In a new episode of Project NIL with Anthony Gargano & William Penn Charter School Director of Athletics Danny DiBerardinis discuss the decline of rivalry games in high school sports across the country + Nebraska AD Assistant Sean Padden stops by to discuss what it took for the Dylan Riola NIL deal to be done & MORE!
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You don't listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Oh, good morning, good morning, good morning, Happy Thanksgiving, everybody,
hope your turkey, Dave's great, good weekend, family food, football,
the greatest of the greats, goodwill.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
This is project in iol and Uh.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
He is Danny d Dad, Anthony the sports dad, one
of the fellas that's coming your way.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Uh in an hour.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Now we look at the lens of high school youth
and of course college sports and the nil prism.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
This is a weekend of football, so a heavy football
theme for you. Is Sean Patten, who was the GM
at Nebraska. He's now a special assistant to the athletic director.
Will join us to talk about recruiting and all the
coaching moves. Good morning, Danny D. What's going on? Because
how are we doing over there?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Brother? Happy Thanksgiving?
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Happy Thanksgiving? Brother. It was a good It was a
good one for me. How about you and the family?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Same here, buddy, same here. We have our own little
turkey day right in South Philly. We were all together.
We had about Uh. It's my friends and all the
kids and everybody. There's probably twenty something of us love it. Yeah,
and we all do a turkey ball. So a lot
of fun. Yeah, it was, it was. It was good times.
(01:31):
A lot of great football that was on, although not
the Eagles yesterday.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
That's our yesterday. I was. I was loving the football,
all the action all Thursday yesterday, and the Eagles just
ruined it for me. But we'll move on.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was good, good stuff last night
in Texas and arch Arch right. I'm happy for man
I mean, look, where are that where that name on
your back?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Is really hard? Right?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
You know he got a huge nil, ye know. In fact,
you know I had read his nil total. The valuation
was six point eight million, and because he had struggled
early on, it dipped at three point six million.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Yeah, it's crazy, and we touched on that a little
bit last week. But it's it's a wild world and
a lot of it is marketability, right, how how well
you can market yourself and your name right, which he
has that Manning name. But the other side of it
is you have to perform right, So to cut it
in half, it is difficult, especially for a kid that's
twenty years old, you know. But he's gonna be fine.
(02:40):
He's still gonna be I think he's gonna figure it out.
I'm a huge fan. I think you know, they're gonna
he's gonna continue to get better, and if he sticks
around another year, I think it'll be great for him.
I love to see him again in college football and
hopefully he stays hot and they going a little run here.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, it's good for the game.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You know what's funny we were talking about last night
and there is a report that if he came out,
he would still be the number one pick, and you know,
you know he's not ready obviously, and you know, I
mean between his family that, I mean, they know it's
right for him. I would be shocked if he came out.
He needs another year at least in college football to
(03:20):
hone himself.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
But it is great to see, you know, the progress.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
And he saw it last night on a big stage
against a great defense and then you know, a stark
rivalry with Texas A and M and he had a
huge second half. He's down ten six and a half time,
the offense is languishing and he comes down and he
leads him too.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Two touchdown drives.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Looks great early, right, and then it continues it and
it seals it with the big run.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Yeah, I mean, he could do it all hits his legs,
and I agree with you. I think he definitely stays
just for the fact that he was so patient. He
didn't run when ND start. These kids these days, they
need that instant gratification. He's sat for two years, you know,
he wasn't in a rush to play, So I think,
you know, if they have a lot of great people
around him, obviously in the family, and they understand the game,
(04:12):
so I think they'll really look at it. And I
think he probably comes back to play college football again,
probably at Texas, but who knows. And I'm sure there'll
be a bag of money for nil his way if
he decides to come back for another year.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, man, and why not get why not make a
great and great living and continue to hone your skills
at a great place like Texas? All right, So let's
just get dive in a little bit with Thanksgiving and
football and the professionalization of high school sports. We see
(04:45):
it really with high school football, basketball too, but especially football.
And because of that, the landscape's changing. Man, Like the
Alba Mater on Thanksgiving Day doesn't exist in a lot
of pla places anymore.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Yeah, the rivalry game is going away, and they touched
on this a little bit on NPR this week. I
was listening and it was it was really big and
close to us and in southeastern Pennsylvania, huge rivalry games
that go back one hundred and twenty years. And I
saw a stat in the paper that said in two
thousand and five there was thirty eight games locally to
(05:22):
us in southeastern Pennsylvania. It's down to ten. Wow, in
twenty years, from thirty eight to ten Thanksgiving Day football games.
I saw stats that said in the thirties there was
one hundreds of thousands of people went to it. There
was more people that went to you know, Thanksgivin Day
games and rivalry games and NFL games. Right now a
(05:43):
lot plays into that, right, TV, the accessibility to be
able to watch it, obviously that changed a lot, right,
the state playoff structure, right, high school football structure, that
changed a lot.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Right.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
So there's there's money factors in it, but now even
more so with this new era of sports, it's continuing
to die. And it was a huge part of what
you know America early early on in the nineteen hundreds,
and you know, these rivalries are one hundred and twenty
one hundred and thirty years old. They're dying and it's uh,
you know, they're even the ones that are still alive,
(06:15):
they're getting you know, a couple hundred people that used
to have a minimum of ten thousand, right, So it's
a sad it's a sad day because you love that robbery.
You love to see those teams kind of meet and
those fan bases come together. But it's something that you know,
it's part of this new world and it's a dying
it's a dying thing, which is to me a little sad.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Well a lot said in that sense.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I mean, I wonder if there's a way where, you know,
you could satisfy both the history and the new landscape.
It's just I guess it's just hard because of the
playoff and the calendar.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yeah, so a lot of these state playoffs have gone longer.
A lot of them used to end around Thanksgiving, so
they still had these games.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Now.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
I can only talk to the state associations close to
us that I know a lot about. Even you know,
in California they had their state playoffs this weekend. They're
big games, you know, that's the big football state right now,
and there was a lot of games going on last night,
some going on today. So when the playoffs go past Thanksgiving,
it makes it difficult for these teams to commit, right.
(07:20):
So your dream is at the beginning of the season
is to play first a championship, right, So you're not
really thinking about this game if there's still games to
be played afterwards hypothetically, right. So it makes it a
little difficult to keep these games going with the length
of these state playoffs and how long these seasons are going.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
So what can be done? I mean anything? Now, here's
the thing.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
You're at a school, so you know this is obviously
project nil and you're a real ad. Dammy, the Bernard
Demons is a real a d Was that Saint Joe's Prep?
You help build a national powerhouse of a football team.
You just left to go to Penn Charter, which is
(08:05):
one of the oldest high schools in the country. So
did that affect you, guys? So for Penn Charter, they
have a tradition.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
It's the only oldest rivalry in the country, one hundred
and thirty nine years of a continuous game of football
games and other sports. So they're a part of it.
They just the way their season ends. They end two
weeks before Thanksgiving, so they still play this rivalry game
against Germantown Academy again one hundred and thirty nine years.
It's something so special today is awesome. It's filled with
(08:35):
so much tradition and thousands of people do come out.
So this was kind of their version of the Thanksgiving game.
They never played it on Thanksgiving, but there's they're not
a part of a state association that has football available
to it, so the scheduling doesn't really put in a
factor to them and they're able to play this game still.
If you were a part when I was at Saint
(08:56):
Joe's Prep, if you're a part of PIBA, which is
the state in Pennsylvania, the state championship is the first
week in December, so every year, if you're hoping to
play in it, you can't be a part of these
rivalry games on Thanksgiving. So at the prep, they were
in the state playoffs for ten years straight, so they
used to be a part of a Thanksgiving Day game,
(09:16):
but that ended when they started to join the state
Association back in twenty eleven.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
So I guess you know you're basically stuck right like
you know, I mean, you got to make a choice
as to where you want to be. And especially we
touched on the powerhouses, right, like these big national powerhouses.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
You know, those rivalries are done.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
It becomes almost the national you know, we've grown into
this big spotlight, right, like the league it's so big
and national and you know the NFL and big time
college and that big time high school where it's you're like,
you played the national schedule.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Yeah, and you're gonna find these games. You're still going
to have these rivalry games. You're just going to be
earlier in the season, right, You're not you're unable to
play them at the height of the season, which is
in late November, right, which everyone used to you know,
arn for and hope that they could come together and
play this big game at the end of the season.
So there is still these games, right, They still do exist.
There's still rivalry games. They just have to happen a
(10:25):
lot earlier in the season. And that's you know, how
the sports evolved, How these playoffs have you know, moved along,
and how people want to continue to play football late
in the December for a high school season, which is
wasn't the norm years ago, right, So that's something that's
changed and it's hurtin these rivalry games, which is a
little sad, But at the end of the day, you know,
(10:46):
you want these kids to to really strive for something great,
and inf state championship is something that you know is
part of that list. I want them to go get it.
So it's it's a little give and take on it.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, now listen, it's the evolution of everything, right, so
you mentioned it. You know when you're talking about the
nineteen hundreds and the nineteen you know, thirties and forties,
you have these towns and there was no you know,
there was no NFL. That that was all the docket
from the day, right, Like everyone was did their thing
(11:22):
before they went home, they have their turkey, would go
out to their local high school, right, and they would
congregate and it would be kind of the center of
the town wherever you lift, and everybody would congregate to
watch the game, and you would you know, I can
imagine that the crowds would be huge.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
They were saying it was bigger than any professional sporting event.
And up until like the sixties, where these thanks living,
they had games where people, you know, they just came out.
They had so much pride and where they went. You know,
there wasn't as many you know, private schools that had
open enrollment, so it was like really a very community
based this is where I lived, where I go to school.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
You know.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
So as school's evolved as this high school landscape where
kids can travel to go to different schools and you know,
play go to a different state to go to school. Right,
these are all things that have happened as you know,
everything in sports has evolved. So it's a lot of
different factors that play into it. But at the end
(12:22):
of the day, it was something really cool and then
you know, we just want to put some light on
it that it was something that was huge in the
country and now it's something that's kind of dying out.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Yeah, that's wow.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
But you know, I mean listen, if you woke up today, right,
if you got transported in time from back then to today,
college football was was huge back then, right like it was,
you know, college football was bigger than the NFL up
you know, through the seventies. Really, I mean, you know,
the NFL didn't become king probably until the late eighties
(12:56):
early nineties where when it overtook baseball, but college football
was was huge, was it was a monster. And if
you told those people that, you know, you would get
these big contracts and kids would be moving from school
to school and coaches would be moving for you know packages,
(13:17):
you know, for a hundred million dollars, they would be aghast.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
It's crazy and it's you know, I'm happy for the
coaches too. You know, a lot, there's a lot going
to come out today with Lane Kiffin, right, he said
this future will be announced today. There's a lot of
these reports and as the players contracts are going more.
I mean, Lane Kiffin's gonna get a hundred million dollars
to coach college football without a doubt wherever he shoes.
If he decides to stay at Old miss Oh yeah,
he has to go to LSU.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
But I mean that was you want to back up
the truck. Florida is going to.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
Back up the breaks trucks backing up brother, So yeah,
thanks for him. They're backing up on them. Yeah, it's
you know this nil error. It's it's vital for the coaches.
I think it's more vital than ever before with job security.
And you know, coaches might be out quicker than normal,
(14:08):
But on the flip side, they're gonna get a lot
of money when they do well, you know. And Lane
Kiffin has had a bit of a roller coaster career
in coaching, and he really turned old missing New a
perennial powerhouse. And now he has a lot of options,
and we'll see today where he ends up. I'm very
curious to see it.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
It's wild.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I mean, his his career path is wild from you know,
from the Raiders. They like think about that, like it
feels like in another lifetime that he was the coach
of the Raiders.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
I mean, why till he wasn't right then he wasn't
the guy. He had to start over, had to go
to Florida, Atlantic, had to kind of reset when he
was down.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Of course, they all go to they all want they
all went to Uncle Nick to themselves.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
Had to get him right. So Uncle Nick down in
Alabama and then you know, went from there. But he
was the golden boy then he wasn't. Now he's back
and I'm happy to see him. He seems like a
great guy. Got to meet him once or twice through
his recruiting trips when he was in Philadelphia. So I'm
anxious to see where do you where do you think
he ends up. I'm sure curious to hear. Yeah, you
(15:14):
think it's it.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I think I think he's bat Tom Rouge. I think
they back up the truck and let's go. Uh.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
I think you tigers this, I do. I believe it's governor.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Uh again, these these state schools, the governors are hugely involved.
It's a political football to no end. In fact, you know,
because I've been, I've been filling you in. But I'm
you know, writing a TV show about this whole world.
And in the world. It's a state school in the
Midwest and the Heartland, and there's a governor, and there's
(15:51):
a billionaire, and it's the football program. And this is
the intersection of modern day life. It's Bretton circuses. Uh
been up to talk about it. Assistant A D for
Strategic Intelligence is his actual title, Sean Patten.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Wealth of Knowledge Sean, Yes, at all.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
He was the he's the he was the AD at Nebraska.
Now he is that title. He was also the guy
who negotiated the Dylan Reyola contract, which was historic at
the time.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Very historic. Was early on to do multi year deals
before nil it was an evolving Hey it's still evolving today,
but early on to make that decision to be that
strategic with it. Was they were trendsetters, they were they
were ahead of it, and yeah, they're reaping the benefits.
Dylan's having a great career and he's still got another
year left before he can potentially go pro. So credit
(16:47):
to Sean to figure that out.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
So we'll talk to Sean all about this landscape of
coaches and the recruits, right, because you know, you're seeing
the Virginia Tech with frand he's taken a lot of
a lot of recruits that were going to Penn State
are not going to Virginia Tech.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Yeah, I mean Franklin at his core was is an
elite recruiter, right, so it kind of comes through, right.
It's always knock was, you know, making some adjustments and
big games, but recruiting was never an issue. So to
see kids follow him is not surprising at all. And
and you know, one of our good listeners just actually
reached out to me and said, part of the high
(17:28):
school problem is that the pride is because kids just
bounced around so much these days. Also, right, the no
one wants to wait, so kids are bouncing around. They're
going to multiple high schools. So the pride is you're
losing some of it in these driveway games, the ones
that are still on right. I didn't really think about
it in that light, but it just reached out to
me and told me that that's also an issue that
(17:48):
we didn't really touch on.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Well, we got to do that. We got plenty to
talk to Sean about. So keep it right here. It's
Thanksgiving weekend. This is Project and I Hell Daily DBAD.
I'm your sports stat and as we hang out right here.
As always on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
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Speaker 5 (18:23):
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Speaker 4 (18:34):
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Speaker 5 (18:35):
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Speaker 2 (18:56):
Welcome back project and I ll Danny d the a
d Danny de Bernardinas now Penn Charter in Philadelphia. I'm
Anthony gargantto our resident sports dad. I don't forget Fellas
coming up. Jeff Schwartz and I at the top of
(19:17):
the hour now joining us. He was the GM now
he's the assistant A D for Strategic Intelligence man. He
has been at bell Or, he has been at Temple,
he was with the Carolina Panthers, all with Matt Ruhle.
He is a guy that is integral in this whole world.
Sean Patton, my good friend, joins us. Happy Thanksgiving, Sean.
Speaker 6 (19:41):
Happy Thanksgiving to the Anthony. Good to hear from you.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Always great to hear from you, buddy. Big weekend, How
how was it? I know it was a tough game
against the Ioway yesterday, but always uh, tough weekend. It's
a tough, you know, kind of season with Dylan going down,
but you know, still a winning record and you know
there's still a lot of hope in that program.
Speaker 6 (20:06):
Well, I think we're locking our wounds after this Iowa game.
It was certainly not the outcome that we were looking for.
It was certainly not the fight that we were looking to.
You know, we were looking to carry on a much
better fight than what we had there. But you know,
incremental games we are. You know, we have met some
of our goals. We didn't meet all of our goals,
but we are going bowling first time consecutive Bowl games
(20:30):
and I think it's twelve years and really proud of
the seniors, really proud of the guys that were here
before them to get us to a Bowl game last year,
and we're just we're just trying to keep making incremental games.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Yeah, and listen, you know you're talking about a great
staff and a great coach and Matt, you guys will
definitely get there. I had no doubt about it. I
want to start this conversation off when you negotiated the
Dylan contract Dylan Ray at the point, which was the
largest contract in nil And of course now it's gotten
(21:05):
broken several times. But this you're a perfect guy to
talk to about this ever changing landscape and how it's
blown up.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
I mean, have you got a handle on it yet.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
Or what I think that I think the explosion has
already happened. I think that we're entering into a phase
of much more sensible, much more normal, just in terms
of getting to a normalized place with you know, sort
(21:36):
of set set dollars in place to a certain extent,
but for lack of a better word, most schools are
working off of a similar cap at least the ones
that want to participate as high as you can. And
that has been you know, it was crazy, especially when
they change the transfer rule right in the middle of it.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
All.
Speaker 6 (21:56):
That certainly made it made it crazy. I don't know
if Dylan's at the time was the highest or anything
like that. That's not something that he was ever necessarily
pushing for. But I think that we're at the point
now where everybody's sort of working off the same page
in terms of what's allowed and what's not allowed. And
you know, people are always going to be you know,
(22:18):
have unscrutable thoughts, but for the most part, I mean,
I think we're getting ourselves to a normal situation here
where everybody's sort of working off of the same uh,
you know, same number of dollars or close to it.
Speaker 7 (22:35):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
Sure, So when you guys got Tom Nebraska and you know,
trying to rebuild this program. Right, being being able to
go to two Bowl games in a row for the
first time in twelve years is awesome. I'm really interested in,
you know, the architecture of how you how you got
here right? How did you guys build this up to
become more consistent power? Obviously they were trying for years
(22:56):
and they couldn't figure it out. So coming to a
program that was once historic and has kind of been mediocre,
how did you guys approach this?
Speaker 6 (23:05):
I think that we approached the rebuilding process. I wouldn't
call it. I wouldn't necessarily call it a rebuilding process.
I think there was some there were good materials here,
there were good there was good leadership here. That's the
one thing that you would never never doubt at Nebraska.
I mean, these kids want to win, and they want
to give it they're all And I think that, you know,
our approach is always going to be upfront, just from
(23:28):
a just from a recruiting standpoint, you got to make
sure that you're taking care of you know, upfront, and
that's has been our approach and will be our approach.
And I think that as you as the landscape sort
of changes, I shouldn't say changed, but you sort of
take a look at a different model in terms of
(23:48):
free agency. I mean, free agency isn't quite the right work,
but if you're looking for something to model itself after.
And what we did was NFL front offices, So we
transitioned a lot of staff to be looking out into
the future in terms of kids that are playing college
football right now, because once the transfer rule changed, that
changed exponentially who was a potential player for your football team.
(24:12):
So you know, we have we have remote scouts right
now that have done over nine hundred reports on current
college football players because you have to change the structure
to make sure that you understand who all is out there.
And I would say that has been a big structural
change in that you just need to have knowledge of
so many more players because the potential of who could
(24:32):
be on your roster has grown exponentially with the transfer
rule being no longer enforced.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yeah, everybody's a free agent, man, Like you know, That's
that's what you're at is every year every player is
a free agent.
Speaker 6 (24:51):
Well, the interesting thing though is that this year will
be different in that and that we enter into a
dead period on Monday, so it's really going to be
in January where student athletes will announce and I intend
to enter and all of that, but technically not be
in for till till later on. So it really gives
teams time to finish out their season. They put some
(25:14):
rules in there to help people with trying to retain
some of their players if they are a new coaching staff,
and allowing coaches and giving additional windows players to go
into the portal if they do have a coaching staff change,
because there's that could be dominants falling all over college football.
You just don't know.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
And again I know that you know it's it's college
right and the kids got to be in for spring semester,
But doesn't the window need to be moved further? And
with this coaching carousel, I mean, the delay Kiffin thing
is wild in that you know they're a playoff team
(25:51):
and he's if he leaves, what happens.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
It's just wild. The whole thing is crazy.
Speaker 6 (25:59):
I don't know what's going to happen. I have no idea.
It's a it's a tough situation, but it happens all
the time. I mean, it's very direct in this circumstance
because people kind of know who's bowing out and who's
sticks around and and who's in it. So it's sort of,
you know, not as opaque as this thing normally is.
(26:22):
So it's weird. But you do have locker rooms facing
rumors all over the country right now too, So it's
going to be It's been a part. I mean when
we were at Temple, there are rumors that Matt was
going to Missouri the year before and he had to
address it.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Uh, and we were this year, you guys had to
address the the ped state rumors that hit you know,
hit Matt and hit uh Signetti and Indiana and hit
alcoh and A and m.
Speaker 6 (26:49):
Yeah, every everybody's you know, there's there's especially in this year. Uh,
there's probably there aren't too many programs that haven't felt
some sort of pressure to say, hey, I'm either getting
a new contract or I'm staying put or you know,
but it's it's I think that and I know to
answer your question, should it be longer, it's tough with
(27:10):
the semester, you know what I mean, It's tough.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
You got I mean, you can figure it out.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I mean, you can make an exception for the football player.
I mean, I mean, let's face it, let's be real here,
you know, let's wag the dog man. Well, let me
stop with this, with this, like this whole charade for
football players, they should be allowed late entry and figure
(27:34):
it out.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
I mean, you know.
Speaker 6 (27:37):
You broke up, you broke up a man.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
To that. To that, though, I do know some college
ads who have been involved in you know, this process
and trying to you know, put some guardrails on all this.
They did say in the future there could be a
number limited on transfers because of finishing your degree. So
if you transfer four times in four year years, you're
unable to with these credits moving around. And at the
(28:04):
end of the day, college is still about education, right,
So a way to put parameters on the amount of
transfers could be behind this. So they might say, hey,
you only can transfer two or three times, and that
could maybe hone in a little bit more of this
free agency and wild West in the portal.
Speaker 6 (28:24):
There is a progress towards degree component to your eligibility. Now,
I haven't heard anything anything concrete with regard to that,
but I think that would be a mechanism that somebody
could say they could try to use to limit that,
you know what I mean, to try to limit that,
But you don't limit a regular kids from going to
as many schools as he wants to. And that's ultimately
(28:46):
what the courts will end up coming back to. That's
just my opinion, but they're going to say it happens
for a regular kid, regular kick can go in many
schools as they want, why couldn't this kid? And that's
I think that's where the court's logic will probably go
to that regard. But shoot, everything on this thing could
end up being in a lawsuit or somewhere or another,
you know what I mean. This whole thing is there
(29:07):
there are actors out there that will poke holes in
this entire agreement and will look to sue it at
any camp, in any pocket they can get to it.
So that's that's going to happen. It's just be ready
for the you know, the batty of lawsuits that will
come with the agreement itself and just.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
For purposes right like there is no there is no cap, right,
there's no ni L cap like you know in truth
you know if you're you know name is school tax
attack anybody, right, like anybody with a big support. Any
player can get an ni L deal, a supplemental an L,
(29:52):
the NIL deal that goes beyond the salary cap.
Speaker 6 (29:57):
The I mean to use the word cap. I mean
that's not exactly, but that's easy kind of just kind
of to kind of explain it to folks. But you
can get like, uh, kids on teams can get normal
NIL deals. It gets scrutinized. It has to go through
a clearing house in order to take a look at it.
(30:18):
And they're matching up. These are auditors on you know,
the Lloyd and I don't know who it is, but.
Speaker 7 (30:24):
Yeah, that that that are comparing it with other deals
and with the market itself, and they're coming back and
they're saying yeah or nay on particular deals, and so
you know they intend.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
I mean again, I mean, I don't know what's what's
been out there, but get shut down.
Speaker 6 (30:46):
Yeah, yeah, get shut down.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
It's such a it's such a that's another one, another
gray area. Because if I'm this hot recruit and I
got you know, seven million follow on Instagram and Twitter
and TikTok, who's to say what that's worth?
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Well, the what.
Speaker 6 (31:11):
Says that's worth is what other people have been getting
paid for that exact work. And if you do have
a huge following, that goes into that, that goes into effect.
Like that's a that's a factor in it. It is
a factor. It has a huge following, then you know,
influencers get paid for the things that they do.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
Yeah, and Sean could teams get creative and say, all right,
our guys who have a big following will push to
the collective for ni I deals, and the guys that
might not have a small, large following, we'll just pay
them through the school's allotment of that twenty one million
dollar number.
Speaker 6 (31:45):
I think that there's I think that you don't necessarily
want to use that money to usurp the cat, but
I think that guys that are more marketable are going
to have more opportunities. More opportunities can mean more dollars.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
Me and Anthony speak about that earlier a lot, and
we talked about kids and saying, hey, it's so important
the marketing piece of yourself, right. How social media is
a huge tool, but it can also hurt you rite recruitment,
but also if you're smart with it, it can also
really really help you.
Speaker 6 (32:17):
Yeah, I mean these kids for me, you know, when
it comes to social media and the way they can
monetize that, that's like seeing like X ray vision. To me,
I'm fifty years old, I can't even But these kids
have had a sensibility towards their social media presence at
a very very early and so they get it. You know,
(32:39):
they get it. You know kids that come in that
weren't playing at all and they were like, look at
how many followers I got. I'm like, yes, I know
this isn't pay to play, but like you're not gonna
get on the field. That's not going to really help football.
Lot love the followers and keep up the good work
football first.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
That's great.
Speaker 6 (33:00):
Yeah, go ahead, Sorry, no, I'm just gonna say that
they have like very much early on, we had to
do a lot of social media training on guys and
everything like that. But a lot of times kids come
in and have that sensibility at this point right now,
and if they don't, there's probably other other problems they
got to get a handle on as well. So but
it's it's in the past. It was very much something
(33:22):
that we had to train guys on. Now now it's
you train guys that just just shut up and just
when when when people are trying to pick a fight
with you or or or or talk about their whatever,
uh fantasy pics or whatever the hell they might be
talking about. You know, just don't engage. That's the biggest
thing now. And it's not to engage because everybody's you know,
(33:43):
everybody can reach out to everybody. And so you know,
you drop that ball and all of a sudden you
got to hear from Joe the ragman, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Yeah, no, no, without of that, hey, Uh, the last
thing is that we're up against it. And man, this
is so so interesting how we touched on free agency.
How does that affect recruits now in high school?
Speaker 3 (34:06):
And you know, the.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Limiting number of the high school workers, like what are
you guys at Nebraska, what do you how many? How
has that affected how many kids are you recruiting as
compared to the portal?
Speaker 6 (34:20):
Well, I think the rosters, the roster size, uh and
and and the limits that will be going into place
on roster size can also factor into you know, the
sheer numbers that are that are being brought in. I
think that I think you'll see lower high school numbers, uh,
probably on the whole simply because people will be you know,
(34:42):
utilizing kids that have kids that have played you know,
guys that have gotten snaps, guys that have played games.
You know, there's a all sorts of studies going on
as in terms of, you know, where your dollars can
be best spent, and that's an ongoing sort of study
in terms of where people are going so to turn
around and say, oh, we're going to do this and
(35:03):
we're not going to do that anymore. I don't think
we're at that point, but we've certainly put more resources
into understanding the guys that are out there that are
already playing college football. I think that you may see
a bit of a shift. It may be more of
more of like you know, you've got you know, eight
draft picks and then you've got your free agency, uh,
(35:25):
you know, in terms of how the NFL sort of
works it. But I think it's ongoing to sit there
and say this is how we're going to approach it,
or this is exactly how it's going to work moving forward.
It's just not that's not our approach.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
So you real quickly, we got to go.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
But you get a high school kid, the best advice
for high school parents is to what like, work your
way up the ladder of smaller schools.
Speaker 6 (35:49):
You mean, do you mean coming out? I mean if
I'm oh first coming out, I mean go to where
you go to who loves you and who you who
loves you know, start first, you know what I mean.
Just just just go fromwhere where you're gonna feel comfortable
and you're gonna thrive. Uh and if that thriving so
happens to open up other opportunities down the road. And
(36:09):
it's been great, you know what I mean. The guy
at Scrint and wilf Fear is not like, oh shoot,
that guy's getting called up to.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
Ape or.
Speaker 6 (36:16):
You know, to the big well. Right, that's how it goes,
you know what I mean, That's that's the You gotta
play where it lies right now.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
Yeah, fascinating stuff, showing great.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
I mean, we got to get you back in just
incredible insight into the world. We really appreciate it. Good
luck in the ball game. Uh and uh, you guys
will be back strong next year.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
Thanks bill birds.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Yeah, we need some pro we get some problems there. Uh,
this is Project then. I will be back in just
a second. Don't go anywhere. Welcome back, Project n I
l look Danny D d A D.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
I'm an and uh he missed any of the show.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
You'll want to check out the podcast Fox Sports Radio
wherever you get your podcasts. Right after the show, today's
podcast will be posted. Be sure to follow the podcast
right at five Stars. You can even provide a review
to So Solid and again. Just search Fox Sports Radio
wherever you get your podcasts, you'll find today's full show
posting right after we get off the air. All right, Dan,
(37:19):
interesting stuff from Sean Patten. Yeah, he's uh, he's really insightful.
You know, with all the coaching movement, you know, it's
it's an interesting world because I mean, to some extent,
you always had that when a when a coach would
get fired. Uh, you know, obviously the all the recruits
(37:43):
would be left in limbo, right, and then you know
what would happen to kids in high school?
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Where would they go? And they committed to the school
and you de commit.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
But now with money involved it again, money's up the water,
right because now all of a sudden, you know, you're
agreed to a deal and an il deal and you
know a lot of cases and now all of a sudden,
your coach, the guy that you believed in is not
there anymore.
Speaker 4 (38:10):
Yeah, And it's difficult because some of these a lot
of the times, it's life changing money for some families, right.
And you know, and I've been close enough where I've
been involved with kids who were committed to big, major
programs and then that coach you know, is fired or
left and how they navigate that, right, So the school
basically tell you we don't know where it is. You know,
(38:33):
everything we agreed upon is up in the air, like
there's a really good chance it still happens. And it's
a it's an interesting dynamic because whoever's the intrum staff,
they're fighting to keep you right. They want you to
stay with your commitment because it helps the intrum staff
if it happens mid season. But on the other side,
they have to be honest with you and say it's
(38:53):
not guaranteed. So it's a very tight you know walk
you're doing our dance. You're doing to figure out what's next.
And should I stay committed to a program where there's
a chance that I might be left in a lerch
come January and I now I'm shuffling, or do I
be proactive and go get the guaranteed money now.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Yeah, yeah, it's wild, and you know it's such a
difficult prospect, you know, especially I mean linke k Iff,
it's going to command a lot of money.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
It's gonna the dominoes that are going to fall from
this today. I mean they're saying it's going to come
out today. I mean these are the reports. Yeah, but
the dominoes that are going to fall from this is
going to be very very interesting to watch and I'm
sure we'll dive into it next week. But uh, yeah,
it's going to be crazy, I know.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
And you know it's wild because of the NFL when
their openings come around. It because college is so much
down like the NFL, and Saturdays and Sundays are blending.
You have a pool of coaches shrinks even more so. Uh,
you know, guys are gonna get paid. The landscapes can
be wild. Hey, before we get out of here, I
know you have a great NIL story.
Speaker 4 (40:07):
Yeah, Quincy Williams. I know we don't always get in
the track, but Quincy Williams, the number one track runner
in the country, ran in the Olympics a couple of
years ago, is committed to Maryland. He's staying home huge
NIO deal with new balance and uh just want to
give Miss Flowers. You know, we don't always get to
talk about track and field, but it's involved in this
process and you know, want to give Miss Flowers and
(40:28):
run Quincy. He runs the four by four is one
of his best races. He has the national record for that.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
That's awesome. Listen, do it for us. Everybody, have a
great day. Stay tuned for the Fellas.
You don't listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Oh, good morning, good morning, good morning, Happy Thanksgiving, everybody,
hope your turkey, Dave's great, good weekend, family food, football,
the greatest of the greats, goodwill.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
This is project in iol and Uh.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
He is Danny d Dad, Anthony the sports dad, one
of the fellas that's coming your way.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Uh in an hour.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Now we look at the lens of high school youth
and of course college sports and the nil prism.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
This is a weekend of football, so a heavy football
theme for you. Is Sean Patten, who was the GM
at Nebraska. He's now a special assistant to the athletic director.
Will join us to talk about recruiting and all the
coaching moves. Good morning, Danny D. What's going on? Because
how are we doing over there?
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Brother? Happy Thanksgiving?
Speaker 4 (01:06):
Happy Thanksgiving? Brother. It was a good It was a
good one for me. How about you and the family?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Same here, buddy, same here. We have our own little
turkey day right in South Philly. We were all together.
We had about Uh. It's my friends and all the
kids and everybody. There's probably twenty something of us love it. Yeah,
and we all do a turkey ball. So a lot
of fun. Yeah, it was, it was. It was good times.
(01:31):
A lot of great football that was on, although not
the Eagles yesterday.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
That's our yesterday. I was. I was loving the football,
all the action all Thursday yesterday, and the Eagles just
ruined it for me. But we'll move on.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was good, good stuff last night
in Texas and arch Arch right. I'm happy for man
I mean, look, where are that where that name on
your back?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Is really hard? Right?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
You know he got a huge nil, ye know. In fact,
you know I had read his nil total. The valuation
was six point eight million, and because he had struggled
early on, it dipped at three point six million.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Yeah, it's crazy, and we touched on that a little
bit last week. But it's it's a wild world and
a lot of it is marketability, right, how how well
you can market yourself and your name right, which he
has that Manning name. But the other side of it
is you have to perform right, So to cut it
in half, it is difficult, especially for a kid that's
twenty years old, you know. But he's gonna be fine.
(02:40):
He's still gonna be I think he's gonna figure it out.
I'm a huge fan. I think you know, they're gonna
he's gonna continue to get better, and if he sticks
around another year, I think it'll be great for him.
I love to see him again in college football and
hopefully he stays hot and they going a little run here.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, it's good for the game.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You know what's funny we were talking about last night
and there is a report that if he came out,
he would still be the number one pick, and you know,
you know he's not ready obviously, and you know, I
mean between his family that, I mean, they know it's
right for him. I would be shocked if he came out.
He needs another year at least in college football to
(03:20):
hone himself.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
But it is great to see, you know, the progress.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
And he saw it last night on a big stage
against a great defense and then you know, a stark
rivalry with Texas A and M and he had a
huge second half. He's down ten six and a half time,
the offense is languishing and he comes down and he
leads him too.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Two touchdown drives.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Looks great early, right, and then it continues it and
it seals it with the big run.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Yeah, I mean, he could do it all hits his legs,
and I agree with you. I think he definitely stays
just for the fact that he was so patient. He
didn't run when ND start. These kids these days, they
need that instant gratification. He's sat for two years, you know,
he wasn't in a rush to play, So I think,
you know, if they have a lot of great people
around him, obviously in the family, and they understand the game,
(04:12):
so I think they'll really look at it. And I
think he probably comes back to play college football again,
probably at Texas, but who knows. And I'm sure there'll
be a bag of money for nil his way if
he decides to come back for another year.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, man, and why not get why not make a
great and great living and continue to hone your skills
at a great place like Texas? All right, So let's
just get dive in a little bit with Thanksgiving and
football and the professionalization of high school sports. We see
(04:45):
it really with high school football, basketball too, but especially football.
And because of that, the landscape's changing. Man, Like the
Alba Mater on Thanksgiving Day doesn't exist in a lot
of pla places anymore.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Yeah, the rivalry game is going away, and they touched
on this a little bit on NPR this week. I
was listening and it was it was really big and
close to us and in southeastern Pennsylvania, huge rivalry games
that go back one hundred and twenty years. And I
saw a stat in the paper that said in two
thousand and five there was thirty eight games locally to
(05:22):
us in southeastern Pennsylvania. It's down to ten. Wow, in
twenty years, from thirty eight to ten Thanksgiving Day football games.
I saw stats that said in the thirties there was
one hundreds of thousands of people went to it. There
was more people that went to you know, Thanksgivin Day
games and rivalry games and NFL games. Right now a
(05:43):
lot plays into that, right, TV, the accessibility to be
able to watch it, obviously that changed a lot, right,
the state playoff structure, right, high school football structure, that
changed a lot.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Right.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
So there's there's money factors in it, but now even
more so with this new era of sports, it's continuing
to die. And it was a huge part of what
you know America early early on in the nineteen hundreds,
and you know, these rivalries are one hundred and twenty
one hundred and thirty years old. They're dying and it's uh,
you know, they're even the ones that are still alive,
(06:15):
they're getting you know, a couple hundred people that used
to have a minimum of ten thousand, right, So it's
a sad it's a sad day because you love that robbery.
You love to see those teams kind of meet and
those fan bases come together. But it's something that you know,
it's part of this new world and it's a dying
it's a dying thing, which is to me a little sad.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Well a lot said in that sense.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I mean, I wonder if there's a way where, you know,
you could satisfy both the history and the new landscape.
It's just I guess it's just hard because of the
playoff and the calendar.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yeah, so a lot of these state playoffs have gone longer.
A lot of them used to end around Thanksgiving, so
they still had these games.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
Now.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
I can only talk to the state associations close to
us that I know a lot about. Even you know,
in California they had their state playoffs this weekend. They're
big games, you know, that's the big football state right now,
and there was a lot of games going on last night,
some going on today. So when the playoffs go past Thanksgiving,
it makes it difficult for these teams to commit, right.
(07:20):
So your dream is at the beginning of the season
is to play first a championship, right, So you're not
really thinking about this game if there's still games to
be played afterwards hypothetically, right. So it makes it a
little difficult to keep these games going with the length
of these state playoffs and how long these seasons are going.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
So what can be done? I mean anything? Now, here's
the thing.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
You're at a school, so you know this is obviously
project nil and you're a real ad. Dammy, the Bernard
Demons is a real a d Was that Saint Joe's Prep?
You help build a national powerhouse of a football team.
You just left to go to Penn Charter, which is
(08:05):
one of the oldest high schools in the country. So
did that affect you, guys? So for Penn Charter, they
have a tradition.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
It's the only oldest rivalry in the country, one hundred
and thirty nine years of a continuous game of football
games and other sports. So they're a part of it.
They just the way their season ends. They end two
weeks before Thanksgiving, so they still play this rivalry game
against Germantown Academy again one hundred and thirty nine years.
It's something so special today is awesome. It's filled with
(08:35):
so much tradition and thousands of people do come out.
So this was kind of their version of the Thanksgiving game.
They never played it on Thanksgiving, but there's they're not
a part of a state association that has football available
to it, so the scheduling doesn't really put in a
factor to them and they're able to play this game still.
If you were a part when I was at Saint
(08:56):
Joe's Prep, if you're a part of PIBA, which is
the state in Pennsylvania, the state championship is the first
week in December, so every year, if you're hoping to
play in it, you can't be a part of these
rivalry games on Thanksgiving. So at the prep, they were
in the state playoffs for ten years straight, so they
used to be a part of a Thanksgiving Day game,
(09:16):
but that ended when they started to join the state
Association back in twenty eleven.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
So I guess you know you're basically stuck right like
you know, I mean, you got to make a choice
as to where you want to be. And especially we
touched on the powerhouses, right, like these big national powerhouses.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
You know, those rivalries are done.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
It becomes almost the national you know, we've grown into
this big spotlight, right, like the league it's so big
and national and you know the NFL and big time
college and that big time high school where it's you're like,
you played the national schedule.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Yeah, and you're gonna find these games. You're still going
to have these rivalry games. You're just going to be
earlier in the season, right, You're not you're unable to
play them at the height of the season, which is
in late November, right, which everyone used to you know,
arn for and hope that they could come together and
play this big game at the end of the season.
So there is still these games, right, They still do exist.
There's still rivalry games. They just have to happen a
(10:25):
lot earlier in the season. And that's you know, how
the sports evolved, How these playoffs have you know, moved along,
and how people want to continue to play football late
in the December for a high school season, which is
wasn't the norm years ago, right, So that's something that's
changed and it's hurtin these rivalry games, which is a
little sad, But at the end of the day, you know,
(10:46):
you want these kids to to really strive for something great,
and inf state championship is something that you know is
part of that list. I want them to go get it.
So it's it's a little give and take on it.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, now listen, it's the evolution of everything, right, so
you mentioned it. You know when you're talking about the
nineteen hundreds and the nineteen you know, thirties and forties,
you have these towns and there was no you know,
there was no NFL. That that was all the docket
from the day, right, Like everyone was did their thing
(11:22):
before they went home, they have their turkey, would go
out to their local high school, right, and they would
congregate and it would be kind of the center of
the town wherever you lift, and everybody would congregate to
watch the game, and you would you know, I can
imagine that the crowds would be huge.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
They were saying it was bigger than any professional sporting event.
And up until like the sixties, where these thanks living,
they had games where people, you know, they just came out.
They had so much pride and where they went. You know,
there wasn't as many you know, private schools that had
open enrollment, so it was like really a very community
based this is where I lived, where I go to school.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
You know.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
So as school's evolved as this high school landscape where
kids can travel to go to different schools and you know,
play go to a different state to go to school. Right,
these are all things that have happened as you know,
everything in sports has evolved. So it's a lot of
different factors that play into it. But at the end
(12:22):
of the day, it was something really cool and then
you know, we just want to put some light on
it that it was something that was huge in the
country and now it's something that's kind of dying out.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Yeah, that's wow.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
But you know, I mean listen, if you woke up today, right,
if you got transported in time from back then to today,
college football was was huge back then, right like it was,
you know, college football was bigger than the NFL up
you know, through the seventies. Really, I mean, you know,
the NFL didn't become king probably until the late eighties
(12:56):
early nineties where when it overtook baseball, but college football
was was huge, was it was a monster. And if
you told those people that, you know, you would get
these big contracts and kids would be moving from school
to school and coaches would be moving for you know packages,
(13:17):
you know, for a hundred million dollars, they would be aghast.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
It's crazy and it's you know, I'm happy for the
coaches too. You know, a lot, there's a lot going
to come out today with Lane Kiffin, right, he said
this future will be announced today. There's a lot of
these reports and as the players contracts are going more.
I mean, Lane Kiffin's gonna get a hundred million dollars
to coach college football without a doubt wherever he shoes.
If he decides to stay at Old miss Oh yeah,
he has to go to LSU.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
But I mean that was you want to back up
the truck. Florida is going to.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
Back up the breaks trucks backing up brother, So yeah,
thanks for him. They're backing up on them. Yeah, it's
you know this nil error. It's it's vital for the coaches.
I think it's more vital than ever before with job security.
And you know, coaches might be out quicker than normal,
(14:08):
But on the flip side, they're gonna get a lot
of money when they do well, you know. And Lane
Kiffin has had a bit of a roller coaster career
in coaching, and he really turned old missing New a
perennial powerhouse. And now he has a lot of options,
and we'll see today where he ends up. I'm very
curious to see it.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
It's wild.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I mean, his his career path is wild from you know,
from the Raiders. They like think about that, like it
feels like in another lifetime that he was the coach
of the Raiders.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
I mean, why till he wasn't right then he wasn't
the guy. He had to start over, had to go
to Florida, Atlantic, had to kind of reset when he
was down.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Of course, they all go to they all want they
all went to Uncle Nick to themselves.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
Had to get him right. So Uncle Nick down in
Alabama and then you know, went from there. But he
was the golden boy then he wasn't. Now he's back
and I'm happy to see him. He seems like a
great guy. Got to meet him once or twice through
his recruiting trips when he was in Philadelphia. So I'm
anxious to see where do you where do you think
he ends up. I'm sure curious to hear. Yeah, you
(15:14):
think it's it.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I think I think he's bat Tom Rouge. I think
they back up the truck and let's go. Uh.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
I think you tigers this, I do. I believe it's governor.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Uh again, these these state schools, the governors are hugely involved.
It's a political football to no end. In fact, you know,
because I've been, I've been filling you in. But I'm
you know, writing a TV show about this whole world.
And in the world. It's a state school in the
Midwest and the Heartland, and there's a governor, and there's
(15:51):
a billionaire, and it's the football program. And this is
the intersection of modern day life. It's Bretton circuses. Uh
been up to talk about it. Assistant A D for
Strategic Intelligence is his actual title, Sean Patten.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Wealth of Knowledge Sean, Yes, at all.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
He was the he's the he was the AD at Nebraska.
Now he is that title. He was also the guy
who negotiated the Dylan Reyola contract, which was historic at
the time.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Very historic. Was early on to do multi year deals
before nil it was an evolving Hey it's still evolving today,
but early on to make that decision to be that
strategic with it. Was they were trendsetters, they were they
were ahead of it, and yeah, they're reaping the benefits.
Dylan's having a great career and he's still got another
year left before he can potentially go pro. So credit
(16:47):
to Sean to figure that out.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
So we'll talk to Sean all about this landscape of
coaches and the recruits, right, because you know, you're seeing
the Virginia Tech with frand he's taken a lot of
a lot of recruits that were going to Penn State
are not going to Virginia Tech.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Yeah, I mean Franklin at his core was is an
elite recruiter, right, so it kind of comes through, right.
It's always knock was, you know, making some adjustments and
big games, but recruiting was never an issue. So to
see kids follow him is not surprising at all. And
and you know, one of our good listeners just actually
reached out to me and said, part of the high
(17:28):
school problem is that the pride is because kids just
bounced around so much these days. Also, right, the no
one wants to wait, so kids are bouncing around. They're
going to multiple high schools. So the pride is you're
losing some of it in these driveway games, the ones
that are still on right. I didn't really think about
it in that light, but it just reached out to
me and told me that that's also an issue that
(17:48):
we didn't really touch on.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Well, we got to do that. We got plenty to
talk to Sean about. So keep it right here. It's
Thanksgiving weekend. This is Project and I Hell Daily DBAD.
I'm your sports stat and as we hang out right here.
As always on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 5 (18:23):
Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every weekday morning
on my podcast, Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. This isn't
your typical sports pod pushing the same tired narratives down your.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Throat every day.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest
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And all the best guests.
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Do yourself a favor and listen to Straight Fire with
Jason McIntyre on the iHeartRadio, app, Apple Podcasts or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Welcome back project and I ll Danny d the a
d Danny de Bernardinas now Penn Charter in Philadelphia. I'm
Anthony gargantto our resident sports dad. I don't forget Fellas
coming up. Jeff Schwartz and I at the top of
(19:17):
the hour now joining us. He was the GM now
he's the assistant A D for Strategic Intelligence man. He
has been at bell Or, he has been at Temple,
he was with the Carolina Panthers, all with Matt Ruhle.
He is a guy that is integral in this whole world.
Sean Patton, my good friend, joins us. Happy Thanksgiving, Sean.
Speaker 6 (19:41):
Happy Thanksgiving to the Anthony. Good to hear from you.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Always great to hear from you, buddy. Big weekend, How
how was it? I know it was a tough game
against the Ioway yesterday, but always uh, tough weekend. It's
a tough, you know, kind of season with Dylan going down,
but you know, still a winning record and you know
there's still a lot of hope in that program.
Speaker 6 (20:06):
Well, I think we're locking our wounds after this Iowa game.
It was certainly not the outcome that we were looking for.
It was certainly not the fight that we were looking to.
You know, we were looking to carry on a much
better fight than what we had there. But you know,
incremental games we are. You know, we have met some
of our goals. We didn't meet all of our goals,
but we are going bowling first time consecutive Bowl games
(20:30):
and I think it's twelve years and really proud of
the seniors, really proud of the guys that were here
before them to get us to a Bowl game last year,
and we're just we're just trying to keep making incremental games.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Yeah, and listen, you know you're talking about a great
staff and a great coach and Matt, you guys will
definitely get there. I had no doubt about it. I
want to start this conversation off when you negotiated the
Dylan contract Dylan Ray at the point, which was the
largest contract in nil And of course now it's gotten
(21:05):
broken several times. But this you're a perfect guy to
talk to about this ever changing landscape and how it's
blown up.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
I mean, have you got a handle on it yet.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
Or what I think that I think the explosion has
already happened. I think that we're entering into a phase
of much more sensible, much more normal, just in terms
of getting to a normalized place with you know, sort
(21:36):
of set set dollars in place to a certain extent,
but for lack of a better word, most schools are
working off of a similar cap at least the ones
that want to participate as high as you can. And
that has been you know, it was crazy, especially when
they change the transfer rule right in the middle of it.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
All.
Speaker 6 (21:56):
That certainly made it made it crazy. I don't know
if Dylan's at the time was the highest or anything
like that. That's not something that he was ever necessarily
pushing for. But I think that we're at the point
now where everybody's sort of working off the same page
in terms of what's allowed and what's not allowed. And
you know, people are always going to be you know,
(22:18):
have unscrutable thoughts, but for the most part, I mean,
I think we're getting ourselves to a normal situation here
where everybody's sort of working off of the same uh,
you know, same number of dollars or close to it.
Speaker 7 (22:35):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
Sure, So when you guys got Tom Nebraska and you know,
trying to rebuild this program. Right, being being able to
go to two Bowl games in a row for the
first time in twelve years is awesome. I'm really interested in,
you know, the architecture of how you how you got
here right? How did you guys build this up to
become more consistent power? Obviously they were trying for years
(22:56):
and they couldn't figure it out. So coming to a
program that was once historic and has kind of been mediocre,
how did you guys approach this?
Speaker 6 (23:05):
I think that we approached the rebuilding process. I wouldn't
call it. I wouldn't necessarily call it a rebuilding process.
I think there was some there were good materials here,
there were good there was good leadership here. That's the
one thing that you would never never doubt at Nebraska.
I mean, these kids want to win, and they want
to give it they're all And I think that, you know,
our approach is always going to be upfront, just from
(23:28):
a just from a recruiting standpoint, you got to make
sure that you're taking care of you know, upfront, and
that's has been our approach and will be our approach.
And I think that as you as the landscape sort
of changes, I shouldn't say changed, but you sort of
take a look at a different model in terms of
(23:48):
free agency. I mean, free agency isn't quite the right work,
but if you're looking for something to model itself after.
And what we did was NFL front offices, So we
transitioned a lot of staff to be looking out into
the future in terms of kids that are playing college
football right now, because once the transfer rule changed, that
changed exponentially who was a potential player for your football team.
(24:12):
So you know, we have we have remote scouts right
now that have done over nine hundred reports on current
college football players because you have to change the structure
to make sure that you understand who all is out there.
And I would say that has been a big structural
change in that you just need to have knowledge of
so many more players because the potential of who could
(24:32):
be on your roster has grown exponentially with the transfer
rule being no longer enforced.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yeah, everybody's a free agent, man, Like you know, That's
that's what you're at is every year every player is
a free agent.
Speaker 6 (24:51):
Well, the interesting thing though is that this year will
be different in that and that we enter into a
dead period on Monday, so it's really going to be
in January where student athletes will announce and I intend
to enter and all of that, but technically not be
in for till till later on. So it really gives
teams time to finish out their season. They put some
(25:14):
rules in there to help people with trying to retain
some of their players if they are a new coaching staff,
and allowing coaches and giving additional windows players to go
into the portal if they do have a coaching staff change,
because there's that could be dominants falling all over college football.
You just don't know.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
And again I know that you know it's it's college
right and the kids got to be in for spring semester,
But doesn't the window need to be moved further? And
with this coaching carousel, I mean, the delay Kiffin thing
is wild in that you know they're a playoff team
(25:51):
and he's if he leaves, what happens.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
It's just wild. The whole thing is crazy.
Speaker 6 (25:59):
I don't know what's going to happen. I have no idea.
It's a it's a tough situation, but it happens all
the time. I mean, it's very direct in this circumstance
because people kind of know who's bowing out and who's
sticks around and and who's in it. So it's sort of,
you know, not as opaque as this thing normally is.
(26:22):
So it's weird. But you do have locker rooms facing
rumors all over the country right now too, So it's
going to be It's been a part. I mean when
we were at Temple, there are rumors that Matt was
going to Missouri the year before and he had to
address it.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Uh, and we were this year, you guys had to
address the the ped state rumors that hit you know,
hit Matt and hit uh Signetti and Indiana and hit
alcoh and A and m.
Speaker 6 (26:49):
Yeah, every everybody's you know, there's there's especially in this year. Uh,
there's probably there aren't too many programs that haven't felt
some sort of pressure to say, hey, I'm either getting
a new contract or I'm staying put or you know,
but it's it's I think that and I know to
answer your question, should it be longer, it's tough with
(27:10):
the semester, you know what I mean, It's tough.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
You got I mean, you can figure it out.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
I mean, you can make an exception for the football player.
I mean, I mean, let's face it, let's be real here,
you know, let's wag the dog man. Well, let me
stop with this, with this, like this whole charade for
football players, they should be allowed late entry and figure
(27:34):
it out.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
I mean, you know.
Speaker 6 (27:37):
You broke up, you broke up a man.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
To that. To that, though, I do know some college
ads who have been involved in you know, this process
and trying to you know, put some guardrails on all this.
They did say in the future there could be a
number limited on transfers because of finishing your degree. So
if you transfer four times in four year years, you're
unable to with these credits moving around. And at the
(28:04):
end of the day, college is still about education, right,
So a way to put parameters on the amount of
transfers could be behind this. So they might say, hey,
you only can transfer two or three times, and that
could maybe hone in a little bit more of this
free agency and wild West in the portal.
Speaker 6 (28:24):
There is a progress towards degree component to your eligibility. Now,
I haven't heard anything anything concrete with regard to that,
but I think that would be a mechanism that somebody
could say they could try to use to limit that,
you know what I mean, to try to limit that,
But you don't limit a regular kids from going to
as many schools as he wants to. And that's ultimately
(28:46):
what the courts will end up coming back to. That's
just my opinion, but they're going to say it happens
for a regular kid, regular kick can go in many
schools as they want, why couldn't this kid? And that's
I think that's where the court's logic will probably go
to that regard. But shoot, everything on this thing could
end up being in a lawsuit or somewhere or another,
you know what I mean. This whole thing is there
(29:07):
there are actors out there that will poke holes in
this entire agreement and will look to sue it at
any camp, in any pocket they can get to it.
So that's that's going to happen. It's just be ready
for the you know, the batty of lawsuits that will
come with the agreement itself and just.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
For purposes right like there is no there is no cap, right,
there's no ni L cap like you know in truth
you know if you're you know name is school tax
attack anybody, right, like anybody with a big support. Any
player can get an ni L deal, a supplemental an L,
(29:52):
the NIL deal that goes beyond the salary cap.
Speaker 6 (29:57):
The I mean to use the word cap. I mean
that's not exactly, but that's easy kind of just kind
of to kind of explain it to folks. But you
can get like, uh, kids on teams can get normal
NIL deals. It gets scrutinized. It has to go through
a clearing house in order to take a look at it.
(30:18):
And they're matching up. These are auditors on you know,
the Lloyd and I don't know who it is, but.
Speaker 7 (30:24):
Yeah, that that that are comparing it with other deals
and with the market itself, and they're coming back and
they're saying yeah or nay on particular deals, and so
you know they intend.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
I mean again, I mean, I don't know what's what's
been out there, but get shut down.
Speaker 6 (30:46):
Yeah, yeah, get shut down.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
It's such a it's such a that's another one, another
gray area. Because if I'm this hot recruit and I
got you know, seven million follow on Instagram and Twitter
and TikTok, who's to say what that's worth?
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Well, the what.
Speaker 6 (31:11):
Says that's worth is what other people have been getting
paid for that exact work. And if you do have
a huge following, that goes into that, that goes into effect.
Like that's a that's a factor in it. It is
a factor. It has a huge following, then you know,
influencers get paid for the things that they do.
Speaker 4 (31:29):
Yeah, and Sean could teams get creative and say, all right,
our guys who have a big following will push to
the collective for ni I deals, and the guys that
might not have a small, large following, we'll just pay
them through the school's allotment of that twenty one million
dollar number.
Speaker 6 (31:45):
I think that there's I think that you don't necessarily
want to use that money to usurp the cat, but
I think that guys that are more marketable are going
to have more opportunities. More opportunities can mean more dollars.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
Me and Anthony speak about that earlier a lot, and
we talked about kids and saying, hey, it's so important
the marketing piece of yourself, right. How social media is
a huge tool, but it can also hurt you rite recruitment,
but also if you're smart with it, it can also
really really help you.
Speaker 6 (32:17):
Yeah, I mean these kids for me, you know, when
it comes to social media and the way they can
monetize that, that's like seeing like X ray vision. To me,
I'm fifty years old, I can't even But these kids
have had a sensibility towards their social media presence at
a very very early and so they get it. You know,
(32:39):
they get it. You know kids that come in that
weren't playing at all and they were like, look at
how many followers I got. I'm like, yes, I know
this isn't pay to play, but like you're not gonna
get on the field. That's not going to really help football.
Lot love the followers and keep up the good work
football first.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
That's great.
Speaker 6 (33:00):
Yeah, go ahead, Sorry, no, I'm just gonna say that
they have like very much early on, we had to
do a lot of social media training on guys and
everything like that. But a lot of times kids come
in and have that sensibility at this point right now,
and if they don't, there's probably other other problems they
got to get a handle on as well. So but
it's it's in the past. It was very much something
(33:22):
that we had to train guys on. Now now it's
you train guys that just just shut up and just
when when when people are trying to pick a fight
with you or or or or talk about their whatever,
uh fantasy pics or whatever the hell they might be
talking about. You know, just don't engage. That's the biggest
thing now. And it's not to engage because everybody's you know,
(33:43):
everybody can reach out to everybody. And so you know,
you drop that ball and all of a sudden you
got to hear from Joe the ragman, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Yeah, no, no, without of that, hey, Uh, the last
thing is that we're up against it. And man, this
is so so interesting how we touched on free agency.
How does that affect recruits now in high school?
Speaker 3 (34:06):
And you know, the.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Limiting number of the high school workers, like what are
you guys at Nebraska, what do you how many? How
has that affected how many kids are you recruiting as
compared to the portal?
Speaker 6 (34:20):
Well, I think the rosters, the roster size, uh and
and and the limits that will be going into place
on roster size can also factor into you know, the
sheer numbers that are that are being brought in. I
think that I think you'll see lower high school numbers, uh,
probably on the whole simply because people will be you know,
(34:42):
utilizing kids that have kids that have played you know,
guys that have gotten snaps, guys that have played games.
You know, there's a all sorts of studies going on
as in terms of, you know, where your dollars can
be best spent, and that's an ongoing sort of study
in terms of where people are going so to turn
around and say, oh, we're going to do this and
(35:03):
we're not going to do that anymore. I don't think
we're at that point, but we've certainly put more resources
into understanding the guys that are out there that are
already playing college football. I think that you may see
a bit of a shift. It may be more of
more of like you know, you've got you know, eight
draft picks and then you've got your free agency, uh,
(35:25):
you know, in terms of how the NFL sort of
works it. But I think it's ongoing to sit there
and say this is how we're going to approach it,
or this is exactly how it's going to work moving forward.
It's just not that's not our approach.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
So you real quickly, we got to go.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
But you get a high school kid, the best advice
for high school parents is to what like, work your
way up the ladder of smaller schools.
Speaker 6 (35:49):
You mean, do you mean coming out? I mean if
I'm oh first coming out, I mean go to where
you go to who loves you and who you who
loves you know, start first, you know what I mean.
Just just just go fromwhere where you're gonna feel comfortable
and you're gonna thrive. Uh and if that thriving so
happens to open up other opportunities down the road. And
(36:09):
it's been great, you know what I mean. The guy
at Scrint and wilf Fear is not like, oh shoot,
that guy's getting called up to.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
Ape or.
Speaker 6 (36:16):
You know, to the big well. Right, that's how it goes,
you know what I mean, That's that's the You gotta
play where it lies right now.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
Yeah, fascinating stuff, showing great.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
I mean, we got to get you back in just
incredible insight into the world. We really appreciate it. Good
luck in the ball game. Uh and uh, you guys
will be back strong next year.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
Thanks bill birds.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Yeah, we need some pro we get some problems there. Uh,
this is Project then. I will be back in just
a second. Don't go anywhere. Welcome back, Project n I
l look Danny D d A D.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
I'm an and uh he missed any of the show.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
You'll want to check out the podcast Fox Sports Radio
wherever you get your podcasts. Right after the show, today's
podcast will be posted. Be sure to follow the podcast
right at five Stars. You can even provide a review
to So Solid and again. Just search Fox Sports Radio
wherever you get your podcasts, you'll find today's full show
posting right after we get off the air. All right, Dan,
(37:19):
interesting stuff from Sean Patten. Yeah, he's uh, he's really insightful.
You know, with all the coaching movement, you know, it's
it's an interesting world because I mean, to some extent,
you always had that when a when a coach would
get fired. Uh, you know, obviously the all the recruits
(37:43):
would be left in limbo, right, and then you know
what would happen to kids in high school?
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Where would they go? And they committed to the school
and you de commit.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
But now with money involved it again, money's up the water,
right because now all of a sudden, you know, you're
agreed to a deal and an il deal and you
know a lot of cases and now all of a sudden,
your coach, the guy that you believed in is not
there anymore.
Speaker 4 (38:10):
Yeah, And it's difficult because some of these a lot
of the times, it's life changing money for some families, right.
And you know, and I've been close enough where I've
been involved with kids who were committed to big, major
programs and then that coach you know, is fired or
left and how they navigate that, right, So the school
basically tell you we don't know where it is. You know,
(38:33):
everything we agreed upon is up in the air, like
there's a really good chance it still happens. And it's
a it's an interesting dynamic because whoever's the intrum staff,
they're fighting to keep you right. They want you to
stay with your commitment because it helps the intrum staff
if it happens mid season. But on the other side,
they have to be honest with you and say it's
(38:53):
not guaranteed. So it's a very tight you know walk
you're doing our dance. You're doing to figure out what's next.
And should I stay committed to a program where there's
a chance that I might be left in a lerch
come January and I now I'm shuffling, or do I
be proactive and go get the guaranteed money now.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Yeah, yeah, it's wild, and you know it's such a
difficult prospect, you know, especially I mean linke k Iff,
it's going to command a lot of money.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
It's gonna the dominoes that are going to fall from
this today. I mean they're saying it's going to come
out today. I mean these are the reports. Yeah, but
the dominoes that are going to fall from this is
going to be very very interesting to watch and I'm
sure we'll dive into it next week. But uh, yeah,
it's going to be crazy, I know.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
And you know it's wild because of the NFL when
their openings come around. It because college is so much
down like the NFL, and Saturdays and Sundays are blending.
You have a pool of coaches shrinks even more so. Uh,
you know, guys are gonna get paid. The landscapes can
be wild. Hey, before we get out of here, I
know you have a great NIL story.
Speaker 4 (40:07):
Yeah, Quincy Williams. I know we don't always get in
the track, but Quincy Williams, the number one track runner
in the country, ran in the Olympics a couple of
years ago, is committed to Maryland. He's staying home huge
NIO deal with new balance and uh just want to
give Miss Flowers. You know, we don't always get to
talk about track and field, but it's involved in this
process and you know, want to give Miss Flowers and
(40:28):
run Quincy. He runs the four by four is one
of his best races. He has the national record for that.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
That's awesome. Listen, do it for us. Everybody, have a
great day. Stay tuned for the Fellas.
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Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.