The Pittstop 07/22/2023

Namath talks SEC Media Day and Previews all SEC teams and what to expect in 2023. Barrett Sallee from CBS joins Namath to discuss the 2023 season. Brent Chapman the CEO of MyNILPay joins Namath to discuss his new app that allows you to pay athletes directly.

Episode Transcript

(00:07):
You're listening to news radio one ohone nine Big Wax. This is the
pit stop and I'm your host,name of Pitts. It is an honor
to be back with you guys thisweek. Can you believe it's been a
week and there is so much thattook place this past week in Nashville as
the SEC Media Day kicked off withLSU and Brian Kelly, we have a
great guest for you guys this morning. It's CBS Sports Barrett Sale and Barrett,

(00:32):
I gotta tell you there was alot that took place this past week
in Nashville. I just want tofirst off, thank you so much for
taking time to be with me thismorning. It's my pleasure. Nash Vegas.
It's a great place to hold SECMedia Days, Barrett. SEC Media
Days is typically held in Birmingham,but then we sent it last year in
Atlanta, now Nashville. Do youthink we will see this become a trend

(00:53):
where the SEC Media Day rotates everysingle year to different places. Oh yeah,
they're gonna make it an event.It's not a media session any more.
It's a circus. It's a kickoffevent. It's a convention. And
the way you do that. Itis just celebrate the game in quite different
spots beside me. It was atsome point soon or go round. But
Hoover is it's uh, Hoover iswhere it was born. Hoover is where

(01:17):
it will be, I would sayevery other year, so to speak.
Let's talk LSU for a minute.Last year, Brian Kelly's first season was
way beyond expectations. It was abig year for LSU to start things off.
They beat Alabama in Death Valley,made the SEC Championship game. Brian
Kelly has to be filling his oatsas he heads into Nashville, right,

(01:38):
Yeah, Brian is Uh. Brian'san interesting character. He's he's calmed down
quite a bit, and I'm interestedto hear just kind of how he's approaching
this because I think it was hisrise to SEC West prominence was early.
But they've got staying power because that'sa complete roster. So I want to

(01:59):
see how he's avoiding complacency, soto speak, because I don't think anybody
in that program expected LSU to beSEC West champson Kelly's first year. Let's
shift to the A st Bart andtalk about Missouri. This team has not
been good since I joined the SEC, but maybe once or twice in this
year. They're predicted to be theworst team in the SEC. Do you
see things playing out just like that? Well, they have to answer defense,

(02:21):
defense, defense. You know thatdefense was not up to par last
year. It really costs them alot of games. And I think when
you have an issue like that,you need to have a dynamic offense.
And that's why drink Wins was broughtin. He's known for his dynamic offenses,
but he really hasn't shown that duringhis tenure in Columbia, and I

(02:46):
think he's got to answer that.You know, you're supposed to be an
offensive guru. Is it a realIs it because you don't have the personnel
or is it because you're a smalltime coach. I think that's the biggest
thing that Missouri has to worry aboutthis year, and it's one thing that
I think he, like drink Woods, has to answer. Last year,
it was all about Texas A andM in Alabama, Nick Saban, Jimbo
Fisher. That was a talk atSEC media Day. But Jimbo Fisher's got

(03:07):
that massive contract and he went fiveand seven. I felt like he was
a little more quiet than usual,do you agree. I don't know if
Jimbo is capable of keeping it lowkey, though. Oh, Jimbo is
stubborn. Jimbo is outspoken. He'sgonna have to answer the question why aren't
you getting it done? And Idon't know why he I don't know if

(03:28):
he has an answer for that.He tries to answer with Bobby Petrino coming
in to run the offense. Sothat's gonna be an interesting discussion. How
are you gonna mix those two,those two stubborn personalities together and the answer
I think is going to be veryinteresting. Hugh Freeze inter in his first
season at Auburn. What are yourexpectations for the Tigers? I mean,

(03:49):
he was a great coach. He'sjust a great coach. They don't have
the personnel, and I think everybodythere knows that, but um, you
know, I just I think eightand four with that schedule, great season.
And I think he's capable of doingthat because you know, Hugh is
a great xs and O's coach.And for Alabama it's going to be all
about the quarterback. You know,it's Tyler Buttner a superstar or he was?

(04:10):
He the best of some pretty averageoptions in the transfer portal. I
think that's the biggest question facing NickSaban. Barrett. You mentioned Alabama,
and I just feel like every timepeople count out Nick Saban, he makes
something happen. I really think eventhough they don't know who's gonna be the
QB, I still expect him tomake it back to the SEC Championship game
and back in the college football playoffs. Like you said, it's all on
quarterback. It's all on quarterback,and I think Nick knows that. And

(04:32):
then he went out and got anotheroption. Fun no related football question when
you're traveling, because that's what youdo a lot when you go to cover
these games. What are your goto snacks? I've got a cliff bar
or two, and we are inmy house obsessed with these Zone Perfect protein
chocolate bars. I snagged one beforeI left because they usually get gobbled up

(04:53):
by the two kids, so Isnagged one before I left. So trying
to get the energy bars going.I'm gonna stop here in a little while,
get get a LCS or two andkeep things moving. Barrett Slee with
CBS Sports, Barrett, thank youso much. Hopefully we will get to
talk again soon. My pleasures.Thanks for having me. You guys heard
it right there. Barrett Slee withCBS Sports, and I gotta tell you
it was an honor to have himwith me today. And I gotta tell

(05:15):
he brought some good points. Hetalked about how Jimbo Fisher has a hard
time being quiet, and that isn'ta surprise. Last year everything was about
him and Nick Saban. He didn'treally touch on Lane Kiffins and il comments
that much or anything else like that, So I thought that was a little
intriguing. But he talked about thequarterback battle of Alabama. He talked about
Hugh Freeze not having the personnel andbut you know, like he said,

(05:35):
there's a lot that has to bedetermined, and so each person has the
different things that they went out totry to do to improve their team.
Alabama did that getting Buckner, Auburndid that in a variety of different roles,
and so I'm excited for the season. Barrett Slee, CBS Sports,
great reporter. By the way,you can listen to him every week actually
on WARC one five five FM JT'sAlabama Morning News with JT. I'm the

(06:00):
producer for JT and he interviews BarrettSlee during football season every single week and
they talk about all the SEC games, big games taken on. So again,
I really appreciate him being with methis morning on the pit stop.
Let's talk about SEC Media Day andlet's start with the first team up,
and that was LSU and Brian Kelly. We talked about LSU, he talked
about them. They took center stageon Monday, and let me tell you,

(06:20):
he brought Jade Daniels, his quarterbackwho's going to be in the run
for an Heisman Trophy. He broughtJosh Williams and Mackai Wingo and let me
tell you, this is year twoof the Brian Kelly era down in the
south of Louisiana, and I gottatell you a key talking point was obviously
the growth of Jade Daniels, becausethis is a guy that came from Arizona

(06:40):
State to LSU, and just likeJoe Burrow from Ohio State to LSU,
we've seen him thrive almost immediately,and I gotta tell you, I think
his development is going to be hugefor LSU if they look to really capitalize
in year two and try to makeit back to the SEC. Championship game.
Now, in order to get tothe SEC Championship game, they had
to beat Nick Saban in Alabama.So here's what Brian Kelly said about consistency

(07:03):
when it comes to playing Alabama andother teams in the SEC. Yeah,
I was asked that question earlier.Look Alabama and Georgia. Of the benchmark
for what we're looking for and whatis that? In particular, it's consistency
in performance. Yere in year out. We did it one time, So
we're not in that conversation at thispoint. So what we're hoping that it

(07:25):
catapults us to is a more consistentfootball program that is competing for championships year
and in year out. In otherwords, that we can say, look,
we're going to compete with Alabama.We're going to be able to beat
Alabama. It's not a fantasy,it's a reality. It's not a fantasy,
it's a reality. Those are somepretty strong words for a guy that's

(07:47):
only beating Nick Saban once in hiscareer. But what I know he would
go on to discuss the improvement ofhis quarterback, Jane Daniels. I gotta
tell you, I love Jane Daniels. I keep up with airs On State.
That's the PAC twelve team that Ifollow. When I was in high
school, I had these couple ofmonths where I so badly wanted to go
to Arizona State and then I realizedout of state tuition was ridiculous. But

(08:07):
I gotta tell you LSU, Iwill say they have closed the gap on
Alabama and Georgia. And what Imeans they said, well, they had
four losses, Like, how havethey closed the gap? Well, they
defeated Alabama and Brian Kelly's first season, and it was a monumental achievement for
LSU to take down Alabama, especiallywhen it's Brian Kelly's first season in the
SEC. So I think that's definitelya step in the right direction, even

(08:28):
though it didn't get him a nationalchampionship. And for LSU, it's about
building sustained greatness like both Alabama andGeorgia have built dynasties, and it's what
Kelly's obviously looking to do in BatonRouge. But you know, again,
we saw what happened in the SECchampionship game to Georgia. But I do
think they've closed the gap, orat least they're closing the gap, but
you know you gotta get recruitment.Brian Kelly's got to be able to get

(08:50):
his recruits. And the biggest questionthey're gonna have this year is the secondary,
no question about it. Another yearthat they're gonna have to go to
the transfer portal and see if theycan get some several key corner backs to
add debt to their team because theylost a few different people. So the
starting unit direction, we don't reallyknow how it's going to go. We'll
see probably Chessnut return from injury freshmanJavion Tavannio and also known as the Swiss

(09:13):
Army Knife, and so it's gonnahave to be the secondary that's gonna have
to improve for the LS Tigers inyear number two for Brian Kelly. After
Brian Kelly was done at the SECmedia Days, the attention shifted to Jimbo
Fisher in the Texas A and mAggies. And I told you last year
all the talk was on Jimbo Fisherin the NIL. Next saving in the
NIL. This is a Texas Aand M team that went five and seven

(09:33):
last year, and they went twoand six in the SEC, and Jimbo
Fisher talked about the difference in winningeleven games or five games are well more
compared the two to be in thesame in this league, no matter whether
you won eleven games or you wonfive games like we did, there's such
a fine line in those games ofgames you won and games you lost.
It's making a few critical plays ata few critical times in the game and

(09:54):
finding those inches and what you gottafight, scratching claw for each and play
and then quaking can go from thetop to the bottom real quick. And
a team that can find that,I like the dynamic of our group to
be able to do that this year. I gotta tell you you'll have to
forgive Texas A and M fans,because if I was a Texas A and
M fan, I'd be losing mymind. I mean, this program is

(10:15):
perfectly set up to be like GeorgiaAlabama. This program is perfectly set up
to be the new world of whatcollege football has become. It's like,
there's absolutely nothing that should stop thisteam from being a powerhouse. Like Jimbo
Fisher, guys, he's a terrificrecruiter and there shouldn't be any issues with
nil opportunities. I mean, theygot the old money down there. They
should be probably the top team withTexas and maybe some schools from California,

(10:39):
maybe Notre Dame when it comes tonil money, like everything is there for
Texas, A and M to beGeorgia. But instead they had this epic
recruiting class that he bought. Let'sjust be real, he bought this recruiting
class and what happened. A lotof them were gone after year one.
They came and got the checks,they hopped out. They didn't live up
to the expectation. And I tellpeople this all the time. It does

(11:03):
not matter anything about the recruiting.They can be the number one guy in
the country, but if you donot have a coach or coaches that can
get the most out of that guy. Because a lot of what happens with
the name, image likeness is theseguys get paid and they don't care.
Like when I was growing up,it was all about you wanted to put
that Alabama jersey on Johnny Menzel wantedto wear that Texas A and M Jersey.

(11:24):
Guys aren't like that anymore. It'sall about how much you're gonna pay
any and once you get paid,you just quite frankly don't care. You
get some guys that grew up inthe state of Alabama. They want to
put on the Alabama jersey, theywant to put on the Auburn jersey.
So everything is there for Texas Aand M, but they continue to be
well pathetic. The super talent hasbeen missing. They can't seem to hang

(11:45):
with Alabama, LSU, Georgia,and now Tennessee. They've got ken Yon
Green, who's the only person,the only offensive guard that the Aggies have
have drafted before the third round sincetwo nineteen. Okay, since two third
Okay, well, actually, let'sjust go back to twenty nineteen. Since
twenty nineteen, they've only been thirteenTexas A and M players who have been

(12:07):
selected in the NFL Draft. Thisis fewer than Kentucky, and I'm just
sorry. Kentucky's a basketball school.Texas A and M should be out producing
them when it comes to that.I mean, guys, Northwestern has had
more players drafted in the NFL Draftthan Texas A and M has since that.
So I gotta tell you I feelbad for Texas A and M fans.
It's not gonna look good this season. I don't think either, and

(12:30):
after Texas, A and M.It was Eli Drinkwitz, who is from
Missouri. And let's just be honest. You heard Barrett say it. I
mean defense, defense, defense.This is probably gonna be the worst team
in the SEC. They went threeand five in the SEC. A year
ago they went six and seven overall. But I gotta say you when it
came to the SEC media Day,Eli was one of the winners because he
talked about his love for cinnamon rollsand I don't know if you've ever been

(12:52):
in Nashville or you have ever triedslimming huskies, but it is some of
the best Simon roles I've ever putin my mouth personally. And he talked
a little bit about that. Definitelywanted to share that cut with you guys.
Well, can you give me theheads up prior to I mean you
think right, well, I meanwhat time do you think they close?
I know they're open for dinner.They are open for dinner. Well and

(13:13):
crud cause and the CIOL can getuber eats. I'm a connoisseur of cinnamon
rolls and I will be more thanhappy to put that on Twitter, which
one I think is good. Sohe was talking about if he could make
it there in time to try oneof those cinnamon roles that everybody talks about.
But unfortunately, I hate to informyou cinnamon rolls don't produce wins on
the football field. And uh,you know there was kids this not too

(13:35):
long ago, when Missouri was twentythree and five. Let's actually it's been
met and probably when I was alittle bit in my high school days.
You know, Missouri was a teamthat went on a twenty three five two
year run right after joining the SEC. I mean, this is a team
that played in two straight SEC titlegames as the East champion. This is
a team that came within a lossto Auburn from playing in the twenty fourteen

(13:56):
in final with the VCS championship.You know, in a few years before
all of that, I mean,they came within a big twelfth championship,
you know, win of playing fora twenty seven National Championships team. Like,
it's not all out of stretch thatMissouri can't be a successful football program.
Like they can be a successful footballprogram. But since twenty fourteen,
the Missouri Tigers, they have wonas many bowl games and generate as many

(14:18):
winning seasons in the SEC as youand I have let that sink in.
Barry Odom went twenty one and seventeenin his last three years as the Missouri
head coach. He didn't win abowl, but he came up with two
winning campaigns in four years, andto be honest with the ELI has not
done any better. Seventeen and nineteen, no bowl wins, seriously, an
SEC school losing to Army in abowl game, eleven fifteen record in the

(14:39):
SEC, grand total of zero winningseasons so far, a loss to Appalachian
State, and yeah, it's justthere's there's not a lot of hope if
you're a Missouri fan when it comesto football. It seems like everything that
used to be is well keyword usedto be doesn't seem like it's coming back
anytime soon. So you'll have toreally pray for Missouri fan because I couldn't

(15:01):
imagine not having anything to be excitedabout in the fall. But let's talk
Vanderbilt, because well, Vanderbilt,in my opinion, is worse than Missouri,
although it wasn't like that on papertechnically, when it's the last time
Vanderbilt's actually won and something not namedgolf, baseball or yeah, golfer baseball,
and when's the last time they've beengood in football since old Buddy ran

(15:22):
his mouth? And an album willput fifty on them. Well, it
was all Clark Lee talking about howhe's got to replace all his starters with
the transferportal and how he loses guysto the trans reportal Well, guess what,
Clark, there's a lot of coachesthat are now having the same issue.
We appreciate everything Ray contributed to ourprogram. He ran behind five offensive
linemen that are back and that doa great job. In fact, there

(15:43):
were more than five that started gamesfor us last year. We believe in
our offensive front. We return ChaseGillespie and Patrick Smith and both are capable
runners. We've added talented freshmen tothat mix too. I will give Clark
a little credit. Like Vanderbilt showimprovements last year. This is a team
that finished five and seven and onlya second season, you know, so,

(16:06):
I gotta say they're kind of gettingclose to a winning team, winning
record, but they're not there yet. In the offense, like you heard
him talk about, they've got toreplace their leading rusher in Ray Davis.
Not only that, they need toimprove up front, like they need to
improve, like in the running game, behind the line essentially. Like we've
seen the development of quarterback AJ Swan, We've seen the development of wide receiver

(16:29):
Will Shephard and Quincy Skinner. Butthere's a bigger thing that's holding Vanderbilt back
from really being good. And it'sbeen the same problem every year. It's
the defense. Like the offense isokay, they don't score a ton of
points, but they score enough thatthey can win some games that they lose.
But the defense, Like, heneeds to revamp the whole defense because

(16:49):
the defense is terrible. The passrush has got to take a step forward,
and I think they will. Theyget Miles Capers, their top pass
rusher back, who had a seasonending knee injury last year, So you
know, I think that they've gotthe capabilities to be really good. But
it's just a struggle for them defensively. It's a struggle on the line,

(17:10):
it's a struggle at linebackers, it'sa struggle at cornerback. I mean,
they're gonna have to probably start aredshirt freshman this year. They got a
guy who did come on late lastyear as a safety, but again,
they're gonna have to find something becausethe defense is just absolutely there's no way
to put it other than to saypathetic. Vanderbilt is a losing football team,
and if I had to pick betweenthem in Missouri, as bad as

(17:33):
Missouri is, I'm still going toMissouri over Vanderbilt because I don't ever put
my trust in Vanderbilt at all whenit comes to football. But you go
from Vanderbilt the worst team in theleague to Georgia the best team in the
league. And I gotta tell you, my favorite person that took the mic
stand at SEC media Day behind LaneKiffen was Kirby Smart. And here's exactly

(17:53):
why I value leadership attributes in mylife. I want to be a leader.
And Kirby Smart has had with alot of adversity off the field this
offseason, and he talked about leadershipin the cost of being the leader.
We truly want to be honest andupfront about leadership. You can't ignore the
costs of leadership. Great leaders arewilling to accept those costs. Number One,

(18:17):
you will have to make hard decisionsthat negatively affect people you care about.
Number Two, you will be dislikeddespite your best attempt to do the
best for the most and number three, you will be misunderstood and won't always
have the opportunity to defend yourself.He talks about how you wan't to always
have the opportunity to defend yourself,and I just thought that was such an

(18:38):
interesting line from Kirby Smart, whois a two time national championship coach.
Now, like, let's talk aboutGeorgia. This is a team that is
looking to do something unprecedented. They'relooking to win three national championships, three
national champiships. I can't think ofthe last team to win three national championships.
Like I would have to really takea let's just say a couple hours

(19:02):
maybe. Now, let's be real, it only take me a couple of
minutes with social media and Google nowadays. But if I were like really trying
to genuinely figure out on my own, who's the last person to win three
national championships, I don't even know. So, But do you know what
Georgia is in search for its thirdconsecutive national championship coach Kirby Smarts, team's
gonna return thirteen overall starters, andthere's no shortage of up and coming promising

(19:22):
talent on both sides of the ballbecause of his elite recruiting that has been
out of this world. But Ithink what's interesting is Mike Bobo taking over
on the offense. You know,we had Ted Makin's successful three year run
as George's offensive coordinator, which endedwith his return to the NFL where he's
headed to coach the Baltimore Ravens.So they're gonna have to go to Mike
Bobo, who's kind of been inthe program before, but you know he's

(19:45):
now going to be actually making theoffensive calls. Then you lose Stetson Bennett,
who had a storybook career in Athens, Georgia. He was a walk
on beginning, you know, towin two national championships, and now he's
off to the NFL, and youa lot of people expect Orson Beck to
be the starting quarterback. He's gotsome young guys coming after him, Gunner
Stockton, who's the number seven overallrecruit in the last class. They've got

(20:07):
Brock Vnda Griff who is the numberseventeen overall recruit in twenty twenty one.
So the quarterback battle is going tobe very important for Georgia. They've got
to reload up front. They losta lot up front. They've got three
returning starters on the interior, andit's not a complete overhaul this spring for
George's up front, but they dohave to fill the void left behind from
Roderick Jones and Warred mcclintonant to tacklespots and those are big positions when it

(20:30):
comes to college football. There's gonnabe new faces up front on the defensive
side of the ball. Like,let's be real again, Talent's not an
issue from Georgia. They got eliterecruiting. Talent is not an issue.
But Kirby Smart and co coordinator Willmust Champ are gonna have some work to
do. They're gonna have to figureout who's gonna fill that void left behind
Jalen Carter. Like the line doesnot lack difference makers, but it does

(20:52):
not look as strong. And thenthe last one's the secondary. They're gonna
have to do a complete retool ofthe secondary. They don't have a ton
of losses here, but they lostKeiley Ringo and Christopher Smith and those are
big shoes, big playmakers that they'regoing to have to figure out a way
to replace. In state team AuburnHugh Freeze took the stand for the first

(21:12):
time as the head coach of Auburn, and he talked about the culture at
Auburn since he arrived in the city. It may be the most welcoming,
friendliest listen. We we love thecommunity, we love our church there.
It's been incredible. Our Pastor Mileshas been awesome. My family is all

(21:33):
there. The passion that the Auburnpeople have for this program and their hunger
to see it return is evident everywhereyou go. Listen for us to sell
more season tickets at this point thanever in the history of the program.
I don't think that speaks to meor our staff. I just think it

(21:55):
speaks to the fact that the Auburnpeople are showing their support for this program
and what they believe it can be. So it's it's been really welcoming.
The word on the street is thatAuburn has sold more season tickets than ever.
Hugh Freese has not even stepped onthe sideline yet. This is a
guy that was at Old Miss.He knows how to beat Nick Saban,
he's done it before, but healso know hows to loose to Nick Saban.

(22:18):
But the guy got in some trouble, but the past does not define
you. And I'll be honest withyou guys. When they first hired Hugh
Freeze, I made jokes, Isaid things, and I shouldn't have because
this is a change man who trulyhas put his trust in God, who
went to Liberty, which is agreat university, and he was successful at
Liberty. They won football games,they made ball games, they were knocking
at being a Power five team tomake a run to try to be like

(22:41):
Cincinnati and get in the playoffs.And so Hugh Freeze knows how to win.
He doesn't have the personnel this year. Like, let's just be real,
it's not gonna happen this year.But like Barrett Slee said, if
he can go eight and four withthat schedule that they've got, that is
a successful first season. And he'sgonna continue to look in the trans report
for quarterback, Like, let's justbe real. They don't have a great

(23:02):
quarterback on the roster. They don'tlike the guy from Hoover, Ashford.
He did a good job, buthe is not sec type quarterback to win
a national championship. And maybe heproves me wrong, but that's just a
reality. The realities. They don'thave a quarterback right now. They don't
have the personnel around the quarterback tohelp the quarter It's not like Alabama.
And again I'm not saying Alabama isbetter than Auburn, although I do think

(23:22):
they are. Where you go,well, Alabama doesn't have a quarterback,
Yeah, you're right, but they'vegot the personnel around them. They've got
Justice Haynes, They've got, youknow, an offensive line that is going
to be improved that they've got afew wide receivers that return and Isaiah Bonds
and some young guys in Kobe Prentis. Like, there's guys around them that
they've already shown the promise of whatthey can be. Auburn doesn't have guys
around Ashford Losing tank bigs be hurts. They don't have the guy, even

(23:45):
though I do think Hunters better.But there's some controversy there. But I'm
not gonna get into politics. Butthe thing is they don't have the pieces
around. They don't have the piecesto have a better year in my opinion,
to have eleven and one or twelveand oh ten and two year.
So again, if they can goeight and four, I think that is
a very very successful season for Auburn. And I think Hugh Freeze is going
to be successful on the planes.I think he's a change man. He's

(24:07):
plugged in the community, he's pluggedin the campus. And I'll tell you,
Auburn scares me because I really thinkthis is a team that is going
to make a run in the comingyears. Is Nick Saban's career I feel
like he's getting closer and closer tobeing finished. Does that happen in the
next year or two. I don'tknow that it does. But I do
know again that they are in aposition to be very successful under Hugh Freeze.
He knows how to win football games. He's gonna get plugged in the

(24:29):
community, and Auburn has a lotto be excited about. And so hey,
we're going to get ready to takea break here in the second again.
When we come back from the break, we're going to talk with the
CEO of my Nilpa, which isa new app that where you can pay
football players directly. We're gonna talka little bit about this new development,
which is similar to Venmo cash appand some of those apps where you can
send money. And then we're goingto continue to talk about SEC Media Day

(24:52):
and all the different teams that werethere this past week in Nashville. So
we're gonna take a break for newsand weather. You're listening to news radio
one on one nine Big Acts andI am joined right now by NCUBA expert

(25:23):
in CEO of my Ni L Pay, Brent Chapman. Brent, thank you
for taking time to be with usthis morning. Thank you very much for
having me on. So, Brent, I brought you on because there's a
new app that allows college sports fansto be able to directly pay student athletes.
That's right, my Ni L Pay, And I'm telling you there's nothing
like it out there. I thinkBenmo of ni Al essentially right, you're

(25:48):
watching the game or you know,and you see a great play and you're
like, od man, that's awesome. Here's twenty bucks. You can send
it to any player that you want, or maybe somebody from your church goes
to some small school and you wantto support them, giving fifty bucks to
help them out on college. Youcan send them fifty bucks. Absolutely,
we're gonna talk a little bit moreabout that in just a minute. But
since twenty twenty one, brand,I mean, let's be honest, NIL

(26:10):
has changed the landscape of college football. I mean, college athletes have had
the ability to profit from their name, image and likeness. That's what NIL
stands for. And we've heard ofthe guys that are making big bucks.
Arch Manning, I mean, everybodyknows. Let's be honest, he went
to Texas because he got paid thebig bucks. I mean, when it
comes to NIL, you're going tosee places like Texas in California did have
that money. For instance, Texaswith all money. I mean, those

(26:33):
guys should be able to pay forthe big time names. But we've it's
also not just football though. Imean Angel Reese who played for LSU.
You know she was a big deal. And really one of the biggest ones
I've seen is a gymnast from LSU, Livy Dunn. So this is a
new app that's hit the market andessentially what it's supposed to do is help
more athletes get paid. So myquestions the CEO and founder, what inspired

(26:56):
you to create an app like mynil pay, Well, you can't hit
it on it ahead. You justname the people getting nil money, right,
and that's about it. So,I mean there's five hundred thousand student
athletes, and right now, throughcorporate sponsorships and through you know, really
big booster money through the collectives,it's going to a very small group of

(27:22):
elite athletes. And I was ata football camp with my oldest son and
was talking to some of the playersand they are explaining some of their issues
and you know, and I'm justlike, just such a better way to
do this. There's technology that facilitatesthis in a way that it solves these
problems. Plus it also allows everyoneto have an opportunity, whether you're a

(27:45):
man or a woman, whether you'reon the rowing team or the football team,
whether you're at a D one ora D three school. And that
is why I was so passionate aboutputting this together. So the my NLP
is again a new mobile app.Guys. It allows you as fans to
be able to pay your favorite collegeathlete directly, and in return, you
even get a piece of digital artwith the athlete's name. Answering Toronto.

(28:07):
But Britt, my question to youright here is do people actually get to
interact with the athletes directly when theygive money to them or they just donating
that's it. Yeah, So howit works is you find. You know,
all five hundred thousand student athletes arepreloaded. So if you went to
Carthage College like me, or JacksonsvilleState like you, right, you can
just type in the school or anyplayer on the team and send them some

(28:32):
money. Right. And so whathappens is and you mentioned the digital art,
which is incredibly important. So toreceive money for nil, you have
to do something in exchange. Theathlete has to have a quid pro quo.
So we send the digital art withthe athlete digital signature on it.
That is the action taken. Andthe fair market value of that digital art

(28:55):
is whatever the buyer and seller agreeon. So you can send twenty fifty
five, hundred thousand and five thousand, it doesn't matter. And so you
have the opportunity to choose who youwant and pay them how much you want.
How did the athletes receive the money? Yeah, So what will happen
is if they're not aware of theapp, it will send them an email

(29:15):
to their dot E tou email address. It says for insa U fifty bucks
and they'll go in and sign up, put their checking account in and then
when the money sent to them,it goes literally from your credit card to
their checking account, so the athletehas to actually sign up for the app
itself. If the athlete doesn't registerand sign up, then they can't receive
money. That is correct, Theyare all preloaded in the app, but

(29:37):
to actually accept the money and forus to issue the digital art, they
have to claim their accounts and registerand enter in their checking account information.
Gotcha? That was going to beBasically my question is, you know I
went to a smaller school. Everybodyknows Alabama, Hauburn, you know,
you know Florida, Florida State,but a lot of people forget about those
smaller colleges that are still d one. You know, I went to jackson

(30:00):
the state which was in the FCSDivision, made the national championship in twenty
fifteen, played Carson Wentz in NorthDakota State. But they just moved to
Conference USA, so now they canofficially actually play in a ballgame and even
makes college football playoffs. But it'sstill smaller colleges. People forget about the
Jacksonville States, the Troy, theSouth Alabama's, these Conference USA teams,
these American teams that aren't SEC Bigtwelve, Big ten. So these athletes

(30:22):
They all have the ability to beon the NILPA, they just have to
make sure they register. And howdid they know? Did they get an
email? You kind of talked aboutthat. Do all athletes know that this
app is out there for them tobe a part of? Well, no,
I mean that's the thing. We'rea startup, right, so it's
about awareness. So but the nicething about the app is because the athlete
is already in the app, they'repreloaded. Their name is in there and

(30:45):
their emails in there, so thatwhen somebody sends them money, we reach
out to them and contact them andlet them know so they can hear about
it on the social or if somebodymight actually just send them money and they'll
hear about it that way, thenwhat they should do is they should promote
their account on our socials or Twitter, through friends and family, local church,
the networks, right and let peopleknow about this to help get people

(31:08):
out there to support them. Didyou guys do anything like a shark tank
or think about anything like that ordo you have any current investors? Are
you interested in getting investors? Ifnot, what did things look like on
that end? At my own privateemail Shark Tank with Mark Cuban though not
did not do any did not doany un televised Shark tank. No.

(31:30):
We you know, we're pretty muchself funded and then you know, we've
raised money from angel investors, individualinvestors. We have not raised capital from
a institutional investor. I think that'sthe next stage now that we're live and
revenue generating. Really would like,really think the next step in our growth

(31:52):
is to have an institutional investor comein with their knowledge and experience and help
us take to take the company tothe next level. What's the long term
vision? What's the long term goalof my nil pay? Yeah? I
think what's really important is my andI LT right now is to get all
student athletes significant NIL money. Andwhen you look in fifty thousand student athletes

(32:12):
are getting nil money, that's notcutting it, right. So the long
term goal of MY and I LPis to make this successiful for everyone,
so that every kid at Carthage College, D Free and Jacksonville's State and you
know D two, Northeastern State University, right, all those kids are getting
paid anil money. Doesn't have tobe millions, but if they're getting five

(32:34):
hundred a thousand bucks, two thousandbucks a year through the app. That's
awesome and that's significant in their lives, and that's what our real goal is
is to expand this out to thisreach to everybody. I couldn't agree more
and I love the vision behind it, Brent. Brent, you were in
Nashville this past week for the SECmedia Day. We've seen Lane kiff and
be very vocal about name, imageand likeness. All are your thoughts on

(32:54):
his comments? Um? Yeah,I think that what he said is kind
of is characterizing the motivation of it. But it's like I say, you
know, you don't manage intent,right, you know, I don't know.
You know, I can't decide whysomebody wants to send somebody fifty bucks
through the my nil pay app.If I go buy a cheeseburger at McDonald's,

(33:15):
I assume you're buying it to eatit, right, But what if
you throw it at the car nextto year? I'm not managing intent.
So I think Lane is a littlebit wrong on that, and that that
might be what he thinks is happening, and that might do what's happening.
But these people are following the rules. Nobody is breaking the rules and getting
these kids the money. The bigcollege stars like arch Manning, they've got

(33:37):
it made. But what about theaverage college athlete. If a no name
student athlete wins a big game foryour favorite team, you now have the
ability to send them twenty bucks,fifty bucks, one hundred bucks with just
a click of a button on yourphone. NCAA expert CEO of my nilpay,
Brent Chapman, Brent, thank youso much for taking time this morning
to be with us on the pitstop. Thank you very much. What
an interesting development that is and it'sgoing to be interesting to see how it

(33:58):
plays out moving forward, because thisis an app that, uh, I
gotta tell you, it's kind ofsimilar to Venmo, and I think it's
a good app. But I kindof wonder to myself sometimes, you know,
why wouldn't you just venmo them orcash up them or something if you
really want to do it? Youknow that way. But you know,
these athletes have got to sign upfor this so that they can be a
part of it. They've got to. They've got to, they've got to.

(34:20):
So Hey, before the break,we were talking about SEC Media Day
and we had stopped at Mississippi State, and I want to pick back up
and they've got a new head coachin Zach Arnett. Now that man,
I hate to say this, MikeLeach is gone. And he was an
incredible coach, an incredible person thatbrought so many funny memories to the game.
But he is officially gone and becauseof his tragic passing, Zach Arnett

(34:43):
takes over. And Zach Barnett wasat sec ME to day where he talked
about the physicality of playing Mississippi State. I hope it's a continuation of the
identity that missip State's always had asa football program. Tough, hard nosed
discipline, right. I mean,it's it's been acknowledged for a long time
in Italy. All right, whenyou line up against Missippi State, right,
you better pack your lunchbox and hardhat because it's gonna be a physical

(35:06):
game. It's gonna be a physicalgame. That's what he says. When
you play Mississippi State, you betterbe ready because they are going to have
their lunchbox ready. I guess itis, and you say you better have
yours. I don't know, buteither way, this is a guy that's
got to fix a Mississippi State teamthat went four and four in the SEC.
But they went nine and four overall, so there's some definitely things to
look forward to. And again,it's just hard to envision Mississippi State without

(35:27):
coach Mike Leach. But Zach Arnett, you know, he was a well
of a rising defensive coordinator at SanDiego State. He was Leech's guy at
a Mississippi State and now he's afirst time head coach in a division that
includes Nick Saban, Brian Kelly,Hugh Freez, Jimbo Fisher, and Lane
Kiffins. So all while trying toreplace what's a legendary historic influence in figures.
So if there's pressure is Zach Arnett'sgot the pressure right now because he's

(35:52):
got to fulfill some big shoes andthey went to the transfer portal to try
to do that with some few differentguys, and do get Will Rogers back
at quarterback? Elsie has an experiencedquarterback coming. Speaking of quarterbacks, there's
one team that does not know whotheir quarterback is going to be, and
that's the University of Alabama. TheCrimson Tide lose Bryce Young, who went
number one overall to the Carolina Panthers, and when it comes to the quarterback,

(36:13):
competition. Coach Saban says it's alot like his grandmother's cake baking process.
People are most interested in is thequarterback. We had a great quarterback
one Heisman Trophy. Bryce did afantastic job for us. So we have
three guys that are competing for thatposition right now. All those players are
getting better, and it's important forus that all those players get better.

(36:35):
I don't think anybody has actually separatedthemselves yet to this point, and I
don't think it's something that we're tryingto rush. I use the analogy earlier.
Grandma Saban used to bake the bestcakes in the world. And I
used to stand by the oven whenI was a kid and say, when's
this cake going to be done?When's this cake going to be done?

(36:57):
And she said, if I don'tlet it go through and take it out
of the oven too soon, it'sgonna turn too much, so it won't
be a really good cake. SoI think we gotta let this sort of
develop and make sure we let thecake bake until somebody separates themselves. And
all the players are working hard,they all have a good attitude, they're
all competing. Well, guys,you gotta let the cake bake. If

(37:17):
you don't let the cake bake,it ain't gonna be no good. So
Nick Saban saying, Hey, I'mgonna let my quarterbacks bake it out.
I'm gonna let them see which onecomes up with the best pie, and
we're gonna rock and roll. Butin all seriousness, Jalen Milroe, Thy
Simpson or Tyler Buckner, which oneis going to be the quarterback one Albama
takes the field on day one,And when they take the field on day
one against mid Tennessee State, thatdoesn't necessarily mean that's going to be the

(37:39):
quarterback come the last day. Sothey're gonna enter the twenty twenty three college
football season in different territory than theytypically do. They're gonna be talked by
LSU, who a lot has alot of expectations, and they're gonna be
without Bryce Young. But they geta new offensive coordinator in Tommy Reese,
and they get a new defensive coordinatorand Kevin Steele. But every time people

(37:59):
can't Nick Saban, he comes rightback and does it again. And so
I don't think for a second thisis a team that's gonna go down,
and a down year with two lossesis a great year for most people.
So we'll see what happens again withAlabama. They do lose Bryce Young,
but again you can expect to reallywhat I think is a really good running
back team with Jason McClellan. They'regonna have We just talked about it earlier,
Justice Haines the freshman. This isa team that I think is gonna

(38:22):
focus a lot more on running theball, and I think they're gonna look
to really make their strength be onthe field in the rushing attack. Defensively,
this is a team that did loseWill Anderson in Jordan Battle, but
they've got Coolie McKinstry coming back inDallas Turner. There, You've got a
lot of I think really good keytransfers in Jalen Key from the University of
Alabama Birmingham and Trey Almost from Louisiana. So I think that's gonna solve some

(38:45):
of the team's death concerns. Andagain, I think Kevin's still is gonna
be a really big I set forAlabama. Defensively, I think this team
is gonna be I think they're gonnawin that SEC West again, I really
do, because every time people canout Nick Saban out, he always makes
it happen. But a team thatI'm really intrigued to see what happens with
is Arkansas. This is a teamthat's kind of been good but not bad,

(39:05):
you know, like they're like they'renot well, I guess they're not
great, but they're not bad.They've just kind of been ad like they're
just a little bit better than awinning record team. And every year I
always picked him to be that teamto really make that jump. Surprisingly,
and despite because of my love forSam Pittman, I think he's one of
the funniest coaches in the SEC.I think he's one of the most relaxed
coaches in the SEC. And whenit came to the SEC Media Day in
Nashville this week, he had noproblem talking about celebratory briskies. You know

(39:30):
what I'm saying, like a littlebeer. I don't drink personally, but
he likes to drink when he wins. And he talked about a new beer
that he would like to try thatwas actually rated as the number one beer
here recently. I like it onthe old Ham beer you burp Alight.
Afterwards, he seemed like he gota good job, man, Cannada step

(39:52):
it up a little bit. Well, the media guy asked him if he
would have a I guess Ham's Beeror whatever that is, whatever brand that
is, I'm not familiar with it. He talked about, you know,
hey, yeah, absolutely, butyou gotta ask me better questions than that.
But the Arkansas Razorbacks they won sevenand six last year. They were
three and five in the SEC.They were not good, not what they
were supposed to be. But SamPittman has been nineteen and seventeen and two
seasons. And again, it wasn'tall that long ago when Arkansas was really

(40:15):
struggling just to win a few moregames a year, like they would only
win two or three or four games, and it was up to Sam Pittman
to be the guy to fix theproblem. And it is this. The
theory goes, if you can coachthe offensive line, you can coach the
team. And it's been the sameway for Sam Pittman. You know,
again, he's been an offensive coach, offensive line coach specifically, in a
lot of different places. And hehas sixteen wins in the last two seasons,

(40:37):
and that's the best at Arkansas sinceBobby Petrino and so again, the
twenty two schedule was nasty. Itdidn't help that they lost to Liberty Missouri
in Texas A and them, butthe team still got to a ball game.
It won an all time thriller overKansas, and he came within nine
points and four close losses away fromhaving a truly special season. So Arkansas

(40:59):
is gonna think take a few steps. I don't know that they're gonna be
a contender, but I definitely couldsee them going eight and four this year,
maybe even nine and three, butthat's gonna again that's a big stretch
because you're looking at LSU ol miss. I don't know if they can win
those games, but I could seean eight and four. I could see
them sneaking in eight and fourth season. But a team that I think is
gonna really go downhill and downhill fast. A guy that I even thinks on

(41:20):
the hot seat in the second year, which may sound crazy, is Billy
Napier. I just think, youknow, they went six and seven last
year. Three and five started witha strong win against Utah and then things
went downhill fast. He talked abouthis expectations at SEC Media Day for this
year's team, I do. Youknow, one of the things I'm shoved
about in the place is people care, right, and you want to job

(41:43):
with high expectations. You want ajob where there's a linement, there's a
commitment, there's resources, and wehave that. So we are not lacking
in any area at the university andfar. Our player experience right down this
as good as anywhere. And I'vebeen impressed with the caliber of people that
we've hired. And I think aswe continue to evaluate and reprouve well,

(42:06):
I mean, you know, retainour people. You know, not only
are the players of the staff.And we have consistency in our process,
consistency in our systems, the waywe create habits and values that we teach,
the big picture approach relative to ourpurpose. If we can keep people
at the core of what we do, well, that's the things keeping people

(42:30):
at the core of what they do. Florida lost Anthony Richardson, who was
a top five pick in the NFLdraft. I don't know how, and
anyway, the NFL teams thought thatthere was something there and Florida didn't get
the best out of it. Andif you look back since nineteen seventy eight,
Florida has went four and seven underhead coach Doug Dickie. He was
out. Charlie Pell came in andwell. After a rebuilding year, the
team went oh and ten and one. He was out. Things got a

(42:52):
lot better from that. From nineteeneighty to twenty twelve, this program had
a grand total of zero losing seasons. We're talking to thirty two years stretch
where they didn't have a losing season. Then came twenty thirteen. It was
a four and eight dut but evenwith the end of the Will must champ
era, the twenty fourteen team managedjust seven and five run. Then the
twenty seventeen season was lost when Jimmcahan the program parted ways early on,

(43:14):
but then Dan Mullin stepped in afterthey went four and eight and then won
ten games. The point is nineteenseventy eight. In nineteen seventy nine,
that's the last time the University ofFlorida suffered back to back losing seasons until
two twenty one and two thousand andtwenty two. Meanwhile, Georgia has won
back to back national titles and Tennessee'spushing for the honor of being the most
fun team in college football. SoBilly Napier has got to turn things around,

(43:37):
and he's got dude in year two. There's plenty of chances for Florida
to just pull the plug at anypoint and try to find someone else.
And I wouldn't be surprised if they'reimpatient with Billy Napier. I think the
coach deserves three years. If byyear three he hasn't shown some type of
significant impact, then I think that'swhere you got to start really considering to
make a move, because he's gotto be able to get his recruits in

(43:57):
and that third year should be hissecond year of reading. If he hasn't
made in stride yet by them guysbeing juniors, you could even maybe push
for a year four, but nomore than that. So again I think
unfortunately he's on the hot seat andyear two and we'll see what happens with
Billy Napier. But Florida, Ithink is going to be a train wreck
this year, and I've got himlow in the SEC East is weak as
the SEC East is. I've gothim losing to South Carolina and I just

(44:20):
don't think they're gonna be a goodteam at all. Team that's been kind
of okay in football? Is KentuckyMark Stubs got the chance to talk a
little bit about returning Berry and Brownand Dan Key, who add to what's
a very very talented SEC wide receiverroom. Yeah, definitely, it is
one of the most skilled units we'vehad. I mean, certainly you could
go back to a guy like Bondell, you know, a couple of years

(44:42):
ago when Liam was there, andwe found a way to get him the
ball with one hundred and five hundredand six times. And I think we
have the type of receiving corps nowthat we could spread that out and have,
you know, more consistency at otherpositions. And those guys, you
know, with Dane and Burry onboth perform at a high level last year
as a true freshman. So it'llbe very exciting to see them grow and

(45:05):
continue to improve and get better alongwith some other very talented players. And
so we feel good about that unit. Hum, Kentucky, another winning season
in football, another Bowl game appearance. Can you believe that Kentucky did that?
That makes it seven straight Bowl gamesunder Mark Stoops And that makes it

(45:25):
six winning seasons in the last sevenyears and the one outlier was the COVID
year. Some people don't even countthat year. And you know, that
may not seem like a big whoopto some of you out there, you
know, like to the Georgia's andAlabamas of the SEC. But this school
was on the run of six straightlosing seasons before twenty sixteen, and in
the last five years, Stoops hastwo of Kentucky's four double digit winning seasons.

(45:50):
This is a team that is exceedingexpectations. They have had twenty two
seven win seasons in one hundred yearsof football and just think about six of
those were the last six of sevenyears. So last year's team was impressive.
Losing to Vanderbilt wasn't okay. Itwas a close fide though, but
it still isn't okay. So wasthe lost Old Miss, and so is
the loss to Georgia, which wereclose losses. Those are okay. Losses.

(46:13):
Lost to Vandy is not. That'sthe SEC. It's close. However,
the olon should be better this year. The defense will still be a
rock, and the Trench Report hashelped out in a huge way with at
least ten new players for Kentucky.So I get a new trench for quarterback
from North Carolina State, So we'llsee how things play out for them.
One of the biggest topics we talkedabout Alabama. They always seemed to come

(46:34):
up. Nick Saban always seems tocome up when Lane Kiffin opens his mouth.
It was no different. He tooksome jabs at Paul Findbaum for always
talking about Alabama. That's right.We have fine moms so he can motivate
him every other year and it says, oh, his dynasty's over, and
you know, this is the endof saving and then we're like, hey,
thanks a lot for pissing him off. And Paul's always wrong on this

(46:58):
subject. So and he just didit again the other day. You know,
if he didn't make the playoffs,you know, as you know,
he's not even good as a coach. So thanks, thanks Paul. Well,
Kate Kiffin's not wrong. Paul Finebaum'salways going after Nick Saban. It's
clear. But I think it's interestingthat we see it's pretty clear now that
Paul Finbaum and Lane Kiffin have sometoward of beef towards each other. They

(47:21):
have some type of animosity between eachother. They don't like each other,
and if you let's let's do atrivia game real quick. Over the last
let's say three seasons, what SECprogram has the third most overall wins behind
Alabama and Georgia. Old Miss,that's right. I mean Lane Kiffin's been
good. He went eight in fivelast year they were four and four in
the SEC. But things should havewent better. The rumors started coming up

(47:42):
about him going to Auburn and thingsjust seemed to drop. But you got
Jackson dart back, you got aquarterback transfer in Sanders from Oklahoma State.
I mean, this is a teamthat beefed up both sides of the ball,
the depths better than years. Thed you know, might start pulling
its weight with Pete Golden, eventhough I'm not a Pete Golden fan.
Glad he's gone Lane Kiffin, thankyou for saving all of us Alabama fens
from that. But anyway, OleMiss is going to be an interesting team

(48:04):
to keep an eye on. ShaneBiemer, well, he could have talked
about anybody at SEC ME a day, and he talked about his punter.
Frankly, he's the best punter inthe nation. He was the best punter
in the nation last year in myopinion, and he is a weapon for
US, glad that he's back foranother season. Outstanding student athlete, he
was named our most outstanding student athleteacademically in spring practice, and a guy

(48:24):
that not only is he a phenomenalpunter, he has three touchdown passes in
his career on fake punts and fakefield goals that we've ran over the last
couple of years and hope to addto that in twenty twenty three. Also,
well, let's just be honest,Shane Biemer has some problems at South
Carolina and it's more than the defense. But he didn't prove they did beat
Clemson, right, I mean,I guess that counts for something, but

(48:46):
you know, there's problems. We'llget to the defense again in the moment
and not getting past Notre Dame inthe Gator Bowl, which is a problem,
but you know, hey, maybeit's there's things there for Shane Biemer.
Josh Hippel took the mic last andhe talked about Texas. Did he
take some shots at Texas? You'dbe the judge. There's only one real
uta of orange. There's only oneut and one shade of orange. He

(49:08):
says, that's Tennessee, Texas andOklahoma will join the SEC next year,
so we'll see what happens. Tennessee'scoming off in eleven two seasons six and
two in the SEC. Josh Hyppeleighteen and eight at Tennessee, he's been
impressive. College ball is supposed tobe fun. It's a game, it's
entertainment. I mean it means morein the SEC. I don't like Tennessee
at all, but they're a funteam to watch. They get a lot

(49:30):
of buzz in their quarterback, Miltonnew Guy. You know, they say
he's got the strong storm in collegefootball. Well we're gonna see when he
takes the field. But the programwas really struggling, and he certainly changed
things in Knoxville. So the dreamsof going to the College ball play last
year playoffs last year might have blownup in smoke. But they got another
chance this year, and I thinkTennessee is going to be a knock to

(49:52):
really compete for an SEC championship foryears to come. All right, guys,
that's gonna do it for the pitstop on news radio one on one
nine Big Wax. I'm named Pittsand I'll see you next week.