August 27, 2025 • 8 mins
The Athletic's Sam Khan Jr. hops on with Wex and AC to discuss the current status of College Football, the future of transfer portal, life in Austin for the Longhorns and if Arch Manning can meet the expectations set by the media in Week 1 against Ohio State. Plus more!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
On the A team, Adam Wexler Adam Clant. Here with
you is shift into some football chatter on the college
grid iron coming up this week at a huge week
one after a moderately interesting Week zero this past week Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday.
Football in store for us this coming week and from
the athletic Sam Cohn Junior joins us here on the program.
(00:28):
Been way too long since Sam has joined us here.
And you know, Sam, well, I welcome you, and I
already know the answer to the obvious question. Is college
football broken? And the answer is yes. But my real
question is does it matter? And since it's broken, what
does that really mean? Uh?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Thanks for having me, by the way. You know, here's
the thing, and I've talked about this with coaches, administrators,
people are on the sport. We do spend a lot
of time in the off season bellyaching about what's wrong
with the sport. And to be sure, there is a
lot that needs to be fixed. But on fall football Saturdays,
(01:08):
it still hits and it's still really good. And this
weekend is going to be excellent because you get some
really premier games, You get Texas and Ohio State, You
get LSU and cumes in, you get Alabama and Florida State.
The list goes on. So I to me, when this
time of year arrives, we are reminded at how much
(01:31):
fun it is and how enjoyable it is, and how
great the players are, and how good some of these
programs are. Even this last Saturday of the week, zero games.
You know, we only had five games at the FDS level,
and I had a ball watching a lot of those.
I thought far Mageddon was a little sloppy, but you know,
you had two good quarterbacks and two good teams that
I think are going to contend for a Big twelve title.
(01:54):
And you know, we had some other fun stuff throughout
the day. But I think at the end of the day,
it's going to take a long time to get to
where we need to get. But I think the ball
is still really good at the end of the day.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
I'm reading your bio on X and it says covering
college football, roster management and transfer portal. Did you ever
think you would be putting something like that in your
bio even ten years ago on this very.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
App there was no such thing as roster management. Ten
years ago. You know what roster manager was ten years ago,
you signed twenty five high school recruits, maybe you added
a transfer to that had to fit out a year
and make sure you keep your roster repleni sector seniors graduated,
or you had guys go to the draft. So it
(02:43):
is really representative how much the sport changed is that.
I'll give you an example. Three weeks ago, I was
in Nashville, Tennessee for a symposium for recruiting and personnel staffers, GMS,
scouting directors, personnel to all. Ninety percent of those positions
didn't exist ten years ago, And when I went to
(03:05):
the convention three weeks ago, there were eleven hundred people
from across college football that hold those positions that were there.
And that thing started about seven years ago and there
were probably about one hundred people there that for the
first one. So the whole roster movement, transfer portal industry
has really fundamentally changed the sport because your team changes.
(03:27):
No longer do you build a program for two three
years down the line. You are building a roster for
next year, and then after that year's over, then you
look to the next one yo.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
You could say to us or anybody you're talking to, yeah,
I talked to the general manager the other day and
we would automatically assume you're talking about an NFL team
in a football sense, but that clearly is no longer
the case. We had Craig Way on yesterday and we
were talking about arch Manning and he had said something like, yeah,
the million dollar question with arch Manning, and then he
corrected himself and he says, well, in the nil era,
it's the six million dollar question with arch man Have
(04:00):
we just moved from a we are the teams that
will hush hush under the table pay people more than
anyone else can, And now we're all the teams that
will pay more than anybody else can, but everybody knows
about it. And we're still having that separation. The big teams,
the big programs, the big conferences, just getting further away
from everybody else.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, no doubt. It has been interesting though, because what
you have seen is while the well resourced programs still
do well, the ease of player movement via the transfer
portal has made it to where it is harder to
build a super team, so you can't stack talent anymore.
If you're in Alabama, Georgia, Texas, actually Texas done a
(04:45):
pretty decent job, but it is hard to stack talent
over years of time because if guys are not playing,
they're going to go somewhere they can play and oh,
by the way, also get paid in the same vein
so and it also has open the door for some
other programs that want to be aggressive that maybe are
outside the traditional power structure. Texas Tech is a perfect
(05:06):
example of this. They are not a program that's even
played for a Big twelve championship in the almost thirty
year history of the league, but they went and spent
it twelve million dollars on a transfer portal classic this
offseason and twenty five million on their roster in an
effort to try to get there. They were able to
beat out SEC and Big ten teams for transfers, which
you would have never been able to say that in
(05:26):
the recruiting world for Texas Tech seventy years ago. So
while yes, Ohio State Texas, they're going to move further
and further away from the pack. The red share era
in the ANIL era has leveled a playing field to
some degree with programs that have well deep pocketed boosters
and that are willing to pay for players.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Talking to Sam con Junior. He is a senior writer
for the Athletic. Of course, he covers college football, roster
management and transfer portal. Hey, this Texas Ohio State matchup,
we like Wexman. We were talking to Craig Way yesterday
about it. I first of all, could not believe and
we were talking about this last night later on that
the Longhorns have not been to the Horseshoe since that
(06:09):
epic game back in two thousand and.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Five, undefeated in the Shoe.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah, wex keeps saying there. I want to know, just
from a personal preference, like, if you were going to
go to that game, would you have preferred it be
at night like the one twenty years ago? And do
you think that affects how either team performs in this game,
especially given all the hypes surrounding it.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I absolutely would prefer to be a night game, just
because they're in college football. There's just something different about
a night atmosphere. You give everybody more time to get
inebriated and get excited, get fired up, and it creates
a really incredible atmosphere. I do me personally as a reporter.
(06:54):
I love Newton games because guess what that means I
can spend the rest of the day watching the rest
of the games. But but yeah, I think fans would
tell you, especially at eleven o'clock kick and if you're
getting to a stadium that holds one hundred thousand people,
it's hard to get everybody there because of the traffic
and everything. You guys know that even going to Houston
Texans games or you go to Kyle Field, like, trying
(07:16):
to get into a game means I means you got
to get up early, you got to tailgater early, you
got to do all that. And well, there's nothing wrong
with that. I think there's something special about a big
night game and you get the whole day to build
up to it. I think the teams themselves. You ask
a lot of coach I think a lot of the
coaches love the day games, especially the early kickoffs, and
particularly if you're on the road, because if you have
(07:37):
a night game on the road, you get back on
a team playing, you're getting back at like four or
five in the morning, and that can really kind of
disrupt you the next couple of days. So I know
a lot of coaches love the early kickoffs for that reason.
But the atmosphere, no doubt, in my opinion, is better
for a night game.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Well, having left Kyle Field last summer after a George
Strait concert and the leaving of the facility, it was
one of the worst experiences of my life. I know
exactly what you're talking about. Sam, We're out of time.
We appreciate it. Well, you need to catch up with
you again later on in the college football season. Enjoy
the games this weekend and all season long, and let's
do it again soon.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
No problem. Thanks for having me, y'all.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Take care all right, Sam con Junior of the Athletic
here on Sports Talk seven ninety. We'll react to that,
and I will tell wex how the New York Post
is already burying your Houston Texans when we return
Speaker 2 (08:28):
The a T on Sports Talk seven ninety
On the A team, Adam Wexler Adam Clant. Here with
you is shift into some football chatter on the college
grid iron coming up this week at a huge week
one after a moderately interesting Week zero this past week Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday.
Football in store for us this coming week and from
the athletic Sam Cohn Junior joins us here on the program.
(00:28):
Been way too long since Sam has joined us here.
And you know, Sam, well, I welcome you, and I
already know the answer to the obvious question. Is college
football broken? And the answer is yes. But my real
question is does it matter? And since it's broken, what
does that really mean? Uh?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Thanks for having me, by the way. You know, here's
the thing, and I've talked about this with coaches, administrators,
people are on the sport. We do spend a lot
of time in the off season bellyaching about what's wrong
with the sport. And to be sure, there is a
lot that needs to be fixed. But on fall football Saturdays,
(01:08):
it still hits and it's still really good. And this
weekend is going to be excellent because you get some
really premier games, You get Texas and Ohio State, You
get LSU and cumes in, you get Alabama and Florida State.
The list goes on. So I to me, when this
time of year arrives, we are reminded at how much
(01:31):
fun it is and how enjoyable it is, and how
great the players are, and how good some of these
programs are. Even this last Saturday of the week, zero games.
You know, we only had five games at the FDS level,
and I had a ball watching a lot of those.
I thought far Mageddon was a little sloppy, but you know,
you had two good quarterbacks and two good teams that
I think are going to contend for a Big twelve title.
(01:54):
And you know, we had some other fun stuff throughout
the day. But I think at the end of the day,
it's going to take a long time to get to
where we need to get. But I think the ball
is still really good at the end of the day.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
I'm reading your bio on X and it says covering
college football, roster management and transfer portal. Did you ever
think you would be putting something like that in your
bio even ten years ago on this very.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
App there was no such thing as roster management. Ten
years ago. You know what roster manager was ten years ago,
you signed twenty five high school recruits, maybe you added
a transfer to that had to fit out a year
and make sure you keep your roster repleni sector seniors graduated,
or you had guys go to the draft. So it
(02:43):
is really representative how much the sport changed is that.
I'll give you an example. Three weeks ago, I was
in Nashville, Tennessee for a symposium for recruiting and personnel staffers, GMS,
scouting directors, personnel to all. Ninety percent of those positions
didn't exist ten years ago, And when I went to
(03:05):
the convention three weeks ago, there were eleven hundred people
from across college football that hold those positions that were there.
And that thing started about seven years ago and there
were probably about one hundred people there that for the
first one. So the whole roster movement, transfer portal industry
has really fundamentally changed the sport because your team changes.
(03:27):
No longer do you build a program for two three
years down the line. You are building a roster for
next year, and then after that year's over, then you
look to the next one yo.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
You could say to us or anybody you're talking to, yeah,
I talked to the general manager the other day and
we would automatically assume you're talking about an NFL team
in a football sense, but that clearly is no longer
the case. We had Craig Way on yesterday and we
were talking about arch Manning and he had said something like, yeah,
the million dollar question with arch Manning, and then he
corrected himself and he says, well, in the nil era,
it's the six million dollar question with arch man Have
(04:00):
we just moved from a we are the teams that
will hush hush under the table pay people more than
anyone else can, And now we're all the teams that
will pay more than anybody else can, but everybody knows
about it. And we're still having that separation. The big teams,
the big programs, the big conferences, just getting further away
from everybody else.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Yeah, no doubt. It has been interesting though, because what
you have seen is while the well resourced programs still
do well, the ease of player movement via the transfer
portal has made it to where it is harder to
build a super team, so you can't stack talent anymore.
If you're in Alabama, Georgia, Texas, actually Texas done a
(04:45):
pretty decent job, but it is hard to stack talent
over years of time because if guys are not playing,
they're going to go somewhere they can play and oh,
by the way, also get paid in the same vein
so and it also has open the door for some
other programs that want to be aggressive that maybe are
outside the traditional power structure. Texas Tech is a perfect
(05:06):
example of this. They are not a program that's even
played for a Big twelve championship in the almost thirty
year history of the league, but they went and spent
it twelve million dollars on a transfer portal classic this
offseason and twenty five million on their roster in an
effort to try to get there. They were able to
beat out SEC and Big ten teams for transfers, which
you would have never been able to say that in
(05:26):
the recruiting world for Texas Tech seventy years ago. So
while yes, Ohio State Texas, they're going to move further
and further away from the pack. The red share era
in the ANIL era has leveled a playing field to
some degree with programs that have well deep pocketed boosters
and that are willing to pay for players.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Talking to Sam con Junior. He is a senior writer
for the Athletic. Of course, he covers college football, roster
management and transfer portal. Hey, this Texas Ohio State matchup,
we like Wexman. We were talking to Craig Way yesterday
about it. I first of all, could not believe and
we were talking about this last night later on that
the Longhorns have not been to the Horseshoe since that
(06:09):
epic game back in two thousand and.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Five, undefeated in the Shoe.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah, wex keeps saying there. I want to know, just
from a personal preference, like, if you were going to
go to that game, would you have preferred it be
at night like the one twenty years ago? And do
you think that affects how either team performs in this game,
especially given all the hypes surrounding it.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I absolutely would prefer to be a night game, just
because they're in college football. There's just something different about
a night atmosphere. You give everybody more time to get
inebriated and get excited, get fired up, and it creates
a really incredible atmosphere. I do me personally as a reporter.
(06:54):
I love Newton games because guess what that means I
can spend the rest of the day watching the rest
of the games. But but yeah, I think fans would
tell you, especially at eleven o'clock kick and if you're
getting to a stadium that holds one hundred thousand people,
it's hard to get everybody there because of the traffic
and everything. You guys know that even going to Houston
Texans games or you go to Kyle Field, like, trying
(07:16):
to get into a game means I means you got
to get up early, you got to tailgater early, you
got to do all that. And well, there's nothing wrong
with that. I think there's something special about a big
night game and you get the whole day to build
up to it. I think the teams themselves. You ask
a lot of coach I think a lot of the
coaches love the day games, especially the early kickoffs, and
particularly if you're on the road, because if you have
(07:37):
a night game on the road, you get back on
a team playing, you're getting back at like four or
five in the morning, and that can really kind of
disrupt you the next couple of days. So I know
a lot of coaches love the early kickoffs for that reason.
But the atmosphere, no doubt, in my opinion, is better
for a night game.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Well, having left Kyle Field last summer after a George
Strait concert and the leaving of the facility, it was
one of the worst experiences of my life. I know
exactly what you're talking about. Sam, We're out of time.
We appreciate it. Well, you need to catch up with
you again later on in the college football season. Enjoy
the games this weekend and all season long, and let's
do it again soon.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
No problem. Thanks for having me, y'all.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Take care all right, Sam con Junior of the Athletic
here on Sports Talk seven ninety. We'll react to that,
and I will tell wex how the New York Post
is already burying your Houston Texans when we return
Speaker 2 (08:28):
The a T on Sports Talk seven ninety
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