that you know let's get a pass rusher in here because the money they're getting is 40 million plus if they get good. That's quarterback money. That's quarterback money. Let's talk about running back money, shall we? Go ahead, Conman.

1:31:27Yeah, a little different, DJ. It might change with Bijan and Jameer Gibbs, but Jeremiah Love, it feels like he's a guy that might be picked pretty high. I think you had him at four to Tennessee. I think some other guys might have said, hey, you know what? Maybe Bob Sala goes and gets Sonny Stiles, so they bet on that, but what do you think about Jeremiah Love? Schefter told us he loves him to Washington at seven I believe. What is your expectation with him and do you see him getting out of the top 10 or do you see him as like hey this is one of if not the best player overall in the draft? Yeah I mean I have him right behind Fernando so I can't even though you take the running back position and people have had that debate for really the last decade but this dude he's too good.

1:32:13He's not getting out of the top 10 and I know I saw Schefter's thing with you guys where he said no on Tennessee which you know look Like Adams obviously is dialed in as anybody on planet Earth, so I'll trust him on that. But, man, I look at Tennessee and I just think, don't you have to do something for your quarterback? Like do something to help him out here. You take him 1-1 overall and you've got a chance to give him a player like this. And you're going into a new building as well in a year. And that's an easy sales pitch of like now we are a fun, exciting team with a young quarterback, a dynamic running back to throw into the mix.

1:32:48We can throw him the ball a ton as well. I love the fit there with Tennessee, but, you know, Adam's saying that's not going to happen. If he starts to get towards seven, I would think you might even get some phone calls, you know, from some teams. I know Kansas City already signed Walker, but, I mean, this guy paired up with Kenneth Walker, Kansas City would be pretty insane.

1:33:07Pat McAfee:Yeah, and we'd all say, of course. No thanks. The Kansas City Chiefs are the ones doing that. Did we expect him to run a 4-3, whatever he ran? Oh, yeah, you can see it. Like he, he, he's got another gear, the pit game when he's running full speed and spins without gearing down and then just explodes out in the open field. I was like, yeah, he's, he's legit fast. There you go. There's the runner that night. You guys are producing the heck out of this thing today. Hey, I'll tell you what today, every day. That's why, Hey, the boys back there up for an Emmy back there. Good job, boys. Good job, boys.

1:33:39Pat McAfee:But yeah, we put it in slow-mo though, just so you could see it. But what you were saying is that thing did not slow down. Actually, there was an, no, that's just, stupid. And then it was right then. It was then he just kind of hit the gas and you could see him go. I mean, he's, yeah, that was he's got real game speed to go along with the time speed. Yeah, and is everything we've learned about him, the person would love to have him in your program. Yes. Like that is seemingly well, our thoughts are every time he's been on our show, he's been awesome. He was on game day. He was awesome. We saw him at Indiana.

1:34:08We literally 98 yards to the house. Out of the goal line.

1:34:11Pat McAfee:Yeah, he is yeah, he's a weapon. How's the Tennessee Titans offensive line? I don't know. Well, they got a couple good pieces there. But, you know, look, they gave Dan Moore a lot of money in free agency last year at the left tackle spot. And I don't think he necessarily played to that contract yet. Shocker. So that's one of those tricky things where you're like looking at it going, OK, do we how long do we stay committed to a contract that we signed versus we need to get some better folks in there? Yeah, because you talk about bringing in Jeremiah Love, their top five pick to go with Ken Ward.

1:34:42Pat McAfee:And it's like, do we get Ken Ward protection, though, first? How's that? How are the offensive line in this particular draft class? I don't think we've talked about that at all. I think the tackles, we're going to have six go in the first round with a potential seventh, I think, will go early in the second round. So we're going to see those tackles all go off the board. Then I think we'll see a little bit of a gap after those guys go at the tackle position. And then interior offensive line-wise, Ioane from Penn State is a total stud. You can make a strong argument he's the best lineman, period, in the draft.

1:35:15like he's he's awesome um so he'll go in round one and then day two is the sweet spot for interior offensive linemen there's there's six or seven of them that i think come in they're plug and play um and it'll have a real good impact so if you're some of these teams the chargers are one of them looking for interior offensive linemen day two is the that's the honey hole what a lender bomb just get paid 30 yeah yeah 29 29 yeah it's like hey that's big money for interior offensive line

1:35:43Pat McAfee:But what everybody's learning is whenever you've got four first-round D linemen, which all the teams at the top do, the inside of that pocket's starting to get a little – you've got one-on-two guys that can beat those guys now. And it's like I feel like the offensive line as a whole is going to prosper because of that if you're a guy. But that Linderbaum deal was huge. That was gigantic. Tom Brady's probably a massive piece of that. It's like, hey. Basically fully guaranteed too. Yeah, we need a center in here for if we're going to get a rookie quarterback. It's like good for the interior offensive linemen.

1:36:11Pat McAfee:You know, just a couple years too late for AQ. You're all right, AQ. All right, AQ. You're all right, AQ. By the way, that contract, I heard from probably a handful of teams, this is the worst contract ever signed in the history of mankind. I heard from a handful of agents, this is an absolute dream. Thank God for this contract. There was literally weeping and celebrating on opposite sides of the aisle when that deal was done. I think one agent was probably pretty proud of the work, and everybody else was getting talked about, hey, how come you can't? So it feels like there's a little bit of a different view on things.

1:36:42Pat McAfee:AJ has the last question for you, DJ. We appreciate the hell out of you, brother. Yeah, DJ, what about Jacob Rodriguez? Where do you see him going? Could he sneak up there? I saw someone mock him to the third round, which seems crazy to me. I feel like that guy could be a day one starter for you. Where do you see Rodriguez? I would say I think he's going to go in the second round, but if you gave me a choice between the first and the third, I would take the first. He's just a really, really good player. And then I thought he probably had the most impactful combine of anybody. He ran four, five, seven, which, you know, any, any of the criticism of questioning his athleticism and stuff, he kind of put that to rest.

1:37:16And then you've got all the production to go on top of it. You've got, you know, the interviews, which have been off the charts and, you know, the leadership, the intelligence, he goes to the senior bowl, he's punching out balls at the senior bowl, like he did on tape. It's just, I don't know what else this guy has to do. He's kind of aced all the tests. He's in my top 50. I think I have him in the forties, but AJ, if you told me that, you know, we, uh, we went to bed after night one and he's already on a jet going somewhere i wouldn't be shocked i love that

1:37:42Pat McAfee:fall in love with the person i think right and then you start seeing agility then you see oh he's a quarterback as well so his brain and then his mustache perfect need that phenomenal fantastic and then when he needs to throw one under pressure he'll hit it only guy yeah unbelievable i'm a big fan of his uh the provision that might have people talking in linderbaum's deal we looked it up is the no tag thing at the end it's a good deal it's a good deal good deal that's a good deal we keep it moving. You think these refs are going to get a deal done with the NFL, DJ? Yeah, that's outside. That's outside of my window.

1:38:17Can I ask you one question, though? Sure. Did you guys meet Scoobo when you were doing your WBC stuff? No, he was kind of removed from the Team USA portion of it. He was already... Man, I went to that game yesterday. When you go to baseball games and you sit down front, I did not realize how thick he was. He was like Quentin Nelson in the lower body, man. And it was coming out 99 easy. America could have used that. Yeah, we could. America could have used that.

1:38:44Pat McAfee:Thanks a lot, Boris. How'd the Slam Diego Padres do yesterday? Got their asses kicked. Tough, buddy. That was tough, buddy. Yeah, we were facing the wrong Cy Young Award winner, apparently. Oh, easy. You shut your mouth. You shut your mouth. That was a tough first inning. We had a guy who's never played baseball before at center field. Ladies and gentlemen. O 'Neal Cruz. That's Dan Jeremiah That's Dan Jeremiah I hope everybody liked him I hope everybody really enjoyed his time on the show That was pretty good Brought that thing home Joining us now ladies and gentlemen Perfect timing What if that would have been O 'Neal Cruz Fuck you Dan Jeremiah That would have been amazing if we were able to pull that off AJ I'm telling you it's stunning It is stunning What's that?

1:39:32They're calling him Spray Jayhawk on the internet spray jay hawk spray jay hawk that's awesome the internet's the greatest

1:39:40Pat McAfee:genius you look good bub you do look good i like it i like what you're doing you know there's another meme that was going around about uh sunscreen you know that whole thing i don't know if you got into that whole conversation yet no what was what was happening with what same conversation as spray tan kind of like what you're kind of what's uh in it what is oh i mean everyone says everything gives you cancer that's cool just do it live your life no matter what you're all so just enjoy your life just live your life

1:40:13no actually if you're if you're properly hydrated you won't get sunburned well pal i got some albino skin that'll speak otherwise because i'm very hydrated me too i'm peeing all the time brother

1:40:22Pat McAfee:and that thing is uh light yellow very light yellow and uh i turn lobster quick and it hurts so if we can figure that whole thing out but i do i think i get burned with sunscreen on too is what I realized. What SBF are you using? You got to reapply. You're getting burnt with sunscreen on? 50. All the time. I think it's a U-Prom, Paul. Exactly. That's what I'm saying. Does it matter? Moving on. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a gold glove winner. A man that we fell in love with during WBC because he did his country pride. Yes, he did. On the diamond. Ladies and gentlemen, center fielder for the Cubs, Pete Crow Armstrong.

1:40:59Pat McAfee:And PGA. Good clap, good clap, BCA. How we doing? Oh, I'm great. I'm great. I was wondering if my intro was going to be about the albino skin and all that stuff. But I could have joined in on that conversation really easily. Okay, you ever spray tan? You ever spray tan before? Come on, man. What would I look like with a spray tan? Right there. Look right on the screen. We got it. We got a little research being done. Congrats on the new deal, brother. Congrats on the new deal. Let's go. Obviously well-earned, well-deserved. Such a storied franchise in a Chicago Cubs. To be the leader of that group, or perceived as the leader of the group, is obviously a huge honor.

1:41:38Pat McAfee:What's it like being the guy that you are now at this stage of your career? When a big deal like this comes, there's obviously a little bit more pressure, obviously a little bit more notoriety, but I would assume you're wearing that well in Chicago, and how do you feel at this stage? Oh, man, I mean, I feel good. I feel like I still got to go compete every day, and I don't know if the money really changes that. But, man, I love being here, and I love representing this city. We got a really good group, too. So, you know, the Nico news is about as good as it gets. And, you know, I'm following his lead, frankly, for the next six years, learning how to lead from him.

1:42:21Pat McAfee:I love that. You got Dansby over there, too, which is also a friend of the program, has had massive success in the past. It's not the greatest opening day for you guys. I'm new to the baseball, PCA. I'm new to the baseball. Got a hit off Clayton Kershaw, but I'm new to baseball. I am new to baseball. Opening day, you got 161 more games. I looked at the score there. You guys kind of got your shit kicked yesterday, it looked like. The Pittsburgh Pirates, we got our asses kicked yesterday. Do I need to just give up? That's just one of 162 is the mindset. You guys fail so much. It feels like you mentally have to deal with it more often than anybody else.

1:42:57Pat McAfee:But when opening day goes like that, what is the mentality going forward? And when you hit a lull in the season, how do you guys kind of fight through that shit? Well, I mean, the 161, having that left is kind of the easiest way to look at yesterday. You know, there's going to be more of those games, too, is the funny part. The funny, not so funny part. I mean, that shit just happens. Like the wind is howling in at 20 miles an hour. And these guys are finding a way to put the ball out of the park. And they swung the shit out of it. So like, you know, opening day is opening day. And I think it's just nice to get everybody back in the stands and us on the field.

1:43:40So that's what that is. But you definitely hit that wall in July and August when, you know, you're looking at your record. And you're like, oh, my God, I've played 120 games already. We still got 40 to go. Like, you know, it's a constant battle with the failure, but that's what I'm learning right now is just how to come out of that on top day in, day out. Yeah, it's hard, dude.

1:44:04Pat McAfee:Yeah, seemingly that's why we're getting paid all the money, and that's why at the top you don't like failure. But baseball, naturally, I think is a failure sport because you guys are walking in there, and you're getting exposed too and embarrassed while you're doing that. Like, Judge, I don't know, your American teammate, he struck out four times. That has to be the most humbling thing of all time. As everybody is celebrating that that's happening, that is around you. And then you guys are just expecting, yep, get your ass out there tomorrow. We got another 35 ,000 people that want to watch you do that again.

1:44:34Pat McAfee:That's a mental toughness that I don't know if I'd be able to get through. So I have massive respect for that out of you baseball players. I just want to let you know. We appreciate the acknowledgement for sure. No problem. I'd look in the mirror and the things I would be saying to that guy, oh my God, would not be able to survive the life. I don't think I'd be able to put myself through it, especially with what you guys did. Hey, we needed to win that fucking World Baseball Classic, Pete. He tried. He did everything he could. Telling me. Telling me. Yeah. That was a bummer. That was a big bummer.

1:45:04I don't know if I'm quite over that yet, but...

1:45:08Pat McAfee:Actually, tell me about it a little bit, PCA, here, because I was down at the Ponche Gamer. I was down there at Ponche, Venezuela. I was in the middle of it. So I got to experience that. that environment that vibe was outrageous and i know opening day also huge but that has to be something that's interesting at the beginning of your season to experience and then bang we're into this has that been a little bit of a mental thing a little bit of i don't want to say hangover but certainly an emotional dump potentially yeah breggie and i were talking about that actually like coming back and having to play not having to play i get to do this shit but like yes but but The spring training, the return to spring training.

1:45:47And my first game is a night game against the Cincinnati Reds and Sloan Park. And Sloan Park is great. The Cubbies do a great job of putting spring training games together. But, man, the noise, the energy, all that stuff that is not always tangible, that you can really feel, I'm sure, being in the crowd. And then, obviously, being in the dugout, being in the box. definitely a bit of like an emotional letdown in a way. Yeah, I had it too.

1:46:17Pat McAfee:I was walking inside and they were punching in my face. Punching. Okay, Pete? Yeah. I was there with you guys. I was down in the dumps. I went to sleep hearing that. That was, I mean, but that's so cool. Like that's the coolest part about the WBC is like, you see how these other countries' fans just show up and they support with some real passion. It could be a 3-0 fucking count in the first inning, and they're all on their feet cheering, clapping, chanting, all that stuff. It was incredible. I'm happy to hear you guys loved it as well because that sounds good for future WBCs as a whole. We know you've got a negotiation that's going on, not you directly, but baseball has a lot going on.

1:46:58Pat McAfee:It felt really cool to watch this World Baseball Classic and feel like everybody really wanted to win it. That was a good thing. I think baseball is headed in the right direction, and next time we're going to win that thing. Go ahead, AJ. Yes, we are. Yeah. Hey, you mentioned that you have a good group there in the clubhouse and, you know, the guys get along. I guess, how important is that culture? I think baseball, you have so much more downtime than a lot of other professional sports where you're just hanging out in the clubhouse together before, after games, all that stuff. I guess, what's it like for you right now?

1:47:26And think about all the different backgrounds guys come from, the different languages spoken in the major leagues. I guess, what is it like in that clubhouse for you guys? Man, I mean, well, I think the group you got is the most important. thing just because you're together for however many days out of the year uh and we spend all our time in the clubhouse so like we're here for if it's a night game we're here for six hours before the game ever starts and um you know like you get a lot of time to get to know people um but it's everybody from from myself and guys like Dansby to the the clubhouse staff like I've gotten to know those guys really well.

1:48:07They're here today grinding, getting ready for our road trip coming up. You definitely see that everybody is integral to the success. When travel is easy, guys are probably sleeping better.

1:48:24Everybody in here makes this shit run. The group is huge. And then, you know, you spend a ton of time with them at the park, and you end up wanting to spend more time with them off the field as well. So, but, I mean, we got a lot of different languages in here. We got Japanese and Spanish.

1:48:43Pat McAfee:How's your Japanese? How's your Japanese? Pretty good. Ohio, Domo Regato. Non-existent, man. What about Spanish? Spanish is not bad. I understand more than I speak. my Duolingo streak ended like 100 days ago, so I got to get back in there. Get back in there. Let's talk about the Japanese a little bit. Are you going, so you walk up, hello, and you go right to Transler, I need you to tell them, and then you do that? Is that what's happening? Yeah, kind of. I mean, Saya and I, I think, have created our own little dialogue that works for us just because we've been together for almost four years now.

1:49:23so like Say and I I think we have that connection Shoda Shoda's English is actually very good so yeah Mike Imanaga yeah Mike sorry Mike the second the second

1:49:39Pat McAfee:exactly yeah your guys' culture is awesome because of how many different languages in the different countries that are involved like hockey obviously has its own baseball has its own, football obviously very very like different parts of America. So baseball has been cool to learn about. And I learned what strikeout or punchout means in Spanish. Ponche. And I'm never, ever, ever going to forget that. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Pete, I have a question. Obviously, you're only 24. Also at 23. Gold glove at 23. So you've had incredible success at a young age already. But it feels like you're not the only one.

1:50:11Obviously, Roman Anthony, your WBC teammate, is young and awesome. McGonagall for the Tigers had four hits yesterday. DeLauder had two home runs for Cleveland yesterday. There was a Weatherholt for the Cardinals had a home run yesterday. There's a lot of young – Pittsburgh boy. Yes, he is a Pittsburgh boy from Mars, same school as Bednar. Paul obviously didn't have the greatest day yesterday, but he's an absolute stud. This new generation and all these young kids having so much success, why do you think that is? Because it feels like for a while in the MLB you had to be 27, 28 before you actually hit your prime.

1:50:47yeah well i think that's that might be the thing is like i don't know if you ever had to be like totally ready to to play up here um i think there's a lot of value in in getting called up at a at a young age um and instead of maybe like finding your your footing in the minor leagues and like really you know seeing a lot of success in the minor leagues like i think i've gained a lot more from failing up in the big leagues like it hasn't been the easiest easiest road to start my career but but then you know you you find a way um and then you're also dropping the deep end thing you know dropping deep absolutely absolutely just take the training wheels off and let them go i think that you know not everybody can do that but you mentioned mcgonigal and roman and whoever else like i think those guys are all very capable of finding success very quickly in the big leagues and then i think that's just uh it's even better that they can then fail at the highest level as well like i think that's probably the most important thing but not everybody is ready to to be up here and do what what roman's doing what paul did and will be doing so um it's a that's a tricky question but guys are just getting so so much better so young and and probably in the way that they're training and um they're all getting used to how guys are starting to throw and I don't know.

1:52:11How old are you? Crazy sport. 24. I just turned 24 a couple days ago.

1:52:15Pat McAfee:You talk. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. We told you happy birthday. All right. Last question for the birthday boy here. Paul Jay, go ahead, Todd. Yeah, PCA. First and foremost, I'd be remiss if I didn't say that Little Big League is one of my favorite movies of all time. So next time you see your mom, just tell her that I appreciate that she used to keep Bill Haywood accountable when he was starting to turn into a piece of shit when the twins started winning. but being from California and playing these, you know, and I know you played in like Des Moines, so it's not completely foreign, but playing these March and April games in Chicago, like we saw the weather yesterday, Chicago itself, it's 40 degrees with 20 mile an hour winds.

1:52:51And then you have all these, you know, the suburbs where it's 85 and sunny. Like how difficult is it playing day in and day out when it's just cold as shit, you're getting jammed all the time. Like, are you kind of just waiting? Like, Hey, just, just get me to May, get me to the summer when I feel like I can really heat up and get going. Yeah, there's a little bit of that. Last year, there was a lot of that, for sure. Like, last year, it was tough to get used to that kind of weather, like maybe smacking into the wall. Like, just, you know, it's – I think it's – I have more fear about it before the game, and then, like, adrenaline kind of kicks in and I'm fine.

1:53:28I forget about it. But you're definitely waiting on the sun to come out and the ivy to grow back. Whenever the ivy starts growing back, you know that we're getting a little hotter. But gosh, I don't know if anything could prepare for the elements at Wrigley, if I'm being quite honest. You just got to find a way to adapt real quick.

1:53:54Pat McAfee:You're the man. We'll be back tomorrow. Goodbye. Perfect. Perfect. Killed it. You just did great. We're still alive. We're still alive. We're still live. Thank you. We are still live. We're just not on TV anymore. We're just on the internet now. Okay? Okay. And you saw the countdown clock, and good timing, by the way. Yeah. Great eyes. Yeah. Great eyes. Good timing in this entire thing. I feel like that's what we need in Team USA. You know? When you're told you're not playing. Okay? Yeah. Coming off hitting two homers. Yeah. Bombs. Are you saying, hey, I'm seeing it? Yeah, but against this pitcher, you have it.

1:54:24Pat McAfee:But fucking right now. I'm seeing it right now. Is there that conversation happening? Is that happening or what's going on? We love D-Row. We love D-Row. Sure. I think I've supported D-Row publicly more than anybody. So I would like that to be known. I know privately he's got a lot, at least not in the baseball world, I love D-Row. And the national anthem for that fucking championship, the way he looks. And the way he looks on TV, I'm watching his show every day. This guy's unbelievable. But whenever you find out that you are, first of all, seeing the ball, whenever you find out while you're in the middle of seeing the ball pretty well, which I assume is something that kind of either, I don't want to say comes and goes, but in a season, you never know when it's going to really start.

1:55:00Pat McAfee:And then you're told you're not playing a championship game. What is the thought there? Because I want to let you know, we put in a fucking anytime home run on already. We fucking already had one in. Before the lineup came out. And then we found out, yeah, put your fucking head down. We need you to fight a little bit more in the club. So whenever that lineup came out, we were fucked. Like 10 of us. 10 of us had it. We're like, we know this guy's going to do it. And then we had to change everything. And then DraftKings was like, actually, we will. This will be okay. You'll be good or whatever, even though you got in that bat later.

1:55:26Pat McAfee:So how do you take that effort? Because it's like an all-star game, I guess. Yeah, well, you know, at first, just being a competitor, I'm like, fuck. Like, I would love to – I'd love to be able to change that. But, you know, then it's about understanding who's playing center field for me and it's Buck. And, like, that's one of the most talented players I've ever seen in my entire life. So that was the beauty of playing on a team like that where it is all these all-stars and, you know, it's like Buck could go do it at any time. And I think he got put in a pretty shitty situation too, getting hit in that first game and then having to take some time.

1:56:13Like he couldn't find his rhythm either, I'm sure. And, you know, it was all just kind of a, you know, I don't know actually. But what you're saying is I'm trying.

1:56:25Pat McAfee:I was a good teammate. Buck's a great player. Yeah. Yes, I was seeing it. I was not happy. Buck is the man. DeRosa has a – like, the managers have so much to deal with and think about before the game, during the game, like, lineups, matchups, whatever you want to say. Like, immediately I'm pissed off that I'm not playing. I'm pissed off I can't contribute right away. But then it's like, all right, well, you know you're going to get in there at some point. Like, there's going to be a righty that comes in. you're going to be off the bench as a bat and be ready for that. And if you're not, then that's when you're doing everybody else a disservice and yourself.

1:57:00Like, grow up, deal with it. Fucking get ready to support your boys and then get ready to take a bat when your name is called. We love you, dude.

1:57:10Pat McAfee:I'm 24 years old. We'll see you at the next WBC, too. Good luck the rest of the way. We can't thank you enough for taking the time. And as soon as you got into the circle, what's it called? Batter's box. The on-deck circle thing in front of us. We were very boozed up at the time. We all stood up immediately. Yeah! They opened our app, you know, trying to get in there to put an anytime home run. Obviously, we're in Florida. Can't have it. So just know that you affected our entire day and how much we love baseball. So we appreciate the hell out of you. Hey, thank you for that. I really appreciate that, too.

1:57:44Pat McAfee:We thought you heard us. Turns out you didn't. Nope. Let me show him. Yeah, PGA! He's right there. He's screaming. He's right there. I thought he was going to turn around. As soon as he stepped up into the thing and you got in there, literally Connor and Fox were over here. They huge look over. Oh, yeah. We stayed up immediately. PCA! Fucking need it now. Need it, bud. Need it. Good to see you. And then Connor immediately goes, nice to see you so late in the game. Yeah, fucking A. I mean, about time. I mean, that's the thing, too. He was awesome. Yeah. Yeah, that guy's awesome. He's great. I'm a big PCA fan.

1:58:20Pat McAfee:Chicago Cubs know what they're doing up there. They got to go one. Yeah, seems like they got to go. All right, let's take a break. We'll wrap up this beautiful week on this Feel Good Friday with Jordan Reed, next generation of ESPN NFL draft coverage, man. Let's go. This man has come up to me every time he has seen me and said, I want to be on the show. He has hustled his way onto this particular program, which I respect, but also I think they got a daily draft show that he's on. Like, I think he is, and this guy has worked his ass off to make it happen. So I think we should pay it off. Hell yeah.

1:58:53Pat McAfee:Absolutely. I think we should pay it off. Friday with Jordan Reed. Boom. Three things. Threed. Jordan Threed. We need three things this week that happened that he thinks are the biggest to what's going to happen on draft night. Let's assume that this is maybe a weekly thing. Okay. I like that. We'll see. Yeah. TBD. No pressure. What's he got to do? Good luck. What's he going to do to make it a weekly thing, you think? Speak with your chest. Fucking crush. I fucking need three good things. And even if they're not good things, I just need them delivered in a way. Yeah. A little benign. That we can have a good time.

1:59:25Pat McAfee:Speak with your chest. Yeah, exactly. I think that is exactly. Put down, Dan. No. No. No. We don't need that. I think this guy's got it, though. I mean, the courage, the timing in which he has walked up to me. It was like, bathroom, three minutes, get back to show, clearly in rush. clear ears in so i can do the whole sorry can't can't hear can't hear which i can't but also i got about 45 seconds until we're back live right now the way this thing's set up i apologize just quick good to see you again man and i was like i like that thank you for being like you know and then afterwards conversation the next part i'm like i fucking like the way this guy's operating let's see we shall see aj it's brand new you i think it's gonna be great We might have a brand new sack.

2:00:16Pat McAfee:AJ, you're blending in with the library. Am I? Yeah. It's cedar, I think. Might need a new stain. Might be a cherry. I think it's cherry. Cherry?

2:00:33Pat McAfee:Gumpy's a big spray tanner, too, you know. I'll hit the red light. Yeah, he's not scared to get a little tan in there. Nick, did you ever do a spray tan? Once. I think I forced people to do them a couple times. I was really into them. Every vacation. What do you mean? You forced them to go with you and get one, you mean? No, just because people would always judge. It's like espresso martini conversations, you know? Everybody judges immediately. And it's like, hey, if I was to go to a warm climate for this event, I'm going to become this color, okay, day one. And I'm going to be there day two still, day three.

2:01:05Pat McAfee:So I'm going to get that color, but I'm going to at least have a little bit of a tan. So I'd go spray myself the morning of normally. I try to stay still as possible for an hour and a half, two hours, let that thing settle in. Then you hop in the shower, just dye your entire bath. And I get out there, still get red, still kind of half vague though. Didn't look too terrible when I was out there. Because if I just go out to a sun place, we haven't had sun in six months. True. I mean, I'm fucking Pizza Hut. Yeah. Just like, yeah. Boom. You know what I mean, AJ? So then I'd talk to other people. They'd be like in Pittsburgh and they're like, oh, we're going down to Florida for something.

2:01:40and I'm like, get you a spray tan.

2:01:42Pat McAfee:I'm all doing that. I'm all fucking getting a spray tan. Spread your cheeks in there, too. Wash your cheeks. I don't need to do that. Yeah, you did. You bend over and grab your ankles. No, you don't. Yeah, you did. Then people don't know if it's fake or real if you really get pushed up to shove. That's a good point. We know you did everything. What are they doing for your dog? What are you doing? You lifting your balls up and everything? Pushed up to shove, you never know, dude. Somebody might say, oh, we'll know if that's fake. i'd i sure hope it wasn't a an individual spraying if you're bending over spreading your cheeks for them that's a tough gig for that person i've actually the the spray person only one time in my entire life um it was an interesting thing it was like a business thing that they were trying to push the machines got it yeah you got six things you just you walk in there i don't even know where a machine is i've already had the person you didn't get your Do it right here.

2:02:33Pat McAfee:Guess what? You flip that shit. Fine. Sun tan suit. And then what? It tells you to grab your ankles and spread your cheeks? You just kind of do it naturally there. Kind of feel it. Like AQ. Yeah. Yeah. He did it right there. No, he's right there. That's good. I go see AQ in Arizona. I'm going to go get a spray tan so me and AQ don't look like two guys that just came out of the North Pole with our red faces. All right. On the other side, we got the three big things that happened. In Jordan Reid's eyes, that will affect the NFL Draft April 23rd. Hell yeah. Be a friend, tell a friend, it might change your life.

2:03:10Pat McAfee:Take five! Five!

2:03:33the game and sign up for the Venmo debit card at Venmo.com slash college card. The Venmo Master Card is issued by the Bancorp Bank NA. Select schools available.

2:03:41Pat McAfee:Venmo stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo.me slash stash terms. Max$100 cash back per month. Protein is now at Starbucks and it's never tasted so good. You can add protein cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha. Try it today at Starbucks.

2:04:06Pat McAfee:are the greatest. That's A.J. Hawk with a phenomenal spray tan. In that house in which he is broadcasting from is a college football national championship, a Lombardi trophy, and a little flyer that says, you won your matchup in the Ryder Cup. This guy's former president of the state of Ohio, and now he has found his most handsome form as he gets ready to head to the sun. That's A.J. Hawk, the legend. Thank you, AJ. Thank you. I got to give credit to Rob Riggle. He was my teammate in the Ryder Cup match, and Rob played very well. He's a big reason we won. And Rob's caddy? Cam. Cammy, she's the best.

2:04:44Yeah, she's a professional golfer. So, yeah, she helped us a bunch.

2:04:47Pat McAfee:She helps out a lot, I think, during those rounds of golf. Rob Riggle, obviously, his energy is fantastic throughout the entirety. And you two together, American power, taking on Europe in the Ryder Cup. We knew Yeetons would get the job done. The talks at tables here at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt. I mean, Tony Tony's boy, he started out real hot yesterday for the Boston Red Sox. Yeah, he's the 14th player ever to reach base four times on opening day, which, you know, if you're doing the numbers, which we do here, just crunching them real quick. Yeah, nine of the first 13 players to ever do that were Hall of Famers.

2:05:16That ballpark. Beautiful. So it does – can you just shut up for a second? So, yeah, it looks like Roman Anthony's going to be a Hall of Famer. And not to mention he also hit a baseball 110 miles an hour, damn near broke a guy's wrist on day one. And this is where it happened. Actually nailed this guy so hard. I couldn't even believe it. He walked off the diamond.

2:05:36Pat McAfee:He literally said, you know what? Nope. I'm not doing baseball. Fuck this, I'm done. Tony's too good. I'm not doing baseball anymore. That hurt so bad. I'm getting into playing catch, or as Connor and only Connor calls it, skipping a stone. Yeah, skipping stone, baby. That is captivating. It is captivating. We skip stone and we throw darts around here now, bitch. We don't throw darts around here, but we do watch too much of it. And at that point, listen, gout guy, disgusting performance yesterday. Come on, Johnny. Need you to show up more, Johnny Clayton. Fall down or what? Basically, yeah. I think they – I'm not getting back.

2:06:16Pat McAfee:He looked a little weathered. He looked a little weathered yesterday, to be fair. He got used to it. We got the close-up view when he was going to grab the dart on the board. He wasn't looking too good. These guys just don't treat themselves or act like professional. From my understanding. It's different. That's how professional dart players do. You were around the PBA. It's very similar to that, okay? Except they don't have as many scandals because these darts guys, they live like freaking rock stars. That's why Johnny Clayton wasn't good last night because he usually shows up and he's like almost piss drunk.

2:06:47He's had like 15 pints. I don't think that's true. It looks like it. He got used to the lean of the gout, so he had to change his stance back to normal.

2:06:56Pat McAfee:Whatever. We're skipping stone, as Connor says around here. We're playing catch. I'm finding my arm angle. I'm a sidearm guy, by the way. It's a lot of fun just kind of catch that thing, turn that thing, throw that thing. It's been a good time around here, to be honest. That's me skipping stone. Skipping the stone. And I'll tell you what. Me trying to, because I never played baseball, me learning how to trust that mitt has become a thing. You know, trying to trust the mitt. because catching it in between your pointer finger and your thumb is like a pretty weird. Like a crap. That's just like a weird thing if you, you know, football.

2:07:26Pat McAfee:Yeah. Soccer ball even. Every other ball. So now I'm catching it up in here, you know. Got one right in the palm the other day. It can hurt. Fuck that. Put a glove underneath it. Put a glove underneath the glove. That helps a little bit. Okay, two condoms. Nonetheless, it's still. And then I thought about this, 110. That was just when we were having a little, you know, turning around. A little stumpscare. And then reverse, reverse. He turned that thing back the other way. And then I go snaggle, boom. And it's like, oh, my God. I basically barehanded that thing. Yeah. And that guy did that to a Tony Tony's Boy line drive yesterday.

2:08:00Pat McAfee:Got back in there, right? Yeah, he stayed in. He's a tough son of a bitch, actually. Much respect to that guy. But it didn't matter. Crochet shoved eight of those guys. He actually struck out one last batter with the bases loaded. and I think he said, like, let's go pussy or something like that, which they caught him. He said sit down. Oh, there it is, yeah. We're not lip readers, but it does feel like the Boston Red Sox got a lot of moxie. They got a lot of attitude. They got a double hump at second base when they get there. And what happened with Cincinnati? I heard there was good times by the Boston Red Sox fans in Cincinnati last night.

2:08:33Yeah, you could say Boston owns Cincinnati now. I believe no one's showing up tomorrow because already the Red Legs fans are giving up because they freaking stink.

2:08:43Pat McAfee:AJ, is that real? Because I didn't hear that at all about the Reds fans. I didn't hear anything. No. I mean, I know there was some shenanigans after the game from what I saw in pictures outside. Yeah, there was. Is the clock on there? Yeah, I don't know what's going on, man. That's my first thought was someone better, they better barricade around that clock of humans. Like, what is this? That's opening day. It's just after the game, like, they just, the fans spilled out and started fighting or what? I don't know. Ohio and Massachusetts together. I mean, there's a chance. that happen and we hope everybody's okay.

2:09:13Pat McAfee:Hope the clock's okay and shout out to the Red Sox doing their thing. Let's go to one half of the hammer. Cowboys AP tone. Is there percentages on teams for this Sweet 16 thing? Do we need to read into that as much? We haven't done much of the public betting conversation around March Madness but the favorites have been winning so we assume that the public betting has been hitting pretty well. Yeah, it's more of a football thing. I mean, you can look at it in things like this. Like for instance, St. John's and Duke and Duke. 65 % is on St. John's, which is not a surprise. They are the sweet darling of a dog in this round.

2:09:47If you look, Bama is only getting 48 % at the plus 9.5, which is kind of surprising. St. John's is a darling. Michigan's a darling. I would assume UConn's getting the money in that one and then Iowa State in that one as well. But I don't pay attention to that as much. Football season is more important.

2:10:04Pat McAfee:All right, well, we'll continue to hit every single college basketball sweet 16 pick. Did you know that? You hit all of them? Yeah. Undefeated. Like the 1869 Reds, you went undefeated last night? Yeah. 57-0, buddy. 57-0. That's what I did. Yeah, thank you. Man, I underestimated Arizona, I guess. I really did. Tell it Pete, feels like he's a guy, and then they got a bunch of older guys. Illinois, that team looks awesome. I didn't expect that team to do. Hey, Pages boy, they were showing Pages. in the stands. That was awesome. So I was at Texas down there watching our basketball team whenever he was on a visit.

2:10:38Pat McAfee:And they were, everybody was talking about it. Like, he's the, this is the, this is the one. This could be the one here. Yeah. This is, he's tall. He's athletic. And obviously his dad has his basketball IQ through the roof. And then you watch that shit and it's like, wow, Illinois might go win this entire thing. Good for Illinois. Congrats to them. Duke has a chance to continue an incredible ride. And you know, we got a chance to talk to Coach K a couple different times. Him talking about Shire as if he's one of the ones. You know, Coach K's been talking about a lot of the great coaches and he's been talking about shire as if shire is one of the great coaches gonna have to win a national championship no doubt and uh obviously there's a lot of those around we can't wait to watch sweet 16 congrats to all the lads for making it and uh we can't wait to see who ends up on top and also we can't wait to see who wins the super duper otter crown yeah and uh we know west virginia's been preparing for that we know the toronto blue jays are certainly getting buzzed in and we know the minnesota gophers are potentially thinking about baylor all day and all night Oklahoma and Colorado are going to have to do battle, but this one's the Mountaineers.

2:11:36Stanford favored by one and a half.

2:11:39Pat McAfee:By who? By who? The crown. That tracks. Yeah, that makes sense. So the crown just openly says, we don't know West Virginia men's basketball. Could be a team ride on West Virginia. That's where Russ Hodge wants to be there, though. He likes being the underdog. Stop. Okay? This is the weekend of the Final Four. Fuck this thing. either move it way the fuck up, don't do it at all, this is bullshit. What? West Virginia's about to win the Otter Cron. That's great. Couldn't agree more. Who the fuck cares? Are you kidding me? West Virginia's about to win. We're just going to, hey, you know what? Let's start another basketball tournament with all these dog shit teams who weren't good enough to make the tournament.

2:12:20Wait a minute. Let's do it during the weekend of the Final Four. Was their goal like, hey, should we see if like 150 people watch this thing if we play it on a team? Oh, wait a minute.

2:12:29Pat McAfee:What the fuck are we doing, Mark? No, no, yeah. I understand you want to see this type of basketball when there's nothing else on. I understand you want to see the West Virginia Boutonniers when there's nothing else on. Maybe not even. What? Maybe not even. Not even see them play Stanford? Yeah, right. We're going to miss out on that? Then they got the Blue Jays? You think we're going to miss out on that opportunity? What have these guys... We need to slide to the middle of the week. What have these guys been doing? They didn't make the tournament, so all these guys just have to keep... All eyes on the other crown.

2:12:56Pat McAfee:That's fucking crazy. I'm sure they have full squads, too. These teams are all used to traveling to the Final Four, so they've been playing mentally for the entire time. Don't you worry about the other crowd. We know who's taking that hope. Greedy corporate fat cats who think we need to fucking do this thing. This is one of those things, though, where it feels like people aren't in a room when decisions are made that might know what sport is. You know, like Final Fours that weekend? Fuck, no one cares about those games. Let's play our games. It's got to be earlier, right? There's no way they're going head-to-head.

2:13:27Yeah, 1038. Oh, this is PST. Ooh. Yeah, so one. What? No, they're going heads up. Let's do it. Let's do it. Fuck the Final Four. We'll outrank them. Eight Eastern.

2:13:37Pat McAfee:Wednesday and Thursday. Oh, okay. Yeah, Wednesday. We're good. It's also if they lose. Saturday, Sunday. Saturday, Sunday. All right. If you lose the other crown, too, you're just set up for, you could even win the other fucking crown. What are you talking about? Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is not about the crown or the other crown. It's about the draft, which is obviously an evening of celebration of dreams coming true. Obviously, with NIL, it's a little bit different because guys are earning life-changing money earlier than that. But to live a dream of being a professional football player and changing the trajectory of your entire family tree is a huge night.

2:14:15Pat McAfee:The draft is a huge, important life moment for all of us. AJ want number five? Five. Old, old CBA. Yeah. So much money. Guaranteed, yeah. The whole fucking thing. I want every dollar. I haven't played it down. I want every fucking dollar. That's what it used to be. All the way to pick 222, where I'm buying a Cadillac Escalade and almost getting that thing repoed. So it's a little bit different. But I will remember that weekend forever, as will everybody that gets drafted this upcoming April in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is the next generation of draft coverage for ESPN, Jordan Reed.

2:14:56Pat McAfee:Yeah, Jordan! Jordan, thank you for waiting. Obviously, we're a little bit delayed, but we are excited to wrap up this week's show with you. We hope this will become a weekly thing as we get through draft season. How are you doing? How was the week? And thank you for joining us, brother. I'm good, man. I appreciate you guys for having me. I felt like that freaking Squidward meme every time I see the set when we're at Combine together and seeing you guys have fun outside while I'm inside watching you guys. So it's a pleasure being here, man. I appreciate it. I just told the story of you at the Combine coming up to me and talking to me, and I just have so much respect for your moxie.

2:15:29Pat McAfee:So I'm excited to see what you have. It feels like you're very well prepared. I think the world should hear it. So I think a good thing for us to kind of dive into, or what are three things that happened this week that you think actually affect draft night that's coming April 23rd in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jordan? yeah pat well the first one is reuben bain the miami defensive lineman at miami pro day there was a flock of teams all 32 teams were down there everybody was on coral gables he only did positional drills which isn't a big deal to me but athletic testing is something that is a huge debate in draft rooms and among draft media as well but this player is such a clean evaluation to me pat like we've seen this dude dominate down the backstretch he was phenomenal in a college football playoff and i get it he has short arms but the way that he was able to go out and dominate the way that he did during the back stretch of the season.

2:16:15Me personally, I think he's the best edge rusher in the draft. Yes, ahead of Arville Reese, who I have as an all-fall linebacker. And I have him ahead of David Bailey as well. I think that much of Reuben Bain. And, you know, if I'm the Jets at two, I think it's a serious consideration that you do take him at two. Now, I don't think they're going to do that. But if I was in a draft room, he would be one player I would stand on the table for. I feel that good about Reuben Bain despite the short arms. And the second one for me is Todd Simpson. I know D.O. said the Twitter machine ablaze saying that Ty Simpson is the best quarterback in this year's draft, but he's going to be a bit of a polarizing prospect in this year's draft class.

2:16:49And I have a list for you. So these are the quarterbacks with 15 or less college starts to go inside of the top 16 picks. It's Akeely Smith, Mitchell Trubisky, Cam Newton, Anthony Richardson and Dwayne Haskins. So if you're taking Ty Simpson at number 16 overall with the New York Jets, this is something that you're betting on him being a huge outlier. And I just don't see Ty Simpson being that first round quarterback. I feel more comfortable taking him in the second round. But of course, the quality of this year's quarterback class is not great, as you guys know. And teams salivate over these quarterbacks.

2:17:19So the Jets at 16, I just think it's a huge risk if you take this guy at number 16 overall. And then my last one would be Arbel Reese, Ohio State, man. I mean, this dude was everything that you want at the position this past season at Ohio State. There's some debates on if he's going to be an edge rusher, if he's an off-ball linebacker. I feel more comfortable with him as an off-ball linebacker just because I've seen him do it. I think he's a little bit raw as an edge rusher, but you see the flashes of him and what he can do. And I think Patricia did a hell of a job this year interchanging him a bit in that off-ball linebacker spot and the edge rusher spot.

2:17:51So it's just a matter of comfort where you want to play him. I just feel more comfortable with this rejection as an off-ball linebacker.

2:17:56Pat McAfee:Hey, Jordan, let's go, baby. How long have you been doing this, brother? Eight years, man. Eight years. You enjoy it. You love the scouting. You like the film. What is your favorite part of it? Both, man. I mean, I'm one of those media guys that actually travels the country during the year. So I actually go to these games and seeing these players up close and just the whole draft process and the evaluation process as a whole. I kind of compare it to like buying a car, Pat. And you can watch the film. You can watch these guys online. A car may look great online, right? But when you go actually to the dealership, when I do go to these games, that is where you get to test drive the car.

2:18:31You get to see what's underneath the hood, what's making these guys tick. So I love the draft, man. And, you know, this is something that I've done for eight years. I feel very confident in my evaluations, but I'm thankful for where I am and how far my trajectory has come so far. But I'm thankful for everything.

2:18:45Pat McAfee:Hell yeah. And keep going, brother. Sounds like your work ethic is phenomenal. Let's talk about a couple of the three takeaways that you had. Ruben Bain, you talk about going under the hood. He's beloved, obviously, down there in Coral Gables. He was taking over games whenever there was other teams talking shit. We obviously only got a chance to see him live a few times through the playoffs. But Texas A &M, there was a lot to be made about him and the left tackle, him and the left tackle. And then that weather called for a fist fight because of how windy it was. It was like 50 mile an hour winds, you fella.

2:19:14Pat McAfee:It was insane. Offense was going to be very limited, but there was going to be a dogfight in the trenches. He took that game over. Like, he took that game over. Their defense took the game over. He was everywhere throughout the entirety of the playoffs. What do you like about the human that makes you think that maybe he goes as high as two? You said you don't think the Jets will do that. but if you were in there, you would certainly talk about that. What do you think about the human that projects for long-term success in the NFL as well, and is that what these teams are looking for in your eyes?

2:19:41Well, Pat, look who's coaching them. I mean, it doesn't get any better than Hall of Famer Jason Taylor. Just listen to Jason Taylor talk about Reuben Bain and how far he has come. And he had some injuries prior to this season, but this year, this is a big year for him. But if you just sit down and listen to Jason Taylor talk about this guy, he just raves about him. And it's not just the person, as you mentioned, but just how far he has come as a player. And you can turn on the tape in any game this year, whether it's Notre Dame, Ohio State, Indiana. He's dominating. He's continued to check the boxes in all those games.

2:20:10And, yes, I keep saying the short arms. I get it. I get he's going to be the historical outlier. But pound for pound, when we're putting his tape against any other edge rusher in this draft, it's the most impressive to me. I mean, this dude has the hand strength of a heavyweight boxer. He's just jacking the crap out of all these offensive tackles. He's an NFL-ready run defender. and as a pass rusher, I think he's going to be fine rushing off of the edge, but what I love about him the most is that he's so versatile. You can kick him inside and sub-package. You can play him outside five techniques, seven techniques, whatever you want to play him.

2:20:39He's just so versatile. I compared him to Brandon Graham. That's who it reminds me of, and we're talking about somebody that closed out a Super Bowl for the Philadelphia Eagles, which is what he did when the Eagles won that first Super Bowl, so I think he's very comparable to Brandon Graham, who went on to have a terrific career.

2:20:52Pat McAfee:Modern NFL success comes from having four first-round D-linemen, and every time we watch Bain work out, especially this past week at the Pro Day, he looks like a monster. So I'm excited to see what the NFL can continue to become with these guys. You mentioned another man in there from the Ohio State. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, obviously Pat's talking about Arbel Reese. We know what he is physically and what he did this year, his production on the field. I guess, are you hearing from teams how they want to use him? You have him listed as an off-the-ball linebacker. He can play edge as well. Are you getting any inclination that teams want to use him as an edge rusher?

2:21:25it's a mixture honestly AJ just depends on who you talk to within the league but if you're taking somebody that high in the draft obviously you want them to play edge rusher just because of the financial ramifications of it you're not just going to take an off-ball linebacker that high in the draft but with Arvell I think he's a guy that you can interchange and everybody's talked about the Michael Parsons comparison I think Michael was a little bit further along in this point in his career as an edge rusher but that's eventually who you want Arvell to be and if I'm going to take him at number two overall like the jets are predicted to do right now i think that is great bang for your buck but i think he would be a great foundational piece for the jets if they do end up taking them at number two overall i mean this dude has explosive traits whether it's all ball or off of the edge he has very rare power as a run defender as well and i think he's just

2:22:10Pat McAfee:scratching the surface of what he can be i can't wait to see how it all shakes out you know two now could be 10 somebody else could be two quarterback could go to oh you have no idea trades could happen to get another quarterback. Who's the third quarterback? You mentioned Ty Simpson. We like Ty Simpson as well. We think Fernando obviously has earned the right to be QB in one of this particular draft class. It sounds like the Raiders feel that way as well. But we like Ty Simpson. Who's the third quarterback? Do we know who the third quarterback is in this particular draft, Jordan? That's a great question, Pat.

2:22:41There's such a huge split in the league right now. If I had to guess, it's between Carson Beck and Garrett Nussmeier, who are two polar opposites. Polar opposites as quarterbacks. One, he's a big 6 '5 for the typical pocket passer. Nussmeyer's a little bit more undersized at about 6 '2", about 205 pounds. But I personally like Nussmeyer better just because of what he brings from an in-the-pocket standpoint and the daredevil mentality that he plays. And I just think he's shown better throws on tape than what Carson Beck has done. Now, Carson Beck is going to be a great floor setter as far as what he can come in and do.

2:23:12But I think Garrett Nussmeyer just has a lot of those traits of those undersized quarterbacks that we've seen go on to have a very successful career. And then, I mean, Nuss has made, going back to that 2024 season, Nuss was a damn good player, man. Like, we were talking about him potentially going inside of the top 10 or so picks. Obviously, the injuries and things happened at LSU to deter from that. But I'm a believer in Nuss in the mid-rounds.

2:23:33Pat McAfee:All right. And there's one quarterback you didn't mention. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, we're – I mean, Mark Gronoski. You know, we pull up his pro day, you know, measurables and whatnot not from his raw athletics score at Iowa's Pro Day off the charts. A lot of people are saying, well, I don't know, because this guy could be starting tight end day one for someone. Grinask? Exactly. So what about Mark Grinasky? Basically, just tell me, is he going to get drafted or not? Potentially. I thought he did really well down at the Strombol down in Texas. I thought he was a better thrower down there. I mean, he saw some great things at Iowa, and we know their quarterbacks haven't been known for throwing the football, but he was physically one of the more talented players that they have had in the position over the past few years.

2:24:18But I think he has a chance to be one of those late round guys. I like him. I like Luke Altmyer from Illinois. Cole Payton, who will probably go much earlier than those guys. But there's a lot of names in that late round mix. But Altmyer and Gronowski are two players that I like in those late rounds.

2:24:31Pat McAfee:You're the man, Jordan. We're going to see you again through this draft season, if that's okay. Absolutely. I appreciate you guys. Thanks for having me, Pat. What are you doing draft night? We have our draft spectacular. Are you working draft night? Yes. So I help with ESPN radio all day three, all three days of the draft. Excuse me. That's what I normally do. Where will you be? Will you be in the back in the green room or where will you be? We usually have a set that's opposite of the green room. So we'll have like a building directly beside it. So I'll be around. Should put him in. Get him in the green room.

2:25:02Pat McAfee:We'll see how next week goes. Yeah. Okay. You're awesome, man. You need your shit. I appreciate you guys. Did you hear him kick him down inside and outside of five, seven technique? Uh-huh. Fucking hat. He rattled off. Yep. Likes Granovsky, so I know he knows ball. Yeah. Liked him as Shrine Bowl. He had boots on the ground. Traveled around the country, watched these players. Mm-hmm. Checking under the hood with these motherfuckers' dick. I like that. Yep. Jordan, we appreciate you, man. Thank you, guys. How old are you? I am 34 years old. Let's go. Let's go run now. Let's go. We're thankful you're joining us.

2:25:33I appreciate you guys, man. It's a pleasure. You're the man. Big fan of the show.

2:25:36Pat McAfee:Come on. We appreciate you, ladies and gentlemen. Jordan Reed. Yeah, Jordan. Yeah, all right. Let's have him be. Let's do the whole draft season. Absolutely. Yeah, I think so. Then he would have to be at the draft, though. Spectacular. Are we doing that? You tell me. I saw a report that we were. I heard that there's going to be way too many people in Pittsburgh, and they might just cancel everything. I'm hearing from people in Pittsburgh that are saying, can we fucking not have the draft, baby? They're sending out reports. Set up blockades. What streets are shut down? it's like okay yeah we got a lot of streets anyways Pittsburgh yeah we got a lot of streets so just shutting them all down is certainly a good way you know because the way the fucking city we're in hills and then water obviously so getting in and out of it is that's fucking one way in and fucking one way out everybody is trying to get in there and then once you get down in there there's obviously it's full chaos I mean the topography is that what it's called I guess yeah there was a report too that Pittsburgh public schools in the city limits I think are moving to remote learning for those three days just because of the logistical nightmare of getting kids into and out of there over with, what do they expect?

2:26:49700 ,000 people? I've heard that number thrown out. People were all mad about it. It's going to be hard to get around.

2:26:54Pat McAfee:Yeah, Pittsburgh's going to be really... I think what people should expect is you should not try to be in a car when you're there. It's around the area. Now, there's a hell of a walk if you're in a couple of different places to get to a lot of different spots. So you're signing up for that too because remember, you got hollers and shit that you got to get down around and another thing. And I've made these drunks. Yes. I've made these drunk walks from one part of city to other part of city when, you know, there isn't just an Uber available on your phone, you know. But I think if you get down into the area, okay, North Shore, Casino is very close.

2:27:32Pat McAfee:I'm not going. Not a chance at all. I am. You should not go in there. I thought you said it was a good one. Nobody wins coming out here. That sucks. You say you always have to go, and you've got to give your donation to ensure that you're going to have a good weekend. That's what it is. And that's how I've had to frame it, because I've never won. You grew up there. Until now. You don't have to do that. Yeah, but I don't live there now, so I do feel obligated to be like, hey, thank you. It's an honor to be back. Yeah. It is paying tides a little bit to the local casino, because there's no smiles coming out of that place.

2:28:04Pat McAfee:No. A lot of smiles going in. Mm-hmm. And it's all sucked out. They're bummed out. Like a rubbing tug. What's that? Like the experiences like a... Yeah. I think people smile on the way out of there. I think those are going... I think there's a lot of situations around those. I think people need to be careful. I think a lot of people aren't as careful as they need to be. Probably right. That's a crazy story any time it comes up. Yeah. That's a crazy story any time. Crazy, crazy. and on that note let's have the greatest weekend be safe out there be smart out there come to the draft in Pittsburgh it'll be fun the Yenzers are going to be super pumped I bet what's wrong Tone I think it's going to be 98 % Yenzers down there I think so too I think getting there though is going to be a lot of oh this was fucking genius so much of that The absolute worst.

2:29:03Pat McAfee:So much of that. People parking cars, I assume, and walking. I assume you're going to see a lot of cars just kind of fucking left. Yeah, exactly. I don't know. I genuinely don't know how this is going to go for everybody back there. But I do know it's going to be an incredible celebration of ball. And we're hopefully going to be a part of – we are, I think. I think we'll be there. Hell yeah. We'll be there for sure. Have that event on Wednesday night, AJ. Yeah, Shefter's going to be there. I don't think so. Yeah. A lot of people I've talked to said, feels like Schefter told you to go fuck yourself on that Wednesday thing.

2:29:34Pat McAfee:No, he's going to try. I want to show it for my friend. So he'll definitely get there. Yeah. Hey! Let's take a photo. Photo, photo, photo. Yeah, yeah. Hold on. Okay, thank you. It's good. What you got here? All right, so who can fucking take it? That's it. That's it right now. In a nutshell. And then the other one's coming out. Yeah, okay. Showing. Sweet. Are you fucking trading? Because I think they're a willing trade participant. Yeah. If you talk loud right now, you'll get from one of my funds to my other phone. This is fun. What is this called? A pizza? Cool. Yeah, I think they'll fucking do it.

2:30:15Pat McAfee:I think they'll do it. You'll do it, right? Yes, you will? They'll trade you right now, yeah. Okay, remember, tell Roger I didn't do this. Yeah, hey, you two are talking to each other right now. All right, see ya. All right, I'm going to get out of here. Thanks for having me. Thanks for coming, dude. That's what these insiders' lives are like. We've been around Rap Sheet before. Rap Sheet shows up. Hey, guys, how we doing? Where's the booze? Right here. Yeah, a little different. Have a conversation. But then if he opens his phone, trapped, night end. See ya. It's over. That's how these insiders live.

2:30:52Pat McAfee:And we appreciate their dedication to put that tweet up before the others. because when we see the first tweet, we never go off the second or third tweet. No. Never. When we see the first tweet, which is how the world knows, we think to ourself, thank you for your commitment to ball for fucking not sleeping and not having a social life at all and just answering text messages and floating shallow conversations with so many people all the time. Good to see you. Good to see you. Ha, that's so funny. How's the family? How's the family? Yeah, good, good. What do you got for me? Oh, a new building. That's fun.

2:31:24Pat McAfee:ha ha ha look at this photo fun stuff and then he's on Grok I need a graphic for there's no real off time there's no like time where he can just be like okay I'm good to go nothing can happen that's why when Woads retired they all acted like yeah he died yeah cause they were like you don't know what this guy's life has been like he has hated every moment of it all taking a shower think about taking a shower and having to put your phone on the outside of the shower and you gotta stay down there so that the steam doesn't block the phone so you can get, and you're like, oh, shit, Luke is getting traded from Dallas Mavericks.

2:31:59Pat McAfee:That's what they were saying. That's what life is as an insider. Thank God that's not what we do. But thank God they did that. Need him. Have a great weekend. Happy Sweet 16, AJ. What do you mean? Oh, my bad. Yeah, you're right. Jeez. It's not your birthday, dude. What happened in that? I'm just locked in. Reds are taking on the Red Sox again on Saturday, so we're going to rebound. Okay, bitch. Then we got another 160. Talks the table great work this week. Thank you guys for doing what you did for a stone. Continue to do for the stone. Yeah, sometimes you just got to skip the stone. I like that.

2:32:38Pat McAfee:That was a good little moment right there. Passing over the stone. We're going to be skipping the stone in seconds here. Yeah, you certainly are. Depending on how long this takes. I'm going to be doing it as well. Coming right here out of the pocket. Out of the pocket. I'd like to say both halves of the Hammer died. Cowboys, good work this week. Good work, boys. And Hammerdown as a whole, Hammerdown is currently undergoing a full rewaddle. Yeah. Thank God. Bit of a facelift. I don't know if you thank God or not. We actually had a conversation about that out here, about how you guys would feel about the entire office watching the entirety of Hammerdown.

2:33:14Oh, I hate it more than anything.

2:33:15Pat McAfee:That's what we're doing. We're watching the entirety of it. Audio on. Nothing. Live through the whole fun around. We have been doing that for the last couple years, but now it's full focus, full attention. Because we're all looking for winners. Trying to find the crown. Thank you guys for trying to spread the crown. Judge Homer. Foxy, what a week out of you. Good work, boys. Great week. Bruce Brown, great work. Good work, Bruce. Thank you, boys. Appreciate it. You nailed something today. We broke some news you didn't know. Yep. Other than that, you crushed it. Especially the Paul Skeens updates while Sheffers gave me a real answer.

2:33:46Pat McAfee:That was good. Drop it in my right ear. Skeens is getting fucking shelled right now. And on the little monitor right here, I just got Skeens going. With a baseball going over his head. Yeah, Neil Cruz. Yeah, it turns out he wasn't. He's kind of just giving up routine pot flies in his center fielder. He doesn't know what the fuck's going on. He didn't. He didn't. Are you talking about Oh, No Cruz? Yeah. Huge bounce player. Oh, No Cruz is about to hit some thong. It's going to be, oh, yeah, Cruz. I think I'm putting entire deposits down on Oh, No Cruz. Do it right now. Let's do it now. He hasn't played it tomorrow, so you don't have to do it.

2:34:19Pat McAfee:Right now, it'd be$0 for it. No, no, but do the deposit now and then put it on. I'm logging in there right now. There's a fucking video showing for me. I know it. No doubt about it. Thank you, Bruce. So I'm going to take a break for a little bit. The video got me. Yep. Are you sure? That's basically what it says. Hey. Look at me. That's what the video says. You need to fucking think about this. I want to go back to the Hawks tomorrow, though. Would you like to expel yourself from this app for 10 years that you can't get back in? Hit this button right here. And you just think to yourself, there's no way I can commit to anything for 10 years.

2:35:01Pat McAfee:It's a long time. But then I start going through the minus 1 ,100 loss. I know you can commit to it. I'm like, you know what? You can commit to some things for 10 years. Yeah, like my daughter and my family. Sure. Tony's talking about something else What could that be? We'll find out later today Oh

2:35:26Pat McAfee:Yeah, yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah Oh, yeah I forgot about that Turns out I will be able to Nick Gumpy, great work, boys Zeke, Tim, do work, boys Good work, boys Graphic design, boys. Go work, boys. Otter guy hit some bets for us. Yeah, he did. Need him to bring it home today. St. John's. Come on, Johnny's. That's not a bad little run right there. That's not a bad little run right there. Wow. I mean, Jays and Johnny's left. Pirates. Money line. He played football and basketball at Stanford? Yeah, and swimming and polo. And volleyball. Little lax for a second. Yeah. So that's why they called him Stanford Steve.

2:36:09Pat McAfee:Because he did all of it. Actually, Stanford's all-time home run leader as well. I think he coded Snapchat. Is that what it was? Yeah, I think you're right. Yeah, for that guy. Great work, AJ. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. Shout out to all you guys, honestly, for allowing us to do this for a living. It's outrageous. It is stupid. We're very thankful every day we wake up. We talk about it at least five times a day, how stupid this life is and how grateful we are that we get to do it. But that does not mean that we don't take it serious as if we shouldn't try to contribute to society.

2:36:45Pat McAfee:We do, genuinely. Try our best to be good for society, and most importantly, for the good of sport. We'll be back on Monday, live from the owners' meetings with a lot of guests. Now, will they be able to join us live because their fucking meetings are at the exact same times, which we did not... See? This is the checkers thing. Yeah, yeah. We'll figure it out. This is the checkers thing. Mm-hmm. We'll figure it out. Come out to the owners' meetings. Everybody will be there. You'll love it. It'll be great. We'll be able to get everybody on. All right. What time's your show? I think 9 to noon, local.

2:37:16Pat McAfee:We start with me as 8.30 at the end of 2. All right. Okay. Okay, we'll figure it out. Okay, okay, we'll do that. We'll watch you guys meet. All right. So we'll be there. It should be a good program, we assume. And hopefully we'll be able to figure it out. The sports world is the greatest world to ever exist. And we're lucky to be a part of it. Team on me, have the greatest weekend of your life. Team on three. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye. Monster Energy. Everybody knows White Monster Zero Ultra. That's the OG. It kicked off this whole zero sugar energy drink thing. But Ultra is a whole lineup now.

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2:38:22Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman from Miami. Gunned down. The key to this case, it's Brian. An hour before he died, he was on the phone. This might be a hit. You want the truth. They just want a conviction. They're placed under arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now.