(upbeat music) - Hey, what's going on? - This is the started on South podcast. I am Connor Alguera. Will, after four years, it finally happened. Four years, yeah, I know, crazy. Big, big events of this weekend. I tested positive for COVID. - Hmm. - So-- - Did you like Joe Biden tweet? - I am sick. - I didn't, I thought that would maybe be in poor taste. And you know what, we're so powering through. We're still recording the podcast today. No big deal, playing hurt. Still got radio stuff and whatnot. I'm basically treating it like, yeah, all right, I'm gonna stay in my part of the house so as to not get clear sick because as parents know, a child coming home from daycare who is sick and has to be at home while parents work from home is just the worst possible thing. So we're gonna try and do what we can't there. I was going to tweet that and then I thought to myself, I'm just doing this for me and I don't want attention for it despite the fact that I let off the show with it. - Yes, yes, it's very funny because I woke up this morning, kind of thought I had a migraine. I was like, my day is a little bit bad. So today we might see me and just go become the Mad King and be like, I'm so happy that we got five star, Patrick Peterson and our team. I might just start saying nonsense as it goes on. - So this is gonna be electric? - Yeah, if you do indeed test positive for COVID because we were staying at the same Airbnb last week in Dallas, no incorrect takes could be used against us today. I think we are immune in that way, not immune in like, from a physical standpoint, but immune from a standpoint of anything that we say about some dudes today, if you disagree with it, just take a breath, remember, like probably one and a half COVID cases that we're talking about here. So at least one and a half, I would assume. - Yeah, like 1.5 feet. So we could use this case to just like, I think Cincinnati will make the playoff. I think Dustin Myers is gonna win the Heisman. And then later we could just cut that stuff up if it works and if not, boom, blame the bid, done. - Exactly, so that should be pretty easy. Playing for today, our annual Jordan Rodgers at SEC Media Days Chat, we have that coming up, plus we've got Lad of the Week. But first, Will, you got to fill out an all-SEC ballot. I'm excited to be able to talk about this. Our biggest pre-season all-SEC beefs, or so not with each other, but with the way that the ballot came out. If you have the ballot in front of you, the media ballot, might be a good time to be able to do that if you wanna follow along with us. But I think you said this was your first time filling it out, right? Because you didn't fill it out back in 2016. - Yes, I felt unqualified this time. I'm just unqualified, but I'm more confident. So I'm just gonna give my opinion. I feel like that's the thing. When we kinda talked about it, it's such an honor to do. And at the same time, how much is going on? It feels like a lot of the old sky guys. It's kinda like you with the highs in a way, right? It's like, you get at your first five, 10 years, you're like, "Oh my God, let me get this guy's name, "right, let me go to PFF." And you see the guys that you respect the heck out of there just like, "Ah, how many family guys wrote you guys?" All right, let's keep going, deadline it, you know? - Exactly. I would like to think I don't just listen to, look at team names when filling out the Heisman ballot, but you don't, exactly, yeah, yeah, yeah. Some others might not be able to say the same thing. So here's how this process works. And by the way, neither of us voted for Vandy. We're confirmed. I saw Willis ballot. He did not vote for Vandy to win the SEC. The way that you fill it out is actually a little bit different than what the average person would probably think. So the way that this sets up, you have two quarterbacks, four running backs, four wide receivers, two tight ends, eight off guards/tackles, two centers, eight defensive linemen, six linebackers, eight defensive backs, two place kickers. You're getting tired because you should be getting tired. Two punters, two return specialists, two kickoff specialists. Yes, kickoff specialists, two long snappers, and then you do your predicted order finish. Will you turn off your video, which means I'm assuming you're really upset. Oh, there we go. Oh, I'm locked in. Look, I got my second screen here, 'cause I think you're getting a little voting on here. Look, you guys are gonna hear my horrible things live. But yes, to your point, it's like, you know, we see this stuff. Guys, do a little like, Risillo always talks about this. Like there are these people that do things by themselves. When you get mad at the media from now on, okay, fake to yourself, name eight defensive backs in the SEC right now. Don't use Google. Name them all right now. And when you think to yourself, well, my guy's not on the list. Ta-da-da. Right now, name eight guys. 'Cause like that's the thing that was really an empathetic thing for me, it was cool to watch. It was like, oh, yeah. Like I was joking with Peyton. I was like, dude, I listed a Vandy guy in zero LSU guys for this. Like there's, there are your name recognition guys. There are guys you've seen live. And then there's some guys you're just like, he seems like a cool gentleman. But it says you get to that like number eight. It's like, can I really pick between these guys? A confession. I admittedly went with Alex McPherson as my kickoff specialist for the simple fact that the Auburn kicker is currently dealing with irritable bowel syndrome. And that man needs a dub more than anyone. So I basically picked someone because he's having pooping issues. That's the only way to fill out a ballot. Everything else with the exception of probably not gonna say that I got his deep into the long snapper PFF numbers as our guy Derek Peterson, who I swear he spent probably five hours on his ballot. Credit to Derek, that's how, that's how well versed he is in this stuff and how thorough he is. But yeah, I thought what we can do today is look at some of the biggest gripes that we have. Maybe a first team guy that I thought was like a borderline third teamer or vice versa. I'm gonna be honest though, Will. I don't really have any major gripes on the offensive side of the ball. But the way that this played out with how the voting went, I was glad to see at receiver that love it in Berks, at least got third team honors. They were the guys that I had behind Luther Burden, behind Trey Harris. I figured that Isaiah Bond was gonna get a lot of love. He wasn't gonna get that love from me. I'm not quite as sold on him because he's a guy that's got one career game with 80 receiving arts, but I get it. Gray Bigger was insanely cool. That plays unreal. And now he's at Texas. He's kind of stepping into that role as potentially the go-to. He and Matthew Golden, they have high expectations for Sark talked about that depth that they have at receiver. And there's an expectation that he will be in line for even more production, more past heavy offense. If I had a fifth receiver spot, it would have gone to Kyron Lacey. So no problems with him being a second team guy. Do you have any major discrepancies at receiver the way that it played out with? Kind of, I thought it was pretty chalky with Burden and Harris getting those first two spots. - Yeah, it's kind of funny, right? Because I feel like receiver and running back were kind of flipped, which is that like, okay, I think we're far and away in agreement that like with it, Burden was almost like consensus. Like he's just the best receiver coming back in the SEC. Tre Harris feels like, hey, we like your offense. You may not be like the second best receiver, but you're likely going to end up with probably the second or third best in terms of stats if you stay healthy. Does that make sense? - I think he's the second best. Even like, even with the numbers, almost would have had a thousand-yard receiving season. He played like 45 snaps in his first, in the first four Ole Miss games because of injuries. And the highlight real grab that he made against A&M is one of the best catches I've ever seen. Like truly one of the best catches I've ever seen. I like Tre Harris a lot. So I think he's already at that place where even if it wasn't a projection, I think based on what we've already seen him do, I have no problem with him being right behind Burden as a first team guy. - Yeah, no, and I honestly agree with you that 'cause as I'm looking around, it's like there are guys who I like who I think are talented, you know what I'm saying? But a lot of them are in situations where I think statistically they're going to end up. So it's really one of those where it's like double win. You can kind of go safe and go, this is a guy who is super talented. Um, Boro's going to go with that. So I think we're aligned there. Uh, what's going to go with that is like, now we have, okay, ETN and Hunter. So Trevor, ETN, Dr. Poise Hunter as the running backs. And we talked about this at the time. This is such an interesting place for the SEC to be. 'Cause these are two kind of like receiving big play, lower carry type of running backs. And Hunter is going to move into bigger. Like, not exactly a bell cow role, but like more of a share of the carries. But it's interesting that not have, you know, a Montreal-Johnson who we know is going to be that type of bell cow. He was sent to SEC media days. And the media were just like, we'd rather have an ETN or a Jack Rose Hunter who may not have the best stats, but they're going to be awesome and electric, you know? - I was surprised how aligned I was with the media voting. We talked about that going in with the running back spot. How weird it is just to only have, and ended up, we were wrong, I was wrong about Jack Rose Hunter being at media days. He wasn't at media days. Montreal-Johnson was the only SEC running back as they have played a representative of media days, which is crazy when you consider the history of the position he was asked about that. And the fact that he wasn't a first team guy is pretty telling. I had the order that I did for like, 'cause you get four running backs. I went to Jack Rose Hunter, Rocket Sanders, Trevor Eten and TJ Baxter, the guy that I think is going to lead the SEC in rushing. And then ETN and Hunter got that first team from the media and Sanders and Baxter were second team. If you're wondering why would I have ETN ahead of Montreal-Johnson along with, I guess the consensus media choice, it's pretty simple. I watched that backfield for the last two years and I thought that ETN was the better player. And I haven't really held back my feelings on that. - Right, I think I stepped in. - Yeah, sorry, so I didn't really wanna overthink that one. I'm like, why would I give Montreal-Johnson that nod if I think ETN is better? And I think that Hunter is more dangerous than Baxter, or at least he's shown that already in the SEC. But at the same time, I felt okay putting Baxter as a second team guy, because while I try not to do as much projecting with this, I like to base it on the production that they've already had. Again, he's already had 100 scrimmage yards in a playoff game. Dude did that as an 18-year-old. That's pretty good, especially in a year when you can kind of go all over the place with your running back spots, which is why you actually had Ulysses Bentley IV as one of your four running backs as well. Was he the third or fourth guy for you? - Yeah, so for me, let me pull this up. I have all of my, got the documents right here. Okay, cool, so yeah, I had Bentley 3rd and Montreal-Johnson IV. Yeah, and for that reason, Ulysses Bentley, I would obviously put him in the same category based on what I've seen. He is one of those guys who is a big play guy who is really elusive, who I want to see him in a little bit more than role. And you know, as I just kind of said, well, Miss is going to have lost opportunities. We talked about how Leighton Kiffin has kind of fooled people over the course of the last several years where he ends up going all the way back to, you know, Snoop and all those boys, like really running the ball at the goal line, pushing guys around where you see the memes, you see the deep passes, but really it's kind of a smash-mount football team and we've seen that with how he's built in the portal. So yeah, I really, really like Ulysses Bentley I think he's going to be great this year. And even, you know, if you're going to bet on that kind of a Scatback-type guy, he's going to have more bite to the apple because well, this is going to score a ton of points. And you have Parrish coming back. He did the boomerang transfer as Philip Dukes would call it. And then you don't know what the status of Logan Diggs is going to be, how long he's going to be out to start the season and even if he comes back, what does it look like? So yeah, I think Bentley, if you're kind of buying low on his production, that'd be a good guy to, you know, to kind of hype up in the preseason. I didn't think I'd go in this direction. We talked about this right after we submitted ballots. I went with Rocket as a first teamer because I fully acknowledged. Yeah, I know. - That's so wild to be here. - Okay, so here's kind of the explanation for it. Last year was a lost year in every way. Like, we know that he couldn't say healthy. He was dealing with issues all year. How much of it was the weight gain? How much of it wasn't? It was kind of weird to hear the discussion about his weight from Shane Beamer this year about how he's like 228. Last year, Sam Pittman was at the podium saying he's 240 and he's never been faster. It's like, well, which weight do you want him at? Which weight is the best for him to be able to maximize those abilities at? And what I kept coming back to was that offense was a train wreck last year. And I don't think it was in a indictment of Rocket Sanders the player. I think if he had stayed healthy for an entire season, that offense would have had a better chance to stay afloat. But it was still that bad. And by the way, with the Arkansas offense, look at yards per play. Don't look at scoring offense because that can be skewed by defensive touchdowns and stuff like that. The yards per play metric was the most troubling one to be able to see. And I go back to what Rocket did two years ago, ninth in the country in scrimmage yards. He was a superstar. He was an all-American player when he was fully healthy. That's when he was last fully healthy. That was the player that he was. So even if he's not going to be that guy at South Carolina, because I think it's fair to be skeptical about their offensive line, what it's going to look like when he steps on the field. He's dealt with injuries throughout the offseason, which has probably hurt some of the buzz, some of the buildup of his potential return to action at full form. But I wondered, am I just dinging him because he had an injury riddled season? And if I didn't put him in that conversation, that's what I would have been doing. And I think it's different if we were talking about the position having more of those established guys. Like what we saw at receiver, where I didn't have juice wells at one of those spots after he had a lost season last year and say what you will about whether or not he could have come back. But that's because receiver in the SEC, I think is more proven and I think it's deeper. So that's kind of the way that I went through and kind of thought about giving Rocket that preseason level. - Yeah, I think with Rocket, what scares me about him is that we've already seen him on the team with kind of a bad offensive line at Arkansas. And like the thing about ETN was ETN was on team with the battle offensive line and he made them better. He elevated like every time he was on the field, he was a safety valve for that team. I think that last year, yeah, Rocket was hurt, but we also kind of saw that it's just so easy for me to project what Rocket does with a bad offensive line. And it wasn't great when he was out there. So, and we've already kind of seen, you know, he's got the injury they had to quote about like we've been doing Rocket Science all off season. He isn't really a chance to get in the rotation with the guys. So I think he could have a great season. I just think he'll probably be starting off a little bit slow, which could help you in terms of like how it all ends up. But yeah, I just don't have a ton of faith in this offense. You know, going from Bradley, who's a great quarterback to my boy, you know, this year, I'm not going to say anything negative about him, but at the same time, having that veteran quarterback does elevate your run game 'cause you got to worry about him. And I think the whole defense is going to be keyed in on Rocket this year. - South Carolina's offensive line, the youth that they had to roll out last year, Shane Beamer talked about how that's going to help him. And it's going to help that group this year. TBD on that because obviously that's been the biggest area of struggle for South Carolina so far, both running the ball and trying to stop the run. So yeah, I think it's fair to have questions about Rocket. I just kind of looked at the remaining field and was like, man, this guy's already shown though, that he can be at a really, really high level. Any other offensive gripes because I have way more, I think come the defensive side of the ball. - Yeah, no, I think this is about it. Offense is pretty straightforward. Okay, defense, let's talk about Walter Nolan here. - Okay. - Tremendously talented player, former number two overall recruit. A big part of the why Ole Miss can bridge the gap conversation. We talked about this when Jesse Simonson came on. Lane deserves a ton of credit for going out and getting Nolan, getting him on me Ellen. And I will continue to praise Ole Miss for that. If Ole Miss is going to win a playoff game or something like that, you feel like the defensive line is going to have a really big say. In being able to do that. The first half of last year, Walter Nolan was excellent. It was confirmation bias through and through. I thought he was becoming that disruptor, that many hopes and assumed he would be. Then he gets carted off the field against Tennessee. He surprisingly returns to their next game, which I was like, I think he's going to, maybe he's going to be out for the rest of the year. It was kind of one of those devastating injuries. He doesn't miss any games, but he just was not the same player down the stretch. I did not have Walter Nolan as one of my top eight defensive linemen. And he was a first team guy by the media. I think he's getting too much of a pass in these conversations because of the recruiting ranking, because of the NFL draft stuff, which I totally get. EA Sports had him as the number 26 player in a video game. And I was like, I'm not doubting him, but with a preseason honor, I'd rather go with guys who have already shown it and who have shown it for more than half of a season of starting to look like the guy. And I'm just not quite there with him, especially when I do think there is depth in the defensive line. And I think Nick Scorton, I think Landon Jackson would have been more deserving to start off as first team guys. Like Landon Jackson earned all SEC honors at season 10, last year, okay? - Yeah. - Surprising return to Arkansas, thought he was going to do the Drew Sanders thing, go off to the NFL. 13 and a half TFLs was the best player on a very improved Arkansas defense. Remember last year when Arkansas almost beat Bama and Bama was just dying in the second half of that game? He had 11 tackles, he had three and a half sacks that day. He was awesome. I feel like if Jackson were still at LSU, he's easily a first team, all SEC guy coming into the year. And Will, I didn't choose. - This is unnecessary. Why are we doing this? Sorry. - How much would they tamper to be able to get him back to LSU that? I don't know that we've seen, have we seen an example that, I just talked about the Boomerang transfer, but you lose a guy and you say that he's not worth something in the portal and then you tamper by spending X amount of dollars to be able to get him back. You would have been a great example for that, a great candidate. We'd have to come up with a new name for that, but like the, how do you like me now transfer? - Yep. Yep. It's like, I'm gonna get the same back. I'm gonna get a contract extension. I'm gonna hold out. Like that's the next step of, - Yeah man, I'm with you. I mean, okay, I'll say this, right? So here's what's so crazy about this. I can't actually, I feel get mad at any of this. 'Cause if you look at, okay, boom, you look at the first, second, third team here. There is a total of one Alabama or Georgia player on the Eli. - So I think we get two. I think we have two. - There's a asterisk here. So it gets kind of hard with like who plays what position. So, okay, total of two, but there's more slots here 'cause there's some like hybrid front seven guys who are the listing, right? So I'm talking about like D-Tackles type stuff, right? 'Cause we're talking like, now again, whatever. But so, I don't feel like there is a guy who is super overrated who is getting like a big like balloon, you know, like, like, like, he's super overrated because I don't think it's really even possible to get like national media attention at some of these places just to be real with you. I mean, on first team, we have a boy Dion Walker from Kentucky, right? We have, yeah, Walter Nolan, you know, but that comes down to the portal. Like, I joked about Kate and Proctor did the best thing that you could do. He committed to Bama twice, right? Same thing here. You committed to SEC teams. You know, you've been in the media, you've been talking to people, people have been following you, keeping up with your daily activity. So of course, your name is gonna be in people's mouths. That's fine, you know? And I think that the fact that Ole Miss can even do that is good for the sport. And then, you know, you go down and it's, yeah, it's Arkansas, right? And to your point about Atlanta Jackson, like, I hate to be this guy, right guys, but it's like sometimes like four national guys that know your name, you got to win one of four games. You just got to do it. So I think that coming off of a four-win season, having an Arkansas guy be first team when we have this lack of the big names, the big brands, we don't even need Texas guys, you know? So after the job, and I know both Davis has gone, I know all that, but I actually think voters this year were pretty open to kind of looking at the status quo 'cause we talked about it at the time. Our guy, Nick Scorton, like we thought he would maybe be left off or left on the third team because he's a transfer coming in from Purdue. So I actually think the voters were decently smart this year. I just think they did a little bit of a prove it for the guy 'cause you just know how it goes. If you win four games again, landed Jackson might be talked about as an NFL guy, but no one's going to be talking about it as a great, you know? - Yeah, I totally understand that. And there's definitely brand bias that comes into this. It's almost impossible. I really try and steer clear of that. I do so much and that's why we talk about if player X were at school Y, what would the conversation be? And look, the Nick Scorton thing, yeah, the fact that he did his damage at Purdue, probably has something to do with this. But think about this, man, played 11 games last year, 15 TFLs, led the big 10 with 10 sacks as a 19-year-old, okay? I went on text tags and I talked about before the voting came out, I talked about how it was pre-med that he probably wasn't going to be a first-team All-SCC guy. I am telling anyone who's willing to listen to this. When you watch A&M this year, you're going to be like, wait a minute, who is that guy who is winning his matchup every single time? If you told me, Connor, Nick Scorton is going to be the most disruptive SEC defensive player this year, more disruptive, even then Harold Perkins or something like that. I would not, in approval. I would say, yep, I could see that happening. You know, Walker is the safest bet to be that guy, but I don't think that Nick Scorton is very far behind, especially when you consider the history of Mike Elko and defensive lineman. Like, that's to me, I'm like, that guy is going to be put in spots to succeed. That's the strength of that A&M roster right now. Another thing, and this is something you just were kind of hitting on. Prince Liam on me Allen, AKA Florida's only All-SCC selection on the defensive side the last three years, he should have been at least a second-team guy after transferring to Ole Miss. And I wonder, in a weird way, if because Ole Miss suddenly has depth on the defensive line, it kind of hurt him. But this is somebody with 21 and a half TFLs the last two seasons. He was a second-team All-SCC guy at season Zen last year. It's like, what are we doing by putting him as a 13 guy coming into this here? Here's a wild thought. And this tells you a lot. It leads about preseason conversations, including Jared Ivey, Walter Nolan as well. Ole Miss has three preseason All-SCC guys on the defensive line. That is as many as Georgia and Bama combined. Yep, wild. Very, very weird. And you can kind of get in, it's like, all right, you know, Michael Williams, eh, he gets put at linebacker, so I guess that hurts Georgia a little bit there. He's how much difference is his position as an edge guy going to be compared to, you know, some of these others, TBD on that. But man, that alone kind of lets you know why we're talking about Ole Miss this way, why Lane is so excited about that group. Yeah, and I joke with you, like when I was doing my bow, I was like, okay, so I think this is how this works, this is right. Name much of them, guys. Name much of Georgia, guys. Then you get upset when they don't live up to your expectations, right? That's exactly where Ole Miss is this year. Everybody knows the guys' names, they're voting for the guys. Build Ole Miss up, build Ole Miss up. So I'm excited for it to see Lane with expectations, obviously. If Ole Miss finishes the season with two or three all ICC guys in the defensive line, this will have worked. Things will have gone really, really well. All right, let's get to the biggest discrepancy. We were texting about this yesterday, Will. Oh, wait, really quick before you say that too. This reminds me of one of those like social media charts of like when people like tune out of your videos, right? So it's so funny 'cause you made the point about Scorton, it's like, okay, well, he played most of his football kind of in the dark, right? Whereas like you look at a guy like Proctor, it's like, okay, like I said, he goes, Bama to Bama basically. All right, you look at going from Purdue to A&M. Okay, that's like one way, but it's kind of funny that you can see how, yeah, okay, like Walter Nolan, like I said, he goes from A&M to Ole Miss, two brands you've heard of. So that's kind of my only point that I know. I know that we've already kind of hit on it, but like it's so interesting how like, if you look up and down the first second, third teams, it really just is name recognition, especially with the O-line, D-line, like hog molly type guys. Like I said, like, you know, Emery Jones and Bella Shud is on second team and he's in there with the tackle. I just talked about like I'll say his name again, but one of these guys is gonna be a first round draft pick this year if he stays healthy. The other guy is not played on a good line and is only played for one year. So that's all I'm saying is that like, it's actually pretty remarkable that with all these new guys coming in, number one, think about, like I said, think about the amount of Texas and Oklahoma questions. The fact that this ballot wasn't just full of Texas and Oklahoma with people just kind of eyes buzzing over being like, Texas playoff, a coming back, Sarkeesian, Hookham, like that's actually pretty impressive. I'll be honest, remembering that Bo Davis is not there and not going, we can correct for two more Texas D-lines. Who can I click on? Pretty cool. - I still think Texas got a lot of love. - Oh yeah. - Just overall in the preseason poll. And you know, it would have been weird if guys like Stutzman and Bowman for Oklahoma were left off preseason first team or something like that. That didn't necessarily happen. I actually think the media did a pretty good job of acknowledging newcomers into the SEC and not saying, oh, well, you know what? This guy is going to be a starter this year. He's a former five star and he gets more love than this guy. I, you know, I think there were very few instances of that. Major Burns. Major Burns will. - Preseason. - I tried to tell y'all. This is, I tried to tell y'all. (laughing) He gets preseason all SEC honors. Second team, by the way. (laughing) And CJ Taylor gets nothing. We call that one. - I told you this, I said it at the top, I should have kept that close to the best. Peyton, my boy at the chef tech spirit, like what do you got done with this shift? He goes, why do you not like LSU's defense this year? I said, I just got done voting for a Vandy DV over our three guys listed on the all SEC ballot. And it turns out I was the only one who did that, apparently, because like you said, CJ Taylor is way better than the three of us, you guys, Zyla Alexander, Jordan Gilbert for some reason. And then Major Burns, we have watched Major Burns play enough football to understand that he is closer to working with you, than he is at being in the NFL. He's closer to a linebacker than a DV. I'm just not sure why he were building him up to tear him down. You see this man running a cover three and you're gonna be disappointed. - I think, look, I hope the best for Major Burns. - Okay, hope his unfortunate last name for a defensive back isn't a punching bag once again. I don't think there's a single thing that Major Burns does better than CJ Taylor. And I think we've already seen that. I don't even think that Major Burns dresses better than CJ Taylor after seeing Taylor at SEC Media Days looked pretty good, definitely in the conversation for best dressed. Maybe Burns does a better brisket or something, but that last name kind of suggests it's more of the Lincoln-Riley variety of brisket. - Yeah, he's used to getting fall baited, slow roosted, so I feel like brisket's up his alley. - Yes, man. Look, take PFF grades for what they are, okay? Take them for what they are. Well, I don't think they're gospel. They provide some context. I don't think that's all you can default to. But here's your Major Burns context. There were 52 qualified SEC safeties last year in terms of snap count. Burns' coverage grade was 51st. Yeah, so that's not great, not ideal. Makes a lot of sense as to why LSU's secondary was such a doormat last year. Look, when you have 50 safeties available, just in the league, we're not talking FPS, and you have to do the extend to see 50 more. Not ideal. Not ideal, man. - Yeah, good. - If CJ Taylor were at Bama, he's a preseason first team, all I see see guy. There's no doubt. - It's unfortunate that this really just does reinforce, like, man, please transfer. Like, I hate to say it, but like, if you're getting, like, as much as we love, and I've gone on, like, walk the plank for these guys that have stayed with their school, this is the one where I'm just like, man, I'm sure your mom loves the education you're gonna hear about university, but you're kind of at this point, cost yourself money because, like, major burns, like I said, like, it's just not worth it. Imagine how Mark Barron was, but make him small. And there's a guy who had to play linebacker in the NFL because he was too big and hit too hard and couldn't cover. This is not even a guy who will have to change positions to play in the NFL. I don't even know if he'd be a good linebacker now. Like, he should have changed positions and played like a star role, or like, one of those, like, blitzing safeties, because I can't trust him to stop a noseplay in the, like, 23. - Yeah. - Okay, look, I'll stop digging at major burns, and I'll just say this is more my love for CJ Taylor. - For sure, for sure, for sure. - I had him ahead of Malcomor, okay? I look, Malcomor has been a nice player. He has been. I thought after how good he was as a true freshman that he'd be better at this point. I look, and I think some of this too, I'm a little bit skeptical on how that position change is gonna go. He was playing more of that star position. Now he's gonna be in a more traditional safety spot, new defense. I don't expect him to be Brian Branch 2.0, because Brian Branch was awesome. I think it's pretty telling that he didn't move, he didn't get moved to play a traditional corner spot with all of those questions in the secondary. Remember, Nick Saban himself is skeptical of Bama because of that secondary. This isn't like Georgia with Malachi Starks and all these new pieces around him, where the new pieces around him are a bit more trustworthy because of how impactful Malachi Starks is over the top. And you feel like those guys are really gonna be able to get help. I don't know that Malcomor makes everybody better. And I'm just not fully there with him. He has yet turned in all SEC honor at season's end, despite the fact that he was an all-freshman guy in the conference a few years ago, but he gets the preseason love because he's one of the guys who stayed, he was captain last year, he's captain this year, and I fully get it. But if there's like a Bama bias thing with him, I look, I think it's kind of fair to point that out. Good player, but worthy of the love that he's getting coming into this season, I don't think so. - Yeah, no, I'm right there with you. I think you're exactly right. Like let's just hype up to you Taylor. And if you find your team playing Vandy, I won't ask you when to go watch Vandy tape on their own, but like definitely just watch that guy on defense because I think there's, that's the thing is, even in like quote unquote a downer in the SEC where one's kind of trying to scout the other new teams, figure everything out, it's still a decently deep BV class. There haven't been like the number of stars at the top that we're used to, but it feels like give it two or three years and we'll be right back there if that makes sense. - I think there have been stars at corner. - Yeah. - Also, probably more so than safety. And that's just kind of the way that the NFL is now. You go the entire first round without having a safety picked. I mean, that's just, that's become part of the course. Those smash, smash mouth over the top safeties just are a bit more of a thing of the past. - I would expect Malachi starts to change that for the SEC, but yeah, it does feel like that it is a bit more corner heavy. - Anything else as well, there's fire. I feel like he's a guy that's like, correctly getting a good amount of buzz coming in the first team. It's like that's, that's one of the things that's kind of underrated where you see stoops kind of having these, usually has a great ed rusher, can usually get like a runstopper and can get like an old school number one corner. Like that's been the good stoops teams of kind of those three things. We can kind of see that it's weird that he almost, I might be missing an ed rusher, but I know he has the DT, I know he has the number one corner. So this could actually be a pretty fun Kentucky defense. - I'm actually not quite as high on Harrison. I wonder how many people looked at interception totals because he's really good at that. And I kind of was following some of the comments that stoops would make about him and how he's a little bit more of a work in progress last year. And that to me suggested that he wasn't necessarily as maybe as good as what some of those interception numbers were suggesting, but still a good player. And if a guy like that is getting creases and all this and see love at Kentucky, then you're doing something right, you absolutely are. - Yeah, I think like watching that offense as a fan made me kind of like, it was like a very low nails on the chalkboard feel because it felt like they're always right there, always right there, but they could never fully turn it around. So I think that like if they put, it feels like he would be like a guy who would do a little bigger situations. You know what I'm saying? Like getting a like one-on-one stuff like that because it feels like he has these highlights that's not consistent. I think that if the team kind of puts things together in a way that's not like always, always, always trying to lean on the defense because on third down, like somebody just falls down and you know what I'm saying? Like, I feel like if he was more locked in, he's shown flashes of being that guy he just hasn't done it consistently. Kind of like, oh boy, that was at Georgia. Can't think of his name went super high. It was a freshman that played early and he kind of put it together for the SD Championship. - Yeah, the ability for Kentucky to have like a not so defense oriented team this year is going to be a popular topic of conversation with Bushham been taking over the office. Okay, yep, order of finish, Will. I actually had the same one through five and 11 through 16 as the media vote. Georgia won Texas too, Bama 3, Ole Miss 4, LSU 5 and then Kentucky 11, Florida 12, South Carolina 13, Arkansas 14, the city state 15, Vandy 16. That probably means bad news for teams one through five and good news for teams 11 through 16, I'm guessing. Real quick, picking one through 16 now and seeing double digits next to your team has to feel so bad. I know it's not really that different, but he's wrote about this a year ago for us and being picked to finish third or fourth in your division, if you're like picked to finish fourth in the east or something and you get some of that dark horse division buzz as opposed to looking at that order of finish prediction and go, wait a minute, we're being picked to finish 12, 13th, you just, you feel so far away. I don't know, just looking at that. I wonder how that's going to impact the way that athletic directors are talking about coaches and job security. If you're, if you're not even in the top half of this conference coming into the season and like what kind of roster are you putting together? Why are pre-season expectations so low? Is that impacting season ticket sales? Everything that goes into that. I just, I thought that was worth mentioning in this new world of a 16 team SEC in which we're predicting order of finish as opposed to doing this by divisions. Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's, you know, we've hit on it kind of over and over again. It's like if we could use this, yeah, we've tried to use the platform for good and other more impactful ways. But if you could just say, hey guys, like, the goal used to be make the conference championship when your division have a chance to like compete for all this stuff. Everything goes right now. It's like, hey, being that 3rd, 4th, 5th, even 16 in the SEC is going to be good enough for plenty of programs because it's all about to play off. It's all about for surviving another day. Like it's going to take a couple of years to adjust to that to say, okay, well, we might have this super impressive Georgia Texas SDG championship and then Ole Miss with two losses sneaks in, gets a little bit of an easier path, catches someone slipping and then boom, none of that matters. So yeah, I think that it's nuts, all this happening at one time because exactly to your point, it's like, yeah, if you're back in Tucky or Auburn and you're predicted, or let me really like go down here and actually read this idea. Auburn, Kentucky, Florida, you're paying your coach a ton of money, you're getting these transfers, you're like selling the program, you know what I'm saying? It's like, yo, we have a 10 next to our name, like we're going to be close. It's like, yeah, dude, the difference is actually still about a game or two, just depending on, okay, is there an injury, does it all bounce weird? So when we see this stuff play out, it's going to be fascinating, dude, 'cause we could, I mean, in real life, it'll be Team Who's 5th is not that far off and Team Who's 10th and one coach is going to feel like super safe and one's coach is going to feel like, oh my gosh, I'm out of here, I'm 5th, what am I doing? - It's a good point. It's kind of how I feel like you played out with my Mizzou prediction, compared to the media prediction. It's going to sound worse than it actually is, so Mizzou fans don't get my mentions. I have Mizzou finishing 9th, which on the surface looks really bad for a team that could start off in the top 10 of the AP poll, team that should start off in the top 10 of the AP poll, and the media has them finishing 6th, and that's really a difference between going five and three in ICC play versus going four and four. - It's not much. - It really is not. And I get it favorable schedule, but I've talked about this throughout the offseason. Mizzou defense, very skeptical. Very skeptical that Corey Batoon is going to be able to take over that unit and keep them afloat, just in year one. Maybe year two, it's a little bit different, but with the guys that they have returning, just a little bit more of an eyebrow raise there. And so you look at that and you think, "Oh my gosh, you're totally down on Mizzou." It's like, no, you actually, you're talking about the difference between probably going nine and three versus eight and four with the way that standings break down. - Yeah, two, and it's interesting with a team like Mizzou, 'cause it makes a lot of sense, right? The guys that you know, the Brady cooks, the Luther burdens, the boy Whis, they're all still there, right? But then you lose your DC, you lose a lot of your impact players on defense, right? Kind of a little bit of an older defense too. So yeah, it has people scratching their head. And I think that what this turns into, we've already hit on this a little bit, is that schedule reveals are going to become a much bigger deal going forward, right? Because it only used to be a couple of games here and there. Like, oh my gosh, we got to kick off classic. It's Duke instead of Clemson. Oh man, that really matters. Like that's actually going to swing our season that we have an easier team, like, whatever, Virginia Tech. Now it's like, when the schedules come out, exactly, you're in our point, it's like, yo, we could have two eight-win teams, where 180 is stoked if you're Arkansas, and 180 is furious if you're even like an Auburn a couple of years. It's like, no, this really just comes down to who you scheduled at a conference, who you got unlucky with your draw. So I think that every year we're gonna see lots of attempts that, I don't know, can you tamper with SEC schedule? 'Cause I think it's gonna matter if more than more and more as time goes on. - No, I don't think you can actually tamper with that. It's gonna be pretty regulated. It's just gonna be the timing of the way that this breaks down. And I think though, the preseason expectations for a program like Mizzou because we feel like this schedule is so favorable to say that they could only go four and four in conference play, I think Mizzou fans would be very disappointed with that, with what they return on the offensive side of the ball. So it does definitely shape perception, whereas if Mizzou had Florida schedule coming into the year, and if you told them Mizzou fan, hey, you're actually gonna get to eight and four. It's gonna be a four and four season. I see play the bill. Okay, that's not terrible on things considered, but it could be a whole lot worse. Okay, so I had that one and then I have Auburn eighth. The media has Auburn at 10th. Again, that's maybe the difference between one game and then Oklahoma at six. The media has Oklahoma at middle of the pack at eighth. Did you have any big discrepancies with your order finished compared to the media voting? This will shock you. I don't think Alabama is the third best team in the SEC. - Would you ban a fresh shot? - I had them, well, funny enough, I actually have LSU at six and the media had them at fifth. So it's not like I'm a homer. I have Georgia, Texas, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Alabama, LSU. I think Oklahoma is gonna be better than people think. I know there's schedules a little bit hard, but like I said, it's just comes down to continuity. I did lots of talking with the Alder Comm guys and just thinking about like, again, that's what I've said over and over again, it's a conundrum. It's not something I'm falling back on using the excuse. It's the fact of tell me what was wrong with this team last year in a way that does not insult Nick Saban and then tell me how the bore is gonna fix it in a way that makes sense, right? And so I think if it's not some type of a learning curve from the greatest coach of all time, it's much more confusing, it's all the same. - Yeah, I think we've talked about this throughout the offseason. I think it's perfectly fair to say, Alabama's defense will regress. It'd be stunning if that group did not regress. It's just how much. I also in the same breath think it's very fair to say, I think the Alabama offense will be better. I think it's just a question of how much better, how much will that progress? - The offense can't be worse. Like there are a bunch of fun will be night and day different because it burrows for the no-line course they brought in. - If you snap the football correctly, you will be- - Dude, you're talking to the Alder Comm guys, like we joke about that. Like, oh yeah, they couldn't stop the football. They were like, no, dude, they couldn't snap the football. Like that was a big problem. I don't understand how it lasted that long. I'm like, oh, wait, that wasn't like, I thought that was a meme. Like you guys really, that is going to change how you play football. Okay. - Yeah, crazy concept. Last time, last four times rather, that Bama wasn't picked to win the ICC, won the ICC, three of those times made it to a net, or three of those times won a national championship. The only time it didn't win a national championship of those four was this past year, it still got to the playoffs, some of my final. The last time that Bama wasn't picked to win the ICC, and it failed to win the ICC, was 2008. My freshman year of college, before saving one, his first title at Bama. So, yep. - Yeah, I mean, hey, it's up to Texas and Georgia. Two teams that have historically always done big and good spots, so a good done, good and big spots. This is my first mess up so far, well, and it might be something else, but anyway, so, yeah, good, hey, no pressure on you guys, right, to book that trip to 2008. It's, look, LSU missed the last year. It's not our problem. Nobody thinks we're going to win the ICC this year, so Texas, Georgia, it's up to you guys, have fun. - I was wondering if we were going to get more Texas love with the order of finish, if it was going to be closer for Texas to win the ICC. I think that's a relatively popular thing to say in the preseason, because of the schedule, the way that it sets up is super favorable, and it was not, Georgia got 165 first place votes, Texas got 27, Bama 12, Ole Miss four, Vandy two, of course, LSU two, and South Carolina one. The fact that it wasn't closer between Georgia and Texas, man, we have turned such a corner with preseason conversations with Georgia. We truly have, and I don't know that it means that Georgia is just able to rise above all of this, but it is crazy how, once upon a time, that would be considered the kiss of death. I am not talking about it as a kiss of death, and probably because I think Georgia will win the ICC. You'd pick Georgia to win an national championship, but that conversation feels very much like it's on, like it's on the back burner. I do wonder if Texas and Bama had played down to the wire last year, Bama getting more preseason love. Just the fact that that was Saban's worst home loss that he had, the replacing Saban was always gonna shape perception, of course, with Bama being picked to win the SEC, but I just thought that was a little bit surprising. I expected a little bit more, I didn't expect Georgia to run away with it that much as the SEC champ. - So I don't know what these usually look like. - I would like to see like a big 10 version, right, where like 90% of people have a higher state, 'cause I would say this is actually decently like, pretty even just in terms of like, it feels like the first year is hard to separate from, like yeah, Texas and Georgia, but then that next year is actually pretty deep. So it doesn't feel like they're like two that are above everyone. I don't see a huge dip, there's like 300 points, however they do that, but like, you really don't start to get into those two and 300, like differences do you get to like, Texas A&M to Auburn type five. So I actually think it feels pretty wide open when you consider what other conferences are doing. - I don't know, maybe it will be. Maybe this divisionless SEC will create for a much more open race to the SEC championship. All right, let's kick it to our guy, Jordan Rodgers. Great to catch up with him. Lot of conversation about all things quarterbacks, like always a bunch of other things with Jordan. So here it is, Jordan Rodgers. (dramatic music) All right, now excited to be joined by a very special guest. - Is a guy that used to be my second favorite Vandy quarterback? He is now my first favorite quarterback because I thought about it. I'm like, you know, I don't think Jake Utler has provided me the joy that you have number one Vandy quarterback in my power rankings. - Love that. Yeah, I feel like Jay just kind of went off the map. You know, he's more of like, just wants to be off the grid kind of guy now. - And you're very much on the grid. - Yeah. - I feel like you are, you probably have to debate whether or not you want to post a certain amount on social media and stuff, just because when you've got like over a million Instagram followers and like, you know, you get the advertising deals, you probably have to find yourself dialing it back, which I imagine that's just the best problem to have. - I just, honestly, I don't like social media. Greg McElroy told me this a couple of days ago. He quit it. He hasn't been doing it like for the last like months, and I'm sincerely so jealous. But I didn't have to, and I'm very grateful for social media and like aspects of it. But if I didn't have to do it, I would love to not do it. - I saw on social media, your topic, quarterbacks. I have- - How do you feel about that? - I feel good. - I feel like it was too controversial. Like I don't, you know, like, I feel like the first three or four, they're kind of like, you know, those guys in the top, and I feel like the next like five or six, like you go any which way, and I feel like you could justify it. So I don't think I ruffled too many feathers if you're not in Knoxville. - You have wigment at five. You have him higher than anybody that I've seen. I thought I was the biggest Connor Wigman fan because I think I had him at six in my first quarterback rankings, and you had him at fifth. Why do you love Connor Wigman is by the fact that he spells his first name incorrectly. - Oh, valid point, I didn't even think that. I honestly could have put him higher. Like I think I could have justified in my own head at least, putting him ahead of Jalen Milro. Now that would have been a little less on production and what he did last year and more of like a prediction of who he's gonna be this next year, but I kept going back to the tape and I kept going back to the Miami game from last year. And I get it, they lost at 48, 33, whatever it was, but I'm not sure if you take any singular performance from a quarterback last year and you'll see more big time throws, under pressure in one singular game. It was truly uncanny. I started just marking plays that I want to go back and maybe break down at some point. And I get like 15 deep. Like he was under fire that entire game. Back foot would hit the ground. There'd be somebody in his face within a second and a half and he'd be ripping a seam right on the money and tight coverage. So I think he has all the skills and that was kind of the first time, especially in that system under Jimbo, where I was like, wait a minute, they're actually kind of trying to play to his strengths. He's playing in gun. The ball's getting out of his hands quicker. They're moving pre-snap. So it's kind of like, wow, they could have something here. So he's got the skill set. He's got the demeanor and I think now with Colin Klein and what he's gonna be able to do and actually try to make it tough on some defenses before the ball gets snapped. Like I think he's gonna have a massive year and I think he's very, aside from you and me, very under-appreciated and overlooked. - I feel like I'm just in the back pew, just hand up, just, I'm feeling the gospel. I'm feeling it right now because I always point to that Miami game with Wigman as the point that I really became sold on him. I thought he could become that guy and then I thought that just brought out some of these characteristics that you're waiting to see. And if you tell me that A&M is actually gonna run pre-snap motion and move guys around the, are they gonna run hurry up offense as well? That's gonna be a full-time thing and not a battle. Like, are you telling me that's gonna be the case? - I didn't know that was allowed in college station. It hasn't been unless Bama's been there for the last five years. So the only time they seemingly cared about doing anything that would create an advantage before the snap. But to that point too, even everyone goes back the whole way through two interceptions. People that just statchace in that game, the first interception, the dude fell down. It was actually a freaking dime that would have been right in between three defenders on a dig route. The guy falls down, hits the safety that's five yards behind him. And then the second interception was last play of the game, just throwing a jump ball. Those mean nothing. Like, he didn't make any mistakes that game and their defense couldn't stop a nosebleed. So they were in a shootout in a wet game that they just couldn't keep up with. But he's got such a quick release and that game really opened up my eyes to like, how accurate he was and how much he anticipated. 'Cause I hadn't really seen that. Like, you knew we had a good arm. You knew he was mobile enough to make some plays. You knew he could run the RPO a little bit, but his anticipation, especially over the middle of the field, when guys were in tight coverage, that to me, I was like, okay, this is, you add that to physical traits. Now you get somebody that can be special. - If he can stay healthy, I do think he has all SEC type ups. What about A&M as a whole? Do you believe that A&M should be in that 12 team playoff conversation? You're one of the Mike Elko era, because of the fact that they have all their big games at home, or do you still look at this team and say, nah, they're like probably gonna be two, three years away. - No, I think they can be in that conversation. I really do, I think they're, they still have, like, you'd love to have Eman Stewart, no doubt, but they still have a lot of talent on that side of the football. Ruben Owens, I think, is a guy that's gonna have a breakout year. I think Moose Muhammad's a guy that has been just on the back burner, and I think there was some politics going on. - Very much. - So he's a really good player for your third wide receiver in that group. So I think they have a ton of talent, and I think Elko is a guy that has proven that he can turn things around quickly. And especially on the defensive side of the ball, I don't worry about that at all, but especially with this injection of Colin Klein. And the thing that impressed me about Colin when you go back and watch Kay State, is the core concepts are always there, but game to game, he did a really good job of adjusting their scheme, which, again, is a foreign thing to me thinking about A&M. So I'm just like, whoa, okay, you got somebody that can do that, and you have the talent that A&M has always had. Like, that's a recipe to not gonna run the table, but they could go nine and three, ten and two, with a couple big wins and a good strength to schedule, and they could be in that conversation. The guy that you are probably gonna get the most heat about for that graphic, if you read the comments, which you should read all of the comments. That's just the way to do it. I like reading comments. Honestly, it's fun. And it says, you know this well. It's something that I think that has been a maturation process in just me being on TV, and in this world is that, like, I love fans that get heated about shit, because that's what makes college football fun. Like, if everybody just agreed, I didn't want to talk shit, it wouldn't be very fun. So, are you talking about Tennessee? Of course I'm talking about Tennessee. Why do you hate Nico Iamalayava? We have to pronounce the last name every single time. We have to say it with our chest, but did you just not want to have Nico on that graphic, because you thought, "I don't want to butcher the spelling of his last name in this email that I'm going to send to somebody in the social department?" Remember now, I'm a Tennessee hater and have been forever, according to X. How quickly they forget that I, now looking back and regrettably so, ranked Milton, like, in my top three or... I hated that and gave you so much crap for it. You know, but, you know, you win some, you lose some, lost that one. Okay, admitting it. But they quickly forget that I was real on... They loved me last year. They hate me this year. You know, Nico was interesting. I kind of lumped Nico and Jackson Arnold together, because I think they're very similar. They are uber talented. And I think Nico is going to have a massive year. Go back and watch that Iowa game. Like, the thing that stood out, two things. He reminds me of Hennen Hooker in the way that he moves through the pocket. He's so fundamentally sound. His feet travel with his eyes everywhere he goes. So in that game, he was so accurate to the perimeter, because he's just so fundamentally sound. And in those plays, I think a little bit even more so better than Hennen Hooker was able to, is to really be dynamic with his feet. Hennen could get up through the pocket and hurt you. Nico can escape around the side and beat you with speed and run away from you. That's what's going to make him special. The reservation I had was just attacking the middle of the field. And that's what Tennessee couldn't do last year. That's the most important thing in this offense. I know running the football is important. Push the ball vertical. But the reason they spread you out is to create space in the middle. And Milton couldn't hit the broad side of a barn on a slant route. And there was two or three throws a game that if he just puts it here, instead of here, it's a 60 yard touchdown as opposed to an 8 yard gain or an incompletion. And if Nico can do that, sky's the limit. And he's going to be a guy that can be in that top five conversation. I just wasn't ready to put him ahead of a Garrett Nussmeyer, who came into an SEC championship game against Georgia and threw for 295 yards. And yeah, made some mistakes, but has played in big moments, including this last bowl game. I just wasn't ready to put him ahead just based on solely projection and playing Iowa and using his feet well and being a good passer. Like he's going to be great. But obviously I hate him until I rank him number three or number two. Are you skeptical of Jalen Milro and this Kalen to bore offense? Very. And I don't know, that didn't mean any shade with that. I just have reservations about the fit, right? And that's kind of where I was thinking I maybe could put Connor a little higher. You know, Milro is no doubt the worst nightmare to match up to game plan against. But when you watch Washington's film, the thing that stands out, aside from Pennix just being an alien, I mean, his arm is unbelievable. Like he's ridiculous. But how much he played on time and in rhythm. So yes, he makes those deep throws. Yes, he gets the bottom of his hand quick. But the intermediate stuff, it's one hitch balls out. It's back foot hits the ground, balls out. Like the glance routes, the dig routes, the deeper slants. Milro holds on to the ball too long. And that's just that's a fact held onto it. Third longest in the entire FBS. Some of that's great because he holds on to it can run around and make a play. Love it. But he's going to have to be able to play on time more frequently in this offense. And that's just something I haven't seen out of his game yet. And I just not that he can't do it. But in this offense, you got to do it consistently because Dvor is going to ask a lot from you to keep those sticks moving through the air, not just with your feet. So that's when I go, let's wait and see. Counterpoint, if you played quarterback, obviously, I remember, you probably are at a disadvantage if you don't have a center that can snap a football. What if Jana Milro simply has a center who snaps the football and he's the same exact player? Can I just tell you one of my biggest TV regrets? So we're at the Rose Bowl. And before these shows, we make these cut-ups. And usually I make three or four cut-ups and we use two, right? I mean, we use our best. The show gets heavy and you end up scrapping a few. I literally had made a cut-up of a bunch of snaps at Milro's knees and how his eyes were taken away from the defense. And I wanted to talk about how detrimental and it may seem like a small thing to the average fan, but how much of a nightmare it is for a quarterback. You know how hard it is to play the position, let alone now when you're doing this. And the linebacker was at five yards and now when you look up for the second time, now he's over there at nine yards and it speeds everything up. So actually, I completely agree with you that if he's getting regular snaps, he's going to be much more consistent at being faster decision-maker. And that was a much bigger issue than I think anybody thought it was last year. So I wish I would have ran that before the Rose Bowl because it ended up being one of the biggest plays down there at the end when he gets snapped at his ankles once again. If you were a quarterback in this league currently, let's just say that a north of 30 years old Jordan Rodgers got a chance to sling the old pigskin a little bit. And if you could pick one SEC wide receiver to be able to throw to, who would be your guy? I think it'd be Trey Harris for me. Oh, not Luther Burden. I was going between those two and I'll tell you why. I only say this because he reminds me more of a Jordan Matthews because I'm very humble right here. I didn't have the strongest arm. I wasn't the most accurate. So, but I'll take some chances. And if I got a guy that can get up here and get one, if it's a little behind or whatever it is, I just, I love J Matt when I played with him because no matter where that ball was, he was going to go get it. And I trusted him and he trusted me. So it looked covered sometimes. I'm like, he's down there. I'm going to put it on him. Trey and Jackson have that kind of relationship. So Luther is unreal. And I think what's most impressive is how Kirby Moore moves him around. Everyone in the world knows where they're going with the football. And somehow they still get it to him. So it's tough to say, I don't want to throw to Luther. I'd love to throw Luther, but I love the bigger body type. They can just go up and snag it. The Ole Miss playoff buzz. Where are you at with that? Where are you at with this being a year for the ages, the type of season that Ole Miss fans have been waiting for? Basically post freeze era. I'm driving the bus. I'm telling everybody to hop on. I think I'm very bullish on not just Jackson Dart, not just this offense. But the last two years talking to Pete Golding, the thing that he kept telling us was, I just don't have the size and length I need at certain positions to run the scheme that we need to be at. And now not that they haven't been running his scheme. They're just not all the way there. When I was at the spring event, it wasn't a game this year. He's like, look, we finally have the bodies, the length I need on the back ends, on the outside to like do this thing the right way. And I think that's what's scary about this team, is that the additions that they added, that gives them, now they're dynamic at the D line. They're dynamic on the back end. I think Trey Amos is one of the biggest gets they got on the back end. That's what's scary because I think the offense is, offense is going to be better or as good. Even if they're as good. If the defense is a little better, those Alabama games maybe end up a little bit different. Those games that they came up short maybe go their way and they're going to make a deep run because of the size they have at offensive line and the skill they have at defensive line now, I think. So what's driving the bus? Is that winning a playoff game? Is that getting to the round of four? Like, let's get you on record with an official prediction. I love that and I hadn't thought it through all the way, but they're going to get to the round of four. What would that mean? I mean, they win two playoff or one maybe to depend on where they're at, right? No, I think they make a deep run into the playoffs, no doubt. And I would, I'd hammer that right now. Eleven and one in the regular season for Ole Miss with the loss to Georgia. Yeah, I'm trying to think on top of my head, what's their other day? I have LSU, I had LSU. I think they're going to be better in LSU. I think LSU is going to be better than people think, too. I think LSU is going to be really good. But yeah, I can see, I can see eleven and one, absolutely. But that Georgia game I think is going to be different as well, just because the bodies they have. I mean, that was the one game last year they really got pushed around. I don't think they're going to get pushed around. I'd still lean towards Georgia sitting right here, but I think Ole Miss makes a deep playoff run. You were there for Texas getting introduced in the SEC. You got to see what this spectacle was, pit bull in the house. Who got more love, you were pit bull. Pit bull, are you kidding me? There was one point in the end of that show where it looks great on Instagram when you're showing the crowd, but all their backs are turned and they're facing pit bull. They're not looking at our stage. Looked like it did from afar. But no, it's, you know what, I love Austin. We spent a lot of time in Austin, had friends in Austin. So I'm excited about, and I've never been to Norman, so I'm really excited about getting there, too. But I think just the tradition, the passion fits right away, and the teams are going to have success right away, despite what we think. So I'm excited about it. Does JoJo root for Texas? No, so her brother went to A&M. She went to Baylor. So she didn't really root for, she roots for the Cowboys. That's about it. She's not really a college football girl. She likes to come and tailgate and have some fun, but she doesn't really have a dog in the race. Are you guys caught up on DCC? Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders on Netflix? No, no, we're more on the Love Island right now. We go through Love Island UK and they're on the Love Island USA, you know, we're just reality TV junkies. I can't imagine you being a reality TV junk. I've never heard of you being associated with anything related to reality TV. I just love it because I'm like, I cannot believe I can did something like this. Like, what was that 27-year-old thing? I'm very grateful, obviously, for a number of reasons. But just like, that kid was an idiot. Somehow it all worked out. I actually think your edit was pretty good. The only thing that was bad about your entire season was your hair. I just cut the hair. Like, since you've totally done the 180, you've been able to cut the hair and recognize, if you would come to ESPN, SCC Network with hair like that, they would have said first date, Jordan. They did. We got... They did. So here's a great behind-the-scenes story. So my second really audition after, because I had the offer and they wanted me to come in and then I told them I was doing the show and they're like, okay, we're going to wait in case you go look like a jerk or something else. And so when I came back to Charlotte, I literally flew from Thailand from the finale. I've heard this story, but please tell it for me. I was tanned up and my suits, though, got lost. So I had a jacket and a t-shirt and my hair, if I would have pulled it down, it was probably down to here. This short on the sides, but I hadn't had a haircut in a while because we were overseas and I just, you know, I didn't want anybody really messing it up. And I remember at my first meeting with Stephanie Julie. And she like, literally the first thing she said is, this is how you normally wear it? And I was kind of like, yeah, I mean, it may be a little trim. She's like, it's tall. And that was it. And I was like, got it. I'm vibing. I'm going to cut it. Still didn't cut it quite enough, quick enough, but we got there eventually. We're going to be in year eight of you guys. Yeah, it's going to be year eight. You guys have been doing this since 2017, you, Cole and Tom, the great trio. Is anything new come into the fold this year? Is there anything that we can tease that's going to be part of this? Because you guys are, nobody's been doing this as a trio in college football longer than you guys have. And I feel like you got to add something, some sort of new element to it this year, not just like eating a turkey leg at the State Fair, whatever that was, that sausage, where you totally didn't become a meme or anything like that. But like, we got to add a new element. It's just used as some accountant in Japan too, by the way. Unfortunately, in the changing landscape of college football and budgets, I think it's getting harder to do really entertaining things. Unfortunately, one thing I'm actually excited about kind of providing insight and getting more insight from coaches on a week to week basis is the in-helmet communication. Because I think the aspect that people aren't realizing is they think, okay, they're going to be able to go faster, less signals. Yeah, and then Ole Miss is going to put on the brakes once you show them the defense and Lane's going to go, hey, they're in cover two right here. Let's change this. And he's going to tell, like, when you have a young quarterback now and you can talk to them, when you go tempo and get the line of scrimmage, you got 10 or 15 seconds to say, okay, you're going to throw to this guy or this guy. They're in this coverage, like, that's going to be fascinating to kind of see how that evolves and what teams are using it and what way we're not going to be able to show maybe a ton of that. But I think just giving some of that insight, I think, is interesting and unique. Could they give you that in-helmet feed? Well, we do that on, like, like, XFL, UFL stuff. The SEC is at the forefront. I think we're going to get to something like that, eventually, probably not the play call aspect of it. I will say, when I was in Tampa with Orlowski and Glennon, I was the third string guy. So at one point, I was playing receiver and defense during the week, but I had the in-helmet communication. So I'm playing the dime safety. My roommate, Mike Glennon, is the starting quarterback. The first offense is out there. And I hear the play call. I picked it off on one of them and I got my ass ripped. Because one of the coaches, like, oh, you think, yeah, you think you're smart? Like, you think we don't know you know the play? Like, what are you doing? I'm like, my bad. Yeah, sorry. You're a third string quarterback playing safety. What the hell they want you to do? I'm picking my boy off because I can hear that. I know exactly where he's throwing him because I heard the play. All right, let's get you out of here with one more. I'll let you pick. Either I'm not going to ask you to predict the next winner of the bachelor bachelor. We're not doing that. The winner of the national championship or the Heisman Trophy, you can pick. I'm going to go dart win in the Heisman Trophy. I think that tells me that I think they're going to, I already told you they're going to make a deep run. I don't think Georgia wins the national championship this year. I think they're, I think their road during the season is tough. I think they slip up somewhere. They're going to be in the conversation for sure. National championship, I think, is really up in the air. I'm not ready to put my name on one team or the other, but I think Jackson wins the Heisman. Carson, I think, is still the best quarterback in the country, but they don't need him to go out and throw for 320 every game. Jackson, I think, is going to need to and be able to throw for 320, 330 every game. Put up Gody numbers and based on their schedule and kind of what we talked about, I think they're sitting at 11 and 1 and making a playoff run. Like he's going to be right in it. The lane cockiness, if that happens, we think we've seen it. It's going to be on another level. Just the subtle, just the subtle cockiness is what I love about it. Because that'd probably be the same way. I don't blame you. Jordan, this has been great. Appreciate it as always, man. Thank you. Later of the week, will you mind if I start? Go ahead, man. Mine's lame. I'm fully admitting that. I'm going with the last of the week. I'm going with Lauren. Deserved. Yeah, last week, she was a solo parent with me at Media Days. This week, she is a solo parent just for the first part of the week. Just try not to get Claire sick. That's the biggest thing. Just don't want her to be able to, you know, if she's at home throughout the week while Lauren's trying to work and Claire's sick and not able to go to daycare, that would be very, very bad newsbearers. So yeah, we're basically just trying to do that at this point. But I feel incredibly bad. I feel incredibly bad from a guilt perspective. But in sickness and in health, I guess that's what they say. Lauren is, I think, building up enough equity to be able to go on a two-week European vacation. The solo parenting at this point. But yeah, I just, I feel bad the fact that I just got back from this trip. It's like, hey, you want to do some more solo parenting? Look forward to it tonight. I knew it was bad when I was waking up shivering in my own bed. Does not happen ever to me, so yeah, we're powering through. And Lauren, unfortunately, has to bear the brunt of that. By, you know, doing a lot of the heavy lifting. So a very worthy last of the week, really for two weeks here. Yeah, man. I mean, she's the unsung or the sung hero of the podcast, you know, doing all the work that she does throughout the year. And obviously during the season gets a little bit lighter. And you guys are kind of going through the new parent meet grinder too. So it's definitely set an example for good listeners out there. Yeah, that's, I mean, I wouldn't feel sorry about it because you can control it. You know what I'm saying? Like it would be one thing if you were skateboarding, you know, or doing the old, like some of the stuff here about the NBA guys or whatever getting hurt in the off season. But yeah, just hope you feel better, man. The challenge is that I was in Chicago for four days for my cousin's funeral as well. I was in Fort Myers for two days for the first part of that funeral. It's like you kind of, you start to like add up the days that she's been doing that. It's not, it's not like I've just, you know, I'm not like going on a boy's trip or anything like that. But it's, I feel that gills because I haven't been put in those spots to be a solo parent for like more than a day. So yeah, it's just, it's gill. People will know what I'm talking about. Yeah, for sure, man. Yeah, so quick change of direction. You just wanted to shout out. I said it'd have kind of a better, a lot of the week after we got done with media days. Here's some guys that just specifically like stuck out to me. It's just cool guys, guys that represented their programs. Well, right, not that I, I didn't get talked to everybody, especially on the last day. But so I'm not saying there's anything wrong or anything, but the guys that really stuck out to me. First off, got really impressed me was a grand merch. I think he was really cool. He was really real about this situation we've seen. You know, quarterbacks kind of be chippy or give you non answers. He was pretty nuanced as far as, you know, he went through, but when we joked about some of the things that Billy said about gaining weight, good weight, bad weight, he actually would explain that. He didn't give non answers. Like he actually showed me a lot from a leadership perspective. I think the grand merch is, is the kind of leader you would hope to have in your team. And we'll see how much helps Florida. I think it knows exactly what I thought he was super cool, super sweet. He looks at you with a big smile, you know, if you were to ask him a question or ask him whatever, he doesn't get at all confrontational. He gives really thoughtful answers. He has so much that he's been through as a player, you know, being turned into a DB or whatever by Bill O'Brien. Like he just, he's been everywhere and he has zero like resentment. He approaches everybody like they're a new person that he could make a good impact on. So really, really quality. Young man, I love getting older, he didn't ask me, it was awesome. Same deal there, he was just like, you know, leader of the program guy who sat down. My favorite guy that I saw, and maybe not, you know, your favorite guy necessarily, because you talked a lot more people, but I think Taylor Greene was awesome. I think Taylor Greene was my favorite guy. I think you got some really good stuff out of him talking about Patrino and all that. You kind of speak on that, but he was so pragmatic, so cool. Didn't come up with, you know, the big gold chain or anything. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but he kind of had a very like business like workman mentality. He was very real about coming in talking to Patrino, the stuff they have left to do with Arkansas. He was, but he wasn't cookie cutter. He wasn't just trying to get out of there. Like he really, and like I said, I'll let you kind of take up from there, because you have super great question. I think you give me a great answer about that. Yeah, basically it was, I didn't realize that that Patrino was his first offer coming out of high school. His first offer at Missouri State. So he's known Patrino for a while, but the, the, the relationship between those two is very evident. And you hear the way that the green talks about him and how everybody, when, when Patrino comes into the room, it's still the fear of God. All of those guys, Andrew Armstrong talked about this as well. They still like, they, they motioned the, oh, sit up straight. That's, that's a big deal. Luke has talked about that as well, but it's, it kind of goes beyond that. And he had to play the first scrimmage that they, that they had. And mind you, Taylor Greene won that job so early in spring camp that it wasn't even close. I mean, it was very obvious that they handpicked him in the portal. That was Patrino's guy. They made it a priority. And they said, this is the guy that we're going to get. So it wasn't necessarily surprise, but still spring scrimmage, he gets out there. He throws across his body and he knows that when he goes back to the sideline, he's going to hear from old Robert Patrick. And sure enough, you hear from Robert Patrick and then you move on. But those two have a very interesting dynamic because I think it's, if it's not known within that building of what's at stake this year, I think it is at least known externally about how important it is for them to be able to bounce back, to be able to extend the same pitman era, what it's going to look like for Patrino, what it's going to look like for Greene, a guy that has shown promise throughout his career. And I'm fascinated if he's going to be one of those guys that rises up these quarterback rankings that we do starting off as maybe somewhere between 12 and 14 or something like that. And if he's a guy that by season's end, we're saying to ourselves, man, tailing Greene is must see TV. And he and Patrino are absolutely worth watching. So yeah, it just seems to be very receptive to Bobby Patrino. And I don't think everybody would be, you know what I mean? Like, I don't think that there are, especially this day and age, we talk about how Patrino is a little bit of a throwback. I don't think he's quite as fiery as he once was. I didn't get that vibe from him, at least from players talking about him. But it's very evident that there is still this, um, this aura that's what the kids are calling it these days, this aura that that Bobby Patrino has. And it was going to be the difference in Arkansas having a bounce back season. Yeah, I think this story has definitely gone underrated. You know, in tailing Greene a guy that's already won 10 games as a starter at Boise State. It's one of the situations where you know, have the drop of the entire year, but he was the main quarterback they had. And so it's so interesting. Like we'll see guys be like the guy in their conference or on their team. And they're used to winning. And they go to a situation where they got to kind of, you know, tighten up the belt, put on the big boy clothes and not, you know, flex on people. And I think that Greene was super humble. He was super cool. He's six feet six. He's like, why are we guy? He said he comes from a basketball background. He's playing basketball, he's playing basketball. So really underratedly interesting guy in the SEC guy that like I really hope well for him. Him and that Bobby Patrino offense, no matter what is going to be great. Because like in terms of it's going to be entertaining, right? It's going to be entertaining. Because either it's going to be amazing and it's going to work great. Or goes the Bobby Patrino on the sideline. And Taylor Greene has already seen enough of that. And they've kind of got out a little bit back and forth to these cool humble guy. And you got to be, you got to be cool humble guy to work with Bobby Patrino. Same thing that we asked for last year. We need better camera angles on Robert Patrick. We need to make sure that that man is seen at all times. None of this always kind of in the shadows. And you can't really get a good shot of him in the booth. No, no, no, no. That was the biggest disappointment from last year is that the shots of Bobby Patrino, I mean, you could have told me that was anybody. And I would have not been able to, you know, differentiate between coaches. So yeah, we need all the Bobby Patrino camera angles, humanly possible, especially Italian green. Well, you know what, either way, either way, because even a happy Bobby Patrino would be fun. His smiling would be even better television. I don't know if I've seen that before. Yeah, does he have teeth? We know. Does Bobby Patrino have teeth? We sure. Yeah, good. Yeah, good question. Not sure. But yeah, that's going to do it. We're going to probably have, I'm guessing there will be something media days related that we'll still probably be discussing. Just things that maybe we didn't necessarily hit on yet. But with our later in the week pod. So that is the current plan to be able to record TBD on our COVID symptoms. I say we because you're negative as of this moment. But I was right now confirmed, yeah, but my home COVID tests. So we'll see. We'll kind of do a time lapse. Yeah, well, that's the cool thing Thursday. It's like coaches don't like to talk about injuries. We're questionable, you know, we'll see. Over under 50 games of college football 25 that you'll play. Oh my gosh, man, I finally got that game figured out that AI is cheating. But we knew that boys were doing great. We finally had a groove. So I'm excited. Are you LSU right now? Right now I am. I thought I was going to be, I thought I was going to be, you know, Mr. arrogant. I started a dynasty with South Carolina. I got absolutely blitzed by Notre Dame and it was like, hold on. I'm not good enough to do this in the highest difficulty. My D line, my old line is getting eaten for lunch. I can't get the snap off. I just need to get some recruits and start off somewhere I understand. So yeah, based on Taylor Heisman. Build the program. Build it up, man. It's the only way to do it. All right, leave us a five star review. Subscribe to our YouTube channel where you can watch every episode of it started on South podcast. Follow us on Twitter at the SDS pod at set down south at teacher here at coastal hard. Thanks guys. Talk soon.
It's a post-Media Days pod with a fitting subject — All-SEC gripes. The guys dig into their biggest All-SEC issues (2:00). SEC Network/ESPN analyst Jordan Rodgers joined the show from Media Days to discuss why he's a big Conner Weigman guy, his Jalen Milroe skepticism, predicting a deep Ole Miss run and more (44:00). The guys close with Lad of the Week (1:04:00).
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